LIGHTNOVELONLINE “Ah, can all squad members hear me?”
– “We can hear you.”
– “It’s coming through.”
It was Easter from the 1st Squad and Dirtstone replying.
The squad members had already scattered around the lake, and we were rushing to start the operation.
Well, we were planning to wrap things up by today, but it was still better to finish quickly.
We couldn’t afford to delay for too long either.
Thus, fast preparation was essential in this situation.
“The operation will begin at exactly 3 o’clock. As soon as the clock strikes three, we’ll drop the barricade from the sky.”
This was a plan that the commander and I had come up with together.
We still had about 70 members, but the number of those who could actually be deployed effectively in combat wasn’t very high.
Moreover, we couldn’t just throw our agents into the fray as they had more responsibilities than we thought.
“And while the barricade is being set up, you’ll lure the contaminated entities over.”
– “But if we set up the barricade, why would they come charging towards us?”
“To deal with that, we’ll throw signal flares around and toss some small bombs into the lake. If explosions suddenly erupt in their home ground, they’ll surely come out.”
It was unlikely they’d just swarm over because of the barricade alone.
It was outside the lake, and it wasn’t like we were setting up a massive barricade.
Although we managed to create it through the workshop on the ship, the timeframe was short, barely blocking a part of the lake.
However, with the flares to draw them in and our agents attacking the contaminated entities, they would surely come straight to where we lay in ambush.
Given that the contamination had hit stage three by now, it was obvious there would be more than just the appearance of contaminated entities.
That’s why we needed to prepare more thoroughly for this operation than the first one.
We even made sure to prepare more supplies this time around.
We actually had a whole box of supplies ready nearby.
“Our goal is to annihilate the approaching contaminated entities. We can’t just smash the core without knowing its exact location, plus the contaminated entities might defend it.”
– “If we don’t annihilate them, they’ll just raid somewhere else.”
“Right, just like Dirtstone said. If we don’t wipe out the contaminated entities, they could attack nearby villages or even Babil, so a complete eradication is a must.”
With that, the commander proceeded with the operation details, and after instructing everyone to finish the last preparations, he shut off the mic.
After all, the on-site preparations were the agents’ responsibility, not the commander’s.
It was better to let the agents grow accustomed to the situation without unnecessary interference.
Once the mic was off, the commander began scanning the map.
Midori, sitting to the commander’s left, was checking the ship’s functionalities differently than usual.
“Midori, Lindera.”
“Yes!”
“Yep!”
“Any abnormalities with the ship’s functions?”
“None!”
“Everything’s fine. The ammunition is ready, signal flares, small bombs, and extra barricades are all perfectly prepared.”
I had been stuck doing overtime for two consecutive days because of this.
Lately, there hadn’t been much work, so I’d been casually working, leaving early to have dinner with the office staff.
But thanks to this operation, that opportunity had been completely wiped out.
Originally, there was no operation and the workload was light, so I had been able to do that.
“Then let’s take a short break… The remaining task is entirely up to the agents.”
“They will do well. They have been training effectively so far and are equipped properly.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Additionally, we purposely recruited 10 more squad members for this operation. We won’t fall short in firepower at least.”
Especially since the contamination wasn’t serious yet.
With it being stage three, I held the belief that we could handle it with just two squads.
In this part, as far as I was concerned, we could really go all out with just two squads until the end.
It was technically a continuation of the first stage and shouldn’t pose a difficulty worth worrying about.
“Right, that makes sense… We have to go with that.”
*
“3!”
Midori’s loud count echoed.
Hearing that, I swallowed once.
“2”
Although we were still at the very beginning of the original story, there was a slight tension.
I hadn’t felt this nervous during the first stage, so why was I feeling this way now?
“1!”
Anyway, as the final count sounded, I pressed the button with a click.
With that click, the screen showed the dropping barricade.
Then the barricade landed properly, followed by the dropping of small bombs into the lake.
A moment of silence.
There was no sound from the command room or the speakers.
“…”
And after that brief stillness, small explosions emerged from the lake.
With the sound of those explosions, the operation had begun.
– “Frontline! Get ready!”
With the words of Easter, the café boss and sniper, both the 1st and 2nd squads took their positions and began to tense up.
And I turned my head towards the commander as I noticed the signals from the infrared on my screen.
The signals were all appearing inside the lake, so I immediately called out to him.
“Contaminated entities are emerging!”
“Squad members, contaminated entities will start appearing from the lake now. For now, we’ll stick to the original plan, and I will take over command if any unexpected situations arise.”
Upon hearing those words from the commander through the mic, the ten agents responded.
I checked the map while observing the situation.
The infrared signals moving from the lake numbered more than a hundred from what I’d confirmed.
I was sure of it.
Today’s operation seemed likely to stretch at least until dinner time.
– “Bronnie! Attack the ones far away with the drones!”
– “Got it!”
“Right now, the contaminated entities are all charging towards the barricades and our squad members.”
“Looks like it’s going according to plan. Using the signal flares seems to have had a major impact.”
“I think you’re right.”
Could it be because it was a lake?
The contaminated entities charging from the lake looked oddly humanoid.
Not that they resembled actual mermaids, but they had strange forms where fish fins were elongated.
It was truly a sight that could be described with the word ‘contaminated.’
At stage two, they’d simply be large, bizarre-looking fish. But the stage three contaminated entities were far more revolting.
“Tch.”
So they really were contaminated entities.
They truly embodied the meaning of ‘contaminated.’
They looked disgustingly ugly.
Maybe I felt that way because I had been surrounded by pretty agents and a handsome commander lately.
The disparity in appearances was glaring.
– “Tatata!”
– “Let me reload a bit!”
– “Frontline! Hold on a moment!”
– “This isn’t a problem for Gumi!”
The agents were performing better than expected.
In fact, this was the first time the 2nd Squad had fought together, so I had some worries.
It didn’t feel like anything grand enough to be called a joint operation, but witnessing them do well was surprisingly pleasant.
Of course, the contaminated entities were still plentiful, but…
*
– “Mary! Say a prayer!”
– “I’m doing it…!”
“Commander, I think we might need some support.”
The front by the lake had now accumulated a massive pile of contaminated entity corpses.
We had already been attacking for nearly two hours, hence it was natural we had taken down a lot of them.
In any case, the signals we were capturing were beginning to significantly dwindle.
Yet, despite that positive outcome, the agents still didn’t seem to be in the best condition overall.
After all, even with a healer around, they couldn’t fully recover from fatigue after two hours of fighting.
“…Lindera. How about we find the core now? It might be okay to fire on the core.”
“But we still don’t have an accurate location for the core.”
The Krytienium core wasn’t showing up on the infrared.
It didn’t have a temperature that was notably high like living beings, after all, it was submerged in the lake.
“Hmmm… You’re right.”
“Yes. It might be better to do a slight bombing from above instead.”
“No, let’s wait on the bombing just a bit.”
“Yes?”
The commander’s words left me puzzled.
Sure, the situation was looking positive, but it wasn’t exactly great, and we still had contaminated entities remaining.
I was thinking if we could lessen the entities rushing towards the agents with some air bombardment, wouldn’t that be beneficial?
But while I thought that, it seemed that the commander saw things differently.
Or rather, though he believed that, he had made a different decision for some reason.
“Something feels off. Let’s wait… just a tiny bit longer.”
“…Understood.”
I wasn’t sure what his instinct was indicating, but our commander seemed uneasy.
It wasn’t just anyone; it was the commander making such a statement, so questioning him was absolutely out of line.
If anything, I had to follow the commander’s lead.
He was the commander, and I was his vice commander.
– “It’s almost over! Just hold on a bit longer!”
– “Saying stuff like that just brings strange things upon us!”
The voices of the agents came through the speakers.
I continued to watch the situation closely and remained still.
Being in the command room didn’t give me the authority to take unilateral actions.
Seated there, I was merely examining the map, wondering if anything would change…
“…Commander.”
“…Something feels off…”
“Commander!”
He had been deep in thought, propping up his chin, so I had no choice but to call out to him again, loudly.
I couldn’t let it slip.
“Something unusual is rising from within the lake!”
Suddenly, a larger object appeared in red on the map, distinctly bigger than anything else.
It was rising from inside the lake and gradually coming out towards the outside.
“Prepare for bombardment!”
“Yes!”
First things first, I didn’t know what was happening, but I quickly got things ready for bombing from the ship.
While touching the screen to maneuver, something began materializing on the big screen from the lake.
Something massive… a snake… no, a gigantic reptilian figure began to surface.