───Thud!

"...Mission complete."

"I thought you were tired after chopping down trees earlier, but it seems like that wasn’t the case. Keep moving, we still have a ways to go."

Somewhere in Georgia, 5:20 p.m., clear weather.

At the end of a damp dirt road, a small forward base appeared. After easily cutting through the barbed wire at the front and entering the base, Logan, positioned above, swiftly and accurately instructed me on the next steps: where and when to move.

The mission wasn’t about infiltrating and sneaking into the base, but rather cleaning the area, so his instructions were very detailed and precise. After carefully moving around the base for about 30 seconds, I approached the back of a patrol team consisting of three humanoid robots, each clad in appropriate gear.

I raised my Tomahawk and swung it horizontally. In that moment, the neck of one robot was cleanly severed and flew into the air, while the remaining two were shot in the head by Logan and the sniper turret.

Grabbing the falling bodies, I silently lowered them to the ground. They’d probably be enjoying a happy life in electronic heaven now. Pushing such unnecessary thoughts aside, I moved on.

"Patrol team approaching from the left corner, 10 meters away. Take care of it however you like."

"Just shoot a bullet at the feet as they round the corner."

"Got it."

10 meters, 5 meters, 3 meters.

The vibrations in the ground told me exactly where the enemies were, even with my eyes closed. In that moment, I drew out a suppressed pistol loaded with subsonic rounds and waited. Just as I heard the ping of a ricochet, the robot turned around, and I, leisurely stepping out of the hallway, fired three times in less than a second. The robots fell to the ground, their heads now sporting neat bullet holes, unable to make a sound as I quietly lowered their bodies.

If this were an urgent infiltration mission, I might have skipped the body disposal, but stealth required it. The sound of bodies falling could be quite loud, and even something as simple as a magazine popping out of a pocket could create unwanted noise.

Naturally, the reason I was so meticulous about these seemingly trivial details was simple: I had seen others fail because they neglected body disposal and got caught.

"Next?"

"Wait a moment..."

At the same time, enemy soldiers began disappearing from the UI.

Logan had evidently decided to wipe out all the enemies in the base using both himself and the three sniper turrets, and as he had planned, robots began dropping to the ground like lifeless puppets.

I casually walked toward the mock-SAM missile panel. In reality, I would have hacked into the system and locked onto nearby missile batteries and key targets, but here, all I needed to do was access the panel and send a deactivation signal.

By then, I had no further business here.

As we got closer to the base, the paths began to change. Unlike the rough, uneven mountain paths we had encountered earlier, there were now well-maintained dirt roads, concrete paths, and even asphalt roads. Countless patrols and mobile strike teams had already fallen at angles where Logan couldn’t offer support.

It seemed like other teams hidden somewhere had also started offering sniper support. Thanks to that, cleaning the area didn’t take much time.

Logan mentioned that the base in the distance was beginning to get chaotic, but it wasn’t surprising. Communications with the forward base had been cut off, and maintaining a link to the main base while cleaning up was an annoying and tiring task. Once the helicopters landed, infiltration would no longer matter.

As I moved around cleaning up the area, the rotor sound of the approaching helicopters gradually became louder.

"We need to mark the entry point to the base. We need to move quickly if we want to leave the door open for them to enter."

"Isn’t it a bit too much work for us?"

"Guess it’s about time we get used to it."

Indeed, as expected.

However, despite the complaints, the UI displayed clear beams of light from the sniper turrets targeting the entrance of the base. Naturally, these infrared laser-like beams were invisible to others.

As guards tried to pull their guns, recognizing me, their bodies collapsed as if their limbs had been twisted in impossible ways. I inserted a thermite stick into the concrete wall next to the watchtower and used it as a foothold to climb up.

Since the upper part of the concrete wall was covered in rusted barbed wire, I avoided that route.

Reaching almost to the top of the watchtower, which resembled a control tower, I radioed Logan.

"I'm ready."

"Going. Watch out for the debris."

A second later, the glass of the watchtower shattered.

In that instant, I jumped from the thermite stick with all my strength, grabbed onto the metal frame that had been holding the glass, and hung on. Fortunately, since I was wearing gloves, I didn’t get hurt, and with that, I greeted the humanoid robots who had yet to come to their senses.

"Good evening, everyone."

Naturally, the three robots now sported .45 ACP-sized holes in their foreheads.

Just as I spoke those words, lasers from mock-projectiles began shooting toward the watchtower. If I were to be caught here, it would be a total troll move. I quickly threw grenades around and grabbed my M110A1 to start cleaning up the area.

In the distance, Logan continued adding fire support, while the mock grenades with laser targets didn’t hit if I hid behind cover inside the room.

In short, it was the beginning of one-sided slaughter.

"I’ll stir up more trouble, so please handle the hunting from a distance. If it gets too hot, I can always jump down."

"I don’t think you’ll need to jump down. It looks like friends in another direction have joined in on the hunting too."

"...True, we've been making quite a lot of noise."

And as expected, the sniper turrets’ lasers didn’t reach the opposite side, and bullets flew into the bodies of humanoid robots hiding in angles, finishing them off mercilessly. It didn’t take long before the base was thrown into chaos, and when the enemies retreated inside the buildings, the helicopters began landing.

Just then, I pressed the open button for the watchtower’s gate, but...

"...Hmm, Logan. We’ve got a small issue."

"The door won’t open?"

"Yeah. Maybe I have to press the button in the opposite watchtower too, or maybe the panel got damaged when something exploded earlier... Well, I’ll try crossing to the other side."

"Time’s running out, so you better hurry."

"Of course."

Pinging!

With that, I shot at the glass and used the Tomahawk to break it. In an instant, the bulletproof glass shattered into hundreds of pieces, falling to the ground. I quickly jumped down from the watchtower and crossed over the still-closed gate door, stepping on it as I made my way across.

The distance to the ground was about 6 meters. It would have been quite painful if I fell.

If the upper part of the gate had been connected to a passage, this wouldn’t have happened, but... there wasn’t any consideration for convenience in this place, was there? I thought as I shot through the glass of the opposite watchtower, climbed up, and pressed the open button.

Only then did I see the gates I had passed through open, and I added, "Phew, the door's open."

"...Well, good enough. Be careful."

"Of course."

I said this sincerely, but from the other end of the comms, Logan didn’t seem to believe me even a bit.

The final mission was beginning as the sky rapidly darkened.

"...Did I just see that wrong?"

"Who knows..."

Meanwhile, about 300 meters away.

The 22 infiltrators arriving by helicopter stared in disbelief as they watched Eugene crossing the top of the gate.

"The long week is coming to an end."

"Yeah, it really is."

At Fort Moore, in the control room.

The sky was slowly darkening outside, and the control room, once crowded with equipment, was now slowly emptying. The only thing that remained the same as three days ago was the number of people in the room. In fact, there were even more people now.

The control officers, participants who had been eliminated and returned to Georgia, general observers, technicians... and many more, all stared intently at the screens. The atmosphere between them was far closer now than when the competition had started. Naturally, this was because the competition was nearing its end.

"The operation will be done in less than 30 minutes, and once they return, it’ll be a total of 72 hours. Given the scale of the competition, I was worried about safety incidents, but I’m glad there were none. Is there any other data I need to know?"

"No, the shooting range is already cleared, and all the details will be taken care of after the competition ends. The cleanup for the 19 teams that were eliminated has also been completed, including their accommodations. We just need to finish the debriefing."

"Then there shouldn’t be any major issues."

Laurenatina watched the screen showing the ongoing combat in Operation Zones A and B. Four Chinook helicopters were flying toward both zones. This had been coordinated to ensure their departure would align with the estimated end time of the operation. About 30 minutes before their arrival, all surviving teams would receive their extraction coordinates.

However, it was inevitable that not all teams would remain unscathed during the base assault operation.

"GROM has been eliminated. Killed by a mock mortar."

"Let’s send them their extraction coordinates. So, with them out, that leaves 4 teams in Zone A and 3 teams in Zone B. Half have been eliminated already..."

"Zone A should wrap up without issues. One team even brought three sniper turrets."

"Hah."

Naturally, it was Logan’s team.

The spectators still didn’t know this. The operation had only just started 10 minutes ago, and due to censorship, there was a two-hour delay in the stream. By now, they were probably watching Logan happily chopping down trees.

The scene seen in the control room, however, was different. Logan, as expected, was quickly designating targets and giving shooting commands, executing sniper support while handling the turrets. Whether sequentially or simultaneously, it was clear that, whether living or mechanical, every time their weapons spat fire, humanoids a kilometer away would be reduced to nothing but scrap.

"Amazing."

"Well, it’s just getting started."

Eugene opened the main gate of the base with a flourish, and the 22 operators poured in like an unstoppable wave. Inside or outside the base, the snipers' job was simple: to carry out long-range headshots on the incoming enemy. The survivors from Zone A, after all their battles, executed this task admirably.

Meanwhile, the 22 operators moved into the underground of the building to retrieve vital data and rescue the kidnapped humanoids. Eugene, meanwhile, crossed the base, repeating the same process from the south, securing the northern exit.

"Operator Logan’s direct sniper support has decreased a bit."

"Yeah, the distance between us and the base has increased to over 1 km. The base is a vertical rectangle, so providing the same precision support as before is a bit harder, but on the bright side, it’s a blessing for our friends waiting on the north side."

Northeast, JTF-2.

Northwest, Korean UDT.

And to the north, Eugene, locking down reinforcements with the M110A1 sniper rifle, preparing for the final moments.

The humanoid that descended from the technical vehicle tried to fire a mortar in a hurry, but its head exploded as soon as it attempted to do so. As it grabbed the vehicle’s heavy machine gun, its head was blown off too. The lead vehicle’s wheels had already long burst, and the vehicle had turned into a literal roadblock.

Every moment was a battle against pain. Even after they struggled to reach their destination, the participants had to dig trenches, cover them with camouflage, and endure the tedious and exhausting tasks. Unsurprisingly, the combat prowess of these human weapons was terrifyingly powerful.

But HQ wasn’t going to sit idly by.

"Let’s deploy more reinforcements. Heading south."

"Isn’t that Logan’s team and the SAS’s territory?"

"Exactly."

Snipers who were detected naturally attempted to flee desperately.

Once they realized they'd been spotted and acknowledged the significant firepower difference, the next step was to quickly pack up and retreat. It seemed that it was time to find out just how fast they could escape.

Laurenatina smiled as she ordered the additional deployment of troops, and at that moment, around 2 company-sized forces began moving from a hidden hanger about 1 km south of the southern gate.

Unlike the reinforcements coming from the north, who traveled by technical vehicles, these troops began heading up the mountain paths to catch the snipers.

Of course, there had been no warning at all, so the distance was quickly closing, but—

"…What’s going on?"

"Wait, what is that…?"

A vibration rang through Logan’s comms.

It came from a small base, roughly 400 meters away from where Logan and Eugene had rested, where suddenly flares and sensor traps began going off.

Eugene had set these up earlier.

Logan immediately added to the comms.

• "Enemy forces approaching from the south. We’ll move north as quickly as possible. Sniper support is now unavailable."

• "Copy that. We’ll regroup quickly."

 

The communication rang in the control room, and Laurenatina smiled broadly, adding:

"This is why I like the younger ones."

Laurenatina had figured it out immediately, but there were others who hadn’t yet realized.

In the meantime, Logan shoved Eugene’s gear into her own pack, disconnected the wires from the turret, and hurriedly stuffed the computing unit and batteries she’d installed deep into a cave. She also grabbed her own TAC-50 sniper rifle, as well as the one Eugene had left behind.

After locking the ammo cans and cramming them into her pack, she quickly stuffed the map she had laid out nearby into her multi-purpose pouch and stood up. Through the UI, she saw the IFF signal on the opposite mountain slope. At the same time, she activated the red light and transmitted Morse code.

Short, long, short – R.
Short, short, long – U.
Long, short – N.

At the same time, Logan, now loaded with gear, began running like a bullet.

Watching her, Laurenatina couldn’t help but laugh.

"Quite impressive."

It didn’t take long for the two teams in the south to hastily abandon their positions.

The final mission was nearing its end.