Chapter 133
Chapter 133
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: 24. Mystery of the Red Zone (5)
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A little while ago.
The man named Takashi, who had been walking ahead, suddenly halted and bowed his head.
"Takashi?"
"......"
His comrade sensed something ominous.
They had been warned before setting out: if anyone showed abnormal signs, report it immediately. But things never went exactly according to plan. As he reached out in concern to check on him, Takashi snapped his head up and lunged straight for the rescuer in front of him.
Puk-!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
The moment the ambushed rescuer's head flew into the air, agonized screams filled the space.
Puak!
"Aaaagh! Takashi, what the hell are you doing?!"
"You lunatic!"
That was the beginning.
Takashi rampaged like a madman, attacking everyone around him. At the same time, rescuers in various spots went berserk one after another. In the end, the very disaster they'd been warned about came to pass. Saito Shusuke, the rescue team's leader, gripped his spear amid the chaos.
'So this is the evil spirit's handiwork.'
It was unmistakable.
The reason subjugation attempts had failed time and again.
Killing those bewitched by the evil spirit was no solution at all.
He shouted urgently.
"Priests, use healing magic—!"
"Use healing magic!"
"Cure."
"Cure."
Hwaaaak—
The priests carried out the order.
They cast Cure, a mental healing spell, and a brilliant light enveloped the bodies of those with eyes rolled back. For a brief moment, they faltered. It seemed like there might be some improvement, but then they shattered all hope by rampaging anew. Bursting through the glow of Cure, they attacked their nearby comrades indiscriminately.
"Aaaak—!"
"It's not working at all!"
This was a hell of wailing torment.
People slaughtering people.
Humans tearing into fellow humans like beasts.
The rescue team, full of momentum just moments before, was instantly drowned in blood and death.
"......What in the world."
Saito Shusuke's eyes trembled.
This mission.
He'd thought it wouldn't be too difficult.
He trusted his own abilities, and they'd brought along a large contingent of priests precisely to counter any potential evil spirit interference. But an unsolved enigma wasn't something to be cracked so easily. The plan to swiftly locate Kang San and pull out had been a hasty choice, driven by public pressure.
"Die—!"
Rescuers charged at him.
Faced with killing intent aimed straight for his heart, Saito had no other option.
Whirlic.
Puk-!
He shattered the attacker's head.
Those driven mad by the evil spirit.
He had no choice but to treat them as enemies.
Saito shouted.
"Everyone still in control of yourselves—cover each other's backs and fall back! Right now, those aren't the people we kn— Hup."
His eyes bulged wide.
Suddenly, something overwhelming crashed over him.
A piercing voice dug into his mind.
Saito Shusuke's world plunged straight into the abyss.
This mission.
Nakamura Genji and his crew had volunteered as well.
In the chaos of people charging wildly, they showed no mercy just because they were fellow humans.
Flash.
Puk.
A head went flying.
Nakamura Genji, drenched in spurting blood, slashed down every foe that came at him without hesitation.
"Shuhei, behind us!"
"Got it."
Pat.
Tadadak.
They cleaved open a path.
Nakamura Genji swung his katana furiously, carving through enemies, while Shuhei—wielding a scythe on a chain—covered their rear. The rogue hunters followed in their wake. Within the rescue team, around thirty survivors formed a tight unit, guarding one another's backs against the onslaught.
But the evil spirit's nightmare didn't spare them all.
When one of the rogue hunters went berserk, Nakamura reacted with cold detachment.
Sgeek!
"Think rationally right now. Anyone bewitched by the evil spirit isn't someone we know anymore."
He gritted his teeth.
The rogue hunters.
A band of rootless wanderers who'd banded together for mutual protection.
His blood boiled at cutting them down without mercy, but Nakamura knew better than anyone how deadly the maddened became. In the past three years living in Kitakyushu, he'd pored over every detail of prior incidents. The Nightmare was a mental assault no ordinary means could break, which was why he'd warned the rogues before entering the Red Zone: if anyone snapped, there'd be no saving them. But if they fell this time, he'd personally look after their families.
The disaster he'd foreseen came to pass.
As Nakamura Genji rapidly cleared a path, something ripped through the air, forcing him to hastily raise his sword.
Kwang-!
Charruruk.
He was shoved backward.
Lifting his gaze, he saw the very situation he'd dreaded unfolding before him.
"......This is a problem."
Saito Shusuke.
His eyes burned blood-red.
The man meant to protect the team kicked off the ground and barreled straight at Nakamura Genji.
Whiriric.
Kwang-!
Kwakwakwakwang!
A barrage of devastating strikes hammered down.
Spear thrusts split into dozens of dazzling arcs, boring through the space around him. Nakamura whipped his sword around at blinding speed, batting them all away. Each blow sent his guts churning. Even as an A-Rank hunter, he couldn't shrug off an S-Rank's raw power unscathed.
And then.
"One Point."
Puk-!
"Kuhup."
Even in his madness, Saito unleashed a skill.
Nakamura barely parried and tumbled across the ground, only for Saito to instantly close the gap.
A do-or-die moment.
"Genji—!"
Kwang-!
Shuhei's attack crashed in.
For a fleeting instant.
They bought a moment to breathe, and Shuhei yelled desperately.
"We have to pull back!"
"But......"
"No buts! This was impossible from the start! If even Saito Shusuke's lost it, we've got no shot at rescue."
Shuhei's words rang true.
Saito Shusuke stalking toward them with that feral glare was a walking catastrophe. Even if they took him down, there was no way to deal with the evil spirit lurking beyond the mist. That's why no one had dared cross into the Red Zone before. Over time, their vigilance had dulled, leading to the foolish assumption they could spare enough time to grab Kang San. Nakamura Genji, the Japanese government—even they had started thinking things might be different now that Kang San kept bringing out survivors.
It was a mistake.
A fatal blunder.
Nakamura felt a pang of guilt for the rogue hunters who'd died because of him.
"......Damn it."
There was no other way.
Charruruk.
He drew a second sword.
Dual blades.
Fully geared up, he locked eyes on Saito Shusuke and declared.
"The moment an opening appears, we retreat."
Truly regretful.
He had no strength left to save Kang San.
It was a total rout.
Led by Nakamura Genji, the handful of survivors limped back to Kitakyushu in utter ruin.
"Medics! Medics!"
"Get the wounded moved, now!"
Pure pandemonium.
People scrambled to transport the injured while citizens watched on with anxious eyes.
Amid it all.
Congressman Shimizu Hiroshi was on site.
He bellowed to the crowd.
"This is why! Even with a hero like Kang San sacrificing for us, we couldn't rush into a rescue because we feared exactly this outcome. Everyone—beyond the Red Zone lies an unsolved mystery. The evil spirit defies all our data from the past, and the one thing we can predict is its power: great enough to bewitch even an S-Rank. Look! To save a few survivors, are we right to shove even greater souls into the jaws of death? Do you truly believe Congressman Ito Kentaro's press conference serves this nation, rather than just idealistic armchair rhetoric?!"
He raised his voice higher.
In his mind.
He'd prepared responses for both success and failure from the outset.
For the more likely scenario of utter defeat, he channeled sorrow into his expression, appealing to their emotions.
"Everyone, it's time we faced reality. The Kitakyushu disaster is a conundrum beyond Japan's current means. I'm sorry! Please understand this wretched heart of mine—it must speak the cruel truth."
He crumpled.
Right there before the people's eyes, he poured out his "emotions."
He stepped off the stage.
Out of the public's sight, Shimizu Hiroshi's face reverted to icy composure, as if the theatrics had never happened.
"Well done."
"Just doing what was necessary."
The congressmen.
They shot him looks of concern.
Flattery toward the power broker. Admiration for Shimizu, who'd flipped the situation in an instant.
Congressman Shimizu Hiroshi spoke.
"The rescue team's annihilation is a massive loss, but purely politically, it's a blessing in disguise. This has forced the Japanese public to confront reality. If even with the government and citizens pitching in full force it's impossible—if there's an enemy beyond the Red Zone so deadly it can kill even S-Rank Saito Shusuke—they won't hound politicians to fix the south anymore. And beyond that, Ito Kentaro will now be seen not as a champion of the people, but a hypocrite peddling glossy armchair theories."
"As expected!"
"Brilliant, sir."
Saito Shusuke.
A truly devastating blow for Japan.
They'd known it and sent him anyway.
They had to.
With Ito Kentaro quietly swaying public opinion, Shimizu couldn't allow him that momentum. So he'd opted for the most defensive approach: instruct Saito Shusuke to rescue Kang San without overextending and get out. Regrettably, the worst had happened.
Of course.
He'd anticipated it.
If Saito fell, he'd already mapped out how to turn that into political capital.
'......The Red Zone will now be an absolute no-go zone.'
A bitter taste lingered.
No amount of preparation made an S-Rank hunter's death easy to stomach.
It was an enormous loss for Japan.
To offset it, the congress needed to band together as one.
That was when.
Bang.
"So you're all here."
"......Congressman Ito Kentaro."
The congress's slippery eel.
He'd slithered in after all.
As Shimizu openly displayed his displeasure, Ito made no effort to hide his own.
"This mess—what possessed you to push it so recklessly?"
"Recklessly? I merely followed public opinion."
"Yes, of course. But Congressman, you're savvy enough to foresee failure. I called for a rescue team in my press conference, but not in this half-baked fashion. You knew an evil spirit lurks beyond the Red Zone. We'd learned its danger from history—yet you thought tagging along a few priests would suffice? Wasn't that just a stopgap to quiet the masses? We needed overwhelming force. You should have issued a mobilization order and sent Japan's absolute best."
This incident.
The two congressmen's views had clashed.
Ito, foreseeing failure, had demanded unprecedented preparations.
But Shimizu, backed by congress, had rushed a subjugation force into the Red Zone within a single day.
He knew the intent.
"Success or failure in the rescue—it never mattered from the start, did it? Do you truly believe your actions serve Japan?"
"Congressman Ito Kentaro, spare us the sanctimony. Who here doesn't know you're the hypocrite?"
Hypocrite.
Ito Kentaro's moniker.
He always chased popularity.
The Nakamura Genji affair was the same.
Not out of genuine heroism, but because he knew it won votes—he'd chosen risk for gain. The congressmen sneered at it as hypocrisy. And that very hypocrisy had made Ito Kentaro a heavyweight in congress.
Ito Kentaro replied.
"My hypocrisy, at least, voices the people's will—even if just for votes. Form a new rescue team now. We can't abandon the south as taboo; Japan must stake its all on resolving it. Kang San is still alive out there. We have to save him and stop turning a blind eye to the south's plight."
"Puhup."
Laughter burst out.
Public opinion had shifted.
The people now viewed Ito Kentaro as a mere armchair politician.
Shimuzu's scheme had landed perfectly—no need to play into Ito's hands.
"Why should I? And while we're on the topic—Kang San. You think he's still alive? The evil spirit's on the prowl. S-Ranks are dropping; he's long gone. Stop the delusions."
Kang San's death.
Taken as fact.
No rescue news in over ten hours—his survival odds were minuscule.
That was when.
Bang.
Someone burst into the meeting room.
An aide.
As all eyes turned, the aide shouted frantically.
"......Ri-right now! Survivors rescued by Kang San have arrived!"
"What?"
Beyond the Red Zone.
The evil spirit was rampant.
Yet he'd pulled out survivors—and in that instant, Shimizu Hiroshi and the congressmen's faces turned to stone.