Control Department, Secondary Lounge No. 2.
"Wraaaaah—!!!"
Accompanied by a shriek that sounded neither human nor like any known lifeform, a massive pink-purple beam of light swept from left to right, piercing straight through the entire facility!
It was hard to imagine that, not long ago, this pink-purple flying serpent emitting such a terrifying scream had once been a sweet and adorable magical girl.
That magical girl who had vowed to fight evil, who would even expend her own power to heal employees after chatting with them—
Now, she herself had become the embodiment of evil.
However, after unleashing that horrifying laser, O-01-04 instantly exhausted an enormous amount of energy and temporarily lost all strength.
Thud.
Its massive body slammed heavily onto the ground, panting incessantly.
Bang—!
At that moment, the corridor door behind it was violently kicked open from the outside!
Three disheveled figures, gasping for breath, stumbled out through the doorway.
Their bodies were covered in dust and debris, their faces filled with exhaustion and fury.
They had no intention of stopping to rest even for a moment. The instant they arrived, they lunged straight at the damned flying serpent lying helpless on the ground—
Slash!!!
"Huff… huff…"
The moment they reached its side, the three of them viciously swung their E.G.O weapons, which flashed with multicolored light, using every ounce of strength they had.
As if venting all the pent-up frustration of being dragged around the entire facility like dogs.
"You motherf— you piece of trash… how… how are you so damn good at running?!"
"Dragging us… dragging us around like this… making us run a marathon…"
"Come on! Run! …Try running again, I dare you!"
Long-suppressed resentment finally erupted.
Fueled by rage and hatred, their strikes were faster and heavier than usual.
Splatter!!!
Slash! Slash!
Rip!!!
Heavy blades tore into the monster's tough hide again and again, sending thick sprays of viscous purple blood flying.
After a prolonged tug-of-war, its visible health bar finally dropped to the halfway point.
Yet just reducing it to half health had already forced the three elite employees to run around the entire facility for what felt like half a day.
Whoosh—
But the weakened state after its energy drain quickly ended.
Just as they were about to launch another round of attacks, that all-too-familiar, blood-pressure-spiking pink magic circle appeared beneath the monster once again.
As the circle activated, the enormous flying serpent vanished from the spot yet again.
"AAAAHHHH! It ran again! I swear I'm going to kill you!!!"
Justin screamed in despair. Even the massive eyeball on her Mimicry armor bulged wider, reacting to its wearer's fury.
"Sigh… chase it… we have to chase it again… the detector says it ran back toward Central Headquarters…"
Audrey looked equally helpless, but could only sheathe the long blade Heart of Despair at her waist and step forward once more to pursue.
"What?! We just ran all the way from the lowest level to the Control Department, and now it's back at Central Headquarters again?!"
Hearing this, Harumoto felt a tightness in her chest, almost unable to catch her breath.
"I swear, I'm going to—"
—
Manager's Office.
Watching the three elites take only a couple of breaths before sprinting off toward the mid-level departments again, X could only silently cheer them on, his heart full of sympathy.
Physical exhaustion wasn't the real problem.
The real damage came from the frustration of finally catching up, landing only a few hits, and then being forced to relocate and resume the chase all over again.
O-01-04.
Although its laser could pierce the entire facility with terrifying range, the actual damage it dealt was quite limited.
A long charge-up time.
Fires in only one direction.
Cannot change direction.
All of these fatal flaws somehow existed simultaneously in its one and only attack.
As long as it was handled properly, it posed little real threat.
Compared to the merely intimidating laser, the truly troublesome part was its habit of teleporting away after firing once, forcing suppression teams to run all over the place.
It could be said that, up to this point, today's work for those three elite employees had been almost entirely spent dealing with O-01-04.
"Wraaaaah—!!!"
Another piercing scream echoed through the facility. Even without switching to its surveillance feed, X could hear it clearly.
"Sigh… letting it keep disrupting things like this isn't a solution…"
With a headache, X temporarily lowered the related audio feedback and continued directing other employees.
"…All personnel, remain vigilant. Do not position yourselves on the same horizontal line as the flying serpent."
"O-01-04's real-time coordinates have been synchronized to all departmental databases and personal terminals. Everyone, proceed with caution."
—
Crack—
At last, accompanied by the familiar sound of shattering glass, the flying serpent's final sliver of health was depleted.
After nearly an hour-long chase, the three elite employees finally managed to suppress O-01-04 together.
Humm—
However, the instant its health reached zero, yet another magic circle appeared beneath it.
"!!"
"!!!"
"!"
The three employees—now suffering full-blown magic-circle PTSD—nearly failed to catch their breath.
This time, however, the massive flying serpent did not teleport again.
Instead, it dissolved into gentle waves of white light, slowly dispersing.
The original magical girl appeared above the magic circle, descending gradually until she touched the ground.
Like a scene from a movie—an angel falling to the mortal world.
Her soft pink lips were lightly pressed together, her beautiful eyes tightly closed.
Her lovely outfit, pitiful demeanor, and delicate features—
All of it combined to make her resemble a sleeping princess from an ancient fairy tale, dreamlike and captivating.
Yet given the circumstances, it felt far more like a "defeated boss" cutscene.
Especially for the three employees present, who had absolutely no mood to admire her.
They practically wanted to keep swinging their weapons and mince the Abnormality into paste to vent their rage.
But without the Manager's order, they could only stop.
By the time they reached Grade Five, their mental resilience was usually well-honed.
Even so, Justin and the others nearly lost control and kept attacking.
That alone showed just how miserably they had been led around.
In the end, the only way they could vent their excess anger was by taking it out on the Amber Dawn that followed—
A swarm of orange-scented worms.
Only after the Dawn ordeal ended did the hearts of the three finally calm down.
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