Russell lowered the binoculars and remained silent for three seconds.
The wind within the Hollow suddenly grew stronger, stirring up dust from the ground and creating a faint rustling sound throughout the ruins.
Suddenly catching a scent, Russell couldn’t help but twitch his nose.
It was a faint smell of rust.
Everyone knew that ordinary rust didn’t actually give off a smell.
When a rust-like scent drifted through the air, it generally came from blood.
The thought made him frown.
It wasn’t impossible that some unlucky Hollow Raider had met a bad end, but that possibility…
wasn’t very high.
The atmosphere was obviously bad.
Perhaps HAND would choose to withdraw for safety reasons?
With that thought in mind, Russell raised the binoculars again, this time aiming them at the armored vehicles and the road ahead.
Through the lenses, Tsukishiro Yanagi had clearly noticed something as well.
She lifted her head and swept her gaze across the edge of the factory buildings overhead.
The electronic display in her hand had already been put away, replaced by the long blade hanging at her waist.
The purple cord wrapped around the hilt swayed gently in the wind.
Though the blade remained sheathed, her slender fingers had already settled on the hilt.
At some point, Asaba Harumasa had also stepped out of the vehicle.
His coffee can had been casually placed on the roof.
Holding a pair of short blades that resembled both bows and swords, he lowered himself into a partial lunge, already entering a combat-ready stance.
Clearly, the two of them had sensed something.
Perhaps they had noticed even more than the three people Russell had seen on the mini-map.
With that thought, Russell put away the binoculars and lowered himself beneath the windowsill.
The view from his position was a little too good.
If there happened to be a sniper around, he might get his head blown off with a single shot.
·
Less than ten seconds after Russell retreated into the shadows—
Boom!
A heavy explosion erupted from behind the armored vehicles.
Startled, Tsukishiro Yanagi instinctively turned around, only to discover that the armored vehicles themselves hadn’t been attacked.
Instead, the walls of the old factory buildings on both sides of the road suddenly collapsed.
Massive chunks of concrete and steel reinforcement crashed down about a dozen meters behind the vehicles, kicking up a dense cloud of dust.
The collapse was a little too precise.
…Someone wanted to flank them.
As an experienced combatant, Tsukishiro Yanagi immediately grasped the situation.
The Investigators transferred from the Hollow Investigative Association to assist with the mission, however, lacked such instincts.
Thinking they had come under attack, they immediately cried out in alarm and descended into chaos.
“Don’t panic!”
Tsukishiro Yanagi’s clear voice cut through the dust.
“Asaba, cover the rear.
Everyone else, spread out.
Don’t gather around the vehicles.”
In the kind of urban combat environment commonly found in Hollows, even Hollow Raiders knew a basic rule:
If the threat was Ethereals, hide inside the vehicle.
If the threat was people, stay as far away from the vehicle as possible.
Because even an outdated single-soldier rocket launcher could send a lightly armored vehicle like this flying into the sky.
Unfortunately, perhaps due to the influence of movies and television, most people instinctively sought shelter beneath vehicles or even inside them during situations like this.
Naturally, the Association’s Investigators belonged to that “most people.”
If discussed publicly, many would wonder how Investigators who frequently entered Hollows could lack such basic common sense.
The answer was simple.
Their work environment usually began only after HAND or the Defense Force had already swept through the dangerous areas of a Hollow.
Even when they encountered danger, it was usually Ethereals rather than mercenaries or rebels.
As a result, despite Tsukishiro Yanagi issuing the correct orders, quite a few people still instinctively rushed toward the armored vehicles.
Then, with absolutely no room for luck, two rockets burst through the dust and streaked toward the armored vehicles with a shrill howl.
“Asaba!”
“Got it.”
Asaba Harumasa had already disappeared from where he stood.
The next moment, his twin blades transformed into a bow, and a blue-glowing arrow rested upon the string.
In the brief instant of sparks and lightning, the arrow launched later but arrived first, directly shooting down the farther of the two rockets.
The fallen rocket landed in front of an Investigator in his thirties wearing glasses.
The man was so frightened that he wet his pants.
Yet the rocket didn’t explode.
The archer had used Ether Particles released by the arrow with extraordinary precision to melt the rocket’s fuse.
Tsukishiro Yanagi’s response was even more decisive.
Her fingers tightened around the hilt.
Then she shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
The crowd only saw a flash of light arc across the sky.
At some point, her long blade had become a Naginata.
The nearer rocket was instantly disassembled into dozens of pieces. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Gunpowder and shattered fragments clattered against the armored vehicle.
Meanwhile, the still-glowing red fuse rolled across the ground and came to rest beside Tsukishiro Yanagi’s slender ankle.
The moment the danger was resolved, HAND immediately launched a counterattack.
Asaba Harumasa sprang upward like a swallow.
When he appeared again, he was already crouching atop a broken structural beam beside the main road.
The next second, several arrows shot out in rapid succession toward the direction from which the rockets had come.
The enemy appeared well prepared.
Several flashes of red light appeared from the concealed firing position.
Asaba Harumasa’s arrows failed to achieve their intended effect.
“…Vice Section Chief, it’s a barrier.”
No further explanation was necessary.
Tsukishiro Yanagi immediately understood that his arrows had been blocked by a protective barrier.
And something like a protective barrier was clearly beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Tsukishiro Yanagi’s delicate brows furrowed slightly.
She had originally believed this to be a chance encounter.
Judging by the current situation, it might actually be an ambush.
A chance encounter meant neither side was prepared.
An ambush meant every member of the opposing force was a combatant.
Meanwhile, more than half of her own people were technical personnel.
“We are HAND’s Section 6, currently investigating an abandoned laboratory belonging to Belobog Industries in this area.”
Standing atop the armored vehicle, Tsukishiro Yanagi coldly shouted toward the location where the red light had appeared.
“Whether you’re mercenaries sent by Belobog Industries or something else entirely, an organized attack against HAND personnel performing official duties is rebellion.”
She had no idea what exactly was on the other side.
For now, she simply needed to raise the banner first.
Although HAND dealt exclusively with Hollow-related affairs, it was still part of the military rather than the Public Security Bureau.
Attacking a police officer was a crime.
Attacking the military was rebellion.
Handling a crime required evidence.
Handling a rebellion only required coordinates.
Tsukishiro Yanagi knew perfectly well that the name of her organization alone was unlikely to intimidate the enemy commander.
She was simply gambling.
Gambling that the frontline combat personnel didn’t know that.
Gambling that the mercenaries actually participating in the operation didn’t dare to stand against the enormous entity that was the government of New Eridu.