READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 57 - Tactical Spike Hammer
Chapter 57 Tactical Spike Hammer
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[ISO : I expected it to some extent, but it’s beyond imagination. The scale, the armed state, and all the forces are much more serious and dangerous than the riffraff wandering around near New York.]
[ISO : This entire area is not only a tech valley, but it’s also a place that the Rust Belt has clawed through in the past. This means that it was a lawless land overflowing with all kinds of criminals, vagrants, and beggars who had nothing to lose.]
[ISO : Yes. It used to be like that. Now, all of them are quietly rotting away on the streets or frozen under the snow. Who else but Artemis could have done such things?]
[ISO : It will be difficult, but we need all the information we can get about the recent movements and scale of Artemis Technology’s PMCs. They might be holding production lines for cutting-edge weapons that are deployed on the front lines of the war.]
[Objective: Investigate the building’s basement]
ㄴ[Head to the elevator.]
“Sir, are you alive? How was it outside?”
“Fortunately, it’s warmer this time because of the clothes and gear.”
Anaconda(Pig)
Wear “puffy” clothes
Ah lol, makes me want to survive again
New Yoo Jin skin released: Super Chubby Yoo Jin
So where can I buy this skin?
The chat was in chaos.
Although it had decreased somewhat now, the internet was quite noisy when I was surviving not long ago. Among the thousands of streamers, why were reactions related to me so hot?
Naturally, that fire hasn’t easily died down even now, and everyone demands a makeover as soon as my clothes come up.
What’s it called again? Gap Moe? I have endless questions about why that exists for me, but what can I do? I just have to accept it.
Anyway, scrim.
Frankly, I never imagined it. Blocking the mailbox and friend list entirely and forgetting about it turned out to be the worst move. If I had known, I would have just left it open and not checked it.
Feeling anxious, I quickly dealt with the surrounding enemies and checked the message window… it was a mess, but it was clear that the top dozens of messages sorted by recent were all about scrim participation requests.
I felt a bit sorry for ignoring them.
Retracing my memory, I checked my upcoming schedule.
Last time I checked, the Asian preliminaries were on the second weekend of September, so roughly about three weeks were left.
There was a week left until the tournament rank closed.
However, according to the chat, scrims were considered private games, so they weren’t much affected by the tournament rank closure. So there wasn’t much to worry about there.
Then, three weeks ahead. I’m not sure if this will greatly help me, but I think it will be much better than not doing it at all.
But not today.
I can’t arbitrarily change what I have to do on today’s broadcast to a scrim. Especially since today, I have a joint schedule with Harmony.
───Click!
I forced open the firmly closed elevator door and pushed the ascender into the thick steel cable in front. With a clicking sound, it was securely fixed.
“Think of wrapping the cable with the concave part of your two feet, hold the ascender tightly, and then press the down arrow button with your thumb. Or in Harmony’s case, a script might trigger.”
“Ah… it seems like the latter.”
“Then I’ll go down first.”
Zzzzrrrrrk.
With a strange sound, my body rapidly descended along the rope.
The lower I went, the more the lights disappeared except for the emergency lights. It was partly because there was no need to install many lights in the elevator tunnel.
Beyond the dark floor, fortunately, the door leading to the basement was open. I checked for any nearby enemies before Harmony came down.
Harmony, who had safely descended, blinked and looked around, then reloaded the used bullets from the ammo replenishment box in front.
The combination of the sudden decrease in light, the wrecked interior, and the randomly placed space suit models turned the atmosphere into that of a horror movie.
The weather also contributed to a subtle chill.
“…It feels like the game suddenly turned into a horror game.”
“Even if there are ghosts here, they’d get shot dead while trying to scare people.”
What are you saying lolololololololol
This person always makes weird comments with a calm face lololololol
Ah lol, living people with guns are scarier than dead ghosts lol
Given the difficulty here, it’d be better if ghosts appeared
From ancient times, the answer to ghost extermination was lead bullets
Nevertheless, one of the horror movie clichés, the suspiciously wide basement of a building, was fulfilled.
As I crossed the ruined corridor, I didn’t encounter any enemies, which meant the enemies were hiding elsewhere.
And then, sure enough.
“…What kind of place is this?”
“It looks like a server room from the outside. We better not shoot carelessly.”
A facility that looked crucial enough for enemies to pop out at any moment appeared before us.
The size was something like, no matter how you looked at it, the size of a soccer field. Servers were everywhere below, and the temperature suddenly dropped. It seemed to be for cooling purposes.
There were no enemies patrolling yet.
[ISO : They are more careless than expected.]
[ISO : Anyway, it’s quite hopeful. Who would have thought the heart of the enemy would be right in front of us? If you can connect directly to the servers, firewalls will be useless.]
[ISO : Let’s do what we can. Like on the rooftop earlier, one person goes around the servers, connects to the network, and secures the data or creates a backdoor. The other takes care of any enemies around to make it easier.]
With a quick exchange of glances, Harmony went inside while I leaned against an appropriate spot, checking for any signs of enemies.
Through partial vision sharing, I confirmed Harmony reaching the designated location. The ICARUS gear activated and the defense game suddenly began.
[ISO : I guess the enemies aren’t fools.]
[ISO : Of course, no one would just watch thieves stealing their assets.]
[ISO : The longer you stay connected, the more ICARUS can do. Please try to avoid damaging the servers as much as possible.]
[ISO : Even the Artemis guys would avoid using firearms here.]
So they said.
I was just about to put down my gun and take out a melee weapon.
Normally, I’d take out the tomahawk from the holster on my right thigh with my right hand, but in this situation, troublesome enemies might show up.
In that case, rather than an ax that might chip after a few uses… it was time to open the pouch attached to my tail after a long time.
With a snapping sound, I undid the button and took out a weapon similar to a tomahawk, firmly fixed inside.
Oh my, the teacher has pulled out another ominous weapon this time. Really, there is no end.
“It’s a tactical spike hammer.”
Don’t just put tactical in front and make it sound fancy lol
This person is really a human weapon lololololol
Even though they are just catching data pieces, don’t you feel sorry?
Cover Harmony’s eyes!!!!
Really, this person is amazing in many ways lolololol
Although it was a hammer, a sharp blade was attached on the opposite side, and a special hammerhead with a spike containing lethal poison on the front. Originally, a weapon designed just for me weighed about 2.3kg, but this one was about 887g.
Still, it was manageable.
A faint vibration was transmitted from my toes through my whole body.
It was a sound quite different from the continuous one emitted by the server. Naturally, it was the enemies. They were fully armed with pistols, thick bulletproof vests, helmets, and even exosuits, considering a battle in the server room.
In other words, Artemis’s special forces were deployed to counter our free-fire advantage, considering the potential server damage.
They won’t catch us twice.
───Crash!
With a grim sound, the spike-headed hammer flew through the air.
Taking the enemy’s speed into account, I swung it towards the head of an Artemis special forces member rushing down the corridor. As expected, he stumbled forward with the same running speed.
But the next moment, I felt the nanomachine count drop. The upper part of my back was hit by a pistol.
Quickly turning my body, I used the server as a shield. Temporarily tucking the hammer under my arm, I switched to a C-grip, raised the HK337, aimed at the enemy’s torso, and pulled the trigger.
The .300 Blackout rounds fired in full auto thankfully hit all the targets.
“Oh, there’s a strange noise outside. Are you okay?”
“It’s not a big problem, but I’m a bit concerned about what might happen next.”
There was no time to reload.
Smoke was still rising from the muzzle.
“What kind of guy is this, really…?”
“Why? What are you doing? Just watch this.”
“Seriously, this guy just keeps picking fights as if it’s natural, geez… no, just sit down and watch this.”
Xi IMPRESSIVE, shortened to Xi.
A prestigious team in the South Korean Dark Zone pro league, and often mentioned among the world’s numerous pro teams.
Two pro gamers from there were watching a video together.
In the global eSports market, where trillions of won circulate, Dark Zone alone occupies a significant
portion. Pro gamers from this team were as sensitive to information as internal headhunters.
It was natural. They were the ones who practically played the game, competing against countless users, and optimizing the selection of the best players.
In such a situation, one user had caught their attention.
“You’re watching another party scene with female characters.”
“Ah, geez! Sit down and watch! Your avatar has a party scene too!”
“Oh, my eardrums will burst. Is there anything to see, Whale? The video you’re watching is Yoo Jin’s gameplay, right? I watched that fifteen times yesterday.”
“You’ve seen it a lot, a lot….”
Anyway, it means he did watch it.
Reluctantly, the user with a dialect accent, Whale, looked at his seated colleague, Corvus, and shared the screen.
A tablet almost the size of an A4 paper. The screen split into two, one side was black with notes. It was all about gameplay analysis.
Corvus almost uttered the word “crazy” but held back, knowing it wasn’t the first time and the situation was serious.
“Did this guy scrim with us?”
“The management guys said they donated from their own pockets asking for a scrim today. They said it was the first contact since he had all friend requests and messages blocked.”
“He’s impressive in many ways….”
Anyway, that wasn’t the important part.
Naturally, they were pros. Among the best, they were filtered and selected, making capitalists willing to open their wallets to mobilize their resources.
They adapted to the rapidly changing Dark Zone by watching and analyzing countless matches of other users.
And now, they were admiring one user.
“Is this guy really hardcore?”
“ICARUS HQ certified it themselves. And our headhunters lately seem to be thinking, ‘Hardcore or not, let’s just test him.’ Just because he’s hardcore doesn’t mean he can’t compete.”
The basic policy of Dark Zone towards hardcore was strict laissez-faire.
Since almost all content was governed by real physical abilities, hardcore users were almost free to do anything. In short, it was like saying, “Do it if you can.”
Yoo Jin’s unique, intricate plays, which couldn’t be replicated with QTE or general play, were possible because it was hardcore.
Meanwhile, their minds were spinning in another direction.
As always, the international competition’s goal was victory, despite some communication with other teams.
Winning the final championship in Korea would be a national pride, but it was also about which team the winner would belong to.
So, what about the other teams?
What are they doing right now?
“…When does the rank match to select the 100 preliminary contestants start?”
“In exactly a week.”
“Besides you and me, do the others know about this user?”
“Anyone participating solo in Apex will know to some extent.”
The answer was clear.
“We need to scrim quickly.”
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