In the meantime, Metrocity Station had undergone great changes. Not only had civilians been forbidden from entering, but the inside of the station had changed beyond recognition.
Cover installed on every floor. Storage rooms piled with ammunition. Sniper firing points. With the escalators and elevators, supplying materials was simple too.
‘......This is more than I expected.’
It was practically a fortress. The nine sturdy yet perfectly separated levels were suitable for strategic use.
“The Council’s active cooperation saved us.”
“You can say that again. Wasn’t their basic stance that ‘underground matters stay underground’?”
“They probably decided it was about time to clean house. It seems their focus is more on the outlaws than Legion.”
It was a conversation between Bryce and Pep.
Including Kim Yi-hyeon and the three who had been left out of the previous operation, there were ten people in total. Every remaining White Fang member had gathered on B7.
“Whatever the reason is, seeing things get prepared this smoothly makes me feel relieved... and I can’t say I don’t feel proud too.”
“Why are you proud?”
“Come on. I contributed too, didn’t I?”
Pep and Jenna chatted while looking down over the railing toward the lowest floor. As it happened, crab-like unmanned reconnaissance vehicles were passing along the tracks.
“How much do you think one of those costs?”
“Why? Are you going to buy one?”
“They’re cute. I want to put one at home.”
“I’ll crawl around like that, so give me the money.”
“Bullshit. That’s disgusting.”
Dozens had already been deployed over the past few days. Based on whether the reconnaissance vehicles were destroyed or the footage they recorded, Metrocity Station would enter combat readiness.
They were, in other words, messengers announcing the beginning of battle.
Before long, Bryce spoke.
“This will be White Fang’s final job.”
“Is that so?”
“We have only dealt with outlaws underground all this time. If the underground business shrinks, we’re just expensive freeloaders.”
Strictly speaking, it was not shrinkage. If the number of outlaws decreased, so would the danger. At that point, they could find other ways to make money.
There were endless uses for the underground. It was simply that mercenaries carrying guns would become useless.
“The higher-ups’ opinion is that instead of replenishing our numbers and using us again, they will disband us and send us to other platoons. There will be jobs, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“What kind of work do other platoons do?”
Bryce answered Kim Yi-hyeon’s question.
“Various things. Protecting VIPs, escorting freight trucks going overseas, things like that.”
“Sounds boring. I don’t know how I put up with that before being assigned to White Fang.”
The bald Roben complained while chewing gum.
“Was underground work fun?”
“No, it was shit. Monsters popped out whenever they felt like it, and outlaws pretended to be bounty hunters before stabbing us in the back... It was nothing but sons of bitches.”
“Haha. Then isn’t this actually the right time? We’ve been rotting underground for too long. Now we should see some light and meet normal people.”
A sentimental atmosphere naturally formed. This was the first time the talk of disbandment had come out, but everyone had vaguely guessed it.
“I’m going to get married.”
“Do you have someone to marry?”
“No? But with my face, I’ll find someone quickly.”
“Fuck off.”
Kim Yi-hyeon grimaced at the exchange. Perhaps his reaction was funny, because Jenna giggled.
“What’s wrong?”
“......Keep a close eye on that Pep bastard. I feel like he’ll get shot in the head while doing something stupid.”
“What kind of curse is that?”
Kim Yi-hyeon shook his head. He did not understand why people who were about to die all brought up the future.
To be honest, he was not certain every member of White Fang would survive. In the end, battle would break out, and many people would die.
Among them, there would be allies too. Pep or Bryce might be among them. This was not something Kim Yi-hyeon could do anything about.
‘I won’t have the time to worry about each of them.’
To borrow Snowfield’s expression, Kim Yi-hyeon had a role too. He did not need some great achievement. He only had to make a single move accurately.
All preparations were complete.
Kim Yi-hyeon had staked his life on this matter. He decided to use every card he had, few as they were. If he failed even here, the path ahead would become bleak.
‘I have to stay cold.’
Absurd mistakes would not be allowed.
Kim Yi-hyeon chewed over his tension, then let it out with his breath. There was still some leisure for now. There was no need to ruin the mood.
“Anyone with nowhere to go later, tell me.”
“Are you going to introduce us somewhere?”
“Who knows. I might hire you myself.”
“Oh. Our price isn’t just a coin or two.”
“When did you save up that much money?”
At Pep’s words, Kim Yi-hyeon thought about his account balance.
“I haven’t saved much. I’ve had a lot of expenses here and there. Still, well, money is something you have and then don’t, and don’t have and then get, isn’t it?”
“Haha. An employer who says that doesn’t sound great.”
That was true.
“But Hyeon.”
“Yeah?”
“Was it really all right to bring that lady here?”
Kim Yi-hyeon followed Bryce’s gaze and looked back. There was a cargo warehouse owned by Lotus Company. And the shadow of a person was uneasily wandering around inside the warehouse.
“......Good question.”
It was not what Kim Yi-hyeon had wanted either. Not yet, at least not from this point onward, had he wanted to make her do something blood-soaked.
‘Was thinking that itself overconfidence?’
In the end, putting aside his own humanity was not enough. To survive in Polaris, there were far too many things he had to sacrifice.
***
People grew used to anything quickly.
Snowfield suddenly had that thought. The underground, damp and dark, where even footsteps echoed back, no longer felt unfamiliar.
It was not that her heart felt at ease. It had been a long time since she had felt comfort. She had wandered all across the continent, but wherever she went, she was an outsider.
Snowfield closed her eyes. Behind her eyelids, old memories came back to life.
A clock tower visible over a hill. A church covered in thick snow. Children running across a snowy field, breathing white mist through dirt-smeared faces.
That place had been the only land where she could take off her armor. A place where she could freely feel the wind and leave footprints with her bare feet.
The day her homeland burned.
That day, Snowfield thought poison had been placed inside her body. The lid never opened. It was poison with nowhere to be used.
The cause of the calamity was unknown. Perhaps there was no cause. Perhaps it was no one’s fault, and she simply had to accept it.
‘......The flow.’
The calamities that had begun in earnest around 40 years ago were certainly a great flow of the era. A towering wave that swept up every living thing on the continent.
What kind of flow could Legion become?
— ......bastards. I’ll kill them all......
— When we go up, should we start with...?
— Let’s... Anyway, we need...
— Haha! You understand a thing or two. The outlaw bastards were all so damn... with their eyes...
— How long are we supposed to... fuck!
Chaotic voices circled her ears. Vulgar words. The outlaws were utterly excited at the thought of returning beneath the sun.
They were fertilizer. Firewood to light a beacon across the continent. Even if they were ugly, filthy pieces of wood, they were an indispensable resource.
Snowfield herself was no different. At some point, the lid sealing her poison had gone crooked. The poison leaking out made her throw herself into a new torrent.
There were footsteps drawing closer.
“Snowfield. It should be time to move soon.”
“Are your preparations complete?”
“Yes. We are only waiting for the order.”
The man standing with his weight on one leg spoke in a disgruntled voice. He wore a poncho that reached down to his ankles. Behind him stood a dozen or so people.
All of them looked similar. Aside from the man, their faces could not be seen. They wore gas masks with only the eye areas open.
Snowfield silently looked them over. A moment later, the man at the front snorted.
“Still, maybe it’s because I’ve been watching you for a while? Even with your helmet on, I can roughly tell what you’re thinking. ‘Creepy bastards.’ Am I wrong?”
“......”
“How well we understand each other. We don’t particularly like you either. Shadower would have been better. He was gloomy, but he had spirit.”
The man’s face grew more and more indifferent. Even after he said that much, there was no reaction. Perhaps she was frowning inside the helmet.
‘Actually, I’d prefer that.’
Sometimes there were people who felt attracted to Snowfield’s detached, fleeting atmosphere, but to him, that was difficult to understand.
“Snowfield, you personally requested to participate in this matter, did you not? In place of Mithril, who was so motivated. Fulfill your responsibility.”
“Do I seem unreliable to you?”
The man lowered his gaze. He looked at the longsword hanging down and gulped. Even in the dim underground, the blade’s cold edge remained sharp.
“I do not doubt your skill. It is simply that we are staking our lives on you. Even if the plan fails, please make sure we do not end up thinking, ‘Why did Mithril not come?’”
“Unfortunately, I have never compared myself to that person. But, I see.”
With the sound of metal clashing, Snowfield began walking. When she passed by him, the man felt a cold wind.
“I do not think I will fall behind.”
“......Of course.”
The man covered his face with a gas mask, just like his subordinates. As he followed Snowfield, a vast underground passage appeared.
Countless outlaws were there.
Their formation was a mess. Some had apparently punched each other, because there were people lying collapsed after being beaten. There were even those foaming at the mouth and convulsing.
Those people, no different from wild beasts, lowered their voices on their own when Snowfield appeared. There were ways to tame even beasts.
There was no one here who did not fear Snowfield.
There was no need to explain how much blood had flowed to make that happen. To the man, today was a blessed day in many ways. He could finally part ways with them.
There was no long-winded speech before departure.
“Let us depart.”
After saying a single sentence, Snowfield began walking at the front. The outlaws murmured, then someone shouted a battle cry.
One step after another fell. It was an unsightly and ugly march, with them shoving one another.
***
Crunch!
A blade protruded through the shutter reinforced with iron plates. Frost had settled on the sword. In an instant, cold spread across the entire barrier.
Screeeech.
With an unpleasant metallic scraping sound, the sword pulled back inside. Behind cover, the bounty hunter aiming his gun swallowed dryly.
Silence flowed for an instant.
—CLAAANG!
The barrier dividing the tracks was cut apart. By a single sword. In the passage that had opened so emptily, they appeared.
Legion and outlaws.
Those the Council had called ‘rioters’.
At the head of the rioters wielding firearms stood a Knight gripping a melee weapon and clad in snow-white armor.
“Kill them without leaving a single one.”
It was the beginning of LW-6 Stage.