ALL NOVEL Chapter 114
Can we stop the extra-dimensional storm?
If it were Carisia here instead of me, the chances would be quite high. But the output needed to offset a supernatural disaster is the problem…
I could confidently say that the White Nameless from the original work could manage it, but with Carisia, I can’t be sure. If I had prepared enough relics to back me up, I might have a nine out of ten chance.
I cautiously looked at the sky. If I use the artifacts I brought with my eyes wide open, I try to estimate whether I can resolve it in time.
Hmm… maybe I can do it…
The problem is what happens afterward. Even if my suspicious eyes go unnoticed, if I use a relic that could erase that storm, I will inevitably be questioned about what it is.
Last time, the future where Carisia saw the Elder of the Ten Towers popping up was so shocking that I prepared insurance.
I borrowed an artifact from Knemon, despite my lack of shame, but I’d prefer not to use it as much as possible. The moment Blasphemia decides to analyze it, it will surely reveal the very strong touch of the extra-dimensional realm, and at that point, L13’s identity will be destroyed.
So far, L13’s identity is useful. It would be a waste to use it here.
“Senpai! What should we do!?”
My hand instinctively tried to go to my temple. I consciously twisted its path to my chin instead.
I tried to maintain a calm demeanor, playing the L13 that Niobe believes in.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“What?”
“One of us must report what happened in this city. And my chances of surviving inside the extra dimension are higher than yours.”
“So…”
“Please escape, Lady Niobe.”
Though not loud, my tone was firm. Authoritative yet urgent without haste.
Niobe’s lips quivered. She must be trying to protest in disbelief. I searched for phrases suitable for this situation.
“Don’t misjudge your position.”
“You belong to the command in this operation, and I am the field agent. Your duty is to supervise the agents and achieve results, not to jump into the extra dimension.”
With only about ten minutes left until the storm breaks through the world barrier and floods the extra dimension, if I do my best to escape now, I could reach Algoth City’s outskirts.
If I keep running, I might barely escape the flood.
“Do your best to evacuate and report back to headquarters.”
*
Niobe, who had tried to say she would stay and fight alongside, had to shut her mouth.
Because she couldn’t waste the resolve shining through L13’s determination. The conviction that she must inform Blasphemia of Argyrion’s tyranny, even if it meant her death.
Instead of reverence for her senpai, Niobe left a brief reply of ‘I understand’ and rushed to escape Algoth City as instructed.
Because she knew that was the best way she could respond to her senior’s resolve.
Sending a concise explanation of the situation along with an urgent request for support. Repeatedly sending to Blasphemia’s headquarters.
The communication situation near the rift to the extra dimension would become extremely unstable, but if I send hundreds of messages and can connect with headquarters even once, it might turn the situation around.
While Niobe ran with the determination engraved in her heart by her senpai’s resolve, Orthes was watching Amimone Tower.
How can I bring that without it collapsing to Knemon…?
If it were only a reasonable suspicion according to the plan, there would have been a way to change just the leadership, but now, all I could do is be proactive and improvise.
*
“This is an absurd waste.”
After the Argyrian leadership meeting ended, Nastion emerged from the shadow of Halto and spoke bluntly.
Halto nodded slightly, indicating it was fine to say more.
“I could find no plausibility that an opposing force exists at all. If you had mentioned reinforcing our forces with the purpose of breaking a trap from the Ten Towers, I would have understood.”
Nastion vented complaints about the absurdity and irrational actions for quite a while. It was indeed a sharp criticism. Almost too much for an underling to say to a superior.
Yet Halto’s expression remained unchanged. That’s where Nastion felt discomfort.
Despite issuing such an unreasonable operation, he maintained a calm demeanor that was beyond normal.
“Listen.”
Halto’s words were short but heavy. Nastion suppressed his emotions again and waited in the darkness for the Argyrian commander’s instructions.
“When I hunt, there are times I corner my prey into a dead end. The moment all plans mesh together like a complicated machine, it gives me the intellectual thrill of solving a complex puzzle and the satisfaction of having defeated a formidable foe. The mixed emotion of relief that I can finally go home comes flooding in.”
It was a story completely unrelated to the topic. Nastion began to doubt that Halto was gradually losing his sanity.
“And the opposing force shows up precisely at such moments, saying, ‘You all reached a dead end too.’”
“What do you mean?”
“It means that the hunter who chases his prey into the cave is likewise trapped in a cave that has only one exit. And the opposing force blows up the cave without hesitation.”
“Excuse me?”
Nastion didn’t know, but these words stemmed from Halto’s own experiences.
He had cornered Orthes to a ruin, only for him to collapse the ruin and escape gracefully. Halto could enumerate several such experiences.
Every Argyrian executive must have encountered enough tracking failures to not count on two hands. With threats to their lives involved.
He once urged a minimum of two agents to track just one target, only for both to attack each other and become incapacitated.
He had sprinkled explosion magic all over an extra-dimensional ruin, and when the opposing force entered, magic that hadn’t activated would cause localized explosions instead.
Behind every horrific experience was the emotion of ‘this time, I can catch him for sure.’
After experiencing such situations several times, the opposing force became a dilemma in itself.
That guy acted like a bullfighter…
What caused headaches for Halto and the Blasphemian tracking team at the time was the moment Orthes revealed his tracks.
After desperate pursuits, the clues they managed to find led them to a reasonable conclusion that Orthes wouldn’t have had time to prepare anything deliberately.
If they charge in right now, they might finally be able to take his head. If they delay even a second, they might lose the trace again.
The moment that urgency takes over, they fall into a trap.
Should I step in or grit my teeth and look away?
Even if I look away, is there another way to find it?
The suffocating pressure that comes with every approval of an operation.
Had it been Orthes, he would have expressed his rage and fear as ‘the feeling when the bastard plays the game like a dog’ when he matched up with that guy again!
Halto felt the same kind of anger at the distress signal from Algoth City.
…Hearing such an explanation, Nastion thought.
Is he crazy?
“There’s no doubt. This disgust can’t be imitated by anyone other than that bastard…”
Halto, whispering with conviction. Nastion felt both pity for the human Halto and anxiety regarding the Argyrian leader.
*
Gorgopf was perplexed by the suddenly raging storm.
What in the world just happened?
There’s no way an extra-dimensional storm would happen so unnaturally like this. Only the Argyrians could disrupt the security of a city protected by a mage tower, summoning an extra-dimensional storm.
Gorgopf struggled to rationalize the current situation.
Damn it, was there a coward among my comrades!?
There must be a coward unable to endure the worsening situation who sent the distress signal.
The Argyrians acted immediately upon receiving the signal, hence this situation occurred.
There’s no way to connect with Argyrians right now. It can’t be helped. First, I’ll gather the comrades inside the tower and strike Danao after the storm disperses…!
After the extra-dimensional storm comes the flood; it is evident. The lethargic Danao would struggle to adapt to the suddenly shifting mana. With a surprise attack from comrades, eliminating the tainted tower master should be a piece of cake.
Looking out the window, Gorgopf witnessed a squinting man whose identity he couldn’t make out, gazing at the tower.
In the man’s eye, something blue seemed to shimmer momentarily.
A Blasphemian agent?
That creepy appearance. I could sense an ominous feeling. He might be a Blasphemian agent come to capture everyone in the tower due to the emergency.
Just as Gorgopf prepared magic without realizing it, the man’s lips began to move. Gorgopf murmured in response.
“Truth and… the Divine?”
*
Good. Gorgopf.
You’ve been chosen.