062. Cradle of Silence (3)
062. Cradle of Silence (3)
[All three of them are together?]
"That's what I said."
I answered cautiously, careful not to get caught.
At that moment, my position was on the outskirts of the Research Wing. Hidden inside a patch of withered landscape shrubs.
The enemies visible through the glass window were patrolling the Research Wing's interior.
Just as I'd said, the three of them were huddled together.
"I think they're patrolling."
[Then what do we do? Withdraw like this?]
I wasn't sure. That might be one viable option, but it wasn't the best move.
Even if we withdrew, there was no knowing when these guys would spread out again, and tracking them down a second time would be a pain.
There was no way these three were the only troops.
I'd activated the radar a little earlier, and it had picked up a considerable number of signals from the Experiment Wing on the opposite side.
If anything, the majority were over there.
If we came back and got caught by those troops, the whole premise of 'keeping this from Eve' would fall apart.
So,
"Just hold position. I'll figure something out on this end."
[Figure what out?]
What else was I supposed to do?
"I'll dodge and weave through them and bring them back."
Right after answering, I started running toward the Research Wing where the three biodroids were.
...Oh, of course, I didn't actually intend to carry out some reckless, bull-headed operation like that.
No matter how top-tier my physical fitness was by Academy graduation semester standards, outrunning biodroids on foot was impossible.
Cookie, who had a tank role and an Agility rank of E, seemed like someone I might be able to manage against, but the other two were absolutely out of the question.
Nevertheless, the reason I was running in so confidently was that I had a trump card of my own.
[Are you planning to use the Phase Rupture Bullets?]
Alicia asked.
I let out a hollow laugh at the irony that the only one who'd caught on was the one who refused to fight, and answered. She was right.
Phase Rupture Bullets.
To put it simply, they were bullets that pulled a biodroid out of the Beta Phase and weakened them to the level of an ordinary girl.
[Ha? If you had something that amazing, why did you come up with such a complicated operation in the first place? Are you an idiot?]
Having grasped the situation, Rinne snapped back as if she couldn't believe it.
Of course, it wasn't because I was actually an idiot.
First of all, it was impossible to seize victory with this alone. The Phase Rupture Bullet's effective duration was a few dozen seconds at most.
Well, for beating down a single girl, a few dozen seconds might seem like enough. Still, the risks were high in many ways, and that wasn't even the only problem to begin with.
"There aren't many bullets."
[Should have stocked up.]
I would have liked to do just that.
But I hadn't been able to. The thing is, Phase Rupture Bullets weren't the kind of ammunition you could just grab whenever you needed them. They contained a solid chunk of ultra-high-purity Black Superphase Substance, and right now, farming Black Superphase Substance itself was impossible.
For that reason, the entire supply amounted to one revolver cylinder provided per commander as a fragging prevention measure.
And even that didn't get sent to places like Krädel.
On top of that, the effect didn't just manifest by manufacturing the bullet.
The bullets also had to be phase-resonated with the target biodroid in advance, and naturally, there was no way to do that with the three now under Eve's command.
[Then how did you get them?]
"There was a separate stockpile prepared in advance."
[A stockpile?]
"That's right."
Before we parted ways, Jang Yu-na had called me aside for a moment.
Then she handed me a cylinder and said,
—Here. This is something I secretly took with me when I was discharged.
—I thought a day like this might come someday.
—Use it if you need it.
[So, how many rounds?]
"One standard-issue revolver cylinder's worth."
Meaning, six rounds in total.
At that point, an obvious question had to come up.
[......Since there are three enemies, doesn't six rounds mean more than enough?]
Yeah, that one.
I wished that were the case too.
I really wished it were—
"I'm a really terrible shot, you see."
[......Eung?]
Rinne rasped over the receiver.
At that moment, I was charging in from behind the three biodroids.
Maybe it was because I had made such a noisy entrance. All three biodroids turned to look at me at once.
Their eyes were completely vacant. Uncontrolled Phase Power was spreading across their bodies in the form of a black aura.
I raised the revolver and took aim at them.
Then, from less than thirty meters away, I fired.
—Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three gunshots rang out.
The result?
[What happened?]
"Not a single one hit."
[Oh, come on! So you really are an idiot!]
I wasn't so sure about that. Like I said, I wasn't an idiot—I was just a lousy shot.
Without even giving me time to retort, the assault soldier Luce, who had been at the rear, lunged at me.
The distance closed in an instant. I raised the revolver again and fired one round.
—Bang!
It hit.
For some reason, it hadn't hit the one lunging at me. It had hit the one behind her.
Meaning, Violetta, the one I'd said I wanted to capture first.
I could tell because the black aura that had lingered behind her died down like a flame struck by the wind.
Maybe it was because her Phase Power had vanished. She started to retreat with a flustered expression.
Well, I wasn't in any position to care about that.
—Bang!
I fired another round.
Maybe it was because she was almost at point-blank range. One round finally hit Luce as intended.
But it was already far too late. Luce's gauntleted fist slammed into my abdomen.
Urgh— A gasp close to a retch escaped me involuntarily.
Soon, faced with the violent pain tearing through my stomach, I felt relieved instead.
'She really has been weakened.'
Because if she hadn't been, it wouldn't have hurt at all.
If an A-rank biodroid deliberately punches you in the gut, there won't be a stomach left to feel any pain.
So, without even having time to properly confirm, I raised my right fist,
"Sorry!"
And as if returning the favor, I struck Luce's lower abdomen hard.
But the cry that rang out came from me, not Luce. Even weakened, she was still made of metal. Punching her barehanded was a terrible idea.
Even so, she really did pass out. This model had its core in the lower abdomen.
...I only pieced all of that together after everything was over.
I hadn't had time to think about any of that. The moment Luce collapsed, Cookie, who had been behind her, raised her shield and charged me.
"Uryaaaaaaat——!"
Buwung— The shield grazed past my head.
If I'd been even 3 centimeters taller, my brains would have burst out.
This was no time to be relieved. I raised my left hand gripping the revolver and fired the last round.
—Bang!
The result was,
"Another miss!"
Only two out of six rounds had hit their mark.
And of those two hits, the bullet that struck Violetta hadn't been intentional. To be honest, that meant a 1-in-6 hit rate.
Not that that was the key point right now. I quickly sorted out the situation.
'Luce is still unconscious.'
'Cookie recoiled a step, startled by the gunshot.'
'Violetta is nowhere to be seen. She must have fled once her Phase Power was extinguished by the stray bullet.'
Pursuing Violetta was realistically impossible.
Instead, the wiser move was to secure at least Luce and Cookie and extract them to a safe zone.
Of course, there was no way to dodge Cookie's attacks while carrying a girl slung over my shoulder.
...Not in my current state.
"Laika!"
I called her name over the comms line.
Laika, of course, answered immediately.
[Yeah! Laika's listening! Should Laika come over there?]
No.
It wasn't because Eve might detect her.
Now that Violetta had fled, the intruder's existence was going to be reported anyway.
The problem was time.
We didn't have time to meet Laika halfway.
Instead, I chose—
——Seueup—
I drew in a dramatic breath.
Then I shouted:
"Laika! I like you! I like you the most in the whole world!"
[Ooh, euheut......?!]
It wasn't as if I were confessing some inner feeling I'd kept tightly hidden away until my dying breath.
For that matter, it wasn't a fact I'd kept tightly hidden away either.
I genuinely like and cherish my squad members, and among them, I like Laika the most.
Of course, strictly within the bounds of the military biodroid and commander relationship.
But for now, let's set that important detail aside for a moment.
[J-j-j-j-j Commander, we're in the middle of a mission right now? O-o-o-of course I'm so happy I could just die and fly away and go insane and I'll have to ask Alicia later if this comm log was recorded and if there's a recording I'll save it separately and put it to good use but...... wh-wh-why are you suddenly acting like this, I wonder......?!]
"Why do you think!"
It's because I know I have to do this to raise our Phase Resonance Rate all the way to 100 percent so I can use the Synchronizer!
Instead of shouting that, I threw back a more appropriate answer.
"Because you're so pretty! You're so damn pretty! Once this operation is over and we get back safely, I swear I'm going to have you give me another naked massage!"
At that moment, a briefing message floated up in my vision.
[Phase Resonance Rate with Biodroid 'Laika' reaches 100%.]
[Activating Skill 'Synchronizer'.]
It was a relief that Laika was an easy girl. I felt genuinely grateful.
***
The Synchronizer activated, and for a brief time, I obtained Laika's Phase Power.
Continuing to fight like that could have been one method.
But I didn't do that.
I had no way of knowing whether the Synchronizer would last until I took that one down, and even with Laika's Phase Power granted to me, Cookie still wouldn't be easy to deal with.
I simply focused on luring Cookie while carrying Luce slung over my shoulder.
For reference, Cookie was said to be the dumbest of the three.
On top of that, her judgment was clouded because she was Corrupted, so Cookie followed me without the slightest hesitation.
Before long, I entered the safe zone.
Laika and Rinne, who had been waiting, joined in and easily subdued Cookie.
After that, we laid the two unconscious biodroids down on the floor and began the purification work.
The method was to grant them a Salvation Narrative.
Using that, we would overwrite and wash away the Corruption Narrative Eve had bestowed on them.
Rinne had prepared each Salvation Narrative in advance based on information provided by Jang Yu-na.
To be specific.
—Luce, apparently, had a child she'd failed to protect on a battlefield in the past. The plan was to grant her a narrative where she protects that child and receives salvation herself.
—Cookie, it seemed, had wanted to become a chef once she was discharged. The plan was to grant her a narrative of a future where she opened her own restaurant.
Some time passed after those narratives were granted.
The 'Legion Factor Infection Rate' of the two biodroids, checked with the scanner we'd prepared beforehand, gradually decreased.
And the moment those numbers reached zero, the two biodroids came to their senses.
They didn't look the same as before they fell. The black aura that had swirled around them had vanished like melting snow.
On top of that, their eyes were bright and clear instead of the vacant stare characteristic of the Corrupted.
In short, they had broken free from Eve's brainwashing.
"......Whe, where is this?"
"Ah, that person from earlier......?!"
The two of them—meaning Cookie and Luce—spoke in order.
They did seem to remember being Corrupted. The moment Luce saw my face, she recoiled and wrapped both arms around her stomach.
Even so, they still needed an explanation: who we were and what had happened up to that point.
What we had come here for, and what we planned to do going forward.
I left the task of explaining those things to Rinne, and I called Alicia.
[Shall we terminate the operation?]
"I'd like to do just that."
I wanted to, but.
Regrettably, the operation didn't end here.
We still hadn't saved all three biodroids.
I couldn't arbitrarily end things until we rescued the last remaining biodroid——Violetta.
With that in mind, where might Violetta be?
"You marked her signal, right? Where did she bolt to?"
[The central computer room where Eve is located.]
"Then she must have told Eve about our intrusion, too."
[Yes. Thanks to that, large-scale Legion activity has been detected throughout the Cradle of Silence for the past five minutes.]
Things had gotten troublesome.
"I want to break through. Where's the weak point?"
[I have identified one, but Laika alone does not have enough firepower.]
"......What about me activating the Synchronizer again?"
[If you do, you will die.]
Alicia answered without a second of hesitation.
It was the answer I'd expected. While handling Seo Se-rin's surgery last time, I'd learned that the Synchronizer placed enormous strain on the user's body.
After all, the human body simply couldn't withstand a biodroid's Beta Phase Power.
A few minutes of activation was the limit, and even then, the recommendation was to wait several weeks between uses.
...To be honest, my entire body was aching like it was going to shatter even now.
It was best to assume that the Synchronizer was off the table, at least until this operation ended.
So what was I supposed to do?
Maybe I didn't need to think about it after all.
"Please let us help."
A voice came from behind me.
I turned to see Luce and Cookie standing there.
To be precise, only Cookie was standing. Luce was hiding behind her with only her head poking out.
It seemed she still hadn't recovered from the shock of the gut punch.
I decided to apologize later.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
The original plan had also included the possibility of seeking their cooperation.
But that assumed we'd keep Eve's main force out of it and pick off the Corrupted one by one.
But the situation now was completely different. We had to punch straight through a large-scale force.
And with bodies that hadn't properly recovered, at that.
We would have to step right back into the heart of hell.
They both snorted at the question.
"Should we even say we're okay?"
"I-I don't think we have any choice but to go."
"There's no other option. In a situation like this, when we're going to rescue the one comrade left behind in enemy territory......."
"It's a situation so perfectly tailored to our tastes that it's making our heads spin......."
Soon after, the two of them shouted in unison.
""There's no choice but to go and rescue her!""
Hmm.
Now that I thought about it, these guys were also idiots who had crawled all the way here because of light novels.
I let out a deep sigh and declared.
"Well then, let's give it a shot."
Operation: Rescue the Last Reader, Violetta.
And perhaps, the Complete Conquest of the Cradle of Silence.