Gun Gale Online. The system for this game did not have the «Warrior» or «Mage» class like RPGs in the past.
Each player could choose to increase 6 of their «stats» like strength 'STR', agility 'AGI', vitality 'VIT' and dexterity 'DEX'. Also, there are hundreds of «skills» that include 'masteries', 'suggestion', 'first aid' and 'acrobatics', forming one's own build. In a sense, this means that there were as many classes as the number of builds.
But on the other hand, a build that wasn't planned—like having low STR and unable to equip a large machine gun and yet increasing the mastery of a heavy machine gun—would weaken one's own ability. Because of that, there would definitely be a fixed pattern where people have to attain certain statuses and skills before being able to equip certain weapons. Based on the slight differences of the skills, everyone would classify similar players as «Attacker», «Tank», «Medic», «Scout» and all sorts of names for different classes.
Though Sinon's class as a «Sniper» was extremely rare, it was one of these. To equip a large-sized sniper rifle, they have to strengthen their STR status, and then have to increase their DEX to improve their accuracy, and finally a suitable amount of AGI to get away quickly from the scene after a snipe. However, they would lose if they were discovered, so they gave up on VIT completely. As for skills, they need the necessary gun mastery and also other skills that could improve their accuracy. Of course, they gave up completely on defenses. However, there's also the possibility of a failed snipe because of the «heartbeat count system» even if the build was perfect, and this would be the hard part about this class.
Such an overly specialized class wasn't really suited for a battle royale. While aiming for an enemy far away, they could be easily approached by others. A sniper could only surrender once an attacker-type player with a submachine gun or an assault rifle rushed in. Even if a sniper barely managed to fire at the rushing enemy without aiming—which were normally unable to hit the target—the sniper would end up becoming a pincushion of bullets before they were able to get a second shot out.
Because of the above reasons, if Sinon acted on her own, she would have no chance of winning if a mid-ranged shooter who would value accuracy like the attacker «Xiahou Dun» reaches the range where the Norinco CQ would hit.
However, things were different now. Because of a chance occasion, beside her was a «lightsaber warrior» which no one else in the world of GGO would possibly have. This person looked like a black-haired beauty no matter how you looked at it—but he's actually a boy.
The 'lightsaber' was a weapon that the programmers of 'Zasker' created out of their own whims, and its range would be far less than a sniper rifle.
The attack range was as long as the blade of the saber itself, about 1.2 meters. The GGO world's smallest firearm «Remington Derringer» had a range of merely 5m, but the attack range of the lightsaber was a lot smaller than it. However, that energy blade that was glowing blue and white seemed to have power that far exceeded expectations. The fact that it was able to slice the .50BMG the Hecate fired from close range was the proof of it.
In another perspective, since it could slice any bullet apart, it would mean that this would be the strongest defensive weapon in the world. But even with the «Bullet Line», it's not easy to use a 3cm wide blade to defend against a rain of bullet that was coming at a supersonic speed.
This needed a calm prediction of the bullet lines, order, and perfect response ability to use the sword. Also, the most important thing was not to show any fear when facing a fully-automatic rifle—
What sort of training allowed him to learn such skills? Sinon really could not imagine it. No, this may not be just a VR game technique. It's when the player merged with the avatar through his own experience, belief and power of his soul.
Once he reloaded his weapon, Xiahou Dun again grabbed the CQ and started firing wildly. However, the lightsaber in Kirito's hand created numerous afterimages in the air and accurately picked out all the bullets that would hit him in the grid boxes and deflected them. Sinon could only feel that way on seeing from behind his back.
This real ability that far surpassed the barriers of the virtual world and the real world was exactly what Sinon was looking for. She learnt the calmness of a sniper, no, a coldness—ruthlessness, and then wanted to use it to crush Asada Shino's weakness. She had been moving through the wastelands during the past half year, looking for an opponent who would give her real strength.
Ever since she met Kirito yesterday, Sinon had this thought that she wanted to fight with this powerful foe with all she had, and that she would get such strength if she could win.
But at the same time, she noticed that another emotion was growing in her.
I want to know him more, I want to talk to him more. What happened in that world before Kirito arrived in GGO? What kind of life did he have in that world, what did he learn, and how did he fight his way through? No—I want to know what kind of person he is in the real world. I had never had such thoughts about anyone else while growing up...
"SINON, NOW!"
Kirito cleared off the second barrage of bullets Xiahou Dun fired and shouted, and Sinon's thoughts were brought back to the battle on hand because of that.
Her right index finger moved half consciously, squeezing the trigger of the Hecate. It was a shot crippled by her severe lack of concentration ability right now, but the distance was less than 100m, after all. Sinon couldn't possibly miss with her build based on accuracy. The bullet piereced straight through the middle of the general warrior-type armor Xiahou Dun was wearing.
In a normal battle, a player whose HP was down to zero would shatter like glass and disappear. However, the special rules of the BoB tournament specify that the corpse would be at the scene. Xiahou Dun was sent flying back after he was hit, and the helmet decoration flew in the air. As he landed on the chilly ground in a wide position, the red [Dead] tag started to spin on him.
'Fuu~', Sinon heaved a sigh and got up, changing the magazine of the Hecate which could normally hold 7 bullets, but didn't have much left. Then, she placed her rifle on her right shoulder and glanced at her temporary partner.
Kirito skillfully spun the lightsaber in his hand and placed it back at his waist buckle. The side of his face was dimly illuminated under the red sunset, and looked as enigmatic as ever. After taking a deep breath to hold back that earlier desire to know about him, Sinon quickly said,
"That battle just now will attract lots of people. We have to move quickly."
"Ok."
Kirito nodded his head and then turned his eyes to the river surface nearby.
"«Death Gun» should have headed north down this river. He probably wants to hide somewhere until after the «Satellite Scanner» works at 9pm and then choose his next target. I want to stop him before he kills... shoots someone. Can you think of a plan, Sinon?"
On hearing this sudden request, Sinon blinked a few times and then frantically thought about what she should do. Though she really couldn't think of some good idea since she didn't really understand what was going on, but she immediately opened her mouth and said,
"...No matter how mysterious his power is, «Death Gun» is still just a sniper, so he shouldn't be used to fighting in a place without cover. But if we continue moving north from here, we'll leave the forest stretch on the other side of the river. We'll continue moving up to the center of the island, the abandoned city, and it's all a grassland with great line of vision."
"In other words, he could have chosen that place as the next hunting ground... right?"
Kirito muttered and then looked over at the ambiguous buildings that were far away in the north. Though the distance effect made it look very far, it was just 3km straight on. Without bad AGI stats, they can reach there in around 10 minutes if they run and watch their surroundings.
"Alright then. We'll head towards that city too. If we run down the river, we shouldn't be spotted from both left and right sides."
"...Got it."
After Kirito nodded and said that, Sinon looked back slightly.
Dyne's «corpse» was still lying at the end of the bridge slightly far away, but the existence of the red [Dead] tag showed that he was still alive. The person who was really dead—though it could be just a possibility—was «Pale Rider» who disappeared completely.
To be honest, Sinon still couldn't believe this, but at the same time, she couldn't feel that this was all a lie.
However, there was a definite feeling within her, that during the 3rd BoB tournament, something in her would change. It's just that she didn't know what direction the change would occur—and she didn't know if the opponent who would change her would either be Kirito or that mysterious mantle guy.
Right now, she could only act on her own instinct. That's because 'instinct' was a skill that couldn't be enhanced with any build.
Though Sinon didn't boost it that much like Spiegel, her AGI wasn't that low, and it should have at least been about the same as Kirito's who should have boosted STR stats.
But eventually after running together like this for a while, Sinon had to run with all she had before catching up to the flowing black hair in front of her. To put it simply, their «basic movements» were completely different. There were cracks appearing suddenly on the numerous rocks on the riverbank, and Kirito seemed to have memorized them as he quickly dodged them or leaped over them. He would often turn his head around to match Sinon's speed, which made her all the more unhappy.
Even so, it was because of Kirito's help, running in front of her and pointing out paths that were easy to move through, that she was able to pass through the mid-south area, the grasslands. Unknowingly, the riverbed below her feet became concrete, and when she looked up, she could see the crowd of skyscrapers. They were about to enter the main battlefield of this island, the abandoned city.
"We didn't catch him."
Kirito slowed down and said softly to Sinon. He was somewhat hoping to meet «Death Gun» who went underwater and head towards the city, and attack him while he was unarmed.
"...Maybe we went past him somewhere..."
Once Sinon answered, Kirito turned over, gave a deep thought, watched the river flow behind him, and said,
"No, that's impossible. I checked the water while we were running."
"Is-is that so..."
Speaking of which, a person couldn't stay under water for more than a minute without an aqualung. The large sniper rifle Death Gun was carrying shouldn't allow for more space to carry one. Then, he must have slipped into the river below the metal bridge, swam north together with the water flow that was heading there, and then got up before running into the abandoned city.
"—That means he should be lying in ambush somewhere inside this city. The river flow stops there."
The river in front of Sinon became a drain that flowed to the city's underground, and the entrance of the underground drain had sturdy metal bars there, which any player could tell that it wasn't to be entered. That obstacle couldn't be destroyed even if hundreds of plasma grenades were thrown.
"I see... there's still 3 minutes till the scan. We can't avoid the satellite scan if we stay in this dump, right?"
Sinon considered Kirito's question and then nodded her head forcefully.
"Right. During the last tournament, the map would show even the 1st level of a tower. If there's really a need to hide, it'll be water that's extremely dangerous or a cave. Other than that, there's no other way to avoid the scan."
"Okay. Once the scan locks onto Death Gun's position, we can immediately attack to stop him from firing. I'll run straight at him. Please provide covering fire then."
"...I'm fine with that..."
Sinon shrugged, but after that, grabbed Kirito who had been waiting for this chance and said,
"But there's a small problem. Haven't you forgotten that «Death Gun» is not that guy's real character name? If you don't know the name, you can't track his position through radar."
"U...Tha-That's right."
The lightsaber warrior crumpled his beautiful eyebrows and sank into deep thought.
"In fact... amongst the 30 participants, you don't know three of them, right, Sinon? Amongst these three, the «Pale Rider» I was tracking wasn't Death Gun. Which means that remaining two... «Jyuushi X» and «Sterben», one of them is Death Gun... if there's only one person in the city, it'll definitely be him..."
"If both of them are present, we don't have time to hesitate. Now we have to decide which side we want to attack. Well—I just thought of something..."
Sinon coughed dryly a few times and continued,
"...If you read «Jyuushi» backwards, wouldn't it become «Death Gun»[1], and «X» can be read as «Cross», which is the Cross that guy drew... no, things shouldn't be that simple..."
"Hm... but most of the character names in VRMMO were randomly created. Someone like me merely modified my own real name... what about you?"
"...Me too."
They stared at each other with a strange expression, and then coughed dryly a few times,
Kirito seemed to be undecided as he sighed and said,
"If that guy called «Sterben» was really a foreigner like what his name indicated. Are there players from overseas in BoB?"
"Well..."
Sinon looked at her watch. There were less than two minutes before the next scan, so she tried her best to explain as quickly as possible.
"During the first tournament, we could choose American (US) or Japan (JP) servers, but there were still a few foreigners who played the Japanese version. I hadn't played GGO then, but from what I heard from Shi... Spiegel, the winner of the first BoB was a foreigner. That person seemed really strong. He managed to kill off all the Japanese with a knife and a handgun..."
"I see... what's his name?"
"I believe, Sato... Satori or something weird like that. But when I started playing, the Japanese server only allowed those in Japan to connect to it, so the players from the 2nd round and the 3rd round this time are all Japanese... or at least, living in Japan. Though that «Sterben» was written alphabetically, he should be Japanese."
"I see..."
Kirito blinked hard and looked like he finally decided as he said this,
"Okay, if both of them are at the dump, we'll head to «Jyuushi X». You don't have to panic when I get stunned by the stun bullet like Pale Rider, so just get ready to snipe. Death Gun will definitely use that black handgun for the final hit, so use that chance to hit him."
"Eh..."
On hearing those words, Sinon immediately forgot that there was less than 1 minute left as she widened her eyes. She looked at the black eyes beside her and asked,
"...Why are you so..."
Trusting of me? However, Sinon could not let out the voice at the latter end—
"...I may not attack Death Gun and snipe you from behind, you know..."
Kirito lifted his eyebrows in an unexpected manner and smiled
"I know that you won't do that. Come on... it's about time. I'll leave it to you then, partner."
The black-coated lightsaber user then patted Sinon on the left hand and then walked towards the stairs as he wanted to move from the riverbed to the street.
The place that was touched felt mysteriously hot and painful as the fingers from yesterday, but Sinon chased after the figure wordlessly. Though she told herself that this was an enemy countless times since yesterday, she did not have that feeling anymore.
On the upper levels of the short concrete steps, Sinon and Kirito crouched down at a position that couldn't be seen from the street and waited for the 4th «Satellite Scanner».
Her right hand held onto the device as she watched the watch on her left hand. Right now the time is 8.59pm 55 seconds... 56, if the proceedings of the finals was as fast as last year, it should be about time to enter the second half, which meant that there were only half the number of players left. In fact, she could even hear gunshots and explosions from the abandoned city. However, the sounds finally stopped for now, so everyone should be hiding in the shadows and watching the device.
58 seconds, 59 seconds, 9pm sharp.
The device map showed numerous white and grey dots.
"Kirito, check the north!"
After saying that softly, Sinon then touched the two gathered spots that were at the soutern-most part of the street. The names that were on them were naturally [Kirito] and [Sinon]. As a battle couldn't last for more than 15 minutes, the other players should know that these two weren't fighting, but working together as partners. Even though this wasn't against the rules and there were many instances of players working with each other, the rest would have the thought that 'this Sinon would actually work together with others'. She couldn't help but pray that they won't be caught on camera together.
—She abandoned those unnecessary thoughts and quickly checked through the names. «No-no», «Yamikaze», «Huuka», «Masaya»...these were all famous players Sinon knew of. The names she was looking for weren't in this city, so that would mean that their hypothesis was wrong—
No.
"...Got it!"
As Sinon shouted this, Kirito's voice answered in perfect unison.
The center of the street had a round building perimeter that looked like a stadium. A light spot remained in what looked like a perfect sniping position. As Sinon touched it with her finger, the name of the character appeared—«Jyuushi X».
She immediately exchanged glances with Kirito, but immediately returned back to her device. To check through the information again, Sinon continued to move her fingers north, and Kirito moved south at the same time. 5 seconds later, they lifted heads at the same time.
"«Jyuushi X» is the only one in this city for now."
Kirito then answered Sinon with a nervous voice,
"Yeah, looks like «Sterben» is not here. In other words, «Jyuushi X» is the «Death Gun», and the prey is..."
Kirito used his finger to point at his own device, showing a building that's slightly west from the stadium in the center—the name was «Ricolo». Being alone, if he wanted to move his hiding place to somewhere else, he would have to put himself in shooting range of «Jyuushi X».
As Sinon nodded her head, the light that represented Ricolo started moving to the exit of the building. Once he stepped onto the road, he would be immediately hit by the L115 sniper rifle stun bullet. They had to stop Death Gun no matter what before he fired that black handgun.
Kirito kept his device and looked at Sinon. He looked like he had something to say, but he merely said,
"Please cover me."
"Understood."
Sinon answered simply and got up. She then moved up the stairs where Kirito was in front of, observed the surroundings, and moved her right hand to indicate that they should move on before rushing up the steps.
The official name of this lone island that became the grand stage of the tournament finals was the «ISL Ragnarok».. Right now, the ancient city was right in the middle of it, and it should be modelled after famous cities from the world like New York City. There were many skyscrapers that mixed all sorts of functions with traditional beauty, and there were numerous English adverts and bulletins. Of course, these things had become old and were covered by weeds and sand.
Sinon and Kirito tried their best to run up the river that became the drain. Right now, other than the two of them, Death Gun and his target, there were also 5 or 6 players in this city. However, they wouldn't care about that. Luckily, the scan just now did not show anyone who could immediately move to their position. Also, those broken yellow taxis and large buses on the road could act as perfect cover. Both of them moved through like this and continued north.
This abandoned city was about 700m in radius, and with the assistance of AGI boost, both of them covered this distance in less than a minute. They could see a large round building, and that was their destination. The stadium was in the center. Sinon gave the hand signals, and they ran into the shadow of the bus before observing the surroundings through the broken windshield.
The stadium wall was about 3 stories tall, and there was an exit at the north, south, east and west areas. If Jyuushi X did not move away after using the Satellite Scanner, he should be waiting above the west exit. Sinon widened her eyes and stared at the top of the outer wall. With the improved vision skill 'Hawk Eye', the distance effect of an object would be reduced, and the visual identification rate would increase. She found that there was something like a gun muzzle in a triangular hole on a damaged concrete wall, and behind the hole—
"...Got it. Over there."
Undoubtedly, the sniper rifle's barrel was under the place where the sunset shone. At this moment, Kirito seemed to recognize the thing Sinon saw and whispered softly like her,
"Looks like he's still waiting for «Ricolo». Okay... I'll use this chance to attack him from behind. Sinon, get ready to snipe at the building opposite this street."
"Eh... I can go into the stadium too...'
Though Sinon objected, she was immediately interrupted by Kirito's strong and forceful expression.
"This is a battle where you can use your ability to its maximum. I trust that you'll definitely use your gun to cover me when I'm in trouble, so I can fight with that guy. This is what partners are for."
"..."
Once these words were out, Sinon could only nod her head and agree with Kirito's plan. He smiled, glanced at his watch and continued,
"We'll begin action 30 seconds after I leave. Is that enough?"
"...Yeah, that's enough."
"Okay, I'll leave it to you then."
Then, the black-haired swordsman moved his back away from the bus without hesitation—
He looked straight at Sinon from the front, and then ran to the southern exit of the stadium without seemingly letting out any footsteps.
Sinon watched his slender back profile gradually move away, and felt something strange deep within her. Was this nervousness? Or anxiety? They were similar, yet different. This was—right, it's fear...
How is it possible! What am I scared of!?
Sinon gritted her teeth and forcefully chided herself.
—In order to win in this BoB tournament and become the strongest player in the world, this had to be done. I need to eliminate this Death Gun who's using some unknown power outside the system to mess with the tournament, so I have to work together with Kirito for now. The moment we succeed, that lightsaber warrior will become my enemy again. Once I meet him again after that, I will squeeze this trigger without hesitation, take him down and forget about him. That's because I won't meet him again.
While forcing down the sharp pain near her heart, Sinon started running. Amongst the buildings on the streets, there were two kinds, the accessible ones and the inaccessible ones. The buildings that could be entered would definitely have a place where one could tell that it was an entrance. This building in the southwest position from the stadium, separated by a ring road, had a large hole in a wall that collapsed. Once she entered, she would climb up to the 3rd level, and she should be able to see the path on the wall of the stadium. The two positions were really too close, and normally speaking, it's likely that she would be spotted if she sniped here. But even for someone as strong as Death Gun, he had to notice the surroundings when he fights against Kirito. Once she finds an opening, she would shoot without hesitation. Then, she would leave the slum and meet up with Kirito somewhere else. This should be enough...
Even though Sinon tried to take action coolly like usual...
Her heart was already taken up by an emotion that was different from usual.
As she was about to move through the collapsed hole in the tower wall, she felt a sharp chill behind her back. The moment she was about to turn around, Sinon found that she had collapsed onto the road.
—What's happened... why am I on the ground...?
She couldn't recover immediately.
There were goosebumps on her back... there seemed to be something glowing on the left side of her vision field...she raised her left hand in reflex, and the exterior of the arm received a strong hit. Once Sinon realized that she got hit, she immediately intended to run back into the tower. However, her feet couldn't move for some reason and she immediately fell back.
After finally realizing the current situation, Sinon tried to get up immediately, but her body just couldn't respond to command at all. It seemed that she could only move her eyes. She tried to look at her left arm to check the front shoulder that was hit.
There was something that pierced through the desert-colored jacket sleeve and had pierced into the arm—it was more like a silvery needle-like thing than a bullet. It was only 5mm in diameter and about 50mm in length. The base created a thread-like spark that came with a sharp vibration that let out blue and white sparks, and these sparks spread from Sinon's shoulder to her entire body. This was—
A stun bullet.
This was the special bullet that numbed Pale Rider. Assault rifles, machine guns or handguns couldn't load it, and only a few large sniper rifles could use it. However, Sinon never heard the gunshot. There should be only a few players in GGO who had a large sniper rifle that came with a suppressor.
Even if Sinon thought of this, she still couldn't believe that the one who hit her was 'that person'. The stun bullet came from the south direction of the road, but that guy should be in the north perimeter of the stadium. He shouldn't have recognized Sinon's existence and should have been aiming at another target. Based on the Satellite Scanner at 9pm, Sinon could conclude that there were no other players who could have attacked her from the south. Whether it was «No-no», «Huuka» or «Yamikaze», they would need lots of time to break through this heavily collapsed area.
This was really inexplicable. Why—who—how did he do it?...
What answered Sinon's question weren't words, but a scene that appeared in front of her eyes after that.
About 20m south, there were a few light sparks in the space where nothing was supposed to be. And then, a person suddenly appeared in front of her like he ripped the world apart.
Sinon's throat that couldn't let out a voice continued to pant and scream silently.
—Metamaterial Optical Camouflage!
It could hide itself by refracting the light that shone on the surface, and it was said to be the ultimate camouflage ability. But that should be a skill only a few high level boss monsters have. Did they have such a monster in the middle of this battle of the 3rd BoB tournament? But she never heard this news before.
*Swoosh!*
The dark-grey cloth that was blowing in the wind interrupted Sinon's extremely confused thoughts.
That was a mantle that looked rather tattered and worn out, and there was also the same grey color that covered the head. Sinon could only remain like this and watch the attacker who removed his optical camouflage and showed his identity. This person was the «Mantle» guy who shouldn't have been here.
—«Death Gun»
The 'Silent Assassin' who a few minutes ago caused Pale Rider to disappear, and could have also killed the previous tournament winner «Zekushiido» and the leader of a large squadron «Usujio Tarako».
From underneath the slightly fluttering mantle, she could see the large sniper rifle that reached down to near his shoes and the silencer that was equipped in front of it. If that large mantle had an optical camouflage ability, he could cloak the entire rifle after preparing it, making it possible for him to shoot while invisible. No, that's not all to it. He could avoid even the Satellite Scanner while camouflaged. Otherwise, there would have been a light displayed around this area during the scan earlier.
That means that this mantle guy—«Death Gun» wasn't «Jyuushi X»...?
...Kirito
Sinon called this lightsaber warrior who should be in the stadium behind her, ready to attack Jyuushi X. Of course, she wouldn't get any response.
*Paa..Paa..* The footsteps rang in her ears. The mantle guy seemed to glide over as he approached. Deep inside the darkness of that hood, she could see two dark red lights flickering irregularly.
«Death Gun», stopped about 2m in front of Sinon, and was standing there like a phantom.
The muttering that was like metal rubbing against each other came from the face that couldn't be seen.
"...Kirito, now, I can tell, if you're, the real one, or, a fake."
It seemed that the mantle guy already knew that Kirito was at the stadium. These words were said to him instead of Sinon that was laying in front of him. That monotonous voice continued in an interrupted manner, and though it was flat, one could feel an intense emotion hidden inside it.
"I remember, when you, went berserk. Once I kill this woman... who is your friend, once you go berserk like that again, you'll be the, real Kirito. Come... let me see it, let me witness that blade of yours, full of anger, killing intent and madness."
Sinon seemed like she couldn't understand the meaning behind his words.
But the terrifying declaration of the mantle guy made the girl recover from her shock and bewilderment.
—He wants to kill me? This hermit that uses optical camouflage wants to kill me?
Sinon had a flame of anger burning inside her, and the heat even started to overwhelm the numbness.
The stun bullet still had lots of sparks left, but perhaps that's because the part that was hit was the left arm. If she tried a little harder, maybe her right arm should be able to move slightly. Luckily, the support weapon Sinon had on her waist, the MP7 submachine gun was near her right hand, so maybe she still had a chance to hold it and squeeze the trigger. In such a short distance, she should be able to take him down once she finished firing an entire magazine.
Move, move!!
Perhaps Sinon's movement frequency moved from her brain to the AmuSphere and surpassed the numbness as her right arm started to move slightly. Her fingers had already touched the rather familiar MP7 grip.
But at this moment, Death Gun slowly raised the left hand that was empty-handed from under the mantle, using two fingers to touch the forehead underneath the hood. Sinon then noticed that there was a light blue 3-layered circle floating device above Death Gun, and the red [REC] line continued to flicker. That was a live camera feed. The numerous audience from within and outside GGO were watching Death Gun draw the winning Cross sign and Sinon who collapsed in an embarrassing manner.
The skinny left hand that had a black leather glove passed through the chest and reached for the left shoulder.
During this time, Sinon finally grabbed the grip of the MP7.
Of course, there were safeties on the guns in GGO, but it was much more common to see a quick attack than a misfire, so almost everyone kept their safety off. Of course, Sinon was the same. Now, she just needed to aim and squeeze the trigger. There's still time. I can make it.
Death Gun, who finally finished drawing the Cross sign, placed his right hand back into the mantle and got ready to draw it out. Sinon had also used the numb right hand to try and grab the MP7. She nearly dropped the gun a few times while lifting it out, but barely managed to hang on. This time, the mini-SMG which was nearly 1.4kg felt as heavy as a mountain. However, Death Gun probably had to cock the gun. Once she spotted that moment and fired—
However—
At this moment, Death Gun pulled out his right hand from the mantle. The moment Sinon saw that black automatic handgun in his hand, her body and right arm immediately froze like ice.
Why? That was just an ordinary handgun. I faced handguns stronger than this, pointing at me, like the «Desert Eagle» and the «M500». There's nothing to be scared of. Hold that MP7 again, put that gun at the enemy and squeeze the trigger.
Sinon tried to convince herself like this and again tried to move her right arm—
But just when she was about to take action...
Death Gun placed his left hand on the sleeve, and this movement just revealed the left side of the handgun to Sinon. More accurately, the metal grip that was serrated and the little carving at the center of the grip was revealed.
The carving was a circle, and there was a star in the middle.
A black star.
The Blackstar, type 54—that gun.
Why... Wh-Why-Why-Why is-Why is that gun here?
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She lost her strength and let it slip out of her right hand, her final hope, the SMG. However, Sinon could not even hear the sound of the gun dropping.
*Gachink*. The hammer was cocked. The left hand of the mantle guy was holding the grip like this, and then pointed the gun from the side at Sinon in a Weaver Stance. Suddenly, there was a strange distortion from the darkness inside the mantle and hood. The dark space seemed to sway like glue, dripping and finally showing two eyes.
The whites of the eyes were bloodshot, and the pupils were small. Those enlarged eyes looked just like a bottomless pit.
It was that man. That man who, 5 years ago, took the gun—the Type-54 pistol to barge into a little post office in a city, in the north, to shoot Shino's mother. At that time, the young Shino lost all self-awareness and leaped at the gun, snatched it and squeezed the trigger to kill that man—those eyes were just like the man.
—He's here. He's right here. He's hiding in this world, waiting for the chance to take revenge.
It wasn't just the right hand as she lost even more of all her senses. The red sunset and grey ruins gradually vanished, leaving behind only the eyes and the gun in the darkness.
The girl's heart seemed to be beating even louder. If she fainted now, the safety function of the AmuSphere would cause Sinon to log out automatically. However, her consciousness was clear as she waited for the Blackstar's trigger to be squeezed. The gun let out a sound, *kiriri*. Once that finger moved a few more inches, the hammer would hit the firing pin, firing the .30 caliber metal bullet. That wasn't damage in terms of value, but a real bullet. It would shoot through Sinon/Shino's heart inside and outside the game, stopping it, killing her.
Just like what Shino did to that man that day.
That was an unavoidable fact. Even if she did not play GGO, she would be caught up by this man in some place. Her efforts were all in vain. No matter how much she struggled to break free from her past, it was meaningless.
Just when her consciousness was giving up—
A flicker of feelings, as small as fine sand, still remained.
I don't want to give up. I don't want everything to end here. I finally managed to understand the meaning of «strength» and battle. If I can remain with that guy and watch him, one day, I'll...
Sinon's thoughts were finally interrupted by the gunshot that shook the sky.
She did not know where she was hit, but still closed her eyes, waiting for her consciousness to fade.
However—
The mantle guy in front of her was the one who shook.
«Those eyes» in his hood disappeared, becoming red dots again. The right shoulder of the mantle was flickering with some orange damage special effect. So someone shot «Death Gun», just when Sinon was wondering who it was, the second gunshot followed. The bullet that flew this time grazed past the left shoulder of the mantle guy. From the sound of it, the gun caliber must be pretty big. The mantle guy immediately crouched down and hid into the large hole of the tower.
Sinon could see the actions of Death Gun from her position. He placed the Blackstar back into his gun holster, pulled out the L115 on his back and quickly reloaded the magazine. It seemed that he wanted to switch the stun bullets into the sure-kill .338 Lapua bullets. The enemy's fluid movements in readying that large sniper rifle made Sinon, a fellow sniper, feel rather impressed. After aiming, he squeezed the trigger without hesitation.
A silenced *whoosh* gunshot and the third attack occurred at the same time. But this time, the enemy did not attack with a gun. Something that looked like a can rolled onto the road between Sinon and Death Gun—a grenade. Death Gun immediately moved inside the building once he saw that.
Sinon could only close her eyes. If the grenade exploded here at such a distance, she would suffer rather serious injuries. However, it would be better than being shot by Death Gun's Blackstar. That's right; she might as well die like this. To retreat from this tournament, and then retreat from GGO, no, VRMMO, and live a low-profile life in the real world, always bearing the fear of being caught up by that man one day...
However, the developments this time again betrayed Sinon's expectations.
The metal can that exploded half a second later wasn't a powerful plasma grenade an ordinary player liked to use, and neither was it a normal one or an incendiary napalm one—but one that would spout out harmless smoke.
"...!"
The white smoke immediately covered Sinon's vision, and she couldn't help but hold her breath.
This would likely be her last chance of escaping. However, the numbing effect hadn't vanished yet. Even though she should be able to move once she pulled out the bullet that's lodged in her left shoulder, Sinon couldn't get her right hand do this. And at this moment, she didn't even have a will to stand up and fight.
Sinon was unable to keep her cool and could only lie on the floor with her eyes widened until her left arm—was grabbed by someone.
This person just pulled her up roughly like that. That person threw aside the large gun Sinon wouldn't normally see and put his hand on her back. The girl didn't even have the chance to stagger before she was lifted into the person's arms along with the Hecate on her right shoulder.
An acceleration that seemed like it was going to squash her body into his followed. Hiuu! The air sounded beside her, and the surrounding smoke started to grow thinner. The moment Sinon recovered her sight again, she caught sight of the other player who was holding her in front of him, running forward.
That person had near transparent white skin, obsidian-like pupils and flowing black hair.
...Kiri, to.
Sinon wanted to call him, but was unable to make a voice. His beautiful girl-like face was showing an abnormally serious look to the—no, it was more like he was really desperate. She understood that he is straining his nervous system to exert physical movement commands to his avatar.
It's to be expected that he would be having so much trouble. Even if Kirito was a STR first-type player, and that he had only a light weight lightsaber and handgun, he would be at his limit carrying Sinon and Hecate. It was a miracle for him to be even sprinting at this point. Also, looking closely, one could tell that Kirito himself wasn't completely unscathed. The new wounds on his right and left shoulders were giving off a red dragging special effect. From the intensity of the light, the bullet caliber that hit him should be rather large. GGO was a VRMMO that originated from America, so the pain absorption rate should be rather low. With this level of damage, even if he didn't feel hurt, there should be some form of numbness on him.
...That's enough. Put me down and run away.
Even though she thought this way, the girl still could not say it out in the end. Her entire body, no, even her consciousness was completely numb.
Thus, Sinon could only blink even though she saw a large caliber bullet fly out from behind. Her sleepy mind was thinking. She didn't hear the gunshot just now, which meant that the bullet was fired from Death Gun's L115. With the effects of the smoke screen, this snipe was too accurate, which meant that he was right after them. She didn't know what sort of character the enemy was, but he couldn't be slower than Kirito who was carrying Sinon, and it would only be a matter of time before they got caught up.
Kirito himself should understand this too. However, the lightsaber warrior never intended to stop or put Sinon down. He merely gritted his teeth, breathed hard and continued to run forward.
Both of them ran to the east side of the round stadium, ready to leave from the north side of the ruins. Like the south side, there was a main road that stretched on forward. There were a few damaged cars and buses scattered all over the road, but it wasn't enough for them to leave the ruins while being completely hidden. Where is Kirito running to?...
What answered Sinon's doubt was the half-wrecked neon-light advert signboard.
The words that flickered weakly under the sunset showed the words [Rent-a-Buggy&Horse]. This was the unmanned transport rent area that the capital Gurroken also had. Amongst the 3 buggies in the motorpool, two of them were nearly completely wrecked, and only one looked like it could still be in operation.
However, that wasn't the only transportation tool for them to rent. Like what the advert said, there were even a few large four-legged animals beside the buggies—horses. But of course, these horses weren't real animals, but mechanical horses with metal frames and gears showing outside. Also, there seemed to be only one that still worked.
Kirito rushed into the motor pool and immediately hesitated over whether they should choose the 3-wheeled buggy or the mechanical horse. Sinon squeezed out a soft voice from her still-stiff mouth,
"A horse would be... too difficult. Its ability to break through obstacles is great... but it's really hard to control it."
Although it seemed that almost no one was able to control the hand-controlled 3-wheeled buggy, the mechanical horse's hard-to grasp personality would make it a lot tougher to control than a buggy. As this had no relevance to the skills of the avatar, but that of the player's own skills, a lot of time, hard work and practice would be required for them to use these transportation tools at their own will. For GGO that's only been operational for less than a year, there shouldn't be a lot of people who had so much time to practice.
On hearing Sinon's words, Kirito seemed to hesitate, but he soon nodded his head and ran towards the only three-wheeler buggy that could still work. He touched the panel screen and started the engine, let Sinon sit on the rear panel, and once he got onto his own seat, he hit the acceleration on the three-wheeler buggy. The large back wheel immediately let out a sharp rubbing sound, gave off white smoke and started spinning.
As the vehicle moved to the north road, Kirito immediately stopped and shouted,
"Sinon, can your sniper rifle destroy that horse?"
"Yes..."
Sinon pulled out the stun bullet with the right hand that finally managed to shake off the numbness and blinked her eyes. She saw the mechanical horse behind and immediately understood Kirito's intention. He was worried that the mantle guy—Death Gun would use that horse to catch up. Sinon really felt that it wasn't really possible, but she still nodded her head.
"Go... got it. I'll try..."
She used her still-trembling arms to carry the Hecate that was unstrapped, and pointed the gun at that metallic horse that was standing coldly 20m away. This was a distance where she could hit without aiming through the scope and use skill assist. As Sinon placed her hand on the trigger, the light green reticle immediately appeared. She gathered the point at the side of the horse, and her finger got ready to exert force—...
*Kachink!*
The numb feel made Sinon widen her eyes.
She couldn't squeeze the trigger. Sinon was wondering whether she accidentally turned the safety on, and turned to check the side of her beloved gun. However, that wasn't the case. The sniper then exerted force on the finger again, but the trigger felt like it was welded and knocked her right hand aside,
"Eh... why..."
*Gachink*, *gachink*
No matter how many times she tried, it was the same outcome. She stared blankly at her finger, and what appeared in front of her was an unbelievable scene. Her finger didn't even touch the trigger. The white fingertip and the smooth metal had a gap between them, several millimeters wide. And no matter how hard she exerted force, she just couldn't remove that distance...
"...I couldn't press it... why... WHY CAN'T I SQUEEZE THE TRIGGER?...!"
The voice that came from her own throat was a soft and hoarse cry.
It seemed that the one who let out the cry wasn't that ice-like sniper, but Asada Shino in the real world.
At this moment...
A figure appeared behind the thin smoke on the east side of the stadium.
The mantle on the enemy shook, and he was still holding onto a large sniper rifle. Of course, he was «Death Gun»—or maybe he could be «that guy» who borrowed this appearance.
Sinon's eyes darkened. Her legs lost their strength. Her body started to turn cold.
Ahh... how did it happen? That was an omen of a fit. Sinon, who had a different personality than the real life Shino, never had this happen to her before. It didn't even happen when she first logged in and was immediately forced to wield a gun...
"Sinon, grab on!"