"...So now you’re not even trying to hide it."
"Isn’t it a little too late to be saying this now?"
If you're not hiding it, what are you going to do about it, Cato? LOL
[Image of Eugene praising himself casually]
Fck, there are headless corpses everywhere, LOL LOL LOL
Two Lex, do it!!!
Holy sht, this person really doesn't seem to be moving*
Clunk.
The bodies of robots roll all around. If these were humanoid bodies, not human, it’s likely this area would have been a sea of blood and gore, or so Cato thought — a thought that scratched at the back of my mind.
Wherever my eyes landed… well, not everywhere, but occasionally, I’d step on sothing with my boots or, when taking a short break, would inevitably see a humanoid with its head cut off. It almost felt like a horror movie, but I thought the source of the terror wasn’t these corpses but Eugene, who was working alongside as a teammate.
And before that thought could vanish,
───Kaang!
A flash of light suddenly burst out of the darkness.
It was like looking at the hallway of a battleship, a cramped space only repair bots could navigate, filled with tangled materials, wires, and other debris. It was the perfect space for Eugene to move around unnoticed, and she slaughtered the enemy robots, wielding a tomahawk.
The humanoids, with heads flying through the air or chests completely torn apart or limbs twisted backward, kept increasing in number, and at that point, I began to question whether I needed to shoot at all.
If a third party were watching right now… they would probably say my eyes looked empty, hollow.
Still, I could say I had sowhat adapted to the current situation.
"Thanks to you, Eugene, I saved so bullets. But don’t you use a gun?"
"In these cramped spaces, if you miss a shot, there's a high chance the bullet will ricochet. It’s difficult to properly handle a gun in places like this unless you’re carrying an SMG or a shotgun…."
"You could at least use a pistol... Well, half of it is probably your preference, right?"
"You know well."
Preference (Instead of shooting with a gun, breaking with an axe)
??: Isn’t it a little weird to call that a preference? You should rethink that.
*Hey, hey, damn, she’s holding an axe, LOL LOL LOL
Bold statent I think using an axe to break robots is indeed a preference.*
If it's called a preference, what are you going to do about it? LOL LOL LOL
Well, what can I say? It’s a preference.
I decided not to care too much. Besides, I’d already seen Eugene carrying a KPV machine gun and shooting it the other day, so if I pointed it out now, what would that change? The viewers are pretty much people whose brains reset every 10 seconds, constantly repeating the sa old things, but still...
Anyway, a bit late, but to briefly explain what we’re doing right now... We’re advancing toward the shield generators while carrying dozens of kilograms of explosives. Along the way, Eugene is tearing apart any enemies that show up.
There are just a few problems with that.
───Kugung!
"...Ugh."
"I had underestimated the shockwaves reaching the buildings. This is why no matter how much you calculate, a perfect operation never erges."
"If only we’d brought sothing like an antimatter canister, things would’ve been simpler. But carrying dozens of kilograms of conventional explosives is exhausting."
"That’s because they’re a rare commodity. It’s actually quite a lot just to load them into a railgun and shoot them."
Thus, the occasional shaking of the buildings...
I don’t know exactly what’s happening outside. Dice and Harmonie are probably helping sowhere else by now or patrolling around the entrance we went through, recording anything unusual, while the battle continues outside, with lubrication oil being washed off with sweat.
Just in case Artemis detects our signals, we’ve minimized the use of the Icarus gear, but who knows how long that will last...
"Wait a second."
"...?"
I barely managed to open my mouth. Eugene held up a terminal in front of .
It was probably a picture taken by either Harmonie or Dice. Near the entrance we entered, there were dozens, almost a hundred, enemy humanoids. They were clearly heading toward us. They weren’t too close, but if we stayed still, the chances of them catching up were high.
Before I could even respond, Eugene spoke.
"Go."
"...I’ll find the way."
"Even if you fail, don’t be too discouraged."
"I’m more afraid of your disappointnt than mine, so I’ll try my best."
[Notification: Intruder detected.]
[Notification: Blocking of existing access routes starting. Alternate passage opening.]
*That's how it is, LOL LOL
*It’s getting intense now, LOL LOL
*You’ve held out pretty long, LOL
Cato, now you're trusting the work to the point where it’s believable, huh? LOL LOL
??: If you disappoint , I’ll make you lose everything.
Kkki-kkki-kkk!
The situation was rapidly deteriorating.
A trendous noise erupted as if a giant was ripping steel apart with its hands, and without any warning, the gates we’d passed earlier began to close. With sparks and explosions going off, it was clear sothing had gone wrong.
I imdiately started running, probably because the gates were closing slowly due to the vibrations caused by the bombardnt that had been going on for the last ten minutes. Of course, I didn’t know the exact reason, and I didn’t need to know.
One, two, three. The doors were closing faster, and the doors on the other side were closing even faster. Not that the doors were closing faster, but I was too slow.
───Piiiiing!
The pulse swept across the facility, marking the remaining distance.
Fifty ters.
Amid the deafening noise of the closing doors, faint gunfire echoed. Was Eugene in full combat mode now? I wondered if I could even survive this, but that’s sothing for later.
After converting the pulse into a directional EMP and releasing it into the half-closed gate, I could clearly feel the speed of the gate slowing down, and I almost slid to the other side.
"Ugh…!"
Screech!
For a mont, it felt like night turned into day. Bullets, fired at dozens per second, whipped through the spot where I’d just been. The firing echoed heavily along the relatively wide corridor wall.
There was no need to engage right now. What was needed was calmness, composure, and the ability to break through. After listening to Biam’s nagging enough tis and practicing moving things to reality, it didn’t seem that surprising anymore.
I swiped my hand through the air, and a chunk of stone, as big as a stone, materialized in my hand. I pressed the upper button with a click, threw it back, and less than a second later, the explosion and heat blasted from a distance. Ignoring that, I aid my gun and shot a bullet at everything in sight.
The enemies were swept away like autumn leaves.
"Ha, seriously..."
By now, I had no choice but to admit it.
No matter how much I felt pressured by… Biam, the experience built on my body by that person… had beco an imnse help in situations like this.
I couldn’t pretend not to know. The difference in skill between Eugene and , from when I first t him to now, was literally the difference between heaven and earth. But still, the fact that I couldn’t even reach his toes... it was a strange feeling.
My senses were expanding dramatically, but conversely, ti felt much slower. It was partly because of the Perk I had chosen in advance, but fundantally, it was probably because Biam, who was fighting sowhere out there, was giving a thorough training.
I kept pushing forward, reflecting on all of this.
How much ti had passed?
With my body battered and broken, I barely managed to lock the control room door and make my way to the panel.
"Can’t get a signal… no surprise."
My HP was now below 10%.
My arms and legs had already turned black. Fracture and hemorrhage markers were flashing on one side of my UI. Naturally, no matter how much I tried to move, my limbs didn’t respond well. Plus, even though I had learned a lot from Biam, carrying this absurd amount of explosives made it impossible to exert 70% of my original physical strength.
Well, at least thanks to the explosive backpack, I wasn’t shot in the back.
As I struggled to put the bag down, strange noises echoed around .
What could I say? There was this thick cylindrical object filling nearly the entire room. They were constructing a plasma field through massive electrical currents or sothing like that.
But that wasn’t the important part.
"The remote detonation device... is already fried."
I saw the LED indicators completely fried from bullet impacts. The internal circuits were probably the sa.
But that wasn’t the important part.
"I’ve had enough fun with this shield. It’s about ti to confiscate it."
45 kilograms of explosives, 70% stronger than TNT.
In such an enclosed space, the likelihood of a horrific explosion was high, and I giggled as I flipped the bag upside down. Even if remote detonation wasn’t possible, a shock would make the explosion happen naturally.
I bent forward, wrapping my elbow around a pull handle, like starting a chainsaw, and then snapped my back straight, pulling the lever.
A small clicking noise rang out, and then the explosion and heat surged from a distance.
"Now, I can finally rest."
And a flash covered the room.
───Kuuuung!
"…Wow, amazing."
"That’s insane. Didn’t Yerin do sothing like this once in Tanhoizer?"
"She did, but…"
A massive fla erupted over several hundred ters.
Among it, blue plasma flas, the partially lted, burning debris of hundreds of tons of shattered material, and collapsing walls and structures.
It was the mont Eugene’s team had pulled off another impressive feat.
[Dark Zone - Strear Sub Gallery]
[General] Cato
Reviews
All reviews (0)