Chapter 329: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (47)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 329: Blazing Flames of the Battlefield[R-18] (47)
I stood up and walked over to her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Elena was still fuming, so much so that she didn't even notice me approaching. Then, as if to silence her, I gave her a light kiss.
“……?!”
Elena’s eyes wavered violently. Her gestures, her accusations, her emotions—everything froze in that instant. I pulled away nonchalantly and whispered calmly.
“How was that? My ultimate technique for shutting down a lecture.”
She couldn't say a word, sitting there as if frozen to the spot. She wasn't angry, nor was she embarrassed; she just stared at me with wide, vacant eyes.
“Major?”
I called to her softly. No answer. I waved a hand in front of her face, but there was still no reaction. Puzzled, I gently poked her cheek with my finger.
Still nothing.
“…What’s going on?”
Half to check, half in jest, I poked her chest lightly with my finger. I felt a firm yet soft sensation at my fingertip.
“Oh… damn, that’s soft.”
I poked the spot over her nipple through her clothes and called her name again.
“Elena?”
At that moment.
Thud.
She collapsed. Her eyes were closed and her lips were half-parted. She had completely passed out.
“……She fainted?”
I looked down at her and let out a chuckle.
“This is the first time I’ve seen a woman faint from a single kiss.”
It was absurd. She was so innocent it was almost funny.
I carefully laid her down on the bed and tucked her hair behind her ear. Then I whispered into her ear.
“If you’re prickly with me again… I’ll just take you next time.”
As if in response to my words, her unconscious body trembled ever so slightly.
A smirk played on my lips as I straightened up. Then, as if nothing had happened, I walked out of the room.
Carla, who was in the hallway, spotted me and walked over.
She had been awake since last night but still walked with a slight limp.
“Honey, what are you doing here~?”
“Just had a chat with the Major. More importantly, are you okay to be walking around like this?”
“It still stings a little… but I was bored. I feel like I’ll go crazy if I just stay in my room.”
“Still, you should rest until your wounds heal.”
Carla pouted and pressed herself against me.
“Okay~ But you have to cure my boredom later, deal?”
“I get it, so go back to your room and rest.”
I was exchanging a few jokes with her when someone came running down the end of the hall.
It was one of Brol’s subordinates. He panted as he spoke.
“Hey, Seo-yun!”
“……?”
“Lillian is looking for you! She said to come to the maintenance bay right away! It seemed urgent!”
Hearing that, I headed straight for the maintenance bay. As I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw Lillian under a massive maintenance crane, peering into the disassembled Requiem and muttering something to herself.
“…Is this thing really designed for a human to pilot?”
She put down the reader in her hand and reached inside the frame to adjust a sensor circuit. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and her grease-stained fingertips moved deftly.
I walked up beside her and asked.
“Is there a problem?”
Without turning her head, she muttered.
“It’s not a problem… It’s that this thing’s structure isn’t something a human can handle in the first place.”
“What do you mean?”
Lillian slowly straightened up, pushing her work goggles onto her forehead. Her eyes were still fixed on the Requiem.
“The G-tolerance correction device inside the unit. Normally, there’s a limit to the G-force a pilot can withstand, so a device to stabilize it is essential.”
I nodded.
“But this one…”
She pointed to a spot on the circuit.
“The tolerance correction device has been deliberately, intentionally weakened. It’s literally designed to make the pilot absorb the full impact of the G-force.”
I listened to her without a word. Lillian slowly turned her head toward me.
“If a normal pilot got in this thing… their neck would snap during takeoff. But you managed to pilot it?”
I gave a quiet nod. Lillian looked me up and down once more, then slowly shook her head in disbelief.
“Even with physical modifications… you couldn't withstand this. The designer put some limiters in place, but this is still beyond the specs of an ordinary human.”
I looked at the Requiem, my expression unchanged.
“Let’s just say I’m built tough.”
Lillian chuckled at my words.
“Interesting. If you can truly bring out this machine’s original performance… then from the creator’s perspective, you’re an incredible asset.”
She placed a hand on the Requiem’s armor. The gesture was both affectionate and obsessive, as if she were touching the heart of a living creature.
“You, what’s your name?”
I answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Jin Seo-yun.”
“Hmm… Looks like you have East Asian heritage.”
Lillian’s lips curved into a slight smile as she continued.
“The gravity control device built into this machine. Can I unlock its limiter?”
Her eyes sparkled like a child who’d just gotten a new toy. I could almost hear the excited breath caught in her chest.
“If you disable that… will it even be possible to pilot?”
Lillian licked her red lips. Her gaze was a mixture of interest, fascination, and the avarice of an experimenter.
“Honestly, it’ll be dangerous. A normal human’s internal organs would be crushed before the machine even moved. But you might be able to do it. After all, you’ve been piloting the Requiem just fine in its current state, haven’t you?”
I nodded silently.
“I was originally just going to repair it… but now my plans have completely changed. This machine, I’m going to reassemble it from scratch. A limiter-unlocked version, just for you.”
She took a step closer and spoke in a near-whisper.
“So, let’s just run one simple test. To see if your body… can really handle that much.”
“Before that… your way would take quite a while, wouldn’t it?”
I looked at her and said leisurely.
“I don’t have much time right now.”
At my words, Lillian’s lips twisted into a smirk.
“Don’t worry about that. I have some things I’ve prepared in advance. It’ll take some time to make them compatible… but at most, it’ll only take a day or two.”
I thought for a moment before nodding.
“Well, that’s fine then.”
As if she’d been waiting for it, her lips curled into a smile.
“Good, then let’s get the test done quickly. Follow me.”
Lillian immediately climbed down from the machine. Without hesitation, she grabbed my hand and pulled me along. Her hand was stained with grease, but strangely, it didn’t bother me.
“Where are we going?”
“My workshop. It has a scanning system, a physical analyzer, and… a few other things you might find interesting.”
She led the way without a single glance back.
*
On a desolate planet, where nothing but an endless gray plain stretched out without a single base in sight, a special forces unit from Zeros Code arrived.
“Tsk… How did we end up in this mess?”
Jack Spencer spat out bluntly. His harsh gaze was fixed on the mission directive in his hand.
“Tell me about it. Captain Mortimer deserts, and now we're running errands for the Supreme Chairman, who's a fugitive,” another operative said with a sigh, shrugging his shoulders.
“I never imagined that Colonel Sheryl… would desert.”
“Tsk. Stop talking about that bitch. Our priority is to investigate this place.”
At Jack’s irritated voice, the operatives nodded silently. The assault craft they were in roared as it flew, skimming the surface of the barren planet.
“So… what’s supposed to be here, anyway?”
“Beats me. They didn’t give us any real intel.”
A moment of silence. Then, one operative spoke cautiously.
“Couldn’t we just betray the Chairman and hand his ass over to the Federation? Then we could go back.”
Jack’s face twisted at the suggestion.
“……We’d just be used as meat shields.”
“Still, it’s better than this. And would they really use us as meat shields? We’re top-tier elite forces, aren’t we?”
“Shut up and focus on the search.”
For a while, they detected nothing. Then, the radar picked up a faint wave.
“Heat signature confirmed. 850 meters to the west. It’s small, but… there’s something there.”
“A heat signature in a wasteland like this? Strange.”
“Moving immediately. Maintain altitude, approach at low flight.”
The crafts turned and began to descend. Through the sandstorm, a faint outer wall came into view. It was a closed structure surrounded by an iron gate and watchtowers. It looked like a prison.
“Jack! Automated defense systems detected! Multiple turrets, drone scan responses confirmed!”
“This is on the level of a small outpost.”
Jack immediately gave the order.
“Neutralize them. All units, disperse!”
The crafts quickly spread out and opened fire on the turrets. Red beams of light crisscrossed through the sandy wind, and the defense systems soon returned fire.
The engagement had begun.
*
The defense systems were quickly neutralized.
There were no casualties. Both the performance of their machines and the skill of the pilots were among the Federation’s elite, so this was literally just a cleanup job.
“Gio, Carmine.”
Jack called out curtly.
“You two stay with the machines and remain on standby. Maintain radar surveillance and engage any unidentified objects on approach immediately.”
“Confirmed.”
“The rest of you, follow me. We’re infiltrating.”
Jack was the first to jump from his craft. Four more operatives landed soon after, quickly forming up in their dust-proof coats.
The entrance was blocked by a thick iron gate. An operative connected a terminal to attempt an automatic hack.
[Connecting… Authorization Error. System Lockout]
“Dammit.”
He swore under his breath.
“The security encryption is triple-layered. What the hell are they hiding in here to warrant security this tight?”
Jack was silent for a moment, then gave his order.
“Forget it. Just blow it up.”
An operative took out a demolition charge and attached it to the gate. It was planted precisely at the designated spot, and Jack shouted curtly.
“Preparing to detonate. Fall back three meters.”
[Beep, beep, beep…]
Three seconds later, the gate was torn apart. It billowed smoke like a chimney, revealing a long, deep corridor.
“Forward clear. Moving in.”
Jack stepped into the darkness without hesitation. The operatives followed behind him, maintaining a single-file formation as they cautiously entered.
The air inside was heavy and damp. The atmosphere was more like that of a prison.
“Creepy.”
An operative muttered from the back. A few more steps in, a scanner vibrated briefly.
[Bio-signature detected. 30 meters ahead within the zone.]
“Jack. We’ve got a life sign inside.”
As the calm report came in, Jack’s brow furrowed.
“To think someone’s living in a place like this. I’m curious to see what kind of person it is.”
He immediately raised his hand, signaling for entry. The operatives instantly formed a perimeter and paused at the door.
[Breach charge ready… complete.]
When the door opened, the space inside was bathed in a cold, blue light, like a cooling chamber. In the center stood a single large glass tube. Inside, a man was floating, submerged in a blue nutrient fluid.
Blond hair. A thin frame. He looked gaunt, as if time had whittled him away, but his face was familiar.
“……I feel like I’ve seen this face somewhere.”
Jack muttered under his breath as he approached. One of the operatives’ eyes went wide.
“Wait a minute… Is that Leon Risensia?”
“What?”
Jack whipped his head around.
“Leon Risensia? From the Risensia Group?”
“Yeah. The facial features… they’re almost identical. I didn’t recognize him because he’s aged, but I’m sure of it.”
A brief silence fell.
“……Why is the head of Risensia sleeping here, in this state?”
Jack stopped in front of the glass tube. Inside the blue nutrient fluid was a blond man wearing an oxygen mask.
Leon Risensia.
The de facto ruler of the Risensia Group, the Earth Federation’s largest defense conglomerate. The man who had vanished years ago after announcing his retirement was trapped in a laboratory in this wasteland.
Jack’s brow furrowed as he muttered to himself.
“……Whatever this is, we might have just hit the jackpot.”
His order came immediately.
“All units, transport this man safely.”
The operatives moved at once. The glass tube was carefully transferred into a transport-grade containment unit.
A few minutes later, the crafts lifted off from the ground. In the place they left behind, only the sandstorm began to rage once more.