Chapter 317 : A Delivery from the Chairman
Chapter 317: A Delivery from the Chairman
After defeating Behemoth, the high-level Adaptees, myself included, steadily cleared out the remaining areas where monsters had gathered around the barriers.
After several hours of what had become mind-numbingly repetitive work, the [Mystics] finally began running out of numbers.
By the time the clock reached 4:41 a.m., dawn was beginning to break beyond the distant horizon. The pale golden light of the rising sun spread across the wasteland, and the darkness slowly withdrew its curtain.
At last, the true appearance of the battlefield was revealed.
To cool my body temperature, which had risen to its limit, I temporarily deactivated my modules and looked down beneath the barrier.
The monsters that had once swarmed like an army of ants had all become corpses, piled together into small mountains.
Even that was only because Behemoth's blood and the Anti-Rain had swept many of the bodies away. Without them, the piles would have been more than twice as large.
“Well... this is going to be a nightmare to clean up.”
Lexus muttered tiredly after fighting through the entire night without rest.
He looked exactly like someone who had spent all night drinking before showing up to work, to the point that I almost wondered if he'd secretly gone off somewhere for a drink while I wasn't looking.
Still, he wasn't the sort of man who lacked that much awareness of the situation, so there was no point entertaining such pointless suspicions.
Just as Lexus had said, cleaning up this mountain of corpses would be a tremendous ordeal.
Their blood had seeped into the existing mountains of garbage, while chunks of flesh blasted apart by artillery shells had splattered across the barriers and countless other places before drying in place.
Thanks to the Anti-Rain, the stench wasn't unbearable yet.
But once the sun fully rose and the rain stopped, I couldn't even imagine how horrible the smell would become.
When that happened, monsters drawn by the scent might come flooding in and trigger a second Monster Wave.
Or, if luck truly abandoned them, some Wizard—particularly a Necromancer—might arrive and start playing around with the corpses.
For that reason, removing every one of these bodies would become the City Defense Force's and the City Government's highest priority once the battle ended.
Of course, that had nothing to do with someone from the highest social class like me.
Still, just imagining wading through pools of thickening blood while hauling away monster corpses was enough to make me feel unpleasant.
The one hopeful part was that, having slaughtered so many [Mystics], industries related to them would flourish for quite some time.
Products made from Mystic Materials would flood the market at low prices, and Arcane Modules would be released in huge quantities.
In particular, since they had managed to kill an ultra-rare Mystic like Behemoth, research and development using the Essence extracted from its body would surely become much more active.
Of course, corporations fighting over ownership of the corpse was an entirely separate issue.
In short, the city would experience another period of rapid growth after overcoming this crisis so magnificently.
It wouldn't be enough to completely recover from all the damage Chairman Drake Stingray had caused.
Still, it was far better than nothing.
The real problem was...
'Can I really let this end here?'
Ultimately, Chairman Stingray had orchestrated this entire incident to create an opportunity to bring down the strongest enemy—the Heavenly Dragon.
Yet even now, with the Monster Wave almost over, I still hadn't firmly decided what to do next.
'The Cardiac Injector...'
Inside my coat was the mechanical device Chairman Stingray had entrusted to me.
According to Miyu's analysis, it was "something meant to be inserted into the heart of a human—or something similar."
But that was all I knew.
I had a rough idea of how it might be used.
But it was only speculation.
I had no certainty that the conclusion in my head was actually correct.
'What exactly is the Chairman planning?'
According to Miyu, all the modules I had "looted" from the Ninja corpses appeared to have been created specifically for me.
Which meant that he had even predicted the entire process of me fighting and defeating the Ninjas.
'That crazy old man...'
There was no other way to describe it.
How many people had he sacrificed just to arrive at a single desired outcome?
And those actions had naturally become shackles for me as well.
Regardless of whether I approved of the Chairman's methods, far too many people had already been sacrificed to prepare this stage.
No matter how much my basic stance was to care about no one except my own people...
At the very least, as a human being, I couldn't possibly feel nothing about it.
'I have to defeat the Heavenly Dragon this time... if only for their sake.'
But that brought me back to my original question.
What was I supposed to do now?
If only I had one more clue.
But I didn't even have the luxury of searching for one.
“...You damned old man.”
At least explain something properly.
I had no idea where he was hiding or what he was doing.
Right now, I was fighting monsters to prevent the entire city from collapsing.
But was this really the right thing to be doing?
What if, by the time the Monster Wave ended, my opportunity to kill the Heavenly Dragon disappeared along with it?
Lost in those uneasy thoughts, I slowly walked along the barrier while observing my surroundings.
Then, a group of people suddenly appeared before me.
“...Who are you?”
I asked with a frown.
I'd nearly killed them by accident.
It was like someone suddenly appearing right in front of a person already holding a loaded gun.
The timing was especially bad because I had temporarily deactivated my modules.
Realizing they had made a mistake themselves, they immediately lowered their heads in apology.
“W-We apologize. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Namikov from Headquarters. I've come to deliver the command the Commander has issued to Mr. Aaron Stingray.”
“Is it important?”
“Yes. It is.”
The lieutenant colonel then detached a cable from his hand and offered it to me.
The fact that he was using a physical cable instead of wireless communication meant the contents were highly confidential.
Naturally, I had no obligation to obey Headquarters.
Still, there was no reason to deliberately act rebellious and refuse an order under circumstances like these.
I accepted the cable and connected it to my port.
The moment the connection was established, a document file was transmitted to me, and an official document appeared before my eyes in augmented reality.
Its contents were as follows.
-Although the Monster Wave appears to be nearing its end, Headquarters remains concerned about the possibility of a second or even third invasion.
-In particular, after Behemoth's defeat, a significant number of retreating [Mystics] escaped. There is concern that the surviving creatures may establish new nests near the city and create areas of Otherworld Transformation.
-Headquarters is considering organizing a subjugation force, but current conditions make it difficult to deploy large-scale military forces.
-Therefore, we request that you organize a subjugation force together with the Government Special Mission Fixers and the corporate-dispatched high-level Adaptees to eliminate the escaped [Mystics] and stabilize the surrounding areas near the city.
“So it's cleanup duty.”
“You have our sincerest apologies.”
Although it was presented as an order, it was closer to begging.
Even though it was an official document, every sentence was written with extreme caution.
They were clearly trying not to provoke me.
Seeing the Commander lower himself this much, I had no reason to take offense.
I was somewhat tired after wrestling with monsters all night, but this level of fatigue meant nothing to an Adaptee.
Besides, I had no desire to let monster nests spring up around the city either.
There was no reason to refuse.
“...When do we leave?”
“Immediately. We've prepared a vehicle. You can ride it part of the way.”
“You mentioned there would be others besides me. Can I know exactly who's joining?”
“The five Government Special Mission Fixers, excluding Red, along with the high-level Adaptees dispatched by various corporations. However, it would be rather inappropriate to reveal their names and exact numbers here...”
“I understand. That's enough.”
They had deliberately brought an official document to keep everything confidential.
Obviously, this wasn't the place to discuss such matters openly.
That had been my oversight.
“Lead the way.”
“Please follow me.”
The lieutenant colonel took the lead, and I leisurely followed behind him.
Even then, the only thing occupying my thoughts was—
How do I kill the Heavenly Dragon?
Sector E Ammunition Depot No. 6913.
“[Ughhh... I'm dying... this is so exhausting.]”
“L-Let's all take a short break...”
“Ughhhh!”
At Iri's words, the four Stingray Special Scholarship students all groaned in unison before collapsing onto the ground.
Beside them remained mountains of artillery shells that still had to be moved.
As for why the same people who had been watching the New Valhalla City All-Stars defeat Behemoth from inside an armored vehicle were now performing manual labor here...
They were being punished.
“[The Chairman was terrifying when he got angry...]”
“Seriously...”
“[I bet Behemoth ended up dying like that because of us... There was no need to kill it in such a gruesome way...]”
“Who would've thought Behemoth would die by being torn limb from limb?”
“Hobeop... that's not being torn limb from limb. That's death by being pulled apart.”
Their punishment—and assignment—was to personally move all the supplies inside the ammunition depot.
Normally, drones or Androids handled this kind of work.
But as punishment for “disobeying orders and leaving the operation area without authorization,” they had been assigned manual labor instead.
Sigh...
All of them let out a collective sigh.
Normally, Aaron Stingray's expressionless face and cold tone were enough to make many students fear him even when he was doing nothing.
But after today's experience, they had realized that his usual cold demeanor actually meant he was in a fairly good mood.
In any case...
Even for Adaptees, spending an entire night carrying crates weighing hundreds of kilograms was overwhelmingly exhausting.
However, their punishment had been set to last “until the Monster Wave ends.”
No matter how tired they were, they couldn't simply return.
“[The others stationed elsewhere are probably getting at least a little sleep in temporary shelters by now...]”
“Don't say things that make us even more depressed.”
“Exactly. We followed because Opp... Senior said he'd take responsibility, and in the end we couldn't even say a single word to the Chairman...”
“Hear, hear!”
“Hm? Raina, were you just about to call Senior 'Oppa'?”
“Ah, th-that was...!”
“[S-Shut up! What was I supposed to say to someone who got so angry he even slapped Iri across the face!?]”
Sigh...
Another collective sigh.
There were still plenty of things they wanted to complain about.
But they were simply too exhausted.
In the end, they quietly rested in silence.
Then—
Rumble!
“[H-Hey!? That's an engine!]”
“Someone's coming!”
“It must be the supervisor! E-Everyone, hurry and get back to work!”
Just as they hurriedly tried to resume carrying the crates, Iri's sharp senses realized the approaching figure wasn't an ordinary person.
“W-Wait a second, everyone. Something's strange.”
“Strange? What do you mean?”
Approaching them wasn't the supervisor.
It was a delivery drone.
And it was half destroyed.
The delivery drone wobbled through the air before stopping in front of Iri and scanning her face with its camera.
[Facial recognition in progress... Verification complete. Civilian ID confirmed. Ms. Iri Elisbell, please provide your signature to receive your delivery.]
“Huh? Me...?”
“[Did you seriously order something at a time like this?]”
“There's no way I did...”
“Why don't you check who sent it?”
“O-Okay.”
Iri nodded and slowly read the sender's name.
The next moment, her face froze in shock.
“Ah...!”
“[Why? Who is it?]”
At Silence's question, Iri looked back at everyone with a bewildered expression and answered,
“It's... ‘Drake Stingray’...”