Chapter 99
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“Yes, Captain!”
At Charlize’s brief command, she started up the stairs, with Samuel bringing up the rear.
They made their way up the stairs, through the hallway, and as Charlize opened the door disguised as the private room, Samuel suddenly felt his carefully contained guiding power begin to shake violently.
“…Damn.”
All seven guides who stepped out into the bar fell silent in unison.
It wasn’t the lively bar they’d expected. The place was in shambles, and instead of ordinary customers, there were espers whose eyes had turned blood-red with beastification, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.
Every one of those espers turned their greedy, soulless gazes on the guides.
Samuel quickly did a headcount—about ten espers. There was no way they could hope to escape through that many.
To make things worse, the private room and the exit were on opposite sides, with not even a window to slip out through—just the door by the entrance. Their only hope was to break through the frenzied espers somehow. And then—
“…The door’s open.”
Through the open door, the occasional scream could be heard echoing from the street outside.
* * *
A beam of light burst from Adrien’s hands, splitting the air and striking the charging espers like a bolt of lightning.
“Aaaargh!”
The air filled with dying screams and the stench of burning flesh. It was a familiar sight to Adrien—even if it had been a while since her opponents were human.
She subdued the rampaging, red-eyed espers who’d taken the illegal enhancement d***s, then turned to Michelle.
“What’s the situation?”
“Thanks to the Commander’s quick response, we were able to act fast and keep the damage to a minimum. No civilian casualties.”
“And the operation site?”
“…No news from there yet.”
Adrien forced herself to swallow. She tried to shake off the tension tightening the back of her neck.
On the way to the operation site, she and her team had been ambushed by a pack of illegally enhanced espers. With civilians at risk, their top priority had been to contain them—something that was manageable with the empire’s strongest esper on their side. But it had still taken precious time to root out all the attackers scattered through the side streets.
Adrien felt like biting her nails in frustration, but she knew panic would solve nothing.
So she let her body take the lead.
“Keep up with my pace.”
Pushing off the ground, Adrien leapt from rooftop to rooftop at breakneck speed, moving with the kind of agility only a speed-type esper would have. Michelle and the other Security Guard members, briefly stunned by the sight, quickly hurried after her.
‘Why did they suddenly unleash all these berserk espers?’
As Adrien raced through the city, her mind worked furiously. The espers had clearly come from the bar that was their operation site. Someone on the inside had deliberately released beastified espers into the city.
Crash!
A deafening crash sounded just as the bar came into view. Her heart leapt, but there was no room to hesitate.
Adrien dropped down from the roof and was about to rush inside when someone suddenly burst out from within. Instinctively, she moved to attack—then froze as she saw a pair of familiar green eyes.
Even so, she couldn’t stop her momentum and collided with the man, grabbing his shoulders to steady them both.
“Commander?”
That familiar body, and the faint trace of guiding power, left no doubt.
It was Samuel. Samuel Norah.
He looked a little disheveled but, to Adrien’s immense relief, seemed unhurt. The tension that had been strangling her throat finally eased when she saw his face.
“Ensign, are you—”
“Please, you need to get inside now!”
It was not the time for reunions. Samuel’s desperate expression and urgent voice sent Adrien rushing past him and into the bar.
Even in that brief moment, she took in the situation.
Following Samuel out the door were four more guides. Inside the bar, a group of espers in the throes of beastification were clustered together.
That was all she needed to see.
“Get back!”
Adrien shouted at those surrounded by espers and unleashed a flurry of spear-like blades of light at the monsters’ heads.
They collapsed, peeling away like the skin of a banana. With the espers down, Captain Charlize and Lieutenant Jocelyn emerged from behind them, both clutching blood-stained daggers.
Jocelyn cried, overcome with emotion. Charlize, who’d been tense as a bowstring, finally let out a deep sigh, her arms dropping in relief.
“Captain Charlize!”
“Lieutenant Jocelyn, are you alright?”
Two of the guides who’d been waiting outside rushed over to help them stand.
Adrien checked over the survivors herself. They were battered and bruised, but thankfully, there were no major injuries.
Charlize made her way over, lightly jumping over the fallen espers, and bowed respectfully.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Commander. I’m Captain Charlize Anderson, Gold Level Guide.”
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