OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 346: The First Mission

Emir leaned on his right hand, watching as the once-stunned Quinn left the floor.

They seemed to have forgotten that their professor had access to cameras, giving him a front- row seat to their well-acted drama.

'Things are going well-.'

Snickering, his face slowly turned serious as he closed his eyes and said:

[It's almost time for the mission. I'll be cutting off communication now.]

[...]

Unlike usual, Lyra took her time to respond, and eventually, she materialized before him, her hologram seated on his desk.

[...Are you sure?]

Her question echoed in his mind a couple of times, as if insisting on its weight. [Yeah...]

He conveyed his confidence with a casual nod.

[I'll be in an open channel with them, if they have high-ranking NetWeaver connected, they can scan my neural network and find you. If they find you, they can attack your database, and if they succeed, they'll know everything about us. We're better off not risking it.]

Lyra listened to his words, nearly nodding along in agreement, but her emotions overpowered her logic.

Disconnecting from him on purpose was happening for the second time, and she dreaded the day it would become a regular occurrence.

[I know... But still, you have to see where I'm coming from, right?]

He understood her woes, but he saw no other way. It had to be done.

[I'm sorry.]

So there was nothing else he could do but apologize.

She gave a sad smile at that word. Although she felt the struggle he was going through, it didn't stop her from feeling so... No.

To escape those thoughts, she immediately disappeared, cutting off her connection with him and returning to her work.

If she had to do it, at least she would busy herself with matters of life and death.

"Man..."

Emir sighed and leaned back in his chair, his right hand massaging his forehead. "...She's becoming human."

...

...

Professor's Meeting Room, Fourth Floor

"Even though it's your first mission, try not to let us down too much. Amon must have had some reason for picking you... despite the filth."

Judas's stern voice resounded as he stood before three professors, each seated at a different side of a long oval table.

"Whatever you say, inbred Sir."

That was Ragnar, sitting to the left nearest to the door, rolling his eyes as he put his feet up on the table.

Tsk!

Judal, who stood next to his twin, puffed his cigarette while flicking his finger, creating a tendril of darkness that sliced through the air, narrowly missing Ragnar's shoulder.

"Show some respect, ya pubes infested bastard! Try it again, I--"

"BUAHHAHAHAHAHA!"

Emir, sitting in the middle, let out a loud laugh, stopping Judal's roasting session from spiraling out of control. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"Hehe..."

Morgiana, who noticed that, gave a few giggles herself, not interfering too much, mostly keeping quiet and listening.

"Focus back on me and cease that laughter. You sound like a dying, impure animal." Shrugging his shoulders, he did as he was asked, and as did Ragnar, finally quieting down. "You three are fortunate. At last, we have something different. The last ten missions were merely tedious assassination jobs, clearing out Constructs that slipped past the front lines."

Intrigued, Ragnar leaned forward, acting as if he hadn't done any research beforehand, which he actually hadn't.

"How so?"

Judas picked up on that but didn't comment, only answering his question:

"We'll be hunting a seven-core."

Emir smiled.

"C'mon, spit it out."

Ignoring his words, Judas continued:

"A War Queen as big as a medium-sized hill is our target. We need to get rid of it before the next sunrise. It's resting near Sector 9-C in Russia, blocking the common routes to Sector 10-

B."

Tilting his head, Emir asked:

"That's all?"

Judal answered in his brother's stead, sending a cloud of cancerous smoke at him:

"That's all you need to know, creepy fuck."

Scoffing, Emir stood up and headed towards the door.

"What about transport? We using Gateway's portal station?"

Ragnar followed behind him and said:

"No, it'll be better if I teleport you guys. I've got my Aether stored in all eleven sectors, so

there'll be no problem with that as long as I'm here."

Morgiana joined them.

"What about the clean-up crew?"

Judas, not one to stand behind others, zapped to the front, his body bright with light in a way similar to Emir's and Blade Dancers' Flash Step.

"I'll have them deploy a few APCs; by the time we kill it, they'll be there. Mind you, the vehicles we're using aren't the usual black market fare. They're brand new, equipped with magnetic repulsion tech like the train, which makes them far faster on all types of terrain."

Snickering, Ragnar commented:

"Did they pay you? If not, they should, you sound like a pretty good salesman."

Judas gave Ragnar a death stare before Judal could fire back like usual.

"Eat pig manure and die filth."

"Yes, fuck you, Sir."

The two continued to cuss each other out as they equipped themselves and teleported

towards the ninth sector.

During that time, Emir telepathically explained to Ragnar the report that he had gotten from Nathan about the mission.

As stated, the monster was named War Queen; the Queen of what used to be tiny Army Ants

turned massive.

Her current nest was aboveground and consisted of soldier ants as large as dogs, numbering two hundred thousand and more.

Their numbers used to be in the millions, but due to the bounty placed on it, the queen lost most of her children. After surviving many battles, she was unable to protect them from the hundreds of hunters who pursued her.

But even though they killed so many of them, they never touched the queen herself, she was nestled too deep in her base-like nest of ants.

This caused her bounty to balloon up to an insane amount.

One hundred Valora.

Such an inflated number wasn't unusual.

It commonly occurred when hunters repeatedly failed to hunt a high-core monster that

blocked many kilometers of space.

That was because it would lead to massive losses for the corporations that depended on the pre-established routes that weaved through those various spaces.

To combat this scenario, those corporations group together and increase the bounty price, skyrocketing the hunters' interest in exterminating it.

After all, what else would hunters chase? And who would say no to a hundred billion UC?

If they managed to do it, they could live like kings for the rest of their lives, as could their

children, their grandchildren, their grandchildren's children, and so on.

But that wouldn't happen. Their dues wouldn't be paid.

The corporations wouldn't allow it. It would hurt their margins.

And so...

Emir's unnamed group was tasked with preventing such scenarios.

They were called just as a squad of hunters whittled down the ants enough that this dream

became feasible.

So tonight, they would swoop in, steal their kill, crush the dream, and leave like they were

never there.

Unfortunately, the bounty wouldn't be given to them, but at least Amon promised a good

reward for those who worked hard.

Now all of this information wasn't necessary. Sure, it was to those who led the operation, but

Emir and the other two were foot soldiers, they only had to do as they were told.

[It's like garnish on a well-cooked dish.]

Ragnar understood that, but he still liked to know, even though he didn't act like it.

[I like that analogy.]

Emir commented, chuckling as he, along with the others, drove towards their destination,

their vehicles splattering mud all around them.

[Cause it's about food?] Unlike the rest, Emir and Ragnar drove motorbikes, Blaze Runners, as they enjoyed the feeling

of freedom it gave them.

[Yeah, I think anyone would if they starved like I had.]

The others weren't so into that, preferring less bumpy rides, so they opted for cruisers,

similar in design to the one Lyra always drove.

It was a better version called Blade Runner Z5.

[Oh, your embodiment thingy still affects you?]

Emir shook his head and returned his attention to the path before him, his eyes scanning a

lone building in the distance.

[Not really, it just gave me a new perspective on things...]

He chuckled, pausing his words for a moment then said: [Now enough about that. Focus, we're meeting them here.]