Chapter 019
The following day, as scheduled, the Revolutionaries infiltrated the underground passage.
Taking advantage of the stillness before dawn, a group of shadowy figures moved-nimbly. The resolve in their eyes, visible above black masks, was somber and determined. The enemy's lair was right in front of them.
"How many were we expecting in the security detail?"
"The general branch manager said it would be about the size of a single squad."
Roman, the branch manager of the 8th division leading the northern infiltration team, narrowed his eyes. Only two Special Unit mbers guarded the entrance to the underground passage.
'...?'
Suddenly, he looked back. His comrades were crouching low, burning with desperate resolve.
'There's no turning back now.'
He forced himself to swallow the sense of foreboding, gritting his teeth inwardly. Roman turned his head forward again.
Crunch!
A displeasing and chilling noise shattered the silence. Roman's shoulders fell limp as an arrow struck his brow.
"Filthy little rats. Capture them all!"
The Special Unit, which had been lying in ambush, revealed themselves. The sharp clatter of steel echoed from every direction, followed by screams.
The senior Special Unit mber, who had given the command, casually put a cigarette to his mouth. His subordinate imdiately lit it for him.
"So the Revolutionaries really did crawl in."
"Setting the Grand Cathedral on fire wasn't enough—now they're after headquarters too. They weren't usually this bold."
Through the spreading smoke, the bodies of fallen Revolutionaries could be seen.
The night before, Regal had confessed everything to Bern.
* * *
Beeep—
Zilla shook her head. Tinnitus was ringing in her ears.
'What happened...?'
She forced her unfocused eyes open again. A Special Unit mber was swinging a tal club at her.
"Filthy little rats!"
She reflexively ducked and swung her arm.
Zilla's sword sliced through the Special Unit mber's neck. Sticky blood splattered across her cheek.
'Did we... fail?'
Everywhere, the clash of steel and desperate screams rang out.
The Revolutionaries had split into two teams, infiltrating the northern and southern parts of the underground passages.
The plan was to release poison in the waterway to the north, while the southern part, where the Special Unit headquarters was located, was assigned to Zilla and Dante. Each led a squad, aiming for the front and back of headquarters.
'The Special Unit was waiting for us in ambush, as if they already knew.'
Zilla glanced alternately at her fallen comrades scattered around, and the Special Unit mbers encircling them front and back.
The Special Unit all wielded blunt weapons. It was better to interrogate at least one for information, rather than kill everyone on the spot. Not that it ultimately made much difference for the Revolutionaries.
They would either face torture and death in captivity, or die here—those were the only options.
"Stop unnecessary resistance and surrender. Don't make us waste our strength."
The senior Special Unit mber tapped his own palm lightly with his tal club as he spoke, confident as a butcher in a pen of livestock.
"Ge—General branch manager! We have to escape!"
A mber whose forehead was split open and face covered in blood pleaded desperately.
Few comrades remained alive nearby. Everyone else had chosen to die fighting.
Although the order was to capture as many alive as possible, the Special Unit mbers on the scene didn't really care if they lived or died. Their plan was to stomp them out like bugs, only keeping alive a few unlucky enough to survive for interrogation.
'Dying here is rcy compared to being tortured alive.'
The number of resisters rapidly dwindled. Just as the senior Special Unit mber was about to give his final order, soone grabbed his shoulder from behind.
"Sir Hank?"
Hank the Butcher.
He was an inquisitor who had been the very first to respond to Bern's summons.
He was of such imnse size that it was hard to believe he was a normal human.
"You, woman, good, eyes, I like."
Hank pointed a thick finger at Zilla.
"Ah, sir Hank wishes to take care of her himself?"
Hank nodded, still wearing his boar mask.
Snap, snap.
Hank stepped forward, cracking his neck. The bone-crunching sounds were chilling. Everyone—Revolutionaries and Special Unit alike—turned their eyes to him.
'What the hell is that...?'
Zilla swallowed hard. The massive figure was approaching with slow, deliberate steps. Each step he took, dust shook from the underground's low ceiling.
Zilla gripped her sword hilt tightly.
She lunged, refusing to let fear take her first.
Thud!
Hank's arm, swinging as though swatting a fly, sent Zilla flying into the wall—she crumpled to the ground.
Hank seized her by the hair as she groaned on the ground.
"You, give child, you beco, good, mother."
The protruding nose of his mask grazed Zilla's cheek.
Summoning every ounce of strength, Zilla jerked her arm up, her reversed grip dragging the sword up to slice Hank's face.
The boar mask split in two, exposing one side of the inquisitor's bare face.
'Barbarian!'
War paint, sared from brow to jaw, glead like blood. Buried in it, his eyes glowed yellow.
"More resistance, more fun."
CRACK—
His fist smashed into Zilla's face. Zilla's head drooped; her face felt as though it had been torn off.
"General branch manager!"
Two mbers hurled themselves at Hank. Holding their ground until now had been the best even they could manage.
But Zilla had to survive. Even in failure, as long as General branch manager Zilla made it out alive, there would be hope for the next ti. Even if their bodies were broken, their will could be passed down. Their lives were not precious.
"Comrade! The rear is weak! Hurry!"
Clinging to Hank's back like a dwarf on a giant, a mber shouted. It was his final word.
Crunch.
A horrifying sound rang out as Hank tore the mber off his back, separating torso from neck with his bare hands. Blood spattered everywhere. Even the Special Unit grimaced.
'Is this the power of a barbarian I've only heard of in stories...?'
Among the northern savages, only a naturally gifted warrior was given the title 'barbarian'.
Hank was one of the few in the Emperor's army to bear the title.
'My body won't move.'
Zilla couldn't move a muscle, gasping for air. Around her, her comrades, those who had faithfully followed her as the 2nd general branch's direct mbers, were dying one by one. Life felt futile as she watched them die aningless deaths before her eyes.
Grrr—
A guttural, rasping sound echoed from sowhere. It resembled the cry of a beast.
Zilla refused to let her life's final monts be spent lost to auditory hallucinations. Seeing Hank approach, she closed her eyes.
Grrrrr—
Hank hesitated at the sound, as did the others. Everyone turned their heads, searching for the source.
KRRRK—!
The sound suddenly sharpened.
"There!"
Soone shouted. He pointed to a sharply turning corner. Sothing was approaching from deep within.
'Not just one—several?'
The Special Unit mbers stared at the shadows cast on the wall. It appeared that several people were approaching at a slow pace.
"Demon beasts. I sll them."
Hank pulled an axe from his back. His words made the others tense.
The monstrous cries drew nearer.
"They're coming! Everyone, positions!"
At the command, special Unit mbers threw down their clubs and drew their regulation swords. The dying Revolutionaries were no longer of any concern. Faint tremors thudded in their chests.
KRAAAARGH—!
At last, monstrous creatures appeared, crowding the narrow passage. The Special Unit mbers all frowned.
Their bodies were human, but they were not alive. Corpses, trailing blood from severed limbs, advanced in a stench.
"Demon beasts! They're not complete forms yet—don't panic!"
The senior Special Unit mber, once a soldier, had fought such demon beasts before on the battlefield.
Souls denied rest beca specters wandering the border between this world and the next, while their soulless bodies turned into a dark mage's puppets. Through hasty pacts, these twisted humans beca incomplete demon beasts.
"These stand in defiance of Lord Asriel's order."
Standing beside Hank, the senior Special Unit mber drew his sword. The Special Unit lined up calmly behind.
The oncoming demon beasts abruptly halted their march.
A man stepped out from the horde. Unlike the vacant-eyed demon beasts, his eyes burned with fierce intent.
"I am Dante, 13th branch manager of Astana Revolutionaries."
One of Dante's arms was missing. Raising the remaining arm, he signaled.
The senior Special Unit mber gave a signal in return.
"Charge—!"
With that brief shout, the living and the dead collided.
"General branch manager! Now! Hurry!"
A desperate cry roused Zilla. Suviving mbers gave their all to clear her escape. The demon beasts did not attack the Revolutionaries.
"Comrade! Follow !"
Dante grabbed Zilla's hand, and together they broke through the chaos.
"Woman, no escape."
Hank's sweeping axe felled demon beasts like flies, yet he kept a dogged eye on Zilla.
At the mont he tried to move towards her, his swinging arm ca to an abrupt halt.
"She's the one I marked first."
Ran, now masked and gloved, lunged to the front.
Hank muttered blankly.
"... Mad... dog."
* * *
"Hurry!"
Zilla and Dante had gotten far from the site of battle. There were no Special Unit mbers in their escape route, yet they still found themselves in the pitch-black underground.
"Wait, wait!"
Gasping for breath, Zilla ca to a stop. Dante turned and urged her on.
"General branch manager! You must keep running!"
"I—I can't go like this. I'd rather die with my comrades here—"
"Get it together! Are you going to let the others' sacrifice be in vain? Live to fight another day! For everyone's sake!"
Those who followed Zilla were her closest 2nd general branch mbers.
They had regretted Ran splitting ways with Zilla, and had opposed accelerating the arson of the Grand Cathedral.
A brief pang of regret crossed her mind.
Once the decision for the whole team to infiltrate the capital had been made, the hardliners in the Revolutionaries couldn't accept delaying the Grand Cathedral arson. When asked why she hesitated instead of seizing the opportunity, Zilla couldn't answer.
Ran had advised to wait, and only she, a few others from the 2nd general branch, and Dante knew his secret.
In the end, the plan was changed.
"General branch manager. Last night, the star of the Revolutionaries was shining from afar. Alongside your own!"
Dante gripped Zilla's shoulders and shook her. Only then did she notice he had just one arm. Emotion welled up inside her.
"Stop talking and co this way."
A familiar voice.
Mixed feelings flitted across Dante's face.
"Inquisitor!"
"Shh. It echoes. Move, quickly."
Ran led the way without hesitation through the maze-like passages. Following him, the two were again reminded of the enormity of the underground. It was a giant labyrinth.
Zilla had morized an 'underground map' from Ran, but the path Ran took was new even to her.
"A secret exit to the outside."
Before long, Ran pointed to the end of the passage. A round iron door ca into view.
Zilla suppressed the urge to weep. If only she could turn back ti, she would give her life to do so.
"Regal, the 4th branch manager, was a Special Unit spy."
Ran's emotionless voice made Zilla's heartbreak even deeper.
When she realized things were going wrong, Ran's words from the previous day were the first to co to mind.
He'd said there was a traitor inside. Just one day earlier.
"General branch manager. At this point, nothing can change. But you can still change the future. With your own hands."
Dante placed his lone hand on Zilla's shoulder.
From inside his mask, Ran watched Dante intently. He could sll thick blood. He instinctively knew Dante was hiding wounds.
Clang—!
Ran released the latch. The old iron door opened with difficulty, rusted through.
Beyond was a gloomy outside. It slled of damp soil, rain in the air.
"Zilla, this really has to be the last ti we et. Unless one of us is no longer who we are."
Zilla climbed the ladder first. As she reached the middle, Ran urged Dante on.
"You go too. No ti."
"I'm not going."
Without warning, Dante closed and locked the iron door. Zilla's voice, calling frantically from outside, was now just distant noise.
"Let's go, inquisitor."
"Don't make drag you. I could torture you, you know."
"I am curious about that, but it won't happen."
As soon as Zilla escaped, Dante's face turned ashen. His lips went white, cold sweat beading on his brow and cheeks.
'Lord. What trial is this ti...?'
Ran supported Dante.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
So Zilla wasn't able to control of her subordinates.
That is, in my opinion, incompetence.
It seems Dante had gotten closer to Ran.
Not gonna lie, I thought Zilla and Dante would die.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】
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