Ch.246″Now that I think about it… maybe terrorism’s a bit much;;” (1)

The next day, as Icarus was about to fully immerse himself in leveling up Tiamat…

…and then the day after that.

Humanity’s special operations team… no, infiltration unit… no, black ops…

“Why does our designation keep changing?”

“Don’t know. I heard the Commanders are fighting over which name they like best.”

“I don’t care what we’re called as long as it’s not ‘Bunch of Pupae’ like before.”

“You bastard, are you insulting the name our Commander chose?”

“Come on, ‘Bunch of Pupae’ is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“…”

Near the border between the Earth Federation and the Central Zone, the “Icarus Base Infiltration Unit” (soon to be renamed the Assault Team) was busy with preparations—a group whose original name was impossible to determine because it had changed so many times.

However, according to the original plan, they should have been infiltrating Icarus’s base territory by now. Why were they still lingering near the border region?

To explain this in detail would clearly require writing an essay of about 5,700,000 characters.

To spare the poor officers’ wrists, here’s a brief summary:

“So why exactly are we still here?”

“Regardless of the name issue, our Commanders have extremely divided opinions about this mission.”

“Ah, I see.”

Unlike the superhumans who had been dispatched from at least 20 different bases and were now enjoying a peaceful, leisurely life with nothing to do…

—————————————-

-[Why are we even doing this?]

-[I didn’t think it would turn out like this]

-[Is there really any need to mess with this?]

-[The story’s already over, just do it]

-[What the hell are we supposed to do?]

-[What the hell?]

-[So they make backroom political deals among themselves and expect us to just follow orders?]

-[Damn, we’re screwed]

—————————————-

The situation among their Commanders—that is, the players—was dire.

Beyond the discussions among Antares’ executives, there was opposition within the Humanity clan.

They were suffering from all the discord that inevitably arises when people gather—political friction between external personnel and clans.

Naturally, the one suffering the most was Antares, the top administrator, clan leader, and babysitter of these precious troublemakers.

“I thought everything was settled, so why do people keep bringing it up?”

“Hmm… dunno?”

Not only were the participating players constantly grumbling, but even some of his closest allies were challenging decisions that had already been made with comments like “This doesn’t seem right.”

Antares, a typical handsome blonde, shook his head, feeling like he might turn into a white-haired old man at any moment.

But that didn’t last long.

When Antares’ closest allies—the founding members of Humanity—returned from completing the southern region and assessed the situation, they began offering their “sage advice” to Antares.

Even though he had already made his decision, Antares felt his resolve wavering.

“Antares, is there really any need to attack Icarus?”

“Huh?”

“Think about it. What was the original cause of this whole situation?”

“Right, wasn’t it that you became convinced after cross-checking what Arcadia said with Koenig and Betelgeuse?”

“Well, yes…”

“Arcadia is known for being rigid, but Betelgeuse might have deliberately tried to confuse you.”

“…!”

Beyond mere wavering, while his closest allies were away managing the clan, Antares had little mental bandwidth left. Now that they had returned to lighten his burden and function as a sort of “auxiliary brain”…

His foggy vision cleared, and his intelligence gradually returned to normal.

“…Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

“See?”

He could now properly assess that this situation didn’t warrant going after Icarus.

“I can understand Arcadia, but Betelgeuse—that woman whose baseline is mischief—could definitely pull something like this.”

“Exactly. She would have noticed your attempt at cross-verification.”

“Betelgeuse might have subtly influenced the clueless Koenig to create errors in your cross-verification.”

“Hmmmm.”

Having realized that his decision made no practical sense, despite having already made it, the leadership of the Humanity clan changed their plans since the operation hadn’t officially begun yet.

—————————————-

-[Everyone, listen up] (Clan Administrator)

-[What is it?]

-[Make up your minds already—go or don’t go. I need my superhumans back for daily quests]

-[Come on, we’re discussing it, just listen]

-[Our plans have changed. We no longer need to send superhuman assassins to Icarus’s base.] (Clan Administrator)

-[Oh]

-[You mean the superhuman infiltration unit?]

-[No, weren’t we called Terrorists?]

-[Stop being ridiculous]

-[So what do we do now?]

—————————————-

In response to the deployed personnel asking “So what are we doing now?”, they presented a bizarrely altered plan.

—————————————-

-[You’re now a peace delegation] (Clan Administrator)

-[???]

-[???]

-[So we’ve gone from assassins/terrorists/infiltration unit to peace delegation?]

-[Mind blown]

—————————————-

Naturally, this sudden change of plans caused some of the original plan’s supporters to rebel. However…

Unlike before, when Antares had to handle everything alone with gritted teeth and his IQ functioning at about one-third of its normal capacity due to the mental burden, now with his closest allies’ return significantly reducing his intellectual strain, Antares himself was actively taking command and handling the situation.

“If we approach them amicably first, wouldn’t Icarus’s side at least refrain from being hostile toward us?”

“But we caused trouble last time…”

“They don’t know it was us.”

“Oh, right.”

“From Icarus’s perspective, it will seem like we’ve been friendly from the beginning.”

“That’s true. Besides, apart from what Arcadia pointed out, we didn’t have much contact with them until the event, right?”

“If we proactively offer resources and various incentives to draw them in…”

“At worst, we get friendly neutrality; at best, we gain an external mercenary force stronger than the Indefatigable.”

“Kyaaaa, boss!”

After logically crushing the opinions of the former supporters who now opposed the plan, the infiltration unit whatever-it-was-called finally became a “friendly diplomatic delegation”…

No, amid all the political maneuvering that kept shifting opinions back and forth, they ultimately sent a delegation named “Communication Envoys.”

Of course, some of the Commanders who sent their superhumans to this “Communication Envoy” (?) found this approach absurd.

—————————————-

-[Is this right?]

-[The combination of superhumans gathered here is perfect for a raid, anyone can see that]

-[If I saw this superhuman roster, I’d freak out lololol]

-[Oh] (Clan Administrator)

—————————————-

Since these veteran players who had trained their superhumans well enough to survive what was essentially a suicide mission reacted this way…

After replacing some of the combined superhumans and letting those who didn’t want to go drop out, another day passed.

Finally, on the second day after Icarus began leveling Tiamat, their “delegation” overcame all the political discord within the clan and at last raised the flag of departure toward Icarus’s base.

The problem was that they forgot they were riding a high-performance stealth destroyer of the “Chiral” class.

Since they weren’t detected on radar even after entering the zone, no fleet came out to greet them, so they just kept going in blindly…

And during Tiamat’s carrier aircraft mobility training, there was a minor incident where one of the aircraft accidentally performed a kamikaze attack on them.