Chapter 154

A group of students dashed down the main street. Young students trudged along, chasing after the rear of the one in front like baby ducklings.

Leading the pack was an old professor and a young, beautiful woman playing the role of the mother duck.

“Just keep following closely behind me, okay?”

“Yes!”

Adela urged her juniors while nocking a new arrow to her bowstring. Three beautifully gleaming arrows rose from the bow, shooting forward like sharks hunting prey, piercing the monsters that were leaping about.

“Adela! To the right!”

The professor, who was slashing through monsters with his sword, shouted. She quickly drew the string back as an arrow struck the eye of a monster that appeared from the right alley.

“Die, heretic!”

Three Unity Cult members, who had gone around the alley, charged at them riding monsters. Adela tucked her bow onto her back and drew her rapier.

As the monster’s blood-red teeth came into view, she stepped forward. Her movements were smooth yet powerful.

“Grah!”

The swift strikes wreaked havoc on their enemies. Cultists and monsters fell, spraying blood everywhere. It was elegant and precise swordsmanship. Adela and the professor sliced through the horde of monsters as if they were an icebreaker cutting through ice.

“When will the rescue team from the academy arrive?”

“Well, judging by the situation, it might take a while.”

Adela felt a twinge of frustration at the professor’s words. Time was of the essence. She pulled something from her pocket. The professor’s eyes widened at the sight of the intricately designed red rod.

“The Dimensional Signal Device? Isn’t that a relic from your family? Didn’t you say it’s not easily usable?”

“I tried not to use it, but it can’t be helped. The elders might not like it, but if we don’t utilize our family’s power in situations like this, when will we?”

Immediately after saying that, she snapped the rod. A beam of magical energy shot up to the ceiling.

As she observed the radiance of the magical power traversing between dimensions, she felt a brief sense of liberation. The light faded but the signal crossing the dimensional gap continued to blink in her hand.

It wouldn’t be long before it reached her family. The Cascadia unit would arrive soon.

“Don’t worry, everyone! The rescue team is coming soon!”

Hearing the student council president’s words, the students cheered despite their dire situation. Yet, she felt bittersweet.

“If I used this earlier, that poor girl wouldn’t have had to become a sacrifice.”

Despite fulfilling her duty as student council president, she secretly blamed herself. She should have intervened but couldn’t.

“I’m sorry, Violet. I know it’s selfish, but please hang on.”

Stuffing her gloom in her pocket along with the signal device, Adela ran on. She had students to protect.

Inside the dungeon, agents of Magnavis, who were searching for relics while commanding forces, saw the light beam reaching the ceiling. While it might not concern the monsters, a skilled magician would recognize it as a signal.

And the agents thoroughly understood what that signal meant.

“Damn it! The Dimensional Signal Device? It can’t be, can it?”

Commander Vanguard looked up at the ceiling in alarm.

“The signal is pulsating from that direction. With our level of equipment and personnel, we can track it.”

Leira calmly analyzed the signal. A faint magical pulse had been detected from the rear of the forward base right after the light beam was launched.

“Damn it, a privileged brat we don’t know is here.”

“I’ll instruct the team to verify the dungeon entry list immediately. It wouldn’t normally make sense for someone with a Signal Device to be here. What the hell…”

Relics that could connect the dungeon with reality were treated as extremely valuable. Objects that aided communication with the outside world from a realm cut off from reality were rare.

Only certain individuals from the Four Great Clans, high executives from major corporations, VIPs of the Federation, or members of some aristocratic families could possess such things.

Whoever owns the relic certainly has political and social influence comparable to the Four Great Clans. There was a major operational issue at hand.

The agents realized they had potentially activated a political time bomb.

“Any progress in searching for the relic?”

“We’re currently searching. It’ll take more time!”

Leira met the commander’s gaze. Even beyond the opaque, sealed mask, she could feel the tension in his gaze.

“The signal hasn’t reached yet, right?”

“Due to the mechanisms of the signal device, it can’t relay information directly outside the dungeon. It requires time to connect.”

They reached a conclusion. Regardless of who owned the signal device, they had to bury it immediately, along with any remaining survivors.

“We’re tracking it. Time is critical!”

“I’ll summon all personnel except for a minimum crew. Everyone, gather at the designated coordinates!”

The strike force of battle mages began to move.

The Violet Squad had rescued people captured by a suspicious armed organization and was now searching the surroundings. Nearby, a truck idled, waiting.

When the squad leader gave the command, bolts of lightning erupted.

“Kraaak!”

The empowered bolts pierced through the truck’s body, turning the occupants into pincushions. The Violets collected the corpses into their inventories.

“Was it really necessary to kill them all?”

“We have a prisoner, don’t we? This one looks the least threatening.”

Unit 350 held onto the captured individual. The audacity to cling to the captain while attempting to save the prisoner was quite striking. For now, they decided to keep him alive.

“If he seems suspicious during questioning, let’s kill him!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

As they wandered through the maze-like alleys, a girl’s ponytail danced in the air like a mischievous fry. Deep wrinkles formed around my eyes.

“That hairstyle… It’s a ponytail!”

“Stupid hairstyle!”

Ponytails are what rude girls without mothers and fathers wear. It’s experience. Every person who has bullied our Violets wore a ponytail hairstyle.

“I don’t think she’s like Martina. She seems obedient, doesn’t she?”

“That’s obvious! She doesn’t have a weapon! She’s not a combatant. Could she be like Team Leader Eva?”

I asked the prisoner if perhaps her profession was something like research. Judging by her startled response, I hit upon a nerve.

“Uh, how did you know? My specialty is in the research and interpretation of relics.”

Hearing her answer, I felt a visceral disgust surge from within. This girl was part of the wicked ponytail faction!

Annoyed, I smacked the prisoner on the back of the head.

“Ugh! You trash!”

“Ahh!”

A nearby laborer chimed in.

“Hey, take it easy. I don’t want to talk back to the one who saved us, but didn’t she try to help us?”

“No way, sir! We need to hit these suspicious ones a few times!”

“Geez…”

The laborer turned his head awkwardly. He wasn’t wrong, but those people don’t understand the reality. You need to do this to gain something. It was knowledge I gained from dealing with gang members.

I didn’t know where this girl belonged, but she wasn’t a soldier. She was certainly a mercenary or resolver.

“There are no human rights with mercenaries!”

By the way, I wondered if the relic was still intact. We could roughly assess each other’s locations, but this vast and complicated dungeon overwhelmed our tracking capabilities.

“Where are the teams responsible for the relic? When will you break it?”

The relic team delivered despairing news.

“It’s not breaking! We struck it with sword energy, and it doesn’t even have a scratch. What kind of method is needed for disassembly?”

“I don’t know. They must have had a method back at the base. By the way, where are we? Command Center!”

Agent 56 compared their viewpoints and points of reference and made a mark on the map.

“You are now in a residential area. You can’t see it because of the buildings, but the two team locations are surprisingly close!”

That was a relief. They should be able to join up quickly.

According to the V-navigation, utilizing the collective intelligence and position awareness of the Violets, the current rescue team was advancing through the housing complex, while the relic team was near the business district by the main street.

I led the people toward where my team members were.

“I’ll hit you if you don’t answer properly when I ask later!”

“Yes, understood… Ahh!”

I made sure not to forget hitting the prisoner while walking.

After emerging from the alley and walking for a while, a barricade made of large junk nearby caught my eye. Corpses of monsters lay scattered in front of the barricade.

“Stop! Stop! Hands up!”

Intense lights illuminated Unit 350’s face at the front. I squinted against the blinding light even through the goggles.

“We’re allies!”

“Well, let’s see about that. Stand still!”

With my hands raised, a hunter wielding a spear climbed up from behind the barricade, surveying us. He had a familiar face from meetings. He was the chief from the Atlas Clan.

“Oh, you’re alive! Weren’t you the bodyguards? Where’s that girl named Ariel?”

Upon the chief’s question, I replied in a stiff voice.

“Atlas chief. Due to personal reasons, we are moving separately. That said, what’s that over there? Can we pass?”

“No, just wait a moment.”

Next to the chief was a man who looked like a mage, holding a staff and scanning our group. The flow of magical energy indicated he was probably scanning something.

“A voice modulator? Your tastes are something else… All confirmed. Come in. But I’d appreciate it if you’d follow our instructions. It could get unpleasant; there may be zealots hiding around.”

I agreed. Given that I had seen zealots plunge knives into others’ backs, the chief’s cautiousness sounded reasonable.

“Still, these people aren’t cultists. I just rescued them from some strange ones.”

“You rescued them? Wait, why is the girl behind tied up like that? Are you planning to let zealots in here?”

“It’s a long story. Atlas chief. But she’s definitely not one of them! She might be suspicious though. She may have answers regarding the current situation.”

I briefly talked with the chief while crossing over the barricade.

“What? They took people hostage, tortured them, and then tried to execute them?”

The Atlas chief looked stunned by the sudden emergence of a third enemy.

“Yes, Atlas chief.”

“I don’t quite understand how things got this far.”

“I agree, Atlas chief.”

“Wait, it seems there’s a misunderstanding; Atlas is the name of my clan. Didn’t your superior tell you? My name is Harbor.”

Ah, now I remembered.

Inside the barricade were people who had evacuated from various places. Strangely, at a slightly distant location, a group of people had gathered, brightly illuminating a fire and conducting some passionate work.

“It’s a makeshift elevator. It’s equipment we made early on in our dungeon exploration, but after the installation of a large elevator, it was closed and left abandoned. We gathered some technicians among the evacuees to attempt to operationalize it, but…”

Chief Harbor’s face twisted as he failed to finish the sentence. The massive metal structure reaching up to the ceiling was rusted in places, with parts broken or collapsed long ago.

As I followed the chief, loud voices exchanged from the side. Looking back, I saw federal soldiers being scolded by the people.

“Is there a living soldier here?”

“These bastards! Am I wrong? You guys were the ones messing around with the relic, and look what happened!”

“That can’t be! We’re victims too! Why would we activate that dangerous object? It should be disposed of!”

An officer, stepping up as a representative, protested indignantly.

“Wait! That person helped us out when we were rescuing the students.”

“Let’s see, their name is… Captain Klein? Now I remember.”

The chief rushed over to calm the agitated crowd.

“Everyone, relax! The truth hasn’t been revealed yet, so don’t be too harsh. And this person stayed behind to help during the evacuation. Is it right to treat a benefactor that way?”

“But it was the federal army that was holding the prism! Naturally, those guys must have been up to something! You’re suspicious too. You weren’t turning a blind eye, were you? We can’t trust the Federation! They might even be in cahoots with those zealots!”

“If you hadn’t tampered with the prism! Our personnel…”

“No, that’s not true! I don’t know anything! Damn it!”

Some frightened soldiers aimed their guns. The officer tried to intervene, but this time the hunters drew their weapons.

“Everyone, calm down!”

“What calm? These guys are also enemies! Hey, you don’t lower your gun?”

The atmosphere was a powder keg that could explode at any moment. The monsters seemed to be closing in, yet internal conflicts were erupting. It was dismal.

Meanwhile, behind me, the prisoner mumbled weakly.

“…It was me.”

“What?”

As soon as I heard the prisoner, I called for the chief.

“Why are you calling suddenly?”

“The prism! She just said that!”

All attention turned toward the prisoner, the soldiers, and hunters who had been on edge. The girl, with a troubled expression, nodded her head.

In front of the makeshift elevator, an impromptu people’s trial was being held amid a gathering of people. I made the prisoner kneel on the ground and pulled out my camera to start filming.

“Now, tell us your name, age, and affiliation!”

The brown-haired ponytail girl stammered her words.

“My name is E, Ennis Lowell. I’m twenty-eight years old. I belong to the Magnavis group, in the investigation department, section three as a lead researcher…”

“What? Magnavis?”

Hearing a familiar word, Unit 350 couldn’t suppress their shock. Why was that name here?

“Magnavis? Why is one of the four great clans here…”

Others around started murmuring in shock.

“As expected, you were a ponytail too! Die!”

“Ahh!”

I drew my blade and struck her on the top of the head. A terrible sense of revulsion overwhelmed me again, and my body reacted instinctively. She belonged to the same faction as the ponytail from the Laplacian Laboratory.

She must have undoubtedly conducted inhumane human experiments on poor, innocent girls.

“So, what did Magnavis do around here? What were you involved in? Tell us everything!”

I pointed the sword’s tip close enough to the terrified prisoner’s face. As she cried, she spilled their plans and the orders she received while revealing what they were doing here. The contents were shocking.

“I’m sorry…”

“You tried to make off with the Vision Prism? And activated it temporarily to incapacitate the federal army before taking it away? We would kill all who knew? This… doesn’t even make sense!”

Chief Harbor uttered in bewilderment. Amidst the murmurs, an enraged federal soldier lunged at the wicked ponytail researcher.

“You piece of trash! Because of you, our comrades ended up worse than dead!”

“Grah… I’m sorry… I committed the gravest sin… I’m so sorry…”

The prisoner curled up, sobbing from the hurt. It all started with that soldier kicking her, and enraged spectators rushed in, attacking.

“You rotten piece of shit! What are you blubbering about?”

“Because of you, our teammate is dead!”

“Ugh…”

The prisoner was mercilessly beaten. Just then, Captain Klein stood up.

“Wait! Stop!”

A gunshot rang out. As the crowd retreated, the captain pushed through to lift the prisoner. He pulled out a large pistol and aimed it at her chin.

“Under federal military law, acts of terrorism are subject to immediate execution. Do you understand?”

“…”

With a resigned expression, the girl closed her eyes. The chief placed a hand firmly on the captain’s shoulder.

“Hey, we want her handed to us.”

“No way. My soldiers, the commander of the mobile unit, died because of this woman.”

The crowd, newly enraged, shouted once more.

“Hey! Hand her over! She should be torn to shreds!”

“Give her to us! Let’s kill her!”

The crowd was ready to rush in and tear the prisoner apart. I felt a bit taken aback. She shouldn’t die just yet.

I decided to assert my rightful claim.

“Wait! This girl is my prisoner. So don’t decide her fate without me.”

“What?! But…”

“I caught her, didn’t I? And I have a lot of questions!”

My fellow Violets raised their weapons, claiming their rightful authority. The crowd looked displeased, but they stepped back at our display of force.

“Hey, I still have questions! Who’s your superior? What does he do?”

“My superior is… the team leader who got cut down by your teacher.”

I pulled a head from my inventory. I could feel the shock from the sudden appearance of the head wash over the onlookers. Claiming it was a relic bag, I continued the interrogation.

“Is this him?”

When I held up the blood-dripping head, Ennis recoiled in horror, nodding her head frantically.

“Yikes! That’s him!”

“So, is he your commander? Or is there someone above him?”

“He’s not the team leader. The team leader is also in a position to receive orders from others. Our department was dispatched to the field. There’s a figure who holds overall authority.”

“Who is that?”

I questioned. Ennis quickly scrambled to recollect something, looking nervously at the blade and gun in hand.

“I don’t know their name or face. I couldn’t see their face due to the Recognition Interference Device. But…”

“But…? What? Speak quickly!”

The hesitant girl rushed to open her mouth.

“The Vanguard agents were dispatched. They seemed to know each other well. I suspect they’re from the information strategy division! That’s all I know.”

Upon hearing the name Vanguard, the crowd started murmuring again.

“Magnavis Vanguard? That unit smeared in machinery with fishbowl heads?”

“Yeah, that’s correct…”

Ah, this is bad. If what this prisoner said is true, then this is a significant problem. I didn’t know how strong they were, but they certainly appeared formidable.

Could it be that the chairman is involved in this issue too? I need to bring my team here quickly. There are other people around, and if necessary, we may have to attempt an escape using the structure of that old elevator.

“We need to move the relic too! We must break it as soon as possible.”

That’s right. The relic exists. I can’t let those suspicious folks take it.

Once I finished my questions, Ennis asked.

“Um, are all the questions done?”

“Yeah, for now?”

Upon hearing my response, the prisoner looked at me with lifeless eyes and slowly closed them. All around her, furious hunters, laborers, and soldiers surrounded her. Had she resigned herself already?

Of course, I wasn’t planning to kill her immediately. I still had many more questions to ask. Moreover, she seemed to be the type to provide information politely when asked.

This was the first time I met someone who would answer without going through complex violent procedures.

Chief Harbor asked.

“What will you do with her?”

“I’ll hold off on any action for now.”

By the way, I wondered where Adela and the students were.

“I just met them!”

As soon as I was filled with curiosity, I received a report that I had met with the Violet team members. Happiness swelled in me as I started to think about when to reveal the survival of our Violets.

“Let’s just say they miraculously survived. That way, it won’t be too embarrassing.”

“Or how about this? We were lucky to defeat all the monsters… Huh?”

Before I could ponder further, a group of jet bikes swooped down above my team members.

“It’s the Magnavis Vanguard! Kiyaaak!”

“Lucian is down! He’s out cold!”

“It’s a sniper! Multiplication initiated! Daphne is in danger!”

“Adela is hurt!”

I jumped up from my seat.

“…What’s happening?”

Ignoring the chief’s question, we dashed out. Everyone except for one or two stayed behind, rushing out beyond the barricade.

“Hey, follow me!”

“Us? Aah!”