Ark 69's Modus Operandi
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Whoa, shit. That was way too close."
It had been a truly hair-trigger situation.
Watching the bullets I had fired reflexively pierce the zombies' skulls with precision, I approached the ECHO who had collapsed on the spot.
"Pomen, clean them up."
"Yes, Commander. As you command."
Following that, the thunderous roar of the minigun wiped out every single zombie that had surrounded the area.
As I approached the fallen ECHO while keeping a lookout, the corpses of higher-tier entities—a Brute and a Bone Blade—caught my eye.
It seemed those ECHOs had been the ones to take them down.
If they handled a zombie horde of this scale... they aren't mass-produced. They're Originals.
The ECHO, slumped against a wooden pillar, had her combat suit torn in several places, leaving one breast exposed. She looked at me with dead eyes.
Though she looked wounded and exhausted, her gaze still held an unextinguished instinct for survival.
"I am the Fleet Commander of Ark 69. Are you alright?"
At my voice, the slumped ECHO slowly raised her head. Eyes filled with vigilance and suspicion turned toward me.
"Ark... 69? I heard that place had already collapsed..."
"Rumors aren't something to trust. Well, it was indeed destroyed, yeah. I'm the only surviving Commander left in the Ark."
As I answered, I glanced away and saw Karen trotting toward another ECHO who was lying face down on the outskirts.
"Uh—Core armor damaged? It's already exposed! Madeline—!"
At Karen's shout, Madeline rushed over and pulled something out of her supply backpack.
"I'll inject the nano-gel."
"The contamination level is incredibly high. At this level, even for an ECHO, there's a risk they could mutate into a higher-tier entity if we're not careful."
"Uh... then just cut it. We can put the severed part in a culture tank later to regenerate it."
Karen spoke of amputation as if it were the most natural thing in the world, her expression unchanging.
At that, I unconsciously stroked my mechanical prosthetic arm.
What were the words I heard from the first mass-produced ECHO I met after falling into this world?
Did she say my contaminated arm had to be cut off?
The memory surfaced, sending a sudden chill down my spine.
"Madeline, hold her here."
"Got it."
"Core damage rate 84%. Injecting nano-gel."
Through the gap in the torn armor, Karen squeezed the gel around the ECHO's Core, where sparks had begun to fly from exposure.
The blue-tinted gel instantly filled the wound, forming a temporary shield to block external shocks.
The two of them worked in perfect synchronization to treat the fallen ECHO.
"Haaa—!"
"Crisis averted, somehow."
A moment later, the two ECHOs stepped back from the fallen one, letting out sighs of relief.
"Phew... the emergency treatment is done. However, there are severed parts, and the remaining Core Energy is minimal, so further combat will be impossible, Commander."
"...You worked hard. And I'm not such a bad guy that I'd throw a critically injured soldier back into battle."
I shook my head at Karen's report and turned back to the ECHO in front of me.
"What is your name?"
"I am Cordelia. Model number ECHO-K9T..."
"Ah, you can stop there."
There was no way I'd know anything about ECHO model numbers.
"Cordelia. An ECHO belonging to the Sacred Front, primary weapon is a rifle. Correct?"
"...Yes. That is correct."
At my words, Cordelia looked at me with curious eyes.
She was likely wondering how I knew about her.
But Cordelia was a fairly well-known Original ECHO.
In the game, there were two versions— the standard one and the Cordelia: Swimsuit model.
The standard Cordelia was just for decoration.
But Swimsuit Cordelia, also known as SwiCo, was a must-have character, ranking Tier 1 or 1.5 even in rifle decks. To think such a talent was pushed forward as mere cannon fodder.
I couldn't understand what the Fleet Commander of Ark 74 was thinking.
No matter how much the people of this world loathed ECHOs, this felt like it had gone too far.
"The mission failed. Are you aware?"
"......Yes."
"Ark 74 has likely already processed you as deceased. In that case, there's no need to go back, right?"
"......"
Cordelia remained silent at my words.
But her silence was as good as an affirmation. Thus, as if I had been waiting, I made my prepared offer.
"Then, come with us."
Cordelia hesitated for a moment at my proposal.
Giving her time to collect her thoughts, I added one more offer.
"I'll give you time to collect the belongings of your fallen comrades. Take everything you want."
"...May I recover the genetic information of my comrades?"
I answered Cordelia's cautious question without hesitation.
"Of course."
Considering the cash required to purchase a single piece of genetic information via the Money Compass, I had intended to take them even if Cordelia hadn't mentioned it.
So, while I was at it—both to secure the genetic data and to lure Cordelia to our Ark—I decided to make one more promise.
"I don't know how much of their memories remain in the genetic data, but... I will definitely bring them back to life later."
"......Thank you."
Cordelia bowed her head deeply.
Then, she began to sob like a child.
Is it because the humans here are such scumbags? Gaining the loyalty of ECHOs in this world was simpler than I thought.
You just had to treat them like humans or even comrades.
In fact, the reason the protagonist in the game was so beloved by the ECHOs was because he was the only sane person who treated them properly among humans who were practically monsters.
But he's still a long way off from being born, right?
"Karen. Treat Cordelia. And Arva, provide ammunition support."
"Understood, Commander."
Of course, there were villainous ECHOs who had nothing to do with such things, but this ECHO in front of me wasn't one of them.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Not long after, the Cerberus Squad, who had been flanking from the rear to hunt special entities as planned, joined us.
It seemed they had also found scattered ECHOs during their battle, as they were supporting two ECHOs I hadn't seen before.
"Helena... Silva, Luna?"
Cordelia doubted her eyes as she saw her former comrades whom she thought were dead. Her voice trembled slightly as she called them.
"Eh?! Cordelia—!"
Luna, the first to spot Cordelia, rushed over and threw herself into a hug.
"You... were alive?"
"Yes—! Though I almost died halfway during the last operation."
"But why didn't you return to the Ark...?"
"I couldn't. We retreated south, but all communications were cut... and the zombies kept chasing us... In the end, just before I died, I luckily met the Arclight Squad and have been living in Ark 69."
"Ah... you've been through a lot too."
Following Luna's innocent answer, the taciturn Silva approached and gave Cordelia a light pat on the shoulder.
Her eyes held a sense of relief and joy that words could not fully express.
Meanwhile, I received a report on the current situation through Helena.
"The operation proceeded successfully. Both command entities leading the zombies have been eliminated, and we have additionally neutralized one Smoker, two Bone Blades, and three Brutes."
"And the ECHOs over there?"
"They appear to be from Ark 74."
They weren't Originals, just mass-produced, but that was good enough for now.
"Hmm..."
What SCOUT-106 had said before flashed through my mind.
She had said over twenty entities from Ark 74 were deployed in this operation.
But among the combatants, the only ones we found were SCOUT-106, Cordelia, Lapis—who was basically a corpse hanging on her last breath—and two mass-produced ECHOs.
As for the rest...
They probably died lonely deaths in these nameless mountains.
Though they were people whose faces and voices I didn't know, a sense of bitterness washed over me first.
And to end this damn situation, I had to take down that piece of shit Carapace Lord regardless.
Rat-tat-tat!
Having reorganized our lines, we entered engagement again.
"Zombie horde approaching! Numbers— ten, fourteen, seventeen!"
"Any higher-tier variants?!"
"A big one! It's a Brute!"
"Prepare the AP-5!!"
However, with Pomen's heavy weaponry spitting fire and the Cerberus Squad armed with AP-5 joining in, the battle became much easier.
Cordelia, who had newly joined the team, also received ammunition and entered the fray.
Bang! Ba-bang!
Two precise bursts of fire pierced the skulls of two zombies in succession.
Cordelia paused to catch her breath and read the flow of the battlefield, then flinched.
The Commander... is fighting personally?
This was unimaginable in Ark 74.
Commanders always stayed in the safest rear, merely issuing orders; they never did anything themselves.
To them, the battlefield was like a chessboard, and ECHOs were nothing more than expendable pawns.
But the Commander of Ark 69 was different.
Bang! Ba-bang!
As Silva's positioned sniper shot blew away one of the Brute's legs entirely, the massive body lost balance and staggered.
Then, as if waiting for that exact moment, the Commander poured out a volley of bullets, piercing the creature's throat.
"Nice, Silva."
"......"
He even gave her a short fist bump.
It was on a completely different level from any battle Cordelia had ever experienced.
"Our Commander's marksmanship is truly amazing."
At Luna's proud explanation as she approached, Cordelia simply nodded in silence instead of answering.
Along with surprise, a faint sense of longing flickered in her eyes.
Once the battle is over and Lapis wakes up...
She felt she wanted to tell her about the scene she was witnessing now.
Thus, with Pomen's overwhelming firepower and the organic cooperation of the two ECHO Squads, we advanced, annihilating zombie hordes at a speed incomparable to before.
And finally, we reached the entrance of the massive cave identified as the Carapace Lord's nest.
"......"
From the cave entrance, a foul fishy stench wafted out, and writhing lumps of flesh that seemed still alive covered the cave walls.
Just looking at it, one could tell what a horrific hell this place was.
"Karen."
"Yes—!"
When I held out my hand, Karen gave a spirited response and placed a round, oval object in my palm.
I felt a heavy, cold weight transfer through my combat gloves.
TIB-7, Hellfire.
TIB stands for Thermobaric Incendiary Bomb; simply put, it was an ultra-high-temperature incendiary grenade.
It wasn't very effective against mechanical monsters or Anomalies, but against zombies—especially low-tier ones—it boasted devastating power.
It took so many resources that I had to scrape the Ark's reserves clean just to make one of these.
That's why I had been saving it to clean out the nest.
Ping!
After popping the safety pin, I twisted my body like a left-handed pitcher winding up.
Whoosh!
Maybe because my left arm was a mechanical prosthetic…
The Hellfire vanished into the cave entrance at a speed that seemed to easily exceed 150 km/h.
And in the next instant.
Along with a blinding flash, a roar that shook the entire cave struck my eardrums as if to tear them apart.
Watching this, I unconsciously whistled. It was impossible to count how many zombies were wiped out by this explosion.
Then, a message appeared before my eyes.
💰 Money Compass 💰
You have acquired 16400C.
Acquisition History: Mass slaughter using TIB-7 (Combat Participation Reward)
Hmm... yeah.
This is the power of technology.