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As I explored the valley, I felt the terrain here resembled an island floating on the sea.

If you were to replace the sea with sheer cliffs soaring several kilometers into the abyss, that is.

“I’m going to fall!”

Under the curious directive from the Command Center, Unit 2212 said that and jumped.

As I surrendered my body to gravity, I felt a force pulling me in, effortlessly, beyond the fog.

This incident took place while people searching for relics flowed into the entrance of the deeper area.

“It’s high! Really high! I’m falling endlessly!”

Though it’s called a valley, the landscape here consists of towering, singular rocks.

Each rock, tinged with a grayish blue hue, rose majestically above the deep valley floor that reached several kilometers down.

But that wasn’t all. These colossal monoliths stood like skyscrapers, draped with craggy protrusions like stalactites, and densely covered with bushes and trees stretching out like a forest.

Indeed, Cutlass Valley was an island suspended in midair like a skyscraper.

It’s a mystery why it’s called a valley.

If I were to name it, I would have chosen something rougher and more grandiose.

The distance between each rock was at least several hundred meters at the shortest, with some exceeding kilometers in height.

To traverse from rock to rock, one had to rely on narrow natural passages shaped like arches or a few man-made bridges.

“…It’s really high like this, Violet. When are you going to open your parachute?”

“Huh? Do I have to?”

“Sophie El, please give Violet a stern talking-to…”

“Violet, um… when you’re dropping from such a height, you absolutely need to open the parachute. If you create a new clone… that magical power is precious, you know? Got it?”

“Yes, I got it… Ugh.”

I, acting as the radio, suddenly gasped in surprise.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing major, but while I was falling, a eagle living below the cliff snatched me! I think it’s taking me to its nest. Wait, is that a nest? Chicks! Baby birds!”

Daphne and Sophie El, who were reprimanding me about wearing a parachute, paused for a moment after my explanation and then burst into incredulous laughter.

“That’s definitely a monstrous creature in the shape of an eagle, Crysatus. Of all things, it chose to snag Violet… how unfortunate.”

“Wow, I never thought I would feel pity for a monster today.”

Indeed, as the two had predicted, Crysatus, who had taken me for its offspring, was met with a resounding scream as it plummeted to the ground.

“Die!”

-Swish!

“Kyahhh!”

Throughout history, there has always been a wicked predator threatening the society of birds, known as the cuckoo.

They are far more threatening than snakes or cats.

Why is that? Behind the facade of these ordinary-looking birds lies a chilling truth.

Cuckoos are evil spies sent to destroy the society of birds.

These wicked cuckoos, capable of making even communists weep, infiltrate nests and assassinate adorable baby birds.

Then they act like the offspring they’ve killed, stealing both the uninhabited real estate and the pensions of the parents.

Thus, the world of good and innocent birds collapses under the nefarious deeds of covert spies.

Truly, there’s no malice like that of the offspring of Satan!

-Hehehe! Enjoying the easy life! Nothing better than plundering from parents!

Even now, the evil voices of the cuckoos linger in my ears.

Unfortunately, from Crysatus’s perspective, Violet was just such a cuckoo.

Fully armed with the spirit of democratic cloning, the cuckoo Violets cheerfully kicked at the baby monsters trying to bite them.

“Eagles! I’ll give your babies an early education! Watch closely! Fly away!”

“Peep peep!”

“Heehee!”

As the little monsters fell beyond the fog, their mother monster screamed.

Starting with kindly sending them off to their little ones with a barrage of gunfire, Unit 2212 and her team systematically dismantled all nearby nests.

It was regrettable that I couldn’t enjoy this healthy destruction with my other friends.

Enrique, gazing beyond the fog, muttered.

“Wow, amazing. So this is what skydiving is like.”

“…Enrique is learning some strange things. Violet, aren’t you feeling anything?”

“Uh, I don’t know.”

As I briefly glanced below the cliffs, many people surged toward the entrance of the deeper area.

The lineup was diverse. Students with backpacks, various vehicles, and hunters leading Mech Hounds or unknown bio-drones.

People set up simple tents around the entrance or crossed the steel bridges connecting the cliffs to the opposite side.

“Shall we cross over soon? The camp is all set up.”

“Let’s do it. More and more people are entering the deeper area.”

Leaving a few pieces of equipment behind, I quickly hopped into the truck and started the engine.

The path into the deeper area resembled the passage we had just taken.

Except for the thick fog that hung in the middle of the bridge.

As I raced across the precariously kilometer-long bridge, a sudden anxiety consumed me.

It was built using various high-tech materials like gigasteel and rare metals, so it should be sturdy, but if the bridge gave way, the only way home would be to fly.

“And if I end up flying, those Crysatus monsters will swarm in, right? Flight squad, be careful. If you let your guard down, those eagles will pounce.”

“Got it, I saw quite a few nests around. Confirmed!”

As I crossed the bridge, I felt the flow of Ether on my skin was different.

A slight stinging sensation indicated the magic of the deeper area was unusual.

But dangerous magical energy often heralds opportunities.

The possibility of discovering rare relics or treasures was much higher, hence the considerable movement of people.

Some groups were on the verge of a fight, though they only had their swords unsheathed, as if they were about to clash at any moment.

“Hey! Get out of the way! This is the direction our team is exploring! You really have no sense of decency. Can’t you see we’re overlapping? What clan are you from? Such a small thing…”

“Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea who we are?”

As I quietly observed this commotion, Sophie El’s expression slightly twisted.

“I have to be careful.”

“What do you mean?”

“When there are so many people, unexpected factors are likely to arise. Conflicts might break out, and there could be people sharing the same goals as us among them, like those who assaulted Enrique’s lab.”

“It’s fine! They won’t touch us. Hey! Coming through! Excuse us!”

I nodded, signaling them to not worry while leaning out of the truck window and knocking on the door.

The beast-like individuals growling to devour me shot me a murderous glare, but the next moment, seeing the magnetic sticker on the door, they flinched and stepped aside as if fleeing from an exorcism.

“Helios? Damn it. Why are those guys here?”

“Shit… ah, I get it lady. We’re moving, okay? Just a moment!”

With the brightly emblazoned yellow sun logo and name, the hunters grumbled and either stepped back or veered their vehicles aside.

The widespread reputation of MagnaVis’s aggressive expansion efforts in the west was truly helpful.

“Hehe! What a great friend to have!”

“Or we could think positively. At least we won’t be disturbed by monsters. With so many people, their attacks will be diluted, and the low-level beasts that still retain their instincts won’t approach us.”

“And the smart ones refrain from attacking, right?”

“Exactly! Headmaster Brecht has been praising Violet a lot lately. You’ve been studying hard!”

Sophie El smiled as if she were proud.

I unintentionally lowered my head slightly so she could see the top of it. Usually, Daphne or Sister Adela would have patted me at times like this.

“…?”

“Oh, never mind…”

Huh, no one’s patting me.

Feeling a sense of emptiness and disappointment, I got out of the truck.

“Everyone, disembark!”

As the Violets stepped out of the armed pickup truck, remaining vigilant, the dump trucks tilted their cargo beds.

This caused the double-stacked violet in hibernation to tumble out onto the ground.

A few moments later, the Violets blinked a few times and then tore through their plastic wraps to crawl out.

“Operation Start! Operation Start! All units in position!”

Meanwhile, on the small trailer, the Violets untied the straps and removed the waterproof cover from the equipment.

The folding platform revealed itself.

“Walker, detachment of straps!”

“Detachment complete!”

Two multifunctional walkers commandeered from Paxnova Naval Base descended, while the trailer returned to the base camp.

“Wow, it’s a walker! Let me ride! I’ve wanted to ride one every time I see them!”

“Me too! Violet…”

“Alright!”

The walkers carrying Enrique and Levi boldly marched forward.

The two girls gazed around curiously, much like tourists riding elephants.

“Okay, let’s get going!”

With Enrique guiding them by recalling memories, the exploration teams scattered in all directions.

After wandering for a day into the next, amidst exploration and rest back and forth between the base camp and deeper area, good news suddenly came from one search party.

“We found it!”

*

The weather in the deeper area was ever-changing, and today, Cutlass Valley was shrouded in fog.

Yet, the Violets skillfully utilized their unique physical characteristics.

Violet, metaphorically speaking, is a macroscopic quantum mechanical entity.

Ancient scientists of Trist discovered that it is impossible to simultaneously measure the position and momentum of very small particles.

Had they witnessed the reality that offends common sense, they would have been furious, but interestingly, this scientific theory applies to Violation as well.

There is no way to accurately determine the number and location of Violets until they are observed, and each clone exists probabilistically in all possible places simultaneously.

If Violets were shot through an enormous double slit, the observer would inevitably witness two Violets, or even more, passing through the slit holes at the same time.

Violet is an unpredictable being that constantly expands and contracts, changing its location.

The only observer who can perfectly measure this girl’s number and position is herself.

Now that the exchange ratio of magical power and clones neared 1:1, it was no challenge for about a thousand Violets to scatter and scour the fog.

Thus, Squad 32 fortuitously discovered a cleverly hidden, distorted barrier.

Since it was unexpectedly close to a frequently used path by hunters, it had been overlooked during the search process.

“Here!”

The barrier exuded an air of recognition-inhibiting magic.

Examining the intricately laid magic, it comprised magic to suppress magic power, reduce noise, and block various spectra of light.

4421 knew it would have been tough to find even for someone familiar with recognition inhibition had they not been attentive to the surrounding terrain.

“Let’s go in!”

After summoning our scattered friends through Radio Violet, the squad entered beyond the hidden barrier.

As soon as we crossed the barrier, familiar scents of blood and gunpowder welcomed us.

Around were shattered vehicles, and dismembered bodies lay scattered everywhere. Craters of various sizes pockmarked the ground like cannon fire had rained down.

Upon seeing the mark on the charred vehicle, Violet quickly identified the identity of the people.

“Isn’t that Luminecsa…?”

Relieved by the relatively intact appearance of the lab, 4421 cautiously approached it with the other Violets.

One bloodied person behind a smoking car let out weak groans.

While the squad members swiftly dashed to recover whatever they could from the lab, 4421 confirmed this was a Luminecsa soldier.

With the injuries he sustained, even recovery agents might have no hope.

Picking up everything inside the lab to stuff into the inventory, Squad 10 hastily completed their evacuation preparations.

The situation was far from normal.

“Hey, what happened there? What kind of monster was it?”

The groaning Luminecsa soldier was startled by the masked girl but stammered with a quivering voice.

“It’s n-not a monster. He’s a… yh-”

4421 and the squad members couldn’t catch the soldier’s explanation as a beam of light struck them like a sudden downpour.

-Splatter!

“So what kind of monster was it…? Huh. Why did I die? 3320, why are you here?”

“I don’t know! I died too. Why? I got hit by something.”

“Wow, I died too! Was it a gunshot? Must have been a sniper!”

While the Violets were bewildered, a twisted, discolored slab of heavy metal trudged ahead, crushing what was left of Squad 42.

The presence ignited in sudden wrath.

Monsters had appeared.

The energy of monsters was palpable nearby. A lot of them. If it continued like this, the frontline would fall.

My comrades were in danger.

In no time, civilian settlements would be exposed.

Those cunning monstrosities. We must stop them before they manage to execute a flank maneuver.

Thus, what needed to be done was as clear as day.

Search, locate, annihilate.

I hadn’t forgotten. If monsters gathered in a horde, we had to strike preemptively without hesitation.

With that thought, I boldly sprinted through the fog with determination.

The 31st squad, approaching the research lab, bewildered by the obliteration of the 42nd squad, was momentarily startled by the resounding machinery.

“Whoa, what’s that! It’s collapsing! It’s in the track!”

“Attack! No, retreat! It’s too close!”

-Crumble!

“Emergency! Emergency! Enemy approaching!”

The war machine that had ruthlessly trampled the Violets like citizens in the plaza pivoted its body.

The enemy’s energy continued to draw nearer.

“What the hell, Brown. Did you hear that? Do you see that? Why is that here?”

“It’s a tank. Must be the Federation. Though it’s a bit random—”

-Boom!

“Ahhh!”

The mid-sized tank, twisted in chaos, charged at the hunters to protect the citizens.

 

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