Sword Art Online

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, as they are used to fighting the predictable algorithms of field Mobs every day. Because they hunt only those Mobs for so long, their repetitive farming makes them act like Mobs themselves. Just a bunch of people without any pride."

The more Sinon heard, the more unpleasant she felt. She buried her face deeper into her muffler, and emotional fluctuations slowed her trigger finger down. Although she understood all of 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 in a similar fashion 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 was 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 and trying to learn his movements, for if they became enemies on the battlefield one day, she would need to put a bullet between his eyebrows (head shot).

She didn't like his personality, but in the previous Bullet of Bullets he was ranked 18th. His strength came from his stats build and the rare «SIG SG550» assault rifle below his shoulder. Spitting out 5.56mm caliber bullets, the assault rifle was undeniably powerful. That's why she kept silent and just continued flashing her eyes, collecting information that the unguarded Dyne spilled out.

Dyne continued his speech.

"...In general, they usually bring optical guns for hunting Mobs; 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 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. —Oh, 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 was 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 against other players, while waiting you should concentrate, check your equipment, or find some other useful way of passing time. If you just wanted to make money to convert to electronic money, then joining a Mob hunt 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 deeply 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 twenty 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 of 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[12]». 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 cannot 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 at 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, and two of those four had binoculars on their faces, scanning the perimeter. However, to find Sinon's group which 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 weapons. 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, can hit long range with high precision, and has a smaller magazine pack size. On the other hand, players with defensive equipment could disperse its damage.

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 until her heart became as 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, a player walked with massive goggles covering his face and a camouflage cloak and coat covering his body. 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 tranquil, 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 decreases as distance is 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. The members were moving at their usual slow pace through the wilderness.

What separated Sinon from them was 2.5 kilometers of wilderness. In the center a little closer to her side were the ruins of a huge building. The five people including Dyne would use that building and hide in the blind spot, planning to attack 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 a relatively well known player was mostly due to the existence of this incredible live ammo gun.

Its name was «PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II[13]». Full length 138cm, weight 13.8kg, kind of huge size, .50 caliber, that is it uses a 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 an unlimited number of automated fighting machines and mutant creatures who wait for adventurers who dream of making it big in one scoop. The place Sinon fell to was the lowest floor of that place and had 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. Then, she arrived at 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 blew 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 anti-matériel 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 were 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 the 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 a 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 tightened slightly. The green Bullet Circle appeared again, instantly shrinking to a dot.

Only three seconds had passed since her first shot. A semi-automatic 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 ultra-compact 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 was 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 rare Minigun was similar or longer than that of 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. If she was to escape from 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 would 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 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 dancing 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, 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 at 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 reached their whole group.

"If we continue hiding like this we will be wiped out soon. —The Minigun's remaining bullets are a bit dubious. If everyone attacks 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, 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, which caused the Circle to pulse 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 had 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. Then 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 and the one left over should be stunned.

Then— within the gradually dispersing dust, a huge silhouette approached her in a straight line.

If this continued, it would be Behemoth and her fighting face-to-face. 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 covered 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 have stepped lightly, but she went up without bothering. She kicked the wall like a dancer to change her direction and went farther up.

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