Chapter 158

The Violets ran as if carrying a prism like a cauldron. Up above, Adela unleashed a constant stream of arrows.

I had clearly provoked them from a distance, yet they sprinted towards us at a maddened pace, seemingly furious. We should count our blessings that their jet bikes were unarmed.

“Yikes! They’re sniping us!”

Just as I finished that thought, a shot came flying from a jet bike.

A bolt struck a Violet near the prism, sending them tumbling to the ground.

In retaliation, our group quickly shot down a bike that had been hovering in the air.

“Geez, yikes!”

From the front of the prism escort, a startled cry echoed out. Ennis, who was carrying the prism on her back, was shocked at the sight of the sniper.

“Hey! How fast can you set it up once we reach the plaza?”

“Ten minutes! Even at the slowest, ten minutes is enough. I don’t fully understand the workings, but… yikes!”

This time, a bolt of electricity flew right at my feet. I jumped sideways just in time to dodge the attack.

The function of the Vision Prism isn’t merely as bait.

This artifact is going to be the kindling for a massive campfire that attracts the moths. So we must keep this prisoner alive for as long as possible.

“Yikes! They’re coming!”

Although I struggled with the weight of the prism, the enemies closed in on us rapidly. The command center pressed the other Violets to gather intel on the enemy’s locations from the strategic map.

“Ugh! It was indeed a gamble. We should have just set it up and activated it ahead of time!”

“Quit whining! We’ll arrive soon! Our teammates are laying in ambush!”

The mages were rushing in. Had they cast an acceleration spell? Their speed was even greater than before.

Violets hiding in the alleys started firing bolts as they charged forward, dodging them or batting them away with their swords.

Now I could see their faces. Whether it was the effect of the recognition interference device or not, their features blurred and fragmented like a mosaic.

“Yikes!”

“Now’s our chance!”

As I gave the order, a massive bolt shot down from a rooftop like a meteor.

Immediately, numerous magic circles rose above the enemy’s heads and rained down spells, cutting through the bolt. The weakened bolt collided with a translucent barrier.

“Can even this be blocked?”

The jet bike squad and mages unleashed a barrage of energy at the spot from which the attack had come. A startled Levi, carrying a ballista, dashed away from the sniper’s location.

“Yikes!”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if this ended easily? No way! Charge!”

With the sniper’s attack failing, the ambushing Violet squad and teammates charged at the pursuers. Golden magical energy enveloped the assault team.

The Violets clad in military exoskeletons injected syringes into their thighs. As the dark potion coursed through their veins, an unbearable surge of power shot through them.

“Yowza! I feel stronger!”

Violets who had injected Black Ice jumped off the rooftop and barreled toward the enemies. The Violets, with their eyes blazing, charged at the foes with astounding speed.

“Plow through! Tear them apart!”

With Irene’s buff alongside the exoskeleton’s support and the power of the drugs, the shockforce was beyond imagination. For a brief moment, we managed to dodge the incoming bullets as we charged ahead.

The bullets in front of my eyes moved slowly. Magic arrows floated like balloons. Everything felt sluggish.

Sensing the danger, the enemies raised their staffs in retaliation and swung their swords.

“Gyaaah!”

“Bind them! We have to catch them!”

Although the enemy’s combat power wasn’t as strong as the Vanguard’s, they were quite formidable. They were all seasoned veterans, adept at both ranged and close combat.

Grappling exchanges of blades ensued. Even with enhanced strength from the exoskeleton and drugs, we were barely able to hold our ground.

“Use the Ether Beam!”

As the Violet assault team temporarily restrained them, Violets wielding Ether Beam emitters pulled the triggers.

– Boom!

Magic power surged forth, and three enemies swinging their staffs were struck down and collapsed immediately. The sheer impact of the surging magic seemed to have dealt considerable shock.

“Now! Flame Blade!”

Seizing the moment, a Violet wielding the Flame Blade swung her sword without hesitation. Immediately after blocking with her staff, a powerful flame burst forth, sweeping across the enemy lines.

“They’re holding on with their barrier!”

Despite the attacks from the Ether Beam and the Flame Blade, the pursuers displayed resilience.

We fired bolt after bolt, but the witch in the center activated the interception spell from earlier to counter our projectiles. Regaining their momentum, the enemies attempted to counter-attack again.

“Right! We’re sending in more teammates!”

At that moment when they were caught off guard, I hurled my teammates into the fray like a catapult.

Irene and Kalia, thrown by a Violet with great strength, sped towards the enemies.

This was the Violet Launch Tactics. Approaching faster and higher was better than just rushing in.

“Ha! Take that!”

The two girls launched by the Violet dove at the witch and unleashed a relentless flurry of strikes. Before the witch could block the intersecting spear and sword, she unleashed a long bolt from her staff, swinging it like a whip.

“Guh! What power…”

Surprisingly, the strength the witch displayed was beyond imagination. Each time she swung her electric whip, we Violets had to dodge or drop to the ground. Otherwise, we’d be cut in half!

Most importantly, she never gave an opening. Though I had repeatedly warned my teammates to watch our backs, the enemy didn’t show any signs of being careless. The bizarre device on her back was undoubtedly an artifact.

“I’m getting dizzy. She doesn’t give any openings! If only I could just use my gun somehow!”

With my Unique Ability, the fiery blade struck the witch’s back and shoulders again and again.

Kalia’s sword mercilessly assaulted her. Every clash of sword and staff sparked flames.

The witch recoiled each time, though her staff remained covered in flame. Yet, I couldn’t deal a decisive blow.

Even with Kalia’s attack power and speed being far superior to the Violets, this was the extent of our efforts. If it had just been us, such a surprise attack would have been impossible.

“Irene seems busy defending.”

“It looks like we need to restrain her! Just hold her down for now!”

I pulled out another artifact I had been saving from my inventory. It was a four-star artifact, the Chains of Will.

These chains, once used by a ghoul officer, exhibited considerable tensile strength and durability.

While Kalia and Irene held the witch down, a Violet with the chains swung it in a lasso motion.

The chains wrapped around her left arm with a swish. The Violets quickly yanked on the chains.

“Huh? Aaaah!”

“It’s flying away!”

The witch exerted an astonishing level of strength, swinging her arm with the chains still attached. The chains snapped loose, sending the Violets flying backward.

“Do we have to physically tackle her?”

Just as I was about to envision returning to the small fountain plaza, Kalia urgently shouted something.

“Chains! Now!”

I instinctively threw the chains to her.

The Chains of Will whipped through the air, wrapping tightly around Kalia’s arm. Just then, the witch swung her electric whip one more time.

“Yes, this will do!”

The unyielding flames surged through the chains. The fiery shackles clashed with the electric whip, resulting in a small shockwave. As the witch flinched, the flame chains entwined around her staff and arm.

“Got her!”

“Violet! Why didn’t you give this to me sooner? I’ve never seen something so cool!”

With her left arm bound, the witch couldn’t move at all.

Though she struggled against the bindings, the bright purple flames engulfed her, rendering her unable to muster the same strength as before.

She started to cast minor spells in desperation. Irene stabbed at her with the spear as I slashed with my blade, but she was surprisingly sturdy.

“The strength of her protective spell is beyond imagination!”

Irene cried out. I pulled out my remaining hidden card.

“Come forth! Granite!”

“Uwooooh!”

A massive boy wielding an axe burst onto the scene, shattering walls as he came.

The witch’s surprise was palpable even through the recognition interference mosaic. His heavy but powerful strike toppled even an intermediate monster.

—Boom!

“Caught her!”

“Ahhh!”

The witch fell to the ground, bloodied.

She wasn’t dead yet, but the artifact strapped to her back shattered, sparking flames.

The woman, with a pained expression, groaned as she struggled to stand.

“Alright, I broke the artifact!”

Whether it was from the axe strike or the flame chains, the witch’s staff broke as well.

The woman with scarlet hair glared angrily, drawing the sword she had sheathed at her side.

Wait a moment, I couldn’t quite understand the expression on her face. Had her recognition interference device malfunctioned from the shock?

By the way, scarlet hair, that face seemed familiar somehow.

“How strange, I feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere.”

I overheard Irene mumbling while the Third from the command center rifled through the Death List on the desk.

From the top tier of the academy’s Death List, I found a photo of a witch with the same face.

“Darn it, why is she here?!”

She was the Vice President of the Polaris Academy Student Council, Lera Valestone. I had wondered why she was never at the academy, and it seemed she had been up to no good here.

“Well, it’s convenient! Let’s just kill her quickly now!”

“No way! The command center says to check the map. Enemies are converging on us!”

Unfortunately, the map showed enemy forces closing in.

“Guys! Let’s fall back!”

Just then, the jet bike squad circling overhead descended, firing their weapons. The Vanguard forces were coming too. I immediately detonated a smoke grenade and withdrew with my team.

While I regretted not being able to kill her, the ambush had been successful. Now we could use our guns and explosives.

The Violet Brigade regained the upper hand on the battlefield.

“The brigade command center relays: Battery One, combat readiness! Flight Squadron One, all units, deploy!”

A squadron of fifteen hang gliders soared up toward the dark ceiling of the dungeon.

“They’re closing in! When will this end?”

As the ambush group succeeded in destroying the fire suppression artifact, a woman in the center of Lion’s Fountain Plaza wracked her brain over the Vision Prism lying in the middle.

Right next to her was an old stone lion statue with its mouth gaping wide.

The reason I had taken a prisoner to activate the prism was singular. To attract hordes of monsters and zealots.

“Let’s think back to the Pastera Snowfield. When we activated the Ether Amplifier, monsters swarmed in.”

Monsters are drawn to powerful magical waves.

I asked Ennis if such a powerful artifact could have a similar effect and received a positive response.

“It will be finished shortly. Please wait just a little longer! I don’t completely understand the mechanism or the flow of magical power myself.”

“If not you, then who will understand it?”

When I pressed her, Ennis, even while moving her hands swiftly, opened her mouth.

“…Our team leader?”

“I’m talking about the one with no neck!”

She nodded in response.

“The entire process was handled by our team leader, while I and the other teammates only managed smaller parts. I was solely in charge of the circuit tuning in the mid-stages.”

Oh dear, perhaps I should have kept the team leader alive. We might have finished this faster.

“Ah, so he was just a middleman. You weren’t lying when you said you could do it earlier, right?”

“No! I can do it! Why would I lie about that?”

With vacant eyes, she fumbled with the prism, muttering.

“After all, it’s my job to do. Since I partnered up with you in the end, I should be the one to finish it…”

Just then, an urgent communication came from the command center.

Looking at the strategic map, a red dot was advancing through a narrow corridor from the right.

Since they had smashed all the vehicles, aside from the jet bike squad, they were all coming at us on foot.

Violets hiding on building windows attempted to slow their advance, but they chose to break through building floors and come from above.

The sound of explosions grew closer.

“Hey! They’re coming! Hurry!”

“We’re in the final stages!”

With a flash of light, a bolt struck near the artifact.

“What’s going so fast?!”

“Damn thieves. I’ll send you to hell!”

A Vanguard soldier wielding a staff charged at tremendous speed. He swung his staff in the air and unleashed a torrent of magic bullets.

“Yikes! Hit the ground!”

“Yaaah!”

The area near Lion’s Fountain became a sea of flames. The Violets held their ground, buying time. Following that, a barrage of bolts from the hunters flew in.

“Prisoner! Hurry and finish up before we— Huh? Your arm!”

“Ah, my, my arm. Haha…”

Momentarily frozen as I urged the prisoner on, I noticed they were gritting through the pain from their left arm, which had been severed, but they continued to work.

“I, I can do it. Just need to inject the magic power and it’ll be over!”

Before they could finish, I immediately infused power.

Soon, the Vision Prism began to glow with a kaleidoscope of colors. The enemies must have seen that, as their firing became even more frantic.

Just after finishing the work, another explosion erupted.

“Guh…!”

“Yikes! Let’s get out of here!”

I dashed toward a nearby building, dragging the prisoner along. The Violets who had been holding the line were long dead.

“Hey! This is enough. Start it quickly!”

A minute later, the entire Magnavis brigade entered the plaza.

Near the artifact, void of light, only one Violet 10 remained, incapable of moving.

A Vanguard-looking soldier approached and asked.

“…Where’s Adela Cascadia? What did you do with the artifact?”

“You’ll see when you look. Hear that noise?”

I pointed to the road above the plaza heading toward the forward base.

As the sounds of beasts drew closer, they looked at me with eyes full of hatred.

“I don’t know what trickery you played with the prism, but if your plan is to lure in the zealots and monsters, it’s better to give up that dream. We just need to recover this and head back.”

Violet 10 chuckled derisively.

“Who would send us? Guys, let’s begin! Broken Arrow!”

“…!”

In that moment, all the improvised explosives buried across the plaza detonated at once.

The immense tremor shook the ceiling of the dungeon.

“Aaaaaah!”

But the onslaught was far from over.

“Battery One! Open fire!”

As the hunters, battered by shrapnel, screamed in agony, aircraft spewing orange flames came flying in from all directions.

The Magnavis troops scrambled to put up their barriers. One shouted, pointing at the sky.

“It’s a rocket!”

Correct, it was the Violet Brigade’s special rocket. The V-1!

A short distance away from the plaza, Violets belonging to Battery One were setting up an impressive yet sturdy launch pad.

In accordance with their training on a deserted island, they adjusted the angles, and began to retrieve rocket parts from their inventories.

As they assembled the fuselage and warhead, rockets as thick as a human were completed.

While the firepower of a single shot was weaker than self-destructing attacks, it could provide long-range fire support. If unleashed in quantity, even they couldn’t deal with it. Counter systems would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

As the artillery launched rockets into the sky, the powered hang glider squad that had hurriedly taken off ascended as well. The internal engine roared back to life, allowing the complete flight squad to be deployed.

Their mission was to guide the artillery, track enemies, and support ground forces. And intercept the jet bikes!

“Shoot them down!”

Flight Squadron One engaged in the first aerial combat since its formation. With machine gun fire raining down from above, the jet bikes emitted smoke one by one as they plummeted to the ground.

“Alright, now let’s lock down the escape routes!”

As the shelling commenced, the waiting zealot mob emerged from above. The zealot leader riding a Noxterra bellowed.

“There you are, damn thieves! I don’t know who you are, but I’ll show you hell!”

The horde of monsters surged toward the Vision Prism, and a melee broke out within seconds.

Seemingly flustered, some of the soldiers tried to retreat the way they’d come. But we couldn’t allow that.

“Damn it! We killed them all!”

One of the enemies screamed, pointing at our side.

Amidst the flapping banner of the last regiment, our main force emerged from the alleys, rooftops, and the right avenue of the plaza, having been waiting in ambush.

Violets pulled their guns out of the windows and aimed outside. Many of the enemies froze in disbelief at the overwhelming numbers facing them.

Sensing danger, a Vanguard soldier hastily led his subordinates toward us.

“Charge!”

With seemingly nothing to fear, he brandished a massive magical blade drawn from his staff and rushed in. But we had hidden cards too.

“Go, Rugilinn’s Iron Fist!”

Rugilinn’s Iron Fist, Violet’s friend, charged at the enemy.

The target was the Vanguard right in front! That guy had insulted us by calling us bugs when he had attacked from the side.

“How dare you!”

By the time he grasped the situation, it was too late. The Violets swarmed him like glue, binding him.

“We’ve tied him up!”

“Step on him quickly!”

Before he could retreat, the tank charged in at high speed. He swung his magical blade, but astonishingly, the tank miraculously endured the attack.

“Keep it up! Rugilinn’s Iron Fist!”

Perhaps it was because of our cheering? The armor buckled, and the cannon barrel was torn off, but the tank pressed on. The protective spells embedded in the armor performed admirably too.

“Uuaaaaaah!”

The massive treads rolled over, crushing both the Violet and the Vanguard.

“Ugh! He’s still holding on!”

He was astonishingly resilient. Even crushed under the tank, he wasn’t flattened at all and was fighting back!

-Damn bug! Do you think I’m going to die from this toy?

The mechanical modulation sounds echoing behind his mask sent shivers down my spine.

Indeed, this was the capability of the elite of Magnavis, a subordinate of the Chairman! If we let him be, he’d slip out from under the tank and retaliate.

But we wouldn’t allow that.

We were the girls who knew about coordinated defense tactics. A tank is always accompanied by infantry.

The support Violets attacked the fellow trapped under tracks.

“They’re trying to lift the tank!”

“Pierce the head! Hit the arms!”

Taking advantage of his writhing, the Violet squad clustered and attacked him. The barrier, armor, and Ether Defense were systematically dismantled.

“Die!”

As the last Ether Defense shattered, the tank’s treads finally moved forward and crushed him.

-Ugh, Uuaaaaah!

The struggling enemy was ground flat under the treads.

“Finally caught him!”

“We brought down the Vanguard!”

This monstrous foe that had butchered several of our Violets had finally fallen.

I realized something. These were not invincible machines, but living beings made of flesh and blood, just like us.

However, this was not a moment to relish victory. There were at least five more Vanguards remaining. The plaza was still teeming with enemies.

The command center relayed orders.

“The brigade command center conveys! All troops! Attack!”

As chaos erupted in the plaza, hang glider squadrons soared overhead.

Artillery constantly fired rockets. The Violets locked and loaded, pulling triggers.

A thousand Violets of the brigade began their offensive.

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