Chapter 31

"--...Anis. Your phone has been making pinging noises for a while now."

"Ah, sorry. Messages have been flying in Tetra's group chat... Ah, it's complaints about the commanders..."

"Elysion's group experiences it occasionally too."

Inside the elevator heading towards the surface, Anise's mobile device continued to play incoming message melodies incessantly. When Rapi expressed her annoyance, Anis apologized and checked what kind of messages were being exchanged, just to be sure.

While not outright insults, the majority of messages from the Nikke commanders produced by Tetra in the blabla messaging chat app were complaints and grievances.

It's tough everywhere, Anis thought as she watched Moore, who had just finished checking his assault rifle, hoisting his backpack and threading the sling belt under his right arm.

"Commander. Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? What's up all of a sudden?"

"Just go with it. Come on, smile for me?"

Anise guided Moore's strong right arm, armed with a smile, towards her chest while holding her mobile device with one hand. She made sure to capture both him and herself in the lens and then snapped a picture.

"All right... This is my commander... and send."

Initially, it was meant to be a playful attempt to liven up the tense group conversation. Or perhaps it was a way of bragging to the other Nikke produced on Tetra's TetraLine about what her commander was like. It couldn't be denied that there was a hint of smug superiority in her message.

A single photo sent by Anis to the group room where the Nikke created on Tetra's TetraLine participated suddenly changed the atmosphere when it was posted.

"...Anis. Don't you think the notifications have become even MORE annoying?"

"Sorry, it happened all of a sudden... Hmm? Commander, would you mind taking off your sunglasses?"

"...Huh? Well, I don't mind..."

"Thanks. Just like that..."

Moore, still looking perplexed, removed his sunglasses, and this time Anis moved to capture his upper body in the frame. She took another picture with the sound of the shutter clicking.

Even though the photo had just been taken, the atmosphere changed drastically when it was sent to the group room.

"Oh, come on! It's so noisy, I'll turn it off!"

"Yeah, please do that... We're just 5 minutes away from the surface. Everyone, perform your final checks."

The elevator continued to ascend. As the countdown on the LCD panel reached less than a minute to the surface, tension rose involuntarily. Moore put his sunglasses back on and ordered the squad to perform their checks.

Encounters with Raptures upon elevator doors opening were not uncommon.

In the midst of tension, Moore loaded a magazine with ammunition and pulled the charging handle of his assault rifle. He then used the bolt-forward assist on the right side to chamber a round and close the chamber forcefully.

Ten seconds left.

They could feel the elevator's speed decreasing as it continued to ascend. As the countdown reached zero and the doors opened, Rapi, Moore, and Anise disembarked with their guns pointed outward.

They aimed their guns and glanced around the snowy and icy terrain, and when they confirmed no signs of enemies or threats, they lowered their guns.

"Clear."

"Same here."

As Rapi reported, Moore nodded and, taking out a cigarette he hadn't had a chance to smoke before, lit it with an oil lighter at his lips.

[Ah, you arrived on the surface. Checking communication status... Can you all hear me?]

Amid the white landscape, Moore exhaled a plume of purple smoke along with his breath, and the voice of Shifty, the operator, resonated in his headset.

"It's Moore. Communication is clear."

.

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"--Anis! Hey! That's cheating, it's way too big!"

"Ah, it's not fair to be this big!"

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Voices from behind, rowdy rather than lewd, reached him, and he sighed in exasperation.

(Tl notes: LOL, the author sure knows us being dirty-minded.)

[Uh, sorry for the disturbance during the snowball fight... Can you hear us?]

"Everything's fine. We can hear you."

[Thank you! It's great even that only the Commander and Rapi answered!]

"...Our squad members are really something... They didn't mean any harm, but..."

He would definitely need to address this later. Before that, he apologized to the operator and Shifty laughed as if she could imagine his HARDSHIPS for that.

[Up north, the Alva particle density is thin. So, there's no need to activate the purification sequence. The route to the research base is simple. We haven't identified any obstacles here, and the route is straightforward. However...]

"...However, what? Is there a problem?"

While still holding the cigarette in his mouth, he exhaled a plume of purple smoke and used his left hand's fingertips to grab the microphone of his headset. He prompted Shifty, who stopped in the midldle, to continue. If there was any issue, he wanted to hear it now and resolve it as soon as possible.

[The problem is snow and ice. In the Ark, we have no way of knowing the scale of snow and ice accumulation. So please be careful, ESPECIALLY with the ice!]

"Ice?... Certainly, there was information about lakes and rivers in the terrain data, but is it that dangerous? Given the amount of snow and the temperature, I'd imagine it's quite thick. Oh, is it because it's slippery?"

[Well, it's because... Nikke's weight is heavy. We're not sure if the ice can support it.]

"---Ah, I see... So that means it's dangerous for me too. I weigh 130 kg. How about you, Rapi?"

(Tl notes: ...If I don't know any better, he's just signed own death warrant.)

[Commander! How dare you ask a girl THAT kind of question brazenly... You're the worst!!]

"...…"

---Why was he being criticized like this?

When Shifty's words conveying disappointment echoed through the housing, Moore tilted his head in confusion.

During a previous operation, when they were investigating a power plant in a coastal city, he had carried Rapi after she was injured, and he didn't feel she was heavy at all. He seemed to remember that, but when he turned to look at Rapi herself, she met his gaze.

"Commander, it's time to depart."

"Ah, right. Squad, gather. Let's move out."

"Anis, Neon. Didn't you hear the Commander's order? It's time to depart—"

"Whoa...!"

Something was coming from behind. Sensing it instinctively, Moore reflexively bent his knees and lowered himself, and at that moment, a white projectile passed overhead.

It wasn't a Rapture's beam, but rather a snowball the size of a clenched fist.

Anis had thrown the snowball straight toward his back, but because Moore had bent down to avoid it, it hit Rapi squarely in the face.

"Huh? I was aiming for the Commander, though..."

"Uh... That's too bad. Your throwing technique was like a baseball player's..."

"Let's get going, Commander."

Rapi, still shaking her head in annoyance, brushed off the snow on her face and then straightened her disheveled bangs with a hand combing it, before urging him to depart.

"Rapi, there's snow in your nostrils."

"...HMPHH!"

(Tl notes: Snow Nose Cannon...--pfft. Okay, that's hilarious.)

....Why was she so grumpy about a simple observation? All he did was pointing it out.

He turned his gaze towards Rapi's back as she began to move forward alone, and he called out to Anis and Neon, who had been throwing snowballs behind them. The squad then resumed their advance.

Encounters with Raptures and battles seemed to be less frequent in this snowy area compared to others. Moore couldn't help but notice that it seemed unusually rare.

In fact, two hours had passed since they descended the elevator, and they had only encountered Raptures twice. Additionally, Moore felt that the movements of the Raptures were slightly sluggish.

"Do Raptures also slow down in the cold?"

"I'm not sure..."

The wreckage of the recently defeated Load-class and its accompanying three Raptures lay motionless, with sparks and black liquid resembling oil splattering over the snowy landscape.

Moore had heard about instances in the world wars of the past, where extreme cold had caused tanks, vehicle wheels, tracks, and even engines to freeze in certain regions of the world. He wondered if something similar might be affecting the Raptures.

As they walked away from the battlefield after the battle and some time had passed, they distanced themselves sufficiently from the acrid smell of gunpowder and the pungent smell of old oil. Additionally, the cold wind had cleared their nasal passages. At that moment, Moore suddenly noticed something.

He detected a smell that he had grown accustomed to, both for better and for worse, carried by the wind. He furrowed his brow.

"...---I smell blood."

"Blood...?"

He suddenly stopped and sniffed the air while looking around.

Moore's behavior raised questions, and even Rapi, Anis, and Neon, while somewhat skeptical, heightened their olfactory sensors to see for themselves.

"Oh, it's true..."

"Did I become able to smell blood better thanks to my Sensei's influence?"

"Probably."

....He couldn't argue with that. It was true that Moore had too many injuries involving bleeding. Thanks to that, even the Nikkes had grown accustomed to the smell of blood, which they would rather have avoided.

"Could it be a human?"

"If it is, the smell is incredibly strong. It's likely someone died from massive bleeding."

"Huh? Does Sensei have the right to say that?"

...Lately, even Neon had become harsh. Perhaps he wasn't well-liked by his subordinates. Moore pondered such thoughts and let out a sigh.

The phrase "for better or worse" might serve as a preface, but they were becoming more forthright. ...It could be seen as a positive sign.

To be thorough, Rapi and Moore took the lead and headed toward the source of the blood smell carried by the wind. There, they found a spot where the white snow on the ground had been smeared with copious bloodstains, with the carcass of an animal, likely a deer, lying at its center.

"From the shape of the tracks... probably wolves. Most likely, a pack of them, around six."

"I can't believe you can tell all that from tracks alone."

"They don't speak, so they leave information behind by tracks."

"Where did you learn that? At the officer's academy?"

"Oh, that's...---"

A sudden sharp headache shot through his skull.

"Commander, don't move. We're being watched."

Rapi issued a quiet warning and the sound of her disengaging the safety on her assault rifle echoed.

Moore turned his face in the direction where she was staring. There, a group of wolves with gray fur mixed with black and brown approached them slowly. These wolves were likely the owners of the dead deer left behind.

"Commander, as you said, there are six of them."

"While it's a hit, I can't say I'm happy about the situation."

Should they open fire? Moore quietly disengaged the safety on his weapon and prepared to place his finger on the trigger, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Strangely, his meager conscience was bothering him. He thought it might be easier to shoot humans, believe it or not.

"It seems they were eating. Let's slowly back away. Don't take your eyes off them."

Firing could potentially carry the sound of gunshots for kilometers, serving as a signal to nearby Raptures. Moore ordered the three of them to slowly back away so as not to provoke the wolves.

As they cautiously retreated, the wolves seemed to relax their guard. However, one particularly massive individual among them, approached Moore.

"Commander... Hurry up!"

Anise quietly urged him to retreat, but before he could react, the wolf reached Moore's feet.

This wolf was enormous, with a body length of at least 170 cm. It would be rare for a quadrupedal animal like this to stand upright, but if it did, it would be almost as tall as Moore.

The wolf's distinctive amber-colored eyes were directed at Moore.

They were almost eye to eye with Moore looking down on the wolf from above. This allowed him to receive a gaze filled with unmistakable intensity.

Whether it worked or not, they didn't know.

They didn't know, but...

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"Hey, Commander, why is it following you?"

"Don't know. Heck, don't ask me."

They had acquired six companions for the journey to the research facility.