I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 424

"Warning, unauthorized personnel detected within the facility. Personnel, arm yourselves and prepare for threats. Repeat, unauthorized personnel detected within the facility…"

"Looks like they have no backup either."

"Yeah, if it weren't for Jin and Rain, we wouldn't have gotten a single step forward. How many traps and choke points are there in these corridors...!"

As they said.

The most hellish combat in the world is urban warfare, and even worse is CQB (close-quarters battle) in such a complex facility. In such tight spaces, dozens of people are at a standoff, and frustration begins to build up.

However, there was one truly fortunate thing—Jin and Rain’s presence. As Dice mentioned earlier, those two cleared out impossible corridors, massive obstacles, tracking mines roaming the hallways, and the occasional drone swarm like they were erasers.

Without them, it was highly likely that one or two people would have been killed, or it would have taken twice as long—if not more. In a way, it was like cheating, but considering the raid's difficulty was nearly unbeatable without such “cheats,” maybe this was the balance they needed.

"Go ahead and shoot with more confidence. Most of the firepower is being absorbed by our two mech rookies."

"Got it!"

Meanwhile, Lorentina, having just returned from dealing a blow to the enemy's flank, whispered into Kato’s ear.

Naturally, it felt like someone had suddenly spoken right next to Kato’s ear, which startled him. He reacted more actively in the battle than before. Although it wasn't a massive impact, small differences like these accumulate and change the outcome.

The facility was labyrinthine, but the 3D map left behind by the Dagger team made it easy to track the path. Before long, the route to Sector A opened up.

It was the Foundry zone.

Luckily, there weren’t many enemies, so Kato asked the others as they maintained their vigilance.

"Do you know anything about this area?"

"It’s like... a weapons factory. As you can see. A place where they make weapons. The old researchers called it the cauldron. If I remember correctly, there were also underground research facilities, assembly lines, and production plants."

"I can’t believe they built such a massive facility underground."

"It was originally an abandoned salt mine."

Hmm.

The history of Artemis was unexpectedly being revealed. I knew very well about their antics during the Great War and how they fell apart, but what they did before that was unknown to me. I never expected to learn it like this.

At any rate, Rain continued to explain. Artemis, releasing massive amounts of waste heat, repeatedly drew large amounts of water from nearby lakes to cool the facility’s numerous machines. The reason they hadn’t been caught was simple.

Canada has so many lakes.

With that, it made sense that there might be something akin to a foundry here within the facility.

Of course, considering it was underground, it wouldn’t be as large as the huge factories we imagine.

• [Warning: High temperature detected.]

And fitting for the name "foundry," the surrounding area began to heat up significantly.

A vast area, about 350 meters below ground, was revealed shortly after, with massive ventilation chimneys and numerous automated facilities, their purposes unclear. They were still in operation.

Of course, the enemy troops who were there to kill us were abundant, but most could be easily repelled, and we still had a long way to go inside.

Since we weren’t equipped with proper Icarus Gear, we took maximum precautions, and after about three minutes of combat, we crossed the conveyor belts and headed into the next sector.

The factory itself continued on one side, but that wasn’t our destination.

"...Control Room Alpha."

"There’s a signal from a similar model within that area. It’s likely equipped with an early model plasma cannon, though I can’t be sure."

"We’re just charging in without even knowing what we need to do. This is as good as suicide. Don’t we have any intel on the interior?"

"...There’s no database information on the nanomachine control tower, but the model controlling it likely holds most of the authority. In other words, if we approach by taking control of it, it might be easier than we think..."

• Rain, surprisingly the brain. wwww
• Standing in the middle of those who destroy everything, he looks smart. ????????
• What do you mean smart? ??? He himself was unsure at the end. ??
• Summary: I don’t know what to do, but we’ll figure it out as we go.
• Ugh, dummies. ????????

First combat, and it had to be like this... What a time to be alive.

Had I known this would happen, maybe I should have asked Dagger Team to send someone for support, but the distance between us was already over 1 km. Thankfully, Jin and Rain were connected to the internal network, so we had time to figure out the gimmicks before engaging.

Of course, if we didn't have that luxury, there was nothing else we could do. When did things ever go as planned? Ultimately, it was up to us to find a way out.

"We’re going in."

And so, we opened the door.

When the nine of us opened the door, what we saw was... unexpectedly, another corridor extending on both sides. However, when we saw the blueprint attached to the wall, we realized the interior structure was a sort of... square donut shape.

The stairs next to us led up to the control room, and the security door ahead was a partition leading into the facility. So, we continued our vigilance and made our way up to the control room, where the interior of the facility became clear.

It was an oddly shaped tower, with a Beta model floating near the top. As someone had mentioned earlier, that machine likely controlled the nanomachine tower.

That said, the inside was truly bizarre.

"It looks like... some kind of combat experiment lab."

As expected.

Countless buildings that seemed artificially created, with a pastoral atmosphere that didn’t fit anything we had seen before, and plants. It looked like a piece of a futuristic, environmentally friendly city cut out for a school project.

I immediately had a gut feeling.

"At least seven people should be having a pleasant chat with Artemis in there."

"I’m not sure what exactly they’re in charge of, but Rain and I will stay here. Jin, follow us. It looks like there’ll be a lot of annoying things to deal with in there."

"Understood. I’ll accompany Lorentina... Please be careful, Archetype."

"Of course."

So, seven of us descended below the control room and headed toward the thick security door.

Staring at the giant red button that seemed to be telling us to press it, I spoke to Rain.

"Be ready to break the emergency door if we need to get out."

"Got it."

Bang.

I hit the red button with my fist, and the siren immediately blared from the ceiling.

As everyone started scanning the holographic panels booting up in the control room, we knew something was about to start.

Meanwhile,

"Looks like the Artemis bastards brought some interesting toys."

"We’ll hold them off at the front. Minimum time to maintain the line is 15 minutes. Let's see how well the others do."

"Remaining antimatter grenades... total 25 shots. Let's see how well the rookies handle things."

The Dagger Team, along with the prototype mech Eugene.

An unavoidable battle had begun.

A flash burst.

And it consumed everything, leaving only ashes. But it wasn’t the end. From the nothingness, something began to emerge. Slowly, from the melted ground, a figure took shape, as if time was being reversed, and gradually began to mimic human movements.

With a sharp sound, the head forming slowly was shattered by a bullet. That was enough to stop the entity—the prototype Eugene—who collapsed to the ground. But even then, something was happening. Dust gathered and began to form a structure.

Watching the scene, Owens spoke up.

"It'll take about 2 minutes and 30 seconds for full recovery. If we want to be able to launch an attack with the battle data, it'll be ready in 1 minute."

"Time isn't as tight as I expected. The problem is, I’m not sure how we’re going to manage once all the antimatter grenades are used up."

"We’ll have to rely on the EMP discharge from the Icarus gear."

The battle between the Dagger team and the prototype was, in a way, a tug-of-war between heaven and hell. The reason was simple. The nanomachine transmission tower inside Artemis' facility acted as both a database and a hub, constantly regenerating the prototype mech Eugene inside their enormous combat experiment lab.

It was difficult to even describe it as "regenerating"—it vanished and then reappeared. One thing was certain: inside Artemis, "prototype" didn't refer to just one machine. It was more accurate to say that a specific type of mech was created on the spot.

It was already in the realm of material creation. The Icarus tech had long surpassed the boundaries of what was possible, but Artemis' achievements were so astounding, it was almost grotesque.

"...Let’s set the timer. One will track the recovery time of the prototype, and the other will track the EMP charging time in the Icarus gear."

"Timer set."

"Pulse scan shows additional enemy forces approaching. Looks like they're trying to buy time for the prototype's recovery."

Owens slowly turned his head.

Sirkins had already marked the coordinates for the massive combat lab’s soldier deployment passage. At that moment, everyone simultaneously tossed Seeker mines on the ground. As the mines rolled across the area, the moment the door opened, flames were expected to flood the space.

But it didn’t end there.

"Specter, Logan. Finish up quickly and return."

"Always leaving the dirty work to us."

"Don’t go die while taking a stroll."

The two disappeared at a speed that left afterimages.

The pulse scanner swept through the area. The two evolvers were already moving in opposite directions, waiting for the door to open next to the passage leading to the combat lab. A few seconds later, the sirens above the door started to spin, and the thick security doors opened on both sides.

As the waiting Seeker mines were sucked in, flames erupted within the narrow passage.

The heat was so intense it felt like it would scorch your lungs. Even the machine sensors were overwhelmed. Before the flames even cleared, gunshots and explosions followed. Three grenades flew across the corridor, and before anyone could dodge, the UGVs and human soldiers were riddled with bullets.

When the second explosion went off, more than half of the enemies were wiped out, and within 10 seconds, only the broken drone parts and charred body pieces remained in front of Logan and Lorentina.

However, the passage was still too large for just two people to cover.

Thung!

The flashbangs, launched from the sticky bomb launcher, cut through the air ahead of the two evolvers.

The blinding flash struck the enemy soldiers rushing through the corridor, but just as it happened, the chain guns mounted on the drones opened fire. Despite this, the two moved without slowing down. While running at 70 km/h, they loaded EMP grenades into the sticky bomb launcher and hit the UGV's body dead center.

A 3-meter-wide EMP pulse washed over them, instantly disabling the exoskeleton and the machine's power. The bullets from an extended magazine rained down on the Artemis troops. But it didn’t stop there. The two evolvers, now armed with melee weapons, took out the remaining enemies still moving.

As the battle on the outskirts of the massive combat experiment lab escalated, the remaining seven members of the Dagger Team continued to fire relentlessly at the recovering prototype.

Naturally, the prototype didn’t just sit back and take it. Realizing that damage to its head would delay recovery, it began to retreat, finding better positions while reinforcing its logic circuits with thick armor to withstand the bullets.

Its appearance was undeniably bizarre. The head was huge, and the body was skeletal, but the entity—the AI controlling the entire facility, constantly regenerating the prototype Eugene—didn’t care.

How much time had passed?

Kiiing!

"That’s insane! It’s a railgun!"

"Antimatter grenade launcher ready. The ammo consumption is faster than expected…"

A strange sound and intense energy reactions came from behind the walls.

At that moment, Kissinger fluidly pulled an antimatter grenade from his pouch, inserted it into the lower rail of the grenade launcher, and after a quick adjustment, fired the Charlie-type round. With a sharp sound, the projectile exploded, and the 40mm grenade curved through the air.

The Dagger team had long been hidden behind cover, but even through the obstacles, the heat and intense light coming from the explosions still overwhelmed them, no matter how many times they witnessed it.

But at that moment, the air in the massive combat lab began to swirl uncontrollably—everyone’s vision turned blue.

The railgun, whose destructive power was unimaginable, had been fired.

‘...Wait, where did they shoot that?’

Shocked that they were still alive, they looked up and were doubly shocked.

A hole, large enough for a car to pass through, had been punched through the opposite wall.

The implications were clear.

"That insane bastard—did he just ignore the walls and fire a long-range shot…?!"

The wall was no longer an obstacle in the face of that attack.

Although it was already too late, Owens scowled and switched the communication channel to relay the information to the team with the rookie.

"…The prototype railgun can penetrate walls and fire. I’ll send the timer data, so if we face a similar situation, I’ll signal. We’ll set up the timer to activate automatically."

Leaving those words, Owens clenched his fist and pulled the trigger once again.

This was a kind of combat that had never existed in this world, and it continued.

Peeing!

"Wow, what in the world was that?!"

"What just flew in?!"

• ????????
• No way, was that a railgun???
• Artemis covering a top-tier raid lineup with top-tier attacks ww
• Seriously, is Icarus insane???
• They made this just to break it? ????

They were stunned!

Thankfully, no one was hit, but the sudden blue light that shot through the wall... Could it have been the prototype firing from far away? They passed through empty spaces, but the Dagger team’s location was over 1 km away? Really?

Dazed, they quickly checked Owens’ communication and hurriedly added,

"Set the timer! Prepare to evacuate the area whenever we signal!"

The world truly wasn’t easy.