Chapter 80
Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Pursuit (3)
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“⋯⋯What the hell?”
Someone uttered those words amid vibrations and noise that seemed to shake the entire underground.
“An earthquake? Nothing like that was detected.”
Sure enough, it wasn’t an earthquake, just as they said.
-⋯⋯!
Earthquakes never vibrate this regularly.
⋯⋯!!
⋯⋯Nor do they gradually intensify like this.
This was more like something ridiculously ‘heavy’ pounding the surface.
At the blatantly bizarre situation, someone who had been seated shot up and hurriedly operated a nearby device.
An image, seemingly monitoring the surface above their hideout via video feed, floated up before them.
What appeared next was a barren wasteland devoid of any structures.
And in it, something caught the eye at a glance.
Someone blurted out its name in bewilderment.
“……The Hero?”
Gray Chasefield, humanity’s protector.
Such a person was leaping forward, eyes blazing with fiery fury.
⋯⋯She looked utterly pissed off.
With every step, her body soared at least several meters into the air. It wasn’t running; it was leaping with each stride.
And.
As the thoroughly enraged Hero approached step by step.
The earth and sky trembled in sync with her leaps. The frames and cladding of buildings crushed by her power screamed and shook.
“……My God.”
It was a sight so vertigo-inducing that someone unwittingly let those words slip.
A walking superpower generator. A one-woman army.
⋯⋯And humanity’s strongest.
Seeing her like that, it was impossible not to understand why she bore all those titles.
“You got captured from the start to lure the Hero here?”
At the Owl Mask’s question, Carlyle urgently nodded and continued.
“So listen to me carefully from now on. I’m the only one who can help you guys!”
⋯⋯It was pretty ridiculous that he’d dragged something like that here claiming to help, but from Carlyle’s perspective, he was dead serious.
Really, he was the only one who could help from here. What they faced now was a person who could turn everyone present into minced meat if things went wrong⋯⋯!
“Help?”
But the Owl Mask sneered at the words.
“We don’t need it. We’re more than enough on our own.”
We’re the ‘Pale Moon,’ after all.
That voice carried unmistakable pride.
“We can’t win in a fight. But we can buy enough time for everyone to escape. Even against the Hero.”
Her tone brimmed with such confidence. They probably weren’t bluffing carelessly, just as she said.
Of course. They hadn’t earned the title of back-alley guild pinnacle through card games. Their accumulated individual prowess must be considerable too.
But.
“That’s just what you think.”
Carlyle remained skeptical of their opinion.
And for good reason.
“That’s the ‘Hero,’ you idiots!”
The unfolding situation clearly followed the path he’d warned about.
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As chaos erupted inside the hideout.
The Hero on the screen locked eyes with them.
⋯⋯Staring straight at the center of the screen, as if fully aware they were watching her.
Come to think of it, hadn’t Carlyle pulled something similar not long ago?
‘Man, that must’ve scared the shit out of her.’
[⋯⋯Might just be because I’m on the other side of the screen, though.]
‘Yeah, fair.’
As those thoughts crossed his mind, Gray spoke flatly.
“You inside. Hand him over.”
As always, she skipped any buildup and dove straight into the point with her usual style.
“Then I’ll let you live.”
“…….”
“…….”
Her voice carried a ferocity that promised wildly subjective interpretations of ‘sparing your life,’ making the Pale Moon members underground exchange glances.
“⋯⋯Fight the Hero?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then buy time. Throw everything we’ve got.”
Frankly speaking.
Considering the aura Gray was emanating right now, their resolve deserved recognition.
As someone operated the underground device again, things surged up all around the hideout.
Artillery gear used by armies, magic stones auto-firing mana shells, protective charms airlifted from the Far East⋯⋯
‘⋯⋯Did these guys prepare for war or something?’
[⋯⋯I’m just as baffled.]
It was overkill for a mere hideout—hard to comprehend why they’d embedded such heavy defenses.
No kidding; these were defensive setups you’d expect in a Mage Tower, like the one Carlyle had glimpsed before. Their confidence wasn’t empty.
And now, all those defenses bared their fangs at the Hero.
A barrage that blanketed the wasteland in white in an instant poured down on her position.
“This-”
And the moment she saw it.
A thick vein bulged on Gray’s forehead.
She was beyond pissed at them ignoring her warning and showing hostility.
Her mouth opened wide.
“-Ungrateful bastardsaaaaahhh----!!”
-And she unleashed the Breath of Ruin.
In sync with the Hero’s roar.
A massive sandstorm erupted from her body.
Well, ‘sandstorm’ was putting it mildly; her shout from her vocal cords had flipped the area for several kilometers like a bomb blast.
-!
And the bullet hell, spells, artillery—everything caught in that storm.
Crunch.
Was crushed like twisted reeds.
“…….”
“…….”
Everyone underground stared, speechless.
“What kind of technique is that?”
“⋯⋯No mana usage detected. Just body enhancement.”
“So she just yelled loudly?”
“............Theoretically, yes.”
‘Theoretically.’
A word tacked on because even the speaker knew it sounded absurd.
“…….”
“…….”
Everyone was at a loss for words.
Even Carlyle, who was more accustomed to Gray’s madness than anyone.
When the insanely strong Hero let out a primal scream, attacks that could bombard a city vanished like candles before a gale—who wouldn’t react like this?
“Th-this, insane-”
“-Pour everything into buying time! Pull out all the treasures and relics stashed in the hideout!”
“But those are all our retirement funds⋯⋯!”
“If we don’t get out of here, we’re dead anyway. No time to worry about fallout!”
“We need time to activate them! Somehow stop that woman from getting closer⋯⋯!”
Just from those screams, you could tell how grotesquely supernatural that display had been. People who’d kept their cool plunged into panic instantly.
And as always.
Panicked people tend to make the worst decisions.
“Let’s use this at least. Isn’t that bastard their target anyway!”
Someone pointed at Carlyle and said that.
“⋯⋯No, wait, hold on. That’s a really bad idea-!”
Hearing it, Carlyle paled and blurted out.
Not out of worry for his own life.
But because he could roughly predict Gray’s reaction.
“Do it. Tell her we’ll kill him if she gets closer!”
But once again, his words were dismissed outright.
Someone positioned the camera in front of Carlyle and operated the device.
The image of Carlyle, bound to the chair, transmitted to the Hero’s location.
“Damn it, come any closer and we’ll slit this bastard’s throat right now-”
And, as always.
Carlyle’s warnings never missed their mark this time either.
“…….”
⋯⋯Ah, we’re screwed.
Though distant, seeing the killing intent cloud Gray’s eyes on the screen, Carlyle instinctively knew.
“You fucking pests.”
And then.
-The landscape.
Compressed in an instant.
At least, that’s how it appeared.
An overwhelming presence made the entire perceivable world sink downward.
“-⋯⋯Guh, cough⋯⋯!”
“Hngh⋯⋯!”
Simultaneously, every Pale Moon member watching clutched their throats.
Not even direct targets, yet just ‘seeing’ it made them collapse one after another.
Even through the screen.
⋯⋯Because they grasped the ‘monster’ level of what was there.
“Why don’t you ever listen when people talk? Huh?”
And as those words ended.
The aura she exuded condensed to a single point.
The power crushing the world gathered in one hand.
⋯⋯And the ground warped entirely.
“-Huh?”
Someone underground let out a dazed sound.
Probably a delayed reaction, wondering what the hell the opponent was doing.
No one could blame them.
What followed defied human limits.
The next moment, the ceiling tilted crookedly.
Dirt trickled down into the room.
Then.
“⋯⋯Huh.”
As someone uttered a dying gasp.
“H-Huh, wh-what the-!”
People screamed and tumbled every which way. The whole room had tilted.
Only then did understanding dawn on everyone.
-The entire ‘hideout’ underground was being uprooted to the surface.
Gray, mana deployed everywhere, was using it to yank up the sprawling underground bunker the size of a building.
Straight onto the surface.
A weight of at least thousands of tons, lifted without a drop of sweat, in one breath. In mere seconds.
“…….”
Damn, she’s a real fucking monster.
As Carlyle thought that, pandemonium unfolded around him.
People screamed, rolling desperately to find their balance, clawing at anything to avoid falling.
-!
Thud. The uprooted hideout slammed onto the surface.
Then.
The Hero, leaping in one stride, zeroed in precisely on their position and charged.
One wall shattered like cardboard, and Gray burst in, Holy Sword slung on her back.
Veins bulging menacingly on her forehead, gripping the Holy Sword’s hilt—she resembled the Grim Reaper incarnate.
⋯⋯Not far off, really.
“Who wants to die first?”
“…….”
“I’ll send the quick ones off painlessly. Line up.”
“…….”
Was this what a Hero said?
Everyone witnessing it must’ve seen their life flash before their eyes⋯⋯
If someone hadn’t flopped desperately in front of Gray from the bound chair.
“Lady, Lady! No, you can’t kill them!”
Carlyle rolled frantically to reach her, and Gray narrowed her eyes at the sight.
“Hey.”
“Yes, Lady.”
“Who said you got kidnapped like an idiot.”
“…….”
“You’re my squire. Letting these bastards do this to you just embarrasses me.”
“…….”
Ah, that’s what pissed her off?
Not concern for him?
‘⋯⋯Well, whatever.’
He’d half-expected this reason if Gray came for him.
[………………Haaaah………………]
Another weird sigh from the Holy Sword, but ignored.
“…….”
Gray looked down at him briefly, sighed shallowly, and scratched her cheek.
Kicking the floor lightly, as if struggling to speak.
Despite breathing such outlandish feats, this seemed harder.
“⋯⋯You’re not at death’s door, right?”
“…….”
“⋯⋯⋯State’s pretty bad?”
A touch of emotion.
Even she showed minimal concern.
Then he shouldn’t worry her. Carlyle smiled brightly as always.
“Ah, yeah, just some bad wounds.”
“⋯⋯Just wounds?”
“Yes. And these folks didn’t go that hard on me.”
At that, Gray’s gaze swept over him.
Clad only in underwear, covered in blood.
His battered body bore traces of brutal lynching.
Her eyes narrowed.
⋯⋯Well, it’s Gray.
She wouldn’t react much to his injuries.
He got hurt all the time; no way she cared about tha—
“⋯⋯Fuck, you goddamn bastards.”
Far angrier than before, as she reached for the Holy Sword again, Carlyle panicked and clung to her desperately.
“Lady, Lady, I said no killing—!”
“Take it back. No mercy for any of you.”
It took a while for Gray to calm down.
Miraculously, no fatalities.
⋯⋯No fatalities.
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