ch25

“This fuck!! Corporate bastards, what brings you crawling in here…!! Keugh?!”

Missile launcher…? Bazooka? I wasn’t sure what to call it, but a Painkiller member had a hole blown through his neck by a magic wand that looked like something a Middle Eastern terrorist would use.

He clutched his neck, staggered… and then, along with the heavy weapon he was holding, fell out the window and crashed to the ground. …Hopefully, he’s dead. The thought of getting shot by that zombie-like guy who was just moving his arm still sends chills down my spine.

KWA-AAAAANG—!!

“What the…?!“

The surrounding buildings were full of criminals, so it was basically a party in full swing.

• Who the fuck is in charge of Sector 7?! If you don’t deal with those rocket-launching sons of bitches targeting us, I’ll kill you after this is over! Even if you’re already dead, I’ll kill you again!! –

• …This is Sector 7 Suppression Team, we just finished a quick sweep of the building. Is the team that’s all talk and no action the one in Sector 5? We haven’t even made it inside yet. –

Someone sharp had thought they’d sealed it off well, but it seemed a team had failed to keep watch somewhere, and another one of our trusty turrets providing cover was blown away.

The comm channel was filled with the enraged shouts of mercenaries. Especially the mercenaries next to us, who had lost their teammates in vain during the initial engagement, or rather, when they were ambushed by the Painkillers, were in no mood to joke around.

“Ivory, sis…! Are you okay?!”

“I’m perfectly fine, don’t make a fuss…! And why are you suddenly calling me sis, too?!”

“Well… because you are?”

Horatio and Domino, who were sheltering behind the vehicle, laughed heartily as if they found their own words funny. Omen, too… didn’t say anything, but subtly blocked any bullets or shrapnel that might fly my way with his body… It felt like he was treating me as more than just a teammate, but as a comrade.

……I know I’m a mess, but I don’t know what they see in me to trust me so easily. …They’ll only learn when they fall flat on their faces.

“Hey!! Daredevil Team! Recovery Team…!! Damn it, stop screwing around and lend a hand…!! If Omen steps up, he can just break through that entrance!”

“Hahaha!! Then what about you?! Just take the Credits without doing any work?”

“…Hmph! The Recovery Team has no obligation to enter until the area is neutralized. And if our team’s hacker gets hurt, you wouldn’t take responsibility, would you?”

“You son of a bitch…!”

Drrrrrrr…!!

The mercenary cursed and continued the firefight, as this team member didn’t seem to want to move until a formal order was given. The deaths were unfortunate, but it was hard to be persuasive when everyone was just hired help…

Weeeeee…!

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-gak—!!

Before I knew it, the turret vehicle that had been deployed in Sector 7 came to Sector 5 to fill the firepower gap.

Sector 7 was suppressed. Sector 6 was still clearing out the resisting criminals. Sector 5 was… in a standoff due to the losses of the assigned suppression team. Still, looking at the remaining mercenaries and mobile turrets, they should have accepted that the power gap was hopeless and given up, but the enemies’ resistance was truly formidable.

They hid when the turret was operating, and when the suppression fire slackened, they pounced and returned fire as soon as the mercenaries tried to enter the entrance.

I didn’t expect them to surrender willingly since international law and the Geneva Convention were gone… but these bastards were unusually hostile to the corporations, and they didn’t hesitate to spill blood.

…I can roughly estimate the situation now.

ExaTech’s multi-barreled turret and nearly a hundred mercenaries? That’s overkill for sending to a slum? Looking at the trucks that were blown to smithereens and couldn’t even serve as proper cover, I just felt frustrated.

They’re investing only the minimum manpower and expenditure to ensure victory and then squeeze us dry…!

• We killed an enemy who was hiding in a bunker hatch from the basement of a Sector 6 building. Inside… there’s a pretty wide passage. We will continue the suppression operation. –

• …Damn it. We found something similar in Sector 7. We’ll go in as soon as we cut through the locked door! –

There were no positive communications about securing the target, only bad news foreshadowing a prolonged battle.

As expected… it’s a pretty serious organization.

Deep inside, tightly hidden, is probably the drug manufacturing lab and hideout. They occupied all the adjacent external buildings to hide their true nature, and they prepared escape routes and passages everywhere. It’s not ordinary.

And Paradise, realizing that there was a possibility of missing the target, did not tolerate such delays.

• …The Recovery Team should also help the Suppression Team quickly clear Sector 5 and go underground. Be careful not to lose the hacker along the way. –

• Yeeeah~…. –

Horatio replied with a listless voice to the order that had finally been given.

…Unlike the sincere concern of family or colleagues, I didn’t appreciate the worry that I might die before the pawn had done its job.

“Alright… then where….”

“…Hmph! You two follow while protecting Ivory. …I’ll take the lead.”

“…Huh?”

Just as I was about to move, thinking it was time to work, Omen took action one step ahead.

As he rummaged through his chest, something was taken out with a metallic sound that made me want to cover my ears.

Clang…!

It was closer to a gauntlet, with too many parts made of metal to be called armor.

I wondered why he was only wearing that on his hand and not other protective gear… but then I realized that for Juggernaut, the equipment on his arms and legs wasn’t armor, but… a kind of weapon.

“This will be a trivial game…!”

As soon as the allied turret stopped its barrage, Omen walked forward calmly, but with overwhelming strides.

The Painkiller members’ expressions twisted into sneers as they watched the suicide volunteer cross the open road defenselessly… but the sneer didn’t last long.

Thump… Thump…!

“Wh-what…?”

“What’s with the size of that guy…! Is he a robot?!”

They seemed to realize something was wrong only when the giant, bigger than the head of the truck carrying the turret, got closer and closer.

I know that confusion of having a distorted sense of perspective well. So… I’ll offer my condolences in advance.

“What are you gawking at?! Shoot! Damn it, you morons, shoot…!!”

Bang! Bang bang!!

Deu-ga-ga-ga-gak…!!

All sorts of guns, from small pistols to machine guns, were aimed at Omen and fired.

The ampule stuck in his mask bubbled and was slowly sucked in. Although it was late, he seemed to like the fierce welcome, as he raised one hand to cover only his eyes and increased his speed.

Thump! Thump! Thump!!

“I-insane…?”

Since the target was large, almost every shot hit, and holes were riddled in the clothes he was wearing. However, no bullet could penetrate the skin of the Juggernaut, which was reinforced with all sorts of compounds.

The bullets that missed bounced off, and the bullets that hit directly couldn’t withstand the impact and fell to the ground, crushed. The firepower and ammunition of those guys were not enough to deal with a tank.

Clank… The magic wand was belatedly aimed, but the firing angle had long since disappeared. It’s common sense that if you have the physique and muscles to match your size, you’re also fast…?

“Die! You vermin…!!”

The formality and consideration he had shown at the hotel no longer existed.

Without bothering to bow his head or bend his body, Omen shook the entire Sector 5 and entered.

KWA-AAAAANG—!!

With a sound like a bomb exploding, the entrance of the building, which was already loosened by the shelling, was torn inward.

A cloud of dust rises.

Screams and gunshots erupted from inside, and members of the organization, literally folded in half, were intermittently thrown out. I don’t know what’s going on inside, but some of those who didn’t want to get involved jumped out of the windows, whether it was the 3rd or 4th floor… and were immediately shot dead by the following suppression team.

Because of the disadvantage of being unilaterally hit from a distance, a full power-type build was not very popular in the first place… but seeing the tremendous performance, I felt a slight regret.

Even if the surgery and maintenance costs are enormous, if something like that is possible….

“Shall we go now, sis?”

“…What? Where to?”

“Hey, Horatio. You have much better reflexes, so I’ll take care of sis.”

“Ummm…. That can’t be helped!”

Whether I asked or not, Nocturne Domino took out a drug that looked like an inhaler and sucked it into his mouth. Then… his haggard complexion and eyes sharpened.

Taking a moderate amount of stimulant before a battle is a historically proven method, so it’s not a bad choice. But the way he changes so dramatically, like a fish in water, is definitely….

“?! W-wait a minute!!”

Suddenly, my feet leave the ground. I waved my arms in the air, but it didn’t seem to help, so I stuck them to my stomach.

I don’t know where he got such strength from his skinny body, but Domino wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me up, tucking me into his side.

I was sure. This is the trait of a drug addict whose stats increase dramatically while under the influence of drugs.

…I don’t know how the teammates I met for the first time are all so unique. Or did they survive and succeed because they were unique…?

“Be careful not to bite your tongue…!”

“!!”

The clear vision collapsed in an instant. All shapes are stretched backward and turned into lines, like the scenery of a running subway.

I would have screamed if I hadn’t quickly closed my mouth as advised.

…!! …!

“Keugh?!”

“Geureut….”

Even in the muffled hearing and blurred vision, I could clearly see Domino’s large-caliber pistol, which had already been fired twice, and the bodies of two members of the organization falling from the upper floors, which Omen’s care had not yet reached.

Shooting while running with a person in one arm, and hitting the target every time?

Unless he had an implant for shooting assistance, I wouldn’t dare to compare my shooting skills to his.

“……Ugh!”

After a short trip, a rainbow(…) filled my throat as I entered the building.

“…! Domino! Let’s go underground quickly. Omen has made a mess…!”

‘No… please just put me down…!’

He seemed to think that the reason I was gagging was because of the interior scenery that had been redecorated with red paint and crimson bone fragments… but I wanted to tell him that anyone would be like this if you picked up a person and ran like an object.

…I just endured it out of courtesy because if I opened my mouth now, something else would come out instead of words. Absolutely not, I wasn’t intimidated by their skills…!!

Leaving the elevator, which was revealing a disconnected circuit board while crackling, I barely managed to go down the stairs to the basement on my own feet.

The bodies of the fallen members of the organization were left lying around the stairs, as if the preceding suppression team had released all their pent-up anger… and they were all in strange conditions.

“…….”

The veins that were popping out as if trying to tear through the skin were bluish, and their eyes were also…. I’m not an expert, but they were more dazed than necessary.

Like the drug organization members, they must have taken some strong drugs and came out to fight fearlessly… Then what about our human tank, who evoked fear that surpassed the effects of the drugs…?

“……Did you come? Recovery team.”

“Strictly speaking… we ended up getting in before you guys. You should be fucking grateful!”

“……Fucking bastard.”

Arriving at the basement where the hatch door leading to the mission objective was located, the suppression team, who were diligently cutting the entrance with a high-powered burner, greeted us.

The words exchanged were never kind, but they didn’t seem too dissatisfied that the work was progressing dramatically.

Chiiiiiiiiik—!!

“”……””

But the conversation ended there. Growing impatient with the news of other teams’ engagements coming in from other buildings from time to time, we were just aimlessly staring at the flames when Vanguard Omen returned with a thumping echo from the stairs.

“…What are you doing here? Playing house with a fire?”

“……The path to the bottom isn’t fully open yet. You’d have to bring a Bunker Buster to open this right away.”

Even the simple act of pulling an empty nutrient ampule from his mask and inserting a new one made some mercenaries flinch. And… Omen, stimulated in a strange way, reacted.

“Bunker Buster? ……Get out of the way.”

“……What?”

The suppression team leader asked back, and the mercenary who was working, startled by the deep bass voice, moved the burner away and stepped back.

Foam started to form in the newly added nutrient ampule, gradually decreasing, and the veins in Omen’s forearm bulged madly.

“Wow……”

“…This crazy bastard.”

Thwack!! Kkigigigigik—!!

When his fist, which had reached the ceiling, slammed into the floor, the floor around the hatch was completely shattered.

Through the gap that was created, he inserted his fingers… Yes, he crumpled the steel plate, which looked to be the length of my palm, as if opening a canned lid.

Omen raised his head as if daring anyone to say anything more.

……How much Juggernaut surgery does it take again?