Chapter Twenty-One: Entry

“The mission is simple. We go in, figure out what’s going on inside, take care of the trouble, and that’s it.” As he spoke, Ferrin snapped his fingers and looked toward the three girls before him, who stood gaping in astonishment.

“Do you understand?”

“That...”

Chrissy said nothing, but Eluca hesitated, clutching her automatic rifle uneasily. She glanced at her sisters, then looked toward their objective not far behind Ferrin.

“Um... Commander? What’s the scope of our target...?”

“All of it.”

“All of it?!”

This time Eluca couldn’t help but leap up in shock, her eyes wide as she stared at the six-story building behind Ferrin.

Amid the ruins of the city, buildings like this were rare. The fact that this one had survived the previous ‘Great Cataclysm’ intact was certainly no accident. Countless thick vines had erupted from the ground, tearing up heavy concrete and wrapping themselves around the building. It was these enormous, ancient tree-like vines that had kept the building from collapsing, creating an oddly unique beauty.

But that didn’t mean the place was safe.

“That’s right. Let’s move.”

“Commander, you’re coming too?”

Eluca’s surprise was evident as she watched Ferrin turn to go. She was startled, but not opposed to the mission itself. In fact, opposition wasn’t an option; they were hounds, meant to be sent to their deaths. Where they died was never up to them. But seeing their new commander willing to risk his own life alongside theirs was unexpected.

“Of course. As I said, the situation here is unclear and we have no means of communication. If you discover something but can’t report it to me, it’s pointless. Only by going in myself can I know what’s happening. And since you’re my subordinates now, naturally you’ll come in with me.”

Ferrin was remarkably patient. Despite Eluca’s less-than-courteous inquiry, he smiled gently at the three girls and explained. He paused after speaking, then turned to Eluca again.

“Any other questions?”

Questions? There were too many to count!

Even if her sisters felt otherwise, Eluca was dumbfounded and couldn’t collect her thoughts. Unclear dangers were par for the course; every assignment from the Blackstone Group had been like this. Other than the target’s location, everything else was a blank, left for them to figure out. But what threw her was that last sentence: “You’re my subordinates, so of course you’re coming with me.” Wasn’t it supposed to be, “You go carry out the mission and report back to me”?

Who would choose to risk their life together with their own subordinates?

Staring at Ferrin, Eluca was at a loss for words. They’d been hired for dangerous jobs before, but no one had ever done this. Everyone just wanted to send them off to die and keep themselves safe. That was the natural order; yet now, this new commander’s straightforward, yet baffling attitude left Eluca confused.

Yet, for some reason, she didn’t dislike this feeling.

A strange, indescribable emotion stirred deep within her. She gripped her weapon tightly, fixed her gaze on Ferrin, and spoke loudly:

“I—I’ll do my best, Commander!”

Chrissy and Kurona said nothing, but nodded in agreement. Clearly, they shared Eluca’s sentiments.

None of the three noticed the apologetic look Delin cast them from the side. They still didn’t understand what it truly meant to follow their master. But... they would soon enough, wouldn’t they?

She just hoped they’d be strong enough to endure what was coming.

With that, the cat-eared maid lowered her head and silently prayed for the three innocent girls.

This was a network information processing center. After the ‘Great Cataclysm,’ people discovered that almost every network energy core was once a hub for information processing—be it a base station, server room, or data center. The size of a network energy zone depended on the significance of the core site. With experience, locating these zones had become easier; find the old network centers, and you’d likely found the core.

The Blackstone Group had identified this place thanks to a fragment of a city map they’d recovered, which led them to this relatively remote node on the city’s outskirts.

But, naturally, such locations were even more dangerous. Every energy core zone was saturated with network energy, and no one ever knew what kind of monsters might appear there. No wonder the ‘Emperor’ flatly refused to venture in, preferring to pay Ferrin handsomely instead. Truth be told, the ‘Emperor’s’ abilities were of little use here anyway.

Creeeak...

Ferrin casually pushed open the iron door, now just a bare frame, and it groaned painfully. The lobby beyond was in utter disarray—the once-level floor was shattered and upheaved, the chandelier in the center had crashed to the ground, shattered utterly. Only the emergency exit sign above the door still glowed faint green, casting an eerie light in the darkness.

“I’d like to meet the guy who decided emergency exits should glow green,” Ferrin remarked, glancing at the sign above the door. “Give him a standing ovation.”

He tugged his hat lower, a hint of an elegant smile on his lips, and strode into the shadowy hall as though he were a customer coming to conduct some business, not someone facing potential threats.

The three sisters following him were much more serious. The Blackstone Group had sent them as cannon fodder, but Ferrin hadn’t hesitated to make use of the opportunity to upgrade their gear. He’d equipped them with lightweight field armor and replaced their outdated weapons with the energy arms reserved for the Blackstone Group’s own elite guard. In this energy-saturated world, conventional ammunition was falling out of favor; every bullet counted, and once spent, it was gone for good. Energy weapons—like laser rifles—were the new standard, since, as long as network energy remained, you basically had your own ‘infinite ammo’ buff. In such circumstances, energy arms were vastly superior.

Unfortunately, such equipment was hard to produce, and only the elite guard in District Nine had access to it. Ferrin, however, cared little for that; the ‘Emperor’ had already lost two squads of his elite guard, so he could hardly object to losing another set of their weapons.

Now, the three sisters were fully outfitted—Eluca with a laser rifle and a submachine gun slung over her back, Erica trading her usual sniper rifle for an energy shotgun, and even the frail-looking Kurona wielding an energy pistol with practiced form. They might not look especially intimidating, but they were armed to the teeth.

Still...

Glancing at Ferrin leading the way, then at Delin smiling behind them, Eluca couldn’t shake a very peculiar feeling.

Were they... being protected?