The Extra is a Hero?-Chapter 313: THE STRATEGY MEETING

Chapter 309: The Strategy Meeting 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

​The air in the Guest Spire was no longer just cold; it was heavy with the scent of ozone and the sterile, metallic tang of absolute logic.

The frost on the walls had thickened, creating a jagged blue-white landscape that seemed to reflect the fractured state of their party.

​Michael stood at the center of the room, his gaze moving between his two transformed companions.

To his left, Maria stood wreathed in a faint, shimmering haze of Frostburn. Her white hair moved as if suspended in water, and every breath she took released a visible puff of crystalline vapor. To his right, Selena remained perfectly still, her obsidian eyes scanning the room with a rhythmic, mechanical cadence that made the hair on the back of Michael’s neck stand up.

​Leon sat on a low bench, his head in his hands. The golden aura of the Lionheart lineage, usually so bright and hopeful, was dim—a flickering candle against the encroaching dark.

​"Enough mourning," Michael’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. "The King is dying, the Council has essentially declared us enemies of the state, and the city is rotting. We need a plan before the Silver Guard decides our ’guest’ status has expired."

​He flicked his wrist, projecting a mana-map of Sylvaren provided by the King’s signet ring.

​Michael pointed to the lower districts of the city, where the silver leaves had turned to a sickly, translucent grey.

​"The Rot isn’t just a biological hazard anymore," Michael explained. "It’s a conceptual parasite. It’s feeding on the mana-flow of the city at an exponential rate. According to the King’s data, the infection parameters are as follows:"

​Infection Rate: R_i \approx 12\% \text{ per hour} in high-density mana zones.

​Parasite Maturity: 24 \text{ hours} from initial contact to total host takeover.

​Quarantine Effectiveness: < 15\% due to the Spirit Realm’s spatial instability.

​Maria stepped forward, her boots crunching on the frost-covered floor. She didn’t look at the map; she looked through it.

​"Quarantine is a half-measure for the weak," Maria stated. Her matte-blue eyes flared with a sudden, aggressive light. "The infection has already compromised the cellular structure of the Lower Districts. Attempting to ’cure’ the individuals is a waste of resources. The probability of success is zero."

​She raised her staff, and the temperature in the room dropped another five degrees.

​"The 100% solution is simple," she continued. "We lower the temperature of the infected districts to Absolute Zero. At that thermal floor, all molecular motion stops. The parasites cannot replicate, and the corrupted mana will shatter. The hosts will die, but the city survives. It is the most efficient containment protocol."

​"Maria, you’re talking about thousands of people!" Leon shouted, standing up. "You can’t just freeze a whole district to death because it’s ’efficient’!"

​"Death is inevitable, Leon," Maria replied, her voice sounding like ice grinding against stone. "I am simply choosing the method that prevents the total collapse of the World Tree. Do not let your sentimentality blind you to the math of survival."

​Selena’s Stance: The Fury

​"Inefficient," Selena chimed in, her voice a flat, melodic monotone. She didn’t look at Leon’s heartbreak; she was busy sharpening her shadow-scythe with a whetstone made of solidified mana. "The districts are a symptom. The Council is the cause."

​She turned toward the map, her obsidian eyes flashing with tactical data.

​"Elder Valen is currently rerouting the World Tree’s ’White Mana’ to the Silver Guard’s barracks to maintain the illusions," Selena analyzed. "The Tree demands a blood tithe to stabilize. If we want to save the roots, we don’t need ice. We need a sacrifice."

​She looked at her own clawed hands.

​"We kill the Council. We rip Valen’s head from his shoulders and feed his S-Rank life force directly into the heart-roots. The Tree is a predator, Father’s records state. It has been starving. If we provide it with the blood of the traitors, it will purge the Rot on its own. Blood for blood. That is the only logical exchange."

​Leon looked between them, his eyes wide with horror. "Michael... look at them. Maria wants to commit genocide, and Selena wants to start a bloodbath. They aren’t themselves. They’re... they’re monsters."

​He grabbed Michael’s shoulder, his grip desperate. "You have to fix them. Use that knowledge of yours. There has to be a way to bring them back before we do something we can’t take back."

​Michael looked at Leon, then back at the two girls. He saw the Frostburn pulsing in Maria’s veins and the Logical Singularity in Selena’s eyes.

​"I can’t ’fix’ them yet, Leon," Michael said, his voice surprisingly soft. "The Life Dew didn’t just change them; it evolved them. They are seeing the world through the lens of peak efficiency. One sees the physical cost, the other sees the political cost."

​Michael stepped into the center of the conflict, his hands raised to settle the room.

​"Maria," Michael said, turning to the frost mage. "You’re right about the containment. The infection is moving too fast for traditional healing. But if we freeze the district, we lose the labor force and the public support we need for the coup."

​"Selena," he turned to the robotic princess. "You’re right about the target. Valen is the one holding the leash. But if we just kill him, the Silver Guard will turn the city into a war zone before the Tree can recover."

​Michael’s eyes glowed with a faint purple light as he merged the two cold-blooded strategies.

​"We do both," Michael declared. "Maria, you will prep a localized Blizzard Call. We won’t hit Absolute Zero, but we will put the infected districts into cryogenic stasis. It halts the parasite without shattering the hosts. We buy time."

​Maria’s eyes narrowed, the frost around her staff pulsing. "Sub-optimal, but... acceptable for tactical preservation."

​"Selena," Michael continued. "You will guide us to the Royal Archives. We need the blueprints to the Spirit Realm roots. Once we have the evidence of Valen’s deal with the Abyss, we won’t just kill him. We will use his own treason to strip his authority before we feed him to the Tree."

​Selena tilted her head. "Probability of success: 67.4\%. A significant improvement over Leon’s ’hope’ based strategy. I will comply."

​Leon slumped back onto the bench, defeated. "And what about Professor Lysandra? The Council is going to execute her in three days."

​Michael’s face hardened. "That’s the third part of the plan. They need a scapegoat to hide the Rot. If we save the Tree, the scapegoat becomes a hero. If we fail... well, we’ll all be sharing a cell anyway."

​He looked out the window toward the Great Gate, where the Silver Guard stood watch.

​"Leon, get your sword. We’re going to the Archives. It’s time to see what the Elves have been hiding in the dark."

(To be Continued)