Chapter 64: The Paradise to Be Completed (1)
More than ten main battle tanks belonging to Cheonrang ford a diamond formation and raced down the road.
The roar of the tank engines turning their continuous tracks echoed loudly.
“Crazy…….”
“Hm, it seems the plan to disperse the escort force has failed.”
At this point, rather than being dispersed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that everything had instead gathered here.
Right now, the force facing Diesel’s group was sothing they could not break through no matter what they tried.
‘That skeleton bastard……. Is he trying to overturn everything Angelina laid out…….’
The key point of this operation was to seize the spirit core on the road and escape.
But Heavyskull seed to be harboring an entirely different plan.
“So, what now?”
“At this point, isn’t there only one option left?”
If seizing it on the road had beco impossible, then only one thod remained.
“When they insert the spirit core into the power plant’s reactor.”
Heavyskull said, looking at Diesel.
“We have no choice but to aim for that mont.”
“…….”
“Are you kidding right now?”
In the end, Matafil could not hold back and shouted.
“You want us to go inside and take that out? Forget the core— the mont we infiltrate the power plant, a citywide manhunt order will go out and we’ll end up sealed in like rats in a trap. Have you lost your mind?”
This must have been the picture Heavyskull wanted all along.
A structure that seed to insist he had no intention of letting the armors who participated in this operation leave alive.
But the skeleton cald Matafil and spoke.
“Whoa, don’t worry. Fortunately, it won’t co to such a ridiculous situation.”
“What?”
“There’s another way to break through that force.”
The bastard pointed to the sky with an air full of anticipation.
Sothing glimred in the pitch-black night sky.
‘A star?’
That could not be.
An atmosphere where stars could be observed had already disappeared long ago.
Then that was…….
“In preparation for such a case, our client Podvig has decided to support us with a great strategic weapon.”
“A strategic weapon?”
Heavyskull said, his mouth clacking.
“Naly, an ‘orbital bombardnt satellite.’”
“What kind of bullshit is that…….”
Before Matafil’s incredulous lant could even finish—
Boom……!
Sothing was launched from far out in space.
“……!”
“W-what the hell is this…….”
Kwa-boom!
A trendous explosion erupted among the tanks that had been maintaining an orderly formation.
Thick steel fragnts scattered like paper, and uncontrollable flas spread in all directions.
An overwhelming power that destroyed an entire tank company with a single strike.
“Ahh, to be able to witness such a beautiful sight with my own eyes……. I am deeply moved.”
“P-Podvig, those crazy bastards, what have they done…….”
A situation that even Diesel— no, even Boss Kim— could never have predicted.
“Do you understand what has just happened?”
Heavyskull continued in a voice filled with madness.
“We are standing before a scene of history.”
‘Don’t tell …… the ones who wanted war…….’
Was it not only Cheonrang?
As if to prove it, the skeleton muttered.
“The beginning of a new corporate war.”
“…….”
Diesel quickly organized the situation in his mind.
Podvig, who had taken the hand offered by Spelltech.
And Cheonrang, which was cooperating with the Gale Consortium— the very organization Spelltech despised.
‘This is a proxy war between the Gale Consortium and Spelltech.’
If that was the case, then there was one thing that absolutely had to be dealt with right now.
“Now then, we will begin the real operation. Hurry down and retrieve the goods—.”
“You…….”
“Hm……?”
Ignoring Heavyskull’s commanding voice—
Diesel exhaled white breath.
A pitch-black spear ford in his hand.
“Sir Diesel, what are you— guh……!”
A sharp spike of ice pierced straight through the chattering skull.
Without even a chance to react, the thing drooped like a machine that had ceased functioning.
“Diesel……! What are you trying to do…….”
“This is a trap.”
The Cheonrang Group had already achieved its objective of securing a ‘justification for war’ before even beginning the real operation.
Heavyskull had probably aid for exactly that, manipulating things so Podvig would use an orbital weapon.
By persuading the internal faction within Podvig that wanted to start a war.
For him, it was a perfect case of reaping benefits without lifting a finger, but from Diesel’s perspective, this was by no ans good news.
Because…….
“There’s nothing we’re looking for down there anymore.”
They no longer needed to hand over the Type-19 spirit core.
They had already achieved the justification of starting a ‘war.’
[Just as I had heard, Sir Diesel, you are indeed very sharp.]
“What, what the hell is this bastard.”
From the pocket of Heavyskull’s corpse-like, limp body, a crackling voice rang out.
“It’s a spare body.”
No wonder the tallic texture had felt subtly different.
At Diesel’s words, Matafil frowned.
“Disgusting bastard…….”
[Don’t be so harsh. I am about to tell you a way for you to survive.]
“What are you talking about?”
When Matafil asked irritably, Heavyskull’s voice let out a hollow laugh.
[Sir Diesel probably knows this well. That there is no longer any hope.]
“…….”
[The spirit core has already completed its transfer to Neo-Asadal. So it would be wise for you to quietly withdraw. Three Ghostcatchers alone cannot infiltrate that city, can they? Even if you were to violate the contract, there would be no Podvig official left to pass judgnt. Director Angelina, too, is nothing more than a discarded card.]
Angelina Shirin was a discarded card.
Diesel engraved those words into his mind.
[Given the circumstances, I hope you will refrain from attempting any further foolishness here—.]
Crunch.
Diesel took out the communicator and crushed it.
A brief silence lingered afterward.
“So what now?”
“What do you an, what do we do.”
Clearly, an unexpected situation had occurred.
But in the end, if one looked at it closely, the overall frawork had not changed.
“We move on to the next plan.”
The plan that assud Heavyskull would betray them the mont things began.
It was a sowhat rough operation, but in a way, it was better like this.
Compared to the other headache-inducing plans, this one only required focusing on a single thing.
With that in mind, Diesel spoke.
“We break through directly, on our own.”
“What is the aning of this? Why on earth was an orbital bombardnt used……!”
Seoul Sector 23-6B, skyscraper district.
In a luxurious room overlooking a dazzling night view, Angelina Shirin was on a call with soone.
“What? My order? Who is spouting such absurd nonsense?!”
After continuing the one-sided conversation for a while, she roughly cut the communication.
“Such filthy bastards……!”
As if they had been thoroughly prepared, incidents that Angelina could not even respond to unfolded one after another in an instant.
After being attacked by an orbital weapon, Cheonrang’s side imdiately issued an official statent, and not long after, it went so far as to declare war on Podvig.
Angelina brushed away the countless notifications floating over her corneas and looked at the secretary standing in front of her.
“You…… was it you? The insider who betrayed ?”
“…….”
When no answer ca back, she pulled a pistol from her bosom.
“Speak at once. Whose orders were you following? Director Wagner……. Was it that man? No, that devil has consistently opposed war. Then it must be the hands of a completely different faction. Probably the group that was trying to slip under Spelltech.”
“……I’m sorry. Director, you already had no hope—.”
Bang!
Before the secretary could even finish his reply, a bullet burst from the muzzle.
The man, his life taken by her clean marksmanship, collapsed with a dull thud.
“I had hoped that at least you would be on my side…….”
Her hand, lowering the pistol, trembled violently.
She then took out a cigarette and lit it.
“Hoo…….”
The situation had already unfolded, and there was no turning back.
All of the bombardnts fired from Podvig’s satellite weapons had been manipulated to appear as though they were ordered by Director Angelina herself.
Soon, the directors who had never thought highly of the director would seize this incident as an opportunity to swell their own power.
‘Think. Angelina. Think.’
She had known this operation was extrely dangerous, but she had carried a certain confidence that she could control the situation.
First, she had recruited a fixer nad Boss Kim using the maximum discretion she could exercise.
That fixer, as Angelina intended, had forced three capable Ghostcatchers into this operation.
‘But the remaining two, who were beyond my control, ended up…….’
To think they were spies from two different factions.
‘Just how rotten has Podvig beco.’
She perched herself on a chair.
Before she knew it, her legs were trembling uncontrollably.
She could not think of any way to escape this trap.
Had it been a aningless struggle from the very beginning?
She had been forced to leap into an internal political struggle without even having ti to prepare properly.
If only she had had just a little more ti.
If only she had had just a little more ti to build her own power before rising to the position of director.
As she was drowning in such regrets—
A text-based communication ca in for Angelina.
‘…….’
A brief ssage consisting of nothing more than a na and a single line of content.
Yet within it was written a solution that could allow her to escape her current predicant.
It even included a way to turn this whole affair to her advantage.
‘This man…….’
Without hesitation, Angelina imdiately made contact.
Even as the connection signal tones continued, her legs trembled as if seized by a convulsion.
[Have you decided.]
“……Is it really possible?”
[If you simply do as I tell you.]
She recalled a few lines she had read from the man’s résumé.
An inexperienced Ghostcatcher who had debuted less than half a year ago.
Aside from being a Double Spellcaster, he was not soone who particularly stood out.
“All right.”
But right now, none of that mattered.
The conditions he had proposed looked far too sweet.
“I’ll do as you say.”
Having made up her mind, Angelina Shirin was no longer trembling.
Instead, she softly spoke the na of the one who had lowered a lifeline to her.
“Mr. Diesel.”
A massive earthen pipe buried underground.
Diesel’s group, their waists bent nearly into an L-shape, was moving through pitch-black darkness.
“This is…… extrely uncomfortable.”
Unable to manage his own bulk, Matafil grumbled as he scraped the pipe walls repeatedly.
“What if we use spatial magic—.”
“They’re scouring the area above with their eyes wide open looking for us, and you want to open a portal? We’d be caught in the surveillance net imdiately.”
“Gnh…….”
The downside of spatial magic was that it was extrely noisy.
Not only because of the sound, but also because the nature of the magic twisted space itself, making it very easy to detect.
“At least until we reach near the city center, we have to go like this. Surveillance is relatively lighter over there.”
After that, Matafil followed behind Diesel without further complaint.
How much ti had passed like that?
Perhaps having grown sowhat accustod even to the claustrophobic passage that could induce claustrophobia, Matafil started making small talk.
“That director looked pretty strict, but she was surprisingly easy to persuade.”
Angelina Shirin, who had been pushed out in internal politics and forced to take full responsibility for what had just happened.
It had not been particularly difficult to extract from her a route leading to Neo-Asadal.
‘Strictly speaking, it’s not so secret passage, just a water supply pipe.’
A water pipe that would be filled with clean drinking water once the city was completed.
What Diesel needed was information about the entrance to that water pipe.
“No way, that woman isn’t going to stab us in the back too, right?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
The proposal Diesel had given Angelina was structured in a way that made betrayal impossible.
‘In the end, she’ll need until the very end of the job.’
After that, feeling like a plumber from so old classic ga, they steadily advanced.
Then Ar, who had been calculating distances from Diesel’s chest, conveyed positional information.
〈From here on, it’s safe.〉
When Diesel relayed those words to the team, Pinkbit imdiately opened a portal.
Jjeo-eok……!
Along with the distinctive noise caused by spatial magic, a portal appeared before their eyes.
‘It feels a little different from the previous one.’
Traces of a magic formula that had been ticulously adjusted to connect as discreetly as possible were visible.
If there had been ti, it would have been enough to make him want to examine each part slowly.
Leaving that regret behind, he stepped into the portal.
“Phew, now I can breathe again.”
“Shh.”
The place they arrived at was an alley in an ordinary-looking residential sector.
However, perhaps because not even a single person—no, not even a bug—lived there yet, it felt eerie.
[This is where it begins.]
The spirit core would have already arrived at the mana power plant.
They could not afford to waste even a mont.
[Let’s move.]
At Diesel’s gesture, the Ghostcatchers crossed through the empty buildings.
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