I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun-Chapter 802: Washington D.C (18)

As I've said many times, humans are creatures of learning.

Among them, the Dagger Team was the top 0.01% who utilized learning, which was the exclusive property of advanced intelligence, better than anyone else, and the Hunters were the enemies designated as the top threat by those people.

The clash that occurred in Potomac Park in the spring literally unraveled the Hunters one by one, and the Pentagon worked day and night at the indirect request of the US military throughout the capital, and through this, they were able to establish a countermeasure to some extent.

To be precise, it was a countermeasure limited to high-level operators.

Icarus quickly realized why the Gear was disabled, and confirmed that this situation was due to the master code held by Alejandro Webb, who was still exerting influence behind the scenes.

Solomon, the Secretary of Homeland Security who succeeded Webb, immediately responded to this situation, and as time passed, the Pentagon TOC could see that their control of the master code for the Icarus Gear was decreasing.

And now, about two months after the first engagement between the Icarus Operator and the Hunter, when the Hunter appeared again, the Dagger Team noticed that the error messages floating over the interface had noticeably decreased.

However, Laurentina did not think that the current situation had dramatically improved compared to before.

Foll𝑜w current novℯls on ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm.

Strictly speaking, the surrounding situation was not so good. Laurentina was basically dropped into the middle of enemy territory.

Furthermore, the Titan Olivia was using on the roof of the Italian embassy had to recharge after firing several shots... but.

"It's finally balanced."

She smiled slightly, and at that moment, a bullet flew in silently with a slap noise, easily blasting the head of a Black Eagle Operator who was standing still.

It could have been mistaken that she only used the Titan, but Olivia was better at using any weapon that 'fired' something than anyone else.

The distance from the embassy to the engagement point was roughly 2500m, but it wasn't much of a problem for the leader of the Eagle team.

As soon as Laurentina disappeared from sight, the sniping began.

"Call the mortar squad! We need to identify the sniping point!"

"Send the heavy armored personnel forward and establish a defensive line! Activate the portable cover! We're going to drain our reserves!"

"Activate the wall-mounted cable. High voltage will be flowing through the wall from now on. Friendly forces are not allowed to approach."

However, that didn't mean that the situation had dramatically improved.

Laurentina had no choice but to be pushed into a disadvantage given the absolute difference in numbers, and she had expected that too. That's why she piled up the corpses before the enemy came to their senses.

Fortunately, the shark's purpose was to open a path, but more precisely, it was the fastest way to achieve its goal - in other words, there was no need to open a path towards the air defense base as long as its goal was achieved.

After all, the moment the bomb was detonated, it would have to get away from the air defense base.

At the critical moment, Laurentina glanced around and hid herself in the barricades that were nearby, while simultaneously gathering the bodies that were all around her to form a second barrier.

The corpses of the Black Eagles, still bleeding but still breathing, were truly valuable when the barricades made of reinforced concrete were slowly crumbling, unable to withstand hundreds of bullets.

And additionally, these bodies were basically well-armed.

"...Don't get on the other side later."

While the thumb-sized bullets flying from the embassy far away were steadily taking the lives of the Black Eagle soldiers, the shark piled up a large number of captured grenades on the ground.

She was, to put it in the best light, a person who was optimized for Black Ops more than anyone else, like General George S. Patton, but that didn’t mean she didn’t express her condolences for the unfortunate incident.

A moment of resignation and understanding followed. However, it didn’t take long for the shark’s logic circuits to turn back to the front.

She raised her hand, grabbed the grenade, and pulled the pin.

Just like when she had thrown a snowball at her opponent in Manhattan half a year ago, she threw a dozen or so grenades scattered on the ground.

The 500g grenade flew at a speed that was impossible for the human eye to discern, and it hit the enemy’s face in an instant, and the physical force contained in the grenade was transmitted directly to the face and crushed the # Nоvеlight # skull.

The grenade, slowed down by the loss of physical strength, bounced slowly in the opposite direction, and then exploded.

───Kwaaang!

It looked just like an air-burst grenade. However, the power was completely different.

Since it exploded about 2m above the ground instead of hitting the ground, most of the debris was scattered in all directions, and every time the grenade exploded, soldiers several meters away screamed and fell down.

As this scene continued to unfold, only doubts filled the Black Eagle soldiers' minds. Even though the emotion of fear had been largely suppressed, it was an absurd sight that planted doubts in their minds.

"What the heck is this...."

At that moment, Black Eagle had no choice but to realize.

This wasn't possible simply because he was a mutant. There was a reason he was given the nickname Dagger. They had been trained to their limits in endless battles, and their experience mixed with their physical abilities to create an impossible synergy.

There was clearly a reason why the race was pushed back despite being the same mutant - that power was like a kind of authority given only to those who had crossed the line of fire several times.

Able to bring the impossible into the realm of the possible.

Black Eagle decided to take a more solid approach.

As the heavy armored soldier who had arrived before he knew it swung his minigun, dozens of lead bullets rained down per second, and the Hunter used the skill from the Icarus Gear to determine Laurentina's location in case of an unexpected situation.

However, in the meantime, standing in the middle of the storm, she was checking the current time through the interface and communicating.

- Marcus, I inform you that the energy charge is complete.

"Okay. All team members who have been working hard so far, check the explosion range and relay it to the US military. We need to get out of the epicenter as of now."

The sight before my eyes turned bright red. It was the explosion range.

An air defense base that was remodeled from the entire building about 70m behind the combat zone. A huge radar was still spinning on the rooftop.

The US military was no longer obsessed with the vain goal of 'recapturing' the base. If necessary, they had to destroy it.

What was needed was a natural division. If the US and the Naval all retreated like the ebb tide because an explosion was scheduled, they would certainly be suspected, and furthermore, there would be unnecessary friendly casualties during the retreat.

However, there was nothing the Dage team could do about that part. They simply announced that preparations were complete. The rest was a problem that the US military had to deal with after receiving the information.

Meanwhile, Marcus, who was waiting outside, attached a nuclear bag to a drone, activated the optical camouflage function, and then very slowly activated the drone.

As the drone rose, and the US military retreated from the epicenter as if they could not withstand the pressure, the Icarus operators who had infiltrated various places were making corresponding preparations.

Laurentina pulled out the pins of three grenades without hesitation and threw them at the last moment.

───Kwaaang!

"Keuk...!"

Kagagak!

Three grenades exploded almost simultaneously near the head of the heavy armored soldier who was firing his minigun as if he would shatter the barricade Laurentina was hiding in at any moment, and the soldier immediately hesitated.

Taking advantage of the gap, Shark threw a smoke grenade and fired a sticky bomb-penetrating type with his right hand, and the moment it attached to the head armor, there was a banging sound and a flash of light.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

The moment the soldier whose head had been blown off fell to his knees, smoke filled the narrow passage. But the attacks continued, but no one entered the smoke screen that Laurentina had set off.

Instead, the Black Eagle sent several drones and explosive drones, but they were all destroyed or shot down.

By sniping.

"You can hit an explosive drone accurately from a distance of kilometers...?"

But that was the reality.

That's why they couldn't try anything even though the smoke screen was spreading thickly. The soldiers hesitated without realizing it because they had been pressed too hard in the first clash.

But they had to do it.

The job had to be done, and Hunter pointed his finger into the smokescreen. Only then did the soldiers begin to cautiously advance, their guns pointed straight ahead.

"Report the situation. Is there anything unusual?"

"Nothing unusual so far."

"Be aware of any unexpected situations."

Although it wasn't an open area, it wasn't a place with a ceiling, so the smokescreen slowly dispersed, and the enemy soldiers slowly closed the gap of about 25 meters, the distance to Laurentina.

With a rustling sound, Masato was crushed under the boots of the Black Eagle soldiers, and the green laser aimed at the almost destroyed barricade.

The sound began to die down.

In the meantime, another heavy armored soldier joined in, and even the mortars installed throughout the base were precisely aiming at Laurentina. If she had lifted even a single finger, she would have been reduced to ashes.

However, as time passed like an eternity, when they finally reached the barricade made of corpses.

Instead of the mutant's corpse, Black Eagle saw a severed bulkhead.

"...What!?"

"Damn, he cut through the fortress wall! Chase him now!"

"The severed wall is electrified! We need to open the eastern gate!"

"What the hell, what the hell."

The double barricades that defended the air defense base - the building itself was no different from a great barricade, so the defensive wall surrounding the building was not made of concrete and steel, but rather like a bulkhead.

And Laurentina immediately threw a smokescreen after confirming that, pretending to buy time as much as possible, and then cut through the relatively thin wall and escaped while ignoring the discharge damage with her Icarus Gear.

But there was something even stranger left.

With a bewildered expression, one of the Black Eagle platoon leaders looked across the cut wall, and the outer wall that had been expected to be teeming with American soldiers just a moment ago was completely empty.

They were at a loss and shook their heads due to the limited clues as to what on earth was going on, and if there was a purpose, what was the purpose.

And that was the end of them.

───!

"...Huh?"

At that moment.

With a flash, a huge storm swept in.

"...What the hell, those damned bastards. What the hell have they done? What about the radiation measuring device?"

"...There's no response."

"Then what the hell happened!"

Kwung.

In an instant, Washington D.C. shook.

Although it is said to be an exaggeration, the moment an explosion of that magnitude occurred north of the White House, all the soldiers on duty on the Kestrel stiffened their expressions and moved hurriedly.

The faint wind, the pressure that could be felt with the body, and the loud noise. The destructive power that anyone could tell was a nuclear explosion.

Race climbed up to the deck faster than anyone else.

The first thing he saw was black smoke rising into the sky. And it wasn’t just smoke. It was a cloud that looked ominously like a mushroom.

A drone was immediately released from the Kestrel’s reconnaissance drone launcher, and as soon as it reached a certain speed, its wings spread out and it was deployed near the epicenter.

At that moment, Race had to see with his own eyes that the air defense base had turned into a pile of ash.

“...What the heck is this?”

A hotel that had been converted into an air defense base had completely collapsed. No, it was hard to call it collapse. It was closer to destruction. There was nothing to salvage from Ground Zero - the center of the explosion.

In Race's head, where a great deal of military knowledge was stored, things that could produce similar results began to emerge little by little. Two possibilities were drawn. One was not nuclear, and the other was a weapon that was not nuclear but could produce similar results.

MOAB, also known as the mother of all bombs. A huge projectile weapon weighing 11 tons and with an explosive power equivalent to 11 tons of TNT, it was one of the most powerful conventional weapons in the world.

However, if you ask whether it was actually used, the probability was high that it was not.

It was a bomb that was far larger than a person. The explosive power of 22 Tomahawk cruise missiles was similar to the method of delivery, and it had to be delivered by a large bomber or something.

And if there was such a thing, it would have been intercepted long ago.

"Damage...recovery."

"...."

"That's right, damn it. I don't think I can get anything out of that shithole. I'm going crazy and going crazy. Do I have to dig up some dirt to figure out anything?"

Race clenched his fists, but nothing changed.

On the contrary, he felt something slowly slipping away from his clenched hands. It was more than just emptiness - specifically, the Black Eagle was losing all control.

Even so, the footage the drone was giving her made her heart sink even more, not better.

'... Everything within 9 meters was practically evaporated, and buildings within 100 meters were destroyed and spread in the exact opposite direction of the epicenter. Is it because of the tyranny?'

Of course, except for a very small number of soldiers, they probably left this world as it was.

There was no reason to make assumptions or do anything like that. The sight of the bodies, equipment, buildings, and everything else in a mess... was so utterly destroyed that there was no room left.

Headache, or pain. And endless discomfort came over Race.

She felt pity for everything that was worthless and evaporated without even leaving a corpse in every large-scale engagement, and she felt disgusted with the situation itself.

"... Pull back all the troops stationed near Air Defense Base Zeta for a moment... and drive them out. Prepare to launch cruise missiles."

"Understood. Do you not need to send a separate defense force?"

"There will still be Icarus operators stationed near the epicenter. Leave the nonsense until we drive them all out."

"Understood."

What had happened?

Her mind was spinning. With so little data given, Race was able to approach the correct answer the fastest.

The US military has a human-carryable object with a different trajectory and explosive power. That was the only way to think about it.

Race had been checking the operation in real time in the Kestrel's operations room before jumping onto the deck, and felt the unnatural difference between the epicenter and the engagement area.

'What we need to focus on here is not the exact identity of the new weapon, but the fact that the US military has secured such a tactical weapon.'

Just that fact alone would expand the US military's options, and Black Eagle could see that it would be forced to suffer unilateral damage as long as the same process was repeated.

If there was something needed to prevent this outcome... Race realized that it was virtually impossible to do so without destroying the main US force moving to dismantle the air defense base before it even arrived.

And the higher-ups would give the order to do so.

Unlike Race's order to launch cruise missiles as a deterrent to prevent further enemy approaches, the higher-ups would literally want more.

There was only one expected outcome. The intensity of the attack would continue to escalate, but the moment the air defenses were dismantled, the Pentagon would have the upper hand over the Black Eagles.

If they got caught up in that inflation, there was a high probability that they would eventually lose all of the soldiers deployed to Washington, D.C.

'... Does the higher-ups really want this? There's no way they didn't anticipate this situation. '

More than the fact that the battle that had been going on for six months was rapidly turning into a defeat, she was more skeptical about whether the higher-ups could give clear instructions to resolve it, or even consider it.

She scratched her head in annoyance, and eventually went down from the deck.

If there was one thing that was certain... .

"I can't command without blood or tears..."

Rather than mourn the sight of the smoke rising from the remains of countless casualties, Race tried to ignore the headache that was building up again as he considered the aftermath of this incident.

The world was so unpleasant.

The smell of burning corpses that could not be blown away seemed to linger in my nostrils.