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Faced with the provocation from the monster on the giant ship, Russell didn't respond—but his eyes turned cold.
Without needing to be told, Zayne had already commanded Chancellor Tortoise to stir up the sea.
It had to be said—though his Chancellor Tortoise hadn't reached Red quality, the destruction it could cause in a marine environment was currently the best on the field.
The once-calm sea surface gradually grew turbulent. Massive waves crashed against the shore, sending sprays of water into the air.
At the same time, Mikoto Misaka began gathering dark clouds above the sea.
Enormous lightning serpents writhed within. Raindrops began pelting the water's surface.
With the two working in tandem, the calm and safe offshore waters suddenly turned ferocious.
In the original world, natural disasters beyond human resistance were being casually created by two Gold-rank cards.
Faced with such a dangerous environment, the giant steel ships in the distance began to shake.
But Grath the Sword King merely curled his lip in disdain. Despite the violent rocking, he remained perfectly still—as if completely unaffected.
Under the watchful eyes of the cardmakers on shore, the sword-wielding young man readied himself. A wave of sword pressure accompanied by howling wind suddenly flew toward the sky.
The screaming blade-wind tore through the clouds. Rays of sunlight fell onto the sea through the gaps.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Several more bursts of sword pressure flew upward. The dark clouds Mikoto had gathered shattered in an instant.
But while clouds in the sky were easy to destroy, the restless sea beneath his feet wasn't so easily calmed.
BOOM!
Massive waves slammed into the hull of the giant steel ship. The violent shaking threw several weaker demons overboard—they vanished into the churning water.
Ignoring his subordinates who'd just been lost to the sea, Grath sheathed his sword. He cast one last look at Russell and the others on shore, then walked back toward the captain's cabin.
After a moment, the giant steel ship began turning slowly, only stopping when it had moved to an area beyond Chancellor Tortoise's influence.
Seeing this, Luther spoke gravely. "Today was all thanks to Director Zayne."
"I'll head back and report to the President. I'll leave things here to you two."
The square-faced middle-aged man said this because, if not for Zayne's Chancellor Tortoise, they'd probably have been caught off guard—fighting a life-or-death battle with an unknown group of demons.
Even though they'd ultimately still have to fight, at least they'd bought time to prepare.
Russell nodded, signaling Luther to go quickly and return quickly.
Soon, only he and Zayne remained as Gold-rank cardmakers on the shore.
Glancing at the lower-ranked cardmakers already getting to work, Russell couldn't help feeling a weight settle in his chest.
Luther might not know the specific situation, but Russell and Zayne did.
Among the group of demons in the distance was an Emerald-rank being.
Though it seemed they were still fighting Eastmarch—which was why no Emerald-rank demon had acted this time—who knew when that would change?
When it did, dealing with the handful of defenders in East-Haven would be trivially easy.
Unfortunately, neither of them could reveal this information.
When Zayne had handled matters last night, he'd been concerned about exposing his identity. So he'd only arranged for Association cardmakers to "discover" the demon corpses—he hadn't directly claimed his people had tortured the monsters for specific intel.
Russell sighed. "I'm afraid the next period is going to be hard on you, Director Zayne."
Zayne paused, then replied, "It's my duty."
Russell silently patted the middle-aged man's shoulder.
The two just stared at the distant ships in silence.
After a while, Russell decided to contact his teacher about East-Haven's current situation.
After all, there was the unstable factor of the Unification Sect within the city, plus the sea monsters eyeing them hungrily. Even if East-Haven hadn't reached the point of destruction, it was already in serious danger.
As Blake was the highest-ranked cardmaker stationed on the coastal defense line, Russell's message wasn't considered a call for reinforcements given East-Haven's current state.
[Russell: Teacher, East-Haven...]
Russell quickly sent a lengthy message.
He waited quietly for a reply. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears.
After a moment, Russell frowned slightly and put away his phone.
Still no response.
"Come to think of it, Teacher seems to have disappeared after the national competition."
Recalling that Blake hadn't appeared in their [Loving Family] group chat for some time, Russell formed some guesses.
In fact, no one had posted any new messages in [Loving Family] lately. It seemed everyone was busy.
I wonder which troublesome secret realm has appeared along the coast.
The most likely scenario was that Blake was stuck in some secret realm.
A secret realm that could hinder a Master-rank cardmaker would be at least Diamond-level.
High-level secret realms weren't like the Gold-level one Russell had dealt with recently—suppressed and cleared in just a few days.
Or should I ask Senior Sister to come?
Russell had multiple options. As a Diamond-rank pastry chef, Hazel could easily resolve East-Haven's current predicament.
But thinking of his senior sister's strange attitude when she'd left last time—and the fact that Southridge University would be starting soon, meaning Hazel would probably be busy as a counselor—he ultimately suppressed the idea.
Thinking about it, Russell had been in this world for almost a year now. His experiences in this single year were richer than his entire previous life of twenty-some years.
"Maybe it's time to have Kai do something wearing my mask."
After some thought, Russell decided to find an opportunity to inform the Association that there was an Emerald-rank monster among the demons at sea.
"Fortunately, most people present have seen Aizen's mist illusion."
"That should save some effort."
Association headquarters.
BANG!
"President!"
The door to the President's office was roughly thrown open. Luther hurried inside.
As a Gold-rank cardmaker, Simon naturally wouldn't be startled by sudden noise. In fact, he'd detected the square-faced middle-aged man the moment he'd returned to headquarters.
"Director Luther. Don't be anxious. Speak slowly."
Simon said this casually without raising his head from his computer screen.
Luther didn't mind. He'd worked with this man long enough to know what he was like. "President, a new group of demons has appeared on the coastline. Perhaps we should—"
Simon glanced at Luther. "Gold-rank?"
Luther nodded.
Seeing this, Simon said impatiently, "Then why don't you handle it yourselves?"
"I saw you three handled things pretty well last time."
Luther paused, then asked instinctively, "President, shouldn't we request support from above? After all, the Unification Sect caused quite a commotion in the city just days ago."
Hearing this, Simon looked up. His eyes were dark and unreadable. "I already requested support a while ago. But the situation in the Federation hasn't been good lately, so there's no one available to support East-Haven for the time being."
The first sentence was a lie. He hadn't requested help at all.
But the second sentence was true. As a city's president, Simon naturally had access to the most information about East-Haven.
Luther didn't know this, so he simply nodded. "I see."
"And President, should we contact the nearby cities?"
East-Haven wasn't the only coastal city in this sea region.
Now that demons had appeared at sea, it made sense to inform surrounding cities so they could prepare.
"I'll arrange it." Simon nodded slightly. "Anything else?"
Luther shook his head. "Then President, I'll return to the coast."
With that, he turned and left the President's office.
Watching the square-faced middle-aged man's retreating back, Simon's eyes began to flicker.
On the coastline, after Luther returned, Russell set up a rotation schedule with the three of them.
Since Zayne's Chancellor Tortoise was most critical, the expressionless middle-aged man had no choice but to work overtime—staying to ensure the sea monsters couldn't easily approach East-Haven.
As for Russell and Luther, they'd take turns every eight hours until fortifications were complete.
However, Russell and Zayne both knew exactly why the distant demons were holding position without moving.
They were simply waiting for the Emerald-rank demon to finish up and launch the main assault.
Therefore, once fortifications were complete, they decided to launch a probing attack.
"I appreciate everyone's hard work in the coming period." Russell feigned slight fatigue as he addressed the two men. "I need to go home and grab some things. I'll be back soon."
Even during rest periods, people still needed to stay on the coastline. The only difference was that Russell could release his cards and meditate to recover some mental energy.
So he needed an excuse to temporarily slip out of their sight.
Since the sea monsters' appearance was an emergency, neither man thought much of it—they just assumed Russell had left something at home.
After nodding to the two middle-aged men, Russell vanished on the spot.
The moment he got home, the fatigue disappeared from Russell's face. Without hesitation, he pulled out his communication card.
Opening the Spirit Begging Society's internal messaging app, he found the latest meeting location Zayne had sent.
Following the directions, Russell found a hidden basement beneath an abandoned villa.
To his surprise, though the villa looked dilapidated from outside, the basement was another world entirely—clearly renovated with care.
Expensive velvet carpets covered the entire floor. Mahogany bookshelves lined the walls, filled with countless books on cardmaking.
When Russell's mental energy swept through, he sensed the basement walls were shrouded in special waves—obviously meant to prevent detection.
This level of setup obviously couldn't have been completed in one night.
Was this their original hiding spot?
Zayne was the highest-ranking Society member in East-Haven. Naturally, he'd organized gatherings when missions were assigned. Having a secret hideout wasn't surprising.
After sending the new location to Kai, Russell picked up a book titled "Ninety-Nine Jokes of the Divine King v8".
"Number one: 'Resurrection, My Love'?" Russell murmured the first joke's title, then put the book back with a frown. "What kind of books does Zayne collect?"
Russell casually pulled out another book—"Big Eyes: How to Structure a Good Story"—and waited for the middle-aged man to arrive.
On the other side, Kai received Russell's summons. Naturally, he didn't dare delay—he soon appeared in the underground chamber.
"Lord Six, you called for me."
The bitter-faced middle-aged man wore a flattering smile, reminding Russell of a certain sleazy general.
Though that person was sleazy, he was usually just lazy—he wouldn't act this sycophantic.
Russell closed the book and returned it to its place. "There's something I need you to do tonight."
Hearing this, Kai's expression turned serious. "Please go ahead."
But Russell didn't immediately explain the mission. He simply looked the man up and down. "How are your escape skills?"
"Be honest."
Kai stiffened, then answered truthfully. "Back in Southvale, when it came to running away, I was second to none in the entire Spirit Begging Society. No one dared claim first place."
"And my cards can take damage for me, so dying is pretty hard."
Otherwise, the assassination mission against you wouldn't have fallen to me.
He only dared think this silently.
Heaven have mercy—back then, he'd really just wanted to be a watch repairman in Southvale, making an honest living.
Hearing this, Russell spoke seriously. "Good. I need you to impersonate me and appear on the coastline tonight."
Kai froze. He pointed at himself uncertainly with his right hand. "Uh... me?"
He looked exactly like someone being set up as a body double—like a character sent to die in the hero's place.
"Won't I be exposed, sir?"
As if seeing through the middle-aged man's resistance, Russell rolled his eyes. "Don't worry. I'll have my cards accompany you."
"As for your appearance, don't worry about it. I've already handled that."
"Oh, and just in case—you should have ways to disguise yourself, right?"
As a Society member who'd previously lurked in difficult territory, Kai naturally had methods to change his appearance.
After all, committing crimes often required switching identities.
Kai nodded. He hesitated a moment, then his face began shifting—soon transforming into Lux's appearance.
Russell observed carefully, instructed the middle-aged man to correct some details, then smiled with satisfaction. "Not bad."
"She'll accompany you today."
As Russell finished speaking, a fearsome white spider appeared in the underground chamber.
The reason he was only sending Kumoko with Kai was simple—tonight was just an act. Frieren could stay hidden. No need to reveal that trump card yet.
"Uncle Tonight, the great Spider-sama will be teaming up with you! You should feel honored, right? Ahahaha"
The moment Kumoko appeared, she began striking poses.
Unfortunately, Kai couldn't understand her words.
Looking at the spider monster waving its sharp forelegs before him, he couldn't help but shrink back.
Russell plugged Kumoko's mouth with a coconut-flavored lollipop—one of Mikoto Misaka's. He continued his instructions. "Don't stray too far from me tonight. And be careful to hide your presence."
Since Kumoko was Russell's card, she naturally couldn't be too far from him. But it was more than enough for tonight's task.
"Now, I'll explain tonight's mission. Listen carefully."
"..."