level_main_07-06_beg

11:30 a.m.

Leader.

Phantom Crossbowmen, I'm glad to see you've returned safely.

You brought so many. Are they all our people from Lungmen?

There are so many Infected... who came back with us.

I didn't think we'd meet you here.

We can save a lot of lives making full use of Chernobog's resources . This core city will be our final weapon to breach Lungmen.

What? No, my Leader...

Why was Lungmen so different from what we planned? So many of our comrades died back there for nothing!

You dare speak to the leader like this...?

No, he's right.

Many of our dear friends have suffered so much. The enemy left a lot of treacherous traps for us that disrupted our plans. It was a major setback.

However, even if our pioneers faced some obstacles, the Reunion Movement will avenge them. I shall see to it that your wounds, your sacrifices, are made whole again.

Worry not. We will be with you, always.

...I hope so, Leader.

Hmm... The person you're carrying... Mephisto? Is he...

Faust sacrificed himself to save him, didn't he?

...That's right, Leader. With no regard for his own life, Faust used his Arts to cover our tracks and give us a chance to escape.

Oh?

Phantom Crossbowmen, my people of Reunion... Faust will live on forever in our hearts.

Help him down. Mephisto will need to rest awhile.

I will have some men take you to camp.

Another thing, Leader... We lost contact with Crownslayer early on. We haven't heard anything from her. Don't know where she might have ended up.

As for... Yeti Squad, and FrostNova, they... they're all...

Truly unfathomably tragic news.

Please, allow me... some time to myself.

Sarkaz, do not let them near any of our Reunion units in the city.

How far do we go?

All the way. See to it that they never set foot here.

Could they be hiding something, or have they been digging around? Their team must know something I don't.

Maybe... that battle was somewhat transformative. Those Arts were already exceptional, and he was not talkative.

...He cloaked himself in his silence. I thought Faust would be the one to survive.

But then, this isn't so strange either.

...Who are you?

Who am I?

What do you want?

What do I want...?

Join... you? Fight for myself?

Fight...?

Ahh, for the exalted Ursus.

Here you were supposed to be the last one standing.

Looks like the core city is back up to speed. It didn't stop for long.

On the upside, that should have been Reunion taking in a group of Infected migrants from Lungmen. I hope...

But we may have to change up our strategy.

We can expect the city to make a few more stops along the way until the enemy commander decides to announce her plan. Then she'll stop taking in Infected refugees.

At that time, should Wei Yenwu decide to attack, the enemy will redeploy their defensive units. We may be exposed in the process, and come under attack.

I hope our agreement with Miss Fumizuki will buy us some time from Chief Wei...

Hm.. we're already very close to the center of the core city.

There are a lot of passages above and below us that seem like they were part of the city's transit system. After the Catastrophe, everything stopped working.

That does mean it's impossible for the city to function, and even move...? Could this be the underground structure Dr. Kal'tsit was talking about?

Regardless, these passages make good cover for us. The number of enemy guards has nearly doubled in this storage area close to the central district...

We haven't seen much resistance since entering the core city. But once we proceed to the central district, we should expect to run into a lot more Reunion forces.

The recon and spec ops teams are already in position. So far so good.

Why do we only have three teams working together?

The recon and spec ops teams both have their own missions.

Raidian is leading the recon team for this operation, as one of Rhodes Island's communications specialists.

Thanks to Raidian, the recon team serves as the focal point for our comms in this operation.

Even here in the core city, we'll be able to communicate with the other teams. That's because of their hard work.

I didn't see them...

The recon team always works alone.

Outcast, Raidian, and Scout, who heroically gave his life in the Chernobog rescue mission—

The elite operators leading the recon teams are responsible for leading their squads alone, identifying and reporting threats, and attempting to resolve them without assistance.

Raidian isn't as skilled in combat as the other two elite operators, but she is a unique talent at Rhodes Island when it comes to directly influencing the course of a battle.

We've got three teams engaging in this assault operation. We don't need Raidian to trouble herself with combat.

As for the spec ops team, their mission also avoids direct combat.

Explain it to me.;......;So you're not going to tell me what it is?

It's enough to know that they're necessary. You'll know the details soon enough.

Each team makes up a link in the chain of our strategy. That stable structure breeds a stable result.

Conversely, a formidable opponent has a tangled and twisted root structure. They pull in nutrients from every level. Hacking off branches does them no harm.

We have to set their roots alight before they even know we're here.

Huh? What are you talking about?;......;I think I get it.

Heh. I'm pretty sure you get it all...

'Doctor.'

Wait a second.

Some distant, vague feelings are coming to me.

An orderly, unchanging flow, with no conflict.

...Ironclad. And they're moving.

Reunion's... guard team. Let's avoid them and find another way...

No time to lose.

—Amiya.

Dr. Kal'tsit?

Careful. Can't you feel it?

Attention, operators... protective gear on.

...It couldn't be... Rosmontis? Are you feeling any anomalies?

Hm...? No. I don't think so.

This is beyond Rosmontis's Arts.

You can't rely entirely on emotions, Amiya. There is more to feel than feelings alone. When you run your fingers through a head of hair, the first thing you feel is neither longing nor joy. It's something more base than that.

Base...?

You can go back up to the surface from the depths, Amiya. Only you can.

Then I'll try, Dr. Kal'tsit.

Nnh... There's a sliver of... energy. And a strong scent in the air, like...

...a corpse?

No, this isn't a real corpse. Could it be...? No. Oh? Why...?

...It's Sarkaz. Sarkaz Arts. Thick with the smell of death... A ritual...?

It's an ancient ritual that runs itself after taking shape.

These are not modern Arts. Definitely not a modern tactic.

Are Sarkaz Arts unique? 

They are. This is very unusual. The Sarkaz we know today can't perform Arts like these.

I understand what you mean, Dr. Kal'tsit. This is an ancient Sarkaz ritual, not a product of the modern science of Originium Arts.

Our enemy here may be of the 'purest' Sarkaz. These are techniques not known to any modern country, passed down only among ancient Sarkaz and Sargonian nomads.

...The ritual relies on Oripathy infection, and the caster's peculiar understanding of Originium.

The chaotic energy is seeping out of the Originium core, spilling out and enveloping the entire block.

I can't even imagine how the potent tempest at the center of the ritual would affect a living being.

It wouldn't know the difference between friend or foe... any living thing would be slowly pulled apart by the waves of energy.

It doesn't seem useful for modern combat. The cost far outweighs any potential gain.

'Cannibalism.'

The phrasing may seem alarmist, but that's how this ritual is called.

It's not surprising that the device at the center of the ritual is called an altar, considering how horrifically destructive it is. That the uninitiated refer to this as 'witchcraft.'

I... I don't think ordinary Sarkaz mercenaries know how to use these kinds of Arts.

You would have to have extensive Arts knowledge and combat experience from Kazdel to be able to pull off this ritual. And you wouldn't actually need to be a caster.

But he... he's only a Kazdel Sarkaz. Not one of the descendants of the ancient Sarkaz still wandering around the world.

...Dr. Kal'tsit, is this second layer of protective equipment designed to protect against the Sarkaz Arts?

Not entirely. The amount of energy the ritual is producing exceeds the maximum tolerance of our equipment.

This ritual can only be completed successfully in a city lost to Catastrophe.

Our gear will not negate the effects of the ritual. Its power derives from antiquity, and cannot be separated from it.

All we can do is mitigate its lethality, and destroy it after clearing the area.

A Sarkaz ritual is not only a challenge to modern technology.

It's almost as if it's standing to once again challenge the other civilizations of this world, as the Sarkaz have plotted throughout history.

It's a metaphor.

Yes. But Sarkaz history is more than metaphorical.

The Reunion element guarding Chernobog is not a typical group. I've said as much already.

Reunion may very well rely on 'hubs' in 'neural networks' to operate as a single unit on a large scale.

But for today's purely push-strategy driven environment, Reunion would be something of an anomaly.

Imagine if soldiers who could not deal with the Infected, with no training in how to fight Sarkaz, infiltrated the core city...

They would suffer a crushing defeat.

...Right.

Then... let me think...

...Dr. {@nickname}, Dr. Kal'tsit.

The places where the enemy performed the Sarkaz rituals must be important locations, or critical transport hubs.

They're much more familiar with the terrain than we are. They would have mapped out all the paths long before we could... They must have had defenses in place before we even started our operation.

The only advantage we have is our intelligence. We know how they're deployed, and they know nothing about us.

...So we move quickly to wipe out the enemies guarding this area. The faster we do it, the safer we'll be. Don't let them alert the other guards.

Don't even think about an ambush. We can't waste time here.

Right. I will help with the assault.

Hm, okay... I think...

Dr. Kal'tsit, look, I think, if...

—Alright.

If you don't need my assistance, Dr. {@nickname}.

Huh?;......;Is there something I can help with?

Please help Amiya command the operation.

You will evaluate the progress of the battle.

Roger!

Rosmontis, we're moving out!

We'll vacate the area after this battle and head to the core city surface!

Rosmontis... at least it'll be sunny.

Sunny~

(Heh. Look at them.)

(The rest is up to you, Dr. {@nickname}. I know you won't let us down.)

Kal'tsit, we won't see that disappointment again.

You never step into the same river twice. There won't be a second time.

Even with the same person, the same thing... in a different time, we'll have a different outcome. This world... will change.

You believe it, don't you?

Yes... It makes sense that you wouldn't.

But I believe it. Dr. {@nickname}, a person like that... I know... if it wasn't this time right now, Dr. {@nickname} would be different.

I've seen a lot, so very many... Even if everyone else won't, I can understand.

Kal'tsit... Kal'tsit.

If... we had a little more time... you and I...

(You can prove you're not the Dr. {@nickname} that was stuck in the past.)

(In this time...)

(No matter how, Dr. {@nickname}, you have to.)