SSS-Rank Awakening: My Infinite Absorption System

Chapter 84: Two Rising Tides

"Nim, do you prefer the mint tea or the roasted barley?"

Jolly set two steaming mugs on the table, her apron dusted with flour from the morning biscuit dough.

"The barley... smells like warm grain from the southern hills."

"Barley it is, take the blue mug, it keeps heat longer."

Nim cradled the ceramic cup between her slender, bandaged hands, her dark feline ears tilting slightly toward the sound of rain drumming against the fourth-floor glass.

"How are your ribs feeling this morning, Nim?"

"Less tight, Ruby... the herbal compress Nila prepared took away the sharp burning."

"Good, but that doesn’t mean you go lifting heavy crates today."

"I am used to carrying weight, Ruby."

"You are carrying zero weight until the bruising turns yellow and fades, house rule."

"She isn’t joking about the house rules, Nim... yesterday she threatened to tie Sefu to a chair for reaching for extra sugar."

A tiny, faint smile touched the corner of Nim’s lips as she took a small sip of the hot barley tea.

"Your household has many rules, Fin."

"Only the important ones, like eating warm food and keeping your boots dry."

Fin sat at the corner of the table, spreading out the topographical maps of District Six and the harbor basin.

[ Certified Rank C Hunter ]

[ Attributes: Str 119 | Agi 128 (Overclock: 384) | End 120 | Sense 84 | Pulse 10 ]

[ Current EXP: 11,500,000 / 250,000,000 ]

The door buzzer sounded twice, followed by Maya’s brisk footsteps entering the foyer with a heavy portfolio of printed manifests.

"Morning, team... I brought the decrypted telemetry logs from the District Six annex."

"Did you find the deployment schedules, Maya?"

"I found the schedules, but they are encoded with biometric activation phrases."

Maya laid the glossy printouts over Fin’s map, pointing to a highlighted sequence stamped in red ink.

"Look at this code block right here... ’Iron Tide, Second Bell’."

Nim froze with her cup halfway to her lips, her amber eyes locking onto the printed paper.

"Nim? Do you recognize that phrase?"

"They... they repeated that phrase every evening during the roll call."

"Who repeated it?"

"The lead technician with the silver spectacles... he said it into the radio before locking the outer vault."

"Did he explain what it meant?"

"He told the guards that when the second bell rang, Batch Five would be released into the lower transit tunnels to cut off the civilian evacuation."

"To cut off evacuation routes?"

"Yes... he said the sea would force the people inland, and the iron tide would force them into the collection pens."

A sickening tactical clarity settled over the room as Maya brought up the oceanic satellite projections on her portable screen.

"Look at the oceanic buoy telemetry from the offshore perimeter, Fin."

"The SS gate in the Pacific trench?"

"The mana vortex expanded by fourteen percent over the last twenty-four hours."

"How long until the primary leviathan surge reaches coastal waters?"

"Roughly forty-eight hours before the first wave strikes the southern breakwater."

"So Nim’s testimony matches the oceanic timeline down to the hour."

"Two rising tides," Ruby said, her voice dropping into a grim, resonant growl. "Monsters crashing against the sea wall from the outside, and Genesis death squads butchering people in the subway tunnels from the inside."

"They want the defense forces divided so neither front can hold."

"If the Coastal Marshals reinforce the sea wall, the city burns from within... if they police the streets, the leviathans breach the harbor."

"That is why they engineered the chaos," Nila said, tracing the municipal rail lines with her fingertip. "A panicked population cannot mount an organized defense."

"Then we divide our forces with purpose, not in panic."

"What is your deployment plan, Fin?"

"Sefu and thirty Iron Dogs stay anchored at terminal twelve and the harbor medical ferries."

"Can they hold the docks?"

"With their logistics commissions, they can requisition heavy harbor barricades and automated turret emplacements from the port authority."

"What about the sea wall itself?"

"The regular hunter guild contingents and the naval patrol cruisers will have to hold the outer oceanic breakwater."

"And who handles the underground rail tunnels?"

"We do," Fin said, tapping the District Six transit depot on the map. "Me, Ruby, Nila, and Maya on telemetry."

"What about me?" Nim asked, setting her tea mug down with quiet determination.

"You are on medical leave, Nim."

"I know those service tunnels, Fin... I spent three weeks listening to where the water drains and where the ventilation shafts connect."

"You are still healing from collar burns, Nim, your core cannot take combat strain."

"I don’t need to fight to show you the doors."

"She has a point, Fin... the municipal rail maps are twenty years out of date, and Genesis rerouted several access lines."

"If Nim guides from cover behind Ruby’s shield, she can navigate us around the automated minefields."

"Can you recognize their directional chalk marks in the dark, Nim?"

"They don’t use chalk, Nila... they use phosphorescent resin stamped onto the drainage pipes, visible only with low-light filters."

"That would explain why our surface scouts missed the secondary staging depot."

"I can show you the bypass hatches that lead behind their construct bays," Nim said, her voice steady and clear. "You won’t have to blow open the reinforced front gates."

Fin looked into Nim’s amber eyes, seeing no recklessness or suicidal pride, only the cold, steady desire to tear down the walls that had caged her.

"Strictly navigation from the rear of the formation, Nim... zero active combat engagements."

"I agree."

"If a construct breaches the perimeter, you drop behind Ruby’s shield wall and let us handle the steel."

"I am not foolish, Fin... I want to live to see those cages melted down into scrap."

"Then it is settled."

Jolly stepped forward, placing a warm satchel packed with dried fruit and clean bandages into Nim’s hands.

"Take this with you, Nim... and make sure you bring my brother back in one piece."

Nim accepted the satchel, her fingers brushing against Jolly’s hand with gentle care.

"I will keep him on the dry path, Jolly, I promise."

"Good, now let’s get down to the armory and check the explosive charges."

"Maya, how many breaching charges do we have in the van?"

"Six directional shaped charges, calibrated for reinforced masonry and concrete blast doors."

"Pack four smoke canisters and two flares as well, Nila."

"Already in the tactical harness, Fin."

"What about the civilian shelters near the District Six terminus, Maya?"

"The municipal authority designated the old cathedral basement and the central rail hall as primary evacuation zones."

"Are there armed guards stationed at those shelters?"

"Only second-tier civil militia with riot shields and stun batons... nothing capable of stopping military-grade constructs."

"Which means if Batch Five breaks through the tunnel gates, those shelters will turn into slaughterhouses."

"Which is why we intercept them inside the staging depot before the second bell ever rings."

A burst of static crackled through Maya’s desktop receiver as Sefu’s booming voice broke through the channel.

"Fin, this is Sefu at terminal twelve... perimeter barricades are locked down tight."

"How are the children on the ferries doing, Sefu?"

"All one hundred and forty-two are warm, fed, and resting under double guard... harbor patrol cruisers are maintaining three miles of standoff distance."

"Good, keep the heavy shock maces visible on the gangway, old dog."

"They won’t get within fifty paces of these boats, Marshal, you have my word."

"Copy that, Sefu, we are rolling toward District Six now."

The grey sky over the harbor grew darker as the first squalls of the approaching storm broke across the city’s rooftops.

Two tides were rising against the city, but this time, the people inside the walls would not be waiting in the dark.