Carapace Lord
Arclight Squad moved in perfect unison the moment they found the Commander.
Centering on me, who had been fighting alone, they each took up their positions and started driving back the zombies.
"Pomen—!"
"Okay, I've got position!"
Pomen, who had claimed the high ground first, poured fire down on the battlefield below.
Tutututututu—!
Thanks to her, even more zombies swarmed in, but they melted into mush faster than they could appear.
Noah deployed a golden barrier by my side, neutralizing any enemies that got too close.
"Hah—!"
With each spirited thrust of Noah’s hand, the charging zombies flew through the air and slammed into the asphalt.
Arva perfectly covered any gaps between them.
Thanks to the Arclight Squad's flawless teamwork, the dozens of zombies and corrupted ECHOs were cleared in an instant.
Kwaduduk!
As the last corrupted ECHO was bisected by Arva's blade, the noise that had blanketed the battlefield finally died down.
"…We survived."
I collapsed onto the ground without thinking.
"Commander—!!!"
As I let out a sigh of relief, Pomen rushed over and threw her arms around me.
Her full-body embrace made my hands twitch with bad intentions for a moment... but I held back.
The fatigue from the Hachishakusama hadn't fully recovered yet.
Arva followed quietly without a word, bowing her head deeply.
Her face was a complicated mix of guilt and relief.
I could guess what she was thinking, so I stood up and gently patted her shoulder.
"It's okay, Arva. It wasn't your fault."
At those words, I saw her shoulders tremble faintly.
But it really wasn't her fault.
I hadn't known about the Anomaly, Hachishakusama, or her abilities either.
I'd only just learned that the Hachishakusama had the bizarre ability to impair an ECHO's judgment.
"But Commander, why were you here of all places?"
I hesitated at Pomen's question.
It felt awkward to confess my sex battle with the Hachishakusama right here.
So I gave a vague answer.
"Should I call it the Hachishakusama's nest? Anyway, she dragged me off to that place, and I somehow escaped from it."
"…Huh? Against an Anomaly? How?"
"I persuaded her."
A persuasion with my dick still counted as persuasion.
"Huh? P-Persuasion?"
"Yeah?"
"D-Does it even understand speech?"
Question marks popped up over the three ECHOs' heads at my words.
But I had nothing more to say.
I'd just fucked and fucked until I got a chance to escape.
"I just saw an opening and bolted. I wandered around after escaping, and wouldn't you know it, I ended up right here. What about you all? How'd you find me?"
"Noah's intuition played a part."
Arva pointed at Noah as she spoke.
"Noah?"
Did she have that kind of ability?
The Arclight Squad had debuted at the 2.5th anniversary and were still the newest ECHOs, with their individual backstories not fully fleshed out yet.
Even when I played the game, I'd only looked at their performance and synergies, not their stories revealing abilities like this.
Or maybe I'd missed it.
I remembered every tiny detail of my absolute favorite unit, Wanderer of the Ashes - Isol, but the Arclight Squad...
No, just forget about that bitch.
The face of the ECHO who'd suddenly gone dark and dragged me here flashed in my mind, and I shook my head quickly.
Noah, catching my puzzled look, blushed shyly and spoke in an innocent voice.
"I followed the Commander's holy light."
"Holy light?"
"Heeheehee."
What? Why was she laughing alone?
There was no way my body was actually glowing, so... the semen smell from rolling around with the Hachishakusama?
Did she track that?
"…Right. What about you all? How have you been holding up?"
I shook off the complicated thoughts and changed the subject.
After I vanished, the Arclight Squad had banded together and spent three straight days searching for me.
"Oh, there’s one thing I wanted to ask. When you rescued me before, was there nothing in the database about my identity?"
At my serious question, the three ECHOs fell silent for a moment before shaking their heads.
Arva spoke up as their representative.
"After receiving word that Operation Blast had failed, we got orders from Ark 69's Central AI, Wanderer, to head to the top-priority target point and rescue the survivor."
"Top-priority target point?"
"Yes. And you were at those coordinates, Commander."
Arva's answer was straightforward.
But it skipped the most crucial part.
"…How did you know I was there?"
This time, Noah chimed in quietly.
She looked at me with worried eyes, her voice soft like she was soothing a child.
"That's not information we can access, Commander. You should talk to Wanderer directly."
"Hmm."
It seemed only the Ark's main AI knew about this body of mine.
That was one more reason to head back to the Ark.
But we couldn't just turn back now that we'd come this far.
The reason the Arclight Squad and I had braved the dangers outside the Ark was to gather resources essential for the Ark's development and survival— not just for cash.
As I sank into thought, Pomen approached me with a worried look.
"Commander, aren't you pushing too hard? Maybe we should head back to the Ark..."
"Hm..."
I furrowed my brow at Pomen's words.
Logically, she was right— we should retreat.
But this was Hongwei-7 Command HQ, our original target.
And why had we aimed here?
To find the genes of the ECHOs who died here.
A combat-type ECHO still alive and waging guerrilla warfare would be ideal.
But that was unlikely.
If any such ECHOs existed, they'd have returned to Ark 69 long ago.
Still, having come this far, turning back empty-handed felt like a waste.
As I hesitated to decide, Noah followed up with a worried expression.
"Yes, Commander. Let's hurry back to the ark so we can patch up that hole of yours."
"…Huh?"
As Noah's gaze naturally drifted downward, I instinctively looked down too.
"……."
When did it rip?
During the intense fighting?
There was a big tear between my legs.
At her words, Pomen cleared her throat and slyly teased Noah with a playful glint.
"…How? How are you gonna patch it?"
Noah replied without a hint of hesitation, flashing a healthy smile and bright eyes.
"Huh? With my hands and mouth, obviously?"
"Wh-What? You know how to do that stuff?"
Noah tilted her head at Pomen's near-scream, then nodded vigorously.
"Of course. Sewing is basic ECHO training."
"……."
Oh. Not that.
For a second, I felt like trash for even hoping something.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We took a moment to catch our breath and resupply.
Even while searching for me, they'd thriftily gathered supplies, and Pomen's bag was neatly packed with power packs, nutrients, and precious ammo.
"The route got messed up thanks to that Anomaly encounter, but we can't just head back now. We didn't risk all this for simple supplies, right?"
The three ECHOs nodded in understanding at my words.
"If that's what you think, Commander..."
"Understood. Then we'll shift our search to original ECHO gene data or survivors."
"Yeah, we can't protect Ark 69 with just our strength."
So we needed more allies.
Originals with the combat prowess and potential to survive this hellish world— nothing like mass-produced types.
"Pomen, scan for biosignals first."
"Got it, Commander. Using ECHO resonance frequency, I can detect original ECHO genes within 50 meters."
We skirted the command outskirts and cautiously infiltrated deeper.
The earlier battle had cleared out most nearby monsters, so visible zombies were few.
And Arva turned those few still moving into proper corpses.
That's when it happened.
"…Huh? Commander?"
Jiiiiing—
Pomen's scanner hummed lowly, its green light blinking.
"Original ECHO gene signal detected."
"Already?"
We actually found one?
This rare gene data that'd cost tens or hundreds of thousands and even millions per unit on the Money Compass?
Were all dreams, hopes, and items really in military bases, as they used to advertise?
Brimming with excitement and tension, we hurried toward the HQ’s main building, presumed source of the signal.
"Everyone ready?"
"Yes."
The gene data was in the main HQ building.
Fitting for such an important place— there was bound to be variables hindering us.
Before the foreboding entrance oozing eerie energy, I did a final squad check and nodded to Noah.
Noah exerted her power, and the sealed door slowly creaked open.
As it did, a humid, fishy stench – not dust – burst out from inside.
"Entering."
With Noah in the lead, we entered the main building and soon found a massive central lobby just past the entrance.
And in the dust-covered central lobby...
An Original?!
An ECHO lay collapsed there.
Unique and elegant design unlike mass-produced ones— definitely an original.
"From the Ironworks—?! No way, she's actually alive?"
Pomen's hushed voice reached my ear.
Red hair. It was Karen Blaze, an ECHO I recognized.
One of the H-class who handled Ark 69 repairs in the past, for sure.
But we couldn't rashly approach the fallen ECHO.
Her vacant eyes stared into nothingness as she made squelching sounds, poking below with her own fingers— like a puppet controlled by something.
And a prickling malice had been pressing on us since earlier.
Chyarararak!
Suddenly, tentacles shot out from somewhere, seized Karen Blaze's body, and roughly dragged her into the darkness.
"…This feels like déjà vu."
It strongly reminded me of encountering the Corpse Breeder in Ark 69.
But what appeared before us wasn't a standard special type like the Corpse Breeder.
Thump! Thump!
Slowly, from the darkness came the sound of flesh slapping and squelching.
[Hee hee hee hee? Who's this? A new toy?]
A moment later, a massive mutant with a hard, smooth obsidian carapace akin to a giant beetle revealed itself, toying with Karen Blaze's corpse like a plaything.
"…Fuck, what the hell is that?"
Pomen screamed at the sight.
I muttered lowly upon confirming its form.
"Mutant zombie. The Carapace Lord, a direct subordinate of the Crawler Queen."
A grotesque failure born from the developers' overzealous attempt to depict zombie apocalypse horrors.
A Mutant that had appeared once during the 1st anniversary event and then vanished into history due to excessive user complaints about its disgusting appearance.
But in ECHO-themed hentais, it boasted a staggering 30% appearance rate.
Shit... that futanari existed in this world too? And right here?!
Thump! Squealch!
The monster, possessing both male and female genitals, thrust its grotesque tentacles into Karen Blaze's mouth and pussy, while ramming its dick into her limp asshole, making squelching sounds as it approached us.
"This is insane."
"Commander, give us our orders!"
The popular hentais featuring it mostly depicted commanders getting fucked by this thing.
So for the sake of Karen Blaze's gene data...
[Hee hee hee, tasty prey walked right in? I was getting bored with just this one..., Hey. You, human male. Wanna fuck and get fucked by each other? If you want, I'll let you have her too.]
And for the sake of my chastity.
[Getting impaled on my thing will feel ecstatic. How do I know? Because the humans I fucked already loved it so much!!!]
"Attack—!"
This monster had to die here. Absolutely.