Chapter 157: No Hope Left
Elma forced down the swelling sense of dread and asked again. Edward’s lips curled up into a leering grin.
"We threw every last one of them out of the shelter."
"...!?"
Elma’s eyes flew wide open.
Considering the current hour, that meant hundreds of people had been driven to their deaths at least three hours ago.
Elma exploded with fury.
"Edward! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Lost my mind? That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?"
"Only a madman could do something like this...!"
Unleashing the rage she had held back.
Elma trembled from head to toe.
Meanwhile Edward, the very man who had driven hundreds to their deaths, replied with a perfectly calm face.
"If anything, don’t you think everyone’s secretly glad?"
"Wh-what...?"
"Think about it. I stepped up and cleared out all those parasites, so now there’s more food to go around for everyone else."
The moment she heard that.
Elma’s grip on reason snapped.
At the same instant, an enormous volume of water began flooding into the room. And the moment the water rose to knee height.
"...Ten Thousand Swords of the Azure Sea."
At that brief utterance.
The knee-deep water reshaped itself all at once into the forms of razor-sharp swords.
Hundreds, no, thousands of them.
The water swords Elma had created spun rapidly and surged toward Edward. But they never reached him.
"Frost Nova."
A dry voice suddenly rang out, and with it, powerful cold spread in every direction.
And as a result.
Crack-crack-crackle!
The water swords Elma had created froze white right in front of Edward’s nose. Then, as if drained of all power, they dropped to the floor.
Swords of ice, shattering into countless pieces.
Then a man wearing black sunglasses spoke, his face utterly expressionless.
"I’d advise you to stop wasting your effort."
"...Jared."
"I’d rather not exert myself if I can help it."
The A-rank hunter of the frost attribute, Jared.
Like Edward, he was one of the five strongest in the shelter. And his attribute boasted the worst possible matchup against Elma’s.
’Of all people, even him...’
To think he had joined Edward.
On top of that, there were no fewer than five A-rank hunters in this room alone. Fighting them with her body weakened by the poison?
She probably wouldn’t last a minute.
Grind!
Overwhelmed by helplessness, Elma bit down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.
And then.
"Hey, calm down for a second."
Edward spoke up again.
With a perfectly innocent face.
"I may have taken over the shelter, but I’ve got no particular intention of hurting you or killing you."
"And you expect me to believe..."
"I mean it. You’re a precious resource, the one who supplies this shelter’s drinking water. You think I’m crazy enough to lay a hand on you?"
Edward said it with a slick grin.
Just as he said, Elma was a vital resource the shelter couldn’t do without. She could conjure enormous quantities of drinking water out of empty air.
Elma immediately shot back.
"And if I refuse to cooperate?"
"Huh. Well, then..."
Edward trailed off for a moment.
Then he smirked and said,
"First we cut off the non-Awakened’s water rations, and then, to prepare for the food shortage ahead, we’ll have to weed out the useless ones and dispose of them all over again."
"...!"
At those words, Elma’s face went stiff.
If he had threatened to kill her, she would sooner have stood tall, fought, and died.
But Edward knew Elma far too well. He knew that no matter what happened, she would never abandon innocent civilians.
"I’ll give you five minutes. Decide."
With a leisurely smile.
Edward tapped the watch on his wrist.
Elma trembled with overwhelming helplessness and humiliation. Then she squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip.
’...It’s over.’
She couldn’t see any hope left.
Even if she revealed the White Whale’s existence now, it wouldn’t change a thing.
The Edward she knew was the kind of man who would use the non-Awakened as shields to make his own escape. And as those bleak minutes slipped helplessly by.
Bam!
The tightly shut door burst open with a clatter.
A young man with flashy blond hair came scrambling inside.
"B-Boss!"
The C-rank hunter of the lightning attribute, Tyler.
The man in charge of the shelter’s perimeter watch collapsed in a heap before Edward. Then he cried out in a trembling voice.
"We have a huge problem!"
His face was deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost. Watching him shake and shout, Edward frowned and asked,
"What? What huge problem?"
"A dra-dra-dragon! A, a dragon...!"
"What are you babbling about? Spit it out!"
Tyler was shaking like a leaf.
When Edward pressed him again, he blurted out exactly what he had seen.
"A, a dragon is flying this way!"
"...What? A dragon?"
The moment the words left his mouth.
Snickers broke out all around.
"Dude, what kind of crazy talk is that?"
"A dragon, seriously..."
"Were you dreaming or something?"
Edward’s reaction was much the same.
At that, Tyler pounded his chest with his fist in frustration and shouted,
"No, it’s true! It’s really headed this..."
Before he could even finish.
A heavy tremor slammed into the resort.
Ruuumble!
The resort building shook violently.
Edward and the other hunters reflexively lifted their heads toward the ceiling.
And in that moment.
Crunch! Kaboooooom!
A deafening explosion rang out.
The thick concrete ceiling came crashing down like so much paper.
"Aaaaaargh!"
"Shit! Wh-what the hell!?"
At the sudden collapse, the hunters screamed and scattered. And amid the countless fragments and billowing clouds of dust, as the chaos mounted.
Crackakakak!
The entire room abruptly froze solid.
The floor, the walls, the ceiling. All of it.
As Edward and the hunters, and even Elma, reeled at the sudden phenomenon.
"...So this is where you were all gathered."
Along with a voice sunk in cold.
Pushing through the hazy dust that stained the air, a man revealed himself before them all.
"Saves me the trouble of hunting you down one by one."
A man holding an ice axe.
It was Walfred.