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After taking down another couple of workers, the three finally reached the end of the tunnel: the entrance to Chimera Clauzen’s main base. Compared to the tunnel’s size, the door was rather small. It actually looked the same as that of a common house. It was such an odd sight that it was easy to assume they were at the wrong place, but considering only a handful of people would use the door, it made sense. The smaller the points of contact, the easier to close them off.

As for the door itself, the prisoner Jamal claimed it likely had an identifying device installed on it.

Likely. His only proof was that one time he left the main base, realized he had forgotten something and quickly returned and went back out again. Then his superiors questioned him for those movements.

After that, every time he left the base, he felt an unpleasant sensation, like he was being watched. So the likelihood of some alarm or security device existing there was high.

「We’re here. I wonder how the others are doing…」
「It’s been like an hour since we started. They haven’t contacted us yet, so I guess things are going well enough.」
「Well, there’s plenty of capable fellows over there, so it shouldn’t take them much longer.」

They had no idea what could happen if they crossed the door as non-members. So they decided to wait until the control room in the other base was taken down before going through.

Eastern Sentopolly. Hidden amidst tall rocks slightly up the foot of a mountain, Emera and her group observed the town their intel said concealed an underground control room.

「Look there! Did something happen?!」

A little time after midnight, Emera’s eyes were drawn to an unbelievable scene. Blue flames poured out of nowhere, engulfing the entire village.

「No choice but to observe from closer.」

Zef began running downhill, and the other members followed soon after. They crossed a distance of three hundred meters in the blink of an eye, then hid behind a small hill next to the village, watching the scene of destruction with their breaths held.

The flames bursting up from everywhere in the town silently but violently consumed everything, turning it to ash. When the wind blew, the flames would sway eerily with a bellowing sound, mercilessly spreading to surrounding areas.

「Blue flames and signs of a crossbow… I guess he finally made his move.」

Arlon observed a corpse that was burning to ashes, seeing signs attributing this as the Sky Denizen’s doing. He had seen a similar scene the first time he saw that man, except that it was at a much smaller scale back then.

「Are you saying this was all that spirit adherent man’s doing?」

Arlon had explained to Emera how the Sky Denizens had no mercy whatsoever for Chimera Clauzen. But seeing the town in flames like that made her wonder if he was just too religious, or not human at all.

「I’m certain. I recognize his handiwork.」

Arlon declared as he looked around, noticing multiple bodies. 「I can’t imagine anyone else with a motive to do this anyway,」 he added with a scowl.

「Arlon! Was this done by that man you mentioned before the mission?」

The Bellerophon platoon that had been sent by the Fifty Bells, which was standing by in another place, also got closer to the town. Mizar, their representative, ran ahead to talk with Arlon, though his eyes were glued to the bright blue flames.

「Yes, that’s correct. I didn’t expect him to act the instant the date changed, but no complaints from me.」
「Fair enough, we’ve been ready to act at any moment thanks to Uzume’s orders.」

Arlon stood up, untying the white axe from his belt and holding it firmly. Mizar also unsheathed his similarly white sword, and they turned to the groups they led.

「Time to fight.」

Arlon said quietly, and Emera and the rest nodded before heading towards the town. As for the other troops.

「Alright everyone, our mission starts now!」

Mizar announced loudly, and the hundreds of Fifty Bells elites all answered with a synchronized, 「Yessir!」 This fight was going to stop Chimera Clauzen’s actions, which had ravaged on for far too many years. Everyone present had been dreaming of the arrival of this day, and this battle. It was obvious they all shared the same sentiment.

Arlon’s group began running the moment those shouts rang like a signal, engaging in combat with the Chimera Clauzen members that swarmed out of the town. At first glance, the town looked like it only housed around a hundred people, but Alioth used a specialized skill to investigate properly and found there were close to a thousand weapons stored in the underground base.

Once they found out that, they had to change their strategy. Rather than trying to fight them inside a foreign base where they had no information about any traps, it was better to lure the enemy out to the open.

For that, the Fifty Bells’ first platoon would make a lot of noise and become a distraction, so once Chimera’s defenses were focused on them, Arlon’s unit would infiltrate the underground facility.

Arlon’s group silently circled around the town, and when Mizar’s group was engaged in battle, they went straight into the large workshop. The building was around a hundred meters long on all sides, a respectable size for a workshop. It was filled with almost a thousand weapons, the functionality of some of which was still unknown.

「No way… what’s this?」

One of those items caught Emera’s attention, leaving her in shock. It was a bottle filled with what looked like arms. 「Those are spirits’, aren’t they?」 added Fricca, her voice wavering with anger.

「Spirits? I thought only spellcasters could see them?」
「You can see them thanks to the liquid in the bottle.」

Arlon answered Emera’s question. He continued explaining how he had seen something similar in one of his past missions, and he looked further into it to discover that Chimera had developed that liquid.

「A substance that forcefully turns spirits visible… that’s really creeping me out.」

Zef recoiled just thinking of it, that was essentially twisting the laws of nature to one’s will. Fricca on the other hand, took a step forward, picked up the bottle and uncapped it. All the arms inside instantly turned into specks of light, which quickly escaped violently and began ravaging the room, as if in a fit of rage.

「Woah! Watch out there!」
「What were you thinking?!」

The particles of light floated freely, attacking anything in sight. Zef quickly covered his face to protect it, while Emera crouched down while staring daggers at Fricca.

「They seem really angry.」
「You saw how they were stored, anyone would be mad.」

Asbar and Arlon were rather calm in comparison, their eyes tracking the spirit remains as they carefully moved forward. But then all the particles quickly changed course, all flying back towards Fricca who still held the bottle at a dangerous speed.

「Fricca!」

The lights turned into flashing streaks while Emera shouted. Spirits usually were more powerful than humans, so if all of them impacted on Fricca it was unlikely she would come out unscathed.

But even after they began impacting her, no visible wounds appeared on Fricca. On the opposite, her body was covered by a solemn glow.

「What’s happening?」

Zef said in an idiotic voice, unable to understand what was going on. Everyone saw that the enraged remains of spirits appeared to be attacking Fricca. But the result was completely different to what they expected. The glow that appeared around Fricca’s body was like the personification of an ideal connection between spirits and humans.

Everyone’s eyes were focused on her, their mouths agape. The light began dimming slowly, before dispersing and gathering in Fricca’s left hand.

「Even if they’re overtaken with anger, as long as we love and appreciate them, the spirits will always understand. That’s their nature, our companions that walk alongside us in this world.」

Fricca raised her left hand, examining the red pattern that appeared on it, as she turned to face Emera and the others.

「This is proof that they connected with my heart. And a sign of our lifelong connection.」