[GGOV2] SECT.9 - Ten Minute Massacre - The First

Well, here's the final chapter in the volume (but not the final chapter in the arc - the story will continue in volume 3). Unfortunately, despite the title, it's not really that interesting... just kidding, the title is totally worth the hype. What better way to end the volume than to enjoy a badass slaughter? Cue the sunglasses!

Full-width text (Ｌｉｋｅ　ｔｈｉｓ) is emphasising that the original text is written using the Latin alphabet. Note that most abbreviations that are not in italics are written using the Latin alphabet as well. Italic text is Engrish (English written in katakana). Abbreviations in italics means that the Japanese version used some shorter form of an English word, but in katakana. In cases when I needed to emphasise that the word is Japanese (or when the text specifically commented about it being Japanese), I added the Japanese version as furigana.

Any feedback is appreciated.

Credits

Translation: Gsimenas
Editing: Pryun, ZeHaffen

SECT.8

Index

Afterword

SECT.9 - Ten Minute Massacre - The First

“Pito, you can see the terminal even while lying on the ground. Take a look. There’s something awfully peculiar here.”

These words from M, Pitohui got up from her nap. While removing the dead leaves from her mantle. And then moved her eyes to the terminal.

Her face, engraved with a geometrical-patterned, brick-coloured tattoo,

“Ahaha. Now there's an idea! Ahahaha!”

Expressed nothing but a smile.

“So seven teams formed a clique and are coming at us! This is wonderful!”

Pitohui very cheerfully thrust her hands towards the sky, but the paleness of the masked men behind her gave away how they felt.

The small man’s words, meant for M, reached everyone.

“M-san, what are we planning to do? If they come at us with all those men, and without the leaders, won’t it be awfully difficult? Are we going to pull out?”

It seemed that all four of them felt the same way, and awaited an answer from the silent M.

The one to answer was Pitohui.

“Oh you, we’re obviously going to ambush and massacre all of them!”

‘How?’

The men’s wordless message was conveyed,

“M is going to tell you right now.”

And Pitohui answered without delay.



Even in the bar where footage of the battle was streamed, the conspirators had become the main topic.

There were people who called them ‘pitiable’, others stated that ‘it isn’t against the rules, but it is against manners’, and others cheered them on, calling it an ‘outstanding plan’.

Opinions about the strategy were very divided, however,

“But, this battle seems like it’s gonna be interesting…… Twenty-nine against six huh……”

Everyone had to agree with the words that that person said.

PM4 was a powerful team that included one of the previous winners. They had not yet fired a single bullet in SJ2, so the viewers could only wait and see how they would fight against an overwhelming enemy.

Everyone already knew that the man named M was strong. And everyone knew that the four masked men gave off a serious vibe.

And as for the last one,

“I hope that hime-sama won’t get in the way……”

“Indeed. She’s the biggest concern……”

“Yeesh? I don’t want her to go all 『Noo, sca~ry』 during the men’s heated battle.”



As of 13:30, the broadcast camera had constantly stayed on the twenty-nine players climbing the mountain.

It was probably picked as the most intense scene as there were no other battles.

Thanks to that, the audience in the bar could clearly see the state in the mountains.

The mountain’s slope was steep, but not enough to be called a cliff. The footing was moderately damp soil and its grip was not bad. The twenty-nine men pushed upwards.

However, there were rocks larger than men all around out in the open, so they had to be avoided. Also, tall and thick trees impeded mobility and field of vision. The men probably could not see even 50 metres ahead.

Rivers were flowing in several places; the small streams made murmuring sounds, while the rapids of the thick streams made boisterous noises.

The twenty-nine people were part of a combined team, thus, naturally, their equipment was quite dissimilar.

Even so, for now, all the teams were moving in an orderly fashion. The seven groups spread out to occupy a 10 metre-wide area; the keen and nimble characters worked as the point men in the vanguard, advancing while keeping watch to ensure there were no enemies. And then, the travelled distance was reported to the leaders.

The cameras were also recording the leaders’ group, which was located in the plains at the foot of the mountain.

A map of the mountain was drawn on the dry ground with a stick, and when there were reports from their comrades, the leaders would slowly move the pieces used as symbols to indicate 〝they are here〟.

They had no special pieces prepared, thus they used spare magazines, grenades, and so on. The place looked like their operation headquarters, or a stronghold.

M’s PM4’s position was confirmed during the 13:30 scan. The position was roughly 1.5 km away from the base of the mountain.

The twenty-nine men were currently heading there. It was still unclear whether their enemy remained in the same spot, but even if they were no longer there, they could follow them via their tracks.


The broadcast did not display M’s team. Therefore, the audience did not know where they currently were, but,

“No matter what, they must have noticed the conspiracy. And honestly, would the best plan be to run away in this case?”

Said the man who had drunk who knows how many cups of beer,

“And where would they run to? Descend the mountain to the north and go to the valley? At some point, they’ll be caught up to, ya know? No matter how much they struggle, their position will be revealed during the :40 scan.”

Answered the man who was nibbling his dozenth jerky.

“So…… it would be better to set up an ambush?”

“If they had equal forces, they would have the advantage by ambushing them from above the slope…… but with this difference in force, I wonder.”

The screen was showing the men steadily climbing up.

Each of them was armed with their best small arms, thus they had quite the firepower. There were also machine guns and sniper rifles among them.

“Still hopeless, huh……”

The man shook his head, and then finished his beer.



The men in the mountains were advancing triumphantly.

Their legs would feel tired due to the tough climbing, but as they understood that it was merely a false sensation, it was no big deal.

More importantly,

〝Just a bit more and we’ll probably be able to take down a tough enemy.〟

This stimulus outweighed it, and their pace quickened.

In their field of view, the men saw their comrades nearby. And slightly further, characters that were enemies mere moments ago.

They would definitely have to exchange gunfire once the favourites were defeated, but that was a matter for the future. Right now, they, too, were 〝comrades〟.

The mountainside was dim, and their field of view was poor due to the rocks and trees; there was no telling when or where they would be under fire.

But, once they fired even a single bullet, their position would immediately be revealed. And when that happened, they would suffer a volley from more than twenty people.

‘Just come at shoot us! Come on!’

Provoking their enemy in their thoughts, the men advanced up the slope.

As they spent more and more time in an advantageous situation, the men’s tension loosened as well.

Around the moment the clock’s needle indicated that 13:37 had passed,

“I kinda feel bad for their opponents.”

“Indeed.”

Or,

“Will there be a prize for the ones who defeat M?”

“If you want, how about we make a bet? Grenades or magazines?”

And other such obvious jokes were murmured by some.

It was nothing but a nuisance to those characters who had braced themselves and were trying their best not to overlook any sounds that their opponents might be making.

Eventually, a man wearing a reddish-brown jacket,

“Quiet! Our plan was not to talk except for reports!”

Scolded another team, wearing pale brown desert camouflage and cackling nearby.

The teammate who was talking to the scolded man stopped there, but the desert camouflage man clicked his tongue in blatant displeasure, and,

“What are you…… Trying to be the force’s leader?”

Was obviously belligerent. The reddish-brown jacket-wearing man, who also seemed to be annoyed by this,

“No you idiot. I’m just gracefully educating a man who’s negligent. You should thank me, ya know?”

Gave him a splendid tit for tat.

The two then stopped and glared at each other from a 10 metre distance, in a serious mood.

They of course had at least a slight sense of reason and did not aim their muzzles at each other, but,

“Once all of this is over…… I am definitely gonna kill you.”

“What a coincidence. I had the same idea. I won’t forget that mug of yours or your camouflage uniform.”

They made such a promise to each other.



Not long afterwards,

“Everyone stop where you are. Prepare for the scan.”

The same order from the stronghold, in other words the seven leaders, reached everyone’s ears.

The men slowly squatted,

“Half of you be on the lookout. The other half look at your terminals.”

And then followed this order.

13:39 passed the 40 second mark, then the 50 second──

“The scan is beginning.”

The fourth scan in SJ2 began.



“Now then, how will this turn out……?”

The scan results were displayed on-screen in the bar as well, thus the audience watched on with bated breath.

The scan began from the north, thus MMTM’s survival was confirmed first. This was no surprise to anyone.

Then, LF who had arrived at the west side of the dome, SHINC who had arrived at the south, and three more teams inside the dome were indicated.

Although the dome, where a fierce battle should break out, looked very interesting, the south-eastern mountain district was the current centre of attention.

‘Where is PM4?’

‘Did they read our moves and descended the mountain to the south? Or did they move further to the east?’

What the scan displayed was──


“They’re close! About 150 to 200 metres to the north-east from the group!”

The seven leaders gave their instructions in surprised voices. PM4’s position was right beside the slope where their comrades were located.

Of course, the characters looking at their terminal screens on site noticed this too, thus becoming surprised.

Did they move just a bit to the north from their position during the last scan? PM4 seemed to have decided to fight on this mountain to the bitter end.

Since their field of view was poor, they could not confirm the position of their opponents, but 200 metres was already within fighting range. It wouldn’t be strange for bullets to come at them through the gaps between trees at any moment. Some of the men pointed their muzzles towards the unseen enemy in a hurry.

However, the fact that no one shot them meant,

“Those guys haven’t noticed us yet……”

Seeing as this many people were on the move, it was hard to think of any other possible explanation for their reaction, thus the men reported this outcome to each of their leaders.

The seven leaders made their decision immediately. There was nothing to be concerned about anymore. Which meant,

“Everyone, head to the scan’s position! And wipe the floor with them in a swift attack!”

The leaders moved the piece in front of them, indicating the enemy’s position on the map, in accordance with the satellite scan that would be useless for the next 10 minutes.



“Everyone, head to the scan’s position! And wipe the floor with them at once!”

Ferocious smiles appeared on the faces of the twenty-nine men who received this instruction.

Since they knew the whereabouts of their opponent, there was only one thing to do. To go there. Wanting to spearhead the attack, every one of them quickened their pace at once.

They all received point-by-point instructions from their leaders on where they should head for. The men crossed about 100 metres in a formation that encircled their target in a fan-shape, when,

“Wha──? Cra~p……”

The man standing in the vanguard said in a bitter voice. And then, he reported the scenery in front of him.

“leader. We hit the widest stream thus far. Its width is…… about 30 metres. It’s running east-west.”

The men who came up behind him also stopped. The large stream was 30 metres in width, about 10 metres deep, and was gouging out the surface of the mountain.

Huge, man-sized rocks rolled down along it as the water streamed with huge force.

“Requesting instructions. The target is upstream?”

The instruction from the leaders came immediately. ‘Yes.’

“In that case, we can’t move in on the target unless we go down to the valley. What should we do?”

The leaders’ answer took a few moments.


The seven leaders had to make a prompt decision.

If they took their time pondering over it, PM4, whose position they had finally grasped, might escape.

Knowing this, they made a decision after a short talk.

“Leave one team to the left and right of the valley each, to be on the look out for attacks from above. The rest, move down to the valley.”


A four-man and a five-man team scattered to the left and right, while the remaining twenty men began walking to the valley.

The scattered man-sized rocks and the water spraying all around only made crossing the stream difficult.

Despite this, knowing that the enemy was ahead, everyone felt excited. But thinking about it again, these rocks could serve as cover to protect them from bullets.

Focusing so that they would have no problem even if they ended up under fire at any time, the men gradually advanced from rock to rock.

And then, when there were only 50 to 100 metres to their target,

“What… is that?”

They saw the scene.



Some men could see the scene, which the men on the spot could see, diagonally from behind on video. They were the audience of the bar. The cameras in the sky above the valley projected the backs of the men in the valley.

“A waterfall……”

There was a large, at least 15 metre tall waterfall ahead of the valley’s slope.

The body of water was about 5 metres deep. Creating a heavy bass noise, the waterfall dropped a large quantity of water onto the ground without even a second’s worth of delay.

Naturally, the valley ended there. The narrow valley, about 20 metres wide, bordered a 15 metre tall cliff.

Aside from characters with the Climbing skill, it was probably impossible to climb it bare-handed. For the rest of them to climb, they needed firm ropes.


One of the men on the scene,

“It’s a waterfall. With quite the size. About the size of a four-storey two-family house with a store.”

Used these words to report to the leaders,

“That spoiled the mood.”

Another person could not hold back whispering this quietly enough to not be heard.

“Is this really the place that came up on the scan? On the waterfall? ──Roger.”

Seemingly having received an answer right away, the man shouted to his comrades in the area. He had no choice but to do so to surpass the noise of the waterfall.

“Their position during the scan was over there. Around the whereabouts of the waterfall!”

“So they’re above? ──What about the teams above? Can they see anything?”

The answer came from a leader, in other words, the stronghold.

“They can’t! There’s only a river connected to the waterfall above it!”

At this point, at least 3 minutes had passed since the scan. Someone who looked at his wristwatch,

“Did they move out? Don’t tell me we let them escape?”

And then,

“Possibly…… We came out empty-handed.”

Words of regret came from one of his comrades.

At that moment, a man from another team who happened to be close by spoke up to the two while shaking his head,

“No…… That might not be it……”

“Why?”

“How do you figure that?”

“I just realised…… Isn’t there something big protruding above the waterfall?”

‘Above?’ The two stuck their heads out from the rock that they were hiding behind, and it was indeed as he said.

The upper section of the waterfall had quite a few rocks sticking out, but the curtain of water began from a spot that stuck out quite a bit.

It was possible to go behind the curtain of water by climbing along the rocky wall beside it.

“There could be a person hiding there……”


Having heard the report, the leaders understood it all.

That those guys were hiding behind the waterfall and planning to let their troops pass by.

If their troops passed by, they could go the other way and descend the mountain immediately. While the twenty-nine men wandered around aimlessly looking for them, they planned to escape to another field quickly.

‘Like hell we’re letting you get away.’

The leaders made a prompt decision.

And passed on instructions to their respective members.

“The possibility of the enemy hiding behind the waterfall is… considerably high. Everyone, give them the biggest volley of fire you can──”


All twenty men in the valley aimed their muzzles one after another.

The snipers and machine gunners mounted their beloved guns on bipods atop the rocks. The submachine gun- and assault rifle-wielding men lay down as if they were hugging the rocks.

Their target was the waterfall curtain tens of metres ahead. It was a narrow valley, thus the twenty men could not lie down to form a horizontal line.

“Guys in the front, make sure you don’t raise your heads! Otherwise, you’ll be shot in the backs of your heads!”

A man that mounted a machine gun on a rock behind them shouted loudly. He lay down as low as the people in front and raised his muzzle as high as the people in the rear, as if he were taking a commemorative photo.

Having finished his preparations, the man voiced a simple question.

“I wonder if the bullets are going to go through that waterfall?”

“Who knows. We’ll find out when we try, I guess?”

“Indeed.”

The order from their five leaders reached them simultaneously.

“Fire!”


In the narrow valley, a volley of 20 guns began.

The moment right after the guns began to roar, a strange thing happened with the curtain of water.

The column of water rose sideways. It stretched out diagonally downwards, matching the speed of the waterfall’s flow, and disappeared.

The bullets, although perhaps not all of them, went through the waterfall.

As definite proof of this, the machine gun tracer rounds hit the rock wall on the other side of the waterfall, and ricocheted out from the side.

“We can do this! Fire fire fire away!”

“Yeah!”

They were no longer holding back.

If the six were hiding behind it, they would be massacred── in other words 〝slaughtered〟.

The 20 continued to rain fire, and their noise did not halt for a moment.

Furthermore, the noise remained longer than usual because of the echo in the valley, thus forming one big racket that nobody had ever heard before. If the volume was not automatically adjusted in the world of GGO, everyone would have probably gone deaf immediately.

The firing continued.

The machine gunner placed a new ammunition belt. The other shooters reloaded their magazines many times over.

Ejected empty shells disappearing after several seconds was a characteristic feature of GGO, and the resulting flashy effects when a shell disappeared were pretty. The way the tens of empty shells disappeared on the stones and water one after another was a wondrous sight.

The smoke emitted from the twenty barrels spread out and gradually covered the surroundings completely.


“That looks! Awesome!”

“Yeah. First time I’ve seen so many people firing with all they have in GGO……”

The nine men located to the left, right and above the valley had forgotten their original duty to guard the surroundings──

And gazed at the flashy 〝drama concert〟 from their special seats.

“I kinda wish we were down there. We drew the old maid, huh?”


And so, after about 50 seconds of frenzy,

“Cease fire! That should be enough!”

An order came from the leaders, and, in groups of twos and threes, the men stopped firing.

Disregarding the order,

“Doryaa!”

The sole man who continued to shoot excitedly to the very end with his 《M40A3》 sniper rifle had his head nudged by his teammates,

“Oh? Ooh?”

“You’re the only one left shooting, ya know?”

“Oh, sorry. I have just 1 bullet left. With this, I’ll empty my magazine.”

He returned the bolt to the front, aimed at the waterfall and fired 1 bullet.

After the sound of the gun’s discharge echoed many times over, the sound of the waterfall returned to the valley. It should have been quite loud, but it was really quiet now.

There were no visual changes to the waterfall.

“Alright…… Can someone nimble go check behind the waterfall?”

At his words, the team with four dissimilar members immediately volunteered. They were all submachine gun wielders who excelled at Agility.

“We’re counting on you! If you find the 【Ｄｅａｄ】 markers, then your job is done. If they’re still alive, finish them off.”

“Roger! Leave it to us!”

“Don’t fall into the basin…… You’ll probably suffer quite the damage if you do.”

“Yeah!”

“We’ll provide covering fire, so if it looks bad, duck.”

“Gotcha, thanks!”

They had a frank conversation.

Although they were essentially enemies, just the fact that they were aiming their muzzles and firing in the same direction together seemed to have resulted in a mysterious sense of unity. The formerly disordered squads had now become a splendid platoon.

The four men divided into teams of two, and began climbing towards the waterfall. The remaining 〝twenty-five men〟 observed the situation while aiming at the waterfall.



“They hit me a bit.”

Hearing M’s words, Pitohui cheerfully replied.

“So did you die?”

“Unfortunately, I’m fine.”

“Awww. And here I thought I’d get revenge for you.”

“Don’t worry about me. The preparations are done. As for the rest…… do as you please.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. Well then, I’m awaiting the signal!”



Making use of their Agility to hop from one rock to another, the four men got closer to the waterfall.

When 10 metres remained, the man leading the right-side team readied his 《Mini UZI》 submachine gun in front of him. The man leading the left-side team aimed the muzzle of his 《MP7A1》, which was of course a submachine gun, forward.

“Right now, the four guys are approaching the back of the waterfall…… Still can’t see anything.”

A member reported to the leaders.

5 metres remaining. The man in the lead was already soaked.

4 metres remaining. The man put his finger on the trigger. And then, he extended the fingers of his left hand while looking at his two mates on the opposite side.

He then flexed his fingers one at a time. That was the countdown for the assault.

4, 3, 2──

On 1, the men were blown away.


A bluish-white flame sprang forth to the left and right of the waterfall, and mercilessly blew away the four men.

Both men in the lead were blown 5 metres away and crashed into the side of the valley. The other two lost their balance, as if they were pushed by the two men who were blown away, and tumbled down to the basin from the rock wall.

“Plasma grenades!” They’re alive! Enemy behind the waterfall! Fire fire fire!”


Another roar came from the valley.

As if that was a signal, something rose up in the mountain.

It was the group of masked men.

The three men, who were lying down in a hole while wearing camouflage ponchos with dirt and withered grass applied on top for disguise, simultaneously stood up in their respective locations.

Their location was the mountain slope about 5 metres to the north of the valley.

The three were lurking truly right behind the men who had just recently been guarding the top of the valley. In a place where it wouldn’t have been strange for them to be stepped on.

The moment the three of them stood up and simultaneously raised their beloved guns, they began firing at the enemies who had their backs turned on them.


The short man had a shotgun.

The 《UTS-15》, a pump-action shotgun that could fire 〝14 consecutive shots〟. With its squarish appearance that made it look like an optical gun, and two tube magazines, it was a rather unique shotgun.

By repeating the high-speed pump-action, the man could fire 3 times per target. Its ammo was the double 0 buck.

The storm of shots that were fired from behind his rock hit the four men, overlooking the waterfall from the edge of the valley, throughout their bodies in succession.


The large man was a machine gunner.

He was holding a German 《MG3》machine gun. Its calibre was 7.62 mm.

It was historical gun that was basically just a different calibre of the Nazi Germany-used, masterpiece machine gun 《MG42》, but the gun also had a sound suppressor of the latest style.

As the cylinder did not nullify noise as well as a #sound erasing device#(silencer), it was more accurately called a #inhibitory device#(suppressor), and it was attached to the muzzle.

The man held his long and heavy MG3 against his waist, and grasped the sideways-turned bipod with his left hand. While his teammate shot down the people in front of him, he ran up a large rock using only his feet. And then, at its peak, he began pounding away in full auto.

*Jaakakakakakakakakakan*

The suppressed gunshots created a strange roar. The ammunition belt hanging down the left side of the gun was taken in, and its bullets flew out forward one after another. The empty shells flew out directly below the gun, and bounced back, making brisk *kinkin* sounds as they hit the rock.

While pounding away, the man swung his muzzle sideways.

The hail of bullets that stretched sideways passed through the top of the valley, and, one by one, pierced the five men overlooking it. With multiple hit effects beginning to shine on various parts of their bodies, the men collapsed on the spot.

The sole man who had yet to die shouted while raising his beloved 《Galil》 assault rifle as he collapsed.

“En──”

‘Enemy!’, he was unable to finish even one word.

A bullet hit the man’s right arm. It passed through his body and hit his head, causing instant death.


Right behind his two mates, the masked, fat man pulled the bolt of his gun, and ejected a large, golden, empty shell.

The sniper man, who had the constitution of a sumo wrestler, held a large sniper rifle. It was the gun responsible for piercing the target’s arm and head just now.

Its full length was about 120 cm. The name of the sniper rifle that had an independent pistol-style grip and fish tail fin-like stock was, 《Savage 110BA》.

The bullets it used were the powerful 338 Lapua Magnum. It was quite a rare, and powerful, gun in GGO.


The incident that took a mere 3 seconds resulted in the deaths of nine people above the valley.

And the eighteen men in the valley had yet to notice this.

Since their own guns were too loud, they covered the gunshots that resulted in the slaughter of their comrades, and thus the gunshots were not heard.

Furthermore, they were divided into teams, thus they could not even check the hit point gauges at the upper-left corner of their view.


The ones who noticed the change immediately were the two leaders in the stronghold.

Seeing the display at the upper-left corner of their view informing them that their teammates were wiped out, they at first thought that it was some sort of mistake. However, seeing that they were not the only ones with a change in complexion, the two,

“My teammates died!”

“Mine too! They were wiped out!”

Informed the stronghold of this.

Knowing that both reports were from the teams stationed at the top of the valley, the other five immediately understood the situation. And relayed this to their teammates in the valley.

“Enemy above! Support teams wiped out! Watch out for attacks from above! Did you hear me?”

No reply reached the ears of the leaders.

“Why?”


The ones who understood the situation the best were the audience members in the bar.

There was another battle taking place at another location, thus the bar was completely divided in two. From the moment that the plasma grenades exploded to the left and right of the waterfall, the characters watching this broadcast,

“Oooh!”

“They’re here!”

Had their eyes glued to the screen.

Thanks to the multiple screens, they could clearly see the masked men who came out of the ground. The cameras fixed their view on them from directly behind.

The moment they aimed their muzzles at the men who were solely focused on what was happening below in the valley,

Behind you! Behind you!”

It was impossible for them to hear this, thus the moment when someone made fun of them, the guns discharged.

As they were brought down like target practice dummies with the shotgun, machine gun and sniper rifle,

“Aaah”

“That’s what they get for letting their guard down……”

The audience gazed on in pain.

And then, the masked men who had killed all nine enemies──

“If they continue firing from above like this, they can murder all those guys in the valley, right?”

Did not follow this idea.

Without even looking at the valley, they squatted on the spot and stopped moving.

“Why?”

The moment everyone in the audience had this question in mind, the scene once again changed.

A sole woman’s back was displayed.

“It’s that woman!”

Based on the dark blue jumpsuit and the ponytail, it was easy to tell who she was. There were no doubts about it.

She was the woman who was with M and the masked men. The woman slowly climbed the valley, and approached the men, who were still firing at the waterfall, from behind.

Representing everyone in the audience who was watching this,

“Why… is that woman──”

Someone said.

“Not holding any weapons?”

On the video, the woman was not holding anything in her hands, nor did she have any holsters or grenades or knives on the equipment belt on her waist.

She could have placed them into her storage, but at the present situation, she was completely unarmed.

“Is she…… going to negotiate? Is she going to come up to those guys and say 〝So, how’s about it; wanna team up?〟 or something?”

But someone else,

“Then why did those masked guys shoot those guys above the valley?”

Easily rebutted that theory.

‘What the heck is that woman trying to do?’

As everyone continued to wonder, the woman agilely moved from rock to rock, and finally arrived at the place where the men were standing.

Everyone was still pounding away at the waterfall incessantly, thus nobody noticed her. Even though an enemy came up right behind them.

The scene was awfully surreal and eerie.

The camera rotated and focused on a man pounding away with his Russian-made 《RPD light machine gun》, fixed on a rock, at the back of one of the groups, and the woman, with tattoos engraved on her cheeks, 4 metres behind him.

The sharp-faced woman said something with a smile, but her voice did not reach the audience.


“I’m doing it. You can keep your support to a minimum.”


13:46.

This time was displayed in the upper-left corner of the screen.

And then the audience saw.

Having approached the man pounding away with his RPD light machine gun and now standing right behind him, the woman grasped the nape of his uniform with her right hand and pulled it.

It seemed that she pulled him lightly, but she probably had a considerably high Strength stat. The well-built man was easily pulled away from his gun and stopped firing.

And then, the woman transferred her right hand from his nape to the back of his head──

And with vehement force, she smashed the man’s face into the rock.

Damage was registered on the first attack. Hit effects appeared from his nose, and the red polygon fragments scattered like blood.

Two times, three times, four times── the woman continued hitting the man’s face against the rock, and the man who initially tried squirming now had his limbs dangling loosely.

And then, a 【Ｄｅａｄ】 marker lit up over the man.

Seeing her moves, which were without the slightest pause, the men in the bar momentarily fell silent. And then,

“T-that woman just beat the crap out of him unarmed!”

“It’s possible……”

“You can die from fall, so physical strikes would also register damage, but…… is it normal to do that?”

They could not hold back voicing their impressions simultaneously.

At that moment, the woman nonchalantly threw away the corpse, and lifted up the man’s RPD. She held the heavy machine gun against her shoulder as if it were a rifle.

And then, she fired.

At the 〝backs〟 of the men dotting the valley.

She did not bother aiming, and simply fired away.

Amusingly, despite this, she was able to hit her targets, who were about 3 to 20 metres away. Interestingly, she got direct hits on the vitals of three unlucky men, forcing them out of SJ2 without them realizing why they had died.

The men who, luckily, were not shot, turned around in surprise that they were under fire from behind,

‘Idiot! Stop shooting your allies!’

They opened their mouths intending to say this, but at that moment, they froze up.

A man, making a truly amusing expression in disbelief of what he saw, got shot in his now wide-opened eyes and died immediately.

The others dropped down behind the rocks and were somehow able to escape the web of gunfire.

The machine gun’s ammo reserve, which was already low from the start, turned to zero in about 3 seconds worth of shooting. The woman immediately dropped the now silent gun, ran up to the rocks, and jumped. Towards the man squatting nearby with a blank expression.

The woman’s knee protectors hit the man’s face.

The woman gave the man, who had fallen into the water streaming between rocks, a strong kick with the heels of her boots. At the same time, she snatched the man’s 《AKM》, and began firing at the other enemies with it.

While shooting, the woman violently trampled on the nape of the man, who had collapsed into the water, with her right leg.

Having lost the ability to stick his head out of the water, the man struggled with his hands and feet in distress, but joined the list of casualties, due to suffocating, right after the woman used his gun to kill three of his comrades.

“It’s the enemy!”

“Shoot that woman!”

The counterattack finally began, and their bullets made holes in the rock that the woman hid behind.

A moment later, a figure jumped out from the rock shade, and all the gunfire focused on it.

The character was hit by dozens of bullets, but did not die because of them. He was already dead.

Having thrown the corpse as a decoy, the woman slithered along the rock shade like a snake. And arrived beside a man who was desperately inserting shots into his automatic shotgun 《Remington Versa Max Tactical》.

“Hiya!”

“Huh?”

The woman hit the eyes of the man, who raised his face, with the stock of the AKM that had run out of ammo. Her aim was unwavering.

The woman dropped the AKM and snatched the Versa Max from the arms of the man, who was taken aback. She quickly aimed it downwards and fired at the man’s face as he collapsed.

The man, who was hit in the face by shots from his own gun and had excessively flashy hit effects shining on his face, was no longer able to see above his nose. Of course, he had died.

The woman placed her thumb on the Versa Max’s magazine loading port. Doing so, she sensed how many rounds remained in the magazine tube. Nodding in satisfaction, she brought the new weapon into her hands.

There were only eight survivors left. With more people in the valley deceased than alive, there was no organised counterattack left anymore, as everyone just hid in their own spots.

In this situation, the woman cheerfully ran about the valley. She lost in speed to LLENN, who had greatly trained her Agility, but her light movements were still like those of a ninja.

Having found a man hiding in the shade of a rock, she pressed the large muzzle of the shotgun on the man’s nape with a sweet smile, and fired.

The first shot half-tore the man’s head, thus she quickly pulled the trigger again and fired another round. The man’s head was separated from the torso and the woman strongly grasped his hair and threw his head away.

The camera changed its location and caught how the severed head fell in front of the man hiding behind a rock.

His scream was not picked up by the mike, but the way the man sprang up after succumbing to fear from the bottom of his heart was caught on camera.

The man crawled out of the rocky area to escape, crossed the shoal while splashing, and just when he stuck his head out from the rocks, he saw the legs of the woman who came after him.

The shots assailed the back of his head all together, and the number of casualties increased by one.

Noticing that there were three plasma grenades on the corpse’s waist, the woman nonchalantly helped herself to them, and threw two of them in succession.

Her target was the waterfall basin about 10 metres away. The location of the two men who were blown away by M and were finally crawling out of it.

*Dobon* *dobon*, just as they landed on the water, they caused the water to rise in succession, producing two mountains.

A large quantity of water fluttered in the air, along with body fragments. The basin soon overflowed with water pouring from the waterfall, and the two corpses surfaced.


The men above the valley did not fire a single bullet.

Due to their altitude advantage, they were able to clearly see the enemies squatting, lying, and hiding in rock shades, and they were all ready to fire as soon as they saw that their teammate would be shot, but──

But there was no need to take action at all.

As Pitohui massacred the enemies in the valley while gleefully running around,

“…………”

They watched on in silence.


On screen, the people saw four men hiding by clinging to four rocks.

And the figure of the woman looking for them.

The woman, who was on the other side of a stream, swiped a 9 mm calibre 《Beretta 92FS》 automatic pistol from a corpse and, holding it in her right hand, she cheerfully continued walking. Like the oni in 〝hide and seek〟⁽¹⁾, she continued looking behind rocks to see if anyone was there.

The reaction of the audience as she found new targets continued to change.

The audience, who at first were taken aback by the devilish fighting style and overcome by surprise, had now,

“Get them! Four more!”

“Hey you guys above! Don’t you dare shoot! You should definitely read the room here!”

“She’s definitely gonna get the 〝max kill award〟!”

“Nee-chan! You’re amazing!”

“I’m truly sorry for calling you an 〝otasā no hime〟!”

“I wouldn’t mind getting killed if it’s by you!”

Taken a hundred and eighty degree turn.


“What’s going on! Did something happen?”

The leader stronghold was in a state of complete panic.

Because, just as they began to worry that they received no replies, the hit points of their comrades decreased one by one as they screamed, and the number of casualties continued to grow rapidly.

The death reports from each leader continued to pile up quickly until it was no longer possible to keep track.

“There’s one outrageous──”

*Basun*

She must have fired from extremely close by, as the mike picked up the gunshot that halted his words. They did not even need to take a look at the hit point gauge to know what had happened.

The man loaded with protectors, who was the one to come up with the plan, confirmed that all of his teammates were wiped out,

“Is… anyone… still alive……?

And asked his fellow leaders.

Four of them shook their heads, and only two,

“One, somehow…… But his hit points are yellow.”

“One here as well, but deep red.”

Answered miserably.


“M-san. I think you can come out now.”

Hearing the voice of the masked fat guy, M appeared from behind the waterfall. Holding his M14 EBR in his hands.

Red hit effects were glittering in six spots of the soaking wet giant’s buttocks and legs. His hit points had decreased by about forty percent as well.

Observing the situation from above the valley, the machine gun-wielder enquired.

“Looks like you got hit good. Holes in your shield?”

“It’s the ricochet. The bullets that hit a rock above me bounced back. I was only able to protect my spine and head.”

“That’s why we told you〝it’s dangerous〟. You sure like being rash.”

“It was for the preparations. What else could I do. How’s Pito?”

M gazed downstream and could only see about twenty 【Ｄｅａｄ】 markers shining throughout the valley. The markers that were close to each other in the nearby area were probably not as common further down.

“She’s further downstream. Behind a large rock. She’s having fun with the last two guys right now.”

“?”

M inclined his neck, jumped from one rock to another with light steps that did not match his giant stature, and descended into the valley.

Having descended about 20 metres, he found Pitohui there.

Pitohui, who was leaning on a huge rock and holding the Beretta 92FS that she had seized,

“Hmm, what to do.”

Was looking at two enemies about 5 metres in front of her.

One was a man wearing desert camouflage. Most of his body was in the water and he had lost both of his legs. The red effect that denoted body part loss was shining beautifully under the water.

The other was a man wearing a reddish-brown jacket. He was holding on to a rock at the edge of the fast-streaming water and extending his right hand downstream.

The hand was grasping the nape of the desert camouflage man’s equipment vest. He would be washed away if the hand was released.

“Only those two remain.”

Having heard Pitohui’s report, M spoke to her.

“What’re you waiting for?”

Pitohui turned around, showing a cheerful smile of course,

“Well, you see, that guy is grasping him, but he still has a pistol on his right waist.”

M saw. That there was indeed a 45 calibre automatic pistol 《Colt 1911A1》, nicknamed the 〝Government〟, in the refined leather holster on the reddish-brown jacket man’s right waist.

“I’m waiting for him to let go of the deadweight and quickly draw the gun to shoot me, you see. It’s kinda mentally unpleasant to shoot a man who’s not putting up a fight, right?”

When Pitohui looked up to him and asked,

“Are you joking here?”

M answered frankly. And then,

“We don’t have time to waste.”

“Oh fine. Geez.”

Pitohui raised her Beretta 92FS and casually fired a bullet.

The bullet went into the reddish-brown jacket man’s side,

“Gah!”

The man’s body shook. And yet, he did not release his hand.

“Huh? Persistent.”

Pitohui fired another bullet. This time it hit the man’s right upper arm. That by itself should have made it numb, and yet the man did not release his hand.

“What are you trying so hard for!”

In response to the angry Pitohui,

“Oh shut up!”

The reddish-brown jacket man shouted back.

“Is it fun to harass opponents that can’t fight back? Is it?”

Pitohui answered immediately.

“Is it fun to harass six people when you have thirty?

“…………”

“Yes! The answer is 〝both are fun〟! You do get the truth, right? If you were in my position, you would surely be doing the same thing!”

“…………”

The desert camouflage guy, who was being tossed about by the current, shouted to the now completely quiet reddish-black jacket man.

“Oi! Enough already! Let go of my hand! That woman is right! Draw your Government and fire! Don’t hesitate to kick her ass!”

“………… I refuse.”

“Are you an idiot!”

“You’re a really annoying guy, but until we defeat those guys, you’re a comrade. Our team does not abandon comrades.”

“…… What’s the point in that if you’re going to die too!”

“We’re not wiped out yet! The leaders hearing this will do something about this!”

“……Yeah, you’re right!”

As the two were disregarding her in their excitement,

“Oi, don’cha ignore me.”

Pitohui fired 2 bullets. Both hit the chest of the man in the water, but the 【Ｄｅａｄ】 marker did not light up.

“Oh, bulletproof armour? Or did the water decrease the power? This is why I dislike pistols. And to top it off, I’m out of ammo.”

The Beretta 92FS in her hands had its slide locked. Proof of having zero ammo.

*Chapon*, Pitohui threw away the paperweight into the stream,

“M. Lend me that EBR.”

“No way. I don’t have enough bullets for you to play around with.”

“Tsk. Then, I’ll just get something from the corpses there. What should I pick, I wonder.”

Pitohui turned away from the rock shade quickly and started her stroll around the surroundings in search of a new gun.

From his rock, M,

“You guys, pass this onto your leaders. ‘The rest of you resign.’

Spoke to the two.

“…………”“…………”

They did not say a word, but M continued. His persuasion in a calm tone.

“Your plan wasn’t bad. It was actually well done. And this is the result of the battle. Even if the surviving seven joined together, they still wouldn’t have any chance of winning.”

Having returned, Pitohui shouted with a serious look on her face.

“Hey stop! That’s not fun! ──You guys, forget what this huge ass just said, and tell your leaders this! 〝We were horribly mocked! What disgrace! We beg of you, please avenge us!〟. Got it?”

“Yeah, we’ll have them kill all of you bastards!”

The reddish-brown jacket man,

“I hope you’re ready to die!”

And the desert camouflage man glared back at her with a smile,

“Oh yeah. That’s the face I wanted to see. ──Bye now.”

Making a satisfied look, Pitohui threw the plasma grenade she had picked up with an underhand throw.

“Bastard!” “Go to hell you amateur!”

Right after the two shouted, the grenade exploded in the stream and split their bodies into tens of parts.

With that right arm holding onto the nape the whole time.


“Yiippieeee!”

“Awesome! She actually managed to kill all eighteen of them by herself!”

The hype in the bar,

“That’s the championship favourite for you!”

“That was fascinating! Awesome!”

The roaring cheers did not reach the valley.


“Now then, perhaps we should go to the next one. Everyone, let’s link up at the bottom of the valley.”

Pitohui said and quickly began walking,

“I have to recover my shield, so wait.”

But was stopped by M. With a quick pace, M ascended the stream to collect his expanded shield from behind the waterfall.

“Hurry up, okay.”

Pitohui looked up and saw the four masked men looking down at her.

In the stream, the scattered remains of the two men were being washed away by the current.

Unlike the BoB, grotesquely scattered corpses would not remain on the field in SJ, thus they would return to human form downstream before long, but── right now, it could only be called eerie.

Although she was unable to see their faces through the masks and goggles, Pitohui spoke to her four comrades, as if feeling what they wanted to say,

“They wouldn’t have deepened their friendship without all of that, right? I’m sure those two will get a tasty drink together when they return to the bar after 10 minutes!”

And told them these words with a smile.

‘How much of everything she has said and done is actually true?’

The men all had the same thought, but none of them voiced it.



“Ho…… ly cow…… Damn it!”

At the base of the mountain, in the fields 1.5 km away from the valley, the man with protectors all over his body, who had come up with the whole plan, lamented.

He knew full well what had happened based on his status screen. That his comrades had all been wiped out. The only one alive was the leader himself.

And the exact same applied to the other six leaders. They did not know what the situation on-site was, so they had no way of knowing how they died, but,

“It’s confirmed… that they’re all wiped out……”

“Yeah…… Even though I can’t believe it……”

All of them gave identical, grave expressions. One among them, the old Japanese Army officer,

“Well then, I’m going.”

Said this, and began walking with his Type 100 submachine gun in his hands. Towards the mountain towering in front of him.

“What are you planning to do?”

After the protector man asked, the officer turned around and answered.

“Unfortunate as it may be, this plan ended in failure. So, I’m going to have my own battle now.”

“Hey…… although what you said sounds cool, I have no idea what you’re going to do.”

“Yeah, sorry. ──Right now, I’m gonna go to fight those devil-like guys living on the mountain, and die. Although I don’t think I’m a match for the enemy, I can’t show my face to my comrades who fell before me if I drop out here.”

“…………“

“The plan itself wasn’t bad. Because everyone came along knowing that, the fault is not your own.⁽²⁾ The others also fought and had fun together, be it for a short time. May fortune smile on your battles.”

In the end, he gave a beautiful salute and turned back.

Seeing the officer’s back continuing to get smaller, the other six──

Took the first step at the same without saying a word.


“Oi? What’s going on here?”

The old Japanese Army officer inclined his head upon seeing the six lined up next to him.

“It goes without saying. We’re going to fight too. Everyone here is from different teams, but our goal is the same. You’re a Gun Gale man too, so you get what I’m saying, right?”

“That’s right! Like we’re letting you be all cool by yourself!”

“The other side has six. We have seven, right? We’ve got numbers on them!”

“If one guy gets one kill, someone’s going to be left empty-handed. First come, first served, right?”

“We’re going to wreak the grudge of our comrades on them. I haven’t fired a single bullet yet, so it’s perfect timing.”

“I dare say. That our SJ2 has just begun.”

Hearing the consecutive replies, the officer suddenly smiled,

“In that case── Let’s all fight together. Comrades.”


The cameras caught the backs of the seven men advancing towards the devil mountain in a horizontal line.

Their garments and weapons were all disorganised. Their sole common feature was that they had lost their comrades.

The bar’s audience continued to watch the situation with mixed feelings.

“Oi oi, you’re going to fight them now! You’re definitely going to die! It would be less painful to just drop out already, ya know?”

“You can’t win this…… No matter what.”

“Well, if we get to see that Nee-chan fight, I don’t mind.”

There were those who sneered at them, convinced of Pitohui’s team’s victory,

“Those guys are real men! I’m fired up!”

“Crap, I shed a tear there for a moment…… The 『Seven Somebodies』, huh.”

“Aww yeah, go get them! You still have a chance of winning even now!”

And there were those who sympathised with the seven and cheered them on.

Despite this, there was one thing they all felt.

Which was this feeling── ‘All right. Looks like we’ll get to see an intense battle now’.

The backs of the seven men on screen drew near the mountain.

Several hundred metres more and the fields would end, and they would enter the steep mountain region.

‘What kind of intense battle will they give us?’

The bar audience’s enthusiastic eyes saw how the seven people walking became six in a moment.

It did not mean that one ran away.

The man who was walking the furthest to the right had his torso split from the stomach, with the upper half falling backwards and the lower half falling forward.

“Wha?”

2 seconds later, they became five.

The man who was walking the furthest to the left had his body severed into top and bottom parts in the same way.

The camera changed scenes.

The screen projected the woman, holding a huge rifle, in the forest.

The ponytailed and tattoo-faced woman was lying on a flat rock, and holding a giant gun mounted on a bipod. In her surroundings, M’s shield, which was used in the previous SJ and just moments ago, was spread out.

“Oooh! The 《M107A1》 anti-materiel rifle!”

Someone in the audience exclaimed in surprise.

‘You know that?’, there was no one to ask anything like that. Considering the gun maniacs playing GGO, aside from a large number of beginners, it was common knowledge to all.

That the M107A1 was an anti-materiel rifle, made by the American company Barrett, which used 12.7 mm bullets. An improved version of the well known 《M82》model. The points of difference included the fact that it was lighter, and it was designed with a muzzle intended to be used with a suppressor.

The M107A1 on screen had a suppressor equipped as well. It was an at least 40 cm-long accessory, equipped on the tip of a gun that was about 1.5 metres-long on its own. The woman herself was by no means short, and the weapon’s length, comparable to her height, made the gun look like a spear.

The effective range of the anti-material rifle that used bullets this large was over 1500 metres. If the user was on high ground with thin air, and if other such conditions were met, it could be aimed even further.

On screen, the woman fired a 3rd bullet.

Despite using a suppressor, it still made a loud gunshot as gas was expelled with tremendous force from the side holds of the suppressor. It was an automatic gun, thus an amazingly large 10 cm-long empty shell was expelled to the right side of the gun.

The large bullet flew towards the men, who had shortened the distance themselves but were still 1200 metres away, while making a gigantic roar.

At the end of an approximately 2 second-long trip, the bullet hit the third man. The protector man who had not realised why the two had fallen.

This SF world's protectors were quite something. Even though the man got hit by a 12.7 mm bullet that had enough power to cut a living human in two, he did not die.

Although the defence capacity of the protectors on the man’s chest was exceeded and they broke like pottery──

The man’s heavy body was only blown backward about 3 metres, while his hit points decreased about forty percent.

But the next moment,

“Cr…… Craap……”

The next bullet, following the exact same course, came flying towards the stomach of the man who somehow managed to raise the upper half of his body.


The other four, being in a field with neither shelter nor cover, dropped very close to the ground.

And then,

“Enemy ahead! Don’t show your face! Don’t miss the Line! Get ready to dodge it immediately!”

They referred to the typical way of dealing with snipers in GGO, but the old Japanese Army officer alone,

“That won’t work! Those guys are shooting without Lines! Stand and run away! Quickly, we’re going into the forest!”

Said this and broke into a run. It was an extreme dash. Because, in this place with nowhere to hide, the only way to survive was to enter the forest.

The other three saw him off. But did not run after him.

They had no actual experience with fighting, so they had never felt what 〝Lineless sniping〟 was, nor did they know how terrifying it was.

“We know their position…… If we can just see the Line, the sniping……”

Just as he said this, the Bullet Line came directly from the halfway point of the mountain. There was quite the distance between them, thus the line depicted a greatly descending parabola, as it seemed to be coming towards them, while slightly curving to the left.

The moment the line move horizontally and pointed at them,

“Hah!”

One of the men rolled to the right. He rolled and stopped around 3 metres away from the Line.

“How’s that?”

Just as the man said this triumphantly, a bullet came right at his face without even showing a Bullet Line, causing instant death.


“Nice. Another one. From the man on the left. Next time, fire.”

In the forest, Pitohui gave instructions to the fat man with a sniper rifle about 20 metres away.

“‘Kay.”

With his large build, he was sitting behind a Savage 110BA rifle on a tripod

Peeking through the scope, he fixed his not-so-precise aim on the lying target. Although not as powerful as Pito’s 12.7 mm, this gun also had an effective range of 1500 metres.

The fat man touched the trigger with his finger, and the Bullet Circle displayed in the scope lined up with the man lying in the fields.

Naturally, a Bullet Line was produced, thus the opponent began moving horizontally to dodge it.

The Savage 110BA fired, and the bullet, flying through the air faster than sound, gaudily raised dust away from the man.

Once the dust had disappeared without spreading──

“Gotcha.”

Pitohui fired her M107A1.

Just like M last time, her sniping did not make use of the Bullet Circle.

It was a kind of shooting where the person themselves, based on their experience and calculations, foresaw where the bullet would fly── in other words, how much it will be pulled by gravity as it falls, as well as how it would be affected by wind and the rotation of both the Earth and the bullet itself.

The distance to the target was exactly the same as before. She knew full well that there was no wind based on the impact of her comrade’s bullet.

The 45 gram or so bullet decelerated due to air resistance, but even so, the bullet flew at a 630 km per hour speed and hit the man’s back. With his body completely gouged out, he of course suffered instant death.

Pitohui saw the other man, who had halted in the fields,

Wave his left hand with his face up the moment she caught him on her scope.

“Idiot! Stop!”

Ignoring her wish──

The man finished the last step of manipulating his menu before she could fire, and he resigned. Losing its strength, her left hand suddenly fell.

“But I wanted to kill you……”


“One’s coming up. Lower left. 1000 metres. And closing.”

Said M, who was peeking through large binoculars as the observer, nearby,

“Oops.”

Pitohui changed the orientation of her M107A1, but,

“Ah great, I can’t get him now. Craap!”

Large trees got in the way, thus she immediately gave up on it.

“I wanted to get all of them myself, but oh well. I’m counting on you all for the rest.”

Saying so, Pitohui quickly activated the M107A1’s safety device. And then, with her left hand, she gently tapped on its unrefined body, which looked like it had a long and narrow iron plate attached.

“Good job good job. You really are a nice girl. I wish I could bring you with me to Japan.”


Tens of seconds later──

The MG3, placed in a location suitable for shooting, made suppressed sounds as it scattered dust around the old Japanese Army officer who continued running.

Despite this, the man desperately continued running, using side steps to dodge the large number of lines coming towards him, but──

In the end, he was hit 3 consecutive times by M’s sniping with the M14 EBR, and collapsed forward, 600 metres away from the forest.

With him as the final kill, the 〝platoon〟 was defeated at 13:49.

It was a 10 minute massacre.



In the bar, rather than focusing on the seven guys who were defeated without really doing anything great,

“There’s still only 1 Barrett M107A1 in the Japanese sever, right?”

The men focused on the topic of the anti-materiel rifle that the woman was using.

“As if monster guns like that would be common.”

“There have only been── 9 anti-materiel rifles confirmed. According to rumours, there are 2 of them presently. Naturally, they’re different guns. Though, there is word that the number is increasing as recently implemented ones are found.”

“The woman 〝Sinon〟 who went wild during the last BoB used an anti-materiel rifle too, huh. What was it called? The British 《AW50》?”

“Regrettably, no. The French 《Hecate II》. The wooden-stock version.”

“Ah, is that so.”

“You’re sure in the know. Did you go after her ass?”

“No you idiot! You see, I met her during the BoB preliminaries. And, got my head chopped off by that gun from 800 metres away!”

“Oh, you have my condolences…… It must have been hard on you……”

“Stop using keigo all of a sudden. It makes me feel sadder.”

One of the men,

“Hey everyone, I know about the owner of the M107A1. I have heard rumours about it before──”

Began his speech with this, and gathered the attention of his surrounding players.

“Having the luck to get it after completing a difficult quest was nice, but they couldn’t waste it by bring it to the fields. If you lost such a rare gun as a random drop, you could die from shock.”

“So then…… is she with the masked guys? Like in the BoB, there’s no risk of losing one’s weapons in SJ, and a team battle is the best place for an exceedingly peaky anti-materiel rifle. Just like right now.”

“May be. Or, lamenting the fact that it was going to waste or not having the ability for it and unable to use it, it could have been sold for a large sum. I don’t know the truth.”

“That skinny guy who hasn’t shot anything yet is the team baggage carrier. He had it put into his storage.”

“And so the woman easily sniped from that distance? She’s hiding her talents way too much!”

In the hyped up bar,

“Setting aside the Barrett owner──”

Said a man with a know-it-all expression. He gave off the vibe that he would raise his glasses if he had them, but unfortunately, he was a character with unaided vision.

“Only one thing is clear here.”

He ended his speech there. It was obvious that he was putting on airs, but

“What is?”

The conversation would not continue unless someone asked, thus one person asked.

“That this team is already certain to win, don’t you think? Not only does it have the shield-wielding M, but the masked guys are pretty skilled and their weapons are great as well. And to finish it off, we have that demon-like woman. No matter what other team comes after them, they’ll just be brought down.”

‘Indeed’, while the men nodded all at once──

“O~i, you guys!”

Men who had been watching another broadcast during these 10 minutes rushed over and shouted.

“Why didn’t you watch LLENN-chan’s battle! That girl sure is awesome! At this rate, she’s definitely going to be the winner!”

（ｔｏ ｂｅ ｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｅｄ……）

SECT.8

Index

Afterword

Notes

1. ^ In Hide-and-seek and other children games, "oni" (demon/ogre) is the equivalent of "it" in English children games.

2. ^ The character here uses an honorific (sonkeigo) word for “you”. We attempted to indicate the politeness through the sentence structure.