Russell didn’t respond.
He merely quickened his pace slightly.
In truth, he wasn’t nearly as confident as he appeared.
He certainly wasn’t convinced that he could escape the rebels’ pursuit.
After all, that was an actual army.
Back in the day, the only “criminal record” Russell had was being a “five-star citizen of Los Santos.”
And now he was being hunted by a military force.
On the minimap, the icons representing the pursuers were reorganizing into new formations.
The three Typhon Destroyers split into two groups.
Two mechs each took along two squads of Elite Jaegers, moving around from the left and right in an attempt to bypass the turbulence zone and cut off their route ahead.
The remaining mech led around thirty ordinary Jaegers to pursue the already-escaped Asaba Harumasa.
Judging by the formation, the enemy commander was determined to keep them here.
Russell frowned.
He had originally expected the rebels to retreat temporarily after losing a mech.
Instead, their response was even more aggressive than he had anticipated.
…Seriously?
Was a Void Hunter really that terrifying?
Complaining inwardly, he still switched the minimap into fullscreen mode.
Doing so extended its detection range.
To the south, about four hundred meters away, were several gray icons.
Those were Ethereals Russell had just classified as neutral units.
Though it was ironic, on a battlefield where humans were killing each other, Ethereals really were nothing more than neutral monsters.
The mechs and soldiers had also been marked and categorized by Russell.
Otherwise, he might waste precious stamina avoiding what looked like a mech only to discover it was merely a wandering soldier.
Once Russell confirmed the shapes of those icons, a plan immediately formed in his mind.
“Change direction,” he said.
“South.”
Tsukishiro Yanagi didn’t object.
She was an expert in combat.
Even without Russell’s spatially penetrating perception, she could determine the general direction of the pursuers from the vibrations beneath her feet and the faint sounds of mech tracks in the distance.
Heading south really would allow them to temporarily escape the encirclement.
The two turned into an old north-south transportation pipeline.
This pipeline had once been used by Belobog Industries to transport raw materials.
It was roughly four meters in diameter, with rusted conveyor belts lining the interior.
The tunnel was dark.
Only a few dim beams of gray light shone through damaged sections of the pipe wall in the distance.
When they reached the middle section of the pipeline, Russell suddenly stopped.
“What is it?”
Yanagi immediately lowered her center of gravity, one hand resting on the hilt of her weapon.
“There are Ethereals ahead.”
Russell answered honestly.
On the minimap, around thirty meters ahead at a corner platform, a dense cluster of gray icons wandered back and forth.
There were over twenty of them.
Judging from their icon sizes, most were Zinc-level (Level 2), with two or three larger ones mixed in, likely Tin-level (Level 3).
Under normal circumstances, Tsukishiro Yanagi could wipe out over twenty Ethereals without breaking a sweat.
But not now.
The moment a fight broke out here, the sounds of battle and Ether fluctuations would reveal their exact position.
Given the mechs’ speed, they would absolutely catch up before the Ethereals could be cleared.
“Go around them?” Yanagi asked quietly.
Russell thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“No.”
“Lead them over.”
Yanagi immediately understood what he meant.
·
At the same time, inside the rebels’ temporary command center.
The commander was a man in his forties.
He wore an old-style Defense Force combat uniform.
A scar ran diagonally across his face from forehead to chin.
His rank insignia had been removed, but the intricate marks around his collar suggested that layer upon layer of medals had once hung there.
At the moment, he sat before a portable communications terminal with a grim expression.
To begin with, he had never supported this ambush.
The reason was simple.
The moment he learned that personnel from Section 6 were involved, he had considered the operation a foolish idea.
HAND itself wasn’t anything special.
The Hollow Affairs Management and Neutralization Department had an extremely broad scope of responsibilities, many of which overlapped with other organizations.
Precisely because it covered too much, its actual influence wasn’t particularly high.
But H.S.O.S.
The Hollow Special Operations Section.
And specifically, personnel from Section 6.
That was a completely different matter.
Outsiders didn’t understand military logic.
They thought armies were simply groups of people responsible for ordering others to kill.
But for every officer, treating soldiers like one’s own children was common sense.
After all, military service was a profession that risked lives.
Even if it was merely an act, if subordinates couldn’t believe their commander was dependable, no one would willingly risk their life.
Put himself in their shoes.
If he were a Void Hunter and one of his direct subordinates died during a mission like this…
Then even if he had to tear apart the entire Hollow, he would still uncover the truth.
Unfortunately, another fate of a soldier was that armies were swords.
Weapons.
And weapons were ultimately controlled by others.
No matter how many times he advised caution regarding this mission, the big boss’s stance remained unchanged.
The secrets hidden within Belobog had to be protected.
The boss had even waved a hand and assigned him an entire detachment.
How did that saying go again?
An incompetent commander exhausts the entire army.
Ring, ring, ring…
The phone rang.
He picked it up but didn’t speak immediately.
A mechanically altered voice came from the other side.
Cold.
“Where are the targets?”
“We haven’t secured them yet.”
“…I gave you four of the most advanced Typhons.
Don’t tell me you can’t even capture two people.”
“Some unexpected complications arose.
The situation isn’t as simple as we anticipated.”
“Unexpected complications.
I hate complications.
That’s why I gave you so much support.
You wouldn’t want to disappoint me, would you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then explain.”
“A third party appeared during the battle.
We lost one Typhon because of it.
Unit Four triggered a trap during pursuit, causing its internal battery to detonate and directly trigger Ether Turbulence inside the Hollow.
The Topological Structure throughout the area is now being reconstructed, so we lost our opportunity to eliminate them in a single strike.”
“The force has now been divided into two groups pursuing the two Section 6 members separately.
The unit chasing Asaba Harumasa has already engaged him twice.
We’ll eliminate him sooner or later.”
“As for the unit pursuing Tsukishiro Yanagi…”
“What about it?”
“The third party is assisting her.
Right now, the pursuit force is entangled with a group of Ethereals…”
“What do you mean?”
“Our intelligence is limited at the moment.
We don’t know the identity of the third party.
But the individual appears capable of accurately determining our positions within the chaotic Ether Turbulence and is using Ethereals to obstruct us.”
At this point, the “General” paused.
“Given the current situation, Tsukishiro Yanagi will most likely escape.
We don’t have sufficient manpower to stop them.”
The “General” admitted his predicament without hesitation.
Reporting bad news wasn’t normally his style.
But he had never supported this operation in the first place.
So the most important thing right now was to act like a proper technical officer and shift the blame elsewhere.
“What did you just say?!”
As expected, furious shouting erupted from the other end.
“You’ve already lost a Typhon?!”
“Yes.”
The General’s answer was immediate.
“The enemy even had enough time to prepare traps.
They’re an exceptionally troublesome opponent.”
At times like this, if he didn’t want to appear incompetent or guilty of poor judgment, the best strategy was to exaggerate the enemy as much as possible.
★ ★ ★
Shilling time!