I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 135 – Fuze On

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It was common knowledge that the power of a gun using larger bullets was stronger.

However, the world always operated on the principle of equivalent exchange. In other words, more powerful bullets had their own drawbacks.

They were heavy.

They had strong recoil.

They couldn’t be standardized for supply.

They were long.

Their usage was limited…

And these drawbacks were even more pronounced among special forces.

The heaviness and strong recoil reduced operational endurance. The inability to standardize supply was disliked by the supply unit, and the length made proper CQB difficult. However, the most significant reason why they couldn’t be used as the main weapon was their limited usage.

Even if they trained with various firearms or to perform missions that only guns firing large and heavy bullets could handle, it was safe to say that no one carried them as their main weapon.

But everything changed with the start of the pandemic and the emergence of rogue operators.

───Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Aaah!”

The lack of physical strength and operational endurance was compensated by devices. Protection was achieved through nanomachines. Recoil control was also achieved through the sophisticated absorption system of the ICARUS gear.

As everyone began to carry shields, the spears had to become heavier and sharper than before. Unfortunately, those who were skilled but insisted on the 5.56mm small-caliber high-velocity rounds were the first to fall victim to these heavier spears.

It didn’t take long for the most trusted bullets that took the lives of enemies like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIL to become just one option among many.

There were situations that the 5.56mm NATO rounds couldn’t handle one by one. When the nanomachine barriers were activated, even the most vulnerable part, the head, couldn’t be penetrated without at least three hits.

Operators who betrayed their mission of protecting their homeland and turned rogue proved the efficiency of combining higher-caliber bullets with ICARUS gear through the blood of their comrades.

And among the ICARUS operators who overcame these drawbacks, I was the one who most supported the high firepower of usable firearms, except for the supply issue.

Anyway, the reason I’m saying this is.

───Boom!

Whether it was close, medium, or long-range, assuming you could handle such firearms including recoil control, the firepower gap in a 1:1 situation was more important than anything in operator combat.

Naturally, each gun had slightly different usage methods. However, if you had the capability, the gap in usage methods gradually narrowed, and even what might seem unreasonable usage became justifiable.

For example, using the Mk.18 Mjölnir in close combat like now.

─Boom!

It might be tiresome because it appeared so often, but this gun was the one I used the most in the past. It was one of the guns that could take down enemy units the fastest in New York, where unmanned drones that could turn a person into a rag within a second were overflowing.

Even Fallen, the rogue operator, couldn’t escape the outcome. No matter how many traps he set and how many subordinates he deployed to block, once hit by this gun, he was sent to the netherworld in one shot. Or in America, would it be the River Styx?

But even if he appeared directly, it didn’t matter much because,

“Ugh!”

Thud.

Once hit, a chunk of the nanomachine supply was blown away.

The enemy I was chasing could no longer move to escape. If I had been using an assault rifle firing 5.56mm rounds, he might have sacrificed the barrier to escape, but this gun imposed a new rule: “If hit, you die.”

The burden of not being hit even once, while even escaping, had to deplete the enemy’s strength.

However, this might sound a bit arrogant, but I was more confident in shooting than anyone else.

─[Warning: Enemy seeker mine approaching.]

But the opponent also wasn’t just taking hits. As soon as the skill cooldown returned, they used it. If they had thrown it into the air, I would have intercepted it, but they rolled it sneakily from an invisible angle.

The remaining nanomachine supply wasn’t plentiful. While it was possible to take it head-on, that was a last resort. I had to prepare for other things, so I decided to destroy it myself despite the effort.

After adjusting the LPVO magnification, I shot down the approaching seeker mine at a tremendous speed, causing a massive firestorm. It seemed to have chosen the incendiary type rather than just a seeker mine.

Meanwhile, a figure jumped out from behind a vehicle. Craftily dragging a ballistic shield on the ground so as not to show even a foot, they ran with all their might. The scraping sound on the asphalt was unpleasant to hear.

As expected of KSM, their tricks were top-notch. If the distance were a bit further, I’d inevitably miss them.

Conversely, it meant that wasn’t the case now.

───Tap!

I ran.

I ran with all my might.

At the same time, I aimed at the ballistic shield and fired. Ignoring the heavy vibration piercing through my shoulder, I fired with the intention of unloading all remaining bullets. Fiercely, so they couldn’t retrieve the shield and suddenly counterattack.

By the time I had exhausted two 15-round magazines and was reloading the third, the enemy hurled the almost destroyed shield at me and began firing back.

They seemed to have figured out how many rounds were left in a magazine.

However, the enemy was firing backward while running, meaning the hit rate couldn’t be expected to be high. And my remaining nanomachine supply could handle a few unlucky hits.

Reloading was finished.

It was time to skewer the enemy.

“Ugh!”

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

Rapidly slowing down, I lowered myself and took a shooting stance. Simultaneously, I fired five times. The enemy fell on the spot, writhing as if dancing with a strange groan. The Lapua Magnum was too powerful for the human body’s soft tissues.

If it were high-penetration rounds, the damage might not have been great, and the battle could have continued, but the rounds I acquired shortly after the engagement started weren’t good. However, this led to increased damage.

The enemy turned into a pile of items. The kill log appeared. Michael of Reaper Infected.

This was my second kill.

“…You seem to have quite a bad relationship with shields.”

Looking back, he was the one who was thrown with a shield at the Aurora Power Plant near the Arctic Ocean in the past. As expected of KSM, I encountered many familiar faces.

There wasn’t much I needed. Fortunately, I didn’t use grenades, and the only bleeding was from using a lot of bullets. However, it was easy to replenish supplies by rummaging through the pile of items.

After pouring bullets into the automatic loader attached to my bag and combining the magazines, a fully loaded magazine was completed with a click. Of course, if looting didn’t go well and I didn’t have a bag, I’d have to load each one by hand.

─[Notice: 20 seconds until the field shrinks.]

“It’s time to go….”

Landing in the outer area, there weren’t many enemies or items.

The kill zone was approaching soon. I had to move.

As soon as I stepped on the accelerator, I felt a heavy vibration from the seat. With a rumbling sound, the vehicle’s wheels began to roll — it was time to move from the outskirts to the center. There was no more business here.

Today’s lesson was about dealing with enemies through pure shooting skills.

Featuring KSM.

The Dark Zone was, in a way, simple, and the Apex Predator mode was even simpler. Just aim and shoot all visible enemies, and repeat the process until you can no longer — in other words, until you’re the last one standing.

But if there was a problem with this damn game mode, it was that it was new every time, and even the same place felt new. Although this was the direction I chose, wasn’t there a way to just relax and breathe to win first place at least once?

Maybe with this unrealistic delusion, she — Dice, leaned against the wall of a storage room where no one would come anymore, among the pile of items of a past enemy, and sighed as if exhausted.

“Ugh…”

When you’re tired, you don’t think about much.

Just breathing was enough to keep boredom at bay. Because her whole body and nerves were focused on recovering. It had been 15 minutes since it started, and the first engagement as the game entered the mid-late stages was exhausting and tough.

She knew who the enemy was. She almost entirely knew the avatars and styles of professional gamers who were on a similar level to hers, and it wasn’t much different in KSM. But did it have a significant impact on the engagement? Not really.

A tattered nanomachine barrier and barely remaining health.

After injecting herself with a syringe to recover health and packing only the necessary supplies, she went outside. However, the central area wasn’t in a good situation either. The sound of gunfire from all directions was proof.

“The game’s turning out to be really boring.”

It was the unavoidable limitation of the tournament. Death was always a risk bundle, and to avoid such outcomes, except for a few insane individuals, all users had no choice but to play passively.

In the buildings within a few hundred meters… who knows. Probably around 20 people had already taken their positions. Meanwhile, if the kill zone moved strangely, engagements would happen during relocation.

That was the reality of AP. Not always full of exciting battles.

…Thinking about it, I suddenly thought of Yoo Jin. Naturally, it was out of curiosity rather than worry. Since she was considered to belong to the same SSM, we

jumped from the transport plane with at least a 600m gap. She should be doing well on her own.

Then, it’s time to check the next kill zone───

───Tat-tat-tat-tat!

“Ugh!”

A rough, low gun sound. Relatively low RPM. Probably an Eastern Bloc gun. Considering the heaviness of the bullets, it seemed so.

Thus began my hardship. Since I couldn’t identify the firing location, I ran away, but soon heard the clatter and someone jumped out from a building. The area was a giant dock with no place to hide.

Running frantically, I muttered bitterly.

“Damn, I was saving this for later!”

A luckily obtained grappling hook.

Hastily grabbing it from my back, I looked around urgently. Only walls… and a massive container ship and containers tall enough. But nowhere to escape otherwise.

As soon as I fired it, I felt an enormous force from my arm. Then my body floated lightly and was sucked into the air at a tremendous speed. My body didn’t stop until the line was fully retrieved.

Barely landed on top of a container.

But,

───Tat-tat-tat!

“Ugh, there’s more!?”

Did I come to the center too early!?

Fortunately, I could already guess the trajectory of the bullets.

Since it was impossible to fully reproduce the vast structure inside the container ship, many areas were inaccessible, and I was now on top of the container.

The bullets must have come from the ship’s bridge.

Whoever they were, when did they get up there — meaningless thought. In AP, you had to assume there were enemies everywhere.

“Ugh!”

Thud.

Crash.

With a sinister sound, my body slid off the container. A fall of no less than 10 meters. Fortunately, the nanomachine barrier almost nullified the fall damage.

Just a while ago, the previous round was manageable, but why was this round like this? However, before I could think about it, bullets flew from the bridge again. It was absolute chaos.

And then a confirming sound.

─[Notice: Activation of large-scale gate for boarding and unloading cargo.]

─[Notice: Secured. Commencing unloading from now.]

A huge bridge emerged from the side of the ship.

It was firmly fixed to the port. In other words, it was an open bridge centered on the ship, and now — even via vehicles — it meant many people could come and go.

An impending total chaos battle.

Hardly anyone could survive in this situation.

“…Fine. So that’s how you want to play?”

This is what you brought upon yourselves.

Thinking that, I cautiously moved to activate the Revolution Trigger, the only one existing in the port city of Tannhäuser — distracting the user on the bridge and unlocking any container lock nearby.

Yoo Jin and I once analyzed this map in detail, and she told me something quite shocking.

‘Nitric acid ammonium, powdered sugar, lithium batteries, propane gas for welding, and other materials… if they shipped them this way, they’d be called crazy, but maybe because it’s a game.’

‘Fertilizer, sugar, batteries, and gas? Didn’t they just ship them randomly?’

‘It’s too malicious for that. Raw materials for explosives, dust explosion triggers, batteries that can heat over a thousand degrees if the separator is damaged, and flammable gas… what would happen if these mixed slightly on a container ship?’

I vividly remembered that moment.

Yoo Jin, casually saying such things, was quite chilling, but today, it felt rather reassuring.

With a clattering sound, more and more container doors opened. Containers filled with nitric acid ammonium or powdered sugar, piled batteries, and gas canisters stacked without any room to spare.

Order was important.

I opened all the gas canisters until my arms ached. Yoo Jin said propane gas was heavy and would settle on the ground. Gradually, the smell filled the surroundings. Repeating similar work for just three minutes had an enormous effect.

In addition to a few other tasks, I threw some batteries and propane gas canisters into containers filled with nitric acid ammonium and powdered sugar.

Everything was ready.

Precariously standing on the fall-prevention fence, I aimed at a container full of batteries and fired a bullet.

Finally, I threw a grenade, saying,

“Burn in hell, all of you.”

Simultaneously, she jumped down tens of meters into the water and started swimming frantically in the opposite direction — toward a vehicle parked on the other side. According to a video Yoo Jin had shown, the explosive power would be unimaginable.

I had to escape.

A thud accompanied by the sound of an exploding grenade.

It was the moment the fuse connected to something akin to a small tactical nuclear bomb ignited.

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