NOVEL WEB Chapter 137 - Meet Yoo Jin
Chapter 137 Meet Yoo Jin
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“…I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.”
From the top of a fairly high building, beyond the shattered glass, hair could be seen.
Blonde hair, tangled and messy, mixed with stone dust, various debris, and even small glass shards. Blue eyes looked out over the chaos that stretched to the horizon.
The harbor was a mess. Enormous cranes, which were so large they were hard to estimate, were bent like twisted candy and stuck in the waterway. Containers, each weighing around 10 tons, had scattered as if blown away by the wind.
Buildings closest to the blast were either destroyed or had collapsed. It was a scene that could be aptly described as a wasteland. Over 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate had exploded, shattering everything in the vicinity.
Before the ship exploded and spilled into the waterway, propane gas and lithium-ion batteries had been released in advance, acting as a sort of booster. The dust explosion caused by powdered sugar scattered everywhere was enough to trigger the otherwise insensitive ammonium nitrate.
The combined chemical reaction forced the remaining 24 people to completely reconsider their plans.
‘So, if we’ve made it this far, confirm there are no enemies nearby, enter the building, and wait for the next kill zone.’
‘But there’s no building?’
‘What?’
It was something like that.
Although there was no one to give real-time feedback now… I could easily imagine them thinking, ‘We’ve made it this far, but the building we planned to use… isn’t here?’ Everyone must be thinking the same thing.
Of course, I had similar thoughts, which was why I was standing here. But I was better off than the others because there was an endless stream of kill logs floating above the UI. All with my name on them.
I hadn’t expected to encounter such a situation in KSM, but the world is truly unpredictable.
“So… where should I go now?”
As the game reached its latter stages, I had to re-enter the ruins I had created.
After running for my life to avoid dying from the aftershock, I had evacuated to a point 1.1 kilometers from the blast center in just five minutes, but today’s kill zone seemed to favor the center.
It didn’t feel great.
Victory wasn’t certain, but after causing such a situation, I had to do that much to ensure the other players wouldn’t gang up on me once the match ended. Though the aftershock in an event match was a bit scary….
“Wow, there’s nothing intact.”
The explosion had been so powerful that there was hardly anything left standing. The glass windows had long been shattered, and vehicles were thrown around by the blast, making them hard to find.
I found an off-road buggy in decent condition waiting in a hangar. I opened the door and carefully sped over the broken asphalt. The surroundings were bright, but the remnants of the mushroom cloud still lingered.
With few people left, Tanhauser felt like a dead city. Or maybe I had killed it? Thinking that made me feel a bit like a legend. The culprit was driving down the road, while the victims were stuck in the lobby.
The circle was closing towards the penultimate phase.
Even while moving, about twenty people were left, but only seventeen remained now. Normally, there would be at least thirty left, making the situation feel more intense.
The vehicle screeched to a halt.
The area where the unloaded containers were stacked was in complete disarray due to the sonic boom. The containers, stacked haphazardly, seemed unstable and shook as if they could collapse at any moment.
A sinister hissing sound. Some containers seemed to be on fire, having already exploded, and others were leaking ammonium nitrate from their torn sides.
Thinking about it… why did I come here? This place was full of explosives.
A cold, ominous wind blew.
At the same time, a massive explosion erupted nearby.
───Boom!
“Ugh…!”
I almost screamed.
It seemed like the foul smell around me was due to leaking propane gas. The gas had ignited on the ground and spread to a container with a tank, causing it to explode.
Fortunately, the explosion occurred more than 50 meters away from me. I leaned against a container, trying to figure out what had happened.
Crushed containers were once again scattered everywhere, and the ground was ablaze. The smell of burnt sugar from melted powdered sugar, and the bright red flames from lithium-ion batteries igniting at over 1,000 degrees.
It seemed coming here wasn’t the best choice.
As I thought that and started to move,
───Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ugh!”
Even with the nanomachine barrier blocking it, the impact felt as if it was crushing the hit area. The penetration power was extraordinary.
Through the flames, I saw a faint white silhouette. I immediately responded with a full magazine, and the figure dodged. Reloading, I checked the nanomachine reserves. Although the head wasn’t hit, a third of it was already depleted.
It didn’t seem like the enemy was hit much. So, I could predict their next move. They would try to close the distance.
After reloading, I aimed at the same spot again. Through the blue eyes, I saw the sight.
One figure was advancing through the flames.
“Ugh…!”
A scream or sigh escaped automatically.
The enemy, advancing through the flaming tongue, had blue eyes that made it unnecessary to guess who they were.
It was her.
I felt like prey in front of a predator. Advancing heavily with an MK18 Mjölnir mounted on a shield, like a Juggernaut, was none other than Yoo Jin.
The graceful, agile tail moving behind the shield proved her unique avatar unmistakably.
I had to kill her here.
[Notification: Seeker Mine activated.]
[Notification: Sticky Bomb Launcher Shock used.]
The seeker mine rolled out.
I mounted the gun on a drum, firing bursts with my right hand while aiming the shock-equipped sticky bomb launcher with my left. After aiming, I fired. The shock bomb stuck to the shield that had blocked numerous bullets, making a sizzling sound.
At that moment, the seeker mine leaped into the air, scattering five sub-munitions. But somehow, Yoo Jin managed to block more than three-quarters of the explosion with her shield.
There was no time to rest. Reloading was unnecessary. I pulled three grenades from the spot. The grenades’ pins were connected to a fishing line, so they were fully armed as soon as they were pulled out.
I threw two with both hands, then threw the remaining one with my left hand. The fuses were adjusted, so they exploded with tremendous noise without any cooking. But Yoo Jin blocked them all with her shield in good timing.
However, before she could block the last one, the shield shattered, and she retreated significantly damaged.
I failed to finish her off.
“Damn it, seriously…!”
Her eerie gaze could be seen through the chaos.
The look I met before hiding behind the container. Though hard to describe, that gaze seemed to say,
‘I’m here to settle the score for the explosion.’
It felt like it was time for reckoning.
“Ah, and now we have a fight! Yoo Jin emerges through the flames and debris, locking eyes with Dice! The living natural disaster and the dark horse of this round, the master and the disciple! They face each other in KSM for the first time after climbing through the ranks!”
Holy crap, Yoo Jin and Dice are fighting!!!!!!!!!!!!
Woah, woah, woah, lolololololol
Get the chicken, pizza, beer, damn it!!!!
This is amazing, lololololol
The highlights never end! The highlights never end! The highlights never end! The highlights never end! The highlights never end!
The endless cheers echoed.
The deafening roar made my ears ring and my voice hoarse. The big match, which happened only two rounds into the Korea Selection Match, was a massive event that even those uninterested in the game couldn’t ignore.
The hosts, who personally boosted the excitement and lit the fuse, were also brimming with near-madness. The more they spoke, the more excited they became, raising their voices continuously.
Already, four or five screens floated in front of everyone.
The perspectives of Dice and Yoo Jin, the bullet trajectories, and cameras capturing the overall movement of the two, leaving only minimal cams for other views, were a gamble to show the most detailed and diverse battles.
The viewers didn’t know, but those adjusting the cams in real-time were working under great tension if Dice got overwhelmed too easily, it wouldn’t be satisfying compared to the attention drawn.
Fortunately, Dice and Yoo Jin didn’t disappoint the viewers.
───Drdrdrdrdr!
The small-caliber high-speed bullets and the brutally powerful Lapua Magnum rounds clashed multiple times. The .338 pierced through the container Dice used for cover, and the interior started heating up. The lithium-ion battery had been punctured and was heating up.
In between, dozens of subtle tactics exchanged unnoticed by ordinary people. Dice poured out skills as cooldowns allowed, while Yoo Jin silently took hits, dodged, and occasionally returned fire.
The longer it went on, the more everyone realized one thing.
“Ah, Dice maintains strict distance no matter the situation! Keeping thorough distance! We wonder if she can recreate the disciple surpassing the master here! It’s a sharp confrontation of pure intellects with no instinctual interference!”
It wasn’t meaningless firepower projection. The appropriately allocated firepower frustrated Yoo Jin’s breakthroughs one by one.
Dice pinpointed the points where the seeker mine was intercepted to continually track Yoo Jin’s position and kept pulling her out with area explosions to prevent her from staying in one spot. However, Yoo Jin
minimized her area and kept maneuvering, refusing to be easily taken down.
Dice, honed as a soldier rather than a pro-gamer, wielded her blade precisely, despite still being a bit lacking. This was her tribute to Yoo Jin.
But Yoo Jin had an overwhelming advantage an unapproachable gap in firepower that she could wield more skillfully than any other player here.
If Dice’s bullets were jabs, the Lapua Magnum fired by the MK18 Mjölnir was a hook or a straight punch. Wherever it hit, it tore through the barrier. The power was sufficient to crush the enemy head-on, and Yoo Jin chose straightforward pressure over unnecessary mind games.
Thus, Dice, seemingly having the upper hand, found herself in life-threatening situations due to a single misjudgment multiple times.
‘This won’t work….’
Her mind was already racing.
But after countless thoughts, the only conclusion was that she would be worn down and killed. To put it bluntly, Yoo Jin was still a giant wall, and running away seemed the only way to survive.
Dice prioritized practicality over pride.
She pulled out a grenade without hesitation.
───Ping!
Of course, it wasn’t aimed at Yoo Jin.
“Ah, Dice suddenly throws a grenade… not at Yoo Jin but at the surrounding containers! What’s going on! She’s not aiming at Yoo Jin but at the objects around whoa!”
Boom!
The thrown grenade exploded, punching hundreds of holes in the wall and penetrating the battery inside, causing another fire and explosion with the propane gas cluster, turning the terrain into chaos again.
Of course, it was all intentional.
Dice ran through the depot, now showered with red-hot metal fragments, got into the buggy she had parked appropriately, and stepped on the accelerator, escaping the area.
The ominous ricochet sounds echoed around her, but Dice managed to escape the area a personal defeat, but a strategic victory. As long as she stayed alive, there would always be another chance.
Meanwhile, about 100 meters away, Yoo Jin added with a small smile.
“See you in a few minutes.”
And those words became a reality.
Less than ten minutes later, Dice was ejected to the lobby with three skulls and a second-place trophy.
There was no miracle.
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