Episode 22 — Laser Line 4



Among the clans heading for the east gate, three forces stood out.
The Gaia Legion, bringing a huge headcount led by two anti-air tanks.
The Overlords, who hadn't brought any armored equipment, but instead had scraped together every veteran of the official season plus any user confident enough in their own skill.
And the Black Tiger Alliance — hungry tigers chasing rewards every bit as much as they were there to enjoy the game.
The Professor had naturally fallen in alongside the Black Tiger Alliance, marching at their flank.
"Alright. In that case, let's leave the vanguard to our Overlords friends. Any objections?"
The leadership of each faction had gathered in the center to finish hashing out the formation.
The Overlords' forces would deploy broadly at the front, encircling the enemy's logistics base, while the aerial force — the Legion users and their anti-air tanks — held the center, and the Black Tiger Alliance, specialists in guerrilla tactics, would split to either flank to respond in case the enemy counterattacked.
They'd tried to assign the Professor's team to rear guard duty, but—
"…Our team will move however suits us. I'd rather you didn't concern yourselves with us specifically."
"Hey! Come on, that's not how this works! We're all on the same side here."
A wave of protest immediately came from the Overlords users, and the Professor, seeming to concede there was no helping it, nodded.
"…Understood. Leave the rear to us."
After exchanging opinions and slowly straightening their formation, the group resumed the march, and soon the east gate district came into view.
Sturdy-looking barricade panels set up by Cosmo Spawn blocked the road, and off in the distance at the center, even at a glance, something resembling six pillars was belching flame.
"Is that... towed artillery?"
"…No. Self-propelled guns. Those legs... they're walking self-propelled guns!"
"Damn it. This is going to be a tougher fight than we thought…"
Just as expected, it seemed this was where Cosmo Spawn's invasion force had set up their main base.
A total of eight steel pillars that looked like self-propelled guns had positioned themselves along the road and atop the low shopping buildings, periodically spitting fire.
"Anyone here bring anti-tank weapons?"
Destroying a self-propelled gun wrapped in what looked like solid, well-fitted armor plating wasn't going to happen with the rifles or pistols most users carried. This called for something on the level of a bazooka or anti-tank mines.
Fortunately, a handful of Overlords users produced anti-tank cannons and recoilless rifles.
"We'll handle the self-propelled guns."
"Ohh…"
Since they'd brought along the exact same users who'd fought through the official season, it seemed they'd also brought along the ones who specialized in anti-tank equipment.
Just as they were about to begin the charge, a Cosmo Spawn soldier spotted them and sounded the alarm. At the shrill blare of the siren, troops came pouring out of the shopping buildings and shipping containers.
"Intruders! Force them out!"
"Fire! Show them a taste of the heat!"
Though things played out a little differently than expected, the users weren't the least bit rattled. They'd been through this exact kind of thing countless times in the official seasons.
Wearing an easy smile, the Overlords' commanding user spoke.
"All forces! Charge in rapid wedge formation!"
"Yes sir!"
No sooner had the order dropped than users bearing shields reinforced with special alloy and submachine guns surged forward at the very front, with those carrying assault rifles and machine guns following close behind.
Pushing forward in perfect unison, almost as a single body, the sight left Cosmo Spawn's soldiers rattled.
"T-these bastards! Their skill level is no joke! Are these really just some ragtag mercenary band?!"
"W-we're going to get overrun at this rate! There's too many of them!"
"Call for backup! Right now!"
But as frantic as they'd become, it was already too late. In an instant, the Overlords' shield-bearers closed the distance and literally shoved the enemy soldiers back by brute force, pushing straight into the logistics base.
"Heave-ho—!"
"Push, push—! Flatten 'em—!"
"Grrrgh…! W-we're being pushed back!"
"Hold the line, you idiots! There's self-propelled guns right behind you! Defend the position!"
The Cosmo Spawn NPC commander, screaming orders from the rear, suddenly felt a chill — the cold presence of death — and flinched.
"W-what is this chill...?!"
His instincts were right on the money.
The very next moment, a large-caliber rifle round buried itself in his temple, putting him down for good.
"T-the captain's been sniped?!"
"What?! Who the hell shot him?!"
"W-where's the comms officer?! We need to call for backup right now! Aaaargh!"
True to their experience in the official seasons, the Overlords users were easily hunting down Cosmo Spawn's soldiers — pushing forward with shields while the assault rifle users following behind picked off targets with gunfire.
The corpses that dropped were stripped bare by the Overlords users waiting behind them as they advanced, cleaning them out of every last item.
Infamous, alongside the Black Tiger Alliance, as one of the greediest clans in the whole game, the Overlords were quite literally stripping the enemy down to nothing but their underwear.
The Legion users pushing up behind them just shook their heads, watching the Overlords' charge with exhausted expressions.
Meanwhile, the Professor's team was making its own moves. Having just sniped the enemy commander, the Professor immediately called out to Shadow.
"Shadow."
"Hm? What's up?"
Shadow leaned her head out from the back seat, and the Professor pointed toward the self-propelled guns.
"Think you could slip in and disable those?"
"Hmm…"
Infiltrating in the middle of a full-scale firefight wasn't exactly simple. Getting in was one thing — getting back out afterward was the real problem.
After a moment's thought, she nodded all the same.
"It might be a bit tricky, but I can do it."
"…I'm not asking you to just break them, by the way. Cuticle."
"Hm?"
Cuticle, who'd been sitting in the trunk, leaned out, and the Professor instructed her to hand Shadow the item they'd prepared.
"Give Shadow the thing we packed just in case."
"Ah, that?"
Cuticle promptly pulled out from the trunk a square-shaped sticky explosive, fitted with a timer.
"…Blow them up with that. You remember how to use it from last time?"
"…Heh. This sounds fun."
Her interest piqued, she gladly took a whole stack of the explosives and stuffed them into the bag slung over her shoulder.
"Alright, I'll be back."
"Go on."
Opening the turret ring's cover on the roof, Shadow leapt out.
Grave, pointing at herself as if asking what she was supposed to do, looked at the Professor.
"……."
"…What am I supposed to do?"
"Get up on the turret and get ready."
"Why?"
"…An aerial assault's about to start."
"……!"
The Professor's prediction hit the mark.
A flash of light burst across the sky, and twelve transport ships suddenly appeared in neat formation directly above the Legion clan.
Unlike the transports they'd seen before, these came properly equipped with defensive turrets this time — armed transports.
"What?! Everyone, brace yourselves! They're counterattacking!"
"Anti-air fire—! Bring every last one of them down!"
The users, unfazed, immediately opened fire centered on their anti-air guns, and this time, the transports answered back, using their mounted turrets to pour fire down on the users.
"Gwaah! Damn these bastards!"
"20mm cannon! Watch out! It'll pop a shield module in one hit!"
"Don't scatter! If we spread out, they'll pick us off one by one!"
A chaotic melee erupted as jetpack troopers dropped down from the transports. Having apparently learned a lesson from the first battle, Cosmo Spawn's soldiers were relentlessly targeting the Legion's anti-air tanks.
"Prioritize destroying those anti-air vehicles—!"
"Don't be afraid! Our technology outclasses theirs completely—!"
With the situation turning like this, the Legion users scrambled into action.
"Protect the anti-air tanks! We cannot afford to lose them!"
"Take down anyone carrying an anti-tank weapon first! Don't let a single one through!"
In the thick of this desperate exchange, one Cosmo Spawn soldier, deftly using his jetpack for evasive maneuvers, finally managed to line up and fire a bazooka.
The target, naturally, was the anti-air tank.
The Legion's commanding user gritted his teeth. He'd expected that at least one of the tanks they'd spent a fortune hauling all the way out here might get destroyed — but he hadn't expected it to happen this fast, or this pointlessly.
"Damn it! Direct hit course! Evasive maneuvers! Damage control, now—!"
"No—!"
Bang!
With a resounding gunshot, the bazooka round was punched clean through and detonated midair — and the large-caliber bullet, its momentum undiminished even after piercing through the warhead, continued on and drilled straight through the forehead of the jetpack trooper who'd fired it.
"Wh-what the—?!"
Startled, the Legion commander turned to look behind him, and there, standing on the rooftop of a three-story building, aiming an anti-materiel rifle, was the Professor.
"…Damn it. Still as creepy as ever, that guy."
To think he'd pierced both the warhead and the gunner with a single shot.
Having confirmed firsthand that the Professor's marksmanship was every bit as good as the rumors said — if not better — the Legion user swallowed hard.
"Everyone see that?! We've got a man with a hundred percent success rate watching our backs! There's nothing to be afraid of! Push forward—!"
"Uraaaaaa—!"
"Knock those jetpack idiots down! We're claiming those jetpacks!"
The presence of a skilled sniper alone was more than enough to boost the users' morale. And when that sniper happened to be the finest contractor around, one insane enough to intercept an enemy sniper's own bullet mid-flight — all the more so.
Fired up by the cheering coming from behind them, the Overlords users' eyes began to light up with their own fire.
"Everybody grit your teeth! Any coward who gets pushed back here is getting sent straight to hell training when we get back!"
"Move it, you plastic-bag bastard!"
Having noticed Cosmo Spawn's soldiers' uniforms gleaming like plastic wrap, the Overlords users had already stopped seeing them as a frightening enemy and started treating them as nothing more than suckers in plastic raincoats.
"Aaagh! Agh!"
"D-damn it! Do something about these cursed shields!"
The enraged Cosmo Spawn soldiers fired wildly, but the shields didn't budge an inch unless hit with something on the level of an anti-tank cannon. That was because they were, quite literally, armor plating cut and reworked from main battle tanks.
"Argh, we even did an aerial assault, why won't these guys stop?!"
"Hey! Bazooka! We can't stop these guys without a bazooka!"
A rookie soldier hastily pulled a bazooka from a container and ran toward the front — but the Overlords users weren't about to let that slide.
"Damn it! That plastic bastard's got a bazooka!"
"Shoot! Turn him into a beehive!"
"?!"
Rifles immediately burst out from between the shields, spitting fire, and in an instant, the soldiers carrying the bazooka were quite literally turned into beehives and left lying on the ground.
"N-no! We're getting overrun at this rate! We need firepower, firepower! Something, anything—!"
Seeing the panic spreading among Cosmo Spawn's soldiers, the Overlords users seized the opening and pushed forward even harder.
"Now's the time—! Crush them—!"
"Their supply containers are right up ahead! Push harder—!"
In the end, with Cosmo Spawn's soldiers getting forced back relentlessly, all that was left to them was to try thrusting their bayonets through the gaps between the shields, however they could.
"Damn you! Die, you outsiders!"
"This is a forced eviction—!"
The unexpectedly desperate counterattack left a few Overlords users badly wounded and forced to retreat, but even so, the charge didn't stop.
"Ha ha ha ha! Yes, now this is a real war! Push harder! Wedge them between their own self-propelled guns and our shields and flatten them into pancakes—!"
—To be continued—