episode_0155

Jetbike squadrons flew between buildings.

Vittorio Arcade’s altitude was at least several hundred meters. Designed for low-altitude infiltration operations between city districts, the devices smoothly reached their target area.

Below on the street, an elegant-looking woman appeared to be the target, standing in front of a group of young students. According to the pulsating flow of magic, she was definitely the one.

The woman was meeting a new group at the crossroads and conversing with them.

“Should we deal with them too?”

“What a silly question.”

Four people riding in the back seats of the bikes leaped down from the air first. As they landed with a thud, everyone’s gaze turned to them.

Those who followed quietly landed on the rooftops of nearby buildings and prepared to snipe.

“…Who are you…”

The moment they raised their hands, a girl in a black combat uniform, who had been in the back, rushed forward, startled.

“Step back!”

A flash of light erupted.

**

The situation was a mess. Immediately after the team members met Adela and the students, the Magnabyss thugs ambushed them!

“Aaaagh! Hurry! We’re all going to die at this rate!”

The situation wasn’t clear. What exactly was going on? The students were running away, and we were fighting. Attacks flew from all directions.

“Lucian is down!”

Ugh, I remember. He was the first among us to try and block their magic. While facing multiple bombardments, he was hit by an attack that broke through his shield and passed out.

As I hastily dragged him back, attacks continued to pour in from all sides.

“Danger!”

“Eek!”

A whip of lightning struck towards us. A pale green shield deployed but was immediately shattered. The moment the shield broke, magical artillery fire poured in consecutively from the front.

“Screech!”

“Ugh! Daphne! Are you okay?”

Horribly, their firepower was beyond imagination. They had shattered our shield. I quickly checked on my friend.

An old nightmare resurfaced.

“I’m okay! Thanks to the artifact Violet gave me. But the others…”

Fortunately, perhaps thanks to the locket I gave her, Daphne was unharmed.

But the other team members weren’t. Several had already been thrown back, caught in the bombardment.

No one was properly standing except Irene. As Daphne hastily healed the team members, I charged at those mages.

“Buy time! They’ll arrive soon!”

“Aaargh!”

Violet’s squad charged, firing crossbows. They were retreating while buying time, but it seemed the enemies were killing them faster than they could increase their numbers.

Fortunately, our main force arrived shortly after.

“Guys! There are people over there, right? Run that way! Irene too!”

The team members hastily retreated.

“You too, run quickly!”

I urged Irene. There was no solution in this situation. Being bombarded on the main road was too disadvantageous a position.

“Will you be okay…?”

“You know! We’re immortal. Retreat quickly!”

After sending the team members back, I surveyed my surroundings. Adela was also pulling the students and professors back. She had many minor scrapes. Was it from the earlier bombardment?

“No way! The young ones must live!”

“No, Professor-nim! You’re hurt, aren’t you? Whatever their identity, they must have come for this. I’ll buy time.”

Saying that, Adela also pulled her companions back and prepared to fight.

“Adela Unnie, it’s me, it’s me. Violet!”

“Violet? Why here… how…”

“It’s a long story to explain, just retreat for now!”

I grabbed the student council president and pushed her back. While Adela hesitated, we charged forward.

First, we had to buy time.

One company of Violets walked into the barrage.

“Who are you?”

“We are the Ariel Group!”

We charged with swords drawn.

**

Let’s get straight to the conclusion. We were melting away.

The Magnabyss mages were monsters.

Were those even people? “Tanks” would probably be a more accurate description than “people.”

“Aaargh!”

None of our attacks worked on them. We couldn’t even scratch them!

“Number 45 is dead! Number 124 is dying! I’m dying too! Aaaagh!”

The Violet Network filled with pain and screams. With each wave of the Vanguard’s hands, a combat team evaporated, and a squad vanished.

A squad would crumble with just one or two magic bullet shots or heat rays.

“Squad 1 dissolved! Squad 2 evaporated! Platoon 3 collapsed!”

“Aaaaah! I can’t see! My eyes! My eyes! Aaaagh!”

Every time an electric whip swung, Violets were torn apart and burned. The tattered company was on the verge of collapse.

With dozens dying at once, even distributing the pain didn’t lessen the burden.

“Ugh! Don’t use shields. You can’t block it anyway!”

“Fire! Fire!”

Crossbow volleys and magic attacks intersected.

The troubling part was that over half of our attacks were intercepted mid-flight. What principle was that, anyway?

Violets froze, burned, and were torn apart again.

“Damn it, are they clones?”

Because I was creating clones on the spot so hastily, I could clearly hear murmuring from their side.

We couldn’t retreat.

Daphne nearly died. That was a targeted shot. The firepower shattered even shields, so it would have been truly dangerous if she hadn’t had the artifact I gave her.

And Adela was hurt too. She got covered in wounds fighting to protect the people.

Many of our team members were also injured. Being pursued in this situation would be truly dangerous.

We can die and revive, but our team members will die.

“Company dissolved! Aaaagh!”

In the blink of an eye, forces crumbled again. The team members had been evacuated somehow, but there was no solution.

We were slowly retreating, firing crossbows, but they kept pursuing us from a distance.

“What on earth did we do wrong to deserve this!”

“Aaaaah!”

I spent magic to hastily create more clones. I felt them hesitate.

“…Damn it, no matter how many we kill, they keep reappearing. What are you things?”

A bewildered, mechanical voice was heard. At least while they withdrew, a moment to think arose.

“They’re not retreating! More are coming!”

Beyond the darkness, a group of cars was approaching in the distance. The jetbikes that seemed to have retreated were flying back. New people were seen riding them.

Was that their main force?

I thought. This was too forced.

If it were generals or strategists from old hagiographies, they would have come up with brilliant solutions even in this situation.

They would have found a breakthrough somehow.

But Violet isn’t a brilliant strategist. At this rate, we’ll be pushed back!

What should I do? Think. I have to think.

My head throbbed, and my chest felt tight. Was there no good way?

As I agonized over the bleak reality, unfamiliar figures appeared from beyond the misty realm of thought within the network.

“Come forth!”

I looked up in surprise. Many people were rushing out of the hazy mist.

“What? Who are you!”

Beyond the mist, Violets in strange cosplay appeared. Their appearances were diverse.

First, a Violet riding an elephant and a nomadic Violet on horseback appeared. Behind them, a Chancellor Violet with a feather fan leisurely walked.

“We are Violet!”

After that, Violets in various costumes from East and West, ancient and modern, continued to appear. Their attire ranged from ancient armor to modern military uniforms. Their appearances were also diverse.

Seeing their appearance, I gradually realized.

These people, they were Violet, but they weren’t Violet.

“That’s right! Somehow, I felt like cosplaying.”

“If we act like this, we might be able to borrow their wisdom!”

Those Violets were the result of our miscellaneous knowledge and unconsciousness combining with me.

Coldly speaking, they were just Violets doing method acting.

Nevertheless, I asked. Because I felt like I could find answers.

“What should I do?”

The Violet in nomadic attire said decisively.

“Sweep them all away! Don’t leave a single one smaller than a truck tire!”

A General Violet wearing a two-horned hat pointed to the outside world with a commanding staff.

“There is no such word as impossible in Violet’s dictionary!”

The Violet riding an elephant shouted.

“Pierce the enemy’s weak point. Let’s cross the mountains just like we did!”

The General Violet solemnly declared.

“We still have 800 Violets left! So let’s not be afraid. Those who wish to die, we shall kill, and those who wish to live, we shall also kill completely!”

Immediately after hearing the general’s shout, I awoke from the network.

“Violet?”

Daphne and Irene were looking at me with worried eyes. Kalia was there. Team members who were looking for me were there.

And there were the Violets remaining at the base, in the command center. We weren’t alone.

Regaining my confidence, I steeled my resolve.

Maybe we can win. If we give it our all!

Immediately after firming my resolve, the Violets at home rushed out one after another.

“Open the warehouses! It’s an all-out war!”

The Violets ran to basements and warehouses in various locations and opened the doors.

A Violet waiting at the weapon manufacturing facility on the uninhabited island dug into the ground.

On every shelf, there were stacks of plastic-wrapped hibernating bodies, and sleeping Violets neatly piled in boxes.

The packaging, meeting the outside air for the first time in a long while, happily rustled.

Seeing that, I gained even more conviction. That it was possible.

Admiral Chungmugong Violet was right. There was no need to worry if a hundred died, or two hundred died. Because we still had eight hundred Violets left!

The problem was how to get them into the dungeon. The answer was clear.

“Convert them all back to magic!”

The piled-up bodies were reverse-generated, transforming into magic one by one. Based on that magic, Violets began to be produced again inside the dungeon.

A Violet in the command center cautiously spoke.

“The problem is information. We need a more vivid map than now! The enemy’s location, movements. We need to track everything!”

Our numbers are greater than theirs, but if we fight like before, we’ll all melt away. We need to utilize the terrain’s advantages. If so, what’s needed is more battlefield information.

“I have a good idea!”

I thought of the Violet simulation. I remembered when we did mock training before. We vividly implemented virtual maps and enemies and had fun playing.

What if we could implement the actual scene inside the dungeon within our minds?

“Let’s try it first!”

Number 2 shouted impatiently.

“Orders from Command! Second Company. I’m sorry, but please die a little! We need deployment time!”

Reorganizing the forces required time and magic.

There was also a need to implement new ideas. During that time, our hastily produced Violets would die again, just like before.

This was the second time we’d died in such large numbers, the first being after the duel.

Knowing that we’d die one hundred percent yet having to charge in… only I could accept it; anyone else would have fled long ago.

However, now that conviction has been gained, the sacrifice is not meaningless.

If we can just buy time, time to devise and plan a strategy, then we can win!

Once again, one company’s worth of troops gathered. The Second Company Commander Violet shouted a slogan.

“Let’s go! To die!”

“We will die magnificently!”

The Violets charged at the Magnabyss mages again. One hundred and one Violets deployed a defensive formation and rushed into the enemy’s barrage coming from all sides.

“Aaargh!”

Immediately after, the Company Commander Violet was cut into pieces and lay scattered.

While the Second Company died to buy time, several reconnaissance teams scattered in all directions. Instead of engaging in combat, the Violets dispersed and climbed onto various rooftops.

“From now on, we are cameras!”

The Camera Violets concentrated magic on their eyes and ears to observe their surroundings. All those amplified senses converged into the Violet Network.

Soon, a single form began to emerge within the Violet Network.

Buildings rose, and roads and obstacles ascended. The landscape inside Vittorio Arcade was rendered through collective intelligence.

“We need to clear the fog of war! Move quickly!”

While fighting a delaying action as much as possible, about 5 minutes passed. Shortly after, a massive strategic map was constructed.

“…We did it!”

The command center couldn’t help but marvel at the three-dimensional map before their eyes.

The map within the network vividly displayed the moving figures of the enemy and themselves among the roads and buildings. It was the power of collective intelligence.

“Good, now we’ll devise a strategy! Let’s find a way to attack as much as possible while reinforcements arrive!”

It’s time to prepare a counterattack. Because Violets are thinking animals!