Chapter 25: A Trip to Disaster XIII
Aetheris-Veston Border—Awakened Camp.
"Phew~ All in a day's work."
The suited leader of the terrorist group stretched his arms wide, letting out a lazy yawn. Despite being an awakened human, his rank was unimpressive—low, even.
Yet, even with his limited strength, he could vaguely sense the shifting tides of battle above. His gaze drifted toward the ceiling of the underground lab as he rubbed his temples.
"Boss, is something wrong?"
His ever-present bodyguard asked the question, standing at attention beside him.
The man merely shook his head.
"...Let's see..." He tapped a finger against his chin, tilting his head slightly. "The situation above ground is beginning to turn... interesting. Is it the security forces? Or reinforcements...?"
A slow, knowing smile crept across his lips as he reached his own conclusion.
No. "It isn't any of those… but rather, the Yosen students, huh?"
Yes. That made sense. If it were them, they'd be a considerable asset to the forces outside.
But if they had already escaped the dungeon, then that meant—
"So, they decided to ignore the dungeon, huh? Then everything is going as planned."
They had predicted this outcome.
With the sheer number of monsters flooding the dungeon, the instructors would be forced to stay behind, focusing on eliminating the horde, while the rest scrambled to find reinforcements.
And of course, reinforcements is impossible with their barrier in place.
Even if the students will be helping, same can't be said for the instructors that would be staying behind.
Against monsters that much, even someone like the already regressing Blackwood would be overwhelmed, no?
Amongst the monsters, there were several that matched her strength—after they had been modified, courtesy of [Ace]'s [Serum] invention.
It didn't matter whether she prioritized the small fry or went straight for the bigger threats.
Eventually, she'd be overwhelmed either ways, then, she'd die.
And if, by some miracle, she did manage to take down every last monster?
With her condition, it was only a matter of time before she kicked the bucket.
"What a joke."
He turned toward the upload screen, watching as the transfer bar ticked past eighty percent.
A satisfied smile curled on his lips. As for the researcher on the other hand? He already sprawled across the ground, already gasping for breath, as he clutched his chest.
Even without him lifting a finger, the man had already lost too much blood. There was no saving him. And by the time any so-called "rescue" arrived?
He'd be long dead.
"Either way, whether Yosen helps or not, whether Blackwood clears the dungeon or not—it doesn't matter. Even if, by some miracle, they manage to overcome all of [Joker]'s plans, in the end, we've—"
SKCH!
As he said that in celebration, suddenly, a sudden static screech resounded from his comms.
Hearing this, he yanked the comms which had been in his pocket all this time out.
"Delta? What's up? What's going on?"
The leader had asked, however, unlike what he was expecting, it wasn't the voices of Delta he had heard.
Perhaps it would have been better if their voices had been what he had heard.
Unfortunately for him, it didn't change the fact that the other person behind the comms wasn't Team Delta.
"So… you're the leader, huh?"
The voice was calm. Unbothered. Detached even.
"Well, either way, it doesn't matter. Your plans will fail. And consider this a warning—our "eldest" is already making his way toward you. Out of respect for the bold plan you've put together, I'll give you one piece of advice: flee now. Or die."
A pause. Then, as if an afterthought—
"Also, the barrier and the flames? They've been taken care of. Goodbye."
—CLICK. With that sound. The line went dead.
As the comms went dead there was a silence that permeated across the entire room. Then after some seconds—
"Delta—Dammit! Damn Yosen brats! Fine! Now this is personal!"
With a snarl, the terrorist leader smashed the comms against the wall, shards scattering across the floor.
His fists clenched as he spun toward the drive. Even as his temper flared, he knew—engaging them here would be a mistake.
No, of course, he knew who the Yosen students were.
But he hadn't expected them to break the barrier, at the very least, even if they had did, he anticipated it would be later.
No, he wasn't even expecting to break the barrier at all.
And… Who did it?
The Tendou Girl? The Beastfallen? That Miko girl from that Ancient Family? The Rosebell Scion?
Or did Blackwood herself ignore the dungeon and step in directly?
It didn't matter. The fact that the barrier was down meant one thing—
The dungeon plan was being scrapped, and now, they were calling for reinforcements.
Of course, he should have thought about it. That's why the Yosen students were up there!
And if that was the case—he couldn't stay.
Not because of the Yosen students. No, they were talented, sure. But they weren't the ones he feared.
The true Awakeneds—those were the ones that made his blood run cold.
Monsters in human form. And even calling them "monsters" was an understatement, if anything, it was but an attempts to praise them if anything.
He snatched up the drive and bolted toward his men.
"Scrap whatever you're doing! The barrier's broken! Reinforcements can use [Transport] directly now, so we're leaving! Move!"
"Yes, sir!"
Originally, they hadn't been worried.
The barrier had been tested, its properties understood down to the last detail.
Not only did it block outside communication, but it was layered with additional spells that prevented external surveillance.
No one on the outside should have been able to see what was happening within.
A spell of that magnitude, wasn't something they could just pull out of their ass. The barrier spell certainly didn't belong to them, but now…
Gone. Their assurance had crumbled. And now, anytime from now, those "monsters" would start making their moves.
And so, they hastened.
"Lord [Joker], forgive me, but we have no choice."
Clenching the drive, he immediately exited towards the emergency exit that connected the laboratory to the outside, where they also had some specialists waiting for them.
As long as they could rendezvous, they could use the [Instant Transportation] spell to escape.
But before that, a little before now.
Just when the operations had just begun.
Kaiden had floated in the air and had watched the overall situation that was happening. With his great senses, he could observe the entire area at a glance.
Additionally, now that he was close to the barrier, he could now observe it with close proximity.
"I see, so that's the case…"
There were four cardinal points where four distinctive magic circles and devices were placed, along with a huge magic circle over the residential area; additionally, the barrier was also connected to the barrier.
"I see, interesting. Does that mean to say that even if I brute force the barrier, as long as as the cardinal circles are in place, then it's futile?"
Kaiden said that,, tilting his glasses up as his dark hair tinted with green moved against the wind.
While the barrier situation would be solved if he were to shatter the outer shell, that wouldn't be the end of it, his guts told him that.
But since Arianna and the rest were solving the fire, he would leave that to them.
"I've found you."
Kaiden said, as the corners of his lips extended, then in a blur of greenish-gold, he had disappeared from the place.
Certainly—
The terrorists, and even Anti–Order alone couldn't have accomplished this.
None of them had the mana necessary to sustain such a grand-scale magic. That much was clear.
This barrier had been replicated in the form of a device.
And even that was only possible because of negotiations—talks that had taken place between their higher-ups and the ones from the "Otherside."
As for how such a thing happened, even they themselves didn't know.
But true to their reputation, the "Otherside's" magic were in a league of their own despite their technology being modern at best.
For the barrier. If it were shattered, as long as the core remained intact, it would regenerate endlessly.
"Even if that's the case… what if those monsters attack instead?"
"Hah! You worry too much. Those freaks wouldn't even notice. In fact, one of this barrier's specialties is illusions."
"Eh? For real?"
"Yeah. We could probably replicate it if we tried. Apparently, it also had an anti-magic function, but since we needed magic for the operation, Lord [Joker] chose to disable that and use its other features instead."
Two armed guards stood watch, gripping their firearms as they guarded a device—a crystal suspended within a placeholder in one of the secluded buildings around the Administrator Sector.
It was natural that they would be stationed here.
The residential area was a zone which would be too chaotic for them to station the device at, but over here?
The staffs would be far too preoccupied with the city-wide chaos to check this place.
They had been confident—convinced that no one would ever reach here.
However—
"Oh? So that's how it is."
A voice.
"It was technology from "over there." No wonder it felt so different from the usual. I see now why you lot were so arrogant."
The guards froze. They didn't need to turn their heads, they could feel it.
A suffocating dread—a pressure so overwhelming that even the slightest movement felt like it would cost them their heads.
"Interesting."
The voice was calm. Too calm even.
"I thought you'd have lunged at me already. Good thing you didn't."
There was no urgency in their tone. No hostility.
Whoever they were, they spoke with an air of natural calm, as if everything that was happening had nothing to do with them; if anything, they seemed interested.
Of course. Not in them, but the crystal device.
"So, this is the device, huh?"
Kaiden muttered, tilting his head as he examined the crystal closely.
"Interesting. The properties of this thing… quite the curious mix. And anti-magic? If I'm not mistaken, only those people are capable of something like this."
His fingers traced the air just inches from the device, his glasses fully whitened out as he spoke in calm excitement.
Were it had been Shane, he'd have practically hugged the device and start laying kisses on it.
"It also has a "sustain" function. That explains it—if I were to break the barrier, it would just regenerate. And that's why the fire keeps spreading."
He nodded to himself as if solving a puzzle mentally. Two plus two was actually four if anybody calculated it.
"I also considered the four cardinal spell formations to be decoys, but I couldn't take any chances. So, I erased them on my way here. How very interesting."
Kaiden continued his rambling, utterly absorbed in his observations.
Meanwhile—
The terrorists stood there, frozen, naturally, their expressions were anything but calm.
The first one, however, managed to gather himself, though his body trembled. "You cur!"
With a snarl, he raised his weapon, an anti-material rifle stapped over his body, and leveled it at Kaiden's head. His finger pulled the trigger.
—BANG!
Silence.
But it wasn't Kaiden who fell.
The terrorist's knees buckled first. Then, his entire body collapsed, his rifle slipping from his lifeless grip.
"...Hah?"
The second terrorist, who had been more cautious from the start, felt his blood run cold.
He had seen it. Fast, too fast, but he definitely saw it.
It had been a blur, but he surely saw it, Kaiden's hand had flickered in the air. And the bullet— 'This guy… did he flick the bullet back?'
The second man's breath caught in his throat.
He wasn't wrong.
Only after the first had crumpled did Kaiden finally glance toward him, it wasn't even a full gaze, but a side glance over to him.
"So? Would you like to try your luck as well?"
The remaining terrorist swallowed hard. He didn't answer heck, he couldn't even move.
There was nothing he could do. He simply closed his eyes, and gave up, dropping his anti-material rifle to the ground.
And so, he simply accepted his fate, allowing Kaiden to apprehend him without resistance.
Additionally, Arianna and the rest seemed to have done their job, though there were some students that had sustained minor injuries, but thanks to Lucas's potions, many had avoided anything fatal.
All in all, things were progressing smoothly.
Kaiden exhaled through his nose, adjusting his glasses once more.
"As for their leader… I'll leave it to Enma." A slow smirk tugged at his lips. "He'll make them wish they were dead. After all, that guy is…"
At the underground laboratory.
There was a hidden compartment at the far end of the underground facility. It was a passage, an exit per say that led beyond the camp's perimeter.
Originally, it had been a discreet emergency exit, designed for researchers and personnel to escape in the event of a crisis.
But now that the researchers were gone.
The terrorists had turned the emergency exit into their own escape route.
"Still, even if they broke the barrier, they'll always be one step behind. Lord [Joker]'s plan is perfect."
The leader's voice was strained, uncharacteristically so, as he hurried down the dimly lit corridor.
The hurried clanking of their boots echoed over the steel floors.
Then, all of a sudden, the world began to fall silent.
"Huh? Hngh! Boss!"
The bodyguard, had been the first to notice that their footsteps were slowly leaving his ears.
His eyes widened. As the first to notice, he reacted instantly. And in the next instant, he immediately shoved his leader forward with a mighty push.
"Oof! The hell was that for?!"
The leader tumbled ahead, cursing as he scrambled to his feet. He turned back, only to see nothing.
Imagine walking through a dimly lit hall with your friends, and you suddenly turn back to see that your friends were no longer there…
That was how it had been.
The hallway was now empty. The twenty men who had been running with him? Gone.
"...No way… What happened?"
The leader froze.
How? When? He didn't even hear it. Did they just… disappear? Was it possible for twenty people to just vanish like that is impossible.
But, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, it had happened.
For the bodyguard.
As someone who had faced death multiple times over the course of his career his senses had been sharpened—
"—Spare me the boring background story. In the end, you're irrelevant to this world; after all, your life will end here."
Everything was dark. Silent, too silent even, not only that they couldn't see; they had been walking down the emergency exit, obviously, but then it was like they had been isolated into another world entirely.
Next was this voice they heard.
Where the voice came from. They don't know.
They tried shouting; some had started to unleash firearms; however, the leader's bodyguard, on the other hand, seemed to have caught on.
He couldn't speak, nor did he hear the sounds of firearms still. Yet he knew. This was death.
Apparently, it wasn't as painful as it had always been depicted.
That meant he was dead, wasn't he?
Since he couldn't see, nor hear, nor feel anything, he is certainly dead, and like that…
All twenty-one of them had been wiped out.
Standing on the emergency exit hallway was now Enma, who was left alone, scratching his head lazily as he looked over the distance.
"...I let one go…"
He said that with a lazy tone but eventually gave up with a sigh.
"...What a drag…"