Chapter 237. The Immortal (5)
"If the vanguard deliberately left openings, then the magical beasts used bait tactics?"
April, raising her upper body slightly from where she lay, looked at Enoch seriously.
"Yes. At least from what I heard…."
What she was saying was clear. In other words, the vanguard had feigned being driven back and retreated, luring in their targets, then surrounded them so completely that nothing could be done, and crushed them.
A primitive tactic, but so ruthlessly effective.
Enoch nodded, lost in thought.
"If that's true, then in effect, we weren't the only ones targeting the enemy's chain of command."
"Right, but it's strange, isn't it~?"
April, too, placed a hand on her chin and fell into thought for a moment. She, too, seemed to sense something off about this incident.
"Strange? Which part?"
"Umm. Well~?"
April murmured as if thinking. Glancing at her, April, unbothered by the way her slender yet full thighs showed openly beneath her short hot-pants, swung her legs back and forth as if splashing water.
Then, as though something had occurred to her, she looked right at him and clutched the sofa cushion.
"Ah! That gross old guy Shepherd or whatever said the strategic moves were all drawn up by that Monarch Class magical beast, Indiviltal, right?"
"Yeah. That's what he said."
April put on a thoughtful gesture again and opened her mouth.
"Hmm. But that one's dead, isn't it? Then how did the other magical beasts move so strategically? Doesn't that seriously not make sense?"
At her words, something suddenly clicked in Enoch's head. Out of habit, he covered his mouth with a finger and murmured,
"Don't tell me — before Indiviltal died……"
When he trailed off, April looked at him with curiosity. Enoch noticed her expression silently asking for more, and slowly shook his head.
"It might be possible. If the magical beasts — who function as hardware executing the commands — received Indiviltal's pre-drawn plan and moved according to it, it would make sense."
"Th, that's possible?"
"Probably. It might be similar to how a program a programmer makes can still run fine even after the programmer dies."
Still, even thinking about it that way, something didn't quite sit right. Enoch lowered his gaze with his hand over his mouth.
"But even so, questions remain."
"Huh? Questions?"
"Yes. For example……"
Enoch glanced again at April, still sprawled out on the sofa.
"How did Indiviltal know that the Interim leaders had reorganized their personnel?"
"Ah, right?!"
April's eyes widened in surprise. Then, pushing her upper body up from where she lay, she agreed vigorously.
"Could it be that the regular-class magical beasts use magic to do reconnaissance on us? In games, only the big ones like boss mobs use magic, they said, but……"
"Probably not. Only the Monarch Class use offensive magic; they don't use detection magic. I've yet to see regular-class Experimental Subjects use magic."
"Hmm, I suppose that's right. Then how did the magical beasts know our side's movements so well?"
"Who knows."
Enoch shook his head. But it was clear there were enough anomalies for even her — sharp as she was, with a freelancer's instincts — to react so keenly.
The situation was urgent, but not a topic to leap to conclusions on. Given the circumstances, he had to go through each suspicious point one by one.
Lowering his head, Enoch accelerated his thinking.
Reviewing the events of the previous solo operation briefly, his mind suddenly landed on the bird-masked figure, Ixion.
Could the bird-masked figure — Vendetta's Annihilation Officer Ixion, whom he had encountered during the solo mission — be the party behind this?
If he was truly commanding these magical beasts, that possibility certainly wasn't out of the question.
But Enoch immediately rejected that possibility. It was hard to think Ixion was entirely behind this.
First off, the existence of Indiviltal — a Monarch Class magical beast effectively serving as a strategic officer — wouldn't be explained.
Whether Ixion had created a Monarch Class specimen through Unique Magic was unclear. But if he truly had the ability to command the magical beast army, why would Indiviltal have been leading them instead?
If Ixion had been able to command all the magical beasts, he would have stormed the Outsourcing District himself, leading the Experimental Subjects, at a suitable moment.
In that case, this battle — already tilting in the magical beasts' favor — would have been wrapped up in their victory long ago.
Yet he had, until now, almost exclusively operated from within the forest where the magical beasts' main encampment lay. There had been no sign of him joining the full-scale battle.
Enoch leaned back in his chair. Throwing his upper body back, he absentmindedly gazed up at the hotel's stylish ceiling light.
So was he planning to step in directly once the freelancer forces had been whittled down to the limit?
But knowing how powerful a 9th Rank Black Mage was, it was strange that Ixion hadn't gone to this battlefield already.
To begin with, if a 9th Rank Black Mage had joined the magical beasts' full-scale assault when they were winning, the battle wouldn't have dragged on like this — it would have been a complete rout for this side. Leaving the battle as is, this is the height of inefficiency.
Therefore, at the very least, Ixion's true purpose wasn't participation in this battle. No — even victory itself might not be his aim.
In that case, only one guess came to mind.
"Could it be that his goal is this battle utilizing Tantalus's Experimental Subjects itself……?"
Enoch murmured softly to himself and narrowed his eyes.
That magical beasts were invading the 19th Outsourcing District on a large scale had appeared in the Official History of the original story, but the details had never been clearly laid out. Meaning it was impossible to know what truth lay ahead.
Even so, from what he'd experienced so far, he could dimly grasp at an estimate.
──A prophecy.
The Book of Gnosis, said to contain the prophecy made by a 1st Rank Black Mage of the past. Not only Tantalus but even Ixion had been abnormally fixated on that prophetic text.
Perhaps this was related to that. He had no proof, but for some reason that was his intuition.
"……"
Enoch briefly turned his gaze out the window.
A vast plain, and the forest where the enemies had retreated, came into view. Considering the events he'd come across during the operation, there were many factors to think about besides Ixion.
The alarm system at the abandoned factory zone they'd seen in the forest. The large-scale outdoor laboratory for the experimental magical beasts. Not one of those had been fully explained yet.
A cool breeze blew in from outside the window, stirring the curtain and running through his hair like a cooling hand.
Yet his reasoning kept running in circles.
Who, exactly, was the true mastermind stirring up this chaos in the 19th Outsourcing District, and what was their ultimate goal? Even piecing together with what few clues he had, he could not yet draw a conclusion.
If it were a puzzle, it felt like the center piece was missing, right before completion.
Enoch swallowed a groan inwardly.
If only one more piece — just that one missing piece that could reveal the root of this unclear situation — would appear…
"Ah! Come to think of it, you know?"
Cutting through his train of thought, April interjected beside him all of a sudden.
"Right now, the few detection-type mage users who can still operate are doing recon inside the forest with drones and such, I heard!"
"Observing the enemy's movement?"
April, still stretched out, lightly bounced her well-formed legs on the sofa.
"Yes. It's kind of a relief, isn't it? Thanks to you taking out Indiviltal, Direct Lineage, the drones got their reconnaissance function back. If we collect enough information, we might be able to calculate the time until Anarchilon's re-invasion."
"Re-invasion, huh. I was expecting it, but so their coming back is already a certainty? What about striking them first based on the reconnaissance?"
"Impossible. We can only roughly gauge their movements. We don't even have enough time to regroup, let alone strike them first."
April sighed in exasperation.
"And besides, how are we supposed to deal with an Immortal whose head was blown off yet still survived…"
From her reaction, it seemed the freelancers had confirmed through the drone reconnaissance footage that Anarchilon was alive despite having its head severed.
"Then, the moment they invade again will effectively be the start of the final decisive battle."
"I think…… so. We only have enough people left to fight once more……"
April trailed off there, let her shoulders droop slightly, and lowered her lashes.
"But, right now, I'm actually more worried about you than the magical beasts, Direct Lineage."
"You're worried about me?"
"You remember, right? That the authority of leader of the other Interim was transferred to you per the Freelancer System Manual clause."
When Enoch silently nodded, April held up one index finger.
"So then, that 'Empire's Freelancer System Manual clause' I just mentioned — do you know what that is, Direct Lineage?"
"No."
"Simply put, it's applying a minimum of law to put a minimum leash on the pack of dogs called freelancers in the Outsourcing District…. That'll do as an understanding. Since there are some freelancers out there strong enough to pose a threat even to Main House domains."
"What's the point of all this?"
"The point is — clauses are just clauses."
April let out a small sigh.
"Even if it's a law the Empire set up to control freelancers, the problem is, the kind of people freelancers are aren't the type to follow it properly."
He understood the meaning quickly. Enoch straightened up and, with a composed expression, turned his gaze down toward April.
"You're saying it won't be easy to rally the freelancers."
"Yes, in the first place, the Interim haven't even been cooperating well with each other up to now — they've only been fighting in squad units. Honestly, with our side effectively annihilated now, even if the 9th Placement Direct Lineage of Elsyde takes up the leader role, they'll all do their own thing rather than come together."
"Makes sense."
"I'm not trying to dismiss you, Direct Lineage. But, you know?"
April, lying on the sofa, hugged the cushion tightly as though anxious.
"……The freelancers of the Outsourcing District are basically a pack of dogs. If they'd cooperated nicely from the start, our combat strength would've been higher than it is now."
"I see."
April glanced slightly aside with a worried expression.
"Yes. The original Interim leaders like old Damastes have been recognized in this scene for years. For you, Direct Lineage, to suddenly step in and command them might be too much……"
"I have a sense of what you're saying."
When Enoch responded without any visible reaction, April, looking frustrated, planted both hands on the armrest of the sofa and half-rose.
"But, you know, Direct Lineage. If we really can't unite the freelancers, then everyone's done for!"
Instead of answering, Enoch briefly turned his gaze away.
April's words were sound. There wasn't much to think about.
The enemy's strategic officer had been removed, while their side had lost a full ninety percent of its forces. Both sides had long since lost the ability to execute any real special operations.
What remained, then, wasn't the clever trick of eliminating high-value targets like leaders as had happened this time.
It was purely a contest of force against force.
What remained was only the head-on clash of the last survivors on this enormous chessboard.
And that was exactly the problem. The situation was swinging overwhelmingly in favor of the experimental magical beasts.
They didn't need strategy to begin with — they had overwhelming numbers and, led by their commander, the ability of super-regeneration.
And their side?
While Enoch's squad, the strongest unit, was still intact, overall, fewer than a hundred freelancers had to hold a desperate defensive line.
Focused on defense alone, there was no way to spare any forces to deploy plans or tricks.
Truly, the situation was desperate.
This disadvantage had to be overcome.
But how?
Just then, a flash of inspiration shot through his mind.
The World of Impermanence. The lake of Rhodes that had been rising through, eroding the whole of Enoch's inner self. Recalling that spine-chilling image, Enoch unconsciously murmured to himself,
"To overcome this situation, my……"
"Ah! Right, Direct Lineage!!"
Turning at her sudden call, Enoch unexpectedly found April's face right in front of him, and unconsciously held his breath.
For some reason, April was staring at him intently, her ruddy eyes sparkling with tremendous excitement.
"…April?"
He already had a bad feeling, and Enoch pulled his upper body back slightly in his chair. But April paid no mind to that and drew even closer.
"Come to think of it. There's a method! One person we can still bet hope on in this situation!"
"Hope? Who?"
"You see? Nano told me something super interesting! She said you met him during your solo operation!"
"Met him……"
"Ah! Direct Lineage, you're trying to play dumb, aren't you?!"
April snapped back, bracing her hand on the sofa's corner and leaning her face in. Then she pointed a finger at Enoch.
"You know — that person!"
"That person?"
"Yes!"
Just as Enoch was looking at her with narrowed, skeptical eyes over her unbearably confident tone.
April, leaning her body fully forward toward Enoch, cried out, her cheeks flushed red,
"You know, the freelancer with the jet-black visor that looks like a knight's helm, and the hood covering his face! The one in the SIEG Industry techwear-style robe!"