Chapter 479: Back In the Fortress

It didn’t take long for us to reach the Library of Infinite Beginnings.

On the way, we didn’t find any survivors, but we did encounter a few Midnight Syndicate scouts. It would seem they were planning something big later tonight, but I didn’t know what. As expected, they were easy to take down, and most of the time, Axilia had already lopped all their heads off with her scythe before the rest of us even had a chance to attack.

“… It’s been a while since we were last here, but every time I look at it, I still can’t help but be impressed by the size of this thing,” Yu An Yan murmured as she looked up, trying to comprehend the sheer height of this building.

“No kidding…” Feng Mian added as I stepped up to the automatic doors, only to find them not working. Through the glass, I could see that the entrance had been blockaded as well.

“… Well, this is a problem,” Ling Xin said with a sigh. “Those survivors really aren’t letting anything slip past them, huh?”

“I can’t blame them,” Yu An Yan muttered. “And besides, whoever decided to barricade the entrance like this has a decent head on their shoulders. We can make use of that. After all, simply blocking the door would be a lot more useful than taking turns watching. That way, not only can everyone can get rest, but they’ll still be safe in case of a surprise attack.”

“… Not… exactly,” Yu An Xue interrupted. “Space… Magic… can break through.”

“That’s true,” I added. “But not if they have Enchantments set in place. And by the looks of it…”

I silently used Space Magic to try and break past, but it didn’t work.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“… As expected, there are Enchantmen-“

“Who’s there?” A familiar girl’s voice suddenly called out from the inside, and I backed away a few steps, narrowing my eyes. The other girls seemed to have noticed the strange familiarity of the voice as well, and widened their eyes a bit.

“… Calm down,” I said in a tone just loud enough for the girl on the other side to hear. “We are not from the Midnight Syndicate, nor are we hostile.”

“Yeah… because enemies are just going to declare they are enemies when trying to infiltrate a place,” the girl replied in a sarcastic tone, and I could almost picture her rolling her eyes.

“I know you can tell who I am judging from voice alone,” I replied. “Enough of the jokes, and open up this door.”

After a few seconds, the barricade was set aside, and the doors were opened. On the other side was a familiar ally, and the other girls smiled at her warmly while she gave me a wry grin.

“Long time no see, eh, Xuan Kai? Still not one for jokes, I see.”

“Long time no see as well… Xiang Peng. How’s your annoying family?”

She rolled her eyes again. “Oh, come on. They aren’t that bad, really. My father just… well. Never mind. He’s gone now, anyways. Put that behind you, will you?”

“I’ve long already done that,” I replied. “Otherwise, I would’ve simply killed him. But that’s not what I came here today to discuss. Can you gather all the survivors in this place?”

“They’re already all gathered,” Xiang Peng replied with a laugh. I thought she would be more depressed since her father died, but it would seem she was just as annoyed about him as I was. To be fair, he did try marrying her off into a family against her will.

Regardless, it would seem she was right. All the survivors in this place already had their gazes fixated on me—or rather, the girls with me. Since I didn’t feel like talking to a distracted crowd, I had someone else do it instead, and gave a nod to Feng Mian, who sighed as if she didn’t want to do this, but listened to me anyway.

“A-Ahem… hello, everyone. First of all, let me just get formalities out of the way, and say that I am deeply sorry for any losses you may have suffered as a result of yesterday’s sudden invasion of Fragment. As you all know, many other survivors have already fled as far as they could, thinking that would save them, but to those of you who have stayed, congratulations, you made the wiser decision. Running away isn’t going to do you any good. All it will do is delay the inevitable, while what we’re going to do is making it not inevitable.”

Not a bad start, I thought, as she continued.

“I’m sure all of you right now are feeling a plethora of emotions. Hatred, anger, sadness, and perhaps even a bit of helplessness. But I want you to discard those last two, while holding on to the first two: hatred and anger. Those are all you need. Listen closely—the Midnight Syndicate is our enemy. We are going to destroy them, and take back what was ours—together. However, we can’t do this alone. And that’s why, I humbly request all of you to help us. If they have an army, we’ll need one of our own as well. So—what do you say, heroes? Ready for some sweet, sweet revenge?”

Immediately, roars went up around the library, and even those who weren’t originally from Fragment cheered in response. They too had lost friends and family in the battle that took place here in the Fortress last night, and some simply didn’t like having to live in a saferoom like this with dozens of other people. Either way, they all had their own reasons for fighting the Midnight Syndicate, and Feng Mian’s little speech had helped them realize that.

Seeing that she had successfully gained their loyalty, Feng Mian smiled and turned to me, flashed a wink, then turned back to the crowd.

“Perfect. Tonight, the Midnight Syndicate will undoubtedly try something again—on the way here, we saw some of their scouts nosing around. Tonight, however, we’ll be ready. Tonight… we’ll have the jump on them.”

The crowd roared again, fighting spirit raised to the maximum, and Feng Mian turned back to me, winking and smiling as if demanding some kind of reward.

“How did I do?” She asked with a wry grin.

“You did great,” I whispered. Then, smirking, I pulled her close by the waist and brushed her lips with mine. It was a quick kiss, nothing more, but the crowd cheered even louder at the sight of that—though there were some cries of jealousy mixed in as well.

Xiang Peng, meanwhile, who had been watching from beside me, clapped her hands a few times and blinked in surprise.

“Woah… you’ve matured quite a bit since the last time I saw you, Xuan Kai. This big sister is proud. Very proud.”

“More like ‘jealous’,” Qing Yue snickered. “Very jealous.”

“Oh, shut up,” Xiang Peng sighed. “Love is the last thing on my mind right now. You said the Midnight Syndicate’s going to attack tonight? Do you know where, exactly?”

“Right here,” Ling Xin answered confidently.

“Huh…? How are you so sure- wait, who even are you? Xuan Kai, how many new girls did you get while I was gone?”

“Fufu… me? I am-” Ling Xin began, but I shot her a glare, and she closed her mouth again obediently.

“Never mind that. On the way here, we encountered quite a few scouts from the Midnight Syndicate. We purposely left a few squads alone, though, and had them track us all the way here. They saw us enter this place and should’ve gotten a glimpse of what was inside, so if my guess is not wrong… they’ll most likely try fire or artillery on this place.”

“Fire or artillery, huh… and how do you intend to counter it?”

“It’s simple,” I replied. “Just wait until tonight.”

*****

After some interaction with the survivors, I found that the majority here were from Fragment. We had around thirty people in total including the girls and I, and most were either Advanced or Ancestral Mage level. This was a considerable fighting force, but we would need more if we wanted to fight our way into Fragment.

Thankfully, according to Xiang Peng, there was another major survivor gathering hotspot to the west, in District C of the Fortress. I have been there once—it was where all the Demihuman clans inside the Fortress were. I had my doubts, but perhaps we would end up running into Amane again. The meeting will undoubtedly be awkward, but I would do my best, I supposed.

Since there wasn’t much time left before the day was over, the girls and I immediately set out to the west. The other survivors had wanted to come with, but I told them our group was already big enough. If any more came, we wouldn’t be able to use our Cloaks of Invisibility efficiently.

Yes, we were going to be invisible. Why? Because we didn’t want any scouts to spot us this time around. If they did, they might change their target to District C’s safehouse instead, which would ruin our plan.

Feng Mian had a Cloak of Invisibility, and I had one too. However, ironically, neither her nor myself needed it with our Shadow Magic, and naturally Ling Xin didn’t either. As such, the two cloaks were divided between the remaining girls. I had told them to just stay behind as well, but they insisted on seeing Amane again.

I couldn’t really blame them, but personally… I had mixed feelings about it.