"What are we doing today?"
"We don't have any requests lined up, so let's just make a round and head back."
Morning again.
The short one-day weekend was over, and now it was time to work.
The old man, Berry, and I finished getting ready and walked down the corridor leading to the surface.
"Can I touch the sheath?"
"No. You'll get hurt."
"Tch."
Berry lowered the hand she'd been sneaking toward the sheath.
"Then I will guide us around somewhere suitable."
"Please do."
We decided to spend a perfectly ordinary day like ordinary Miners.
GLARE—.
While we were digging through the ground beneath the dazzling sunlight, searching for anything useful.
"Sir, do you happen to know about the Surface Liberator too?"
I tossed out the question lightly.
"You mean P?"
"You know him?"
"Of course. In my generation, he was the greatest active Legend."
Hearing that kind of praise in person when I was the legend in question was embarrassing.
"Did you ever hear anything about him at Pentatech?"
I carefully asked because I knew the old man had belonged to Pentatech.
He fell silent for a moment, then spoke briefly.
"I heard nothing about him there."
"Oh, really?"
The old man stepped closer to me.
"But I saw him."
"......?"
Me?
You saw me twenty years ago?
***
During a short break.
We entered an abandoned building in a nearby city and stopped for a brief meal.
Though calling it a meal was generous.
All we did was chew on Protein Blocks.
"I suppose I cannot avoid telling you about myself."
So I was finally getting the old man's backstory.
Might as well listen without skipping it.
"Do you know what happens when a human gives birth to a child?"
What kind of random question is that?
I answered without much thought.
"They give birth to a human, obviously."
"Then what about a human who has undergone Compression or modification?"
"Hm...... they'd still be human."
The old man lowered his voice so Berry could not hear and continued.
"Then what about a human who has become a monster?"
"......At the very least, I don't think they'd still be human."
"A Pentatech subsidiary researched that."
A Pentatech subsidiary?
That sounded familiar.
"On the surface, I belonged to Pentatech's special forces, but in truth, I was the captain of a unit responsible for managing one of the subsidiary's facilities."
"And?"
"There were many biological experiments there."
The old man's expression darkened.
Only then did I begin to understand.
Why he'd always reacted so sensitively to Compression.
Compression itself was a product obtained through extreme human experimentation.
"It was...... something that can only be called horrific."
"......."
"If there is one thing I must regret and atone for for the rest of my life, it is what I did there."
One megacorporation came to mind.
A corporation I had personally destroyed.
"That company was Uni-Bio Tech, wasn't it?"
"It has been a long time since I heard that name. Yes."
Uni-Bio Tech.
One of the Seven Major Corporations I had frequently encountered in the game.
While corporations like Pentatech and Unreal-Tech among the Seven Major Corporations mainly dealt with Androids.
This company strengthened human bodies through genetic manipulation.
It offered generous rewards for easy quests.
Thanks to that, it was easy to get stronger quickly for good value.
And because it did not consume much of the special stat Humanity, I visited it fairly often.
But with my final character, P, I destroyed the company outright.
"The reason that company managed to become one of the Seven Major Corporations was not solely because of Pentatech's support."
"Human experimentation."
"Indeed."
The old man let out a long sigh and continued.
"The biological experiments they conducted while avoiding the eyes of Paradise's Central Government made them wealthy."
"Pentatech benefited too."
"Correct. Pentatech grew noticeably stronger in a very short time."
I hadn't realized Pentatech had been involved this deeply.
I quietly ground my teeth.
"Returning to the point, the Surface Liberator P appeared at Uni-Bio Tech."
Now I remembered everything.
What I and my character had done.
To avenge a companion of mine who had been kidnapped and subjected to brutal experiments.
I had utterly destroyed an entire corporation.
"He destroyed the company single-handedly, from the first floor all the way to the top."
CLENCH—.
The old man tightly clenched his fist.
"And he killed every corporate dog involved in the biological experiments."
"What about you?"
"I used the chaos to rescue the people being used as test subjects."
"So that's why you were called a traitor to Pentatech......."
"Of course, Pentatech never came after me. I imagine they meant for me to live as quietly as a dead mouse."
The old man loosened his clenched fist.
"After that......."
"He enlisted under the government and created the special unit ARK."
I cut him off.
"I am sorry I was wary of you when you mentioned ARK back then."
"No, that's understandable."
"The events from that time came back to me, so I was sensitive about it."
CRUNCH—.
The old man fell silent for a moment, then bit into his Protein Block.
"He truly was a legend. No, even the title of legend falls short."
"......."
A brief silence followed.
After finishing his recollection, the old man spoke again.
"That is the end of my story. Is there anything else you are curious about?"
"No. Sorry for making you remember the past for no reason."
"Not at all. I feel relieved after finally speaking about it."
The old man leaned against the wall with a relieved expression.
'Feels like there's more to the story.'
What about the Suppressant he had injected himself with in the alley?
And why was he still trying to take revenge on Pentatech?
It felt like he was hiding more.
There were still plenty of things I couldn't know unless the old man opened his mouth himself.
'More importantly, this game is completely insane.'
More than ninety-nine percent of the monsters on the surface.
The schemes of Paradise's government and megacorporations.
Even the hidden backstories.
I'd thought I knew everything.
'I'm still lacking.'
For someone calling himself a veteran, I was too naive and simple.
How many times had I already come close to dying?
'I need to move more wisely.'
This time, I would uproot Pentatech and all the other pieces of trash in one go.
I had to clean out rotten Paradise.
Only then could I avoid the bad ending where Paradise was destroyed.
"Time has already passed this much."
"We should start heading back."
"We're going home! Yay!"
The real sun hanging in the real sky had already tilted far toward the horizon.
"What are we eating for dinner?"
"Is there anything you want?"
"I like anything Grandpa buys me!"
I quietly smiled as I watched the two of them laugh and chatter together.
Then I spotted people in the distance.
'Miners?'
Judging by the sacks slung over their shoulders, they did look like Miners.
But something about them felt wrong.
"Hold on, everyone."
I raised a hand and quieted the other two.
'Nanomachine.'
[Please issue a command.]
'Scan the five people ahead.'
[Scan complete.]
[Mili Defense Bulletproof Vest - 5 units]
[Mili Defense Handgun - 4 units]
Expensive equipment for Miners.
And it was far removed from gear meant for fighting monsters.
A bulletproof vest wasn't protective gear designed for fighting monsters.
Expedition Members normally wore enhanced exoskeletons or kept themselves lightly equipped.
Even their clothing gave off an ominous air.
"Let's take a detour around them."
"......Understood."
The old man immediately nodded and hoisted Berry onto his back.
In terms of speed and stamina, the old man was better than me.
It was a good call.
But the timing was bad.
"......!"
They looked toward our suddenly restless group.
'They spotted us.......'
They walked toward us with smiles on their faces.
Not friendly smiles.
Smiles overflowing with greed.
"Run!"
The old man immediately ran with Berry on his back.
I quickly followed behind him.
'Fuck! Raiders out of nowhere?'
When I glanced back, they were chasing us like mad too.
'This is bad.'
People like that weren't the only thing you had to watch out for on the surface.
There were monsters too.
If we ran into a monster while fleeing like this.
Stop—.
I stopped running and stood in place.
"Huff...... huff......."
The old man, who'd been running ahead, looked back at me while breathing heavily.
"Phew...... let's stop."
"......?"
"Running isn't going to work."
Rumble......
It was hard to hear beneath the sound of the raiders, but I heard it clearly.
Footsteps from something moving all around us.
'Doesn't sound...... human. Monsters?'
I still couldn't be certain whether the owners of those footsteps were monsters or people.
But if they were monsters.
I could use this situation to break through.
Even if the result wouldn't be easy.
A veteran found a way somehow.
"Ah, damn, you're fast."
The five raiders quickly caught up with us.
"Where are you rushing off to with a kid?"
"Maybe he really needs the bathroom?"
"Puhaha! He can just piss himself!"
They shouted loudly without the slightest awareness of their surroundings.
'These idiots.'
[8 unidentified entities approaching at 38 km/h.]
If the Nanomachine was reporting that.
Then monsters were definitely on the way.
Eight of them.
A fairly large pack moving at high speed.
'Must be those things.'
There was only one monster species around Paradise with those traits.
I formed a plan around that assumption and stared straight ahead.
"What are you glaring at? Never seen raiders before?"
The five raiders kept snickering and talking loudly.
They seemed completely unaware that monsters were approaching.
"Hey, you deaf?"
The one with a mechanical left arm flicked his handgun as he spoke.
"Boss, should we stab him?"
Since another one called him Boss, he was probably their leader.
'What a situation.......'
Monsters approaching from every direction.
A group of oblivious raiders.
One irritating situation after another.
But what choice did I have?
"We'll give you everything! Just spare us!"
What?
I wanted to live too.
"Looks like that rock in your head finally started turning."
Listening to the mechanical-armed leader mock me, I spoke in an ingratiating tone.
"Would you like me to take my clothes off too?"
"Pfft. Trying to act cute now?"
The leader rolled his shoulders and slowly approached me.
[Unidentified entities within 30M.]
"Hey, boys. He says he's taking his clothes off. Go help him."
"Yeeep!"
The other four, excluding the leader, slowly approached me.
SWISH—.
I carefully turned my head toward the old man.
'Monsters are coming.'
'Leave it to me.'
We exchanged a short conversation with our lips.
"Kikikik— You think you can survive no matter how much you rack that brain of yours?"
One of them approached with a metal club, making a strange laugh.
I wasn't sure why he was walking up with the club instead of drawing the handgun at his waist.
Gulp—.
But with nails hammered all over the club, dried red blood, and unidentified bits of flesh stuck to it.
It was a far better weapon than a handgun for creating a threatening atmosphere.
SWISH—.
Without taking my eyes off him, I quickly finished forming the plan.
Use the monster I suspected was approaching.
Lure it toward them.
Then wipe them all out at once.
To do that, I had to allow them to get reasonably close.
Flinch—.
I started acting scared.
"Heh— scared, huh?"
The man came close, raised the club, and poked me repeatedly in the chest.
'Endure it.......'
I clenched my teeth and endured it as much as possible.
[10M until arrival.]
The monsters were already extremely close.
But the raiders still hadn't noticed.
That was the defining trait of this monster.
No. 3, Starving Wild Dog.
Predators that lived in packs, approached without sound, and viciously tore out their prey's throats.
I'd encountered them countless times in the game, so I could play by sound alone.
But that was only possible because of the knowledge I'd accumulated as a veteran.
In other words, raiders who specialized in attacking Miners were so focused on us that.
"Huh?"
They wouldn't notice the monsters.
"What's that......."
The thug standing in front of me barely noticed the Wild Dog creeping in close to the ground.
CLICK—.
With Black Lotus in my hand, I cut his throat without hesitation.
SPLURT—!
His severed head rolled across the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
I lightly dodged the splattering blood and immediately raised the sword, now drenched in it.
SWISH—.
Then I swung it sideways, flinging blood across the surviving raiders.
"Ugh! Fuck! What the hell?!"
The raiders, now splattered with blood, stumbled around in confusion.
If they had known that Starving Wild Dogs became excited by the smell of blood, they wouldn't have reacted like that.
'The stage is set.'
The monsters would prioritize killing the raiders.
The three of us would only have to deal with a comparatively smaller number of Wild Dogs.
"Crazy bastard! Kill that fucker!"
The leader drew his gun and immediately gave the attack order.
But they never got the chance to shoot me.
BARK! BARK—!
The Wild Dogs, driven into a frenzy by the scent of blood, leaped in from every direction at once.
"D-Damn it! Wild Dogs!"
A single Starving Wild Dog was weaker than an adult man.
But that was only in a one-on-one fight.
The larger their pack, the stronger they became.
Especially when they were starving and smelled human blood.
Awooooo—!
Then they became true beasts.
Monsters that tore humans apart and killed them.