In a residential district on Hachinosu, Ain led the NEO soldiers and rescued slaves swiftly down the streets toward the port. Behind them came the thunder of Zephyr's battle with the Red Count.
Ain could not help glancing back. If it were only the Red Count, she would not have been worried. But with those strange "patterns" everywhere, there was no telling when Bondrewd might suddenly appear.
"-We need to move faster..."
Ain murmured an urgent reminder.
But the hundred-odd people the NEO soldiers were escorting really could not run much faster.
Twelve Artificial Angels cleared the way ahead, holding Light Dial rifles as they scanned the windows of buildings on either side for hidden enemies.
Just then, all twelve Artificial Angels at the front suddenly stopped.
"-Enemy attack."
Their thermal scans had detected a large number of people approaching. Anyone still actively running deeper into the island at this point was most likely an enemy.
The Artificial Angels split into three groups, quickly spreading out and taking position.
The Cloud Dial boots of the first group whirred mechanically, spraying narrow tracks of processed cloud that carried them onto nearby rooftops.
They set up their Light Dial rifles to cover the crossroads below, firing slender golden beams at the pirates closing in from both sides of the street ahead.
Four beams pierced the brick-and-stone cover, leaving thumb-thick, scorched holes and dropping five people instantly. Two unlucky men had been skewered by a single shot.
"-They spotted us!"
"Charge!"
"Tch-Sky Island's 'white tin cans'!"
The pirates scattered in a swarm, ducking into whatever cover they could find and returning fire with various flintlocks and handheld smoothbore cannons.
These pirate underlings serving Road Island were mostly semiliterate or entirely illiterate. When it came to "resurrection," they lacked the inclination to ponder questions