Black Badger

They had no way of knowing how long the temporary trench would hold.

Martin’s shield had already shattered once midway through. They couldn’t feel safe. There were spare shield devices, but those weren’t a fundamental solution.

Yehyeon tilted his head back and looked at the sky.

[Core generation 30% complete]

“Aerial support. Block the west and the north.”

[Yes.]

Unmanned aircraft and drones flew toward the western and northern skies.

With the trench completed and aerial support arriving at the same time, they were able to catch their breath for a moment.

The unmanned aircraft that rushed in stopped one wave of Creatures. Those that died before reaching the trench piled up into mountains.

Those piles of corpses unintentionally became barriers.

But it still wasn’t enough. Flying Creatures were rising into the sky one after another. The unmanned aircraft wouldn’t hold forever.

[Core generation 35% complete]

And once Core generation finished, additional aerial support would no longer be possible.

With the sky still open, they had to exploit aerial support as much as they could.

[Core generation 38% complete]

“Mobilize everything we can and block their routes.”

Forcing the enemy’s path was the most important thing right now.

“Make them crash along the west and north routes!”

The quarantine ward was located on the northwest side of the HQ grounds.

Above it were residential quarters used by regular staff and Badgers, and to the west there was a wall. Teleportation arrays would be forming right under that wall, so the plan was to block the space between the trench and the western and northern teleportation arrays with something.

Anything would do.

Whether it was blocked by piles of Creature corpses, by aircraft fuselages, or by turret parts.

As long as the Creatures’ routes could be limited to the south and east, it didn’t matter.

Ideally, blocking them with mountains of corpses would be best, but....

KABOOOM!

One unmanned aircraft crashed.

Badgers who had been forming combat lines inside the temporary trench flinched.

The aircraft slammed into the western ground, crushing Creatures beneath it.

At the same time, a voice echoed inside the trench.

[Shield damage rate 30%]

[Shield damage rate 25%]

[Shield damage rate 17%]

“Holy shit! This thing’s garbage!”

“What the hell? It’s already at 30% damage? What did it even hit? Did a pig come body-block it or something?”

“The shield takes damage from corpses hitting it? Three of them?”

“This thing’s more fragile than us.”

“Jake, you go stand over there and be a meat shield. That’d be better.”

“Move it, move it!”

Richard Green roared like a lion.

“How long do you think that’ll last!”

Dragging their heavy bodies, the Badgers piled defensive barriers in front of the degrading shields.

Yehyeon stood at the center, assessing the situation. Reports kept coming in about the number of remaining regular staff inside HQ. Arrival times for unmanned aircraft provided by the military were relayed without pause.

Then came another report from the drone operator.

[The west and north routes are almost blocked. The Creatures are shifting and attacking from the southeast.]

“Line up spare shields on the east and south shield lines!”

“Yes!”

It wouldn’t last long, but for now, thanks to the shields and silver walls, they were free from direct Creature attacks.

They had to make full use of this opening.

[HQ will transport small trench-use Core units.]

The drone operator reported.

Watching the Badgers sprint toward the east and south sides of the trench, Yehyeon replied,

“Assign one unmanned aircraft as escort.”

[Commander.]

Ska cut into the channel.

[A Grand Witch has appeared.]

Yehyeon lifted his head.

Beyond the collapsed rooftop, the night sky was visible.

The wreckage of the crashed unmanned aircraft was burning, its flames lighting up the sky.

Under the combined glow of unmanned aircraft, combat drones, and lights fired from buildings on the grounds, a massive presence floated calmly in the night sky.

The leader of the Witch-type Creature swarm.

The reason Black Badger never chased down and eradicated the seemingly insignificant Witch swarms to the end.

The ‘Grand Witch’ was classified as a Grade-9 Creature.

The only response to a Grand Witch was to flee beyond its effective range.

Yehyeon swallowed a sigh.

“Has anyone ever dealt meaningful damage to that thing?”

[...No.]

Ska answered bleakly.

[No Badger has ever succeeded.]

But Hilde might know.

Yehyeon looked helplessly up at the Grand Witch as it charged an energy cannon.

Jack Black, too.

They clearly hadn’t classified the Grand Witch as an upper-tier calamity. When they’d been selecting threats like the Remnant Wraith or the Ice Dragon months ago, they hadn’t even put that thing on the list—something every Black Badger feared.

Which meant they must have had their own way of hunting it.

He should have asked in advance.

“It’s firing.”

Yun said, having approached Yehyeon at some point.

Fatigue colored his voice.

“Everything’s going to get hit.”

FUBUBUBUBUBUBUBUNG!

The Grand Witch fired its energy cannon.

Hundreds of yellow light orbs bloomed from its body and scattered in all directions. For an instant, the surroundings brightened as if someone had lit the night sky.

Energy shots carved through the air along dozens of trajectories.

They flew in parabolic arcs, intercepting unmanned aircraft and drones.

They struck every piece of Black Badger equipment suspended in the air.

KABOOOM!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! KRAAASH!

A roar loud enough to rupture eardrums.

A blinding level of light that made it hard to keep one’s eyes open.

The sound of bodies hitting the ground.

KUUUNG—

KABOOOM!

The fallen unmanned aircraft exploded.

Flames and smoke surged upward.

Nothing remained in the sky.

The sky was empty.

“Fuck!”

Giacomo Ro shouted—one of the few still relatively lively since he’d tested positive but had no fever.

“We’re screwed!”

“What about the drone carrying the small trench Core?”

Yehyeon asked urgently.

Ska replied.

[Fortunately, it hasn’t departed yet. But as long as the Grand Witch is in the sky, it’ll be intercepted the moment it launches.]

“Of course. Can you get in touch with Hilde or Jack? They might know how to deal with that thing.”

“I know how.”

Yehyeon whipped his head around.

A woman with short black hair was standing beside him. One of the Titans who had gone to rescue Hildebert when he was kidnapped by Kyle’s side.

Someone Hildebert had brought along as a combatant, yet whose fighting style no one really knew.

The woman Hildebert had called ‘Rose’ ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) smiled softly.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“How?”

Yehyeon asked quickly.

“Do you need to use magic or divine power?”

“No.”

The woman removed her colored contact lens.

A red iris was revealed—so vivid and unfamiliar that it drew the eye.

Long black eyelashes cast shadows over her large eyes.

“You need a sword made from a sacred tree.”

Rose flicked a dagger out from somewhere.

She stripped it from its sheath and smiled elegantly.

“Luckily, I happen to have one.”

“A dagger?”

Yehyeon stared at her in disbelief.

At the same time, he recalled what Yun had told him about Hildebert. The reason Hildebert had become a ‘Child of the World Tree.’

There were things in the Empire that couldn’t be fought unless you used blades made from sacred trees. Cutting such a tree brought down a curse—but some people still did it.

Because of things like that.

Hilde had embedded sacred wood into his planted sword to fight enemies immune to conventional attacks.

So that was why no one had ever managed to damage the Grand Witch.

Pushing that small realization aside, Yehyeon asked,

“And how do you plan to stab that thing with a dagger?”

“Could you open the trench for a moment?”

Rose looked up at the translucent lid of the trench.

The shield device placed at the center was projecting a canopy-like barrier into the air.

“And lend me a rifle.”

[Shield damage rate 57%]

[Shield damage rate 63%]

[Shield damage rate 72%]

“A .50 caliber, please.”

“...You can’t fly, can you?”

Yehyeon asked cautiously.

“It’s floating at about three stories high.”

Rose smiled.

“I have a plan.”

She asked them to open the trench so she could go out and attack.

She also requested a gun compatible with the ammunition she carried.

Somehow, a rifle ended up in her hands.

Yehyeon quickly assigned personnel for covering fire.

Those who stepped forward, rifles in hand, looked at Rose with confused expressions.

Holding the rifle in one hand, Rose brushed dust off her boots.

“You’re not sending her out, are you?”

Leeho asked blankly.

“She’s a civilian.”

“Don’t activate the spare shield immediately if the second shield from the left on the south side gets damaged.”

Yehyeon didn’t answer the question.

Instead, he issued orders to those sitting beside the spare shields.

“The moment she goes out, start covering fire.”

“Yes.”

The one who answered without hesitation was Ruta Ayer.

“Covering fire, ready.”

[Shield damage rate 92%]

[Shield damage rate 87%]

[Shield damage rate 95%]

“Activating second-row shield!”

“...Should we move the wall...?”

Someone standing in front of a heavily damaged shield shouted, and Ricardo, leaning against drawer debris, asked.

Yehyeon glanced down at the green-eyed subordinate sitting nearby.

“No. Let her out through the gap between the shields. Rest.”

The AI’s staticky voice rang out.

[Shield damage rate 100%]

[Shield damage rate 100%]

[Shield damage rate 100%]

[Operation—zzzt—in—halt]

Three shields shut down.

WOOONG!

At Yehyeon’s command, the two shields placed directly behind them activated immediately.

But one was deliberately delayed.

[Core generation 75% complete]

Rose leapt through the opening and out of the trench.

A medic and a reporter sucked in a breath. But by that moment, she was no longer on the ground.

Grabbing the talons of a flying Creature that swooped in as if to snatch prey, Rose ascended.

“Crazy!”

People screamed.

“Huh. That’s the one the crow-man was riding earlier.”

Ro muttered.

“Do they know each other?”

Tadadadadadang!

Badgers fired through the open gap in the trench.

Creatures burst apart.

Meanwhile, the flying Creature Rose was riding shot rapidly upward.

The short hair of the person now firmly positioned on its back fluttered in the wind.

Red eyes fixed on the enemy. The Badgers watched as she smoothly chambered a round, then sniped flying Creatures rushing toward her.

Bang!

Shattered, the insect-like Creature fell.

Tadadadang!

Rose hit every single one.

“Huh.”

Leeho muttered, stunned.

“She’s good.”

Good didn’t even begin to cover it.

Some thought that, even with a drone squad drawing the Creatures’ attention, her marksmanship was astonishing.

She didn’t miss a single shot, even atop a moving Creature.

Every bullet pierced another Creature leaping at her.

It even looked like she was using special ammunition—the power of each shot was abnormal.

“She’s not a civilian, is she?”

Leeho muttered.

“A soldier?”

[Commander.]

Rose’s calm voice sounded in Yehyeon’s ear.

[An acid-spitting Cyclops has latched onto the eastern morphing weapon.]

The woman commanding a flying Creature continued,

[I’ll handle the Grand Witch. Launch the drone carrying the small trench Core.]

Yehyeon clicked his tongue.

A Cyclops—deadly to morphing weapons.

He quickly relayed Rose’s words to Ska.

The aide responded affirmatively.

The moment he heard the drone had launched, Yehyeon turned his gaze to the wall.

He counted the remaining shield devices.

There weren’t many left.

If the silver wall collapsed, the remaining shields wouldn’t be enough to contain it.

“Green. Form a battle line.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He ordered the battle-hardened soldier.

Richard Green gathered every Badger who could still move and formed them up.

The Supreme Commander shifted his gaze.

He checked whether he could reinforce the eastern wall using his own morphing weapon that was blocking the west.

Since it was already clogged with debris, maybe it would be fine to dismantle it.

But the situation didn’t resolve so easily.

The west side was engulfed in flames.

If he removed the wall, the fire would sweep over their backs.

Swallowing his guilt, Yehyeon turned away.

“Sordi. Raise spikes along the wall.”

If they left it as it was, the wall would collapse.

They had to try, at least, to impale the enemy by extending spikes outward beyond the wall.

Before it melted and fell....

Yehyeon watched as his green-eyed subordinate leaned his upper body forward with effort.

He also saw Jonathan Kudo grab him urgently.

Green eyes narrowed in concentration....

The wall lurched.

From the inside, it wasn’t fully visible. But he could see the upper spikes melting outward.

Gathering material for one final attack.

The wall sank lower and lower.

Then, suddenly, it caved inward.

Did it work?

“Cough!”

“Ric.”

Jonathan caught his comrade as he collapsed forward.

“Ric!”

Ah.

It collapsed.

The writhing wall went still.

Because its owner couldn’t endure.

The morphing weapon that had failed to finish its attack crumbled.

If the corrosive fluid hadn’t reached it, it might have held a bit longer.

But now, weakened by corrosion, it had eroded from its weakest points.

It was breached.

Yehyeon drew the dagger he’d stowed in his shoe.

Now it was close combat.

With subordinates too injured to even aim properly....

“Prepare for combat!”

KRAAASH!

At his shout, the wall collapsed completely.

A swarm of Creatures surged in, crushing it beneath them.

At the same time, Ska’s voice rang out.

A clear report.

[Hildebert Taleb has arrived at HQ.]