Sword Art Online 05: Phantom Bullet Part 6

Like Dyne said, four people had optical type attack guns, two of those four had binoculars on their faces, scanning the perimeter. However, to find Sinon's group who was hiding, unless they have maxed the enemy search skill, it was almost impossible.

In the middle of the enemy group were two people walking with large guns on their shoulders. One had a semi-automatic optical laser rifle, the other had a live bullet type light machine gun, "FN Minimi". In the real world, the j.a.panese self-defense force use them as excellent support weapon. Since over half of optical guns' damage can be reduced by defense fields, the Minimi has an overwhelmingly higher threat.

The two types of weapons found in "Gun Gale Online", live ammunition gun and optical gun, are very different from each other.

The advantages of live bullets is one hit will cause large damage, and it pa.s.ses through defense fields. But the disadvantages are that you have to carry extra heavy bullet magazines around, and the bullet trajectory is affected a lot by wind and humidity.

In contrast, the optical gun is very light, and can hit long range with high precision, also the magazine's energy pack is small. But its power getting dispersed by players with defensive equipment is the deficiency.

For the above reasons, use optical gun against monsters, use live ammo gun against players is the common theory. For these two categories, other than performance characteristics they are quite different.

That is because, the optical guns all have fanciful names and shapes, while live ammo guns have their original shape that actually exists in the real world.

Therefore, like Dyne and Ginrou, a significant percentage of GGO players are gun maniacs who like to hold live ammo weapons, and only switch to optical guns when they are hunting Mobs.

Now, the rifle near Sinon's cheek is a live ammo type. But before she came to this world, she didn't know anything about gun makers. For game play, it was necessary for her to memorize guns like items, but that didn't mean she had any interest in real guns. She believed that the infinite guns in this world were all 3D objects, since she disliked even looking at guns in the real world.

Just one thing, in this world of slaughter, she wanted to continue destroying virtual enemies with virtual bullets. Till her heart became hard as a stone, and her flowing blood froze.

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

She shook off her excess thinking, and moved her rifle a little. At the end of the enemy line, with ma.s.sive goggles covering his face, wearing a camouflage cloak and coat, walked a player. Like Dyne said, his equipment could not be seen.

He had a huge body. He might have been wearing a large backpack that made his cloak bulge. His hands sticking out of his sleeves were empty. From the look of equipment on his waist, the largest seemed to be sub-machine gun type.

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

Behind her came the voice of Ginrou. He might have been joking, but his voice also contained some tension as he continued.

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

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

Dyne quickly replied with a laugh.

"Also, isn't Death Gun supposed to be a small guy wearing a camouflage Ghillie suit? This guy is too big. He is nearly two meters tall. Probably... extreme STR type courier. Carrying found items, ammunition and energy packs. He shouldn't have any large weapon, we can just ignore him in battle."

While listening to these words, Sinon carefully looked at the man in her scope.

Because of the rough armor goggles, his expression couldn't be seen. The only thing exposed was his mouth. His lips were tight together, without a slight movement. The other members, even on alert, were chatting and showing flashes of their white teeth, only that big man in the back was totally silent. Silently walking and moving his feet, without a single disturbance.

Sinon's intuition from half a year of experience in playing GGO told her that this man was a stronger threat than the one carrying the Minimi. However, other than the backpack, there didn't seem to be any bulges in the cloak. He might be hiding a small high power rare gun. But that kind of gun was mostly optical type, which is not too useful in anti-personnel combat. Then was her feeling of pressure from this man just her imagination...

Lost in thought, Sinon spoke quietly: "That man, I have a bad feeling. I would like to take out the cloaked man first."

Dyne removed the binoculars from his face, and looked at Sinon with raised eyebrows.

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

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

"If you are talking about that, the Minimi is obviously a factor of instability. If the Blasters come near while we are dealing with him, then it would be dangerous."

Although defense s.h.i.+elds are effective against optical guns, that effect decreased as distance shortened. In close combat, the number of rounds available in one Laser Blaster magazine could be overwhelming. Sinon grudgingly retracted her opinion and nodded.

"...Understood. The first target is the Minimi. If possible, I want to put the next round into the cloaked man."

Having said that, the most effective sniping is the first shot, before the enemy finds the sniper. After the enemy knew where the shot came from, a "Ballistic Prediction Line" (Bullet Line) is shown to the enemy so they can easily avoid the attack.

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

The scout said after viewing through the binoculars he took back from Dyne. Dyne nodded and turned to the three attackers behind him.

"All right. According to our plan, we will go wait in the shadow of the building till the enemy gets close. - Sinon, after we move we won't be able to see them, so inform us if the situation changes. I will instruct you when to start sniping."

"Understood."

After the short answer, Sinon's right eye once again went to the rifle's scope. The target party had not changed. They were moving at their usual slow pace through the wilderness.

Between them and Sinon was 2.5 kilometers of wilderness, in the center a little closer to her side was the ruins of a huge building. The five people including Dyne would use that building and hide in the blind spot, planning to attack them violently all at once.

"- Ok, let's go."

To Dyne's short command, the other members except Sinon gave a short reply. With sounds of boots sliding on sand and sand moving, they slid down the back side of the hill. Waiting till the evening wind covered their footsteps, Sinon took out a small headset from below her m.u.f.fler on her neck and put it on her left ear.

For the next few minutes, as a sniper, Sinon must continuously fight against the pressure and solitude. Her first bullet would affect the battle afterward a lot. The only things she could depend on were her finger and the silent gun. Her left hand caressed the huge gun on two leg stands. The black metal returned cold silence to her.

The reason Sinon was a rare sniper in this world and relatively well known player was mostly due to the existence of this incredible live ammo gun.

Its name was "PGM Ultima Ratio Hecate II[2]". Full length 138cm, weight 13.8kg, kind of huge size, 50 caliber, that is it uses 12.7mm diameter large size bullet.

In the real world it was cla.s.sified in the anti-materiel 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 s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+ps to live on the world that became a wasteland from long ago civilization's huge war. Gurokken's streets were originally the s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p, and below that slept a huge city of ruins from the war. Inside the city ruins, there were unlimited number of automated fighting machines and mutant creatures, they wait for adventurers who dreamed of making it big in one scoop. The place Sinon fell to, was the lowest floor of that place with the highest level of danger.

Of course, she did not expect to do much as a solo in that place. Her first encounter would be her easy defeat and she would go back to her street save point as a "Death Return", she walked while accepting that fact, in front of her was a large circular s.p.a.ce like a stadium, where a weirdly shaped creature appeared.

From its size and name, it seemed to be a boss cla.s.s monster, but she had never seen its shape on any of the information sites. When she realized that, the gamer soul inside her was stimulated slightly. Since I am going to die anyway, let's try fighting this guy, while thinking that she went to an air vent on top of the stadium and placed her rifle.

The battle went in an unexpected way. Of the boss monster's heat ray, iron claws, poison gas and other attack patterns, none of them were able to reach where Sinon was hiding. On the other hand, since it was barely within her rifle's shooting range, the damage inflicted by her was light. Thinking about the amount of ammo she had, without missing even one shot, she had to hit what seemed to be the boss's weak point, the small eye on its forehead, otherwise it would be impossible to kill it.

Sinon became cool as ice as she concentrated on doing that. When the boss finally fell, its huge body blowing up in polygons, the fight had been going on for three hours.

What the boss monster dropped was a huge rifle she had never seen before. Per the setting of the game, NPCs or players could not make higher tier live ammo guns. The street shops could only sell a portion of the lower tier guns, and the above-average guns could only be excavated in ruins. The rifle she obtained - "Ultima Ratio Hecate II" belonged to the rarest group of excavated weapons.

Right now, including Sinon's Hecate II, only about ten anti-materiel 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 j.a.panese yen.

Sinon was a high school student who lived alone in the real world, and the living expenses she received each month was barely enough. Being plagued by hards.h.i.+ps, 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 G.o.ddess who governs the underworld. That gun would be her first and last partner, she decided at that time.

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

Sinon lifted her face to look directly at the wilderness, she could see Dyne's group of five moving closer to the fallen building between the target and her. The distance between those two groups had been reduced to about 700 meters. She returned her right eye to the scope, and waited for Dyne's instructions.

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

"- We are at our position."

"Understood. The enemy's course and speed did not change. They are 400m from you, and 1500m from me."

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

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

"... Good. Begin sniping."

"Understood."

After the brief exchange, Sinon became quiet as her right index finger moved to the large trigger guard.

In the wilderness through the scope, the first target, the man with the Minimi on his shoulder, continued to walk and chat as usual.

In last week's battle, Sinon was not a sniper, she used an a.s.sault 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 a.s.sault rifles, that's even more true. However, sniping at long range distance of over 1000 meters, the Bullet Circle is usually several times of a man in size. Currently in Sinon's view, the 30% accuracy size is already a miracle.

- But.

Sinon whispered in her heart.

This pressure, anxiety, terror is to what kind of extent. Distance of 1500? That is just like throwing a ball of paper into the wastebasket. Yes - Compared to that time.

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

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

The Bullet Circle change cycle slowed down all at once. At the same time her feeling of time extended, she could clearly tell the instant when the circle was at its smallest size.

One... Two... At the third shrinking circle, when it pointed to the heart of the man carrying the Minimi, Sinon pulled the trigger.

A roar similar to thunder shook the world.

From Hecate II's front side muzzle brake, a huge flame erupted, the released bullet cut through the gun sound and moved forward. The recoil shock pushed Sinon and the rifle back, her two feet braced as she withstood the impact.

At the other end of the reticule, maybe he noticed the muzzle flash, the man turned his head this way. His sight crossed with Sinon who was peering through the scope - At that instant, the man's chest to his shoulders, including his head, became tiny object fragments and disappeared. A bit later, the rest of his body broke like a gla.s.s 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 sh.e.l.l was ejected, which disappeared after hitting the rock beside.

While loading the next round of ammunition, Sinon s.h.i.+fted her rifle slightly to the right, the second target, the large man with the cloak was within her scope. The man's goggle covered face was looking straight this way. Aiming a bit above that body, her trigger finger tighten slightly. The green Bullet Circle appeared again, instantly shrinking to a dot.

Only three seconds had pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sist. If the player has high reaction, high AGI, and enough courage, he can evade more than 50% of the a.s.sault rifle continuously fired bullets from 50 meters.

A sniper cla.s.s'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 s.p.a.ce 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.