NoveLight ™
Brrrrring!
"Looking around, it's all just facility defense troops. This will make a good battlefield for Mecha Maknae."
"Kato, I can see you goofing off, focus!"
"Ugh, alright…!"
It had been 5 minutes since entering the session. We began engaging the facility defense troops swarming the first floor.
Harmony, Lorenatina, and I were busy with rear defense and tactical command in the server room, engaging in a sort of war game using tablets, while Kato and Jin were the players, executing real-time orders. It was like 3D chess with actual people.
Two blue dots appeared on the map displayed on the tablet, with red dots surrounding them. Of course, the blue dots were Kato and Jin, and the red dots were the defense troops identified by them. The two blue dots were moving around, engaged in combat, while the red dots were gradually wiped out one by one.
The hologram next to the tablet screen displayed the scripts. The scroll moved quickly, recording the ongoing communication between Kato and Jin during the engagement.
The objectives for the combat were varied.
For instance, this time, the plan was to reduce the enemy forces in the research sector on the first floor, head up to the manager’s room on the second floor, collect any items, then head through the catwalk and trigger the alarm in the main hall before escaping to the hangar together. It was essentially a scenario.
Naturally, during this process, a lot of information was exchanged. Harmony, Lorenatina, and I, as commanders, were responsible for ensuring that Kato and Jin didn’t die, while they had to follow the orders or, if they found them faulty, act on their own initiative.
This constant exchange was essential. We, the three commanders, checked the logs of the conversations Kato and Jin had during the engagement, examining what was appropriate or not, whether the movements and shooting angles were correct, and if they helped each other when assistance was needed.
Of course, it wasn’t just their actions we evaluated. We also scrutinized Harmony and Lorenatina’s instructions. On the other hand, Harmony and Lorenatina were also evaluating the validity of my orders.
"After drawing all the enemy’s attention, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take the server room stairs, head to the hangar corridor, and strike them from the side."
"That would only be possible after taking out the ones coming through the isolation corridor, but it’s a solid plan. The question is, can Kato handle it solo?"
"The capability to carry out this minor combat objective might be lacking… We need to keep that in mind."
"If I were in charge, I would have set traps in the isolation tent and corridor by now."
"That’s something only Moni can do."
Trap-setting was something Moni had mastered.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely realistic. While Kato and Jin could bring plenty of grenades, there was no way they could lay three traps in the isolation corridor in just a few minutes. If they could, they wouldn’t be sitting in the mentoring position.
Meanwhile, enemies started flanking towards the server room platform. We, the three of us, were hidden inside the server cartridge and hadn’t been spotted by the defense troops yet. As soon as a radar showed the enemies veering off course, a muffled sound echoed from the server room entrance connected to the black passage.
Naturally, it was the sound of a silencer.
"Ahhh!"
"Kelly, gasp!"
"Zaro and Kelly are down! The position’s compromised, ugh..."
"Ugh, that was close."
Kato’s delicate voice—though it was an avatar’s female voice—echoed through the server room. Upon hearing this, I gave him a thumbs-up, and Kato laughed joyfully, disappearing into the black passage again.
After hearing Kato’s performance in the server room, my internal evaluation of him improved significantly, and I revived the plan he had almost lost out on. The scripted orders and suggestions were sent to Kato, and after a few seconds, the server room door opened again, and we heard the sound of boots hitting the floor.
Kato, having retrieved two grenades from the dead bodies, carefully entered the server room corridor. To his left was the central corridor, and ahead was the hangar corridor.
Thanks to the commotion on the first floor, the second floor was quiet, and Kato quickly moved to the middle of the hangar corridor, positioning himself where he had a clear line of sight to the central passage.
"Kato, where are you? We’re detecting two vibrations in the isolation tent area."
"I’m taking out the enemies near the central corridor. Break through the weak spot and meet me. You should be able to withstand a few bullets, just head to the server room stairs. If you hurry, we can make it out before the backup team crosses the black passage."
"Success probability 77%. Let’s trust him."
Bam!
Then, Kato unleashed hell.
Without caring about the ammo count, he fired in bursts, not even a single shot, but a rapid series of rounds from his Blacktip ammo. As expected, the ones who exposed their soft sides and heads were taken out, bleeding from their necks, while the machine gunner blocking Mecha Yujin’s movement fell silent.
The enemies who had rushed for cover didn’t fare much better. After reloading, Kato threw three grenades towards the central corridor. Though the landing was a bit off, it provided the perfect opening for Jin to move.
As the explosions went off, the noise was muffled, and Mecha Yujin stomped the ground with full force. Holding another Mk47, she unleashed armor-piercing rounds, annihilating the remaining enemies who were trying to dodge the grenade shrapnel.
"That’s it!"
"Movement detected on the upper level of the hangar corridor. Be careful."
"Woah, seriously! Four of them are coming!"
Kato, as expected, was somewhat careless.
Laughing, Jin rushed up the server room stairs, past Kato, and began suppressing enemies in the northern hangar corridor. Kato, in a daze, threw a grenade, but before he could even pull the pin out of another, Jin executed a long-range headshot on one of the retreating enemies.
After several minutes, Kato and Jin had wiped out about twelve enemies in the ten-minute engagement. Exhausted, Kato collapsed on the spot, and Jin, observing, chuckled and helped him up.
It was only natural that we all laughed along with them.
"Nothing strengthens camaraderie like surviving combat together."
"Well, if the only way to get close is by using such wild methods, I’d prefer the normal way... Ughhh."
"It’s too late for that, our little new recruit."
Jin, who was a bit sloppy just a few minutes ago, was quickly improving now that she was in real combat. I was genuinely satisfied. Kato, too, seemed to have studied the assignment well and was showing some solid performance.
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t taught Blooming directly in a while. I had been busy, so I just watched the play videos, marking the points that needed improvement… Maybe after confirming that Jin and Kato were stabilizing, I could shift my focus in that direction.
While thinking this, the two moved through the hangar corridor to the manager’s corridor, grabbing some random items in the manager room. They even wiped out a few more enemies in the research sector on the first floor.
The combat in the catwalk and main hall was far easier than the engagement in the research sector, and after triggering the alarm, they quickly ran through the corridor toward the hangar.
Bang!
"Did you think you could hide there without being noticed?"
"…Impressive, Lorenatina."
Meanwhile, Lorenatina drew her pistol and, with a casual movement, pulled the trigger, blowing the head off an enemy hiding in the server room corridor. Her movements were so natural that I didn’t even notice what she was doing at first.
She was definitely more accustomed to handling guns than breathing.
A few minutes later, all five of us, including me, had finally gathered in the hangar. Kato, still smiling broadly, and Jin, with a faint grin on her face, had clearly made a good start.
While Harmony went up to the control room to open the hangar gate, she added:
"Great job, everyone. Just open the gate, and let’s go gather what we’ve killed. If you run out of room, I’ll lend you a bag. You can fill it up with everything. All the loot’s yours."
"Alright!"
"Even though I don’t understand the concept of a ‘loot farm,’ I know that the ownership of these items is now mine. I’ll accept the offer."
With a click, the gate opened, and the sirens overhead began to spin. We aimed our guns, waiting, but fortunately—unfortunately, depending on how you look at it—no enemies spawned from within.
It was only a short wait until we could leave, so we just needed to wait for the two of them to fill their bags. Sitting down on the stairs, I felt a little cramped, but it wasn’t too bad.
Just then, a strange noise rang out.
Zzziiinnng!
"…?"
"Something doesn’t feel right..."
A purple laser-like beam swept through the front of the hangar before stopping right above Jin. I quickly shot at it with my gun, breaking the scanner, but it wasn’t exactly a quick reaction.
What was happening now? As I kept my guard up, a mechanical voice rang from the ceiling.
[Notification: Type Gamma detected… Unauthorized modification detected. Lower your weapons and proceed to the exit. Follow Artemis’ armed personnel’s instructions.]
[Notification: Remote access attempt... Connection error. Control area not found.]
[Notification: Manual command execution. Type Gamma, serial number 4. Return to Artemis.]
In the midst of the eerie silence, Jin, showing a bored expression, spoke up without hesitation.
"I refuse. Returning to Artemis no longer brings me any benefit."
"Well, you really turned that tin can into a proper Mecha Maknae, Yujin. Truly inspiring progress."
"Of course, who do you think I am?"
To cap it all off, Jin raised her gun and shot at the ceiling’s speakers, destroying them.
I didn’t think this would be over so easily… but with that thought, I gave Mecha Yujin a pat on the back.
"For now, let’s avoid any further visits to high-value research facilities."
"I agree with the Archetype’s opinion."
The sirens overhead turned red, signaling the beginning of something unexpected.
"Gamma-type androids are betraying us, huh? I never expected to hear such a thing. I can even hear the researchers going wild up here."
"They've even removed the arms and the mini-gun attached to the tail. The real-time combat data transmission was cut off unexpectedly—who would’ve made such modifications?"
"Enough chatter. We’re moving out. The facility’s defense troops have been wiped out. Keep your wits about you. We may need more than 40 men to handle this. There are reports of the Archetype being present as well."
"Anyway, except for the Gamma-type, they’re all living humans, right? That means we can kill them. Let’s wrap this up and head back."
Ding!
The elevator doors opened, and a team of ten soldiers poured out. Four elevators had arrived at once, flooding the high-value research facility. Teams Red, Violet, Green, and Blue all entered through different entry points.
As soon as all 40 were inside, a pulse emanated through the facility. It was a signal from the Artemis-affiliated traitor Icarus Operator. The pulse didn’t reach its full potential, as they had been cut off from the network for a while, but these soldiers were still highly valuable.
They led the charge through the facility. The first target was, of course, the hangar.
The team leader of Green team checked the area, ordering a stop as they scanned for any signs of life. However, they couldn’t detect a single person. The pulse emitted had been blocked by some unknown EMP source, leaving the team to operate individually.
But as the minutes passed…
Clink!
"This is insane…!"
"The fuel tank is rolling! Get out of the way!"
Green team’s misfortune began.
The steel cable holding the fuel tank, which had been hovering about a meter above the ground, suddenly snapped. Below, what seemed to be a large wedge-shaped object landed precisely, triggering a surge of momentum in the fuel tank.
The oil inside the tank was already more than half-full, and that proved to be the catalyst for destruction. The tank began rolling at high speed, and unfortunately, the chain of events led to a large cylinder on a truck being knocked off and causing a fatal explosion.
"Team Leader, move!"
"Dammit."
With that, the traitor Icarus Operator became a pancake. All that remained was a single intact arm and a crimson pool of blood under the fallen cylinder.
Without a moment to spare, Eugene emerged from the blind spot and swiftly cleaved through the neck of one of Green Team’s members. The moment they lost their head, Eugene nonchalantly hid the body, not even a second of hesitation.
Soon, gunfire erupted. But Eugene’s aim wasn’t to kill the enemies—it was to destroy their advanced optics.
She fired at the four-eyes night vision goggles attached to the enemies' helmets, shattering them. Naturally, the remaining Green Team members were relieved their heads weren’t gone, but the damage to their gear was severe.
The lights in the ceiling began to shatter.
Crack!
"The lights are down! Night vision activated… these damn bastards!"
"Command! We need backup! We're facing fierce resistance in the hangar—ugh!"
The hangar, now plunged into complete darkness, allowed Mecha Byam’s true capabilities to shine.
With a terrifying sound, screams and gunshots filled the air. Some tried to detach their silencers and fire into the air to spot enemies, but the flash of bullets quickly died out. In that brief flash of light, Eugene, wielding a tomahawk, was mercilessly cutting down Green Team with deadly efficiency.
Minutes passed, and Eugene, having avoided reloading, collected the portable EMP generator she had turned on to its highest setting.
"Good, now to get the headset."
Eugene grabbed one of the Green Team’s headsets and tuned into the chaos unfolding inside the high-value research facility. She spoke aloud, her voice cold:
"Combat won’t cease until 40 graves are dug. Wipe them all out."
And so, Artemis was about to lose a significant number of high-level personnel once again.