Chapter 3

Twilight.

The low lying clouds were stained yellow by the setting sun.

In the wilderness of rock and sand, the shadow cast by the tall

relic building ruins was getting longer and longer. If we continued to

wait for another hour, we must consider switching to night combat

equipment.

Fighting with night vision goggles dampened the excitement of

killing or being killed, so it was not Sinon's preferred way. Before the

sun fully disappears, please let the target party appear quickly, she

muttered while crouching behind the concrete. Moreover, her five

partners who were also waiting gloomily in ambush were no doubt

thinking of the same thing.

Voicing the doubt lurking within everyone's mind, a front line

party member lowered his small-caliber short handled gun and

whispered.

"Really, how much longer are we supposed to wait... Hey Dyne,

are they really going to come? Is the information reliable?"

The man in question, Dyne, with his large rock-solid body and

rough face, is their squadron (guild) leader, he lowered the large

assault rifle from his shoulder and said while shaking his head.

"Those guys have been using the same route to go hunting for the

past three weeks, at nearly the same time everyday. I have personally

confirmed that information. Indeed today they are a bit late, they must

have ran into some Mob (Monster). That means our share will increase,

so stop complaining. "

"But."

The front line man became even more displeased and pouted.

"Today's prey is the same group we attacked the previous week,

right? They may have changed their route as a precaution..."

"It has been six days since the previous ambush. Since then, they

have always gone to the same hunting grounds. They are a squadron

specialized for farming Mobs..."

On Dyne's face, was a mocking smile.

"No matter how many times they were attacked, even if their loot

was robbed, they think that they just need to hunt more to make up for

the loss. For anti-personnel squadrons like us, they are the best prey

and we can do this two or three more times."

"But, that's hard to believe. Normally, if people were attacked

once, they will come up with some kind of counter measure."

"The day after they may be alert, but people become careless after

a while. They are used to fighting the predictable algorithm of field

Mobs every day and hunting only those things for so long makes them

act like Mobs themselves. Just a bunch of people without any pride."

The more Sinon heard, the more unpleasant she felt, and she

buried her face deeper into her muffler. Emotional fluctuations slowed

her trigger finger down and although she understood that, hearing

Dyne's impertinent speech caused irritation to bubble up in her heart.

Laughing at a specialized routine Mob hunting party, his own

supposedly PvP (Anti-personnel) squad ambushing that kind of party

continuously didn't seem to hurt his pride. Instead of waiting for so

many hours in this neutral field, it would be better to go to the

underground ruins and fight a high level squadron, that would result in

higher gains.

Of course, the chance of total defeat, dropping equipment and

returning to the street through «Death Return» was higher too. But

that is what a real battle is and only through that sort of tension was

the soul forged.

It had been two weeks since she was invited to this squadron that

Dyne led and she soon regretted joining. Their PvP main objective was

sort of a lie, because they only went after weaker opponents. And if

there were even a minuscule sign of danger they would retreat, it's a

safety first kind of group.

So far Sinon had followed the squadron policy without a single

objection, quietly following Dyne's instructions and pulling the trigger.

However, she was not doing it out of loyalty. She was gathering data on

his way of thinking, trying to learn his movements, for when she would

need to put a bullet between his eyebrows (head shot) when she and

Dyne become enemies on the battlefield one day.

She didn't like his personality, but in the previous Bullet of Bullets

he was ranked 18th. This man's stats build and the rare «SIG SG550»

assault rifle below his shoulder that spits out 5.56mm caliber bullets,

its power is real. That's why she was not saying a word now, just her

eyes flashing, collecting information that the unguarded Dyne spilled

out.

Dyne continued his speech.

"...In general, for hunting Mobs they usually bring optical guns,

they should not have prepared enough anti-personnel real bullet guns

for everyone. At best, having one support fire gun is the most they can

do. To smash that guy, I had Sinon bring her sniper rifle today. There

are no blind spots in the battle plan. Right, Sinon?"

Having the conversation suddenly turn toward her, Sinon slightly

nodded with her face buried in the muffler. She kept her mouth shut,

showing she had no intention of joining the conversation.

Dyne made a bored snort, but an attacker turned to grin at Sinon

and said:

"Well, that is true. Sinon's long distance sniping being one of the

best hasn't changed. - that's right, Sinon..."

With a smile on his face and without leaving the cover of the

material's shadow, the attacker crawled on all fours to Sinon's side.

"Today, do you have time afterwards? I would like your advice on

improving my sniping skill. Would you have a cup of tea somewhere

with me?"

Sinon took a quick glance at the weapon on the man's waist. His

main weapon was a bullet type sub-machine gun «H&K UMP». He

seemed to be an AGI type, his evasion during face-to-face battle being

above average, but his level and equipment information didn't make

him enough of an opponent to be worth memorizing. She had to think

hard to remember his name, and she bent her head slightly.

"...Sorry, Ginrou-san. Today, I am busy in the real world..."

Her voice was similar though not the same as her real world voice.

It made a high, clear and cute sound that made her feel tired inside,

which was the reason why she disliked speaking. The man called

Ginrou didn't seem to care that he was rejected and his ecstatic smile

never faded. It seems that for certain male players, just hearing Sinon's

voice made them feel a certain arousal and thinking about that made

her break out in cold sweat.

When she first started this VRMMO-RPG «Gun Gale Online», she

wanted her avatar to be male, with rough and no personality types. She

soon found out from the title choice that you can't pick a gender

different from the player, so then she wanted to be tall and muscular,

like a female soldier, she thought.

However, generated according to random parameters, was a

small and delicate female shape, almost doll-like. She instantly thought

of deleting that account and making another one. But her friend, who

had invited her to this game, had said "What a waste!". Due to his

strong insistence, and since she had gained so many levels in the

meantime, she couldn't start over again.

Because of her looks, once in a while troublesome events like

these happened to her. For Sinon whose only motivation in the game

was fighting, this was just depressing.

"I see, Sinon, are you a student in the real world? A university

student? Do you have to write a report or something?"

"...Yea, well..."

As a result, if he had failed once, then he might use school as an

excuse to relentlessly invite her. She was actually a high school student,

but that was something no one would hear from her mouth.

Then, the other two front line men, who had been tinkering with

their status windows, came near as if to restrain Ginrou. One of them,

with smoke treated goggles and green front hair, opened his mouth.

"Ginrou-san, you can see that Sinon-san is troubled. Don't talk

about real-world subjects here."

"That's right, both he and I are lonely bachelors."

The other, a man with camouflage helmet, grinned, then Ginrou

pushed on both their heads with his fists spinning and replied,

"Say what, you two obviously haven't had a spring in many years."

Sinon shrunk her body more beside the three "Hahaha" laughing

men and had to wonder.

When the battle is for fighting with other players, while waiting

you should concentrate or check your equipment or some other useful

way of passing time. If you just wanted to make money to convert to

electronic money, then joining a Mob hunt only squadron would be

better. If you just want to meet girls, then even in a fixed-gender kind

of title, it doesn't have to be in this unpleasant killing world, a fairy tale

game with more female players would be a better choice. What is the

reason that these people come to this world anyway?

Burying her face deeper into her muffler again, Sinon used her

left hand to caress the body of the large rifle sitting on a two leg stand

next to her.

- One day, I will use this gun to blow away your avatar body. After

that, can you still smile while talking to me?

She whispered deep in her mind, and as if her irritation was being

absorbed by the cold rifle barrel, she slowly calmed down.

"- They are coming."

Whispered the last member of the party 20 minutes later, he had

continued to scout for enemies with his binoculars from a hole in the

broken concrete wall.

The three front line men and Dyne paused their conversation and

the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Sinon glanced up to the sky. The yellow clouds had slowly turned

red, but the brightness was still adequate enough.

"They finally appeared."

After muttering quietly, Dyne moved while crouching down and

took the binoculars from the scout. He looked out a hole with them to

check the enemy combat strength.

"...Those are our guys. Seven people... that's one more than last

week. Four front line people with optical type Blasters. One person

with large caliber laser rifle. And... yes, one person with a «Minimi».

That guy used an optical gun the previous week, he must have changed

to an actual bullet type in a hurry. He will be the one we snipe. The last

person... is covered in a cloak so his weapon can not be seen..."

Hearing this, Sinon got into her sniping position, and placed her

face near her rifle's high powered magnification scope.

The six people of Sinon's party were hiding in the ruins of a

previous civilization that was built in a slightly higher place. The

broken concrete wall and steel frames provided ample cover and it was

the best location to observe the vast wilderness in front.

She looked at the sky again, checking to see if the virtual sun was

in a place that would reflect off the lens, once she confirmed that it

wouldn't, she flipped open the scope's front and back flip-up covers.

She put her right eye against the lens, at the lowest magnification,

she confirmed small dots moving in the wilderness. She used her

fingers to change the magnification dial. With small click sounds, the

sesame sized black dots became bigger and bigger, eventually changing

to seven players.

Like Dyne said, four people had optical type attack guns, two of

those four had binoculars on their faces, scanning the perimeter.

However, to find Sinon's group who was hiding, unless they have

maxed the enemy search skill, it was almost impossible.

In the middle of the enemy group were two people walking with

large guns on their shoulders. One had a semi-automatic optical laser

rifle, the other had a live bullet type light machine gun, «FN Minimi». In

the real world, the Japanese self-defense force use them as excellent

support weapon. Since over half of optical guns' damage can be

reduced by defense fields, the Minimi has an overwhelmingly higher

threat.

The two types of weapons found in «Gun Gale Online», live

ammunition gun and optical gun, are very different from each other.

The advantages of live bullets is one hit will cause large damage,

and it passes through defense fields. But the disadvantages are that

you have to carry extra heavy bullet magazines around, and the bullet

trajectory is affected a lot by wind and humidity.

In contrast, the optical gun is very light, and can hit long range

with high precision, also the magazine's energy pack is small. But its

power getting dispersed by players with defensive equipment is the

deficiency.

For the above reasons, use optical gun against monsters, use live

ammo gun against players is the common theory. For these two

categories, other than performance characteristics they are quite

different.

That is because, the optical guns all have fanciful names and

shapes, while live ammo guns have their original shape that actually

exists in the real world.

Therefore, like Dyne and Ginrou, a significant percentage of GGO

players are gun maniacs who like to hold live ammo weapons, and only

switch to optical guns when they are hunting Mobs.

Now, the rifle near Sinon's cheek is a live ammo type. But before

she came to this world, she didn't know anything about gun makers.

For game play, it was necessary for her to memorize guns like items,

but that didn't mean she had any interest in real guns. She believed

that the infinite guns in this world were all 3D objects, since she

disliked even looking at guns in the real world.

Just one thing, in this world of slaughter, she wanted to continue

destroying virtual enemies with virtual bullets. Till her heart became

hard as a stone, and her flowing blood froze.

For that reason, Sinon would pull the trigger today too.

She shook off her excess thinking, and moved her rifle a little. At

the end of the enemy line, with massive goggles covering his face,

wearing a camouflage cloak and coat, walked a player. Like Dyne said,

his equipment could not be seen.

He had a huge body. He might have been wearing a large

backpack that made his cloak bulge. His hands sticking out of his

sleeves were empty. From the look of equipment on his waist, the

largest seemed to be sub-machine gun type.

"Because of the cloak, you cannot see his face?"

Behind her came the voice of Ginrou. He might have been joking,

but his voice also contained some tension as he continued.

"Can he be that one? The rumored... «Death Gun»."

"Ah, no way. He can't be real."

Dyne quickly replied with a laugh.

"Also, isn't Death Gun supposed to be a small guy wearing a

camouflage Ghillie suit? This guy is too big. He is nearly two meters tall.

Probably... extreme STR type courier. Carrying found items,

ammunition and energy packs. He shouldn't have any large weapon,

we can just ignore him in battle."

While listening to these words, Sinon carefully looked at the man

in her scope.

Because of the rough armor goggles, his expression couldn't be

seen. The only thing exposed was his mouth. His lips were tight

together, without a slight movement. The other members, even on alert,

were chatting and showing flashes of their white teeth, only that big

man in the back was totally silent. Silently walking and moving his feet,

without a single disturbance.

Sinon's intuition from half a year of experience in playing GGO

told her that this man was a stronger threat than the one carrying the

Minimi. However, other than the backpack, there didn't seem to be any

bulges in the cloak. He might be hiding a small high power rare gun.

But that kind of gun was mostly optical type, which is not too useful in

anti-personnel combat. Then was her feeling of pressure from this man

just her imagination...

Lost in thought, Sinon spoke quietly:

"That man, I have a bad feeling. I would like to take out the

cloaked man first."

Dyne removed the binoculars from his face, and looked at Sinon

with raised eyebrows.

"Why? He clearly isn't carrying any powerful weapon."

"... Although there is no basis. Because of his uncertainties, I have

a bad feeling."

"If you are talking about that, the Minimi is obviously a factor of

instability. If the Blasters come near while we are dealing with him,

then it would be dangerous."

Although defense shields are effective against optical guns, that

effect decreased as distance shortened. In close combat, the number of

rounds available in one Laser Blaster magazine could be overwhelming.

Sinon grudgingly retracted her opinion and nodded.

"...Understood. The first target is the Minimi. If possible, I want to

put the next round into the cloaked man."

Having said that, the most effective sniping is the first shot, before

the enemy finds the sniper. After the enemy knew where the shot came

from, a «Ballistic Prediction Line» (Bullet Line) is shown to the enemy

so they can easily avoid the attack.

"Hey, we don't have much time to talk anymore. Distance 2500."

The scout said after viewing through the binoculars he took back

from Dyne. Dyne nodded and turned to the three attackers behind him.

"All right. According to our plan, we will go wait in the shadow of

the building till the enemy gets close. - Sinon, after we move we won't

be able to see them, so inform us if the situation changes. I will instruct

you when to start sniping."

"Understood."

After the short answer, Sinon's right eye once again went to the

rifle's scope. The target party had not changed. They were moving at

their usual slow pace through the wilderness.

Between them and Sinon was 2.5 kilometers of wilderness, in the

center a little closer to her side was the ruins of a huge building. The

five people including Dyne would use that building and hide in the

blind spot, planning to attack them violently all at once.

"- Ok, let's go."

To Dyne's short command, the other members except Sinon gave

a short reply. With sounds of boots sliding on sand and sand moving,

they slid down the back side of the hill. Waiting till the evening wind

covered their footsteps, Sinon took out a small headset from below her

muffler on her neck and put it on her left ear.

For the next few minutes, as a sniper, Sinon must continuously

fight against the pressure and solitude. Her first bullet would affect the

battle afterward a lot. The only things she could depend on were her

finger and the silent gun. Her left hand caressed the huge gun on two

leg stands. The black metal returned cold silence to her.

The reason Sinon was a rare sniper in this world and relatively

well known player was mostly due to the existence of this incredible

live ammo gun.

Its name was «PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II». Full length 138cm,

weight 13.8kg, kind of huge size, 50 caliber, that is it uses 12.7mm

diameter large size bullet.

In the real world it was classified in the anti-matériel sniper rifle

category, she heard. That is, it was a gun used against vehicles and

buildings. Because of that incredible power, according to some long

name article, it's supposed to be forbidden to use against human

targets. Of course, this world had no such law.

She got her hand on it three months ago, when she was starting to

become a veteran GGO player.

On a whim, she went into the huge ruins dungeon below the

capital SBC Gurokken by herself, due to her inattention, she fell down a

chute trap.

Gun Gale Online was set in a stage where the people came back on

space ships to live on the world that became a wasteland from long ago

civilization's huge war. Gurokken's streets were originally the space

ship, and below that slept a huge city of ruins from the war. Inside the

city ruins, there were unlimited number of automated fighting

machines and mutant creatures, they wait for adventurers who

dreamed of making it big in one scoop. The place Sinon fell to, was the

lowest floor of that place with the highest level of danger.

Of course, she did not expect to do much as a solo in that place.

Her first encounter would be her easy defeat and she would go back to

her street save point as a «Death Return», she walked while accepting

that fact, in front of her was a large circular space like a stadium, where

a weirdly shaped creature appeared.

From its size and name, it seemed to be a boss class monster, but

she had never seen its shape on any of the information sites. When she

realized that, the gamer soul inside her was stimulated slightly. Since I

am going to die anyway, let's try fighting this guy, while thinking that

she went to an air vent on top of the stadium and placed her rifle.

The battle went in an unexpected way. Of the boss monster's heat

ray, iron claws, poison gas and other attack patterns, none of them

were able to reach where Sinon was hiding. On the other hand, since it

was barely within her rifle's shooting range, the damage inflicted by

her was light. Thinking about the amount of ammo she had, without

missing even one shot, she had to hit what seemed to be the boss's

weak point, the small eye on its forehead, otherwise it would be

impossible to kill it.

Sinon became cool as ice as she concentrated on doing that. When

the boss finally fell, its huge body blowing up in polygons, the fight had

been going on for three hours.

What the boss monster dropped was a huge rifle she had never

seen before. Per the setting of the game, NPCs or players could not

make higher tier live ammo guns. The street shops could only sell a

portion of the lower tier guns, and the above-average guns could only

be excavated in ruins. The rifle she obtained - «Ultima Ratio Hecate II»

belonged to the rarest group of excavated weapons.

Right now, including Sinon's Hecate II, only about ten antimatériel rifles existed on the server. As such, their pricing was

frighteningly high, and the price of the gun in the last auction was 20

Mega Credits, or 20 million, in game currency. If converted to

electronic money using the ratio of 100 to 1, it would be worth 200,000

Japanese yen.

Sinon was a high school student who lived alone in the real world,

and the living expenses she received each month was barely enough.

Being plagued by hardships, she was truly unsure of what to do with

the gun when she found out about its worth. Recently she was able to

convert half of her connection fee, 1500 yen, but that still meant half of

her pocket money was gone. Saying that, if she dived more than she

does now, it would be difficult to maintain her academic grades.

However, if she had 200,000 yen, she could pay all of her connection

fees with plenty of money left over.

But, Sinon did not sell the gun. The reason she played GGO was

not for earning money, it was for killing the enemy - namely everyone

stronger than her; it was for conquering her weaknesses. Above

everything else, for the first time she felt in her «heart» that this gun

wasn't merely an item.

Hecate II, because of its huge size and weight, a fearsome amount

of STR setting was required. Sinon as a sniper had her STR higher than

AGI, so she was barely able to equip it. The first time she took it to the

battlefield, when she looked at the enemy through the scope, she felt

its heavy cold weight in her hands, its power and intention. It carved

slaughter, a harbinger of death. Sinon wanted to embrace that feeling,

not yielding to anything, never wavering, without a single drop of fear,

that shape was here.

Shortly after that, Sinon came to be known as «Hecate»; she found

out that the name was from Greek mythology, the goddess who

governs the underworld. That gun would be her first and last partner,

she decided at that time.

Inside her scope, she saw that the target party continued to move.

Sinon lifted her face to look directly at the wilderness, she could

see Dyne's group of five moving closer to the fallen building between

the target and her. The distance between those two groups had been

reduced to about 700 meters. She returned her right eye to the scope,

and waited for Dyne's instructions.

Tens of seconds later, the headset came to life with his voice and

some noise.

"- We are at our position."

"Understood. The enemy's course and speed did not change. They

are 400m from you, and 1500m from me."

"Still a long way, can you do it?"

To Dyne's question, Sinon gave a short 'No problem' reply.

"... Good. Begin sniping."

"Understood."

After the brief exchange, Sinon became quiet as her right index

finger moved to the large trigger guard.

In the wilderness through the scope, the first target, the man with

the Minimi on his shoulder, continued to walk and chat as usual.

In last week's battle, Sinon was not a sniper, she used an assault

rifle and was rear support. She should have seen the man at very close

range, but she couldn't remember him. However, since he could equip

a support weapon, he must be very high level.

Thump, thump, her heart beat rapidly as she matched that

rhythm while moving the reticule cross hair. Distance, wind direction,

and the target's movement speed meant she would have to target more

than one meter to the upper right of him; she moved her finger to

touch the actual trigger.

At that moment, in Sinon's viewpoint, a half transparent shining

circle of light green appeared.

The diameter of the circle changed waveringly in cycles, it

centered on the man's chest, the widest point going to his knee. It was

the «Bullet Hit Prediction Circle» (Bullet Circle) that was only shown in

Sinon's view. The bullet fired will hit randomly somewhere inside the

circle. At the current circle's size, the man's body was covered by 30%

of the circle; in other words, 30% accuracy. Like that, no matter how

great Hecate II's power is, hitting the extremities, an arm or leg would

be impossible to kill him, the one hit kill ratio is too low.

The size of the Bullet Circle depended on the target's distance,

gun's performance, weather, light level, skills, and stats values, the

most important parameter being the sniper's heart beat.

The Amusphere monitored the real world body's heartbeat and

sent that data to the game system.

When the heart beat with a Thump pulse, the circle was at the

largest size. It would slowly get smaller, becoming bigger at the next

pulse. That is, for the highest accuracy, the sniping must be done in the

valley between each heartbeat.

However, the relaxed state is about sixty times per minute - that

is one second cycle in the calm state, but the tension from trying to

shoot will double or more that rate, with the circle's widening and

shortening speed increasing in response. It was impossible to shoot in

the valley between the beats.

That was the biggest reason why GGO has so few snipers.

They could not hit. They couldn't stop the tension when they

needed to snipe. Of course, in close combat the heart beat could make

the Bullet Circle pulse, but you can still hit at short range with that. For

full-auto sub-machine guns and assault rifles, that's even more true.

However, sniping at long range distance of over 1000 meters, the

Bullet Circle is usually several times of a man in size. Currently in

Sinon's view, the 30% accuracy size is already a miracle.

- But.

Sinon whispered in her heart.

This pressure, anxiety, terror is to what kind of extent. Distance of

1500? That is just like throwing a ball of paper into the wastebasket.

Yes -

Compared to that time.

The core of her head became cold. Her heartbeat slowed down

like a lie.

- Ice. I am a machine made of cold ice.

The Bullet Circle change cycle slowed down all at once. At the

same time her feeling of time extended, she could clearly tell the

instant when the circle was at its smallest size.

One... Two... At the third shrinking circle, when it pointed to the

heart of the man carrying the Minimi, Sinon pulled the trigger.

A roar similar to thunder shook the world.

From Hecate II's front side muzzle brake, a huge flame erupted,

the released bullet cut through the gun sound and moved forward. The

recoil shock pushed Sinon and the rifle back, her two feet braced as she

withstood the impact.

At the other end of the reticule, maybe he noticed the muzzle

flash, the man turned his head this way. His sight crossed with Sinon

who was peering through the scope -

At that instant, the man's chest to his shoulders, including his

head, became tiny object fragments and disappeared. A bit later, the

rest of his body broke like a glass statue being hit and dispersed in

fragments. Unfortunately for him, the fearfully high price Minimi he

was carrying became a random drop and fell to the sandy ground. For

sure, after that man had returned to the street from revival, he would

have to contend with the shock of an instant death and the loss of his

weapon.

Sinon confirmed the above without emotion, her right hand

moved automatically and pulled Hecate II's bolt handle. With a metallic

sound a huge shell was ejected, which disappeared after hitting the

rock beside.

While loading the next round of ammunition, Sinon shifted her

rifle slightly to the right, the second target, the large man with the

cloak was within her scope. The man's goggle covered face was looking

straight this way. Aiming a bit above that body, her trigger finger

tighten slightly. The green Bullet Circle appeared again, instantly

shrinking to a dot.

Only three seconds had passed since her first shot. A semiautomatic rifle can fire continuously, but the bolt action Hecate II could

not do that. Even so, for average players, seeing their teammate

suddenly pulverized, they would be dismayed and shocked, from there

it will take them five seconds to recover their mental state, identify the

sniping direction, and get ready to evade. If you aim for that confusion,

the second shot being successful will be possible, but -

However, the man in the cloak showed no sign of confusion, from

the depths of his large goggles staring straight at Sinon. Sure enough,

this guy is a very experienced veteran, he must be a well-known player,

Sinon thought as she pulled the trigger.

At this point in the man's field of view, the bullet trajectory

aiming for him was shown as a «Ballistic Prediction Line» (Bullet Line),

a light red half-translucent light. For gun battles, that is the game's

nonsense way of making things more interesting, a defensive system

assist. If the player has high reaction, high AGI, and enough courage, he

can evade more than 50% of the assault rifle continuously fired bullets

from 50 meters.

A sniper class's biggest advantage is that only the first shot won't

have a Line shown to the target. However, as Sinon's position had

already been exposed from her first shot, she no longer had that

advantage.

Another roar. From Hecate II's merciless finger released «Death»

crystallized bullet that cut through the light yellow atmosphere and

flew away.

But as Sinon expected, the man calmly took a big step to the right.

Right after, the 12.7mm bullet cut through the space one meter from

the large body. It smashed a hole in a concrete wall in the wilderness

far behind him.

Sinon's right hand moved unconsciously, reloading the next

round, her finger returning to the grip did not go to the trigger.

Any further sniping would be useless. If she must snipe again, she

would have to move from her current position, hiding from that man's

sight, and wait 60 seconds for the identification information to reset.

However at that point the battle trend should have been decided.

While peering through the scope, she whispered to the receiver.

"First target clear. Second target fail."

Dyne quickly replied.

"Understood. Attack begin. ...Go, Go, Go!!"

Zhaa! A sound of ground being kicked while moving out lightly

reached her. Sinon blew out her held breath slightly.

The mission she had been given was now completed. Since Hecate

II was an ultra rare gun, if she took it into face-to-face combat and died,

then if the gun drops, it would be a very grave situation. Dyne said she

could go on standby after sniping. Her second shot missing remained in

her heart, and she wished that the «Bad Feeling» she had would not

come to fruition.

While thinking, Sinon again moved her rifle, she lowered the

magnification to see the full enemy party in the scope. The four front

line men hurriedly jumped behind a close rock or concrete wall to hide,

behind them the rear guard with the large laser rifle and that large

man in the cloak -

"Ah...!!"

Sinon unconsciously let out a sound. Just then the large man

moved both arms, throwing the camouflage cloak from his body.

The man's two hands had no weapon. His waist didn't have a

weapon either.

What his broad back was carrying, that we had been thinking of

as an item transport backpack, was revealed.

Between his broad shoulders, a metal rail curved and extended.

From that hung an uncouth and precise metallic object.

Inside the Y-frame support, was a cylindrical machine component.

Its top part had a big carry handle, below that extended a six barrel

cluster gun body. Its length was easily over one meter.

The machine component had a belt link built in, it connected to a

large capacity ammo box that hung from the same rail.

That so called gun's huge size and vicious shape, Sinon had only

seen it once on the GGO information site's weapon list.

Its name seems to be «GE M134 Minigun». Classified under heavy

machine guns. One of the largest firearms to debut in Gun Gale Online.

The six linked barrels turn at high speed for loading, firing, and shell

ejecting, spitting out 7.62mm bullets at a crazy speed of 100 rounds

per second, nightmare was a substitute name for this gun - no, this

weapon.

Of course, its weight is also tremendous. Just the main body is

18kg, together with so much ammunition, it should be more than 40kg.

No matter what type of pure STR player he is, it's impossible to be

within his max weight limit. Of course, being overweight means there

should be a movement penalty.

The reason why that party was moving so slowly, was not

because of extending the hunt. That was the man's maximum walking

speed.

While terrified, Sinon peered into her scope, in the middle of

Sinon's field of vision, the big man reached behind his back with his

right hand and grabbed the handle of the Minigun. The large machine

gun smoothly slid on a rail and rotated 90 degrees to the right side of

the man's body. Both legs wide open, with a stance where the six gun

barrels facing forward - the man's mouth below his goggles moved for

the first time, forming a fierce smile.

Sinon hurriedly adjusted the dial, reducing the scope's

magnification to the minimum.

From the left-side field of view, Ginrou's group of three attackers,

holding sub-machine guns, were moving forward. The light bullets

from the Laser Blasters that the enemy party's vanguard prepared

drew pale blue tails as they met the assault, all of them left ripples, like

those on the surface of water, about one meter in front of Ginrou and

the others, then disappeared. That was the high performance

«Protection Field Against Light Bullets» effect.

Simply because they returned fire with a spray from live

ammunition based sub-machine guns, one of the enemy blaster users,

who was leaning out from behind a rock was covered in crimson

impact effects with a 'pa pa' sound and collapsed. Ginrou and the

others pushed forward again, toward the shadow of a concrete wall

close to the enemy -

At that time, the big man quickly lowered his waist.

The Minigun's barrels spun at a high-speed, a belt of sparkling

light spurting out for as much as 0.3 seconds or so.

Just like that, along with part of the concrete wall, Ginrou's avatar

disintegrated, then disappeared. Too quickly, like a sand doll exposed

to a water current.

"...!"

Sinon bit her lip then stood up. She picked up Hecate II from the

ground, folded the two legs and slung the strap over her shoulder.

The Hecate II, with a total length of 138 cm, dug heavily into the

shoulder of Sinon, whose height wasn't even 155 cm, but was still

within her weight limit. Her sidearm, the «H&K MP7», was an ultracompact type sub-machine gun that somehow didn't go over her

weight limit, since Sinon's high STR value was just enough to allow her

to carry seven magazines for the Hecate II.

Even with the naked eye, she could see the bloom-like muzzle

flashes on the battle field nearly one and a half kilometers away. Sinon

remained silent, and ran full speed ahead.

Since it had come to that, the flow of the battle had

overwhelmingly turned against Dyne and the others. If the Minigun

user was alone, then by maintaining at least mid-range distance and

constantly moving at high speeds it would be possible to beat him.

However, with the Laser Blaster users providing the Minigun cover,

once you closed in to the short range that made defensive field less

effective, you could not avoid the opponent.

Although she was a member of the squadron, even if she were to

withdraw, she expected that nobody would complain. After all, she had

carried out the objective she was commanded to perform as a sniper.

However, Sinon ran in a straight line toward the battle. She was

not thinking of helping her companions. Just that Minigun man's smile

that floated made Sinon's feet move forward.

That guy could smile on the battlefield only because he had

strength. The play time required to obtain the Minigun, that was

similar or rarer than the Hecate. The equipment demanded

perseverance to pile on enough STR to be formidable. In addition, the

courage he had to calmly deal with Sinon's sniping.

To fight such an opponent, by killing him, the other too weak me -

the always sobbing, immature «Asada Shino» would be extinguished.

For that alone, she invested herself in this crazy world. Escaping

here, then everything accumulated so far would have been in vain.

Kicking off the dry ground at the highest speed her parameters

allowed, tearing through the dusty air, Sinon was at full gallop.

She moved about on the gravel laden sand, avoiding and jumping

over protruding rocks, crumbling walls, and others obstacles, rushing

into the battle area in just a few tens of seconds.

Her AGI parameter was opened full throttle to assist in making a

fierce dash in a straight line. She didn't even slightly consider seeking

cover. The enemy group probably already caught Sinon's approaching

figure.

Compared to the beginning, the two parties' battle area had

shifted significantly. Of course, the ones retreating were Dyne's group.

With the Minigun forcibly providing backup with strafing fire, the

enemy group's vanguard was pressing the distance steadily. In order to

escape the effective range of the optical guns, the four people, including

Dyne, were constantly falling back, moving from cover to cover.

Rushing straight into the wilderness to escape was no longer

possible. If their figures were exposed, they'll be instantly bathed in the

Minigun's bullets like a waterfall and honeycombed. Moreover, the

concrete wall Dyne and the others now entrusted their backs to was

mostly missing in their escape route. That only left the remains of the

more than half collapsed building that their initial approach utilized. If

they fled there, they would just be trapped like rats in a bag.

Sinon, who instantly understood the situation, tried to jump into

the shadow of the wall where Dyne and the others were taking a

breather. At that moment, three thin red lines of light appeared right in

front of Sinon.

"Ku..."

Clenching her teeth, she entered an evasive stance. These are

trajectory lines from the enemy attackers that use Laser Blasters.

First, Sinon lowered her body to the limit and slipped under the

first Bullet Line. Immediately after, precisely tracing the line overhead,

a pale blue heat ray scorched the space. Before her eyes, the second

Bullet Line extended. She kicked the ground with her right foot using

all her strength and jumped, her body danced in the air. A laser passed

right by her abdomen, and for a moment her vision went white.

The third Bullet Line crossed slightly above Sinon's jumping path.

She shrunk her head as much as possible to avoid the incoming heat

ray, but the tip of her thin blue short-cut hair was slightly touched by

the ray, with a cracking sound light particles dispersed.

Somehow managing to avoid the continuous Laser Blaster fire,

Sinon landed on the ground, in front of her eyes -

A horribly thick, about 50 cm diameter blood colored line bathed

her.

No mistake, this is the Minigun's Bullet Line. A few tenths of

second later, that storm like burst attack would come.

Sinon whipped her body that was paralyzed by fear, she bent her

right foot that just touched ground, and again jumped with all her

strength. She turned her body in the air, at the top of the high jump her

body was laying flat.

Right after, a gale of energy waves passed by, barely below her

back, where she felt its turbulence. After the cluster of shining white

live ammo passed by her view, another part of the broken wall of the

ruined building a little distance away was blown apart.

Just before her back landed on the sandy ground, she turned her

body again, landing on hands and legs. At the same time she threw her

body forward as hard as she could. After rolling several times, she

reached the shadow of the concrete wall where Dyne's group was

hiding.

The squadron leader stared with consternation at Sinon who

suddenly appeared in front of him. No matter if this looked like good

intentions, his eyes did not shine with gratitude, just doubt for

someone who stuck her head in a deadly place on purpose.

Dyne soon turned his face, looking at the assault rifle in his hands.

His muttered voice, sounded low.

"...Those bastards, they called a bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?"

"You do not know? He's that Minigun user. He is called

«Behemoth», a brainy muscular guy that is based in the north

continent. He is hired as protection-like things by squadrons with

money but no perseverance."

That is a way more respectable play style than yours, Sinon

thought, but of course didn't say it. Instead, she turned to look the

three attackers beyond Dyne, who stuck their heads once in a while out

of cover to fire blankly at the enemy group. She said in a volume that

barely reach their whole group.

"If we continue hiding like this we will be wiped out soon. - The

Minigun's remaining bullets is a bit dubious, if everyone attack at the

same time he will just mow us down without any concern. We have to

eliminate that option. The two with SMG go left, Dyne and I will go

around right side, M4 stay here for backup..."

Saying up to here, Dyne interrupted with his husky voice.

"...It won't work, there are three Blaster users left. If we rush in

the defense shield effect will..."

"Blaster continuous fire rate is slower than live ammo guns, we

can avoid half."

"Impossible!"

Dyne repeated stubbornly and shook his head.

"Rushing in will get you blown away by the Minigun

anyway. ...Although it is regrettable, let's give up. If you are too proud

to see them win, then logout here...."

Even if you logout in a neutral field, you won't disappear

immediately. Your avatar without soul will stay there for a few minutes,

vulnerable to being attacked. The probability is low, but weapon or

armor random drop could happen.

Thus far, she thought that the leader's retreat timing was way too

early, but with this kind of desperation, not mentioning a child's

temper, she had never thought he would make that kind of proposal.

Sinon stared while half dumbfounded at Dyne's supposedly veteran

soldier's face.

At the moment, Dyne showed his teeth and shouted.

"What, don't take the game so seriously! Either way is the same,

even if we rush we will die in vain..."

"Then die!"

On reaction, Sinon shouted her reply.

"At least in the game, to try to die facing gunpoint!"

Really, why should she say that kind of thing to a man that's just a

target. Before that, it meant she would be cutting ties with this

squadron.

While part of her heart was thinking that, she took Dyne's

camouflage jacket collar and forcefully pulled it. At the same time, she

quickly said to the remaining wide eyed three.

"Three seconds will be fine, get the Minigun's attention, I will

finish him with Hecate."

"...Un, understood."

The man with goggles on his green hair struggled for a long time

then finally responded, and the remaining two team members nodded.

"Ok, we will split in two, left and right go at same time."

Sinon pushed the sulking Dyne's hip, and they moved to the

shelter's end point. She took her sidearm MP7 from her left waist, and

started a countdown with hand sign.

Three... two... one,

"GO!!"

At the same time, she kicked the ground hard and entered one

second ahead, the battlefield where continuous death awaited.

At that moment, a few Bullet Lines appeared in front of her. She

lowered her body, while sliding to avoid them, the enemy group

entered her field of view.

In front to the right, behind a wall about twenty meters ahead,

were two people with Laser Blasters. A bit to the left was another. The

Minigun man «Behemoth» was in the center about ten meters behind

them, he was aiming for her teammates that went out from the left.

While Sinon was running to the right, she aimed the MP7 in her

left hand at the Blaster users. Pressing the trigger slightly made a

Bullet Circle show up, there was no way she could control her heart

rate, it pulsed around the men's bodies.

Even so she fired. She felt the recoil shock that was nothing

compared to Hecate II in her palm, and she emptied the 20 round

magazine of 4.6mm bullets in one go.

The reckless counterattack made them panic, and the two Blaster

users tried to hide behind the wall, but a few bullets still hit their

bodies. It was not enough to drop their HP to zero, but it would buy her

a few seconds of time.

"Dyne! Support me!"

Sinon shouted and threw herself on the ground, at the same time

removing Hecate II from her back and holding it in her two hands. She

didn't have time to extend its two leg stand. Enduring its terrible

weight, she peered through the scope.

As it was still set on low magnification, she could see all of

Behemoth's upper body. That face instantly turned to look her way,

Sinon pulled the trigger without waiting for the Bullet Circle to shrink.

A roar and certain kill flash tore through the space - it passed by

right next to Behemoth's head. The attack blew away the goggles from

Behemoth's head, turning into powder and disappearing.

She missed - !

Sinon bit her lips and was going to stand up, then her vision in the

scope crossed with Behemoth. Behemoth who exposed his real face, his

two grey eyes were blazing with light, his lips had another fearless

smile on it.

Sinon's whole body was covered by a huge red light.

Impossible to avoid, she instantly came to the conclusion. From

her prostrated firing position, getting up and jumping left or right,

there's no time for that.

At least, face the gun muzzle - .

Follow her own words, Sinon stood up and looked straight at

Behemoth. Suddenly, a few places in that huge body, "Papaa!" sound

with light burst.

It was Dyne. While kneeling with one leg on the ground and

holding his assault rifle, he fired with high accuracy. In this situation, at

this distance, the fact that he can score so many hits means no matter

what his personality was, his skills were amazing, while thinking that

Sinon jumped with all her might to her right side. Right after, the place

she had just been was cut with tens of rounds of bullet storm.

"Dyne! Move to the right more...."

At that point in her shout.

The two Laser Blaster users again appeared from their cover,

aiming at the standing Dyne and firing without mercy arrows of light.

The range was way too close. The heat rays passed through

Dyne's defense field and hit his body one after another.

Dyne looked at Sinon for an instant. The he faced forward -

"Uooo!!"

With that single cry, he started running straight forward.

A rain of light bullets attacked Dyne. He dodged, slipped through,

while fiercely dashing. But of course, he couldn't avoid all the shots.

The last few seconds, Dyne pulled the protection talisman

replacement Plasma Grenade from his waist and threw it at their cover.

At the same time his HP was all gone, while his avatar was still facing

away from Sinon, he broke into numerous polygon pieces and

scattered away.

Subsequently, the world was dyed in white flash.

A giant hammer of God impacted the ground. Green white energy

flow went crazy, a huge dust storm went up. Mixed in that, a Blaster

user's body flowed in the air, before it reached ground, it was smashed

and annihilated.

- Nice Guts!

She gave a short elegy to Dyne who exited the battle, then

squinting her eyes from the dust and quickly checked the battle field.

One of her two teammates who took the left wing seem to have

been killed by the Minigun, and the Blaster user over there seem to

have disappeared.

The right wing, due to Dyne's self-destruction, was a mess, he

took one enemy attacker with him, the one left over should be stunned.

Then - in the gradually dispersing dust, a huge silhouette

approached her in a straight line.

If this continued, it would be Behemoth and her fighting face-toface. But at that distance, her sniper rifle couldn't win against the

heavy machine gun.

She had to find a way to enter the Minigun's blind spot while she

was in a position to fire. But in one-on-one front fighting, there's no

blind spot...

- No.

Sinon held her breath for a moment. While the dust that cover

everything caused by Dyne's grenade was still here, Behemoth couldn't

tell exactly where she was. Of course she couldn't snipe since she

couldn't see him clearly either, but maybe she could go to the one place

in this area where that bullet storm couldn't reach.

While thinking that, she turned around and fiercely dashed out.

She headed for the broken and fallen building ruin at the rear of the

battlefield.

Jumping through the entrance, she couldn't see that the rear of

the building had collapsed and the yellow sky was visible, but she

aimed for the right hand wall - there were stairs going up. While trying

not to step on the broken tiles and make a noise, she ran carefully.

On the metal staircase, she should step lightly, but she went up

without bothering to. She kicked the wall like a dancer to change her

direction and went farther up.

She reached the fifth floor in less than twenty seconds, the stairs

ended there. There was a huge window on the left.

From here, she should have a few seconds to take a sniping

position without Behemoth noticing.

While thinking that, Sinon placed the Hecate II against her

shoulder and looked out the window down at the battle field.

Suddenly her vision was painted red.

A few tens of meters below, Behemoth raised his Minigun to the

maximum height and aimed straight at Sinon. He had read her. Her

thought and battle plan, everything.

She had no time to retreat or lay down.

So strong. He was a real GGO player, no, a soldier.

However, this opponent was exactly the enemy that Sinon wished

to fight. Kill him. Have to kill him.

She didn't hesitate. Without taking a sniping position, she put her

right foot on the window sill and jumped right out.

At the same time, like a burning flame, a flash of energy wave

came rushing up from the ground. Whack!! Intense shock came from

below Sinon's left knee. Her avatar's leg was blown away, and her HP

bar went down a lot.

However, she was still alive. She flew past the Minigun's line of

fire and danced in space. She was directly above Behemoth's imposing

stance.

He probably wanted to shoot till he ran out of bullets, so he

backed up, trying to keep Sinon in his firing line. But he couldn't reach

her. For a Minigun that was hung on a rail on his back, there's no way it

could aim directly above.

While falling, Sinon held Hecate II against her shoulder and

peered through the scope.

Her view was full of Behemoth's rough face. In that face, the usual

smile disappeared. He showed his teeth, with surprise and anger

burning lantern in his eyes.

Sinon barely noticed that her own mouth moved.

What appeared was a smile. Savage, cruel, cold-hearted smile.

While falling, she was not stable enough to shoot far, but the

distance was way too close. When her gun muzzle was about one meter

from Behemoth's head, her green Bullet Circle shrunk, and fixed on the

center of the man's face.

"The End!"

While whispering, she pulled the trigger.

From the finger of the Goddess of the underworld, in this world,

the largest energy spear from one bullet was released.

That instantly pierced a huge hole through Behemoth's face and

upper body, going deep into the rubble ground.

Subsequently, after the explosive roaring sound passed,

Behemoth's huge cylindrical body disassembled and scattered.