NoveLight ™
───Tukakakang!
"Ugh, what the hell is that sound...!"
"Get out of cover! It's the KPV machine gun!"
A horrifying explosion echoed from within the multi-story building at the base, where intense fighting was ongoing.
Even though the fighting forces were insufficient, the deafening noise reached the ears of the base's defenders, who were risking permanent hearing damage while engaging in battle. Despite originating from the first floor of the building, the sound was so overwhelming that everyone inside, even those on the upper floors, had to clutch their ears.
While the soldiers on the higher floors were focused on the noise below, the Artemis combat team tasked with holding the rear on the first floor could not have imagined the kind of disaster that was about to hit them.
A storm of bullets that erased everything in front of them raged.
"Grk…!"
"Hide! Behind the wall—cough!"
"The wall's being pierced! Run! As far away as you can!"
The building had little regard for the durability of its walls.
Yujin, her eyes gleaming, scanned the surroundings as she attached the laser sight from the dead soldiers' guns onto her KPV machine gun. She was checking for any remaining enemies. Every time the muzzle shifted, several red and green laser beams, parallel to the trajectory of the bullets, were an impressive sight.
The moment those lasers pointed at something, a deafening roar echoed down the hallway, and everything in front of her was shattered. The 14.5mm rounds slammed into the wall, gouging large chunks of concrete, while thin walls were torn apart, shredding the Artemis soldiers behind them.
Naturally, even the UGVs couldn’t escape from the onslaught of such powerful rounds. A minigun-equipped dog was desperately trying to flee down the hallway, but the first shot shattered its right hind leg, and the second shot struck its body. The AP round tore through its weak bulletproof armor and shattered its internal circuits.
This all happened in just 0.2 seconds.
Simultaneously, an urgent voice came through the intercom.
[Friendly communication: All base defenders, please be advised. The person firing the KPV machine gun is one of our own! Do NOT misfire! If there’s a misfire, you’ll be held responsible for the lives lost!]
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha
Can't be held responsible for your life if you shoot at an armored vehicle, lol
Damn crazy biological armored vehicle, seriously
Walking vacuum cleaner, lol
Of course, Yujin could only let out a meaningless chuckle.
But regardless, the first floor was being rapidly cleared. The narrow and long hallway wasn’t ideal for CQB (close-quarters battle), but Yujin didn’t care. The moment she heard a rustle, Carto would throw a grenade or fire at a wall, guessing the enemy’s location.
As concrete broke apart like Styrofoam, huge shell casings bigger than an adult’s finger collided with the floor, ringing with a clear metallic sound. In less than a minute, Yujin had perfectly cleared the first floor. The reason was simple: the enemies, having lost their will to fight, had discarded their weapons and surrendered.
Carto piled up the weapons, placing grenades in the middle to destroy them, while Yujin grabbed several smoke grenades and tossed them into the second floor indiscriminately.
In the thick black smoke, a voice rang out.
"From now on, anyone moving will be considered an enemy. Allies should remain prone until the situation is over."
Then, another deafening roar erupted.
Having covered an entire hallway in smoke, Yujin struck the wall with the muzzle of her gun and used the echoing effect to locate the enemies. Before even entering the room, she squeezed the trigger of the machine gun, clearing the path ahead. It was a strange engagement, almost ignoring the existence of CQB-specific weapons.
But regardless, Yujin burned everything in front of her, and Carto quickly followed behind, wearing a newly acquired thermal scope and crossing the now pitch-black hallway to clear the opposite side.
It took about five minutes for Yujin and Carto to regroup with the remaining defenders from the second, third, and fourth floors.
"B block normalization complete. Where’s the next battle?"
"Uh... We need support at the airfield. The UGVs are rolling around."
"Understood. Please prepare plenty of 14.5mm rounds."
As the muzzle of the gun emitted white smoke into the cold, damp air, Yujin didn’t seem to mind at all. She left a quick request for the remaining defenders to support the surroundings and swiftly exited the building.
The battle in the central zone of the base, where several buildings were clustered together, was nearing its end. This was because Yujin had already cut into Artemis's flank. With B block cleared, including sending the Blackfox team to the afterlife, it was not an exaggeration to say that the core of the combat strength had collapsed, and the command structure had been shattered as well.
Thus, the two quickly headed toward the opposite airfield, where the fighting had intensified.
"...Wow."
"My goodness. Are you actually shooting that? Terrifying."
"We’ll need a tripod for the airfield. Please carry it, Carto."
"...Yep."
And so, Carto, carrying the completely folded KPV tripod, followed Yujin out. Of course, he couldn’t complain. Yujin, now the focal point of the battle, was ahead, carrying one bag and two ammo cans in both hands.
After running for about two minutes, the two arrived at a building overlooking the airfield, set up a trap, and climbed to the rooftop. The scene before them was one of flames and fire, with many enemies, clearly from Artemis, scattered around.
The large UGVs were also visible, and although there were some armored vehicles, most were destroyed and burning, so it didn’t matter much.
The two were now performing a solo show.
"If I had known this would happen, I should’ve brought a sniper rifle, Carto. Too bad."
"Ha ha..."
"Let’s start. Please cover the rear and provide fire support."
"Do you think I won’t?"
Unlike before, with the shoulder mount and tripod now in place, Yujin had already dismantled the inconvenient mechanical sights and installed a dedicated optical sight for the machine gun.
The moment her thumb pressed the button, firing began. With an ear-splitting roar, the rounds, traveling at nearly Mach 3, pummeled an Army-modified Humvee crossing the airfield. Of course, it wasn’t just one or two shots, but several. More than ten, reaching thirty.
Not long after, the Humvee, literally turned into a rag, came to a halt. Golden blood and black oil flowed from the vehicle.
Of course, it would still be a long time before the situation was resolved.
───Peeing!
"The response speed is pretty fast... They’re already firing back. Can you see the muzzle flash?"
"Identified. Not sure if I can hit it, but I’ll try."
"Good thing I brought an LPVO rifle."
The counter-fire had officially begun.
Carto began firing from the side. It didn’t matter if he killed or just suppressed.
Meanwhile, Yujin calmly caught her breath, and as soon as she saw something, she fired several shots. The optical sight showed an enemy holding an AT-4, whose body fell to the ground, shredded, right before firing. It was a close call—he almost went down along with the machine gun.
Of course, she fired additional shots to prevent another rocket launcher from firing, and one of the rounds hit the internal ammunition, causing a small explosion.
After a brief lull, the situation changed.
───Kwang!
"Hmm, the first-floor trap’s been triggered."
"I’ve laid traps all over the routes leading up to the rooftop. They won’t be able to come up. Just trigger the trap if the device vibrates."
"Where... eh."
Kwang.
Once again, explosions rang out as the building stairs went off.
Carto laughed and added:
"I guess everyone’s sticking with Yujin to see scenes like this."
"Maybe that’s true."
Carto, who let out a strange laugh, once again leaned against his gun and began shooting.
In response, Yujin pressed the button until her ammo was depleted.
It was truly an excellent teacher-student relationship.
"Things have really gone to hell in the base."
"I've arrived too late, haven't I?"
"...I was joking when I said that earlier, but if I had known it would come to this, I should’ve pushed you more."
The base was a mess.
In fact, it could be called more than just a mess. The airfield used to transport supplies was damaged everywhere, and bodies and debris were scattered around like trash. In the middle of the runway, remnants of UGVs and armored vehicles were scattered, and that had to be taken into account.
Of course, that didn’t mean the other areas were intact. In fact, if you turned your gaze that way, it was even more devastating. Some buildings were half-destroyed or burning, and there were still uncollected bodies of defenders and bandits everywhere.
Moreover, if you looked closely to the north, you could see the fortress wall dividing the base from the outside had been utterly shattered. Naturally, the watchtowers that could observe external movements were long gone, destroyed by snipers and rocket launchers.
Seeing that sight—or rather, the disastrous situation—the commander finally burst into laughter.
"It reminds me of when I was sent to the third world as a disaster recovery unit leader six years ago."
"..."
"Talking to you in front of everyone would be a little awkward, so I should probably thank you first. To cut all the fluff, if it weren’t for you, the only thing left in the base would’ve been bodies. A lot of people, myself included, owe you our lives. Once the airfield’s back in operation, we’ll provide sufficient support."
He nodded.
There was more talk about support after that, but at that point, I was already thinking about how I would rebuild the base if I were the commander. The most important thing that had to be prioritized was, of course, the airfield restoration. And naturally, it seemed like the commander had the same idea.
However, aside from that, something rather interesting came up next.
"I never thought those insignificant bastards from the Uncharted Zone would ever get pushed out, but I never expected it to happen like this. It’s like a monkey’s hand granting a wish..."
"What do you mean?"
"It’s simple."
In short, this is what he was getting at.
At this point, with the battle having ended, the power of many merchants had weakened. The base, which had been a place for merchants to smuggle goods and collect money, had been completely destroyed.
The losses in materials and personnel included the bases of people like Cash Mendoza and the dealers, and the commander in front of me was the only one who had the authority to request everything lost to the higher-ups within the base.
In other words, while the situation was clearly miserable, the result was that the commander had now become the top authority in the base—a sole, albeit fragile, power.
Of course, that wasn’t the most important point.
He pulled out a piece of paper.
"...A contract?"
"A contract stating that they will provide you with all possible support within two months. My signature’s already on it. You can keep a copy."
"Hmm."
A smirk spread across my lips.
The meaning behind this was clear.
"You're telling me that since nothing can be given now, we’ll put it off for later... Is that right?"
"I suppose it’s an uncomfortable truth for you, but... as you can see. For now, all we can talk about is unfortunate things."
And at the same time, several documents were placed on the table.
The names were written on them in fine print.
"The hospital’s overwhelmed. Normally, the doctor who would have treated you when you were injured would have taken a fee, but they’ll have to take a break for now."
"That’s quite troublesome. I understand, though."
"Well, that’s just how the world works..."
He let out a self-deprecating laugh and added.
"If it’s too much of a burden, you could always put off the request for now. How about helping with the base’s reconstruction? We’ll pay you handsomely."
"I didn’t come here to transport construction materials."
"Well, I suppose that’s true. Even if you had a hammer in your hand, it would be more suited for war than for fixing facilities."
Although I didn’t want to be seen as a bloodthirsty person, I had no intention of helping with the construction, so I nodded roughly as he continued.
"Even though Artemis and we exchanged a couple of punches, we shouldn’t stop gathering intelligence. Even though the base’s been turned into chaos, if we look closely, there will still be a truck or two we can use. We can take you to the shopping mall, the research facility, the street, the lighthouse, the coastline... Don’t worry, we’ll get you where you need to go."
"Of course, I’ll have to come back without taking a single hit."
"That shouldn’t be difficult for you. I’ll gather all the weapons, even if I have to strip the dead from inside the base. Leave that part to me."
Indeed, today we had already killed so many of Artemis’s special forces.
Chuckling, I took out a large military-grade USB from my pouch, placed it on the table, and nodded. Maverick’s betrayal was already a foregone conclusion, but since I hadn’t even skimmed through its contents yet, there might still be useful information inside.
He nodded, then added:
"Good job. Get some rest. The gearbox and the hideout weren’t too damaged, so you should be able to stay there without much worry."
"At least that’s something."
"Thanks for accepting it."
With that, the conversation came to an end.
But of course, this wasn’t the end of everything. There was still a dizzying list of requests being updated on my wristwatch. They were all filled with murderous intentions to deal with Maverick, so I could guess what the requests were, but...
Sitting at the humble table in the gearbox room—destroyed by debris falling from the ceiling—I sat down. Carto, who had come over, slumped heavily into the chair beside me.
Of course, unfortunately...
───Ugh!
"Uwah."
"...I... I wasn’t laughing."
Perhaps it was because I had relaxed, but the chair I was sitting on collapsed. After a heavy fall to the floor, I kicked away the debris and added to Carto:
"...Well, you did a great job today. If you want to laugh, feel free to."
"Ahem, heh... no, I’m fine, heh."
"You really held it in, didn’t you?"
Of course, I was being sincere. Carto had spent the whole day fighting with me at high-value research facilities, and after that, we had faced limits in the server room, then returned to the base, participated in direct combat, and carried ammo... I could imagine the mental fatigue must have been quite significant.
And as he let out a long breath, finally realizing it was time to unwind, I thought maybe it was my turn to give him a gift.
I turned on my note-taking function, quickly writing down various improvements, strengths, and weaknesses I’d noticed during the many hours spent with Carto. In no time, I filled up five A4 sheets.
When I handed them to him, his expression became strange.
"What’s this...?"
"A gift. Take a look. If you practice like this, it’ll be quite helpful."
"...I’m not laughing, right?"
"Of course not."
I couldn’t help but chuckle. I patted Carto on the shoulder in encouragement, but his expression still didn’t seem to lift.
He wasn’t being honest, was he?