Blackbeak stood frozen, facing me.
A moment later, beneath his long hooked nose, his split lips slowly twisted.
“......I see.”
He did not immediately continue.
From the collapsed battlefield, another round of cannon fire rang out. Flames swallowed overturned armor plates, and the cries of the infected mingled within them.
Blackbeak did not look that way.
The place where that being had been standing just now.
And me.
Blackbeak kept his mouth shut for a while, as if fitting something together between the two.
“Now it makes sense.”
His head tilted ever so slightly.
“So that was it.”
His wariness remained. But he did not seem ready to charge in immediately, as he had before.
Blackbeak stayed silent a moment longer.
“That was quite an act.”
Only then did he ask.
“Who is your master?”
Master?
Blackbeak did not wait for my reaction. His tone was closer to confirmation than a question.
It was absurd.
I did not even know the name of that darkness. I did not know why Blackbeak had shown respect before it, nor why that being had examined me.
I asked silently.
What was that just now?
That darkness.
The being you answered yes to.
And are you truly human?
― Right, right!
AI cut in.
― Human...... is he? No, that side is ambiguous too. His body is closer to human, but from the first time I saw him, the aura of a contaminated entity was mixed in. Then how far should I consider him human?
Blackbeak was silent for a while.
“You have the nerve to ask.”
“Are you going to keep pretending you don’t know until the end?”
The tip of his chin tilted toward the battlefield.
The barrage was still continuing. Broken gun batteries belatedly turned and spat fire, and the infected crawled out from between the collapsed armor plates and flames. The explosions had not stopped, and debris continued to fall.
“We were almost there. What a shame.”
He turned his body again.
“The one just now is a noble.”
“He dwells in a place deeper than the things humans look up to and worship.”
Blackbeak pressed a thumb against his own chest.
“And I am a lowly slave mixed into the gutter beneath him.”
His fingertip pointed at me.
“Are you any different from me?”
― A noble?
AI’s reaction brushed through my mind.
― Wait. This isn’t about a human title, is it? It’s not in my records. Why isn’t it there?
Before I could ask anything more, Blackbeak moved.
“There’s no need to watch my step now.”
Blackbeak approached the nearest wolf-type. Around its nape, a black metal collar and dark tubes were digging into its flesh, and around its mouth, a gag-like device had hardened together with its skin.
It was a sight of flesh and metal forcibly joined together.
His hand dug beneath the collar.
Click.
The wolf-type’s back arched sharply. The murky energy that had been suppressed forced its way out. Black power wound around its shoulders and nape, and a wet cry cracked from inside the gag.
Crunch.
Its twisted foreleg planted itself on the ground.
Crack, crack.
Its joints locked into place. Beneath its hide, muscles writhed and settled, and its body swelled once more. Black protrusions rose along its spine. A murky red light spread within its pupils.
Blackbeak was already reaching for the next wolf-type.
The second collar came undone.
The suppressed energy poured out as if bursting free. The wolf-type’s spine bent like a bow, and a black presence boiled between the fur at its nape. The cry leaking from within the gag held something that did not belong to a beast.
The third collar soon came undone as well.
Each time Blackbeak’s hand dug beneath a collar, the tubes embedded in their flesh lost power one by one. The bodies of those who had been restrained awakened in turn.
The wolf-types rose.
They remained crouched low. But the breath leaking between their teeth pushed the dust across the ground.
― Wait, that.
― The restraints were blocking their inner power. That’s being released right now. Wait, at that level...... they’re approaching Knight-class. That makes no sense. How did they bind them like that?
When the final collar came loose, all the wolf-types stood. They bowed their heads toward Blackbeak. It seemed like an instinct carved into their bodies was responding before any order was given.
Blackbeak struck the nape of the largest one with the back of his hand.
That alone set the wolf-types in motion.
He went straight over to Noise. Grabbing the unconscious Noise by the collar and lifting him, his limp arms swayed helplessly. Noise was thrown onto the back of one of the wolf-types.
The wolf-type lowered its stance, then rose again.
Only then did the movement outside seem to change slightly. The gun batteries were still firing. But the barrage that had been hammering one place had scattered. Some were aimed at the swarm of infected, while others sprayed shells into the air. The black movements writhing amid the flames were no longer heading in the same direction either.
The central area swept up by the nuclear blast remained like a void carved out whole.
The infected were still alive and moving. But their momentum had weakened compared to before.
Blackbeak looked down at Noise’s broken terminal. With the tip of his foot, he pushed it toward the flames. The terminal burned black and went out.
The wolf-types turned away first. The black pack slipped out between the collapsed armor plates and flames. The one carrying Noise followed behind them.
Blackbeak looked at me one last time.
The smile was gone. The wariness from just before had not been completely erased either. Even so, he asked no more.
“We’ll meet again.”
Blackbeak and the wolf-types slipped into the shadows of the collapsed corporate district.
Only cannon fire and heat remained where they had vanished.
The things I had wanted to ask just moments ago remained as they were. Nobles, master, Blackbeak himself. Before I could grasp any of them properly, the one I could ask had disappeared.
Alone again, then.
― Alone? I’m here, you know?
AI cut in at once.
― I may have some damage, but I’m still operating.
I know you’re operating.
So what about information on nobles?
― ......None. That’s what’s strange. Why is there nothing about a being of that level left on my side?
Useless as expected.
― Hey!!
There was no time to argue over answers.
After Blackbeak slipped out, the battlefield had fallen into even greater disarray. Amid the fallout and flames, traces of the infected still remained, and the remaining defense system could not properly lock onto its targets.
Danger remained.
It simply was not pointed at me.
― Snake. The fallout is thick in there. I don’t know how your body will react to it. An ordinary body would have a hard time enduring it.
My body was already far removed from that of an ordinary creature. I could not be certain, but I did not think I would break down immediately inside there.
― Don’t drag it out.
I had no intention of doing so.
Residual heat and contaminated dust were mixed together. Places left as paths revealed direction. Those in pursuit would check them first, and the defense system would react more easily to such places as well.
It would be better to go inside instead.
What I needed to gather was the energy of the infected.
One use of the Vajra Talisman had cracked one of my scales. If I wanted to inscribe the next stroke, I had to leave enough power within my body to burn for it then.
I opened my divine sense only as much as necessary.
Beneath a collapsed armor plate, I caught an infected half-swallowed by flames. It was close to humanoid, but its arm was split into three, and on one shoulder, shards of metal and flesh had fused together.
Inside it, I saw the place to sever. Between its shoulder and head, black energy was leaking from a gap where melted flesh and metal fragments interlocked.
Earth Shrinking.
The distance folded.
Cannon fire and flames passed by to the side, and in the next instant, I was already clinging to the infected’s blind spot. To it, the moment of my appearance did not exist at all.
I cast an ocular art on it.
Its remaining senses pointed somewhere entirely wrong. Its body tried to move, but its response sprang toward a place where I was not.
In that opening, my jaw drove in.
Crunch.
Its center was severed.
Black fluid splashed over my scales, and the remaining energy flowed into my throat.
The energy settled upon my circulation.
Dao power coiled over it. Rather than letting the absorbed power flow out and be used, I pressed it down inside for the next stroke.
I took only that and immediately withdrew.
Only then did the infected’s body twist.
I was already beneath the next shadow.
The remaining ones were no different.
Find an opening, cast an ocular art, fold the distance.
Take only the energy.
Beyond the flames, traces of still-living infected remained. There were not many, and what I needed was not much either.
To gather that power, I slid deeper beneath the shadows of the collapsed corporate district.
—-
“What is the meaning of this!”
The Chief Administrator’s palm slammed down onto the office desk.
Bang!
The red sandalwood surface caved in. Deep marks were gouged wherever his fingers touched, and the report terminals atop the desk all shook at once.
“The Jasowi......”
“True Person Hyeonyang moved himself, so how could all of them......!”
The subordinate who had given the report stood with his head bowed. His complexion was stiff, but he was forcing his voice to remain steady.
“Including the Jasowi commander, True Person Hyeonyang, all members of the Jasowi are currently missing, fate unknown.”
The Chief Administrator’s hand remained embedded in the desk, unmoving.
“Say that again.”
The subordinate swallowed once.
“The Jasowi were tracking traces related to Captain Yeon Mujin’s death around the boundary of District 32, as you instructed.”
“During that process, a notice came in from the Seonghwi Council. It stated that the Director was under the protection of the investigation team.”
The corner of the Chief Administrator’s eye twitched.
“And?”
“True Person Hyeonyang immediately changed course. His objective was to confirm the Director’s location and provide escort support.”
The Chief Administrator’s fingers dug deeper into the red sandalwood.
“And now the report brought before me says every last one of them is missing, fate unknown.”
“Yes.”
The subordinate continued.
“Immediately after they approached the coordinates in question, the field channel was cut off. The personal authentication line used by True Person Hyeonyang also did not respond, and the biometric signals of all Jasowi members can no longer be confirmed.”
“The Director.”
It was a short question.
The subordinate could not answer right away.
“Speak.”
“Direct connection to the Director has also been severed. The Seonghwi Council investigation team’s channel is likewise not responding at present.”
The Chief Administrator slowly lifted his hand.
Deep handprints remained on the red sandalwood surface.
“Demand an explanation from the Seonghwi Council.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t just open the official line. Open every line to the chairman’s office, the chief executor, the head of the investigation team, and even the eleven families of the Council.”
“Find out under whose name the notification of the Director’s protection came in, who confirmed those coordinates, and who was the last person to confirm the Director.”
“Yes.”
“If any family delays their answer, record their name as well.”
The Chief Administrator’s gaze passed over the shattered desk and pinned the subordinate in place.
“And find the Director’s location no matter what.”
The air inside the office pressed down heavily.
“Check again from the last coordinates. Cross-reference everything—the location confirmed by the Seonghwi Council, the route handed over by the investigation team, and the point where the Jasowi approached.”
The subordinate bowed his head even lower.
“I will move immediately.”
“Right now.”