Chapter 100: Home

“Freya!” Yellow Bee ran toward her as my clone collected essence from the corpses.

[You have leveled up to level 39]
[You have leveled up to level 40]
[You have leveled up to level 41]
[Your Dark Slayer class has leveled up to level 20]
[You have defeated a horde of Anathema! This is the summary of points received. Consult Familiars for more info. Points are split between you and Guardian Yellow Bee]
[Reward: 500 Points]

I leveled up three times after defeating them and gained three more vials. I had yet to determine if this Anathema essence would be useful, but since I could level up with it, there was no harm in collecting them.

“I’m still alive. No need to worry so much,” Freya coughed hard. Her wound was severe.

“Tinkerbell, if you would.”

“Yes. Buying a spray and greater gum of restoration.”

“Haven’t been wounded like this in real life. The simulation really curbed the pain a lot, didn’t it? Even though it was supposed to be realistic.” Freya chuckled. Her hand trembled as she picked up the black box that had been teleported. The spray dropped with a clunk from her shaking hand.

“Geez. Let me help ya.” Yellow Bee picked up the spray. Freya lay down as tears flowed from her eyes. It wasn’t from pain.

“What am I doing all of this for?” Freya muttered, her eyes hollow. “I’m just trying to save my father. Is it so bad? Why can’t people forgive each other?”

“...Gah… I’m tired. That was hard…” a clone walked sluggishly over. We all gathered and leaned on each other as Yellow Bee tended Freya’s injuries.

“It hurts!” a dead clone complained through the telepathic link.

“I’m sorry.” I gazed at the blue sky as the adrenaline began to fade. It had been a hard fight. Luckily, the enemy was a defensive type. They were a bit slow, so I could keep up. If they’d been like the raptors from the exams… well, if there were only four of those raptors, not twenty, we could kill them.

“Was the enemy harder than those raptors?”

“Those demons were still C-rank, but they were at the higher end of the spectrum. So they should be significantly tougher than the raptors. It just proves that quantity is a quality on its own.”

As the silence continued, the sound of metal clunking echoed from the control room. It was supposed to be abandoned, as the officials were expected to head for the shelter via the evacuation boat and emergency stairs. Apparently, someone had come back after realizing they were safe. These civilians... I couldn’t help but be reminded of that Shirayuki reporter who didn’t reach shelter during an usurpation.

“Is it safe?” the mechanic asked. He looked around and stumbled at the ruined scenery.

“Good lord. The oil rig is destroyed. Thank goodness I sealed the pumps.”

“Should we use the emergency radio from the gate?”

“It might attract Anathema. We’re not equipped to fight another usurpation zone,” Felicia said. “Besides, we have a better emergency radio inside, right?”

“Oi, do you have the emergency radio?” Yellow Bee turned to the worker.

“Um… I think Jacob had it. Should I call him? Um… Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m just tired,” Freya said. Her mana had repaired her clothes. The sealed wound was soon covered by the regenerating pink dress.

“Yes. Stop dawdling and go. We need further instruction from Guardian Command,” Yellow Bee said.

In less than an hour, the crew had gathered.

“This radio is stealthier, but the data it transmits is more limited,” Felicia said.

A system notice displayed the completed mission and issued a new one.

[Quest Completed! - Defense of Oil Rig 17: Second Wave]
[Description: A second usurpation rift has appeared at Oil Rig 17. Defend it together with Yellow Bee.]
[Difficulty: Medium]
[Reward: 150 Points]

[Quest Issued! - Oil Rig 17 Evacuation]
[Description: It has been deemed that Oil Rig 17 is indefensible. An evacuation notice has been issued. Guard the workers of Oil Rig 17 back to sanctuary cities.]
[Difficulty: Medium]

[Reward: 200 Points]

“Tch! 150 points after all that?” Yellow Bee said. “They’re getting more and more stingy. Oi, do you think these quests are meant for D- and E-ranks? I’m B-rank and I almost died out there.”

“...Felicia?”

“The rewards are decided by the Arcane system. I do not know how they calculate the importance of these quests.”

“Let’s go.” I stood up. There was nothing left to do here. The mission said we must escape—meaning this place was no longer safe.

“...” Freya looked crestfallen, but she still followed us toward the shelter.

“That was dangerous! Whew. I’m saved.” Lexus looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. Then he glanced at Freya and coughed.

“Ahem. Freya, are you okay? Don’t push yourself. You’re a Guardian. Your life is more important than ours. Let’s go.”

“...” What a hypocrite. Did he just say that last part because he remembered the verdict—that Guardian lives are more important than mere civilians?

“... Can we look at the destroyed yacht?” Freya said.

“Shouldn’t we focus on our — I mean, your—survival? Yellow Bee, when will help arrive? We definitely need support now.”

“Guardian Command said we should evacuate,” Yellow Bee replied.

“Then we should go at once. For our—no, most importantly, for your safety.” Lexus said.

I suppose this was his first time being so close to danger or even seeing Anathema. His mask was breaking. Sweat poured from his forehead as he amended his words to reflect that he cared more about Guardians than his own life. How selfish.

“We should go check the yacht. There might be survivors,” I said. “We’re magical girls. Saving lives is our job.”

“!!! Yes! You’re right, Lily! There might be survivors!” Freya perked up immediately. She then ran toward the shelter area to grab the boat.

“Hurry up! They might be wounded!”

“Felicia...” I asked her telepathically.

“Guardians might survive—even if they were E or F rank. But unless they jumped into the water right before the magic attack hit, the chance of survival is almost zero. Still, we won’t know for sure until we inspect the destroyed yacht.”

Three evacuation boats roared across the sea. I could see blood and organs smeared on the plastic debris of the yacht. There wasn’t much left after the explosion. Among the debris, corpses floated.

Dripping wet, while carrying the corpses of the exiles, Freya climbed back onto the rescue boat. As the boat drifted away, another usurpation rift formed above the oil rig. She turned toward the oil rig, her staff ready.

“Freya, don’t. We’re exhausted. Your aura is broken. We need time to rest.” Yellow Bee grabbed Freya’s arm as she prepared to launch a lightning bolt toward the rift.

“AHH!!!” Freya dropped to the ground, wailing. Her sorrow was palpable.

Her father and the exiles might not have been the best people in the world, but her love and care for them were real. No one could deny that. No one on the evacuation boat ridiculed the exiles as Freya cried her eyes out at the loss of her father. She deserved that much.

We should not speak ill of the dead. They’ve passed on, and it’s our job to move forward.

“Damn it. There were only 20 people on that rig. What the heck happened?” an official complained. He then looked over to my cat and asked, “Zenith, tell us the enemy’s plan. We were supposed to be safe. No usurpation has ever occurred in villages that small!”

“We do not know. This is a new behavior even compared to our experience in Umbra.”

“Do oil rigs around the world have these problems? What about our jobs?”

I ignored the pleas and worries the officials voiced as I watched the Anathema infest and destroy the oil rig. Weirdly, they didn’t chase us. Some flyers spread out, but they soon returned to the usurpation rift.

“Felicia, I’ve never seen Anathema returning to their rifts.”

“That one was a two-way rift. First time seeing it on Earth. Anathema can return to their rift. It’s rare, but it happens. When an usurpation occurs, they plant an anchor called a curse seed. If we destroy those, the rift will close. The rift can also be closed from the other side by the Anathema if they’ve sent everything through.”

“I see. Could we invade their world through their rift?”

“We could. But rifts are guarded, and they can be closed from either side. It’s a suicide mission.”

“We could just drop nuclear bombs into the rifts,” I said.

“Yes, we could. Umbra has been devising rift bombs for exactly that reason. That’s one of the main reasons they’ve held out longer than humans. But it’s proven ineffective lately. The Anathema have been evolving too. That’s why we no longer recommend it.”

“I see. Why can’t we just go into their world and bombard them?”

“That’s what we’re planning with a surveillance mission led by our Aces. Pink Heart and General Armstrong have devised a counteroffensive against the Anathema. They’ll send Agneya to bomb several important-looking Anathema facilities and then return.

“But you see, the plan has a lot of hurdles. Poking a hole into the Anathema world is risky. The Anathema don’t care if their drones die. But we do. Keeping the gate open means they could use it to invade.

“If the gate isn’t kept open, we can’t use our gate points. With no ammunition, no access to our vaults, and no way to obtain new skills or upgrade our vaults. The worst-case scenario is that we lose our foothold. If they manage to destroy the gate anchor, our forces will be stranded. Everyone would die.”

“I see.”

“Umbra wasn’t quite willing to venture there, but Earth was different. The plan was concocted soon after we destroyed the permanent gate the Anathema tried to construct.”

“Why can’t we create a temporary gate like the Anathema’s usurpation rift?”

“We have invented such a gate. It wasn’t an easy task, as the gate needs to last several days. The temporary gate for the surveillance mission should hold for a week. Unlike usurpation rifts that last only a few hours, we need a gate that lasts days. Otherwise, there would be no vault. Without the vault and gate points, we can’t buy medicine, upgrade skills, or contact headquarters.”

“I see. Let’s go into points then. I have 60 points, right? I want to allocate 30 to Strength and 30 to Agility,” I said.

My highest stat is Strength. I wonder if I should focus more on that, but seeing how fast Yellow Bee was, I’m afraid of faster enemies. I could escape by using my clones as bait, but that has its limits.

“Roger. So, will you be a speedster damage dealer?”

“I guess I will. I can rely on my clones if I’m attacked. With higher Agility, I could escape.”

“If that’s your wish, I shall comply. It’s great that you’ve found your calling. Just a reminder: I think you need to even out your stats more. Dexterity affects the damage and accuracy of your gun. Vitality will help you survive more wounds. Willpower affects how many clones you can summon, while Spirit affects how many spells, mana weapons—such as Icerail—and mana constructs you can maintain.”

“... Now I’m starting to regret it. I thought since I’m pure physical fighter, I could mostly ignore magic. I thought weapons like Icerail used negligible amounts of mana. Oh yeah—when I use my signature with maximum clones, my mana tank is mostly emptied, huh? I do need Spirit to regenerate mana to power my weapons.” My thoughts wander. When I summoned my clones, my mana is emptied. It doesn’t matter since I am a physical fighter. But my weapon used mana sometimes, so I needed spirit to regenerate my lost mana.

“Nya… This build is similar to Yellow Bee’s, except he focused more on Agility and dexterity. You’ve seen he has trouble with ranged attacks, right?”

“But stat points are limited. Do you think I could withstand attacks from those demons if my stats were flat? Is there any way to gain more stats?”

“You can get more points through achievements. If you pass the promotion exam to Level C, you’ll earn one. That’ll net you around 10 bonus stat points. The other way to boost your stats is by using certain skills—they can increase your stats temporarily. Speaking of which, since your class has leveled up, you’ve unlocked 2 new skills: Dark Aura and Duel. If you buy them, your stats will increase by roughly 30% when you fight alone within a 50-meter radius against someone with a higher level than you. But note—it has a mana maintenance cost.”

“By the way, I have enough points, right?”

“Yes. You can afford to buy a new vault. Or would you prefer to invest in new skills?”

I pondered my options with Felicia as the officials drove the evacuation boat across the endless water. I kept pondering my status screen to waste time. It will be days before we get back to Eden.