The Shadow Order has members who specialize in espionage and stealth.
Sart of the Shadows,
And Esther, the One Who Dwells.
Although they aren't professional combatants within the sect, underestimating their power is a grave mistake.
Sart of the Shadows, for instance, once escaped unscathed despite being besieged by the Special Mobile Strike Force led by Tatiana Belov from the Navy Line.
In particular, Esther, with her near-immortal survivability typical of high-level Specters and her tricky combat style, remains active even in the latter parts of the scenario.
["I was having quite a bit of fun with this toy recently... How do you plan to take responsibility for breaking it like this?"]
That's why she's the last person I should have encountered here.
'...Why the hell is Esther here?'
From what I know, there's no reasonable connection between the Bagos' Brothers and the Shadow Order.
At least, not during the Silk Road Scenario, when the Bagos' Brothers start moving in earnest.
If I had known this beforehand, I wouldn't have recklessly targeted the Bagos' Brothers first.
'Esther said Bagos was a toy.'
That leaves one possible inference.
'In other words, at this point, Bagos and Esther had some connection, but later on, she got bored of him.'
Considering Esther's personality, it wasn't too strange.
The word "toy" itself was telling—Esther had a nasty habit of picking up anything interesting just to play with it.
It seemed I'd picked the wrong timing.
["Hmm, hmm..."]
Esther, now possessing Bagos' body, looked at me with an amused gaze.
["You... You're human."]
As expected of a Specter sensitive to ether, Esther immediately saw through my disguise.
No matter how convincingly I dressed up, it was impossible to deceive the eyes of a true high-level Monster.
I didn't answer.
Even if she had already figured it out, I had no intention of giving her more confidence in her guess.
If I spoke any further...
'There's a chance my identity will be exposed.'
That was something I wanted to avoid at all costs.
If the Shadow Order became aware of my existence too early, there was no telling how they would respond.
'In that case...'
There was only one option left.
'Silence her here.'
With the situation as it was, avoiding a fight was no longer possible.
The opponent was Esther, the One Who Dwells.
Even within the Shadow Order, she was a figure of considerable influence, but I had no choice now.
'Save the GHOST-157 experimental round for the very last resort.'
If I used it now, driving Esther out wouldn't be difficult.
No matter how powerful she was, even Esther wouldn't have experienced taking a direct hit from an ether-damaging weapon like GHOST-157.
The problem was that if she returned to the Shadow Order afterward, my existence would inevitably be exposed to them.
'I must eliminate Esther here and now.'
As I slowly took my stance, Esther, now in Bagos' body, glared at me.
["Huh? What are you doing now? Are you seriously thinking of fighting me?"]
I responded by tightening my grip on Ankelenth's Spear.
As expected, Esther was severely underestimating me.
To be fair, given the difference in combat power, it wasn't entirely unreasonable.
["Oh my, you really intend to fight?"]
Her mouth stretched unnaturally, as if literally being torn open.
Maybe it was because she was already in a dead body that she didn't care about disfiguring it.
["Interesting."]
The ether began to stir.
[Kyaaaaaah────!]
[It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.]
[Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.]
Just by manifesting her presence, she made the surrounding ether surge uncontrollably.
That wasn't all.
[It's coming───!]
Out of nowhere, a massive ether mass materialized before me in the shape of a fist.
The moment I saw it, my instincts screamed.
'If I block it... I'll die.'
I wasn't even sure if I could block that thing physically.
I wrapped myself in Bone Armor and dodged to the side as fast as I could.
Boom—!!
The fist crashed into the cave wall, sending rock fragments scattering and shaking the Snake Cave as if it were about to collapse.
Just from the sheer force generated by ether, it caused a physical impact of that magnitude...
Even seeing it with my own eyes made me feel overwhelmed.
Amidst the swirling dust and debris, I could see Esther, still posing as Bagos, leisurely watching me.
'First, I need to destroy Bagos' body completely.'
I couldn't afford to hold back any weapon except for the experimental rounds, so I switched the Ark-15 automatic rifle to shotgun mode.
Ziiing—
Click, click.
["So, you really were human."]
Esther gave a sly grin.
I didn't expect to keep pretending to be a monster forever now that I'd been discovered.
The act had already failed.
["Now that I think about it, Sart mentioned being defeated by some human... Why do I feel like I'm about to remember who? It was also a Skull Knight, just like you."]
How quick to catch on.
Just like Esther—sharp as a viper.
Or rather, a specter.
But I had no intention of wasting time bickering with her, so instead of responding, I pulled the trigger.
Bang!!
However, the shot aimed at Esther never hit its mark.
[Stop.]
The ether quivered.
The pellets stopped in midair.
["How could you point such a dangerous thing at a lady?"]
A lady, my ass...
There wasn't even time to grumble.
With a flick of her finger, Esther sent the frozen pellets flying back at me.
Swish—!!!
Pellets rained down on me.
I hurriedly fired back to try and counter them, but matching a shot to another shot was far from easy.
Clang!
Ka-ka-kang!
The scattered pellets struck Kupf's Mask and battered my Bone Armor.
The Bone Armor, which had effortlessly blocked the bullets fired by the Bagos' Brothers, now trembled under the intense impact, and the shock hit my body hard.
"Cough! Cough!"
It hurt.
It hurt like hell.
But Esther didn't care one bit about my predicament and unleashed her second strike.
["If you just stand there like that... you'll die."]
As if in sync with her words, flying debris surged toward me like a torrent.
Swish-sh-sh-sh—!!!
'Block it!'
[Kiiit!]
I couldn't dodge this one.
Sensing that fact, I commanded the Bone Parasite, and bone tendrils sprouted from my entire body, wrapping around me protectively.
Boom!
Bang! Bang!
It felt as if cannonballs were pounding against my body.
To Esther, it seemed like nothing more than a playful game, highlighting just how severe the power gap was between us.
'Not yet. Not yet.'
I tasted iron on my tongue.
I must have bitten the inside of my mouth.
Not just my mouth—the whole body was bruising from the inside out.
The shock was powerful enough to pierce through even the 9-star Bone Armor.
'Damn it...'
A curse crept up to my throat, but I swallowed it down and carefully pressed the button on the SW-01 Swap Magazine.
Click—
I switched the Ark-15 shotgun to automatic rifle mode and immediately aimed the muzzle at her.
["Like that will work—"]
Of course, it wouldn't.
I never expected a straightforward attack to be effective.
Swish—!
A bone tendril shot up from the ground.
["Such petty tricks..."]
Esther lightly tried to bat it away, but as her ether-wrapped hand collided with the bone tendril, the ether dispersed.
["Huh?"]
Sensing something unusual, Esther tried to muster her power in haste, but by then the bone tendril had already reached right in front of her.
A spear of pitch-black darkness aimed for Esther's neck.
However, she wasn't an opponent to be underestimated.
[Block it. Stop it. Freeze. Do not move.]
A violent ether storm erupted, and the Ankelenth's Spear halted mere inches from Esther's face.
["Not bad for a little trick. You do know how to put on a show."]
Esther smirked confidently.
I didn't waste that moment.
Click—
The muzzle lined up.
The target was Bagos' entire body.
I pulled the trigger.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—!!!
["What do you plan to accomplish with mere bullets?"]
Esther moved her hand again.
Distracting her with Ankelenth's Spear had worked, but the opening I created was fleeting.
'But... this is enough.'
The bullets traced their path.
Some of them were blocked by Esther, but not all.
Just a few.
But that was enough.
Boom—!!!
The moment the explosive bullets collided with Esther, a massive blast reverberated throughout the cave, as if it would collapse at any moment.
No—it was already crumbling.
The A-985 Explosive Rounds weren't designed as anti-personnel ammunition.
They were crafted to take down Beasts and Monsters that wouldn't even flinch from regular rounds.
Even a Specter practically immune to physical damage couldn't escape unscathed while encased in a body.
The number of explosive bullets that hit Esther was just a handful.
But it was enough to obliterate Bagos' body, where she was housed.
["Haha... got me. You had something like that hidden away?"]
Even as Bagos' body lay in tatters, missing limbs, his face twisted into a grin.
Just seeing it made me feel sick.
["Too bad, this toy is unusable now. It's all torn up. Really, how could you break someone's toy like this?"]
Bagos' body was completely immobilized.
No, moving a corpse in the first place was inefficient.
["But... it seems there's a handy new toy nearby."]
A red light glinted from Esther's eyes.
With that, Bagos' body collapsed as Esther slid out of it.
'Now!'
I swiftly drew my HE2050 pistol from my waist.
But Esther was no longer in front of me.
'Where is she?'
I sharpened my senses, but the surrounding ether was completely dominated by Esther, making tracking her practically impossible.
Then—
[Hehe...]
Laughter echoed beside my ear.
[Where are you looking?]
A whisper, as if right next to me.
It wasn't just in my head.
She was... right here.
Swish—!
I could feel it.
Something had entered me.
[Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out. Get out.]
[Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave.]
The ether inside my body thrashed violently, but the opponent was a high-level Specter.
I didn't have enough ether to resist her.
[Annoying.]
With a brief mutter, my internal ether let out a wail as it was subdued.
[Kiiiik!]
[Gak—]
[Ack!]
Then, a snake-like whisper echoed inside my head.
[Let's see... Oh, my. This toy seems quite durable.]
My body wouldn't move.
My flesh was no longer under my control.
"...Kuh!"
[It's useless to resist. You're mine now.]
"Don't... screw... with me..."
[Ah, Carl Marcus... my precious Carl Marcus... Your memories are absolutely delicious.]
Something started rummaging through my mind.
I felt a shiver crawl down my spine.
[Within your memories... huh?]
Esther froze.
A split-second gap.
But that was all I needed.
I summoned every ounce of mental strength and barely managed to raise my HE2050 pistol.
I pressed it against my temple.
It was the only move I had left.
[Oh dear, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?]
A mocking tone echoed in my head.
I responded to her question.
"No."
Checkmate.