Chapter 85

(1) If only I could ride a bike with them and race together, but unfortunately, Renock never got to drive a bike himself.

"Sit behind me."

Hina, who had somehow made her way down below, put on a bike helmet and turned to look back.

Beneath her hands gripping the throttle, a bike large enough for two people was revealed.

"........."

Though her expression couldn't be seen through the helmet, it was clear that Hina was smirking from the way her eyes curved.

If I had known this would happen, I should have completed the riding assistance magic sooner.

Without a word, Renock, who felt a rare sense of regret, climbed onto the back of the bike she had already mounted.

Vroom!!

The monster bike, which looked at least twice as big as the others, roared to life.

The exhaust sound, vibrations, and custom-made options hanging on both sides were incomparable to other bikes.

Hina, seemingly noticing Renock's gaze, turned back and said casually.

"Isn't it cool?"

"......It looks usable."

"This is something I only use for external missions, and I modified it at my own expense. I spent all my performance bonuses for half a year to build it."

"I don't care."

She doesn't seem very active, but I guess her hobbies are in this direction.

Though Renock replied indifferently, Hina continued with a smile.

"Well... I understand. Not all freelancers have to know how to ride a bike, right? Oh, maybe I should have lent you a bicycle?"

"Stop teasing and let's go."

Hina didn't stop even at Renock's irritated retort.

"I thought you could do anything, but I never imagined you couldn't ride a bike."

"......It's not that I can't ride a bike. I just need to conserve my magic power as much as possible...."

"I was joking."

Seeing Renock frown silently, Hina laughed softly.

"I saw how powerful you were in the temporary base recapture operation."

"..........."

"I was convinced. This operation will succeed. And for that, it's right for you to conserve your magic power until the very last moment."

...It seems the way he used magic against Daron left a deep impression on her.

It wasn't hard to understand.

They had worked together on several operations before, but this was the first time Hina had seen Renock actually use magic.

Even though he must have known how he fought from the data screens, her attitude had changed dramatically, likely due to her newfound confidence.

In the end, Renock's frown deepened as he turned his head to look at the surroundings.

"........."

"Why?"

A familiar scene.

With a sense of déjà vu, Renock's eyes grew calm.

He should have guessed when he heard about the forced labor camp, but seeing this dilapidated alleyway, he finally realized.

"......I see."

The neon signs and dilapidated light sources, the crumpled metal sheets and worn-out signs—all part of the labor camp.

Memories of being slapped and hit for the first time, of staying up all night with a tired body, and of the first time he killed someone, the cold sensation of the gun in his hand—all came flooding back.

This labor camp was where Renock first opened his eyes to this world, in that very factory.

'I thought it would be somewhere outside the city...'

But he had never intended to look for it.

Before mastering magic, Renock was just one of the workers who had escaped from the factory on the brink of death.

And he had killed more than three people using a supervisor's gun.

But after Renock honed his talent and stood tall as a mage, he had buried those memories along with his fears.

It had been over a year.

He never imagined he would return here in such a manner.

Memories kept surfacing.

'Come to think of it, the supervisors here used to pay tribute to a syndicate. And the items they sold were...'

"......The grinders used by necromancers to process corpses."

"Ban? What are you talking about?"

Hina turned to him with a puzzled look at his muttering.

Renock opened his mouth to explain the realization he had just had but then shook his head.

The fact that the relationship between Craig and Palsion was older than he thought didn't matter much now.

What was important was to find and quickly attack Palsion's main base from the distance where this labor camp was located.

"Nothing. We're getting closer. What do you plan to do?"

"Palsion's main base is located in the deepest part of the labor camp. Do you see it?"

Renock looked up at the sky as Hina spoke.

The sky above the vast labor camp. A pitch-black curtain, like a dark cloud, enveloped the surroundings and settled heavily.

"From the moment we started approaching, it began to reveal itself and is becoming more distinct."

"........."

"The barrier spell used by necromancers, 'Raven Curtain'... It's famous for being an impregnable fortress that freely allows entry but never lets anyone escape."

Renock easily understood the meaning of her words.

"Since we have to go inside anyway, they probably thought there was no reason to hide it once we were spotted."

"That's highly likely. There are two options. Finish everything before the curtain fully closes and get out, or..."

"Blow off Craig's head."

Chesha, who was blowing a bubble gum, interjected.

On either side of the bike she was riding, there were massive cartridges the size of a person, making it look quite unusual.

The design seemed to invite a barrage of bullets in the narrow alleyways.

The enormous black curtain that enveloped the entire area.

Though he didn't know what the shape descending like a giant curtain covering the sky meant, the task remained the same.

"Of course, it's best to greet them lightly before we enter. They must have noticed our approach by now."

"Greet them?"

"Do you not know, sir?"

The answer came not from Hina, but from Chesha, who was riding a massive monster bike several times her size right next to her.

Click!!

As she spoke, the cartridges on the side of her bike opened, and a mechanical device emitting a bright red pulse emerged.

Chesha let go of the bike's handlebars and grabbed it with both hands.

Renock's frown deepened for a moment at the sight of her controlling the bike with just the strength of her thighs.

But when the mechanical device unfolded into a massive bazooka over 2 meters long, Renock couldn't help but open his mouth in surprise.

"Artillery exists for moments like this."

Boom!!

She grabbed a missile launched from the bike's wheels and pushed the heavy metal chunk into the barrel, adjusting her stance.

At the same time, a massive red magic power enveloped her entire body, transforming into a heavy pulse.

Whizz!!

Aiming the barrel at the sky, she pulled the trigger.

Kaboom!!

A flash of red light soared into the cloudy sky, scattering red waves.

The thunderous explosion that seemed to tear through the atmosphere made all the freelancers following behind raise their heads in unison.

[What was she aiming for?]

Chen's voice came through the earphones, cutting through the roar of the bikes.

Without a clear target, it was hard to guess what Chesha was thinking by her vague preemptive strike.

But Renock had a good idea of her intentions from the flow of magic power he saw just before she pulled the trigger.

He had used shooting assistance magic for a considerable amount of time, so he could empathize with her to some extent.

"Is it a wide-area attack...?"

"Ah?"

Chesha turned her head at Renock's muttering.

Her eyes, visible beyond the inflated bubble gum, were wide open.

"How did you know?"

[What are you talking about...]

Before Chen's words even finished, the cloudy sky opened up.

Dozens of red flashes poured through the broken curtain.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!!!

The intense noise, like a machine gun firing, rained down precisely on the center of the labor camp, the target of their mission.

Explosions and dust clouds erupted everywhere, turning the street into a chaotic battlefield in an instant.

The freelancers, who were riding their bikes into the labor camp, were so stunned by the bombardment from the sky that they couldn't even pay attention to their surroundings.

Only then did the other freelancers, who finally understood where the bombardment came from and why she suddenly did this, look at her in shock.

[She's crazy. Is this the skill of an enforcer?]

[Riding a bike while delivering such precise concentrated fire...!!]

Like the freelancers' honest admiration, Renock was also surprised, having guessed the flow of magic power in Chesha's hands.

The other freelancers were no different.

Chesha, who casually accepted their admiring gazes, put the bazooka, larger than her own body, back into the bike's cartridge.

As if this was nothing.

"Let's go then."

There was no response.

Vroom!!

Dozens of bikes raced together, charging into the dilapidated streets of the labor camp.

No one stood in their way on the streets where black smoke billowed.