Chapter 8: Because I am a reliable senior

Ephnel watched until Lily and the girl disappeared from her line of sight.

“Be safe, you two.”

Muttering to herself, Ephnel pressed her lips together, her breathing gradually quickening.

She propped herself up with her spear, her body sliding down until she was kneeling amidst the half-collapsed ruins.

Although she didn’t want her juniors to see her in such a pathetic state, there was a limit to how long the “pills” could suppress the pain.

They weren’t reliable; too much or too little could cause problematic side effects.

After a sustained period of high-intensity combat, the wound on Ephnel’s waist had torn open again.

Blood dripped from the hem of her clothes.

There were no logistics or medical personnel around.

No emergency supplies either.

The excruciating pain from the wound was tightly bound, striking her mind like a giant stone pendulum.

Cold sweat soaked her forehead.

“This really hurts…”

Ephnel complained under her breath, pressing on the wound and tightening the gauze.

The battle had been raging for two hours.

Seiran and the other seniors who had joined the fight initially were all missing.

Now, Ephnel was leading the remaining Agents, holding the line.

It was truly exhausting.

Fighting without backup felt like a lone boat crashing against the ocean, surrounded on all sides by an endless abyss and hungry waves threatening to swallow her whole.

Her vision was a mess of wreckage, mixed with thick smoke and red light.

Ephnel’s other hand was pressed tightly against her waist.

Her body trembled slightly, on the verge of collapsing.

She took a deep, desperate breath, trying to ease the intense pain radiating from her injury.

But she didn’t have the luxury of resting for long.

Her presence was crucial to the outcome of this battle.

Ephnel was called the “Chief,” and that wasn’t just an empty title.

Her combat power alone could “turn the tide of the battle.”

Conversely, without her, headquarters would have fallen long ago.

She wasn’t just the most experienced Agent on the battlefield right now; she was the pillar of their victory.

She had to act like the reliable senior she was supposed to be.

‘If… it were her sister… would she look up to a brother like this?’

Ephnel lowered her gaze, images of Yukina flashing through her mind.

“Master… Master, are you alright…?”

Fifina’s anxious and weak voice came through the earpiece, interrupting Ephnel’s thoughts.

She tightened her grip on the spear, paused for a moment, and then replied.

“I’m fine. Are you worried about me, Fifina…?”

“O-Of course I am… Master, you should really start paying attention to your own condition. If you push yourself too hard and lose ‘sync’ during battle due to mental exhaustion, it would be terrible, wouldn’t it…?”

“Yeah…”

Ephnel lowered her gaze, staring blankly at the cracks in the ground, her response noncommittal.

If a prolonged, high-intensity battle caused one’s mental and physical energy to fail to keep up with the consumption, the final result would be a disconnection from the “Power of Order”—a loss of “sync”—and a reversion to one’s original body.

Ephnel knew this, of course.

She had seen it with her own eyes.

Ephnel’s previous senior had been a very understanding and cheerful girl on a normal day…

During a large-scale disaster mission a year ago, exhausted from fighting day and night, she had lost her “sync” at a critical moment.

Forced to deactivate her “Exile Form,” she could no longer use the “Power of Order.”

Naturally, she couldn’t resist the “infection” of an “Erosion organism.”

An Agent, who in the end, was defeated in battle, turned into a “Remnant,” and attacked the very people she was meant to protect.

Ephnel had witnessed that ending firsthand, and then, she had personally “banished” her.

Things like that happened occasionally.

It was just that for an Agent, such a death was a bit too ironic.

But it was logical.

“Um… Master… The cleanup is almost done. Why don’t you take a little break? We juniors can handle the rest…”

“Fifina.”

Fifina continued to persuade her, but was quickly cut off by Ephnel.

Thinking of this excellent junior of hers, Ephnel’s lips curved into a smile, but her tone was, in contrast, serious.

“The closer we get to the end of a battle, the more vigilant we must be… I’ve taught you that, haven’t I…”

“But Master, you…”

Ephnel took a deep breath, forcing her ragged breathing to calm down.

“I’m really fine. It’s true that I’m exhausted, but my ‘sync’ is still stable for now, so don’t worry. More importantly, tell me the current situation… We can’t drag this on for too long. There are still many wounded waiting for help, and everyone’s stamina is starting to run low, right?”

Fifina seemed to want to say more, but she roughly understood Ephnel’s intentions and ultimately held her tongue.

“Just tell me the situation now.”

“Yes… Master.”

The voice on the other end paused before continuing:

“Thanks to you… for defeating the ‘Whale’-type ‘Erosion organism’ in the sky, no more ‘Erosion organisms’ are appearing…”

“The area within the defensive net has been mostly cleared…”

“But in the areas outside the net, ‘Erosion organisms’ and ‘Remnants’ have suddenly appeared at the East D-district intersection, East A-district, and the West Ring Road. They are rapidly advancing towards the civilian evacuation points…”

“I have already contacted the nearby Senior Katrina, as well as Vivian and Cheris. They are heading to East D-district and the West Ring Road respectively to provide interception and support…”

“In addition, Fran was also injured. I had her retreat to the headquarters building with Lily to rendezvous with Erenshia…”

“…”

Fifina’s voice was faint, becoming almost inaudible by the end.

Ephnel listened intently without a word.

After a long pause, she spoke.

“Proceed with your arrangements. Also, notify the Special Disaster Response Mobile Division. Tell them to watch out for ‘Erosion’ attacks and to speed up the evacuation and complete it as soon as possible.”

“I’ll relay the message immediately…”

“As for me, I’ll continue to act after a short rest. Help me monitor the situation over here… If any more ‘Erosion organisms’ slip through, please inform me immediately.”

“Yes, Master…”

Ephnel tilted her head back and leaned against the rubble, letting her body relax a little.

With Seiran missing, it was only natural that Ephnel, whose seniority, combat power, and practical experience far surpassed the others, took command.

But there were too few “Agents” participating in this operation, and most of them were inexperienced juniors.

Their combat strength was severely insufficient.

In contrast, the number of “Erosion organisms” was extremely high.

As the top combatant on the Agent side, Ephnel had to both fight off the “Erosion organisms” and take charge of command.

Coupled with her deteriorating physical condition, even she was struggling to cope.

The battle was extremely tense.

The Agents were already giving their all just to deal with the Erosion organisms and had once been on the verge of a complete rout, but they had managed to hold on.

Fortunately, the timely arrival of support from the Special Disaster Response Mobile Division had relieved a lot of their pressure.

At the very least, they could free up some forces from covering the civilian evacuation to join the fight.

The situation had improved, but it was still far from optimistic.

One of the three “floating islands” had been shot down and purified by her.

The other two had fled to the east and west respectively.

Ephnel only had time to chase down and kill the one heading east towards the densely populated area.

Due to the severe wound in her waist, Ephnel lacked the strength to pursue the other.

In other words, she had let one get away.

In addition, the headquarters building had been infiltrated by “Erosion organisms.”

The command center had suffered heavy casualties.

Many of the wounded were in urgent need of medical attention, and the Commander was unconscious.

Currently, Erenshia was single-handedly holding off the Remnants and Erosion organisms while protecting the injured.

Furthermore, the whereabouts of several vanguard Agents, including Seiran, were currently unknown, and they desperately needed to dispatch personnel to find them and confirm their status.

The only piece of good news was that the “Whale”-type “Erosion organisms” Ephnel had shot down seemed to be the source of this disaster.

After they disappeared, no more “Erosion organisms” appeared.

Thanks to this, the “cleanup” was smoothly heading into its final phase.