Life Mission

Volume 9 /

TL: LightNovelCafe

Editor: Hungry Panda

World Federation's headquarters.

The atmosphere is strange in the communications sector. Strategist was going over the information that raid 85 had sent through a short while ago.

There is a death toll. There isn't anything special about dying inside missions because it is common, but a raid was instantly massacred. They hadn't even been able to properly react.

"I'll go."

"Stay back."

Strategist restrains Weapon Master.

If he goes, they'll be certain to get information like the new mutant's strength.

But the risk is too great. If something goes wrong and he dies, it'll be beyond a disruption in their plan and they'll have to worry about failing the mission.

If he goes, the three level S Lifers and all of the top level A Lifers have to go. This means all of the supporting core behind them as well.

Woong!

Strategist replayed the video that raid 85 sent on the PDA. The Lifers inside the communications sector including Weapon Master all look in one direction.

A white haired, beautiful woman moves around between 700 Lifers wearing battlesuits. She killed on impact. There is no distance.

"She doesn't even get a scratch?"

Nuclear speaks in terror. They can say she's strong. But 700 people together can't hurt her. All they do is graze her.

She either avoids bombs that attack wide ranges or fired artillery, or something similar to a shell comes out and protects her main body. It looks like partial awakening.

"The installation there?"

"It's over."

He is referring to the Universe Eye. When they take care of enemy forces in each area, a level S Lifer puts up a Universe Eye at the location given to them. They are zoning the areas that they have passed and watching them.

"Alternatives?"

"There isn't enough information. We'll keep searching for now and look for trends. After that, we'll keep an eye out for an opportunity and decide whether we're going to take care of it or not."

They can't just go out blindly to catch it. They need to know more.

Strategist shared information on the unknown mutant with all of the Lifers. He told them not to engage if they run into it and to immediately board the sentinels and retreat. They are far from headquarters, but they can't get close.

Cha Jun Sung looks up at the night sky. He feels uneasy. He had gone back to reality to get some rest, and had heard unexpected news.

[While you were gone, they went into level S mission, Ruler of Bones.]

This is what he heard from Kyoko.

While he was searching through South America in his deal with Jigneon, World Federation and Park Jin Hyuk's group had entered a level S mission.

He had known that they would enter at some point because there was nowhere to go up at this point, but he didn't think that they would do it so suddenly.

[Jun Sung, take care of Jin Hyuk and the others. They could all die.]

Cha Jun Sung couldn't say anything.

For his entry disqualification to shackle him like this, it is enough to drive him crazy. He felt comforted to an extent because there are 3 level S Lifers and the supporting power is impressive, but there's no telling the future.

The more frustrating thing is that after he got this news, Jigneon reminded him of his current situation again via his PDA.

Summarizing Jigneon's words is simple. He basically told him not to have unnecessary thoughts. He is not to even go near the Amazon, the mission area.

Cha Jun Sung can't focus on his mission because he is consumed by his worries about Park Jin Hyuk's group.

He has been blank in one place for the past few days already. Even during that time, the cyborgs that Jigneon sent in support have been busy in their search. They move busily according to the way they were programmed because they are not human.

'The Amazon…'

Cha Jun Sung keeps repeating this to himself.

He was already inside a mission. Worst case scenario, he wanted to just quit everything.

He would be completely disqualified if he goes against the laws that the supervisors made, but he couldn't just stand by and watch something go wrong with Park Jin Hyuk's group. The problem is that while his eyes and ears are currently obscured, he can't know the situation over there. But all of this flowed in an unexpected direction.

***

Jigneon opened a supervisors' meeting.

It was to talk about mysteries like Cha Jun Sung's mutant form and the unidentified bug.

The 3 supervisors hologram watched a video full of flesh, blood, and shrieks without a care and were busy in conversation.

"Level 8?"

"No. Not even Inferno who is the strongest of level 8s in human form would show that kind of ability in his awakened state."

Gabenu refutes what Borteth is saying. It isn't a level 8.

For convenience, they decided to call the mutant inside the video the White Haired Reaper. White Haired Reaper is going wild among 700 Lifers. A level 8 might be able to kill 700 Lifers, but it would have sustained a wound. That is how powerful the force is.

The helpers inside the battlesuits of the Lifers that died there saved video footage of the battle and sent it to the supervisors.

They are automatically edited to send through easily, so there was no need for them to touch the footage up. All the supervisors have to do is make a judgment.

"Could it be level 9?"

"The chance that it's a level 9 is high, but it's weird. This is before she's awakened, but she's too strong."

The difference between levels 8 and 9 manifest after awakening. It is difficult to show transcendent strength in the shell of whatever they are whether that might be human form.

The White Haired Reaper used partial awakening with power similar to one weakest level 8 and killed an entire raid within moments.

The first 3 forces were defeated one by one but from watching video, it didn't seem like the result would be much different even when they were swarming in together.

"On top of that, there are two patterns."

Gabenu pauses the video. White Haired Reaper has two patterns.

Attacks using tentacles and defense using a white carapace that looks like a bone.

It isn't fixed. It switched according to the situation. She applies in variety. It is inevitable that the Lifers die helplessly.

"The decision?"

"We're done though we're not 100% sure."

According to all of the information they collected in Life Mission until now, White Haired Reaper's identity has to be one of three.

"I studied Evil Queen's corpse that had been in South America. In conclusion, it is like a snake shedding."

"The inside is empty?"

"Yes. The genes are the same, but we can't say that it is Evil Queen."

"Then is that Evil Queen?"

"The pattern of using tentacles matches Evil Queen's combat style. It is obvious why she went to South America - to meet Bon Load."

Jigneon heard the report and became lost in thought.

Of the A virus put into South America's Amazon, the strangest was F type 155.

A virus is just the term that unites all of them. Within that, there are tens of thousands of types.

Those injected into Disasters and Nightmares are all unusual. The existing ones cling to a living being and change the host, but F type 155 is one that sticks a life form to itself.

That is why not even the supervisors can know what form they will evolve into. That is why before realization of Life Mission's missions, they sent in cyborgs to check on evolved F type 155s.

They had little information on Disasters because they couldn't check properly.

"So what you're saying?"

"Whatever the appearance is, that's either Evil Queen or Evil Queen fused with Bon Load. Or it could be that a new being has appeared."

"The order of possibility?"

"Fusion, herself, new."

Jigneon agrees with Gabenu.

The order as well.

That's why he is more worried. Two ordinary mutants can't become one. For example, Parasite King taking over Cruel King can't be referred to as fusing. In that case, Parasite King just took Cruel King's body.

White Haired Reaper's two patterns, Evil Queen's tentacles and Bon Load's bones. If all hypotheses line up, this is a serious matter.

The strength of even one level 9 is enough to swallow up a continent whole, but there is nothing to say if two are combined.

"Transcension that goes beyond transcension. Does that mean mutants are superior to Lifers?"

Borteth smirks. Jigneon and Gabenu support Lifer research, but he is for mutant research.

The fusion process is unclear but if Evil Queen has gone beyond level 9, 3 level S Lifers won't be able to complete the mission.

Gabenu signaled to Jigneon without Borteth knowing. Jigneon thought he had something in mind, and nodded.

"We won't make Ruler of Bones into a special mission and leave it for now. We don't know anything yet, and the Lifers have just got started."

It is first contact.

It is way too early to make a decision.