"Thank you for the job?" I say. "Should we get together and discuss a strategy or something? To make sure that we work together well enough?"

"A fantastic suggestion from the recruit! I knew that having faith in my instincts and seeking you was the best course of action!" Yoshiko shouts, "Now, let's have a meeting in my lair!"

"She was desperate to find a fourth member for quite some time now, so this is how she expresses her happiness." Avryl, the ever-helpful translation service, explains to me. "And her lair is just a lounge room, don't expect pentagrams and ancient candles everywhere. I fought hard in the battle for proper decoration. It took a lot, but I won." Avryl, who's now fired up for some reason, leads me to the room where she came out earlier.

The lounge room is pretty standard. It reminds me of the one at the accounting firm. A few chairs here and there, a table that has seen better days and a coffee machine that looks like it fell off a building. Twice. The microwave in the corner is also in a pitiful state, and the last piece of furniture is a blackboard on a wheeled stand.

It would be fine, but the main problem is the smell. The wet dog smell was noticeable before, but now it's almost unbearable.

"Do not worry about the stench, recruit!" Yoshiko, who must have noticed my change of expression, smirks. "'Tis but the smell of the lingering souls of the beasts I hunted down!"

"This place used to be a kennel for Water Dogs. As the name implies, they are dog-like creatures that usually live in moist climates. They are also perpetually wet. That's why we got it for very cheap." Avryl once again translates from Yoshiko-speak to normal-people-speak.

I nod and sit on one of the cheap plastic gray chairs. Yoshiko seems to have a personalized chair since she has glued various 'occult' trinkets on it. She also wrote her name on it with a Sharpie.

"Now, my dear Ian, let's discuss our secret abilities!" the 'leader' of Alpha Team declares as another pentagram appears above her head before vanishing.

I lean towards Avryl, who is sitting next to me, "Doesn't that get old after a while?" I whisper. The thousand yards stare I get in return gives me my answer.

"I, the great Yoshiko Hirai, am from a legendary lineage of Demon Slayers!" the katana-wielding woman says. "I wield the power of the world itself to defeat abominations!"

"She uses a form of Mana in a very aggressive way. She can also use some supports spells." Avryl translates without being prompted. "And, before you ask, this whole Demon Slayer thing is true. But her...eccentricity seems to run into the family."

An entire family of chuuni Demon Slayers. Just imagining that is giving me headaches. Saying that I regret ever entering that building would be an understatement. I take a deep breath; I only need to do one mission with them. Then I'll have enough to buy a Gate card and get out of here. Hopefully, as far as possible from those weirdos.

"Next is our resident mad scientist, Avryl!" Yoshiko makes exaggerated gestures towards Avryl, who sighs.

"I'm an Artificer," Avryl declares. "I'm good with enchanted items and the likes. I also help with the equipment of the team. I mainly use this," she grabs a long aluminum tube with a plastic handle crudely screwed in place. Wires and various markings cover the weapon. it's also pulsing quickly with red energy and is faintly humming. "It's what I call the Nuclear Death Ray."

My jaw drops. Did I hear correctly? Does this thing that looks like it was made by a four-year-old with a stick of glue and random junk is a deadly weapon?

Avryl, who must have misread my sudden recoil, makes an apologetic smile, "Don't worry, it's not nuclear despite my best efforts. It's just amassing a ton of Mana in a tiny point until it reaches critical mass, then it releases the explosion in a more or less controlled fashion. I just kind of like the name..." her voice trails off.

Was that supposed to be reassuring? I glance at the Death Ray. I bet it can explode at any moment.

"I also have this," she says after regaining her composure. She puts back her doomsday device against the wall and picks up a large bandoleer loaded with- That can't be real, right?

"Excuse me, but are those soda cans?" I blurt out before thinking.

Avryl's cheeks redden, and she hides her face in her hands. "It's not my fault! We are a bit strapped for cash, so I can't afford anything nicer! But these are my grenades. Most of them are offensive, but a few of them have some supportive uses."

I make a wry smile. What did I expect? She casually carries around thirty cans filled with dangerous explosives.

"And finally, there's Sword!" Yoshiko gestures towards the hulking giant. The barbarian wearing a simple black jacket that looks to be too small for him and a pair of ripped jeans just grunts.

"Sword." He eloquently declares.

I nod in approval; this man knows how to convey powerful emotions with simple words.

...What the hell was that?! Can he only say one word?

"Smash monsters. Carry loot." The barbarian says.

Yoshiko claps, "Thank you for your speech!"

My jaw drops. W-Was that a speech? Four words are a speech now?

"Now, let's hear about what you can do!" Yoshiko points at me while raising her head.

I sigh and gesture at the guns I dropped to my side when I sat down, "I guess you could say I'm somewhat of an Artificer myself." Avryl's eyes light up just as I finish my sentence.

Don't tell me that I got the attention of the crazy woman who casually uses nuclear-like explosions as her main weapon.

"These guns might not look like much, but a single bullet can blow up an entire building and can probably penetrate through anything that exists." I declare. There's no shame in boasting a little bit, right?

"A fine addition to our team!" Yoshiko nods before walking towards the blackboard. "As luck would have it, Avryl's Breach Detector spotted a couple of Breaches nearby!" she then proceeds to draw a crude map on the board with giant red Xs that must indicate the entrances of the Breaches. "As usual, Sword and I will be at the front to clear any Chimeras. Avryl and Ian will support us from the back. Any questions?"

Nobody says anything, but I would like more details. What will our formation be? How are we supposed to-

"No questions, as usual! This Alpha Team is truly great! Now let's go to the first Breach of the day!" Yoshiko then heads out of the room. Sword picks up his massive weapon and a large burlap sack while Avryl gathers her things. I just sit here. In complete disbelief. Aren't we supposed to have an actual strategy? Wouldn't it be nice if we gathered some information first?

However, it looks like nobody shares my concerns. It doesn't look like it's the first Breach of this team, so I guess I'll have to rely on their experience.

Somehow, putting my life in the hands of a delusional Demon Slayer and a crazy Artificer doesn't sound like a good idea. I sigh as I pick up my firearms, it's not like I have a choice. I follow the rest of the group out of the building. Avryl pulls out her Terminal, which has a fair bit of wires and printed circuit boards somehow soldered to the granite.

"This way," the Artificer declares, and we follow her through the maze that is the DimShop.

"You said that you were an Artificer, right?" Avryl turns towards me and smiles. I was right; I got her attention. Fuck me, that was a bad idea. But what else was I supposed to say? That I am an IT consultant that has never seen real combat before?

I nod, "Yes, you're right."

"That's so amazing! Where did you study? What was your graduation project? What brings you here?" she bombards me with questions.

"I didn't study anywhere. I'm self-taught." I reply with a wry smile. That's not a lie. I don't do anything besides letting MERTICORE handle everything.

"Oh, so rare!" her eyes burn with excitement as she leads us into even darker alleyways. "It should be around here," Avryl announces.

"Let me see..." Yoshiko's eyes glow as she scans the environment. "Found it!" she exclaims as she presses her hand on a brick wall that fluctuates in response to her touch. "Let's go!" she announces before jumping into the wall and disappearing with a disconcerting squelching sound. Sword follows her, and Avryl adjusts her stance before jumping with her colleagues. I take a deep breath and immediately regret it. The stale air of those tiny alleyways carries all sorts of smells that I would rather not experience. I refrain from gagging as I grab my rifle.

I close my eyes and jump through the wall. Going into a Breach is as unpleasant as it sounds; I feel like I'm pushing through thick jelly.

"-time do we have?" I arrive at the end of Yoshiko's sentence.

"We have about thirty minutes before the Breach collapses," Avryl replies.

They did mention that Breaches have very limited lifespans, but I never thought that it was that short.

"And what would happen if the Breach collapses while we are inside?" I ask. I feel like I already know the answer, but better be certain.

"You will be erased from existence," the Japanese woman replies.

"She's right," Avryl once again makes sure that I understand what their eccentric leader said. I gulp, being erased from existence doesn't sound like fun. I doubt MERTICORE would be able to protect me from having an entire dimension collapse on me.

I glance at our surroundings. Behind us is the weird wobbly distortion that we came through, and the rest of the dimension is- It's a complete mess. Random pieces of buildings and weird artifacts are smashed together. Don't tell me that we have to wade through that maze made out of garbage?

"Be careful, my left arm just reacted to the presence of strong foes," Yoshiko warns as she heads towards the massive pile of magical garbage while Sword unsheathes his massive weapon. It doesn't look like a sword now that I can take a closer look. It's more like he took a large block of steel and crudely cut it to imitate the shape of a sword. The edges don't look that sharp either. It's more of a club than a sword, but I won't contradict him. I bet he'll smash me to a pulp if I disagree with how to name his weapon.

"There must be Chimeras nearby," Avryl warns as a massive amount of energy is condensed into her Death Ray. I, on the other hand, only tighten my grip on my rifle. I feel a bit inadequate.

"As usual, our goal is to gather salvage and escape before our time runs out," Yoshiko announces as she inspects some parts of the walls made out of random junk. "Sword, if you could pull that out for me?" she asks the giant while pointing towards a shiny piece of bent metal.

The barbarian grunts and grabs the sheet of metal before ripping it out of the wall. The structure rumbles as Sword chucks the piece into his sack. I look around to be as helpful as possible, but I can't identify anything. All of this junk is pretty arcane to me.

Yoshiko stops in her tracks, and multiple pentagrams appear above her raised bandaged hand. "Chimeras!" she warns as the pentagrams fly off. A bunch of weirdly shaped creatures drops just in front of us. They resemble bears, but they have a lot more limbs. Most of the extra appendages are useless and just flop around. Even the working ones are bent into unnatural angles and look like they could snap at any moment.

I pull the trigger, and a rain of bullets turn them all into minced meat just as the pentagrams come back down and incinerate the remains of the creatures.

Silence fills the area once again. I take a deep breath, no wonder that these things are called Chimeras. I wouldn't want them near me.

"That was awesome!" Avryl squeals and gives me a thumbs up.

"Indeed, you did well recruit!" Yoshiko adds.

"Sword," Sword adds. As eloquent as ever.

"That wasn't much," I say as I look at the aftermath of the 'battle.' It looks like the bullets suffer from over-penetration and damaged the potential salvage around the Chimeras. Maybe I overestimated the defense of those abominations? Our goal is to gather as much stuff as we possibly can, so I switch to my shotgun. This particular weapon using buckshot is the one with the lesser armor-piercing capabilities out of my entire arsenal.

"Try to look for anything that might be valuable. Sometimes you would be surprised by what's worth a lot of Credits," Yoshiko tells me. I nod, but what can I possibly do? The entire magical world is brand new to me.

I take another deep breath. For some unknown reason, the air feels very clean. There's a very faint smell to it, a mix of rust and oil coupled with disinfectant.

What could cause this? Now that I think about it, isn't it weird that we can breathe just fine in such a random dimension?

My train of thoughts is interrupted by Avryl, who tells us to come to look at whatever she found with her hand.

I shrug and follow the rest of the Alpha Team. What's the worst that could happen?