Chapter 8: Just Like Reality [1]

At the Simulacrum training facility, Irregulars stationed in Delsey openly carry their linked weapons.

Of course, there are exceptions to the norm, but most Irregular people prefer to flaunt their weapons rather than appear unremarkable.

For the Irregulars, it has become a work-culture, as their tasks require them to fight in deadly melee combat and originally attract the attention of the swarming Tedeum.

This is because it gives the regular military units the breathing space they need to withdraw to a more defensible position and resupply.

It's simply due to the fact that camouflage doesn't work as well against Tedeum beasts as people would like to think.

Those beasts have supernatural detection capabilities and can spot their targets in seconds.

The good thing, however, is that if there is a more obvious target to spot who fights back, the Tedeum beasts will prioritise them first. Rather than the camouflaged soldiers behind them.

Irregulars are metaphorically the shield walls and the charging spearheads that halt the enemies or break through the enemy formation.

Thus, making it all the more important to continue improving and train oneself for such dangerous work.

That is why there were display screens hanging down from the ceilings and viewing monitors on pillars, showing footage of various battles from different angles.

Used to analyse the tactics, decisions and losses of other Irregulars or Regulars in simulated training.

Coridan was standing in the vicinity of one of these crowded pillars. He was watching the monitors which showed 4 different individuals battling the Tedeum beasts.

Each image was given a number indicating the sim room from which it came from.

In this case, it was sim room number 9.

He viewed the footage with two of his pals who were playing rock-paper-scissors with each other.

"Damnit! I lost!"

"Bet is a bet, that Bobatea mango deluxe won't pay for itself!"

The loser of the game is Arlo O'Dineen and the winner is Cai Yun.

"Coridan, we gonna buy some Boba tea, you wanna come too?"

Arlo complained when he heard Cai Yun's offer.

"Hey, wait a minute, I didn't agree to pay for two people!"

Coridan wasn't interested in the offer anyway and just told them to leave.

Both of these pals of Coridan were total goofballs because they somehow managed to miss their flight yesterday and had only arrived hours later in the night.

Then they struggled to get through the UNIF checkpoint and then dared to call Coridan in the middle of the night via smartwatch call to come and pick them up.

To put it mildly, he is a little annoyed by their silly antics at times, but in the end he is still grateful that they always have his back when he needs them the most.

That is one of the main reasons why he continues to be friends with them and tolerates their childish behaviour.

Although, a privilege reserved only for his close buddies. Because someone even more annoying than those two walked right up to him and positioned themselves beside him.

It was Kishi Yumina.

"Hey-yo Cori! Secretly peeping at your own brother through the screen? How immoral..."

"Bitch, are you crazy?! Why are you even here anyways!??"

"I'm just kidding, calm your nuts down. And anyhow, what other reasons could it be besides training?"

"Then why are you not training?"

"I was just curious what you were looking at. So what do you think?"

"About what?"

Kishi Yumina points at the monitor.

"Your thoughts about those four, what else~"

"If I tell you will you finally leave me alone?"

"Chances are higher if you do~"

"Cheeky brat..."

He sighs in defeat.

"The sim is on the highest difficulty level. I just can't believe Warren and Xema are fighting without an IBU suit on. Only those Snow Wolves are wearing one. Even I would be hard pressed to suit up before going in there..."

"Heh... Looks like you just can't keep up, Coridan. He's better looking than you, stronger than you, smarter than you and more confident than you~. You should just retire early and devote yourself to farming. Don't worry I'll visit you from time to time so you won't get lonely."

"Stop talking shit every time we have a real conversation, dammit!"

A new voice butted in. It was Charlotte.

"You're being more aggressive today than usual Yumi- Can't you give it a rest already?"

Charlotte sighs.

"What, he deserves all the misfortunes! Remember that time he tried to sneak into the women's bedroom?"

Coridan corrected Yumina immediately.

"Goddamnit! I explained to you that I was fooled by those idiots who said they hid my underwe-..."

He wanted to explain his situation, but he noticed the judgemental looks from the people around him.

"Whatcha all gawking at!?"

"Hehehe~ the point goes to me again. Send me 20 bucks Charlotte."

"Haa... If you have the guts to do that, why don't you just be upfront about it?"

She transfers her 20 credits via digital transactions, no questions asked.

Kishi Yumina only shrugged her shoulders and felt her smartwatch predictably vibrate, confirming the transaction.

"Meh. It's simply more fun this way."

Afterwards, she turns back to Coridan, only to find out that he has disappeared. Looking around, she spots Coridan, walking frustratedly to one of the computer terminals to sign up for sim deployment.

The computer terminals displayed of all the available sim rooms to participate in and how many people were already in them. The difficulty level of the rooms was also shown for easier user interface.

Fortunately for Coridan, he didn't need to ask for permission to join because it was a public sim room.

He could already guess why this was the case. Not many would dare to enter a sim room with the highest difficulty setting after all.

After he had registered for simulation room number 9, the simple terminal AI carried out the confirmation and gave him directions to the changing rooms and finally directed him to the hall of the Stalactite Obelisk.

He didn't even bother to go to the changing room and went straight into the hall with no intention of wearing his IBU suit.

Some of the more unrefined Irregulars noticed him sign up and go without wearing the IBU suit and mocked him for it.

Especially after his "reputation" had been destroyed by Kishi Yumina's comment which has spread like wildfire.

Still, there was a silent majority that gave him enough respect for joining a battlefield where only four other Irregulars were currently training. Besides, two of those irregulars are just as crazy as he is.

A few ill-words were spoken.

"Wow, he actually goes in like that?"

"What a show off."

"Haha! He actually should just go take up farming instead."

"I heard he has his eye on the beautiful Xema. Must be quite jealous."

"I can't believe how childish he is for a 3rd ranked IMA graduate."

"Dude, I saw you secretly watching the newly released Pony MiMi series..."

"I'm going to murder you if you snitch."

Kishi Yumina immediately followed Coridan's footsteps and also signed up for the sim deployment after hearing about all the nasty buzz going around.

"Quick Cherry! Call everyone in for deployment. We'll join Sim 9. We'll show these spineless chimps what it means to be an Irregular!"

"Wait, why so suddenly! Aaah, why am I friends with you!"

She hastily sends a few messages to the female group chat on her smartwatch. Then she runs over to her friend to participate herself.

When the other guys saw that suddenly more women than men were participating in Sim 9, they quickly seized the chance to join in as well.

The new irregulars who joined the hardcore Sim 9 room, motivated even more people to participate.

This led to a small cascade of willing participants lining up for the sim room.

Now there is a small army of Irregulars ready to go inside the hall of the Stalactite Obelisk.

It is a large area with a single, very grand construct that resembles an Egyptian obelisk. Its surface was engraved with lines that looked like stalactites, giving the whole object a certain kind of aura of ancient power.

Inside the hall, there was no concrete ceiling, but a glass dome that covered the entire upper hall. It was more of an aesthetic choice than something practical.

At least for the untrained eye.

The instructors, who acted as babysitters and security guards, stood on the sidelines and watched everything unfold silently, seemingly indifferent.

"Should we do something?"

"Just let them have their fun. No point stopping them from learning a mistake or two."

"Less work for us, ey? Do you want to play a bet?"

"Yeah, why not. How much?"

Each of them settled a secret bet on the freshly joined Irregulars preparing for Sim 9.

•••

Big Ben, a symbol of British democracy and centuries of British history, was vandalised by conflict.

The pointed roof had already long collapsed into the tower and formed a flat platform on which two white-haired individuals stood.

Irregular Lena Glockner, the ranged Archer and Irregular Wolfhart Glockner, the string Artificer.

Lena had provided the Xema team ranged cover by shooting down most of the Tedeums who climbed the building and eliminated those that tried to take down the glider.

Even though, they were technically her "rival" team.

"Damnit! I fumbled and let one get through the window... but her level of destruction is absolutely insane, what kind of freaky first class Artificer is she?!"

Her brother, an Artificer who possessed a speciality in materialising "strings", kept the Tedeum beasts at bay. He had created a deadly cage of threads spun in such a way that it could cut through normal stainless steel with ease.

"Jealous now? Don't worry sis, I'm sure your two great assets will grow to compete~"

Lena turned her head towards her brother.

"...don't think just because you are blind makes you exempt from divine punishment. Also that's disgusting and sexual harassment."

"Woah woah sis~! No need to be so insecure about your-"

Lena's special martial arts technique: "Exploding Nutcracking Knee Kick" was used on Wolfhart because he was an ass, which resulted in unfortunate consequences for his grave mistake.

"Uuugh... ghnn... i-t..was just...a j-joke...."

Needless to say, the protective cage of strings collapsed and vanished into thin air when Wolfhart fell on his knees.

"Divine punishment asshole-"

"..sis.. ..I'm.... sorry... uunghh..."

Lena could hear the Tedeum beasts climbing up the tower, so she shifted her focus back to them.

"Don't get sloppy. They're coming up. Also you're wearing a IBU suit, so stop being a crybaby."

"But-but, you know I am quite sensitive to my surroundings sis-"

She drew her black bow and an energy projectile formed into an arrow which she shot into the sky.

The glowing arrow split into several projectiles and accurately rained down on every Tedeum that climbed the Big Ben tower and down on the ground.

She grumpily walked over to her brother Wolfhart and kicked him in the back.

"Stop pretending and being so dramatic already, you lazy excuse of a brother! I didn't kick you that hard!"

"Ah! Ah... okay! Fine! Stop! I just wanted to take a break~"

Lena spit on the ground with disdain.

"You didn't even try to deny that you are slacking off!"

She gives Wolfhart a few more disciplined kicks in the side and then eventually stops. Letting him to stand up and create the cage.

"Owwie~..."

"Ueegh, could stop making such childish noises? It's really irritating..."

As the cage was formed back, encasing the two in the protective cage of strings, he moves his whole body just slightly to cut a Tedeum beast's head off that managed to tank a hit from Lena's previous projectile.

Nevertheless, even though she shamelessly beat her brother like one of her personal punching bags, she still greatly cares about him. After all, it was her brother.

The only family member she still had left in this world.

"Huh? Hey, sis, I think we're getting backup. Can you see who they might be?"

When she heard her brother suddenly proclaim that allies were arriving on the battlefield, she did not believe him at first, but nonetheless looked to the sky as she blindly sniped a few more of the Tedeum stragglers on the ground.

There, flying at a low altitude in the sky, she sees a couple speeding down dropships with the white UNIF symbols engraved on the side.

The Anchor variant developed by Orbital Aerospace Dynamics, for short OAD.

A revolutionary state of the art troop transporter able to achieve escape velocity and achieve spaceflight into orbit. Thanks to its VTOL capable thruster engine technology.

It was made in mind for rapidly descending into extraterrestrial orbits on foreign planets to deploy troops, but now it's mostly used as a glorified armored helicopter to transport combatants safely across dangerous distances on earth in record time.

All this is due to the presence of the Tedeum, which mysterious manifestation was confirmed throughout the solar system.

Then there was the moment when they invaded Earth completely spontaneously, triggering catastrophic events that made continuous space exploration and colonisation unfeasible.

Consequently, the original purpose of these dropships was lost and they gathered dust for a while before being officially adopted into service as a multi-purpose troop carrier due to unacceptable casualty rates on numerous different types of aircraft's.

One of dropships side doors slid open to reveal a single Irregular descending upon the London battlefield.

Another strange Irregular without wearing a IBU suit just like the other two.

However, more dropships arrived afterwards to deliver even more Irregulars into this simulated battlefield.

"It's probably just all the newcomers who have come to assist us. Nothing worthwhile. I'd wager they'll all be eliminated in the second wave."

"Sis, that's very disturbing coming from you. As a counter-argument, I predict that at least half of them will survive."

"Toxic optimism kills, idiot."

"~You're too pessimistic about it sis~ Maybe you should go try a massage therapist to relax next time?"

"I see, you want to personally see my secret martial arts technique-"

"Ah- Wait! Sis! I am blind! I won't be able to see that!"

Just when Lena Glockner was about to unleash the glorious wrath of supreme German body reconstruction engineering upon Wolfhart Glockner, their smartwatches abruptly notifies them of a real emergency situation.