~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 40 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What began as an ordinary day was marked by highly unusual activity.
Every police officer in New York City received an administrative order canceling all leave. Everyone was required to report for duty on the designated day.
Ordinarily, an order infringing on officers' vacation time would have sparked widespread resentment among the rank and file. Even if everyone complied for the time being, the dissatisfaction would likely simmer beneath the surface and erupt later.
This time, however, every officer accepted the order without complaint.
As if carrying out a routine assignment, they armed themselves and deployed to designated checkpoints. Some of those locations were extremely remote, while others saw almost no traffic at all.
The Continental Hotel had joined forces with several of New York's most powerful crime syndicates.
These weren't street-level drug dealers—they were organizations that specialized in contract killings.
Some of their personnel were equipped as well as regular soldiers, looking more like private military contractors—mercenaries, in other words.
Gathering together with ultraviolet weapons in hand, they were preparing to descend into New York's sewers and exterminate the Reapers.
Naturally, none of them were working for free.
A mysterious source of funding was bankrolling the entire operation.
The old-money elites living on the island understood the situation well.
The terrorist attacks the previous year had already destroyed two iconic skyscrapers. Manhattan couldn't withstand another catastrophe.
If the monsters beneath the city ever burst onto the streets, New York itself would likely be finished.
Compared to that kind of economic disaster, paying an "insurance premium" so someone else would do the fighting was a perfectly acceptable expense.
Early that morning, gang gunmen gathered outside the city's major sewer entrances, naturally keeping their distance from the police stationed nearby.
The two sides drew a clear line between themselves, each pretending the other didn't exist.
There were, of course, no reporters on the scene, even though some had received confidential tips beforehand.
Police officers, bound by the law, couldn't simply silence the press.
The mobsters, on the other hand, wouldn't hesitate to kill a reporter if necessary.
And with the Continental's cleanup crews handling the aftermath, even ending up as a floating corpse in the Hudson River would be difficult.
Those who knew what was happening wisely kept their mouths shut.
---
At the appointed hour, every team stationed at the sewer entrances moved simultaneously, weapons raised as they entered the hidden world beneath New York.
Since most of the outer tunnels had already been explored, their advance was fairly rapid despite moving with flashlights in hand.
Before long, they had penetrated deep underground.
From that point onward, minimal lighting fixtures illuminated the tunnels. Flashlights were no longer necessary.
That also meant they had officially entered New York City's hidden underworld.
No one knew who had installed the electrical systems and lighting.
All anyone knew was that they had existed for as long as people had inhabited these sewers.
There was no distinction between day and night here.
Anyone trying to survive in such a place could never truly sleep peacefully. Constant vigilance was essential.
At any moment, someone might steal your supplies—
—or do something even worse.
That was why the assault had been scheduled for daytime rather than at night.
No matter how brightly the sun blazed above, its light could never reach the hidden world beneath the Big Apple.
Even the city's homeless avoided this terrifying place whenever possible.
Now, under the dim lights, the silence of that subterranean world was shattered by the steady march of combat boots.
Yet the tunnels remained eerily deserted.
The deeper the attackers ventured, the heavier the oppressive sense of danger became.
Even more unsettling were the occasional faint gunshots echoing through the darkness.
Rat-tat-tat...
The sound was constant and distant.
Yet it also felt unreal, almost hallucinatory, impossible to determine either its direction or its distance.
It was as though every gunshot ever fired in these sewers had become trapped within the labyrinth, echoing endlessly day after day.
Shots fired ten years ago.
Twenty years ago.
They had become ghosts haunting the underground.
The oppressive atmosphere was enough to make even hardened killers feel as though a massive weight pressed against their chests, making it difficult to breathe.
Dark shadows darted repeatedly through the dim light.
Some of the more nervous gunmen fired at them instinctively.
Naturally, they hit nothing.
But even that did little to dispel the suffocating gloom clouding everyone's minds.
No one knew which force encountered the enemy first.
The Reapers once again demonstrated the advantages of creatures born of darkness.
Launching surprise attacks throughout the sewers, they flanked the human forces from both front and rear.
Within the narrow tunnels, countless members of the new vampire breed surged forward like a tidal wave.
Even without successful encirclement, their overwhelming numbers alone placed tremendous pressure on the human forces.
Some defenders failed to hold the line.
They were knocked to the ground and savagely bitten.
As long as they weren't killed immediately and could be brought back alive, there was still a chance of curing the infection.
That assurance gave everyone the courage to fight desperately for survival.
The cure had already proven successful.
The side effects—poisoning, weakness, and the like—were unpleasant, but far preferable to being transformed into one of those grotesque monsters...
...or simply dying.
Because of that, no one was obsessed with escaping uninjured.
Their willingness to attack increased dramatically.
Even when faced with dense Reaper charges, they dared to pin the monsters down with overwhelming suppressive fire before following up with grenades.
Whenever one of the specially made ultraviolet grenades detonated, an entire cluster of Reapers instantly crumbled into ash.
It was an immensely satisfying sight.
At the very least, it proved humanity wasn't completely helpless prey.
---
Elsewhere, inside an abandoned subway tunnel, five mechs sped through the underground.
Most glided forward with their knees slightly bent, hovering just above the ground as though skating across ice.
Leading the formation was Green Arrow Duck.
Behind it came Ursa Major, Bonnie, and Bullhead, in that order.
The only exception was the Duck-Leopard Armor in leopard form, which ran alongside the column instead of within it.
Inside the armor, Katie continued to keep pace simply by running.
Having already seen the leopard armor in action before, Alexei still couldn't help asking over the squad's communication channel,
"Henry, are you sure it's a good idea to bring your pet along?
"Even with the armor protecting her, she probably won't get hurt. But combat isn't the same as hunting prey. Do you really think she can coordinate with us?"
Without even turning around, Green Arrow Duck explained,
"The Duck-Leopard Armor can operate independently, but when we fight together, our reconnaissance capabilities and tactical decision-making complement each other.
"And I have my own command system for directing Katie's actions effectively.
"She hasn't experienced combat on this scale before, though, so this is partly training for her."
A moment later, Green Arrow Duck came to a stop.
"We're here."
The team halted before a sealed brick wall.
It was obvious that an arched passageway had once existed there, only to be deliberately bricked up at some point in the past.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
🎉 Power Stone Goal Announcement! 🎉
I'll release one bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones we hit!"
Let me know what should I do
Your support means everything—let's crush these goals together! Keep voting, and let the stones pile up! 🚀
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~