EP.140 Perfect Calculation
Along with the screams, the opposing forces gradually dwindled. Though they spewed roar and flames, the Black Knights' losses were minimal.
It was Tirkanjaka who found it rather strange that the casualties were so light compared to the offensive.
"...Hmm? What's going on?"
Rather than recklessly swinging their swords, she had them throw themselves to at least grab their ankles.
The opponents couldn't even shake them off and rolled on the ground. The soldiers who had been firing threatening attacks in succession just moments ago rolled on the ground the moment they allowed close approach.
"They can't even endure a single dirt-grabber... no, Black Knight...?"
How could Tirkanjaka know? Even in the military nation, regular soldiers were no different from ordinary soldiers. They were provided educational opportunities, but only officer-rank personnel could meaningfully wield qi.
Regardless. Tirkanjaka repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists, then commanded.
"...Charge."
Now the Black Knights began charging at the soldiers without restraint. Some were cut down by the gunfire, but Black Knights were the most fundamental divine power of the Progenitor that could be summoned endlessly.
Numbers pressed the front line. The soldiers' space gradually shrank.
If this continued, they would be pushed back. The commander who grasped the battle situation stepped forward wearing military gear, holding a large battle axe.
"Cover me! I'll deal with the main body!"
The commander fearlessly charged toward Tirkanjaka. The Black Knights rushed to stop him, but fell before the briefly concentrated gunfire of the soldiers and his axe.
A few stray bullets flew and embedded themselves in the commander's back. But that's what qi and military gear were for, to withstand such things. The commander didn't even pay it any mind and charged even harder.
The sight of a steel human with a massive body approaching. The momentum alone was grand.
Tirkanjaka raised her fist to face him... but suddenly, upon a thought, held it still without swinging.
"Take this! My axe!"
Above, the commander's massive axe fell. Tirkanjaka caught it with her fist.
Crack.
It stopped after only tearing the skin slightly.
"...."
"...."
An awkward silence flowed.
The axe was precisely wedged between her fingers. Between the index and middle fingers, digging in about half a chi deep was the commander's achievement. The commander urgently drew up qi trying to pull it out, but,
"Hmm. I wondered what confidence made you challenge me. Was it merely a fool's bravado?"
Snap. Tirkanjaka twisted her fist, crushing the axe blade, then reached for his neck. The giant frame even wearing military gear was lifted up by the girl's hand.
"...You were somewhat useful at least. But an elite... no. Let's say you weren't."
Tirkanjaka threw her hand, and the commander's giant frame clad in steel armor flew through the sky. His body fell onto an automobile, smashing the roof flat.
"Kuh...!"
"Lieutenant! Aaargh!"
What swept after was the legion of shadows. Countless Black Knights folded up the soldiers one by one and threw them aside.
Before long, a small mountain of soldiers had piled up. A mountain of soldiers groaning, like a miniature version of the mountains within the Abyss.
Having finished her work, Tirkanjaka dusted off her hands.
"...There was nothing particularly special."
"Ooh! You've cleared them all!"
Rash, who had just come out of the pit with Callis, looked around and shouted. Behind them appeared Rallion carrying Shay on its back, snorting as if exhausted.
Excluding Jiseon, everyone who had been inside had appeared. Tirkanjaka surveyed the surroundings again.
The more she looked, the darker her expression became.
"Where's Hye? Did you not see him?"
"Didn't see him! He wasn't here!"
"He's not visible.... Where on earth could he have gone. Don't tell me."
At this point, she couldn't help but realize. A very, very ominous imagination crossed Tirkanjaka's mind.
What if he had left this place of his own will.
In a situation where everyone was strangely excited, he alone was the same as usual.
Hearing Tirkanjaka's suggestion to travel together, instead of nodding, he gave an evasive answer.
When he asked if she could protect him then, wasn't that an implicit affirmation?
Seeing her darkening expression, Rash looked at Callis. Callis firmly nodded, and Rash opened his mouth wide, waved his hands, and shouted.
"Oh come on, surely not! He must be being chased somewhere!"
"...Right? Then, where to?"
"Let's take a round around the vicinity first! If that doesn't work, we can light a fire and call the teacher! It'll be much easier to find him when it's day!"
Tirkanjaka looked back. The massive pit, and the Tantalus that seemed to have dug out that pit lay sprawled on the earth. The enormous structure was so unreal.
If he was hiding behind or inside that concrete structure, that would be fortunate.
If he had left....
Grasping her aching heart at the ominous imagination, Tirkanjaka turned her gaze forward.
"...Truly, it was a farce."
Jiseon finished speaking and sprinkled alcohol around the Great Master's corpse. The strong Baekhwa Hongju flew precisely in my direction.
Oops. It went up my nose. Cough, cough.
"Why did you try to lose them?"
Licking my alcohol-soaked lips, I raised my body from beneath the pile of corpses. Dusting off my clothes roughly, I took a seat near the Great Master.
"If things continued like this, I felt like I would follow them."
"What of it?"
"I'm not a cowardly prophet, but I am at least someone who can make ordinary deductions."
I can feel their thoughts growing distant.
I muttered while feeling their auras scattering far away.
"If I follow them, I will undoubtedly die."
This is, quite significantly, a fight to prevent the world's destruction.
The fight with Jiseon. Honestly speaking, if Jiseon had charged at me with the single-minded determination to kill me?
I would have died. In the gap where Tir or the Returner couldn't protect me, I could have died even holding Jizan.
The ability to read thoughts, while quite helpful in combat, cannot eliminate the firm gap that exists.
I cannot strike away the rushing steel. Even if I dodge, they only follow close. If they somehow grab my clothes and throw me, or shoot energy filling all directions, I cannot endure.
Telepathy can only do what is within its possible range. True superhumans live in a different world from me.
I spun the card in my hand round and round as I spoke.
"I was born in the back alleys. Slinking around quietly, hiding among people suits me. Stepping forward directly against mighty enemies like this... is not my part."
If Jiseon hadn't made seizing Jizan the objective.
If he had attacked me armed with sufficient hostility.
I would have died from that.
"Heh. Such a person blocks my path?"
Gurgle.
Jiseon, who had sprinkled alcohol in all directions as I had done, refilled the cup in three portions.
"You did not appear to fear death so much."
"Where in the world is such a person? Humans are animals too. They fear death."
"Such a person, even if holding Jizan, stood before me?"
I chuckled.
"That's exactly why. To you, Jiseon, and the others."
Like Azi or Nabi, like the Undying or Callis, I should have been cowering in some corner holding my breath. That was the duty of a life wanting to survive, and what I had to do for myself.
But how could I endure it.
When wishes that people wanted to fulfill even at the cost of their lives clashed and swirled together.
It's worse than trying to kill me.
Making me die on my own.
Emotions greater than life, missions one wants to fulfill even using their life, even existences whose very lives are bound by shackles.
They are too insensitive to death, and at the same time, they change even me.
"If only it hadn't been the Abyss, if we had just been acquaintances who occasionally met, maybe. But too bad wind got in. For a long time."
The calculation is finished.
Tir is pure in a good sense, and stubborn in a bad sense. If I show the intention to distance myself, she will be sad but follow it.
The Returner will be curious about me. But there's a more important matter than my identity, so even for that reason, he won't be able to chase me. He'll pass the questions to the next loop and move forward in the present.
Azi? Nabi? The beast kings will go their own ways like beasts.
The Undying isn't the type to get hung up on trivial things, and Callis will leave the military nation following him.
The Returner will be suspicious of my identity, and might interrogate me in the next loop, but that's all. That's something the me in the next loop will have to handle.
Additionally, the Returner has a personality that's soft toward allies. Looking at the attitude he showed toward Tir, who was an ally in the previous loop, that's self-evident. Since we've shared goodwill in this loop, it could pass over smoothly.
"They'll do fine without me. It's a moderately beautiful parting."
"Heh. Were you also a prophet, Master Hyez?"
"That's impossible. If I were, I wouldn't have been caught and brought here."
I am not a prophet. I cannot resist fate that suddenly appears before my eyes. Like the arrest that happened then.
But I am a telepath. I possess outstanding ability in reading human psychology and deducing behavioral principles.
"I just know people's hearts a little well."
Regrettable as it may be, it will be a certain parting.
Now I must return to the original track again.
"It's a perfect calculation."