Chapter 33

Following Shifty's navigation, approximately 10 minutes later, heading north-northwest.

The blizzard was growing stronger, but amidst the white, snow-covered visibility, they clearly spotted the silhouette of a man-made structure. It was a bunker made of reinforced concrete, partly buried in the snow.

"...Shifty, do you hear me?... Commander, there's a communication interruption."

"...It's because of this blizzard. The communication will likely worsen as time goes."

Rapi, who was always serious, reported, and Moore nodded in agreement.

Their priority was to wait in the bunker until the blizzard subsided. Although the counters could adpt to it, it couldn't be the same for him.

"I'll check the interior first. Wait here, Commander."

"...Clearing it together might be faster."

"Because there might be 'something' else. ---I know you don't mind, Commander, but... I don't want to show it to you."

Depending on the size, there could be structures extending underground. Moore suggested that it would be more efficient for everyone to clear the area together, but she, out of consideration or perhaps some other reason, quickly headed towards the bunker made of reinforced concrete.

As he watched her go, the wolves huddled at his feet lowered their posture, wrinkled their noses, and began to emit low growls.

.

.

.

There was something out there.

.

.

"Anis!"

"?"

He shouted instinctively, but the strong wind blowing the blizzard prevented his voice from reaching Annis.

And then, it happened. In the white, snow-covered field of view, several red dots appeared.

At the same time, Rapi must have noticed it too. Moore and she reflexively disengaged the safety mechanisms on their assault rifles. Neon, carrying a shotgun over his shoulder with a sling, gripped her weapon. Meanwhile, Anis, who had headed towards the bunker, returned in a hurry.

"We've found Raptures ahead! They're coming out like crazy—"

"Anis!"

Encountering Raptures in the midst of a blizzard was unavoidable, but this was way too many. With a quick glance, Moore counted at least 15 red dots.

Moore sensed one of them, in particular, aiming its barrel towards Anis. He dashed towards her and pushed her down onto the snow.

She ended up lying on her back, and he covered her just as a beam of light passed above them at an unimaginable speed.

"Commander!?"

"Are you alright!?"

"I-I'm okay!"

Even though Annis was a Nikke, Moore couldn't help but notice that her cheeks had turned slightly red, probably due to frostbite. However, he decided that returning fire was a more immediate concern, so he rolled sideways from on top of her and took a prone firing position.

"Why are they coming... even if you all die, I won't take responsibility, alright?"

Beside him in the prone position were the six wolves. They seemed to be imitating Moore, lying low and growling towards the Raptures.

---Whatever happen, happens.

Moore cursed the loyal wolves in his mind and, once again, placed the rifle stock against his right shoulder. After settling his cheek on the stock, he peered through the ACOG scope.

A red dot locked into the crosshair's reticle. The distance was 55 meters.

He pulled the trigger in short bursts, firing three shots each time, twice in a row.

After confirming the disappearance of the red monocular core, indicating the destruction of the Rapture, Moore shifted his aim to the next enemy.

The sudden encounter had led to a battle, but Anis and the others, who had regrouped, opened fire on the approaching Raptures, taking them down one by one.

"Just one more!"

"Wait! It's going to self-destruct!"

In an instant, perhaps because all their friendly units had been destroyed, the last Rapture's red dot started flashing. Anis, sensing what it meant, issued a warning. The moment the monocular emitted an exceptionally strong light, something must have exploded inside. The shockwave from the explosion was felt throughout the area, and the components and fragments that made up the machine scattered somewhat later.

It was like an upscaled fragmentation grenade.

Thanks to the noise-canceling headset he wore, Moore's hearing wasn't affected, but Rapi and the others, including Anis, seemed to have been caught off guard by the self-destruct and were holding their ears, furrowing their brows.

It's convenient yet inconvenient at the same time. While thinking this, Moore rose from his prone position and hurried over to them.

"Are you all okay?"

"My ears... I'm sorry, Commander."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, Anis, Neon too."

"I thought my auditory sensors were going to break..."

Even for them, who could consciously switch various sensors on and off, experiencing a loud explosion would affect their balance and behavior for some time, just like it would for humans.

As Moore reached out to help each of them stand, Neon suddenly spoke as they were getting up.

"Sensei?... Uh, do you hear anything...?"

"Hmm?"

Neon's auditory sensors seemed to be recovering more quickly than Rapi's and Anis's, and she had returned to normal faster. But, it appeared that her sensors had picked up on something unusual as she looked up at Moore and mentioned the change.

Moore was wearing a noise-canceling headset, which canceled out sounds like gunshots, artillery fire, and explosions that would disrupt human hearing. Because of this, he didn't immediately understand what Neon meant when he mentioned "something."

Suddenly, at a tremendous speed, a group of wolves raced past him, running as if they were fleeing for their lives. Some of them turned back, cast golden-eyed glances at him, and then continued running.

Although Moore couldn't catch a glimpse of them due to the blowing snow, his hearing picked up on something ominous—a heavy sound that resembled ground rumbling or an earthquake, approaching very closely.

.

.

.

"AVALANCHE!"

Moore and Rapi seemed to have simultaneously realized the nature of the change and shouted.

With a combination of voices that was both melodious and reassuring to the listener, also a calm and deep voice raised a warning cry, prompting Neon and Annis to immediately start running.

"Hurry! Into the bunker! Quickly!"

"We won't make it! It's too far!"

"Don't talk nonsense, just run! You're faster than me!"

Despite having physical abilities far superior to humans, there was no way Nikke could outrun a snowslide approaching at 300 kilometers/h.

Among the cacophony of shouts from behind, Rapi heard an unusual noise, and when she looked back over her shoulder, she saw the approaching avalanche behind Moore.

"Commander!"

She instinctively halted her stride towards the bunker and rushed back toward him.

However, as the avalanche swallowed up Moore in an engulfing manner, her field of vision was suddenly blanketed in pure white.

The pressure of the snow pressed down on her entire body, and it seemed to mock her attempts to escape as she was spun around like a piece of clothing tossed into a washing machine.

She lost all sense of what was up and what was down. Her sense of balance was completely gone.

After what felt like an eternity of being toyed with by the snow, the spinning stopped, and Rapi, using her still-functioning arm, created a gap between the snow pressing on her and herself.

Using that gap, she began to claw her way upwards through the snow. As her fingertips unmistakably felt the touch of the outside air, she burst out of the snow-covered space in a single motion.

"Commander! Anis! Neon!"

Amidst the continuing blizzard, she yelled loudly, and as she did, a single arm emerged from the turbulent snowfield.

"Ugh...! I thought I was going to die...!"

Recognizing Anis crawling out of the snow, Rapi rushed towards her.

On her way, she witnessed this time both arms emerging from the snow.

"Glasses... glasses... oh, there they are."

It was Neon. Rapi recognized her as she adjusted her glasses and emerged from the snow. Rapi let out a sigh of relief.

"What about the Commander?"

"---Oh no..!... he might still be buried!"

"Commander! Please respond!"

However, there was still no sign of Moore. In the midst of the blizzard, Rapi's voice echoed, but there was no response from him at all.

------

(Cough... I thought I was really going to die this time...)

A thick arm suddenly protruded from the snow. Followed by another, and then the upper body emerged.

Spitting out the cold snow that had entered his mouth, Moore crawled out from beneath the snow. His face felt swollen, and it seemed like he had gotten frostbite.

"I got carried away quite a bit... Sunglasses... well, they can't be helped."

It appeared that he had lost his sunglasses, which he rather liked, somewhere in the avalanche.

Setting that aside, he wondered where he was now. Moore retrieved a handheld device from a pouch on his body armor and displayed a map on the screen.

The illuminated point on the map indicating his current location was about 4 kilometers away in a straight line from the vicinity of the bunker where the engagement had taken place.

He seemed to have been carried quite a distance by the avalanche. Nevertheless, it was fortunate that he didn't seem to have any serious injuries.

His assault rifle slung on the sling and the backpack he was carrying were both intact.

However, Moore was currently separated from his squad and in a situation where he was operating alone.

As the weather was clearly a blizzard, and on top of that, he as a human who was operating alone on the surface where Raptures roamed, he was in an extremely dangerous situation.

It seemed that gods REALLY disliked him.

"...I don't like them much either."

It seems that repairing the relationship or reconciling is impossible.

Moore wasn't sure how many ridges he had to cross, but as he was about to make his way back to the location of the bunker, he sensed something approaching.

Quickly, Moore dropped to the ground, removed the safety on his assault rifle, and aimed the ACOG scope in the direction from which the approaching presence was felt.

His finger rested on the trigger, ready to squeeze it with just a few more grams of pressure. When he saw multiple silhouettes, he let out a sigh of relief and engaged the safety on his rifle.

Approaching him were six wolves.

After escaping the avalanche, they had evidently followed his scent to reach him.

Among the six wolves, a particularly large one approached Moore with something held in its mouth. To his surprise, it was the sunglasses he thought he had lost.

"Oh, what a good boy."

Accepting the sunglasses, he put them on and proceeded to pet each of the wolves, starting with the larger one, and then the others in turn, before getting back on his feet.

Now, what should he do from here?

"First, I need to regroup."

As Moore began walking through the blizzard, the large wolves followed in his footsteps.

He hoped that all three of them were safe. While worrying about the squad members he had lost contact with, Moore walked through the blizzard with caution to avoid falling into crevasses.

The visibility was still extremely poor, with a whiteout that made it impossible to see even 10 meters ahead.

He wiped the snow covering his sunglasses with the fingertips of his gloves to regain his vision. When he did, he sensed movement in the direction he was heading.

He crouched down, shouldered his assault rifle, and took aim.

In this situation, he had to be cautious of anything that moved—whether it was an animal, a Rapture, or perhaps his squad members.

Through the artificial eye made of synthetic material that peeked through the ACOG scope, he gradually brought the silhouette that was moving closer into the crosshair's reticle.

He disengaged the safety with a click and placed his index finger on the trigger, ready to squeeze it.

"Queen. Look, there's someone over there."

"Oh, you're right. ...a man and wolves?"

The figures that appeared turned out to be an unfamiliar pair of Nikes.

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Author Notes: I think the in-game Commander has also pretty much given up on being human (surviving an avalanche. Maybe even winning a fight against Milk in hand-to-hand combat).