White Fang’s ready room.
“Information has come in. To be honest, its credibility is questionable. Keep that in mind as you listen.”
A deep, mid-low voice, thick for a woman, rang out. On top of the pool table, an underground route map from the old Cilician Federation had been spread out.
Yes, a pool table.
White Fang had a strange culture. Even though they had a proper operations room, they insisted on holding briefings in a lounge filled with entertainment.
‘Is this some kind of mercenary fantasy?’
He had been working with them for a month, but it was still hard to understand. Another thing he could not get used to was that these mercenaries switched modes incredibly quickly.
Until just a moment ago, the place had been a complete uproar, but as soon as the briefing began, it became quiet. Every assembled member listened closely to the platoon leader.
“Roben, explain.”
The balding squad leader Roben nodded.
“Yesterday at 8 PM, the squad under my command disguised ourselves as Fallen Rail Co. and made contact with an outlaw group. And we received a request for protection from them.”
“......Wait. That’s strange from the start. The outlaws asked for protection? From employees of a company that makes a living doing railway repair work?”
The one who raised the question was Bryce. The others also sent looks demanding a proper explanation.
“It was a request in name only. The nuance was closer to making a deal. They seemed to know about us.”
“How much?”
“That a certain armed group is rummaging through the underground. That they use supplies as bait to lure out outlaws. They did not mention Lotus Company.”
“So our affiliation has not been revealed.”
“I cannot be certain, but yes.”
Relief passed over their faces. It was not the worst-case scenario.
If even the names of Lotus Company and White Fang had become known? Then they would have had no choice but to suspect a mole inside.
“To continue, their request was this. Guarantee the survival of 12 outlaws and help them receive amnesty for their crimes. They said they wanted to live openly on the surface.”
The reaction was cold.
Beside Kim Yi-hyeon, Jenna let out a hollow laugh. There was even someone who spat curses at a volume low enough not to interfere.
“Ha. Amnesty? They must be mistaking us for high-ranking officers of the security force.”
“Let’s just shoot them. Where did you keep them?”
“Calm down. We have no intention of negotiating with outlaws. But this matter cannot be solved blindly with force as we have done until now. If there is anything we can use, we should use it.”
“We just need to find their core base and sweep it clean, don’t we? If we let ourselves get jerked around by rats, even things that should work won’t work.”
“Are your ancestors going to find that base for us?”
When Kenny, the freckled young man, objected, Romero, wearing a beanie, sneered.
Kim Yi-hyeon had also gone on operations with those two before. They bickered constantly, but strangely enough, they worked well together.
The room was gradually becoming noisy.
“They say the rats will personally guide us, even if your ancestors will not.”
At the platoon leader’s words, the members fell silent. They seemed lost in thought.
In exchange for receiving amnesty, they would reveal the outlaws’ main base. On the surface, it was quite a decent ‘deal’.
Especially since White Fang had no obligation to keep the promise.
The one who broke the silence was Pep.
“It’s a trap. It’s too convenient.”
“I also think it is dangerous.”
Bryce agreed. The platoon leader began looking over her subordinates one by one. Ultimately, her gaze stopped on Kim Yi-hyeon.
“Guest member. What do you think?”
Me?
The arrow suddenly changed direction. Kim Yi-hyeon was inwardly flustered, but only for a moment.
He had been thinking it was about time he stepped in anyway.
The conversation that had just gone back and forth matched exactly with the opening of LW-3 Stage. The point when dark clouds began spreading over Cilicia in earnest.
This was the optimal timing to change the future.
“Obviously, it’s as Pep said.”
“So we should ignore it?”
“No.”
Kim Yi-hyeon shook his head.
“What I’ve been thinking lately is... You know this problem is serious, but you don’t seem to feel exactly how serious it is. From what I can see, we’re not in a position to pick and choose right now.”
“What does that mean? Speak so we can understand.”
“The outlaws I’ve seen are quite organized. Just the fact that every dog and cow knows about our activities proves that information exchange between groups is active.”
“What a joke. Outlaws? How long has it been since you came to Cilicia?”
A man with an annoyingly flippant face snorted. Sorry, but Kim Yi-hyeon did not remember his name.
“A little over a month now.”
“Then isn’t it too early for you to act like you know?”
“Isn’t it actually possible that you’ve been dealing with outlaws for too long and have become biased? As if all outlaws are idiots with garbage social skills who don’t even know how to unify their opinions.”
“...Are you done talking, you little—”
“Shut your mouth, Tony.”
Before the argument intensified, the platoon leader stopped him.
‘So his name was Tony.’
No wonder he did not remember. He would probably forget again by tomorrow. The man was just that ordinary.
“Continue.”
Since it was the platoon leader’s order, there was no helping it. Kim Yi-hyeon released information to a suitable extent.
“If their tendencies changed over the past month, that means something happened to make them change. They may already have gathered their forces and be preparing for war.”
“I think that is too much of a leap. No matter how many weapons they are supplied with, they cannot come up to the surface. They would be suppressed by the security force and that would be the end. They are not fools who would fail to know that.”
“If it were only the outlaws, yes. But in the first place, why are you assuming the ones supplying them with weapons are companies? What kind of business would anyone do with outlaws stuck underground, scattering precious weapons around?”
That was the part he had thought most complacent. White Fang had completely excluded the possibility that an external force was responsible.
Kim Yi-hyeon did not fail to understand the reason.
‘At least until now, it’s been an era without war.’
Since calamities began in earnest, no war had broken out on the continent. Each nation had concluded non-aggression treaties and faithfully carried them out.
Human survival was already threatened by calamities and monsters alone. The long-lasting peace that was not quite peace had erased war from people’s minds.
Only ‘until now’, that is.
‘Cilicia will become the fuse.’
The moment those who were losing, or had already lost, their homes to calamities realized that plunder remained as an option.
The non-aggression treaties would become meaningless, and gunpowder smoke would rise all across the continent.
Only now did the possibility of foreign forces occur to the members.
It was not impossible. There was a way to approach the outlaws without entering Cilicia.
Metrocenter was not the only entrance to the underground. The former Cilician Federation territory. One could also enter the underground from now-closed zones.
The next questions followed.
If an external force really had intervened, what was its identity? Why was it targeting Cilicia?
The platoon leader cut off the questions that were biting each other’s tails in a single stroke. That was a story unrelated to White Fang.
What they had to think about was simpler.
“I will leave three people as reserve personnel. Rob, Peterson, Nikolai, stand by. Everyone else, prepare.”
The members rose from their seats.
Whether it was a trap or not, this was a chance to identify the outlaws’ main base. As said, they were not in a position to pick and choose.
The platoon leader’s eyes turned toward Kim Yi-hyeon again.
“Guest member, what will you do? Surely you are not planning to back out after saying all that?”
Kim Yi-hyeon merely shrugged. There was no need to say it.
***
Since he did not have any personal equipment to bring, Kim Yi-hyeon did not leave. Sitting still, he thought about what would happen from now on.
In the game, the platoon leader had made an ambiguous decision. Even while thinking it was an outlaw trap, perhaps frustrated by the lack of progress, she dispatched four people.
The method was to send a freelance bounty hunter forward as a stand-in, with a White Fang squad following behind.
The method itself was not bad.
‘Even if it wasn’t the best, it was at least second-best.’
It was indeed a trap. When they went according to the outlaws’ information, Legion was waiting there. That was how it ended.
White Fang’s tailing was discovered, and three people died. A member who barely escaped informed the others.
In reality, however, almost everyone would be mobilized. It was a change caused by Kim Yi-hyeon’s intervention.
‘Though this is basically jumping into death.’
In a way, it was no different from going to die. That was because a Legion officer would personally appear.
‘White Fang isn’t weak, but......’
White Fang members were experts in anti-personnel combat. Even though there was only one playable character among them, if measured in game terms, they should be similar to Pavl, the free 4-star operative.
The problem was that the compatibility was clear.
Most of them handled guns and crossbows. In game terms, their attack power was guaranteed to a certain degree, but they were pushed back against enemies with high defense.
In particular, the ‘Mithril’ they were about to encounter this time was an enemy with extremely high physical defense. It was not an opponent White Fang could do anything about.
But Kim Yi-hyeon had confidence.
‘The situation is better compared to Shadower.’
2-star equipment. White Fang.
Moreover, there was even a 5-star operative.
“M-Mr. Hyeon, you’re amazing.”
“Huh? What?”
When he lifted his head, Mary had come close. She looked hesitant. After her comrades were wiped out, gloom would be added on top of her timidity.
She was an operative mocked in all sorts of ways by users.
“Y-you say something clearly when you think something is wrong. You’re confident, and capable too.”
“Really? Everyone else curses at me for shooting like an idiot.”
“S-shooting is... something you can improve with practice!”
So she was saying he did shoot like an idiot?
“I envy you, Mr. Hyeon. My Spell is really useless. It has been over ten years since it manifested, but it shows no sign of developing, so truly... I end up thinking it would be better if I didn’t have it at all.”
“You never know. If you think it through carefully, there might be some use for it somewhere.”
“Do you think so?”
Her voice had already given up.
She must have heard similar advice countless times. She herself had probably racked her brain and ended up judging it useless.
In the story, there was not a single scene where Mary played an active role.
Among side stories where each operative became the protagonist, it was difficult to find another operative treated this poorly.
The final stage was a forced-loss event like the previous 0-5. The only difference from Ghost was that she did miraculously survive.
But there was one ironic point.
Title: Mithril is a fucking pushover?
Got pissed after bashing my head against LW-6, so I looked up a guide;
It said to use Mary, so I brought her along and fuck lol
Mithril just gets stripped clean?
Why did White Fang get wiped?
This girl got her teammates killed on purpose lololol
└ (Mary Is Useless emote)
└ (Mary Is Elephant Poop emote)
Like this, if Mary was used, the strategy became quite easy. Even if she could not melt the enemy alone, she was a great help in breaking the gimmick.
The prevailing opinion was that if Mary had properly utilized her Spell, White Fang would not have been wiped out.
But in the story, a single forehead flick sent her flying. She was not called deadweight for nothing.
‘Though some of it is unfair dogpiling.’
According to the setting, Mary only realized how to use her Spell after joining Selvlogics Lab.
The line she spoke when an operation was completed, “Am I better than I was back then...?” was fairly heart-wrenching.
It was a line he would no longer hear.
“This time, you’re going to play a major role.”
“Pardon? M-me?”
With less than two months remaining until the invasion of Cilicia began in earnest. If they could deal with Mithril in advance, the development would be distorted.
‘I’m glad I got here this easily.’
They had already crossed the eighth ridge. The conditions were perfectly prepared. Kim Yi-hyeon sensed success.
......And the next day.
Six members died during the operation. Mary was among them.