The Girl Who Looted Tomorrow

To avoid being detected by [Intuition], Special Affairs had cast an extremely wide perimeter. The encirclement would only begin tightening once Jerome entered the center.

That meant Jessica would have to face Jerome alone at first. Support would take a little while to arrive.

Fortunately for Jessica, while Jerome stood there shocked, silent, and dazed, the members of Special Affairs were already closing in fast.

She had no idea what this man was trying to pull. He could either admit it or deny it. What was the meaning of suddenly bursting into laughter?

Still, Jerome’s strange reaction had bought her quite a bit of time.

To be honest, as the captain of the Mobile Unit, Jessica often handled all kinds of sudden extraordinary incidents, and she had confidence in her own strength.

But asking her to duel a general who had fought on the front lines for years and carved his way out through iron and blood still put a fair amount of pressure on her.

No matter what, Jerome had already activated his ability first.

Jessica could only grit her teeth and go in.

The effect of [One-Man Army] was simple. By spending spirituality, the [General] could shape a [Soldier].

The [Soldier]’s gender, appearance, and clothing were all decided by the [General].

In other words, if Jerome were willing to spend the effort, he could shape an army full of beautiful men and women.

But Jerome was a general, not a circus master.

He did not care about any of that.

If he ignored gender, appearance, and clothing, and only cared that the thing looked human and could fight, then the cost of shaping each [Soldier] would be lowered to the minimum.

Jessica was fast.

But before she could summon her weapon and rush in front of Jerome, the first batch of [Soldiers] had already been created.

They seemed to leap out of Jerome’s shadow.

Their entire bodies were black, and one could barely make out human forms. A head, a torso, two arms, and two legs.

They were extremely simplified creations. Beyond that, they had nothing.

There were only five black-shadow [Soldiers] in the first batch.

They surrounded Jerome in the middle, and when Jessica’s attack arrived, they lunged at her together.

One black-shadow [Soldier] used its body to block Jessica’s spear, while the other four grabbed for her limbs.

Seeing this, Jessica did not panic.

Her thrust shifted into a horizontal slash.

The sharp spearpoint instantly cut the [Soldier] in front of her in half.

At the same time, the shaft of her spear flashed with dazzling arcs of electricity.

Like a beast released from its restraints, the lightning surged in every direction, crackling as it struck the other four black-shadow [Soldiers].

“What a terrifying weapon.”

At that moment, Jerome’s calm voice sounded.

The Rank Four and Rank Five abilities of [General] did not provide much enhancement in close combat.

Unlike [Warrior] and [Hunter], this class change was something of an outlier in the War Path. Its style was closer to that of a caster.

So normally speaking, when such a caster-type class fought, they would definitely keep their distance and command summoned units from afar.

Jessica had thought the same.

To her surprise, Jerome had actually followed right behind the first black-shadow [Soldier] and charged straight toward her instead.

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The area lightning crackled against Jerome’s body as well.

But the expression on his face did not change in the slightest.

Jerome lowered his body, shifted his center of gravity, slipped past Jessica’s spearpoint, and slammed directly into her arms.

At such close range, Jessica’s long weapon became a disadvantage.

In a single breath, Jerome struck with one elbow and three punches.

Even though his Rank Four and Rank Five abilities had not added any close-combat strength, it was not as if his Rank One to Rank Three abilities had disappeared.

“Cough!”

Under that series of heavy blows, Jessica’s entire body was briefly knocked into the air.

Who knew how many bones had cracked?

Jerome had no intention of letting her go.

The moment Jessica was sent flying, he grabbed both her wrists, pulled her back, and followed with another set of combination strikes.

The lightning erupting from Jessica’s spear grew even brighter.

But even while standing in the center of that electricity, Jerome’s face remained unchanged, and his attack rhythm did not falter.

During this time, more black-shadow [Soldiers] appeared behind Jerome one after another.

They had already formed a preliminary formation, triggering [Battle Formation] and sharing the damage for him.

Jessica reacted decisively as well.

Once her long weapon had become her weak point, she immediately let go of it, raised both hands in front of herself, and began defending against Jerome’s close-range strikes.

Several times, Jessica tried to create distance and use her other extraordinary abilities.

But the other abilities of a [Listener] all had a wind-up.

Every time, Jerome caught up to her and forcibly interrupted her under a storm of attacks.

Jerome grinned and said, “A general who only stays in the back and hides behind soldiers is no good general.”

⸻

At the same time, one block away, on the roof of a relatively tall house, Euphemia and Freya were watching from above.

Effie held a spyglass and watched the distant battle between the two, her expression turning worried.

“Eh, eh, eh. The Mobile Unit captain is completely at a disadvantage.”

This was an operation to capture a Rank Five powerhouse.

A massive battle was definitely going to break out.

How could Effie possibly miss something like that?

So she had picked out an excellent viewing spot early and brought Freya here with her.

Freya was also holding a spyglass.

“Special Affairs’ support will arrive soon. And Miss Jessica is Rank Five too. She won’t lose that quickly.”

In truth, Jessica had fallen behind entirely because she had been caught off guard at the start.

Jerome was also extremely good at pressing an advantage. He had seized that tiny opening and forced the fight into its current state.

In the short “mock battle” Freya had run earlier to prevent accidents, this exact same situation had happened.

In other words, Freya could have used Euphemia to tell Jessica about it in advance.

As long as Jessica had been mentally prepared, she would never have been beaten like this.

But…

Freya refused.

Because the result of this brief fight would not affect the larger situation.

Once reinforcements from Special Affairs and the Earth Church arrived, Jerome would be trapped prey. The ending was already decided.

So the only difference made by whether Freya told her or not was whether Jessica took this beating.

Thinking of Jessica’s betrayal in the previous simulation, Freya immediately puffed out her cheeks and silently muttered in her heart, Serves you right.

Faye holds grudges.jpg

⸻

While Jerome and Jessica were locked in battle, elsewhere, the adjutant was on his way back.

In the previous “mock battle,” he had happened to run into Special Affairs as they were closing the perimeter, leading to a sudden encounter.

He had injured two Special Affairs captains.

Freya had not told Euphemia about this information either.

Because right now, in front of the adjutant, a person wearing a hood, a black trench coat, and bandages around the right hand blocked his path.

Without question, it was War Freya, who had been waiting here ahead of time.

Or rather, “waiting in ambush” was not quite accurate.

This was interception.

A [Hunter]’s [Intuition] was even stronger. That was why, in the simulation, the adjutant had been able to discover the invisible Euphemia and Freya.

As for why Freya wanted to intercept the adjutant?

Of course, it was to cut down her enemy with her own hands.

The adjutant had killed Effie once in front of Freya.

Although that had happened in a simulation, Freya had still remembered the grudge.

And she had never been some tolerant, magnanimous person.

If there was a debt, she would collect it. If there was resentment, she would return it.

She was going to personally deal with the adjutant.

The instant War Freya appeared, the adjutant’s [Intuition] gave him a strong warning.

It told him the person in front of him was dangerous and held extremely intense hostility toward him.

But that was very strange.

The adjutant had only just arrived in this city today.

Jerome had already stayed here for some time, making all kinds of preparations.

The adjutant, meanwhile, had been providing Jerome with various materials elsewhere and had only arrived today.

And now an enemy had already come knocking?

Was that reasonable?

The adjutant frowned slightly and examined War Freya.

“Miss… do we know each other?”

Although she had already reached Rank Four on the War Path, that path did not increase height or body size.

So War Freya was still petite, and it was not difficult to tell she was a girl.

War Freya removed her hood.

Her flame-like long hair spilled freely over her shoulders.

She flexed her finger joints and said, “Of course we know each other. We even have a grudge. It’s a future grudge, but I plan to settle it now. That way I’ll feel better, and the future grudge won’t happen either.”

The adjutant stared at her.

War Freya did not give him much time to think.

Her knees bent slightly, and her entire body shot forward like an arrow leaving the string.

No.

More like a cannon shell fired from the barrel.

More like a heavy truck instantly accelerating to its limit.

The moment War Freya launched herself forward, the huge recoil force under her feet shattered the ground.

The stone road sank inward, leaving two clear footprints, while dense cracks spread around them.

One had to remember, this was not some dirt road.

It was hard stone pavement.

A Rank Four War Path [Warrior] did not have an extraordinary ability that increased speed.

But sometimes, strength could be the same thing as speed.