Chapter 10 (1/2)

SECT.10 - LLENN and M

“M-san! I brought him down!”

After finis.h.i.+ng her prayer for the man, LLENN faced M with a refres.h.i.+ng smile and voice. Such a smile after killing the man herself and then even praying for him. As is usual for a game.

“Yeah, well done.”

As M answered, he began folding up the s.h.i.+eld that protected him. He performed a move that was the opposite of extending it, in other words, he spread his arms, then brought them together to flatten the s.h.i.+eld. Finally, the s.h.i.+eld was returned to its layered state, and M put it in hisbackpack.

LLENN looked for the monocle that she had dropped, picked it up, and returned it to her pocket.

Then, approaching at a half-run, she arrived in front of M, who had put the backpack on his back and taken the M14 EBR into his arms.

“But still, M-san, that was amazing! You sniped them that easily!”

After she said that much, she came up with another thought,

“But…… Why… didn’t they avoid M-san’s Bullet Lines?”

And voiced it.

And then,

“That’s because they couldn’t see them.”

She heard M’s words that were neither prideful nor boastful.

“Eeh? They couldn’t see them? Why?”

“Because, I didn’t create them.”

“Eeh? Eeh? How? After all, they appear whenever you put your finger on the trigger, right?”

“That’s why I didn’t put my finger on it.”

“Hah? Then, what about the Bullet Circle?”

“Naturally, it didn’t appear.”

“Hee? Then—— how did you aim?”

To LLENN’s last consecutive question,

“Directly.”

M gave a short answer.

LLENN remembered Pitohui’s words.

“There are good things, LLENN-chan. You see, since GGO is a game, a lot of things can be done in simple way. Which is strikingly obvious in shooting.”

If she wasn’t mistaken, that took place in the ruins of a subway station.

It was conversation that took place after they wiped out about three dozen cleaning robots, whose AI had went mad and started attacking people, while they drank tea from a thermos flask in front of a pile of sc.r.a.p that was illuminated by an eerie-coloured LED.

“Shooting is simple? What do you mean?”

“Yeah. For example, if we tried giving the real LLENN-chan a real P90. Well, let’s forget about the j.a.panese Swords and Firearms Control Law for this. If we do, you’d be able to smoothly insert the magazine, pull the c.o.c.king handle to load the bullets, and even get into a proper stance with the gun, right?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

“But, do you think you’d be able to shoot a human-size target 100 metres in front of you, like you can in GGO?”

“Eeh? Well…… I’m not really sure……?”

“Although there’s a small chance that you’d be able to do it, it would probably be impossible. There’s but one reason for that - there’s no a.s.sistance.”

“Which……means?”

“In GGO, you see, if you aim your gun to some extent towards a target, and it falls into the area of the Bullet Circle, the game system will make the decision to „help adjust the aiming for you to hit the target“.”

“The-then……, that means that we’re „not actually aiming accurately“?”

“Right. GGO players think that they can hit the target with their violent shooting skills, but actually, they’re being helped tremendously by the game system. As the characters playing the game level up and acquire guns with high accuracy and power, this a.s.sistance becomes more and more p.r.o.nounced. In other words, you don’t need to aim properly for the hit to be registered. It’s something like ≪Sword Skills≫. GGO players „can shoot more easily“, so they become stronger.”

“I see…… It’s something like my speed, huh.”

“I’ve tried it out before; I took and steadied a high-precision sniper rifle, and seized the moment when the target was at the centre of the Bullet Circle seen through the scope—— and then, I pulled the trigger violently, with the gun shaking, no matter how you look at it. Now, what do you think could have happened to the bullet I fired?”

“It hit……. the target?”

“Correct, right in the middle, just as the Bullet Circle showed. That’s how I confirmed. That GGO’s gun triggers are „bluntly put, kinda like the manipulation of a controller’s b.u.t.ton“.”

“I see…… So, that’s what you meant that „they’re being considerably helped“, huh. Then, Pito-san, what would happen if GGO truly reproduced severely real shooting?”

“Let’s see. In that case, it would probably either be an Everest-like difficulty s.h.i.+t game, where even after tens of hours of shooting practice on the level of actual soldiers, people would only be beginners, or a laugh-inducing s.h.i.+t game where almost everyone would be firing with a.s.sault rifles 100 metres away from each other.”

“Uhyaa.”

“A game’s a game. It can’t be helped even if you take reality too seriously. GGO’s fine as it is.”

“I see…… Then, Pito-san, a question.”

“Yeah, this proactive att.i.tude of yours is a very good thing about you. Expect this to be reflected on your school report.”

“Thank you very much! ——What would happen if a person who was sufficiently good at realshooting played this game?”

“That’s a really good question. I give you a perfect mark.”

“Thanks! ——So, what about the answer?”

“I’ve harboured the exact same question, and decided to test it. I invited an acquaintance of mine who’s a gun maniac and good at shooting with live ammunition.”

“A-and then?”

“He was a bit bewildered at first, but once he grasped it, he instantly became able to hit the target by shooting violently. „As I expected, it’s reproduced well precisely because it’s anAmerican game“, that’s what he said.”

“Hoo! It’s a thing that you mentioned earlier - what a person can do with their player ability rather than their character ability.”

“Right, that’s exactly that. However, that guy added this. „The Bullet Circle a.s.sistance is a two-edged sword“, that’s what he said.”

“Which means?”

“The answer is that it tells you where the bullet will fly before you fire. That’s why, „Even if you don’t aim properly, you can still fire, thus this game cannot be used to practice RL shooting. On the contrary, it would probably dull your skills. It could probably only be used for practicing to grasp the timing of firing.“ The observable difference is disgustingly wide”.

“I see…… But, well, I wouldn’t be able to play without it. ——So, what’s the good point?”

“Yeah. „Because of this, long-distance sniping becomes overwhelmingly easy.“ You see, shooting at a far away enemy with a gun is absurdly difficult. You know why you can’t just aim at the centre of the scope?”

“I learnt that from the NPC demon sergeant’s sniping tutorial. Bullets are pulled by gravity and fly in a parabola, so you have to aim upwards, accounting for how much the bullet would fall based on the distance.”

“That’s not all. When aiming at a target who is above or below you, the descent of the bullet decreases in proportion to the angle; if the temperature and alt.i.tude are high, the air becomes thin, and so the bullet can fly better; if there is wind, it, naturally, blows the bullet; the bullet also drifts in the direction that it rotates; and if you’re aiming for super-long-distance sniping at a target 1 km or farther away, you also have to consider the „Coriolis force“, caused by the rotation of the Earth.

“Sensei, I don’t get it anymore.”

“Well, the point is, a lot of calculations and experience is required for long-distance sniping.Real snipers get familiar with all of this by shooting hundreds of bullets to practice, observing how their bullets fly from their guns. But——”

“I get it! The Bullet Circle does the calculations completely automatically like a computer. Thesystem tells you ‘right now, you will hit here’. It becomes super simple.”

“That’s right.”

“Directly.”

Hearing M’s short answer, LLENN immediately remembered her conversation with Pitohui and,

“I get it! M-san is the acquaintance of Pito-san who is good at shooting IRL!”

“Huh? …… Yeah. That’s right.”

With that, all the questions in LLENN’s head were answered one after another.

“By „aiming directly“, you mean that you didn’t use the Bullet Circle a.s.sistance; you fired even though you didn’t use it, right? In other words, M-san, you peeked through the scope, calculated where you needed to aim with your effort alone, and fired!”

“Right.”

“Hence, M-san, you didn’t put your finger on the trigger until just before firing! That is why theBullet Lines weren’t created either, and even though they could have appeared for a moment just as you fired, they didn’t notice them because it was too short!”

“Right.”

M continued nodding, as if this was a very easy thing to do.

“That’s amazing M-san! That is…… absurdly advantageous!”

LLENN did not hide her excitement.

GGO’s Bullet Circle and Bullet Lines are similarly advantageous to both attackers and defenders.

However, if one could shoot without needing the Bullet Circle like M, wouldn’t it be a one-sided advantage to the attacker? Moreover, it wasn’t really a cheat that tampered with the system. It was an advantage that depended on one’s player skill.

With that s.h.i.+eld and M’s shooting abilities, he could calmly continue shooting continuously no matter how much he was under fire. And if she also counted herself, who could run around as a decoy with her nimble and tiny body——

“We can win this! One team to go! We can beat them! We can get the gold medal!”

“That would be nice. The scan is starting soon.”

“Eeh?”

At that moment, LLENN’s wrist.w.a.tch began vibrating. It was 14:59:30.

At last, an hour had pa.s.sed.

“It’s only been an hour……”

LLENN seriously thought that this hour was the longest in her life.

That was because she had never experienced running from place to place, running around and hiding, and being showered with over several hundreds of bullets in her life, even if this was an incident in a virtual world.

LLENN took out the satellite scan terminal from her left breast pocket.

The terminal had been hit numerous times when she suddenly dropped to the ground, but if it was broken, it would be impossible to continue with SJ, thus it was an indestructible object. She pressed the switch, and the map appeared before her.

The scan would begin in 20 seconds.

The aimlessly wandering team in the southern desert-wilderness region being still alive was undoubtedly the reason they did not hear the victory fanfare moments ago.

10 minutes ago, the group was at the southern tip of the map, but it was obvious that they would be coming here. Well, there was also the possibility that they would be running from place to place for some strange reason. For example, if the remaining team got tired of fighting and are planning to continue running away until they drop out, or something like that.

While having such thoughts, LLENN looked at M, and noticed that M took something out from his left upper arm pocket.

LLENN wondered if it was some new weapon, but it was a very ordinary and folded writing paper.

Before he expanded and read it, M looked at the terminal. She did not know what that writing paper was for, but the scan was obviously more important.

This time, it was a considerably slow scan from the north-west.

Firstly, the annihilated-resigned teams in the prairie and swamp were shown as grey dots.

“Come on come on!”

LLENN let out her thoughts at the irritating scan.

Finally, at the spot where their own light dot was displayed, a grey dot was shown, almost overlapping with their position——

“Now then, the moment of truth……”

LLENN closely observed the map. The scan should now display the whereabouts of the sole remaining enemy team.

‘Where are they? How many km away are they? Considering their position 10 minutes ago and the speed of a human, they should be in the desert, but where exactly?’

‘If they’re in the desert-wilderness area, we can come to them’, LLENN enthusiastically thought. ‘In that case, my pink camouflage will be of use, so we can make another ambush. Or, I could start running magnificently at full-speed and be the decoy for M’s „no Bullet Line sniping.“’

Engulfed in excitement and fighting spirit,

“So, where are they? How far away are they?”

LLENN muttered and saw.

The light dot aside from their own s.h.i.+ning on the map.

“Huh?”

It was in the square 1 km to the west of their current position, right next to them. About 600metres in distance.

“Wha?”

Before LLENN could come to realise the meaning behind this, bullets came flying at her.

LLENN did not hear the sound of the bullets flying.

Because she was. .h.i.t.

“Huh?”

A dull pain ran down her right flank, as if she was suddenly grabbed, and the world began revolving.

The map that she had been looking at flew away into a corner of her vision, she then saw the red sky, then the cracked asphalt, then the lake and, finally, a species of gra.s.s that she did not even know the name of came into view.

‘I was shot!’

‘And sent flying!’

Just as she realised this, she saw that her hit points displayed in the corner of her vision began decreasing with a *guun* sound. The speed was frighteningly high; the gauge immediately became yellow, and still wasn’t stopping——

‘Ah? This…… is probably…… instant death……’

The moment that she had that thought, the gauge became red, and the gauge stopped decreasing, leaving only a sliver.

Barely, truly by the skin of her teeth, LLENN survived, but——

“Aah? Eeh?”

She could not calm her thoughts after the sudden shock. The fact that she was sent flying and the world was shaken up, rather than the pain of being shot, dealt great damage. Her head was spinning as if she had motion sickness.

The next moment, LLENN floated into the air.

“Hahe?

Her body suddenly floated up, the gra.s.s that she saw 3 metres ahead of her disappeared, and she saw the red sky.

“Don’t go wild! Let’s run away!”

Hearing M’s voice and, at the same time, feeling the acceleration in her movement, LLENN understood what happened. She was being carried by M. And M began running.

*Byun* *byun*, the sound of bullets flying could be heard close and far. *Tan* *tan*, the sound of a gun firing from afar could be heard as well. They were still under fire.

And, *bis.h.i.+*, with the sound of something being pierced,

“Guu”

M let out a short sound.

‘M was also shot. Our opponent is a sniper. This is a relatively open area. There aren’t many places where we can hide. And most of all, I’ll be dead even if I’m just grazed by a bullet.’

‘Are we done for?’

‘Is it over for us?’

‘Are we going to lose? Were we only able to come this far?’

The moment that these thoughts overwhelmed her,

“Sorry.”

M gave a short apology. Without even the time to consider the meaning of it, LLENN was thrown. After a short fall, LLENN had a rough landing on her bottom.

In most VR games, there would be damage caused by falling from high alt.i.tude. She was worried that her hit points would be completely drained by falling on her behind like this, but this did not happen.

And then, in LLENN’s vision,

“What the?”

The gaudy green camouflage pattern that M used spread out. She couldn’t see anything else.

‘Where and in what state am I——’

*Byun*. *Byun*. *Byun*.

She only knew that she was still somewhere where she was under fire and right behind M.

*Byun*, *byun*, *biiiiiiiiin*.

The next moment, following the sound of bullets flying, a high-pitched engine could be heard, and she felt acceleration pus.h.i.+ng her body further to the back, as well as a wind flowing at the back of her head.

Turning her head to the right and freeing her vision from the camouflage pattern, she saw the red surface of the lake that was reflecting the red sky. It was flowing from the left to the right.

“Aah”

LLENN finally understood.

That she was currently riding in a hovercraft. M, who threw her into the back seat, was operating it from the front seat. The camouflage pattern that initially filled her vision was his backpack.

“We’re getting out of here!”

“O-okay……”

“Apply it while you have the time.”

“G-gotcha……”

Although the sound was the same, what was used wasn’t a gun, but a first aid kit.

LLENN took out a cylindrical kit from her pouch, and, since she no longer needed to worry about her position on the shaking hovercraft, she applied it to her cheek, and pressed the b.u.t.ton on the opposite side. Her body was momentarily enveloped in a red healing effect.

LLENN’s almost completely drained hit points would now finally recover by thirty percent, but it would take 180 seconds to finish.

*Byubyubyubyubyubyubyubyubyunbyubyubyun*

She heard the sound of bullets flying at them increasing, unyielding against the noise of theengine.

“A machine gun huh. Well, they can hardly hit us at this range.”

‘Were M’s words meant to calm me down, or himself?’

While unable to determine this, LLENN was rocked by the hovercraft for several tens of seconds.

Finally,

“We’re safe now. We’re at least 1 km away.”