Sword Art Online - Volume 5 - Phantom Bullet

  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 were to withdraw, she expected that nobody would complain. After all, she had carried out the objective she was commanded to perform as a sniper.

  However, Sinon ran in a straight line toward the battle. She was not thinking of helping her companions. Just that Minigun man’s smile that floated made Sinon’s feet move forward.

  That guy could smile on the battlefield only because he had strength. The play time required to obtain the Minigun, that was similar or rarer than the Hecate. The equipment demanded perseverance to pile on enough STR to be formidable. In addition, t
he courage he had to calmly deal with Sinon’s sniping.

  To fight such an opponent, by killing him, the other too weak me - the always sobbing, immature «Asada Shino» would be extinguished.

  For that alone, she invested herself in this crazy world. Escaping here, then everything accumulated so far would have been in vain.

  Kicking off the dry ground at the highest speed her parameters allowed, tearing through the dusty air, Sinon was at full gallop.

  She moved about on the gravel laden sand, avoiding and jumping over protruding rocks, crumbling walls, and others obstacles, rushing into the battle area in just a few tens of seconds.

  Her AGI parameter was opened full throttle to assist in making a fierce dash in a straight line. She didn’t even slightly consider seeking cover. The enemy group probably already caught Sinon’s approaching figure.

  Compared to the beginning, the two parties’ battle area had shifted significantly. Of course, the ones retreating were Dyne’s group. With the Minigun forcibly providing backup with strafing fire, the enemy group’s vanguard was pressing the distance steadily. In order to escape the effective range of the optical guns, the four people, including Dyne, were constantly falling back, moving from cover to cover.

  Rushing straight into the wilderness to escape was no longer possible. If their figures were exposed, they’ll be instantly bathed in the Minigun’s bullets like a waterfall and honeycombed. Moreover, the concrete wall Dyne and the others now entrusted their backs to was mostly missing in their escape route. That only left the remains of the more than half collapsed building that their initial approach utilized. If they fled there, they would just be trapped like rats in a bag.

  Sinon, who instantly understood the situation, tried to jump into the shadow of the wall where Dyne and the others were taking a breather. At that moment, three thin red lines of light appeared right in front of Sinon.

  “Ku…”

  Clenching her teeth, she entered an evasive stance. These are trajectory lines from the enemy attackers that use Laser Blasters.

  First, Sinon lowered her body to the limit and slipped under the first Bullet Line. Immediately after, precisely tracing the line overhead, a pale blue heat ray scorched the space. Before her eyes, the second Bullet Line extended. She kicked the ground with her right foot using all her strength and jumped, her body danced in the air. A laser passed right by her abdomen, and for a moment her vision went white.

  The third Bullet Line crossed slightly above Sinon’s jumping path. She shrunk her head as much as possible to avoid the incoming heat ray, but the tip of her thin blue short-cut hair was slightly touched by the ray, with a cracking sound light particles dispersed.

  Somehow managing to avoid the continuous Laser Blaster fire, Sinon landed on the ground, in front of her eyes -

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

  No mistake, this is the Minigun’s Bullet Line. A few tenths of second later, that storm like burst attack would come.

  Sinon whipped her body that was paralyzed by fear, she bent her right foot that just touched ground, and again jumped with all her strength. She turned her body in the air, at the top of the high jump her body was laying flat.

  Right after, a gale of energy waves passed by, barely below her back, where she felt its turbulence. After the cluster of shining white live ammo passed by her view, another part of the broken wall of the ruined building a little distance away was blown apart.

  Just before her back landed on the sandy ground, she turned her body again, landing on hands and legs. At the same time she threw her body forward as hard as she could. After rolling several times, she reached the shadow of the concrete wall where Dyne’s group was hiding.

  The squadron leader stared with consternation at Sinon who suddenly appeared in front of him. No matter if this looked like good intentions, his eyes did not shine with gratitude, just doubt for someone who stuck her head in a deadly place on purpose.

  Dyne soon turned his face, looking at the assault rifle in his hands. His muttered voice, sounded low.

  “…Those bastards, they called a bodyguard.”

  “Bodyguard?”

  “You do not know? He’s that Minigun user. He is called «Behemoth», a brainy muscular guy that is based in the north continent. He is hired as protection-like things by squadrons with money but no perseverance.”

  That is a way more respectable play style than yours, Sinon thought, but of course didn’t say it. Instead, she turned to look the three attackers beyond Dyne, who stuck their heads once in a while out of cover to fire blankly at the enemy group. She said in a volume that barely reach their whole group.

  “If we continue hiding like this we will be wiped out soon. - The Minigun’s remaining bullets is a bit dubious, if everyone attack at the same time he will just mow us down without any concern. We have to eliminate that option. The two with SMG go left, Dyne and I will go around right side, M4 stay here for backup…”

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

  “…It won’t work, there are three Blaster users left. If we rush in the defense shield effect will…”

  “Blaster continuous fire rate is slower than live ammo guns, we can avoid half.”

  “Impossible!”

  Dyne repeated stubbornly and shook his head.

  “Rushing in will get you blown away by the Minigun anyway. …Although it is regrettable, let’s give up. If you are too proud to see them win, then logout here….”

  Even if you logout in a neutral field, you won’t disappear immediately. Your avatar without soul will stay there for a few minutes, vulnerable to being attacked. The probability is low, but weapon or armor random drop could happen.

  Thus far, she thought that the leader’s retreat timing was way too early, but with this kind of desperation, not mentioning a child’s temper, she had never thought he would make that kind of proposal. Sinon stared while half dumbfounded at Dyne’s supposedly veteran soldier’s face.

  At the moment, Dyne showed his teeth and shouted.

  “What, don’t take the game so seriously! Either way is the same, even if we rush we will die in vain…”

  “Then die!”

  On reaction, Sinon shouted her reply.

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

  Really, why should she say that kind of thing to a man that’s just a target. Before that, it meant she would be cutting ties with this squadron.

  While part of her heart was thinking that, she took Dyne’s camouflage jacket collar and forcefully pulled it. At the same time, she quickly said to the remaining wide eyed three.

  “Three seconds will be fine, get the Minigun’s attention, I will finish him with Hecate.”

  “…Un, understood.”

  The man with goggles on his green hair struggled for a long time then finally responded, and the remaining two team members nodded.

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

  Sinon pushed the sulking Dyne’s hip, and they moved to the shelter’s end point. She took her sidearm MP7 from her left waist, and started a countdown with hand sign.

  Three… two… one,

  “GO!!”

  At the same time, she kicked the ground hard and entered one second ahead, the battlefield where continuous death awaited.

  At that moment, a few Bullet Lines appeared in front of her. She lowered her body, while sliding to avoid them, the enemy group entered her field of view.

  In front to the right, behind a wall about twenty meters ahead, were two people with Laser Blasters. A bit to the left was another. The Minigun man «Behemoth» was in the center about ten meters behind them, he was aiming for her teammates that went out from the left.

  While Sinon was running to the right, she aimed the MP7 in her left hand at the Blaster users. Pressing the trigger slightly made a Bullet Circle show up, there was no way she could control her heart rate, it pulsed
around the men’s bodies.

  Even so she fired. She felt the recoil shock that was nothing compared to Hecate II in her palm, and she emptied the 20 round magazine of 4.6mm bullets in one go.

  The reckless counterattack made them panic, and the two Blaster users tried to hide behind the wall, but a few bullets still hit their bodies. It was not enough to drop their HP to zero, but it would buy her a few seconds of time.

  “Dyne! Support me!”

  Sinon shouted and threw herself on the ground, at the same time removing Hecate II from her back and holding it in her two hands. She didn’t have time to extend its two leg stand. Enduring its terrible weight, she peered through the scope.

  As it was still set on low magnification, she could see all of Behemoth’s upper body. That face instantly turned to look her way, Sinon pulled the trigger without waiting for the Bullet Circle to shrink.

  A roar and certain kill flash tore through the space - it passed by right next to Behemoth’s head. The attack blew away the goggles from Behemoth’s head, turning into powder and disappearing.

  She missed - !

  Sinon bit her lips and was going to stand up, then her vision in the scope crossed with Behemoth. Behemoth who exposed his real face, his two grey eyes were blazing with light, his lips had another fearless smile on it.

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

  Impossible to avoid, she instantly came to the conclusion. From her prostrated firing position, getting up and jumping left or right, there’s no time for that.

  At least, face the gun muzzle - .

  Follow her own words, Sinon stood up and looked straight at Behemoth. Suddenly, a few places in that huge body, “Papaa!” sound with light burst.

  It was Dyne. While kneeling with one leg on the ground and holding his assault rifle, he fired with high accuracy. In this situation, at this distance, the fact that he can score so many hits means no matter what his personality was, his skills were amazing, while thinking that Sinon jumped with all her might to her right side. Right after, the place she had just been was cut with tens of rounds of bullet storm.