Savior
"...Is there really no other way?"
"There is, but this place might collapse."
"Just this area, or the entire ground above us?"
"I'd have to try it to find out."
Swoo gave a positive answer, but Enoch knew better. When Swoo gave a vague response, it meant there was an eighty percent chance of it happening.
If they went with her plan, they would end up buried alive under a mountain of dirt.
"No."
"Then how about we just break through?"
"...That..."
Honestly, a frontal breakthrough was their best shot at survival.
But even that was impossible right now.
Draco, the sexroid Swoo had rescued without a single thought for the consequences, was currently cradled in his arms. If he could just abandon this android, Enoch would have chosen a frontal breakthrough without a second thought.
But he couldn't do that while protecting the sexroid.
"It's a tricky situation."
"Should I carry him?"
"No. I feel like you'd use him as a weapon."
"I can just fix him later, though."
She really was planning to use him as a weapon.
Would she swing him by the legs? Or use him as a shield? Enoch didn't want to imagine it.
"...Is it just a regular sexroid?"
"No, there's a human mind trapped inside."
"...And you still planned to use him as a weapon?"
"As a shield."
"Is there a difference?"
"I can just fix him."
"You still lack a human heart, I see."
"Well, I am a dragon."
Enoch shook his head and adjusted his grip on Draco, holding him a bit more gently. He had been carrying him carelessly, thinking it was just an ordinary sexroid, but a trapped human mind changed things.
The semen dried on the body was a bit off-putting, but having bathed in human entrails on the battlefield, this was easily tolerable.
"It seems a lot happened while I was away on the battlefield."
"Yep. I found some new magic, too."
"The lightning? I saw it."
"Cool, right?"
"...It was impressive, I'll admit."
The lightning that split the sky and cleaved the world in two was indeed a spectacular sight, even to Enoch.
Yet, seeing Talos remain standing even after being struck by dozens of those lightning bolts only drove home the fact that they were Eden's ultimate force.
"Which is exactly why a frontal breakthrough is out of the question."
Enoch shook his head firmly.
"I'll buy us time. You take this sex... Draco, and get out of here."
"Can you buy enough time?"
"Did you not just see me? I won't be a burden to you anymore."
"It's not like you can do that constantly."
Enoch's brow furrowed.
"...How do you know that?"
"Because we're friends."
"Even so, this is..."
"Because it's obvious you're severely overloaded."
Swoo gestured with her chin toward a spot that was currently emitting smoke.
It was the heat radiating from Enoch's neural acceleration implant, Horde.
"...True. But I can still buy time. That's what I learned to do on the battlefield."
"I'm pretty good at buying time too."
"You stand out too much even when you erase your noise. It's better if I pull up my hood and run wild."
"I'd rather not deal with the cliché of Enoch dying here."
"And what about you?"
"I'm an overpowered protagonist, so I'll be fine."
A dry laugh escaped Enoch's lips.
It was absurd how she could spout such nonsense in a life-or-death situation.
Yet, a faint smile tugged at his lips. Perhaps it was because he felt like he had finally returned to where he belonged.
Enoch reached for a cigarette, then stopped and smacked his lips before speaking with a sigh.
"Actually, it's better if we go together."
"Hmm?"
"Let's just charge through. If it doesn't work... well, we can figure it out then."
"You've gotten brave after a stint in the military, Enoch. I guess men really do need to serve."
"I picked up a lot of skills, but I learned a lot of lessons too. So, what do you think of my idea? Does it sound crazy to you too?"
"It's definitely crazy."
Judging by the fact that the enemy hadn't entered this area yet, a battle was likely raging above them. But the outcome was obvious.
It was a guaranteed defeat.
Talos was one thing, but Eden's forces would keep receiving endless reinforcements. Trying to win by destroying them all would end up tearing Eden apart.
Swoo, who didn't want to see Eden destroyed, had to hold them off just enough to make an escape.
Trying to escape while protecting Draco in the process was nothing short of madness.
"Which is why we should do it right now."
She had always wanted to do something like this with Enoch at least once.
After all, Enoch was the protagonist of the game Swoo loved and cherished the most.
There was no way she would hate causing a thrilling, chaotic mess alongside him.
"I'll break through first, okay?"
Just as Swoo raised both hands toward the ceiling—
"STOOOOOOOOOP—!!"
A clumsy, high-pitched voice echoed from the other side of the wall.
"Stop!! Please stop!!!"
Enoch and Swoo both turned their gaze toward the wall.
They could hear the sound of wheels rolling.
Or perhaps it was the whirring of a propeller. Maybe it was both.
Either way, something was definitely approaching from behind the solid wall.
Enoch and Swoo locked eyes.
Should I break it?
We can handle whatever it is, so why don't we wait and see?
Yep, let's break it.
Fine, I'll do the talking.
Naturally, they were completely out of sync.
It wasn't because they hadn't seen each other in a while.
They simply never saw eye to eye.
The fact that they had just agreed on a frontal breakthrough was practically a miracle.
Swoo lowered her hands from the ceiling. Enoch naturally turned his back to her and drew Mugeuk.
He intended to slice through the obstructing wall to let whatever was coming pass through easily. Swoo, on the other hand, assumed Enoch would step aside and prepared a high-powered spell.
They acted at the exact same moment.
Enoch's Mugeuk and Swoo's magic unleashed simultaneously.
"What the—"
"Oops—"
Feeling a sudden chill at the back of his neck, Enoch spun around, swinging Mugeuk. Swoo, who had almost blown Enoch's head off, clenched her fist as calmly as possible.
The hastily swung Mugeuk grazed past Swoo by a hair's breadth. The crimson, blazing magic imploded inside Swoo's palm with a muffled thud.
"Why are you suddenly trying to kill me...?"
"I thought you said to break it."
"I looked at you to suggest we hear them out first...!"
Swoo wiggled her red, singed palm and nodded.
"Then let's do that."
"Are... is your hand okay?"
"Yep. It'll heal if I lick it."
Saying so, Swoo licked her palm repeatedly. Enoch was about to stop her, asking what kind of filthy habit that was, but the wound had already healed.
"...What was that?"
"I don't lie."
"Right. Of course."
Enoch nodded blankly, his mind racing.
Was that real? Is that another new magic?
If so, wouldn't we get rich if we bottled and sold Swoo's saliva...?
He reached that conclusion but quickly shook his head. Sell Swoo's saliva? That would only attract a bunch of creeps.
"Anyway, I'll do the talking, so you just stay quiet."
"Yep."
Swoo nodded, then tilted her head.
"Should I carry Draco?"
"...I'll carry this... I mean, him. Draco. I'll carry Draco, so you just stand still."
"Yep."
Swoo's noise naturally enveloped Enoch.
It's been a while since I felt this.
Having spent his days running around with nothing but a hood over his head, Enoch had realized just how incredibly useful and convenient Swoo's noise was.
With a bitter smile, Enoch swung Mugeuk.
The wall was sliced open without a sound.
It was literally cut.
He hadn't even carved it out, but the severed section of the wall crumbled down in heaps.
"...A passage?"
It crumbled because there was a corridor on the other side.
And from the depths of that pitch-black passage, a drone came rolling along the ceiling. It was able to do so because its gear-like wheels, or rather saw-toothed wheels, dug directly into the ceiling.
It wasn't a corporate drone. Corporations didn't make drones with such pathetic designs. That meant it was a civilian drone, but even civilian models rarely looked this crude.
It was a machine built for absolute, raw efficiency.
It was a sight Enoch had never seen before.
Swoo hadn't either. However, she recognized who the drone belonged to.
"Lady Swoo—!!"
The owner of that clumsy voice instantly came to mind.
Swoo's eyes crinkled into a soft smile.
In response to her smile, the noise vanished completely.
Swoo's half-naked body was revealed. Of course, she wasn't the type to feel embarrassed by such a thing. Swoo simply waved at the drone as it scurried toward them from the distance.
"Hi. Long time no see."
The person who had helped Swoo enter Eden.
Perhaps her greatest helper and friend.
"Miko."
Yugiri Miko.
"You didn't forget me!!!"
Her voice crackled through the drone's speaker.
"I told you, didn't I? That I'd return as a netwatcher who could actually be useful to you! And I did it!"
"Impressive."
"That completely soulless praise is just like you! It's definitely Lady Swoo!"
"How did you know I was here?"
"Ah! Well, it's a long story—"
"Then don't tell me."
"Huh?"
"How did you get here?"
"First, I hacked into Eden's database and pulled the schematics for the underground waterways! So the scaveng—"
"Yep, I get it."
"Oh..."
Swoo had thought Miko was just talking big back then, but she had actually returned as a netwatcher. And a highly capable one at that, skilled enough to hack into Eden's central database and extract the schematics for the underground waterways.
She might look clumsy, but a genius was still a genius.
Swoo nodded to Enoch to reassure him, then started walking.
Was Miko's help the reason Kou was able to move through the underground waterways?
If so, how did they establish contact with Miko?
No... Miko didn't initiate contact.
It wasn't that Miko had reached out to Kou; rather, Miko must have established ties with the Eterno Law Firm long ago. The connection likely formed when they got involved in the South Peak conflict.
You know.
During the South Peak conflict between Lui Chen and Zyrec, wasn't it said that a sudden helper appeared out of nowhere to assist Lui Chen?
That helper had been Toppus's family.
That was also why the issue had been resolved with a single phone call from Swoo.
They had pretended to help on the surface while secretly planning to overthrow the Lui Chen branch behind the scenes. Swoo had found it fascinating how similar their method was to the one she had thought of.
Did Miki tell them the way into Eden?
One thought led to another, threatening to spiral.
Swoo firmly cut off her train of thought and kept moving.
"Let's get moving for now."
"Yes! I'll guide you!"
She wanted to hear the rest of the story, but escaping this place was the priority right now.