Chapter_4_First_Conflict

With their equipment ready, the two quickly burst out of Irina’s room and headed toward the old library. The bombardment from the Storm-class battleship had stopped at some point, which only brought an eerie silence. If the battleship’s engines had merely halted due to control circuit disruption, they should have restarted by now. However, considering that the infiltration of the library and the destruction of the Amalgam Reactor had already succeeded, and the butlers and maids had fled, there might be no reason to resume a large-scale attack.

“The enemy’s assault has ceased. If they’re trying to steal the books from the library, they’ve either already taken them or are in the process of doing so right now. Let’s hurry!”

Sylvia nodded at Irina’s words, and the two began rushing through the winding paths leading to the library. Since enemies were certainly in the central garden, they took a slightly circuitous route. From various parts of the mansion came the intermittent sounds of collapsing beams and the screams of burning timber, but the way all other sounds seemed to have been swallowed up only sharpened their nerves. It appeared the number of invading enemies wasn’t large, but that might be the most frightening thing of all—Irina felt—as a small elite force or something even more powerful might be prying open the library.

“My lady, please wait.”

Sylvia whispered quietly, gently blocking Irina’s path with her left arm.

“Enemies.”

A red uniform could be faintly seen at the far end of the corridor ahead. The enemy apparently hadn’t noticed them yet. However, both Irina and Sylvia knew there were no detours from this point forward.

“Sylvia, you’re prepared, aren’t you?”

Irina confirmed with Sylvia. Not just any preparation, but the preparation to kill—almost certainly to kill. Even if the opponent clearly had murderous intent, this was asking if she, including herself, was prepared for the act of killing someone for the first time.

“My lady, I decided to devote myself to you when I became your personal maid. If it’s to protect you, I am prepared to kill.”

Sylvia murmured with determination in her voice. While feeling a warmth in her chest, Irina also steeled her own resolve.

“Thank you, Sylvia. Let’s go!”

With Irina’s signal, the two broke into a run. Like a gale, yet surprisingly quiet for their speed, they approached the red-uniformed soldiers ahead. Irina and Sylvia raced through the shadows of the corridor as if crawling. Stopping would have bred hesitation. Several seconds after they began their full sprint, the soldiers finally noticed their presence. Several of the red-uniformed soldiers turned around, shouting something as they readied their weapons. Not missing this opening, Irina and Sylvia split left and right almost simultaneously.

Irina dashed past the soldiers’ front. Pressing her back against a corner, she quickly drew the Amalgam Disruptor from her waist and dropped low using the momentum. Confirming one soldier approaching in her peripheral vision, she immediately stepped forward.

“Ha!”

The first strike was a sharp slash aimed diagonally across the torso. The enemy soldier tried to block with his automatic rifle, but ordinary metal couldn’t stop the arc of Irina’s Amalgam Disruptor. Almost simultaneously with the high-pitched activation sound of the Amalgam Disruptor, came the grating noise of metal being severed as the bayonet split in two. Irina twisted deeply and swept across the enemy soldier’s flank. A gasping groan rose along with the sensation of blood.

Another soldier pursued immediately after. This time it was a large soldier wielding an axe. Apparently panicked by the sudden attack, he had grabbed a decorative axe from the mansion. Judging instantly that blocking head-on would put her at a disadvantage, Irina spun on her heel. With her back to the opponent, she leaped toward a pillar in the corridor, rotating her body halfway to escape the axe’s trajectory. Then, closing the distance again, Irina placed the Amalgam Disruptor’s blade against the soldier’s neck and swung. Amid violent blood spray, the soldier’s body collapsed powerlessly to the ground. Ignoring the motionless soldier, she quickly turned her attention to the next opponent.

Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the corridor, Sylvia was facing several soldiers with graceful movements. With her specialized suitcase in one hand, she deflected or narrowly avoided enemy attacks while accurately striking down enemies, wielding the suitcase like a blunt weapon. Her movements harbored a killing intent that showed not a trace of her usual gentleness as a maid.

After all signs of enemies had vanished, Irina swung the Amalgam Disruptor in her hand once in a practice motion, shaking off the adhered blood and dust. Catching her ragged breath, she turned her gaze toward Sylvia.

“Sylvia, are you still alright?”

“Yes, my lady. However, it seems too early to rest.”

Irina looked in the direction Sylvia was pointing. From the end of the corridor, the presence of red-uniformed soldiers approaching despite the fire and debris was palpably transmitted. Footsteps, the faint sound of metal touching metal, and the ominous whirring of firearm mechanisms. Apparently, they were equipped with guns and portable rocket launchers, and also had something like short swords at their waists for close combat. Someone must have sent a communication when Irina and her companion attacked—they already seemed aware of their presence.

“Cover me, please!”

To cut off the presence approaching from behind in the corridor, Irina dashed out, leaping over blazing flames and collapsing walls. Following her footsteps, the red-uniformed soldiers aimed their automatic rifles. Triggers were pulled, and intense gunfire echoed through the corridor.

“Tch…!”

Sparks flying, Irina swung the Amalgam Disruptor, deflecting the incoming bullets.

At first glance an absurd feat, but with this sword’s strength and special disruptive power, plus Irina’s own superhuman reflexes and physical abilities gained through thorough body modification and magical enhancement, when she wielded the sword, she could adequately manage to slightly deflect bullet trajectories and repel them. There were moments when she completely severed bullets, with flash-like trails dancing at the edge of her vision. But deflecting all the countless bullets was understandably difficult. Irina took large steps toward the wall, continuing her advance while using pillars and debris for cover to avoid being hit.

“My lady, commencing suppressive fire!”

As Sylvia’s clear voice rang through the corridor, tremendous gunfire and surges of magical power exploded simultaneously. A rotating multi-barrel cannon emerged from the side of the suitcase and began to spin slowly. Soon, an overwhelming barrage of ether rounds fired from the rotating barrels created red flashes and thunderous noise that filled the corridor. Heavy impact sounds continued repeatedly, forcibly breaking the enemy soldiers’ formation. Even modern ballistic armor couldn’t withstand the high-powered ether-infused rounds, being easily penetrated amid flying sparks.

“Gaah…!?”

The group of enemy soldiers at the front collapsed to the floor, spraying blood mist. The other soldiers who witnessed their comrades being instantly felled immediately lowered themselves to return fire. But Irina was faster at closing into their midst.

Just as the soldiers tried to aim their guns at Irina, she swung the Amalgam Disruptor in a wide horizontal arc. The soldiers’ torsos and lower bodies tumbled to the ground. At that instant, Sylvia spotted a soldier with a portable rocket launcher emerging from a gap in the corridor.

“Incoming rocket! Take cov—”

As the warning rang out, a single rocket was fired toward Irina’s position. With a tremendous jet sound, the warhead flew straight at her, but Irina drew the Arcadian Revolver from her back and fired at the rocket. A sharp, ice-like white bullet shot out and struck the rocket. In an instant, the rocket became a lump of ice and fell to the ground. Irina immediately ran to the gap in the corridor, but the soldier who had fired the rocket had already fled.

“Seems they got away.”

Irina and Sylvia caught their breath for just a few minutes before continuing toward the library.

Those red-uniformed soldiers—though she tried to investigate which organization they belonged to, no decisive clues were found. Considering how relatively easily they were suppressed despite Irina’s body being enhanced by various means, those soldiers were a bit lacking to be called elite. They didn’t seem to be any country’s regular army.

“My lady, I don’t think the mansion’s defense systems could have been breached so easily by their strength. There might be something more. Please be careful.”

“You’re right, I think so too. We’re almost at the library. Let’s stay alert!”

Irina and Sylvia continued to easily handle enemies that appeared sporadically afterward, but they couldn’t relax at all. An opponent who brought out battleships to attack wouldn’t end things so simply—both instinctively felt this.

Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity in the dim light—that old library appeared before them, exuding its heavy, ancient presence.