Vol 3 Chapter 7 (1/2)
Chapter 7
SECT.16 - Memento Mori
14:13.
The video in the bar was displaying the log house from mid-air.
50 metres wide and 10-15 metres long. An approximately 8 metre-high, full two-storey log house.
Both the walls and the roof were constructed from shockingly thick logs. Each was around 70 cmin diameter.
Four brick chimneys stood on the gable roof made from slightly narrow logs. Likewise, four balconies lined the south side of the second floor.
Around the log house was a pleasant-looking meadow, among which numerous esplanade-like, well-maintained gravel roads extended to the east.
Several streams flowed along the esplanade, at times forming ponds──
Once the cameras got closer, they caught a wondrous spectacle. From the streams, and the ponds, rose a rather large quant.i.ty of steam.
Having noticed this, a spectator remarked,
”Oh? A hot spring?”
”Ahaha. That's not a hot spring.”
Just as someone else said this while laughing, the water from one of the ponds spouted with violent force.
The 50 cm-wide fountain rose about 20 metres high, scattered water and steam throughout the area for about 10 seconds, and finally ended abruptly.
Among the flabbergasted spectators,
”Hmm…… a hot spring would have been better. It's a geyser. Those things that periodically spout up geothermally-heated water from underground.”
”I see! So the reason why there was so much greenery solely in this area was because it was heated geothermally and the water hadn't dried up.”
”And the log house is a hotel for people who've come to see the geyser── I suppose. Now I get what's with all the chimneys. On the second floor, there are as many guest rooms as there are chimneys.”
Intelligent people remarked.
”Oh, M's guys, a tour ple~ase!”
M's group had now arrived at the building.
Holding his angular UTS-15 shotgun at his shoulder, the short man went to the entrance at the middle of the log house. After quickly checking for any traps, he pulled the large door open. Apparently, it was not locked.
Then M, carrying the woman like a princess, followed by the tall man who had put away the weapons into storage, and finally the big man carrying the MG3 machine gun with a suppressor entered it one after the other. During that time, there were no attacks from the enemy teams.
”They've all entered the log house.”
Tohma's report was transmitted to LLENN through Boss,
”Roger!”
And LLENN's answer reached the other survivors of s.h.i.+NC, namely Tanya, Tohma, and Rosa, through Boss.
Neither LLENN's group nor Boss's attacked, but they did grasp PM4's actions.
At the moment, LLENN and f.u.kaziroh were 500 metres north of the log house. They were 10 metres apart, hugging the ground in the meadow.
To avoid being spotted and sniped, LLENN once again donned her green camouflage poncho.
Boss's group was on the exact opposite side. 500 metres south of the log house with a view of the entrance.
Aside from the kneeling Tohma, all of them were lying on the gra.s.s, prepared for the Line-less sniping from M.
LLENN observed the situation north of the log house through her monocle in great detail.
From her position till the building, there was knee-high gra.s.s growing on mostly flat
terrain. There was not a single piece of cover.
The log house was constructed on a 10 cm-high concrete foundation.
There were no big entrances on the north side; there were only small service entrance-like doors at either end.
It seemed that there was a straight corridor on both the first and second floor on the north side, as several small windows were lined up at equal intervals. For a building in GGO, it was bizarrely beautiful. Not a single pane of gla.s.s was broken.
She could not see the electric lights inside, but due to the lack of curtains it should be quite bright.
Boss's voice reached LLENN's ears.
”As agreed, we'll begin all-out suppressive fire. We're moving to a better position and range to make it a bit easier to shoot, so wait a bit. I'll give the signal.”
'Roger', replied LLENN and informed f.u.kaziroh of this.
'Uu…… Thanks……'
LLENN thanked her deep inside. All the members of s.h.i.+NC should be frantically crawling right about now.
Despite their change in position, the plan remained unchanged.
During s.h.i.+NC's vehement attack from the south, LLENN would approach from the north and, one way or another, no matter what it took, defeat Pitohui.
However, right now, LLENN had to break into that building.
The problem was to decide which entrance to use.
The log house windows were awfully small and had thick, st.u.r.dy-looking wooden frames. That windows probably opened not sideways, but upwards.
The plan of using an approaching run to smash down the windows with her body and break in, just like in their first battle, was not entirely impossible, but it did look too risky.
An image of her being repelled by the window frame or getting the angle wrong and cras.h.i.+ng into the logs came to LLENN's mind.
Thus, they had no choice but to use the side doors at the edges of the building.
”I'm going in through the door at the building's western edge. Don't shoot there.”
LLENN reported to Boss and f.u.kaziroh, and received 'Roger' replies from the two.
She would no longer have the cover of smoke, thus she had no choice but to dash to the building. If anyone from PM4 had foreseen their plan and stationed even a single man there, she would come under fire.
”Haa……”
As LLENN exhaled, firmly grasping the grip of her P90 under her poncho with a grim expression, f.u.kaziroh, who stood 10 metres to her right, used the comm item,
”Relax relax. You can do it you can do it.”
To send her these calming words of encouragement. Then,
”LLENN, you sure are a lucky girl. Pito-san suffered damage from that sniper back then, so she's now an easy target, and since the battlefield moved indoors, the difference between the range of their rifles and your P-chan has become negligible. In a confined place like this, LLENN's small and fast body will give you the advantage. All you have to do now is to break in without a hitch. Go in there with a bang, a bang I say!”
Continuing to focus her gaze forward, she responded to her ever so reliable partner.
”Got it…… I truly, truly want to thank you, f.u.ka. For being by my side all this time.”
”Yeah. It's the final showdown. Go out there and do your best. Go out there and bring down Pito-san… magnificently.”
LLENN focused her glance from the log house to f.u.kaziroh on her right.
As she was once told by Pitohui, she knew that she absolutely had to avoid making any unnecessary eye contact while on guard, but──
Just this once, before starting the a.s.sault, she wanted to see her partner's smile.
'Yeah! Will do!'
The moment she was about to say that, as she focused on f.u.kaziroh's face,
”Wha?”
LLENN saw.
The meadows, f.u.kaziroh, and the brown land beyond. And also──
A thick cloud of dust rising in the distance.
At first, she thought that it could have been a whirlwind.
Because that cloud of dust looked way too big. Even if one, two, no, even if six people ran together, they would probably be unable blow up that much dust.
But, after 3 seconds, she realised that she was mistaken.
Because she saw the cloud rapidly becoming bigger,
”Ah!”
And that its source seemed to be rising from beneath the horizon.
Those were three cars rus.h.i.+ng through the dry land in a line.
Recognising the angular silhouette of four-wheel-drive cars,
”Cars carsing from the west!”(1)
LLENN shouted. Overwhelmed with shock, she misspoke 〝coming!〟,
”Buhoh!”
f.u.kaziroh spouted.
Hearing the punny report from LLENN,
”Haah──?”
Boss was a moment late to react, but while continuing to lie on the meadow, she quickly glanced in the indicated direction.
And there she confirmed the sight of dust rising into the sky.
At nearly the same time, Tohma raised the upper half of her body just a little and took a quick look toward the western horizon with her Dragunov's scope, even though she should have aimed at one of the log house's windows.
”Cars! Three off-road vehicles! They're coming right at us── no, the log house!”
Just after her report, Tohma was. .h.i.t in the right shoulder by a bullet that came from a window on the log house's second floor,
”Kyan!”
And dropped to the ground while letting out a cute scream.
She had not caught sight of any Lines, thus she had undoubtedly been sniped by M. As one would expect from a renowned sniper. Firing the moment he saw even a part of his target's body, and a.s.suredly succeed in hitting it.
”Craap!”
Boss uttered a resentful complaint to both sides.
”Something's comiiiiing!”
The footage in the bar now focused on the three four-wheel-drive cars causing the cloud of dust.
They were 《Humvees》, military transport vehicles employed by the US Armed Forces, among others.
Their colour was sand-yellow. A little less than 5 metres in length. Over 2 metres in width.
Its large tyres were supported by the long suspension, thus it featured very high ground clearance. Even on rather bad roads, the vehicle would be able push forward without the bottom of its frame being sc.r.a.ped.
A great variety of Humvees existed, but the one being driven on screen was the US Army type〝M1114〟 which had an over-the-top number of bulletproof armour plates installed.
Atop its circular, open roof was a rack for a .50 calibre 《M2》 heavy machine gun and a bulletproof plate to protect the shooter. It also had bulletproof gla.s.s, allowing its user to oversee their surroundings without sticking their head out.
Of course, it was impossible for players to receive new arms, thus there were no M2 heavy machine guns on the vehicles.
The three Humvees, travelling in an oblique line about 20 metres apart and causing a long cloud of dust to trail them, continued driving at a recklessly fast speed, paying no heed to the wasteland. The provided aerial view looked like a broadcast of an automobile rally or a TVcommercial for a new car.
Vehicles could not be made into personal items, thus, like the hovercrafts and trucks in the previous tournament, they must have been found lying around somewhere.
Due to the reflective nature of gla.s.s, the insides could not be seen, but the audience could easily predict which team was driving them. After all, there were only two other teams still alive at this point.
”It's undoubtedly── those guys!”
”Let's go, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! We'll push forward and take control of the log house!”
The leader of MMTM, the group that had acquired hovercrafts and rampaged through the previous tournament, sent instructions to his comrades while sitting in one of the Humvee's pa.s.senger seats.
He was a hardcore GGO player who had been playing the game since its inception.
As he had mentioned in the bar, at the time, he had formed a squadron with Pitohui.
He was a man who did not fool around with other games, exhaustively trained himself, and thus held the power to partic.i.p.ate in the BoB main tournament that decided the strongest player in the game.
And right now, he was enjoying himself by fighting alongside his comrades in SJ.
This man,
”The battle here will essentially be the final showdown! Go wild to your heart's content! Bullets, courage, and your lives── don't spare a single one of them!”
He shouted with a truly joyful, boyish smile.
”So thaaaaat's it! It's you guys agaaaain! Stay outta my waaaaaaaay!”
The scream of LLENN's soul was aimed at the three Humvees, but, of course, that would not stop their a.s.sault.
They were 900 metres away from the log house when she spotted them, but that distance was being shortened before her eyes.
Gunshots began.
The heavy sound of a barrage in the distance was Rosa's PKM machine gun. It was an attack from the opposite side of the log house.
She also saw the gla.s.s pane of a window on the west side of the log house's second floor breaking, and bullets flying out of it. She was practically unable to hear it firing for some reason, but the vivid light of tracer bullets extending one after another undoubtedly belonged to a machine gun.
The PM4 machine gunner was set up somewhere deep inside so that neither his muzzle nor the fire from his gun could be seen, and he had begun shooting at the Humvees with all he had.
”Uugh……”
If LLENN had carried out her decisive a.s.sault through the door on the west side as planned, she would have been found by that shooter and would have had to slip through all that fire──
'Thinking of it that way, they helped me out, I guess?'
She felt quite conflicted about the matter.
LLENN took out her monocle and set her sight on the approaching Humvees.
'Nice work! Get 'em!'
She antic.i.p.ated the barrage of the 2 machine guns mercilessly turning those guys and their cars into beehives. In that case, she would immediately begin das.h.i.+ng.
Eventually, she chose the maximum magnification to see the details of the car clearly, and in the circular view of her monocle,
”Huh?”
Weren't the bullets that hit the vehicles merely creating sparks as the three vehicles continued charging forward with no concern at all?
Based on the knowledge she had once acquired from Pitohui, LLENN thought that vehicle plating and gla.s.s were thin and could easily be pierced by bullets,
”No fair!”
Thus she subconsciously shouted out.
Completely forgetting that in the previous tournament, MMTM had felt exactly the same when they went up against her team.
”s.h.i.+t……”
On the opposite side beyond the log house, Boss also groaned as she looked through her binoculars while lying on the ground.
Boss did not know much about military vehicles, but still understood what was going on. That four-wheel-drive car was an armoured vehicle. It paid no heed to attacks from 7.62 mm machine guns.
Even though they could have mercilessly kicked its a.s.s if they still had their anti-tank rifle with them.
It was meaningless to regret it now.
After Tohma, who had her hit points decreased by thirty percent when she was shot by M, applied a first-aid kit on herself,
”Why you!”
She aimed the Dragunov placed right beside her at the Humvee while maintaining a just-barely-low-enough p.r.o.ne stance,
”Enough. Don't fire.”
And was stopped by Boss.
”You too, Rosa, hold your fire. Unfortunately, it's a waste of bullets. All hands, while watching out for M's sniping, prepare for the perfect timing to fire at them as they disembark.
The roaring PKM quickly fell silent.
Tanya, whose attacks could not even reach them with her weapon,
”But what're we gonna do then? At this rate, they'll head straight for the log house, ya know? As far as I could see from footage of the previous tournament, MMTM is super strong in indoor battles, ya know? If they happened to defeat PM4──”
She did not finish, but everyone knew what would happen.
All of LLENN's effort thus far would go to waste.
Boss did not put it to words as they would be transmitted to the person herself, but she had a thought.
'Sheesh, is LLENN unlucky this time?'
”Go go! Charge on!”
The spectators in the bar,
〝Support the team that is currently doing their best to attack.〟
Because of that logic, or rather, because of the atmosphere,
”Kick all three teams' a.s.ses in one go!”
”Show your manliness!”
Were currently sending fired-up cheers to MMTM.
As if the excitement from the bar had reached them, MMTM continued the a.s.sault.
”LF's on the left and s.h.i.+NC's on the right, but you can just ignore them for now! We're not getting much of a counterattack, so we're just going to break into the log house like this! PM4 is undoubtedly wounded!”
The leader concluded thus about the circ.u.mstances.
Based on their position during the previous scan, PM4 had undoubtedly taken up positions in the log house and should have the advantage.
Since their enemies only attacked them with 1 machine gun, it could be surmised that they had suffered quite some damage during the battles so far. Of course, nothing was certain on a battlefield, but it was standard tactics to a.s.sume the most likely case when it came to making a decision.
”I'll fire a grenade through the second floor window beforehand. No need for support. Cover your heads! Afterwards, it's time for the indoor battle tactics that we take pride in! Let's clean this up good!”
At the leader's instructions, all his comrades responded with a short 'Roger'.
There were two people in each of the three vehicles.
The leftmost Humvee was driven by a man carrying an Italian ARX160 a.s.sault rifle; his name was 〝Bold〟.
Among the six men, he had the darkest skin and most compact figure. Coupled with his short dreadlocks, he had an exotic appearance.
He was also the only one of the men killed by LLENN in the previous SJ. Naturally, he was burning for revenge against LLENN.
To his right, in the pa.s.senger seat sat a man who used a German G36K.
His name was 〝Lax〟. He was the team's gun maniac and the man who had been thrown out of his hovercraft and drowned at the bottom of a lake in the previous tournament.
He was a medium-build with no special traits, but this time, because he felt like it, he had equipped a pair of sungla.s.ses that linked the lens sideways. In GGO, there was never a moment where it was 〝too dazzling〟, thus the sungla.s.ses were unnecessary, but he used them for the atmosphere.
In the central Humvee sat the leader in the pa.s.senger's seat. In the driver's seat sat a man carrying a Belgian SCAR-L a.s.sault rifle. His name was 〝Samon〟.
He had the most macho avatar among the men, thus his gun looked small. Though he was also the newest member of the squadron, and his character was the weakest. As such, he was made to carry Jake's ammunition at times.
The driver of the last vehicle was another guy with a G36K, 〝Kenta〟.
He had a short physique and black hair; coupled with his name, his avatar looked the most j.a.panese. However, his naming was not based on his real name; it originated from the name of a certain fast food restaurant that sold his favourite fried chicken.
Within the team, he was often nicknamed 〝chicken〟, but he was actually a brave man who was not wary of charging into a dangerous spot.
In the car's… back seat rather than the pa.s.senger's seat, was Jake, who held a role that could be called sub-leader and was also the team's only machine gunner.
He had an awfully slender body, thus, at a glance, it would seem like he did not have much strength, but that was avatar magic. In reality, he was a muscleman boasting the highest Strength stat.
In MMTM, which mostly focused on 5.56 mm a.s.sault rifles, Jake's HK21 7.62 mm machine gun's firepower was valuable.
Additionally, his HK21 was equipped with a variable magnification scope. It also had a semi-autofiring mode that was rare for this kind of machine gun, and it fulfilled the role of the team's sole long-range sniper rifle.
He was the only one sitting in the back and preparing to pound away by sticking his gun out through the roof while on the move.
Though, they were currently driving on rough road, thus the shaking of the car was intense,
”Uhi!”
Having not fastened his seat belt, he had to use his all to avoid hurting himself.
From their experience in the previous tournament, they knew that 〝as the tournament goes on, vehicles to make it easier to move around will start to appear〟.
Therefore, MMTM simply but stubbornly kept an eye on their surroundings for one.
And they found some.
This happened around 14:03. While they were running through the hilly area to attack T-S, they found an object covered by a camouflage sheet at the bottom of a valley.
When they descended into the valley and tore off the cover, there lay their treasure, three vehicles.
The leader instantly decided.
That they would postpone their attack on the team running around on the rampart and, with their newly acquired mobility, launch a surprise attack on the three formidable teams. And that defeating them would herald victory.
And so, they went around the dome counter-clockwise, and during the 14:10 scan confirmed for the last time the site where the hectic battle between the three teams unfolded.
Seeing cars move from left to right in her field of vision, driving recklessly fast while raising a cloud of dust,
”s.h.i.+t……!”
The camouflage poncho-wearing LLENN ground her teeth. f.u.kaziroh, lying nearby,
”Aww, if only they had come a bit closer…… I could have just blown them away……”
Said regretfully.
Before long, the three vehicles traversed 500 metres ahead of them. A distance that neither of their weapons could reach.
If it were at least 300 metres, f.u.kaziroh could have just blown them away by consecutively firing 12 grenades. Even if hitting the cars themselves were unlikely, they could have at least damaged one of the tyres.
LLENN was driven by an impulse to run at full speed to a.s.sault the three vehicles, but──
”Guu……”
She knew that she would only end up having the tables turned on her. If hit by one of the cars, the light LLENN could potentially be sent flying over the rampart.
”M-san, Pito-san! Run!”
Having thought of bringing the two of them down just moments ago, LLENN let out a shout that was like a prayer.
The machine gun that had been continuing to shoot from the second floor of the log house fired numerous bullets at the Humvee, creating flashy sparks, until it reached the 200 metre mark, but eventually fell silent.
She did not know whether the guy ran out of ammo, his barrel overheated, or he grasped that it was ineffective.
When 150 metres remained, the three vehicles finally slowed down.
The middle vehicle decelerated the most, and from its roof, guarded by armoured plates, a grenade was fired,
”Ah!” ”Oh!”
Before LLENN's and f.u.kaziroh's eyes, with magnificent aim, the black dot went through the window on the second floor. A beat later, it exploded. The gla.s.s pane, as well as the frame of the window, were blown away from inside and rained down below.
She had no clue how big that room was, but if the PM4 machine gunner was still inside, he undoubtedly could not be unhurt.
The three Humvees approached the western entrance of the log house and stopped just barely away from it. Regretfully, those guys were superb drivers.
Immediately, the men came out.
Green camouflage uniforms. Just as she was told by Boss, that was undoubtedly MMTM's equipment.
She once again began to hear the gunshots of the PKM machine gun that caused sparks as it hit the Humvees.
With nimble moves, one of them carefully opened the door, another kept watch on the second floor window, and the remaining four entered inside as if they were sucked in.
One of the two who were left pa.s.sed by the other, tapping on his shoulder, and the final one followed suit.
Due to parking right next to the building, all of that took a mere few seconds. Not a single one of Rosa's bullets. .h.i.t their target.
”What are those guys, special ops!”
”They got in without a hitch.”
”That was too quick……”
From the spectators watching the event came voices of admiration.
”Have you seen the video of the previous tournament? Their battle in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was like a model demonstration of indoor combat. Without leaving any blind spots or stopping their momentum, they 〝cleared〟 each area in succession.”
Just as someone finished his words, the camera changed to the inside of the log house.
The video showed the log house's corridor on the first floor from above the entrance. There was little light compared to the outside, but it was not dim either, thus they saw the scene clearly.
The men of MMTM advanced through the corridor between the walls of thick logs while holding their rifles compactly, and one after another rushed into one of the nearest rooms on the right.
The time was 14:15.
”So they got in……”
M's rock-like face showed signs of impatience and regret as he muttered this.
His current position was the second floor of the log house. Inside a guest room.