Central Front Border Zone (3)
Hwarururuk!!
A wave of blazing fire swept across the altar and incinerated it.
The altar made from layered human skin vanished as though erased, unable to withstand the excessive heat.
The cultists whose entire bodies had caught fire collapsed to their knees, unable to endure the agony.
“Aaaaagh......!!”
“God, please............!!”
[Move!!]
The moment the priests were neutralized, the search-unit members mounted their bikes and charged into the flames all at once.
As they passed through, they mercilessly severed the necks of the collapsed cultists.
Watching from afar, Lennok lowered the ignition device he had been holding.
“A good start.”
It had been three days since joining up with the Gate Search Unit that had been pursuing the Hedro Warlord force.
While heading toward the First Gate, Lennok assisted the search unit with their duties, burning away various dangers scattered across the frontline.
The Gido Cult.
The Hedro Warlord force and the Ability Awakening Brigade.
There were countless powerful organizations currently making names for themselves across the Central Front.
But the true targets watched by the search unit were not those major organizations or cults, but mostly remnants like these.
Even the cultists they were exterminating now were not actually members of the Gido Cult, but merely imitators clumsily copying their human sacrifice rituals.
“Thank you, thank you so much..............”
The people who had nearly been offered as sacrifices by the cultists repeatedly bowed with hollow expressions.
Having watched others die right beside them, they likely had not been in their right minds throughout the ritual.
“Thank you, Treadburn............!!”
“......”
The rescued civilians bowed deeply toward Lennok as they moved toward a shelter near the Gate.
Lennok accepted their gratitude with a light nod before turning his gaze away.
Helping the search unit itself was fine, but this was still something he could not quite get used to.
“If it’s been three days already, shouldn’t you be used to it by now?”
“Uluric.”
Uluric, the search-unit member assigned to escort Lennok, smiled as he spoke beside him.
“You’re doing good work. You should take pride in it.”
“I’m merely helping with the search unit’s tasks while heading toward the Gate.”
Lennok shook his head expressionlessly.
“Once today passes, they’ll be people I never see again. There’s no reason for me to stand around receiving bows.”
“There are far too many superhumans in this world who think human lives are disposable.”
Uluric replied.
“Compared to them, the justification you speak of is far closer to virtue.”
“......”
“More importantly, the Evan I’ve spent these past three days with has been a much better person than the rumors suggested. Isn’t that enough?”
“Are you still trying to talk about how I’m some war machine created by the Celestial Seer?”
“Hahahah!! Come on, let’s go. Once today passes, we’ll reach the Gate.”
Uluric burst into laughter while looking at Lennok grimacing in annoyance.
Miming the act of tipping back a drink, he spoke cheerfully.
“But you should at least have one final drink before you leave.”
***
“Evan. If you walk from here for a day, you’ll arrive at the Gate.”
The sound of clinking glasses mixed with noisy chatter.
The ruins of a collapsed city district, a wide campsite with bonfires burning.
Search-unit members holding beer bottles sat around Lennok and talked.
“It’s already late. Why not stay here for the night and head for the Gate tomorrow?”
“What about you people?”
“We’ll continue patrols around the Gate area and carry on our searches.”
The members grinned at Lennok’s question.
“It’ll still be several days before the replacement unit arrives. Our schedule changed a little this time because we guided you here, Evan.”
“We already submitted our report to headquarters, so when you arrive at the Gate, the search-unit command will compensate you.”
“A grand mage like Evan helping the search unit—of course headquarters would want to show consideration in many ways.”
“It’s not like I did it expecting compensation.”
At Lennok’s indifferent reply, the search-unit members pretended to look shocked.
“What? After making such a big show of it for three straight days, now you say that?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Lennok chuckled and tapped the beer glass in his hand.
“I meant there’s no way the search-unit command could afford my price.”
“......Ah.”
Only then understanding what Lennok meant, awkward laughter broke out among the search-unit members.
“Hahahah! How did you know we’re always short on budget?”
“If the search unit had abundant manpower and funding, the Gate wouldn’t be operating in its current form.”
“......”
“And I know the reason you guided me to the Gate was also because you wanted to borrow my strength during operations.”
At Lennok’s quiet words, the atmosphere around them fell silent.
Looking around at the members beyond the bonfire, Lennok spoke casually.
“We simply traded what each side needed. I already received my payment.”
“......Evan.”
“So don’t concern yourselves with this matter.”
The fact that the Gate operated under the management of the Order Federation likely stemmed from the enormous costs required to maintain it.
And it was impossible for the search unit alone to fully bear those expenses with their own power and budget.
Lennok had known from the beginning that the search unit guiding him to the Gate had not been an act of pure goodwill.
Still, helping or cooperating with someone did not need to arise solely from selfless intentions.
Lennok was far more accustomed to transactions and adjusting conditions according to necessity.
If viewed as that kind of exchange, spending three days alongside the search unit was more than acceptable.
But it seemed the search unit interpreted Lennok’s refusal of compensation differently.
“I’m sorry, Evan.”
One of the search-unit members, his face slightly red from alcohol, spoke with a slurred voice.
“To be honest............ I think I misunderstood you all this time.”
“A misunderstanding?”
“If you were a pyrokinetic mage who killed thousands, I thought you’d be a person as fiery as your magic in everything.”
“......It’s not quite to that extent. Somehow the number keeps increasing.”
Uluric, Pizer, Haken, Wolfhild.
The members who had spent the past three days with Lennok each added their own remarks one after another.
“Unlike this idiot, I already knew plenty about Treadburn.”
“Didn’t you save the Lighthouse Keeper from Bolt and even buy her time to escape?”
“You’re bringing that up again. Don’t you ever get tired of it?”
During the three days spent with the search unit, Lennok had roughly grasped how the rumors surrounding Treadburn had spread.
A grand pyrokinetic mage and Apostle Slayer.
A superhuman blindly loyal to the Eyes of the Blue who would stop at nothing for the Lighthouse Keeper.
While his integrity and loyalty were highly praised, rumors regarding Evan Martinez’s brutality had become wildly exaggerated.
That was likely because Treadburn had turned the outskirts of Vulcan into a sea of flames before ultimately meeting defeat at Bolt’s hands.
Yet on the Central Front, even that defeat itself seemed to have become one of the factors increasing his reputation.
“When you spend a long time in the search unit, you naturally hear about outside affairs too. We’ve heard plenty about Bolt’s viciousness.”
“There aren’t many mages who become that infamous even without operating in the center.”
“A grand mage who makes slaughter his profession. Surviving against a madman like that alone is already incredible, isn’t it?”
“......”
As Lennok gave a bitter smile and tilted his beer bottle, the search-unit members became even more excited.
“They say almost nobody has officially fought Bolt and returned alive.”
“There were even rumors that major factions wanted to meet Evan for that reason alone.”
To outsiders, Treadburn was the one who overturned all of Vulcan to rescue the Lighthouse Keeper and risked his life fighting Bolt for her sake.
Though he ultimately lost, the entire sequence of events would certainly appear dramatic from another person’s perspective.
Most importantly, once news spread that Lapis had survived Vulcan and that Treadburn had withdrawn from the Eyes of the Blue during the process, the incident that had shaken the Central Front ended in such an incomprehensible conclusion that evaluations of Treadburn had risen bizarrely high.
Lennok smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“I’ll say it again. What happened in Vulcan wasn’t like that.”
An increase in Treadburn’s reputation and status was not necessarily bad, but he refused to be painted as some loyal retainer willing to die for his master.
To begin with, Lennok was not that kind of person, nor had he ever acted that way under Evan’s name.
“What happened in Vulcan has nothing to do with me now. There’s no reason to bring it up anymore.”
“Understood. If that is your will, Evan......”
The search-unit members were straightforward and rough, but not tactless.
When Lennok said nothing further, the members read the mood and gradually backed off.
“We won’t say a single thing about the Eyes of the Blue.”
“In the name of the search unit, tonight’s conversation will go with us to the grave.”
“Vigor. Who gave you permission to speak in our name? I haven’t agreed yet.”
“If we’re talking like that, do you think any of us will even leave behind graves when we die?”
The members suddenly launched into a heated debate over whose name should be put on the line.
Watching them, Lennok slowly raised his glass.
He had said earlier that the refugees were people he would never meet again, but the same applied to the search-unit members.
It would probably be better to part ways in this kind of lighthearted atmosphere.
At dawn, he would head straight for the Gate.
Thinking that, Lennok lifted his beer—
Then quietly set the glass back down.
The other members noticed the strange look as Lennok stared silently into the dark night sky.
“......Evan?”
“Everyone, prepare for combat.”
Lennok took a thick cigar from his coat, placed it between his lips, and spoke while still holding the drink in one hand.
“Something’s coming from the sky.”
“!!”
The search-unit members’ expressions instantly hardened as they jumped to their feet and grabbed their weapons.
After nearly three days with Lennok, they understood just how sharp and sensitive his senses were.
Far beyond merely distinguishing friend from foe, his perception could even detect killing intent directed at them from thousands of meters away.
Kwaaaaaaang!!!
A faint sonic boom echoed overhead, and crimson flames bloomed beyond the horizon.
The members’ expressions twisted as they realized the direction matched the shelter where they had escorted the rescued civilians earlier that day.
“Damn it, of all times............!!”
“Move. We’re checking the shelter immediately!!”
The Gate Search Unit operated as a small elite force that prioritized mobility above all else.
Rapidly circulating mana through their bodies to evaporate the alcohol in their systems, they slapped their cheeks hard and mounted their bikes.
In an instant they dismantled the campsite, gathered their gear, and armed themselves.
Buaaaaaang!!!
The roar of bike engines echoed across the barren wasteland.
At that very moment—
Something falling from the sky instantly turned the campsite into a sea of flames.
Shuuuuung......!!!
Kwagwagwagwang!!!
Something vaguely distorted descended from the night sky and relentlessly pounded the ground.
It looked as though some invisible force had aimed artillery at them and launched a preemptive strike.
“We’re under attack!!”
“Evan!!”
The search-unit members maneuvered their bikes to evade the bombardment and shouted toward Lennok, but he did not turn around.
“Go ahead first.”
“But......!!”
“There’s more coming from the opposite side too.”
Lennok stared at the faintly rippling night sky.
“I’ll cut off the pursuit, so move first. I’ll follow shortly.”
“......We’ll be waiting!”
They were soldiers.
Everyone here understood that pointless hesitation in situations like this meant the difference between life and death.
The search-unit members gritted their teeth and turned their bikes, racing rapidly across the wasteland.
The campsite where they had shared drinks beside a bonfire moments earlier had become a complete ruin, as though the scene had never existed.
“I’ve already sent your people away, so stop hiding and come talk.”
Lennok looked expressionlessly over the ruined campsite before turning his gaze.
“Weren’t you waiting for me from the start?”
Bombarding the shelter to lure away the search-unit members had been done deliberately to separate Lennok from the search unit.
And the purpose was not to kill either Lennok or the search unit, but to communicate something beyond that.
The moment the attack began, Lennok had already sensed hidden presences nearby.
Chiiiiik!!
At that moment, five hidden airships revealed themselves above Lennok’s head from beyond the night sky.
Steel airships emerging after releasing their stealth barriers.
Uniformly manufactured war machines standardized in size and specifications.
A covert first-strike capability and operational structure achievable only by an enormous and highly organized military force.
On the Central Front, there was only one faction capable of such a thing.
[Deadrise Third Legion Air Assault Division. Currently en route to conduct operations.]
A heavy middle-aged man’s voice echoed through the airship speakers.
[We have received intelligence that cultists infiltrated the civilian shelter and are currently conducting “selection.”]
“......Selection.”
Lennok looked up at the airships with an expressionless gaze.
“So that’s the justification your legion is using to interfere in this matter?”
[The General Staff has determined that the Gate Search Unit, currently organized under the Order Federation, can no longer perform its duties properly.]
Vitality gradually crept into the firm voice coming from the speakers.
[That judgment is also related to how the Gate Search Unit has lost the neutrality it was meant to maintain while carrying out operations alongside you.]
“......”
[Treadburn Evan Martinez. Why is a Watcher of the Eyes of the Blue moving together with the Gate Search Unit?]
From beyond the airships, Lennok felt an overwhelmingly powerful presence observing him.
[Depending on your answer, remember that the legion’s main force may intervene directly here.]
“It seems the Central Front Legion General Staff receives news rather slowly.”
Lennok exhaled cigar smoke as he replied.
“It’s already been several months since I left the Eyes of the Blue. The Lighthouse Keeper’s mission no longer has anything to do with me.”
[No. A man who risked his life for Lapis Falcia would not sever his ties with the Eyes of the Blue so easily.]
The man’s voice ringing through the airship became resolute.
[Considering what you showed in Vulcan, even your withdrawal from the Eyes of the Blue was likely part of a deliberate move.]
“What?”
[Perhaps you intend to seize control of the Gate alongside the search unit and hand ownership over to the Lighthouse Keeper. At the very least, our legion has no intention of overlooking such a risk.]
At that moment, Lennok felt as though someone beyond the airship was glaring sharply at him.
[Evan Martinez. Our legion will never underestimate you. A man like you stepping onto the frontline at this moment could only mean you carry a cause worthy of such action.]
“......”
[I understand because I, too, carry a similar cause in my heart. There are times when one must push forward regardless of every other priority!]
Even just hearing the voice through the speakers made it obvious.
A rigid soldier.
Not merely one who obeyed orders, but one who had risen to the rank of issuing and commanding them himself.
But the fact that such a soldier had appeared before Lennok now to question his intentions meant he clearly had another objective.
Especially if he had gone so far as to use the shelter and the search unit as a pretext for such a grand entrance.
“You have something you want to say to me.”
Realizing that, Lennok answered in a low voice.
“What is it you want?”
[There is only one thing I wish to hear from a commander like you on this battlefield.]
Clank!!
Dozens of gun batteries emerged from both sides of the airships and spread open like wings.
A deafening mechanical roar as though they were arming themselves and entering combat readiness on the spot.
[Join Deadrise, Evan Martinez.]
At the same time, the heavy and resolute voice thundered through the speakers.
[With a great turning point that will decide the fate of the Central Front approaching, the legion seeks a new Legion Commander.]
“......”
[Stand on the side of victory in the great war. The seat of the Fifth Legion Commander shall be yours!]