“Who dares to track the phone of an operator from the Punitive Squad? How arrogant...”

The Punitive Squad's operator.

In her head, Elki recalled her junior's words.

“Damn...”

She was irritated.

Why was she, a senior and a member of the Punitive Squad, someone who should be formidable...

Being told to run away because she was a hindrance in the fight?

Why did she have to flee?

And abandon her junior, too.

She was part of the Punitive Squad...

“It's frustrating...”

She had been running for a while now, her hair sweeping the ground and her body scratched all over by the underbrush.

Elki raised her device and sent out several requests for support.

With her junior’s last known location in mind, she tried to predict possible routes he might take.

‘That cultist knew this was near the Academy.’

He seemed to be targeting the boundary stone, so he must have known up to where the Academy's Operations Department's jurisdiction extended.

This meant that in a prolonged battle, there was a higher chance he would lead her junior out of the Academy's area.

In other words… the longer the fight lasted, the greater the risk to her junior's life.

To get to her junior as quickly as possible, Elki sent only his location to the Operations and Intelligence Departments, excluding her own position.

‘Alright, this should do it.’

Just as she thought she had finished everything she needed to do...

“...Elki? Why... why are you alone?”

She ran into the Operations Department’s search team.

Humiliatingly enough, they completely ignored her instructions and saw her fleeing battle.

"Die!!! Hahaha!!! You're desperately scrambling like an insect!"

I dodged an incoming club and blocked a spell with my shield.

Even though I fired rounds from my shotgun to fend off attacks, it wasn't enough.

'He's gotten stronger.'

He must have received some privileges as a bishop. He was at least twice as powerful compared to when I faced him at the Academy before.

But I could manage.

My pockets were filled with stamina herbs, along with some that could replenish my mana...

As I was analyzing his combat strength in various ways, the cultist gathered lightning again.

"...Leroy Abrio!"

Just before the thunderbolt exploded out with a thunderous roar.

I aimed my shotgun, infused with mana, at his arm and fired.

-KWAAANG!!!

With a tremendous impact, his arm twisted in an unnatural direction.

But it was only for a moment.

“Heh... Now that I'm close to the cult, this is nothing.”

He channeled black mana and instantly healed his wound.

In contrast, my insides were churned up and I was on the verge of death for the second time.

'...This is serious.'

I forced myself to chew on some stamina and mana herbs... It gave me a brief surge of energy.

But the pain pressing down on my body remained the same.

'...Being close to the cult.'

I pondered what that meant...

I didn't need to think long.

“I have answered the call of the Cult Leader.”

What is the cult of the cultists?

It's the foundation.

Then what is the foundation?

According to the magic book, it's a group that can perform human sacrifices.

The group is both a foundation and a cult.

In other words… The cult being close means the cultists are nearby.

It means I’m screwed.

“Tsk... I thought this would be fun, but you're too persistent. Kill him.”

As the Cult Leader spoke, the cultists’ which were hidden had their eyes glow black.

Black tears flowed down their cheeks, making them look like ghosts.

“…”

In a last-ditch effort, I detonated the emergency signal flare in my backpack.

-Fizz…

“...Damn it.”

It was a dud.

“Argh!!! Who the hell uses a backdoor to track the position of their own allies!!!”

An enraged Elki screamed.

The Intelligence Commander was too stunned to respond.

Because of his mistake, the Operations Department’s search team was deployed to the wrong location.

When the Operations Commander requested, 'Could the Intelligence Department operator come into our operation area and give us real-time coordinates?', trying to demonstrate their technological prowess to the Punitive Squad operator, the Intelligence Commander made a severe blunder.

He had focused only on the real-time coordinates sent by Elki’s terminal, ignoring the actual combat area coordinates Elki had texted. As a result, the troops were sent to Elki’s separation point instead of the actual battlefield.

This left the first-year student alone and isolated...

‘It's driving me crazy.’

“…Hoo, so the first-year kid is holding them off by himself?”

The Operations Commander sighed and pondered.

“From now on, we need to track the location again... Ah, he doesn't have a terminal, does he? Then we really have to search for him?”

This changes the story from the pre-established plan.

The talk about deploying troops quickly only applies when their exact location is known.

Since we don’t have a way to pinpoint his location right now, it’ll take some time to find him.

And the delay in retrieving Elki means Elki’s information probably has a considerable margin of error.

Even if they go to the place Elki marked, they’ll have to start searching again.

It would’ve been good to get aerial support...

Should they launch an aircraft now?

No, they'd need to contact the parent division, get permission, and borrow one.

Not a realistic solution.

“…Damn it, should I have ordered a retreat back then?”

The Operations Commander rubbed his face with dry hands, filled with regret.

“Why is it that only after the mess happens do I realize my own foolishness…”

For now, the Operations Commander decided to assemble a search team and trace back the path Elki came from.

Whether they succeed or fail, they needed to provide support before the first-year died.

If the first-year died, it would be a huge scandal.

Losing operational command would be the least of their worries.

Just as he was about to split the team to maximize their search…

Elki exploded.

“Damn it! We should have backtracked when we found the traces of the cult in the first place!”

Elki failed in her role as a senior.

Although her junior told her to run away because she was in the way.

As a senior, as the one responsible, she was supposed to join the fight.

So, she shouldn’t have run away.

But Elki did run away.

Because she lacked strength, because she had no combat capabilities.

Despite being the operator of the Punitive Squad.

She shamefully ran away.

‘Am I… useless?

Damn it… me, an elite among the elite in the Punitive Squad… this is nonsense…

What kind of senior runs away leaving her junior as bait…

I’m just a shut-in, who never leaves the room…

Yet… my junior always respected me as a senior…

How pathetic, taking even one step out of my room turns me into a worm…’

Just when Elki’s mind was about to be filled with negative thoughts,

Even as countless feelings of shame and guilt battered her,

The enormous ego of Elki, sleeping deep within her heart, remained unscathed.

Rather, it began to counterattack.

“Aaah!! I’m specialized in intelligence capabilities!!! From the very beginning!!! We should have used them appropriately!!! Because of that Legal Department's bitch, we're in this ridiculous mess!!!”

Elki truly exploded.

And she picked up a tree branch—no, it was more accurate to call it a broken tree, as it was three times her height.

“Uh, uh? Wait, calm down! What-what are you doing?”

“Hey! Hey!! What are you doing!”

The Intelligence Commander and Operations Commander, surprised, tried to restrain Elki.

But Elki was unyielding.

She lifted the tree up high and shouted.

“I don’t care anymore!!! To hell with your operation areas and all that!!! Finding my junior is my priority!!!”

Elki summoned her unique weapon and unleashed a psychic wave.

The tree resonated with Elki’s psychic wave, acting as an antenna to broadcast the signal more widely.

From one of the Operations Department’s outposts, Elki’s antenna began to signal excessively.

At that moment, in the Academy.

Everyone was enjoying a pleasant weekend.

-Whirr…

A strange noise was heard from the hallway.

The unusual noise spread through the hallways, bathrooms, Blue Dragon Hall, Rose Hall, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger... and each dormitory.

-Whirr...

It sounded like insects buzzing around.

Someone, sensing something was off, stepped into the hallway to find dozens, no, hundreds of drones flying around.

They seemed to be receiving some sort of signal from one direction. It was as if worshippers were bowing towards a holy place. The drones paused momentarily before darting off.

Or rather, they lunged forward.

-Crash!

They flew straight ahead, heedless of anything in their way.

"What, what is that!"

"Crazy! Is it an attack? What's happening!"

"Bring the Disciplinary Committee! Call the Disciplinary Committee!"

Amidst the chaos, there was one individual who remained calm.

"...These are Elki's drones..."

It was Astasia, the head of the Legal Department, who had ordered Elki to spy on Gardner.

The head of the Legal Department watched the drones smashing through window frames and shattering glass with a complicated expression.

'I'll listen to what happened first...

And then, I'll decide if it's something worth breaking these windows and causing a commotion at the Academy for... and deal with it…’

"I'll take this opportunity to restore proper order."

The head of the Legal Department quietly resolved.

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