episode_0050

Fifty Star. They were a criminal organization made up of dishonorably discharged or retired soldiers, but they seemed to retain their characteristic, insane patriotism, appearing as monstrosities draped in the Stars and Stripes. Despite that, each one was adorned with expensive, high-tech custom cyberware, making them appear on par with corporate soldiers.

“One, two, ten… There are so many.”

“Where did three through nine go? And it’s not even ten.”

“Shut up.”

True to Wade’s words, as he drew his katana with a *shiiing*, the number of Fifty Star members ambushing them was a staggering fourteen. The only saving grace was perhaps that after firing the anti-tank rocket, they hadn’t attacked again, but were waiting.

I raised the pistol at my hip and pulled the trigger, aiming at the guy on the 8th floor of the building who was reloading a grenade. With the resistance felt in my finger, recoil traveled up my wrist, and a 19g warhead was fired along a trajectory instantly calculated by the ballistic assistance system, piercing through the Fifty Star member’s protective goggles, shattering an eyeball, and scrambling the brain. The power of the large-caliber magnum, exceeding standard pistol specifications, was enough to punish the guy who dared to fire such a thing.

“This bastard, Carter!”

*Thud.* Only after he was dead and fallen did the dozen others follow my movements and raise their guns. One of them, showing no reaction despite his comrade’s death, caught my attention, but Wade and Patton also reacted, drawing their weapons and moving.

“But weren’t they waiting to negotiate?”

“Anyway, what more would they say if we talked to them besides ‘give us the truck’? Just drop dead, you morons!”

The sudden gunfight began. I accelerated, running through slowed time to dodge the incoming rifle bullets. Warheads carrying 3,000J of kinetic energy, enough to easily blow holes through a person’s body, rained down, ricocheting off the transport truck.

Wade immediately charged, slicing an assault rifle in half with his hyper-vibration blade, then used a Fifty Star member as a shield, while Patton slid under the transport truck for cover.

Feeling my head throbbing from the acceleration, I waited for it to cool down and swung my coat, and bullets struck the bulletproof plates, making a metallic clang as they bounced off.

‘I can’t use this repeatedly.’ Pistol bullets and shotgun pellets were fine, but rifle rounds would pierce it after a few hits.

‘Martina. Impose action restrictions.’ ‘There’s an estimated waiting time of 3 seconds for each core system hack.’ That was enough. It was too risky to take every hit like before, so maintenance time was essential.

1, 2, 3! *Crack!* As a guy whose movements had suddenly become unnatural appeared right in front of me, I immediately raised the large-caliber pistol, which still had 7 rounds left in the chamber, and thrust it forward.

*Crunch!* His mask was crushed, the gun barrel shattering his teeth and penetrating into his oral cavity. Then, it fired. *Boom!* The magnum, packed tightly with gunpowder, engulfed the inside of the mask in muzzle flash, completely blowing out the back of the mask and killing another.

As brain fragments splattered away, the guy next to him furiously charged, spinning his gun and swinging the stock upwards, but I grabbed his wrist, pushed, and ducked my head to dodge. I was about to pull the pistol from the mask and shoot him in the abdomen, but *crack!*

“Ugh!” Instead, a heavy impact to my abdomen sent me tumbling backward. He had reacted, kicking me and pushing me away. As he immediately aimed his gun at me, preparing for hip-firing, I also pulled the trigger without delay to threaten him, then threw myself to the side to dodge.

In the fierce gunfight that erupted on the roadside of Golden Arch, building walls were shredded and the road was torn up, causing scavengers to cower and hide themselves further from the intense battle.

Wade and Patton were indeed skilled mercenaries, capable of quickly assessing the situation even when a supermarket was occupied by terrorists. Wade advanced, slicing bullets with his enhanced nerves and threatening opponents, while Patton used various grenades to take control of areas and create cover. Although they hadn’t suffered any casualties apart from the two I’d surprise-killed, despite their overwhelming firepower advantage, they had only managed to scratch us.

“Damn, so many of them came!”

“It’s about to explode, so duck your heads!”

Their qualitative level was vastly different from ordinary gangs like Kyojinkai. When I fought them up close with combat assists, they didn’t get pushed back much, and if they had cover fire, I would definitely lose. If I tried to resolve it with a gunfight, they were also difficult to deal with, rapidly moving between abandoned buildings and circling around to use cover.

*Boom!!* Patton’s explosive grenade once again detonated, spreading blast pressure around, but it failed to achieve any significant results.

‘This… if it goes on like this, we’ll all die.’ I ripped off my tattered coat, which had taken rifle bullets and now offered no protection, only getting in the way, and threw it at the guy in front of me, then blasted him with my pistol, killing him.

Although I was picking them off one by one, their numbers were still high, and Wade seemed to be already using his Berserkware, wildly swinging his katana, covered in blood. The only reason I could even think was because Martina’s support kept interrupting their coordination, snap-snap.

‘Plus, that guy hasn’t even moved yet.’ One of them, wearing a deeply pressed mask, remained stationary from where he first stood, as if observing. I smelled danger.

How much more time had passed like that? The adrenaline gushing from my wildly pumping heart made mere minutes feel like hours, but that didn’t mean the battle wasn’t intense. From continuous use of acceleration, blood was trickling from every orifice of my body, and I felt nauseous.

Wade had finally succeeded in killing one, but his condition didn’t look very good either, and the van I’d brought was riddled with holes and smoking, looking like it would explode any moment. I had to make a quick decision.

“Fall in!!!” My voice echoed, making the street ring. For a moment, the attention of both Wade and Patton, and the Fifty Star, focused on me. The first to move were Wade and Patton, who understood the reputation of Rune’s Bar even before their brains could process the decision.

As they suddenly turned around and began to flee, the Fifty Star members raised their guns as if they’d been waiting— *Crackle!* With sparks flying simultaneously, everyone reflexively flinched.

“What’s going on all of a sudden!”

“If we stay like this, we’ll all die, so we’re getting out of here before that!”

“That’s a great plan!”

I jumped onto the truck and pounded on the window with my fist. *Whirrr-* Just then, as Kathleen was about to roll down the window, I shouted to stop her. “Don’t open the window! Just drive!” Only then, as if she understood, the truck’s engine roar grew louder, and it began to move forward.

“Damn it! They’re escaping! Get them!” The Fifty Star, having suffered four casualties, quickly defended against the electronic warfare attack and brought out a hidden armored vehicle to pursue us. In response, I snatched a grenade that was tucked into Patton’s chest, who had just climbed aboard, pulled the pin, and threw it.

The van, ominously spewing thick smoke as if it would explode at any moment, was where the grenade landed after flying in an arc. *KABOOM!!!* The grenade and the vehicle’s battery exploded simultaneously, causing a massive blast. Even though we were dozens of meters away, the scorching heat felt like it would burn our skin, and the flames that engulfed the entire road flickered, swallowing up even the Fifty Star members. Of course, they wouldn’t die since they were heavily modified, but it should buy us a brief opening. That’s how we escaped.

“Whew. We almost died before even reaching the upper city.” Wade, who had been at the forefront swinging his blade and taken many shots, was spitting out buckets of blood while receiving rapid regeneration fluid injections. Even I, who was relatively unharmed, would have taken a few bullets if Wade hadn’t drawn their attention at the front.

“As expected, we can’t do this with just mercenaries. We should call for support or just give up.” Patton, who had diligently thrown grenades but effectively killed no one, expressed negative feelings, urging them to abandon the mission. Indeed, the Fifty Star were stronger than expected. Although we had somehow managed to kill four, they still had ten members left, and we were practically combat-incapable. Furthermore, they could easily replenish their numbers by calling in members from other locations, so our chances of victory were virtually nonexistent.

“Is everyone alright?” Kathleen, who had barely managed to hide in a remote part of Golden Arch and stopped the truck, opened the door and looked up at the top of the truck.

“Yeah, well. We’re alive, at least.”

“Though this one looks like he’s about to die.”

Aaron, who had come out and was observing, looked dejected upon seeing our grim state.

‘Should I get help from Luna and the others?’ Calling them for a personal matter was embarrassing, but it seemed there was no other choice.

“Did you think gathering here would allow you to escape our eyes? I’m not pleased to be underestimated.” “…!” The female voice I heard sent chills down my spine. It was a Fifty Star member, wearing a jacket shaped like the Stars and Stripes, a thick mask, and a not-so-large physique. The one who hadn’t moved at all during the gunfight had somehow followed us and was calmly talking to us!

“Kathleen Rossmore. You’ve hired quite excellent mercenaries. Why are you doing this when you know it’s impossible to go against the Megacorp? If you just hand over the goods, you’ll naturally be compensated.” “Who would believe that? You’d just capture us as researchers and forcibly extract knowledge.” “I don’t know that far, so I can’t say anything, but at least we’d let you live, wouldn’t we? Of course, these mercenaries who killed my precious subordinates will have to be torn apart.”

“Bullshit. You don’t look sorry at all, so ‘precious’ my ass.” Wade *spat* out blood-mixed saliva and stood up. At first glance, he looked utterly defiant, but his arm was visibly trembling, perhaps because he, too, was feeling the danger of that suspicious mask with his entire body.

‘At least similar to the new head of Neo Shinsengumi…!’ I didn’t know who was stronger or weaker, but I knew that this was at least a level I would have trouble dealing with.

“You won’t accept… a surrender, will you?”

“Of course.”

*Bang!* With that brief answer, my vision flipped upside down.