Chapter 249 : Chapter 249
Chapter 249. Overloading (4)
"Stage 3 Master Class, and five of them at that……"
Beside him, April glanced at the earpiece in disbelief.
"That's insane. How are Master Class beasts at the shelter?"
"Most likely flying-types."
Enoch raised his head and reached his conclusion.
The answer was obvious without even looking. Ground-type beasts of Master Class size wouldn't have been able to scale the Outsourcing District wall, so their appearance almost certainly meant flying-types.
April's face went gravely pale at that, and she grabbed her sniper rifle and kicked off from her position.
"This is terrible! Sister Lily is there too!"
Remembering that Lily had said she would tend to the wounded at the shelter, Enoch nodded once.
"No time to waste. Move out."
There was no time for deliberation. He exchanged a quick glance with Nano and April, who had been standing by in the room, and finally with Sirocco.
He gestured toward the emergency exit sign. Sirocco immediately sprinted to the door and kicked it open, and the rest followed in a rush down the building's stairwell.
Alicia had likely heard the transmission from the other building and was already on the move.
Sure enough, Sirocco glanced back from ahead, her eyes shining with prim determination as if asking to go on first.
"Hey!"
"I know — go ahead and provide support!"
The instant Enoch gave the order, Sirocco stomped the ground hard with a resounding bang, leaped, and began rapidly descending toward the distant first floor, wall-jumping between the stairwell railing and walls in a triangular pattern.
He wanted to charge ahead like Sirocco and reach the shelter fast, but with no way of knowing when fatigue might overtake him and trigger the Inner World erosion, vigorous movement had to be kept to a minimum.
Enoch suppressed his impatience by gripping Damastes's double-bladed axe, slung across his back, in a firm squeeze.
Like it or not, becoming combat-incapable here would be the worst possible outcome. Stepping in only when truly necessary was critical.
Just as Enoch was making that cold judgment, April beside him raised her head with urgent eyes.
"Please, we can't be late……!"
Her anxiety was something Enoch understood. The leader-class beasts that Sirocco — current 10th Rank — had been shattering solo in a single blow were Stage 2 Exceed Class.
Stage 3 Master Class meant beasts one tier above those — larger and stronger.
If five of those were present, even the entire squad would find them a tough fight. And if all of them had converged on the civilian shelter……
Enoch tried to shake the thoughts from his head.
No, thinking about it was pointless. What mattered was how much damage could be minimized.
Everyone seemed to share the same thought — conversation died without anyone speaking first, and they focused on sprinting down the darkened emergency stairwell to the ground floor.
Yet even as he ran, something nagged at the back of Enoch's mind.
As if thinking the same thing, Nano turned to look at him while running beside him — almost simultaneously.
"But how did they even attack it-mka?"
When Enoch didn't respond, April, running on the opposite side, urgently cut in.
"Huh? Nano, what do you mean?"
"The shelter is an underground facility-mda! It should be hard for flying-type beasts to find……"
"Maybe ground-types scouted it out?"
April called out, but Enoch immediately dismissed that.
"No, that doesn't fit. We already positioned freelancers around the shelter in advance. If there had been any sign of the enemy finding the underground shelter, they would've reported it first."
"Then what happened?!"
Enoch didn't answer April's cry, but he shared her confusion.
He had heard from Nano that the shelter was set up underground. Even for magical beasts, finding it shouldn't have been easy. So how had they discovered it and concentrated powerful flying-type beasts for a direct strike?
Glancing aside, April was running alongside him, biting her lip, staring straight ahead.
"Ugh, I seriously don't get any of this. At this rate it's like those things are stalking us!"
In that instant, something flashed through Enoch's mind.
Come to think of it — the last time, Indiviltal had seemed to know that their Interim leaders had reorganized their personnel, and had lured every one of them into a trap.
The current situation bore a suspicious resemblance to that.
Something was clearly happening behind the scenes of this battle. But there was no time to think any further.
Just then, April — pink hair flying beneath her pressed-down ball cap — narrowed her eyes sharply.
"Talk about not knowing if we're lucky or unlucky. Direct Lineage, enemy contact ahead!"
At her urgent voice, Enoch glanced forward.
A colossal silhouette with wings spanning a good ten meters stood there.
In place of a head atop its neck, a massive carapace flower bloomed, scattering green light. A female upper-body silhouette sheathed in obsidian-like carapace, wings packed with feathers of the same dark stone. It called to mind a harpy of legend.
Behind it, a flickering glow naturally drew his eyes. He realized the next moment that a fierce blaze was rising from somewhere in the city center, a dozen or more blocks away.
Seeing the flames raging against the sunset-reddened sky, Enoch felt a chill run down his spine.
No way.
In an instant, the location of the Outsourcing District shelter he had seen on the map earlier overlapped with the spot where the fire was rising.
Beside him, April came to a listless halt, biting her lip hard.
"No, the shelter……!"
Enoch stopped as well, focusing his vision. The situation a dozen blocks away came dimly into view.
A structure resembling the mouth of a large underground parking garage had been savagely torn open, exposing the depths below, from which fierce flames surged. It was certain that hell itself had already unfolded inside.
Atop the scene of utter ruin, the massive beast reared its maw skyward. Through the petals of its carapace flower-head, a ghastly screech pierced the heavens.
Watching it stomp the signpost pointing toward the shelter and indiscriminately sweep its wings, Enoch realized.
The five Master Class beasts reported at the shelter.
He had stumbled upon one of them by chance.
Where the other specimens were, he didn't know. But for whatever reason, the Master Class leaders weren't all moving together.
Yet this was hardly grounds for optimism.
The leaders simply weren't traveling in a pack — that was all. The one before him was flanked by five or six regular-class Experimental Subject beasts forming an ironclad escort.
On the main road where the enemies advanced, freelancers in full retreat were also clearly visible.
Two to three Interim's worth of freelancers had massed and were firing magic in a desperate defense, but even from afar, it was obvious they were outgunned. Every last one of them was fighting covered in wounds.
Watching the beast's wing — swung like a bludgeon — slam down just in front of the freelancers as they fled in what looked like imminent collapse, Enoch turned to the side.
"April, take Nano and get into position. We deal with this one first, then move."
"Got it, moving to sniping position!"
April gripped her rifle's forend with one hand and swiftly seized Nano's hand with the other, pulling her off to the side.
Watching the two girls recede into the shadows between buildings, Enoch turned his gaze forward.
Now, what to do.
With the enemy before his eyes, tension filled the palms of his hands with sweat. The situation was clearly bad.
Even as an outstanding sniper, April — at her current skill level — couldn't deliver a one-shot kill on a Master Class with a sniper round.
Inevitably, the vanguard had to buy time so that, through April's supporting fire, critical damage could be dealt in close quarters.
But Sirocco wasn't here. And Lien — arguably the strongest asset — was carrying out another task Enoch had previously asked of her, so he didn't want to call her in if possible.
To make matters worse, Alicia was also on a completely different trajectory.
In short, there was no one to serve as vanguard right now.
Should he draw his sword? The thought sent his hand reaching for the cloth bag on his back, but it froze mid-reach.
The erosion was already underway.
Last time, when he had used Lethal Strike against Indiviltal, the backlash had been devastating, worsening the erosion. Using the sword was too great a risk.
Then what?
Something flashed through his mind like lightning.
No — perhaps there was one thing. The sole means and method at his disposal.
Enoch looked down at the long, black object already gripped in his hand, and swung it in a wide arc as he slowly walked forward.
He simply hadn't thought of it before — perhaps Enoch had been carrying it from the very start.
The one thing that could serve as his breakthrough in this situation.
***
"Damn it, when's the support coming?!"
Amid flying red embers and black smoke, a freelancer gritted his teeth and shouted.
He aimed his magic gear, but the massive black silhouette before him stood backlit against the setting sun, radiating its crimson-stained majesty as though mocking his efforts. The freelancer let out a horrified voice.
"M, Master Class, they said. It's a monster, pure and simple!"
Right behind him, another freelancer who had been targeting the same enemy lowered his magic gear — nearly drained of mana from all the spells he'd fired — and cried out in fury.
"Magic doesn't work at all — what kind of magic resistance……!"
"Gah, damn it. The plan to peel at least one off the shelter's defense line was fine, but who knew a single one would be this strong!"
The instant his comrade finished venting, a searing blast tore through the air without warning as a massive firestorm swept between the freelancers and the beast.
— SCREEEEEE!!
Seeing one of the beasts flailing on the ground, engulfed in flames, all eyes turned to the direction of the fire.
Another freelancer, standing on a wall and weaving hand signs, scattered the flames he'd been hurling with a sweep of his arm.
"Tch. So this is the limit of my firepower."
He glanced at the freelancers being driven backward and clicked his tongue.
"Hey! Too many friendlies nearby — I can't put out full power. I drew its attention, so hurry and ru——!"
RUMMMBLE!
But before he could finish, two beasts flanked around and smashed through the wall as they leaped, scoring the ground with their carapace lances as they landed.
Their green-gleaming eyes stripped away the fire-mage's foothold, and he had no choice but to retreat toward the Interim, his diversion effort rendered moot.
From right behind, another freelancer screamed in dismay.
"Damn it, we can't draw its attention like this!"
Watching six escort beasts slowly close in, the embattled freelancers could do nothing but back away helplessly.
One of them shouted in bitter frustration.
"When the hell is support coming?! Even three Interim combined can barely tie down one Master Class!"
The freelancer at the front, clutching an orb-type magic gear, ground his teeth.
"Damn that Direct Lineage. Acts all high and mighty commanding from above, but when it actually matters, he doesn't even show up……!"
"Hah. Of course not. You really think a noble-blooded guy like that would fight alongside us? We're done for."
"What?"
Behind him, another freelancer — apparently surrendered to despair in the face of death — spread both arms and sneered up at the sky, not caring that a beast was charging straight at him.
"Don't you get it? We've been abandoned! On this giant chessboard some Black Mage built, we're nothing but chess pieces the Direct Lineage uses as expendab——!"
THUUUUUUUNG!!
As if swallowing his final scream, the road's stone tiles exploded. A ring-shaped blast wave swept across the ground, spreading outward like ripples on water amid a massive cloud of dust.
"Wh, what. What just……"
The freelancer, his dumbfounded face half-hidden behind the arm he'd raised against the whipping wind, finally realized a double-bladed axe had been driven into the ground right above him. His eyes flew wide.
The head of the regular-class beast that had been approaching him dropped to the ground, rolled away, and crumbled into ash.
Seeing the jet-black, mechanically designed double-bladed axe radiating a dull gleam from where it was embedded in the ground, they turned around in shock.
"H, huh?"
"What, what…… is this……"
The man who turned saw someone approaching from behind and wore a look of utter shock.
Where the beast had dissolved into black ash, the particles drifting slowly skyward — in the middle of that scene, a black-haired boy was walking calmly toward them.
"Ah……"
"There seems to be a misunderstanding."
Enoch glanced at the frozen freelancer Interim as he passed them, expressionless.
"I don't discard my pieces that easily."
Walking forward, he stepped on the double-bladed axe lodged at an angle in the ground, kicked it up, and spun the long haft into his grip.
The cold, heavy sensation filled his hand, accompanied by the metallic ring unique to a long-hafted weapon.
Though it was technically a magic gear, the double-bladed axe was a form suited for close combat as well. Given its considerable weight, it probably wasn't originally designed purely for throwing or brute-force control, but that didn't matter.
At the very least, in this situation where rashly employing Sword Forms was dangerous due to Inner World erosion, it was serving as a rather fine weapon.
Gripping the long double-bladed axe behind his back, he extended his free hand forward and lowered his stance.
The method was born from the countless solitary hours locked away in dim training rooms, honing a body blessed with the genius of the sword, pushing reflexes to their limit and then beyond.
Enoch glanced around.
Everyone's eyes were indeed wide with shock, but none seemed to harbor any real suspicion.
Since a direct-impact weapon like this posed even fewer questions than a staff or wand, it shouldn't seem unusual to onlookers.
It wasn't his specialty — the sword — but it was better than facing leader-class beasts barehanded.
Among the bloodied freelancers who kept trying to speak and stopping, one finally managed.
"D, Direct Lineage. We. Um."
"No time."
To remind them who held command authority, Enoch slammed Damastes's long axe shaft into the ground, cracking it with a deep boom. Then he glanced back with cold eyes.
"I'll handle this. Go support the other fights in the rear."
"Y, yes!!"
As they turned to withdraw, the female freelancer at the tail end spun back and called out.
"D, Direct Lineage, be careful. That thing's magic resistance is so strong that most of our offensive spells didn't work!"
"That's fine."
Enoch raised his head, magic gear in hand.
"It doesn't matter to me."
That kind of concern was effectively meaningless as far as Enoch was concerned. What he used wasn't magic like theirs.
Watching the retreating freelancers, then raising his gaze, his eyes met the green gleam of the massive silhouette hovering some ten meters overhead.
Tension shot through his body at once.
So that was a Master Class.
Unlike the Exceed Class, which topped out at roughly five or six meters, this was unmistakably a tier above.
Standing upright with its back straight, the beast would easily clear ten meters. Its wings were proportionally enormous.
Could he do this?
Facing a swarm of enemies, Enoch slowly spun the axe into his grip and raised his head.
What he held was not his specialty weapon, and his body was not in optimal condition.
The risk was suffocating, but there was no retreating here.
Before him, the beasts drew to a halt at a wary distance.
In the hair-trigger standoff, each side scrutinized the other's slightest movement, the tension in the surrounding air wound taut like an invisible, swelling balloon.
Enoch was the one who burst that balloon first.
In one sudden motion, he angled the axe, stomped one leg down to drop his stance — and the beasts reacted in unison.
The regular-class escorts, serving as point, shattered the stone paving underfoot and charged at Enoch.
Simultaneously, Enoch spun the mechanically designed axe once and launched forward like a bullet, closing the distance in a heartbeat.