NoveLight ™
:"Goddamn it, if there weren't so many enemies closing in around me, this would have been manageable."
"Please heal, Archetype. Multiple fractures."
"Sigh, excuse me for a moment."
My body ached fiercely.
If this were the real world, I would have screamed in pain from the amount of injuries I’d sustained. But fortunately, in the game, it wasn’t as severe. What can I say, it felt like lightly bumping my knees or toes against a door frame.
However, aside from that, the status of my body displayed in the upper left corner… wasn't looking too great. There was severe bleeding and fractures, and two of my limbs were completely black, including my abdomen. Thankfully, my tail seemed relatively intact.
As rainwater streamed down the wall, I leaned against it, healing my body while Jin was dealing with a similarly equipped unit with a railgun. Thankfully, Jin’s advanced plasma cannon attached to his tail was strong enough to not only disrupt the enemy’s aim but also deal significant damage.
But, unfortunately, while there were areas where we had the advantage, there were also those where we didn’t.
Kaaaang!
A chilling metallic sound echoed, followed by a burst of sparks, and at almost the same moment, Jin was sent flying.
The enemy unit, using the recoil of its railgun for mobility, kicked Jin, sending him flying far into the distance. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any major injuries, but I was feeling an increasing sense of urgency.
I removed the bullets lodged in my body, applied a splint, and bandaged myself up. Then, I took out a medkit and injected it into my wrist, and my wounds began to heal almost instantly. It was a convenience unique to the game. Of course, just as I was thinking this, vibrations started coming from behind the wall, so I picked up my gun, ready to face the incoming enemies.
The commotion had drawn more enemies in.
"Enemy identified—Aaahh!"
"Cough, ugh…!"
"It’s Archetype! Don’t approach recklessly! I’m using high-powered piercing rounds!"
Of course, the guy who said that had his head blown off shortly after.
After quickly estimating their positions, I pulled two grenades from my pouch, removed the pins, and threw them. I fired a few shots into a thin concrete wall, and I could clearly see the enemies toppling over through the holes. Then, of course, the grenades exploded in a chain reaction. The resulting shockwaves were enough to shake the ground.
But how many enemies were still on this map? In the three minutes of combat, I’d already wiped out about four squads of around 10 people each, and it felt like there were at least two to three times that amount remaining.
The problem wasn’t just the numbers, though.
As a loud explosion echoed from the direction of the logistics warehouse, I opened my mouth.
"High-angle bombing approaching. Get out of that location quickly; I’ll assist you."
"Roger."
Kaka-kang!
As soon as I moved positions, I fired three shots into the torso of the enemy unit with the railgun. I aimed for the abdomen and legs. Fortunately, I aimed well, and the shots pierced through without ricocheting. If we kept stacking damage like this, it would eventually make a significant impact.
After I repositioned, several cluster bombs rained down from the sky. Each one created a lethal zone several meters wide, but I had already figured out where the safe zones were based on their trajectories. Despite the explosions and the smell of gunpowder filling the air, I was able to regroup.
However, this combat had revealed a few important things.
"Archetype…!"
"That unit is quite the hothead."
"Affirmative. This unit is superior."
The enemy unit was definitely a hothead.
Anyway, after feeding it several shots, a flash erupted. It wasn’t Jin’s shot, but the enemy unit fired its railgun, mounted on its tail, in the opposite direction, charging toward us. The momentary speed was close to 500 km/h.
However, with my enhanced visual perception, which could track shuttlecock-like movements at 300 km/h, I was able to narrowly dodge it. The enemy unit passed over my head with a deafening noise, crashing into the wall of Warehouse 4.
I paused for a moment, stunned, but quickly signaled to Jin, who was running toward me, and we retraced our steps, fleeing toward the side gate. Unfortunately, the ZB-1012 near the fuel depot was too heavily guarded for us to head there.
"ZB-103 is locked, so let’s head for Lua. It shouldn't be too far."
"Should I take rear guard?"
"No."
Kaaaang!
"We’ve been caught up; no need for that now."
"Now I’m definitely going to catch you!"
Where did this hot temper come from?
As I heard an overwhelming barrage of gunfire coming from the upper side of the dorm, I was lucky that the rain had reduced visibility. Plus, the distance was sufficient to make their shots inaccurate. This, in turn, meant that even the railgun-equipped unit had some of its rounds hitting it instead of us.
Of course, as I had mentioned before, this enemy unit was pretty hot-headed, and in a fit of rage, it started firing its gun indiscriminately toward the dorm.
"Stop interfering, you idiots!"
I just hope Jin doesn’t reach his teen angst phase.
The situation continued to ebb and flow, but it wasn’t improving. The reason was simple. Beyond the path toward Lua was the logistics warehouse, where, as I had mentioned earlier, four-legged tanks moved instead of tracked vehicles.
Through the rising mist and thick rain, I saw the turret of one of the tanks aiming directly at us. In that moment, Jin and I threw ourselves flat on the ground, and the deafening explosion of a sub-munition whizzed over our heads, practically scraping us clean.
Would we be able to destroy the logistics warehouse before taking down the enemy unit? It was truly a no-win situation. But one thing was certain—if we used Jin’s antimatter grenade, at least he would be able to escape unharmed. I could respawn at the base anyway.
At least, that was what I thought.
But just then, the communication device suddenly came to life.
"…Do check, signal check. The sensitivity is quite poor. Can you hear me?"
"…What?"
"We’ve only installed two beacons, yet the enemy’s brigade has been detected in the operational area. We hurriedly gathered the necessary equipment and were dispatched."
"Then I’ve been struggling here for…"
"Consider it bad luck."
Dagger Team had arrived.
Goddamn it. I had suspected that the risk of detection during this stealth operation was too high, but did they really prepare for this too?
Despite all that, I finally sighed with relief. I wasn’t sure where the two of them were, but just their presence would significantly reduce the pressure we were facing from all directions.
Taking Jin’s hand to help him up, I looked at the railgun-equipped unit’s tail, which was glowing brightly, and added.
"It’d be nice if we could turn that four-legged tank behind us into scrap metal."
"Understood. Watch out for the backblast."
"Wait, what?"
"I’m going in."
And in that instant, all light disappeared from the world.
The overwhelming brightness and pressure from behind me, and the heat—like the whole space had been carved out into a hemisphere, causing the rain to evaporate—hit me. However, before all that, my sharp vision caught a glimpse of what was happening at the logistics warehouse.
A large shell, flying in an arc, fell near the tanks. When it landed, a massive explosion erupted, obliterating everything in that vicinity.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Kaaaang!
Dust rose as the enemy unit fired its railgun at the ground, propelling itself upward and charging toward us. But to their misfortune, we were experts at picking off airborne targets. It didn’t take long before Jin’s advanced plasma cannon and Mjolnir took aim at the sky.
Several flashes erupted from the air. Unfortunately, my armor-piercing rounds didn’t cause much damage since the enemy was spinning while falling, but the plasma shots were much more effective. After a few direct hits, the enemy unit’s body turned red hot and crashed to the ground, opening fire at us once again.
The rain pouring down made it a little disappointing to see the unit’s heated body cooling off so quickly.
The sequence of events unfolded in a blur, and after a brief moment, the comms crackled again.
It was Logan.
"From now on, we’ll begin autonomous fire support. Don’t get killed by that weapon."
"Of course."
Thankfully, with the voice modulation in place, the viewers wouldn’t be able to recognize the identities of the two of them.
The counterattack had begun.
"…Why is this guy going full hell mode by himself?"
"Dagger Team missions have adjustable difficulty. They should be going that far."
Meanwhile, in the chat.
Many users were in a heated discussion.
It no longer needed to be said, but some people always forget. The EU scenario that Eugene was playing was unique to him, and it became even more pronounced after capturing the Mecha Eugene and Dagger Team entering the scenario.
And then, a new system arrived to emphasize this:
-[Notification: From this point onward, the missions and map modifications available to users will vary based on their gear score.]
This system was essentially a preparation to narrow the gap between players in the EU mode and help them get accustomed to the game. For players who hadn’t played much or weren’t very skilled, the map changes were minimal, and the number of enemies was fewer.
Put another way, the higher the player’s reputation, the faster the difficulty would increase due to the system—leading many players to compete to see who could handle the toughest missions or maps.
Naturally, the person who was unmatched in this field... was right in front of them.
"I feel like the pressure from my side has been eased a bit. Should I take the second friend back to the base now?"
"...Is this unit not enough?"
"Just kidding, just kidding. Why are you getting all gloomy?"
"Don’t make weird assumptions on your own, you trash! Traitors of Artemis!"
"Ah hahaha."
The laughter quickly spread through the chat, but unfortunately, Eugene was still in the middle of Hellgate.
As mechanical fists came flying at him at speeds unimaginable to regular people, Eugene skillfully dodged them while spraying his ASh gun, causing the enemy unit to recoil in surprise and attempt to retreat. But Jin, who had fought countless battles with Eugene and had become accustomed to his movements, was already calculating the exact timing of the gap.
As the cold rain and the chilly air briefly turned into a sweltering blue gust that repeatedly passed by, the enemy unit’s movements began to slow down. It had quickly realized that the situation was turning unfavorable for it.
And, of course, the damage Artemis was taking only grew exponentially as time passed.
Mostly because of Dagger Team.
No matter how many over-technologies were used to fill the gap in manpower and firepower, they were useless in the face of the power of E=mc^2.
Naturally, Logan and Lorentina were enjoying an unprecedented sense of omnipotence at that point. The mini-termite rounds that the rookie had brought back earlier had performed excellently, but every flash from the sniper rifle left massive scars across the map.
The trash-like debris and charred corpses were scattered everywhere. But there was no time to focus on those obvious objects.
From the direction where the dorms used to be, the sound of explosions pierced through the rain.
Clank.
With the sound of metal, what appeared to be an upgraded grenade launcher fired two different grenades—one was a grenade with a camera that could indirectly observe bombing sites by deploying a parachute in the air, and the other was marked as "Type Delta."
When Lorentina realized what was being loaded into the cylinder, her expression turned pale. It looked like she was questioning whether it was really going to be used, but Logan, after finishing loading, quietly added in sign language.
It was now or never.
"It’ll take about 20 seconds. Make sure to look away to the north."
"Understood."
Thunk!
At the same time, a remotely activated grenade-cam shot through the air. A small parachute rose over the hill, crossing the power line towers and heading toward the forest next to the dorm. What used to be the dorm area had now turned into a complex, densely packed with skeletons, intel rooms, containers, sniper towers, and construction zones.
Amidst the explosions in the vicinity of the new skeletons, I saw flames. Tanks and grenade launchers that hadn’t been destroyed yet were now relentlessly shelling the nearby warehouses in the logistics area.
Marking the coordinates, Logan grinned and pulled the trigger again. A Delta-type antimatter grenade flew through the air.
She spoke.
And there was light.
"Ahhh!"
"Massive fireball detected. It’s dangerous!"
"What the hell is that!?"
I had already moved lightyears away from the EU I had been playing, but who cares?
It felt like the LA mission all over again. That thought crossed my mind just before the shockwave hit.
The world went dark.