Chapter 181
The energy within the Erosion Entity is vastly different from other forms of energy observed in this world. It can choose when energy "sleeps" and when it "awakens," which is the difference between "passive" and "active."
Under "passive" conditions, the Corruption Energy is like a still pool of water, in which "fish" can swim freely.
When "active," the Corruption Energy is like a restless fire, and the ignited air can blow away all obstacles.
In simple terms, the Corruption Energy seems to have awakened "a certain will" within the Erosion Entity's shell, selectively manipulating the form in which the energy manifests.
This is the consensus among researchers regarding Erosion Entity. Therefore, some people have taken a different approach and tried to find the mechanism of action between Erosion Entity and Corruption Energy in order to find a solution to Erosion Disaster, but so far they have found nothing.
But this situation seems to have changed now.
--The Apostle Organization, a massive armed organization that has been lurking in the shadows of the world for an unknown period of time, possesses a special technology that allows their Apostle Girls to "stealth" for short periods of time, just as Erosion Entity avoids Erosion Entity.
This is a rewrite of the theory of Corruption Energy research; it is a groundbreaking technology.
With this crucial technological support, the Apostle Organization was able to wreak havoc in various cities.
At this time--
The small team of about thirty people moved quickly through the city, which was littered with Erosion Entity and Dregs.
Fujisaki Ryoka is the captain of this Apostle Squad. These Apostle girls, each carrying guns and ammunition, marched forward quickly.
Led by Liang Xiang, the Apostle girls avoided all roads that might expose their whereabouts. She led the team on a detour, quickly passing through the towering buildings instead of the main streets, using alleys as the main passage.
They were very familiar with the terrain, including some very remote paths, and had even traveled through underground tunnels, which allowed them to perfectly conceal their movements.
Beside her was her former friend, Hatsukawa Fuka, who was also the strongest warrior in this Apostle Squad. At this moment, Fuka's eyes were dark, with only a faint light flickering in the depths of her blood-red pupils. The sorrow and hesitation on her face when she was persuading Liang Xiang just now seemed to have never appeared.
They soon arrived near the Relay Station.
Liang Xiang leaned against the wall, cautiously peeking out and gazing at the battlefield across the street not far away.
In front of the Relay Station, the silver-haired girl stood atop countless Dregs corpses, holding a spear in each hand. Like an elegant dancer, she weaved and leaped amidst the ferocious attacks of the Erosion Entity. Each attack unleashed a violent storm, and she single-handedly tore the Erosion Entity and their Dregs to shreds.
Behind her, a towering wall of light and flame kept all the Erosion Entity and Dregs at bay, firmly protecting the soldiers inside the Relay Station.
A girl in light blue continuously attacks the wall, providing combat support.
Liang Xiang's pupils gleamed with a captivating red light; she no longer needed binoculars to see clearly anything within a few hundred meters.
"We've spotted the target, but we're missing one person..."
According to prior reconnaissance, Efnir, Fifina, and Iris were the three agents who should have left the temporary base.
Because they didn't know the specific operational plans of the temporary garrison troops, they naturally couldn't obtain more detailed intelligence. Yuri left the team inside the tunnel, so Liang Xiang was unaware of it.
According to intelligence gathered during the battle, there were fifteen agents in this combat force, among whom Efnir was a "dangerous target" who was repeatedly highlighted, and also the "ace" among the agents of Xijing City.
Fujisaki Ryoka had certainly heard of Efnir and had personally experienced Efnir power—during the battle to cover the Angel' retreat, more than a dozen of their squad members were "taken down" by Efnir. In front of Efnir, the white mist they relied on for concealment seemed to be non-existent; every team member who approached Efnir was instantly obliterated, so much so that after the battle, those who escaped still knew nothing about Efnir.
Including the Angel, most of the losses suffered by the Apostle Squad in that battle could be attributed to Efnir.
Efnir's strength was beyond comprehension, so Liang Xiang was extremely cautious about this operation and was prepared for the worst.
--If Efnir isn't eliminated, all subsequent actions will be hindered. The higher-ups have already been defeated in Xijing City, and now is their greatest chance of victory.
"However, the main target seems to be exhausted, and now is indeed the best time."
The Liang Xiang lingered.
She had learned from their brief encounter that, given the organization's fighting force deployed in the Xijing City area, there was no chance of victory against Efnir in a direct confrontation. Therefore, the most sensible tactic was to strike when Efnir was preoccupied with the Erosion Entity and Dregs.
Now that Efnir has undergone two Apostle Form and a long period of fighting, her physical condition is understandably dire.
This time, we'll definitely be able to take down Efnir.
Liang Xiang withdrew her gaze, looked at the Apostle girls behind her, and picked up the pistol in her hand.
"Have you checked all the spare syringes? Don't let me down during the battle."
"It has been confirmed to be correct."
"Check your weapons! Sniper, go through this tunnel and set up an ambush."
"And you, stay in this building and wait for your turn. The rest of you will face the enemy head-on, and once..."
A series of concise instructions were quickly issued, and Liang Xiang arranged everyone's duties. She leaned against the wall, her gaze falling on Hatsukawa Fuka beside her, and pursed her lips.
"You... come with me."
Hatsukawa Fuka simply nodded without saying a word.
Liang Xiang lingered on her eyelashes.
"Enhancement Agent" deprive a person of "fear," thereby weakening their "judgment," and grant them strength, making the weak brave and fierce. However, "fear" itself is also a part of complete humanity, and "Enhancement Agent" forcibly take this part away, inevitably eroding the user's "personality" to varying degrees.
Anyone who has been injected with the "Enhancement Agent" will eventually become less and less like themselves— Liang Xiang knew this outcome.
Even so, she still chose this path, and now she doesn't know if she can still be considered "herself".
Liang Xiang raised her chin, took a deep breath, and let the cool air under the rain curtain fill her chest.
There is no way out.
She spoke slowly:
"Begin the operation."
52. Combat Instinct
The Relay Station faces the street, and there are no other buildings within a 30-meter radius of the outer low wall.
The swarming Erosion Entity and Dregs were overwhelming; there were few obstacles available, and even the low walls couldn't hold back the Dregs.
Against these special enemies, ordinary combat tactics are almost impossible to use, and common bunkers and obstacles are practically useless. Once they break through behind the Defense Line, the soldiers have no chance to fight back.
Therefore, the core objective of the battle is to resist them and eliminate them.
The Erosion Entity and Dregs continued to flow in. After the Maesakagawa Garrison District fell and became Dead City, the large amount of Dregs and Erosion Entity that had gathered here did not leave the city and continued to surge towards the two remaining areas with life. Outside the Relay Station, the mines and Lure Bombs set up by the soldiers had long been cleared. Efnir and Yukina were the last Defense Line for the Relay Station.
The open terrain makes setting up obstacles more difficult, which is undoubtedly a disadvantage for the minority side in a battle where the number of combatants is vastly different.
This put immense pressure on Efnir and Yukina.
In addition, the defensive wall set up by Efnir almost completely surrounded the Relay Station. This huge defensive wall, which covered an area the size of a football field, consumed a considerable amount of Efnir's energy.
In this oppressive rain, the battle lasted for nearly an hour.
Arrows, grenades, gunpowder, and smoke followed one after another.
Centered on the Relay Station battlefield, a large area encompassing the entire street and nearby buildings has been completely destroyed and collapsed by grenades thrown by Efnir or the soldiers and by landmines they laid. Thick black smoke rises into the rain, and beneath the rain, raging fires have become the most common sight here.
The air was a bit pungent.
Yukina gasped for breath, suppressing the urge to cough, drew back the bowstring, held her breath, and a curtain of water-colored arrows fell, slicing through the black tide that was Erosion Entity like knives. Then she took a deep breath of fresh air.
She had to keep her bow and arrow steady.
However, she did not know how to use the Order Force to suppress her body's thirst for oxygen to the greatest extent. In the battle, this slight difference in situation was magnified infinitely. As the battle progressed and oxygen and physical strength were constantly consumed, Yukina's arrows went out of bounds.
She once again deeply felt the gap between herself, a self-taught newcomer, and Canary's agents.
Admittedly, Yukina's progress as an agent has been rapid, but Yukina feels that this is largely due to her very high "adaptability" as an agent. If the Order Force is a kind of energy like "electricity", then different "Eligible" can perhaps be described as different conductive materials.
The training that the agent undergoes is a further process of processing the "material," extending and fitting it, developing it into different forms, and its performance as a "conductor" will naturally show differences again.
Even though she was born with extremely high and wide-ranging "aptitude", she has not been tempered for long enough and is still only a semi-finished product.
"Hateful..."
She gritted her teeth; the prolonged battle had left her feeling weak and exhausted, causing her combat effectiveness to decline rapidly.
Yukina's athletic performance has never been good because she has been physically weak since childhood. Although she wouldn't be considered sickly, she could still be described as "delicate".
After Resonance and Synchronization with the Beacon for the first time, Yukina's physical functions were greatly enhanced. With the blessing and nourishment of the Order Force, Yukina had not experienced this kind of weakness, like a 1,000-meter race, for a long time.
Yukina was breathing heavily, the thick smoke stung her nostrils, and her eyes ached so badly that she could barely open them.
She was not injured, but the intense and prolonged battle had begun to deplete her physical functions. She had less than 30% of the Order Energy she could mobilize left, and once the Order Force was completely depleted, she would lose the power that the Order Force gave her and be completely eliminated from this battle.
However, looking down from here, the sheer number of Erosion Entity and Dregs is still despairingly large, spreading outwards from the Relay Station like thick black ink, while even more Erosion Entity and Dregs are drawn to the scene by the fighting here.
"..."
She clenched her fists tightly in frustration, her nails almost digging into her palms.
It's too early to give up now.
Naoko cannot be left to fight Naoko. As her sister, Yukina wants to stand by her side, as her strength, and face everything with her, no matter when or where.
She stood up and raised her longbow once more.
However, at that moment, a beam of light suddenly rose from behind a building not far away, and like a bright, huge star, it crashed straight into the abandoned signal tower behind the Relay Station.
A muffled thud amplified in the rain. The signal tower, which had long since lost power, tilted precariously. Faint sparks flickered between the shaky base of the tower. Numerous cables, unable to withstand the weight, were torn, bounced up, and whipped through the rain.
"Enemy attack!?"
The sudden explosion raised Yukina's alarm bells.
This attack, which came from an unknown source, clearly possessed "energy" that only agents and the Apostle Organization could use. It wasn't from Efnir, much less from herself, meaning there was a third party involved.
That signature ball of light almost definitively identified the attacker.
But...
Why attack a useless signal tower? Wouldn't it be more effective to launch a surprise attack on yourself or Naoko if you had such a good opportunity?
Unless, of course, the other party's original intention was not to attack.
Instead, it's about shifting your attention...
Or does this mean some kind of signal, given that communication is impossible here?
This moment happened in a very short time. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed tightly, pounding violently. Her instincts made Yukina take a step back almost the instant after the explosion, and at the same time she summoned the Order Force. As she retreated, she drew her bow and tried to launch a counterattack in the direction her intuition had indicated.
However, she was still a step too late.
A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my abdomen and legs like an electric current up my spine and into my brain.
--Although Yukina had taken evasive action as quickly as she could, she was still unfortunately hit by two bullets. Clearly, the opponent was a very elite sniper.
Time seemed to stand still at that moment.
Yukina suddenly found herself seemingly entering some strange, unheard-of state.
Her hair was torn and ripped apart by the bullet that pierced through her. The air around her seemed to solidify, and the rain slowed down. Yukina could clearly see her scalding blood spurting from her wound. The air, shredded by the bullet, tore at the blood foam. Yukina could even clearly feel the heat emanating from the bullet as it remained inside her body, and the strange sensation it brought.
The concept of time seemed to vanish in that instant.
Yukina couldn't move her gaze, but she didn't lose her instinct to think. Her mind, which should have been sluggish from the long battle, became extremely clear in that instant, and her previous fatigue vanished.
"Here... there... and behind me..."
In a way that Yukina she couldn't have imagined, in less than a millisecond, she instantly deduced the direction from which the bullet was coming.
Naoko once told her that as a seasoned agent, her Combat Instinct were so strong that she could accurately pinpoint the attacker's location the instant a bullet was fired.
Yukina's eyes widened—she had never received such combat training, yet she had done it.
53. Chaotic Battle
Yukina was astonished by the power surging within her at this moment, stunned as she absorbed this moment of time stillness, as if the power was flowing from the depths of her heart, from somewhere far away.
That wasn't the Order Force, but some kind of power that was inherently hers— Combat Instinct deeply ingrained within her body.
Every person has endless possibilities.
However, this "possibility" absolutely cannot escape the rules established within the inherent biological and physical realms.
For the first time, Yukina personally experienced the "sky" that the Order Force revealed to her—a "possibility" that transcended established boundaries and stepped towards the stars.
All her senses have evolved; Yukina can now distinguish almost every water droplet in the air, every bullet that comes one after another, the ceaseless roar of sound, and the warm, thick smoke mixed in with the cool breeze.
And, surrounded by enemies several times larger than Naoko attacking her, Yukina could even see Naoko's eyes looking at her, every single one of Naoko's silvery-white curled eyelashes, the complex persistence and bitterness in her eyes, the angry and resentful shouts, and the faint light emerging from the lines on her palms.