"Damn it, I thought the rain had stopped, but it's pouring again."

"This place is known for heavy rain, though. I don’t really like getting wet and dirty either, but isn’t it a good thing that our range of movement has increased a bit?"

"Well, that’s obvious. It’s just a matter of preference."

Swish!

The rain steadily poured, soaking the entire world. The afternoon of the second day of the mission was cold enough that you could see your breath. Logan seemed worried about me, but I didn’t mind; I always turn on the warmth function of my Icarus gear as soon as it gets a little cold.

I hadn’t used any of the gear’s features during the sniper competition, but the cold was a different story. I wasn’t making excuses, though. Cheating is still cheating. I was lucky to be an alternate participant.

To offer an excuse, people like me, reptiles, suffer a lot more than others when our body temperature drops. For example, my digestion becomes horrifically difficult, and I end up vomiting everything in my stomach. It’s like my body’s lubrication freezes, making it impossible to move.

When my body temperature drops, I endure a kind of pain that’s worse than anyone else’s, but I trust you’ll let it slide.

In any case, once the temperature issue was solved, the weather became a relatively minor problem.

The rising humidity from the rain and the deceleration of the bullets passing through the raindrops were quite a headache, but the sound of the rain helped to mask a lot of the noise—like the noise made by humanoid robots falling.

In short, there were pros and cons.

Because of this, everyone started picking up the pace.

───!

"Is this infiltration, or should I call it assassination, or even total annihilation?"

"If we don’t do it now, we won’t get another chance. Let’s move quickly."

The silenced bullet hit one of the humanoid reconnaissance soldiers, about 300 meters away, right in the head. The head twisted and snapped off as the bullet passed through. The other robot next to it was Logan’s, and as the bullet pierced its forehead, it dropped to its knees and collapsed forward.

If it hadn’t been raining, the chance of us being detected would have been higher. Even with a suppressor, if we weren’t using subsonic rounds, the sharp sound would have been loud enough to be noticed. But the rain was perfect for hiding the noise.

Another shot fired. The gas from the suppressor. The barrel cooled rapidly as it was hit by the rain. Cold air and raindrops, with smoke and vapor rising together. The raindrops hitting the suppressor evaporated, and gunpowder smoke billowed from the muzzle.

A three-robot patrol was wiped out in an instant.

Checking the PDA, I added,

"Signs of an alert level increase, none… but it looks like another one’s coming from over there."

"They’re probably coming to check since the signal cut out nearby. Let’s take care of it quickly. I want to rest near the fortress soon."

"It doesn’t seem like a patrol, though… there’s more of them. After we wiped out the patrol, they might have incorporated a mobile strike team to cover the area."

"Doesn’t matter. Let’s make them all guests of the afterlife."

Logan was keen on implementing the assassination meta—kill all the witnesses.

It was a strange feeling seeing his seemingly gentle face twist with determination, but he was right. Since we were deep into the operation zone, encountering stronger resistance was inevitable.

Taking the barricade stop from my multipurpose pouch, I attached it to the M-LOK and tightened it. Being right-handed, I attached the accessory to the left side of the gun. This was a tool to help stabilize the firearm when shooting around corners. Normally, it would prevent vibrations when shooting around a bend.

After firmly securing a spike with a pad the size of my index finger to a tree, I took aim, marking the humanoid enemies that had just started to become visible through the trees, numbering them in order.

From 1 to 9. I planned to shoot the lower-numbered ones, and Logan would target the higher-numbered ones.

At this point, I didn’t need to link the UI with the sight to take corner shots. With nine enemies closing in, it was best to just take them out as quickly as possible.

At 250 meters, then 200 meters, and finally 150 meters, they came into clear sight, and the countdown popped up in front of me.

I carefully exhaled a shallow breath, then inhaled slightly to steady my breathing. The next step was simple. I hooked my finger over the trigger guard, aligned the reticle, and moved it to the first enemy in the far-right position.

When the countdown hit zero, I pulled the trigger. The slight tremor of my shoulder was enough to blow apart the central power unit in one robot’s chest.

"One, two, three, four…"

A mechanically precise shot.

I didn’t move any more or less than necessary. As soon as I took one down, I immediately moved on to the next. Head or chest. By the time they noticed, it was already too late. Logan and I could eliminate two, or even three, enemies per second in these situations, and after one second, the count dropped from nine to four.

Naturally, the enemy patrol still had no idea where we were. But they would soon. As soon as Logan made eye contact with me, he signaled for us to advance. I detached the barricade stop from the M-LOK and stowed it back in my pouch, then dashed across the wet ground.

Logan, through sustained fire, kept four of them from moving to another position, and I successfully flanked them, considering whether to throw a grenade but ultimately choosing to move around their side. From here on, I’d shake them up, and the polar bear would do the rest.

As I shot, the enemies, trying to move from tree to tree, were taken out one by one, their heads turning into Swiss cheese, and Logan advanced, repeating a similar or opposite process.

Until all the enemies were gone.

Had it been a minute? The situation ended.

"Nice, easy job."

"With the rain pouring down like this, I don’t think the sound will leak out… Ugh, my hair's completely soaked underneath."

"You should cut it short."

"I like long hair."

"Is that your preference? I like long hair too, but it was getting in the way of the mission, so I had to cut it shorter."

Logan’s voice carried an unmistakable hint of regret.

The breath he exhaled, like a waterfall, showed the sudden drop in temperature on the foothills after the rain.

Looking at the gear on my left hand, I checked how much time was left. It was now 5 p.m. the next day. The mission had been underway for 44 hours, so we had exactly one day left to reach the waypoint. The remaining distance was 12 km, so we needed to move fast.

Since it was raining, there was no need to pull out the map, and I mentally reviewed the tasks that still needed to be completed before the fortress assault.

"Identify the location of the signal jammer in a small outpost, send a signal to HQ once the outpost is captured… The distance from the outpost to the fortress is about 2.3 km, so we can take it, rest for a bit, and then head to the pre-determined sniper position and wait."

"Right. Anyway, let’s move quickly. If we stay here any longer, something troublesome might happen."

I nodded, leaving behind the nine humanoid robots with gaping holes in their heads, and continued moving toward the destination.

For the next 12 hours, it felt like this. Instead of resting, we constantly considered when, where, and how to act, choosing the right course of action, and sometimes directly engaging the patrols with shots. By now, I had no idea how many people remained in Operation Zone A.

Walking along the narrow mountain paths, bypassing swollen valleys from the rain, and when bypassing wasn’t possible, finding the narrowest river crossing, I quickly anchored an anchor on the opposite bank and crossed. As night began to fall, I put on my night vision goggles again.

Wearing a cover to keep the rain off, I climbed the mountain again, dragging my tired body up. The time or how little sleep I’d gotten didn’t matter at this point. We had already come too far to worry about that.

The only thing I was grateful for was that no matter how much rain I was hit with, my body didn’t swell up. Despite running around for almost two days without taking off my boots, even if I took them off now, my feet wouldn’t have blisters.

If enemies appeared, we’d crush them, conquer the steep mountain paths, and occasionally clean our guns to ensure they wouldn’t malfunction due to excessive rain. There were plenty of things that required energy and attention, but the goal was clear.

As the earth was swallowed by endless darkness, and 5 p.m. turned to 12:30 a.m., with only 16 hours and 30 minutes left until the actual fortress assault mission…

"…Hah."

"Defense forces at the outpost are roughly around 15. We’re almost there."

A small forward base and outpost, located 2300 meters from the fortress and positioned on a nearby ridge that could overlook the fortress.

Two people cautiously approached about 300 meters ahead.

───Beep!

"…Logan team, 51 hours and 48 minutes completed, 60 km traveled. Signal sent. Assigning to Fortress Assault Team 1 and calculating the sniper team's cover range."

"Which team is closest to completing the first objective?"

"ISA, Rangers, SAS, Delta, DEVGRU, Navy SEALs, JTF-2, Alpha Group, GROM, Shayetet, UDT—all are about 2 hours ahead of the first target."

"Unexpectedly, the Koreans are doing well. I thought that little land had way too many mountains, but it turns out it was for this. They handle mountain terrain pretty easily... I must’ve taught them well."

Operation Zone A: 7 teams surviving out of 16.

Operation Zone B: 6 teams surviving out of 16.

Lorentina raised her hand, and Eugene and Logan, having arrived first, were sent the details of their roles for the fortress assault. Eugene, having lost rock-paper-scissors, was now scouting the area around the base, monitoring the movement of the humanoid robots.

The end was near.

"…The rain has stopped, and the weather’s looking a bit better. The clouds have cleared, and I think I slept about 7 hours… How much time left until the mission begins?"

"About 20 minutes."

"Have you eaten?"

"I ate while Logan was sleeping. You know, I’m sure the senior ate while I slept too."

"Of course."

The blue sky outside the window, a complete contrast to the torrential rain from just a day ago.

Dust, which had been lying around for a long time, began to flutter as we entered the room. The empty 2nd-floor concrete building, without any furniture, had only two people—Logan and I.

Fifteen hours ago, after turning the humanoid robots we had found into robot ketchup during the middle of the night, we took care of everything, cleaned up, and set up our gear.

We pulled out the remaining combat rations and stacked them in one corner of the room. The next task was simple. Although we had covered everything with waterproof tarps, we had to dry off the wet parts, using the Icarus gear to help. After discussing the plans briefly, we played rock-paper-scissors.

I lost, and Logan won.

So, while Logan took a 3-hour nap first, I stood guard, installing various lighting and sensor traps around the area, making sure we weren’t caught off guard by other teams.

Even though it was unlikely another team would show up, I refrained from planting Claymores.

The first goal had been achieved, but there was still much left to do.

The small signal base we were in was located 2.3 km from the fortress, and it was in a prime spot to conduct reconnaissance. While Logan was deeply asleep, I grabbed the spotting scope and scouted the enemies near the fortress.

I didn’t need the map at that point due to the rain, but I made all my markings with the Icarus gear, then went down to the first floor to mark all the patrol and strike team cycles on the new map.

Of course, in the meantime, I ate some combat rations too.

This process took about 3 hours, and I was ready to pass out soon.

And after repeating this a couple more times, 12 hours slipped by like melted ice cream.

"People really do need sleep. I didn’t sleep much, but I feel wide awake now."

"...Didn't I let you sleep for 7 hours, not just 3? I was surprised when you woke up."

"You were sleeping so soundly, I didn’t want to wake you up."

I definitely fell asleep around 3 or 4 a.m., but when I woke up, it was already 11 a.m.

Of course, Logan had also slept soundly until about 3:40 p.m., so there were no issues. My muscles were sore when I woke up, but it wasn’t unbearable. A few patches of the pain-relief balm I brought helped relieve it.

Anyway, Logan, having set up the sniper positions while I was deep in my dreams, had prepared everything and was ready. I felt a bit guilty.

But, not at all concerned, Logan added,

"You're the one handling the base infiltration mission today, so you can manage that. We were the first to reach the waypoint, so the most important mission is ours... Go in, decapitate every robot inside, and take full control of the facility."

"Specialty of mine. Wasn't the goal to wipe out all the enemies outside the fortress first?"

"Yeah, that’s the plan. So the follow-up troops can infiltrate via helicopter. But don’t try hacking the SAM sites this time. We’re training, not in combat."

"Do you really think I would confuse the two? I know the difference."

"You think I’ve forgotten what you did back in Washington D.C.?"

Ah, that…

It was something from the past—hacking an anti-air missile and firing it at a ground target, not the sky. I’d done it in New York and Washington D.C. five years ago, and even when Harmony and I were pushing the main mission.

But this time… that wasn’t an option. These facilities were paid for with tax money, and actually firing a real SAM missile into a building could cause an awful situation.

Anyway, today, my job was simple. When Logan hit the waypoint, I would go there, take out all the enemies near the ridgelines and mountains, and infiltrate the base to gain control over it, making sure we could remotely control the internal functions.

In 10 minutes after the operation started, 22 real soldiers in two Chinooks, wearing simulated combat gear, would infiltrate the base. Their mission was to extract data and rescue hostages.

This mission involved not only us, but also the sniper teams watching from the other ridgelines. Hundreds of humanoid robots were waiting both inside and outside the fortress. If we didn’t reduce their numbers ahead of time, our side would be wiped out.

"Let’s go. The sniper position is about 950 meters from the fortress, and the nearest small outpost is about 470 meters away. If we reduce their numbers first, things will go much smoother."

"Of course."

Stepping on the damp ground, we moved.

After about 10 minutes, we reached the sniper position. As soon as we removed the camouflage, this is what we saw—two .50 caliber sniper rifles and three fully set-up turrets. Inside a deep space, resembling a bear’s den, were calculation devices and large batteries.

This was the preparation for operating the turrets. If it were Icarus gear, the batteries and calculation devices would have been miniaturized and integrated into the turret, but not now.

Of course, there was one strange thing.

"Why are all the trees in front of us fallen? They look like they were struck by lightning..."

"I cut them down. They were in the way of sniping. About 15 trees, I think. Took me about two hours."

"Are some of these trees as thick as barrels, or is that just me?"

"Well, I borrowed your Tomahawk. Unlike mine, yours doesn’t break no matter how roughly you use it. Just a few swings to trim them, and then a body slam and they snapped. Didn’t put in too much effort."

…Well, that’s one way to do it.

Looking at all this, I realized Logan and I had truly transcended humanity. But at least the sightlines were clear, so I figured it was for the best.

By the way, when I asked how he concealed the sound of the trees breaking, his answer was truly something.

"Before the fortress assault mission started, I wasn’t doing anything else, just walking around. The device messages told me not to destroy any robots before the mission started... I figured they wouldn’t respond to anything external until then."

"So, you tested it?"

"Subsonic rounds. A few times on the base’s dirt mound. That’s how I got a bit of logging done last night. It’s a normal thing in Alaska, you know. Fun stuff."

What can I say?

Logan was definitely my kind of person.

Anyway, we both chuckled, and a few minutes later, the comms crackled and a transmission from HQ came through. It was exactly as we’d predicted, and the countdown on the device now showed 10:00:00.

Two Chinooks with 22 soldiers had likely just taken off somewhere.

Inserting a round into the chamber and closing it, I prepared to head down. It was time to reduce their numbers.

The long sniper competition’s end was fast approaching.