episode_0252

The search team moved cautiously through the streets of Asteria, permeated by a gray, eerie atmosphere.

Wearing perception-hindering devices and stealth gear, the search team members unexpectedly managed to infiltrate the city’s depths without any significant engagement.

A gray sky hung overhead, and an eerie silence filled the air.

The crunch of boots on debris and the intermittent crackle of directional laser communicators awakened the sleeping streets.

The team leader raised a fist, signaling the team to halt. He aimed his rifle and scanned the alley corner.

“Twelve magical beasts ahead. Twenty meters.”

The team moved with practiced efficiency. As soon as the soldiers turned left, a dull thud echoed through the still air.

-Thump! Thump!

Suppressed by silencers, the heavy metal bullets of electromagnetic rifles tore through the vanguard. Crossbow bolts imbued with magic followed. As projectiles struck their twisted heads, the magical beasts convulsed and fell.

“Clear.”

They moved forward, leaving broken windows, strangely pulsating walls, and the remnants of their foes behind them.

“Still no sign of Code Omega.” The team leader whispered, sweeping his electromagnetic rifle through the shadows.

“Still, don’t let your guard down. According to what headquarters said, it’s completely different from the mutated magical beasts we’ve encountered before.”

A soldier said, replacing his rifle’s magazine. “I don’t understand what kind of variant it is that’s causing this. To unconditionally avoid engagement…”

Another soldier, with a suspicious demeanor, fiddled with a Luminexa-brand drug kit attached to his elbow. “And a stabilizer? It’s called a stabilizer, but isn’t it really a suicide drug?”

In response to the team members’ questions, the team leader spoke firmly. “You won’t have to use that. Our mission is strictly reconnaissance. If you witness anything suspicious, return to the exhibition hall immediately and report to the main force. Others will handle the target. Those Restraidna tin cans, that is.”

His assertion silenced the questioning team members. But even the team leader himself had many questions.

‘What kind of magical beast requires us to unconditionally avoid engagement?’

Their discussion was abruptly cut short as they turned the next alley corner. Without a trace or sound, an eerie voice echoed from behind them.

“Greetings.”

The startled team members turned around. A man with an expressionless face stood there silently, as if he had dropped from the air.

White clothes, neatly trimmed hair. But an ominous premonition enveloped them.

The man spoke gently, slowly, as if greeting a neighbor in the morning.

“It’s a good day, isn’t it?”

A streak of doubt flashed through their minds. They were definitely moving in stealth, but how did he know they were there?

‘…And where did he appear from?’

Just then, the technical officer’s portable scanner picked up a target. What appeared on the screen was a distorted human form, swirling with impossible shapes and colors.

-Screech!

The device vibrated and buzzed, shaking all the linked team members’ communicators with a high-pitched sound. At the same time, the bizarre aura emanating from the man made them feel as if their blood had frozen.

“My god.”

The trigger wouldn’t pull. Why?

In that critical moment, long experience and willpower barely managed to push away the fear.

“Code Omega!” the team leader cried out as if in despair. “Retreat immediately!”

But it was already too late. A wall that had risen silently blocked their escape route. An obstacle that looked as if it had always been there.

There were no incantations, no flow of magic.

It was too instantaneous for magic. In their shock, their trained bodies moved reflexively.

“Fire!”

-Rattle-tat-tat!

A hail of heavy metal bullets flew toward the leisurely smiling man. Grenades soared, and Aether emitters unleashed magical beams. The man slowly stepped forward and waved his hand almost indifferently.

The bullets flying toward his chest and head froze in mid-air all at once. As he passed, the stopped bullets vibrated then scattered like a swarm of flies.

One soldier fired a grenade from his rifle’s underbarrel attachment. The man’s gaze turned to the grenade. Just before it exploded, the grenade crumpled and vanished into dust. The beam that should have obliterated its target froze in mid-air.

“Close in!”

The opponent was using some kind of magic or unique ability. Realizing they couldn’t give him time to deploy spells, the desperate search team members attempted close-quarters combat.

‘We have to subdue him quickly!’

The man slowly approached them, as if inviting them to strike. Attacks immediately poured forth. Strikes imbued with magic came from every conceivable angle. High and low, they stabbed and slashed.

They didn’t land.

“Wh-why?”

The man moved with unbelievable leisure. Even a subtle shift of his shoulder or a slight twist of his wrist caused the sword’s trajectory to inexplicably refract. Every attack attempt was futile, like trying to grasp smoke with bare hands.

The man tilted his head and made a light gesture, as if swatting away a fly. The moment he stepped back, the team leader flinched, because the subordinate assisting him on his left had stiffened.

She dropped her weapon.

-Clatter.

“Ugh, oh… ugh!”

As the other soldiers watched in horror, her skin crumbled and flowed to the floor like crumbling old wallpaper.

In a matter of seconds, the soldier transformed into a writhing mass of flesh.

“Ah! No, no. Ughhhhh!”

A second scream. A team member’s arm moved stiffly, ignoring its owner’s will. The scream ceased the moment his fingers dug deep into his own eye sockets.

The screams continued. The Federation Army search team members demonstrated firsthand that there were no limits to human possibilities.

Sparkling and scattering.

Melting and flowing onto the floor.

Shrinking, splitting, flattening, then boiling.

The last remaining team leader gazed at the being in terror. With the laws of reality crumbling before his eyes, he desperately charged forward.

“Ugh, ughhhhhh!”

The sword aimed at the man’s heart bent bizarrely. It twisted in an unnatural direction, like a long stick refracting in water. The next moment, his body twisted and contorted.

In silence, his final resistance was broken.

The man’s gaze turned to the Luminexa Foundation’s drug kit, which had retained its shape amidst the red piles.

“They should have just committed suicide.”

Muttering with a hint of mockery, the being reached out and lifted the intact head from within the grotesque, writhing fragments of pain.

As his fingers delved into the head, memories surged in like a wave.

「As expected. They’ve come to catch us. They seem to have prepared quite a bit.」

The man sent the information to his companion via a telepathic wave.

「They’re nothing but cattle being herded into a slaughterhouse. The military?」

「It’ll take some time.」

In the now silent street, he watched beyond the veil.

「Good, then I’ll investigate the small fries in the meantime.」

He was referring to the suspicious, human-like beings who were spying on him from a distance. The man reached out.

-Crash!

Three layers of walls shattered, and men in suits were dragged in like fish caught on a hook.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The men in suits assumed their characteristic combat stances. A faint smile bloomed on the man’s expressionless face. Sharp eyes swept over them. Under that gaze, the agents felt as if they were being stripped bare to their very souls.

“Not human. Closer to magical beasts, rather. There are traces of augmentation.” The man, deep in thought, murmured. “You are… let’s see, the armed organization known as the Obsidian Legion, aren’t you?”

The bewildered agents drew their swords. Aspen thought that there was no way they were getting out of this alive.

***

In the Erosion Zone, what I encountered was a cute girl, Ariel!

However, not long after our first conversation, she inexplicably closed her mouth with a sulky expression.

「What’s wrong?」

「What could she be dissatisfied with? Was the chocolate bar not tasty?」

Our Violet’s concerns were soon resolved. As the convention center, visible through the antique streets, gradually grew closer, Ariel opened her mouth.

“I’m not a terrorist.”

“Terrorist?”

When I asked again, Ariel replied in a discontented tone.

“Unnie, you talked about the Ariel Group earlier.”

“Oh, I did.”

“Don’t make fun of other people’s names!”

When I retraced my steps to see what the problem was, the words I had spoken within the Violet Network played back like a recording.

-Aha, the Ariel Group!

I couldn’t understand what the problem was with that. Isn’t the Ariel Group a good thing?

“You don’t like the Ariel Group?”

When I asked, Ariel stared blankly at me, as if she didn’t understand what I was talking about.

“The Ariel Group are terrorists. They say they’re bad people.”

“Wait, the Ariel Group are bad people?”

Her answer made us stop in our tracks. The words ‘bad people’ didn’t make sense.

「Bad people?! We’re champions of liberal democracy!」

「She’s just a child; she doesn’t know anything.」

「But we’re good people!」

The girl’s words continued.

“My parents and teachers also said the Ariel Group are bad people. They said they killed many people.”

“Oh, really…?”

There was some truth to the girl’s words. It was true that we had killed many people. But to label us as bad people just for that? Could she have been swayed by the fake news from those Magnabys guys, the three great clans, and the Federation bastards? Children at that age don’t know anything, after all.

Shaking off the uneasy feeling, I continued to ask questions.

“I see, do you think so too?”

Ariel seemed to find my question difficult, and after pondering it with a struggle, she slowly replied.

“…Honestly, I don’t really know.”

Ariel stammered, but continued her thoughts.

“Even though they killed many people and set off bombs, they also rescued people who were being subjected to illegal experiments. Some people even call them righteous heroes.”

The girl’s words contained only facts. There was nothing wrong with them.

“But I still don’t really like the Ariel Group.”

“You just said they were heroes.”

Ariel shouted briefly, as if in a pique.

“My friends make fun of my name because of it!”

Ah, I see.

“Since the terrorist incident last year, my friends call me a terrorist whenever they see me. Every time I pass by, they ask if I’m going to set off a bomb too.”

Ariel grumbled, as if resentful of the teasing she had endured. Only then did I realize why this child felt aversion to our words.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d feel that way. Then you should have told me sooner.”

“You didn’t give me a chance to say anything.”

“Ugh… I’m sorry…”

Feeling apologetic, I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out snacks from my inventory.

When I handed her a cold can of soda and a bag of chips, Ariel’s expression softened a little.

“How did you put that in there?”

“There’s a way to do everything. I’m a veteran hunter, you see!”

“Really? You look like an academy student.”

Ariel looked at me with suspicious eyes. Suspicion at such a young age? Where had the child’s innocence gone? I worried about her future.

“Yep! I’ve been in and out of dungeons many times. Oh, right. I’m an Aegis Academy student!”

When I took out my student ID and showed it to her, Ariel’s brown eyes trembled.

“V…Violet?”

“Yep, I’m Violet. I’m a first-year at Aegis Academy.”

Instantly, Ariel’s expression brightened like a girl meeting her idol.

“W-wow! Aegis Academy!”

“Huh?”

The girl, examining my student ID from all angles, jumped up and down excitedly. The convention center was now right before us.

「Why is she acting like that?」