Went to Sleep Without Charging
The 28th Guild was deploying on its first mission since the adjutant change.
Their objective: destroy a colony of Abysses clustered in the northern border region.
Mission difficulty: B-class.
For a guild that routinely cleared A-class missions without breaking a sweat, Sena and Yujin were preparing for sortie with relatively light hearts.
Total force committed: thirty hunters.
S-class hunters Sena and Yujin, roughly seven A-class hunters, and eighteen B-class hunters. The remaining three were C-class — practically negligible in terms of combat power.
Come to think of it… Jinhyun put this formation together too. Seriously, why does that guy insist on dragging those useless C-class hunters who can barely fight into every single mission? Don't tell me some of those C-class girls were offering themselves up just to get fielded? I was too distracted to fix it this time, but from now on I'm scrapping this garbage roster.
Looking at the C-class hunters — trash, as far as she was concerned — who even now wore their nerves plainly on their faces, Sena's brow furrowed on instinct.
Still, changing the personnel composition this close to deployment was already too late. Sena decided to let it slide for now and boarded the airship with the rest of the guild.
"We're moving out."
"Yes, Guild Master."
The airship began to move on Sena's order. At the same time, Adjutant Choi Han's voice started the mission briefing in her ear.
"I will now explain the operational overview. We will drop at Point B, three kilometers south of the target area — Zone A — and advance toward the enemy position from there. Individual enemy combat power is not high, but their numbers are considerable, so please move carefully according to my instructions."
Operational command worked the same as always: the adjutant in the unit situation room assessed the overall picture and issued orders.
Tracking enemy positions through radar facilities, analyzing Abyss combat power, and delivering appropriate real-time instructions — that was the adjutant's role.
And of course, Sena and Yujin had almost no intention of following those orders to the letter — just as they never had.
A B-class Abyss horde? Honestly, I could wipe them out solo without breaking a sweat. Still, I'll listen a little — just to see what this guy's made of.
We've been laughing our way through A-class Abysses and cutting them down. At least this one won't start whining about how dangerous it is or ordering retreats like that Lee Jinhyun.
Both of them expected something halfway useful from a government elite.
And a short while later…
"We have arrived at the target area. Please complete final checks."
The moment the announcement came, they wiped the casual attitudes from their faces.
It was only a B-class mission, but they were still S-class hunters. On the battlefield, they never let their guard down.
Steeling herself in earnest, Sena began a final check of the weapon in her hands.
Rose Cutter.
An eighty-centimeter blade engraved with an ornate rose motif. At a glance it looked like a simple sword, but its true nature was a culmination of modern science — one of the most powerful weapons developed exclusively for S-class hunters.
The saw-toothed blade was a monomolecular cutter capable of slicing through anything, and when activated it vibrated and spun like a chainsaw to maximize lethality. Rock, steel, even the notoriously tough hide of an Abyss — it could cleave them all like tofu. The terrifying weapon weighed a full forty kilograms.
An ordinary person could barely lift it, let alone swing it. But Sena, an S-class hunter with a superhuman physique, handled it as lightly as a feather.
It was practically her other half — the weapon that had carried her this far. Confirming its elegant form once more, Sena began preparing herself the way she always did.
But then—
"…Huh?"
Confusion suddenly flooded her face. Yujin, who had been steeling herself beside her, looked over with a puzzled frown.
"Hmm? What's wrong? What is it?"
"Wh-what is this… Why is it only charged this much?"
"What? That can't be—"
Yujin hurriedly checked the side of the Rose Cutter. But even to her eyes, the charge sat at a mere twenty percent — which meant the Rose Cutter's lethality would drop to less than half of normal.
"What the hell is going on… We're about to fight and you're only noticing this now? What were you doing last night that you didn't check? There's not even a charger here!"
"It was always charged to a hundred percent! Damn it, how did this even—!"
As Sena vented her frustration, a thought flashed through her mind. Something she had completely forgotten until now.
…L-Lee Jinhyun.
The name surfaced at last. And with it, Sena finally understood the cause of their current predicament.
That's right… Come to think of it, he was always the one who charged the weapons. Damn it… That bastard, screwing people over right to the end.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't Lee Jinhyun's fault. Weapon charging was supposed to be done the day before sortie as a precaution against discharge — and ultimately, it was the weapon's owner, Sena herself, who was supposed to handle it.
Ignoring that inconvenient truth, Sena silently cursed the absent man.
Then—
"…Se-Sena… What do I do?"
"…What?"
Yujin's face had gone even paler than Sena's. Doubt and unease rose on Sena's features as she looked at her, and Yujin wore an expression of pure dread.
Yujin's weapon was a sniper rifle.
Brionac MK 4.
Caliber: 20mm. Maximum range: ten kilometers. Capable of switching between full-auto and single-shot, with enough power to punch through armored vehicles. In sniper mode, it could even take out a main battle tank.
But right now, that top-tier firearm was nothing more than a slightly heavy lump of metal.
The reason—
"You don't have ammo?"
"Y-yeah… The magazines were always in my gear, but today there's nothing. All I've got is less than the forty rounds I keep as standard issue."
"D-don't tell me this is also—"
"…"
Yujin simply hung her head at Sena's words. Sena didn't need her to say another word to understand exactly what it meant.
"This is Lee Jinhyun too… that bastard…"
She reacted as if Lee Jinhyun had deliberately set this up to screw them over. And of course, among the hunters silently watching this unfold inside the airship, not a single one shared her sentiment.
What the hell… The adjutant's barely been gone and we're already having accidents?
I knew it… Off to a great start, our guild.
Recognizing just how bleak the situation had become, the hunters felt a genuine, deep unease about the battle ahead.
Yujin's Brionac used specialized ammunition — no one else could lend her bullets even if they wanted to.
While the two of them fretted over their predicament—
"We have arrived at the target point. Beginning descent."
"Kh…"
"…Damn it…"
In the end, neither of them found a way to fix it. There was no charger, so recharging was impossible. You couldn't manufacture ammunition out of thin air either. And canceling the entire operation after coming this far was simply unthinkable.
So the two of them had no choice but to drop into the battlefield carrying a dull blade and a sniper rifle short on bullets.