[677] Awakening of the Five Senses (1)
The Shirone mercenary band blasted away by the golden gem's explosion lay scattered.
It didn't much concern Lupist, but Aria's absence bothered him.
"Where did she go?"
Jane, who'd thrown herself after Lupist, rose into the sky and scanned the area.
"She went pretty deep. Looks like she's trying to access Saenghwa on her own. We should wait too."
With Kuan assigned as her bodyguard, nothing should go wrong, but the code imprinted in Aria's unconsciousness required absolute perfection.
"Find her. I'll head to Saenghwa first."
Split in two, the plan would be flawless.
"Understood."
Just as Jane mounted the Cosmic Rail and prepared to depart, Lupist added, "Jane."
"Yes?"
"I won't forgive a second mistake."
Nothing—apart from returning Saenghwa to state property—must be allowed to affect the mission.
"...Understood."
The Cosmic Rail shot forward and vanished beyond the buildings. Lupist turned and regarded Saenghwa's spire.
"It's quiet."
He muttered as he walked.
"What are they planning?"
* * *
"Kyaaaah!"
Aria, collapsed at the side of a building, clutched her head and screamed.
Members of Vega, the Spectrum's lower branch, were fighting Kuan.
Among the lower organizations, the Tubo tribe—cow-faced beings with grotesquely developed lower bodies—was the most brutal, but not a single one had been able to get past Kuan's blade.
"Where on earth are you?"
None of the Tubo had seen Kuan's face. Pierrot the jester's movements had been too exquisite, and anyone who saw his face stopped breathing.
A gust of wind, and Kuan appeared in front of Aria.
When she slowly opened her eyes, countless slabs of beef lay strewn around.
"You all right?"
As long as Kuan stood guard, she was safe.
But the heat from the golden gem that had heated Saenghwa was intense; with no special defenses, her wrists and ankles bore severe burn blisters.
"Yes, I'm fine."
Aria said it, but her face was pale.
She's infected.
Kuan's sword could kill, but it was useless for saving a person.
"I can go. Transfer the code..."
Aria's condition was rapidly worsening.
Radum was filthy by nature and packed with ain races; unless they found the cause, treatment would be difficult.
"Kuan."
Jane dropped from the Cosmic Rail and landed from the sky.
"Why are you still here?"
"As you see, the subject is injured."
Kuan offered the closest thing to an excuse as Aria shivered with chills.
"You can't slay microbes."
It wasn't Kuan's fault.
"Jane, please... my code..."
Aria pleaded with desperate eyes.
If there was any chance she could lose consciousness at any moment, they had to get the code to Jane immediately.
The problem was that transferring the code without being connected to Saenghwa's main system would mean Aria's death.
"It's okay."
She had already steeled herself.
"I'm also a diplomat of the Tormia Kingdom. I know my position is one that must be sacrificed first in a national crisis. Take the code."
Jane looked at Aria with pity.
A kingdom's appendage.
By Lupist's doctrine, humans were merely tools to be consumed to keep the system running.
—A second mistake will not be tolerated.
The chairman's words sank into her mind like hypnosis.
"There's a way."
Jane's words left Aria dazed.
"What way in this situation?"
"I'll link my mind to yours and infiltrate Saenghwa while connected. If I reach the main system and transfer the code from there, it'll be fine."
As a mental-class mage, Jane could amplify a tentacle-shaped Spirit Zone and extend a mental connection all the way to Saenghwa.
"But that'll put you in danger, Jane!"
Focusing on the Spirit Zone's shape would prevent her from using full combat strength.
Besides, she had to go into Saenghwa's center, where the upper ranks of the ain races lived.
"Aria's right. We're the state's appendages."
Jane put her hand on Aria's shoulder.
"But we're not a suicide squad. If there's a way and we don't use it, that's not a choice for humans."
"Jane..."
Aria's eyes brimmed with tears. Jane turned away.
"Protect Aria. It won't take long."
Her resolve required a terrifying decision; Kuan bowed respectfully.
Cosmic Rail.
Jane, connected to Aria's Spirit Zone, rode the Cosmic Rail back into the sky.
"Impressive."
Even bearing the mental burden, the rail laid out at the same speed as before.
* * *
In a secluded hollow of the concealment zone, Meirei knelt, covering her left ear.
* * *
They said to gather at Saenghwa, right?
Wieg of the Tempest ran straight for Saenghwa as Lupist had ordered.
He'd met a Pidu unit on the way—swordsmen recognized by sanctity—and where their dazzling twin-sword technique passed, only pig heads rolled across the ground.
"Whee. Whee."
At first he thought it was wind, but when he realized there was a distinct melody beneath the sound, he stopped and readied for battle.
"Wheeee. Whee."
A desolate tune that fit Radum's barren landscape.
"Who's there? Show yourself."
Wuuuuum!
At that moment a thunderous engine roar came from Saenghwa and all of Radum's concealment devices shut off.
"What the—?"
Wieg looked around in puzzlement, spotted a single goblin in his view, and raised his twin blades.
What's that guy?
A shabby goblin in a red cloak, hooked nose and pince-nez, sat on a rooftop balustrade and whistled.
The whistle faded into the air. The goblin pushed up his spectacles and looked to the overcast sky.
"Is there any need to fight, comrade?"
It was Kido, captain of the Speedkiller.
"For what purpose have you set foot in a ruined world?"
"Ptooey."
Wieg spat and pointed his twin blades.
"You're a monkey—don't get high-minded. Cut the chatter and attack. No time."
Kido, wielding a one-and-a-half-meter spear with blades on both ends, leapt down with his cloak fluttering.
"Life must be eaten, and to eat is to fight. Life itself is combat. Pitiful human, are you also trapped in the cycle of feeding and breeding?"
"Don't compare us to your savagery—beasts that eat kin and assault at will."
"Without reproduction, there is no feeding."
Kido swung his spear; the whistle shrieked.
"Eat, eat, eat, until at last only you and another human remain in the world..."
His afterimage spun like a top, traced a horizontal line, and snapped to a stop.
"Answer me. Will you reproduce with that human, or will you feed on them?"
Unreasonably irritated, Wieg launched like the wind.
"Who are you to sermonize!"
As his twin blades flashed, Kido's spear painted afterimages.
Goblin Spearmanship — One Hundred Eight Agonies.
The piercing whistle cut through Wieg's eardrums.
* * *
"It looks like everyone who needed to gather has gathered."
Arcman, master of the Silvering Guild, said to Etella.
Jordic of the War Chariot guild, Evian and Elwy of Bloodrose, and the heavy-armored swordsman Bykon stood behind her.
Arcman looked bitterly at the corpse of Con, a fellow guild member.
While the Spectrum's lower branches swept the area, who to save first was purely luck—and Con had been the unluckiest.
Stupid bastard. You should've survived somehow.
"I'll go to Saenghwa now."
No one answered because they understood the operation's reality.
Against an ancient weapon intercepting the ground, there was little they could do.
"I won't ask you to come. No—please, you should turn back now."
It was Shirone's call to make, but Etella already knew what her student would choose.
"I'll take responsibility. You won't suffer any loss because of me."
Just for coming this far, they deserved the hundred thousand gold.
Contrary to expectations, the mercenaries exchanged glances.
A hundred thousand gold isn't even retirement money.
As leaders responsible for their own guilds, a failed mission would be fatal to their reputations.
Arcman looked to Saenghwa, barely three hundred meters away.
We're almost there anyway, right?
With the core members' skills not to be underestimated, once they joined they could probably hold their own.
"If Silvering stays, War Chariot stays too."
When Jordic spoke, Evian refused to back down.
"It's the guild we built our lives on—we can't give it up here."
As Etella sighed at their resolve, small dwarf-like children with childlike faces sprang from the alley.
They were the filkers, a magic race.
"Found you! Here!"
Shining magic flared above the filkers' heads, and goblins, Pidu, and Tubo poured in.
The closer they got to Saenghwa, the more the enemy numbers swelled; the path was instantly choked with foes.
"Tch! Break through!"
The mercenaries braced, and the ain races surged like a wave.
With the masters of the kingdom's three major mage guilds present, their firepower was terrifying.
Evian bound the enemies' weapons with a magnetic field; Bykon charged in with his massive bulk and swung his sword.
"You things are less than vermin!"
Feeling he hadn't earned his keep, he charged faster than usual—then a flying dagger struck from the flank.
"Gah!"
With a metallic clink a blade that resembled a short sword glanced off, and Shagal—clearly not sane—thrust his face forward.
"Shagal!"
Etella shouted, but in an instant the crowd of nonhumans flooded in and hid Shagal's figure.
He's dangerous!
As the nonhumans were smashed aside to clear a path, the air vibrated with the distinctive whine of Shagal's projectile blades.
"You think you'll die coming this far?"
Bykon twisted left and right; Shagal's short sword bounced off his heavy armor.
Thick.
That was as far as Shagal's reaction went. With thuds and puffs, he aimed three slashes at gaps in the armor.
"Aaaah!"
Bykon writhed as projectile blades embedded in both eye sockets and the left nape of his neck.
"Tighten the muscles with Skima! If you leave him like that—!"
Before Etella finished, blood gushed from Bykon's neck.
Faster than expected—faster than any calculation of the enemy's condition would suggest.
Twelve more projectile blades slammed into the seams of Bykon's armor; the corpse convulsed and collapsed.
"Bykon!"
Etella's eyes flamed as she rushed forward, but Shagal's short sword struck first.
This time the attack was clearly aimed at her brow; Etella leaned back and halted.
What are you, exactly?
How is Tia still alive?
Where does truth end and illusion begin?
As Shagal held the mercenary band at bay, the filkers behind them whispered with innocent faces.
"What? Are they on our side?"
"Enough! Fight already!"
Just as the nonhumans surged toward the mercenaries like a blaze, Shagal drove a projectile blade into a goblin's forehead.
"Guh!"
"You bastard! He's an enemy!"
Speedkiller members abruptly swerved direction; countless short blades whistled through the air.
You just need to kill them.
If every life in this world were to vanish, everything would finally become clear.
Horrific screams erupted and over twenty people fell at once, bleeding out.
Etella trembled as Shagal stepped out again.
"I'll kill them all."
Shagal was a killer forged by experience.
And he was the worst kind of evil.