Chapter 211. Encounter (1)
A siren blared like madness, scattering a shrill cry through the silent forest at night.
WEEEEEEEE, !!
Inside a gigantic abandoned factory rising close to ten stories high, the alarm reverberated into a massive echo, pounding painfully against their ears.
At least, fortunately, the magical beasts that had just begun pouring in from outside had not yet pinpointed their exact location.
Enoch swept his gaze across the surroundings, quickly assessing the situation.
When he lifted his head, darkness stretched upward inside the factory, soaring toward the sky like a tower.
But aside from the upper levels, everywhere he looked on the first floor where they stood was filled with magical beasts.
In a factory already crammed with tangled steel structures, there was not a single place where the silhouettes of magical beasts were not moving.
Beside him, Lien shifted her eyes slightly and whispered,
"It does not seem like we have been discovered yet."
"Right. They are only being drawn by the sound of the alarm. Still, being discovered is only a matter of time."
All around the first floor of the abandoned factory, humanoid magical beasts were steadily closing in, their green gleaming eyes spilling out through the cracks in their split carapaces.
At this rate, discovery was inevitable.
"They are coming in from all directions!"
From a short distance away, Alicia, who had already lowered her posture, called out as she kept watch over the surroundings.
"What is that alarm, anyway?"
"We should figure it out first."
Because the sound echoed chaotically throughout the factory, it was difficult to pinpoint its exact source.
But that was not a problem.
Enoch focused, regulating his breathing as he heightened his senses in one sharp surge.
He quickly located the origin of the sound, coming from only a few steps away.
Moving stealthily through the darkness to avoid detection, he approached it.
On one side of the wall, he spotted a red LED light scattering its glow as if watching them.
A square-bodied device, sealed beneath a translucent acrylic case, some kind of alarm system.
"This is…."
Alicia, who had come closer and confirmed the source of the alarm, widened her eyes.
"It looks like a heat-detection alarm!"
"So it reacted to our body heat."
"Yes! But equipment with this level of sensitivity is usually only used for military purposes. Why would something like this be in a factory?"
Clearly flustered, Alicia took a few steps back and muttered under her breath.
Enoch stepped closer, carefully observing the alarm before speaking slowly.
"As expected, someone installed this here recently."
Unlike the rusted, peeling surfaces elsewhere in the factory, the alarm device was clean and pristine, giving off a completely incongruous impression.
Anyone could tell it was a modern piece of equipment, recently installed and well maintained.
Alicia turned toward him anxiously and asked,
"B-but this abandoned city was shut down a very long time ago…?"
That was precisely what made it strange.
There was only one reason someone would bother installing a high-performance alarm that reacted to human body heat in a forest crawling with magical beasts.
After silently staring at the blaring device, Enoch nodded.
"Someone set this up to ambush intruders entering the forest. This was done by a human, not a magical beast."
That confirmed it. This factory was a massive trap designed to intercept anyone attempting to pass through the forest.
Enoch turned his back, gripping his one-handed sword still strapped to his cloth pack, and rotated his body halfway.
WHIR, !!
Without even checking, he struck the alarm precisely with the tip of his scabbard.
With a sharp CRASH, the acrylic cover shattered, the sensor inside exploding into fragments as the alarm sound distorted.
After sputtering out a few scattered mechanical noises, it finally fell silent.
It was already late, but this was the best option to avoid drawing in enemies from farther away.
Enoch glanced back at the now-silent alarm and moved forward naturally.
"For now, take cover and assess the situation."
"U-understood. I will move first!"
Alicia nodded and started moving.
The moment Enoch and Lien retreated behind a distant pillar and concealed themselves, streaks of green light approached through the darkness a beat later.
The shadows of roaming magical beasts closing in were cast against the walls.
"It does not look like we have time for more chatting!"
Alicia bit her glossy lip once, angled her black lance aside, and lowered her stance.
"Encounter with multiple enemies."
Behind a pillar wrapped in alternating yellow-and-black safety tape, Alicia knelt on one knee, checking the approaching enemies before turning to Enoch.
"Direct Lineage, your orders!"
Leaning back against another wall, Enoch quickly scanned the surroundings.
From gaps in collapsed walls to hangar-like entrances that opened vertically, magical beasts were flooding in from every visible direction.
"All exits are already blocked. Escaping through conventional routes is impossible."
"Then should we break through with firepower all at once?"
"No. Our objective is not combat. It is escape."
Enoch lifted his gaze toward the upper levels of the abandoned factory, submerged in darkness.
Breaking through quickly was urgent before more enemies gathered, but facing them head-on on the first floor was a poor choice.
The longer a battle dragged on, the more likely enemies from other areas would swarm in and worsen the situation.
"For now, they still have not found us. Avoid drawing their attention and move without engaging."
"That makes sense, but… is there another way out without fighting?"
"It might work. At least, it is worth trying."
Enoch calmly looked up at the higher floors shrouded in darkness.
Unlike the first floor, the center was hollowed out, with metal platforms attached along the walls.
Given how wide each level was, it seemed the upper floors had once housed important equipment.
"Let us minimize combat and move upward."
"U-upward?"
Alicia followed his gaze upward, narrowing her eyes slightly as she grasped his intent.
"Are we escaping from a place without magical beasts?"
"Yes. There are no magical beasts on the upper floors yet. The stairs are still accessible."
Enoch gestured toward the staircase beside them.
The factory’s metal stairs were heavily rusted, but they had not yet been occupied by magical beasts. They were still usable.
"We will climb the stairs, reach the upper floors, and attempt to escape through a window."
"…!"
Thinking it sounded risky, Alicia hurriedly scanned the surroundings.
But the magical beasts had already reached the edge of their hiding spot, surging in like an ant swarm.
Still frenzied from the alarm, the beasts twisted their carapace-covered bodies violently as they searched for living prey inside the factory.
If they delayed any longer, it would be dangerous.
"It does seem like there are no enemies remaining outside the factory."
After a brief scan, Alicia shook her head once and looked straight at Enoch.
With resolute eyes, she shouted,
"I will follow your orders, Direct Lineage. Let us move!"
***
Only a few minutes had passed since the alarm fell silent.
Enoch’s three-person squad sprinted up the metal stairs like the wind, moving swiftly yet stealthily.
All of them concealed themselves in the darkness, suppressing their footsteps as much as possible.
Looking ahead, the girl of the Dragoon unit ran upward by moonlight, holding her lance angled behind her waist.
One step behind, the silver-haired maid glided along, covering Enoch’s rear.
Enoch glanced down the metal staircase.
The green glow spilling from the magical beasts filled the entire first floor, sending a chill down his spine.
There were far more enemies than he had expected.
"It is fortunate we did not fight."
"Yes. If we had tried to break through head-on, it would not have ended with a simple skirmish."
But the problem was not over yet.
"We still have to hurry."
Alicia lifted her head and spoke quietly.
"It looks like the windows leading outside are only on the very top floor, near the rooftop."
Climbing the upper levels was one thing, but there were no separate windows along the lower exterior walls.
Breaking the wall would cause too much noise, so to escape without drawing attention, they had to reach a place with windows.
As Enoch reached a landing, his eyes widened when he caught sight of the equipment lining the area.
Massive gray gas tanks, each dozens of times larger than a person.
Not just one, but dozens of them were packed tightly along the wall all the way up to the rooftop.
It seemed the upper floors had been used as storage for these tanks.
Even as he rushed past, Enoch checked their condition.
Looking at the front, he saw pressure gauges connected by metal piping, the needles pushed into the red zone at their limit.
They must have been left sealed, with gas still inside even now.
Seeing this, Alicia added quietly,
"If those ignite, it looks dangerous. It would be best to avoid fire-based attacks."
Enoch silently agreed.
If gas tanks of this scale exploded, the entire upper section of the factory might be blown away.
Avoiding a frontal battle on the lower floors had been the correct choice in more ways than one.
At that moment, an alien flapping sound tore through the air near their ears, and everyone turned their heads.
There, sliding through the factory ceiling, was a black shadow, and Enoch felt his spine go cold.
The next instant, Alicia shouted,
"Flying-type magical beasts!"
One of the flying magical beasts that had retreated from the frontal battle.
After fixing them with its green gleaming eyes, it convulsed and unleashed a piercing cry.
-SCREEEEEECH!!
In response, every experimental magical beast on the first floor lit up their green eyes at once, staring toward the upper levels where Enoch stood, and roared.
The deafening chorus and hostile gazes pierced the darkness.
It was as if they were communicating their target’s location.
Enoch narrowed his eyes.
"We have been spotted. Run straight to the upper floors!"
"Yes!!"
Abandoning all pretense of stealth, everyone accelerated.
At the same time, experimental magical beasts leapt upward from the first floor with terrifying jumping power and began climbing the walls.
They pursued the squad at a frightening speed, blackening the walls as they swarmed.
-SCREEEEEECH!!
One beast slammed its spike-like carapace arms into the wall and reached the railing of the eighth floor where Enoch was running in an instant.
It sprang, dropping straight toward Enoch.
"HAH!!"
Alicia flashed in from the side, impaling the beast with her lance and flinging it over the railing.
She turned back toward Enoch and shouted,
"Direct Lineage! If I fire the lance here, we risk drawing in even more magical beasts from outside the factory!"
"Right. We still have to avoid a full-scale battle."
Enoch narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the surroundings.
Even now, there were too many enemies.
If the leader outside personally brought reinforcements, they might be in real danger, not merely delayed.
At this point, their only option was to keep climbing and escape.
"This staircase seems to lead to the top floor. Let us break out from there."
"Th-then what do we do once we are outside?"
"I have a plan."
There was no time for further discussion.
Magical beasts had already climbed the side walls, blocking the path to the rooftop from both directions.
Alicia stopped and leveled her lance at them, but that was not all.
-SCREEEEEECH!!
More beasts emerged from the side, charging along the metal railing as if to smash it apart, rushing straight at Enoch.
But in the next moment, their bodies froze in place, as if caught on invisible threads in midair.
Then the silver-haired maid slipped quietly past Enoch and stepped forward.
"I warned you."
Lien glanced back at Enoch coldly.
"I will not tolerate you getting hurt."
"Thank you, Lien."
"……."
She met his eyes briefly, then turned back toward the enemies and deployed her wires.
With a light swing of her arm, she dashed forward.
In an instant, a storm of silver blades spanning dozens of meters erupted around her, slicing the pursuing enemies apart in a single blow.
But before the lifeless bodies could even crumble into black powder and vanish, more beasts surged forward, crushing the corpses underfoot as they flooded in madly.
A tightening encirclement of magical beasts, surging like a wave of gleaming carapace filling the entire factory.
"There is no end to them."
As Lien reeled in her wires and stared coldly at the scene, Enoch sensed the gravity of the situation.
At this rate, escape itself would be impossible.
RUMBLE, !!
As if to make matters worse, the entire floor shook as though it were about to collapse.
Enoch clenched his teeth.
Amid the onrushing beasts, he swung his arm back sharply and shouted,
"Alicia, the gas tanks…! Blow them all up!!"
Snapping back to her senses, Alicia spread one leg, drew her lance back behind her waist, and lowered her stance.
"Dragoon Bombardment Art, Number Five, !!"
Tension filled the air with her deep exhale.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been drowned out by the beasts’ howls, but Enoch heard it clearly, the sound of ammunition being chambered into the Bombardment Lance.
"Piercing Flame Ejection Satellite, ! Devour everything!!"
For a moment, it felt as though silence swallowed the entire world.
Then his vision was drowned in crimson light, followed by a deafening BOOOOM that seemed to rupture his eardrums as flames swept through the factory in every direction.
The world tilted violently. He could not stand. The floor had collapsed.
Amid an unpleasant sensation of weightlessness and catastrophic sounds of destruction, gravity yanked at him, and Enoch’s eyes flew open.
"……!"
Gas tanks erupted, spewing ultra-high-temperature flames as one explosion triggered another.
And in the next instant, the entire factory began to collapse.