I Became the Cute One in the Troubleshooter Squad-Chapter 147: To Protect Everyone (1)

The luxurious airship, drifting gracefully through the sky, felt completely fitting—there was no sense of discomfort. The once-forgotten Leviathan had finally revealed its true form after such a long time.

A massive military tactical airship, the Leviathan. Perhaps the effort put into maintaining it, ensuring it didn’t gather dust for some distant future, had paid off. The operation control room, activated for the first time in years, was filled with the sounds of excited voices.

“We’ve confirmed the neutralization of the magical barrier around the Sky Garden! It will take about 12 hours for the barrier to naturally recover!” “Damn it, the barrier can only be deactivated from the inside! Who would do something like this...?” “While the barrier was deactivated, 70% of the emergency power was drained! At this rate, the Sky Garden itself may crash!”

However, the situation in the operation control room, which had regained its vitality after so long, was far from easy. The Sky Garden, where they were, had been caught in a severe crisis, almost akin to war.

The magical barrier, once believed to be impervious to external attacks, had been so easily broken. They were under attack by an unknown force, so it was impossible to stay calm.

Most of the people here were active fixers who had survived many hardships and adversities. Kyle, who had temporarily taken on the role of commander, spoke with composure.

“Stay calm. We can still handle this. The most dangerous thing is missing an opportunity. Do our best right now. ...So, Albi, how are things going?”

Kyle, with his charismatic appearance, was a man with glasses and a neatly parted hairstyle. Ranked 64th in the fixer ranking, he was one of the strongest figures, close to being responsible for this fixer exam.

Thanks to Kyle setting the mood, the chaos quickly subsided. Albi, the operator, responded with a serious face, sensing the gravity of the situation.

“Magical patterns of a specific type were detected throughout the Sky Garden. It seems like a spell targeting the entire Sky Garden... the seemingly endless skeletons must be a result of this magic. Also, we’ve detected unusually high magical levels in all directions, so we’ve deployed fixers.”

“I see. First and foremost, the safety of the candidates and the fairies is our priority. When the fixers go to handle the situation, make sure they can immediately bring anyone in need of protection into the Leviathan.”

“Understood. I’ll do that.”

As Kyle issued the orders to Albi, he gazed ahead. What he saw was a live feed of the Sky Garden from the surveillance cameras installed for managing the garden.

Originally, the cameras had been brought into the operation control room for the fixer exam, but it seemed like they were proving to be quite useful now.

Of course, more than half of the cameras had already been destroyed and were useless, but simply being able to assess the situation from afar was extremely valuable.

As Kyle carefully observed the situation, he turned to the operator sitting opposite Albi, Brenyu, for further updates.

“Brenyu. Brief me on the important matters you’ve gathered.”

“Sure! Overall, lower-level undead skeletons and higher-level undead giant zombies are indiscriminately attacking the candidates and fairies spread throughout the area. Also, it seems like individuals claiming to be from the Seven Elite Guards have appeared.”

“The Seven Elite Guards... Another faction of the Inter-Species Liberation Army, huh. What’s the damage like?”

“Well, fortunately, the scattered candidates are quite high-level, so there haven’t been many serious injuries or deaths. Out of the 121 candidates, only about 10 or so are in a critical state. It seems like Alice, one of the candidates, has been quickly organizing the group, which has helped a lot.”

“Alice... That pink-haired girl, huh.”

Kyle widened his eyes in surprise. To have the initial damage be so minimal despite the undead and elite guards causing a commotion was unexpected. He subconsciously engraved the name “Alice” in his mind as he continued his thoughts.

‘How they deactivated the magical barrier is still unclear... but the only one who could cast such a wide-ranging command magic like this is Mort, that monster. So then, what could their goal be?’

Was it revenge for the recent actions of the Inter-Species Liberation Army being actively thwarted by the association? Or perhaps their goal was to attack the candidates in the fixer exam to lower trust in them?

But there were too many questions. First of all, the Sky Garden wasn’t a location of much value to attack.

It would make sense to launch a massive attack on a big city to cause civilian casualties. But spending this much magic on an isolated island that offered nothing in return seemed like too much of a loss.

‘No, maybe the enemy’s goal isn’t the Sky Garden itself. Maybe their target is...’

Kyle tried to calculate the enemy’s inexplicable actions as reasonably as possible. However, the lack of information inevitably led to a misunderstanding.

Kyle, unaware of the existence of the Seed of the World Tree, made a glaring misjudgment.

“Maybe the enemy is targeting Tempest.”

“Te-Tempest?!”

“Think about it. What can they gain by attacking here? Nothing. Honestly, the harm to the candidates or the fairies is trivial compared to the resources they’ve used for this attack.”

“That... that’s true.”

The Sky Garden was a secluded place that would need time for outside support to arrive. So, Kyle concluded that the enemy’s target wasn’t here but somewhere else.

And that target was none other than Tempest. The reason was the large-scale command magic that had descended on the Sky Garden.

‘Magic is a permanent resource drain unless it’s used by someone like Tempest, who is a special case. But to cast such a large-scale spell in a place where there’s no benefit? That’s impossible. There’s definitely something more going on.’

After thinking it through, Kyle could only conclude one thing. The protector of humanity and most species, Tempest, was the true target. The enemy was likely trying to take him down during this opportunity, or at least, that’s what Kyle believed.

Having identified the enemy’s goal, simply accepting it would be foolish. Thus, as the commander, Kyle bit his lip and spoke resolutely.

“If that’s the case, then it’s likely that the enemy intends to lure Tempest out without any information. Here, we’ll have to sacrifice some fixers, but Tempest’s...”

“You think it’s better to save power and gather information first?”

“Ugh! Te-Tempest!”

Startled by a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) sudden voice, Kyle, who had been deep in thought, reacted with a jolt. This was completely different from his previously charismatic demeanor.

The reason was simple. The owner of the voice that had suddenly spoken was none other than Tempest himself.

He had said earlier that he would go to observe the situation from the top of the airship. But now, without any sign, he had entered the operation control room. I could feel my stomach drop.

“Hm, I see. Kyle, you expected the enemy to bring all sorts of traps and artifacts to prepare for me, right? For example, that famous magic sword, the Dragonslayer?”

“Well... it’s not exactly like that...”

“No, you’re right. Until we can clearly understand their scheme, we need to leave all possibilities open.”

Tempest lightly nodded while crossing his arms. He could fully understand what Kyle was worried about.

The reason Tempest was considered the strongest was because of his obvious lack of weaknesses. His body was stronger than any living creature, his mastery of magic reached the highest level, and his magic was nearly infinite as long as his life didn’t run out.

Therefore, theoretically, there was no way to defeat him head-on. Maybe if you pressured him with a large-scale battle, not giving him time to recover, there would be a chance. But for that, you’d need hundreds of magicians, so it wasn’t feasible.

“And if they’ve brought something to kill me, then yes, my life could be in danger.”

But no matter how close to invincible Tempest seemed, he had his unavoidable weaknesses. There were things he kept hidden, like his reverse scales, artifacts that made him dozens of times stronger against dragons, his unique magic that interfered with the flow of mana, and mud that contaminated the heart.

Perhaps because dragons had such a notorious reputation, magic or artifacts specialized to deal with dragons were enough to suppress his power to some extent.

This was the part that Kyle worried about. In a situation where they couldn’t fully utilize their power due to the fixer exam, if his weaknesses were exploited, Tempest, no matter how strong, would struggle.

“But that doesn’t matter. No matter what preparations they’ve made, I’ll crush them head-on.”

“Te-Tempest!”

Of course, those tools or magic would only suppress a small portion of his power. They could never get close to the infinite source, and in the end, the advantage would go to Tempest.

It’s like trying to stop a vast ocean with a dam to stop a river! Tempest grinned widely, showing his teeth, and turned away.

Without even looking back at the stunned Kyle, he walked out of the control room and said,

“Tell the fixers. Right now, Tempest is going out.”

Boom...! A thick, oppressive magic flowed outward, pressing down on the space like a heavy weight. It was the full power he had been holding back until now for the aspiring fixers.

The disgruntled dragon, Tempest, was finally moving to wipe out the intruders without a trace. It was like the final boss appearing at the beginning of a war.