Chapter 38
Everything happened in an instant.
The rear door opened, and Kael neutralized the enemy who sprang out through the smoke.
“Huh….”
Then.
Pfft.
Sena barely came to her senses at the low, short sound of a suppressed gunshot.
Kael had finished off the enemy and was looking at Sena.
“What are your next orders?”
Sena could not answer immediately.
“Uh….”
Her mental calculations had briefly stopped after seeing the movement Kael had just displayed.
Tier 5?
No.
It was not simply a matter of tier.
He had not overwhelmed the enemy with ACU output, nor crushed him with an enhanced prosthetic arm or muscle implants.
Kael asked again.
“Orders?”
Only then did Sena come to her senses.
Without realizing it, she was smiling faintly.
‘Is this why Seraph Industries put him on the team?’
An F-rank freelancer who had registered today, with no cyberware and nothing but a single handgun.
Sena understood in an instant.
A tier was merely one of the cards a person held.
It was foolish to compare someone’s combat power based on that alone.
And in her eyes, at least, Kael was no ordinary combatant.
From the beginning, he was not the kind of person she could fit into her operation.
A concept she had only heard about.
A joker.
Not a card with a predetermined place where it could be used most efficiently, but one thrown onto the board when everything collapsed, capable of shaking the rules themselves.
Sena admitted that her judgment in trying to control Kael had been wrong.
And she realized one thing.
It was disadvantageous for her to hold his leash.
He would not tell her what he could do, nor how far he could go.
But at the very least, it was certain that restricting his movements would only hurt them.
Sena drew a short breath.
“Kael.”
“Go ahead.”
“We’ll hold out around the cargo. Brick, block the space between the rear door and the bulkhead. Yudin, cut off approaches from the right outer wall and above. Maras, keep relaying the battle through the drones. I’ll focus on protecting the cargo compartment and the people inside with defensive spells.”
When Kael only listened in silence, Sena looked him straight in the eye and continued.
“And you… I think it would be best if you moved as you saw fit.”
Brick turned his head in surprise.
“Team leader, are you serious? His movement just now was incredible, but sending him outside alone is still….”
“Brick.”
Sena cut him off.
“As you just saw, he isn’t someone we can use by positioning and covering him from behind. If I arbitrarily set boundaries for him, I’ll only slow him down. What we need right now isn’t another person to hold out inside the rear door. We need someone who can directly disrupt the battlefield outside.”
At her words, Brick fell silent.
Maras spoke quickly while watching the drone screens.
“Honestly, I agree with the team leader. There are at least ten enemies outside, and they’re approaching simultaneously from all directions. If we only hold out in here, we’ll eventually be breached. If he can shake up even one side from outside, it’ll give us room to breathe.”
Sena spoke to Kael.
“There’s one condition. Don’t abandon the cargo and go too far away. While you disrupt the enemies, we’ll be holding out in here. If you decide we’re in danger, come back immediately.”
Kael gave a short nod.
“And one more thing.”
Sena paused briefly.
“I know you won’t tell us everything you can do. I won’t force the answers out of you, either. But at the very least, I want you to judge the situation and move in accordance with the rest of us.”
Kael answered.
“Understood.”
Sena nodded.
“Good.”
With that, Kael turned around without hesitation.
He pulled a magazine from the waist of the enemy lying on the floor and checked it, then tossed it aside as though it was unusable.
Instead, he tucked the enemy’s three smoke grenades and communications device into his coat.
Maras spoke while watching the drone screens.
“Two above the structure to the left outside the rear door. Three on the railing below. If you go straight out, you risk being hit from the front. There’s also one in the blind spot if you break right.”
Kael looked beyond the rear door.
“The two on the left first.”
Maras blinked at his words.
“You heard what I said, right? The two on the left are above us….”
Kael lowered his body and leaped out through the rear door.
He vanished into the smoke so quickly that Maras shouted only after the fact.
“No, listen until I finish!”
***
The moment Kael leaped out of the truck, he lowered his body.
The black smoke billowing from the burning vehicle behind them and the dust kicked up from the truck’s outer wall were not enough to completely obscure his vision.
Moreover, the enemy had already taken up position, so he could not move recklessly.
They were tightening a net around the truck.
It resembled the net of a fisherman catching fish.
Kael moved low, almost rolling across the ground, and gripped the three smoke grenades he had taken from the enemy he had just subdued.
He threw the first smoke grenade beneath the structure on the left.
Hiss—!
Gray smoke began spreading in an instant, exploding outward. Kael threw the remaining smoke grenades into the other spaces in succession. As the smoke spread in every direction, the enemies’ gunfire briefly faltered.
-Smoke!
-Turn off the optical filters and switch to mana-residue tracking!
-There’s a bastard outside the truck. Black hair, looks like one man!
The enemy’s voices came through the communications device Kael had taken from the enemy earlier.
Listening to them, Kael slid behind the wreckage.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Bullets scraped past the concrete beside him.
‘They use magic and guns together.’
Kael made a quick decision.
Since the enemies’ combat style was completely different from that of the mages he knew, Kael decided to approach them differently.
Their magic was fast and precise, but they could not flexibly switch to other spells.
That was their weakness.
Kael placed his fingertips against the ground and drew a small breath.
For now, he had to look like nothing more than a Tier 5 freelancer.
This was the moment to use magic that was inconspicuous yet sufficiently effective.
Revela
[Detection]
When the incantation ended, flames of life rose within the gray smoke.
Two atop the structure on the left, three on the railing below, and four in the blind spot on the right.
And at least five behind the wreckage of the vehicle ahead.
Blue circuit lines were visible inside some of their bodies, making it clear that mages were mixed in among them as well.
Kael fired his handgun at the enemies beyond the smoke.
Pfft.
As the suppressed gunshot rang out, one flame went out.
The enemy beside him reacted immediately. A hexagonal barrier unfolded in front of him as he lowered his body and shouted.
“Reverse-calculation of the firing position complete! Lower left, behind the wreckage!”
No sooner had those words fallen than return fire poured toward the spot where Kael had been.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
Kael rolled behind a pillar.
‘Fast.’
While he waited behind the pillar with bated breath, someone who appeared to be the enemy commander shouted.
“There may be a mage! Squad Two, deploy a mana-suppression field! Squad Three, circle around the left!”
A vibration immediately rang out through the smoke.
Vrrrrm.
Small circular devices were embedded in the road, and thin blue lines connected them as a hemispherical field unfolded.
Kael felt the mana remaining at his fingertips sink heavily.
The enemy knew how to deal with mages.
However, there was one flaw in that.
Kael’s magic did not come from an ACU.
The suppression field was effective, but not as much as they had expected.
Kael raised his left hand toward the smoke.
Motus
[Telekinesis]
Moving a few metal fragments was all he could manage, but that was exactly enough for now.
Kael sent three fragments scattered across the ground bouncing in different directions.
Ting, ting, ting!
Short metallic sounds rang through the smoke.
At the same time, he threw an empty magazine in another direction, and the enemies’ confusion came through the radio.
-Multiple approach signals!
-It’s not a heat source. It’s just a piece of scrap metal!
-It’s a diversion. Stay calm!
Kael lowered his body and moved through the opening, bringing the three enemies on the lower railing into view.
A small magic circle was rising around one of their ACUs.
“I’m placing a tracking mark. I’ll lock onto anything moving in the smoke through its biological response.”
As blue threadlike lines spread through the smoke, a prickling sensation brushed across Kael’s skin.
He immediately twisted his body and kicked aside the corpse of an enemy lying on the ground.
He figured it would work if the body still retained a biological response.
The mark briefly clung to the corpse instead.
“You fucking bastard! He used this guy’s corpse as bait!”
Kael moved before the words had ended.
Vinculum
[Binding]
A mana-made chain wrapped around one enemy’s ankle.
“Kgh!”
When he fell as his balance collapsed, the lines of fire from the enemies behind him were blocked.
Kael burst out through the opening.
Pfft.
One down.
Pfft.
Two down.
The fallen enemy turned and swung his shield. An impact spell flashed across its surface; if it connected, it would obviously send Kael flying.
Kael did not meet it head-on, instead pulling his foot back half a beat late.
As the shield swept through empty air, Kael’s hand caught beneath the enemy’s wrist. When the shield tilted, Kael slipped underneath it and drove his knee into the inside of the enemy’s thigh.
The enemy’s body folded.
Pfft.
Finished.
But then.
Three blue chains suddenly tore through the smoke from behind and flew toward Kael.
Instead of retreating, Kael stepped forward, and the chains bent toward their target as they followed him.
When he kicked up the shield lying nearby, the blue chains wrapped around it.
In that opening, Kael aimed his handgun at the head of the newly arrived enemy.
“Wha….”
Pfft.
Hoping this would be the last one.
‘Can I catch my breath with this, at least?’
Kael let out a low breath. They were minor spells, but using them in succession had made his fingertips tremble slightly.
He had kept the output low, but it still strained his dried-up circuits.
The faint taste of blood in his mouth seemed to warn him that he could not drag this out.
At that moment, an automated turret hidden beneath the road structure above began to rotate.
When the turret turned toward Kael, he immediately threw himself behind the wreckage of a half-destroyed vehicle nearby.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
As the bullets chewed up the ground, one of the enemies overlaid an additional spell on top of it.
A red line was drawn across the road. Judging by its structure, it was the trigger for a mine engraved with an explosive spell.
If he stepped on it incorrectly, it would explode.
Instead of stopping, Kael lowered his body and slid just in front of the red line on the ground.
The moment his fingertips touched the ground.
Motus
[Telekinesis]
He pushed a metal fragment across the red spell line, and when the fragment touched it.
KABOOM!
The explosion erupted in front of Kael.
While the blast blocked their view, Kael slipped beneath the turret.
Vinculum
[Binding]
This time, he bound the turret’s rotating shaft. Invisible chains seized the rotating mechanism.
Griiiind!
The turret tried to turn by force, then stopped. Kael quickly drew the enemy’s dagger and jammed it into the gap in the rotating shaft.
Sparks flew, and the turret came to a stop.
Finally, when Kael looked around, he saw the remaining enemies.
The apparent commander and two ACU users assisting him.
Kael checked the chamber of his handgun.
There were not many rounds left.
Then he had to get close.
When Kael moved forward through a gap as the smoke thinned, the enemies immediately reacted.
One enemy spread both hands, and a blue barrier unfolded in front of the wreckage.
Another placed a hand on the ground and deployed a short spell.
Metal spikes rose from the surface of the road, aiming for Kael’s ankles.
However, Kael did not stop.
Just before the metal spikes rose, he switched his footing, and they stabbed into empty air.
Three gun barrels behind the barrier pointed at him.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Fortificatio Corporis
[Fortification of the Body]
Kael accelerated momentarily and slipped toward the edge of the barrier.
Motus
[Telekinesis]
A bolt lodged beneath the wreckage sprang up and struck the side of the device maintaining the barrier.
For the briefest moment, the edge of the barrier blurred.
Kael entered through it.
Pfft.
The first shot pierced one enemy’s head. Then the other two guns turned toward him.
Kael closed in and shoved one enemy’s chin upward with his palm. The enemy’s stance collapsed, and he fell.
Then blue chains flew toward Kael’s arm.
Kael did not evade them; instead, he extended his arm.
The moment the chains wrapped around his arm, Kael looped them around the barrel of the nearest enemy’s gun.
“What…!”
The enemy panicked.
Kael used the opening to twist his wrist and break the enemy’s stance.
Pfft.
Kael’s gunshot followed.
“….”
Only the commander remained.
He glared at Kael and clenched his teeth.
“You… are you some agent Seraph has been keeping hidden?”
Kael did not answer. He quietly raised the muzzle of his handgun.
The man’s gaze followed the muzzle.
“You don’t even answer. Fine. You’re Seraph’s dog, then. Do you not open your mouth until your master tells you to bark?”
“….”
Just as Kael was about to pull the trigger.
The terminal on his wrist vibrated.
[Private Security Communication]
-Young Kael. I’ve received a rough report on the situation. If possible, I’d like you to capture one of them alive. This attack is an excellent opportunity to uncover the ‘clue’ behind the incidents that have occurred recently.
At Edrian Arclight’s sudden words, Kael hesitated for a moment, then.
“Understood.”
In an instant, he pressed the commander’s neural circuit with one hand and knocked him unconscious.