The Lone Sniper: I Was Just Minding My Own Business Sniping Players, and I Ended Up Becoming a Raid Boss

Chapter 38

"Certainly, having Shiki-san snipe Tsubasa-san would be the quickest and most straightforward way, but......"

"Impossible, totally impossible!" Niko-san says flatly.

"She covers every blind spot with Aegis, so even if you snipe her from behind it'll just get guarded—nyan. And if you try to snipe her from the front she'll react to it, Tsubasa-cchi will."

"I—I know. Um, I haven't mentioned it until now, but I......"

I pull out the M1911 G-AGE.

"I've got an interesting weapon......"

I set the G-AGE on the table and show it to everyone.

"What's so special about that old-era gun?"

"This gun can deal damage while ignoring the target's armor. No matter how sturdy the shield, I can break through!"

"""Wha—!?"""

I unlock the G-AGE's information restriction (data security) so the description becomes visible to the other Space Girls as well. The three read the G-AGE's description and each one looks shocked.

"You—...!"

Niko-san pinches my cheek.

"Why didn't you tell us something this important until now—!!"

"Fw-fwah, m'thorry!"

I never had the courage or the right timing to bring it up!

"May I ask for the detailed specs?"

"Y-yes!"

I explain the details I verified and learned about the G-AGE. Chacha-san is the first to react.

"How interestin'! If you hit a Space Girl's vitals it's an instant kill—super interesting! And it being an actual bullet gun makes it even more excitin'!"

"But this game makes bullet guns pretty hard to use, so landing shots is tough."

"Exactly because bullet guns are weak, that's why we can use them. Few enemies will be on guard against bullet-gun attacks. After all, they're weak. With Shiki-san's skill there's no way you'd miss an unsuspecting target."

Sheena-san looks me in the eye.

"This is truly the natural enemy of a Guardian like Tsubasa-san. We can use it."

I look away.

"Um, about Tsubasa-san... what is that shield, exactly? Its performance is clearly on a whole different level from other weapons......"

I want detailed intel if I'm going to fight Tsubasa-san.

"Come to think of it, I've never explained it in detail."

Sheena-san operates the remote and brings up an image of a giant humanoid robot modeled after a goddess.

"Those six large shields, her main weapons, are collectively called 'Aegis'. She calls all six of them together ComboAegis, or C:Aegis for short. They move freely, are equipped with guns, and the tips can emit laser blades."

Hearing it again, it's still way too strong. And she can control six of them at once—this is bad.

"Of course it's powerful. Obtaining it is extremely difficult. The robot you're seeing now is named Aegis, and the rare drop from this Aegis is a large shield also named Aegis. Recommended level 100+, and the drop rate is 0.5%. On top of that, Aegis itself has extremely tough armor; unless you use ∞ Arts it always takes at least ten minutes to defeat."

"And she got six of them......"

"She gathered all six shields in only ten runs—two hours."

"Ehh!?"

"Pure, dumb luck. Watching her up close I thought, this person is loved by both gods and humans. She has talent not only as a Guardian, but also in close- and mid-range combat. The only thing she's weak at is long-range sniping."

I'm the complete opposite in every way......

I have no luck, no one loves me, and long-range shooting is my specialty.

"But C:Aegis has a rarity of 10. So, just like my Rikka and railgun, its performance is restricted in Rank Match. It can't reach the speed we saw on the Gold Planet, and the power of each attack is reduced. In terms of armor, because Tsubasa-san's level drops, the Guardian Deity bonus is greatly reduced, and the armor value of the shields and Shield Pieces drops significantly. Breaking through head-on is still hard, but it's not ridiculously overpowered."

On top of that, each Aegis takes up one weapon slot. Six of them use six slots. Without Weapon Plus equipped, C:Aegis plus two Shield Pieces fills up all weapon slots. The hand variety is limited.

"It's totally unfair! I fought her once, so I know. It's like an iron wall—I couldn't picture a way to beat her."

"B-but......!"

I summon my courage and speak.

"I—I can... picture a way to beat her."

When I say it, Sheena-san smiles.

"Understood. I'll arrange it so that, as much as possible, we can send Shiki-san against Tsubasa-san."

Sheena-san changes the image on the screen.

"Let's move on. Besides Crimson Wings, there are two other teams we should be wary of. One is an all-Bomber squad, 'Funky Bomber Girls', nicknamed Fun-Bom."

"Those guys are a pain......"

"When they detect enemies on radar, all of them bomb the entire area. It's reckless—"

They sound dumb, but if it actually hits us we're done for.

"Each of them carries a nine-barrel rocket launcher on their shoulder and fires all nine rockets at once. Nine rockets times two shoulders times three members—fifty-four rockets coming at us."

"If they're not laser-type, then the ammo is limited, right?"

"You can bring up to 999 rounds of ammo for real-bullet weapons regardless of type. Waiting for them to run out isn't a viable strategy. But reloading does take time."

"Then—!"

"But they've already slotted a second nine-barrel launcher, so they can swap immediately and fire a second volley."

So that's another times two... meaning 108 rockets in a row flying at us!?

"If you get caught once it's the worst. Those rockets home in on any Space Girl within a six-meter radius, so even random firing can't be fully dodged."

"Fun-Bom could probably break even Tsubasa-san's guard."

"It'd be perfect if those two teams wiped each other out."

Is that really true?

Crimson Wings and Fun-Bom taking each other out... that sounds like a boring development. Am I the weird one for thinking that?

"The next scary team is 'Reiwa's Number One'—two Scouters and one Sniper. This squad has the Sniper pour all points into radar, and the Scouters pour everything into stealth. The Sniper detects enemies with radar, and the Scouters assassinate them. Even Snipers with high radar ability can't spot them if they've put even a few points elsewhere."

"......They probably won't show up on my radar either."

"The countermeasure is to equip Back Eye. If you can see behind you, you can deal with them."

I'll rely on my one-man radar.

"That's the overview. Any questions?"

No one raises a hand.

We've already smoothed out most of the details in our earlier talks.

"Then we'll disperse—however, Shiki-san, please drop by once for Chacha-san's maintenance."

"Oh right, Shiki-cchi hasn't had maintenance yet, has she?"

Maintenance?

"Come this way~ I'll give you a quick tune-up."