The Herd

"Rimuru, try to hold back to a reasonable amount," Zhongli whispered to Rimuru as we prepared for combat against countless Reunion members on the LGD rooftop.

"Mephisto, sir!" The Reunion members shouted as they charged at us. I quickly tried to pull an assassination on Mephisto, the insane little boy and their leader. However, my bullets were blocked by Reunion meat shields who saw my intentions.

Although I couldn't take out their leader, I managed to take down several Reunion members that were attempting to protect Mephisto.

"Faust, show them what you've got!" Mephisto suddenly shouted.

Just as I was about to aim another shot at a Reunion meat shield, I heard the sound of an arrow colliding against something to my side.

"Watch out! Reunion snipers!" Zhongli shouted as his shield deflected several more arrows. Without anything to defend myself from arrows, I decided to retreat from my position to the rear guard with the other LGD officers who had shields.

"With the way it is, it won't be long before Reunion runs out of manpower!" I shouted in an attempt to raise morale as Reunion members were dropping like flies thanks to Zhongli and Ch'en.

"Hahaha, are you sure about that, Sankta? Rise, my guards!" Mephisto laughed as he turned his attention from Ch'en to me. Before I realised it, white snow fell from the sky as fallen Reunion members rose from the dead.

"Urghhh… Oarghhh!" The newly revived Reunion members groaned. That kid had necromancy! I could hear Ch'en shouting at Mephisto about something in the distance, likely concerning the white snow that revived the Reunion members.

I quickly retreated with the LGD officers. From afar, I manage to notice familiar black rocks growing out of them, and they became more powerful, seeing as how the LGD was getting pushed back.

"Tighten up formation! The enemy is using some kind of wide-range arts!" I heard Ch'en say in the distance as the spread-out LGD officers on the rooftop retreated together.

"Blood!! Blood!!" The newly revived Reunion soldiers screamed.

"Madame Ch'en! Fallback and let me cast my arts!" Rimuru shouted as he rushed towards Ch'en, who was in the middle of the hoard.

"Don't worry about it… Chi Xiao!" Ch'en shouted as a blinding flurry of attacks shredded the surrounding Reunion soldiers. I raised my rifle to shoot at Mephisto again, which made me realise that the snow was strangely attracted to me as they divert their paths to my arm. It was strange, but I ignored it and continued to try and provide support to Ch'en.

"The situation is quite straightforward here. I could easily contend against your group with my immortal guards. I have a proposal if you'd listen," I hear Mephisto say as I got closer to Ch'en along with the rest of the LGD.

"Don't think that I will give up that easily," Ch'en snapped back as she unleashed another flurry of attacks. I followed along and unloaded a magazine in Mephisto's direction. Unfortunately, any Reunion soldiers I shot were quick to get back on their feet. It would be a waste of ammo to shoot anymore.

"How about you and the Sankta join me? My arts only works on the infected, so I know your little secret, officer. I also wonder why the Sankta has yet to fully utilise her arts, but Talulah did say that you were quite conscious of your status. Talulah has promised you, all that you seek, if you accept my invitation," Mephisto offered.

"And, little officer. Don't you know that you're merely his pawn? After you've been used, you will be thrown away without a second thought. Reunion will give both of you a chance, Lungmen will not." Mephisto added with a wide grin.

"Don't need it," I replied with a smirk as I noticed a blue blob shoot out of Rimuru's hand. It took him long enough to contemplate using it. The blob swiftly enveloped a majority of Mephisto's so-called immortal guards.

Although I was extremely curious about this Talulah person, I still had a quest to do. Plus, I couldn't trust what was said. She could've mistaken me for someone else for all I knew.

"Impossible… you're not-" Mephisto shouted in surprise, however, it was interrupted as a massive shadow covered us combined with the sound of an engine.

"We must retreat!" I heard another unfamiliar voice shout as a figure appeared from thin air to grab Mephisto. Zhongli immediately rushed towards Mephisto as Rimuru feigned overusing his arts by rolling on the ground and groaning. Rimuru's acting was 10/10.

*Bang*

An explosion rang as parts of the roof were destroyed and a cloud of dust was kicked up. I contemplated shooting the flying aircraft as it was shooting explosives at us, however, I luckily noticed a Rhodes Island symbol on the side.

I didn't bother questioning why a pharmaceutical company had a flying VTOL aircraft.

"Damned you Rhodes Island!" I heard a shout fade in the distance as the dust settled to reveal Zhongli engaging in combat with a cat-girl wielding a chainsaw.

"Blaze, stop! That's a contractor we hired!" I heard Amiya's voice from the aircraft. Blaze and Zhongli, however, continued their fight with the former having a massive smile on her face. Don't tell me it's another weirdo.

"Blaze! Stop!" Amiya shouted again, forcing this Blaze person to stop with a reluctant look.

"It seems all the fun's gone. You've done quite a bit of good work here. Kal'tsit told me you four were a new Rhodes Island partner. I'm Rhodes Island's elite operator Blaze, nice to meet ya," Blaze said with a bright grin.

"It seems I've let their leader escape," Blaze said apologetically as she realised the consequences of her entrance.

"Don't worry about it. They had the ability to camouflage themselves. It would've been impossible even if we caught up," Zhongli replied as he pulled out a cup of tea for a quick sip. He had a drinking problem, but with tea.

"Does your friend need some medical help?" Blaze asked as she pointed towards the wobbly Rimuru on the ground.

"Don't worry about me, this is just some side-effects of my arts that will be gone in an hour or so," Rimuru replied with a thumbs up. His acting was pretty convincing, for me at least.

"I didn't want to help the person that abandoned her partners at Chernobog. I guess I should thank you lot for relieving me of that trouble. Next time you're at the landship, contact me, and I'll invite you out for a drink," Blaze said as Amiya and the Dokutah exited the aircraft. Which reminded me, was Blaze the cause of the earlier explosion? I'm afraid to ask.

With Rhodes Island's explosive entrance, we easily cleared out the remaining Reunion members that failed to retreat. As for the LGD headquarters… it needed a little bit of renovation after Blaze's fight with Zhongli.

"Zhongli, was it? Let's spar sometime when we're free," Blaze cheerfully said as she offered Zhongli a handshake after the battle. Zhongli accepted the handshake with a nod. It seems he made a new friend that loves to fight.

"By the way, Clukay. I've got something I need to tell you," The Dokutah suddenly appeared from behind me and said. I feel like this guy is a ninja.

"Kal'tsit requests a full report on your operation, as the leader of Ark. She also said that a cheque will arrive sometime tomorrow," The Dokutah said. I didn't care about the money, I just didn't know how to explain our little trick with Rimuru. Perhaps I can ask Zhongli for some help later.

It was probably time to head back to the office and rest for the day along with the rest of the gang. The others had the same idea, so we decided to leave the rest to Rhodes Island and the LGD. As we left, we could hear Rhodes Island angrily talking on the phone with Chief Wei. Surely, we could still rely on Rhodes Island's influence over Lungmen, right?