Chapter 79
A split second before he fired, the girl drew her pistol faster and shot the gun out of his hand.
The other gunshot was from when his pistol was released from his hand and pulled the trigger, but it completely missed the girl.
He winced and clutched his wrist. At that moment, without a sound, he realized that the girl had appeared in front of him at some point and was throwing a punch at his throat. He could vaguely see a cold glint flashing inside the girl's sleeve.
A hidden weapon! -- He made the judgment immediately.
He could no longer underestimate the girl, and with all his might, he forcefully deflected the knife from her neck, simultaneously striking out with his palm to try and parry her attack.
Given his height advantage, this counterattack should have been immediately effective, but the girl deftly transformed her punch into an elbow strike, avoiding a direct confrontation. She merely brushed against his arm like a veil, then swiftly stepped forward and thrust out a palm, leaving a bloody hole in his chest.
The next instant, a sharp pain shot through his arm, followed by a gush of blood.
Another hidden weapon! -- He stared wide-eyed, swallowed the blood rising deep in his throat, and, enduring the excruciating pain in his arm, quickly kicked out, trying to create distance between himself and the girl.
But what awaited him was the girl's high kick, which struck him squarely in the back of the knee, disrupting his balance and inflicting excruciating pain once more—a deep, bloody wound appeared on his leg, exposing the bone. He belatedly looked at the girl's boots; the blades on them gleamed an eerie crimson, flashing a cold light in the night.
Having suffered a severe leg injury, he couldn't steady himself and collapsed to his knees with a thud. As blood flowed rapidly, the cold sweat on his forehead could no longer be concealed.
In just two moves, he was already half crippled.
"Ah, we're running out of time, Ayse, I'll have to leave the rest to you."
Just then, he heard the girl's voice and saw her throw the crystal out the window.
"You..."
"I can roughly guess what it is, so I won't trouble you to explain."
The girl spoke quietly, took out a handkerchief from her pocket, meticulously and slowly wiped away the bloodstains left on the blade under her sleeve, then threw it away with disgust, without even glancing at the man.
"I came here because I wanted to confirm something. I thought that my personal appearance would definitely hook someone, but... you're really all alone? Well then, I'll be frank. Now you have the choice: take the initiative and reveal your entire mission, or... stay here and experience what it's like to be worse than dead?"
The girl gave a wicked smile.
"You injured one of my men, so don't think I'll let you get away with it."
108. Battle Situation
On the other side--
Efnir was unaware of Masaki Hina's appearance. Furthermore, due to the effects of the Corruption, neither of them could contact Fushihara Ayaka and Elincia, so they were completely unaware of what was happening to Canary and Ayse.
Currently, Yukina lacks experience and training and is unable to fight the Erosion Entity alone. Therefore, Efnir and Yukina divided the tasks: Yukina was responsible for monitoring the situation from the high tower with a wide field of vision, informing Efnir, and providing support for the attack, while Efnir was responsible for eliminating the Erosion Entity one by one.
But gradually, Yukina noticed something was amiss.
"Naoko... it seems the number of the Erosion Entity has increased again..."
Yukina stood atop the tower, gripping her weapon tightly, gazing anxiously in the direction of the sudden disturbance.
There appeared an Erosion Entity she had never seen before.
From where she stood, she could see the entire area below, except for a few blind spots. She could immediately spot where someone needed help or where Erosion Entity had appeared and relay the information to Efnir.
However, the seven Erosion Entity that were originally thought to have been eliminated had been discovered to have appeared out of nowhere. Efnir had just Exile when another one appeared.
This unpredictable situation made Yukina begin to doubt her own abilities.
Did I miscount?
She insisted on coming with her sister, but not only was she unable to help in the battle, she also messed up the basic intelligence processing work. It seemed like she hadn't done anything right, which made Yukina feel powerless.
"Another one? This must be the ninth one."
Before long, Efnir's voice came through the earpiece. Compared to Yukina's tension and worry, Efnir did not show any fluctuation.
But the more Efnir acted this way, the more Yukina would overthink things.
She is currently working as a combatant. As a combatant, if she were to provide intelligence riddled with flaws, the impact on the battlefield would be predictable.
Efnir adjusts her battle strategy based on her intelligence, but if Efnir's plan goes wrong and she gets injured due to a lack of intelligence, Yukina doesn't even want to think about such an outcome.
Ultimately, I was the one who insisted on coming along in the first place. If I can't do anything and just become a burden, then Yukina simply can't forgive herself.
Therefore, at this moment, Yukina was even more nervous than when facing the Erosion Entity.
Tell me its location.
"This time it's in area two."
Yukina carefully compared the map on the electronic bracelet, then looked up and checked it again.
"North of Zone Two, in this vicinity... there are no personnel who need to be evacuated."
"This place...I remember being there ten minutes ago."
"That's right... Naoko had already cleared away the Erosion Entity there and managed to evacuate the crowd successfully, but... now the Erosion Entity have reappeared..." Yukina said sadly in a low voice, "Maybe... I missed them..."
"No, I don't think it's that our intelligence missed this one; rather, it is definitely the one that appeared there later..."
"Why?"
Efnir was chasing after the Erosion Entity and didn't notice the change in Yukina's tone at all; she simply gave an explanation.
"I can't be completely certain of the specifics yet. Anyway, I'll go over there again. Yukina, you stay there and continue to observe. If any more Erosion Entity appear, keep a close eye on the area and see if there are any unusual movements or suspicious individuals. Let me know as soon as you find anything."
"Um..."
After saying that, the two temporarily cut off the communication.
At this moment, Efnir was running quickly on the rooftop, leaping and bounding, and using the "Stairway" to land steadily on top of a signal tower.
The view here wasn't as expansive as from the tower, but it was still more than enough to observe the surrounding area within a kilometer. Soon, she spotted her target—at the far end of her field of vision, an Erosion Entity crawling on the ground, twisting its body and moving slowly forward. It seemed unaware of human presence and was aimlessly crawling forward.
The evacuation of the crowd was now basically complete, and instead of rushing to attack the giant crocodile-like creature, Efnir observed it with a sharp brow.
It is common sense that the number of Erosion Entity that appear in a disaster should be fixed.
But this time there was an "exception," which was undoubtedly the work of the enemy. If the enemy were something like the "Apostle," then such an anomaly would be normal. The three recent Erosion Disaster made it impossible for Efnir to make a judgment based on past experience.
However, Efnir followed the Erosion Entity and observed it for a full three minutes without seeing anything particularly unusual. It only seemed to have damaged some circuitry due to its reaction to electrical energy, and otherwise it was moving slowly.
Just as Efnir was about to try other ideas, Yukina's voice suddenly came through her earpiece.
"Naoko, another Erosion Entity has appeared... This time it's in the eastern part of Zone 2, in the staff dormitory area."
Is it there this time?
Efnir pondered for a moment.
"It's about a twenty-minute walk... maybe even faster if you jog... How long does it take for the ninth and tenth to appear..."
If we assume that the appearance of the Erosion Entity is man-made, then, based on the time difference, the time required to travel from the location where the ninth Erosion Entity appears to the location where the tenth erosion body appears corresponds exactly to the time difference between their appearances.
Efnir didn't believe in such a coincidence.
After a pause, Efnir said, "Okay, keep an eye on it, I'll be right there."
"Um!"
After saying that, Efnir leaped down and ran quickly toward the Erosion Entity a hundred meters away.
The Erosion Entity then spotted Efnir and tried to twist its bulky body to attack Efnir. However, Efnir didn't wait for it to turn around. Using the "Stairway," it leaped high into the air, turned around in mid-air, and the spear circled around its body. It used the power of its body rotation to accumulate strength and then hurled it out.
A silver light fell to the ground like a meteor, instantly causing the ground to tremble and rubble to fly. A muffled roar exploded from the location of the Erosion Entity, and layers of smoke and dust spread out like giant waves before gathering and rising into the air.
Behind the smoke and dust rose patches of dappled starlight. Efnir only glanced at them before stepping over the "Stairway," turning around, and running off in another direction.
Just then, Yukina's voice came through the earpiece again.
"Naoko, I found someone near the place where the Erosion Entity appeared..."
109. Tracking
"People?"
Efnir frowned slightly.
Who is it?
"Looks like... staff members here?" Yukina's voice came through the earpiece. She paused, seemingly observing, and then said, "It's too far away, but they are definitely wearing the uniforms here. Other than that, I can't see very clearly... But speaking of which, Naoko, I remember the evacuation work there should have ended already..."
"It's not surprising that some people are missed; sometimes there are unlucky people who get separated from the evacuation team and end up having to take temporary shelter."
Efnir thought for a moment and then said.
"However, please tell me the location first."
"It's behind a building in the middle of the eastern part of the dormitory area, heading north."
"This isn't the direction of the refuge area... North... There doesn't seem to be anything else to the north either. It's quite suspicious, to be honest. Anyway, I'll go check it out. Keep an eye on him for me for now."
"Um!"
Communication was temporarily cut off again. The spear in Efnir's hand disappeared, and she rushed out from the rooftop, moving swiftly through the night sky.
Erosion Entity sensitive to many types of energy, and for this reason, when humans are not their primary target, they sometimes target various electronic devices, damaging circuits and facilities.
As a result, lighting facilities in many areas have stopped operating, and darkness has gradually taken over most of the night.
However, this did not cause much interference to the agent. Efnir moved quickly between the buildings, each jump landing precisely on the edge. For the agent, although the field of vision at night was indeed narrower than during the day, it was still much better than that of an ordinary human. Efnir could further enhance her vision by concentrating her power on this, so for her, the night was now as clear as day.
Seeing the Erosion Entity appear in the distance, Efnir leaped high from the edge of the building, flipping over at a great height. As she fell, she tapped her feet repeatedly, each time increasing her falling speed with tremendous force. The broken Stairway left a trail of brilliant moonlight in the air behind her.
Having traversed a distance of nearly a hundred meters, Efnir crashed down like a cannonball, while the Erosion Entity met her with a claw strike. Efnir turned around, and a dazzling silver light transformed into a spear that slashed horizontally, colliding with the giant claw.
Generally speaking, the power of the Erosion Entity is greater than that of the Agent. The only Agent in Xijing City who can contend with the Erosion Entity is the Agent who uses the "Shield Sword" —Elincia. In other words, apart from her, the power of other Agents is not superior to that of the Erosion Entity.
But at this moment, the giant claws of the Erosion Entity were forcefully deflected by Efnir's sweeping spear. At the same time, Efnir's downward momentum did not diminish. She shattered the Stairway with one foot and forcefully twisted her body. Underneath her skirt, Efnir's long, fair legs were raised above her head, and in front of her snow-white thighs was her cold gaze.
Then, with a burst of all her strength, the sound barrier flashed by, and Efnir's heel slammed into the Erosion Entity's exposed head.
A deafening explosion followed the massive body of the Erosion Entity crashing into the ground, sending spiderweb-like cracks spreading across the surface. The flying debris landed with a crisp sound like popping soybeans, and the echoes of shattering glass reverberated from the surrounding buildings, marking the end of the Erosion Entity's life.
Efnir lightly touched the ground with her feet, and before she even landed, she leaped again, stirring up the rising starlight, and chased after it in another direction.
But at that moment, Yukina contacted us again.
"Naoko! That person... he's gone..."
"What happened?"
He turned the corner and left, and then... I don't know where he went...
Yukina's location is indeed an excellent spot with a panoramic view of a large area, but since it is observation by sight, there will inevitably be blind spots. If it is a large creature like the Erosion Entity, it is not a problem, as the target is very conspicuous and there is no way to hide, so there is no possibility of losing the target.
However, if the target is just a human, it is very difficult to keep a close eye on the other person. If the other person has received relevant training and has a certain level of counter-surveillance awareness, it is easy for them to avoid Yukina's line of sight.
Therefore, Efnir did not blame Yukina.
Now that they've lost track of her, it's up to her, the person who came to the scene, to handle the rest.
"It's okay, he can't have gone far. You should be able to see me now, right? Tell me where he was last seen."
"Right behind the chair next to the fifth streetlight in front of you, I saw him walk past the window and into the building, then walk around the corner in the first-floor corridor, and then he disappeared..."
"Okay, I'll go take a look."
"Sis, be careful... He looks suspicious, I'm afraid he's not a good person..."
"Don't worry, the other party may not be the enemy. You continue to guard that place and observe whether any other Erosion Entity appear."
"Um!"
Having cut off communication, Efnir had already rolled over and reached the first-floor corridor.
This is a dormitory building in a dormitory area. Now that everyone has gone to take refuge, the corridor is quiet. A thin, cool moonlight shines through the windows. In the windless night, the air moves slowly, sometimes hot and sometimes cool with the footsteps of Efnir.
Efnir glanced around quickly, but found nothing. She breathed a sigh of relief, panting softly to calm her rapid breathing.
The rapid travel and the "Exile" of the Erosion Entity were both extremely physically demanding. Even Efnir was somewhat exhausted after the two consecutive kills of the Erosion Entity and the sprint over this distance. Both of her battles involved overwhelming opponents with sheer strength and skill, which had drained a significant amount of Efnir stamina. Moreover, she had used the "Stairway" technique far too many times in a row, which was also a considerable burden for Efnir.
Although she didn't know who the person who appeared here was, just as Yukina said, he appeared in a place he shouldn't be, so it was best to be cautious. Therefore, Efnir quickly adjusted her breathing and tried to restore her fighting power to its best level.