Ch.153153. Order 777

Thus, after Order 777’s 777-1 accepted the mission, all the agents of Order 777 who likewise decided to participate gathered in the conference room before the mission.

Twenty agents assembled at one of the Order branch offices located in the asteroid belt. They were such unique individuals that one might wonder how espionage was even possible with such characters. As they sat around the conference table,

777-1, the leader of these field agents, began speaking with a disinterested expression while manipulating his device.

“Mission details have been sent to your interfaces. Check them yourselves. That’s all.”

It might seem incredibly perfunctory, but 777-1 had no desire to get entangled with these individuals who were, charitably speaking, bundles of personality, or less charitably, walking variables. Understanding his psychology well, the other agents responded in various ways, some snickering as they began reading through the materials.

“Boss! This is basically telling us to die, right?”

When agent 777-18 said this with a giggle, the other agents, apparently finding it humorous, burst into laughter almost collectively, with only a few exceptions.

Of course, 777-1 knew better than anyone that this wasn’t disrespect but rather a side effect of the brain procedures they’d undergone to enhance psychic abilities and overcome the fear of death. He simply affirmed it with silence and moved on.

In truth, 777-18 had a point. This mission would clearly be on a different level of difficulty from previous ones, as it involved deploying all but one (111) of the triple single-number departments, which had only existed five times before.

Infiltrating among those monsters to secure samples, with a high probability of engagement if necessary, and extremely low survival chances.

Originally, these agents—numbering fewer than 500 in total among all Order personnel—were treated with great value, given their skills equivalent to high-ranking mercenaries or generals.

But for this mission, there was no such preferential treatment. Bluntly put, it was essentially a suicide mission where even one person returning alive would be considered acceptable.

‘…Sigh, my life.’

Well, despite that, having received so much from the organization until now, he couldn’t back out at this point just because he feared death.

For better or worse, 777-1 resolved to actively participate in the mission.

※ ※ ※

After the mission was confirmed, the agents of Order 777 devoted all their efforts to preparation.

They analyzed combat footage that had been captured at the cost of 100,000 planetary defense troops used as bait before the mission. Based on the analyzed data, they developed countermeasures one by one with the full cooperation of the support team.

A shield generator that deployed multiple hexagonal semi-transparent reactive armor shields to counter the enemies’ shooting-focused tactics; masks to defend against the nano-machine viruses those monsters typically spread; adamantium fiber bodysuits maximizing mobility rather than heavy armor that would be penetrated by a single shot anyway; and short-range teleporters for emergency situations.

After thoroughly preparing equipment and countermeasures against various enemy tactics, time flew by—

Before they knew it, it was time for the mission, and the agents were preparing to descend to a planet currently being invaded by the new species of monsters sending troops directly in real-time.

Normally, all monster planets establish fields blocking teleportation except through certain predetermined methods once they stabilize, but planets in chaos like this one were different.

Not only were there no fields, but all anti-air defense facilities had been neutralized, and combat was ongoing between both sides’ forces. It was the most suitable situation for carrying out the mission with support team cooperation.

As they were moving toward the core of the Enterprise-class battleship they had boarded to reach the dedicated teleport shuttle for direct planetary surface entry—

“…Ah, senior.”

“777-3, is it?”

He encountered 777-3, a female agent specializing in high-speed close combat in 777-1’s team and also his junior, who was likewise heading to the teleport shuttle.

Wearing a yellow belt and weapons secured to her thigh with garters, she had cut her golden hair short to prevent it from interfering in combat.

“Are you heading there too, senior?”

“Yes. …I hope you survive.”

Seeing her attempt to hide her anxiety, 777-1 spoke directly without adding any flowery words.

Then silence.

As they walked quickly amid a silence that no one dared to break, they eventually arrived at the teleportation facility located in the core of the Enterprise-class battleship.

“…Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

After what might be their final exchange, they entered the teleport shuttle, which was about the size of a city bus.

After briefly observing the roller coaster-like seats arranged facing each other along both walls, he sat in the seat marked “1” and began taking deep breaths.

As time passed, agents with various expressions arrived one by one and boarded the shuttle. Then, as previously instructed, without any special signal, the shuttle’s interior lights began to change.

From red to yellow, from yellow to green, and the moment it turned green—

—Woooooooong!!

With a strange humming sound and a momentary feeling of muffled hearing, they suddenly found themselves having arrived on the planet.

As the safety belts securing their bodies lifted, they activated transparent force fields completely covering their bodies and prepared their weapons and other equipment before getting ready to exit.

And then…

[Opening the entrance. Everyone stand back.]

After 777-1, holding a special weapon resembling a double-bladed halberd, sent that communication through their specialized system, the shuttle entrance folded open, revealing the outside scenery.

Corpses, corpses, nothing but corpses.

Thousands of completely destroyed monsters piled up like mountains, hive rats half-melted into masses.

A horrific landscape reminiscent of the apocalypse from ancient religious texts spread across the entire terraformed plain, flat to the horizon.

Beyond, a crashed monster ship was visible, and the corpses of giant monster-type creatures, half-melted or decomposed, could be seen scattered about.

It was starkly evident that beings that had repeatedly driven humanity to the brink had been one-sidedly slaughtered, naturally giving the agents an odd feeling, but…

[Let’s move. Follow me.]

Such personal opinions had no place in their current mission.

Starting with 777-1 at the front, agents with close-combat weapons formed the outer perimeter, while those with psychic amplification staves or custom firearms took positions inside for ranged support.

Naturally maintaining their mission formation as trained, they traversed the operation zone for an hour.

By then, they encountered monsters for the first time since arriving on the planet.

[777-16?]

[Yes, Captain. It’s a heavily armored rough terrain type from the monster category. Grade 4, armed with a siege plasma main cannon. Secondary armaments are three bio-energy machine guns. Our forces can subdue it sufficiently.]

No sooner had 777-16, the team’s analyst and auxiliary specialized psychic user, finished his analysis than 777-1, having made his judgment in accelerated thought, immediately issued orders.

[We’ll subdue it here. 777-4. Handle it.]

[Yes, Captain.]

777-4, an agent specialized in single-target sniping and psychic abilities, raised the end of his staff connected to his body by wires above his head without a moment’s hesitation, concentrating psychic energy.

As psychic energy gathered around him like a storm, converging at the end of his staff to form a translucent sphere of psychic energy, 777-4 processed it into a missile-like shape with a pointed tip—

KWAAAAAAANG—!!!!

The psychic energy missile, flying without making any sound, penetrated the monster’s head and then, under 777-4’s control, exploded, blowing away the upper body of the monster.

It was a definitive confirmation kill to prevent counterattacks from the monsters’ characteristic tenacity.

After approaching and briefly observing the dispatched monster, the agents realized it was merely a monster abandoned due to the death of its commander, and resumed their journey.

They still had much to do.