“...Wait a minute, who-Auguguggeuk!”
“Ugh, creaking, creaking...!”
“You were called up for guard duty and you’re sleeping so leisurely, then you have to accept this result.”
Jjijijik!
A laugh, a howl that couldn’t be a scream, and foam at the mouth. With a thud, two soldiers sitting on chairs and a non-commissioned officer inside the office collapsed to the floor. It was because of the impact bullets embedded in their bodies.
It was the consideration of the Dagger Team for the American prisoners who were uncomfortable using the Russian army’s bulletproof helmets that were covered in blood because their heads had burst like watermelons.
The American soldiers who followed used the weapons they had brought from the library, books, on the Allied soldiers who had fallen to the floor without hesitation, and the Allied soldiers who had changed their jobs from guards to prisoners in an instant either fainted or fell into a coma.
The US soldiers, who released the clips and untied their bulletproof equipment while instantly transferring the enemy’s rifles to their own inventory, instantly became elite soldiers with excellent combat capabilities.
And the 40 or so soldiers who followed the Dagger team were also expected to become the same soon.
“I don’t know if it’s because they deployed elite soldiers, but the enemy’s weapons aren’t that bad. I guess we can take it humorously that the people operating them are in such poor condition.”
“If there’s anything wrong with those guys, it’s that the operators came at such an exquisite time. Isn’t it a natural disaster?”
“That could be true. Anyway....”
Kwaaang!
Laurentina tapped the door blocked by thick iron bars and iron gates with her fingers, forcing everyone back, and kicked the door open at an incredible speed that was invisible to the eye.
The iron bars were bent like taffy and then shattered, and the iron gate bent as if it had been hit by a tank's main gun. Except for the dagger team, it could be said that everyone there was seeing the mutant's true nature for the first time.
However, there was no time to freeze. Laurentina gestured to the soldiers, and about 40 people went into the armory. The dagger team went outside to prepare for any situation.
If the Allied forces found out that the hostages had escaped and were in the armory with no separate exit, and if they sent all their power toward that area and pushed it back, they would be helpless.
The wait was not long. About 40 fully armed people began to come out in a line.
They were not wearing proper bulletproof equipment, and the bullets were not powerful enough to be prepared to kill regular enemy troops, but if they hit their heads, they would die anyway.
“...Then, what should we do now?”
“All armed people should take shelter inside the building that is difficult for people to approach. Just buying time is fine. The Allied Forces will be dealt with from here, and it would be best not to go up to the rooftop if possible.”
“Why?”
“There is also the issue of friendly fire, and cluster bombs could land on the rooftop.”
The soldiers’ expressions brightened slightly at those words.
In other words, the Dagger Team was currently receiving full air support, and the loud noise heard nearby just a dozen minutes ago was no different from confirming that fact.
The sound of metal rubbing against metal, the sound of bullets being shoved, etc. continued one after another, and around 40 people went up to the upper floors, watching the windows, and at the same time, stacking all sorts of materials to remodel the passages connecting the buildings into killing zones.
The Dagger Team had escaped the building and was approaching the area where the enemy was densely packed.
"... The building is noisy. They seem to be checking the personnel and distributing firearms in the gym in preparation for the bombing, but their actions are quicker than I thought."
"Loading combustible canisters. Let's make this hell. Where is Eagle Team?"
- Currently marking enemy locations on the roof of a nearby building. Preparing shotgun missiles to deal with the 2S25 airborne self-propelled howitzer formation.
"Confirmed. It seems like we'll have to use the remaining two cluster bombs soon, so please take care of them."
- Haha, I understand.
He repeatedly used the pulse to check if there were any enemies nearby, and he was very careful not to be caught by surveillance cameras such as CCTV or thermal imaging equipment.
It was true that he had no choice. Everyone in HQ knew that Task Force Elysium had been literally reduced to ashes not long ago, and that the team had barely managed to fill the aftermath.
But on the other hand, if you prepare to the point where it is impossible to do so through a checklist that cannot be created without actually running dozens of times in real life, the world will reward you for it.
The moment the fruit of that effort was placed on the interface of the Dagger team, a canister filled with napalm flew through the air inside the gymnasium filled with enemies.
The moment it hit the ground or a person's body, the vaporized napalm immediately vaporized and caught fire.
It didn't take long for the terrible heat to engulf the interior.
───Whaaaak!
"Kwaaaaak-!"
"Ah, I can't see in front of me, I can't see in front of me, snap...!"
"Whaaaak...!"
It didn't take long for the interior of the gymnasium to be filled with the smell of burning proteins, plastics, etc., but immediately after, the smell of gunpowder was added.
The only mercy of the Dagger team. Apart from completely destroying the enemy’s fighting power, they never enjoyed seeing the enemy suffer for a long time. Half-burned enemies collapsed on the floor like broken dolls.
However, not all the enemies in the gym were neutralized. The Allied forces were relatively spread out in the gym, and the strike team also began to be attacked. In an instant, the enclosed space was filled with gunpowder smoke and screams.
It didn’t take long for enemy troops nearby to arrive with reinforcements after hearing the sound,
-The number of guys rushing in that direction after hearing the commotion is unusual. Fire support will be coming soon, so cover your ears.
“...Cover your ears? When should I cover them?”
-Let’s see...now?
“What!?”
But there was no answer.
A huge noise and vibration covered the area around the gym, as if the raindrops of the rainy season had amplified the sound of the rooftop dozens of times. The glass windows surrounding the building were completely shattered.
Thousands of sharp shards of glass came crashing down like a bomb, most of them shattering on the ground, but some fell on the heads of the gravity-bound organisms.
The shields surrounding the entire Dagger Team's bodies bounced off whatever landed on them, but some of the unluckiest Allied soldiers got glass shards embedded in their shoulders, necks, or arms.
Unfortunately, no one could help them.
The commotion died down, and the strike team calmly activated the pulse. No one was alive inside the gymnasium, except for a few survivors who were howling in pain.
The transmission continued.
- Are you alive?
"... Shit. I almost died, man. This is the worst kind of chaos I've ever seen. I thought my eardrums were going to burst."
- The situation calls for a Danger Close. Fortunately, we don't need to use shotguns, though. We used them up earlier to deal with the airborne artillery.
“...Let’s refrain from thinking that if we survive, we’re finished.”
- I wish that were possible.
A brief moment of silence.
The strike team set up portable cover and checked to see if reinforcements were coming or if anyone was standing up from the piles of corpses to attack, but there was no sound from the surroundings other than groans of pain, perhaps due to the aftermath of the bombing.
And how long had it been?
- About five transport planes took off from Westchester County Airport. HQ seemed to sense that the operation was coming to an end. There were no air defenses around, right?
“According to what we’ve confirmed so far, that’s true. If there was something, the Avengers would have been shot down long ago.”
- That’s true, but... for now, there’s no need to worry about Manpass since the WASPs in autonomous flight are searching the area.
Silence.
In the meantime, Laurentina took out her medical nanomachine, mounted it on the launcher, and circled around, injecting the cure into the napes of the necks of the soldiers who were still breathing and only had moderate injuries.
After confirming that the groans of pain were gradually decreasing, she dragged out a few of the living enemy soldiers and laid them down separately, and added while listening to the constant sound ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ of gunfire outside.
"It was strangely easy for a hastily-constructed operation... No, strictly speaking, it was thanks to someone's sacrifice that we were able to do this now. Should I say that I was able to repay those friends' resentment with this?"
- It's not over yet, so you can appreciate it later. The fighting between the temporarily armed friends and the regular army is intensifying. We have to make it a beautiful ending.
Kuung!
From the rooftop outside
The sound of a heavy gunshot. No one on the strike team knew that it was the sound of Mjolnir.
The operation was possible because the blood of the New York National Guard and the 10th Mountain Division soldiers was shed, and because it was not wasted.
It was coming to an end.
The sky was still dark.
"... They cheated me again today. The prisoners being transported away must be furious, but I wonder if it's legal... But what can they do?"
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"Those guys will probably want to blow something after spending some time in the detention center. Besides, it's much better than shivering in the cold here."
"That's true... I'm sleepy because I'm relaxed."
7:21 AM, West Point.
Just a short while ago, morning came so quickly, but now it’s past 7 AM and the sun hasn’t risen yet. Leaving that feeling behind, I sat down on the frosty chair and heard a strange sound.
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The wooden chair had shrunk because it was winter. Frost had formed on it, so I could hear the creaking and cracking sounds at the same time, and I could feel a terrible chill creeping through my pants.
Dawn was over and morning was approaching. The strange sense of liberation I felt right there, and the emotions I felt when I saw the Allied forces collecting all their weapons from the faraway exercise field and boarding the transport planes, made me laugh without realizing it.
Every time I exhaled, my breath poured out like a waterfall.
“It’s already this cold. Time flies.”
“I guess I should start preparing for Christmas.”
“Well. If I prepare for it and then suddenly get caught in a mid- to long-term operation a few days ago, it’ll be very difficult.”
“You can’t go on a mission around Christmas with a cake... I’ve felt this way before, but this is the problem with soldiers. When I was deployed to Central Asia, I only gave my parents gifts that I had pre-arranged to send.”
“There’s no one here who doesn’t do that.”
... What should I say? It seems that both the Korean and American soldiers have similar grievances.
Furthermore, when there’s war, there are no year-ends, anniversaries, holidays, or special occasions. What can you expect from a world where even day and night can change arbitrarily for the sake of operations? I slept for about 3 hours today and left at 2:30 in the morning.
What should I say? It felt like KCTC. It’s just that the training period is terribly long, and the intensity is also incomparably increased, so that’s what happens.
One, two, three.
The transport planes filled with people suddenly rose into the sky, then flew over the Hudson River and returned to HQ. They couldn’t fly high. It was because I didn't know how many enemy troops were nearby and whether they had missiles.
Ironically, as soon as I saw that sight, I realized that we had turned a forward base in the middle of enemy territory, not even the front line, into a wasteland.
So the words that came out of my mouth.
"... Will we be able to return safely?"
"The youngest seems to want to walk. It's about 70km, so we should be able to arrive tomorrow. Should we leave soon?"
"Oh no, when did I say that!?"
"I'm joking, I'm joking. Let's get ready to return soon too."
Anyway, they seem like playful people.
Thanks to that, I woke up completely. In fact, I wasn't that sleepy. Thanks to the collaboration between the mutant and the Icarus Gear, I could say that I barely felt tired even after operating for about three days without sleeping.
However, that's only a theoretical figure, and reality is a little different. Especially since the Dagger team had been to Kennedy International Airport and Newark just a dozen hours ago, and had been analyzing data without any rest.
In the midst of the bickering, a transport plane quickly landed from the sky.
A Valkyrie with its signature IFF signal and stealth paint job. Now, the plane that could be considered the Dagger team's exclusive plane landed, and the rear ramp door opened in an instant. It had returned after dropping us off a few hours ago.
However, the Dagger team members, who were tired of not knowing what to do first when returning to HQ, and I had no choice but to widen our eyes.
The reason was simple.
"You've worked hard today, operators."
"...Why are you coming out of there?"
"I told you to go myself so that I could save time for debriefing and understanding the aftermath of the operation. Are you disappointed?"
"How could that be, our youngest wolf."
"...Huh-hee-ik!?"
Swish.
Olivia, who had turned back in an instant, put her cold fingers on the wolf’s neck, and soon a scream was heard. Meanwhile, I was looking at the scene with an expression that said that the wolf was not sensitive to the cold.
Anyway, it was time to return. The entire team boarded the transporter with a warm wind blowing. The door closed quickly, and the aircraft rose up.
And I don’t know if it was a coincidence, but something began to appear outside the window just as the Valkyrie took off.
It was snow.
“...It’s snowing.”
“Is it the first snow?”
“Isn’t it?”
“It’s a dirty, strange feeling.”
That’s right.
My image of snow changed many times in my life, which was not that long, but from now on... I didn’t think I would have a good impression of snow and the season of winter.
When even the rising sun was covered by thick snow clouds, and instead of the cold wind that would make your skin freeze, thick snowflakes fell silently, the Dagger team flew to HQ while listening to the debriefing without any time to feel romantic.
After the terrible first winter, the second winter that this world has faced has come.