Chapter 116 – A Flower Blooming in the Mud (Five)

Ray’s hand emerged from his pocket.

Clutched within it was a gem worth a staggering 4.2 million Shillings.

─P-please return it with as little damage as possible!

Jade’s cry echoed in his mind.

But that seemed impossible now.

What he wanted was to ‘accidentally’ drop the gem in a sudden, spur-of-the-moment ‘mistake’.

A scenario that would naturally expose the gem’s existence.

‘Can’t act clumsily. It might feel unnatural.’

He couldn’t carefully set the gem down out of fear of damaging it.

Nor could he take it out to show it off and then put it back.

That wouldn’t do.

In that split second, he made his decision.

Whoosh─!

Ray let the gem slip.

To be precise, it was closer to a throwing motion than a simple drop.

Thud!

The gem hit the floor and bounced into the air.

Multiple sparks Ray generated flashed around the gem.

“Ah!”

With a mechanical reaction, Ray snatched the gem from the air and began running back toward his allies.

Thudthudthudthudthud──!

The boy wasn’t a good actor.

‘Good enough.’

He just didn’t know it himself.

Fortunately, the situation was so urgent that none of the enemies found it unnatural and let it slide.

Ray glanced back slightly.

He could see the enemies urgently sending a radio transmission somewhere.

“Get on board, quickly!”

Squad 1 had finished loading the supplies and was waiting.

Vroom─! Thud!

Ray boarded.

They set off with the violent roar of the engine.

“How did it go?”

“Perfectly deceived them.”

Ray’s answer was filled with his usual confidence.

McCully, nodding with a look of infinite trust, continued the report.

“We also received contact from codename Honeyflower. During the engagement, they dropped a wooden box containing knives from the driver’s seat. An enemy witnessed it and urgently sent a radio transmission somewhere.”

“Is the pursuit still ongoing?”

“Yes. They report they are currently circling via Route A, drawing in all nearby enemies.”

“Good. We’ll take Route B. We need to lure the enemies near us too.”

Ratatatat─! Ratatatat─!

Gunfire sounded from behind the vehicle.

Multiple vehicles were following behind.

Enemies leaning out of windows with guns.

Such scenes were reflected in the rearview mirror.

Their current location was a relatively wide road situated between city blocks.

“Everyone, hold on tight!”

At the driver’s shout, the van began weaving in an S-pattern.

Screech─! Screeeech─!

The steering wheel spun madly.

The passengers were flattened against one side each time the vehicle body lurched left or right.

A hail of enemy bullets narrowly grazed past the windows.

After one volley of gunfire.

The van’s movement returned to normal.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Davis! Your driving skills are still hot as ever, huh?”

“You bastard, did you turn the wheel more on purpose? This is a move you’ve always wanted to try, right?”

McCully and the squad members laughed as they straightened themselves out.

Philip, whose butt had gotten stuck in the gap under the seat, also pulled himself free.

‘Feels like this has happened before sometime.’

Feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

And thinking idle thoughts for a moment.

‘I should ask the driver later if he can give lessons. If I’m to be of any help to our group, I need to learn to drive like a pro at the very least….’

Philip briefly pictured himself in his mind, wearing sunglasses, drifting freely with one hand on the wheel.

Then he shifted his gaze to the passenger seat.

Ray had his eyes closed.

Sitting upright, as if detached from the earlier commotion.

‘He’s started.’

That was why Ray wasn’t using a Ward around the vehicle.

He needed to focus his mind entirely on the Magic he was currently using.

───────.

Inside the boy’s closed eyelids.

Where only black darkness should reside, hundreds of images were flashing by.

At the same speed as the running Train.

But the images moved strictly according to the boy’s will.

Pausing briefly.

Skipping a few.

Or going back.

They were the scenes seen by the hundreds of mice Ray had secretly scattered among the enemy ranks.

There were limits to the number and locations where they could be scattered without being detected by the enemy.

Also, since no bond was formed, the clarity of the shared vision wasn’t high.

But it was enough.

To predict the enemy’s movements and break through.

“Turn right. The road ahead has a barricade set up by the enemy.”

“Got it!”

Screech──!

The driver turned the wheel sharply following Ray’s instruction.

“Squad 1. About 50 meters ahead. Watch for an enemy technical appearing from the right at the intersection. Squad 2. About 30 meters ahead. Left street. Enter Street 33 via the ramp.”

Commands were issued simultaneously for Squads 1 and 2.

Philip sent the radio transmissions on behalf of Ray, who was in a state of extreme concentration.

“Squad 2! Turn into the left fork 30 meters ahead and enter Street 33 via the ramp!”

Under unwavering command, the two vans churned through the enemy ranks with movements so precarious they seemed on the verge of being caught.

Meanwhile.

Ratatatatat───!

The enemy vehicles chasing the vans of Squads 1 and 2, while firing, numbered over twenty each.

Kwaaaahng───!

Also, the sound of explosions echoing from all directions.

Enemy Wizards riding in vehicles or waiting on building rooftops hurled Fireballs.

But thanks to Ray predicting and issuing instructions, they suffered no fatal damage.

Crunch─!

A door flew off.

Thud─!

The roof was dented, but.

They kept moving.

A continuous series of precarious situations where they seemed about to be caught any second.

The enemy clung on even more tenaciously.

“R-Ray! Y-your nose! Nosebleed!”

“It’s fine.”

Ray, eyes still closed, wiped the blood away with the back of his hand.

Controlling hundreds of Familiars simultaneously was certainly no easy task.

No matter how small their bodies were.

Or how low the bond was set.

‘The number of enemies lured is sufficient now. I think we can start leaving the enemy lines and head for the final destination.’

Frankly, it was better than expected.

He had thought luring even half of the total enemy force would be a success.

But with this number, it seemed almost all enemy Combatants were following.

Was the opponent deliberately playing along with the chase?

Or did the bait he threw out really have such a great effect?

‘…Could be both.’

The clear fact was that the enemy’s pursuit was far more persistent and vicious than in the previous engagement.

Judging by their momentum, they seemed ready to follow all the way to Sector 50.

He should be able to lure them without issue to the final destination, which wasn’t far.

Ray opened his eyes and spoke.

“Let’s start making our escape.”

“Fuck! Step on it! Step on it more!”

“I-it’s dangerous. If we go any faster here and the vehicle body shakes even a little….”

“Fuck! Move! You fucking idiot!”

Brook, shoving his way into the driver’s seat and grabbing the wheel, rolled his bloodshot eyes forward.

Not far away, he could see the rear of a van speeding across a bridge and their own vehicles chasing behind it.

“Colin! You fucking bug! Daring to steal my stuff!”

Colin, who had shouted as if having a fit, stomped the accelerator as if to break it.

Vroooom!

The four-seater jeep dangerously weaved through the line of vehicles spread wide across the road, pushing forward.

“I’ll chew you to death, you thieving bastard! When I catch you, I’ll cut off your wrists!”

He had been truly shocked when he first received the radio transmission from his subordinate.

He never imagined the ‘key’, thought lost during the raid on the Loyalist Faction, could possibly be in Colin’s hands.

‘It can open it. It can open that bastard Niles’s safe.’

[Click.]

Imagining the moment the key fit into the safe’s lock, Brook licked his lips with a saliva-drenched tongue.

There was sure to be an enormous amount of money inside.

No matter how low the protection tax rate collected from Merchants was, the organization managing the entire Sector had been Nisohwa.

Even after deducting Operatives’ salaries and equipment maintenance costs, a considerable sum must have remained each month.

‘And he ate it all alone? That bastard Niles with a conscience boiled and eaten.’

Rage surged, but it was fine.

Because he would soon be the owner of that money.

Moreover, Mercread, who had been controlling their actions and making him seethe with frustration, had also issued the order for a full-scale attack.

‘He said it’s fine to kill everyone else, but to capture the white-haired brat alive and bring him back. And to take that mysterious gem too.’

He would crush the Loyalist Faction.

And Mercread would get the item he wanted.

There was no cleaner deal than this.

Vrooooooaaahng──!

The jeep, having reached top speed and surged to the front of the convoy, pulled alongside the van.

A gap of just one lane.

Brook rolled down the window and screamed.

“Colliiin! I couldn’t find it no matter how haaard I looked, youuu bastard, you took the keeeey!”

Brook’s cheeks flapped like laundry on a line in the pouring wind.

His voice was almost drowned out too, but anyway, the van’s passenger window rolled down, revealing Colin’s cold face.

“…….”

“Colliiin──!! Give me the keeeey──!!”

Colin, who had been looking at Brook with indifferent eyes, lowered his head and fumbled for something.

Soon, something rose above the window.

It was a middle finger, held straight.

“You fucking─.”

Just as Brook was about to spit out a curse.

Ratatatatat──!

The muzzle Colin quickly thrust out the window spewed fire toward the jeep’s front tire.

Bang!

A loud sound effect.

The burst tire.

A panicked Brook slammed on the brakes, gritting his teeth and gripping the wheel tightly.

Screeeech───!

The jeep lurched violently left and right like a drunk person.

Then, once it had slowed down somewhat, it crashed into the bridge railing.

Crash──!

Hot smoke billowed from the half-crushed engine compartment.

Vehicles in the same lane coming from behind barely twisted their paths to scrape past it.

Whoosh─! Whooosh─!

The van and the vehicles of his subordinates chasing it rapidly receded into the distance.

Watching that sight, Brook slammed the horn with all his might.

Honk! Bwaaaaaaaahng──!

“Fuuuuuuuuck───!! I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely kill youuu──!!”

A terrible pain, as ragged as his torn voice, throbbed throughout his entire body.

There had been a minor accident on the bridge, but the pursuit was successful anyway.

Because they had driven both vans, which had been buzzing through the streets like flies, into a dead-end alley.

“So.”

Click!

Brook put a cigarette in his mouth.

A subordinate quickly lit it.

“Those fucking bastards have nowhere left to run, right.”

Phew─

Hazy smoke writhing its way up toward the cloud-covered sky.

As the cigarette’s pleasurable substances circulated through his body, Brook’s heavily contorted face began to relax slightly.

Their current location was the outskirts of Street 38.

A few dilapidated buildings stood precariously on bare, parched land, surrounded by rocky slopes of near-vertical incline like fortress Walls.

And behind Brook.

Vroooom──!

The only access road connecting the basin to the city proper.

On the asphalt road, worn and cracked in places and full of dust.

Vroooooom──!

Vroooom──!

Trucks, buses, jeeps, technicals, etc.

All sorts of vehicles, easily numbering forty, were lined up horizontally to form a barricade.

Thud! Thud!

Subordinates who had finished parking got out, closed the car doors, and approached Brook one by one.

“Those bastards still seem to be holding out hope?”

“Even if they look around, there’s nowhere to run.”

Brook and his subordinates’ gazes were directed toward the inside of the basin, dozens of meters away.

Two vans, their bodies almost in tatters, were circling along the rocky slopes.

“Seeing how they kept clinging to the supplies, they probably thought we’d play with them a bit as usual and then let them go.”

“The idiots, their own routes got tangled in the middle, you know?”

“Thanks to that, we got off easy. We drove them in here comfortably.”

They burst into unrestrained laughter.

The two vans endlessly circling the slopes looked like rat bastards looking for a hole to escape through.

Thud! Thud!

“…….”

Operatives who had belonged to the neutral faction also gathered nearby one by one.

Their faces as they looked into the basin weren’t very bright.

One of Brook’s subordinates spoke.

“Hyung, even though we’ve blocked the entrance, shouldn’t we attack quickly? What if there’s a path on the slope behind the buildings, hidden from view….”

Other subordinates nodded in agreement, murmuring.

They all seemed unaware that such a place even existed in Sector 46.

“No need to worry, the back is also tightly blocked by slopes. The incline is steep and there’s almost nothing to grab onto to climb, so they absolutely can’t go up.”

Brook blew out cigarette smoke.

The subordinates were impressed.

“Oooh! As expected of Hyung. Have you been here before?”

“Sector 46 is truly in the palm of Hyung’s hand!”

Brook, who had wordlessly flicked away the cigarette and crushed it, took out a new one and put it in his mouth.

Click. Phew─

It was a place he had often visited as a child.

Even back then, it was a desolate, ruined commercial complex.

As Brook frowned slightly, lost in old memories, a startled voice reached his ears.

“Hey! Those bastards! They’re going into the buildings!”

Just as the shout said.

Loyalist Faction Operatives, having parked their vehicles at the entrance of the building in the center of the complex, were getting out one after another, pushing through the broken glass door and going inside.

“Are they planning to make a stand?”

“Looks like they’ll struggle to the very end.”

Most sneered, but not all.

“Hyung, perhaps… could it be a trap? The chase wasn’t that long, but the fact that no other enemies came to support is also suspicious, and considering Colin’s personality, there are some doubtful points….”

Brook, frowning, gestured for the subordinate to come over.

The subordinate cautiously approached.

Grab───!

His collar was seized.

Brook pulled the subordinate close and growled.

“Colin that bastard, what?”

“W-well….”

“If those bastards have set a trap, so what? Don’t you have confidence we can win?”

“N-no, sir!”

As roughly as his contorted, twitching facial muscles, the emotions contained in Brook’s Vessel surged violently.

Red anger and irritation.

Deep navy-blue inferiority.

Sticky, damp feelings.

Brook, who had suddenly released the subordinate’s collar and shoved him away, spoke in a loud voice for all to hear.

“The key and the gem. And Colin that bastard are in there. If we catch Colin, the Loyalist Faction will collapse on its own. Even if hidden troops are ambushed inside the building, fuck, we outnumber them by a whopping three times!”

Brook grabbed the subordinate’s collar again, pulling his face close.

“And, I know Colin’s personality well. He sacrificed himself. While he lured the enemy, the remaining troops secured all the supplies left on the streets without interference. That bastard has always lived pretending to care for others. Understand?”

As Brook was raging like that.

Screeeech──!

A few more vehicles arrived near the barricade.

As men dressed in reddish-brown coats poured out, the surroundings instantly fell silent.

Mercread’s Wizards.

There had been Wizards who arrived at the scene in the pursuit vehicles.

But with their numbers suddenly doubling, the pressure was suffocating, making their blood run cold.

‘Altogether, about thirty.’

Brook, having released the subordinate’s collar and straightened his clothes, gulped.

Thirty Wizards.

If they so desired, they could turn the two hundred and forty-plus Operatives currently present into ashes in an instant.

‘But no need to worry. Mercread is our ally.’

Brook, raising the corners of his mouth to hide his tension, approached the newly arrived Wizards and spoke.

“You’ve arrived! As you instructed, we’ve driven the prey into a corner and were waiting!”

The tallest Wizard, with a rugged impression, looked down at Brook and spoke.

“It’s Allerger’s order. He has given the command to enter. Seize the gem, and capture the white-haired Wizard alive if possible.”

Perfectly condescending.

Even being ignored for a greeting, but Brook didn’t seem too displeased.

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind. But about capturing alive, regarding injuries….”

“As long as he’s breathing, it’s fine. It seems Allerger wants to have a brief conversation.”

Brook grinned.

The words said ‘capture alive’, but it was no different from saying it was almost okay to kill him.

With little need to hold back, they could attack and raise hell to their heart’s content.

“Then we’ll begin the entry immediately….”

A few more exchanges of conversation.

Thud. Thud.

The entire force began to move.

The footsteps of the combined force, numbering over two hundred and seventy, even created the illusion of the ground shaking.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Yet their expressions varied depending on their affiliation.

And beneath the sky, where dark clouds were gradually thickening.

The boy on the rooftop gazed with his usual indifferent eyes.

──────.

At the tidal wave of emotion surging forth, accompanied by the sound of massive footsteps.