Chapter 101

“Wait! Don’t go any further!”

Ciel shouted urgently.

In her eyes, it looked as if something black was lurking inside the room.

Of course, that wasn’t something that existed in reality—it was something only she could see in the virtual space…

‘It’s dangerous…!’

Her instincts, gradually awakening as a Wizard, were warning her.

If her teammates in the real world stepped through the door she had just opened…

‘Something bad will definitely happen…!’

Ciel tried to shut the door again before the ‘thing’ inside noticed her presence.

But for some reason, the door, now completely open, refused to budge under her strength.

To make matters worse—

Rrrrrrrr—!

The black form inside noticed Ciel thanks to that previous movement. It slowly rose to its feet and began to creep toward her.

It had the shape of a television screen after a broadcast had ended.

If static noise were given physical form and bundled together, then fitted with two glowing red bulbs for eyes—it would look like that.

“……!”

One thing was certain: it bore hostility toward Ciel.

It flashed its pure white teeth and began to press in on her with movements like a melting slime.

‘If I stay still, I’m done for…!’

Ciel backed away and reached into her pocket. The same motion she had made earlier when opening the door. The keyring she pulled out transformed into the shape of a long staff.

‘Can I… really win…?’

A sudden wave of fear.

She wasn’t a pro.

She had only just started taking her first steps as a beginner Wizard. Meanwhile, that thing was a program with terrifying destructive power.

Its terrifying manifestation in cyberspace meant that the program possessed computational abilities far beyond what she or her side had.

Should she run?

Disconnect from the Deep Dive Port and escape to the outside world—that could be a valid option.

Although there were safety mechanisms in place, death of the ego within cyberspace could still lead to death in reality.

Especially in her case. Unlike normal humans who had organic CPUs—brains—her computational core was much more vulnerable to damage during Deep Dive.

Granted, it also meant she could connect deeper than typical Wizards, giving her more versatility—a double-edged sword.

In any case, given those conditions, fighting now would be too risky.

The opponent was powerful enough to cast doubt on victory, and losing could result in a fatal error in her AI core.

‘But…’

Ciel couldn’t bring herself to flee. And for good reason—she sensed something like “malice” from that monstrous program.

‘If I leave it alone, it’ll surely cause a major problem in reality as well.’

At the very least, she needed to extract some information—its creator, its purpose, its capabilities—anything her allies in the real world could use to prepare countermeasures.

And… she wasn’t entirely hopeless. Even if she herself was a pitiful beginner Wizard, the person who had built her weapon was none other than the greatest technician in this world.

‘This might actually work.’

The keyring-turned-staff.

The visual representation of her “deck,” a combination of her auxiliary computing units and hacking modules. The one who had created it was none other than Miyu.

In cyberspace, nearly half of a Techno-Wizard’s power came from the configuration of their “deck.”

It was just like how an Adaptee’s combat abilities changed depending on the modules they equipped.

‘If it’s the deck Lady Miyu made for me…’

Even if she couldn’t defeat that monster outright, she might be able to damage it and extract the crucial information she needed.

Yes, she would fight.

Running away was easy. She could shift the responsibility onto her allies in reality, step back as if it couldn’t be helped, and simply watch their battle from the sidelines.

‘But I can’t do that.’

To survive in this world, one needed power. Whether it was money, physical strength, or knowledge.

She had been dragged into this world without any of those things, and only thanks to others’ help had she finally earned the chance to step onto this battlefield and “win.”

If she ran away like a coward on her first sortie, she would never move forward. She’d remain a mere “trainee” Wizard, always relying on others.

She didn’t want that.

If she wanted to survive in this world as a human—

She had to fight until she earned that right.

‘…Let’s do our best.’

With that resolve, her auxiliary computing units roared to life. The staff in her hand transformed once more, wrapping her in armor.

A tall pointed hat and robe.

An owl perched on one shoulder.

The attire of a “wizard” one might expect from a fantasy novel—or perhaps from the domain of the [Arcanes], where monsters walked among them. It was the same outfit worn by “Evangeline,” the one she had always wished to become.

Bzzzzzzzt—!

Sensing her hostility, the “monster’s” static grew louder. But Ciel didn’t back down—she pointed her staff forward, and light began to gather at its tip.

“Haaaaaaah!”

With a shout filled with all her might, she began her first battle as a Wizard.

“She said don’t go in that room? What’s that supposed to mean? Ciel? Ciel!”

“[No response.]”

“Is the signal weakening?”

At the same moment that Ciel began her fight in cyberspace, the special unit’s field agents found themselves unable to move forward, halted in place.

Since Ciel wasn’t responding, they tried contacting Miyu, who was likely beside her.

“Miyu, Ciel’s not answering. What’s going on?”

“[Ah, it seems like she’s fighting a hostile program… I’m assisting from outside, but this one’s… really tough…]”

If even the legendary Miyu said it was “tough,” what kind of program was it?

The team members were both shocked and uncertain.

“What should we do? Our Wizard told us not to go any further.”

“[But if we want to stay on schedule, we have to keep moving.]”

“This whole thing was arranged by Chairman Stingray to train us, right? Rather than pushing recklessly, shouldn’t we leave the unavoidable parts to him…?”

“[You want to dump it on that bastard chairman? I’m against it. I don’t want to owe that man anything more than necessary. If we can’t handle this ourselves, how lightly do you think he’ll regard us?]”

“That’s just personal pride. This is real combat. If we step into danger because of that pride, we might end up in an irreversible situation. Why are you so wary of Chairman Stingray anyway?”

“[That’s none of your business.]”

“Both of you, enough.”

Before the disagreement between Raina and Silence could escalate into a full-blown argument, Iri stopped them.

In any case, Iri was the team leader, and the team would move according to her decisions.

Iri closely examined the area beyond the doorway.

The passage Ciel had opened through hacking was cut off from electricity, shrouded in darkness like a cave.

Without a vision-related module installed, Iri couldn’t see clearly what lay ahead.

The area where they currently stood was illuminated by sunlight, but beyond that, unless a drone followed them in real-time to provide light, even fighting would be difficult.

“Raina. What’s the scanner showing?”

“When I checked with a drone, there was a slight mana reaction, but the readings weren’t very threatening. There’s nothing visible to the naked eye either.”

“Senior, could you sneak in with your Cloaking Module, scout the situation, and come back?”

“[That’s possible, but if I do, I won’t be able to use the Cloaking Module for a while. Once we pass this corridor, the final destination should be ahead. You sure about this?]”

Iri hesitated.

Sending Silence in to investigate in exchange for disabling his stealth ability during the final battle was a tough trade-off.

It was practically like discarding a powerful joker card before the real fight began, so it wasn’t an easy decision to make.

“Hmm…”

“[What’s got you so worried?]”

“I’ve got a bad feeling.”

Currently, the Techno-Wizard Ciel was fighting an unidentified program.

Since this was a Stingray-owned facility, the possibility of an inactive defense system reactivating was very plausible. That might also be why even with Miyu’s help, Ciel was having a hard time handling it.

Besides, when it came to battling [Arcanes], the Wizard’s role wasn’t particularly large.

They were most effective when fighting against “humans.” In a monster-slaying mission like this, expecting more than navigation support from a Wizard was unrealistic.

So, unless the security system completely blocked their path, Ciel’s absence wouldn’t heavily impact the battle.

Even so, Iri’s instincts were screaming.

Danger.

Something was dangerous.

“…Iri?”

“Let’s manually shut the door for now. We’ll move again once we can get support from the Wizard.”

“[Understood.]”

Silence didn’t seem pleased with Iri’s decision, but he chose to comply. Even if she was two years his junior, she was currently the team’s leader.

They forcefully closed the door leading to the next area and waited for Ciel to return.

No one could say how long it would take—perhaps around an hour?

Just as that thought crossed her mind—

“…Did you feel that?”

“[Something’s coming.]”

“There’s a response on the scanner too.”

A powerful presence could be felt from beyond the closed door. It wasn’t just one or two—the trio quickly backed away and assumed combat stances.

“[What kind of enemies are they?]”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen signals like this before.”

“Everyone, behind me.”

Prepared for the worst, Iri deployed her shield, and the other two cautiously hid behind her and observed.

Then—

Boom! Crash! Crackle!

Something slammed into the barrier beyond the door. It was a sliding door, so it should’ve just slid open—but the enemy deliberately blew it apart.

From the fact that they destroyed such a thick barrier with just a few hits, it was clear they had tremendous strength.

Beyond the dark hallway—

Red lights flickered.

“[Multiple entities.]”

“They… don’t look like trolls.”

Shadows of unfamiliar shapes.

And when those figures finally stepped into the light, the trio involuntarily gasped.

Humanoid bodies.

But with a strange texture—these were a group of security androids. They had likely been in storage and woke up after the colony collapsed, now recognizing the three as intruders.

…Or at least, that would have been preferable.

“W-What the hell is that…?!”

Something was off about those androids. Parts like arms and legs were missing, and their staggering, grotesque movements were one thing.

But what clung to their backs—

Huge, black, fleshy lumps pulsated like tumors.

Faced with a sight she had never seen before, Iri tensed and pressed her shield tightly against her body. Then she asked:

“S-Senior. Do you know what that is?”

“[That’s…]”

It was certainly no ordinary [Arcane].

He activated his cybernetic equipment to its limit and rapidly scanned the data stored in his brain. With help from his auxiliary memory, long-dormant fragments began to surface.

Yes, he remembered.

He couldn’t say for sure, but he’d read about a similar case before. According to that data, this was undoubtedly—

“[…Magic.]”

“…What?”

“[There’s a witch or a warlock.]”

Somewhere in this colony.

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