Thank You
< Bravo Six, Going Down >
Through a radio thick with static, five descent ropes dropped from the sky.
Against the rising sun, heavily armed soldiers began their rappel.
Kieeeee-!?
The boss, only now grasping the situation, spread its wings in a threatening display.
It still hadn't finished the tiny human right in front of it. Adding more support here was unacceptable. With that judgment, the boss AI's gaze locked onto the descending unit.
< Not on my watch. >
In that instant, a blue flash punched through the smoke. A shell fired from far away shattered the hard chitinous armor and carved a deep wound into the flesh beneath.
—Kieeeeeek!!!!
A nauseating screech, like nails dragged across a chalkboard, tore through the air.
While everyone froze for a heartbeat at the bone-chilling sound, the boss unfurled its wings to flee.
The second shell struck right then.
Thwoom-!
The railgun round punched clean through a listing building. The precarious concrete mass collapsed, slamming down onto the boss's head just as it tried to leap away.
< B Point Reclamation Support Team joining the boss raid. Team members... should be here any second? >
Ignoring the chaos in the team chat, the transport helicopter pilot keyed the radio.
< Hostile entity analysis complete. D-rank boss, identification code 'Titanomyrmex Adult' confirmed. >
< Current health below 40%. Majority of flight capability lost, along with three of its six primary 'blade' armaments. >
< Medical team, pull the wounded back. Wait for the tank and hit it all at once! >
By the time Ara arrived, the situation had already stabilized somewhat.
There was the sniper who had unilaterally rammed a transport into the boss, and the teammates who cursed that sniper out while still diligently doing their jobs.
The sight drew an involuntary laugh from her—a laugh of pure relief after finally catching her breath.
"Hahat..."
With the roar of powerful motors sweeping black smoke aside, a second transport helicopter touched down. Miniguns and assorted explosives were unloaded, followed by eight more teammates.
A massive heavy tank rolled in among them.
In front of the half-dead boss, the heavy equipment formed ranks while the heavily armed soldiers prepared for combat.
The scene looked straight out of a movie, and the viewers roared their approval.
Ara's gaze, however, was fixed not on the boss but elsewhere—on the medic examining the girl behind cover.
The boss was half-dead already.
With the allied heavy tank, attack helicopters, and teammates all gathered to pound it, there was no chance they wouldn't take it down. So what she needed to worry about was right here.
"Whew, how is she looking?"
"...Way better than I expected, honestly?"
"This?"
Ara's eyes turned to Haneul lying limp on the ground.
The girl was covered head to toe in cuts and scrapes, a dark bruise blossoming across her lower abdomen... no matter how generously you looked at it, "fine" was a stretch.
Even Ara, who always loved butting heads with her viewers, couldn't help sharing the same thought this time.
Haneul, bandaged around the head and breathing with difficulty... truly looked like she was one step from death.
"I mean she's fine considering she fought the boss one-on-one. That thing wasn't designed for solo fights in the first place, you know?"
"Ah, true."
"Honestly it's wild. She shaved over half the boss's HP alone and only took this much damage? Before VR games this would've been an instant hack report."
Ara had no choice but to agree with the medic's awed muttering.
The 'Titanomyrmex Adult' was a flying-type boss.
Like most airborne enemies, its specialty was ambushes using superior mobility. Its speed was something an E-rank Awakened body—the default player spec in Front Line—couldn't even begin to match.
"Yeah... that tracks..."
She murmured softly and approached the girl.
The way Haneul stared blankly up at the sky looked far too lonely.
So Ara took her limp hand firmly and whispered,
"Thank you so much for helping me."
"Ah, you're... the one from earlier?"
"Yeah. Thanks to you I survived long enough to call reinforcements."
A faint spark of life returned to those hazy eyes. The girl carefully lifted her gaze and murmured in mild surprise.
"...I really didn't think you'd actually bring them."
"What? What do you take me for?"
"Heh, it's not that I didn't trust you. It's just... when you've been on the battlefield a long time, you meet all kinds of people."
Haneul swallowed once, as if gathering herself, then continued while looking up at the sky.
"Don't put too much faith in lines like 'I'd die for the one I love!' Almost nobody actually does it. People value their own lives a lot more than you'd think."
"...Then why did you send me?"
"Hmm..."
Plenty of answers rose in Haneul's mind.
She had needed a messenger to report the boss's presence, and only she could hold out until then. If both of them ran, both would die—staying alone had been the correct call.
But one thought had surfaced first, ahead of all the rest.
"I didn't want to lose anyone this time."
She didn't want to lose anyone else.
She still hadn't fully let go of the bonds that had vanished from her side. If she ran away again now, she didn't think she could endure it.
"Well, looking at the results, my choice was right."
Haneul averted her eyes slightly and murmured in a shy voice.
"...Thank you so much for not running, and for coming back."
It didn't take long for the game to end. The fight between a heavily armed force and a wounded monster concluded in an overwhelming victory for the soldiers.
Ara and Haneul both returned to reality. Nothing remained of the place where the fierce battle had raged.
Haneul's stream shut off the moment the game ended. Exhausted Ara also closed her broadcast soon after.
Yet the heat of the incident had not fully cooled.
(clip of 219.55 explaining the situation on Ara's stream)
The absolute Par-ttak who immediately went and donated the moment she realized it was a teammate streamer and explained everything
(Swordsmanship Gallery users stirring shit on Ara's stream)
The shit-stirrers who used their military experience to spam so the chat wouldn't get buried
(Ara connecting to Haneul's stream mid-broadcast)
Ara who already sensed something was off and went to check the Ju-ttak's stream the second chat started talking
(massive transport helicopter flying overhead with the donation "Request Received")
The snipers who answered Ara's call and gathered
Today everyone really did well
The Par-ttak who always complained about Ju-ttak, the shit-stirrers who always caused chaos in the gallery—when Ju-ttak was actually in danger they all united to help. Kinda got me emotional
(Haneul soloing the boss)
Titanomyrmex Adult <--- this fucker wasn't designed to be soloed so how did she fight it?
Rewatched the VOD and all I could do was marvel
When Titanomyrmex spreads its wings and flies around Ju-ttak is also stepping on debris and fighting in mid-air and she never gets pushed back
How can a human body do aerial combat against something faster and stronger than itself??
When the warning text first popped up it said she had zero contacts right? Normally if there's even one contact saved on the phone it'd try that first so it felt weird
Even when she was out of it she kept saying "I don't want to lose them"—am I the only one who finds this unsettling?
She's a war veteran no matter what. How does it make sense that she has zero people she keeps in touch with
Normally when veterans get PTSD mid-game they shake or run, but this one tries to save people first and it was genuinely tragic
Makes you wonder how much it hurt losing people close to her
How does PTSD even manifest as trying to save people
The gallery that had lost its Ju-ttak was only just beginning to catch fire.