"Why do I have to run into something like this!"
Olga Marie screamed this out. She had no idea what had happened. She had only felt as if her body had suffered some kind of impact, her ears had rung, and then she had appeared here.
In a burning urban ruin, there were countless undead skeleton soldiers emerging from who knew where.
Although Olga Marie's own combat ability could not be said to be non-existent, she simply had no way to deal with those skeleton soldiers. The items she used to cast magecraft, as well as those Mystic Codes, had all disappeared, she did not know where they had fallen, so she could only rely purely on the most basic Gandr shots to protect herself.
But because the attribute of the Gandr shot itself was a negative attribute, and the skeleton soldiers themselves represented negative undead, the curse damage of the Gandr shot could not have any effect on these skeleton soldiers, and the pure impact could not shatter them either.
Olga Marie could only run away. While she had undergone some training because she needed to practice reinforcement magecraft, there was no way she could outrun these skeleton soldiers that had no concept of fatigue!
"Lev!"
When a person is at their most helpless, they will surely think of the person they trust the most. That was exactly the case for Olga Marie. Because her father died early, she was only able to shoulder the position of Director of Chaldea with Lev's help. Now that she had fallen into a helpless situation once again, she could only pray that the person she trusted most would step forward like a hero to save her.
Just like before.
"Director!"
The one who responded to Olga Marie's prayer was not Lev, but a young girl wearing purple armor, with large areas of skin exposed, and holding a large cross-shaped shield in front of her.
"Mash!"
"I'll explain this later. Director, fall back behind me. I will handle them."
As a Demi-Servant, Mash, even though her only weapon was a shield, easily shattered the pursuing skeleton soldiers.
"Director, are you okay?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka asked with some concern.
Olga Marie saw the Command Spells on the other's hand, then looked at Mash, who was now wearing strange attire.
"Director, this outfit I'm wearing is because..."
"I know it's a Demi-Servant. That much is obvious at a glance. What I want to know is why it only succeeded now."
Perhaps because she did not want to show her vulnerable side in front of other members of Chaldea, Olga Marie stood up from the ground. The vulnerability from before was completely gone, and she returned to her overbearing manner.
"That's because, after the explosion occurred, my lower body was pinned by stones, and I couldn't leave. It was Senpai who came over and kept trying to save me. At that moment, a desire to help Senpai arose in my heart, and then a voice responded to me."
"Great! Finally, we've made contact! Fujimaru Ritsuka! Mash! Thank goodness, you're still alive!"
"Huh! Romani! Why is it you?!"
"Sigh! Director, you're actually still alive!"
"What do you mean by that?!"
"When the Rayshift project began, I don't know what kind of accident happened, but a violent explosion occurred in the Central Control Room."
"Then why are you the one giving orders here? How could the head of the Medical Department be here? Where is Lev?!"
"...Unfortunately, Professor Lev was at the center of the explosion."
"What?!"
Olga Marie could no longer maintain her overbearing expression. Hearing that the person she trusted and valued the most was gone, the armor she used to protect herself shattered, revealing her most vulnerable side.
"The truth is, I am able to command from here because there is no one left above me."
"How... could this happen..."
At this moment, a certain young man hiding in the shadows felt his non-existent conscience being tortured.
Mem also turned her head away guiltily. She knew that her Partner had caused several of Herta's precision instruments to be destroyed, and had even broken the Simulated Universe twice.
And when she saw her Partner's averted gaze, she knew that perhaps this instrument explosion was likely caused by her Partner's inexplicable constitution that clashed with precision instruments.
"Mem, things haven't been confirmed yet. This isn't necessarily my fault."
Seeing Mem's slightly guilty look, Caelus spoke righteously.
Meanwhile, the conversation not far away continued.
"So, why exactly did the explosion happen?"
Olga Marie forced herself to pull it together. Although Lev's death was a huge blow to her, as the Director of Chaldea, she had not yet reached the point of giving up in the face of this dangerous situation. She had to act the way a Director should.
"The situation is still being investigated. The loss of personnel is just too great. With the few people currently remaining, just maintaining communications is already a struggle. The cause of the explosion can only be investigated later."
"Damn it... There's no other way. Listen up, Romani!"
"Yes!"
The young man stood at attention.
"Now, because of the emergency, I cannot exercise full command at Chaldea, so the command authority for this operation is handed over to you! You are now the Acting Director!"
"Me... me?"
Romani pointed at himself, full of disbelief and lacking confidence.
"Pull yourself together right now! This is not the time for self-doubt and hesitation! Provide assistance immediately through the equipment that can still be started at Chaldea. We need to find the ley lines of this city to perform a proper summoning of a Servant. The more power we have on hand right now, the better!"
Olga Marie showed the mettle a Director should have at this moment.
"And you, rookie!"
She turned her gaze to Fujimaru Ritsuka beside her.
"Now, let's find a safe place. I need to give you, someone who was originally just an ordinary person, a proper lesson. At the very least, I need to make sure you know some basic knowledge."
The group left.
"Partner, aren't we going with them?"
Mem asked Caelus, who was beside her.
"No. Although I don't know what exactly happened to this Fuyuki City, I can clearly feel the presence of a Heroic Spirit Servant. If I don't know whether allies joining the battle will lower the probability and drop rate of Embers, we should try fighting alone first and pick the weakest one to test the waters."
"Leave it to me, Partner!"
Mem patted her chest, wanting to show that she was reliable, but with her mascot-like appearance, it was really hard to feel that she had any combat power.
"It's fine. Even if you can't win, I can stage a scene of 'the head coach is warming up.'"
Caelus did not mind. Becoming a Master did not mean his own combat power was sealed and unusable, it was just that if he attacked monsters himself, there would be no loot. If he really encountered a dangerous situation, he would let the locals know what it means to have an enemy descend from the heavens.
"The energy reaction over there is the weakest. Let's go this way."
"This is the first world that Partner experienced. It's such a pity, it's a ruin, and I can't see the beautiful scenery that Partner saw before."
"If you want to see it with your own eyes, I'll use the system's travel function to take you back there later."
"Really? But won't that waste your system currency, Partner?"
"It's okay, because we are Partners."
"Mem!"
Mem rubbed her cheek against Caelus, with little effect.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)