Infiltration

Very difficult… This is my first time at very difficulty.

“Very difficulty (early game) lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“Do you know why no one plays hardcore, teacher?”

“Pro tip) Hardcore users can’t adjust sliders.”

“You picked the mode! You picked the thorny road! You can’t change it, gay lolol lolol”

(Roughly meaning it looks hopeless.)

The chat was in complete chaos.

Before even stepping into the mission, looking at this screen felt like watching people from an observation room for a hostage situation who only picked out the unlucky ones to gloat over their misfortune.

And I had never even chosen the hardcore mode.

Outside was dark. Specifically, there were hardly any lights. Given that the Hudson River was on the right side according to the map, it made sense, and everything—lights, buildings, everything—had been destroyed.

Right in front of me, the mission entry window was gently floating. I twisted my fingers a few times to start matching, and the gear icon spun as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠if it was waiting for the match.

I glanced at the comments. Full of opportunistic remarks as if they had suddenly appeared to seize the chance when I was unlucky again.

One donation came in.

“But aren’t you a newbie? That gun and ammo is useless, where did you even get it all from?”

“Some kind soul gave it to me on my first day.”

“Haha lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“Fact) They looted it.”

“It’s treasure, though?”

“They’re lying without even biting their tongue lolol lolol”

“The gun and equipment are all top-tier gear lolol lolol lolol lolol”

It wasn’t wrong at all. After all, the wicked become righteous when they die, and by distributing the items they once possessed to those who live, they can benefit many people, right? That would be kind, wouldn’t it?

As I watched the party window filling up quickly, I explained it like that, but the reactions were roughly “Shut your mouth, teacher” full. After all, there isn’t anyone as front-and-back consistent as me.

Of course, it was because my chest was too big, so my real front and back were quite different.

Meanwhile, a couple of them had been coming here quickly for me.

And…

“Everyone’s avatars are so pretty.”

“As soon as I joined, one-shotting? Wow.”

It was too much.

Maybe the viewers’ misunderstanding wasn’t just a misunderstanding, and it would continue until my real appearance was revealed.

A simple briefing on the mission began.

At the start, the four members split into two groups of two. They were called Alpha and Beta, and Alpha would split into sniper and scout to help Beta’s infiltration and share the enemy’s location.

Beta would be deployed directly to eliminate the patrolling enemies and open the infiltration route.

After meeting at the rendezvous point, they would clean the enemies inside, use the help of the Reapers that launched from the nearby military airport to destroy the power armor of the airborne troops, defend while leading the remaining USMA soldiers scattered around to the helicopter transport location, and then withdraw together.

It felt so new it made my head dizzy, but I ignored it and opened my mouth anyway.

“Is the briefing over?”

“Yeah, it is.”

What should I say? I couldn’t erase the feeling that it was a story that made me want to see the face of the planner once.

The details were different, but what could I say? I couldn’t erase the feeling that this main story mission was roughly following my past in a linear way.

…It would have been nice if Olivia-unnie was here too.

My head spun round and round.

I thought about trying to be the sniper or scout or observer for the Alpha team, but it wasn’t worth forcing myself.

Being the window that jumps would produce better results.

“What are you going to do, Mr. Eugene?”

“I’ll infiltrate.”

“Oh. I’m looking forward to the full kill meta, teacher.”

“Is this the kind of village watch that decides things? lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“It’s interesting at least lolol lolol”

“Finding a mission as disgusting as West Point liberation is hard, but they made this as a faction war?”

“It smells like it’ll be wiped out like dogs”

“How do you have self-confidence! You don’t even have self-confidence! You’re not the main character!”

Well, if I hit it hard, I’d figure it out somehow.

In my time, the concept of “one more time” didn’t even exist, so if teammates went down I’d save them, and even if the mission failed I’d drag it through somehow.

In other words, the commander was me.

My painful path had begun.

I was HepTik. Omega was Alpha 2, Eugene was Beta 1, and SpicyChickenDon was Beta 2. Since we were bad at sniping, we’d try our hardest with the drone to mark as much as possible.

“Here, the facility is so big that even if we take it easy, there might be about two airborne regiments. Just assume everyone wandering outside is the enemy and take them down.”

The clear moonlight was covered by clouds, and a few minutes ago the surrounding terrain that was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still distinguishable was now so dark that it was impossible to tell anything.

Of course, that was only part of it. Since it was a military academy, emergency generators were running and streetlights were lit everywhere. At this level, night vision goggles probably weren’t even needed.

Of course, it was because of my physical characteristics.

My eyes that saw infrared and my senses that detected fine vibrations received and processed several times more information than what a human’s senses could convey in this situation.

───Ping!

“Ping has been marked. North-east building rooftop: three watchmen. Two patrol groups near the front parking lot. We’ll handle the rooftop somehow, so wait a moment.”

“What’s the direction?”

“Ping has been marked, so the movement route will be displayed soon.”

A few enemies began to appear on my vision as glowing outlines. It seemed they had become quite casual about this part. Originally I wouldn’t have been able to do it this casually.

Realism wasn’t always good either. Perhaps it was to make both ultra-realistic FPS and the game itself accessible.

…While thinking something like that, I crushed my emerging greed.

Through the signal, I signaled SpicyChickenDon who was following behind to wait, and a pick-up sound came through intercom. It was the sound of three shots overlapping at the same time.

Two long-range sniper drones and two designated sniper rifles — it was a measure prepared in case the number of enemies was too many, even though they were called scouts.

“The rooftop is done. But the enemies in the parking lot can’t ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be seen from here.”

On the opposite side of the road, the cathedral rooftop.

The two snipers’ field of view covered here was also marked for us. The places they could check were faintly glowing gold, but the rest was still pitch black.

But just the ping was enough.

“Sniper drones can handle it. If we take out two of them, the remaining four will be within our processing range somehow.”

“I’ve never tried it before… I’ll try anyway.”

“Why is the difficulty this ridiculous when I just saw the south route for the first time??????”

“Who the hell came here? lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“Wasn’t this supposed to be a mission that infiltrates the river and strikes back?”

“This is the game made for that, idiots”

“Teacher, why is this game different from ours? I’ll report you”

A specially made silent drone was looking down at the ground from the black sky.

Countless propellers for attitude control were rotating, and the sniper ammunition was being fed into the chamber as the camera rotated. At the end of the crosshair was a Russian soldier patrolling slowly along the designated route.

Below that, two groups split and moved toward a point where crossfire could be opened.

Fingers were ready on the trigger at all times.

Noise wasn’t a problem. The combination of subsonic rounds and suppressors would dramatically reduce the sound of shots, and at least before the other patrol group noticed, they would erase the enemies in an instant.

I timed it, picked the enemies to kill, and started the countdown.

───!!

One of the patrol groups of three fell to the ground at the same time.

At the same time, advancing, the following group that was a few dozen meters away pulled the trigger in succession before they could notice.

A half-beat late, but Beta 2 on the opposite side also moved following behind and started shooting like me. The spent casings hit the ground with a clanging sound.

The second engagement used a lot more ammo, but no one noticed.

“At this point, 100 meters northeast, a squad-sized enemy in the camping area. They don’t seem to have noticed yet, but for safety, can we hide the bodies?”

“It would be better to leave before the bodies are found.”

“Then… okay, understood. Where should we go next?”

“First, come down, and 400m north there is a densely packed area of public places. There’s a hotel on the opposite hill, so it would be good for sniping support from there.”

I remembered that everyone received a map with contour lines during the mission briefing, but sadly they seemed to lack the sense to read the map and choose a suitable position.

These were just gamers, so I had to understand that.

After giving the next movement location, we started moving.

“So that’s how you call it? lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“I don’t know why they’re giving it, so I’m going to launch missiles anywhere and see if anyone gets wiped? Let’s press some thumbs down??”

“You only do the farm route all the time, right? lolol lolol”

“In faction wars you only see the main character, what are you complaining about?”

“Is this the hope route faction war?”

“Wow, I’ve never been on this route, so I didn’t even know these existed. I always thought enemies came from everywhere.”

“Well, since everyone is only doing the easy route, it can’t be helped.”

I moved to the designated position with the sniper group that came down through the pre-installed fast rope.

Passing through a downtown area so dead it was eerie, I couldn’t even feel human remains, while the sound of gunfire continued to be heard from far away.

It was faintly implying that the remaining friendly troops were still fighting.

At some point, I naturally stood at the very front. It was ridiculous to be both point man and squad leader at the same time, but for some reason they treated me like that.

Meanwhile, the main road split into two, and from the middle a field came into view where a huge number of enemy troops were bustling back and forth.

At least ten or so infantry APCs, and between them the enemy forces moving busily — battalion-level enemies. They were erecting communication antennas and setting up security, a total mess.

After giving the order to take cover, I opened my mouth slightly.

“There are a lot of enemies.”

“Uh, we haven’t come this way before, so we don’t know… but if it’s like this, it seems impossible to proceed either way.”

“I didn’t call the Reaper for nothing. It should be able to be cleaned up more easily than you think.”

I roughly organized the situation in my head.

The low field where most enemies were gathered could be finished with just a couple of shots, and in reality the difficult part was the hotel with no information.

All that was left was to decide the priority of action.

“I’ll adjust the bomb range from the hotel rooftop, so when the bombs fall, the sniper group, please go up to the opposite building rooftop and clean up the surviving enemies.”

“We’ll do as the teacher says, just tell us.”

“SpicyChickenDon, follow me. Our main job is to clean the hotel. You’ll have to grit your teeth and match faces.”

“No, the game is harsher than I thought…”

“Where did the mindless shooting game I knew go, teacher??????????”

“I only saw PVP all the time, this is also new lolol lolol”

“The real mission freedom claim wasn’t empty talk, huh”

“I thought it was the mindless strategy guy, damn lolol lolol lolol lolol”

“Yeah, I won’t~ I’ll just watch~”

After saying I’d explain in detail while moving, I started moving the teammates through a simple briefing.

Perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea to say that teacher meant a person you could trust and rely on even in situations no one else had tried before. An oddly sudden thought came to me.

I started moving while ignoring the emotion of familiarity and longing mixed together.

I was in the center of the broadcast, but I was still lost in the past.