I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 477

??? Click!

"Ah, this metallic sound. I've touched it for decades, but every time I hear the sound from this rough and sleek chunk of metal, I feel alive."

"...I always think, Senior Laurentina, you really found the right career."

"Of course. I grew up in Vermont. I’ve been holding guns since I was five. It’s an inseparable relationship with this cold chunk of metal."

Oof, Laurentina, control your expression a bit lololololololololololololololol
She's totally in love lol
Opinion: I can understand it
The mods are amazing lololol, it really is different with someone active in the field
Former and current special forces operators casually shooting guns www
Laurentina, while holding the gun, spoke with a slight blush on her face.

Once again, I could feel the unchanging nature of a shark, whether here or anywhere else. I’d explained it several times before, but Laurentina was... someone more dedicated to professional ethics than anyone else in the room. She was extremely accustomed to shooting and taking someone’s life with it.

This professional passion naturally led to a deep affection for the weapons she handled.

While I couldn’t follow Laurentina in that regard, it wasn’t that I didn’t feel anything special for the weapon in my hand. The moment I gripped the several-kilogram chunk of metal, my heartbeat slowed, and only calmness remained.

LVOA-C... now that I think about it, I wonder if it’s still sleeping in my personal gun cabinet.

The barrel shroud, which looked uniquely different from the standard AR-15, and the firearm’s color, a faint greenish hue.

Angle grip, laser target pointer with a finished converging zero, holographic sight, suppressor, and a simple modding setup with a holographic sight. Of course, if you look inside the gun, there were more modifications, like the Rainier Arms charging handle and Geissele Super Select trigger.

In addition to all this, some smaller tweaks had been made, resulting in the gun I held being one of the ones I used when I roamed around New York in the past. As the memories flooded back, my body reacted by double-stacking PMAG magazines into the pouch.

Of course, I didn’t insert a magazine while introducing the weapon to others. Inserting a magazine was only something that could be done at the shooting range.

"Feels really familiar when I finally get back to a weapon I know well."

Wait, Eugene-sensei???
This guy’s getting more dazed by the second lolololololololololol
Shhh, he’s having flashbacks
Wow, that gun looks amazing lol
The guns used by people who eat, mod, and shoot for fun just feel different lolololololololololol
The zeroing had already been adjusted.

I looked around. There were nearly 50 guns, each tuned in different ways. Of course, with Dice, Harmonie, Laurentina, and me all sticking close together, I could tell whose guns were whose just by the accessories on them.

The personal gun cabinets were divided into four main sections. Naturally, it was mine, Dice’s, Harmonie’s, and Laurentina’s. In the shared gun cabinet across the room, there were a few sniper rifles, regular sniper rifles, and machine guns, among the many we had bought.

I shifted my gaze back to the personal cabinets. Dice’s and Harmonie’s cabinets were a bit empty. They weren’t like me or the shark, who had tried every gun in existence, so they had to do some zeroing with their rifles, and they were currently using a few tables to do so.

But even that was nearly finished.

Laurentina, who had been casually looking around, started moving her eyes from side to side.

"How about some real combat shooting, rookie?"

"You’re asking for a bet, aren’t you?"

"Well, not right now, I guess."

This too made me recall my past.

When I worked as an operator in New York, I was on a limited salary. So, if a bet was made, and I lost, I had to buy something for the team—beer, meat, anything.

When my finances were limited, I’d focus intensely on winning those bets, but now... everything felt too peaceful. The saying "poverty creates desperation" really wasn’t wrong.

Anyway, real combat shooting. I was starting to think this might be pretty fun after a long time.

Just as Dice and Harmonie finished their zeroing, it seemed like it was time to give them a proper taste of kill box training.

"Alright, let’s officially start the CQB shooting drills. We’ll build a building up to the maximum height of three stories."

Click.

At that moment, dozens of panels and obstacles began rising from the floor, and large plates with grooves for assembly slowly began lowering from the ceiling. Each panel could generate a hologram, so there was no need for physical targets.

With a clink sound, the first floor was created, followed by the second and third. A notification popped up, saying that most of the panels on the floor had been used up. It looked a lot like the process of creating a map in a portal game made by a company that didn’t know Portal 3.

I couldn’t help but wonder how they managed to integrate such a function into the building.

Anyway, after about five minutes, the building was complete, and a general blueprint and mission popped up before us.

While Laurentina was fiddling with her gun, she inhaled and added,

"Strictly speaking, these are all old guns, but I guess there’s something nice about them sticking to my hand since nothing groundbreaking has really changed."

"Are you talking about the standard-issue rifle?"

"Of course."

Well, that made sense.

Take the Noveske N4, for example. The performance of the weapon hadn’t drastically changed from the previous models. It was just an improvement over the previous HK416 family rifles—small tweaks, really. But, when you look at it closely, it didn’t feel all that different.

These days, it’s all about how you mod the accessories and customize it to fit the user’s needs.

Maybe when infantry railguns come out, things will change, but considering how even the Icarus project was barely considered in the past world, it’ll be a long time before that happens.

Anyway, I briefly checked the blueprint.

For safety reasons, we didn’t have explosives for breach clearing, and even though we were gun specialists, grenades like flashbangs weren’t available. However, "near-flashbangs" could be bought, the ones with downgraded sounds and effects.

I was the pointman, Laurentina was the commander, there was no breach charge, so Harmonie would throw the flashbang, and Dice was in charge of breaking down the door hinges—if there was a door. Honestly, with all the restrictions, no one knew if it would go as planned.

But, of course, that wasn’t really a consideration.

"...Traditional CQB like this... it's been so long."

"Let’s just get warmed up a bit."

I wasn’t really worried.

Harmonie and Dice were great operators, just a bit lacking in stamina.

So, the lights on the ceiling went off, and a rather dark building appeared in front of us. The blueprint gave us just a general idea, but we didn’t know how many enemies were inside.

The holographic enemies projected through the panels could shoot lasers, and if hit, the speakers would announce that the target had been "outed." Safety was the first priority, and second was safety, of course. However, it was going to be much faster than others probably thought.

CQB had to be fast, fast, and faster.

I pressed against the side of the building and thought about the layout beyond the door.

I remembered that directly in front of this door was a long hallway, and that was it. Other doors had various cover angles, so more operators were needed.

With that in mind, I carefully opened the door—

??? Thud!

"Ah, lasers."

"This is why the guys at the front have to put their lives on the line, huh?"

"Throw me a flashbang."

Naturally, anyone with enough options could do what they wanted.

After receiving the flashbang from Harmonie, I snapped my wrist and shoved it deep into the corner of the L-shaped hallway, where I thought enemies might be. As soon as I heard the bang, I couldn’t get in. Not surprisingly, a few rapid-fire shots followed, and as soon as the shooting stopped, we began slicing the pie.

At a tremendous speed.

I placed the fallen friends in the crosshairs, one shot to the chest and one to the head. The hologram flickered and faded, and after waiting for the flashbang's effects to wear off, I shot the head of the friend who was about to shoot again.

The hallway was almost cleared. I exchanged a quick look with Laurentina, and she signaled Harmonie to squeeze.

At that moment, Harmonie let out a painful groan.

"Ouch..."

"Oops. I failed to control the strength. Sorry."

"...I told you to just tap my body with the bulletproof vest."

Normally, in situations like this, it was hard to keep track of the strength adjustments with the intense tension, but that’s how it was.

This is why those with certain abilities had to be careful with everything.

"Shouldn't we be censoring that stream?"

"I don't think there's anything more tactical than what's already been covered in the mainstream media. Given that it's a drone cam in first-person, it's hard to track the movement paths..."

"Who are the two people following behind them? Considering the systematics, it’s impressive they can keep up with that pace."

"They’re my disciples. One of them placed 4th in the Final Championship."

At that moment, there was a strange, creaking sound, and everyone in the room turned their heads toward the source. At the end of the room stood a woman who clearly didn’t belong in this place. However, the unnatural white hair, sky-blue eyes that seemed to embed the sky itself, and bear ears made her presence almost inevitable.

Inside the main headquarters of the Red Right Hand team at Fort Liberty. Logan, who had weaseled through the operators watching Eugene’s live stream, nonchalantly added, “These guys are just tap dancing on the line, doing whatever they want. They should just be holding mini-guns and shooting.”

"Is that supposed to be a calm approach?"

"It’s better than doing that obvious stuff."

Of course, Eugene, ever the professional, immediately blurred out sensitive details whenever something crucial came up—following the current special forces standard operational procedures. Certain parts of the operation, like advanced hand signals or entry prep that had not yet been revealed to the world, were deliberately obscured.

However, if there was something truly surprising, it was that among the four people's movements, there were hints of actions that were not covered in the current CQB (Close-Quarters Battle) manuals or training. And these were exactly the kinds of things that piqued the curiosity of the operators in the room.

Someone stood up and, within 30 seconds, a tactical notebook was brought out. Everyone immediately opened their devices’ memo function or started taking notes by hand.

Suddenly, a debate started.

"They don’t even seem to care where each foot is placed, but their steps are surprisingly smooth. Their slicing the pie is fast enough to be insane..."

"The recoil control is different. It’s not something they casually learned—it’s shooting techniques that come from their inherent abilities as a ‘manifested’ person. Despite that, when you look at how they shoot only in the A zone and T zone, it’s clear they have solid fundamentals."

"When those heavily armed enemies appeared, they quickly switched to full-auto and blatantly took out their heads—pretty satisfying. I didn’t expect them to use 40-round magazines though…"

"The two following them are impressive too. Their speed is slower, but they know exactly what they need to do. Their directional and role switches are smooth, and their awareness of where the bullets will come from is spot on. I like that."

Naturally, it was all praise.

As we moved to higher stages, one of the most important things became how naturally one could connect actions, choices, and reactions. This was precisely why The Unit selected people with extensive combat experience from multiple deployments.

The pressure of real combat, which can’t be simulated with kill boxes or real shooting drills, and all the additional limitations never encountered before. Delta Force had to select highly trained individuals with adjusted combat skills that could handle these realities.

And without a doubt, the four people on the screen—at least individually—had developed highly specialized combat skills.

"I think it’d be fun to have them work on their stamina."

"Some things just can’t be done. Shooting is just a small part of our job."

"Is it too much to wish for a flower on a cliff in this dreary place?"

"You could always spar with Logan. That might make that ridiculous thought go away."

"Do you think I’m some kind of suicide volunteer?"

Of course, Logan just laughed at the whole thing.

Even amidst all this, the TV still showed the four in action. They had already cleared the second floor, and despite a few chaotic moments that would be hard to call CQB, they hadn’t lost a single person and were clearing the last floor.

But perhaps it was inevitable. Harmonie and Dice’s pace noticeably slowed. After maintaining high focus to match the pace of the two manifested individuals, their stamina was quickly running out.

However, neither Harmonie nor Dice immediately dropped out. Instead, they chose a different approach—adjusting the sights with rapid-fire and openly taking down the enemies’ heads. It couldn’t be helped that their magazines were quickly emptied.

The two manifested individuals noticed and laughed at this, pushing Harmonie and Dice to their limits without giving an inch.

After a few minutes, both of the two regular operators, whose bodies were near their breaking point, were starting to twitch in their arms and eyes.

[Notification: Killhouse Training Completed.]
[Notification: With a percentile score of 98.85, the user ranks within the top 0.01% of facility users.]
[Notification: Saving this result.]
"Good job, everyone."

"Wooah…."

"My arms feel like they’re cramping…!"

"Alright, let’s go down."

Whirring sound.

At the same time, the ceiling separated, and the movement panels to bring the four participants down approached. As soon as the four stepped on them, the panels moved toward the ground, and as the facility broke apart, hundreds of spent cartridges and broken bullet heads clattered to the floor.

As the empty shells fell and were conveyed to the back of the facility to be separated, Dice and Harmonie quickly finished their safety check, threw off their bulletproof vests, and collapsed onto the floor in exhaustion. Naturally, they were drenched in sweat.

Seeing this, Rack opened the fridge and threw a few cold ion drinks at them, which Laurentina and Eugene caught and handed to Dice and Harmonie.

"Let’s take it easy now. You all did great."

"My left arm won’t move..."

"Ugh, this drink is way too sweet. But it’s so good..."

"Let’s rest for about 30 minutes, then head outside. It’s almost time to play with the designated sniper rifles."

"Ugh..."

For Eugene and Laurentina, shooting was a sport—and soon, a break.

The smell of gunpowder began to fade.