Chapter 93. SIEG Industry (3)
"...Hold on, that voice."
As I remained silent for a moment, the man also seemed to recognize me and immediately spoke.
"The customer I met during the day. What a coincidence?"
"You said your name was Arcato."
The taxi driver I had hailed on the outskirts of the Commercial District. He was the man with a thin cigarette in his mouth, just like in the daytime. He rubbed his eyelids as if tired.
"Heh heh, yeah. I didn't expect to pick up the same passenger twice in a day, doing two jobs."
"So when you said you knew about various things in the Outskirts earlier, this is what you meant."
Enoch glanced at the other mercenaries.
Seeing that he was tacitly treated as the leader among the other freelancers just now, despite his lighthearted tone, his skills seemed to be not bad.
Arcato chuckled.
"Yeah. Taxi work is my side hustle. This is my main job."
The woman in the backseat with her cap pulled low scoffed as if it were pointless and shrugged.
"Sigh, really pointlessly diligent, aren't you? You'll probably never escape this vicinity anyway."
"I can't make a living in the Underworld anymore, so I'm making do here. It's been over 10 years since the Commercial District's Underworld disappeared, and it's past time to scramble for a living."
"As expected of an old man."
"It must be nice to be a young lady, huh. It's not bad to work hard and make money in a gutter like this at that energetic age."
Arcato, who retorted skillfully, opened the van's door and gestured with his chin for Enoch to get in.
"Let's go. Punctuality is important."
***
The old van creaked as it drove down the road.
I didn't know if SIEG had provided this vehicle, but it was definitely a visual and performance that wouldn't suggest there was important cargo inside.
There were four people in the car, including Enoch.
Arcato in the driver's seat, one taciturn female mercenary in the passenger seat.
And Enoch and another short-haired woman with bright pink hair, wearing a cap pulled low, in the back seat.
As the sense of time blurred from how long they had been driving. Arcato briefly stated the schedule.
"We still have a few hours to go before we're out of the Outskirts."
"How's the communication line?"
The woman in the cap sitting next to Enoch asked. Arcato fiddled with the communication device in his ear with one hand while his other hand was on the steering wheel.
"It's fine. Communication with the PMC is still possible as planned. We maintain contact every 5 minutes, so we'll know immediately if they're attacked."
"That's reliable, good."
She said that and suddenly glanced at Enoch.
"I'm April. I'm a freelance mercenary."
She looked at the cargo I was holding and said.
"By the way, it's been bothering me. To be entrusted with cargo directly by SIEG Industry, you must be quite a reliable individual, aren't you?"
Then, from the seat opposite, the other relatively quiet female freelancer also glanced at me without a word. She seemed to agree with April's words.
"..."
April shrugged.
"I don't know your circumstances, but if a successful large corporation entrusts cargo transport directly to you, it must be something quite important."
"What do you mean?"
When Enoch asked back, April crossed her arms.
"Because there are plenty of logistics companies that take on these subcontracted jobs. Especially my friends in the Underworld logistics business, they'll deliver anything if you give them money."
Having said that much, she glanced at me.
"So. Why would they gather freelancers like us, not hire those kinds of people, and even include some unidentified individual... That's what I'm wondering?"
Roughly listening, I could somewhat guess what April wanted to ask Enoch.
"So. You, what exactly is your identity?"
The question I expected. When Enoch remained seated without answering, feeling no value in replying, April waved her hand in front of my eyes.
"Hellooo...? What, are you sleeping? I can't tell because your face is hidden by the mask and hood, seriously."
Enoch, feeling a bit annoyed, briefly glanced at her, and April exclaimed in surprise, "What!"
"Oh, you startled me! Good grief, if you don't want to answer, fine."
Then, realizing that Enoch had been ignoring her words all this time, she sighed heavily.
"Roughly speaking, everyone in this business knows each other through connections, and I've never heard of a freelancer like you, so I'm just curious."
April's tone, as she shrugged, had a somewhat boastful edge to it. Perhaps it was because she had the skill to back it up.
Enoch glanced at her.
What April held propped against her arm was a long bolt-action rifle-type magic gear with a scope.
She seemed to be a combat mage skilled in long-range combat, using difficult-to-handle and relatively expensive firearm-type magic gear.
It seemed she was definitely not just some random person.
"Wait. Be quiet for a moment."
Then Arcato said from the driver's seat. He touched the earset at his ear and frowned.
"I can't hear the communication. It's time for the regular contact, but there's no response on the line."
"What? So they're in combat?"
"No."
A short silence fell in the car.
It wasn't that they didn't know what that meant, but that it was completely impossible.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean?"
Naturally, if combat had occurred, he would have received communication immediately.
But despite maintaining regular contact with the PMC side every 5 minutes, communication had suddenly cut off?
"Then the PMC guys on the decoy team are all..."
Simultaneously, Enoch confirmed a flashing light beyond the front window of the van. Immediately, Arcato turned around from the driver's seat and shouted loudly.
"We've been discovered!! Everyone duck—!!!"
Just then, magic was cast from a nearby building in an instant. The sound of breaking window glass echoed as if tearing his eardrums.
Simultaneous with blood splattering in the air near the driver's seat.
The van's body twisted with a screeching sound as if tearing, skidded, half-turned, and crashed into the alley wall with a loud noise.
"Kuugh!"
Arcato groaned in pain from the driver's seat, clutching his profusely bleeding arm.
"Sniper! 2 o'clock forward, building rooftop!"
April immediately identified the sniper's position and shouted, opening the door whose window glass had shattered into pieces.
"Get out immediately! Hurry!!"
Even as everyone got out of the vehicle and fled into the dark alley, April shouted in a shrill voice, unable to understand.
"That's strange! How do those Scavengers know we're transporting the cargo?"
Only after quickly taking cover behind the nearest alley wall, Arcato slowly touched his earset and muttered as if he couldn't believe it himself.
"...I'm not sure, but it seems they completely incapacitated the decoy PMC team, seized their communication channel, and backtracked our location. There's no other explanation."
"No, you're joking! They have the skill to incapacitate the company PMC in 5 minutes and seize their communication magic channel? A gang, you say?"
However, that question wasn't important.
Countering the ambush was the priority.
But even that wasn't easy.
Kwooouuung!
A massive rock spear flew over their heads where they were taking cover and plunged into the back wall of the building,
Immediately after, April screamed, seeing a fierce lightning whip tear through the concrete wall in the darkness with a sound that tore her ears.
"Wait a minute, their firepower is too strong! Are they really the gang I know?"
"Take down the sniper in the building ahead first! We can't do anything because of them!"
"Ugh! I, I can't! Reloading now! Cover my side first!"
April urgently shouted and pulled the bolt-action loading lever of her rifle-type magic gear with all her might.
A brass cartridge case sprang out with a clear sound, and she reloaded the chamber with an enchanted bullet.
"I'll reposition for a counter-snipe, Arcato! Can't you do something?"
"Sorry, I can't, not with this injury. Besides, long-range combat isn't my specialty!"
Arcato, who had been fighting back by gripping his magic gear and firing mana arrows forward, shouted, tearing his sleeve to tie around his wound.
He seemed skilled enough to survive the ambush, but the bleeding looked quite severe.
Enoch watched the battle unfold from the side, remaining silent.
It was clear that the situation was not good.
He could already sense the presence of enemies flanking them from behind the alley where they had taken cover.
The other freelancers seemed to have noticed it too.
"Not good! They're pushing from both sides!"
April shouted, looking behind her.
"The number of flanking guys is much larger than the ones in front! There's no cover in the alley behind us! No escape route!"
Sensing they would be annihilated at this rate, April bit her nails nervously, gripping her rifle.
Then, seeing Enoch standing still, she glared at him with a sharp gaze and urged him.
"You, you do something too! Weren't you supposed to be a skilled individual sent by SIEG Corporation?"
Ignoring April screaming at him, Enoch slowly stood up from his seat.
Anyway, he had already finished assessing the situation and the strength of the opposing forces.
It was about time to make a move.
Enoch said calmly to April.
"Ignore the ones pushing from both sides and only focus on the front. You seem capable of at least that much."
"Th-Then what about you? And what about the back?"
Instead of answering, Enoch threw the duralumin case he was holding to April.
Looking at it with blank eyes, she turned her head sharply to look at me.
"Huh? You, could it be..."
Enoch slowly lowered his long bag and opened the entrance.
Placing his hand on the sword hilt revealed inside, Enoch began to walk towards the battlefield in the darkness behind them.
"Just me alone is enough for the back."
***
The Scavenger members who were flanking and approaching the alley behind them were momentarily bewildered.
"What the hell. Is he walking out like that?"
A figure in a black robe, walking into the middle of the alley without any cover, holding only a single sword.
The leading Scavenger member scoffed.
"He must have lost his mind from being surrounded."
But the moment he said that,
A flash of silver sword light cut through the air in a straight line.
"Huh, what?"
As Enoch walked past him, returning the hand that held the sword, the man's head was spraying blood and rolling on the ground.
Enoch, with his hood pulled down low, walked with a blank expression, briefly shaking off the blood on his sword with a simple swing.
The gang members behind him flinched.
"Wha, what happened...!"
In the hand of the jet-black figure hidden by the hood of the long robe in the darkness, a long greatsword emitting cold light hung low.
The gang members, who had regained their composure, began shouting loudly at each other.
"Th-That thing! Kill him, kill himmmm!"
"Just shoot him before he gets close! Turn him into a beehive!"
As they all aimed their magic gear at the same time, Enoch, who had been walking, instantly pushed off the ground as if stomping it.
[Explosive Sword]
Taah!
Enoch, who had closed the distance as if shooting forward in a straight line, was now closing in on the foremost enemy, rotating his sword.
"Gasp, gasp! What spee—!"
The Scavenger member raised his magic gear in shock.
But the distance between them was already close enough to touch with outstretched arms. From here on, it was a stage not for long-range magic, but for swords and close combat.
Shhweeeek!
With a sharp sound, the blade radiating dark blue light surged through the air, drawing cutting lines in all directions.
The enemy's arm holding the magic gear and their neck were severed, spraying blood in a circle in the air as they flew, and their body became a corpse rolling on the ground.
Immediately to the side, one of the Scavenger members hastily raised his magic gear and completed a magic circle.
Enoch, who had been charging, immediately kicked off the ground and launched himself high into the air to evade. Before even landing, his blade unleashed a vertical strike in the darkness.
"Kuohh!"
The Scavenger member struck by the slash let out a single scream and fell backward, scattering blood. Immediately upon landing, he spun his sword around and rotated his body,
Enoch's body, rotating fiercely, caused his black robe to flap wildly in the wind.
In a split second, the fluttering hem of the robe clearly blocked the enemy's blood spatters flying towards his face.
"Kuugh! Kill that bastard! Kill himmmmmm!"
Immediately, one of the Scavengers charged towards me.
A translucent hammer, constructed of glowing mana in the air above, materialized. It immediately fell towards Enoch's head.
At the same time, Enoch, confirming it with cold eyes, swung his sword to meet it. The trajectory of the sword, like flowing water, was drawn from the greatsword held in both hands.
[Reverse Flow]
Chaaaang!
The two-handed sword drew a soft trajectory and rotated once,
As if swept away by a current, the hammer, sparking with mana and deflected by the sword, plunged uselessly into the ground. The ground cracked and fragments flew in all directions.
At that absurd event, the Scavenger who had swung the hammer clearly widened his eyes in shock, his whites bloodshot.
As expected. Enoch was certain in that split second.
At the very least, he could now deal with magic that had a physical form without needing to evade completely.
Piiiiiing—
Enoch continued to charge forward like a bullet, slashing the enemy with a half-rotation of his sword.
In an instant, he grasped the next enemy's shoulder, soared upwards, kicked off the building wall once, and rotated his body sideways.
"Gasp, gasp!!"
The eyes of the enemies who were casting magic and charging for close combat towards me instantly looked upwards.
In their eyes, it must have seemed as if Enoch had leaped up, trailing dark blue light, splitting the dark night sky in half.
Whirl.
Enoch rotated his body widely towards the enemy in the air and descended. In that moment, a flash of sword light that cut through the darkness flickered.
Enoch, who had fallen vertically and slashed the enemy, continued his one-sided offensive, deflecting the attacks of the enemies charging from around him.
The enemies' blood scattered into the sky from the sword strikes that raged around them in disarray without ceasing, and they fell one after another onto the alley.
"Ku, Kuugh!!"
One of the last remaining Scavenger members, clutching his wound and staggering, tried to aim his staff again, but it was already too late.
Enoch immediately dashed towards the enemy like a bullet.
With an impact sound like bursting air—Taah!, he kicked the enemy square in the solar plexus, giving him no chance for a counterattack.
The enemy, who had taken the full force of that impact directly in the chest, flew away like a piece of tissue paper in a straight trajectory and hit the exterior wall of the building head-on.
Crashing into the wall and creating a deeply concave crater in the shape of a circle centered on his back, he let out a thudding roar, then trembled and finally hung his head low.
And in the darkness behind the building in the alley where he crashed.
The enemies, who had been maintaining a standoff in a state of panic, were now shouting loudly.
"Damn it!! That, that bastard! If he gets close, we can't use long-range magic because of friendly fire!"
"Then all at once! Charge all at once!!"
Immediately after the Scavenger members made their best judgment through their own deliberation.
Not only did the enemies who had been hiding in the alley pop out, but other enemies from the building rooftop in the alley also simultaneously raised their mana, casting close-combat magic, and leaped down, shouting.
"You can't possibly avoid this!!"
But that was what Enoch had to say to them.
Immediately, Enoch, who simultaneously kicked off the ground and charged into the air above the center of the enemies, tilted his two-handed sword greatly to the side for a moment—
[Fire Wheel]
Taah!
In an instant, the sword, unleashed with a dark blue explosion, flickered for a moment, and immediately after, a massive circular cutting line was drawn in the darkness.
The dark blue light rotated three times, charging in all directions, cutting down all enemies around with a single blow.
The two-handed sword was slower than the one-handed sword he had used until now, but its reach was incredibly long, so the attack range also felt absurdly long.
To the extent that all enemies who had been attacking from all sides were swept away by the three consecutive strikes.
"Ku, Kuheuugh!"
A desperate shout reached Enoch's ears, who was looking at the falling gang members spitting blood on the alley wall with a blank expression.
"Bastard! D-Die! Dieeee!"
Confirming the last enemy charging with a roar, wrapped in blazing flames on both arms behind him.
Enoch immediately knelt on one leg and grasped the sword with one hand, thrusting it beside his left arm.
Puooook!
The sword, extended behind Enoch, who had lowered his stance by bending one knee, penetrated the enemy's body.
On the other hand, the flames from the enemy's outstretched arms only grazed the top of Enoch's head and his back, which was lowered.
Enoch, who had retrieved his sword from the collapsing enemy, slowly stood up as if taking his place.
A chilling silence had fallen over the darkness.
Taking a deep breath, he sharpened his senses that had been focused on combat and confirmed that there were no more enemies that could pose a threat around him.
Whirl.
Enoch swung his sword once in the air to calmly shake off the blood and walked, sheathing his sword in the scabbard tied to his waist.
Enoch felt that he had grown much more than before in the series of actions from drawing his sword to facing the enemy and sheathing it.
However, it was still not enough.
In the battle just now, Enoch had not put in his full effort. Nor had he grasped his growth as planned.
Because these enemies were not enough for Enoch to fight with all his might anymore.
The front of the alley had also become quiet by now.
Indeed, the freelancers also seemed to be individuals with basic skills.
Enoch turned around and walked slowly.
Returning to the alley where the freelancers had been, he found April sitting slumped against the corner of the building, her eyes blank and her mouth wide open.
She must have arrived later to support him and had watched the battle in real-time.
She pointed at Enoch with trembling fingers and opened her mouth, her voice stammering.
"Y-You, what in the world..."
April muttered cautiously, as if she couldn't believe what she had just seen.
"Cl-Close combat mage? That movement just now... Then are you really a combat mage of Tier 10 or higher?"
Enoch looked down at her and asked calmly.
"Must I answer?"
"...Ah, no. It's alright."
For some reason, April's tone had become extremely polite compared to before. It seemed he would be able to have a conversation with her in a more agreeable tone from now on.
The other two freelancers also seemed unharmed. Meanwhile, there was no presence of Scavenger gang members in the front of the alley either.
It was clear that although they were not as skilled as the Elsyde mages, these individuals also possessed enough skill to survive as freelancers in the Underworld.
However, this wasn't the end.
Rather, it was close to the beginning.
April, looking at Enoch nervously while still surveying her surroundings, said cautiously.
"...These guys are probably the lowest ranks anyway. Seeing how the communication was cut off earlier, the ones who will rush in next will be the main force of the Scavengers. They won't sit still because of their pride."
"You mean the ones who attacked the decoy PMC?"
Enoch fell silent in thought for a moment.
It was true that the situation had become somewhat complicated.
The Outskirts was the Scavengers' territory.
Since they already knew his identity, they would likely know his location in real-time. And even if he switched vehicles, it would only be a matter of time before his location was pinpointed.
"Until we leave the Outskirts, we are within the gang's sphere of influence."
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Arcato, who had approached holding his bleeding arm, and the other female freelancer also joined their discussion.
"While we're stuck here, there will probably be continuous sporadic clashes."
The taciturn female freelancer said quietly.
"Then time will be wasted, and the casualties from combat will be significant. We should expect a follow-up force to arrive."
"Estimated strength?"
Arcato shrugged at Enoch's question.
"SIEG Industry's PMC were all wiped out in less than 5 minutes. It's impossible for such combat forces to be instantly annihilated to the point of not even being able to radio, even if it was an ambush. A mage of a different caliber must be involved."
He added in a low voice.
"I think it's likely there's at least a Tier 10 mage using Unique Magic there. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain."
A Tier 10 mage.
At that word, April seemed to shiver for a moment, clutching her rifle and trembling.
"Ti-Tier 10? In the Scavenger follow-up force?"
"Yeah, so if we leave it as is, we'll be at a disadvantage. We need to find a way to escape somehow. At this rate, we don't know when we'll be caught."
As they chattered among themselves, Enoch quietly lowered his head and fell into thought.
They were definitely not wrong.
If they stayed still like this, the situation would only worsen. It was about time for him to find a countermeasure suited to the situation and act.
Just then, he felt the gazes of the freelancers, who had been discussing intently, gathering on Enoch, who had been silent until now.
Arcato asked from beside him pointedly.
"So, what are you going to do?"
After witnessing his performance earlier, they were curious about his intentions, looking at him with considerable anticipation.
A look filled with the expectation that perhaps he could break through this situation and devise a way to escape from the Scavenger follow-up force that was pursuing them.
His deliberation was not long.
Enoch, with his hood pulled down, finally raised his head and stated the simple and clear answer.
"We should just wipe them all out first."