Vol 2 Chapter 7 (1/2)

SECT.7 - Guilds-in-Action

Turning the clocks back a bit.

Around the time LLENN noticed the ambush──

Various battles between teams, who had chosen their targets during the first scan, occurred simultaneously in various parts of the field.

It was the beginning of a fireworks display.

A battle had begun in the hilly area north of the centre of the map, beyond a gently-sloping valley that was about 400 metres in width.

However, it did not turn into a gunfight. It was a one-sided gun down.

On one side was a team dressed completely in black and wielding only submachine guns, the effective range of which was but 200 metres. They were a group of men who gave the impression of being members of the police special force, the original SWAT, and looked quite strong 〝if they were in an indoor battle〟.

On the other side, was a team with 3 members, all armed with 7.62 mm calibre machine gunsthat boasted an effective range of 800 metres.

“Get theeeeem!”

“Hyahaaaaaaaaa!”

The three members of the Zen-nihon Machine Gun Lovers, whose name tag-abbreviation was 《ZEMAL》, sat firmly on a slope and did not miss a chance to pound away.

Their weapons were an 《FN MAG》 and an 《M240B》── the two models were mostly the same, the latter being an improved version of the former, thus the guns were like sisters. And the last one was an 《M60E3》. All of them were 7.62 mm calibre.

They were guns that, right after SJ began, showered LLENN in bullets, but did not land a single one on her in the end.

“Machine guns! They are so fu~n!”

Their refres.h.i.+ng smiles as they pounded away, and the large number of empty sh.e.l.ls expelled from their guns, shone under the cloudy sky.

As expected, they were not the kind of idiots to 〝raise their Strength to carry two machine gunsin their hands〟, like they had discussed on the phone after the previous SJ.

They acc.u.mulated experience points within their capacity, and did their best within their capacity. Thanks to that, even their accuracy improved.

Furthermore, they also learnt a new phrase called 〝team play〟.

“Alright, a bit to the right! ──About that much.”

Two of the group’s members, whose favourite guns were 5.56 mm-calibre and thus had slightly insufficient range, took on the role of being observers. Using binoculars, they kept track of where the bullets. .h.i.t and the tracer bullets, and gave instructions to their shooting comrades.

“Alrighty, leave it to me!”

They aimed their relentless full-auto fire where they were instructed.

Honestly, there was no need to shoot that much in order to simply bring down non-resisting enemies, but it seems that the words 〝bullet conservation〟 had not yet reached their heads. Incidentally, that also applied to 〝samurai’s compa.s.sion〟.

The bullets became a horizontal rain of steel, and one by one pierced the black-suited group running high and low in the valley in an attempt to escape.

“As if we can win this!”

Their plan to escape from the terrain that was disadvantageous to them as soon as possible, by recklessly taking the shortest route, backfired on them.

In this state, the pitiable all-black-team members who were at their wits’ end,

“Craap! We definitely wouldn’t have lost if we were indoors!”

Had no chance of showing off their skills in their situation, thus the one-sided shootdown continued; *pikon pikon*, 【Ｄｅａｄ】markers lit up, until eventually, all of them turned to corpses.

At the same time──

A certain team fought in the north-eastern snowy mountains.

The team tag was《ZAT》. This was an abbreviation for 〝Cropped Headed-FriendsZangiri Atama no Tomo〟, which had nothing to do with the Earth Defence Organisation from a certain tokusatsu.(1) Nor did it have any relations.h.i.+p with the Meiji Restoration.(2)

“The enemy! We encountered the enemy while climbing the slope! According to the name shown during the scan, they’re MMTM, the previous third most powerful team.

A member of ZAT, lying buried in the snow on a gentle slope, shouted in monologue.

The man wearing a green camouflage uniform, as well as a helmet on his head, had b.u.t.tonbattery-sized, ultra-small video cameras attached to the front and back of his helmet.

The gun, completely buried under snow due to lying on the ground, was an a.s.sault rifle used by the Self-Defence Force, a 《Howa Type 89》. Additionally, it was a foldable-stock version that the Ground Self-Defence Force airborne troops and tankmen were supplied with.

This, and the 《Howa Type 64》series, were the only j.a.pan-made a.s.sault rifle varieties in GGO. Setting aside the Type 64 which had a bad reputation(3), the Type 89 was a highly valuable gun.

These guns had the merit of having very insignificant recoil, giving them a powerful semi-autofire, and their accuracy was quite good too. Even though they had the drawback of having a high price, there were plenty of people who favoured it.

Of course, players on j.a.panese server should also have the 〝It’s our motherland’s gun!〟 attachment as well.

“Attempting to return fire! Doryaa!”

Shouting thus, the man raised just his Type 89 with one hand, and fired 3 shots towards the top of the slope in semi-auto mode. Blowing off the snow that had gathered around the muzzle, several bullets rushed away.

There were more small cameras attached at the sides and front of the barrel of the Type 89, as well as one facing himself.

“Did I hit them……? I can’t tell at all! Battles against people really are scary! I’m about to wet myself!”

The man’s speech was picked up by the mike equipped on his throat.

The earnestly-speaking man was a player hosting a 《Let’s Play》.

This was the act of broadcasting, or recording, editing, and then distributing the footage of, one’s state in the game. Such a video was called a ‘Let’s Play video’.

There were people who would just broadcast the scene as is, but eloquent people would add an amusing voice-over or subt.i.tles during the game or editing to please the viewers.

Until now, the man, and his comrades from ZAT that did not mind him doing on-the-scene coverage, had only been hunting monsters in GGO.

The man who had taken the role of cameraman and commentator recorded their situation as they all worked together to defeat super-giant SF monsters in GGO, as well as commenting on it and compiling it together to broadcast on a video sharing site.

There were plenty of people who did similar things, but his charming videos had quite the popularity.

On the other hand, this was a battle against people──

Until now, n.o.body had done a Let’s Play video like this.

It was impossible to tell when a player versus player battle would occur in GGO. It was a different story if an arrangement was made for a duel.

But, even if such a thing occurred, it would be an infringement of 〝avatar privacy〟 to uploadthe video without the permission of the players recorded.

However, the story was different for SJ2.

Since an official broadcast video was available, there were no privacy concerns. Moreover, thecameras recorded scenes from the skies, and mostly did not record player remarks. On the other hand, his video was taken from first-person perspective, and included fun remarks.

He could not make a live broadcast, but n.o.body forbade recordings. Thus, wanting to try out recording an intense player versus player battle, he entered SJ2 with his comrades──

“I wonder if I can move out from here…… Let’s try it!”

*Byun*

“Uhyaa!”

As he raised his head, a Bullet Line ran just above it, and was immediately replaced by the flight of a bullet,

“I can’t!”

Still p.r.o.ne, the man became unable to take a single step.

As he was lying with the side of his face on the snow, he could only see the sky and snow. It was great that this was a game. He would have definitely got frostbite if this was RL.

As the man had to do his on-the-scene coverage, well, it really wasn’t an obligation, but he wanted to do it for his video── he did not have a communication item equipped. Therefore, he could not communicate with his comrades, whom he had lost sight of during the abrupt attack.

*Tatatatan* *Tatatatatan*.

Again and again, gunshots that seemed like someone hitting a snare drum resounded in his surroundings, the snowy mountain. The sounds were absorbed by the snow, thus there was barely any echo, and disappeared towards the reddish-gray sky.

MMTM did not waste a single bullet. As proof of this, *gūn*, the hit point gauges of his comrades in the upper-left corner of his vision decreased and turned zero.

“Ah! One of my mates has just died! Benjamin! He was a good guy! Me and him have been close since high school IRL and have always been playing games together! Ben!”

*Tatatan*, *tatatatatan*.

“Aah! That d.a.m.n Casa is down!”

*Tan*, *tan*, *tan*, *tan*.

“Koenig! Craap!”

*Tatatan*.

“Even Frost……!”

*Tan*

“Yamada!”

As he reported the deaths of his comrades, he eventually became the last one alive, and theleader mark transferred to him.

“I-I have to get out of here no matter what or I’m going to join the rest of them──:

The moment he raised his head just a little as he reported, a line ran 3 cm above him, and, *byun*, a bullet pa.s.sed through.

“Uhi!”

The man once again lay down with such force that it was as if he was head-b.u.t.ting the snow.

“Aah……”

He could no longer move. Absolutely unable to tell where was he being targeted from, the man ended up being immobile, unable to catch even 1 mm of his enemy on camera.

The man began talking.

“To all the people…… watching this video ….. right now…… I am no longer able to move. All of my comrades have been killed. I’m probably done for too. I’ll probably get hit by a bullet and die. I’ll probably freeze in the snow. The fact that the ice cream I bought on my way home from primary school is what comes to mind at a time like this…… is ironic. It was tasty…… But, I haven’t been hit a single time yet……”

After he said all that in a solemn tone,

“So, could it be! That I might not get hit this time either!”

As he stood up shouting, and was about to fire his Type 89 that he raised sideways──

*Tan*──, *Bis.h.i.+*

Just a single, well-aimed bullet hit his forehead, and he collapsed on the spot.

Without making much sound.

Because he hit the snow.

“Alright, he’s down. I think that’s all of them, but Lax and Bolt, go confirm it. The rest, keep a watch on your vicinity.”

The leader of MMTM, who was hiding behind a snowy tree, gave out instructions to his comrades.

He was wearing a white parka, with green conifer leaf patterns, on top of his camouflage. It was a camouflage for snowy fields that he had put in his storage ahead of time, taking into account the possibility that this might happen.

He reloaded his beloved a.s.sault rifle, the 《SteyrSuteā STM-556》.

It was a 〝clone〟 of, in other words, basically identical to, the AR-15, which was manufactured by a long-standing European small arms maker, 《SteyrShutaiyā-Mannlicher (typically called Suteā in j.a.panese)》.

The AR-15 was a gun based on the M16 and M4A1. There were a whole lot of people who used these, both among the military and civilians, thus they had a large market scale, and even clonesof them were sold by various companies.

Of course, they did not just copy them; each company ruthlessly competed to make them easier to use, reforming the parts that were unfit for the times.

One of the AR clones, the STM-556 had a feature that none of the others had. It was the advantage of 〝being able to switch gun barrels with a single press of a b.u.t.ton, without the need to dismantle anything〟.

A long barrel increased precision. However, it was hard to handle in a narrow place.

On the other hand, a short barrel made it overwhelmingly easy to maneuver indoors. However, it wasn’t suited for sniping. Its effective range was also short.

Hence, shooters had to pick one of the two options or go for a compromise when choosing the barrel length, but there was no need to do so for the STM-556. One could carry both a long and a short barrel, and just keep the unused one in a bag.

The leader’s STM-556 was currently equipped with a long barrel suited for sniping.

The magnification of the small scope on the gun was set to high, set up as a mid-range sniper rifle. This was why he was able to so accurately hit the commentating player’s vitals from such a distance.

Just in case they ended up in a battle indoors, he materialised a short barrel from his storage and exchanged it. Also, he disabled the magnification of the scope, in other words, made it a simple tube which guaranteed a wide field of vision.

Additionally, there was a large tube attached under the leader’s STM-556’s barrel. This was agrenade launcher, a so-called 〝weapon attachment〟 that could be used along with the rifle. Of course, it was possible to remove it just by loosening the screws.

Unlike f.u.kaziroh’s MGL-140, it could only fire 1 grenade at a time, but even so, it drastically increased the weapon’s firepower.

The grenade launcher was an object that he had spent a large sum of money to buy for SJ2. He had also practiced shooting a grenade effectively while firing with his rifle.

The reason for all of this was but one.

To bring down the pink chibi that was constantly running around and the giant man hiding behind a s.h.i.+eld, the duo who had given them a hard time and made them taste lake water.

He, who dreamt of taking part in GGO’s most prominent battle, the 《Bullet of Bullets》, and managed to make that dream a reality after decent training──

Did not imagine taking part in a mini tournament that was held in the outskirts without proper notice, even in his wildest dreams.

And so, he of course felt excited.

And, honestly speaking, he planned to 〝have a good time〟 while also simply trying out his abilities and getting in some training with his teammates.

But, he had to thank the pink chibi and the giant for making his blood seethe this much.

‘I’m counting on you.’

As the leader overlooked his beloved gun and his mouth moved without making a sound,

“Six bodies confirmed. Wipe out.”

“No sign of enemies in the area.”

He heard his teammates reporting.

The leader raised his eyes.

Under the cloudy sky, the snow field and the battlefield beyond it stretched out. He could faintly see the mysterious dome, the town beyond it, and the rampart that became an enclosure.

‘Now, let’s fight.’

‘Trust your comrades, trust yourself, and trust your gun.’

“Alright. We’ll wait for the next scan and descend the mountain along the northern rampart. Be vigilant while on standby. Get your spare magazines out.”

At the same time──

In the south-western section of the map,

“Machine gun! Keep the pressure on! Let’s do it as always!”

Boss’s team, s.h.i.+NC, were having a battle.

Their location was the southern part of the town. They were away from the station, thus there were fewer houses, and instead were in a conspicuous place with vacant land and parking lots. A rampart towered to their immediate south and west, and with it as the background, a railroad track extended straight on.

Atop the gray gravel, there were four wide rails in total. A double track section for trains to pa.s.s by one another. About 50 metres across this flat s.p.a.ce,

“Eat this and this!”

The Mother Courage machine gunner Rosa,

*Dokadokadokadoka* *Dokadoka*, *Dokadokadokadoka*

Made stirring, heavy ba.s.s sounds with her PKM.

Lying on the roof of an overturned freight car, she aimed at an enemy team hiding in the private houses dotting the land on the other side of the track.

There was a female dwarf behind Rosa. She was holding a spare ammunition case, ready to act when Rosa ran out of ammo.

The scene of their shootout was caught on camera and broadcast to the bar,

“Huuh?”

And a man with a beer stein in one hand who was watching it tilted his head. His friend, nibbling on beef jerky snacks next to him, asked, ‘What is it?’

“That amazon machine gunner, no, the very short and stout one who’s currently not shooting── if I recall correctly, she had been shooting with a PKM last time too, right?”

“Ah? Yeah.”

“But now she’s unarmed?”

Even now, Rosa was the only one loudly shooting on the screen.

On the other hand, Sophie the support was unarmed, in other words, had no weapons at all.

They thought that she might have left her machine gun nearby, considering it to be in the way, but the video showed enough to check on that theory, and it was clear that this was not the case.

“She hasn’t materialised it yet. She’s keeping it in her storage?”

The jerky man replied, unable to imagine any other conclusion,

“What for? Why would she go out of her way to do something that would put her at a disadvantage?”

And the beer man asked a question from the bottom of his heart, but──

There was not a single person in the bar who knew the answer.

Rosa’s cl.u.s.ter of bullets splendidly pierced right through the wall denoting the boundary of the house──

“Huh? Wai-, no way──”

And were soaked up by the bodies and heads of the characters hiding behind it.

The red Bullet Lines eerily pa.s.sed through that wall beforehand, but they had let their guard down and overlooked them. Lines were thoroughly shown through objects that bullets could penetrate without losing power, such as thin plates and gra.s.s.

“c.r.a.p!”

Having had his teammates killed right in front of him, the man grasped his beloved bolt-action sniper rifle, the 《SSG69》, tightly, and began running away. They had moved in at full speed to flank their enemies, but seeing as their position was exposed, this place was also dangerous now.

The man was a sniper, thus he wore a green camouflage uniform and a cover that consisted of a net and a piece of cloth for disguise on his head and shoulders. This was an item called an 《a.s.sault ghillie》.

The full-body-covering clothing called the 《ghillie suit》 had extraordinary camouflage capability, but it had the downside of making it hard to move quickly.

Aside from those snipers who only moved very slowly, a.s.sault ghillies were easier to use and were effective enough. Even more so in SJ where they could not choose the field.

The man, who even had green camouflage makeup on his face, began running at full speed behind the wall, spooked by the Bullet Lines whose attack he could not predict, as well as themachine gun bullets that followed suit.

Based on the hit point gauge in the top-left corner of his vision, he knew that three teammates were dead, but two were still unscathed. The man shouted to them over his communicationitem.

“Two down! I’m alone! They found out that we were behind the wall! Watch out, those guys have eyes even in the sky! ──Let’s gather up and regroup! Where are you?”

“B-beside the truck!”

“Alright! I’ll be coming out from the west side in a moment, so don’t shoot!”

“Roger! ──Sh~it! Those amazons sure are tough! The sniper’s Line is sca~ry! Don’t stick your head out! The Dragunov is one of my favorite guns, but now I’m growing to hate it!”

The first of them said, and the second who should be right next to him,

“Let’s get out of here! We can’t do it with just the three of us!”

Added such a weak-kneed proposal.

“Stop complaining! We came here knowing that there would be formidable opponents! It’s abattle royale, so we were bound to encounter them!”

“But──”

One of the voices stopped midway unnaturally.

And the other,

“Huh? Wha, whe──”

As expected, stopped midway as well.

“…………”