Chapter 245 - 200: Answering Head

The replication of the Fifth Ring had reached its final set of Inscriptions.

The old gentleman had squatted down and stood up too many times today. Each time he rose, he had to brace his knee with his left hand, but his handiwork hadn’t faltered in the slightest.

Lady Mod followed behind him, filling the grooves with wax, while Mr. Spence smoothed silver powder into the gaps. The three of them worked in perfect harmony.

Richard held up his camera, capturing each step of the process with a click of the shutter.

He was already on his fifth roll of film. Through the viewfinder of the Colton 120, the Inscriptions of the Fifth Ring lit up, one section after another.

Mrs. MacNeil held the silver pot, pouring Holy Water along the grooves.

"Fifth Ring activated." The Spirit Medium placed the silver pot back into her leather case.

The moment she finished speaking, the Jade Brooch on her chest let out a trembling hum.

Mrs. MacNeil reached out and pressed her hand against the brooch.

The Bird Spirit housed within the Jade Brooch specialized in acting as a lookout. It was now fluttering inside, transmitting what it had perceived to its master through a wisp of a Spirit Line.

The Spirit Medium’s hand remained on the brooch for two seconds before she lifted it and looked over at Mr. Hutton.

The two of them said nothing, merely exchanging a look.

At almost the same moment, a soft crack sounded from Major Aud’s knuckles in the outer circle.

The Gale Tradition allowed the major to practice "Reading the Wind," and he could feel the subterranean Ether flowing toward a specific direction.

"Everyone, stop."

The entire cavern fell silent.

Richard had expected to see a scene similar to the Fog Shadow riot in the outer circle, with clouds of grayish-white Ether fog seeping up from the depths.

But this time was different.

Among the nine stone rings, the five activated rings of light shone with a steady glow.

The Ether flowed along the grooves, its direction uniform and its rhythm even.

The problem was on the inner side of the silver plate at the very center of the Fifth Ring.

When the Seal was active, the Ether was supposed to flow from the outside in, firmly suppressing the thing at the bottom of the pit.

But right now, the direction of that Ether Flow was reversed.

The Fog Shadows were causing such a commotion in the outer circle that everyone’s attention had been drawn to the secret passage entrance and the outer rings. No one had looked at the back of the silver plate at the Seal’s innermost core.

Richard stared at the reverse flow for a few seconds, recalling the "Lips" and "Duality" set he had deciphered earlier.

The analytical speed his [Rationality] had provided since its activation quickly constructed a chain of logic for him.

’A mirror image... bidirectional... one flowing in, one flowing out.’

This reverse flow and the normal flow of the Seal’s Ether formed a kind of mirror structure.

... ...

「A few days earlier.」

In a room in a perfectly ordinary, cheap hotel in South Brighton, a piece of paper was spread out on a desk.

On it was the internal schedule for the Brighton Branch Office’s spring Seal maintenance—a document that should have been locked away in the Branch Office’s filing cabinet.

The fact that it was on this desk was, in itself, telling.

A man sat at the desk.

He looked no different from any other unemployed pier worker in the city.

But for this operation, his identity was the "Answering Head."

The Answering Head smoothed the schedule with his fingers.

He had been in this line of work for many years, and he was always meticulous with his preparations before setting a scheme in motion.

The Branch Office had a whole set of established protocols for dealing with people like him.

But those protocols were designed to deal with one or two desperate stragglers who wandered in on their own.

And what he was about to do was, from the very beginning, beyond the scope of anything those protocols anticipated.

Someone had obtained this schedule for him.

The name within the pit’s core had been chosen for him by others.

He was merely the Nail, pushed to the very front of this machine.

The man went through the list of attendees from top to bottom.

Major Aud: Minor Mastery in the Gale Tradition, the strongest combatant.

This one was the trickiest; his "wind" could read the subtle currents in the air.

Mrs. MacNeil: A Spirit Medium of Minor Mastery in the Secret Direction, the most well-rounded.

With seven Spirit Lodging Artifacts in her possession, she was fully capable of control, support, scouting, negotiation, and Anchoring.

Winterworth: Inspector team leader of the Brighton Branch Office, a Senior Practitioner-level Hunter.

High burst power, fast, a sharp blade for frontal assaults.

Mr. Hutton: An old-timer who’s been stuck at the threshold of Minor Mastery for years, but not to be underestimated.

The Answering Head made annotations next to each name, evaluating them one by one.

In the middle of the list were several Practitioner-level Hunters and two Secretive Ones requested from Manchester City.

The Answering Head classified them as the "enforcer tier"—they would take some effort to deal with, but they couldn’t stir up any major trouble.

At the end of the list, there were a few more names.

A prospective Hunter, fresh out of a military academy, a rookie brought in to fill a spot.

The Answering Head wrote beside it: Green, easily distracted.

A retired coroner, an ungraduated apprentice of Lady Mary.

The Answering Head wrote: Dead weight, small fry.

The last name was even more unremarkable.

Trainee Inspector, student recorder, a Newcomer.

The Answering Head paused at this name.

His pen tip hovered over the paper before writing two words.

"Gofer, ignore."

He didn’t know who this kid was, nor did he care.

A Newcomer likely didn’t even have a stable, complete Ether Micro-Cycle. They’d just follow their teacher down into the pit to do odd jobs, take photos, and keep records.

He had seen too many characters like this in his schemes; they never constituted any kind of variable.

The Answering Head put down his pen and re-examined the entire layout.

The Fog Shadow riot in the outer circle was a feint, played out in the open.

Its purpose was to draw everyone’s attention to the outer circle and the entrance of the secret passage.

The real blade would strike from the undefended inside.

The Answering Head never did these things alone.

He folded the schedule, brought it to the flame of an Oil Lamp, and set it alight.

The flame licked at the edges of the paper, turning the words to ash bit by bit.

The Answering Head raised his hand and looked at his palm.

Beneath the skin and flesh, what should have been there was being hollowed out, inch by inch.

He had already begun his reverse infiltration days ago, all to complete that "response" at the deepest, star-fallen point.

... ...

Back in the underground cavern, the major finished Reading the Wind.

"That wave of Fog Shadows at the secret passage entrance is a feint."

"The real threat is coming from the inside."

Winterworth drew his Enchanted Dual Blades again.

"How many prongs?" the Inspector team leader asked.

Major Aud didn’t have a chance to answer.

From deeper within the secret passage came the first chant. The sound was soft and distant, almost drowned out by the cavern’s echoes.

But every person present with inspiration felt a simultaneous tightening in their chest.

It was a fragment of a name.

A Fragment of the name of the thing at the bottom of the pit, woven from the fear and pain of countless dead.

The first Answering Group revealed itself.

They appeared to the left of the secret passage entrance, three figures slowly coalescing from the grayish-white Ether fog.

The one in the lead stood at the very front, the Fragment of the name rumbling from its throat.

The second stood half a step behind it, its chest rising and falling in perfect sync.

The third stood at the very back, head bowed, motionless.

Lead, Harmony, and Coda.

"Xiaoma, three on the left! Treat the intruders as Evil Beings!" the Second Team Leader shouted.

Xiaoma raised his flintlock gun and fired a shot at the lead chanter in front.

The Silver-Lead Bullet passed through the lead chanter’s chest. A small patch of its grayish-white Ether fog dissipated, but its chanting did not stop.

The Second Team Leader charged forward, smashing the butt of his gun, embedded with a Dark Silver Gemstone, down onto the lead chanter.

The silver light split the lead chanter in two, and the chant was cut short.

But just as the lead chanter’s humanoid form was dispersed, the "Coda" at the very back, which had been hanging its head motionlessly, suddenly looked up.

A smile spread across its face.

Then, its entire body silently dispersed, transforming into a wisp of extremely pure Ether that sank toward the pit’s core.

The Light Tree inside Richard’s chest trembled violently.

"Stop!"

Mrs. MacNeil was the first to react.

The Spirit Medium spoke almost at the exact moment the wisp of Ether sank.

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it silenced the entire cavern.

"That’s an Answering Group. I’ve seen something similar elsewhere."

"They come in groups of three. When you kill one, you’re making a sacrifice to the pit’s bottom on its behalf."

"Your Silver Bullets and Enchanted Blades work in reverse on them. Killing them is feeding them."

All the Hunters in the outer circle froze.

"So we don’t kill them?" the Second Team Leader asked, raising his gun. "What do we do if they charge at us? Just stand here and take it?"

"They can’t hurt you," Mrs. MacNeil said, staring at the entrance to the secret passage.

"The true Anchor has yet to appear."

Only then did Mr. Hutton straighten up from behind the Inscription Platform.

"The lady is right, but there’s something worse."

He raised his hand and pointed toward the secret passage.

From within, the second, third, and fourth Answering Groups were pouring out one after another.

Group after group, with no end in sight.

"I’ve seen reverse infiltration before, too."

"But that sort of thing is usually just one or two madmen sneaking in on their own. They never amount to much."

"But this today... so many Answering Groups, lined up perfectly and feeding themselves in."

"This isn’t something a few desperate madmen could pull off."

He looked up.

"Someone has brought out an entire ritual, perfectly intact."

The cavern fell silent for a moment.

Just then, another chant echoed from even deeper within.

This one was different from the previous Answering Groups—deeper, slower, more ancient.

Within this chant, that Fragment of the name was recited with exceptional completeness.

In the outer circle, the Gale read the flow of Ether for Major Aud.

"He got in days ago," the major gritted his teeth. "He’s been inside the whole time, waiting for this moment."

The Answering Head walked out from the deepest part of the passage.

He wore a faded old coat and had a face so ordinary it was unmemorable.

He needed no lead chanter, no harmony.

He himself was the lead, the harmony, and the coda all in one.

"That’s the core Anchor," Mrs. MacNeil said, clutching her Moonstone Pendant tightly.

"All those Answering Groups before were just paving the way for him."

"Who sent him?" the Second Team Leader asked.

"I don’t know," Mrs. MacNeil shook her head. "And it doesn’t matter right now."

"Only one thing matters... don’t let him reach that point."

Richard stood in the innermost circle, watching the Answering Head walk toward the pit’s core.

Inside his mind, [Rationality] was rapidly piecing fragments of information together.

’Reverse infiltration, answering the name, the Fog Shadow riot as a feint, the Answering Groups sacrificing themselves one by one...’

’But what force could have sent this Answering Head into the Unyielding Pit, which is sealed tight by nine stone rings?’

’And what force is feeding the name at the bottom of the pit?’

As Richard was thinking, the Jade Brooch on Mrs. MacNeil’s chest hummed again, trembling with particular violence this time.

The Spirit Medium’s expression changed. "Outside, in the West Suburb Mine Area... there’s a riot."

At the same moment, Major Aud read the source of that flow.

"A massive volume of ’response’ is pouring down from the surface," the major said through gritted teeth. "Thousands of people are shouting at the same time."

Through the audio link Mrs. MacNeil projected, everyone in the cavern understood what was happening outside.

On the surface, several coal mines in the West Suburb had gone on strike today.

The mine owners had suppressed wages and withheld pay. Last month, there had even been a cave-in accident that killed people, and compensation had yet to be provided.

Strikes were a common occurrence.

But within the crowd, "agitators" were repeatedly leading the chanting of slogans.

They called out the names of the miners who had died in the pits and the names of the foremen who had docked their pay.

One after another, thousands of workers joined in the shouting.

With an unnatural intensity, the strike snowballed into a riot.

In Richard’s mind, the two events finally clicked together.

Shouting in unison was itself a massive "response."

Thousands of people, shouting the same names with the same rhythm at the same time—the power generated by that was immense.