Chapter 9 (2/2)

Corpses being left behind was a feature in the BoB and SJ, but, unsure of how it would work in this case, when the body is blasted into very small pieces, they looked at the sky where the explosion occurred, and saw that the scattered red polygon fragments gathering soundlessly.

And then, the created corpse, with a 【Ｄｅａｄ】marker attached, suddenly began to fall down, as if it just remembered to do so. *Bozun*, it fell into the swamp and sunk, disappearing from sight.

“How surreal……”

Another member of the group muttered unintentionally.

They then checked the 14:50 satellite scan that began immediately afterwards. Finally, the surviving teams numbered three, and the group accelerated their hovercrafts to attack the closest team, which was in the residential area, in other words, LLENN’s group.

They closed the distance in the blink of an eye, and discovered their targets. Finding out that the opponents only had two members remaining (though this was a mistake), they attacked twice with their machine gun, and examined the enemy’s forces by their reaction. It was a thing called scouting out the enemy’s capabilities.

And so, they witnessed M’s s.h.i.+eld.

“One of them deflected our 7.62 mm bullets with a s.h.i.+eld expanded into a fan shape. His weapon is unclear, but based on the long and narrow barrel, it appears to be a sniper rifle. The other pinkone is small and fast. Armed with a P90.”

While returning to their leader’s side where their four comrades were, the machine gun man reported.

“It can deflect despite the distance…… wow.”

“It’s definitely custom-made.”

“How I want one. But it’s probably expensive.”

Mutters from his comrades reached his ears via his communication item.

The leader, armed with an STM-556, rode on the back of one of the vehicles and took command.

The remaining three men were operating the hovercrafts by grasping the handle with their right hand while holding their respective a.s.sault rifles with just their left hand.

The leader glimpsed at his wrist.w.a.tch. 14:56. He thought for a moment, and instantly decided.

“Let’s settle this before the next scan! Everyone, prepare for the a.s.sault. Watch out for Bullet Lines coming from the s.h.i.+eld; if you see one, dodge it immediately. We’ll land in the blink of an eye, and attack them from behind. Spread out, 10 metres front and back, and 20 metres in width. Jake’s group, since you’re the farthest to the right, prepare to provide covering fire.”

‘Roger’, he heard five consecutive answers. Since all of them understood that this plan was the best.

If they endlessly spent their time on the surface of the lake, the battle would never be settled. The hovercrafts had a fuel gauge, and the first half had already been depleted. The movement speed of the vehicles was an overwhelming advantage for them. They wanted to defeat the enemies ahead of them already and preserve enough fuel for the last battle that would decide the victor.

In that case, the only action for them to take was to resort to power play. By making the best use of their mobility and attacking, they could instantly land. After that, they could make the best use of their numerical advantage and bring down their enemy; that was their plan.

What put them at unease was the sniper behind the s.h.i.+eld, but, just like with the attack on the crashed s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p minutes ago, they should be able to deal with him by moving in zig-zags and dodging the Bullet Lines one by one.

The hovercraft with the HK21 user called Jake pa.s.sed through behind them and a.s.sumed the rightmost position. The moment that they lined up in an almost horizontal line,

“Attack!”

While giving the order, the leader tapped the shoulder of the man sitting ahead of him.

The hovercraft’s two stroke gasoline engine made a high-pitched exhaust sound, and the noise of the propulsion propeller’s wind joined in. Setting aside the question of why such an old engine was used despite this being set in the future, the four vehicles began advancing forward, as they sent a thunderous roar throughout the lake.

Spreading out in all directions and turning the rudder to travel in zig-zags, the four hovercraftsbegan their a.s.sault. The gale made by the propellers spewed out four sprays of water on the lake.

At the same time, a small body stood up at the lake sh.o.r.e, and began running to the left.

“Chibi confirmed!”

While shouting this, the ARX160 man riding on the second hovercraft to the right tried aiming at LLENN with just his left arm.

The repeatedly contracting Bullet Circle entered his field of vision, but it moved wildly due to the vibration of the hovercraft, and because he was holding the gun with one hand. It just couldn’t line up with LLENN as she was running nimbly. Even if he shot right now, it would definitely be just a waste of bullets, thus he did not fire.

“Not yet. We’ll bring them down after we get closer.”

He heard the leader’s calm voice. 250 metres until sh.o.r.e.

Protected by the fan-shaped s.h.i.+eld, M’s large build held the M14 EBR. He was in a p.r.o.ne posture. Under his bush hat, his right eye peeked through the scope.

In his round field of vision was a black crosshair linking the top, bottom, right and left to the centre. It included small, black dots in several places at regular intervals.

The hovercraft floating on the surface of the lake was, right now, in the centre of it. Slightly deviating from it.

“200 metres remaining. Jake! Begin your diversion fire!”

Upon the leader’s giving the command, the man in the hovercraft to his right began firing.

“Roger! Rock ’n’ roll!”

“Uhyaaaa!”

LLENN ran among the Bullet Lines.

Red lines that looked like laser beams extended soundlessly to her her surroundings. And then, they disappeared at the speed of soar of a bullet. *Byunbyun*, she was wrapped in the roar of bullets.

‘There’s no way you can easily hit me running at full speed! Because I’m this small! Even if you do hit me, it’ll only be a mere coincidence! Your accuracy is awfully low! I’m a lucky girl!”

Although that’s what she thought, scary things were still scary. If they hit the head, face or spinal cord.

Since this is in-game, even if she died, it wouldn’t mean that she would actually die. If it was still this scary despite that, then just how dreadful could real wars, where one’s real life is wagered, be?

‘Long live the currently peaceful j.a.pan where war games are played instead!’ With this thought,

“Uhyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

LLENN continued running, leaving behind the Doppler effect of her scream.

And, for a moment, she had a thought. Whether she should use the P90 that she carried in her arms to guard her head and neck. If she did, she would have a 50x20 cm rectangle s.h.i.+eld. Even if an unlucky bullet came, she would avoid instant death if it hit her P90 instead.

However—— she didn’t do it.

If it meant exposing her beloved P-chan to such a cruel experience, she’d rather die courageously.

LLENN ran for a bit as instructed, then dropped to the ground, and rolled to avoid staying in one place.

While on the move, she glimpsed at the lake,

“Uuugh……”

She saw Bullet Lines moving in the sky and four hovercraft that were now much bigger than they looked some time ago, and for just a moment, she thought.

‘Aah, is this the end to our progress?’

Hearing LLENN groan——

M brought his right hand index finger close to his trigger, and squeezed it the moment he touched it.

The strange rifle roared for the first time in SJ.

Flame and gas spouted out from the muzzle that was close to the ground, and enveloped in them, the 7.62 mm bullet began moving at twice the speed of sound.

The bullet advanced, creeping above the lake, and the air that it pushed aside created multiple small waves.

And then, it was absorbed by the face of one character.

“Gafu!”

Hearing the strange voice coming from behind him, and that the HK21 stopped firing at the same, the man who was operating the hovercraft,

“Wha?”

He turned his head to the left and back.

What he saw was,

“Gaa……”

A red hit effect s.h.i.+ning in the centre of his comrade Jake’s face. *Guun*, the hit point gaugeshown on his right side was decreasing, turning yellow, then red, and then it reached zero.

He knew what had happened to Jake. An attack to a vital point that caused instant death.

“H…… ow?”

But, what he didn’t know was how it had happened.

Before a person is shot by an enemy whose location is known, a Bullet Line should definitely be shown. In this case, Jake was the one who was shot, but the system should have judged that he was also targeted since he was really close to Jake, thus he should have similarly seen it .

But, he did not see it at all. If he did, he would have immediately put pressure on the handle to turn the rudder; and he had been straining his nerves.

And then, just as he faced forward,

“Gaa!”

He felt a shock on the left side of his chest, as if someone had stabbed him with a stick, and understood that he had been shot. And once again, he could not see the Bullet Line.

Just as his hit points began decreasing with a *guu* sound, he unintentionally turned the handleto the left with his inclining body.

Suddenly having its handle turned while travelling at full speed, the hovercraft lost its balance as it skidding to the right, and the moment the hull’s side touched the water’s surface, the vehicle immediately capsized.

Jake’s corpse, and the still-alive man who had been riding on the hovercraft were thrown out, and, after bouncing once like a stone used in stone skipping, they fell into the water.

‘s.h.i.+t!’

The man attempted to shout, but underwater, it only made the sound of air escaping from his mouth.

His body began rapidly sinking. The G36K cut into his shoulder due to its sling, and along with the magazines and bulletproof plate, became awful weights.

The lake was really clear, and as expected of being inside a game, he could see underwater very clearly even with the naked eye. The bottom of the lake was far below him, submerged houses were beautifully lined up, and the man felt as if he was gazing from the sky.

‘My comrade’s corpse with a 【Ｄｅａｄ】marker is sinking by my side, but including that, it’s a scene that I can’t look at’, the man thought.

All the air left his lungs and, probably having entered „drowning mode“, his hit points decreasing pace suddenly accelerated due to being underwater.

This was a game, thus it wasn’t as if breathing was painful, but it felt as if his body was enveloped in a dull and uncomfortable feeling. There was no longer any doubt that he’d drown. Even if he operated a window and completely removed his equipment, his hit points would run out before he can rise to the surface.

‘Guys! That s.h.i.+eld b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s Bullet Lines can’t be seen at all!’

The man tried shouting to inform his partners about the danger before he died, but he couldn’t voice it. Even if he could, the convenient communication item would not be able to transmit his words while underwater.

While drowning, the man pondered about the events back then.

‘How, in what way, due to what reason, can't the Bullet Lines be seen despite being shot by an enemy whose position is known?——’

‘I get it!’

Being the team’s gun maniac, he realised what the simple, yet difficult to execute trick was.

Not having a way to inform his allies about it, he continued sinking and, at the bottom of the approximately 20 metre-deep lake——

The hit points of the man who had a skull emblem reached zero.

“Two for starters……”

While muttering, M moved his scoped gaze towards his next prey.

“Two? Did you get them?”

Hearing this, LLENN, who had been running around like a mad man, suddenly stopped and dropped to the ground.

Looking at the lake, she saw that the leftmost hovercraft had completely toppled over, and, *topun*, was sinking now.

There should have been two people on it.

“……Wow!”

The fact that a hovercraft of their comrades had toppled over, its two pa.s.sengers were thrown into the lake, and that neither of them could be saved,

“What the!” “What!” “Huh?”

Were all, of course, seen by the remaining team members as well.

“They got Jake’s group!”

Hearing the voice of his partner in front of him, who was controlling the hovercraft

“s.h.i.+tt!”

The leader cursed reflexively, and thought.

‘We let our guard down.’

‘Jake had been pounding away with his gun, thus both of them overlooked the Bullet Lines.’

That’s why he sent an order to his comrades.

“Don’t let your guard down! Dodge the lines!”

The man who loudly shouted was sharp-eyed man who rode in the back of a hovercraft with two people on it.

M aimed the centre of his scope at that man’s chest, and then slightly moved it. A bit below. And then, he matched the horizontal movement of the hovercraft, and factored in the deviation.

He did not see the Bullet Circle.

He fired.

The bullet had a strong recoil, but the M14 EBR’s weight and M’s large build supported it. A golden empty cartridge was shot out to the right with great force, bounce of the asphalt, turned into particles of light, and disappeared.

Just as it disappeared, a second one was fired.

“Unbelievable……”

Observed the scene while blankly standing up at the lake sh.o.r.e.

There wasn’t a single Bullet Line coming towards her anymore. There was no need to run around either.

While getting away, LLENN certainly saw it. How right after M discharged 2 bullets in succession, the movement of the hovercraft travelling farthest to the right stopped suddenly.

M undoubtedly brought down the two men riding it. If the people accelerating the hovercraftwere gone, the vehicle would only drift about out of inertia.

The remaining two vehicles hastily turned their rudders, and she saw them beginning to make a Uturn. Four people were killed in the blink of an eye, thus it seemed that they were hastily running way.

LLENN took out her borrowed monocle from her combat uniform’s pocket. And, the moment she saw the turning away hovercraft in her field of vision——

The sound of M firing with his M14 EBR resounded, and a red hit effect began s.h.i.+ning on the right shoulder of the man who was operating it.

And then, another shot. This time, it hit his temporal region. A 【Ｄｅａｄ】marker appeared above the head of the man whose head had drooped.

LLENN saw M’s sniping skills for the first time. Although the distance between them was short, M’s opponent was moving at high speed. M hit his vitals that quickly.

Then, LLENN decreased the magnification to search for the last vehicle and——

‘Did he just turn the rudder in the opposite direction midway through his U turn and is now charging towards me?’ His comrades had been shot and he was now alone, thus it seemed that he had already given up on escaping.

She clearly saw it in her field of vision, magnified by the monocle. The man had completely lay down. The only thing that she saw was his right hand, which was grasping the handle.

“M-san! He’s coming at us!”

LLENN put down the monocle, and took the P90 hanging from her shoulder into her hands.

The hovercraft was charging in the approximate direction of her and M, who was about 30metres to the right. He was coming at a never before seen speed, as if he went into full throttle.

Steadily becoming bigger, he was now less than 100 metres away. It seemed that he’d land in about 5 more seconds.

LLENN hesitated whether or not she should shoot him. If she did, she was close enough to hit thehovercraft, rather than the person, with several bullets. However, it really did not seem like she would stop him with that.

At that moment,

“Lie down.”

She heard M’s calm voice.

LLENN turned her gaze to the right and saw M standing up from behind the s.h.i.+eld, and throwing something with a strong form.

Drawing a large parabola, was a plasma grenade. Moreover, it was the type called the „Giga-nade“ that was three times more powerful than normal, .

It was way too big for LLENN’s small hands to throw it, but as expected of M. He looked like anAmerican football player.

‘He can’t be serious! Will that really hit the hovercraft?

LLENN thought, but——

“Agh……”

Of course that did not happen - the plasma grenade fell into the open water about 20 metresaway, causing a thick *dopon* sound.

‘That failed!’

It happened the moment after she had that thought.

The hovercraft pa.s.sed above where the grenade fell in, and was struck by bluish-white light. That’s what LLENN saw while hearing a m.u.f.fled explosion.

The plasma grenade that exploded underwater raised the lake water in an approximately 10metre in diameter hemisphere, and that’s where the hovercraft was going.

The pressure of the blast joined in—— and with the combination of the vectors, it resulted in a splendid and long jump.

“Byahaaaaa!”

With an interesting shout, the man and hovercraft went into the air.

From the left to the right side of LLENN’s field of vision,

“Aaaaaaaaaaa!”

Went the scream of the man wearing light brown, desert-use camouflage.

The jump was around 10 metres in height and 30 metres in distance. And it was still ongoing.

Despite LLENN thinking that, flying at this rate, the man would cross the K-point(5), land with a magnificent turn and begin his counterattack——

Such a movie-like scene did not occur.

Beginning to fall forward in the sky, the hovercraft finally completely toppled over, and the man inside fell out as if it spit him out.

On the road about 20 metres away from LLENN,

“Hyaaa—— guke!”

The man fell on his back.

Late by a beat, the hovercraft fell even further, and the loud sound of the hull breaking resounded. The water scattered by the explosion sprayed the surroundings.

“Bring him down! LLENN!”

“Gotcha!”

LLENN began running towards the man at a fierce dash. Running at a superhuman speed, she stopped in front of the man with his face up while sliding with her feet, and

“Huh?”

Met eyes with the man with a blank facial expression.

“Sorry!”

Along with that samurai-like word, LLENN pointed the P90 down and fired in full auto rapid-fire.

In order to ensure that he wouldn’t counterattack, she had no choice but to shoot him. If he pressed the activation switch of a plasma grenade, she would also die alongside him.

Although she only fired for about 2 seconds, but in that time, thirty hit effects were created on the man’s body. With his hands bouncing and a red effect flas.h.i.+ng from his face and body, it was a considerably nasty scene.

Just as she stopped firing, *pikon*, the 【Ｄｅａｄ】 marker appeared.

“Haa”

LLENN’s body shook for a moment, and she extended her right hand index finger.

It was a bad idea to shoot him more. It’s not that it would be a waste of bullets, but that it would be one of the worst manners - shooting a corpse would be ≪overkill≫—— in other words, „killing too muchkoros.h.i.+sugi“.

“Haah……Whew……”

LLENN took in a long breath, and finally transferred her P90 to her shoulder, and then,

“I am really sorry.”

She joined her palms together.

NOTES

1. ^ The word used here is 弾頭 (dantou), which usually refers to a warhead, but may also refer to the projectile propelled by a firearm. Unfortunately, in gun terminology, that part is called a “bullet”, while colloquially the word “bullet” may be used to refer to the whole cartridge/sh.e.l.l rather than just the actual bullet. The j.a.panese word 弾丸 (dangan) is equally ambiguous.

2. ^ The actual word used here is アングル (angle).

3. ^ ドクロのマーク (dokuro no mark) literally means “mark of skull” or “skull mark” and refers to the skull and crossbones symbol. The formal name for the symbol is actually 髑髏と骨 (dokuro to hone; skull and bones), but it doesn’t seem like it’s used that often. But, since the author uses ”emblem” in another instance, I figured I'd just leave the literal translation.

4. ^ Explained here.

5. ^ The K-point (construction point) is a line across a ski jumping hill which indicates the hill's steepest point in meters. It was formerly used to cla.s.sify the size of a ski jumping hill, and to calculate the number of points granted by a given jump.

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