Still a Pacific-sized forehead, huh.
That was the first thought that crossed Bill’s mind when he saw Eunhwa.
The fact that the cloudy sky left no sunlight to reflect off that vast forehead made him feel a little disappointed, if only a little.
Of course, separate from that, Eunhwa’s beauty was more than enough compensation to bury such thoughts.
Her sharp features, her piercing gaze, and that perpetually irritated expression all gave off a cool, aloof vibe.
The black-and-red combination that concealed her slender figure.
But above all, the mole under her lips—Bill’s favorite detail—was enough to drive him crazy all on its own.
“Ahem. Ahem.”
While he was staring at Eunhwa, an awkward cough reached his ears. He turned around and saw Anis deliberately making the noise.
—Ah. I’ve seen this before.
It was exactly the same as what people around him used to do back when he was nearing thirty and some middle-aged guy was caught staring at a female character.
There was no need to ask how he knew that.
He had been that kind of middle-aged guy too.
—Well... I guess I need to snap out of it now.
Smack.
Bill, stirred by a wave of nostalgia, gave his own cheek a moderate slap after mentally bracing himself.
Up until now, it had all been a joke. From here on out, it was time to get serious.
And of course, the reason was the one Nikke glaring at him like a wild beast while waiting with her arms folded.
Soon, Eunhwa, who looked like she had no interest in anything, dragged her gear over roughly and arrived in front of him.
“Absolute has made contact. I’m hanging up now.”
Eunhwa informed the operator who had guided her here that the mission had been transferred.
Then, like something out of a spy film, she tapped the communication device attached to her ear and shut it off.
Her ferocious eyes, now with nowhere else to go, fixed on Bill, and her red lips moved.
“You’re the Commander who called us?”
Bill was just about to say, “Then who else would it be?” but he quickly realized that wasn’t the meaning behind her question.
Not just Eunhwa, but Emma and Vesti probably knew nothing about this mission either.
The strangely increased Rapture attacks were suspicious enough to call a major matter for the Ark, even if the facts themselves were unconfirmed.
Above all, the forces accompanying them were always briefed before deployment.
So the question Eunhwa asked, while fully aware of both him and Counters, was essentially a veiled jab at Counters as a squad that was awkward to send on a mission with them.
—Well... she’s not exactly wrong...
Counters really was awkward, just as she said.
A squad that, by classification, had only two members, and even on the day itself had only grown to three.
It wasn’t specialized in anything. It hadn’t achieved anything either.
And aside from Neon, it was practically a wandering ghost with even its goal of reclaiming the surface feeling hazy.
Of course, Rapi was strong.
Her judgment, honed by decades in the field, produced answers almost instantly, and her movements were stripped down to the bare minimum, with no wasted motion.
At the same time, every bullet she fired buried itself in a Rapture’s core. For a mass-produced Nikke, she was too perfect, too beautiful.
It was fair to say that the shortcomings caused by her low-spec body were all offset by that software alone.
So Eunhwa was probably judging the combat power of the other two besides Rapi.
It hurt to make the assessment, but compared to the other four, their strength was nothing more than a tiny light.
Like a flashlight being swallowed by the sun, Anis and Neon, who weren’t especially outstanding in battle, had no choice but to be overshadowed.
They didn’t move with Rapi’s speed, nor did they possess the kind of firepower that even a single Nikke would struggle to handle like Vesti.
They weren’t swinging a huge machine gun from the rear like Emma, nor could they easily eliminate higher-grade units with sniping like Eunhwa.
In the end, from Absolute’s perspective, they were little more than baggage.
They would be carrying out an operation with people who weren’t exceptional either individually or in combination.
Rapi had at least worked with them before, but Anis and Neon were likely to fall behind.
Based on that, Eunhwa had protested to the Commander in charge here as part of her dissatisfaction from Absolute’s point of view.
She genuinely thought it could interfere with the operation.
Bill naturally didn’t want to admit it.
Rapi, Anis, and even Neon, whom he had only met today, were all comrades in the same squad.
Of course he didn’t want to be separated from them, and he didn’t want to separate them either.
But if he considered the level of force expected from Absolute, then the fewer elements there were that could interfere, the stronger that force would be.
At least that reason was justified.
She hadn’t said anything but the truth, so Bill couldn’t really argue back.
When he said nothing and just glared, he could see the three of them standing side by side, watching the exchange between Eunhwa and him.
Aside from Neon, the other two seemed to understand what Eunhwa really meant, and their expressions showed it.
Anis had her mouth open in a dumbfounded laugh, while Rapi lowered her gaze, seeming to refuse eye contact as she revealed her own emotions and worries.
“Haa...”
Though they hadn’t even started yet, Eunhwa’s uncooperative attitude was already making Marie’s head hurt.
She had prepared herself.
Before meeting her, she had definitely thought she’d set up enough countermeasures based on her personality.
But from the very beginning, she had never even considered the possibility that Counters would be so harshly criticized as useless.
Still, what could he do?
He had had enough time to think, but failing to come up with it was his own fault.
There was no point in dwelling on how this all came about.
Eunhwa was here, standing in front of him.
And she was waiting for his answer.
What should he say?
Wasn’t there only one correct answer then, and only one now?
He would go with Counters.
It was the vow he had made from the moment he fell here: that unless it was impossible, he would protect them no matter what.
That didn’t change now.
But persuading Eunhwa would require a proper reason.
She was intelligent and wise.
Something as flimsy as wordplay would just be dismissed as nonsense.
—Persuade her... persuade her, huh... no, wait.
While he was thinking of a reason to explain things to Eunhwa, one idea flashed through Bill’s head.
Did he really need to persuade her?
What was the goal he needed right now?
It was to make Eunhwa change her mind about Counters being useless.
There were no restrictions on what method he used.
He was the one who had decided that.
After briefly sorting out his thoughts, Bill looked at Eunhwa and slowly opened his mouth.
“Eunhwa.”
“Do you have something to say?”
“It’s true that we’re a weak squad. I know that better than anyone.”
He had to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.
As far as Bill remembered, Eunhwa had said the same thing after Chapter 30 too.
Counters grew stronger by completing countless missions.
But the pace was slow, and most of the combat power rested on Rapi alone—that was their weakness.
From Eunhwa’s standards, they probably looked like a sloppy group that barely qualified as a squad.
Still.
“Then this should be quick. This mission is...”
“No. Counters is going. But there’s a condition.”
“A condition?”
“Yeah. A condition. If you think we’re getting in the way, or that we’re not needed, then don’t hesitate to abandon us.”
Was the answer different from what she had expected?
Eunhwa’s narrow eyes flashed open for a brief moment before settling again, and her gaze, which had been fixed on empty space, finally met his.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just what I said. You don’t need to keep us with you until the end, do you?”
Bill said it with a faint smile.
So that his intent would show.
So that Eunhwa would be able to catch it.
This was a gamble.
He would shake Eunhwa’s perception and use her emotions.
A huge gamble, betting that if she understood his true intent, she would never be able to reject it.
And in fact, Eunhwa was a little confused.
The Commander in front of her had told them to abandon him.
Was he saying he would even abandon the safety of the squad’s Nikkes, including himself?
—No... there’s no way...
When Eunhwa descended from the sky, she had watched him slowly come down and seen how he treated Counters, so she knew.
He talked naturally with Rapi and joked with the others.
If he really thought of them as weapons, that kind of behavior would never happen.
Even now, his eyes were on her, but they weren’t the eyes of someone looking down on inferiors.
He wasn’t just some guy desperate to go on a mission with them.
She could feel that he cared about his precious comrades.
And yet that kind of guy was telling her to abandon him and the other three.
Most likely, everything he was saying and doing now was bait.
“If a useless squad can die in place of Absolute, the strongest force in Elysion, then that would be an honor.”
—Tch.
Eunhwa clicked her tongue lightly, as if mocking how well he could say things he didn’t mean.
—I knew it... or maybe it was like this from the start.
When Eunhwa received Bill’s profile, she had told Ingrid that they were being asked to cover some rookie, but the answer she got was only a careless, “You’ll understand once you see him.”
Of course, it was suspicious enough that Absolute was being deployed for a request that seemed to come from nowhere, but she had thought Ingrid was just making excuses to send her out.
But now that she was facing him, she could tell.
He was definitely not ordinary, whether on the surface or underneath.
Usually, when Eunhwa fought with a Commander—or had a conversation similar to one—they would try to pressure her by leaning on their graduation from the elite military academy, using that as proof of their superiority in the outside world to cover up their own stupidity.
But who was Eunhwa?
Even if she was in a Nikke body now, the Eunhwa before that had still graduated top of her class from a proper military academy.
She had learned basic tactics, situational responses, and every kind of combat knowledge.
Of course, the Commanders who had only ever been educated by fools would collapse helplessly under her attacks and eventually admit defeat.
But this one wasn’t trying to suppress her.
Not only that.
Even with the obvious hierarchy between Commander and Nikke, he was still somehow trying to talk to her.
Of course, the main reason Eunhwa changed her mind was the meaning behind that one line from earlier.
In a normal situation, it might have sounded like nothing more than a provocative remark, a simple challenge.
Just a few days ago, the Commander had provoked her in exactly the same way, and the result had ended, as usual, in her victory.
But if there was a difference between then and now, it was that Eunhwa had become interested in him.
Ingrid had clearly ordered them to provide cover and complete the mission.
He hadn’t contacted them separately, but he seemed to know that.
And yet he had still told her to abandon them.
That meant the hidden meaning behind the message he had sent her was...
It was a kind of provocation, asking whether they couldn’t handle a mission like this if they didn’t abandon Counters.
He had effectively thrown down a challenge, telling her to prove that Absolute was the strongest squad in front of him.
—What a bold bastard...
Eunhwa slowly let the strength leave her hand and made her signature tongue-clicking sound.
Then she passed by him and whispered in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Do whatever you want. Vesti, Emma. Let’s go.”
“I-it’s over?”
Vesti, who had been hiding behind Rapi because of the pressure of the standoff, ran up to Eunhwa and asked.
Eunhwa kept her fierce expression and answered while looking at Bill.
“Yeah, it’s over. Now it’s time to work.”
Eunhwa took the lead and started walking.
It had been less than a minute-long standoff.
In her heart, the Commander’s evaluation had received a fairly solid score.
He was definitely different from the guys she knew, and he was usable.
He seemed worth developing in his own way, and probably worth the effort.
That was what she thought.
────────────────────────
By the time the sun had climbed to the middle of the mountain, they were still walking.
The formation remained the same.
And so did the fact that none of them seemed tired.
But if there was one thing that had changed from before, it was this:
“Shifty. Still no Rapture readings?”
[Yes. Not a single one in sight.]
The reason Absolute had come to this place.
It was because the Rapture encounter rate had been strangely high.
But now, as if it had all been a lie, not a single Rapture was showing itself.
Had the stupid leader committed suicide, like a locust in the Rockies?
But no matter how much he thought about it, this still didn’t seem like a place where Raptures should be.
“Anything else unusual?”
[Nothing else. Aside from the fact that there are no Raptures, everything still matches the data we recorded. I’ve already reported it to Vice Commander Andersen, but... there’s still no reply.]
“Life sure is full of surprises. We came to hunt Raptures, and we haven’t even fought once...”
Eunhwa gave her assessment in a tone that clearly found the situation strange.
Considering that the meaning of a 100% encounter rate had been broken, she could have been even more surprised, but apparently her personality didn’t allow that.
Still, in place of the quiet Eunhwa, Bill showed a very clear reaction to the situation.
“Haa... I’m glad and all, but now I’m wondering what’s going to pop out next.”
It was a scene he had often seen in games.
The random mobs that had been popping out while you walked down a road would suddenly stop appearing at some point.
And after that, there was a high chance a boss monster would show up.
Then there was definitely some kind of dungeon nearby.
While Bill was applying all sorts of game logic to reality, Shifty called out to him.
[Commander. Since the sun is starting to set, how about we set up a base camp soon? If we go by schedule, it’ll be completely dark within an hour. The power plant is about two hours away, but since there haven’t been any Rapture signals so far, it should be safe. And there’s also an apartment complex nearby where no signals are coming through.]
Bill looked around.
He had to move a little to the side, but about a kilometer away there really was an apartment complex, just as Shifty had said.
There had once been a large stretch of land around it, almost like old rice fields or farmland, but the complex itself was wide enough to fit more than a dozen ordinary buildings.
“That sounds good. I was just getting tired of walking anyway. Shifty, scan for signals one more time.”
[Yes, just a moment.]
The sound of Shifty typing came through from beyond the screen, and soon her reply returned.
[It’s safe. No signals are being detected within a three-kilometer radius.]
“Eunhwa, that should be fine, right?”
Eunhwa nodded.
“It’s a fairly complex location. We’ll be able to hear any Rapture movement clearly, and if we keep a night watch, it should be fine.”
“Confirmed. Let’s head there.”
The group hurried forward.
By moving their legs a little faster than before, they were able to arrive five minutes earlier than the expected fifteen.
Setting up a base camp didn’t take much time, but there was no harm in leaving some room to breathe, so this was better.
“We’re... here?”
From a distance, it looked like an ordinary abandoned apartment complex.
There were no lights on anywhere.
Every window was shattered, and the inside was completely empty.
The street, the apartments, everything was as desolate as the desert of the old American frontier.
Still, Bill, who didn’t care about appearances, slowly stepped inside.
“There’s nothing here...”
[Looks that way. At this point, it feels like a place that collapsed before people even had a chance to move in.]
For the ten or so minutes it took to walk to the center, Shifty and Bill chatted idly about what a boring place it was.
They rambled on while walking, talking about things like the bubble economy and a boom, spouting nonsense no one could really make sense of.
Seeing his back as he walked, looking like he had burned through all the seriousness he’d had when he met her, Eunhwa let out a sigh, thinking she might have been wrong...
But then.
Rustle.
Eunhwa quickly raised her clenched right fist at a right angle.
The six people who saw her hand shut their mouths, and soon they drew their weapons and began watching their surroundings.
“I’ll go first.”
Using hand signals to relay the plan, Eunhwa slowly pointed her gun forward and advanced.
The place where the sound had come from was about twenty meters away, where a road bent around a corner.
Was it an animal, or the remains of humans that had fallen after the passage of time?
At the very least, since there hadn’t been a second sound, it was unlikely to be an animal.
Five meters. Three meters. One meter.
At first, Eunhwa had moved so quietly that not even footsteps could be heard, but as she got closer, she no longer seemed interested in hiding her intent. She broke into a run and rounded the corner.
“Who’s there!!”
It was silent.
If it had been an enemy, they wouldn’t do something as stupid as answering Eunhwa’s question.
She had sent the call out with the belief that she would uncover the identity soon enough, but...
“Eunhwa, what is it?”
Eunhwa didn’t answer.
She simply lowered her gun and bit her lip tightly, as if she had seen something shocking.
Suspicious.
Bill realized this was no ordinary matter if Eunhwa was reacting like that.
He thought he should see it for himself too.
“Rapi, stay here. I’ll go take a look.”
“Understood. If anything seems off...”
“Don’t worry.”
He approached with confidence.
And then, when he saw Eunhwa stop after looking at it, he too forgot how to walk, how to act, how to speak.
“Commander, what on earth did you see...?”
Anis, growing frustrated by the two of them, walked over and slowly turned her head.
And then,
“W-what is that...”
Judging by the shadow and rough estimate, it was about ten meters long.
As for size, it was closer to a hill.
But in human expression, when something is piled up in great quantity,
we call it a mountain.
“A Nikke...?”
At the protruding summit, slender arms and legs of women could be seen, twisted unnaturally.
Most of them seemed to be wearing similar clothes, so the main targets were mass-produced Nikkes.
Of course, there were also several women’s bodies wearing distinctive outfits mixed in.
But that wasn’t the part they needed to focus on.
Looking closely, there was something that absolutely should have been there, but wasn’t.
If they were human.
No, if they were living beings, there was a part that should have been there, but wasn’t.
All the corpses piled up.
And all the corpses rolling around in front of them.
Every single one of them had no head.
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