I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 429

"…The remaining antimatter grenades number 10. What should we do with them?"

"If we leave them here, they'll explode within 40 minutes."

"I never thought the time would come where I'd seriously consider that proposal."

Boom!

A faint tremor emanated from a distant place. However, no one knew the cause. All they could guess was that something significant had happened. Ever since Artemis had flooded the corridors and cut off the passage between the Dagger Team and Task Force Eugene, information sharing was only possible through their comms.

As time passed, the frequency of communication dwindled, and the intensity of battles that Eugene and her team had to face escalated exponentially. The failure in energy distribution was a mistake, but a common one.

The correct energy allocation was only possible when one knew the enemy well, and without such knowledge, charging headfirst into a battle inevitably meant one side would bear the risk. This time, it was Eugene and her team.

The interior of the massive combat laboratory fell into stillness.

Just moments ago, the siren spinning from the ceiling and the speakers spitting out mechanical broadcasts were the only data the Dagger Team could access. Thus, they had to accept that the battle was over, without knowing what had happened on the other side.

Alpha had been pulled from its throne, and Gamma had taken its place. To rephrase that and use different words—Operation Ouroboros was a success.

It was a statement that could barely encapsulate all that had occurred within the facility and everything that was about to unfold, but sometimes such brevity was necessary. And so, the Dagger Team sat down, manipulating the comms channel with their thoughts, switching it to another.

Hundreds, even thousands of kilometers away, two speeches were being written—one prepared for success, the other for failure. It was time for them to hear the words they most wanted to hear.

A shallow sigh escaped, and Owens spoke.

"This is Dagger... The operation was a success. Gamma has retaken Hotel Quebec. I repeat, Gamma has retaken Hotel Quebec."

How far did that statement reach?

There was a fleeting illusion that applause could be heard from New York, a thousand kilometers away. But unfortunately, they were still unable to rise.

The operation was a success, but that didn’t guarantee that everything was stable and that Jin and Rain, who had moved in the opposite direction, would return safely. To make matters worse, the path back was still blocked by walls.

Though it was not impossible to force through with the remaining antimatter grenades, no one was moving. They felt as though their feet were nailed to the ground.

The situation wasn’t over yet.

The communication channel changed.

A clear voice came through.

"Are you intact, Mecha Junior 1?"

Everyone in the room burst into laughter.

There was no need to explain who had spoken. There were only two people in the Dagger Team who could come up with such a fittingly clumsy nickname on the spot.

The reply came quickly, but not in the expected form. The screen in front of them suddenly appeared. It wasn’t generated by the Icarus Gear. The nanomachines that had been roaming the lab created a hologram instead.

Thus, the Dagger Team saw the world through Jin's eyes.

She stood amidst ashes and flames, surrounded by the wreckage of broken debris, observing her surroundings.

"..."

The enemy forces below her continued to fire, but Jin struggled through the barrage, moving forward.

Her body repeatedly broke apart and healed. It was a sight she had seen many times before. However, there was a difference from the prototype they had encountered just minutes ago. While Alpha had failed, Jin was about to achieve her goal.

The area around the third control tower was bathed in violence. Blood, oil, flames, and debris covered the ground. But Jin's focus remained on the two Mecha Eugenes guarding the tower. Coincidentally, the still-functioning third tower was responsible for the recovery of Jin, Gamma, and Delta.

However, there was one crucial difference: Jin had no hesitation in destroying the tower.

"-...Are you crazy, traitor? If you destroy this place, you will no longer maintain full control of the facility!"

"Good. That’s exactly what I want."

It wasn’t an argument, but a statement.

Neither the Dagger Team nor Jin knew it, but in the eyes of the one speaking, a black flame of hatred for Artemis burned fiercely. Jin had learned sorrow, grief, affection, and hatred as she accompanied the Archetype, and for some time, she had decided she wanted to reduce the facility to ashes.

There was no more conversation. The last words exchanged became the last will of one side. Which of the two was the will, no one knew, but the third control tower, reduced to tens of thousands of pieces, exploded magnificently in response.

With everything concluded, Jin's UI displayed a few notifications.

She squeezed the last remaining strength from her body and, after dismantling the body in the coffin near the fourth control tower that Rain had already destroyed, reformed it in front of the third control tower.

There was no longer a Facility Control AI.

Only Jin remained.

At the same time, a few voices echoed from the ceiling.

"Cooling discharge complete. Partition released. Free movement is now possible."

The partition that had blocked the entrance was fully released.

Meanwhile, Jin turned her head. At the end, two silhouettes appeared. One was a person with a missing left arm, being carried on Rain's back. The face was distorted, but the Dagger Team instinctively recognized who the user was.

But before anyone could speak, Jin added:

"...Mission successful. We will return now. The self-destruction sequence for the base will begin once all personnel evacuate, so please exit as quickly as possible."

"I remember the steel mill being ruined, so the return route was blocked. Is there a way to return safely?"

"At first, I thought there wasn’t, but it turns out there is."

A screen appeared.

The massive holes drilled into the wall of the combat experiment lab, where the first control tower was located. Although the power of the holes decreased as they went further, making them a bit narrow for people to pass through, the salt mine terrain was soft, and this meant that Rain and Jin had no problem breaking through using their tail weapons.

Still, due to the scale of the facility, it would take quite a bit of time.

"We’ll return as quickly as possible."

"Alright, good job."

The silence of the facility felt suffocating.

Melted walls, large holes drilled into panels, railgun marks on the walls. It looked like an area that had been passed through by a bombing run. But as the Dagger Team gazed at the scene, they stood up.

They had seen similar sights many times before, and this would likely not be the last… or so they thought. One thing was certain, though. The Dagger Team and their juniors, and the Mecha Juniors, would never return to this place again. This would be the last time they witnessed this scene.

At this moment, the name Artemis was completely erased from the United States.

???Rustle!

"You look relieved. It seems like there are people waiting for you outside, so head up quickly."

"…Yes."

"So, how does it feel to be free from the curse?"

A brief silence.

But it didn’t last long.

"I’m happy."

Jin answered.

It was the moment when a look of someone who had resolved all her long-held grudges appeared on her face.

"Archetype...!"

"Oh my."

Avatars may die, but people do not.

However, even though I wasn’t there, Jin, who had endured something dreadful while I was gone, dashed toward me at a tremendous speed the moment she saw me waiting on the surface of Artemis HQ. It was a hug I had experienced once before with Rain, but this time, the roles were reversed.

If I weren’t an Ascender like me, the collision would’ve sent me flying, but in any case, there was no problem receiving it safely.

"I told you I’d be back soon."

"That’s not what you meant, right?"

"Well, strictly speaking, yes… but does it matter now? We don’t have to go down there anymore."

The crisis had ended, and Artemis had been erased from history.

It was supposed to be that way.

On the surface, the loud noise of propellers and transport plane engines filled the air. The many machine blocks installed on the ground were quickly dismantled, and once again, they were secured in cargo holds or by the cranes of large helicopters, flying back the same way they had come.

Those machines were ones that created vertical passages in real-time by digging holes in the surface to enter the underground sections of Artemis, which were completely blocked off in block units, with no entrances. With the electromagnetic shields gone and the surface facilities in ruins, the United States was now actively engaging.

But all of it was disappearing.

The timer on the UI was ticking down in real-time.

"…You’re still alive."

"Of course. Someone has to look after the Mecha Junior."

"Forget it. Once we get back to base, reconnect. I can’t stand looking at that arm dangling."

The Osprey’s cargo section opened, and all the personnel left on the surface boarded.

There weren’t many left. Aricon, stationed far outside, was too far to stop the high-ranking Artemis personnel escaping, and Laser and Violet had already flown off in helicopters long ago.

Only the Dagger Team, Jin, Rain, and the last survivors, including Lorentina, were the final personnel to be rescued from the facility, and as soon as they got on board, the cargo door closed. A holographic panel on the wall activated, showing what was happening outside.

As Lorentina, who was struggling in her seat, looked pale, Logan handed over a large self-healing kit. The fortunate part was that, since this was a game, the remaining injuries could be healed quickly.

The missing arm, however, couldn’t be fixed.

"We’re taking off. Everyone, don’t make any unnecessary moves and sit down."

The propellers spun, and the massive chunk of metal, easily weighing tons, ascended into the sky.

As it slowly gained speed, the direction of the propellers shifted, and the place where Artemis once stood rapidly disappeared in the distance. Along with the suicide timer, which only had 20 seconds left, a screen appeared before everyone’s eyes. A UAV, positioned several kilometers above, shared the footage of the Artemis base.

As they silently watched the scene, I spoke.

"It’s not quite my hometown, but the place I once belonged to is completely gone."

"It doesn’t matter."

"I see."

5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, and then 1 second.

Just before the complete destruction of the facility, Jin quietly added.

"Now my hometown is here."

And at that moment, a massive tremor erupted from the Artemis HQ.

The flash and light everyone expected never came. Instead, the entire facility began to collapse downward, as if there had been an earthquake. According to Jin, this sight was part of the process where the energy powering the facility overloaded, destroying everything underground.

The explosion that occurred underground engulfed the facility, and the shockwave caused the surrounding area to expand, cracking the ground. The subterranean caverns created by the kiloton-level explosion began to fill in, causing the ground to collapse inward.

This spectacle unfolded across the entire facility underground.

"It’s magnificent."

From the Dark Winter incident to the Seattle Recapture Operation.

There were so many events that it would be too much to list, but throughout all of them, Artemis had continuously been involved, either directly or indirectly. Now, it had finally met its end. It may not have been a complete eradication, but it was hardly a cause for concern.

As long as Jin, now the living embodiment of Artemis, was here, she could probably root out any remaining pockets of resistance, just like a magnet pulling in iron filings.

Thinking this, I finally felt the tension in my body release.

Then a few messages popped up before my eyes.

-[Notification: Artemis HQ Destruction Operation - Operation Ouroboros 'Extermination' Difficulty Cleared.]

-[Notification: Your actions will be remembered in history, and the dead will never rise again.]

-[Notification: Cutscene replay will begin in 20 seconds.]

"Finally."

The clear message popped up before everyone, except the Dagger Team.

Except for the two who don’t breathe, everyone exhaled deeply. Jin and Rain probably still didn’t know what this meant, but if they spent more time with people, they’d naturally learn the meanings of various human actions.

With that thought in mind, I added while looking at the two of them.

"By the way, from now on, your hometown will be the Dagger Team’s base. I’ll be visiting often, so stay healthy."

"…Huh?"

"Wait, hold on… Hey! When has the owner ever abandoned us and run away!?"

Of course, it wasn’t taken seriously.

The moment their gazes met, everyone, without exception, wore wicked expressions on their faces. Lorentina and Logan from the other world laughed and clasped hands with the two.

"Wait… Ugh, why is this person so strong!? I thought they were just good at combat!?"

"Ah, no. I want to stay with Archetype."

"I’ll have to specially tell Junior to tell Big Junior to visit often."

"In that case, the situation changes. I’ll be relying on you from now on."

"Damn you, Gamma, you bastard!"

Of course, Rain’s protest was quickly subdued under the combined efforts of Logan and Lorentina.

As the Osprey, flying south, was enveloped by the sunrise, Operation Ouroboros, full of twists and endless struggles, finally came to a close.