Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!

'Shit!'

Seeing strangers enter his compound…

Theo slightly lost it.

Even though it wasn't even that realistically long since the start of his exile, he grew so used to only ever worrying about monsters, that the sight of actual people…

It was too much for him to process.

Coupled with his system bugging out—all for the very first time—while struggling to decide what to make out of those people's presence…

But if there was anything that worked properly, it was the timer of the invasion.

[25]

[24]

[23]

Precious seconds passed.

In less than half a minute, this place would swarm with monsters, only for Theo's guns to hopefully respond to all the threats.

And judging from what he saw on the floating live feed from some sort of system magic camera, those people could somehow tell.

'Whoever the hell they are, I can't just… let them stroll into my place, can I?'

On one hand, there was the question of Theo's own safety.

This was a well-armed and disciplined group, somehow scaling a tall wall without any real tools—a feat Theo had only ever seen in some modern military training videos.

Some even managed to directly jump up to the wall's edge!

And only hardened criminals would find themselves exiled to this place to begin with!

"Shit!"

The vision from the one gun Theo controlled directly wavered, its sights shaking as Theo slammed his hands down on the edge of his bunker's lookout window.

'What do I do?!'

It was one thing to keep himself safe.

But was he ready to actively claim lives… just because this unknown party could be dangerous?

'And then, there's this system window…'

Theo gritted his teeth, torn between his options.

To slaughter them all with a massed series of shots.

To leave them be, treating them as fellow victims of what was about to come.

Or…?

'Screw it!'

There was always a middle option.

All the more so when, as a result of his constant work, Theo's choices were plentiful.

With a single thought,

Bang!

One of the guns shot, sending a shell directly behind the group, right on the edge of where it could still affect the wall behind them.

The size of the blast was just big enough to send the shockwave into the group's backs. And just like Theo wished for, they all promptly started to run in the opposite direction, away from the outer wall.

'In the end, watching them just get in the way of what's coming…'

Theo gritted his teeth before breathing a deep sigh.

Two more shots behind the group worked well to chase them away from the wall, only for Theo to finish it up with a shot that landed just a bit ahead of them, sending a clear message.

<You went far enough>

Thankfully, rather than trying to run off to the sides, dispersing between the trees and thus forcing Theo to respond with massed counterfire, the group stopped, getting his message.

Stuck roughly in the middle between the two walls, on a small forest path, they actually stopped.

'Right in damn time.'

[10]

[9]

[8]

With one less worry to keep his mind occupied, Theo focused on scanning the whole of his base, keeping only a side-eye on the live feed monitoring the strangers.

'Come on, now, anytime!'

[5]

[4]

[3]

Theo took a deep breath, blinking his eyes in a bid to get ready for spotting.

[2]

Theo breathed out, pushing his focus to its limits.

[1]

[The Challengers appear!]

[Defend your claim to preserve it!]

[Subquest: "Annihilation (2)" starts now: Kill the challengers!]

[Wave: 1/3]

[Challengers killed: 0/10,000]

[Threat level: High]

[Manor's Threat Level: High]

This time, the combat overlay didn't come with a concrete HP status bar stretching across the bottom of Theo's vision.

Instead, only the counter appeared, flashing in the center of Theo's upper vision. And while its number was rather… high… didn't the overall threat level of it decrease when compared with the Wrathhound invasion?

'A horde of small fries?'

Theo thought, a ray of hope shooting through his eyes.

'Isn't this just lovely?'

Then, it just happened.

With the group of strangers still bunched up in that one seemingly random spot Theo had led them to, nearly the full extent of Theo's peripheral perception swarmed up.

And as he raised the sights of the one gun he controlled, all the others started to speak up!

Bang! Bang! BaBang! BabaBABABBBBBB….

In a single second, the sounds overlapped so much, Theo could no longer distinguish one from the other. And all of that, with his guns shooting at around six-second intervals!

'Well, that still makes ten shots per second, assuming all the guns are working…'

Theo thought, only for his eyebrow to raise when the distant echo of the kinetic barrage landing on target announced the change to the counter.

[Challengers killed: 514/10,000]

A number that then instantly swelled up to over a thousand.

'That's…'

Deafened by the noise, Theo struggled to even form a thought.

'That's kind of broken, isn't it?'

Up until this point, Theo had worried whether or not his defenses would be sufficient. But seeing how the kill counter now swelled to over three thousand…

"Maybe I'm slightly over-prepared?"

Theo gulped his saliva down, putting the gun's sights aside and then shaking his head to remove the artifacts remaining in his vision before leaning out from his lookout window to take a proper look.

By now, the edges of his domain appeared to be lit by a thousand fireworks. A strange flux of brightened air constantly changed with over twenty explosions happening all over the place, every single second.

Before Theo could even shake off the shock of this brutal massacre, the counter had already reached over and then way past the half-mark of the first wave.

And before long…

[Challengers killed: 10,000/10,000]

[Wave 1/3: Ends]

[Warning: Rewards shall be distributed upon the clear of the full raid!]

[Wave 2/3: Begins]

[Challengers killed: 0/100]