In the Wake of the Storm
Early morning.
The subtly damp air and a metallic scent brushed against the tip of my nose.
Sensing a somewhat chaotic atmosphere, I pushed myself up and looked out the window.
Ugh...
Was this a medal of honor from the fierce battle?
Every corner of my body throbbed with muscle pain.
Well, coming out of a life-or-death fight with the Astral with just this level of muscle pain was getting off cheap in my books.
In the distance, buildings that were more than half destroyed came into view.
They were the buildings demolished during the battle with the Astral.
It was a tough fight... but it was more bearable than I thought.
I quietly chewed over last night's battle in my head.
Actually, I got lucky.
I had managed to stop a Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier, which included a quasi-named unit, with just one Bastion and a few ECHO Squads.
Of course, if this were a game, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.
A well-raised ECHO Squad could smash not just a Troller-class carrier, but even a Leviathan or the Crown Ark.
But this was reality.
With the ECHOs currently under my command, even a Troller-class was a struggle.
Fortunately, I had given Moi her Exclusive Weapon, the Surge Blade, and fought while assigning the optimal positions to all the ECHOs, which allowed us to take down Aurum without significant casualties.
The fact that many of the ECHOs from Ark 69 were specialized in fighting the Astral also played a part.
Since I have Moi, Arva... and Lapis.
I felt that if I just reinforced them a bit more with their Exclusive Weapons, we could hold our own in a defensive battle even if a higher-grade Astral appeared.
They're not bad against zombies, either...
That was thanks to Pomen.
Zombies, unlike the Astral, aren't powerful as individual units but rather swarm in large numbers.
A minigun was perfect for such hordes of monsters.
However, there was no answer when it came to Anomalies.
According to my memory, among the ECHOs of Ark 69, only Noah was the best against them, and she was just around Tier 2.5...
But Noah was merely a tanker, not a dealer.
Honestly, it's a relief that Podic acted like a well-behaved puppy; if she had been hostile toward us?
It would have been a massive headache.
I need to start preparing for higher-level enemies little by little.
Actually, I thought it was impossible with my current resources.
But with the Cash I obtained after defeating the Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier and Aurum last night...
"Nng..."
At the sudden sound of a shallow moan, I quietly shifted my gaze past the blanket to see Moi sprawled out on her stomach.
[Commander, I fought really hard today... Can I stay with you?]
Those were the words Moi had said when she came to find me at an hour when people were scarce, some time after the end of the fierce battle.
An unhinged gaze, mixed with a hint of madness.
Seeing those eyes, where a sense of victory, exhilaration, and obsession with me were intertwined, I found myself nodding before I could even realize what I was doing.
The night that began that way turned into a frenzied cauldron, with Moi clinging to me cautiously and Podic joining in with a subtle poooo~ sound.
Perhaps because we had just had sex the day before yesterday.
It was a frenzy shared by an ECHO and an Anomaly, but the two of them craved my cock as if it were nothing.
...Was I a bit too rough?
Moi's body was a wreck, covered in traces of dried white semen and small bruises blooming here and there.
That was how much I had fallen into a frenzy last night, thrusting my hips to the point where even I nearly lost my mind.
Perhaps because the adrenaline from winning the battle against the Astral had exploded, I handled the two bitches who came to my room as roughly as a beast.
However, my sturdy member didn't seem satisfied even with last night's pleasure.
"A morning wood, huh..."
As the image of Moi panting like a beast while impaled by my cock last night flashed through my mind, heavy blood began to rush once again to my previously quiet little brother.
Looking around, Podic had disappeared at some point.
She was probably wandering around Hongwei-7 or resting in the old TV that served as her home.
"Nng..."
Moi's thin moan as she tossed and turned in her sleep echoed through the quiet room.
I slowly climbed on top of Moi, who was lying on her stomach, exposing her buttocks defenselessly.
I gripped the rounded flesh of her buttocks with my palms and slid my hand down across her slightly parted, wet slit.
"You're wet."
Whether it was a remnant of last night or because she was thinking of me even in her dreams.
The place I lightly brushed was still wet with lukewarm love juices. So, I positioned my fully enraged member between that gap.
"Heeuu..."
Feeling the foreign artifact, Moi twisted her body in her sleep, but I pushed my hips forward just as they were.
"Ha-euk!!"
At the hot cock pushing deep inside in one breath, Moi's back arched like a bow.
Though the insertion happened in a half-asleep state, Moi's body, which had already tasted my cock several times, seemed to remember it, instinctively tightening and gripping the shaft.
"Com... Commander...?"
"Yeah, it’s me. Just stay still."
I gripped Moi's pelvis firmly and began to move my hips slowly but heavily.
Splat! Splat!
The explicit sound of flesh hitting flesh broke the silence.
"Heuk, ut! Ah, aaah...!"
Moi, not yet fully awake, looked up at me with unfocused eyes.
True to being an ECHO, rather than showing signs of refusal, she pushed her buttocks back to match my thrusts.
"Commander... more, more..."
"Does it feel good, Moi?"
"Yes, yeees... I love the Commander... I love your cock so much... I love it even more when you use Moi's body like a toy..."
The moment lines that sounded like something from a game reached my ears, I couldn't hold back any longer.
"Hgut! Ut!"
I buried my face in the crook of Moi's neck and increased the speed, breathing heavily.
Following the pressure of the tightening pussy, Moi's body bounced every time I struck her deepest part.
"I'm cumming inside, okay?"
"Yes, yes...! I'll take it all...! Ah! Aaaaah!!"
The moment Moi's scream of pleasure erupted, I also poured out the desire I had been holding into the deepest part of Moi.
And then, as a matter of course, I used Moi's mouth to clean my cock.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Whew..."
Once I return to the Ark, I really need to seriously consider stamina enhancement.
It was great to get a refreshing release in the morning, but...
My legs were shaking; a sense of crisis hit me that my current physical strength and stamina might be insufficient for my indulgent lifestyle.
It's not like the ECHOs are all the type to cum the moment a cock is inserted.
Both Podic and Moi are like that. Once night falls, they pounce like starving beasts, leaving me no room to recover.
On top of that, Ark 69 was full of ECHOs who wanted my love.
"Sigh... the life of King Uija isn't as easy as I thought." [EN: "King Uija" (often jokingly translated as the "Chair King" because uija means chair) was a historical Korean king famous for supposedly having 3,000 court ladies. In modern slang, the Commander is basically sighing about the exhausting reality of being a harem protagonist.]
"...Pardon? King Uija? Is that a new ECHO model?"
"Uh, no, no, it's not. Anyway, you're here?"
The temporary meeting room of Hongwei-7.
Lena, who entered the meeting room holding a folder, gave me a disciplined salute.
She was wearing a stiff, military-style outfit, but the breast line, swollen as if about to burst, could not be hidden.
In particular, the white skin glimpsed through the zipper, which was carved deep along her cleavage, caught my eye.
"......"
As those blue eyes, which looked strangely heated in contrast to her cold silver hair, looked at me, I pretended to be a dignified fleet commander and responded with a light wave of my hand, then leaned back in the hard chair and asked.
"What's the current situation? Everyone seems to be moving busily since morning."
"Reporting. First, the issue of disposing of the wreckage of the shot-down Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier."
Lena operated the tablet with familiar movements and brought up a holographic map.
"Currently, the ship is half-destroyed and has crashed 2.5km north of the outskirts of Hongwei-7. The internal Core was completely destroyed thanks to the efforts of the Commander and Moi, but the exterior plating, engine parts, and the resources stored inside are mostly intact."
Her explanation reached my ears, but my gaze kept drifting toward her swaying breasts.
It was an unavoidable male instinct.
Why on earth do the people of this world hate and despise these ECHOs?
I simply couldn't understand it.
"We can use them, right?"
"Yes. There are materials that need separate processing, but it is entirely possible."
I couldn't just leave those materials lying there.
The Wanderer hyenas who would swarm in after catching the scent were a problem, but above all, there was the possibility that the Astral bastards would come to recover them.
I couldn't just hand back the resources I had worked so hard to get.
"We should dismantle it and send it to the Ark as soon as possible."
"Yes. However, the current manpower in Hongwei-7 is insufficient. For now, I believe we should bring Karen from the Ark."
"Is Karen enough on her own?"
"If possible, I believe we should also bring two C - 008 work ECHOs..."
Lena trailed off for a moment, looking troubled.
"If the C - 008s are gone, operating the indoor farm within the Ark will become difficult."
I nodded at Lena's words.
Because the scale of the farm had grown much larger than before, they were already short-handed. If the C - 008s left, it would be impossible for Rai alone to handle the indoor farm.
I couldn't exactly divert Alpha to that task either. In the end, there was only one answer.
"We'll need more work ECHOs."
"That is correct, Commander."
"How many would be enough?"
"For now, even with just three C - 008 models, we could dismantle the Astral's mobile carrier in a short time. However, in the long term, considering mineral mining in the northern terrain, I believe we need at least six units for things to run smoothly."
Six units...
Even for mass-produced models, creating a single ECHO requires a considerable amount of resources and parts.
So, if it were the impoverished days of the past, this would have been a request that made me just wet my lips in longing because it was too burdensome.
But not now.
💰 Money Compass 💰
Owned Cash: 847200C
400,000C obtained for the contribution of gifting an Artifact to Moi, who played a decisive role in conquering Aurum.
Another 400,000C obtained from bringing down the long-awaited Troller-class Mobile Aircraft Carrier.
Adding the Cash obtained from the fierce battle with the Astral, I had a total of over 840,000 Cash in my hands.
With this much, I could build an entire Original ECHO Squad from scratch and still have some left over.
Of course, that's on the premise that the genes are available.
A number that made my heart swell just by looking at it. I didn't shower Moi with affection last night for nothing.
"Fine. Then as soon as we return to the Ark, let's start the C - 008 production line. For now, produce as many as needed—no, let's make six in total to be safe."
Just as the more SCVs you have in StarCraft, the better, work ECHOs were girls who paid their way wherever they were—whether it was farming, construction, or dismantling—as long as you made them.
"...Pardon?"
At my words, Lena, who knew the situation of the Ark better than anyone, looked surprised, but soon nodded obediently.
"Any other problems?"
"Replenishing troops, Commander."
That was the most urgent task that I, too, was feeling acutely.