Chapter 576: Power Play (3)
“Agents.”
Virgil muttered.
“Are they insane? To dare deploy field agents into headquarters…!!”
Virgil’s eyes were bloodshot and thick veins bulged on his forehead, showing how enraged he was.
“Was it a condition that I wouldn’t intervene in any disputes with Aegis?”
Lennok turned away from Virgil.
“Just tell me where Machina’s Ticket is, and I’ll retrieve it myself. You can handle your business as you see fit.”
“…Hold on.”
Virgil quickly suppressed his rage and grabbed Lennok’s coat.
“I’m retracting everything we just discussed here. I misspoke.”
“I don’t know what you mean. Didn’t you ask me for a favor on the condition that I wouldn’t get involved in this situation?”
Lennok chuckled, shaking his head.
“It seems a special agency directly under the City Government wants a fight with The Triad, but it’s none of my business.”
Lennok didn’t know why Aegis was attempting a raid on the Cartel’s headquarters at this moment.
After Evelyn Marcia was fired from Aegis, Lennok hadn’t contacted them separately.
He would be willing to talk to Deputy Director Pallard O’Con or field agents like Hina O’Neil, who had fought alongside him in the Defense Force incident.
But according to Virgil, the one currently commanding Aegis was Greta Widerhild, someone Lennok had never even seen before.
As Murphy said, there was no reason to intervene in a conflict between other organizations, especially when his condition wasn’t good.
The moment Lennok was about to leave without a second thought, before the Aegis agents completely surrounded the area.
“You wanted to know about Kaiser, didn’t you? While he can’t be compared to the Chairman, I know a few things about him too.”
Virgil spoke quickly.
“I know what happened to Kaiser Bajour’s body. To be precise, I can introduce you to someone who knows.”
Lennok’s steps, which had been about to disappear down the hallway, halted.
“Van, I’m not asking for much. I just need time until the other executives on field duty return.”
Virgil added in a slightly urgent tone.
He knew that even at this very moment, agents who had infiltrated the headquarters might be searching through various company archives.
“The deepest underground vault of the headquarters. The server room that stores internal data is inside. Machina’s Ticket, extracted from Kansoa’s body, is also stored there.”
“…”
“I’m not asking you to completely break ties with Aegis. It’s enough if you just interfere to delay their operation.”
Instead of replying, Lennok silently pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
Flipping a finger to light it, Lennok took a drag, exhaled smoke, and smiled.
“There will be a separate settlement for not telling me that sooner.”
“…Of course.”
Upon hearing Lennok’s reply, Virgil quickly returned to his executive office and threw open a closet.
Virgil’s expression, as he stared at the red gauntlets displayed in the cabinet, was utterly chilling.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Through the night sky, buffeted by fierce winds.
On the outer hangar of a transport ship, streaking through the nightscape covered in dark clouds.
Hina O’Neil, who had been looking down with a complex expression at the streets where Cartel’s skyscrapers sprung up like mushrooms, turned her head.
An elderly woman slept soundly, an eye mask pulled over her face, leaning back in a transport ship seat.
Such composure was hard to believe for the person who had planned and commanded this operation from start to finish.
Hina, clutching her wind-blown glasses with both hands, asked,
“Director, is this really the right thing to do?”
At her words, the Director, Greta, finally pushed up her eye mask with one finger.
“Agent O’Neil. What’s bothering you now?”
“The fact that Aegis is provoking The Triad at this very moment…”
Hina sighed.
“If things go wrong, we could all be held responsible and end up in a special prison.”
The Cartel, a corporate conglomerate referred to as The Triad of the underworld.
The presence of its executives, led by the 8-level monster Olivera Ron Maize, and its powerful board of directors, was certainly threatening, but the Cartel’s true value lay not in its military might.
Their influence, with hundreds of subsidiaries involved in most underworld operations, extended far beyond what was visible.
The illicit industries and economic structures that revolved around the Cartel were even more striking than the evils caused by its existence.
Moreover, the mega-city of Vulcan had a unique environment from its very inception, where the light and dark sides had grown by opposing and coexisting.
Among the powerful figures in the Central Council, countless individuals had secret connections with the Cartel.
If they mishandled this, it wouldn’t be strange for backlash from the light side to be directed at Aegis instead of retribution from the underworld.
Hina O’Neil knew that this operation could spiral into the worst possible scenario.
Greta looked at Hina with an intrigued gaze, then smiled and shook her head.
“Perhaps it’s because you’ve worked in the field for so long, but you have quite good insight into this. I made the right choice bringing you along.”
“So, now is not the time to be saying things like that…”
“But your conjecture is wrong. It’s precisely because it’s now that we can brazenly mess with the Cartel’s headquarters like this.”
Leaving Hina speechless, Greta raised her wrist-watch to check the time.
“The current time is 11:37 PM on a Friday. And it’s the month when a quarter of the year fully passes. Small companies are sweating over their quarterly sales settlements.”
“Huh?”
“Conversely, corporate behemoths, whose settlement schedules are relatively later, are rather idle at this time. Do you understand why I’m saying this?”
Greta grinned.
“The Cartel’s complex unique nature as a corporate conglomerate. The massive Cartel headquarters is idle, but its subsidiaries, which form the Cartel’s arms and legs, are incredibly busy at this time. The other executives and board members are probably focused on settling the sales of their respective divisions and companies.”
Only then did Hina understand the meaning of Greta’s words, and her expression changed.
“With Deadrise not returning and Palgung Fortress fallen, we can’t miss this opportunity to strike at the ever-growing Cartel’s weak point. Success means capturing either the Cartel headquarters’ top-floor executive office or the lowest-level underground vault and extracting their internal data.”
Greta said this as she picked something up from the end of the transport ship and slung it over her shoulder.
Click!
Hina realized it was a massive bazooka, almost as large as Greta herself, and shot to her feet.
“Wa-wait…!! If you fire that here, the other agents’ infiltration into headquarters will be exposed…!!”
“Hina.”
Greta, who had instantly and familiarly used her first name, smiled.
“At this point, it’s pretty much already exposed. Why keep trying to deny it?”
“…”
Greta chuckled as she shoved a long missile backward into the bazooka’s muzzle.
Hina felt her breath catch as she watched Greta.
If Aegis succeeded in its operation against the Cartel headquarters, the organization’s prestige would rise unbelievably.
Even if the operation failed, someone like Greta could quickly spread the word that she was aggressively changing Aegis’s internal policy under her own responsibility.
Maximizing the gains from a successful operation while somehow pulling down the risks to a manageable level.
She was throwing a series of reckless, almost gambling-like moves, yet organically thinking ahead to deal with the consequences.
This was how Greta Widerhild, reinstated as Director of Aegis, handled things.
“Then shall we light off a grand celebratory firework right away?!!”
Greta cackled and pulled the trigger. The missile launched from the bazooka shot straight towards the Cartel headquarters’ top floor.
Aiming precisely for the executive office, an explosive force capable of obliterating half of the building district at once detonated on the spot.
Upon impact, a crown of fire ignited, turning the ground into an inferno.
KWA-A-A-ANG!!!
In the darkened corridor of the unlit skyscraper.
A series of figures scuttled like spiders along the hallway walls, where only the sounds from the ventilation ducts echoed.
Cartel’s assault squad, having detected the external intrusion, violently clashed with Aegis agents throughout the building.
KWA-A-ANG!!
“Old man. They’re stronger than I thought. The Cartel’s trash isn’t bad at fighting, after all.”
A fierce-looking man with a bald head and unknown tattoos spoke, roughly loosening his tie.
Blood was heavily smeared on his fists, indicating he had already fought several Cartel assault squad members barehanded.
A middle-aged man was in his hands, grabbed by the collar and covered in blood.
The middle-aged man glared at the bald man, grinding his teeth, looking as if he would expire at any moment.
“Aegis. You will pay a severe price for this…!”
The aura emanating from the middle-aged man was considerable, but the tide of battle had already turned.
He was an administrator leading Cartel’s military unit and a member of the board of directors.
Even though most of the superhumans had returned to their subsidiaries, those who remained at headquarters were putting up a desperate resistance.
But in the wake of Aegis’s elite unit, only corpses and pools of blood remained.
“Price?”
The bald agent, with tattoos on his face, grinned and raised a hand.
“From what I’ve seen, it’s always the ones who say things like that who go first.”
Thwack!!
He swung his fist mercilessly into the middle-aged man’s jaw, and his eyes quickly lost focus.
“Doesn’t our current situation prove that point?”
“Cough…!!”
The Cartel executive, trying to hold on while swallowing blood, went limp, and the man casually threw his body aside, smiling as he turned his gaze.
“That’s why dealing with the underworld’s trash is so enjoyable. No repercussions, and no one complains.”
“Hiiik…!!”
“Being on the side of justice isn’t a bad descriptor at times like this.”
Cartel employees hiding near the office corridor trembled as they met his gaze.
Unlike Cartel’s assault squad, the regular employees who handled administrative tasks at headquarters hadn’t managed to escape.
They possessed no mana or combat ability, leaving them unable to flee easily.
The moment the bald agent licked his lips and began to gather mana towards the employees…
“Why not let those who cannot fight go?”
From the darkness of the hallway far off, a man walked out.
“We’re already short on resources just suppressing those who resist. Don’t waste energy on unnecessary things.”
A full head of white hair and a bushy beard. His shoulders were stooped, covered in deep wrinkles.
Only a thin sword hung from the waist of the old man, who swayed as if he might collapse at any moment.
“Old man, what are you talking about?”
The bald man turned to the old man, his smile sharp.
“These bastards might not have killed people directly, but they’re still scum who preyed on all sorts of vermin in the underworld. They’re accomplices.”
“Is that so?”
The old man replied calmly.
“I’m too old for such complicated matters. But when I was serving in Aegis, I never laid a hand on the powerless.”
With his hands behind his back, he slowly walked up to the bald agent and chuckled.
“Youngsters these days have no mercy, do they? Isn’t that right?”
“Hah, I wondered what this old geezer was rambling about, coming all the way here…”
The bald man grinned crookedly and sharply averted his gaze.
“I get that Director Greta made arrangements for old folks like you to rest, so mind your own business. Understand?”
The bald man was also an Aegis agent, tasked with breaking through the operational area with his subordinate squad.
Though his mood was ruined, he hadn’t forgotten his mission.
“I’ll just continue what I was doing with my subordinates…”
But as he replied and turned his gaze to look for his subordinates, the man’s words immediately caught in his throat.
His subordinates, who, like him, had been subtly enjoying the sadism under Aegis’s authority, were all lying on the ground, eyes rolled back and foaming at the mouth.
The old man shook his head regretfully.
“I told you so, didn’t I?”
“…Old man. Was that your doing?”
The bald man turned, his eyes bloodshot.
“Did you knock out all my subordinates?”
If all of the man’s subordinates were unconscious in the direction the old man had approached, there could only be one reason.
But the old man looked at the man with pity instead, clicking his tongue.
“It seems you still don’t know what happened. How could Greta think of deploying such an ignoramus in this operation?”
“This bastard, seriously…!”
Click!
The moment the man roared and lunged, the old man’s hand was instantly at his temple.
A movement so swift that the path of his arm was invisible.
But the old man reaching for the man’s temple wasn’t to subdue him.
He slowly withdrew his hand and held it out before the man’s eyes.
“Do you feel it now?”
Fzzzt…!!
A finger-sized electric current, shimmering with deep blue mana.
The man’s face turned pale as he realized that that silent electrical fragment had almost pierced his temple.
“Wha—”
“No sound, no trajectory, no speed. It simply appears there.”
The old man said calmly.
“Your subordinates were affected by a similar feeling. Do you understand what I’m saying now?”
“…”
“An incredibly powerful wizard is occupying this space. A monster capable of precision sniping through spatial leaps.”
“Insane, this is…”
“Oh, you shouldn’t get separated from me.”
The old man smiled.
“Do you think you can sense and avoid the mana on your own?”
Thwack!
There was no reply.
Instead, the electric current that grazed the man’s forehead simply churned through his brain, completely seizing his consciousness.
“Urgh…!!”
Leaving the man convulsing on the ground, eyes rolled back, the old man immediately turned his back.
Clang!!
He wasn’t even seen drawing his sword.
The moment a silver-white flash streaked through the dark corridor, the electric current that had struck down from above the old man’s head was cleanly severed and fell.
Zzzzt!!
Even with the second electric current targeting him, the old man merely stroked his chin with a calm expression.
“Utterly arrogant. Do you intend to hold back even now?”
Among the agents struck by the electric currents that had appeared through space, not a single person had died.
This was proof that the mysterious assailant firing these electric currents was meticulously controlling their power, holding back just enough to avoid killing.
But the old man, instead, was certain from the opponent’s incredibly skilled technique that they were a monster who had killed countless people.
The terrifying precision of knowing exactly how much to hit a human to break and shatter them, and stopping just before that point.
It was evidence that the opponent possessed both overwhelmingly powerful mana manipulation and an arrogant disposition to match.
“Among the list of executives I was informed of in advance, there was no wizard of this caliber.”
The old man muttered this, then continued walking without hesitation.
“Third-party intervention, neither enemy nor ally… I’ll have to confirm their face myself.”
“Indeed. Was that not enough?”
Lennok, who had been observing the old man’s every move through mana detection, let out a faint smile.
He knelt in the middle of a vast, empty underground cavern, holding a large sniper rifle.
Behind Lennok, a massive, wing-like construct smoothly enveloped the rifle’s muzzle.
“It seems Aegis had more skilled individuals than I was aware of…”
Lennok muttered, then removed the rifle’s magazine.
Click!
At the bottom of the removed magazine, the name of a common magic, [Lightning Bound], was scrawled.
[Lightning Bound cartridge detached.]
The clear voice of the Cybernetic Spirit echoed from within the rifle, which was wrapped in heavy Iron-Plated Wings.
[Scan of structures within a 1200m radius complete. 3D conceptual map materialized. Firing angle calculation reviewed. Auto-fire algorithm secured.]
[All detected marksmen confirmed to be able to fire at this time.]
Before Lennok’s eyes, a massive 3D map of the Cartel’s headquarters’ underground facilities unfolded.
Intense presences were gradually closing in from all directions within that space.
Creak…!
As he slowly pulled the trigger, a faint, inky black radiance settled over the rifle’s long barrel.
[Aim Correction]
[Trajectory Adjustment]
[Ricochet Shot]
[Projection Magnification]
[Friction Reduction]
…
Clatter-clatter-clatter-clatter!!
A dozen types of firing assistance spells rained down onto the rifle.
As the HUD floating above the barrel glowed bright blue, the space in front of the heated muzzle began to crack and open slightly.
[Firing Assistance Algorithm ver4.0 activated.]
[Center coordinate set. Firing path optimized. Spatial indicators diversified.]
[Spatial Transference synchronization rate 58%. Target coordinate recognized.]
Click!
As the sniper rifle’s magazine opened, a soft mana enveloped the barrel.
Without taking his eyes off the scope, Lennok blindly picked one of the dozens of cartridges circling around him.
Lennok wasn’t firing bullets at the Aegis agents who had infiltrated the headquarters.
Instead, he was imbuing spells into cartridges, then fully loading the power of those cartridges into the rifle to fire.
He would then use Compassion of the Archangel and his spatial leap sense to transfer that mana mid-air to a designated coordinate.
The name of the new cartridge to be used on the old man, who seemed particularly strong among the agents.
Click!
[Perpetual Thunder Cartridge insertion confirmed.]
[Unique Magic Spatial Transference Leap Shot ready.]
Wooosh…!!
“Shall we see if he can withstand a direct hit of unique magic to the temple?”
[Time for an electric massage that’ll make your heart pound!]