Chapter 40

Mo Yeonhoo looked around, wondering if he ought to at least say hello.

I need to buy a headset.

But he didn’t have one with a mic.

(Alliance) 0momo0: I don’t have a mic T_T hi everyone!

The moment he typed that into chat, the alliance members started greeting him one after another.

—Welcome~ Momooo~

—Hey. Wanna come eat?

—Hello.

—Wow! Ah! A newbie! Ah! Hiiiii!

—Welcome!

—No wonder I smelled something nice, baby! The baby whose life I saved!

Even with each of them saying only one line, it felt like the speakers were about to blow out.

Wow.

Mo Yeonhoo was actually pretty outgoing as long as he wasn’t standing in front of a woman he liked, but being around this many people inside a game was something else. He was so overwhelmed he couldn’t react and just blinked at the screen, and in the meantime ShinJadu swiftly took control of the flow of conversation.

—Everybody focus for now. We’re not in a good spot.

Unlike the cute, drawling way he spoke, his voice was that of a fairly husky man. In any case, his interruption brought the greeting relay to an end.

—Looks like <Hawk> pulled back to C7? Fast as fuck. Somebody check the watchtower!

—Factory checking.

—Makes sense~ there are two of them~

—I finished setting out all the food too, so I’m joining in now.

Every time the briefing moved quickly along, the speaker’s name popped up in the upper-left corner, making it easy to tell who was talking.

Everybody sounds almost the same in-game as they do in real life!

1Poop1 dropped “fuck” into every other sentence, FUNK said only exactly what needed to be said, GoodLuck had that rustic drawl, and BBQ’s voice was soft and calm.

What are they even talking about?

Mo Yeonhoo tilted his head. He couldn’t really follow the content of the briefing, only fragments like the coordinates.

C7?

The place everyone here was keeping watch on was the E7 watchtower. C7 was the complete opposite side from here.

Oh—E7 is <HamHidden>! So C7 must be <Hawk>!

They had said they were fighting two groups, after all. And the moment he finally got it, the order dropped.

—Got it! Then only BBQ, ShinJadu, and dude stay on this side! Everyone else move to C7!

The second the instruction ended, the alliance members instantly jumped down from the outer wall in a wave.

—Oh.

—Okaaay. I got it.

—Ah! Yep!

—Understood!

dude with his curt reply, MyApologyLetterIsInEnglishGlobal sounding like someone who loved throwing English around, YoureGettingSued with their cute, coquettish voice, MouseTrap with their military-tight tone—

They all answered at once and started running for the C7 outer wall on the opposite side. Of course, “just running” made it sound easier than it was.

—Bang-bangbang!! Bang!

The moment the alliance members dropped off the wall and exposed themselves, sharp gunfire rang out. Some of the enemy had suppressors on; without even a sound, fresh bullet marks sank into the spots where the alliance members had just been standing.

—Oho~ just grazed us~ They built that watchtower way too high.

—Would’ve been nice if it were one floor shorter.

—That’s fucking annoying!

The watchtower built at E7 didn’t miss the alliance members’ movement and kept spraying fire at them.

Of course, alliance <47> wasn’t going to just sit there and take it.

—Bang!

dude immediately fired in support. The enemy who’d been attacking with only the muzzle poking out staggered violently and dropped on the spot.

—One skull cracked.

—Confirmed one kill. Nice!

To aim at them, the enemy had to expose at least part of their body. So the people left behind at E7 immediately returned fire the instant even a single body part came into view.

I should go too!

Mo Yeonhoo decided to follow the others for now. As he hurried after the people running ahead of him toward C7, he thought:

What can I even do as a (Necromancer)?

A (Necromancer) needed monsters around before they could really use their skills, and right now there wasn’t even a hint of one in sight.

Should I just grab a gun and shoot too?

In field combat, (Sniper) was essential because of Siege War. So even if your class was something else, once you got supplied with a gun, you could still fill a sniper role.

Of course, people said equipping a sniper rifle locked some class skills, and there were so many different gun types that handling them wasn’t easy either.

Still, I want to help somehow...

He already knew his aim was terrible. Even so, Mo Yeonhoo wanted to contribute however little he could, and he was just about to look up how to use a gun—

—Up there!!

If not for the shout exploding in his ear.

Trailing at the very back of the line, Mo Yeonhoo instinctively looked up at the cry. Something was visible above the huge C7 outer wall, the kind that looked too massive to ever collapse.

Something black. Round.

“Huh?”

In the next instant, that circle suddenly split apart.

No—spread wider, multiplying into several circles.

—Get down!!!

They were rockets.

Every alliance member running ahead dropped flat at once. There wasn’t a second of hesitation. Mo Yeonhoo also found the crouch key and threw himself down.

—KWA-BOOOOM!!!!! BOOM! KWABOOM!

A deafening blast followed, and the first-person screen blurred out instantly. Then the sandstorm began to clear, and the outer wall started to come back into view—

—Ah, are they fucking insane?

A low, disbelieving laugh came out of 1Poop1.

—That’s a full-on funeral beam, holy shit.

The outer wall had collapsed, and every defense soldier guarding the front of the ruined C7 wall was dead.

Then once again, the shadow of more rockets fell overhead.

Can you normally... fire rockets back to back like that?

Rockets were incredibly expensive. They also took a very long time to produce, so once they were used, there should’ve been a long gap before the next strike. But another wave came flying in, and the alliance members audibly sucked in breath.

—KWABOOM!!!

There were fewer than before, but the rockets poured through gaps in the partially collapsed wall and exploded with an ear-rending roar.

Then a notification filled the screen.

<img alt="warning2.png" src="https://webview-cache.ridibooks.com/3302046711/epub/images/Images/warning2.png"/>

Alliance <47> main base C7 outer wall has come under concentrated bombardment!

⚠ Current outer wall durability: 11% (Critical damage)

-[Barrier Generator] shut down (energy cut off)

-[Repair Engine Core] 65% damaged (recovery delayed)

Restoring the current damaged zone will consume 12,500 resources / 40 parts / 3 workers / 10 minutes.

※ If recovery is delayed, outer wall defense decreases by 30%.

The second the notification window appeared, groans erupted everywhere.

—Ah, fuck! We should’ve sniped them out of the sky. My movement was too fucking slow!

—It’s total chaos over there right now! Why are their rockets this fast? Didn’t we pull them all out earlier?!

—Looks like they got resupplied from somewhere.

—Did <HamHidden> supply <Hawk>?

—They’re not rich enough to be handing stuff out to <Hawk>. Haaah.

—Forget that~ Repair C7!!!!! I’m going to fix the equipment, got it?!!!

GoodLuck slung a huge backpack over his shoulders and sprinted toward the burning facilities.

At his briefing, the alliance members who’d been hugging the ground and eating dirt all jumped up and started running toward the outer wall like mad.

—Where are the repair kits?!

—The repair blueprints should be hidden in the box near the outer wall. Grab them quick and start repairs. Move, fast!

—Yep!

But even getting to the box wasn’t easy. Mo Yeonhoo had already seen several bullets barely miss the back of his heel.

Still, after scrambling to the box and grabbing a repair kit, a hammer appeared in 0momo0’s hand.

(Notification) 🛠 Repair kit in use.

The moment he pressed it to the broken wall, a repair notification popped up.

—Clang! Clangclang!

With a loud metallic racket, the collapsed wall’s durability started climbing, but—

(Notification) 🛠 Repair time is delayed because the current user’s repair level is low.

With his low repair level, it honestly felt like fixing even one brick would take him all day.

(Notification) 🛠 You can use an Instant Completion Ticket to finish repairs at once.

As if it knew exactly what he was worrying about, a cash-shop prompt popped up in front of him.

An Instant Completion Ticket...

Didn’t that mean he had to buy it from the shop?

Whatever. I’ll buy it.

He stared at it for a second, then opened the shop and was in the middle of purchasing several Instant Completion Tickets when gunfire rang out.

—Bang, tabang, bang bang bang!

This wasn’t the time to leisurely browse the shop. They were in the middle of a battle.

Mo Yeonhoo hurried through the purchase, checked the situation again, and let out a groan.

—This gunfire is fucking annoying.

As if the enemy alliance was going to quietly sit back and let them repair the wall.

Apparently deciding it was hopeless to keep repairing under the current fire, 1Poop1 threw down the repair kit and dropped flat.

—I’m done repairing. I’ll suppress them hard as fuck instead!

Then 1Poop1 started firing like a madman.

—Bang! Baaang! Bangbang!

As expected of a class closest to firearms, his weapon switching was fast too. Even without using a dedicated sniper weapon, he put out enough suppressing fire that the hail of bullets that had kept skimming past their backs finally stopped.

But—

—Fuck, my hands sting.

1Poop1 had taken heavy HP damage.

With all the defense soldiers dead and the wall’s durability already down, even just trying to suppress the enemy made him easy to target, and his HP dropped in huge chunks.

The other alliance members frantically repaired the wall beside him while he jammed in a healing item.

—They used up a rocket wave this round, so there’ll be a gap, babies. Everybody stay calm~.

—This is fucking rough. BBQ, how much food is left? Got any phys-def* food?

—Okay. Delivering it to Bikki now.

—Bring more resources, babies. GoodLuck, can you get here right now? We need your skill here.

—Seven minutes on repairs~

The alliance members were deadly serious, tossing information back and forth at breakneck speed in a conversation Mo Yeonhoo could only half understand.

—<HamHidden> over at E7 is pretty quiet though.

—Looks like they abandoned one of <HamHidden>’s three watchtowers?

—That’s good news, baby.

—Still, it ought to stay quiet till the next turn.

—Right!

Once one side launched a big push, they needed time to recover too, so the alliance territory fell quiet again.

Then—

—KWAKWAKWANG!

Another impact smashed into an outer wall, and the alliance members all let out long sighs.

—Let’s go! Where is it this time?!

—Looks like it’s time to get back to work. Heh heh.

—Good grief, there’s no break at all~

But something about the conversation felt off.

—That wasn’t our side... where are we going?

—What the fuck are you saying, obviously back to E7 to supp—

—E7 is fine. Wasn’t that hit just now at C7?

—What?

This time it wasn’t the C7 outer wall.

It wasn’t the E7 outer wall either.

—What is this? That’s where I’m moving right now.

—Where?

KimFactory, apparently evacuating with resources in hand, muttered in confusion and posted their coordinates in chat.

—They’re firing rockets at D8.

It was somewhere completely different.

—They’re setting off fireworks over here right now.

—Huh? Why there?

D8 wasn’t the center of the alliance territory where the core buildings and warehouses were clustered. It was a remote area, nothing but gathering zones.

The fact that the enemy had wasted rockets there left every alliance member baffled, but—

—Ah, fuck....

Click. ShinJadu’s mic switched on.

He almost never cursed, and the fact that he’d done it over voice made everyone fall silent for a moment.

Then, with a loud alarm, a bright red window suddenly exploded onto the screen.

<img alt="warning2.png" src="https://webview-cache.ridibooks.com/3302046711/epub/images/Images/warning2.png"/>

The alliance core is under attack!

According to preconfigured settings, an emergency assembly alert is now being activated.

⚠ Core shield status: 100% → 92% (Rapid damage in progress)

If the core is destroyed, the alliance territory will collapse!

*physical defense