*Sigh*
「 ...having a higher INT relative to one's level can really make one overthink stuffs. For now, let's think of a survival plan- 」
Yet, the peaceful moment he had with himself in the bask of the siren's monotonous alarm song was interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps, marching from the other end of the corridor towards where he was.
The occasional gunshots fired on auto followed by terse loud commands could also be heard.
「 They're here! I was afraid the mission timer was broken but hey, it works just fine! 」
Intermittent aggressive firings and shouts could be heard echoing off the walls of the room as the entire facility shook and shuddered due to ongoing explosions in an unknown distance.
The sounds of heavy footsteps could then be heard through the gaps of the slightly pried-opened entrance door of the room.
"Mermaid 1, Mermaid 3, over."
>"Go ahead Mermaid 3, over."<
"Mermaid 1, we got visual of a possible civilian survivor one-foer meters ahead. No, make it two. One appeared to be unarmed and disoriented, while the other was, unawake..."
"...will approach and make contact, over."
>"Roger that. Mermaid 3, secure location and charlie-mike. We'll reach at your two-zero in five mike, over."<
"I read back; secure location and charlie-mike. Mermaid 1 will reach at my two-zero in five mike, over."
>"Correct, over."<
"Willco, over."
>"Roger and out.<"
Five Thacon soldiers in their metal-black
The NPC squad leader, who was on radio earlier, was wearing the iconic faded safety-orange
"Can you hear me, sir?"
Nuel nodded listlessly.
「 Hey, where are the player squads? Why there's only the NPCs here...? 」
"Are you injured anywhere, sir?"
"Huh? Uhh...the monster's scream earlier..."
「 ...where's the f**king players? They're not here...??? 」
"I see, so no other injuries? Okay then, I'll administer a biosoma shot, it will help to relieve the pain and the headache temporarily. Would that be alright, sir?"
"Uhh...okay."
「 Oh, maybe they're with the other NPC's squads, I mean, this mission did deployed three NPC squads after all...but the mission will only trigger when there's at least one player squads per the NPCs... 」
The squad leader took out a yellow hexagonal stick and removed the cap at its end; three thin but short syringe-needles poked out of it.
"What's your name, sir?"
"Uhh, I-I think my name is _____!"
"...What? Can you say that again?"
"Uhh, _____?"
When the squad leader looked at him apprehensively for a moment, Nuel knew something was off.
But his unlubricated mind was still 'debuffed' with the Shadow's lingering abnormal status and it impeded any deeper reasoning he could structure.
"I see, so...this shot will sting a bit, sir."
"Wha-Owh!"
The biosoma shot was stabbed at his neck, and its content was immediately injected inside.
A gradual sense of clarity and alertness washed over his dizziness.
"Sorry about that, sir. Do you know where you are, sir?"
Nuel shook his head.
「 Something's wrong here, there's no f**king players around with this NPC squad but the mission still proceeds... 」
"Do you know how you got here?"
Nuel shook his head again.
「 Breath in, breath out. I must think more rationally. Like Newton once said, for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction...no, I don't think that helps... 」
"Well, you'll be leaving with us, alright? We'll bring you out of here soon. Corporal Dero, Private Valen, check for the 'objective' and scan its vitals. You have five minutes!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
Two soldiers about three meters away straightened up towards the squad leader before they proceeded to set up a machinery, no, a robot - a medical walker drone by the cryogenic pod.
They then connected wires and prods onto the comatose patient as the drone began its diagnosing.
"Private Fynnegun, take a defensive position at that corridor-bend over there and keep a lookout."
"Sir!"
"Private Aren, fit him with a pair of boots and a helmet."
"Right away, sir!"
_____
[ EQUIPMENTS ]
[ Weapon ]
- Offhand :
[ Armor ]
- Head :
- Body :
- Footwear :
_____
The soldier, Private Aren, had just taken out and handed him a 1×0.5m mechanised tactical shield, an army-grade headgear and a pair of worn-out safety boots from his
Then, he put a plastic-wrapped ration stick and a grey metal container, supposedly containing drinking water, on the concrete floor beside Nuel's feet.
With no words at all.
And since his face was behibd the exosuit's helmet, everything he did was screaming serious and detached.
"Thank you so much, uhm, mister soldier, I really appreciate it."
"..."
"Uhh, can I ask something?"
"..."
"Can I ask what's today's date...?"
"..."
"...I can only remember my name and nothing else..."
A deep, growling voice sounded from behind the visor.
"...it's...July 7, 2288. And...you can just call me Aren; we're about the same age after all."
「 Oh, a Therian NPC Soldier? That's rare. I like this guy. He's like the cold-outside-warm-inside-type. 」
"Sure, sure. And you can call me _____."
"..."
"It's _____."
Private Aren also showed the weird pause the squad leader had shown earlier. Nuel's eyes narrowed.
"You can't say my name?"
"...No, not that. You were saying it but..." The soldier's deep growling voice suspended in confusion.
「 -but you can't hear it, I see. So, what the f**k is happening here? First, there's no players and now my name is muted? Is there's a bug or something...? 」
Then it hit him; like a rock thrown into a still lake, a ripple was brought about spread all over.
It was his [ Name ]; it was still unassigned!
But it was still
「 Wait. I'm such an idiot. Hahaha! To hell with 4 INT if I couldn't remember even the mission I just completed a couple of minutes ago. 」
Nuel straightaway pulled up his [ Character Status ] screen and inspected the changes.
_____
[ CHARACTER PROFILE ]
Name : - unassigned - (function locked)
Class : [ Esper (Level 1 | 31.18 /10) ]
_____
Do you wish to level-up your [ Class : Esper (Level 1 ) ] to [ Class : Esper (Level 2 ) ] now?
<10 XP> will be consumed to level-up your [ Class Level ].
Do you wish to proceed?
-- YES / NO --
_____
Ding!
Your character's [ Class Level ] has reached Level 2.
You can now assign a name to your character.
You have obtained
_____
"It's Nuel Calibre. You can call me Nuel."
The young soldier appeared confused for a bit, and then nodded, seemingly treating it as if he had misheard him in the first place.
「 Although, I still can't figure out how the mission still runs without any players, hurmm... 」
A commotion broke as heavy footsteps could be heard marching towards their direction.
Two more squads full-suited in exosuits arrived.
This time a woman was taking point, or rather, a lady in shining armour.
She was donning the
「 It's her! 」
The squad leader came up to her and saluted.
"Third Squad, Sergeant Geral, reporting."
"Good to see you still kicking, Sergeant. Brief report."
"Ma'am, we've encountered twice the normal occurrence of Shadows on our way to this location. This is very unusual a phenomenon so I boldly propose that we should send a squad to the facility's lower levels-"
"I'll report it up to Mission Control as well as your proposal, sergeant, but for now, we stick to the mission. Anything else?"
"We managed to secure at least three 'objectives', which we had retrieved from Objective Point 1 and Objective Point 3, except for the one from Objective Point 2. He was discovered here in this room Objective Point 3, with the other surviving objective. He appeared to have experienced first-degree psionic corrosion. Preliminary observation suggests that there might be acute psycho-cerebral damage. He knows nothing else but his own name. All three are being and have been administered with first-aids."
"Well done, inform the boys they have three minutes to pack up before we proceed to the extraction point. And radio in our ride. Now, show me to the amnesiac survivor."
"Over here, ma'am."
Nuel, who had been stealing glances over, was at the moment chewing a protein bar that tasted like salted wood pulp while taking sips of glucose water from the grey cylindrical container.
The lieutenant lady, he knew her from six years ago, from when he started playing the game; she was one of the tutorial NPC for the
"I'm Second Lieutenant Layx Haellen, of the Thacon City Administration's 16th Battalion, 3rd Thacon Infantry Brigade as well as the leader of this operation. May I know what's your name?"
「 Oh, my God, it's really Lady Layx! In the flesh! F**K! I can't believe it's her! And she's talking to me! Hahaha, oh my God, I can't stop myself from smiling? Hold it in, I got to f**king hold it in... 」
"Nuel. It's Nuel."
「 I told her my name!" 」
"Please to make your acquaintance...Nuel?"
「 Nuel deez nu- No. No, I won't. 」
"...Calibre. Nuel Calibre. Nice to meet you too, Lady Layx."
"..."
"..."
「 F**K! The hell is wrong with me?!! Oh, I'm such a creep. Oh, she's going to think I'm such a creep. Oh, f**k- 」
She giggled, rather cutely.
And Nuel could feel the heat of embarrassment rose to his cheeks.
"I mean, Lieutenant, I mean miss, I mean ma'am!"
"You can just call me Layx, I don't mind. Or would you rather call me 'Lady'? Heeheehee~"
「 I'm already f**king thirty, and I act like some eighteen years old virgin boy. Okay, I might still be a v.i.r.g.i.n. but that's beside the point. 」
"Ma'am, the boys are up and good to go. The unconscious survivors are all hooked with biosoma IVs and now hoisted inside the walkers. The Bastion is already at the extraction point."
Nuel's face almost scrunched in annoyance as the orange exosuit sergeant rudely barged into his private conversation with the lady.
「 Yep, his name is officially 'Orange' from now on. 」
Lieutenant Layx acknowledged tersely and called-
"Third Squad, enter formation and follow Sergeant Geral's lead. Sergeant, you bring them to scout ahead to the extraction point. Second Squad, guard the rear and escort the civilian! First Squad, with me!
"YES, MA'AM, YES!"
"Let's move out!"
Ding!
_____
[ Act 0 - Main Story Mission : Reach the Extraction Point ] : The platoon led by Second Lieutenant Layx Haellen is retreating to the extraction point. Stay within formation until you reach there.
Rewards :
• [ Affiliation : Thacon City Administration ] unlocked.
•
_____
The platoon of soldiers donned in heavy assault exosuits power-walked all the way to the extraction point, despite the labyrinth-like corridors and staircases.
On the other hand, the passage was more or less smooth, with the occasional low-level Shadows turning up, only to end up being shredded by gunfire and their crystalline dust remains scooped up and stored by the soldiers.
The corridor ceiling lights were only functioning at the level he was from, so the rest of the journey was lit up with the tactical LED lamps mounted to the soldiers' exosuits and the walker drones hauling the two unconscious survivors.