───Puhk!

The sound of a silencer glowing brightly with heat, the fading life, the sharp and ominous sound of breath escaping instead of words, the golden liquid flowing from the throat.

A swift kick to the back of the knee, followed by the switchblade pressed to the neck, cutting the carotid artery and damaging the vocal cords, and then stabbing between the ribs, puncturing both lungs. All of this in just 4 seconds. And so, one person was ejected into the lobby without a single scream.

The thick darkness in the bunker’s underground was so heavy it absorbed all sound, and once again, silence fell. There was no time to search the body. Two more enemies were approaching from the other side.

So, moving with a sound almost impossible to believe was made by military boots, I focused and listened—clink. A small stone wedged in the door frame fell to the ground when the door opened. This gave me a rough idea of where the enemies were.

I took a detour through the basement, retracing my steps, carefully stepping over broken glass, and reached near the basement lever. At that point, a distinct English voice echoed—however, by then, I had already infiltrated inside. I couldn’t allow them to fire, so I shoved the switchblade into my right hand and swiftly struck with the edge of my hand to the throat.

The enemy gagged, clutching their throat. A quick knee strike brought them down, and with a swift twist, their neck snapped. One down. As I pulled the switchblade from my right arm, I saw an enemy entering through the door. I threw the blade, and it embedded into their eye. They fell backward, collapsing.

After taking down three, I finally turned on the lights in the underground, which had been engulfed in darkness.

Three corpses lay scattered on the floor.

-??????????????
-What the hell is this? lololololololololololol
-Feels like I’ve seen this in the old weapon retrieval missions…
-I was wondering why the lights in the bunker were all smashed lolol
-How are newbies supposed to play this? It’s too intense for them!!!

Phew.

Who would’ve thought three enemies would show up just after I switched the lever?

With a sigh of relief, I began to tidy up the situation—first, let's go back a bit. After a few days of stepping into this PVP mode, I was now in one of the EU maps, the bunker. It was no big deal. I simply felt the need to prepare seriously for something.

Preparing to take down Mecha Viam.

"Looks like there’s nothing to eat except guns and some random stuff. I guess it’s because the flea market isn’t open yet, but upgrading items through farming really isn’t that efficient."

As he said, the leveling was fast, but there were still about four levels left before I could buy what I wanted from the shop. Additionally, in order to buy items cheaper than at the flea market, I had to increase my rapport with various merchants.

So, over the past few days, I had been busy moving around merchants.

There were a total of eight merchants I could meet. On the first day, I met Cash Mendoza, the captain, the engineer, and the dealer—since then, I’d met the following: Doctor, Hunter, Boss, and Maverick.

As you might guess from their names, their codenames roughly hinted at what they did before the Unidentified Zone turned into a warzone—The Doctor was a former physician who offered various medical services. The Hunter was a former soldier and forest ranger who also ran a shooting range. His services reflected that.

The Boss and Maverick were a little unusual, but the former was someone who led a bandit faction, one of the hostile AI forces often found roaming the map. Apparently, the user bandits, or Udit system, were also closely connected with him.

As for the latter...

‘…I have a feeling something big is going to happen with this guy soon.’

Maverick was the manager of a huge mafia-like organization running in customs. Looking at his setup, I thought the Boss’s codename should’ve been swapped with his, but...

In any case, he would have been someone to just keep in mind. However, when all the other seven merchants were warning me to be cautious with him, I couldn’t help but shift my focus in that direction. Whether this would cause any ripples later on, I wasn’t sure.

Anyway, returning to the point. The real reason I was putting in all this effort to farm items was... as I mentioned earlier, there was one crucial reason.

If I didn’t reach a certain threshold, Mecha Viam would forcibly kick out users.

And with a plasma weapon attached to his tail.

"Let’s finish the quest. It’s quite a pain that Raider kills don’t count as bandit kills."

-Killed them faster than shooting with a gun lol
-If this questline were the same as a regular user’s, I’d be level 20 by now
-So many tasks, but the rewards suck lol
-Icarus should’ve counted Raider kills
-If it wasn’t for infinite respawns, I’d have wiped an entire session already

Making deals with merchants to meet the medical facility’s trade volume and rapport requirements, upgrading security facilities and ventilation for the generator’s level-up, and leveling up my endurance to upgrade security—thankfully, my character’s physical skills, like strength and endurance, were set quite high.

So, these days—though it’s only been about three days since I entered this mode—my routine was pretty simple. I’d complete quests, grab any expensive junk, fill my bag, and escape. Then, I’d either store useful items or trade them for credits.

It seemed simple, but when it came down to it, it was like a mountain of tasks. It was a well-crafted system where, if you didn’t have time or a sense of urgency, you could move very slowly.

It’s a monster of a game that devours your time if it matches your tastes.

Anyway, I picked up a few guns to check. I carefully inspected the magazines and ammo, but it wasn’t a very good gun. I detached a few sellable parts and chose the best one: the AKS-74U. I hadn’t used it much, but anyone who got shot in the head with it was bound to go down.

Of course, today, I had a mission to kill 12 bandits in the bunker with a shotgun. So, when the Raider spawned, I had no choice but to use the shotgun I’d carefully kept in the corner.

If I’d known, I might have stirred up a ruckus and fought. That way, people would’ve heard the noise and come inside, or maybe more bandits would’ve spawned.

"I still have time, so let’s take a look outside."

I stepped outside.

The bunker, divided into the central, south, east, and north sections, was one of the hot spots on the map. There was still gunfire echoing nearby. Between the shots, I could hear thick Russian or English curses proving that bandits were around.

Moving stealthily, I began patrolling the building with my shotgun. It was simple to deal with bandits. With the newly acquired gun, a quick shot to the legs would drop them, and then I’d close the distance to finish them off.

Players were a little trickier. They often threw grenades to close the gap or do other things. If they threw a grenade, I’d rush in, take the hit, and then shoot their knee with a 12-gauge shell. Their legs would shatter, and they’d lose mobility. After that, it was easy.

Taking my time, I sent about three players or bandits to the lobby or heaven before checking the remaining time.

"Only six minutes left. I need to escape to the underground bunker."

I retraced the steps I took to go down earlier, and the silence of the underground was eerie. However, it wasn’t crucial. I knew I hadn’t triggered the lever earlier, and whoever was trying to escape had surely activated it.

When I reached the room, sure enough, someone had looted the Raider I had caught and activated the lever. They probably pressed the button by now. They might have escaped, but if not, it could get very tricky.

Hmm...

"If there’s someone waiting, I’ll take care of them. Let’s move."

-Camping<<<<I don’t care at all lol
-Is there anyone cooler than this guy in this world?
-He doesn’t even think about preparing, just bulldozes everything passively lolol
-Actually) Baba Yaga checks if Eugene is in the closet before going to sleep
-What’s this about lololololololololol

Slowly, methodically.

Of course, standard methods were fine, but there was something that all the operators in Icarus, who were formally part of a task force, had to master.

That was measuring echo positioning.

───Kang!

-??????????
-Has the teacher lost it?????
-Interpretation) I’m here, you bastards. Get out of the exit now!
-What? Is he saying he's here? Or is he telling us to avoid the shotgun stock slamming on the wall?
-Here we go again with the antics lololololol

I didn’t care what the viewers were chatting about.

I slammed the wall with the shotgun stock, and the dull thud echoed. It wasn’t a very loud sound. If that wasn’t enough, I took a nut from my pocket and tossed it onto the metal frame—this was a more effective method than clicking my tongue in a large space.

After the metallic sound echoed, there was no sign of anyone nearby. So, I quietly walked up the metal staircase—by now, I knew the map was getting tighter.

I began moving my tongue around my mouth.

"-…"

The sound of my footsteps hitting the wall in intervals was becoming slightly harder to track, but it was still possible to get a rough outline. I couldn’t tell if anyone was around, but there was no issue. If there was any part of the facility or corner that didn’t match what I had seen before, I’d focus my search on those areas.

How long had passed?

"…Hmm."

It felt like something was blocking my path. Specifically, the sound that should’ve come from hitting the ceiling was now obstructed.

I remembered there should have been lights and square stairs here, so…

───Puhng!

"Aaaah!"

"Hiding on the ceiling, huh? Creative."

Thud, thud, thud!

In the meantime, I almost had my jaw blown off by a friend waiting below the stairs. It was a bit unfortunate that I didn’t have a grenade at the moment—clink. As soon as I saw a grenade rolling down the stairwell, I immediately ran down. I was thankful they had given me the chance to push them.

As soon as I got out of the stairwell, I jumped forward and immediately exited the kill zone. Several bullets had pierced the path my body had just taken.

I quickly fired my shotgun. The narrow bunker was filled with the deafening roar of the weapon.

"Fall back, fall back!"

"Surrender! Surrender! We’re friendly!"

"I can certainly send you to the lobby in a friendly manner."

It was truly ironic to say "friendly" after taking the first strike, but that’s how the world works, right? Someone might just make that choice.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to let them off.

The shotgun wasn’t the best for this, but in close combat, it was still a solid choice. The pump-action shotgun spat out 12-gauge shells, creating a lethal zone in a small area, and when half of the shot pellets hit unprotected areas of the body, it was a win for me in terms of cost-effectiveness.

As the last of the shells in the chamber emptied, they pushed me hard, but unfortunately for them, my shotgun reloading speed—especially when focused during a fight—was incredibly fast, even compared to a Dagger team’s standards.

Click, click, click!

The seeds of death were being pushed into the cylindrical magazine.

-Wow, holy shit, tactical reloading is so sexy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-How do you reload 3 shots in one second, you madman? lololololol
-Mom, this person shoots with an infinite magazine shotgun lol
-Should’ve just escaped lolololol
-Fact) Outnumbered, but Yujin still dominates

The ejection into the lobby was never slow.

And it wouldn’t be calm either.

The shotgun’s muzzle took down two of them.

"Finally made it back to this damn Fort Bragg with a Blue Badger. How’s it been, Master Sergeant?"

"Every hour is agony. Welcome to the furnace of pain."

Meanwhile, far from Eugene’s virtual reality home, in the United States—Fort Bragg. The very base where the More Unit was born. It was a massive military base, appearing perfectly ordinary on the outside, but when someone familiar, so much so that every wrinkle on their face was remembered, walked out to greet you, it felt… strange.

Logan Blemis and Antony Owens.

Two former members of the Dagger team meeting again.

"I heard you’ve been visiting Korea quite a bit. Did you enjoy the younger squad’s housewarming?"

"Had a blast. Won’t be able to see them often from now on."

"I’ll have to request to be assigned to Nakasone’s team."

"Don’t talk nonsense. I’ll hit you later if I need to."

Naturally, both of them started laughing out loud.

It was an ironic twist that their team, Snake Keeper, was investigating Eugene’s situation, considering the context.

Owens continued.

"Welcome to the strike team ‘Red Right Hand.’ Do you need a briefing on team principles, combat rules, or training methods?"

"We’ll just do it like we did in Dagger. Just run some mock missions."

"That’s fine. Have you eaten yet?"

"If the squad leader’s paying."

"I see, the newbie is planning to empty the squad leader’s wallet on the first day."

They continued joking around as they headed to the cafeteria.

Soon, their order was processed, and the automated machines started preparing the food. Several bowls filled to the brim were brought out. While Logan devoured the food as though he hadn’t eaten in days, Antony, with a curious expression, suddenly added something.

"By the way, did you see this?"

"What is it?"

"The Icarus guys are doing something interesting."

At the same time, he showed Logan a screen on his tablet—whoosh!

Naturally, being a born warrior with the peak human physique, Owens successfully shielded his body from the food fragments.

Logan, unlike Laurentina, hadn’t shown much interest in it during the housewarming, and now, here was the result.

"…Are you out of your mind?"

"Looks like it."

Mecha Eugene.

The shocking revelation struck both of their minds.