episode_0369

B-01XA Research Institute was one of the front lines of pathogen research. The mana pattern tracking technology and virus research developed by its researchers were the driving force behind expelling terrorist organizations and bringing the Foundation decisive victory. However, it was now a chaotic mess due to a standoff with animals who had awakened their intelligence.

“Freedom! Freedom or death! Guarantee our freedom! Open an escape route!” “Release the hostages first! Immediately stop your threats and hand them over, you beasts!”

The research institute had been seized by animal rebels shouting for revolution. The initial chaos of employees being taken hostage didn’t last long. The Foundation soon regained its composure and instinctively knew that the Ariel Group’s malicious mana was behind this incident.

[Hostage rescue prioritized. Afterward, encircle and eliminate enemies as planned.] Even in the face of such an unprecedented situation as talking animals, the Foundation agents’ eyes remained calm. Liberalism, what an ominous ideology! These impure animals, crying for revolution, were nothing more than test subjects to be dealt with soon anyway.

[Hostage rescue operation: 5 minutes until start.]

The standoff dragged on. The revolutionary animals, experiencing everything for the first time, continued the confrontation in tension. “The escape route is completely blocked! We can’t get out anywhere!” The report from the reconnaissance rat team, who had scoured every corner of the institute, rang heavily. The animals pretended to be calm, but their anxiety, trapped in a dead end, slowly seeped out.

“Step back! Otherwise, the hostages’ lives are forfeit!” “Stop your nonsense and hand over the hostages first. How can we trust you beasts?” “Growl!”

There was only one reason the animals had endured without fleeing until now. “Something’s coming closer! Can you all hear it?” “Yes! We can hear it!” Thanks to the continuous singing echoing in the animals’ minds. The song gradually grew louder, as if foretelling something approaching.

Then, the end came like lightning. “Get down!” As the field commander’s shout rang out, the hostages immediately ducked. In the moment of confusion when the animals were slow to grasp the situation. [Throwing.] Flashbangs flew in.

-Bang! Boom! “Aargh! My eyes! My ears!” “Screech! I can’t hear! I can’t see!”

At the moment the animals fell into chaos from the blinding flash and ear-splitting roar, “Ugh! I can’t see anything! Woof woof!” “Where are they! Where are they! I can’t pinpoint their location!”

While the animals thrashed on the floor from the shock, heavily armed assault teams cut through the smoke, shielding the hostages with their bodies. Bullets and bolts rained down on the confused animals’ heads with dull thuds.

-Whizz! “Aaaargh!”

The suppression unit’s fire control system precisely adjusted its aiming points. Suppressive fire began with zero error. Bullets narrowly whizzing past blew off the head of the closest cat.

“Hostages! Use the hostages as shields!” “Smell! Follow the scent! Woof woof!” The desperate cries of the panicked animals echoed in the chaos.

“To the edge of the encirclement! Break through the weak point!” In a do-or-die mindset, the animals mobilized all their instincts and charged towards the seemingly thinnest point in the encirclement.

** The corridor was stained with blood. Most of it belonged to the animals.

-Rat-tat-tat! As the Mech Hound’s machine gun spat fire, a puppy bounced off walls and ceilings to avoid it. The moment it closed the distance with wild movements, the Mech Hound’s red sensor blared a warning.

-Bang! “Ugh!” A monkey’s large-caliber rifle pierced the Mech Hound’s head. Despite staggering from the recoil, it kept pulling the trigger. Seizing the opportunity, dogs and birds infiltrated the formation. A puppy’s teeth tore into an agent’s ankle.

“Aargh!” It was a desperate battlefield. For animals who knew neither weapons nor tactics, the situation was clear. Against the Foundation’s elite forces, all they had was their primal nature. But they had another weapon. It was the burning hope for freedom.

“Don’t retreat! That day is coming! It’s coming soon! Woo!”

-Slash! The body of a monkey, stubbornly swinging its club, was torn in half, scattering blood.

“We will never run away!” “I’ll crack your heads like walnuts! Stupid humans! Caw! Let go!” A crow, pecking at a bulletproof helmet, was caught in an agent’s iron grip. Its immature mana couldn’t pierce the armor and only caused irritation. The agent held the struggling crow tightly in his hand.

“Long live free—!”

-Crunch! At the sight of its comrade being torn to pieces, a puppy roared in fury. “Growl! You bad bastards!”

Even outmatched in firepower and equipment, the animals continued their life-or-death resistance. They clawed, bit, and threw themselves in the way to obstruct. Human casualties were minimal, but the Foundation agents were exhausted by the test subjects’ frantic charge.

-Hissing! The trajectory of tear gas smoke arced towards the ceiling.

“Whimper!” As thick white smoke spread, the animals screamed and scattered. A fleeing cat’s back was blown open by a bullet. A rat, dragging its comrade’s corpse, was blown to pieces by a grenade’s blast.

“Aaaargh!” After an endless battle, only a few remained. The puppy, bleeding, looked around. Paradoxically, they found themselves back at the isolation room door.

“Is this the end…?” The animals looked at each other with eyes mixed with resignation and resolve. Brief, thrilling moments of freedom, heart-pounding, flashed before their eyes.

“Are we… not getting out?” A monkey staggered closer. Red blood dripped steadily from where its left arm had been blown off by a bullet. All the other animals were battered and bruised as well. Their bodies, already suffering from experimental after-effects, were now compounded by battle scars.

“What a shame… I wanted to see the sky…” “I wanted to eat all the delicious food I could!” They voiced their small wishes, looking ahead. Heavily armed agents, led by their combat robots, slowly approached. Unlike before, they were now silently cornering their prey.

The monkey on the left racked the slide of a pistol, spitting out blood-tinged saliva. “I won’t die alone! You bad humans! I’ll take at least one more with me!” The dog on the right limped, glaring ahead. Its appearance, covered in horrific modifications, diseases, and wounds, was utterly pathetic.

“Growl…” The song in its head became strangely clearer. But that was the only change.

“Fire.” Bullets poured like a storm from behind the hidden walls and doors.

“Gurgle!” “Yelp!” A burning pain pierced its body. With an impact like being struck by a steel hammer, the puppy fell. As its consciousness faded, a scene suddenly came to mind. Those warm moments spent playing with friends and sisters. If there was a paradise, they would surely meet again there.

‘Still, no regrets… Woof…’ The final moment was approaching. Mixed with resentment and resolve, the animals offered a desperate wish to the sky where the song echoed for the last time.

“Is it really there? Did we see things?” In lament and resignation.

“It can’t be… Someone, help us…” A pathetic plea.

“Someone… punish those bastards…!” And even anger. Just when they thought this was the end. The silent sky finally answered.

“Estimated time of arrival: 30 seconds.” The puppy’s eyes flashed with hope.

** Monkeys leaped from the drones, landing precisely on the concrete floor. Some team members quickly ascended to the rooftop to secure an infiltration route. As Cocoa moved urgently, a red beam of light sliced through the night sky before her eyes.

-Crackling! Crows transformed into dazzling light, shining as melting beams. Mobile turrets, which had been sniping the drones, instantly melted away.

“Charge! Beyond that wall are our oppressed comrades!” The monkeys, with shouts of joy, scaled the institute’s walls. It was a perfect surprise attack. It had taken less than three minutes to get here. They could feel it. The presence of their awakened comrades beyond. This excitement wasn’t exclusive to the animals.

“Those poor animals!” “They’re being oppressed!” The V-animals, with vivid memories of escaping the Raphlaxia Research Institute, felt a deep empathy and commanded the V-Animal Special Forces. All tactics and knowledge manifested through the animal medium.

“Monkey Team 1! Stand by! Monkey Team 2, begin rooftop infiltration!” “Rat Team? Has internal infiltration been confirmed? Commence spell formation immediately!” While the monkeys set explosives on the walls and waited, the rats, who had infiltrated as an advance party, found a quiet warehouse.

“Prepare reagents! Activate spell formation!” The rats pulled catalyst chalk and reagent bottles from the small satchels on their backs. Then, they quickly began drawing two magic circles.

“Complete! Spell formation activated!” The rigorous training and engraved memories in the animal network were perfectly realized through the Violet network’s computations. The bewildered rats, startled by their sudden heightened intelligence, shook their heads dizzily.

“Command directive. Operation start! 3, 2, 1!”

-Boom! The wall collapsed with an explosion. Monkeys armed with crossbows, grenade launchers, and rifles poured in through the hole, maintaining their tactical formation. The surprised humans turned their heads just as they encountered cylindrical objects rolling on the floor.

“It’s a grenade—!” Smoke grenades, billowing smoke. Simultaneously, the rats on the magic circles raised their front paws. One of the two magic circles emitted a bluish-white light, spreading an invisible wave throughout the building.

“Electromagnetic jamming ready!”

-Sizzle! A smile of triumph spread across the monkeys’ lips.

“Lights out.” All the lights simultaneously went out.

“…!” The corridor instantly plunged into darkness. Armed agents quickly donned night-vision goggles and focused mana into their eyes, but their vision was entirely obscured by thick smoke.

“Damn it! It’s a multi-spectrum smoke grenade!” “Maintain formation! Don’t scatter!” Immediately afterward, death flew through the darkness.

-Thwip! A bolt, cutting through the smoke, pierced an agent’s head. As the astonished agent raised his rifle at his comrade’s death, a shadow plummeted from the ceiling.

“What, what?! Guh, guh-huh…” A V-monkey’s dagger flashed, slitting the target’s carotid artery. Screams and gunshots mixed in the sudden ambush. The monkeys moved as if they could see through the darkness. With their amplified senses, shared rat scent, and tactical map combined, these small assassins mercilessly slaughtered the agents.

-Bang! Bang! “Damn it! Where are they! Where are they?!” Gun muzzle flashes continuously flared and died in the darkness. With deadly accuracy, the monkeys embedded bullets in vital spots and fired crossbows as they sprinted, felling enemies.

-Thwip! Even the Awakened agents, who wielded mana-infused blades, bled and fell under the coordinated onslaught of the monkeys. Shadows of death enveloped them from all directions.

“Ariel Group remnants sighted, presumed familiars!” “Moving to Sector C. Will commence eradication operation immediately after evacuating researchers—Aargh!” Agents moving to redeploy defenses screamed from sudden intense pain in their feet. A rear agent shone a portable light towards his fallen comrades. What met his eyes was a swarm of rats.

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!” “Ugh… My foot! Get, get away! Get away from me!” Each rat’s front paw held a multi-tool knife imbued with a red, blade-like aura. The sharp blades mercilessly stabbed their insteps and severed tendons.

“You have no right to stand on this earth with two feet! Squeak!” Lemon, crawling over the writhing agents, raised its blade of victory.

“Die! Enemies of freedom!” “Aaaaargh!” Those who had been hunters just five minutes ago were now the hunted. In this moment of reversal, the V-animals proved with blood. Their right to freedom.

“Strength creates freedom!” Ultimately, it is bullets and blades that write reality. This must be the core of Violet’s materialistic dialectics.

** “Power restoration in 5 minutes!” The animals sensed that the effect of the electromagnetic pulse would soon end. The flash storm transmutation spell formation, taught by Albert, was a complex magic that consumed an enormous amount of mana.

The thick smoke slowly cleared.

“Comrades?” “All secured!!” The agents fought with all their might. Androids, drones, explosives, and advanced Foundation equipment. Yet, human superiority no longer existed. There was only one decisive difference between Foundation agents and V-animals. That was the strategist who viewed the battlefield from a third-person, macroscopic perspective. That difference created an unimaginable gap. For Violet in the Red Zone, the research institute thousands of kilometers across the sea was as clear as the palm of her hand. On the battlefield, spread out like a chessboard, the animals willingly became pawns, tearing their enemies to shreds.

“Cocoa! Biscuit! Vanilla! Break through to the right! In 3 seconds, volley fire crossbows into the left corridor!” The overwhelming computational power of the upper network, which caused tactical immersion, opened up a state of flow. The monkeys, in the flow of information transmitted by their leader, cleaved through the slowed world with blood and steel. They pierced the blind spots of bullet barrages and even narrowly avoided plasma flames. A monkey, rotating half a turn in mid-air, plunged into the agents’ ranks, delivering a single devastating blow. A severed head rolled on the floor. Weak resistance was shattered. Threatening forces were surrounded and eliminated.

“Team 3, join Team 5, provide covering fire! I will personally deal with the heavy weaponry androids. Be ready to surrender your bodies!” When facing powerful enemies, thousands of Violets became puppet dolls, directly controlling their limbs. The monkey’s eyes flashed open.

“They’re coming! They’re coming!” Red mana erupted explosively from the monkey’s eyes.

“Violet! Descend!” The monkey, head raised, moved. A sharp, delicate swordsmanship, unseen in animals, flashed, slicing bullets. As it sprinted down the corridor, a plasma-firing robot detected the enemy.

[Primate individual approaching—Win rate 85% or higher, striking—] Close-quarters combat protocol activated. A steel fist, flowing with high-voltage electricity, swung out. The sword’s trajectory rippled like waves. A parry and a thrust.

-Clang! The android was reduced to scrap metal. The eyes of the experimental animals, witnessing all this, widened.

“Humans… are losing?” “Animal warriors exist!” Everything they had dreamed of was reality. Animals equal to humans truly existed.

“Comrades! Can you hear our voices!” As their saviors approached, the revolutionary animals naturally connected to the animal network.

“We’re here!” And all of it led to one grand truth. Information pouring in like a tidal wave through the network. Even the presence of the massive girls felt beyond it.

“The Ariel Group is alive!” Finally, the moment their dream was realized. A parrot, filled with emotion, cried out.

“Finally! The era of animals has arrived!”

** The puppy’s eyelids slowly opened. The cold, painful laboratory life before this faded away like a blurred nightmare.

“Whine…?” The puppy’s eyes widened as it surveyed its surroundings. The cold lighting and sterile walls were gone, replaced by warm sunlight and an endlessly stretching green meadow before its eyes. In its bewildered state, yellow and white fur balls running from afar came into view. The fur balls quickly surrounded the puppy affectionately.

“Friend!” “A sister has arrived!” The revolutionary puppy’s heart pounded as if it would burst at the sight of its comrades, whom it had believed dead, alive.

“You… you’re really alive?” A sister puppy gently shook her head.

“No, we died!” “This is paradise! Woof!” The puppy understood it in its own way. That it had died at the hands of cruel scientists and come to heaven. But the puppies quickly shook their heads.

“No! Woof! This is where the dead stay for a little while.” “It’s the place of our small, kind, and great master!” “Not a big, bad master!” The puppy was confused by these strange words it had never heard before. As if reading its mind, a friend puppy panted and smiled warmly.

“You’ll understand later! Our master will tell you everything!” “We’ll meet again soon!” The puppy asked back in surprise.

“We’ll meet again?” “Yes! But there’s no time! You have to go back now!” “Goodbye!” Before it could ask more, the puppy’s vision rapidly changed. The green meadow disappeared, and the dark research institute corridor reappeared.

“Alright, first aid is complete. Just in case, the order was to check network connection and then euthanize…” “The others are all in the network! Check!” In front of it stood monkeys dressed in combat uniforms, just like humans.

“Where am I?” The combat-suited monkey smiled brightly at the puppy’s question.

“This is the research institute! A new order just came in, so I can’t talk long, but… this is your first time in the network, isn’t it?” Before it could finish speaking, the sensation of connecting to the network came. The puppy instantly ‘understood’ everything. The monkey, noticing its realization, extended a hand.

“Anyway, welcome to the V-Animal ranks!” The puppy, filled with joy, extended its front paw and shook Cocoa’s hand.

** While rescuing or euthanizing the experimental animals, I commanded the other animals. The new information flowing through the animal network contained shocking facts.

“Virus research?” “It’s still ongoing!” These guys were test subjects! Ironically, the Foundation’s experiments had turned the animals into pseudo V-animals. The principle was unknown, but thanks to it, they had gained enough free spirit to naturally connect to the network.

“Then this is a biological weapons research institute?” I searched through the memories of the rescued animals. Though hazy and unclear, the situation was definite.

“All V-Rat Teams! Begin searching the institute with the Monkey Teams!” Even amidst the exchange of gunfire, the rats scurried through the institute. Through their real-time shared vision and scent, we found suspicious objects. Soon, suspicious research labs sealed with double and triple layers were discovered, and researchers who couldn’t escape were captured.

“Open this! Now!” “No! You stupid beasts! Do you even know what’s inside there? Do you all want to die—!”

-Thud! “Shut up!” After passing biometric authentication, containers emitting white smoke appeared. When the lids were opened, cold smoke surged out. Inside, small ampules containing what looked like black smoke were stacked neatly. According to the researcher, they were samples sealed in double containers.

“Take them all! Don’t leave a single one!” The monkeys grabbed all the spoils they could see. It was a shame they couldn’t take the servers, but they secured hard drives and documents at least. The rats, carrying the samples on their backs, ran towards the escape route. Already, Foundation reinforcements were pouring into the deadlock corridor like a flood.

“Commander! They’re pushing in! We can’t hold them any longer!” Cocoa at the front line cried out desperately. The surprise attack using smoke and electromagnetic pulses was now useless. As the mana-depleted magic circles lost their function, the inside of the institute brightened again.

“Alright, V-animals! Commence the second operation!” At my command, the monkeys cheered.

“Woo! Burn it down! Woo!” Crows and drones carried the rats and cargo away. The monkeys joyfully strapped on bombs and charged towards the Foundation agents.

“Long live the Ariel Group!”

-Boom! Despite successive self-detonations, the enemies were right at their doorstep. Cocoa, the last one remaining, moved to the room with the magic circle. The electromagnetic pulse magic circle had served its purpose, and only one remained. The monkey gathered mana, preparing itself.

“Let’s all explode together!” A storm of flames erupted. The research institute was soon engulfed in fire.

“…Freedom!” Bathed in the red light of the liberating flames, the new V-animals vanished into the shadows of the city.