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The battles confirmed one of my suspicions. While {Rewind} gave me clarity and restored my stamina, it didn\'t do anything for my stress levels.

It was similar to how some days you feel drained right after you wake up. Theoretically, you should feel rested after a good night\'s sleep. But because your mental state was so stressed and on edge, it made you tired even when you shouldn\'t have been.

Even {Rewind} couldn\'t unstress my system immediately. I was still human at that point. Remembering what Isolde had told me, would forcing myself to become a machine allow me to become a Phantom?

\'Let us cross that bridge when we come to it,\' I concluded.

[Understood, my lord. Looking for P5 Sirens...]

"My lord?"

[I studied this character\'s background. She affectionately called her master "my lord." It was my attempt to increase your appreciation of me by imitating her.]

Well, I can\'t say she was wrong, almost every man would dream of having a beautiful maid with "those" kinds of benefits. Then I wondered if Isolde would be less lonely if she had someone like Aira.

It was a shame that Isolde found cell phones annoying. Instead, she made a panic button that looked like a remote control soulgear.

"Haha. She reminds me of those grandmothers who preferred one-button remotes."

[I don\'t understand, my lord. Are you displeased?]

"Ah, no. Do as you wish, Aira, I never considered you a servant, so it doesn\'t matter how you address me."

[Then how do you see me, my lord?]

I tried to think for a moment, despite being incredibly smart and logical, Aira had zero social skills and was clumsy to a fault. If she were human, I would be worried about how she would interact with others. I could only think of her as a child or a younger sibling.

"Hmm. I see you as family, maybe like a younger sister or daughter."

[Is that so? Would you like me to address you as brother or daddy?]

"NO! My lord is fine. In fact, let us keep it that way, I beg you."

[As you command, my lord. I found a P5 siren, it was issued 10 hours ago.]

"10 hours? By then, the defenders would probably be dead. Okay, let\'s go."

[My lord, a new zone has been chosen please announce your intent.]

{Reaper NA20230799-FRM, John Smith reporting for combat}

{Welcome John Smith, initiating summoning. Entering zone 1023-2 in 3...2...1...}

After a familiar light show, I felt my body being sent to another area. With it, the next adventure for the night.

***

It took only two seconds for solid ground to appear beneath my feet. A similarly dim environment appeared before me.

Though there was no sun, moon, or stars, the black sky somehow granted a soft light that prevented absolute darkness.

"Kind of like a cloudy night."

[My Lord, welcome to zone 1023-2. I detect the presence of one Phantom and four Wraiths. They seem to be separated. Two Wraiths are encircled while the other three are near your position. The enemy forces consist of 162 Rank F undead led by a Rank E giant.]

"Hmm. Why are they split up? Are they trying some kind of plan?"

It was normal in military tactics to split your forces when you had multiple objectives. In Hellsgate, since most of the battles were just a battle of annihilation, the opposite was the case. Thus, there would be hardly any reason to have to separate at all.

While I was thinking about how it would be good to brush up on some tactics, Aira shared some new information.

[My Lord, you are connected to the defender network. The defenders have already been notified of your arrival].

"Thank you Aira, I will try to contact them."

I started walking forward to look for the defenders, normally the summoning zone was right in front of the fortification. As I moved, I sent a transmission to the defenders of that zone.

"Reapers, I am John Smith, a mercenary who responded to your dirge siren. Where are you and what is your status?"

An extremely pompous sounding voice began to scold me.

[About fucking time someone showed up. You lazy bastards have kept me waiting long enough!]

I had to take a few seconds to process his words.

\'Who the fuck is this guy and why is he being such an asshole? He is aware that I came to help him, right?\'

"Reaper, mind your tone. I came here to help, I had no reason to come, but I did to save you. Do not assume that I am some weakling who came to wipe your ass for you."

[Shut up, you stupid peasant! I don\'t need your help, just grant me access to the Mercenary Warp Gates! I am part of the Saviors!]

This fucker was starting to get on my nerves. Was the Saviors supposed to mean something? Even though I had a lot of experience dealing with these types, I had no reason to bend over backwards in Hellsgate.

I had learned from the mercenary download that any zone under siege was sealed off to prevent the spread of the undead. Such a measure ensured that the undead would remain contained even if everyone else died.

However, the same security meant that anyone left inside was effectively imprisoned. The only way in was through mercenary warp gates. Only Death Seekers were allowed to bypass any rules and enter a sealed zone. Any Death Seeker could enter a sealed zone, but not everyone had the right to warp out.

It was expected that most of the Death Seekers would not need the ability to warp out. Our only exit was when everything else was dead.

However, the ability to leave a locked zone is granted to mercenaries of rank 3 and above. This was because they also had the capability to exfiltrate other Reapers, although it was reserved for priority targets.

"You seem to be misunderstanding something, you bastard. The Death Seekers are not a taxi service to be hailed when things go to shit. We are garbage collectors for trash who can\'t even clean up their own mess. No mercenary would allow an outsider to use our warp gates," I replied coldly.

[I-If that is the case, then let us meet and escort me! Head west and we will meet. Mercenaries have to prioritize the defenders, right? Get me out of here! Shouldn\'t you listen to me? I paid 3000 souls for your services!]

Man, that fucker really needed an ass-whooping. If I had known that I was going to have to work with this bastard, I wouldn\'t have come here. I knew that talking to that arrogant piece of shit was ill-advised. Instead, I tried to get the situation from Aira.

"Aira, who is the registered defender of this zone?"

[My Lord, the defender of this zone is currently vacant. The position has been left vacant not too long ago.]

[Originally, it was registered to a Phantom named Julius Caytiffe. He has two Wraiths registered as his {Vassals}, one called Blaze and the other Titan].

"How is he still alive if the soul crystal is unbound? Did he desert his post? There were four Wraiths, right? Where are the other two?"

[As you know, my lord, I only receive their life signatures when we enter. I cannot tell where they are only if they are alive or dead. Their proximity to you is based on my information about your location as well as that of the undead].

"So, you were only told who was here, not where they were. And based on the enemy and my position, you guess where they are. Did I understand that correctly?"

[Yes, my lord.]

"Okay, then just tell me which direction they were in."

[Please proceed directly Northeast. That was where majority of the enemies are located.]

"Got it, thanks Aira."

[Please take care.]

I switched to {Thief} and ran towards the direction from Aira. While I was running, Julius suddenly sent another transmission.

[Oy! Why aren\'t you coming to protect me? I am in the west! West! You are heading to the...]

"Shut up, you fucking coward! I am subservient to the defender. You have abandoned your post and are nothing more than a deserter. You can run away at your leisure after I kill every undead here. If you obstruct or delay my efforts, I will challenge you to a Seeker\'s Duel!" I roared in anger.

Normally, Reapers were treated as both soldiers and citizens on the battlefronts of Hellsgate. However, any society would know that there are just some people who simply cannot help but screw things up.

On Earth, we put those bastards in jail. Here in Hellsgate, we kill them in sanctioned duels.

This was a privilege granted to the Death Seekers. Since Hellsgate had no formal peacekeeping force, the Authorities simply allowed reapers to murder one another. Two Reapers can petition the Mercenaries to sanction and enforce the results of the duel.

Due to the notoriety of the Death Seekers, Seeker Duels became both a punishment and a deterrent to such scum. Who the hell would want to fight people who were literally insane enough to wish for death every day?

As unfortunate as it may seem to those who cannot fight, even Earth had such duels, called trial by combat.

[Hii!! No, I do not want any trouble. The zombies are underground, I lured them into a subterranean cellar and blew up all the foundations to bury them alive].

This fucking piece of shit. According to Julius\' information, the enemies Aira detected were the ones who survived his so-called trap. I didn\'t really care about such tactics.

My main concern was that there were two reapers with the undead. It did not take a genius to figure out what had happened.

"Caytiffe, you used your Wraiths as bait? For a trick that didn\'t even kill all the undead? You fucking idiot! Don\'t think you\'ll get away with it. On top of deserting, you even abandoned your men."

[H-how do you know my name? What are you talking about? My men are with me! Those two are just Formless garbage I picked up! They would have died anyway! I did Hellsgate a service!

I am in the right! You can\'t touch me!]

I ignored the rambling idiot and kept running. Julius Caytiffe struck me as one of those arrogant noble elitists you find in cheap isekai novels. Unable to cling to anything but their pedigree. Such types should just be disposed of.

"Aira, can you gather the information about this bastard and send it to Lilly and Zach? They should know what to do."

[As you wish, my lord].

Buried underground, abandoned by their allies, I noticed that the number of ranked Fs was decreasing even though it was about one every five minutes.

"Even after everything these reapers have yet to be defeated. Unlike that selfish bastard. These were my kind of guys!"