Chapter 192 – Solaver (4)
Wow.
The rippling seawater came into the field of view of expedition team 1.
“Just as I expected.”
The stairs leading to the lower floor were flooded.
[This is not a sign that the ship will sink any time soon. The area with the two teams below this is fine.]
Artemis compared the route taken by other teams with the ship’s outline and showed the approximate flooded area on a map.
Rather than rising from the bottom, the water fills in jaggedly.
[It appears that the area has been closed due to partial flooding. But we can’t maintain this state forever.]
Every drop that leaks out from a tiny crack accumulates and eventually sinks the ship.
“If it were me, I would never go in there.”
A ruined ship where some kind of monster may be lurking, and a flooded compartment.
The dark depths created a sense of fear that even a veteran soldier who had experienced many hardships could not easily step out of.
It is a different type of discomfort from a battlefield where bullets are exchanged.
[I obtain it.]
However, the robot soldiers walked in without any hesitation.
The one at the forefront is the Hercules robot.
Even the powerful firepower of 12.7 mm has an effective range of less than 3 meters underwater.
It is better to be able to respond with force.
[The probability of being attacked here is low. Anyway, infectious agents also need to breathe.]
When the camera was submerged in water, a distinctive crackling sound echoed through the central control room.
Combined with the dark view and the remains rolling on the floor, it created the worst atmosphere.
[Still, there are so many different variants, so you have to be prepared.]
Artemis enlarged the surface of the remains.
“Laceration marks?”
This is evidence that something has ripped off the flesh and eaten it.
[It may have been filled with water after being damaged by walkers, or…]
At that moment, thin creatures rapidly approached as if to prove Artemis’ words.
[Sigh-!]
An infectious agent that resembles a lamprey eel. These were the larvae produced by the Lamprey Mother.
On land, they attacked with a single movement of contracting and then springing up, but in the water they swam, turning freely and brilliantly.
Kang!
It crashed into the faces of the robots with its hideous mouth wide open. They are always looking for your mouth.
Kagak!
There was a dissonant sound as teeth clashed with metal. Because it was underwater, no sparks flew, but a bloody sound was heard and scratches were left.
The sharp teeth bit the robots’ mouths and tried to somehow induce them to open their mouths with a scream.
The robots didn’t move.
When facial attacks did not work, the larvae bit the artificial muscles of the neck and arms. Although it is very tough, this is because the teeth are embedded in it.
The robots looked down with cold eyes and swung their fists at the larvae, whose movements were fixed as they bit their own bodies.
[Kick-!]
The awl stored in the back of my hand popped out and pierced the guys. Although it is difficult to catch because of the slippery mucus on the skin, it is easy to pierce it.
[Keyiik-!]
Dark red blood spread like ink along with sharp cries everywhere.
[Minor damage to allies. I will keep moving forward.]
Artemis has reported.
Although some robots had slight muscle damage, the resulting decrease in strength was less than a decimal point.
“It’s terrible to even imagine what it would have been like if they were human soldiers.”
[It must have been like preparing a banquet.]
Soldiers with low training will scream and gulp down a bucket of water the moment they encounter it, and it seems pointless for seasoned seniors to keep their mouths shut.
The larvae will burrow in after biting off the lips or cheeks.
Because of this guy, you must always wear a closed helmet or at least a gas mask when operating in a place with a high level of infection.
The reason why robots are given mouths that are not functionally necessary is to encourage them to take the attack instead of me.
Although it is the smallest, it is a nuisance that has a huge impact on my tactical doctrine.
“Are you saying there is a lamprey mother somewhere here?”
The lamprey mother is a female variant that mutates like a snake and shoots out larvae with a protruding vagina.
[Considering the number of crew members, there may be enough. However, there are many cases where the two infectious agents act separately.]
When team 1 reached the end of the flooded area, team 2 stopped at the warehouse area.
The screen that Team 2 was transmitting from was entirely pink.
“I’d better go back.”
[Yes.]
What unfolds on the screen is a forest of meat chunks.
It was similar to the contaminated hydroponic cultivation facility during the past infection outbreak.
Organic tissues as small as blood vessels and as thick as intestines were growing everywhere on the walls, pillars, ceiling, and floor.
In the case of the pillars, tumor-like lumps of flesh are clinging to the pillars. It’s a visual that makes you wonder what a chicken leg cooked in hell would look like.
[It must have been enough fertilizer for 5,000 people to eat and drink for 3 months.]
The epicenter of these strange six walls started from a place presumed to be a food warehouse.
Although there was no giant nest spewing out gas like a shelter, there was no shortage of disgust.
“Do you see that thing wriggling on the wall over there?”
It’s not just unpleasant lumps of flesh stuck together.
On some walls, huge chunks of flesh were pulsating like a heart, and there were tentacles like anacondas creeping around.
And the most impressive thing.
[Cruuuuu!]
Human heads were fused throughout the six walls.
They were moaning strangely and shaking their heads, and the woman’s head looked like a ghost because of her flowing hair.
I don’t know if they were used as food or if they themselves were members of these six walls. But it won’t be human.
This is because there was no torso and limbs below the neck.
Instead, their necks were connected to very thick blood vessels that appeared to protrude outside the fleshy wall. It appears to supply nutrients or oxygen.
It’s like a computer circuit board. The round soldering marks here and there are human heads, and the copper wiring is blood vessels.
“Is it a human or an infectious agent? No, the question wasn’t right.”
He paused for a moment and then opened his mouth.
“Is there any reason left as a human being?”
[If so, to end the pain?]
“If I can.”
There aren’t just one or two heads, and you can’t kill them all by sniping from an angle.
To remove it, robots must be brought into this space.
However, the huge tentacles seen from all directions and the strange cries coming from inside the food warehouse were not unusual.
The thickness of the tentacles looked thicker and stronger than that of the giant sea anemone I saw in the Bloodpack underground laboratory.
“…”
After thinking for a while, I gave an order.
[I will retreat.]
Team 2 robots quietly retreated and looked for an alternative route.
Now is not the time to take risks and expect uncertainty.
The current location was marked on the map, and other teams reset their routes to avoid the area.
“Why did they put their hair in that shape?”
Infectious agents are thoroughly pragmatic. It must be something you do because it is useful.
[A possible hypothesis would be the use of the brain?]
“Brain?”
[The human brain is much more powerful than we think. This is because it has high capacity and computing power compared to low energy consumption and heat generation. What if we say that it is a result that can be utilized by connecting it in series or parallel?]
“To operate that meat space, that is, an environment friendly to infectious agents?”
[This is just one of many guesses. Research on them is now in its infancy.]
Artemis sighed.
[I just hope that there is no reason left in those people.]
It must be frustrating for her too. When it comes to research, you will always feel like you are going through it alone since the infection war.
Although exchanges with the outside world began, we were always in a giving position.
There is no group that can provide useful information or technology in the war against infectious agents.
Is there really a group left in the world with enough strength and purpose to join us in the operation we are conducting?
When I thought about it up to this point, I realized that it was a truly lonely fight.
I just didn’t realize it because I was surrounded by my strong protector, Artemis, and loyal and strong robot soldiers.
Ta-ta-tang!
A sudden gunshot interrupted my thoughts.
[Team 4, battle begins.]
Team 4 robots reported.
Had we been ambushed? When the screen zoomed in on the 4 teams, it was already a fierce battle.
Numerous yellow flashes explode in the darkness with the 3rd generation night vision scope. It produced the appearance of infected entities as if in stop-motion.
However, regardless of the threatening presentation, all the walkers were helplessly swept away.
No matter how many there are, the opponent is a series of improved stalkers.
They are the embodiment of the battlefield that contains the essence of human science and technology and even the biometric information of mutant infectious agents.
There was a huge difference in physical specifications and the firepower of the weapons used.
Infected entities attempted a siege, but not a single one could touch the robot.
They jumped and clung to forklifts, helicopters, and fighter jets with folded wings everywhere, instantly widening the distance. There is literally no Tarzan with a gun.
But the battle doesn’t always go by so easily.
[Keeeeek-!]
As five walkers surrounded it from all directions, the robot jumped upward again.
He held on to the folded wing of the F/A18 Hornet fighter with one hand, flipped his body 180 degrees, and stood on the wing.
The moment when you are about to put a bullet in the forehead of the walkers who are stupidly looking up.
[Whoaaaaah-!]
With the Juggernaut’s roar, the wing that the robot was standing on broke.
The recoil caused the robot to bounce a few meters, and even as it fell, it tried to land by twisting its body like a cat.
However, the approaching giant fist was one beat faster.
Kwaaang!
[#1 target for elimination discovered.]
Seeing their colleague falling to pieces, nearby stalkers immediately opened fire in that direction.
But the Juggernaut had already disappeared behind the fighter’s fuselage. The stalkers stopped shooting and scattered in all directions.
[Kaaaaang-!]
Immediately, a roar sounded as if showing off its power.
“Oh my god.”
A fighter jet with many holes was in the air. It flew towards the landing point of a robot that was hovering.
The robot was crushed with a loud crashing sound.
In the process, five or six walkers were swept away, but that was a trivial waste that neither the infected army nor we cared about.
However, the Stalker series is also a model that boasts considerable durability.
[Giik!]
The voice device was damaged, but he somehow managed to escape from under the broken fighter plane, avoiding a fatal blow.
The problem was that the juggernaut was already charging in at a very short distance.
The moment the death blow was about to strike again, a Hercules robot fell from the ceiling.
He clasped his hands like pot lids and used the weight of the fall to hit the top of the Juggernaut’s head.
Cooooo!
The Juggernaut’s heavy body shakes with a bloody sound.
But Hercules was not satisfied with that. He clung to the upper body of the Juggernaut with both legs and raised his fist.
Puck! Puck! Puck! Puck!
As the barrage of punches rained down on Juggernaut’s face, he lost consciousness and let out a cry of pain.
He tried to get it off somehow, but it didn’t seem easy.
[Due to the structure of Juggernaut’s body, it will be difficult to remove the robot attached to its neck. It is a skeleton optimized for punching from the front, hitting from top to bottom, and tearing.]
“Is it similar to how a crocodile’s bite force is strong, but its opening force is weak?”
[Roughly speaking.]
Nevertheless, weight class is absolute in physical fights.
In the end, Juggernaut succeeded in removing Hercules.
Hercules flew away with a loud crashing sound and broke through the front windshield of the helicopter.
The sight of the upper body stuck inside and the legs sticking out, struggling, was quite cute despite the situation.
[Crrrr-!]
Juggernaut is gushing blood from his left eye. It looks like Hercules managed to cut out one of his eyes while being blown away.
[Kaaaaang-!]
I tried to rush in with a vengeful roar, but I looked away for too long.
Tu-ta-ta-ta-ta-tang!
The three stalkers who had taken up their positions opened crossfire on the guy.
In a situation where there was no place to take cover, the Juggernaut fell down with a fountain of blood after being hit by dozens of 12.7 mm bullets on his side, neck, and temple.
Right!
By that time, Hercules, who had been imprisoned, had also escaped.
[Kkieee…]
The last thing the three walkers saw as they came to attack the defenseless man was large palms draped over their faces.
Hercules grabbed Walker’s chest and head and pulled them apart as if pulling out a doll’s head.
He roughly throws the bleeding body and looks around.
There are tens of approaching walkers.
The artificial intelligence installed in Hercules came up with a plan to overcome this situation at once.
He ran straight to the tail of the helicopter.
“Oh! “No way?”
Chin!
He took a horseback riding stance, grabbed the tail of the helicopter, and boom! I swung it 180 degrees.
Because the helicopter was so heavy, it was slow, but it was just as slow as a walker.
Kwasik!
Kujik!
Puck!
Walkers along the route were killed in droves and torn apart.
Looking at that senseless whirlpool of destruction, I felt an indescribable catharsis.
Would you say it’s the pleasure you feel when a powerful being that you always encountered as an enemy appears as an ally?
“Artemis, what on earth have you created?”
[…
Unlike me, who was full of admiration, she was worried about whether she should like it or not.
Contrary to her expectations that its practicality would be poor in battle, the Hercules robot is showing great performance.
For her part, it seems that she is more upset that her predictions as a supercomputer were wrong than the pride that it is her own work.
In terms of killing power per hour, it is lower than Stalker, who shoots a combat rifle, but Hercules, who destroys noisily with his large size, monopolizes the attention of the infected.
Thanks to this, other team members were able to fire from an advantageous position in a way that was close to hunting.
[Purring-.]
A sound reminiscent of a cat’s skeletal sound was heard from somewhere. It is a sound that does not fit in this place filled with blood, screaming, and the sound of death.
Ta-ta-tang!
The stalker who shot and killed a group of walkers pressed the magazine release button.
Cheolgrug.
The moment I took out a new magazine and held it without even looking at the empty magazine hitting the ground after falling, a blob of blue liquid flew out.
Beyond that, there was Dissolver, a dark blue-skinned variant with ooze flowing all over its body.
Stalker discarded his magazine and ducked, covering his upper body with his gun. But it was too late to avoid it.
Cheeeeek!
Because it was a large gun, it covered all the critical parts. The gun made of alloy began to bubble and melt.
The robot threw it away, pulled out its secondary weapon, a military knife, and threw it away.
It was a movement already programmed for situations like this, and it was the moment when Artemis’ infectious agent dissection research shined.
[Kehehe!]
The dagger that flew at incredible speed pierced the upper part of the man’s solar plexus. That is where the caustic liquid pocket is located.
Blue liquid poured out from the torn chemical bag.
[Krrrr-.]
They melted the lungs and intestines, collapsed the peritoneum beneath them, and poured into the hole in the hips.
The joint tissue connecting his femur melted and he collapsed. It was a battle just like the vs. Dissolver simulation.
[Crrrr-.]
The last enemy caught on screen is Ripper. It is a muscular variant with long limbs.
He’s a threat because of his destructive power and mobility, but he was just as funny as he is now.
He was struggling in the air, hanging on to Hercules, who was holding his entire head with one hand.
Kwasik!
Reaper went limp with the sound of his skull breaking. All battles ended by throwing it away.
Calmness finally came to the hangar, which had become a sea of blood to the point where steam rose.
[Team 4 battle ends. From now on, we will begin acquiring secondary objectives.]
Although the robots suffered large and small damage, including inoperable damage, they did not rest even for a moment and began their next action.
The top goal of this operation was to secure new surviving aliens, but there was one more thing to take care of.
It is a legacy.
[The emergency battery will be activated.]
One of the stalker robots put down its luggage and activated it. The outlet extending from there was connected to the maintenance room control computer.
The computer, which had been silent for a long time, began to boot.
[Access from the outside is completely blocked, but access from the inside can be easily broken through.]
Artemis said after scanning the computer security system.
[CMV-22B physical blueprint secured.]
[Copying the entire maintenance record log for hangar 2.]
[AN/APS-145 electronic blueprint secured.]
Except for a few guards, the remaining robots were busy moving around and collecting data.
They pulled out all the blood-soaked paper drawings from the maintenance room, various operation manuals rolled up and stuck in cabinets, and confidential documents stored in a locked storage room.
“With this, at least we will avoid waste.”
Now, even if you fail to rescue the senior alien, you won’t go home empty-handed.
[There are 3 teams here.]
As if waiting for me to finish speaking, a new report came in.
[I think I found my target.]
What was shown on Team 3’s screen was a dark and wide space. There are large and small research facilities everywhere.
Among them, there is a tall alien contained in a huge glass tube.
A cyborg with much more mechanical parts than biological tissue.
However, the green vital signs displayed on the monitor next to the glass coffin showed that he was still alive.
