21 Into Estama Part 3

"W-Wait a minute, you two. Your team's heading to Estama, right? I can bring you inside, I can grant access...to trade for the medical treatment, remember?"

They turned to one another for a bit before Old Luke looked back at him.

"What ya mean?"

"I'm saying that I'm from Estama. Just, wait for a sec, this will take a moment."

"..."

They maintained their querying looks before Old Luke shouted to the person downstairs,

"...this pretty boy said he works at Estama and he can get us in! What ya think, Mackie, we wait?!"

「 Pr-Pretty boy...? Am I really f**king one? 」

"...we can wait for another two minutes? Tell the guy that we don't have much time before another Flood split reaches here...," a male voice shouted from downstairs, probably 'the navigator Mackie'.

"So, ya heard what Mackie said, he's our navigator by the way..."

"...I'll do my best."

He switched on the as he groped around the left side of his helmet.

Then approached a broken window by the south-facing wall and peeked his head out towards Estama, specifically towards the rooftop of the centre-building of the outpost.

Nuel whispered over the laser comm.

"Estama, lost moon, lost lake, lost wine, over."

He paused.

"Estama, lost moon, lost lake, lost wine, over."

A low, growling voice filled with static was then heard replying through the comm.

>"How many moons, how many lakes, how many wines, over.""...""Pathfinder Wine, identity authenticated. This is Estama Command, state your request, over.""I say again; agent's current assignment is inside-intel of the Administration's military activity in the Outer Ward's northern zones. Requesting military assistance to location at fife-zero meters, bearing one, one-two degrees northeast within the next three-zero mikes to prevent assignment failure, over.""Copy that. Military assistance will be prepped-up immediately and commenced to location in three-zero mikes. Entry access is granted. Please confirm how many person for the entry access, over...

...I say again; Military assistance will be prepped-up immediately and commenced to location. Entry access is granted. Please confirm how many person for the entry access, over.""Four person entry access, copy that. Estama welcomes you, Pathfinder. Charlie, mike. Over and out."<

Nuel retracted his head back down. He smiled, and let out a relieved sigh.

「 I can't believe it f**king work! 」

Ding!

_____

[ Affiliation : Engineering Troupe ] has been unlocked.

_____

Every key detail he had said over the laser comm was from a dialogue box of a certain side mission, from the game's first huge update, termed 'Patch 2.0'.

The update patch, besides nerfing down the monsters' combat AI, also introduced a whole new map server, the .

Accordingly, in that side mission, the players' were to pass a recorded message of a long-dead, unidentified man found somewhere around the vicinity field zones of back to the nearest outposts in .

And that was why Nuel said what he said; he remembered them from that mission and now, he was using that to successfully impersonate an pathfinder agent!

「 As expected, it's because I have four-f**king-five points in INT, isn't it. Hahaha... 」

Nuel smiled and looked back towards the pair.

"I've got us access into-"

His Precognition-ability suddenly flashed a future scene.

"...INCOMING!!!"

Nuel shouted as a shrill whistling sound quickly closed in.

He had reached his hands out to both Old Luke and Sophea and pulled them towards the broken windows, and leapt.

BOOM!!!

The barely-standing building exploded into smithereens as the trio landed and rolled onto the uneven ground five meters below.

Nuel's [ HP ] -7.3 (Blasted!).

「 F**k! 」

The other person - 'Mackie' - came out running of the crumbling building with the help of a huge retractable shield above him, sheltering him from the explosion impact and the consequent falling debris.

He had a thick silver goggle hanging at his neck and there was a metallic storage carrier at his back - seemed like it was modified from an exosuit storage compartment rig.

Nuel was the last person to rose to his feet, Old Luke and Sophea had pulled each other up and stood back-to-back against one another as they surveilled the grim surroundings..

Ringing still by the explosion, Nuel's Sense talent were able to make out the positions of the three humans around him.

"What the f**k was that?!!"

"The Flood's here! Ya boy, said ya can bring us inside Estama?" Old Luke interrogated.

"...Yeah?"

"Ya bring us inside, we'll help ya reach there, deal?"

"Sure, deal."

"Let's move! Mackie will take point, and ya, what's yer name?"

"Nuel."

"Alright, Nuel, ya take the vanguard. Sophea would be centre, and I'll take the rear. Yer got it?!

"...just as usual then, Old Luke...," the 20-ish Maccus replied as he put on the silver goggle on his face.

Then he gestured with his head towards a direction,

"...we'll rush through that back road there and...and we'll make a left corner ten meters ahead."

「 Ah, that's what the goggles for... 」

"You heard the navigator, let's go!"

.....

The entrance was about fifty meters away now.

Nuel and the group of Wanderers ran as fast as they could as they occasionally turned around for a second or two and fired their weapons towards the hundreds, if not thousands of Necrobiotes chasing after them.

Their mechanical roars were many, and loud explosions and deafening gunshots resounding in the air accompanied them.

"We're almost there, turn down to that corner on the right!" Old Luke shouted.

From our abrupt conversations, the 50-something Old Luke was a veteran Soldier, with the Outland Scout-subclass.

He wore an outdated heavy assault exosuit of an unspecified series on him.

Despite his age and barrel-shaped body, his many years of combat and field experience allowed the group to call for the most appropriate tactical decisions every time, and it showed during when to time their shootings with their reloads.

"Reload! Now!" Old Luke barked an order from the back of the group, as to alternate their suppression fires with his against the zombie-bots behind them.

"Eat these! Hahaha!!!" Maccus threw two cylindrical-shaped objects to the back without even looking.

The grenades he threw bounced of the walls of some destroyed buildings and detonated as they accurately landed in front of the chasing mob, killing two to three Necrobiotes in one go!

Maccus - or Mackie, as Old Luke called him - was a 21 years old Civilian lad, and despite his Techie-subclass, was quite a free-spirited person.

He had the worn on his back and with it, he could craft items and ordnance on-the-go.

And right now, he was assembling another set of grenades WHILE STILL on the run!

「 ...and just how much Crafting Materials this guy f**king have...? 」

And finally Sophea, the healer of the group - or rather the Mystic Physician. She was very quiet, and if Nuel had not spoken to her before, he might have considered the lady as a mute.

"Everyone, this way!!!" Maccus shouted as he rolled into a tight alleyway between two barely intact buildings, followed by the Mystic Physician and Nuel.

Old Luke turned around and threw a lit molotov towards the Necrobiote mob a few dozen meters behind - the molotov exploded into burning liquid as it hit a leading Necrobiote Shambler and showered the narrow terrain with ravenous flames.

Monstrous mechanical roars reverberated throughout the darkness of a ruined cityscape.

.....

"Keep up, ya all, we're just twenny meters away now!" Old Luke exclaimed.

With the brightly-lit area ahead of them, a group of armed sentries were visible at the battlements on top of the entrance gates, continuously firing their mounted, large caliber guns at the Necrobiotes behind them.

They were Estama's militants.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!"

"HALT!!!"

The high-intensity floodlights abruptly moved and locked onto Nuel and the others just three meters away from the entrance gate - they were held at gunpoint by the gate sentries.

Menacing gazes burnt hot on Nuel's body - all four of them paused in trepidation.

"Stop, you four! This is Estama Outpost. Identify yourself!"

The smell of gunpowder thickened by the seconds as none would relent their weapons down first.

Nuel paused as his eyes searched around.

「 Where's the promised f**king officer?! 」

"Put your hands up, Administration dogs where we can see them, and identify yourself!"

"???"

"If you don't want to talk, then you leave us with no choice. Turn around with your hands up and-"

"Guns down, boys, guns down. They're one of ours."

A man clad in an unknown cream-toned , who suddenly appeared at the battlement, spoke in a refined yet light-hearted manner.

"...sir, but-"

"Uh uh, no buts. They're one of ours. Open the gates and bring them in!"

"Got it, sir!"

"Carry on with guard duties guys. Don't let those damned zom-boes near the outpost, you hear me!"

"Yes, sir!"

"And don't let those Administration f**king dogs near either!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

The thick steel gates slowly wrenched open and two soldiers in exosuits and wielding light-class firearms each, ran almost routinely to each side of the group.

The previous menacing air was lesser, but the unfriendly gazes lingered still.

"Please, with us."

All four of them relaxed their unknowingly tensed muscles, as they were escorted by the armed soldiers to march inside through the entrance gate.

Nuel had spent almost an hour from when he disembarked the to finally reach Estama - they had taken quite a number of detours just to escape the few relentless pursuing Necrobiotes and secure a less risky passage.

「 Time to grind those contribution poi- 」

Everything froze suddenly - the three Wanderer friends walking ahead of him, the two escort soldier guards, the sentries on the battlement on the gates and walls, the chilly wind, the few fire pits scattered around the compound, huddled around by many silhouettes of people - everything stopped moving.

As if the world was on 'Pause'.

「 What the f**k is- 」

Ding!

_____

Dear player Nuel Calibre.

You have spent a total of 12 hours in the game.

To ensure our players' safety and avoid any health complications, a maximum gaming duration of 12 hours is put in place.

You will be temporarily unable to log in into your account for the next 12 hours real time hours.

Until then, your gameplay will be paused, so keep calm and stay rested.

...

_____

「 W-Wait what...? 」

Nuel's eyes were stunned at the content of the holographic pop-up before him.

_____

...

...Logging out in ten seconds.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

_____

「 Wait a minute! Oh, f**k m- 」

.....