“M-san! I brought him down!”
After finishing her prayer for the man, LLENN faced M with a refreshing smile and voice. Such a smile after killing the man herself and then even praying for him. As is usual for a game.
“Yeah, well done.”
As M answered, he began folding up the shield that protected him. He performed a move that was the opposite of extending it, in other words, he spread his arms, then brought them together to flatten the shield. Finally, the shield was returned to its layered state, and M put it in hisbackpack.
LLENN looked for the monocle that she had dropped, picked it up, and returned it to her pocket.
Then, approaching at a half-run, she arrived in front of M, who had put the backpack on his back and taken the M14 EBR into his arms.
“But still, M-san, that was amazing! You sniped them that easily!”
After she said that much, she came up with another thought,
“But…… Why… didn’t they avoid M-san’s Bullet Lines?”
And voiced it.
And then,
“That’s because they couldn’t see them.”
She heard M’s words that were neither prideful nor boastful.
“Eeh? They couldn’t see them? Why?”
“Because, I didn’t create them.”
“Eeh? Eeh? How? After all, they appear whenever you put your finger on the trigger, right?”
“That’s why I didn’t put my finger on it.”
“Hah? Then, what about the Bullet Circle?”
“Naturally, it didn’t appear.”
“Hee? Then—— how did you aim?”
To LLENN’s last consecutive question,
“Directly.”
M gave a short answer.
LLENN remembered Pitohui’s words.
“There are good things, LLENN-chan. You see, since GGO is a game, a lot of things can be done in simple way. Which is strikingly obvious in shooting.”
If she wasn’t mistaken, that took place in the ruins of a subway station.
It was conversation that took place after they wiped out about three dozen cleaning robots, whose AI had went mad and started attacking people, while they drank tea from a thermos flask in front of a pile of scrap that was illuminated by an eerie-coloured LED.
“Shooting is simple? What do you mean?”
“Yeah. For example, if we tried giving the real LLENN-chan a real P90. Well, let’s forget about the Japanese Swords and Firearms Control Law for this. If we do, you’d be able to smoothly insert the magazine, pull the cocking handle to load the bullets, and even get into a proper stance with the gun, right?”
“Yeah. Probably.”
“But, do you think you’d be able to shoot a human-size target 100 metres in front of you, like you can in GGO?”
“Eeh? Well…… I’m not really sure……?”
“Although there’s a small chance that you’d be able to do it, it would probably be impossible. There’s but one reason for that - there’s no assistance.”
“Which……means?”
“In GGO, you see, if you aim your gun to some extent towards a target, and it falls into the area of the Bullet Circle, the game system will make the decision to „help adjust the aiming for you to hit the target“.”
“The-then……, that means that we’re „not actually aiming accurately“?”
“Right. GGO players think that they can hit the target with their violent shooting skills, but actually, they’re being helped tremendously by the game system. As the characters playing the game level up and acquire guns with high accuracy and power, this assistance becomes more and more pronounced. In other words, you don’t need to aim properly for the hit to be registered. It’s something like ≪Sword Skills≫. GGO players „can shoot more easily“, so they become stronger.”
“I see…… It’s something like my speed, huh.”
“I’ve tried it out before; I took and steadied a high-precision sniper rifle, and seized the moment when the target was at the centre of the Bullet Circle seen through the scope—— and then, I pulled the trigger violently, with the gun shaking, no matter how you look at it. Now, what do you think could have happened to the bullet I fired?”
“It hit……. the target?”
“Correct, right in the middle, just as the Bullet Circle showed. That’s how I confirmed. That GGO’s gun triggers are „bluntly put, kinda like the manipulation of a controller’s button“.”
“I see…… So, that’s what you meant that „they’re being considerably helped“, huh. Then, Pito-san, what would happen if GGO truly reproduced severely real shooting?”
“Let’s see. In that case, it would probably either be an Everest-like difficulty shit game, where even after tens of hours of shooting practice on the level of actual soldiers, people would only be beginners, or a laugh-inducing shit game where almost everyone would be firing with assault rifles 100 metres away from each other.”
“Uhyaa.”
“A game’s a game. It can’t be helped even if you take reality too seriously. GGO’s fine as it is.”
“I see…… Then, Pito-san, a question.”
“Yeah, this proactive attitude of yours is a very good thing about you. Expect this to be reflected on your school report.”
“Thank you very much! ——What would happen if a person who was sufficiently good at realshooting played this game?”
“That’s a really good question. I give you a perfect mark.”
“Thanks! ——So, what about the answer?”
“I’ve harboured the exact same question, and decided to test it. I invited an acquaintance of mine who’s a gun maniac and good at shooting with live ammunition.”
“A-and then?”
“He was a bit bewildered at first, but once he grasped it, he instantly became able to hit the target by shooting violently. „As I expected, it’s reproduced well precisely because it’s anAmerican game“, that’s what he said.”
“Hoo! It’s a thing that you mentioned earlier - what a person can do with their player ability rather than their character ability.”
“Right, that’s exactly that. However, that guy added this. „The Bullet Circle assistance is a two-edged sword“, that’s what he said.”
“Which means?”
“The answer is that it tells you where the bullet will fly before you fire. That’s why, „Even if you don’t aim properly, you can still fire, thus this game cannot be used to practice RL shooting. On the contrary, it would probably dull your skills. It could probably only be used for practicing to grasp the timing of firing.“ The observable difference is disgustingly wide”.
“I see…… But, well, I wouldn’t be able to play without it. ——So, what’s the good point?”
“Yeah. „Because of this, long-distance sniping becomes overwhelmingly easy.“ You see, shooting at a far away enemy with a gun is absurdly difficult. You know why you can’t just aim at the centre of the scope?”
“I learnt that from the NPC demon sergeant’s sniping tutorial. Bullets are pulled by gravity and fly in a parabola, so you have to aim upwards, accounting for how much the bullet would fall based on the distance.”
“That’s not all. When aiming at a target who is above or below you, the descent of the bullet decreases in proportion to the angle; if the temperature and altitude are high, the air becomes thin, and so the bullet can fly better; if there is wind, it, naturally, blows the bullet; the bullet also drifts in the direction that it rotates; and if you’re aiming for super-long-distance sniping at a target 1 km or farther away, you also have to consider the „Coriolis force“, caused by the rotation of the Earth.
“Sensei, I don’t get it anymore.”
“Well, the point is, a lot of calculations and experience is required for long-distance sniping.Real snipers get familiar with all of this by shooting hundreds of bullets to practice, observing how their bullets fly from their guns. But——”
“I get it! The Bullet Circle does the calculations completely automatically like a computer. Thesystem tells you ‘right now, you will hit here’. It becomes super simple.”
“That’s right.”
“Directly.”
Hearing M’s short answer, LLENN immediately remembered her conversation with Pitohui and,
* * *
Roughly 4 minutes ago——
At 14:59.
In the residential area, there was a gorgeous house far away from the houses on the ground. Atop the wide balcony on the third floor of the house,
“Found them! Tohma, get over here!”
A woman that was holding binoculars while lying on the ground shouted in a menacing, deep voice.
Her height was at least 180 cm, she had developed muscles, and her chest was bulky - she was a woman that looked like a female pro wrestler. If it wasn’t for her braided, brown hair hanging down to her left and right, it would probably be hard to even determine her gender. As for her age, she seemed to be easily past her mid-thirties.
She was wearing camouflage clothes, dotted in several shades of green.She had equipped a vestwith several magazine pouches.
“Where are they? Boss.”
A voice rang out from behind, and another woman crawled out into the balcony.
This one was slightly shorter, but even so, she was easily over 175 cm tall. Based on her appearance, she was slightly younger, but nonetheless she was a fine adult. She had the same camouflage and equipment on her slender body. Underneath her green knit cap was her black short cut hair.
A Russian-made sniper ≪Dragunov≫ was held in the hands of the woman named Tohma. It was a sniper which represented the old Eastern Bloc, and had a characteristic silhouette that looked slender and elegant. Its ammunition were 7.62x54 mmR(1) rounds. A semi-auto gun that could fire every time the trigger was pulled. As for its scope, it didn’t use the quadruple magnification one that is typically used on a Dragunov, but a larger and rougher looking one that could magnify three-fold to nine-fold. It came with an exclusive bipod in front of its magazine.
While pointing to the north-west over the balcony’s guardrail with her left hand, the woman called ‘Boss’ said,
“Do you see the point where the lake shore turns to a road? One minute to the left of thesilhouette of the crashed spaceship.”
Tohma nimbly unfolded the bipod of her Dragunov, and assumed a prone posture on the floorboard of the balcony.
“Two people sighted. A chibi in dusky-pink, and a giant in a camouflage pattern.”
Boss used the rangefinder of her binoculars and,
“That’s them. 623 metres to the chibi. ——It’s far, can you do it?”
“I can! It’s our chance!”
“Alright! Begin with the small target.”
“Roger.”
Tohma turned the dial on the right side of her scope, and raised her magnification to the maximum. In the magnified, circular field of vision, the playful pink-coloured enemy became bigger.
Boss’s voice could be heard.
“Everyone, listen up. Tohma will snipe the chibi. Rosa and Sophie, prepare your machine guns. They’re on the north-west lake shore. On my command, fire like crazy. Anna, search for other enemy members and, if possible, shoot them. Tanya, check the satellite scan.”
‘Roger’, four female voices answered over the communication item. This was proof that there were still six members remaining, in other words, it was a full member squad, and that all of them were female characters.
And so, the clock struck 15 o’clock.
In the field of vision of Boss’s binoculars, the pink chibi and camouflage-patterned giant man became bigger, and a map was displayed from the satellite scan terminal.
The fact that they expanded a large map in front of them was proof that they weren’t watching out for approaching enemies.
Boss’s mouth opened widely to the side, exposing her canines.
“Those guys sure will be surprised. ——Tohma?”
Tohma aligned the Bullet Circle in the lower-right part of her scope with the pink target. Thecircle contracted based on her heartbeats, but the flickering was really gradual, and at its largest, it almost entirely covered the pink chibi’s body.
“Preparations complete.”
“Do it.”
Right after the command was given, before her heart began beating faster in excitement, Tohma waited for the timing when the circle was at its smallest, and then squeezed the trigger.
The Dragunov roared, and its long and narrow body sprang up sharply, as if it was hit by a whip. An empty shell was expelled to the right.
The fired bullet flew, piercing the wall of air and——
And flung up the small pink body 3 metres into the air.
“Bullseye! Nice skill you have Tohma! After the game, I’ll treat you to a piece of purin(2)!”
Boss’s cheerful voice reached all her party members, and Tohma replied,
“If possible, I want a second!”
And fired for the second time.
It was a bullet aimed for the giant man. The Bullet Circle was perfectly focused on his body, but the bullet missed. Because the giant man rushed over to the chibi with nimble movements.
“Shi-!”
Tohma continued firing as she aligned her the Bullet Circle with the moving giant man. However, her pulse rose in excitement, consequently increasing the speed of contraction and size of the circle, thus the bullets continued missing.
The giant man suddenly grabbed the chibi with his right hand, put her on his right shoulder, and proceeded to the lake. There was a drifting hovercraft there.
“Like hell I’m letting you!”
Tohma continued firing. 1 bullet somehow hit the giant man’s right thigh, and created a red hiteffect.
However, that did not stop the giant man’s movement. He mercilessly kicked away the two corpses on the hovercraft, threw the chibi to the back seat, and the driver’s seat himself.
Tohma’s 10th bullet raised a waterspout on the side of the hovercraft. The fact that the bolt that would move back and forth each time she fired stopped at the lower position indicated that her remaining bullets numbered zero. At the same moment,
“Boss. Their position is the lake shore. One of the two is the leader.”
Came the voice of Tanya, who had been looking at the scan. Boss immediately gave the order.
“Machine guns, fire.”
The next moment, a roar sprung forth from two windows of the third floor of a mansion.
From a child’s bedroom, and a back room.
* * *
15:06.
The place that LLENN and M landed at after finishing their seemingly elegant cruise on the lake was the south-western area, a wilderness of rock and sand.
Light brown ground already began with the bank of the lake, and it suddenly turned rugged. Naturally, it wasn’t something that the hovercraft could traverse through. Even if it did, there was barely any fuel left.
On the water, LLENN applied a second first-aid kit on herself. Her hit point recovery seemed to be nearly over. And yet, she only had sixty percent of her full state. She would probably need to use another one. Having abandoned their hovercraft at the bank, LLENN and M surveyed their surroundings vigilantly.
The wilderness was almost flat. There were oval rocks of various sizes throughout it. Starting with rocks that were 1 metre large in every direction, to large ones that were likely 5 metrestall. Because of this, there were plenty of places to hide in.
There weren’t any hilly areas, on the contrary, if they climbed on a rock, they would be able to see reasonably far away.
It depended on the height of the rock that one would climb, and the height of other rocks in the surroundings, but it seemed that they could be used to see about 300 metres away. The ground full of pebbles lost to the paved road in terms of hardness, but it was better as a foothold.
“It’s not bad as a place to fight. We can defend here, and we can snipe from atop a rock. The same applies to the enemy team, but we have LLENN’s agility for that.”
M said.
“And cars can’t pass through here, right.”
LLENN answered in agreement. She searched the surroundings as far as her monocle allowed, but she could not see any enemy figures for the time being.
As the healing of the second first-aid kit was over, LLENN applied the last one to the nape of her neck. LLENN no longer had any more of them, but their enemy probably wasn’t that kind to let them use any more of them anyway.
“Let’s head west. We’ll get away from the hovercraft a bit, and wait for the scan with our backs facing the water.”
Agreeing with M’s proposal, LLENN began slowly walking. There was the possibility that their opponents were chasing them by using the remaining hovercrafts, thus she constantly looked at the lake surface, but she could not see anything.
And so, it was 15:08.
The two hid in the shadow of a large rock, and decided to wait out the remaining 2 minutes.
‘My hit points aren’t full, but I recovered most of them. And, I won’t let my guard down next time!’
“Ah! That reminds me……”
LLENN remembered. That before the 15 o’clock scan, M had taken out a writing paper and tried reading it. Since they were under fire, he should have left it unsettled.
“Say, M-san——”
LLENN turned around towards M, who was crouching at a place about 10 metres away from here,
“Like, didn’t you try reading something like a letter some time ago? Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Ah!”
Based on M’s seriously surprised face, it seemed that he had completely forgotten about it.
“Thanks for reminding me. I was told to read it at exactly 15 o’clock.”
M took out the writing paper from his arm pocket, opened it, and began reading.
Feeling relieved, LLENN returned her glance from M’s face to watching the surroundings. She had to protect M while he was reading the letter.
She was interested in who the letter was from, and what was written on it, but since it was a breach of manners to peek at someone else’s letter, even if this was a virtual world. LLENN only admired that someone would write a letter and carry it even in a VR game.
What stretched out in her field of vision was a wilderness of rocks and pebbles. The P90 in her hands was ready to fire at any time.
She took out two new magazines from her storage, thus, including the one equipped on her gun, she was back to seven on her body.
Using the opportunity, she materialised the two plasma grenades that she had added to herstorage just in case, and hung them at the back of her left waist.
During the next battle, she’ll definitely shoot them up. Even if she died, she’d take down one or two, as many as she could. If she realised that she was done for, she’d press the switch of thegrenades on her waist and charge at them.
While calmly building up her war spirit, and sharpening her five senses, LLENN waited for thescan, when she heard the sound of M putting away the letter behind her.
And she heard the sound of footsteps.
LLENN realised again that there were pebbles underneath them, and that footsteps were clearly audible. They could probably be heard even if they were several metres away. She’d better not carelessly move around when ambushing at this place.
*Saku*, *saku*, M’s footsteps could be heard. They were coming towards her. The time on her wristwatch was 15:09.
‘Does he want to have a strategy meeting and show the map? Or is this about the letter?’
While having these thoughts, LLENN suddenly turned around——
“Eeh?”
M’s stood 2 metres ahead of her, held his HK45 with just his right hand, and was aiming the muzzle directly at her face.
“Sorry.”
M fired.
LLENN clearly saw how the HK45’s large muzzle shone.
NOTES
1. ^ 7.62×54mmR is a rimmed rifle cartridge developed by the Russian Empire for the bolt-action Mosin-Nagant rifle, and is still used nowadays for sniper rifles like the Dragunov, and some other guns. The R in mmR stands for "rimmed".
2. ^ Japanese name for creme caramel or custard pudding.
3. ^ In Russian, Пулемёт Калашникова (Pulemyot Kalashnikova). Technically, it means “Kalashinikov’s (possessive case) machine gun”.
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