The Savior

She stepped into Westtown.

The number of pursuers, which she had thinned out by sacrificing an entire building, was beginning to swell again. However, they weren't as numerous or as tightly coordinated as before.

The reinforcements deployed in Westtown were nothing more than a hastily assembled squad. They lacked the seamless coordination of the team that had chased her all the way from Nosterica.

Because of this, Swoo found herself with a bit of breathing room.

Relatively speaking, of course. She was slowly starting to feel the strain. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say she was simply running out of stamina.

She had stayed up for two straight days, handling everything from rocket preparations to the final delivery. After that, Irina's story had left her mind in a tangled mess. And now, she had spent nearly ten hours searching for Draco with forty percent of Eden's military forces hot on her heels.

It was a situation where it would be stranger if she wasn't exhausted.

Even so, Swoo didn't utter a single word of complaint.

She deflected an incoming shell and paused to catch her breath atop a massive drone.

The drone didn't just sit idle.

Designed with close-quarters combat in mind, it extended a set of bladed appendages that whipped wildly toward her.

But leaving a scratch on her was an impossible task.

The scales rippling across Swoo's skin easily deflected the drone's assault.

"Hmph."

She wiped away the nosebleed that had started to trickle again. Just as she was catching her breath, a call rang out.

Swoo hesitated to answer.

She knew she was in for a scolding if she picked up.

But then again, what choice did she have?

It wasn't like she wanted to do this. Swoo had fully intended to wash up and get some sleep, but the world simply wouldn't leave her in peace.

Nodding to herself, Swoo accepted the call. Knowing her well, it was a video call.

"Hey, Angela."

Swoo blinked, her eyes widening as she looked down at the drone beneath her.

Sure enough, the machine had become completely docile, a stark contrast to its previous state of spitting out blades.

"You knew?"

"I'm innocent."

"I think Draco was kidnapped."

Angela's furrowed brow, which had looked determined to scold Swoo no matter what, slowly relaxed.

"Yeah. He sent me a voice recording trying to ask for help in a hurry—"

Angela cut Swoo off and nodded.

Draco was currently trapped in the body of a sexroid. The fact that he had been kidnapped and had sent a frantic voice recording trying to ask for help... One didn't need to think twice to figure out what that meant.

Someone was trying to harm him.

And in a... highly sexual manner, at that.

"It came a long time ago."

"Oh."

Angela raised her index finger as if scolding a child, her eyes flashing briefly. Behind Swoo, a drone that had been rushing toward her fell helplessly to the ground.

She was hacking and disabling the drones even as she spoke.

"Yep."

"Yep. Thanks."

She didn't say she was sorry.

Swoo knew that a single "thank you" carried far more weight than ninety-nine apologies.

Scratching her cheek, which felt inexplicably itchy, Swoo sent Angela the raw data of Draco's voice recording along with the message that simply read, "Please."

"Yep."

She had been prepared to hold out for another ten hours.

Surviving for two minutes was child's play.

Swoo stood up and leapt off the drone.

Countless bullets zipped past her head. Judging by the tips of her hair that had vanished without a trace, they had fired a Repulser as well.

Glancing up at the Talos transport ship hovering loftily in the sky, Swoo pointed her finger at it once more.

Would they react, or wouldn't they?

They would. They had no choice. Believing this gesture to be the trigger for her Space Shift, they would take every possible precaution.

Admittedly.

The Repulser was a threat even to Swoo.

She couldn't quite imagine what would happen if she were exposed to a Repulser blast completely defenseless.

She would definitely get hurt, at the very least.

Even if she wasn't completely vaporized, her bones would likely crack or shatter.

But now was not the time to find out.

Deciding she would pay a visit to Dr. Ryuzgwang to pester him once this was over, Swoo snapped her fingers.

A chime echoed from the transport ship's engines.

It was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠countermeasure deployed in anticipation of her Space Shift.

Of course, it was completely useless.

Since nothing actually happened, the countermeasure did nothing. And just like that, she created an opening.

She didn't attack.

"Heheh."

Letting out a soft chuckle, Swoo spun around.

Summoning a fierce gust of wind behind her, she accelerated her descent.

It was time to head down to the ground.

Until now, she had to search for Draco while evading pursuers in the sky.

Since she had caused such a massive ruckus, an evacuation broadcast must have gone out across all of Westtown. She figured that if she looked for anyone who hadn't evacuated in this situation, she would find Draco among them.

But now, she didn't need to search like that anymore.

Since Angela had declared she would find him, Swoo just had to wait for her call on the ground.

She could conserve her stamina by not maintaining her magic, and having solid ground to push off from meant she could move even faster.

There were plenty of buildings to use as shields and plenty of scrap metal to grab and swing. Unless she grew wings someday, Swoo still found fighting on the ground much more comfortable.

Tap.

Swoo, whose shoes had burned away to leave her completely barefoot, landed on the pavement. Dozens of drones were raining down from above.

Realizing that neither bullets nor blades worked on her, they seemed to have resorted to simple self-destruction.

Even for Swoo, self-destruct attacks were a bit troublesome.

The sheer intensity of the explosions would burn away her clothes.

Even now, if one peered past the static noise surrounding her, she was practically half-naked. If her clothes burned any further, she would end up as a shameless dragon wandering the city completely nude.

She was hiding herself with static noise for now, but what if she ran out of mana? That would be no different from a bad ending in an adult game.

"That would be bad."

She didn't mind being the player, but she had absolutely no desire to be the protagonist of an adult game.

Swoo immediately kicked off the ground.

"Oh?"

Or rather, she had intended to.

CRACK—!!

But the need to do so vanished.

An invisible shockwave instantly crushed dozens of drones in one fell swoop.

Though the output was slightly different, there was only one weapon in Eden capable of producing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠such a result.

The Repulser.

But did the user of that Repulser miss their target? And from the ground? There was no chance of that. Not just a low chance—absolutely zero.

Which meant they were Swoo's ally.

Recognizing her helper at a glance, a laugh burst from Swoo's lips.

In the distance, she spotted a familiar head of blonde hair.

"Woohoo—!!"

A tanned blonde guy wearing a pitch-black mask let out a bizarre roar. Behind him stood a black-haired woman wearing an identical mask.

Kou and Honoka.

The Repulser blast just now had been fired by Honoka.

She had been a Talos captain until very recently. Since they had rescued her body intact and restored her mind, the Repulser was naturally still in her possession.

I didn't expect this.

Had the Etherdams called them?

Swoo waved at them with a bright smile.

Honoka's sharp gaze softened. Kou responded to the greeting with another loud, "Woohoooo—!"

Helping me will put them in danger.

If they stay here, they might get captured again.

They must have already caught Talos's attention.

But Swoo didn't worry about those things.

They wouldn't have come all this way if they weren't prepared. With that thought, Swoo bolted forward.

Another Repulser wave rippled above her.

Drones and hovercars rained down behind Swoo. A chime echoed from the sky, slightly behind and above them. Talos had detected Honoka's presence.

Just as they hadn't asked her what was going on, Swoo decided to keep moving without asking if they were alright.

Though they hadn't known each other long and had spent little time together, she believed they were people worthy of her trust.

Humans were creatures that would turn their backs the moment things went south, but she felt that Kou and Honoka, at least, would never do that.

So, what she needed to do now was block Talos so the two of them wouldn't be separated.

Running forward, Swoo leapt into the air. She slipped a piece of scrap metal she had picked up from the ground between her fingers and flicked it like a marble.

Except this time was different.

Unlike before, when she had held back as much as possible, she put twenty percent of her strength into this strike.

BOOM—!!

The transport ship's door, which had been slowly sliding open, was violently slammed shut. It was more accurate to say the entrance had been completely crushed and sealed shut.

The transport ship wobbled. In the meantime, Kou and Honoka quickly relocated.

Seeing them slip into a slightly open manhole, they seemed to have navigated their way here through the sewer system.

Where had they gotten a map of Westtown's sewer system? Even Angela hadn't seemed to know Kou was coming. And the Etherdams, who had likely contacted Kou's group, wouldn't possess a map of the sewers either.

Even if it seemed trivial, a map of the sewer system was classified as top-secret information in Eden.

I can just ask them later.

She could explain why she had caused such a massive scene then. That would appease Angela enough to prevent her from banning Swoo's VPN access.

The two slipped into the manhole.

Thanks to their dark clothing and their movements through the shadows, the pursuers failed to track them.

Just in case, Swoo set off a series of flashy magical explosions to draw all attention back to herself before running off again.

Not long after, a message from Angela arrived.

There was a brief pause.

It was an awkward silence for someone like Angela, whose typing speed was usually abnormally fast.

Scratching her suddenly itchy temple, Swoo sent a quick thank-you message to Angela and headed toward Sector 8.