Chapter 11 (2/2)

“…………”

The RL M is an actor, and this is a very good performance——

There was still the possibility that this was true, but for the time being, LLENN pulled her finger away from the P90’s trigger. As the Bullet Circle disappeared,

“T-thank you very much…… I was scared…… I don’t want to die……”

She heard these words from M, who no longer saw the Bullet Lines.

“Then, why did you a.s.sume that you had to kill me?”

At LLENN’s question,

“I thought…… I’d become the leader……”

M vaguely answered.

After thinking for about 2 seconds, LLENN asked,

“What were you going to do after becoming the leader?”

“I would be able to resign. Since there wasn’t anything about resigning written on the letter, I thought I could use it as an excuse.”

“That’s so quick-witted……”

LLENN was amazed.

“But! I thought I would properly explain myself after resigning……

“Huu! Did you make light of my agility?”

LLENN said jokingly with a smile, but…

“You’re right. I should have kept quiet and thrown a plasma grenade. I really regret it.”

M answered with a serious look.

“………… Well, that aside——”

While saying that, she took the writing paper with her left hand,

“Sorry for returning it to you like this.”

LLENN threw it in front of M. Then, she looked at her wrist.w.a.tch. 3 and a half minutes past 15:10.

“The scan is probably over by now……”

Just to be sure, she took out the terminal from her left thigh pocket, and tried turning theswitch, but…

“As I thought.”

Only the map appeared.

The opponents had realised their position at least 3 minutes ago, and were probably in the middle of heading towards them. If this place provided an un.o.bstructed view, they would have probably sniped at them just like the last time.

Now’s not the time for quarrelling.

LLENN thought——

“Well, whatever.”

And muttered.

LLENN returned the terminal to its original place. And then,

“M-san! Listen up, it’s alright! I’ll be fighting alone from this point on! M-san, hide somewhere so that you won’t die! If I get taken down by the enemy team, the leader mark will move to you, so you can just resign! Thanks for your help until now! Cya!”

She spoke quickly, then turned back and began running.

Being vigilant just in case she was shot from the back, she immediately entered the shadow of a nearby rock, and once again dashed at full-speed.

She was not shot.

After wondering where she should head to for a moment,

“Alright! I’ll go wild with all I have!”

Muttering this, she headed to the east. In other words, the direction that the enemy would be coming from.

Weaving her way through the gap between rocks, and sprinting at full-speed, LLENN touched the communication item on her left ear.

And then, she set the switch that she thought she wouldn’t disable during SJ to off.

M, who was left alone, heard,

“Alright! I’ll go wild with all I have!”

LLENN’s voice in his ears.

Going a little back in time, at 15:11.

At the border of the asphalt-road-residential area and the pebble-pathed wilderness, a small military-use truck had stopped. The top of the truck’s load-carrying tray and the side of the cab were covered in armoured plates that seemed to have been added later on.

At its side were six women, wearing matching camouflage clothes.

The first one was the over 180 cm tall woman, Boss.

There was a large backpack placed next to her feet. From the upper part of the bag, a barrel that would not fit in stuck out, but it was impossible to tell the type of gun it was.

To the right of her waist, a black, automatic pistol was placed in a plastic holster. With her braid fluttering, she turned her gaze to the five people who stood in a horizontal line,

“Our last prey is 2 km to the west! Come, let’s bring them down, everyone!”

She shouted in a deep and menacing voice.

“Let’s do it! Boss.”

The first to answer was Tohma, who had sniped LLENN and was carrying a Dragunov. She was a slender and tall, black-haired woman, who had plenty of magazine pouches for her Dragunovattached horizontally along her waist, and only had a bulletproof plate that covered her chest. Her equipment allowed her to lie p.r.o.ne easily, a characteristic of a sniper.

“This is our last battle, right! I’m so psyched!”

And next was Sophie, who held a PKM in front of her body by its wide sling. Among the six, she was the shortest, but because of her large girth, coupled with her stern face, her appearance was like that of a dwarf in a fantasy world. Her long, brown hair was roughly gathered together behind her head.

It seemed that a giant battle axe on her back would suit her, but that of course wasn’t the case. On her back was a large backpack with spare ammunition cases, with spare PKM barrels sticking out from the top.

“We won’t be able to go wild anymore if we beat them! How unfortunate!”

That was the other PKM machine gunner, Rosa. She appeared to be the eldest among them, and was tall with a st.u.r.dy build. With her short, red hair and freckled face, she gave the impression of Mother Courage(3). She had a similar rucksack on her back, as well as spare barrels. On the back of this rucksack, were three plasma grenades hanging down to the left and right sides.

“Well, we can worry about that after we win. Ladies.”

The one who responded in a bewitching tone was Anna. She was a member who was roughly in her early twenties, and appeared to be the youngest member in this team. Underneath her greenknit cap was shoulder-length, wavy, blonde hair. And, she wore sungla.s.ses that hid her pupils.

She was also a sniper, who carried a Dragunov with a quadruple-magnification scope attached, and had binoculars hanging down on her chest.

“I want to decide the end with my own blow.”

The last one was Tanya. Although she had a short build, she was probably over 160 cm tall, and had very short, silver hair. With her sharp eyes and face, she looked as if she was a fox. Just likeBoss, she had a pistol holster on her right waist. Boss and her were the only ones with pistols.

What Tanya was holding in her arms was a Russian-made submachine gun ≪PP-19 Bizon≫. Appearance-wise, it was smaller than the AK series, but its characteristic was a cylindrical „helical magazine“ that was attached under the barrel.

It was a structure that allowed sending in bullets in a spiral, and thus use a lot of bullets. Tanya’s Bizon, which uses 9x19 mm Parabellum bullets, could actually load 53 of them in one magazine. It was capable of continuous fire that surpa.s.sed LLENN’s P90.

There was also a cylindrical tube attached in front of the muzzle. This was a suppressor that could suppress the noise of gunshots.

Thus, all the girls were equipped with matching Russian-made guns, but Russian-made small arms all had a common characteristic in GGO.

Which was—— „they were cheap for their firepower“.

In one only considered firepower, they would lose to American and European-made guns, but if the „cost“ parameter was factored in, they would be much better. It was possible to acquire both the guns, and the bullets with not that many credits needed for the purchase.

GGO players had come up with various reasons for that.

There were opinions that „Russian-made guns were originally cheap“,

And an opinion that „This is an American game, thus Russian guns were unfairly treated as cheap products“.

Among the various opinions, the most realistic one was,

„Russian small arm makers put a low price on their license.“

This.

Although this was in a game, implementing items with their real names, whether it be cars, planes or guns, could not be done without the permission of the makers.

GGO, which was obsessed with perfectly reproducing small arms, from their appearance to their sounds to their firepower, had acquired all the necessary licenses. Even if „guns that were excavated in the future and reproduced“ was the setting.

The license for the Russian-made guns was extremely cheap, thus with the permission acquired, the guns were cheap in GGO, in other words, this was done to increase popularity for the guns; this was the most prominent opinion.

But then, the management company Zaskar has not announced anything, so the truth behind it remains unknown.

Moreover, the most popular weapons in GGO were, nevertheless, American and European-made ones.

“Alright! That’s what I call being psyched!

Hearing the reliable and cheerful voices of her comrades, Boss gave a smile with her braid fluttering.

“Well, let’s go! On a rabbit hunt!”

And then, Anna abruptly began singing.

“I chased after rabbits on that mountainU-sa-gi, o-is.h.i.+, ka-no-yama-(4)”

Among the other members that joined in, only Tohma asked with a serious look,

“That song…… is it „the rabbit is tastyusagi ois.h.i.+“?”

The dwarf machine gunner, Sophie replied,

“No! It’s „chaseois.h.i.+“, so it’s pursuing! But, since they’re being chased, it’s because they’re tasty! People wouldn’t be chasing them if they weren’t tasty!”

“I see! I really do want to eat one!”

Tohma gave a smile, lagging behind everyone else.

Boss then said,

“Well, don’t eat this rabbit even if we catch it. It’s probably not tasty.”

The five others burst into laughter.

“However, hunt with all you have! It’s a rabbit that has survived till now. Make sure you don’t let your guard down!”

Boss caused them to steel their faces in a moment.

“Watch out for its fangs! Let’s go!”

Five voices resounded in the wilderness all together.

“Ururaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

The pink rabbit,

“What do I do what do I do what do I do? What am I going to do alone? Really, what do I do?”

Ran as she muttered this.

Looking at her wrist.w.a.tch, she saw that it was past 15:16. Even if they came on foot, it wouldn’t be surprising if they made contact at any moment if they ran at full-speed.

LLENN stopped running for the moment, and hid in the shadow of a large rock.

As she quickly crouched, her short, brown hair touched her cheek,

“Ah, I see……”

LLENN finally realised that her knit cap had been sent flying by M.

‘My favourite!’, slightly angry, ‘Well, I’m glad that it didn’t hit my face’, LLENN untied thebandana wrapped around her neck, and used it to cover her head.

While moving her hands, she recalled that moment, *whew*, sight in relief, and got scared at how dangerous that was.

And then—— was proud of herself.

Of how she was able to avoid being shot from such a close distance.

This body of hers that excelled in agility was wonderful. From this point on, if she clearly saw the Bullet Lines, or muzzles, without losing her concentration, she’d be able to do such an amazing thing again.

Tying the bandana with her hands behind her back,

“Alright!”

Obviously, she felt psyched.

“Now then, the last battle! I’m going to show them!”

LLENN encouraged herself.

From this point on, she could only rely on herself, and her weapons.

Her weapons, first of all, included her beloved gun, her P90 P-chan. She had seven magazinesthat she could use right away. Another in storage. 397 bullets in total remained.

On the left side of her waist, she had 2 plasma grenades. She also had a combat knife held against her back.

First-aid kits—— none.

It was mostly unclear what kind of group her opponents were. However, she was certain that there were snipers and machine gunners, and, naturally, more than one of them. Moreover, they were tough fighters that had survived till now.

“Now then, the last battle! I’m going to show them! Well, as much as I can.”

LLENN repeated.

And then,

“What should I do to make the best use of my merits……?”

She began thinking as she muttered.

‘How did I fight until now? How did I survive until now? How did I kill those five people?’

‘What do my opponents think of me? And, how will they attack me?’

“…………”

Stopping her train of thoughts, LLENN looked at her wrist.w.a.tch.

15:17.

“3 more minutes until the satellite scan……”

LLENN grasped her P90 tightly,

“Alrighty…… Let’s run!”

Kicking up the pebbles, and leaving footprints behind, she began sprinting like the wind.

Several broadcast cameras followed that gallant figure from the sky.

“It-it’s not like it’s my fault! I-I’m fine with this!”

A single man shouted in the wilderness of rocks.

“n.o.body knows about how scary that woman is! That’s why I can say such a selfish thing! I’m not mistaken! What’s wrong with being scared of death!”

M continued continously saying such self-justifying lines, but there was no one there to listen to him.

Judging that there was no point to record this, there were no cameras in the surroundings either.

There was but a trail of small footprints extending to the distance in front of him.

NOTES

1. ^ Seiza (正座, literally ”proper sitting”) is a term for a j.a.panese traditional way of sitting when a person kneels down with the tops of the feet flat on the floor, and sit on the soles.

2. ^ Until this point, M had been using the first person p.r.o.noun 俺 (ore), but as of this point, M begins using 僕 (boku). Both ore and boku are first person p.r.o.nouns used by males to refer to themselves, though ore is more casual.

3. ^ This could be referring to Mother Courage and her Children, or a j.a.panese TV drama 肝っ玉かあさん

4. ^ The first verse of Furusato, a j.a.panese children’s song.

<script>