NOVEL WEB Ch. 29
Chapter 29
All three of them are equipped with Wings, mid-range weapons, and sabers. High-mobility balancers, I guess.
With three of them, I can just barely handle the tension. Not at my best, but my body will still move.
"Golden Triangle, activate!"
"Roger, sis!"
"Roger."
They drop their cloaks, activate their Wings, and back away from me.
Placing me at the center of the triangle, they intend to keep the optimal distance using Wing mobility while concentrating fire.
"""Delta Fire!!!"""
I fend off the encircling barrage using the laser-reflective crystals and Shield Pieces as shields. I aim at the nearest enemy with my assault rifle, but they block it easily with Shield Pieces.
(Nice coordination. Not too close, not too far—they're keeping me pinned dead-center in the triangle. Without cover, I would've lost already.)
Moreover,
(They've got the bullet ricochet angles off the crystals figured out too. Even if I hide in a crystal blind spot, they hit me with ricochets.)
But the ricochets aren't that precise. They can control one bounce, but after the second it's basically pot luck.
I slip behind a crystal pillar. Ahead of me is an upward slope of crystal that can cover my front and rear.
"......Ricochet won't beat me."
I rapid-fire laser rounds from behind the pillar toward the crystal slope ahead. The laser rounds reflect off the slope and head toward the enemy.
Target: Beta. After one bounce the round strikes four crystal pillars around Beta and bounces again. The laser round ricochets from pillar to pillar, or from pillar to ground, closing in on Beta from every direction.
A one-man encircling barrage using three ricochets—Octagon Fire—she can't possibly react.
"Beta!" "Sis Beta!"
"I can't block it all!!"
Bullets hit Beta's head and legs. But they only shaved off about 20 durability. Still,
(Her feet stopped moving.)
I leap out from behind the pillar. The other two swing their guns toward me to cover Beta, so I scatter laser rounds at the crystals near them. The laser rounds ricochet repeatedly, striking the hands holding their guns.
"What the—this guy...!"
"Ricochets to nail our hands...!"
With assault-rifle ricochets I destroy Beta's Wings, further restricting her movement. The instant Beta, robbed of mobility, raises Shield Pieces to fortify her defense—
(Here!!)
I draw the G-AGE with my right hand and fire. The bullet pierces Beta's Shield Pieces and drills through her chest.
"The shield... penetrated!?"
Beta is deleted. My chips jump by 40,000.
(So when you PK someone, you get their chips. Given that the death penalty is half your chips, you probably steal half of what the defeated opponent was carrying.)
I see. A lot of things make sense now.
(This place is crawling with Machine World Beasts that drop money. That's why there are so many thieves. A bandit gang that hunts newbie players who've earned cash, efficiently collecting chips. That's why Sheena-san warned me. "Don't rely on your radar," she said, "sometimes the difficulty is higher than listed.")
In most games, dungeon difficulty is calculated based on the monsters and traps present. Other players aren't factored in.
"How dare you!!"
Alpha, losing her composure, charges in with a saber in one hand. Straight line. I duck under Alpha's horizontal slash, clamp the G-AGE between my teeth, and rapid-fire with the assault rifle in both hands. Alpha thinks she's dodging the bullets, but she's caught by the scattered laser rounds, her whole body's durability chipped away, her right Wing damaged. She crashes to the ground.
"U-unbelievable. How long did it take us to get used to these reflecting crystals...!!"
If all they can manage is one bounce... they never should've relied on ricochets. By using ricochets so poorly, they've taught me the reflection angles of these crystals.
Now I can calculate up to four bounces.
I press the G-AGE under Alpha's chin.
"—Drop your money and vanish."
"!? "
I fire. Her head and jaw are blown away.
Alpha deleted. Chips gained: 70,000.
"One more left..."