Chapter 362: The Relay They Wanted

Kumoe created the opening.

The curious head slammed sideways into the bone-armed Beastslayer, forcing Alexandra out of their exchange. Pack Rhythm renewed as she sprinted for the bridge.

The claw-legged Beastslayer jumped toward the bell support.

Alexandra met her in the air.

Their weapons collided hard enough to turn both fighters. Alexandra had two swords, while the Beastslayer fought with hardened claws built into her altered limbs.

The Beastslayer landed on the bridge rail. Alexandra landed inside the route-keeper’s platform.

"Stay behind me."

The Sairren looked at her swords and then at Kumoe below.

"I have my own weapon."

Alexandra glanced back and saw a spear already resting in the route-keeper’s hands.

"Good."

The Beastslayer jumped again.

This time the route-keeper thrust first. The attack did not hit, but it forced the Beastslayer to alter her landing.

Alexandra took the new opening and drove one sword across her thigh armor.

Pack Rhythm did not trigger because Kumoe was too far away to share the exchange.

Alexandra noticed the difference immediately. Instead of pretending she still had the same resistance to interruption, she gave ground when the Beastslayer pressed her.

Below, Kumoe’s right head barked.

Alexandra heard it and backed toward the open edge.

The Beastslayer saw a retreat and lunged.

Kumoe leaped from below. The curious head caught the attacker’s clawed leg while the right seized her belt, dragging her out of Alexandra’s line.

Pack Rhythm returned.

Alexandra jumped down after them and struck the capture seal at the attacker’s waist.

The red marker over the route-keeper vanished.

"Stop marking my people," Mireva said from the bridge above.

Her spear left her hand and drove through the Beastslayer’s shoulder, pinning her to a portable barrier.

Mireva landed beside the weapon.

The player grabbed the shaft.

Mireva put one foot against her chest. "Pull it out if you want."

The Beastslayer stopped.

Martin almost laughed, but a violent sound from the western relay killed the reaction before it reached his mouth.

The bell did not ring.

It screamed.

One of the underworld crews had reached it, but they were not trying to destroy the structure. Four mercenaries locked a black frame around its support while a copied route-song device pressed against the bronze.

Rias stared at the setup. "They’re taking the relay."

Mireva turned. "What?"

"They are not breaking it. They’re anchoring their signal to it."

The black frame closed, and silver resonance flickered.

For one second, the Sairren bell remained itself.

Then the route-song split.

Half the trail continued toward the intruders, while the other half bent toward the residential levels.

Cassandra activated Hungerline.

Her face went cold. "They have two directions now."

Dark Force monsters stopped throughout the lower avenue. Several turned toward the raiders, while several others looked up toward the city.

Mireva launched from the bridge.

"Western relay!"

Every available warden followed.

The Beastslayers reacted immediately.

That was what they had been waiting for.

The gliding player cut across the air above Mireva, while the bone-armed Beastslayer abandoned Alexandra and Kumoe and rushed the stairs leading toward the route-keepers.

More capture seals lit.

Red markers appeared across the lower city.

Martin counted four before two more joined them.

"They’re forcing Mireva to choose between the relay and her people," Katherine said.

Martin saw it, and Mireva did too.

She stopped in midair for only a heartbeat before pointing two wardens toward the relay. The rest went to the marked route-keepers.

She was not sacrificing people for infrastructure.

Martin turned toward the relay himself.

"Rias, Elisebeth, with me. Cass, cover the route-keepers. Katherine, keep the bridges standing."

Alexandra looked toward him. "And me?"

A black capture seal flashed above Kumoe again.

Alexandra’s mouth tightened.

Martin did not need to explain.

"You already have work."

She and Kumoe turned together.

The bone-armed Beastslayer stopped smiling.

Martin ran toward the relay.

A Dark Force creature climbed out of the lower gate directly in front of him.

[Bellhide Brute (Monster) Lv. 60]

Hungerline pointed past Martin toward the corrupted western relay. The creature was not trying to kill him. It was following the stronger trail.

Martin stepped aside.

"Let it through!"

Rias understood, and so did Elisebeth.

The Bellhide Brute charged toward the relay crew. Two mercenaries scattered before the black frame around the bell absorbed the first impact.

Cracks spread across it.

"Again!" Martin shouted.

The Brute reared back.

A copied route-song chirped from the frame.

The monster’s Hungerline changed.

Toward Mireva.

Martin swore and activated Taunt.

The Brute’s attention snapped onto him before it swung. Breakwater Aegis caught the corrupted bronze shoulder, and Martin’s boots slid across the avenue.

Stand Against the Current built through the pressure.

He could hold it.

He could not hold it and reach the relay.

"Cass!"

No answer.

Martin looked toward her.

Cassandra stood across the broken western bridge. A route-keeper lay behind her with blood along one wing, and three Sairren civilians had been cut off with them.

Between Cassandra and the main avenue, the bridge had begun to fail.

One intact section remained.

She could still cross.

Martin saw Cassandra look at it before turning toward the people behind her. Her gaze moved from the wounded route-keeper to the civilians.

"Cass, move!"

She heard him.

Cassandra took one step toward the intact section.

A mercenary appeared from the side route behind the Sairren.

She stopped.

Her expression changed.

Martin knew the answer before she made it.

Cassandra turned away from the escape route and drew Nightglass Longbow.

"Take care of the relay."

The mercenary rushed her before Patient Draw could build.

Cassandra released early. The arrow struck his thigh instead of his chest and broke his charge.

She stepped in front of the wounded route-keeper while two civilians dragged the third behind a bronze support.

The bridge gave another violent shudder.

Katherine’s head snapped around. "Cassandra!"

Kinnami tried to form a barrier beneath the failing span.

The golden plane caught one falling section, but the surrounding bronze supports had already torn loose. The weight shifted sideways instead of down.

"Kinnami, back!"

The spirit jumped clear.

The last bridge support broke.

Bronze and stone fell between the two sides of the avenue, and Martin lost sight of Cassandra behind dust and debris.

The Bellhide Brute hit his shield again.

He had no choice but to stay where he was.

"Rias!"

"I can’t see her!"

Elisebeth moved toward the edge, but a second copied note forced her to turn and contain the relay before redirected hunger spread farther into the residential levels.

For several seconds, the entire western side vanished behind dust.

Then the cloud thinned.

Cassandra was still standing.

So were the four Sairren with her.

The wounded route-keeper had managed to sit upright. One civilian had found a dropped spear, while another pressed both hands against the route-keeper’s injured wing.

Cassandra stood between all of them and the side passage.

More shadows were moving inside it.

The easy route back was gone.

She did not look toward Martin again.

Nightglass Longbow came up as Cassandra Selfmore planted her feet in front of four Sairren and prepared to hold the passage.