1 Where It Starts

"Second Lieutenant! Second Lieutenant Keiko Lee, wake up!"

"Uurgh…."

'Dammit, who is it?! I haven't slept for two goddamn days; can I just sleep for a bit longer? Is it too much to ask for?!'

Her eyebrows knitted together in slight furrows while her eyelids kept refusing to part.

"For Nine God's sake! Second Lieutenant Keiko Lee, please wake up! We'll end up in their stomachs if you don't start waking up!"

The voice pierced her ears more and more sharply.

Sensing that something bad might've happened, her drowsiness disappeared in a second. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she did, the beaming light made her bedazzled for a while.

"Hiss..."

She couldn't help but gasp as she felt a throbbing pain coming from her left arm.

Her vision was blurred. Even after blinking several times, it didn't get better. She could only see a vague figure swaying in front of her eyes through the transparent visor while some random information flashed around it. The man appeared to be wearing a helmet and was fully armed.

'Um, what am I wearing on my head? A new-generation helmet?'

'I've never seen military gear featured with a smart glass as savvy as this before. Since when has the police force become so high-tech?'

She became more and more confused.

"Second Lieutenant!!!"

She felt a powerful force pulling her and then lifted her up from the ground.

"Go!"

As soon as the word was uttered, she felt her body shaking, and her head throbbing in pain. A sudden motion sickness struck her hard, forcing her to throw up.

Her mask was smeared with vomit, its sour smell caused her to vomit again.

"Fuck… disgusting…"

She hurriedly took off the helmet on her head, freeing her from the torture.

"Second Lieutenant! Do you want to die?! Put on your helmet back!"

The man who was sprinting while carrying her on his shoulder yelled hoarsely.

'Why?'

In a breath, she finally understood what he meant.

She suddenly felt a suffocating feeling struck like a punch in her face and began to cough violently. It took her a lot of effort to stop.

She had an urge to put the helmet on immediately, yet the gooey from before was still sticking inside her helmet. Without much choice, she held her breath a little bit longer, shook off the vomit, and wiped it with her tactical gloves before barely putting on the helmet.

The oxygen supply had reconnected, but the uncomfortable feeling had not worn off yet. Soon, her professional attitude as a soldier was kicking in full force.

After overcoming the initial frustration and gaffe, she quickly forced herself to calm down and began to observe the surroundings.

'Where is this place?'

She realized that she was inside a place with a similar trait to a tropical rain forest, with towering trees so high that she couldn't see their tops, the canopy so dense that even sunlight couldn't penetrate, and the ground was full of green herbs and thick, humid trees.

The rotten leaf layer was so thick that if you accidentally step on it with one foot, it will inevitably sink deep.

'Wait... What's with this man's outfits? Is this... a powered exoskeleton?'

'I was just sleeping for one night, and suddenly Tony Stark went bazinga?!'

She once saw this kind of suit in a sci-fi movie; they could help soldiers run fast for a long time, increase their physical fitness, and carry heavy objects to reduce their physical burden.

'I.... Why am I wearing such a weird outfit?'

She found that she and the soldier who was carrying her were wearing the same kind of suit—both were army green camouflage combat uniforms.

There was a layer of the powered exoskeleton in black on top of the uniform, attached to her body, supporting her spine and limbs. When running, there would be a squeaky hydraulic sound.

There was also a layer of "sole" under the combat boots that increased the contact surface and helped run faster.

There are four holsters on the powered exoskeleton: a pair each on the left and right of the waist, each sheltering a gun. And the remaining two were on the back, housing a rifle gun and a weird-looking camouflage-colored gun that looks a bit like a laser gun.

A tactical knife holster was strapped to her right leg, which contained a saber and a mini thorn.

After subconsciously confirming the weapon, she was taken back, 'what the hell is going on?' 'Am I sleeping in the car?' 'Why did I come to such a creepy place as soon as I woke up?' 'Am I dreaming?'  A jumble of questions flooded her mind.

'The pain is real.'

She immediately denied the possibility of dreaming because the pain was so real that every cell in her body conveyed a sense of reality.

She turned her head to look at her left arm and found that there was a black branch sticking out of the flesh. The branch was extremely hard and had a sharp tip. It pierced through the combat uniform like an arrow and penetrated the flesh of her left arm, causing her indescribable pain.

She grabbed the branch with her right hand, and with a loud cry of "Ah~!", she pulled out the branch with all her might and threw it out angrily.

The strange thing is that the wound on the left arm did not bleed but was bruised and swollen.

Based on her experience, she might have been poisoned… 'No wonder, no wonder I've been dizzy and it's been hard to keep my mind clear.'

"Second Lieutenant! There is a tree hole ahead, let's hide inside first!"

At that moment, the male warrior suddenly said.

She wanted to ask what exactly they were fleeing from, but as a professional soldier, she knew that she should respect the soldier's judgment when she was oblivious to the situation. Though, it seemed that she was the leader.

Shriek, shriek—

Behind them, the shaking of the earth became more and more obvious.

Boom!

A thunderous sound came from behind, like the huge roar of a giant tree falling.

'… w-what was that?'

Cold sweat dripped from her forehead. Whatever being had been pursuing them was undoubtedly bad news.

They soon arrived at the entrance of the tree hole, and the male soldier directly lowered his body and quickly snuck her into the tree hole with a quick shovel. The two hid their breath, trying their best to cover up their traces and movements along the way and hide in silence.

She finally had time to stop and think about it.

She tried to calm herself down and began to recall her identity to make sure she wasn't insane.

Keiko Lee, an orphan, was 32 years old this year.

She was a retired spec-ops officer in JSDF and an active SAT officer. Before her retirement, she ranked as a first sergeant.

Lee was her adoptive father's family name, and Keiko was a name given by her deceased parents, wishing that she would always be a "happy child" even after she had grown up.

She has been practicing martial arts with her adoptive father since the age of five, a set of nameless boxing and a set of nameless kenjutsu. The sword technique was flexible and could be paired with any variety of curved and straight swords.

At the age of sixteen, she succeeded her father as a swordmaster in his dojo.

She joined the army at the age of 18, and she has been in the army for 13 years. Every day was filled with hard work. Ten years of experience in special forces had taught her a lot of skills, especially real-combat experience.

Just one year after she entered society, she was lucky that she was immediately recruited into the SAT team as soon as she was discharged from the army and became a female SAT.

Because she recently participated in the investigation of a huge trafficker/drug case, she didn't sleep for two days and two nights and even stood by in ambush for eight hours as a sniper. She didn't expect to appear here as soon as she woke up.

'Why did I end up here? Where is this place?'

These two questions did not linger in her mind for too long, because soon, the terrifying scene in front of her quickly took away her heart and soul.

ROAR!!!

With an earth-shaking roar, a huge and ugly creature appeared in her line of sight.

Through the gap of bundling vines hanging down from the tree hole, she saw a scene that she could and would never forget in her life.

Although the guy in front of her almost became the target of her wanton slaughter in the future, the shock and fear that she experienced when she first arrived in this world, like a chisel, incised deeply into her heart.

There were no words more fitting to describe it other than "abomination".

It has a monstrous size, with a size of around 10-meters in height and 25-meters in length, without a shred of hair covering its body.

It has a humanoid appearance with slightly yellowish skin, just like an Asian, but it moves on its four limbs, crawling like a spider.

Its head shape was uneven, and from the top of its head, there were protruding bones that looked like small horns. Its face was even more hideous: it had three pairs of eyes on the face, without a nose, and a huge mouth that seemed to be able to swallow a human in one gulp.

"W-w-what the hell?!"

She was so flustered that she forgot to control her voice. Fortunately, neither the man nor the creature noticed her.

It was the first time she faced such a surreal and supernatural scene, and even though she was a well-trained special forces soldier, it was difficult for her to accept it for a while.

Fortunately, the stress management skills that she had learned came in handy, preventing her from screaming or running away in panic.

She just lowered her body as much as possible, staring at the monster, struggling to adjust her breathing and suppress her emotions.

"Hu... ah... hu... ah... hu... ah..."

The uncontrollable gasping sound came into the ear through the walkie-talkie in the helmet, not only her own but also the other party's.

The male warrior beside her also looked nervous. His hands, wearing tactical gloves, were firmly clasped to the ground.

Keiko Lee could only guess his expression since his whole body was covered in equipment.

The monster didn't do a thorough search; it quickly skipped the place and left. Nobody knew where it went. The only proof that it had been here was the unbearable stench it left behind.

The two waited for about five more minutes in the tree hole before quietly going out of it.

Keiko's movements were a little stiff, her whole body was numb, and her steps were slow. If she was not supported by a powered exoskeleton, she would definitely collapse soon.

"Lieutenant! What should we do now?"

'If you ask me, who should I ask?' Keiko was grumbling inwardly and felt really annoyed. And there was also the matter of her brain getting more and more numb.

"Tell me about the situation..."

She said that with difficulty, her breathing became more and more labored, and the lack of oxygen made her feel extremely painful.

"Sergeant Antonio requests permission to report!"

"Go ahead."

"Yes!"

This kid, called Antonio, seemed to be an enthusiastic young man. Hearing what Keiko said, he honestly began to report:

"This is the 249th foreign mission of the 3rd Squadron of the Einherjar Brigade of the Mecha Infantry Division of the Western Army. The goal of the mission is to transport the military supplies to the city of Valhalla. During the delivery, they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of Zerg, forcing the team to scatter. The second lieutenant's mecha was heavily damaged, so she had to leave the mech and head to the Sleipnir field station 50 kilometers southeast for rescue. On the way, she encountered a first-class predator and was hunted down to this point. The second lieutenant was stabbed by Dolan's poisonous branch while running. I was in a coma for a while, and then I carried the second lieutenant..."

"Enough, enough, let me think about it..." Keiko couldn't understand in the slightest what Antonio was talking about. Her head was numb, and her thinking was slow.

The thought in her mind at the moment was that this guy didn't seem to speak English, nor did she.

What language was she using to communicate with each other earlier?

She didn't even know it. She spoke out of instinct.

'What should I do… what should I do…?'

Now is not the time to struggle with language problems. She was his superior, and the other party is her subordinate. She must give orders.

What's more, this kid looked like a blockhead, and he didn't seem like he could come up with ideas at all.

'Damn it, I still haven't figured out why I came to this ghost place, and yet, I need to find a way to give orders to a slow-witted kid, more so the stakes are both of their lives?'

'I am just arriving here and I am completely blank about the situation here. How can I issue the correct order?'

"Hiss…"

It's getting harder and harder for Keiko to breathe. She checked the oxygen level. It was clearly still stable, but why did she feel out of breath?

Her limbs began to tremble, and her body was going limp. Even the powered exoskeleton couldn't support her anymore, so she fell on her knees and knelt on the ground.

"Second Lieutenant!"

The male soldier hurriedly crouched down to help her.

There seems to be a "humming" ground tremor in the distance. Is that monster back again?

Her mind was too dull to turn, her eyelids were heavy, and the vision in front of her eyes began to blur again.

'Excuse me, ma'am.... but what are you doing here?! Are you just going to die?'

"Second Lieutenant!!!"

'A Second lieutenant... hehe... this is probably a realistic dream where I am finally promoted to lieutenant, right? Can I reunite with my team? Can I see my comrades again?'

'I wish I'll quickly wake up from this bloody dream...'