– “Aren’t there too many bugs!?”
– “There’s nothing we can do. The contamination has progressed to stage three.”
– “I know that, but it’s too harmful for a lady to see such a scene!”
Down below, the 2nd Squad was fighting hard.
They couldn’t catch them as easily as they did in the 1st Squad, but they had one tank and another agent who could almost function like a tank.
And there was a healer too.
Agni was a total damage dealer, so naturally, the 2nd Squad did much better in terms of holding out.
Trion, the damage-tank character who dealt critical damage through counters, was definitely strong.
It made sense since he had no issues spamming counters.
– “Nice!”
– “Trion! It’s so loud; can you fight a little quieter? Did you drink before coming here?”
– “Can you tell?”
– “…It seems like you drank.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Both the Commander and I couldn’t help but agree.
He really did seem like he had consumed alcohol.
I had no idea why he came to the operation drunk, but it certainly was not normal.
Really.
“Still, aren’t you doing well? I don’t know why you’re doing so well while drunk…”
“Yeah… that’s true.”
Trion was swinging a great sword as big as himself while fighting well.
It was a strange feeling that he was doing well while drunk, but hey, as long as he was effective, it wasn’t a big deal.
Since Trion was someone who even drank while making plans or having meetings, I didn’t take it too seriously now.
I just thought he was impressive.
– “Bip-bong~”
– “We need to get rid of the bugs fast!”
– “Christy looks like a loli but always speaks like an old lady!”
– “Aren’t you being too harsh? That’s not the kind of thing you say to a lady!”
– “To call you a lady is a stretch considering we’re about the same age and build!”
The 2nd Squad was surprisingly close-knit.
I never expected them to get along this well, but I was glad they were.
After all, they were members of the same squad, and they needed to get along.
From the atmosphere, it looked like they were doing much better than the 1st Squad.
It’s not like the 1st Squad couldn’t get along, but the 2nd Squad was genuinely good with each other, right?
“Even so, we must regulate alcohol during operations.”
“That’s… true.”
“Anyway, I’m relieved that the 2nd Squad is doing better than expected. I think they’ll hold out until the 1st Squad returns.”
“It must be because Dirtstone is holding up well. Even if he looks like he’s in a fire suit or something, there’s no question that he’s a good agent.”
Though I had never seen his face, he was certainly a good tank.
Personally, I felt he tanked better than Gumi.
Gumi did look like a 4-star character using a shield and frying pan, but Dirtstone was different.
Of course, Gumi was impressive for a 4-star character, so there was no issue with Gumi.
“I personally think if we were to form a 3rd Squad, they should at least match the level of the current frontline. After all, good frontliners make it easier for the agents behind them to fight… it seems essential.”
“I agree!”
“Well, first we need to earn some money.”
That was true.
The reason we were doing this operation was ultimately about the money.
Anyway, we should be able to create the 3rd Squad soon… maybe it’s good to come up with at least a little bit of a plan.
Next time, it would surely be beneficial to plan with the Commander.
*
– “Hey! Where’s Trion getting all this alcohol from!?”
– “……”
– “……”
– “Seriously, we just dropped supplies; why is there alcohol coming out? Where the heck did he pull that from!?”
Good question.
Where did he actually get the alcohol from?
I’m pretty sure there was no alcohol in the supplies before, so why was he drinking?
In one hand, he held a great sword; in the other, a bottle of alcohol.
Drinking made sense, but where he got it was a mystery.
“Not easy, is it…”
In light of the maid’s words, I couldn’t help but agree this time.
It was indeed difficult.
In many ways.
“Well… he’s fighting well, so that’s fortunate. As the leader, he’s holding out well. I’m surprised he’s doing even better than I expected.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“Every time I see it, the agents’ abilities are remarkable. How does lightning come out of that great sword like that?”
The Commander commented while watching Trion frying bugs.
Honestly, I thought the agents were fascinating myself.
When viewing it as a game, I didn’t pay much attention, but now that it’s reality, it was even more so.
I mean, humans shouldn’t be spewing lightning and releasing it from swords. It was genuinely amazing.
Agni was fire, but this was lightning, which is cool in its own right.
“Lindaera, how many contaminated entities are still showing up on the radar?”
“We’ve taken out about half of the initial ones. They are gradually decreasing; however, the speed of decrease isn’t as fast compared to the 1st Squad.”
“It can’t be helped. We don’t have Agni…”
“Yes.”
It was unavoidable as the Commander said.
Though some time had passed, there were still about half left.
When night fell, the bugs wouldn’t be visible anymore, and fighting in the dark was unfavorable in many ways.
So, the best plan was to eliminate as many as possible while the sun was still up and destroy the core.
However, the problem was that there were still many contaminated entities, and it was tricky to break the core’s position immediately.
“Lindaera, do you think we shouldn’t destroy the core right now?”
“Yes. If we destroy the core, the contaminated entities will surely rush towards it.”
“Since there are still many left, it’s obviously going to be a risk.”
“Yes.”
It was a problem that if we hastily destroyed the core, we could run into trouble, given that many of the enemies were still around.
We had the lights on now, but not all the bugs would rush over, and if we turned the lights up more, we’d attract an overwhelming number of bugs.
So, we were taking our time and handling the situation in moderation.
Since the only squad available now was the 2nd Squad, we had no real options.
We couldn’t spread out too widely, so we had to tackle things steadily.
On the bright side, even though there were many bugs, nothing significant was happening.
“Surely… it’s frustrating that we have too few personnel to deploy in combat…”
“At least the 1st Squad has somewhat recovered.”
“Hasn’t it still been less than three hours since the 2nd Squad went out? I think we should keep monitoring for a bit longer.”
“Understood.”
It was fortunate that they were showing a fair bit of their own judgment compared to before.
Even though I was the Vice Commander, it was still his call to make.
Although I was his aide, I thought it was a good thing that he was gradually improving rather than just following my judgment.
“Ha…”
“Why are you suddenly laughing?”
“It’s nothing. I just thought you were thinking a bit better than before.”
“This is only the third time we’re doing this.”
That was true, but it was still somewhat admirable.
It just showed an improvement from before.
“Could you two save those conversations for after you’re done? I’m here too, and so is Dolores!”
“Can’t I say something touching?”
“Ugh…”
Well, since we didn’t have anything pressing to do right now, I figured we were fine.
I didn’t see any harm in going on like this.
If anything came up, we could always focus on work then.
*
– “Kyaaa! There are so many bugs!!!!!”
– “This is super dangerous!”
– “We can’t help it! That idiot Agni destroyed the core!”
– “The Commander told him to!”
– “Still, he should’ve prepared things and then broken it!”
Though the speakers were noisy in many ways, the important thing was to focus on the operation.
The core had already been smashed, and the decision to smash it was made from the start.
Of course, Agni destroying it unexpectedly quickly played a part too.
“Contaminated entities are gathering in significant numbers around the core.”
“Squad members focus on the situation and handle the waves of contaminated entities.”
– “Yes! Commander!”
– “Got it.”
Now that the core was destroyed, many contaminated beings began to converge, and a joint operation between the 1st and 2nd Squads had restarted.
The original plan was to eliminate more contaminated entities and then proceed with this, but we had delayed unnecessarily long due to time constraints.
“Midori, do we have any more Molotov cocktails in the supplies?”
“Uh… uh… none left? The 2nd Squad spent them all during their deployment.”
“Sigh… we can’t help it. Lindaera, aside from the main gun on the ship, do we have any other weapons?”
“We do, but they’re just bullets, so it’s a bit arbitrary.”
“Definitely a bit ambiguous for taking down the bugs below. Plus, we have agents down there.”
Unfortunately, there were no flame throwers or similar weapons attached to the ship.
If that were possible, it would’ve been great.
As it stood, the lack of appropriate weaponry to support our agents below was unavoidable.
After all, that too cost money.
– “Kyaaa! A cockroach!!!”
– “We’ve seen enough bugs already!”
– “But a bug that’s over a meter long is something even the gods would dislike?!”
It was rowdy down there in many ways, but the mood wasn’t bad.
Members of the 1st and 2nd Squads were fighting well enough.
At least no members were injured because of the contaminated entities, and the healers were working diligently.
Furthermore, the dealers were performing their duties well in the current situation.
“30 percent of the originally detected contaminated entities remain…”
“The issue is, this time, that the 30 percent are all rushing towards the squad members who destroyed the core.”
“How long until dusk?”
“An hour… probably slightly more than an hour.”
Time had indeed passed more than expected.
Now, it was getting late, and twilight was approaching.
The sun was setting lower, and the sky was starting to turn red.
– “Commander.”
Just then, pondering how to finish the operation more quickly, Agni suddenly called out to the Commander.
– “Do we have gas on the ship?”
“?”
Gas?
Out of the blue?
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