"Cleared up to the lower resort. No enemies in the central zone of the lighthouse. Repeat, no enemies in the central zone of the lighthouse."
"The operation's intensity is insane... No way they keep up this level of combat all the time, right?"
"You've nailed the core of it."
"...Are you all really human?"
At that moment, a small laugh came from behind.
While checking the functionality of her firearm and keeping watch as she had been taught by Archetype and the Dagger team, the noise information collected by the hearing module caused Rain to automatically turn her head. The database automatically recalled the names—Marcus, Rapier, Logan.
The operational capabilities of all of them were so remarkable that Rain was beyond astonished, to the point where she almost gave up trying to understand it. Especially the sudden, creative strategies that emerged in the heat of battle, the audacity and skill to carry them out, and the ability to adjust tactics on the fly.
What was even more impressive was that this wasn’t the case for just a few members of the Dagger team; every single one of them exhibited such extraordinary skills.
However, instead of questioning how that was possible, she took a quick glance around and then opened a map that allowed her to monitor the entire operation zone to check what was going on.
Archetype, Specter, Sirkins, Chester, and Morgan were in the midst of attacking the Log Camp.
At that moment, a sudden thought crossed Rain's mind.
"...So, where exactly do we need to dig into the Log Camp?"
"How long has it been since we started working together, and you're already asking questions like that? Impressive."
"Is that so...?"
Logan’s refreshing voice penetrated Rain’s thoughts.
She couldn’t hide the proud smile that appeared on her face, but it didn’t last long. Meanwhile, Jin Owens was walking up to Logan, offering various suggestions.
Rain quickly turned her head. Marcus, Rapier, and Logan were also at a similar stage by now. As a result, Rain pressed the button labeled "New," and immediately she could see the attack directions and anticipated targets of the Archetype team, who were turning the Log Camp upside down.
Below, several colored arrows were chaotically intersecting, but upon closer inspection, she realized these were the proposed attack routes from each team member.
And so, Rain quickly understood the Dagger team’s combat strategy.
'...These people are always planning operations involving feints, deceptions, or multi-angle assaults.'
Something beyond the word "organic."
In other words, unless the operation teams were split in half and performing separate missions at the same time, the enemies attacked by the Dagger team almost always had to be prepared for sharp strikes coming from the opposite or unanticipated directions.
Of course, that wouldn’t be possible for the enemy, and even if it were, the Dagger team wouldn’t bother pushing through a fortified position—they’d have received fire support from a distance and wiped them out long ago.
But that wasn’t the only surprising thing—there was almost no downtime between operations.
"...Can operations efficiency really not drop even after all this?"
"If you can’t even calculate that, you’d better go back to boot camp."
The answer was simple, as if asking why such a question was even necessary.
There was no other way. If you didn’t account for your own or your team’s endurance during operations, you couldn’t be part of a task force, let alone lead one—Logan was making that clear.
"It took some trial and error to get fully accustomed to the Icarus Gear, but that time passed long ago. And after fighting nonstop, you can’t help but know your limits, your allies’ limits, and the limits of the entire Dagger team."
"...So, you weren’t good from the start?"
"Of course not."
The Dagger team’s operational endurance, honed through countless operations and enhanced by the Icarus Gear, had come to this point.
There was no one in the task force who would be exhausted after just a few intense combat engagements—looking at it from that perspective, the Dagger team was truly a group of superhumans. It wasn’t just because there were three individuals with Manifestation abilities.
In the meantime, a thought flashed through Rain’s mind.
'...So, Archetype is trying to put Jin and me in a place like this, huh?'
No one had explicitly said so, but it wasn’t hard to figure it out.
If they truly wanted to use them as cannon fodder, they would have hidden them in a deep basement somewhere, completely sealed off, or even disabled them—cut off their limbs, turned off the power, whatever it took. But that wasn’t happening, which was evidence that Archetype had something else in mind—perhaps they were planning to have them as assistants to the Dagger team, or something like that. And, of course, Rain’s assessment was more accurate than anyone else's.
She just didn’t like it.
At that moment, the many arrows on the map disappeared.
Only the most likely infiltration route remained, and the operation map showed that Archetype and Lorentina, along with five other team members, were carrying out an offensive.
Rain’s combat circuit ran the simulation and calculated the results. While the exact efficiency wasn’t clear yet, if this continued, the Artemis forces stationed at the Log Camp would be torn to pieces and melt away like ice cream left out in the summer sun.
Meanwhile, explosions kept ringing in the distance, flashes visible from hundreds of meters away, and the movements of their allies were visible via UAVs, with the enemy forces steadily dwindling.
Looking at this scene, Owens commented.
"Not sure if there’ll be anything left when we arrive."
That’s exactly how it was.
Even while half of the Dagger team was on the move, the explosions didn’t stop. By the time they arrived, Archetype’s team had already used antimatter rounds and grenades to turn half of the reserve troops stationed in the area to ashes.
There was no one alive at the lighthouse that day.
It was the moment when Artemis' influence over every area, except for HQ, was completely crushed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere:
"I thought the raid was open, but why can’t we get in?"
"Uh, could it be because of Eugene?"
"Kyaaahh-!"
At the other end, while the Dagger team was turning the lighthouse back to the Stone Age, those like the Cartographer realized they weren’t even allowed to participate in the typical raid.
"...Huh?"
"Why... Why can’t I participate in the Biamm raid?!"
Bwaaaam!
With that strange sound, Carto fell flat on the ground. Normally, Dice and Harmonie would intervene to calm him down, but even they were staring blankly at the UI that had popped up before them. Blooming, who had no clue what was going on, was blinking rapidly.
What could one even call this? The one clear fact was that, despite the Biamm Mecha Raid opening a week ago, no one here had had a taste of it.
Of course, regardless of their situation, a wealth of information was spreading across YourSpace.
"This is strange... Normal, Hard, Challenge modes should be here... but I’ve never heard of Annihilation difficulty."
"Carto’s turned into ice cream, what are we going to do?"
"Well, I figured this would happen. Carto, if you keep hanging out with Eugene, you’ll get used to these unexpected situations."
"Snakiiyaaahh..."
The chat room was a mess, and two people were watching it with amused smiles.
It was almost a given, but when Eugene wasn’t streaming, millions of viewers would flood elsewhere. It was a sort of unnecessary ripple effect—on days when Eugene wasn’t broadcasting, they would flock to Harmonie’s channel, and if Harmonie wasn’t on, they’d go to her acquaintances' channels...
The reason was simple. They were searching for Eugene’s whereabouts. Especially Harmonie, who could contact Eugene anytime, was even more involved—though, of course, visiting someone else’s stream to look for Eugene was incredibly rude, but it was possible only in Harmonie’s channel.
There was also a reason for that.
'So where exactly has Eugene gone...?'
She was curious too.
Naturally, she couldn’t just ask outright. People always carried secrets they couldn’t share with others, and Eugene was no different—Harmonie and Dice, who knew fragments of the truth about her, couldn’t help but be curious but kept silent.
As most people guessed, Eugene had worked in a special forces unit in the U.S., a unit that couldn’t even be spoken of by name. Even now, after what appeared to be his discharge, he was active in the Dark Zone, doing various tasks. Of course, no one knew exactly what he was doing.
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on freeweɓnøvel.com.
Though Harmonie, Dice, and other individuals were involved, only Eugene knew the full story behind the special scenario that existed just for him.
Thinking about it like this...
'It almost feels like he’s not playing a game, but is pursuing some kind of goal.'
That was probably true.
However, Harmonie didn’t pursue any further questions. The reason was simple. No matter how curious she might be, the chance of getting an answer was close to zero—besides, Eugene always reappeared right when the whole world was wondering where he had gone.
For example...
"Right as you came in, I see someone lying down, using the floor as their bed. What kind of hardships and troubles did you run into this time?"
"Ugh. I didn’t say anything."
"If you hadn’t said that, I might have believed you."
Like this.
Whenever Eugene showed up, it was almost as if it were scripted. No matter how curious she was about where he had been, there was never a chance to ask, since he always appeared at just the right moment.
But recently, Eugene wasn’t alone. Jin and Rain, two Mecha Biamm, had entered with him. It didn’t take long for Harmonie and everyone else present to change their expressions to delighted smiles.
Three Biamms together? How could anyone resist?
Meanwhile, Cartographer’s tail wrapped around his waist. It was to lift the collapsed person on the floor. Most of the people in the room briefly felt envy, but that feeling quickly disappeared. Eugene had placed a file with just one word written on it on the table.
Raid.
It had come.
"Looks like the raid itself has been open for about a week. Has anyone here already tried it or heard anything about the internal gimmicks?"
"Ugh, I’ve been blocking out my ears and eyes all week."
"I didn’t exactly say not to gather information, did I?"
"Ah."
Most of the people present became silent, but it was expected.
Instead, the file Eugene spread out contained all the prototype raid data he had collected over the past week—of course, as expected, none of it matched what Eugene and the Dagger team had independently gathered.
In other words, it was impossible to predict what would happen inside.
At that point, Eugene also noticed the existence of the "Annihilation" difficulty, and she spoke up.
"You all probably have some idea, but... Well, has anything ever gone smoothly with me and the things I do? Everything we've learned so far could become useless once we enter Artemis HQ, so brace yourselves."
"Wow, what’s all this? There are enemies everywhere inside the facility?"
"...Wow, seriously. Can we even clear this with just us?"
"I don’t think it’s called Annihilation difficulty for nothing..."
The interior was incredibly complicated.
Countless gimmicks that had to be executed at the right time.
The continuously increasing drones and enemies, and occasionally railguns from prototypes flying through the facility itself. It was definitely a difficulty designed for the very few humans who could barely survive it, and the fact that there was only one chance to attempt it added to the anxiety.
But Eugene, staring at the word "Annihilation," added:
"Well, is there any reason to be scared just because of that word?"
"...Huh?"
"If we just kill all the enemies inside the facility, that’s also annihilation, right? Isn’t it?"
Of course, no one could refute Eugene’s words as she said them with a chuckle.
In an instant, the data file was copied and distributed to everyone. Eugene also sent multiple 3D maps and scenarios applicable to the Dark Zone’s training rooms to everyone’s message boxes. There were more than seven scenarios, and the number of two-player or more cooperative training scenarios was double that.
And then, the conversation continued.
"I believe you’ve all practiced very well while I wasn’t around. After all, I chose you. So, I hope you’ll practice these scenarios with other users at least once over the next three days."
"Eh, was this homework?"
"If you can’t execute it because your schedules are full... Well, in that case, try contacting Mikael, Ink, or Gambit. If that doesn’t work, it’s fine. There are plenty of alternatives."
Of course, no one took that literally.
And a few minutes later, after distributing all the necessary data to the people around her, Eugene stood up and added:
"There are people waiting outside, so I’ll go ahead. It’s not like we’re going to come up with any brilliant solutions by sitting here and brainstorming. It’d be better if you read and understand the files I sent you as much as possible."
"...Alright."
"If you need anything or want to clear a scenario with me, feel free to contact me anytime."
Screech.
After leaving those words, Eugene stood up, and Jin and Rain, with blank expressions, followed her. Of course, Jin made a cheeky gesture by forming a V with his fingers and holding it up next to his face. A truly excellent fan service.
Not everyone was distracted by that absurd scene.
"What’s going on? Where are you going this time?"
"Not for a closed training... I’ll be back in about two or three hours, so don’t worry."
"Well, if you come back..."
Leaving four people with stunned expressions, Eugene and her sisters went out the door.
After watching the scene with a dazed expression, Dice quietly spoke.
"...Looks like Eugene has been pretty busy lately."
Of course, no one showed it on the outside.
After confirming that the three figures had completely disappeared from the room, Harmonie and Dice patted Carto, who was sitting in the chair.
"So, you don’t have any schedule after this, right?"
"I was planning to thoroughly check the training scenarios Eugene gave us. Surely, our Cartographer here wouldn’t miss such an important moment, right?"
"Ah, well. My succulent plant at home suddenly called me. It’s having really bad stomach pains, and I have to take it to the hospital... Wait, what if it gets dragged on, help me, oh noooo—!"
"...Oh my."
As expected, Carto had no choice but to comply.
And so, everyone took one more step toward the Prototype Eugene Raid.
"Things are crazy, huh, our youngest."
"...Yeah. Seems like it."
"There aren’t many days left, so let’s hang in there. You haven’t forgotten the promise to take you to Florida, right?"
"Ugh, don’t remind me, that’s bad luck!"
Under the name of the 49th President, Henry Mikael Brayton, Operation Ouroboros... Approved.
Objective - Complete annihilation of Artemis.
Operation execution: D-3.