Episode 20

Jax must also not have been a completely naive idiot, as he didn’t exactly teach Odysseus proper programming or hacking. It had been, at best, a few types of sites where raw information was circulating, and how to distinguish the information in them.
However, that was enough for Odysseus. Now, having newly acquired knowledge, he spent the whole day staring at the screen of his device.

“You’ll get bad eyesight if you do that.”
“It’s already bad.”
“You never back down, do you?”

And this was the case even on the day of the Iron Stick hunt. Flag clicked his tongue as he watched the boy tap away at the screen inside the car. Migo, who was sitting in the back seat, seemed to understand his feelings and was silently supporting Odysseus’s actions.

“Kids who are Yul’s age are always eager to learn new things.”
“Even when those new things are limited to only the Underworld, torture, fighting, and magicks?”
“Yul is a member of an odyssia and on the outermost district of the land we live in. You can’t expect him to act like an ordinary kid.”
“But still…”

Ultimately, Flag was unable to refute Migo’s words. That was because he also knew that the world they lived in would not treat someone with protective thorns kindly.

“Damn it. If he saw what was happening right now, he’d try to kill me.”

Flag recalled his close friend, who used to mention his beloved younger brother almost every minute. Now that he thought about it, he was a serious brocon. Even taking into consideration the large age gap between the two, the elder boy was almost a little too protective of his younger brother.

“Who are you– ah.”

But as a love-hate relationship still contained love, hanging out with the boy for about seven years caused his bad habits to pass on. Or maybe he just got attached to that cheeky brat from hanging out with him from time to time.
Knowing just how ridiculous it was for someone from the outermost regions to grow into a well-balanced human being, he’d still been hoping for it.

“Migo, shh.”
“…Sure.”

However, this would have been difficult even if Yun were alive. It goes without saying now that Yun is dead.
Therefore, Flag no longer distracted Yul from his device. That was the only thing he could do for the boy.
The little kid who used to come into their room to play and steal his snacks further faded into his memory.

“We will arrive soon.”

Anyway, under such acts of consideration, they finally reached the port area where Iron Stick’s headquarters was located.
The warehouse must be some distance away, as the car continued for a few minutes after passing the airport in District 34. The buildings, made of cement, brick, and iron, were connected in a twisted, maze-like pattern.

“This is the place.”

Iron Stick’s headquarters was one of those buildings. Everyone living nearby must have been evacuated, as there were no signs of life aside from their targets. Everything was as written in the operations report.

“Hey, big companies sure are better at getting things done.”

Odysseus, Flag, and Migo entered one of the buildings that were emptied. It had a view of the Iron Stick building but was a difficult place for a sniper to shoot.

“It almost feels a little excessive.”
“That’s true.”

Odysseus stuck his face up close against the window and checked the situation outside. Of course, his attention was mainly concentrated on Iron Stick’s base. They must have gotten the warning message, as he could barely see the armed enemy in the distance.

“It’s just like what it said in the briefing.”
“It’s crude. Sticking their guns out isn’t all there is to it.”

Well, the term ‘armed’ here was exclusively from the perspective of the Iron Sticks. The fools had failed to hide the details of the equipment they purchased, and because of the tail that had been watching their every move, all of the specifics and variables of their total forces were leaked.

“They didn’t fire a single shot yet when they’re almost completely surrounded.”
“That’s because they know the moment they shoot, there’s really no turning back.”

Odysseus couldn’t help but laugh hearing Flag’s words.

“Idiots. Do they really think it’ll be different if they don’t shoot?”

Putting aside Odysseus himself, there was no reason for Pluto to back off after coming all the way here. Unless they hadn’t taken a hostile stance from the beginning, retreating now would only harm their reputation. Pluto was not going to let a single one of them out alive.

“I’d say it’s more of a… hmm… desperate attempt to live a little longer. If it was bound to happen anyway, might as well make it happen a little later. Something like that?”
“What a shockingly useless attempt.”

They shouldn’t have started trouble in the first place if they didn’t want this to happen. If initiation was unavoidable, then they should have begged for forgiveness even if it was too late.

“If they knew that there was this much of a difference in power, though, I would have imagined them to plan an escape plan…”

However, they were so incompetent and stupid that it was contemptible. His night vision goggles, worn instead of his usual glasses, cast a reddish reflection from the streetlight across the alley.

“Well, there isn’t any reason for me to worry about their stupidity any more than this.”

Dismissing all of his sarcasm through one statement, Odysseus pressed a button on his night vision goggles. Although they weren’t the expensive kind that supported color, the lenses still provided a decent field of vision, blurred, and zoomed back into focus.

Beep.
And then he repeated that process about six more times. The distance measuring function built into the night vision goggles finally displayed a number in the bottom right corner of his vision. It signified the distance between Odysseus and the Iron Stick warehouse.

“We’ll start on time, as scheduled.”

Adding the number into his formula and making his calculations, Odysseus then created a magick circle that was only drawn about 99.8% of the total diagram. The combinations of shapes, numbers, and letters gave off a faint glow on the ground.

“Start the count.”
-Countdown beginning. Thirty-two seconds until the clock strikes the hour.

However, as they listened to the comms from the field command center, the Pluto members in the building next to them and the alley tensed up. Since they surely wouldn’t be scared of some neighborhood thugs… they were likely uncomfortable to work together with a combat magicks user from a different odyssia. He could sense them glancing in their direction.

“If you have time to look this way, why don’t you check up on what’s happening up there?”

Why are they making such a big fuss? It wasn’t as if they hadn’t worked together, even if it was just a light mock battle.
Crookedly curling up his lips, Odysseus activated the mana within his body. Ten seconds. The time that the command center was calling out finally reached the single digits.

-Five seconds.

He’d tested the range and power sufficiently at the location Pluto provided, and since the calculated distance was not much different from the value that he’d predicted, the results came out within the margin of error.

-Four seconds.

In other words, there was absolutely no way that Odysseus’s first gift to the enemy would miss. So he would be justified to gouge out the eyes of whoever was giving him a doubtful side-eye.

-Three seconds.

Of course, since that would mess up their plan, he wasn’t going to act on his thoughts. With Flag and Migo standing next to him, the boy poured his mana into the edge of the magick circle.

-Two seconds.

When he did that, the incomplete magick circle was close to done.

-One second.

100%. The completed magick circle radiated with mana.

-Let the hunt… begin.

In less than 0.01 seconds, the mana that spewed out of the magick circle moved to the set coordinates and caused a combustive reaction. It was a strange combustion where the catalyst that caused the combustion was mana, and the material being burned was also mana.

Booom!
And so, the mana surged up so quickly that it not only caused an explosion that released light and heat but also pressure. The concrete outer wall of the warehouse suffered multiple cracks, and the metal door crumpled in on itself as it flew into the building.
He wasn’t sure due to the deafening sound of the explosion, but he thought he heard about two screams in the range of the attack.

“Go in!”
“Charge ’em!”

Using the explosion as a signal, Pluto’s members quickly rushed in.

Vrooooom!
D-d-d-d-d-du.

While the designated assault team rushed in with their vehicles or passed through the connected buildings, the covering fire broke the small windows on the outer walls of the warehouse. They were targeting the Iron Stick gunners who were poking their guns out of the slight openings in the windows.

“Down!”

The concrete warehouse had the advantage of narrow windows, which only measured 60 m wide and 30 cm high, standing 2 m up in the air, which made it difficult for enemies to invade. However, this also meant that there was no easy way to attack the outside from the inside.
Shielded by the bulletproof vehicles, the assault team avoided the anti-personnel mines and gunfire and was able to get right up to the warehouse entrance. This was because, although the bulletproof vehicle was strong, it wasn’t enough to penetrate the concrete wall.
Once the vehicle was parked right next to the wall, they carefully stepped out. There were also mines attached to the outer wall of the warehouse, but those were not much of a problem.

Boom, boom, boom!
Those mines had long since been removed before the assault team even reached the wall.

“Those calculations are getting faster.”
“You’re supposed to get better at things the more you do it.”

Iron Stick did not place many mines, fearing that their own mines would either kill them or they would die during the preparation process, even before the enemy came—there were reports that one had actually died while installing them.
Thanks to this, Odysseus didn’t have much to do, and what he had to do wasn’t very difficult either. This was especially true because the mines placed outside had all been located by the tail.

The boy quickly calculated whether the formula was within or outside the margin of error and caused the combustive reactions to remove the mines. Then, he began writing a new formula. He’d decided that since he had already completed the role he was assigned in the beginning, he could now take part in the offense.

“Let’s do one more explosion at the entrance. Tell anyone who’s approaching to stand back.”
-Commander to Bravo 1. Superboy’s about to do an explosion. Move away from the entrance.

While the command center was directing the assault team, Odysseus quickly drew out more of his mana. Like how muscles would heat up after lifting weights, his magicks nerves were throbbing a little bit from using such a large amount of mana in a short period of time.

However, that pain was a sign of growth and evidence of progress.
Finishing the magick circle, which was partially drawn with his hand and partially made with the mana itself, the boy checked his target one last time. The characteristic green and black colors of the night vision goggles portrayed the empty warehouse entrance. The iron door that should have been closed shut was blown away and only left the open doorway, and there was a strange standoff happening where no one could enter or exit through the hole.

“3, 2, 1.”

And that spot was the exact place that Odysseus had to blow up.
Boooom! The vaporized mana met with the sparks of mana and caused a massive explosion. It was almost non-lethal, the explosion itself possessing no fragments, but it was the perfect spell to surprise the enemies inside the warehouse.

“Open fire!”
D-d-d-du!

Then, the firepower of the assault team was added on. They’d basically just thrust their guns into the entrance and fired away.
Since they were using automatic rifles, the rate at which they were shooting was also fast. Clearing a magazine in a matter of moments, they withdrew their guns and pressed their bodies against the wall. P-p-p-k! By a narrow margin, bullets rained down on the spot where they had stood just a moment ago.

Clink, clink!
“It’s a grenade!”
“Get down!”

Just then, a grenade rolled out from the inside of the building. The assault team instantly dropped to the ground, and Odysseus peeked his head out further.

Clack!
While Migo hurriedly thrust a transparent bulletproof shield in front of Odysseus, the boy shot the grenade with a concentrated ball of his mana, intending to send the object back in the direction it came from.

Booom!
So, just as the explosive hit by the mana bullet passed back through the entrance, the iron balls inside the fragmentation scattered out in all directions. Some escaped out through the entrance, but most were sent flying inside the building.
The screams filled up the absence of explosions.

“Aaaaagh!”
“Fuck, fuuuccckkk!”
“Which bastard was it?! Which motherfucker blew up a bomb inside?!”

Immediately after hearing this, Odysseus resumed his breathing. Pheeeew. The air that slowly seeped back into his lungs was thick with smoke.

“Grenade removed. Tell them it’s all right to stand up now.”
-…Commander to Bravo 1. Grenade has been removed. Resume the mission.
“You scared me, kiddo. You could’ve been sniped.”
“I’m sorry. But it was really urgent.”
“I know.”

Meanwhile, Flag lightly scolded the boy and instructed him to lower his posture. He gave this warning because he knew that this fight would become very boring once the enemy discovered the magick user’s position.

“Just in case, we’ll move to the next point.”
“Okay.”

The reason they didn’t raise the shields in advance was also to prevent detection from the reflection of the shield. For the sake of safety, Flag suggested that they change positions, which Odysseus had no reason to refuse.

“It’s going really smoothly, though. It’s almost boring.”
“Hey, don’t jinx it. You know something always happens when you say something like that.”
“Just like what you do?”
“Yeah, like—no, not like that!”
“Hey, as you’ve said earlier, there’s a large difference in forces between these two organizations, so this is only natural. You know, just like how there are weight classes in competitions, there’s a ‘class’ for everything. So you can say that this situation already has a predetermined future as well.”

While Flag was shaking the boy’s shoulders, Migo calmly explained their situation. Odysseus was already aware of this as well, but the operation had been going so smoothly that he was reminded of this fact once more.

“But I still thought that at least the Captain or the Vice-Captain would be different.”
“Hey, even if they’re strong, what could they do in a situation like this? Well, if they’re superhuman beings who are closer to military weapons than humans, then that might be another matter…”
“But they probably aren’t on that level?”
“You saw the information that Pluto gave us. It would be stupid to believe everything that’s written on there, but it isn’t completely fabricated. If they were any stronger than this, Pluto would have tried to recruit them rather than finish them off like this.”

Snickering, Flag explained the reason for his denial in a logical manner. Normally, Odysseus would have also agreed with him.

“Or who knows? Maybe they made contact behind our backs. But judging by the way things turned out, I’m guessing that probably ended badly.”
“Hm.”
“Anyway, don’t worry too much about it. Do you really think that they would be able to hide their power so thoroughly that even Pluto wouldn’t notice? With that level of intelligence, they should have been able to figure out the rules of the ground and the territories around here a long time ago.”

However, he had a strange feeling of unease for some reason today. It was one of the rare days of his life where he valued emotion over reason.

“…But something’s still bothering me.”
“Who are you? Me? Why are you raising all of these death flags?”
“Are you finally admitting that you do that?”
“This little brat.”

It was an instinctive alarm that went off without any basis or reason. The same thing happened in the past when he arrived on Telepylos Island, an island where cannibals used to live. Those who ignored his intuition died, and those who followed him, albeit hesitantly, including himself, survived.
As Flag and Odysseus continued to exchange banter, Odysseus’s eyes sank coldly.

“That reminds me. Didn’t you say those guys were from the military?”
“If you can call guys who quit after one or two years soldiers, too, I guess you can say that.”
“Is there any chance that this could affect the results?”
“As if. If it could, Pluto would have mentioned it a long time ago. In the first place, the military is scary because there are so many of them, not because each of them is strong.”
“In terms of one person who can make a difference, it would be more accurate to mention the special forces than the military. Their very purpose is for each and every person to become a deterrent.”
“The same goes for famous families and sects known to the world. They might seem a little like the military in the way that they try to standardize strength… but their ultimate goal is to produce strong individuals who transcend humanity.”

After saying that, Flag swept his hair back. A few beads of sweat were forming on his forehead from the heat in the air.

“Anyway, don’t worry about it. The military isn’t interested in the growth of individuals. It’s not that they don’t train at all, but it’s extremely difficult for talent capable of turning the tables to blossom in that environment.”
“Then…”
“If they’re really able to turn the tide of battle, it’s more likely that they were influenced by the cult they were in before. It’s just a rumor, but it’s said that there’s a cult that can enhance your abilities.”
“A cult?”

Odysseus instinctively questioned the phrase that was still awkward to him. The bewilderment in his question was even deeper because he believed that following false beliefs was nothing more than a matter of intelligence.

“Yeah, a cult. Why, you know… The famous ones, like Rivulet Church and Reincarnation Church? There’s the one like Dawn Church, too, where they believe that the gods will be resurrected one day. Well… that’s just what they say. I don’t think that people could suddenly become superhumans just because they believe some sort of–”
Booooooom!

Before his bewilderment could end, the entrance of the Iron Stick’s warehouse collapsed.

“Aaahhh!”
Bang, bang, bang!
“Cease fire! Cease fire!”
“Retreat!”
“Shit, what the hell is that?!”

What emerged from the opening, holding the crumpled iron door as a shield, was a massive person.

“Gruaaaaaah!!”

The Callistidae, wearing several heavy layers of bulletproof vests, roared ferociously. That sound alone made it feel like his skin was being torn apart.
Then, holding the iron gate in front, the massive build began to charge forward.