Black Badger

I went inside the safehouse.

We gathered in the control room to get a clearer grasp of the situation. I watched the footage while sharpening my instincts, tracing the positions of the Creatures. I also checked the condition of the safehouse.

This safehouse, located in D Zone, sat at the intersection of multiple other safehouses, so it was considered especially important even among safehouses.

Its nickname was the Fox’s House.

I had no idea why it was called that. Maybe there used to be a lot of foxes around here, or something like that.

Either way, this was no time to be curious about the origin of a name.

This place was stacked with supplies, ammunition included. The Fox’s House functioned as a logistics hub.

Losing it would mean catastrophic losses.

“Out of the six core devices, two are damaged and currently producing no output.”

The squad leader reported while pointing at a screen in the left corner of the control room.

Of the six dots displayed on the screen, two were glowing red. Of the remaining four, three were green, and the last one glowed orange.

“We deployed repair robots, but the damage is severe. Each unit will take three hours to fix. There’s a high chance other devices will be destroyed before repairs are completed.”

If four devices go down, the Core stops functioning.

With only two devices, you can draw a line, but you can’t form a plane.

That was something Yun once told me. Though he didn’t stop there—if he’d stopped there, I would’ve understood. He went on to add a mathematical explanation about core devices. To protect an area with a Core, you need at least n devices when you calculate it mathematically, and if you expand the area like this, you don’t just add a few devices—you have to relocate the existing ones to new positions, and so on....

Naturally, I didn’t understand any of that.

But I did understand our immediate objective.

It was simple. Prevent further damage to the devices.

If possible, eliminate all the Creatures that had gathered.

“I’ll go out and handle it.”

I said it while counting the number of Creatures by instinct.

“The ones causing damage to the devices are Creatures that swim underground, but they don’t burrow very deep. I’ll push back the incoming wave once and shift the point of attack away from the devices.”

“That sure sounds pretty.”

Trevain snorted.

“Sounds like you’ve got some secret weapon you didn’t tell us about? What, you shoot beams out of your eyes or something?”

Richard Green ignored Trevain.

He didn’t answer me right away, either. At some point, the role of squad leader had naturally shifted to Richard. After reviewing the original squad leader’s report, my report, and the footage, he reached a conclusion.

“I’ve seen footage of your sparring.”

It was something Richard said out of the blue.

At first, I didn’t even realize he was talking to me.

When I realized a beat later, my eyes widened.

Richard didn’t elaborate and went straight to the point.

“Top priority is defending the core devices. Push them back.”

“Yes.”

“Dobbs Squad, cover the repair robots and the damaged devices.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll push back the Creatures with Taleb and Trevain. Kudo and Husson, stay inside the safehouse.”

“Squad leader.”

Jonathan suddenly spoke up, making me flinch.

I wasn’t the only one startled. Everyone in the control room widened their eyes in surprise.

Richard slowly turned his head.

“What is it?”

“I’ll go out.”

People stared at Jonathan with rabbit-like eyes.

Everyone tensed up. A senior speaking up like this only heightened the tension because of what he’d done in the past—he had once committed insubordination and punched Richard Green. Normally, Badgers didn’t defy Richard. But here was the one exception.

Even if Richard said no, would he really comply?

“You’re saying you’ll go out?”

“I’m not particularly skilled at handling artillery. Please let me take the role of pushing back the Creatures outside.”

Richard narrowed his eyes.

People waited in tense silence for the squad leader’s decision, half-listening to Trevain’s snickering. Trevain muttered something about whether Jonathan was confident pushing Creatures back with a katana.

Jonathan ignored him and looked straight at Richard.

The air grew taut.

Richard finally spoke.

“Who are you proposing to replace?”

“Hildebert.”

Why....

I know you don’t like being with me, but do you really have to make it this obvious?

I lowered my gaze diagonally.

But I couldn’t keep my head down for long.

“Taleb! Can you handle artillery?”

Ugh.

“I can’t.”

“What have you even learned?”

Trevain never let anything slide.

“Did you just decide you wouldn’t bother with human weapons? Too beneath you to learn?”

“Husson. Can you handle artillery?”

“Yes.”

“Then Husson and I stay in the safehouse.”

The decision was made, and Richard allowed no objections.

Part of Dobbs Squad immediately rushed out. Others ran to grab ammo boxes for me, Jonathan, and Trevain. Richard took charge of the 3rd and 4th floors of the safehouse, and Tom handled everything from the 2nd floor down to the basement. Richard sprinted up to the 4th floor, while Tom stayed behind.

Tom also took on the role of opening the Core entrance at the appropriate timing from the control room.

It took five minutes of preparation time to open the entrance.

Trevain and Jonathan left to prepare their personal equipment.

I sat down next to Tom with a bitter expression, watching my fellow rookie fine-tune the devices.

“What’s with that face?”

It was the first thing he said once we were alone.

Even while skillfully adjusting the equipment, Tom kept glancing at my face. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“Is it because of Senior Trevain?”

“No.”

I gave a wry smile and met Tom’s eyes.

“He’s always like that. He talks like that to Senior Jo— I mean, Senior Kudo, too.”

“Then what is it?”

The delicate red-haired young man scrutinized my face.

“Because you never learned artillery?”

“I really didn’t learn it, so there’s nothing I can do. I’ll just go whine to a gunner later.”

“Then is it because Senior Kudo mentioned your name?”

I shut my mouth, and Tom looked at me with a puzzled expression.

He deftly scanned the screens in the control room, then turned back to me.

“It seemed like Senior Kudo was trying to look out for you. Not trying to avoid you.”

I rose from my chair.

My gaze shifted to the screens. My instincts detected the Creatures converging on this place. They were still some distance away. They’d probably stopped briefly while approaching.

I could feel them changing their formation so they wouldn’t be wiped out meaninglessly by me.

But something was strange. The north side of the safehouse was lined with mines, so it made sense that they avoided approaching from that direction.

Two devices on the east side were damaged, so I could also understand why they’d deploy in a way that targeted the south and west.

That is, if you don’t consider the kin on the west.

I could clearly sense the presence of one of my kin in the west—so why were they ignoring him and setting up their formation?

“Weren’t you two close?”

Tom’s question snapped my awareness back to reality.

I smiled faintly as I prepared to head to the first floor.

“We were. But after he learned what I am, things went wrong. He found out before anyone else, by chance.”

“Really? Was his reaction bad?”

“It was the worst. But I can’t say I don’t understand.”

I smiled bitterly and turned my body toward the door.

“But you don’t need to worry. It’s nothing. Please support us well.”

“Hilde. No matter how I look at it, it feels like Senior Kudo keeps worrying about you. Earlier, too, when Senior Trevain shoved your shoulder and walked past.... Why don’t you go talk to him once?”

I shook my head.

Tom stared at me.

“It’d be sad if you talked to him and it wasn’t like that.”

I smiled awkwardly and answered honestly.

“I’m scared of getting rejected again, so I don’t want to check.”

Tom looked startled.

I gave him an embarrassed smile and left the control room.

As I climbed the stairs, I traced the approaching Creatures and the lingering presence of my kin.

I prepared myself to head to the battlefield.

To protect the supply depot, and to draw out the kin who was holding his breath and refusing to move.

***

The fog lifted.

Sunlight poured down. We stepped out beyond the Core device, which opened with a strange sound. Jason Trevain stood in the center. I was on the right, Jonathan on the left.

Honestly, it would’ve been easier to go out alone.

Still, both Trevain and Jonathan were skilled. People who wouldn’t get caught up in my sword strikes even if I swung freely.

I wouldn’t have to worry about friendly fire when I swung my blade.

Let’s end this quickly.

“Don’t touch what’s mine.”

Trevain curled his lips upward and aimed his heavy firearm at the ground.

“There’s no strategy. Just make sure you each protect the device behind you. If you fail, expect to go back and get beaten half to death.”

Do I need to answer that?

I hesitated for three seconds, then replied.

“Yes.”

“Yes, my ass.”

I shouldn’t have answered.

“A thing that’s not even human, talking back so politely....”

KWA—AAAANG!

I unleashed a sword strike.

Yun had arbitrarily called this an oblique slash. I’d protested, asking him not to give it such a stupid name, but my protest had been ignored.

The sword strike flew diagonally and carved through the ground.

The earth split at an angle, and pellet-like Creatures were sliced apart just as obliquely.

They were swarming.

At this rate, we might get overwhelmed by numbers.

Ignoring Trevain’s swearing, I sent out sword strikes in rapid succession.

KWA—AAAANG! KWA—AAAANG! KWA—AAAANG!

TATATATATATATATANG!

The seniors began firing wildly.

TATATATATATATATATATATATATANG!

Gunfire that hammered my ears without pause. Blood, dirt, and flesh flying through the air.

My vision blurred. Dust bloomed, shrouding the gentle slope ahead in clouds of earth. I sharpened my senses to track the Creatures surging in like a herd of buffalo or a swarm of ants.

Gunfire filled the surroundings.

I advanced while swinging my sword.

KWA—AAAANG!

As I moved forward, my suspicions turned into certainty.

Hm.

Just as I thought.

This wasn’t the work of the kin my senses had detected.

The kin hiding in the abandoned house near the safehouse wouldn’t be able to attack Jonathan’s side. From that abandoned house, Trevain would be visible, but Jonathan wouldn’t.

Someone else was controlling the Creatures from afar.

The handler of these Creatures was likely together with the one controlling the airborne Creatures. One person surveying the safehouse, the other following their guidance and unleashing attacks with pellet-like Creatures.

Which meant the one sitting alone in the abandoned house had nothing to do with this incident.

A civilian?

No.

If that were the case, the Creatures would’ve tried to protect him.

But the Creatures moved while ignoring his presence. They neither protected him, nor attacked him, nor avoided him.

I had no idea what he was.

Either way, I needed to catch him before someone else did.

I carved through earth and Creatures alike as I approached the abandoned house.

I closed the distance, piling up a mountain of corpses.

With me, Richard Green, Jason ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Trevain, and Jonathan Kudo all here, we would eventually push the Creatures back. But there was no guarantee we’d catch that kin.

I couldn’t let him escape....

“Hey!”

Trevain shouted.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, bastard! Are you colluding with them?!”

You wouldn’t believe me even if I answered.

“You’re abandoning your position?! Defector! We’ve got a defector!”

“I will capture the humanoid Creature.”

I reported to Richard while carving a long gash across the ground with my sword strike.

“He’s inside the abandoned house.”

[Don’t let him get away.]

Richard’s short reply came through.

[And don’t kill him. Not if you don’t want unnecessary misunderstandings.]

So, don’t do anything that could look like destroying evidence.

“I’ll take him alive.”

Fine by me. I’d planned to capture him and extract information anyway.

I pushed the frontline steadily forward and advanced. After pushing back the Creatures with sword strikes, I stopped at an appropriate spot.

The right composition.

I lowered my upper body and steadied my stance.

Adjusted the angle....

Slice—

I unleashed a claw-shaped sword strike.

Kugugugugu....

KUUUNG—

The abandoned house was cut diagonally.

Along the slanted slash left by the strike, the building split apart.

The roof slid down and collapsed with a crash. Dust billowed up.

I felt the one crouched inside spring to his feet.

I approached that presence.

Until he suddenly raised both hands.

Until his shadow entered my field of view.

The man raised both hands and shouted.

“Surrender!”

It was clear English.

“I surrender!!”