TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!,
===BREAK===
"Sigh."
Miyabi silently let out a sigh, her ears drooping slightly.
What a pity. I thought I'd finally be able to go all out here and test my true limits.
She hadn't expected that she would still have to hold back her strength. It fell far short of her expectations. Forget it—she would just treat this as testing the system's quality for Belle.
She casually swung her katana, and a crescent-shaped, frost-white slash flew out.
In the blink of an eye, thirteen virtual rebels rushing toward her were cleanly severed. Their heavy shields were completely useless, splitting along with the bodies behind them into two halves.
The shattered bodies turned into points of light and dispersed, leaving no trace of blood. This place, after all, was not fully realistic.
In just over ten seconds, the first batch of test targets was completely wiped out amid flashes of lightning and freezing cold.
To Hollow Special Operations Section 6, the rebel forces' basic units were nothing more than child's play.
Even formations of hundreds couldn't withstand more than a few exchanges.
[Test Target Batch Two, enemies deployed.]
Dozens of green-skinned Ethereals appeared. Their heads bloomed like giant flowers, multicolored Ether cores exposed, their arms fused with bladed weapons.
They let out ferocious roars, perfectly replicating real Ethereals.
"Lower-tier Ethereal Tyrfing. They're not particularly strong enemies."
Yanagi shook her head slightly, feeling no pressure at all.
Another dozen seconds passed, and the Ethereal horde that terrified ordinary citizens was effortlessly eliminated.
"Is it really this easy?"
Harumasa yawned and joked, "If that's the case, it feels like we're getting a huge bargain from the section."
If the job difficulty stayed like this, their pay would far exceed the effort required.
He almost hoped that the enemies lurking behind New Eridu were all this level—at least they'd be easy to clean up and wouldn't cause such widespread damage.
"It shouldn't be this simple. Since they're collecting our data as the upper-limit blueprint, they should at least force us to use most of our strength."
Yanagi shook her head, her expression serious.
[Test Target Batch Three, enemies deployed.]
"Public Security autonomous units? The intensity is going up!"
Harumasa perked up with interest, still finding time to complain. "But designing the Public Security as enemies—are they trying to train Hollow Raiders?"
"All of New Eridu's best weapons tech companies supply equipment to the Public Security and the defense forces."
Yanagi replied seriously. "If we're testing limits, they're obviously far better than those shoddy rebel modifications."
Harumasa pouted helplessly. "Deputy Section Chief, I was just joking. Do you really have zero sense of humor?"
While dealing with the autonomous units, Yanagi smiled and said, "Actually, I didn't approve your leave request last month. Is that humorous enough?"
"How is that humor?! That's a disaster!"
Harumasa felt like he was falling apart, hitting the autonomous units even harder.
If his leave wasn't approved, it counted as unauthorized absence—did that mean he'd be living on dirt when payday came?
"Just kidding, Harumasa."
Yanagi pierced a unit's chest with her blade and said calmly amid the crackling sparks. "But if you take seven more days off this month, that part will be real."
"Hah…"
Harumasa quickly let out a relieved breath.
Thankfully, he was only planning to take three days off this month. With weekends included, that would be plenty.
"Anything else?"
Miyabi sheathed her blade. The shattered machines before her slowly vanished as she looked forward to the next wave of enemies.
There was absolutely no challenge. Even without using the [Edge of Taixuan], she could harvest them with ease.
If it stayed like this, the training value for Belle would be quite limited.
And just then, a new batch of opponents was deployed.
However, their bodies were stiff, frozen in place.
As the group exchanged puzzled looks, a slightly distorted electronic voice echoed through the space.
[Data collection complete. All tests have proceeded smoothly. Thank you all for your cooperation, Executors!]
The Exaltists cadre, Null_Face, officially connected to the VR system.
He was going to trap every last member of Hollow Special Operations Section 6 here—achieving the Exaltists' first major success in a long time.
"It's over?"
Soukaku looked stunned.
She hadn't even gone all out, and it was already finished?
"The combat experience is very realistic, and the physical effects are excellent. The downsides are that it's too short and the difficulty is a bit low. I suggest increasing the difficulty."
Miyabi propped her chin and offered her feedback sincerely.
"Heh heh… thank you for the feedback, Section Chief Miyabi. We'll take it under consideration."
Null_Face's expression twitched slightly as he was shaken by their strength.
Having hacked into the system, he knew full well that the earlier stages weren't easy—certainly not something just anyone could breeze through.
Yet these people cut through them like slicing melons and vegetables, finishing everything in no time at all and still having plenty of strength to spare.
Too easy—anyone with hands could do it. Next time, they might as well mark it as Very Easy!
Worthy of a Void Hunter. Worthy of Hollow Special Operations Section 6. Arrogant and powerful indeed—but hopefully, you can keep that arrogance a little longer.
"Mr. Investigator, the test ended much faster than expected. Was the data collection smooth?"
Yanagi frowned slightly, sensing that something was off.
If it was only at this level, there was no need for Hollow Special Operations Section 6 to cooperate personally.
A more experienced team of investigators could have achieved the same testing goals. The HIA Club had plenty of elite teams at this level—assembling dozens of them would be easy.
"Extremely smooth. We simply had our staff speed things up a bit to make things easier for you."
Null_Face gave a somewhat stiff explanation.
Smooth indeed—up to now, Hollow Special Operations Section 6 hadn't noticed anything unusual at all.
As long as he could trick them into signing the authorization, these people would be trapped in this world for good.
The HIA Club still had some teeth. The system permissions he obtained were only partial; another portion still had to comply with HIA regulations.
"Mm, is that so?"
Yanagi's brows relaxed as she said, "Then the staff really worked hard."
"Not at all, not at all! It's our honor to serve the Executors of Hollow Special Operations Section 6!"
Null_Face forced himself to flatter them despite the nausea, hurriedly adding, "Haha, if there's anything else, we can talk about it outside."
"I'll bring up the logout menu now. Please just click confirm!"
He knew that the more he said, the more likely he was to slip up. He had to hurry and coax them into logging out.
Once that step was complete, everything would fall squarely within his authority. Then, by hiding the HIA Club's terms of service, he could trap Hollow Special Operations Section 6 in this virtual world forever!
"..."
Miyabi suddenly frowned, her hand instinctively tightening around her sword hilt.
She sensed a deep, oppressive malice.
Since cultivating the [Edge of Taixuan], her perception had grown far sharper—and it had never been wrong.
"What's wrong, Section Chief?"
Yanagi noticed her expression and asked with concern.
"It's nothing. Maybe someone is harboring hostile intent toward us."
Miyabi shook her head and loosened her grip on the katana.
Hollow Special Operations Section 6 was the elite force protecting New Eridu. Being targeted by criminals was nothing unusual—many people wished for their disappearance.
Perhaps someone at the HIA Club was planning something against them. They needed to get out and take a look as soon as possible.
"..."
A chill ran down Null_Face' back.
This woman—she was that sensitive?!
She could even sense malice through the network. Was this Void Hunter always this absurd?
He hurriedly said, "Section Chief Miyabi's instincts are spot on. It would be best to leave quickly, lest criminals take advantage of the situation!"
As he spoke, he pulled up the interface and displayed it before them.
Although Miyabi still sensed the malice, she didn't dwell on it too much.
The source of the malice was definitely outside. They had to leave as soon as possible.
As for danger within this virtual world? She could literally cleave the entire place apart if she wanted to—so the malice had to be external.
And it was strong. Extremely close.
So, someone disguised as HIA staff is standing right next to us?
At this point, after hearing Miyabi's words, Yanagi, Harumasa, and Soukaku all grew more serious.
They trusted Miyabi's judgment deeply—lately, their Section Chief was like she had hypersensitive skin.
Even the slightest hint of malice didn't escape her notice, even when it wasn't directed at her.
She could sense pickpockets and fugitives while shopping, casually catching entire strings of them and handing them over to New Eridu Public Security.
If not for repeated explanations, the Public Security would have thought Hollow Special Operations Section 6 was transferring over to provide operational guidance because of the Bringer incident!
So, who exactly would dare infiltrate the HIA Club to cause trouble?
===BREAK===
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