Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

“In your case, Major, there were unavoidable circumstances. You don’t need to feel guilty. Hmm, anyway, I try to live as regularly as possible… But when I’m busy, I don’t push myself too hard. I can’t neglect my work just to keep my routine. Recently, it’s been possible because my daily life has been monotonous.”

“True, only low-grade rifts have been occurring, so I haven’t had to go to the field…”

Iberis nodded slightly and looked up at Lucas as if seeing him anew. It had already been three weeks since he came here, and during that time, Iberis hadn’t gone to the field even once.

“Thanks to you, Captain, I’ve been having a vacation that’s not really a vacation.”

“This is how it should normally be.”

“The unit members seem to be exhausted though…”

“They have to pay for being salary thieves all this time.”

Lucas responded coldly. Unlike the unit members who were gradually accepting him, Lucas still viewed them negatively. To him, a near-perfectionist, the unit members were nothing more than lazy people who didn’t diligently perform their assigned tasks.

“Anyway, I hope it stays like this. So that you can recover smoothly, Major.”

“Oh, that statement is a bit dangerous.”

“Pardon?”

“You know… there’s a saying in hospitals, right? If you say it’s quiet, patients suddenly flood in. It’s similar here. If you say you’re bored or enjoying the leisure, rifts occur as if they were waiting for it.”

“Oh no.”

Lucas covered his mouth with his hand as if he had made a mistake. Then he looked at Iberis with a serious expression.

“What should we do?”

“Haha, why are you getting so serious?”

Iberis laughed softly at Lucas, who looked genuinely flustered. His gentle eyes curved into crescents and his small lips formed a soft arc.

Lucas unconsciously stopped walking at Iberis’s brightest smile he had seen so far. Although his complexion was still pale, the way his face lit up when he smiled was quite impressive.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I didn’t know he could smile like that. Lucas pressed his lips together, feeling a bit strange. If he didn’t, he felt his expression might become weird.

“You’re being silly. Then, shall we have a sparring match next time?”

“Sparring?”

“Yes, I want to see your skills.”

“Sounds good.”

Lucas gladly accepted Iberis’s proposal. Just then, a loud warning alarm sounded in the building.

[Rift occurring, rift occurring.]

Lucas’s eyes trembled slightly at the announcement confirming what Iberis had worried about earlier. The two looked at each other once before running to the main building as if by agreement.

“Major!”

Brenda, who had just come out of the main building, hurriedly reported the situation to Iberis.

“It’s an A-grade rift…!”

A-grade. At those words, Iberis and Lucas’s faces hardened simultaneously.

“If it’s that scale, an earthquake should have been detected earlier… Was there nothing?”

Iberis asked with a puzzled expression. For a high-grade rift, there should have been an earthquake before it occurred.

“Well… it seems the earthquake didn’t reach us because it was blocked by the Land of Death. That’s why the Intelligence Department detected it a bit late too.”

“Ah, I see. Where is it?”

Iberis made a sound of understanding at Brenda’s explanation. Such things happened occasionally, perhaps because a completely different ecosystem formed when an area became a demon realm.

“To the east!”

“Prepare to move out immediately. Everyone goes except for the minimum personnel left behind.”

“Yes, sir!”

Brenda responded energetically and ran to the broadcast room to call the unit members. She had hoped that Iberis wouldn’t have to go to the field if possible, but his power was needed to tackle an A-grade rift without casualties.

“I’ll be using my powers after a long time. Captain, get ready quickly too.”

“…Yes.”

Iberis’s eyes shone at the prospect of going out to the field after several weeks. He turned his head with a mix of worry and excitement, then paused.

“Why does your complexion look like that? Don’t tell me it’s because of what I said earlier?”

Iberis tilted his head seeing Lucas’s darkened expression. Lucas didn’t usually show much change in his expression, but being together every day recently, Iberis could read his mood a little.

“It was just a joke, don’t worry about it.”

“…It’s hard to call it a joke when it actually happened.”

“That’s how it is here. I told you earlier, didn’t I? There are too many variables. A rift would have occurred today even if you hadn’t said anything.”

“…”

Despite Iberis’s consolation, Lucas’s face showed no signs of relaxing. It wasn’t that he believed in this kind of superstition. But he couldn’t help feeling uneasy. More than the rift occurring itself, he was concerned that it was a matter requiring Iberis to be deployed.

“Anyway, get ready quickly and come to the assembly point. It’s an A-grade, so make sure to bring your equipment.”

Iberis, who couldn’t actually pat Lucas’s shoulder and only made a patting gesture in the air, turned and headed for the main building.

“Tsk.”

Lucas, who had been staring blankly at Iberis’s retreating figure, nervously ran his hand through his hair once Iberis was completely out of sight. Then he quickly moved on.

* * *

“It’s Lycan Sloth.”

Iberis, who had arrived at the rift site, examined the enemy through binoculars. This time, the monsters were Lycan Sloth, or werewolves. Werewolves were quite troublesome opponents due to their thick fur and sharp claws.

“There are Black Wolves and White Wolves too.”

Brenda made a disgusted expression looking at the monsters blocking the rift entrance densely. Even at a glance, there seemed to be at least several hundred of them.

“The boss must be the Lycan Sloth King.”

Iberis muttered as if it was obvious without even looking. He had already faced werewolves several times before.

“With that many, we can’t even send a reconnaissance team. Let’s clear out the wolves first.”

“Yes, sir!”

“This operation is about speed. We must finish before nightfall at all costs.”

Due to their unique characteristics, werewolves become several times stronger at night than during the day. So it was best to finish the operation before dark. Brenda, also knowing this, gave orders to the unit members without delay.

“Prepare the mana cannons!”

At Brenda’s shout, several huge cannons came forward with a ground-shaking sound. Mana cannons were weapons used to deal with multiple monsters at once, firing collected mana from ability users instead of shells.

“Fire!”

Bang! Following Brenda’s signal, the ability users injected their mana into the cannons. Immediately after, the cannon barrels shook and powerful mana blasts shot out.

“Argh!”

“Keeek!”

The Black Wolves and White Wolves swept up by the mana blasts fell with screams. Those hit directly left no trace at all.

“Once more! Keep firing!”

Brenda ordered to keep firing the mana cannons as the enraged wolves rushed towards them. At her shout, light beams of various colors were fired with a thunderous noise.

“Throw the grenades!”

The unit members threw grenades at the monsters that had approached, avoiding the mana cannons. Having fought like this every time they went on missions for the past few weeks, it had become a familiar battle method.

“Grrrr…!”

“Be careful!”

The auxiliary unit dealt with the wolves that had managed to avoid even that. Lucas also aimed his mana gun indifferently at the wolves rushing towards him.

Bang, bang!

As if to prove that his skills shown at the shooting range weren’t fake, wolves’ heads exploded every time Lucas pulled the trigger. Caleb dealt with the wolves that dodged the bullets and charged in.

“Grrrr, grrr!”

“It’s the Lycan Sloth!”

As the wolves kept dying, the Lycan Sloth watching from behind also joined the battle in earnest. However, before they could properly use their strength, they were caught by an unknown force. Brenda had used her ability to stop them using the werewolves’ shadows.

“Major!”

As soon as Iberis heard Brenda calling him, he drew up mana. Soon, dozens of ice arrows formed in the air. As he swept his hand down, the arrows rushed towards the Lycan Sloth whose feet were bound.

“Gack!”

“Keeek!”

The arrows made of mana pierced through the Lycan Sloth’s fur and skin, which were harder than rock, far too easily. The ice arrows lodged in their bodies began to freeze the werewolves from the inside. In just a few seconds, the Lycan Sloth’s lives ended pitifully as their hearts froze solid. Iberis fired ice arrows a few more times until there were no more werewolves standing on the ground.

“Phew…”

Iberis caught his breath after instantly clearing out the Lycan Sloth and wolves that had formed a battle line at the entrance with overwhelming firepower. He was a bit surprised at his own physical condition. Just a few weeks ago, using his ability like this would have immediately destabilized his mana, but today he felt fine.

Is this the effect of guiding?

Iberis clenched and unclenched his steady fist with a look of wonder. It was a given that as mana stabilized, the duration of abilities increased and their utilization and destructive power also improved. His expression brightened slightly at the light body condition he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Now that the entrance is mostly cleared, we’ll enter straight away. Everyone follow except those who need rest, the injured, and those in charge of the cleanup.”