[Warning. Full communication with Alpha Team has been cut off. Repeat: Communication with Assault Alpha Team is lost.]
[Heavy resistance encountered in the server room! Right! Right! 40mm low-speed grenades! Aaargh-!]
[Hangar bulkhead, close it, close it… damn, it’s a quadruped tank! Sonic weapon detected! Get out of that damn control room imdiately!]
Urgent, escalating voices, a rapidly changing scene.
It was as if the communication updates and fleeting images were being switched like screens. The status of Alpha Team, whose vital signs had all flatlined to zero, the low-speed grenades that bounced twice off the walls before precisely embedding themselves inside, and the armored vehicle-like quadruped tank that crashed through the thick hangar bulkhead.
The tension-filled music abruptly stopped, and silence filled the air. After a few seconds, the screen revealed the once-pristine high-value research facility, now a wreck. The ceiling lights were half destroyed, and scattered body parts of unmanned drones littered the floor. The footage played in reverse, showing the results of the attack.
But unlike before, the final screen revealed the fallen Alpha Team in full. The nearly absent light allowed the nearly black blood, now pooled on the floor, to shine a dull red, while in the center of the dim facility, a figure wriggled.
As the cara zood upward, the identity of the figure was revealed—it seed to move upwards and imdiately passed through the ceiling, shooting directly to the ground.
[Resistance is fierce! The enemy is deploying heavy equipnt to tear us apart!]
[Alert Gamma team. As of this ti, Dagger Team will provide fire support at this location. Imdiately move at least 45 ters from the current combat zone.]
[Dagger... I've heard that na before- Ugh! Fall back! Fall back!]
The surface, too, was in chaos.
However, the cara showed that those who had been deployed underground were facing worse outcos, while the players above were desperately retreating, putting enough distance between them and the enemies.
As they successfully moved out of the kill zone,
— Kuuuung!
Suddenly, an enormous explosion flared up in the center of the kill zone, accompanied by an imnse aftershock.
A blast of intense heat swept over everyone, sending communications into a montary blackout. However, as the players barely escaped the epicenter, they witnessed nearly every UGV and armored quadruped tank being reduced to titanium vapor and shattered debris.
At that mont, communications were restored, and the support operator spoke.
[Dagger Team fire support completed. Proceed with your mission.]
[What the hell… What is going on?]
The tempo of the footage quickened.
The battle that had started at the outer periter of the massive research facility had now shifted to the first floor. The scales of victory tipped in favor of the players as Dagger Team, having appeared at the right mont, dismantled the defensive forces' flanks.
But that wasn’t the end. The cara, which had been focusing on the surface, returned to the dark interior of the research facility, where it began focusing on the entity that had literally crushed the initial assault forces.
A chilling tallic sound rang out as a bulletproof plate hovered in midair, its front aid squarely at the cara. Between the plate, two icy blue eyes glowed unnaturally bright. A silver tail glimred, gradually shifting, forming strange plasma-like colors.
It was Prototype cha Eugene. She had officially prepared for combat.
However, even seeing this, the enemies did not falter.
[You've brought an interesting toy.]
[We’ll hold the line from the front. The front line will last at least 3 minutes. Let’s see how well our friends perform.]
[It’s ti for so fun fireworks.]
Clank.
The sound of a grenade launcher labeled “Antimatter Weapon” echoed, and the cara lazily illuminated the scene. The Icarus Gear worn on the left wrist—no downgrade version, but the original—shined clearly. The cara then shifted to show the person’s shoulder.
A dagger patch piercing through a spade, with "TASKFORCE DAGGER" written below it.
The trigger was pulled on the 40mm antimatter grenade, and in the sa instant, cha Eugene unleashed a plasma pulse.
The two flas collided, and the resulting explosion engulfed the screen in flas, followed by darkness. Monts later, several lines appeared in midair.
[Unidentified Zone Escape Mode: Taskforce Dagger joined.]
[Prototype Weapon Raid launched.]
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.
.
.
[General] Who am I? 'KingGodEmperorGreatYellowBrightDarkZoneEUPlayer'
[Overall Comnts] [By Registration Order]
Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus! Icarus!
This is it! Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Aaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content! Aaaah, tsunami of content!
We are living in the sa era as Dark Zone!!!
This ga is insane! Hahahahahahaha
Aish, I've never done EU before, is it worth it?
Already done by everyone but you lol
Try it, go ahead
Can you stand it? You really can hahahahahahahahahaha
No joke, it's worth it, it's just the early maps and farming that make it tough
The noob doesn’t even farm, just shoots, is this one of those gas too?
Ah, that’s Eugene
F*ck hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Dagger Team... I feel like I've seen them sowhere before, why don't I know them?
Didn’t you do the Seattle raid? Don’t you play this ga???????????????????
F*ck, I just started the ga!!
Oh, I get it, this newbie’s getting roasted hahahahahahahaha
Ugh, trash~~
F*ck sorry, I was wrong
Isn’t Dagger Team showing up now?? Can’t cha Eugene just be beaten up and turn into an ally?
Try it then hahahahahahaha
Fact) Everyone who did similar things in your space got wiped out, or cha Eugene self-destructed first
Seriously, unless you nail them in the exact spot with a hamr or shoot them with a gun, you’ll never win hahahaha
Living point) If soone does sothing really easily, they are probably an expert in that field
Unidentified Zone Escape Mode advertisent.
It didn’t take long for the brilliant quality video to sweep through the billboards of South Korea.
"They really poured their souls into this."
Should I call this a spectacle or a grand scene?
As expected, a video was playing in front of my eyes—a few days had passed since Dagger Team’s arrival in the Unidentified Zone, and as soon as Saturday hit, a video was uploaded to Icarus Dark Zone’s official YouSpace channel.
Naturally, I knew what it was from our previous discussion. Though it had been explained many tis, to summarize, it was preparation to legitimize Dagger Team’s presence in the Unidentified Zone—but honestly, did the players care about that?
They didn’t care at all, simply screaming in joy.
"By the way, speaking of that, there are still a lot of people who rember Dagger Team. I went around and saw many welcoming reactions."
Fact) Yes.
It's nice to see them, but honestly, they made it easier to run public raids and operations hahaha
Dagger Points 10 (put them in a raid, you won’t lose out) / Dagger Points 25 (raid superstar carrier) / 3-stage clear title holder (not seen in the top tier)
This person doesn’t care about raids at all hahaha, a Biya-myeon would be stronger than most raid mbers
Don’t bash with facts though
So that’s what it was.
Anyway, it was just as they said. No need to look far. I started browsing through personal sites, as the viewers seed to pick up on my subtle interest.
Though the joint operations with Dagger Team hadn’t been many—apparently, besides the oil refinery bombing mission I participated in with Harmony, there were a few more mission recruitnts that I didn’t join—I found out later that only a handful of people actually completed these. But the numbers weren’t that small.
There were a few hardcore users who spent hundreds of hours to barely clear the third stage. These users were now the carriers, showing overwhelming skill in public raids.
Curiosity piqued, I didn’t log into the ga right away but spent so more ti browsing the internet.
Since the server had been open for quite a while, the YouSpace and Dark Zone EU-related sites were overflowing with information. The server had opened around 8 AM, and many people had been playing already, but I wasn’t one of them.
I had to hit the gym in the morning.
Moreover, my broadcast schedule usually started around 7 PM, so until then, whether there were significant updates or not, I did what I wanted to do or what I had to do.
For that reason, my information gathering was a bit delayed, but in the end, the important thing was this:
"It’s more accurate to say that a new rchant has been added rather than anything related to combat. All the quests seem to be absurdly bizarre... but I expected that."
Just speaking the truth, hahahahahaha
Every quest is crazier than Superbone, hahahahaha
Living point) Once you accept the quests, the map structure changes, and enemies appearing on the map also change, so everyone’s dying.
All the bandits are now Artemis enemies? That's crossing the line, f*ck hahahahaha
Soone even saw a quadruped tank, hahaha
Hmm.
Nodding, I scrolled through the chat, fervently checking hidden high-level information, and began to think that this was probably the expected outco.
Since the exit and map are the sa, people just get used to specific thods, but if not... users had no choice but to grow stronger—though they might die in the process, but I don't really know about that.
Of course, I heard that pre-modified maps would be provided to offset map-changing penalties... Still, seeing everyone complaining made suspect there was so reason, and when I checked, the quality of the maps themselves turned out to be pretty poor.
But that's that, and tactics are tactics.
I spoke up:
"...Isn't that enough to figure out? It’s not like they added completely new equipnt, just mixed up the maps a bit. How hard can it be?"
If you apply your standards to others, 99% of the users will get wiped out, you f*cking liar.
?? : Huh? Why can’t it be? It works for .
As of today... Dark Zone service ends...
That's exactly what I’m calling hard, f*ck hahahahahahaha
Don’t ss with the people who can break locks with just their grip, hahahahahahaha
I didn't even say much, but everyone started self-regulating, becoming a team in a completely ironic way.
If I said more here, the already bad situation might have taken a strange turn, so instead of adding more words, I decided to simply log into Dark Zone with my choker on.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Lorentina hadn’t arrived ho yet, so I was able to step into the Gear Box without any big issues.
And of course...
"Finally here?"
"You arrived just as the sun set. What kind of punishnt should we give this little one who has no sense of ti?"
????????????
Wait, they’re a bit different from the Dagger Team we know??????
Fact) The Biya-myeon received the Dagger Team title during the Seattle raid.
Was it just you who was officially part of Dagger Team? hahahahahahaha
Damn, so jealous hahahahahaha
I knew this would happen.
The Dagger Team, who had been waiting for to log in, imdiately started teasing … but my attention was elsewhere.
A silver body. A physical appearance that couldn’t be described as human and sleek tal lines shining brightly... No, it wasn’t that. cha Eugene was there, not in my Gear Box, but waiting in the place where Dagger Team was staying, or wherever they were.
Staring at it with a dumbfounded expression, Jin quickly added in her flat tone:
"I must clarify that this action is not a betrayal of the Archetype. According to the logic circuits' analysis, these beings have considerable power and are highly favorable toward the Archetype... Ugh."
"Be quiet."
"Oh dear. The talking tin can has beco a mute one."
"Who just said that?"
"Apologize."
What’s this hahahahahahahahahaha
F*ck, I should’ve been part of a joint operation with the Dagger Team!!!!!!!!!!
Damn, so friendly hahahahahahaha
This is crazy hahahahahahahahaha
Even NPCs beco gentle lambs in front of Eugene...
That brief incident ended.
While it wasn’t exactly a cutscene, it was similar, and Dagger Team placed a few items on the table without paying much attention. The contents were simple. In fact, I already knew. It was the sa Dagger Team quest that had been posted on Tricky’s personal site just a few minutes ago.
There were daily quests, weekly quests, and so that had no set deadline. But without much thought, I accepted them all. Naturally, Dagger Team didn’t seem to care much either, and they added their own input.
"Is two weeks enough ti?"
"We’ll need to try a few tis to get the hang of it."
"At this point, humility isn’t really necessary. Go and scout the operation zone. I’ll give you a few beacons, so just stick them in places where they won’t be noticed, and the zone data will automatically update. Once the scouting is complete, you’ll be able to receive fire support, so keep that in mind."
"You didn’t ntion that we have to get past Artemis’ forces, UGVs, and tanks, did you?"
"If I thought you couldn’t do it, I would’ve told you to stop being reckless from the start."
Wow hahahahahaha
We get all these quests and you’re telling us to distinguish courage from recklessness hahahahahahahaha
Fact) Those who can do it, have done it
If you wanted, you should’ve earned the title during the Dagger Team event (I couldn’t either)
Ah hahahahahaha
Serkins, this guy...
As I glared at him, he smoothly fled behind the squad leader. Of course, the viewers were just laughing along—fortunately, Lorentina and Logan were wearing full-face masks, so their identities weren’t revealed. Owens changed his face using in-ga filters.
The common thing among the people listed was that they had all appeared on broadcasts at least once in the real world. In other words, this action was ant to completely shut down any questions like, "Why are they NPCs?"
Anyway, I took a look at the mission details. The daily quests were mostly about map reconnaissance, but the hardest ones involved destroying quadruped tanks and retrieving internal parts, or capturing high-ranking officers and retrieving their belongings.
Although it was ntioned that Dagger Team's fire support should be used, well... if we could get it, fine; if not, that’s just how it is. Fire support is never sothing you can always count on.
And so, I stood up from my seat.
Of course, I called Jin.
"Well, it's ti to at least dip our toes in. Follow , Jin. We’ve got work to do."
"Don’t expect great results."
"Of course, that’s what will happen."
It was ti to work.
The path to Prototype cha Eugene was vaguely in sight.
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