Chapter 95

The aerial armored vehicle we were on landed at the anti-air facility in the southern sector of the V7 Colony.

In general, colonies were divided into numerous sections, designed to open or close depending on the situation.

This was to make it easier to defend other areas even if some sections became unusable due to an invasion, much like a warship.

The employees and their families who lived in the colony had long since evacuated to the residential area in the south, and for some reason, the invading Titans had not targeted the remaining residents but instead turned toward New Valhalla City.

Thanks to that, when I heard that the damage wasn’t that severe, I was able to put down a bit of the burden in my heart.

Even if I pretended otherwise, I had been feeling uneasy.

“This way, please.”

We were guided from the landing zone by the Security Division chief and soldiers who had been waiting, moving toward the safe zone.

I led the way, and the Special Class kids began to follow behind me in order.

The underground defense facility looked like a modernized catacomb.

As we walked down the long, maze-like corridors, I saw a few children, who seemed to be residents, stepping aside in a side passage to watch us.

“Children?”

“Yes? Ah, ah—!”

Perhaps he noticed their presence later than I did, but the colony’s Security Division chief, who had been leading us, let out a shocked cry and signaled to the other soldiers.

With startled faces, they quickly dragged the children out of my line of sight, and the guide apologized to me in a thoroughly flustered voice.

“M-my apologies! It seems I failed to pay attention to that part. I’m truly ashamed!”

“……It’s fine. Don’t mind it.”

Well, kids can be like that.

Technically, it was against the rules for anyone other than Security Division personnel to enter here, but wasn’t this essentially a disaster situation?

I had no intention of nitpicking over such things.

Of course, I could also understand why the other party reacted so excessively.

The personality of Aaron Stingray being strict about things like this was probably well known even among the Security Division.

Naturally, it wasn’t because he was a principled person, but simply because his personality was arrogant and nasty.

Still, as I was now, if someone reacted to me like I was some monster who ate children, it honestly stung a little.

It made me resent the previous Aaron Stingray, and left a bitter taste in my mouth for no reason.

“……How are the residents doing?”

“Pardon? I didn’t quite hear you?”

The Security Division chief looked flustered again.

It wasn’t so much that he hadn’t heard me, but more that he found it strange I was asking such a question.

Well, I let that much slide.

“It’s this kind of situation, after all.”

“Ah, th-thank you for your concern. But they’re fine. The head office has been continuously looking out for this area.”

The other party, as befit someone in charge, quickly composed himself and gave a formal answer.

Since the head office had been continuously working to reclaim the colony, there hadn’t been any apocalyptic events like food shortages or having to retreat deeper into the bunker to avoid monsters.

Apparently, until just recently, the reclamation operation had been proceeding without a hitch, until a large horde of trolls suddenly attacked, causing a setback.

What surprised me came next.

Right after that exchange—

The man, this so-called Security Division chief, casually muttered,

“Chairman Stingray is a far kinder person than the rumors say.”

“……”

I suppose he meant it as a compliment, but the moment I heard it, my first thought was, Is this guy out of his mind?

Of course, since it was intended as praise, I didn’t feel offended, but if you asked me whether it was appropriate to say something like that to someone far above you in rank… not really, right?

Looking closely, this man didn’t seem like he’d dealt with many high-ranking people despite being a Security Division chief.

Was he suddenly placed in this position of responsibility?

He had the discipline drilled into him, but also seemed somewhat scatterbrained, like his mental world floated a little above others’.

Still, it was too bothersome to correct him over something like this.

It’s not like we’d see each other again anyway.

“What’s your name?”

“Patton, sir. Joshua Patton.”

“……”

Patton.

No wonder the name practically overflowed with eccentricity.

It brought to mind that crazy general from World War II in my original world.

Since it was a name that hadn’t appeared in the original novel, I just let it pass.

Now that I’d confirmed his name, Maria, who was following half a step behind me, would probably take care of things later.

“Now that Chairman Stingray is here today, I believe everything will return to normal!”

“Sure.”

Well, given that the colony had been shut down and production halted, it wasn’t exactly the best situation.

But at least it was better than I had imagined, which was a relief.

At this level, it was safe to say that no one had been harmed because I failed to stop the Titans earlier.

‘I just need to take responsibility and finish the rest today.’

Today, at last, I would be able to wrap up this matter for good.

It felt like I could finally lay down one of the heavy burdens I had been carrying in my heart, and I felt at ease.

* * *

“We will now begin the operation briefing.”

Operation Name: V7.

They had gone as far as giving it a grand operation name, but in the end, the content of the mission was simply to eliminate the trolls occupying the production facility and take it back.

In fact, the name wasn’t grand at all…

This was just the colony’s number slapped on, wasn’t it?

Who came up with this operation name?

Actually, I didn’t even need to ask.

It’s likely the one giving the briefing right now.

That Patton guy or whatever his name was.

I didn’t have proof, but I was sure of it.

“The areas currently occupied by the [Arcanes] are as follows.”

A large 3D holographic projection appeared before us.

It was a model of the entire dome-shaped colony, with the northern part completely collapsed as if a bomb had gone off.

When it zoomed in, a map of the factory district inside the dome unfolded.

Dozens of production plants were laid out in a grid pattern, but except for the ones adjacent to the residential area in the far south, all of them were marked in red.

It looked like roughly two-thirds of the total area.

“These red-marked areas are the regions occupied by the [Arcanes].”

Originally, they had almost succeeded in reclaiming the entire area, but two weeks ago, a hole opened in the north of the dome and trolls swarmed in, forcing the frontlines to retreat.

Then, a few of the colors changed.

“And based on readings from the mana detectors, it is presumed that Otherworld Transformation has progressed in this location, this one, and here.”

Otherworld Transformation.

When mana gathers, a distortion phenomenon occurs that twists reality.

When such distortion occurs over a large area, transforming it into an entirely different world, that is what we call ‘Otherworld Transformation’.

In an Otherworld-Transformed area, [Arcanes] tend to grow significantly stronger, and ordinary humans can’t even operate due to the high mana concentration.

Like a radioactive zone, normal soldiers or Augmentees without dedicated cyberware can’t last long before their cells start collapsing.

Fortunately, Adaptees have some immunity thanks to the nanomachines in their bodies, allowing them to operate far more freely than regular soldiers or Augmentees.

“What stage is the transformation at?”

“Judging by the trolls’ invasion timing and the mana density measured by drones, it appears to still be at Stage 1.”

Otherworld Transformation was divided into five stages according to concentration, with higher numbers indicating greater danger.

Stage 1 meant reality and the otherworld were just intertwined, while Stage 5 meant the otherworld’s dimension had completely overlaid reality.

That Stage 5 was colloquially called ‘stuck on’—like gum firmly attached, making it extremely difficult to peel the two dimensions apart.

But well, since this was only Stage 1, there was no need to worry that far ahead.

With my current specs, I could probably handle up to Stage 4 alone.

“Anything else I should keep in mind?”

“We’d appreciate it if you could preserve as much of the equipment as possible. Once you and the Academy students finish clearing the area, we’ll take over from there.”

So, they wanted to minimize facility damage if possible.

Reasonable enough for someone in charge of security.

Once the trolls and miscellaneous monsters were wiped out, other Security Division soldiers waiting in reserve would enter to handle the rest.

Spraying mana-cleansing chemicals—the same used in Anti-rain—would eventually lift the transformation.

Alright then.

“Iri.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s your turn.”

I had already told Iri to prepare a plan for how to attack this colony and be ready to present it.

“Ah, understood.”

Iri began her presentation with a tense expression.

Using the materials she had prepared, she explained as best she could which points to enter from, what movement routes to take, and so on.

Of course, to professionals, it was probably amateurish at best.

From the start, bringing a student team into a site I could have handled alone was inefficient in itself.

But I firmly believed that the experience itself would serve as material for growth.

The other soldiers attending the briefing seemed to understand my intention in involving them, as no one mocked or dismissed her clumsy presentation.

Joshua, in particular, listened intently and asked sharp questions, offering useful advice, and even covering for a few of her beginner mistakes.

‘I thought he was just clueless, but he’s surprisingly competent in his own field.’

As I quietly revised my opinion of Joshua Patton, Iri’s presentation came to an end.

And everyone’s attention turned to me, the one in overall command.

With one word, I could decide whether Iri’s plan would be accepted or scrapped.

But naturally—

My response was already decided.

“Good. We’ll go with this.”

During the briefing, Stingray V7 Colony Security Division Chief Joshua Patton was quietly astonished.

‘Aaron Stingray… was he always like this?’

Aaron himself seemed to have no memory of it, but the truth was, Joshua had met him before, in another place.

The reason he hadn’t greeted him as if they knew each other was that he didn’t want to initiate familiarity when Aaron clearly didn’t remember him.

And the Aaron he had met back then had been a man with a very different atmosphere.

‘A guy with no trace of humanity.’

His tone, his gaze, his attitude—

Aaron Stingray had been a man who seemed to view everyone equally as insects beneath his feet.

Given his overwhelming power and noble lineage, Joshua supposed it was understandable.

But apart from that, he had classified Aaron as ‘the kind of person you could never like on a human-to-human level.’

Joshua had also resented Aaron deeply for the fall of V7 Colony.

Even if there had been little employee casualty, the fact remained that the place had ended up like this because Aaron hadn’t come to help at the right time.

And Joshua had been certain that Aaron felt no guilt or compassion about it.

Whether employees and their families had to hide underground for over a month or eat dirt to survive—it was, after all, just the suffering of unrelated lower-class people to him.

But—

The man he met again after so long was completely different from his memories.

-“How are the residents?”

His voice carried not only a strange compassion but also guilt.

He even let it slide when children wandered into a restricted zone without permission.

‘In the past, he wouldn’t have thought twice about taking someone’s head for that…’

And that wasn’t all.

The old Aaron wouldn’t have even listened to the briefing, instead charging straight into the battlefield.

He would have wielded his disaster-class power as a high-level Adaptee to clear the situation instantly, then humiliated the commanders with, ‘You called me for this?’, before leaving in annoyance.

But today was different.

Today’s Aaron had brought along the Academy students he sponsored, giving them the opportunity to gain field experience.

‘What on earth happened?’

There were rumors he had recovered from a serious illness—had nearly dying changed him somehow?

Joshua had been so shocked by the change in Aaron’s demeanor that he had even forgotten himself and made a slip of the tongue earlier.

‘…Tch. I’d better be careful.’

Aaron had let it slide this time, but next time he probably wouldn’t.

Still—

‘I’m a bit curious now.’

Why had Aaron suddenly changed?

Joshua suspected it was highly likely that the students he brought this time were connected to it.

If that guess was right, what kind of abilities did those students have to make Aaron change so much?

His curiosity only grew.

“…Module Online.”

In the end, unable to resist, he decided to secretly confirm it for himself.

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