Fenrir Translations
“It would’ve been great to see that outside. Don’t you think?”
“Absolutely.”
The outside was filled with explosions and chaos.
Missiles, in particular, were born out of countless hours spent figuring out how to destroy the enemy’s forces in a single blow. Among them, surface-to-air missiles were specifically designed to take out enemy aircraft, exploding and scattering a torrent of shrapnel.
It wasn’t just about scattering shrapnel; sometimes the shrapnel would trace a line as it exploded, as if slicing through the aircraft. But the details didn’t matter. What mattered was that these missiles were made to destroy objects weighing tens of tons floating in the sky.
In simpler terms, while missile pods were one thing, those same missiles could still effectively strike an M2 Bradley armored vehicle rolling on the ground. Infantry zones? Don’t even get started.
The CCTV and drones showed the outside situation—a complete mess.
A surface-to-air missile soared about 100 meters into the air, then rapidly descended toward a pre-marked patch. Of course, that patch was stuck on the M548 cargo carrier equipped with the missile pod.
Missiles flew in parabolic arcs, following a negative quadratic curve, rising into the air and crashing down. Once there were more than thirty of them, the communication traffic exploded. Unsurprisingly, it was absolute chaos.
The enemy firepower loss rate displayed on one side of the UI climbed steadily. Normally, anything over 30% was considered wiped out. The rate slowed down at 78%, then finally hit 84% before stopping. At this point, it was almost a complete success.
The capital’s anti-air defenses had been drastically reduced.
“So, is this mission over now?”
“We’ve achieved all the tactical objectives. And look, the UI’s telling us to head outside the Lincoln Memorial.”
“Finally, we’re getting out of this creepy place. Ugh.”
As soon as they said that, the elevator arrived.
After a few seconds of ascent, the gigantic statue of Lincoln sitting solemnly at the entrance came into view. Black smoke was billowing all around outside.
The familiar voice of ISO filled their ears for the first time in a while.
-[ISO: Impressive. You’ve completely wrecked the air defense network beyond repair. A fitting end for traitors. The Pentagon’s Aegis system is still active, but with almost no available SAMs, it’s useless.]
-[ISO: Starting with the next mission, you’ll finally get full air support. But who knows what kind of experimental weapons they’ll pull out of the Pentagon and DARPA. Or you could head to NASA and connect to the satellite network. Either way, the priority’s about the same.]
-[ISO: You won’t be able to return to New York for a while. But the National Security Agency’s facilities and resources aren’t lacking compared to here. There’s plenty available. But the most important thing is your life. I don’t want to hear about a top agent dying in enemy territory, so be careful.]
“He’s kind of a tsundere, isn’t he?”
“Judging by how weirdly you’re talking, we should just move on to the next mission.”
“Ugh…”
Regardless of what Harmony said, we were already gearing up for the next mission.
There were a lot of missions to push through, all set to ‘extremely difficult.’ Normally, a few days of hard grinding would get you to max level, but there was a reason we’d been stuck on these main missions for so long.
Some missions took one or two hours each, and all of them required intense focus. How could anyone push through them quickly? There were dozens of missions, but after doing just four or five, it drained you.
Of course, that wasn’t my standard. I could run ops for twelve hours a day as long as I ate properly. I’d been through so many near-death experiences, I’d lost count.
“Next mission… we’re heading to the Pentagon and DARPA. We can ride those silent bikes we came in on. They’ll be here in no time, so let’s wait a bit.”
“Okay. I’ll restock ammo when we get there… the gun’s working fine. Looks like it’s going to be a tough ride.”
“They say once we finish this, we can unlock some major skills, so let’s push through until we secure the forward base. It’ll be about an eight-hour operation. Let me know if it’s too much, though. We can always rest or continue tomorrow.”
“Heh, not a chance.”
I couldn’t resist giving in to the gleam in Harmony’s eyes as she refused to miss out on this rare opportunity.
Just then, I heard a faint noise in the distance. Two bikes were approaching, slicing through the wreckage of missile pods, with no one driving them. Autonomous, of course. They screeched to a stop and locked into place.
We mounted the bikes, set the destination, and as soon as Harmony hopped on, the bikes surged forward. The engine noise was almost nonexistent, which was typical for special forces bikes.
We rode against the bitter winter wind, crossing the bridge over the Potomac River. The Pentagon loomed in the distance, but its former glory was gone. It just looked like a massive coffin now.
Cold winds buffeted us as we weaved through stalled cars, basking in the sunlight. A refreshing background track started playing, much to the delight of the viewers.
What was so exciting about a simple bike ride to the target? It was hard to keep up with the viewers’ sense of awe.
Anyway, we were almost at the Pentagon. Even if the interior was fortified, as long as the power was still on, it wouldn’t be a problem—although maybe I was thinking too realistically. It’s a game, after all, they’d make it convenient.
After parking the bikes, we stashed them behind some vehicles and entered the building. The inside wasn’t very spacious; most of the important areas were underground.
Then came the transmission.
-[ISO: Good. No traffic detected yet, which is a relief. If there are no enemies, that’s fine too. Just send us as much intel as possible, and don’t forget to disable the Pentagon’s ground-based Aegis system.]
-[ISO: Of course, things rarely go as planned. The underground is likely filled with bizarre prototype weapons overseen by the Department of Defense. Let’s hope no one else has touched them yet.]
-[ISO: We need intel on how the Pentagon screamed in agony and fell during the Omega Virus. Start by scouting and head to the data server.]
-[ISO: Good luck.]
“They always dump the hard work on us.”
“Don’t worry too much—I’m here. Besides, wasn’t this supposed to be a mission for four people?”
“Now that I think about it, you’re right. How did we end up like this…”
But we weren’t far from the end now.
A quick internet search showed that once we opened up NASA to connect the D.C. satellite network, we’d secure a forward base at Tidal Basin and take the White House, marking the end of the main mission.
After that, the post-max level content would begin, unlocking areas like northern New York, the coastline, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and California. Essentially, the real game started after max level.
Anyway, we were already at 84%. Not much left now.
“Let’s go. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be easy this time.”
“You know, Eugene, when you say that, it’s hard to believe.”
“Haha.”
Of course, I didn’t believe what I’d just said either.
And then, after a while...
───Fwooosh!
“Wah! What the hell is that insane gun on the wall!? Is this a sci-fi world!?”
“That’s a prototype railgun. The identification AI isn’t great, so just throw a grenade to make it waste ammo and sneak past.”
“Whoaah!”
As usual, there was no rest for us.
Figures.
"Now, let's begin discussing the agenda that was presented in advance. Feel free to speak openly."
Meanwhile, while Eugene and Harmony were pushing through the main mission...
Dice had just woken up from a nap, yawning as he debated what to order for dinner, and Summit had suddenly headed to a large supermarket nearby to prepare for a meeting scheduled for the next day. As for those preparing for the KTM in five days, they were tirelessly creating and discarding countless strategies day and night. The national team members selected through KSM were resting, while those who weren’t as fortunate had no choice but to look forward to next year.
Around the same time, numerous coaching staff and managers gathered at the respective teams to begin discussions.
"Wouldn't it be better to integrate this with our team's strategies instead of relying entirely on one side? Our analysis shows there isn't much tactical conflict between them."
"We only have about a month left. Do you really think the players can adapt to both systems in that time? In Dice's case, yes, but that was because the player had over a month of intensive one-on-one coaching."
The question remained: could Eugene’s curriculum be combined with the feedback from the teams?
No one could ignore the fact that the entire skill level of SSM, including Dice, Blooming, and even the modest resurgence of SSM Entertainment, was all due to the presence of one person. Hence, the discussion was inevitable. No one could predict just how much Eugene’s influence would affect the preparation for the Asian qualifiers.
However, that wasn’t the only concern. Everyone at the meeting was there to analyze and research Eugene's strategies, and they were the ones who needed to adapt to the latest meta faster than anyone else.
In other words, while there were concerns, no one was entirely opposed to integrating Eugene’s strategies.
“We also need to check if the players can keep up with the training demands Eugene has set. Even if we adjust both curriculums slightly, the workload will inevitably increase.”
“We should probably test this as soon as possible. Shouldn't we start by Thursday this week?”
“So, starting from Thursday, we’ll test with Eugene’s feedback as the focus for about one to two weeks. That should be enough, right?”
“One to two weeks? That feels too long.”
“Even with the team's feedback, it’s not like we’re going to see results in a shorter period. I’m taking that into account.”
A heated debate ensued.
Just because there was no outright opposition didn’t mean everyone agreed on every detail. In fact, defining those subtle gaps was the primary reason they had gathered today.
Many problems still remained. What if a player refused Eugene’s offer? Even if it worked, what if the number of participants became too large? Most importantly, no one here had experienced Eugene’s curriculum firsthand.
That was precisely why they were struggling.
“Rather than going back and forth on this, why not just send Summit and Crossline to Eugene? If Eugene isn’t involved, won’t we just end up with similar results to last year? The team’s feedback hasn’t significantly improved.”
“That could work. Based on SSM’s results, the players have only improved. It’s not like a lack of team feedback would cause them to regress.”
“It’s a little bitter, though, that we make a living off this.”
“I had a feeling from the moment we analyzed Gambit.”
One crucial point to consider was that the coaching staff weren’t the ones directly training the players.
They weren’t the ones playing the game. Instead, they analyzed gameplay, corrected the mistakes and bad habits of the pro players, and collectively designed a more refined curriculum than before.
In other words, the coaching staff could never truly understand the actual struggles of the pro players.
What does this mean?
“We’ve got about a month left, so let’s do everything we can. Whether we use Eugene’s curriculum or not, the training cycle will return within a week anyway. Scrims will be back on schedule.”
“Let’s pass this on to the two of them, then. Once we get Eugene’s feedback, we can finalize things more accurately.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to approach the player now? Getting ahead of the other teams in contacting Eugene could give us an advantage.”
“That might be a bit difficult.”
At that moment, a screen appeared. It showed Eugene, still tirelessly fighting even after KSM had ended.
Of course, she was in the middle of a main mission.
“She’s streaming right now, so we’ll have to contact her later.”
“Ay caramba.”
Player activities aside, streamer activities aside.
She really had an admirable work ethic.