The research facility beneath the base was far more impressive than I had expected.
Of course, having seen the massive underground ruins of Trappist, I wasn't exactly awed by the scale.
But the various experimental equipment and researchers inside were beyond anything I had seen in movies.
[I seem to have underestimated Earth's scientific civilization.]
Such was Soph's comment after seeing the research facility.
There were sections where they brought in fragments of the ruins to study, and sections where they examined the relics they had shown me.
Not to mention areas that looked like hospital laboratories.
As I followed the guide, it seemed the underground research facility was even larger than the base on the surface.
"Isn't it incredible? When I was on Trappist, you wouldn't believe how much I missed the equipment here. Earth doesn't have dark energy, so it's difficult to properly verify things, but there are far more cases where proper experimental equipment is needed."
The person guiding Magreta and me was a researcher who had returned to Earth with us.
Having come on a different plane, he hadn't been subjected to a barrage of missiles like us.
As expected, those missiles had been targeting us.
Regardless, as soon as he arrived here, he was tasked with guiding us to the underground research facility.
The simple reason he had been assigned as our guide was that he had been on the same planet, so we would be more comfortable with him.
"The equipment here is all the latest that humanity has produced. The researchers are the same. They are the greatest minds we could find."
He spoke proudly as he introduced the underground research facility.
Magreta, who had been listening alongside us, whispered softly.
"Of course. The amount of money going into this place would make the Manhattan Project look laughable."
"For something like that, the defenses were far too lax."
Magreta sighed at my words.
"It was all for secrecy. They had to hide from satellites too, so they couldn't set up proper defenses."
Did that mean stationing a large army here would inevitably expose them to satellites?
They had maintained their secrecy that way until now, so it was hard to say that method was wrong.
But now, they likely wouldn't be able to continue doing so.
"Now that every country that could find out has found out, things will change going forward. Looking at how aircraft carriers are rushing here right now, it seems they've abandoned the old way of operating."
Magreta was thinking the same thing.
With China and Russia having learned of it, there was no longer any point in hiding it.
Passing through several laboratories like that, we arrived at our destination: a massive laboratory.
It was a laboratory littered with monster corpses.
Most of them were ones I knew.
The samples I had brought to Earth were all here.
"I thought they were studying them at the Baekdu Mountain base, but they were all moved here."
"They were checking there whether the samples needed to be moved here. Everything Hyeon brought had to be moved."
As I spoke with Magreta and entered the large laboratory, the researchers gathered around us.
"Did you bring new samples?"
An old man in a white coat asked me as their representative.
He was an old man who looked familiar.
[He's someone we saw on the internet. Apparently a famous biochemist.]
I hadn't been mistaken. He was someone famous that Soph knew as well.
The researcher's words that they were all great scientists had been true.
I took off my backpack, held it in my hand, and asked the old scientist.
"Where should I put the samples?"
"Place them on this shelf."
He pointed to an empty shelf beside him.
I reached into my backpack and opened the case.
I could feel the corpse fragments inside the case.
Corpse fragments that I had cut down to half the size of the bag and stored away.
There was more left than I had expected.
I took two of the remaining corpse fragments out in order.
Thud. Thud.
The two corpse fragments were placed on the shelf.
"One is a control subject sample, and the other is a defense-type monster sample."
They were the ones that seemed most useful among the corpses in the case.
The defense-type monster was a sample containing tough hide, and the control subject was a torso fragment from around the black stone.
There were more corpse fragments, but I couldn't take out any more.
There was already a researcher tilting his head upon seeing the samples I had taken out.
"The samples seem larger than the bag's capacity......"
If I pulled out any more corpse fragments here, it would inevitably reveal that the case could be used on Earth as well.
Fortunately, only one researcher was suspicious, and he too soon latched onto the shelf like the others.
Before I knew it, one scientist had his nose pressed against the monster hide, rubbing the sample with his hand.
"This is the defense-type monster's hide? Hide that hardens when you channel energy into it? If we're lucky, we might be able to make clothes out of it......"
While some researchers showed interest in the defense-type monster like that, most thrust their heads toward the control subject.
"So this is the one they call the control subject. We finally have it. With this, we can complete the ecology of the new monsters. With this, we'll know whether they are naturally occurring lifeforms or manufactured ones."
"We'll also be able to know how they survived for so long. This will be a revolutionary turning point for lifespan research."
"If we learn the mechanism by which this organism creates other monsters, we might be able to create a lifeform that produces black stone."
Before a single fragment of a sample, the researchers poured out words.
Listening to them, one would think humanity could live forever and dominate the universe.
I shook my head.
That was never going to happen with just one sample.
Moreover, that wasn't what was important right now.
I spoke to the researchers.
"Rather than anything else, I want you to find their weaknesses first. I brought these specifically for that reason."
That was the reason I had brought monster samples all the way here.
I could now fight the control subject, but others couldn't.
The personnel dispatched to Trappist had to combine their strength just to barely hunt a single scout.
It was much better than before, but at this rate, it would be difficult to save many people before doom arrived.
It would help me too, but for people to hunt more monsters, they had to find the monsters' weaknesses.
The old scientist nodded at my words.
"That's what matters most right now, indeed. Understood. We'll examine that first."
Fortunately, the researchers here knew what was important.
At the old scientist's words, the researchers began to move busily.
After handing over the samples, we came up to the base.
The sun was setting outside the base.
The evening glow in this tropical region was different again.
Needless to say, it was nothing like the sunset on Trappist, and it was also very different from the sunsets in Korea.
From within that glow came the sounds of gunfire and exploding shells.
The artillery and gunfire sounded closer than before.
The front line had drawn nearer.
As I leaned against the window watching the sunset and listening to the gunfire, Soph spoke.
[Even if it takes time for the aircraft carriers to arrive, they should be continuously ferrying troops with transport planes. I can't understand how we're being pushed back like this.]
Although Soph had been diligently watching the internet and listening to broadcasts, she still didn't know Earth well.
Earth's wars were especially different from what Soph knew.
"War and battle are different. The mercenaries also know that time is not on their side, so they must be pushing harder. Bombardment seems difficult because of the ruins as well, so it'll be hard to stop them for the moment."
If the battlefield were only here, they could be stopped easily, but the war was not happening in just one or two places.
Things must be dire for them to have drawn in even the US forces stationed in Korea.
Moreover, the US military was relying primarily on the Air Force right now.
With that Air Force tied up like this, things were bound to be difficult for the time being.
"Besides, we only found out today that Russian mercenaries are right in front of the base. Thanks to someone who flew in from Russia telling us. Of course, they told us too late, so we ended up being chased by missiles."
Just then, Magreta entered and spoke.
It seemed she had heard what I had said.
She didn't ask who I was talking to.
I had known she was standing in front of the quarters door, but I hadn't stopped talking.
Now both she and I knew.
We simply weren't speaking openly about it.
"You're leaving already?"
"Yes. I plan to move once the sun sets."
In Korea, I had waited for people to fall asleep, but that wasn't possible here.
Given the situation, it seemed combat would continue through the night.
There was no need to wait any longer.
As long as the darkness obscured vision, that was enough.
Shortly after, the sunset faded.
The world was buried in darkness.
Flares heading skyward occasionally caught the eye, but from the base under blackout conditions, no other light was visible.
"Be safe."
Receiving Magreta's farewell, I left the base.
My destination was the mercenary camp in the direction where the battle was taking place.
Fwump!
I gripped my spear in one hand and flew above the tropical jungle.
***
Five kilometers south of the US base.
A fierce battle was taking place at the border between Djibouti and Somalia.
Officially, it was a civil war with government forces and rebels fighting near the Djibouti border, but the reality was different.
The Somali army attacked Djibouti indiscriminately, regardless of whether they were government forces or rebels.
Furthermore, the ones defending weren't the Djibouti army, but the US military.
Russian mercenaries could be seen among the attacking Somali forces.
Boom! Boom! Ratatat!
Behind the front lines where such fierce combat was unfolding.
The mercenary command post tent near the border was extremely noisy even at night.
The command officers were continuously issuing orders while clutching their radios.
"Keep pushing! Just put the rebel scum in front!"
"We can be exposed! We just need to seize the base!"
"Didn't you see during the day? There's no bombardment! Whatever they coated this place with, they absolutely won't bomb it!"
At the center of the tent, a middle-aged man with stars on his shoulders looked down at a map with a grave expression alongside others.
"No other contact from Russia?"
At the man's question, an aide shook his head.
"They are only saying to withdraw."
"They won't say the reason till the end?"
"Yes."
The man clicked his tongue.
"As I thought, they intend to abandon us."
"That seems to be the case."
He folded his arms and spoke.
"We can't end up like those who died first."
"Will capturing the base be enough?"
"Something will come up. The way things are unfolding, there's something there."
The aides nodded at his words.
"Seeing how both America and Russia have fires on their feet, that seems correct."
"Good, if we settle this by tomorrow morning......"
He who had been pointing at the map and speaking suddenly stopped.
Kwah......
Suddenly, the sound of explosions stopped.
Bang-ratatat!
Gunfire continued, but something was strange.
Ratatat!
The gunfire gradually decreased as well.
Screams began coming from the radios.
—First squad is silent! We can't establish contact!
—Why has support stopped? What happened to the mortar unit?
—Damn it! What is that! Retreat immediately! Fire from the...... Guaaack!
The screams coming over the radio rapidly decreased as well.
Now, even the gunfire could not be heard.
People looked at one another in shock.
The moment the man with stars on his shoulders was about to shout.
Flash!
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky.
Mercenaries (3)