Chapter 13: The Heart of a Warrior

Chapter 13: A Warrior’s Heart

"How annoying. Having to head out this late."

Gavial grumbled, running her right hand through the dark green hair flattened by her coat. After a great deal of effort to tidy her long, wavy hair, she grabbed the staff leaning against her bedside and stepped out of the dormitory, bumping straight into Myrrh.

Myrrh rubbed her sleepy eyes. "Doctor Gavial, I heard there was an accident with the reserve group."

"I don’t know the specifics, but I really feel like smashing something right now."

Gavial swung her staff forcefully, as if a monster were standing right before her. Myrrh’s mouth hung open slightly. She remembered that before becoming a medical operator, Gavial had been a fierce and battle-hardened warrior. Looking at the way she swung her staff, it almost seemed like a powerful form of cudgel technique. But wasn’t the primary duty of a medical operator to heal and support their comrades?

Myrrh ultimately decided to hold her tongue, burying the question deep inside.

When they arrived at the lower level of the base via the elevator, they saw a crowd gathered around the Doctor and Amiya outside several transport vehicles.

"You’re here. Let’s go together. Fang—"

"Doctor, let’s set off now!"

Zhou Jinru looked at the two medical operators who had arrived. Just as he started to speak, he saw Fang, with her short, deep-blue hair, sprinting toward the lead transport vehicle, looking utterly impatient.

Gavial walked over. "Is the Doctor heading out with us today as well?"

Zhou Jinru nodded. He had long wanted to see what a real battlefield looked like. After all, the game’s mechanics were essentially tower defense—once operators were deployed, they remained stationary. But when the game became reality, everything changed. The number of people deployed was no longer strictly limited to a squad of twelve plus one support operator, and operators certainly wouldn’t just stand still and take a beating once they entered the fray.

Once everyone was gathered, just as Zhou Jinru was about to board the vehicle, a shout came from behind.

"D-Doctor, please wait!"

Zhou Jinru retracted the leg he had placed on the vehicle carriage and turned around. A brown-haired boy was running toward them in a hurry. Because of his excessive speed, he nearly collided with the carriage door upon reaching them.

He was a stranger; Zhou Jinru had no impression of this thin boy. The youth was wearing the cold-weather gear issued by Rhodes Island, utterly nondescript. However, when his gaze fell upon the staff in the boy’s hand—specifically the light-colored wick inside the long, narrow glass housing at the top—he suddenly realized: the boy before him was Greyy.

He felt a flicker of joy, along with something else he couldn't quite identify.

"Greyy, are you coming along too?"

Greyy panted slightly, looked up into the Doctor’s face, and said loudly, "Doctor, please let me go with you. I have become very proficient with my Arts, and I can provide illumination."

In his last round of high-intensity pulling before quitting the game, Greyy had been unremarkable among the four-star operators. His attack growth wasn't high, and his special effect was merely slowing down targets. Aside from his base skill, which increased drone recovery speed, he hadn't been very useful. Consequently, Zhou Jinru had never invested any resources in him. In other words, Greyy’s level was still at one, with zero experience, skill level one, and potential one—at most, he possessed a bit of trust.

But times had changed. The operators were living, breathing people with their own life trajectories. Zhou Jinru realized he couldn't dismiss their efforts based on low stats or perceived weakness, even if he had been a "meta-chaser" himself.

"Alright, come along then. High-ground operators, mind your own safety. Get on the vehicle."

...

Inside the carriage, Gavial clutched her staff, scribbled a line in a small notebook, curled her lip, and handed it to Myrrh, who was smiling with eyes squinted shut.

"A bet is a bet. But I’m stating for the record: Dr. Kal'tsit has already docked my pay until there’s barely anything left this month. I’ll concede the luxury goods quota to you, but if I run out of meal card money, you two have to help me out, or I’ll actually starve to death..."

After a long-winded complaint, Gavial still felt a lingering sense of doubt. "Haven't you noticed? The Doctor seems like a different person since he came back. The old him would never have agreed to Greyy’s request. He was a total meta-slave—only A-rank operators caught his eye. At first, I could follow him on missions often, but after Dr. Ptilopsis arrived, I never had another chance to deploy, not even in simulations."

As if recalling a terrible memory, Gavial’s expression soured. "He even mocked me, saying I was 'a throw-in with a purchase,' laughing in that wretched way. But what could I do? I don't even know why my resume ended up on the list of items exchangeable for credit at Penguin Logistics. That wasn't my fault."

Myrrh tucked the note into a compartment of her medical bag. Seeing Gavial spiraling, she quickly consoled her, "Dr. Gavial, many of our comrades never had the chance to deploy before, myself included. But it doesn't matter who deploys. Even without the chance to grow stronger, it’s still wonderful for us all to live together."

Gavial sighed and looked up at Myrrh. "Dr. Myrrh, you’re professionally trained with a solid grasp of theory, but I started as a warrior. I’m a medical operator who switched paths halfway. If there’s an opportunity, I still yearn for the battlefield."

She kept a tight grip on her staff, smiling bitterly. "I don’t even have half the strength I had before I became Infected. It’s been so long since I’ve experienced the feeling of combat."

Myrrh fell silent, not knowing how to react, and chose to change the subject. "The Doctor has changed a lot now. Things will only get better in the future."

"I’m not holding out any hope for him. I just hope he doesn't suddenly go missing again; everyone really can't take that."

...

At the mountain pass ahead, Yato and the others lay in wait within the bushes, motionless. The disadvantage of lacking drone reconnaissance was glaringly obvious; they had nearly run straight into the enemy before discovering a massive swarm of Originium Slugs blocking their path. The A1 reserve group’s initial intelligence had indicated the path was clear, which left only one explanation: the excessive activity of the open-pit Originium mine had birthed these monsters due to the date.

"Noir Corne."

Yato whispered.

Noir Corne, who was half a step ahead, nodded and removed his hood, revealing the sharp horns on his forehead. An invisible wave spread outward like ripples stirred by a gentle breeze on a calm pond. A moment later, Noir Corne opened his eyes and shook his head lightly at Yato.

"We can't charge through?" Yato frowned.

Noir Corne pulled his hood back up. "There’s a high energy signature ahead, very intense. It’s suspected to be a high-energy Originium Slug. We can’t get past. While we still have time, it’s best to take a detour."

Just as Yato was about to speak, she looked down. The communicator at her waist vibrated with a call request. She bowed her head and pressed the button. Not long after, the veteran warrior looked up with an expression of disbelief. "The Doctor is behind us, and he is going to personally command the coming battle!"