episode_0157

While the 2nd Company held off the enemy for a long time at the Fountain Plaza, the temporary shelter near the elevator was crowded.

“Teleportation…?”

The first reason was the sudden appearance of hundreds of Violets. The evacuated hunters witnessed a bizarre sight as large numbers of troops continuously poured out from the smoke.

“Hey! Miss, can’t you escape with that?”

“No!”

When a man, unable to contain his curiosity, stepped forward and asked, the girl answered curtly and disappeared over the barricade.

While the onlookers pondered the girl’s true identity, a strange noise was heard from the dark sky above.

“Look, jetbikes! They’re the Magnabys bastards!”

Three jetbikes carrying armed personnel circled the shelter. As they showed signs of landing, soldiers and hunters quickly fired anti-air shots.

The jetbike squadron, overwhelmed by the barrage of bolts and bullets, surged upward again.

“Damn it, they’re flanking! Please be alert around here!”

Manager Harbor raised his voice, encouraging his subordinates and others. As he led the people, he spoke to Contact Violet, who was by his side.

“Really, don’t you need our help? They’re one of the Four Great Clans, aren’t they?”

The manager pointed beyond the barricade with a worried expression. The noise and flashes of combat created by magic lit up the vicinity as if it were midday. Violet listened to him and shook her head.

“Thanks, but no need! Instead, bring me a soldier Mister-nim! I mean, the Captain Mister-nim.”

The remaining soldiers and members of mid-to-small clans weren’t bad in combat, but the upcoming battle would take place inside the dark urban area. In a chaotic battlefield, those not connected to the Violet network would only be a hindrance.

“Mister-nim, tell me how to use that rifle you’re holding. And how to operate the exoskeleton. Quick!”

As Captain Klein ran over, Violet urgently pressed him for information on how to use firearms and exoskeletons.

“Are you asking for these now? I can’t do that…”

“I don’t need yours or the soldiers’. Just tell me first!”

Contact Violet absorbed equipment knowledge rapidly, like a thirsty person gulping water, and transmitted it to headquarters.

“Violet! Adela-nim has woken up!”

**

The entire Violet team had evacuated safely. The problem was their condition.

“Ugh, damn it…”

“Alright, for now, don’t speak, and don’t move!”

The most severely injured was Lucian. He was completely battered. He had tried his best to block the mages’ surprise attack, ending up in a terrible state.

Thanks to that, the remaining team members weren’t seriously injured and recovered quickly. Apart from Daphne, who was unharmed due to her barrier, only Irene was fully energetic.

Given the situation, Adela’s condition wasn’t good either. She had fainted during evacuation due to her injuries and was carried by her teammates to the shelter.

They worried she wouldn’t wake up after receiving healing, but fortunately, she awoke quickly.

“Where is this? Why am I here…”

She groaned in pain, but within seconds of waking, she assessed the situation.

Unlike usual, her gaze was intelligent and sharp as she surveyed her surroundings, and she tried to stand up and return towards the barricade.

“Where are you going!”

Adela spoke impatiently as she watched the jetbikes circling around.

“You see? Those people were tracking me. For the people here to be safe, I need to leave. I’ll lure them away!”

“Tracking you?”

Adela pulled out a right-angled staff with ornate carvings from within her clothes. Irene, who was watching nearby, widened her eyes.

“Isn’t this a Dimensional Beacon?”

“That’s right. They appeared shortly after I activated it.”

The moment they heard that, headquarters briefly exclaimed in wonder. Here was another motive to lure the Magnabys bastards!

I explained the current situation to Adela.

“So, their true identity is the Magnabys Clan? To think they were after the Vision Prism…”

“Exactly! So help me!”

Violet 303 pulled out a tablet and map data, passionately explaining. When the topic of the luring operation came up, everyone’s expressions turned serious.

Irene asked.

“So, if I understand correctly, Violet now has the Vision Prism, and you’re going to use it and the beacon as bait to lure them in. Right?”

She tapped the large plaza displayed on the tablet screen.

“And here, at the Lion’s Fountain Plaza, you’re going to encircle and annihilate them. So, what do we have to do?”

“After luring them, we’ll ambush the one with the artifact at this path leading to the plaza! If we just destroy this, we can restore a significant portion of our forces!”

Immediately after finishing her passionate explanation, I hesitated for a moment before continuing. The request I was about to make was extremely dangerous.

“We’re going to ambush them at the path, but we’re not enough on our own. So…”

“You’re asking for our help, right?”

Adela was the first to quietly stand up.

“I have many questions: why Violet is here, what the identity of those troops is. But what’s important right now is stopping them. If you need help, I’ll help as much as I can.”

Irene replied.

“Destroying the academy and massacring students wasn’t enough, and now they’re committing acts of terror with dangerous artifacts. We can’t just let those bastards get away with it. More than anything, it’s a friend’s request, isn’t it?”

Kalia also stumbled and got to her feet.

“It seems like troubles never stop when I follow you, don’t they?”

“Hehe, I guess so.”

“Ugh, seriously! Don’t laugh! That’s why I’m going with you. I’m uneasy leaving a troublemaker like you alone! As a friend, I can’t just stand by. Understand?”

Her friend’s good-natured grumbling naturally made me laugh. That’s a relief. What about the other team members?

“I, I want to go too!”

“Levi, are you sure? Those guys are more dangerous than monsters.”

At my question, Levi began speaking with an expression that didn’t hide his anger. It was a rare sight.

“N-no. You see, according to your explanation, those aren’t people. They suddenly kidnapped others, and tried to steal artifacts, and then t-turned others into ghouls, right? You, me, and the other teammates were all injured. They’re worse than monsters. They’re trash! Human trash! Human trash needs to be cleaned up! They need to be swept away! Granite, don’t you think so too?”

At Levi’s question, our woodcutter friend also expressed enthusiastic agreement.

“That’s right, those bad guys need to be smashed!”

Satisfied with the excellent morale-boosting results from my siege weapon friends, I stood up from my seat.

“Daphne, please wait in the rear. If there are any injured, I’ll call you immediately!”

“I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do…”

“It’s alright!”

Just as I was about to go beyond the barricade with my teammates, Lucian called out to me.

“Hey, Violet. Grab my hand.”

“Huh?”

“Quickly!”

As he instructed, several small magic circles appeared between our hands, and magic power flowed into my body. It was a considerable amount.

“Haa, I’m sorry for not being of help… I tried something I was thinking about, but I don’t think I can give you all of it. Just use this for now.”

He closed his eyes and lowered his head as if embarrassed. Was he ashamed of being battered by the Magnabys mages?

“Thank you!”

However, thanks to that, our forces increased. It was a greater gain than I imagined.

The Violet team left the barricade and headed towards the passage.

**

Right in front of the small Fountain Plaza, the girls fearlessly confronted the assault.

While the team members moved to prepare an ambush and the Violet company was generated and deployed, the Violets used makeshift barricades, old building walls, and the corpses of their comrades as shields, strenuously blocking the assault and buying time.

The enemy attacks poured down like a downpour, and as damage accumulated, the small Fountain Plaza became stained with blood.

The vanguard agents at the front line skillfully repelled the continuously pouring enemy attacks.

Veteran mages advanced, using the durability from their armor and shields as protection, and unleashed superheated flames and destruction spells to crush resistance.

The mage squad members right behind them launched weaker but still threatening attacks while the vanguards absorbed the firepower at the front. Mercenary hunters armed with crossbows in the rear also picked off enemies one by one in the battlefield where firearms were suppressed.

The Violets gradually retreated, but they were still holding the Fountain Plaza.

“There are so many of them, it’s more than I imagined!”

Inside their sealed masks, the combat assist displays continuously showed countless green rectangles, large and small.

Thanks to the tracking system faithfully performing its function of marking detected enemies, fatigue was visible in the agents’ eyes.

“Hiiiii!”

“Damn it! That’s disgusting, Captain-nim, is that a clone?”

One agent grumbled into the comms. Immediately after intercepting an enemy soldier flying from the sky with an electrical discharge, he was drenched in the blood that burst forth.

“It’s indeed a unique ability! Didn’t you see it just now? The corpses evaporated on their own. That’s just a somewhat peculiar clone!”

The commander replied firmly, but inwardly he understood that his subordinates couldn’t help but be confused. A clone that splattered blood and organs?

The enemies kept appearing no matter how many were killed. Like sewer rats pouring out of a hole.

Even from the perspective of a veteran who had experienced countless battles, this was the first time he had seen enemies attacking with such tenacity.

The beacon was beyond, and time was of the essence. Some personnel attempted to flank, but the area believed to be where the beacon’s owner was located had a considerable number of hunters from other clans and remaining soldiers gathered.

Given the fierce anti-air fire, a flanking strike with a small number of personnel was impossible right now. Enemy troops were also continuously moving through the alleys even now.

“Yaaah!”

“Watch your heads. The enemy is attempting drop attacks using some kind of flying device.”

“They’re just like pests. No end to them, no matter how many we kill!”

As the vanguard agent grumbled and shot down another drop attack, an enemy caught his eye. Its location was the rooftop of the building on the right.

Three to five of them were crawling down. Another enemy that our allies had failed to intercept.

“Damn it, when did they get to our flank?”

The pathetic enemy charged with clumsy swords and shields. The agent swung his alloy staff with annoyance.

“You worm-like bastards!”

He added a hardening spell to the staff, plus body reinforcement. And a spoonful of acceleration. The soldier at the very front raised his shield in alarm.

“Uwaaah!”

Simultaneously, the shield and left arm were crushed. The enemy fell backward with a ridiculous scream.

The enemy charged without hesitation, even as their comrades died. The agent calculated a spell. A high-output magic blade, burning like a volcanic eruption, surged from the tip of his staff.

With a light horizontal swing, the remaining enemies were split in two.

“You, what kind of bastard are you?”

The agent lifted the fallen enemy from the ground and violently ripped off its mask. A young, blonde girl with a nosebleed appeared. He had suspected due to the physique, but it was indeed a girl.

The girl struggled frantically.

“We are the Obsidian Legion! Of the Ariel Group—!”

“Bullshit!”

As she tried to stab him wildly with a dagger, he threw her to the ground and stomped on her with force. The girl was crushed like a tomato.

“They’re complete lunatics, what? Obsidian Legion? Why would they do something like this?”

“Indeed, sir. They’re crazy, but not *that* crazy.”

Lera, who was focused on interception and defensive spells, quickly interjected. She recalled the report about the mysterious black-clad soldiers who had attacked a certain research lab previously.

“There is a possibility. During the destruction of Research Lab 13, an intruder claiming to be the Obsidian Legion appeared.”

“Is that true?”

As she mulled over what Kroshel had said, she looked down at the pressure on her ankle. An enemy that had lost its legs was crawling and trying to grab her ankle and bite it.

“D-die…!”

“…!”

She gasped in fright and immediately kicked the enemy away.

‘Crazy!’

The moment Lera suppressed her nausea and prepared her next spell, an urgent message came in from the jetbike squadron that had flanked to the rear.

“Tracking the beacon signal, it’s currently moving… Damn it.”

“What is it? Report clearly!”

“It’s the Vision Prism! The beacon holder is riding on top of the Vision Prism! It’s to the left of the plaza!”

She tried to understand the report’s meaning, leading some of her squad members.

Strangely, after exiting the passage where the enemies had retreated and disappeared, and heading to the right of the plaza, a girl’s voice resounded loudly from beyond the passageway.

“Haha! Your Vision Prism now belongs to the great Lady Adela Cascadia! Worship me!”

“Cascadia?”

“They said Obsidian Legion earlier, and now they’re saying Cascadia family troops. They’ve gone mad.”

While the Magnabys agents were in confusion, the Violets attacked them even more fiercely, grappling with them.

Lera and her squad members, who had barely managed to flank the plaza, saw soldiers in black outfits carrying the prism horizontally and fleeing beyond a narrow road. A blonde woman stood on top of the large prism.

“Damn it, it is the prism! We’ll pursue.”

“Their resistance is fierce. We’ll follow right away!”

‘Why did it just occur to me now? That appearance, that armament. It’s indeed the successor of the Cascadia family!’

In the intense situation, Lera, who hadn’t recalled the information she already knew, blamed herself inwardly.

“V-Violet? You said it was fine to use my name, but this is a bit…”

Adela on top of the prism looked at Violet, who was holding a megaphone, with an embarrassed expression.

“Sorry, Unnie! This way, it’ll attract more attention.”

The Violets ran headlong, leaving the furiously pursuing enemies behind.

**

While luring the enemies with the Vision Prism, one of the Violets at headquarters turned her attention to the green dots on the map.

“Those guys, their numbers are small, let’s try to catch them!”

If they’re using the electromagnetic rifles or heavy weapons of the Federation, they’re more powerful than the firearms we use. Resupply is impossible, but we can use the given ammunition. Moreover, thanks to their operating mechanism, they’re not affected by combustion suppression magic.

Maybe we can capture some vehicles.

“Those guys, their numbers are small, let’s try to catch them!”

A Violet squad was generated at the location of the Ward Violets. The Violets leaped down from the windows, ambushing the ghouls.

“Roar!”

The surprise attack was successful. Except for a few Violets who lost arms to gunshots, they were able to annihilate them.

“Electromagnetic rifles… must be railguns, right?”

“Now they’re ours. Forced requisition!”

I picked up a gun from the floor and examined it. Opening the magazine, I saw heavy, black metallic rounds, and there was a battery in the stock.

“This is intact! We can use it.”

Thanks to the advanced technology in this world, people with a fair amount of money use sci-fi weapons like railguns and coilguns.

Just then, jetbikes zoomed past over our heads.

I aimed at their rear and pulled the trigger. Though I didn’t hit anything, a bullet fired with a strong recoil.

Thump-thump-thump!

“It works!…!”

Violet 230, immediately after pulling the trigger, ran off excitedly.

“With this, it’ll work even under combustion suppression magic. The power is also stronger than a normal rifle!”

“Good, let’s show them what we’ve got!”

In that way, they knocked down more ghoulified Federation soldiers wandering the alleys and took their equipment.

After knocking down the straggling ghoul soldiers, we quickly collected their weapons and ammunition. We also stripped off the exoskeletons they wore and put them into our inventory.

While hastily collecting weapons, a strange object caught the Violets’ eyes.

Two heavily-sized tracked vehicles were embedded in building walls, spaced apart.

“What are those?”

The Violets cautiously approached the vehicles. I soon realized what they were.

They were tanks.

“Their name is Type 30 Light Tank, armed with an electromagnetic rapid-fire cannon and a machine gun.”

Recalling the information transmitted by headquarters, I approached the vehicle. Surprisingly, the tank was intact despite being embedded in a wall.

Climbing up, I saw that the hatch of the vehicle’s cockpit was open, and the crew members were nowhere to be seen, having apparently fled.

“There’s no room for a person in the turret.”

“It’s an unmanned turret!”

The Violets went inside. There were three seats arranged horizontally inside the tank. The interior lights were on, so it didn’t seem broken.

I tried operating the tank’s various controls. Surprisingly, the vehicle moved.

For reasons unknown, the crew members, who had been driving the tank through the narrow alley trying to escape, seemed to have abandoned the vehicle and fled after crashing into the wall.

“It moves! If we do this right, we can use it. Headquarters! Add armored unit formation!”

I didn’t know how to fire the cannon or operate the internal equipment, but after a few tries, I roughly figured out how to move it. Pressing the pedal made it go forward or stop, and pulling the joystick back and forth made it move left and right.

“Alright, I’ll add tank formation to the Violet Battalion!”

In an instant, the Violet Battalion became a proper army, having secured tanks. Though only two of them!

The first armored unit’s task was simple: charge.

“Operating it is easier than I thought.”

“Let’s use this as a shield. Let’s go!”

The first tank, having reported its transfer from the incompetent Federation Army to the Violet Legion, lifted its heavy body with an engine rumble.

I don’t know the exact defensive capabilities of a 20-ton light tank, but it should be enough to pressure the enemies.

“Tank! Let’s crush and smash the enemies together!”

As I pressed the accelerator, the cockpit vibrated with a heavy, low rumble.

This tank seemed eager to let us know that it was a war machine that loved violence.

“From now on, your name is Ruzilin’s Iron Fist!”

“And you… just Tank 2!”

The more I thought about it, the cooler the name was. It was a naming that perfectly encapsulated the Violets’ steel-like will.

Although it wasn’t a super-heavy tank, the Federation Army’s decisive weapon, my heart swelled with excitement at the thought of driving a tank that I had only imagined before.

“Let’s go, Ruzilin’s Iron Fist! I’ll feed you plenty of enemy blood!”

Tank 1, , and Tank 2 reversed with a heavy engine rumble, then turned their bodies, ready to go out.

“By the way, is the owner of the combustion suppression artifact following well?”

“Yeah! He’s coming along well. The problem is the jetbikes!”

There was one thing I hadn’t considered while devising the lure strategy.

That was jetbikes and cars. Those pursuing on foot, even awakened ones, could somehow be shaken off, but the enemies’ high mobility meant there was a high chance of being caught quickly.

“Rooftop team! Fire!”

The small forces pre-deployed via the Ward Violets fired anti-air shots, doing their best to hold them back.

“Rear team! Destroy their vehicles!”

Violets who infiltrated the rear with the sole hang glider and Ward Violets also carried out sabotage. Their main target was the enemies’ vehicles.

Boom!

“Tires destroyed! Engine neutralized!”

Fortunately, they didn’t primarily rely on vehicle firepower. The defensive personnel were fewer than expected, so they could be destroyed quickly.

“By the way, where’s that witch? The one with the artifact strapped to her back!”

“Searching!”

The luring strategy was proceeding smoothly. Some of the generated forces were moving to the plaza, preparing an ambush.

The Violet companies that had dealt with the monsters and ghouls in the plaza quickly dug into the ground and lifted flagstones, setting up traps.

They were preparing a large number of improvised explosive devices. Chancellor Violet slammed her fan down and shouted.

“This place will be their Hulu Valley [a reference to a historical battle where an enemy was trapped and annihilated]!”

While preparing to draw the enemies into the encirclement, a Ward Violet found the target.

“Found the witch!”

“She’s following the Vision Prism!”

Could there be such luck? Originally, the plan was to ambush and strike when the main force moved. This makes it easier to catch them.

Soon, they entered the center of the passage. The Violet team leaped down from the rooftop.

“Charge!”