My familiar was killed.
Clara opened her eyes again and clutched her head in pain.
“It was a shadow soldier. One got into the maintenance passage, and the relic package is probably also… mmm…”
Although the Moon Rabbit Combat Body was essentially a disposable item, the sensation of death was still relayed to Clara with brutal clarity. For a moment, she was too overcome to speak.
Even if Clara didn’t say anything, the others had already seen the Moon Rabbit’s final moments on the screen.
Based on their experience fighting those things at the Expo Center earlier, the shadow soldiers had almost no intelligence. They only acted on destructive instincts and the orders of a Witch…
Why would one specifically go down to the maintenance floor?
And who opened the elevator door to the maintenance level for it?
Was it the relic thief?
So, that thief could also command shadow soldiers?
Just who the hell is this person?
Please don’t tell me it’s another Witch!
“No time to waste. I’ll head to the maintenance passage and check it out.”
What they needed now was action, not thought. As the Bald Uncle said this and started to leave the Interrogation Room, Zu Shenwei quickly stood up as well.
“Wait, I’m coming too.”
“No. Stay put right here.”
The Uncle’s refusal was almost automatic.
“Huh? You still think I’m a suspect? I’m a Hero! A Magic Girl! The Association is being invaded by an evil dark force—this is exactly when Heroes are needed. Are you telling me to just watch from here?”
Although Shenwei’s suspect status hadn’t been cleared yet, it was really hard to keep doubting her at this point.
The Bald Uncle hesitated for another two seconds before finally nodding with a straight face.
“…Fine.”
Miss Shenwei kept talking about a Hero’s duty and mission, sounding all righteous, and put on an expression of being pained that justice couldn’t be served.
But really, she just felt she’d wasted half the day and figured she needed to earn some credit to break even…
Her utilitarian thinking was all well and good, but the Association’s top floor had a bunch of Top-tier Heroes with nothing better to do, plus all the Heroes in the lobby who’d been called in by the Administration Bureau for questioning.
The chaos would probably be resolved before she even got a chance to act.
Shadow soldiers were certainly troublesome, but running wild in the Heroes’ home base?
They weren’t nearly qualified for that. This was at most a minor disturbance.
The key issue now was recovering the stolen relic.
The Bald Uncle looked back at Clara.
“Then, Miss Clara, you rest here.”
“Mmm…”
Clara held her forehead, gradually recovering from the chill of having her head pierced by a blade.
“No, I’m coming too.”
She shook her head lightly and said to the Uncle, “If I get close enough, I can sense where that relic is.”
Shenwei reached out and touched Clara’s forehead. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I was fine anyway.”
“Okay, let’s go together.”
This time, the Bald Uncle didn’t refuse. He even pulled out a short, well-worn ebony wand from the holster under his arm.
As an Agent of the Administration Bureau and a Magician, he naturally had the ability to fight.
Magicians also used wands, but compared to the flashy wands of Magic Girls, the Uncle’s short wand was much more modest.
“You two be careful. I might not be able to look out for you.”
To quell the commotion, every available hand needed to be deployed. So the Bald Uncle didn’t reject Clara and Shenwei’s request to come along, though he was slightly worried.
“Don’t worry about us. We’re not that weak,” Shenwei immediately countered.
“Hmph, I suppose so.”
Even though they looked like two little girls, they were genuine Heroes—Magic Girls.
Clara said she could sense the relic, but that was actually Nyx’s perception.
She felt a strong craving for that “god’s relic,” a craving that had even manifested as a clearer “guidance.”
If she got close enough, she could roughly determine the relic’s location.
But that only applied to this particular stolen relic.
Right now, that relic was still inside the hero network’s server room. If they hurried, they might even catch that damned shadow soldier.
Still, even if she could sense it…
If the enemy refused to come out of the server room, how were they supposed to retrieve the relic?
“Clara.”
On the way to the maintenance passage, Shenwei suddenly called out to Clara, who was still mulling over a plan.
“Huh? What?”
“Hey, if we end up fighting the enemy later, there’s an idea I want to test.”
“What idea?”
“It’s…”
Shenwei leaned close to Clara’s ear, half-covering her mouth to whisper.
When Clara heard it, a weird expression appeared on her face. She furrowed her brows, showing resistance.
“That’s not good, is it? If we do that, what does that make me?!”
“I got screwed over this time because of you. Just think of it as granting me one wish, okay?”
“Mmm…”
Seeing Clara still hesitating, Shenwei put a hand on her shoulder and kept pushing.
“Besides, we might end up working for the same Company from now on. Think of it as gaining experience for joint operations. We can practice on those shadow cannon fodder.”
Using that as an argument was just too sneaky.
Clara couldn’t make up her mind, but right then, a large group of shadow soldiers suddenly crashed through the window and appeared before the three of them.
“Looks like the Storage Room for the wormhole beacon is on the lower floor, too.”
The Bald Uncle chanted a short incantation impossible to describe in words, casually sending a surge of magic power that instantly blew up one of the shadow soldiers.
Then he dashed through the gap it left.
“Whoa, strong!”
Baldness was a sign of strength. The Uncle’s displayed power surprised Shenwei.
The Uncle turned back and shouted at them, “Don’t get bogged down! Leave these cannon fodder to the others. Our mission is to recover the stolen relic! Don’t let that shadow escape in the chaos!”
Recovering the relic—that sounded like exactly what the protagonist team should be doing.
“Right!”
Shenwei responded, lunged forward, grabbed a shadow soldier’s head, and smashed it into the wall. Then she pulled Clara along, bypassing the shadow soldiers’ obstruction, and chased after the Uncle, who was already running ahead without looking back.
As for those shadow soldiers, there really were people to deal with them.
From the offices along the corridor, several Heroes rushed out, still wearing their work clothes—clearly office workers by day.
Inside the hero association, Heroes outnumbered ordinary helpless people.
Many positions were even held part-time by Heroes.
Clara had never seen so many Heroes in one place in her entire life. So when the shadow soldiers started flooding in, quite a few staff members transformed on the spot.
But that also made the scene considerably chaotic, because many Heroes were pretty loud when they transformed and fought.
The older generation of Heroes liked to bellow their attack names, and…
“…E-everyone sure has high morale.”
Shenwei twitched the corner of her mouth.
They really didn’t need to get involved. Although the shadow soldiers kept pouring in, the Heroes still had the situation well under control—if anything, there were too many Heroes and not enough enemies.