Raid Commander

 

Raid Commander

Translator: Isabelle Emerson

 

 

Prologue

 

 

Mechanical monsters attacked the Earth.

The planet had been at war for a year.

Countless people were killed, and cities were destroyed.

Humanity was able to overcome the crisis thanks to the support of the Species Alliance.

The war ended and a new era began.

Interaction with an alien race caused conflict.

There was a hunt for the remaining mechanical monsters.

Technological advances were triggered, and there was an unprecedented boom.

And so, ten years passed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1: The Corpse of an Alien

 

 

A gunshot.

The sound of bullets came out like thunder. Monsters were torn apart by the rain of ammunition.

“Hold your fire.”

Soohan clicked the safety on his rifle in a single stroke.

He eyed the pandemonium around them.

No one was injured.

The only bodies scattered about belonged to mutants that resembled earthworms.

It was possible to be ambushed, but mutants could also be detected in advance with a mutant locator.

They hadn’t been mutants of C-class or higher which modern weapons didn’t work well against. They were E-class garbage at best. A single well-trained soldier could have wiped them all out.

“Alright, let’s move on.”

At Soohan’s command, the two squads began to advance cautiously.

A heavy rain began to fall. It used to be at times like this that mutations occurred. It was necessary to wipe them out in moderation before they blew through the front lines.

“Mutants detected at 11 o’clock! Numbers are about 50, distance 500!”

“Why are there so many? Everyone, prepare for battle! Stay on your toes!”

500 was close.

As Soohan approached carefully and looked, he could see that this time it was caterpillar mutants. Dangling from the pine trees, they let out a horrible shriek and charged at the platoon.

Striking his gun, it turned into a harpoon.

After the caterpillars were taken care of, there were no more mutants detected.

Soohan raised his right hand.

“Rest for 10 minutes. But stay alert.”

“Whew.”

“Ow, my legs.”

 The platoon members began to groan.

They hadn’t been able to return to the campsite for the last few days. They had wandered the Gaema Plateau in search of mutants but were reaching their limit.

Soohan communicated with a nearby platoon leader.

[The platoon members are exhausted. We should wrap up this operation.]

[All right. The commander said it would be better to come back tomorrow. Let’s continue until this afternoon and return tomorrow after the evening camp.]

[Okay.]

Their short break passed quickly.

Even so, when Soohan spread the news that the operation would be finished soon, the members shouted in joy. They were encouraged by the fact that they would finally get a break tomorrow after suffering today.

“It must have rained a lot,” said Sergeant Kwon Joon, the third squad leader, in a low voice.

Soohan nodded silently.

Every step they took was muddy. Landslides seemed to have occurred as things were knocked over here and there. A large tree had been knocked over, its roots facing the sky as worms and ants wriggled among them.

The soldier with the mutant locator suddenly cried out.

“Mutants detected at 9 o’clock! Number is about 30, distance 1000!”

“Level?”

“They’re all E-class.”

“Okay. We’ll get rid of them.”

30 wasn’t difficult.

He approached as he listened to the soldier’s report in real time.

He passed over a hill. Not a single tree stood intact. A landslide had probably occurred.

All that remained was a trail of destruction.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did a satellite fall?”

A silver object glinted on the collapsed hillside.

It was quite large even from a distance. It was round, and about the size of a studio apartment.

It was difficult to identify the shape because it was covered in foreign substances. However, it was clear that it was not something made naturally.

The soldier gave Soohan another report.

“The mutants are inside of that.”

“Really? I’m in trouble.”

Soohan frowned.

It was unwise to engage in close combat with mutants. A single blow could put your life at stake. It was best to shoot them from a distance or drive them into a trap.

“Let’s approach first and lure them in.”

“Okay.”

“You three follow me, you four cover 50 meters back. Notify me if any of the mutants move.”

Soohan moved carefully.

The slope was slippery. It was damp and humid and Soohan had no way of knowing when the ground would slip out from beneath him. The angle was also considerably steep, so he could easily be seriously injured if he fell.

It didn’t take long to reach the silver object.

Now he could see that it was part of some huge structure. The round protruding part had been exposed to the outside by the landslide.

After wiping off foreign substances, a dazzling silver wall appeared. The metal was shiny like a spaceship or an airplane. It was also cold against his hand.

It wasn’t aluminum or steel, rather some metal he had never seen before.

There was a small hole in one side, big enough to fit one or two people.

He wondered what it was.

Neither the commander nor the platoon leader had ever mentioned anything about this structure.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Suddenly, the detector alarms went off like crazy.

Soohan stepped back in surprise, raising his gun and aiming it at the hole.

“Captain! We’ve detected an X-0!”

“What? What’s the concentration?”

“It’s 1.3!”

X-0.

It was a genetically modified substance that the mechanical monsters had unleashed on Earth during the Great War. If you inhaled a certain amount, your body would begin to deform, and your mind would lose its sense of reason.

1.3 wasn’t too strong. It was almost harmless to the human body. But they couldn’t be too relaxed.

Anyways, X-0 detection was the same as detecting mutants.

Soohan pushed the squad back little by little.

After a moment’s thought, he pulled out a grenade.

“I’ll lure it out, so make sure you all get down and shoot.”

After checking on both units, Soohan rolled the grenade into the opening.

The whole stretched out horizontally, and the grenade rolled inside easily before a loud bang resounded.

Dust fluttered through the air. The silver structure shook for a moment, but there was no significant damage. Instead, Soohan began to move.

The soldier with the locator device then screeched.

“There are 30 mutants! They’re moving!”

“What direction?”

“The hole! They’re coming out the hole! Ah, right now…”

“Aaaah!!!”

Strange-looking mutants burst out of the structure screaming.

They resembled lizards, but without eyes or ears.

Similar in size to a small dog, they had tentacles hanging like catfish whiskers all over their bodies. Claws like a chicken hung from their toes and sprayed a strange, thick essence.

Soohan immediately pointed his gun at them.

“Argh!”

Bang! Bang!

Everyone was in position.

All the mutants that rushed toward them vigorously died one by one.

“Are there any left?”

“None within a 5-kilometer radius.”

“All right. It’s late, so let’s stop here. Good work, everyone.”

“Great work!”

He started clearing the debris.

It wasn’t good to leave a mutant corpse unattended. The body had to be collected, sprayed with a preservative solution, or made up. Otherwise, another mutant could eat the body and become stronger.

After finishing cleaning, Soohan reported to the platoon leader.

[Good work. You found something strange?]

[Yes. It’s like the wreckage of a crashed plane or satellite. I’m not exactly sure.]

[Can you send me a photo?]

[Yes.]

Soohan took a photo and a video before calling the leader back.

[That… I think it’s mechanical monster debris.]

[Huh?]

[There were quite a few mechanical monsters destroyed here during the Great War, it’s likely that that’s one of them. Look at this photo.]

The platoon leader sent a photo.

Soohan gulped at the sight.

The mechanical monster resembled a starfish, with multiple round protrusions coming from its head. It was quite similar to what Soohan was looking at now.

[It might not be true. But the possibility of coincidence can’t be ruled out. I’ll head that way, too, but before that, can you do some quick reconnaissance? You don’t have to do it if it seems too dangerous.]

[We killed all the mutants inside. I’ll check it out.]

[Okay. Don’t do anything rash. Safety is your first priority.]

[Got it.]

Soohan called the platoon members together and briefly explained the current situation.

“That’s a mechanical monster?”

“Is it really dead?”

“If it was alive, it would have already attacked us. It seems to me like it has been buried for a long time and was uncovered by the landslide.”

“Still…”

The platoon members glanced at the silver structure.

Thinking of it as a machine monster, it suddenly looked much more intimidating.

There was nothing to fear. If it was a machine monster, it had been left unattended for the last 10 years.

A living machine monster was scary, but not a corpse.

Soohan confirmed that his platoon’s morale was still strong. Then, he nodded and gave the orders.

“Three of you come with me, four of you remain out here. We’ll take a break every 10 minutes to check communication. Each squad leader should report to me immediately if anything goes wrong.”

“Roger that.”

The men wore gas masks and chemical gloves due to the presence of X-0. It was weak now but could become more potent once inside.

Soohan led the way inside.

The hole was narrow, but it was quite spacious once inside. The space was big enough for two or three people to move side by side.

The inside was bleak.

The metal framed structures were exposed in an unruly manner. Bunches of wires hung down like vines, and scraps of metal rolled around like insect corpses on the floor.

It was like entering a dead world.

Not a sound was heard. There wasn’t any movement. It was as if they were asleep in a breathtaking silence.

Still, they had to be careful.

There was a possibility of some kind of defense device still being activated, or insects could have been mutated by leaking X-0 emissions.

Fortunately, nothing showed up.

They detected a few beam launchers, but that was it. There was no movement even as they moved farther inside.

It really seemed like just a corpse.

They advanced with caution.

Soon, the sunlight was cut off and they were plunged into darkness. Everyone used their night vision goggles.

“There’s a door here!”

After walking for a while, they found a half-open door. There was no handle, but it turned out to be a sliding door.

Soohan looked back at the detection soldier. When the soldier nodded, he entered first with his gun raised. The platoon members followed closely.

Inside they found a spacious room. The room was round, forming a donut around a raised platform in the center.

The height difference between the platform and the rest of the room was considerable. If one stood atop it, they would be able to see the entire room. In the middle there was a fancy chair with someone sitting in it.

Soohan immediately aimed his gun.

“Who are you?”

“Captain, what are you… ah!”

The platoon members finally noticed the situation. Everyone pointed their guns towards the chair.

However, there was no movement.

The detection soldier tapped on his locator device before reporting to Soohan.

“There’s no biological response. It looks like a corpse.”

“Ah, really?”

He supposed they hadn’t realized that right away because of the night vision goggles. Even if the technology was advanced, it still wasn’t as clear as seeing things with the naked eye in broad daylight.

But why was there a corpse here?

Soohan cocked his gun and climbed up to the chair. He lowered himself moderately and looked at the body sitting in the chair.

He was a little over six feet tall. Since he had clearly been there for a long time, the body had dried up and shriveled like a mummy.

He couldn’t see the face because it was covered by a plain white mask. He was dressed in a silver material with a metallic texture. Some kind of text wrapped around the body’s left wrist like a bracelet.

And there was a sword sticking straight out of his chest.

The sword was red and radiating heat. Red jewels were embedded into the handle and a wing-shaped decoration extended down from the blade.

Above all, it was a heavenly sword.

It wasn’t made of metal. It was if red energy had been solidified and shaped.

Soohan groaned.

“A red seraph blade…”

The most powerful race in the coalition.

Why was a seraph blade stuck in the chest of this dead body?

Soohan examined the body slowly.

At first glance, it looked like a human. The body shape and overall frame were the same.

He nudged the body lightly with the tip of his gun.

Chest, neck, arms, etc.

The gun bumped into the bracelet. At that moment, something like a wave swept through Soohan’s body.

‘What was that?’

Soohan paused for a moment.

He felt uncomfortable somehow. He slowly recoiled with his gun pointed toward the body.

The platoon members began to shout from below. They had to shout loudly because of the gas masks.

“Captain! What is it?”

“You guys can come up and see for yourselves. I’ll report to the platoon leader.”

Soon the two squad leaders came up. It was a small area, so it was crowded with three people.

Kwon Joon looked at the body, his eyes shining in curiosity.

“Is this an alien? Like from the empire?”

The empire.

Not much was known about it.

All that was known was that they made countless mechanical monsters and attacked countless dimensions……

Soohan nodded.

“Ah, those guys? You’re probably right. I’ve heard about alien bodies being excavated a few times.”

“Judging from the seraph blade, he must be from the empire.”

That sounded plausible to Soohan.

There was no way an Earthman would be killed by a seraph blade inside a mechanical monster.

He quickly reported to the platoon leader.

The platoon leader was surprised. With the presence of an alien body, he was sure now that it was a mechanical monster.

After completing the report, Soohan went down quietly.

He just had to stand guard for a little while. Then the troops would arrive and take over and all he would have to do was return to camp and rest.

At that moment, everyone who entered the room took their eyes off the body.

The bracelet on the body’s wrist blurred. The letters flew up into the air like butterflies covered in a faint light.

However, no one saw it. Even if it passed right by their noses, they were calmly unaware of their surroundings.

Like it didn’t even exist.

The letters slowly seeped into Soohan’s back where he was turned away from the body. Racing through his skin, they settled on his left wrist.

Soohan inadvertently scratched at them.

On his wrist covered with gloves, small patterns appeared.

[フ∐ΨΔЦяºワßɩɞ∏∓¥€⌸⍜]

Symbols like letters.

In addition, the letters weren’t fixed. They continued to change shape. The speed of change was so fast that they appeared like blinking black dots.

Soohan had no idea what was happening on his wrist. He was only aware of his surroundings while waiting for the follow up troops.

Finally, the dots stopped blinking.

The pattern was settled. Several sentences appeared, covering his wrist tightly before disappearing one after the other.

[User language framework analysis complete.]

[Genetic analysis complete.]

[User authentication… complete. Verified.]

[360 hours before Level Up Guide Operation.]