The Retired Max-Level Worker Wants to Rest - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Operation

TL/ED – Miso

The radar was broken.

Much of it was damaged, and minerals were needed to repair it. But to detect minerals, a radar was needed.

‘That was the dilemma.’

There was one other way.

Finding a Brakta Nest.

Everything from erecting bio-structures to producing combat units like Creeds and Cree’vahs required resources.

In other words, where there was a Nest, there were resources.

And.

‘Nests near the base are critical intel that gets prioritized first.’

They get stored in the database.

Without exception.

I found it.

And I was heading that way.

Then something suddenly crossed my mind.

‘What is this world?’

I kept thinking about it.

What happened after I died?

What is this world, and what is this system?

‘Did the Queen not die?’

The planet itself should have exploded.

It was hard to imagine the Queen surviving something like that.

‘If she did die……’

Did humanity win the war?

I didn’t know.

There was no way to know.

‘Is this planet even the same place I used to live?’

It had been Galactic Humanity.

Not a single star, but a cluster of countless stars gathered together. Planets like this one were innumerable.

Was this one of them?

‘I don’t know.’

And.

The thing that created the gates and dragged us here.

The thing that granted us special powers.

Even with all my knowledge as someone from Galactic Humanity, I couldn’t make sense of it.

‘Even with that kind of technology, it would’ve been easier to create a simulation than to physically transport us.’

That was what made it so confusing.

This environment was definitely the same place I had lived.

Living, breathing Brakta.

The wreckage of an abandoned base.

These were all things I knew.

‘But is this reality?’

What would happen if I left this planet?

Would there be a Cosmic Allied Forces station out there?

Or was this just a closed-off world?

That was when it happened.

“……Ho-cheon oppa, there’s something up ahead?”

I furrowed my brow.

“What do you see?”

“Yes, I just have really good eyesight.”

Even so, I was riding a Turk.

Which meant it had a short-range radar included.

But.

Tick, tick.

Only now were Creed bio-signatures beginning to appear on the radar. Cha Yu-ra’s eyesight must have been extraordinary.

“Let’s get ready for combat.”

The Nest was still another 2km from here.

Whether the Creeds had come this far on a scouting run or had expanded their territory to this point, it was a bad sign either way.

‘Of course, it also means there’s a higher chance of finding minerals.’

Could we win?

If I’d been alone, it would have been tough.

But there were two more of us.

“I’ll draw their attention. Then start shooting from over there and over there. Bullets don’t get through this robot, so feel free to fire away, but don’t get too reckless in case it takes too many hits.”

“Got it!”

“Ah, understood.”

Dong-cheol and Yu-ra answered.

We moved into position.

And entered the Creeds’ line of sight.

‘Twenty of them.’

They charged.

At me.

‘5, 4, 3…’

When they reached 30 meters out.

I pulled the pin on a grenade.

Ping-

Dadadadak!

Kkirirrik-

The instant the Creeds arrived right in front of me.

KABOOM-!

Red flames swept in every direction.

I was fine, but the Creeds were burning.

“Open fire.”

Short-range radio communication.

These minor pieces of equipment still worked.

Dududududu-!

Full auto.

I’d scoured every corner of the base to get ammo boxes.

Ammunition wasn’t in short supply.

KKYAAAA-!

The Creeds screamed.

Red flames, a hail of bullets.

And in the middle of it all, a Turk charging in.

Wiing- KABAM!

Giing- SPLAT!

I killed them off one by one, nice and steady.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have gained EXP.

-You have leveled up.

I gained another Level.

The EXP was definitely adding up nicely.

Then.

Another swarm of Creeds appeared in the distance.

‘Looks like the Nest has grown quite a bit.’

Ammo was plentiful.

Grenades too.

It was important to thin their numbers before reaching the Nest, but I also had to account for the Creeds the Nest would produce.

I shouted.

“More incoming. This time we push forward while fighting. Follow 50m behind me and keep shooting!”

-Copy!

-Understood!

I advanced.

The Turk’s durability was holding up fine.

Ammo was still plentiful.

Dadadadada-!

Twenty Creeds.

This much wasn’t difficult.

Dududududu-!

But.

‘What?’

Something was off.

Cha Yu-ra wasn’t firing in full auto.

Yet she was hitting every single shot.

And only in the weak point, right between the eyes!

‘She’s got good eyesight, and she’s got a talent for shooting too.’

I pulled the pin on a grenade and shouted.

Ping-

KABOOOOM-!

“Advance! Advance!”

Commanding a battlefield.

Right now it was only two people, but in a previous life, I had been the head supervisor of thousands of construction robots. As one might expect, they didn’t just mine resources and build things.

‘They fought too.’

Even though Turks were non-combat robots, in the thousands they could roll over most Nests without much trouble.

“Pull a grenade each!”

Ping-

They followed orders well, as expected.

No questions, just immediate execution.

KABOOOOM-!

KKYAAAA!

The second swarm went down just as easily.

-Whoa-! This is insane. I went up three Levels! I can pick a Reward, should I choose now?

Dong-cheol shouted.

Cha Yu-ra seemed to be in the same situation.

-Guns are so great, you know? It says I can pick a Reward too!

Picking rewards would increase our combat strength.

Better to choose before moving on.

“I’ll stand guard. Take your time and choose carefully.”

I stopped the Turk.

They hid behind me and picked their rewards.

-Done! Looks like I’m meant to fight with a sword after all. It’s called [Sever], and it says I can cut way better with it.

As expected, everyone got different things.

I was curious what Cha Yu-ra had picked too.

-Mine is called [Mana Operation]. It says it increases my mana and boosts the number and duration of my Barriers.

Mana.

Did that mean she could wield that unknown power?

Cha Yu-ra’s current combat ability wasn’t particularly high. Barrier was useful, sure, but she was just one inexperienced soldier holding a rifle.

But if one considered the power called mana, she was a late bloomer. That power was the most formidable of any I had ever witnessed.

‘Plus she’s a good shooter, so leveling up won’t be hard for her either.’

She’d become a capable asset.

“Alright, let’s move out.”

There was no time to waste.

And so, when we reached the hilltop.

“……There it is.”

I could see it.

A Basin behind the hill.

Its scale was larger than expected.

There were five [Spawn Sacs], the basic bio-cultivation pouches that produced Creeds, along with eight [Heart Cores] that generated bio-energy. There were even seven [Bio-Turrets], the defensive bio-structures.

‘Not Alpha scale, but Beta.’

It must have evolved from an Alpha.

There were definitely minerals here.

In fact…

“Minerals detected.”

The Turk’s short-range radar had picked them up.

A considerable deposit.

I could also see [Kripords], the Brakta worker units, swarming around a glowing pile of minerals.

Unfortunately, there was no ‘gas’.

‘The good news is, they don’t have many troops.’

We wouldn’t get counterattacked.

But there were defensive structures.

We couldn’t win right now.

“Let’s fall back.”

-Huh? We’re just giving up?

“Of course not. We need to prepare.”

There was always a way.

Always.

We quietly withdrew.

.

.

.

That evening.

I went through every corner of the base.

The first thing I found.

‘Tactical Warheads.’

Starship-grade warheads.

Remove the propellant, and they’d be usable.

The problem was there were only two.

‘One warhead per Bio-Turret at minimum.’

It fell far, far short.

That was why I turned to homemade bombs.

I’d used them plenty of times in my past life.

‘Oxidation Gel Canisters.’

Simply put, oxygen tanks.

An essential component for making explosives.

‘Connect a plasma igniter to one.’

That alone could make an oxygen tank explode.

But the blast would be weak.

Boosting the explosive yield itself would be difficult.

So I headed to the chemistry lab.

There, I activated the negative-pressure isolation chamber.

‘High-concentration alkaline catalyst, bio-bonding dissociation enzyme, adhesive delivery medium, bio-receptor disruptor, stabilizing additive……’

All the ingredients were here.

It was designated [K17-SB].

Not an officially sanctioned weapon.

‘Lethal to Brakta, but they quickly develop resistance to chemical attacks.’

That was one of the Brakta’s traits.

That was why the Cosmic Allied Forces had officially banned the use of chemical weapons. They were reserved for only a select few critical operations.

But what about me?

‘I don’t need to worry about that.’

And so, three hours later.

“Done.”

Making them was quick.

The equipment and materials had been there, after all.

Now I just had to soak tungsten metal fragments in this, then attach them around the oxygen tanks. When they detonated, the metal fragments would burrow through the outer shells of the Bio-Turrets.

.

.

.

The next morning.

“You made all of this overnight?”

Cha Yu-ra asked.

Seven bombs were complete. Two were lightly modified starship-grade warheads. Five were Oxidation Gel Canisters.

“We’re moving these today.”

I’d barely slept.

But there was no time to waste.

‘They know we attacked.’

The Brakta Nest would now start producing combat units.

They’d redirect the resources they had been pouring into base expansion.

“We’ll need two trips to transport everything.”

“Then someone has to stay and guard these?”

“The two of you. Think you can manage?”

Park Dong-cheol and Cha Yu-ra.

Could the two of them guard this?

“……If that’s the only option, then we have to.”

“We have to. I think we can handle it.”

I was grateful they were on the same page.

If someone had said, why do we even need to hit that place, it would have been a real headache. I was thankful they understood without me having to spell it all out.

“Thank you. I’ll be back as fast as I can, so hold out no matter what.”

And so the operation began.

First, the five Oxidation Gel Canisters.

Because the warheads were much larger.

‘About 5km distance.’

An hour’s walk at an adult man’s pace.

Two hours for a round trip.

The Turk wasn’t all that fast either. On top of that, it was overloaded, so even at top speed, a round trip would take at least an hour.

I departed immediately.

.

.

.

I arrived.

A wave of Creeds attacked once.

We handled them without difficulty.

No, Cha Yu-ra handled all of it.

“Yu-ra.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever had shooting training?”

This time, I was genuinely impressed.

She didn’t even bother taking cover while shooting. It was barely ten of them, and she had started firing from over 300 meters out.

She hit every one.

Before they even reached our position.

“……No. Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you did way too well.”

I was genuinely impressed.

I should have her do sniping later.

Her talent was clearly exceptional.

And then.

“We’re here.”

A spot some distance from the Basin.

I hoped the Creeds wouldn’t notice while I made the trip, but they weren’t that stupid.

‘The first ten were probably scouts. Once they realize we’re not advancing further, they’ll send more.’

I relayed that.

“It might be better if Yu-ra snipes from over there while Dong-cheol holds this spot. If things go south, Yu-ra has Barrier to fall back on.”

“Got it.”

“I’ll hold down the fort.”

I departed immediately.

I detached the Loader Back, secured the warheads.

Then headed back at full output.

.

.

.

Twenty minutes later.

“They’re coming.”

Cha Yu-ra said.

Creeds.

Five each, splitting into two groups from both sides. One group heading toward Park Dong-cheol’s position, one heading toward Cha Yu-ra’s.

-Take out the ones coming your way first. I can handle five on my own.

“As fast as I can…”

Cha Yu-ra trailed off.

Ten Creeds.

Something was following behind them.

It was the largest and most grotesque creature she had seen yet. One look was enough to tell it was leagues beyond anything like a Creed.

“……Basilak.”

The monster Kim Ho-cheon had told them about.

He’d said the chance of one appearing was low.

But if they saw one, he’d also told them to run without hesitation.

-Basilak? That thing Ho-cheon mentioned?

Cha Yu-ra deliberated.

Should they run?

It would take at least forty minutes for Ho-cheon to return.

The distance was too great for real-time radio contact.

Click.

She chambered a round.

Dong-cheol shouted that they needed to run.

“We can’t just run from this. It’s obvious that every plan Ho-cheon oppa made will fall apart. He said this was all the Oxidation Gel stuff he had……”

She peered through the front sight.

The firing assistance device was off.

She was more comfortable without it now.

-Damn it, fine. The mouth. He said to aim for the mouth. When it spews the acid, right between the fangs as they open up!

That was right.

Ho-cheon had even told them the weak point before he left.

How he knew that didn’t matter.

Surviving and getting out of this.

That was what mattered.

“Oppa.”

-What!

“To aim for the moment it spews, someone has to be getting attacked……”

She meant they needed bait.

Dong-cheol let out a sigh.

But they both knew. If they couldn’t even manage to protect a single warhead, they had no right to stand by his side.