NOVEL WEB Chapter 143 - Imitation
Chapter 143 Imitation
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“DICE has quickly secured two kills! She turned the unfavorable situation around through two rounds of advanced psychological warfare, taking down her opponents! She truly embodies the essence of another Apex Predator, showing diverse playstyles depending on the time and place!”
Oh shit, lolololololol
This one is really good when you look closely
Wow, adjusting the grenade’s explosion timing is art, lolololol
Yoo Jin’s disciple! Yoo Jin’s disciple! Yoo Jin’s disciple! Yoo Jin’s disciple! Yoo Jin’s disciple! Yoo Jin’s disciple!
Her kill-catching ability is insane, lol
After the sharp claws of Yoo Jin slashed through the first cycle and disappeared, the second stage of the match began in earnest. With someone who should not have been included in the competition now gone, the real competition had commenced.
For viewers accustomed to the super plays constantly shown by someone with a snake’s tail, this must have been a tragedy of epic proportions. But for the remaining 99 KSM participants, this was when they finally started to breathe easier.
The first cycle, almost set up for Yoo Jin’s preferential selection, had passed. Now, the remaining contestants who survived her pressure began to fight for the nineteen available spots.
Some could have climbed to the top but faced the so-called unavoidable disaster of meeting Yoo Jin, while others couldn’t show their skills due to pure luck or were relatively unnoticed in the shadow of super plays.
With Yoo Jin’s disappearance, all these factors converged, creating a new kind of chaos different from before.
Nonetheless, the person who created such a ruckus was no longer present. This meant that numerous skilled players who had been overshadowed by her began to engage in fierce competition.
Among them was DICE, naturally.
“This year’s SSM is truly extraordinary! At this moment, DICE’s total points stand at 41, making her the user with the highest chance of early selection, right after Yoo Jin!”
However, it was unfortunately true that DICE did not possess the overwhelming skill Yoo Jin had. In other words, she had to overcome numerous deadly obstacles to reach the top.
It was somewhat expected that DICE, Yoo Jin’s direct disciple, would rise after Yoo Jin’s shadow receded, but it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. It meant attracting a lot of attention.
How she endured this would determine her path. Would she climb higher faster, or be frustrated at the threshold and hold the Asian preliminaries ticket on the final day, Sunday?
At least, according to Yoo Jin’s predictions and her teachings, DICE had to be the former.
She had to do at least that much.
“…This seems familiar.”
Meanwhile.
The only player leisurely watching the match, Yoo Jin, chuckled as she looked at the screen. It was only natural. Most of the people here would consider DICE’s play just an ordinary mind game — even Blue Ming.
The reason was simple: an almost identical battle had occurred in a scrim hosted by Xi in the past.
The first encounter between Yoo Jin and DICE.
To her back then, it must have felt like a strong slap on the back of her head. However, as always, good people grow through mistakes — and in that sense, DICE was undoubtedly a good player.
Returning to the battle, although the mechanism and progression might differ slightly, the basic gist was the same. Lure the enemy using some method, lead them into a pre-prepared trap, and reduce the TTK (time to kill) extremely.
What I taught was roughly that. Don’t hold the enemy for long. The longer you drag it out, the more chances they have to escape or find an opportunity.
If she were to come back, I might have something to say.
───Scribble, scribble.
Of course, I didn’t forget my duty even amidst this.
I pulled out a sheet of paper from the air and linked it with the typewriter. With each movement of my fingers, the quill pen moved furiously, writing numerous letters on the paper. Naturally, these were comprehensive evaluations of DICE.
The analysis engine, created to reveal every detail about a player, was working hard at this point, allowing me to easily obtain real-time information about DICE’s MOA, used firearms, recoil characteristics, and movement routes.
Technology is truly wonderful.
There were no significant mistakes. Conversely, this meant that at this point, very detailed and subtle differences were important. The content on the paper also didn’t deviate much from that area.
A bit faster.
A bit sharper.
A bit more precise.
Without a mindset akin to an actual battlefield, betting one’s life, it was impossible to break through the thin but thick ceiling. I measured that gap precisely.
My typing was intermittent.
While displaying five or six windows showing DICE’s plays on one side, I extracted and compressed only the essence of what I could teach. Anyway, this was knowledge that wouldn’t matter if shared with others.
It wasn’t something I obtained because I wanted it.
───Click! Click! Click! Click!
───Clack!
In the midst of writing for a long time, the sudden metallic sound grated on my nerves. It wasn’t because it was unpleasant. Rather, it was a sound I remembered, one I could recall on this map.
Recalling the source of the low, long metallic sound in an instant, I rolled my eyes and slowly shifted my gaze.
A faint sigh followed.
“No, why try to imitate even that….”
DICE.
On the screen, she was loading 50-caliber rounds, the size of a board marker, into a box-type magazine.
“Oof, how can anyone carry this…!”
That person is not human.
Nor normal.
As soon as several magazines, totaling over 17 kg, were added to her back, the weight so heavy it made her want to jump around crazily enveloped her entire body. The weight displayed on the upper right UI instantly jumped to almost 40 kg.
Luckily, it wasn’t physically exhausting. Since there were still corrections in place, it only made her movements slightly sluggish, not breathless. However, seeing the stamina gauge on the right side deplete so much with just a bit of movement….
How much would this weigh?
“Ugh, it feels like I’ve been to the gym.”
Being a woman herself, she had once gone to the gym for body management — not that she didn’t go anymore.
Recalling the past… the power racks placed all around the gym provided by the team, and the bars neatly placed on them. Once, she had tinkered with them without knowing anything, without adding any plates. Of course, she suffered from muscle pain the next day.
She learned that the bar alone weighed 20 kg a few days later.
Anyway, back to the point, according to that logic, she started the match with a 20 kg barbell strapped to her back.
“…Damn, I should ditch this if I find another gun later.”
She ended up picking it up because the Barrett kept catching her eye, but maybe this was like a crow following a stork and tearing its legs.
How could that mad Yoo Jin carry military gear weighing over 50 kg and run around in-game for more than 20 minutes?
Moreover, looking at her expression back then, she had run around for a long time, stopped, and without showing any signs of breathlessness, emptied two magazines on the spot. She disassembled two Juggernauts like that.
Of course, it was something she could never do. Even now, she wondered if she picked it up for nothing — the problem was that the other guns she had used so far were not in good shape either. And she had resolved to get used to high-powered guns just a while ago, so she couldn’t back out already.
Let’s try to get used to it, at least.
Naturally, as the weight of the gear increased, her overall strategy also had to change. Originally, she planned to quickly ascend to the upper floors to secure key terrain, but now, with her mobility being so poor, that plan was naturally abandoned.
Moreover, that strategy was based on moving around a lot. Besides, if the terrain was breached, she had to evacuate quickly, which was impossible carrying such heavy equipment.
With vigilance, she entered the large simulation room. Simply put, it was a huge training room. The settings of this place changed every round, and today, there were various temporary structures along a slope reminiscent of a ski slope.
[Notice: Juggernaut deployment increase. This area will soon be designated as a patrol reserve area. Please carry appropriate identification.]
“What a timing.”
As I said many times, AP’s kill zones guaranteed almost immediate death and those that didn’t — these were two types. Naturally, this map was the former. Just approaching would get you mowed down by a minigun, so there was no way around it.
Thus, players in this map tended to stay as far away from the kill zone as possible. Especially since not all kill zones were the same, high-value research facilities like this allowed the kill zone to shoot at you, which was insane.
In summary, it meant I had to do my thing and move quickly.
But I had a strategy I wanted to test.
“Up we go.”
I entered a nearby temporary building, pulled a cable from my bag, and tied it firmly to a pillar before throwing it out the building. The distance to the ground was about 11 meters. Simple. It was an escape route.
I brought some dusty tables and other clutter from the building, making them level with the window sill, and then lay on my belly on top of them. It was time to use the Barrett I hadn’t used until now.
So what was this? It was sniping players who would start running away upon hearing the Juggernaut’s approach.
───Clack!
A high-performance Vudu scope mounted on the Picatinny rail. The clear, pleasant crosshair gazed beyond the window sill. I considered firing a test shot for bullet speed and drop, but it was practically crazy, so I gave up.
I trusted my past self. I had shot this gun before — mainly thanks to Yoo Jin — and if I couldn’t hit with this, I could always go back and take a Barrett training course from that person later. It was all about relying on memory.
I ignored the warning sounds from the ceiling. I would leave this place the moment the Juggernaut came into view.
“…Hah.”
Breathing regularly, I checked the PDA. 33 seconds until the Juggernaut’s arrival. Sirens rotating on the far wall and the occasional gunfire. Flashes erupted here and there. It was a fight between those trying to leave and those blocking them.
Checking the magazine. Four 10-round magazines. I had carried this heavy load here for this exact moment. With the laser rangefinder showing a maximum distance of about 113 meters, zeroing was unnecessary.
As I watched the exit direction, a fight began near that area. One player trying to escape and two firing from the windows or rooftops of nearby temporary buildings. I took them all into view.
The target to aim for was the one trying to escape.
Gradually halting my breath, I moved my finger.
A powerful recoil, as if hit by a hammer, surged through my shoulder.
───Bang!
A momentary, breath-stopping impact, followed by a single bullet cutting through the air and hitting the upper body precisely.
The damage was calculated in real-time. The nanosuit barrier shattered completely, and the back armor plate splintered. Indeed, a high-value research facility. Few places dropped such sturdy armor.
The enemy tumbled to the ground but quickly tried to get up and run away….
How could this gun be anything but bolt-action?
“Heuh!”
Bang.
The second bullet pierced the air and hit the enemy who had fallen. With the remaining HP evaporating, they turned into a heap of items.
The two in the building, who had been preoccupied, noticed and moved almost simultaneously as my crosshair shifted. If they stayed there, the Juggernaut with missile pods would flatten them along with the temporary building, so what could they do?
It was an extreme dilemma. The only consolation for them was that my moving target shooting skills were still terrible — even pro gamers didn’t prefer moving target shooting much.
Knowing this, they immediately ran through different exits. I had to give up on one and aim for the other.
───Bang!
Three bullets fired. Seven remaining.
Missed.
Fired again. Missed again. Slight miscalculation in distance. Three more shots, with only one hitting. Not a bad result, but….
A fleeting teaching crossed my mind.
‘If tracking aim is difficult, aim for the predicted movement path first. Like in rhythm games… shoot when the enemy enters the crosshair.’
Click.
As I moved the aim, the bipod shifted, leaving new marks on the table. Twelve seconds until the Juggernaut’s arrival. I had to finish within that time. The enemy probably didn’t have much time either.
The enemy started moving. But the crosshair didn’t follow; it stayed fixed near the entrance, waiting for the prey.
How long had passed?
[Notification: DICE ？？┻┳？？━ INK］
With a crisp breaking sound, the head of the targeted player vanished completely.
A tingling thrill from head to toe, and a smile naturally formed. No wonder the hardcore Barrett enthusiasts stayed on this map.
It felt incredibly satisfying. I felt like I could sleep soundly even if I died today.
Of course,
“Alright then….”
Now I had to figure out how to escape from the Juggernaut with the missile launcher, who was now staring at me through the scope.
Damn.
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