Chapter 183: Fuck the Evil! (Patreon)

"Um— Mr. Pursuer, could you repeat what you just said?"

"The Northlands can't hold."

The Emperor's Blade's Pursuer, following Saito's request, repeated himself, and everyone present fell silent.

This was serious.

That was the first reaction of everyone present who understood the situation. The only one who might not grasp the full gravity of it was Talulah.

After all, information about the Collapsal was an absolute taboo in this world. What little education Talulah had received about that far northern land barely touched on the subject — aside from a brief mention of the relationship between the Emperor's Blade and the Collapsal, she knew essentially nothing about the Collapsal themselves.

As it turned out, no place called Terra was ever truly peaceful. Setting aside that notorious cesspit for a moment, the ground beneath Saito's feet right now had no shortage of its own troubles.

There were several world-ending calamities alone, and the Collapsal of the northern frontier happened to be one of them.

Collapsal were twisted beings from some other universe. When they manifested within the real universe, they triggered a phenomenon known as the Collapsal Paradigm, which drastically warped the laws of physics within a certain range. The Emperor's Blade's own Dominion was itself a basic manifestation of that very Collapsal Paradigm.

But the most troublesome thing about the Collapsal was their tendency to grow stronger the more they were 'perceived.'

Put simply: the more people who knew about the Collapsal, the stronger those monsters became.

For centuries upon centuries, the people of Terra had lived under the threat of the Collapsal. Sami, Ursus, Great Yan, and the other nations bordering the Infy Icefield bore the brunt of it. It was said that the south had once recorded Demon incursions too, but that knowledge had long since been buried beneath the sands.

The Snowpriests of Sami, the Tianshi of Great Yan, and the Emperor's Blade of Ursus — these were the ones who had always stood on the front line against the Collapsal. Centuries had passed since then, but now, of all things, the defenses on Ursus's northern frontier had suddenly run into trouble.

If the Collapsal ever broke through the line completely and entered Ursus's territory, once those monsters absorbed enough emotion and awareness, it wouldn't just be Ursus that was finished.

"How are things at the front line right now?"

"We barely repelled the Collapsal' last assault, but the defense line took a severe blow."

The Pursuer's voice was heavy. In his memory, this was the first time they'd suffered losses so great.

Black blood had soaked into that land, the severed limbs of Collapsal and Emperor's Blade tangled together. There had been no screaming, no rage — only the resolve to hold the line to the death.

But against an enemy like this, resolve alone was as useless as taking off your pants to fart. What they needed was reinforcements, and power.

And just as they'd sent an Emperor's Blade messenger back to Deity Grypherburg for aid, Koschei's Snakescale intercepted them.

That undying Black Snake had coiled over Ursus for so many years. He hadn't dealt with the Emperor's Blade much, but there was no way he wasn't keeping an eye on the situation in the Northlands.

That was precisely why Koschei was likely the first person — outside the Emperor's Blade — to know something had gone wrong up north.

"The empire's nobility have had their backbones broken. All that's left sitting in those seats now is a swarm of maggots feeding on Ursus's wounds."

The Pursuer's voice was low. If it wouldn't risk stirring up unrest at home, he'd have liked nothing more than to wipe out every one of those do-nothing freeloaders first.

Besides, there was a greater threat looming now — that reckoning would have to wait.

"The undying Black Snake showed us Endfield's strength, and the Ursus Workers' Syndicate has proven where you stand."

The Pursuer stared straight into Saito's eyes through the screen, a faint red glow emanating from beneath his mask.

Though they were called the Emperor's Blade, in truth their stance might actually be closer to the Black Snake's.

Of course, these men clearly lacked Koschei's convoluted schemes — from beginning to end, they had always been Ursus's sharpest blade.

"Help us hold the line, and the Blade of Ursus will clear every obstacle from your path of reform."

"Is that the will of the entire Emperor's Blade?"

"It's the will of Ursus."

The Pursuer answered in a grave voice.

…

…

The talk didn't last long. Once the Emperor's Blade's representative made his position clear, Saito and the Administrator quickly reached their decision.

The decision: to hell with the Collapsal.

Endfield had been founded from the start with the goal of making this land a better place. If the Collapsal broke through, all of Terra would be finished — there wouldn't even be a future left to speak of.

Besides, Saito still felt something was off. The Emperor's Blade had spent their whole lives fighting the Collapsal — their defenses shouldn't have crumbled this fast. Both Saito and the Administrator had clearly arrived at the same worst-case suspicion.

Whatever threat the Emperor's Blade was facing was probably not as simple as just the Collapsal.

"The Hyperdomain... the Aggeloi..."

Those two words, so commonplace back on Talos II, slipped from Saito's mouth.

"It's quite possible."

The Administrator nodded in agreement.

In a sense, the Collapsal and the Aggeloi did share certain traits. Those creatures — with no intelligence, no emotion, not even a fixed form of their own — could plausibly coexist with the Collapsal.

Push the thought further, and maybe the space where the Collapsal were born shared some connection with the Hyperdomain — after all, the Stargate megastructure stood right there on the Infy Icefield.

"Mr. Pursuer, I'd like you to compile the details of these recent attacks and send them to us."

"Don't worry. We understand exactly how dangerous the Collapsal' power is, and we'll keep this information under strict control."

"Naturally."

The Pursuer nodded. Having chosen to trust them, he would follow their instructions.

"I'll have Talulah pass along a contact channel afterward — you can just use that to reach us going forward."

"As for aid to the northern line, I'll have someone ship over a batch of strategic supplies in the next couple of days. After that, we can start discussing how to build up further defenses."

"No problem."

The professionalism Saito and the Administrator displayed clearly won the Pursuer's approval. He gave a slight nod, then bowed to the two of them.

As the screen before them faded away, the Administrator immediately turned to look at Saito beside her.

"Looks like our trip to Kazdel is on hold for now."

"Yeah, well, we've already left a Protocol Beacon here — we can come back anytime."

Saito nodded. The situation on the northern front was simply more urgent.

"I'll go coordinate with Theresa now."

With Endfield Operators left behind here, he and the Administrator didn't need to keep watching over things themselves anyway.

"Good timing — I need to talk with Perlica and the others too. We might need their help going forward."

Though Perlica's name was on her lips, the face that first came to the Administrator's mind was actually Zhuang Fangyi's.

Just a moment ago, a possibility had suddenly occurred to her.

If the Living Soil could suppress Erosion, could it exert the same restraining effect on the Collapsal Paradigm, given how similar in nature it was to Hyperdomain Erosion?

"We won't know until we run some experiments."

This wasn't something she could answer just by speculating in her head — it would take extensive testing and data collection.

"Maybe the Emperor's Blade could lend a hand."

If the Living Soil proved effective against Demon incursion, it would be wonderful news for all of Terra.

But even if the Living Soil turned out useless, there was still another treasure she could get from Viceroy Zhuang that could ward off the Collapsal.

Wuling's Tianshi Pillar.

Or more precisely, a Tianshi Pillar fitted with an Arts Unit capable of unleashing thunder magic.

The Hongke Academy's strength clearly went well beyond farming.