The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1313: Exhibit A

"What do you mean there’s an extraction happening?!" a furious voice barked through the illegal terminal. "Can you at least come up with something that actually makes sense?!"

Jibb wasn’t even the one being spoken to.

Not that this minor detail stopped him from shoving his way forward until his face practically filled the entire screen.

"Do these fucking alarms make sense to you?!" he screeched. "We’re telling you, we literally got some kind of countdown over here!"

"A countdown to "

"Are you stupid or just drunk?!"

Jibb’s trembling hands flew toward his throat as his agitation continued to worsen.

"Would we be calling you like this if we knew what the fuck it was?! You said we were supposed to move here because this would be the last place anyone would suspect, but shit! The other day those blasted plasma cannons suddenly started firing and we had to stop operations, and now "

He jabbed an accusing finger toward the terminal as though it were personally responsible for the fact that, despite being assured this place would be safe from any sort of interference, it had felt like they’d been stuck in the middle of a rave ever since they got here.

"Of all the places you could’ve sent us, why the hell did it have to be here?! Or are you trying to sabotage us so you can take whatever’s left of the crew while we’re gone? Is that it?! You fucking—"

At this point, Jibb was practically vomiting out every grievance he’d been forced to swallow over the past several days, completely forgetting that the untethered communication device was technically being held by their current leader and that the person they were talking to was little more than a middleman.

"Someone shut his mouth," the voice on the other end growled, cutting through his rant, "or I’ll send someone over there just to take care of it."

"..."

Jibb’s mouth snapped shut.

"You were sent there because was told to send you there! Do you seriously think have regular access to a planet like that?" the man continued coldly. "Much less the wormhole you used to get there? You think I could’ve arranged something like that without someone else’s help?!"

His irritation only grew the more he spoke.

"Do you think I shit Star Coins or what?! If I had resources like that, would I be sitting here looking at your ugly-ass face?"

By then, whatever patience he’d started with was completely gone.

"And if I could’ve afforded to send you somewhere else whenever I wanted, do you really think I would’ve waited until now while tolerating your godforsaken breath this whole time?!"

"..."

A dumbfounded silence fell over the room. The only sounds left were the alarms that showed no intention of letting up and the angry man’s rough breathing from the other end of the line.

"...Just stand by and continue production. If they respond about that extraction thing, I’ll contact you."

But as though finally roused by all the insults that had just been hurled directly at him, Jibb’s remaining eye widened when he heard that final directive.

"What, you’re going to contact us when we’re already dead?!" he snapped, his fear quickly overwhelming whatever little self-preservation had managed to shut him up earlier.

A cold laugh came through the terminal.

"Death would be a hell of a lot better than what’ll happen to you if you don’t meet the production quota."

"..."

"And if you’re really that impatient to find out what’s happening..." the voice continued smoothly, "then go the fuck outside and check it yourself."

The connection went dead.

"..."

Silence immediately descended over the cavernous room.

Jibb stared blankly at the darkened terminal.

So did everyone else.

Who would even be crazy enough to check something like that?

Then again, unbeknownst to everyone gathered there, there were apparently even crazier people who would take news of those unexpected alarms as though the gods themselves had just delivered their greatest gift to mankind.

Because the middleman, who’d already been pissed off to hell and back, had truly received one hell of a response.

[Prepare to receive an incoming team.]

__

Meanwhile, back at Battalion 10’s modest temporary base, several heads immediately popped up near the barely exposed entrance when Luca, who’d been religiously helping the others modify even more weapons, suddenly rushed outside.

"...?"

They’d heard the announcement too.

Everyone’s terminals had displayed the same ten-minute countdown, so that wasn’t particularly surprising.

What they didn’t understand was why their Battalion Commander had suddenly abandoned what he was doing and bolted out of their hideout!

Unfortunately, Luca wasn’t entirely sure either.

D-29 had simply insisted that some sort of signal was steadily being blasted across the area and that its Host should probably go outside to see what was happening.

Which was how Battalion 10, despite currently behaving like one of the most peace-loving groups on Caldris Minor-7, finally learned exactly what would happen once someone attempted to extract a main objective.

Luca stared at the distant pillar of light.

The cadets who’d followed him outside did the same.

"..."

Several immediately felt chills.

was an extraction?!

Their minds naturally started racing through everything that could go wrong if they were the ones standing beneath that beacon.

More importantly...

What were the poor bastards currently attempting the extraction feeling right now?!

Because whoever they were, they’d just become Exhibit A for the entire exercise!

Yet, while everyone else stared at the distant light with a mixture of horror and sympathy, Luca had started quietly mumbling to himself.

"Ten minutes..."

"...?"

Then he abruptly turned around and rushed back inside.

"Commander?"

Luca didn’t answer.

Instead, he went straight toward one of the firearms they’d recently finished modifying and grabbed an ammunition shell containing the liquid Theo and the other Pharmacy cadets had painstakingly separated from the Silver Rain.

Then he hurried over to the two torn mecha arms he’d scavenged earlier, intending to test something even more specific.

Everyone slowly gathered around.

Luca knelt, raised the modified weapon, and carefully aimed.

"!"

The first shell struck near the bend of one mecha joint, splashing its contents directly into the tiny gap that appeared whenever the armored plates shifted.

Then Luca adjusted his aim.

The second shell burst harmlessly across the thick external armor of the other arm.

Silence settled over the cavern.

By now, everyone understood what they were testing.

And after yesterday’s experiment, several cadets were already preparing themselves to wait another thirty minutes.

Except...

Eight minutes later, someone suddenly gasped.

"Look!"

Everyone crowded closer.

The difference was already visible.

The liquid that had merely splashed across the intact external armor hadn’t accomplished much just yet. But around the exposed joint of the first arm, discoloration had begun spreading through the vulnerable metal beneath the protective layer.

More importantly, the damaged section no longer looked quite right.

There was already a subtle depression around the joint, and when Luca applied pressure with one of his spiritual tendrils, an ominous metallic groan answered him.

Eight minutes.

It had only been

The cadet spectators, particularly the aspiring mechanics, could only look at one another as they tried to make sense of what they’d just witnessed.

If it were really this easy to bring down a manual mecha, shouldn’t they start sending emergency alerts to the Master Mechanics or something?!

Luca, meanwhile, looked delighted.

"I thought it would be faster than thirty minutes, but thankfully, it’s at least within the ten-minute extraction countdown!"

The surrounding cadets stared at him.

Luca didn’t notice.

He was far too busy studying the damaged joint with a brilliant, satisfied smile.

"Though..." His head tilted thoughtfully. "Wouldn’t it be even better if we hit them earlier?"

"...?"

"If we damage the right areas ahead of time, then by the time they actually come over to fight us at the site, we can just knock on their mechas and hopefully call it a day!"

His smile somehow became even brighter before suddenly turning despondent.

"Though it really is a shame. If we do it this way, we won’t have anything left to salvage."

"..."

Apparently, Luca had only been thinking aloud.

The problem was, his murmured thoughts were truly impossible to ignore.

Several cadets could only stare at their Commander in absolute horror.

This plan...

Would their future descendants even believe them if they admitted they’d once participated in whatever kind of chemical terrorism this was?!

Still, nobody had the heart to say anything to the visibly relieved heir of House Kyros.

Especially when Luca happily returned to modifying the weapons as though he hadn’t just discovered a significantly more efficient way to make other people’s manual mechas, and probably their careers along with them, fall apart.

At this point, they could only be thankful that corrupted beasts weren’t particularly capable of firing LME projectiles, or researchers would’ve had to drop everything just to figure out how to drastically improve the existing protective coatings!