Vol 3 Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3

SECT.12 - s.h.i.+rley

Just before 13:50,

“It’s not like I was trying to help you, okay? I just did it because I thought it was our best chance to bring down the formidable MMTM. Though they got away. Well, I guess we'll call it a 〝temporary truce〟 ? It would be easy to kill you now, but I want a serious battle with you, after all.”

LLENN, who had been lying face-up on the ground and was told this by a giant woman with braided hair who was towering over her,

“I am indebted to you.”

Gave only this as a reply and took out her satellite scan terminal. While she was still collapsed, her wrist.w.a.tch stopped vibrating. It was exactly 50 minutes now.

LLENN was too impatient to bother getting up, so she looked at the terminal screen while still lying face-up. And then, she saw a slow satellite scan beginning from the south-west,

“Would you get a move on! And you call yourself an artificial satellite! It's not like you have to worry about air resistance or anything!”

Gazed at it while absurdly urging it on,

“There you are!”

And confirmed the survival of team PM4 in the south-east of the map. As well as seven gray dots lined up slightly further away.

“Aah…… Thank goodness……”

LLENN held her satellite scan terminal tight to her chest, as if she had received a letter from her lover.

Although the possibility that only the leader M had survived was not zero, LLENN truly believed in Pitohui’s survival. Typical M-san and Pito-san. They turned the tables on all seven teams.

And then,

“How scary…… I have to beat someone like that?……”

As her comrades kept watch over the jungle without leaving any blind spots, s.h.i.+NC’s Boss also gazed at the terminal,

“Wow, it sure has decreased! Ten teams disappeared in 10 minutes!”

She cheerfully reported.

Among them, seven were the combined team wiped out by Pitohui and the others.

And the three others were the teams that were mostly slaughtered by LLENN on her own, except for Clarence, who was the only one finished off by MMTM.

The current survivors numbered seven teams.

LLENN’s group and s.h.i.+NC within the dome, as well as MMTM, who had just made a brilliant retreat and were currently on their way to the north of the dome.

Naturally, Pitohui’s PM4,

And the other three were──

KKHC in the valley between the mountains to the east of the dome. It was a team name that they had never heard of.

ZEMAL, or the Zen-Nihon Machine Gun Lovers, in the northern hilly area, who appeared to be all alive and well. This time, they were truly holding on.

The last one was named 《T-S》 and was quite far away, located almost directly on the rampart in the north-west area of the map.

f.u.kaziroh reloaded her 2 MGL-140s with regular grenades, stood up, and looked up at the huge woman carrying the silenced Vintorez sniper rifle.

The golden-haired dwarf gave a smile,

“Heya absurdly gargantuan person! You’re Boss right. I’m f.u.kaziroh.You can just call me 〝f.u.ka〟, with love. Nice to meet ya!”

“My my, how late we are with our greetings, cheeky blonde Ojou-sama. Please feel free to call me either Eva or Boss, whichever you prefer. ──And thanks. I don’t know the details, but if it weren’t for you, LLENN couldn’t have formed a team and

partic.i.p.ated in SJ2.”

“Well, no need ta thank me. We can take our time with the detailed self-introductions after the tournament.”

f.u.kaziroh heard about Boss and the others IRL in detail from Karen, but she knew that talking about it in-game would spoil the mood, thus she restrained herself. Facing Boss, who nodded with an ‘uh huh’,

“You truly have our grat.i.tude for saving us! I’ll eventually repay this debt with a direct hit from a grenade──”

f.u.kaziroh gave a sidelong glance to LLENN, who had just put away her satellite scan terminal,

“Oi, LLENN! I’ll hold this giga woman down with my masterful conversation skills! Take the opportunity! Get your magazines!”

“Thanks, that’s what I’ll do!”

LLENN stood up with so much strength that it seemed as if she were a gra.s.shopper and rushed over to Clarence’s corpse. And, finally, she obtained her cherished magazines. The fully loaded P90/AR-57 magazines, with 50 bullets each, numbered,

“──Eight, nine, ten──”

‘Wow, twelve. That’s 600 bullets!”

“Ah…… 〝I’ve obtained some new magazines〟(1)!”

As the 800 bullets she had brought with her had decreased to 450 by now, just how rea.s.suring was this? Right now, they were items that made LLENN so happy that she was about to cry. A fanfare for acquiring a new item resounded loudly in her mind.

With these, she was able to fire 1050 bullets. She obtained more firepower than she had from the start.

LLENN gleefully inserted six of them into the pouches on her thighs that had been emptied, and put the rest into her storage via operating it with her left hand.

“Thanks…… You’ve been a great help.”

Finally, LLENN sent words of grat.i.tude to Clarence’s corpse once more.

He── no, she had died face-up, with her hands spread out and a happy expression on her face.

LLENN remembered that her hit points had decreased by twenty percent. Judging that it would be better to the reduce the odds of instant death, she quickly applied a first-aid kit on her wrist.

Her body was momentarily enveloped in light and her hit point gauge entered healing mode. It would take 180 seconds, or 3 minutes, until the healing was complete.

LLENN returned to f.u.kaziroh and Boss,

“ Boss. Thanks for saving me.”

Looking up at her huge body, LLENN once again said her thanks and bowed down.

“My pleasure.”

Having politely replied, Boss gave a happy expression,

“Now then, looks like this is the perfect time, so shall we have our serious one-on-one? I don’t mind doing it here, but, you know, I don’t mind changing the location either? As long as other teams can’t intervene, anywhere’s──”

“Sorry…… I can’t do that.”

Boss’s eyes bulged open when LLENN interrupted her.

“Hah? Why? Didn’t we say we’d have a match next time──”

“Sorry…… Umm…… I can’t really…… explain……”

Beside LLENN, who had shown a painful expression as she did not want to involve high school girls into RL trouble,

“Oh, you see, something bad will happen if LLENN doesn’t defeat Pitohui. If Pitohui-san dies without winning SJ2, she’ll apparently die IRL. The only one who can stop that is LLENN.”

f.u.kaziroh quickly spilled the beans.

“He──”

As LLENN became like a boiled octopus,

“She’s your rival right? Let’s give ‘er some trust.”

f.u.kaziroh said thus.

As there were no battles at the time, the broadcast cameras continued displaying LLENN’s and Boss’s groups.

Although the spectators could not understand what they were saying, they could see that LLENN, f.u.kaziroh, and the members of s.h.i.+NC, who had gathered there due to the lack of enemies in the area, were having a conversation with serious expressions.

“What’s going on here? Are they planning to work together now that they’ve started talking, even if by coincidence?”

“LLENN-chan whispered something into the ear of that last guy just now.”

“Wasn’t that just a thank you for the magazines?”

“To me…… it seemed like LLENN-chan kissed that guy on the cheek……”

“It’s amazing how far pervs can go……”

It was the aftermath of a battle so extreme that no one could take their eyes off it for even a moment, thus the mood in the bar was once again laid back. There were even those who, using the opportunity, filled their stomachs with their new orders.

The players who died in SJ2 returned, one after another, after the 10 minute waiting time was over, thus,

“Those amazons! I ain't gonna be happy unless they win this!”

A sniper wielding an SSG69,

“LLENN-chan, do your best! Win this again!”

And the optical gun-wielding team that was wiped out at the station all cheered for the teams that killed them.

After about 2 very laid-back minutes──

On screen, LLENN gave a deep bow. Was she expressing her grat.i.tude for the help?”

And then, Boss extended her hand to LLENN.

The large-bodied Boss lowered her large hand, while the small-bodied LLENN raised her small hand.

The two gave each other a handshake.

The sizes of their hands and bodies were so different that the scene was quite strange.

“Oh, they’ve settled their talk. What are they gonna do? Are they gonna fight here?”

To the disappointment of the people antic.i.p.ating a battle, the two teams parted with a light wave of their hands.

The amazons started pus.h.i.+ng through the jungle to the south, while LLENN’s group went to the east. The broadcast screen now displayed only the large number of corpses lying on the mowed-down gra.s.s.

“I thought they’d fight together, but they’re just parting ways again?”

Said a man drinking beer,

“Well, those teams aren’t going to band together.”

And added this.

Slightly turning back the clocks, at 13:50.

“LLENN’s group has also survived. They’re inside the dome. Since there’re three other teams lying around, she could have formed a coalition with s.h.i.+NC.”

M reported,

“As expected!”

And Pitohui listened with a smile. Once the scan was over,

“Seven surviving teams. The others include MMTM, who moved to the north of the dome. ZEMAL in the hilly area, T-S to the north-west. The closest to us is a certain team in the valley. KKHC. We’re going to descend the mountain and defeat those guys.”

M, who said in his usual serious tone,

“Roger. Which means a stroll, a stroll.”

Pitohui, who said in a joking tone,

“…………”

And the remaining four men, still silent, descended the mountain.

They were headed to the north-west. Towards the area there that had a conspicuous blue colour.

KKHC, the next target of Pitohui’s group, watched the fifth scan from inside a small forest.

Like s.h.i.+rley, the four men were wearing identical garments with trees depicted on them, but──

The appearances of their avatars were quite dissimilar.

One was a rough-looking middle-aged man with a receding hairline. He looked like the eldest, thus he had taken on the role of leader.

One was a man with an African appearance, which was a common sight in GGO.

One was a tall, blond man.

And the last one was a small, black-haired man that looked like an ordinary j.a.panese person.

The five, including s.h.i.+rley, discovered that the enemies in the area had mostly been eliminated. And so, they had a conversation through their communication items.

“This is awesome. PM4, the favourite team, seems to have wiped out seven teams with just six members and, moreover, in just 10 minutes…… Though I can’t even imagine how……”

The leader voiced his surprise,

“What should we do about this. If we run about and hide we won’t lose, but we won’t win either, right?”

“Agreed. leader, shall we make our debut right about now? But, the closest one is that formidable PM4?”

“I don’t get the feeling we can win……”

The other three chimed in. s.h.i.+rley remained silent as always.

The leader, who had been considering something, said,

“Hey, guys, I’ve got an idea, so listen up. There's a chance we can aim for〝victory〟.”

From 13:50 to 13:55,

“No battles going on……”

A carefree mood continued to hang in the bar.

“Just in time. If they’re battling non-stop, we’ll also get exhausted watching it.

As the previous 10 minutes were exceedingly intense, there were viewers who took this chance to rest.

The idling cameras displayed teams on the move.

LLENN and f.u.kaziroh came out of the jungle and exited the dome. They were right on the eastern edge; if the dome were a clock, they would be at 3 o’clock.

At the same time, while keeping alert of their surroundings, Boss’s s.h.i.+NC also exited the dome. They were approximately to the south. Not much different from their way in.

And then, the camera displayed another team.

A team of four men and a woman were running through a field with streaming brooks.

Everyone picked up on something strange. There was no way they could not.

“Why are those guys──”

Someone muttered, representing the rest.

“Not carrying any guns?”

”Enemies. Five of them. Distance 1000. They're currently running towards us.”

Said M, peeking through his binoculars, with the three masked men holding their respective guns in their hands and one not holding anything at all, beside him. And then,

”Aye. What weaponsemono are our preyemono using?”

Asked Pitohui while making a pun, as she quickly squat down.

They had already descended the mountain and were now in an area that had a mixture of flat fields, forests, and thickets. The top part of a giant dome could be seen in the distance.

Hanging his M14 EBR in front of his body via the sling, carrying his huge backpack on his back, standing, and peeking through his binoculars,

”They're not carrying anything.”

M answered.

”Haah?”

3 minutes later──

The five people who practically sprinted there at full speed, were now standing before Pitohui.

They were team KKHC.

The four men and one woman were all wearing matching uniforms consisting of boots, brown trousers, and tree-patterned jackets, but held nothing in their hands.

Although not a battle, the scene was caught on camera.

Pitohui, M, and three masked men holding their guns at the ready to fire at any time. And a man, who seemed to be the leader of the five-person team, saying something to them.

Although the scene was caught on camera, their conversation could not be heard,

”I see.”

”They came here with a proposal for the endgame, huh.”

The audience, of course, understood what was going on.

That those five people had come to talk, wis.h.i.+ng to conspire with PM4.

”However, I'm kinda surprised that the ponytail nee-san didn't just shoot those guys as they approached.”

”Well, guess she's at least willing to hear them out.”

”Even that oni-like woman can understand words, you say. ──By the way, just how much do you like that jerky?”

”Hmm, I don't really think we need to join forces with anyone right now. Besides, we're aiming for victory, and just what are you planning to do when we become the last two teams standing if we fight together with you? Will we have a shootout then?”

Pitohui asked while facing the five people, including the seemingly eldest man among them who was their leader, lined up before her.

”Putting it simply, at that moment, I believe we can just resign and hand over the victory to you. That's the opinion that the entire team shares.”

”Oh. So you're saying that you didn't join SJ2 to win?”

”Yeah. To be honest, we did it to test our skills. Actually, we're a squadron consisting solely of hunters, who fire guns even IRL.”

”Heeh. That's interesting.”

There was no mistake in thinking that people who began talking about RL in a VR game were people who wanted to brag.

At Pitohui's words, the leader got caught up in the moment and began talking about their RL.

That his team consisted of people who partic.i.p.ated in hunting, with their base in Hokkaido.

All the members in the squadron were residents of Hokkaido who were hunters.

They were allowed to own hunting guns even IRL and normally used them for practice, while during the hunting season, which lasted from autumn till winter, they partic.i.p.ated in hunts in the vastness of Mother Nature.

”So, we are confident in our shooting skills. We're quite accurate even without the Bullet Lines, you know? Actually, just minutes ago, we sniped three men without them sensing it. Though, I don't think your team can even imagine long-range sniping without Bullet Lines, ojou-san.

At the leader's proud or haughty words, Pitohui gave an honest-looking expression,

”Well, that is amazing.”

As she said such a lie.

Beside her── both M and the masked men… kept quiet.

After the leader then bragged about how high-precision the rifles in their storage were, and how superior the skills of their owners were,

”So, our people can back up your team with snipers. That would be one heck of an advantage to you in combat, I believe. So, how's about it? Wanna employ us as mercenaries and aim for first and second place together?”

Having heard their proposal, Pitohui,

”I understand your proposal, and thinking about it simply, it's not a bad deal.”

”Oh. So?”

”But, 'I'm sorry', is what I probably have to say. When I formed this team, I decided in my heart. That 〝if I can't make it with these members, then I can't make it〟, you see.”

”I see…… It's unfortunate, but if that's the case, then I can't force you.”

Said the hunter team leader dejectedly,

”Well then, let's split up again. We'll be disappearing to the other side of that thicket over there for now.”

He pointed to the trees that could be seen around 70 metres to the north-west.

”Afterwards, we won't be making contact with you until the next scan. We promise on the pride of people who use guns even IRL.”

”I see. Well then, we'll be staying here till you all disappear.”

Said Pitohui, and, facing the five men nearby, including M, who were keeping watch on the surroundings and their five opponents,

”You guys heard that, right. Don't shoot. If you're men, keep your promises.”

And gave them these instructions. 'Usu', 'got it', and other such short replies came in return.

”What marvelous soldiers. Well then, I wish us both luck.”

The leader said this to finish off, turned back and began walking. The three men and green-haired woman who had watched on in slight unease followed behind him.

Having looked at their backs till the five of them were about 30 metres away, Pitohui,

”I guess that'll do?”

Suddenly waved her right hand. She operated the window that was produced, and selected the 《Springfield XDM》 automatic pistol from her storage.

The XDM appeared mid-air and Pitohui grasped its grip with her right hand. She then extended her arm forward.

The next moment──

She pulled the elbow and arm of the hand holding the gun with extreme force.

Her arm moved so fast that it left an afterimage. Due to the inertia of such a pull, the XDM's slide fell backwards, then returned forward due to the springs, sending a 40 caliber bullet into its chamber.

This… was the menacing 〝one-handed automatic pistol loading〟 that could only be pulled off by the biggest of machos IRL, or by people with considerably high Strength values in GGO.

”Now then, guess I'll start from the one to the very left?”

Saying this, Pitohui, using only her right hand, easily fired the gun at the back of the tall man to the left of the others.

”Huh?”

The spectators watching this peaceful scene without combat──

”Huh?”

And the shot man──

Let out the same sound.

”Ah dang, I was a bit off.”

Seeing her first bullet hit the man's left shoulder, Pitohui slightly adjusted her aim and fired her XDM again.

The second bullet dug deep into the center of the head of the blond man, who was shocked by the hit to his shoulder. Despite the pistol being weak, the hit was counted as instakill.

The other four, obviously shocked, turned around,

”Hey──wha……”

Saw Pitohui, holding a black pistol in her right hand with her left hand formed into a fist and placed on her chest, as well as the Bullet Lines extending towards them from there.

*Pan*.

The black-haired man became the next target. The sole bullet hit the bottom of his neck.

*Pan*. *Pan*. *Pan*.

As that was not enough to kill him, the next few bullets. .h.i.t his cheek, eye, and forehead respectively.

Seeing the second of his men having his hit points reduced and brought down with a thud,

”Ooi! What're you doing! What about your prom…!”

The team leader cried as loudly as he could. A bullet flew right towards his mouth and went inside.

”Gohoh!”

As a hit effect s.h.i.+ned from his mouth, the leader collapsed backwards.

Continuing her one-handed shooting, Pitohui,

”I'm… not… a man, you see!”

Gave an answer to the already dead man.

”It's like target practice.”

”To me, it looks more like prisoner execution.”

The scene that could not even be called a battle was displayed in the bar as well.

The three men were killed in the time it took to say 'ah', leaving only one man and the woman alive. Of course, they had begun to flee with a full-power dash just as the second man was shot.

”Doesn't seem like── they have the time to operate their storage and take out their guns……”

It was not clear what guns they had, but it would take at least 10 seconds to take them out, load them, aim, and counterattack, so they could only flee at this point.

*Pon*, with this dry sound, a hit effect was created on the running man's left leg. The man collapsed forward, and then came the second bullet. This time, it hit his left hand.

”…………”

Seeing her fallen comrade, s.h.i.+rley stopped,

”Run for it!”

Was told this by him, but she did not flee.

She rushed over to the collapsed man, squatted, then threw herself down.

She drove her back into the stomach of the man, whose character's physique matched hers. And then, grasping his thighs, she immediately stood up and broke into a run while carrying him on her back.

”Ooh!”

Pitohui, who had continued to fire using only her right hand so far, finally added her left hand for support to shoot the 〝target〟 40 metres away.

She pointed her legs at the target and held the gun pushed out in front of her, using both hands for balance,

*Pan*.

The fired bullet splendidly reached its target. This time, it hit the medulla oblongata of the man carried by s.h.i.+rley.

*Guun*, his hit points decreased for about 2 seconds, and then, *pikon*, with an adorable sound, the 【Ｄｅａｄ】marker rose up.