A Sweet Nightmare
Hongwei, a ruined city where approximately 300,000 people once lived.
Currently, Hongwei-7, where a temporary forward base for Ark 69 was being established, was buzzing with activity as soon as the sun rose.
"One, two—! Heave!!"
"Material sorting complete! Loading for vehicle 2 finished! Fixing bars checked!"
Along with the roar of massive engines, the Mercury Howls, their cargo beds filled to the brim, began moving toward the Ark.
"How's the preparation for the mine side?"
"I believe it will take about thirty minutes until they are ready to depart."
At Lena's report, I, who had been surveying the site, nodded with my arms crossed.
"They're returning straight to the Ark from the mining area?"
"Yes, Commander. After a final check of the mining facility settings, the plan is to return to Ark 69 with the mineral resources."
"What about the security forces?"
"For now, the SCOUT-106 reconnaissance model has been assigned, but..."
Lena's voice trailed off, a hint of concern etched on her face.
"To be honest, the security force is practically negligible. It's just one unit, and a reconnaissance type at that, so if even one or two special zombies show up..."
It was clear that the defenses at the mine would be breached instantly.
Therefore, I had no choice but to plan to have the Cerberus girls patrol the northern region for the time being.
"We're short on manpower right now, so let's replace the defense there once the combat-type ECHOs are fully produced at the Ark."
"Understood, Commander."
"Good. I'll leave it to you then, Lena. Be careful."
"Yes, sir!"
Lena gave a crisp salute and turned around.
As Lena climbed onto the Mercury Howl heading for the mine, her curvy silhouette, accentuated by her tight suit, was highlighted, and I found myself watching for a moment before turning my head away.
And two ECHOs were staring blankly at us with expressions of utter incomprehension.
"...Leader, something, something is strange."
"Hmm..."
At Sherpa's cautious question, Compass narrowed her eyes.
Just as she said, this Ark was strange.
No, it was bizarrely alien.
At a work site like this in their own Ark, Ark 86, there should have been nothing but shouting, cursing, and mechanical noise.
Furthermore, the mass-produced ECHOs who had been beaten by humans were mostly lifeless, like parts moving only because they couldn't die.
But this place was different.
"One hour until lunch—!"
"What's for food today?"
"I heard it's bread, fruit, and salad! And a special snack from the Commander!"
"Whoa—! No way, is it that?!"
"The taste of happiness!"
"Alpha said there's something called the taste of life too; I wonder when we get to eat that?"
Laughter never ceased.
It wasn't that there were no human supervisors.
However, the Commander of Ark 69 didn't wield a whip; instead, she simply patted the ECHOs on the shoulder, telling them to hang in there.
It was a world of difference from the bleak and violent Ark 86 they had experienced.
That wasn't the only strange thing.
[Poooo—!]
"Ah, Podic. Get away. You're heavy when you cling to me like that. Heavy!"
Behind the Commander's back.
A Named-grade Anomaly emitting a chilling cold with pale skin, the Hachishakusama, was tightly hugging the Commander's waist.
[Poo—! Po!]
"No... you already had your essence yesterday. What, you're still lacking?! No, not right now. I'm human too. I'll actually wither away and die at this rate!"
The Anomaly followed the Commander around like a large dog out for a walk.
Even when the Commander waved her hand as if annoyed, it would lower its head as if sulking, only to trot right back as soon as the Commander started walking again.
"......"
"L-Leader?"
"Ah, no. Sorry."
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
"...I think I'm experiencing a momentary cognitive dissonance."
At Sherpa's words, Compass squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again.
A Named-grade Anomaly following a human around like a master?
Even seeing it with her own eyes, it was impossible to comprehend.
After spending the entire morning surveying Hongwei-7 in a state of shock, lunch time arrived for the two ECHOs.
And before them was placed a palm-sized rectangular artifact wrapped in unfamiliar silver foil.
"This is a special snack."
"...A snack?"
"It's called chocolate. You'll be able to taste what true happiness is like."
The two tilted their heads at the square thing C-008 gave them.
Chocolate?
It existed in the database, but it was a food they had never seen in reality.
The meal, as with yesterday, consisted of bread, fruit, and some vegetables.
For ECHOs who only needed the lowest grade of nutrients injected once every two weeks to function without issue, this was an incredibly luxurious meal.
Even in Ark 86, the humans didn't eat food of this quality.
"Do we... eat this every day?"
"Yeah, special snacks are only occasionally. But you can eat the food every day if you want. It wasn't like this originally, though."
"Then...?"
Sherpa asked again as C-008, sitting next to her, shrugged proudly.
"We didn't have things like this at first either. But the first thing the Commander did while reviving the Ark was restore the indoor farms."
"...Why? Usually, defense facilities come first, right?"
"I don't know. Maybe because the Original ECHOs are in charge of defense? Pomen said it was a decision made entirely by the Commander. Thanks to that, we get to live in luxury."
At those words, Sherpa looked at the Commander eating in the distance with eyes full of emotion.
As I thought, that person is definitely the hope and savior for ECHOs like me!
On the other hand, Compass still couldn't let go of her anxiety.
She just couldn’t let it go!
She could admit that the Commander of Ark 69 was wonderful from the perspective of the ECHOs.
It had only been a day, but his affection for the ECHOs seemed sincere.
But seriously... What is he thinking?
In a wartime situation where the Astral could invade at any moment, she couldn't understand why the Commander would let a ticking time bomb of an Anomaly roam free and waste resources on food production.
She seemed to be the polar opposite of Commander Lin Xiaolin of Ark 86.
......
And thinking about the situation when the two of them met made her sigh involuntarily.
Hoping they wouldn't run into each other if possible, Compass quietly brought the unwrapped chocolate to her mouth.
She intended to just taste it without much thought and analyze what kind of food it was.
Crunch.
"......Ah."
The moment she took a bite, a stupid exclamation escaped Compass's lips unconsciously.
As the black solid mass melted smoothly on her tongue, it brought a great awakening to Compass's taste system, which had only ever consumed tasteless supply-grade fuel her entire life.
"Hgieet?!"
Sherpa, beside her, reacted even more strongly.
Had C-008, who gave this to them, called it the taste of happiness?
It was a food so fatally delicious that she couldn't deny those words.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Why are they suddenly doing that?"
"Uh... they said they wanted to earn their keep?"
"Really?"
After lunch, the two girls from the Pathfinders began helping with the work.
Since they belonged to a different Ark, I hadn't intended to make them work, but since they volunteered, I decided to let them be.
"Hmm..."
As expected of Original units, their physical abilities were on another level compared to the mass-produced ones. Sherpa's carrying capacity, in particular, was top-notch.
How is she carrying and moving that?
Sherpa was struggling while carrying a resource crate larger than her own body.
It looked impossible to anyone watching, yet she staggered along with it, ferrying the supplies.
"Oh? Isn't it heavy? I'll help you carry it!"
"A-Ah! I-I'm okay."
"Don't be like that, give some to me too. We'll finish faster if we do it together."
Seeing this, our ECHOs naturally shared the load.
As Sherpa looked on with a bewildered expression, I could see envy and longing slowly filling her eyes.
For three days, Compass and Sherpa worked and lived naturally, as if they were ECHOs of our Ark.
And during that time, I also attempted power reinforcement using the Money Compass.
"This is?!"
"Night's End. An Artifact just for you, Arva."
"......Thank you, Commander."
Arva looked deeply moved as she received a pair of assault daggers made of black nano-carbon.
Watching her, I checked the hologram information with satisfaction.
⚔ ITEM: NIGHT'S END ⚔
> A pair of assault daggers made of black nano-carbon. They reflect almost no light, and the handles are engraved with microscopic circuits that synchronize directly with an ECHO's nerves.
> Grants a Weakness Exposure debuff to a target after five consecutive successful attacks. An enemy in this state has their defense reduced by 30%, and the probability of all allies' attacks landing critically increases.
And this is only 100,000 won?
If Arva had been a launch character for Echoes of Humanity — ECHO, this weapon would have been so devastatingly powerful that she would have instantly become a mandatory meta character for any Astral Deck.
It wasn't an exaggeration; a 30% defense reduction was a broken level of utility that essentially increased the firepower of the entire deck by that much.
With this, the synergy with Moi, the dealer, would explode.
Even if the opponent was a Named-grade, I could clearly envision a scenario where Arva shreds them and Moi delivers the finishing blow.
"And..."
Next, I provided an exclusive weapon to Silva as well.
Actually, I had contemplated giving it to Cordelia first.
In terms of raw firepower, Silva had the advantage, but Cordelia was versatile and could sufficiently act as bait to draw the Astral's attention.
"U-Um, Commander."
"Yeah?"
"I... rather than my own weapon..."
However, Cordelia seemed to desire the revival of the Sacred Front members more than her own exclusive weapon, so I chose Silva.
⚔ ITEM: WHISPER OF THE FAR SHORE ⚔
[EN: Here, FAR SHORE refers to the afterlife, it is a term coined from buddhist mythology.]
> A streamlined, sleek large-caliber sniper rifle made of a glossy, bone-white polymer material.
> The metal parts, such as the barrel and scope, are treated in a pitch-black color, creating a stark contrast. A red spider lily pattern is delicately engraved on the stock, and a faint red light glows when a target is captured through the scope lens.
> Upon successfully killing an enemy, the next round is immediately reloaded, and the user enters a Silence state for 10 seconds.
> A bullet fired in the Silence state leaves a Mark of Death on the hit target. An enemy with the Mark of Death takes 30% increased damage from all allies for 1 minute.
On top of that, Silva's exclusive weapon also had a debuff function like Arva's, albeit conditional.
That's why I decided to purchase and give exclusive weapons to both Arva and Silva.
"T-Thank you, Commander."
"Keep up the hard work."
"Yes, Commander."
The total Cash spent on purchasing exclusive weapons was 200,000 Cash.
With this, the preliminary preparations for the large-scale Astral invasion were more or less complete.
I planned to use the remaining Cash only in emergencies and spend the rest on creating the Sacred Front members once I returned to the Ark.
"Hmm... With this, I think we can easily block the Troller-class units... and we should be able to hold off Leviathan-class to some extent, right?"
I checked the status of our ECHOs with satisfaction, then turned my gaze toward the distant dormitories.
The sun was already setting.
After observing for three days, the Pathfinders' wariness had vanished like melting snow.
Compass still looked puzzled, but Sherpa was different.
It was obvious that she was completely enamored with life here.
"Well then, shall I... go and get things started?"
It was time to work my magic, so to speak.
I walked away with a smile on my lips.
And at that moment.
"Ugh, uuu... I-I'm sorry... L-Lin Ao... sorry... sorry..."
A groan, as if from a nightmare, drifted through the sunset.
Sherpa, who had fallen asleep after lying on her bed with a weary body.
Her pillow was soaked with cold sweat as she suffered through a terrible nightmare that had left her with an indelible trauma.
"I-I was wrong, I was wrong. It hurts... it hurts..."
Sherpa's sobbing, like sleep-talking, filled the silent room.