NoveLight ™
"Six level 6 vests, and out of those, there's only one that's still intact..."
"Well, just getting the gun back is a relief. If we'd been 30 seconds later, we would've suffocated from the toxic gas and died."
"...Do you always play games like this?"
"This one was a bit tougher than usual."
Weee-ing.
With that sound, the elevator doors closed. I placed the mushroom bag, which had become less than half its original weight, down and slumped down right where I was. As soon as I laid down on the floor, Carto followed suit and laid down next to me.
The many magazines that had been stuffed into the multi-purpose pouch had long since been used up, and now only a military USB and a couple of grenades were left. Before heading down, the bag had contained six guns, and about twenty magazines in total, but after the battle, what was left was only three magazines and a total of four guns.
I had farmed six guns, and the ones I’d brought in were each one, so I had left behind almost half of the weapons when I dropped them off down there. But, after emptying so many rounds, and getting hit by several bullets during the battle, a couple of guns were crushed while blocking attacks from Mecha Yujin.
Considering all that, if I hadn’t farmed, I’d have run into some serious issues. Once again, it reminded me how important combat sustainability is.
"Today... you really worked hard."
"I think I did, too."
"Haha."
The weight of the bag, now reduced by almost a quarter.
Normally, I’d have packed a lot more, but right after retrieving the USB, I found out that Mecha Bi-yam had died and the whole facility was starting to fill with toxic gas. So, I didn’t even manage to bring anything more, just grabbed what I could and executed a hasty retreat.
Honestly, the escape was a little late. The main lobby had been firmly sealed with thick reinforced plastic doors, but once I tossed five grenades all at once, the door couldn’t withstand it and was smashed open. After that, I barely made it out, pulled the power lever in the parking garage, and boarded the elevator.
And here we are now.
So, in my bag... there were just a few random items left. Of course, I was planning to hand everything over to Carto, who worked hard today.
Inside the elevator, as I was zoning out, Carto spoke up.
"By the way, what if we go up and there’s no escape vehicle?"
"Since the escape time limit froze when the deep research facility access authority was overridden, it should be fine. If not... well, there’s not much we can do."
"You sure give up easily in strange situations."
...Is that so?
I wasn’t sure if it was a compliment, but it didn’t seem like something worth worrying about too much.
While we were having this random conversation, the elevator slowly started to decelerate. With a ding sound, the announcement echoed that we had arrived at the first floor. I pushed myself up with a grunt, then reached out and grabbed Carto's arm, pulling him up with me.
Although my physical fatigue wasn’t too bad, my mental exhaustion was starting to creep in. As we stepped out of the elevator, the lobby, which had turned into a complete mess, was bathed in the light of the sunset. Ignoring the chat filled with "March" jokes, I walked out into the fresh air.
However, the most surprising thing was that the truck was still there.
"So, you’re out now, huh, agents?"
"...Who are you?"
"I'm the truck driver who brought you here. You didn't inhale too much smoke, did you?"
At that moment, Carto and I exchanged looks.
Normally, traveling to the map was part of a scripted sequence, so we had never encountered the truck driver before, but now, here he was. Carto seemed stunned, blinking rapidly and shaking his head in disbelief.
Anyway, that didn’t matter much. The important thing was that we still had a way to get back to base. After throwing our gear onto the truck, we kept talking.
"You’ve been waiting all this time, huh?"
"Yeah, well. Normally, we’d get a radio message to return within an hour, but no matter how many times I tried to contact you, there was no answer. If we don’t get the special code, we’ll be shot before we even get into the base."
"Hmm."
"Still, if I manage to take one or two agents with me, I’ll have an excuse for it. Now, hurry up. I don’t have the hobby of waiting around with my head exposed in the middle of a damn war."
Vroom!
The truck, with Carto and me aboard, roared to life and crossed the dirt road.
Of course, that wasn’t my concern at the moment. A new keyword had just been introduced — normally, returning within an hour is the standard, and the truck driver would receive a return code. If the code wasn’t delivered correctly, the base defense troops would kill the driver... something like that.
But right now, the base wasn’t sending the code.
In the meantime, Carto spoke again.
"Looks like this is one of those scenarios that only applies to your session, Yujin. If we’d gone through this much, the base should have welcomed us like heroes, right? Isn’t that how it usually goes?"
"Yeah, that’s true. There must be something going on at the base..."
Wait a minute.
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, a spark of realization shot through my brain.
I’d said something before we received the mission at the high-value research facility... something about being prepared for anything.
It was something I had said, but why had I forgotten?
"...This doesn’t feel good."
Maverick had sold himself and his organization to Artemis. If Artemis saw the value in that deal, then maybe the base...
And then, the commander’s last words popped into my head.
"Don’t be too late."
If I put all of this together — it wasn’t certain, but it was hard to ignore the possibility.
It was likely the base had already been attacked.
And, unsurprisingly, viewers of Carto’s stream, who had been following my storyline from the beginning, came to the same conclusion — "Could the base be under attack?" A few of them were already speculating.
Just as I was explaining this, Carto let out a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief.
"You really are a troublemaker, huh?"
"I didn’t cause this, just so you know."
"Well, strange things always happen to extraordinary people, don’t they?"
Clank.
Carto, fiddling with the firearms, spoke again.
"I see there are a lot of shells and things in this truck. We should ask the driver. After all, we don’t have much ammo left. If the base is under attack, we’ll need to make some noise."
"Haha. Thinking like an operator now — I think we can skip the beginner-level training."
"And then you’ll send me straight to intermediate level, right?"
"Looks like you’ve got great intuition."
"Ugh..."
The chat was still full of slander, but sadly, Carto’s prediction was spot on.
With a grinding noise, the truck stopped several kilometers away from the base. The truck driver, his voice trembling with surprise, spoke up.
"Agents! Get out and take a look at this! What in the world is going on?"
"...Oh no. This is a mess."
"Wow, this is crazy."
As he said, from about 3 kilometers away from the base, black smoke was billowing up into the sky.
I sighed and asked the driver.
"If you have anything that could help with that situation, you’d better hand it over now."
It seemed like today was going to be a long one after all.
"Such a damn mess."
High-value research facilities, bunkers, lighthouses, customs offices, factories, shopping malls, coastlines, and forests... and now, the base.
The base of operations for Dr. and the commander, Cash Mendoza, and other merchants, located in the only area with any semblance of order in the war zone. Originally an abandoned airfield, now refurbished and rapidly developed, it was a hot spot where transport planes and UAVs would take off and land several times a day.
But as the facility expanded, it inevitably encountered manpower shortages, leading to a number of problems, including the lack of sufficient personnel to maintain security. The result of this was that a few unidentified bandits managed to sneak into the base.
This happened 30 minutes before Yujin returned.
—BOOM!
The supply storage warehouse.
The ammunition depot.
The power facility.
These areas, which should have been the most heavily guarded, were easily breached by a few cigarettes and a well-placed lie. The bandits, who had reached their goal, blew up their bomb-laden vests without hesitation.
The explosions were deafening, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it.
"Large enemy forces approaching from outside... at least 400 people! Almost all of them are bandits!"
"Mortar fire incoming! One-fourth of the machine gun posts have been neutralized!"
"This is insane. Sirens are blaring, get everyone together and prepare to fight!"
The attack had begun.
The sounds of gunfire were endless, and enemy forces surged from the outside. The situation was spiraling out of control, and casualties began pouring in from the hospital, where Dr. and the medical staff worked.
But, unbelievably, that wasn’t the end.
"Control tower communication received. Three transport planes approaching the base, SAMs have just launched."
"Urgent update! The planes were intercepted, but dozens of soldiers escaped before, and are now heading toward us!"
"Artemis transport planes... they’re coming at us full force, damn it."
Maverick’s involvement was clear to everyone on site.
But considering that transport planes had been involved, it was almost certain that Artemis had deployed its elite Twilight squad, and there was even the possibility of encountering UES, which had been rumored to appear recently.
However, no matter what, the situation was getting worse by the second, and the high concrete walls separating the base from the outside had already been destroyed by mortar fire.
The results were starting to show.
"North checkpoint reports, an unidentified enemy unit encountered. Engaging in combat from now on."
"East checkpoint reports! Most of the outposts are down! Pulling back the defense line and setting up new machine guns! The kill zone stretches from Beamfel 1-3 to 1-7, so avoid that area!"
"We need reinforcements! We can’t hold the defense line anymore!"
In less than 10 minutes, the base was being hit from all sides, both inside and out. Flames were spreading, and black smoke billowed into the air as people’s lives were snuffed out like candles.
But this wasn’t the end.
A voice echoed over the chaos.
"IFF activated. Approaching the breached wall. Please refrain from friendly fire."
No one paid attention to that, but mere seconds later, the eastern checkpoint sent an update, and the situation was shifting toward a new phase.
"A truck approaching from the east... IFF confirmed! It’s the truck that left for the high-value research facility five hours ago!"
"That’s not the right way! The main gate... no, it's the correct direction! Continue advancing!"
Boom!
The engine noise was growing louder, and at the same time, the screams of the bandits rushing toward the breached wall grew louder as well. The sound of gunfire echoed closer as a truck barreled through the gap in the wall, and—
Crash.
The truck slammed into the wall, and a new voice crackled through the comms.
"Sorry I'm late, but I’ll start helping with the base cleanup now. Let me know the most urgent areas that need support."
The original Bi-yam.
She had arrived at the collapsing base.