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

Chapter 7

No matter how much I rubbed my eyes, only scorched wreckage remained.

I'd had zero sense of "protect the spaceship." No— even if I had, how was I supposed to shield it from that laser round?

With this, I'd lost any way to return to the station on my own.

"You mutts... I'll never forgive you."

I'd vent this fury on the dogs in front of me.

The sword-dog charged while spinning.

(Can I pull this off?)

I focused my awareness on my back and activated the thrusters built into it— the propulsion system. Energy burst from the thrusters and I accelerated.

I slipped past the sword-dog. In that instant I slashed at its neck with the Army Knife in my left hand. The neck counts as part of the head; the gauge beside the sword-dog's head dropped by 7 %.

"It worked! Thruster boost!"

Using the thrusters lets me float for a moment and pick up speed. According to guide-girl, the "thruster output" stat sets the maximum speed the thrusters can reach, and "thruster capacity" sets how long you can keep them burning (sustained thrust).

In simple terms: raising output makes short dashes faster; raising capacity makes long dashes faster. Capacity × 0.01 equals continuous burn time, so with my capacity of 80 I get 0.8 seconds of thrust.

Snipers have low thruster output, yet I still hit a decent speed. A role with high output would be insanely fast using this.

(With this acceleration...!)

I used the thrusters to nimbly dodge enemy attacks. I kept firing my Colt Government and, when I had an opening, chipped away with the Army Knife.

When I reduced the sniper-dog's right foreleg durability to zero, that leg smoked and broke. After that I focused fire on its immobilized head; when the head's durability hit zero the sniper-dog dissolved into polygons, leaving behind a silver case like an attaché.

(Zero durability destroys the part. Destroying a vital part finishes the enemy. That silver case must be the drop.)

Combat time: 1 minute 30 seconds. Rounds fired: 39. At last I managed to bring down both units. Two silver cases lay on the sand.

I opened the sniper-dog's case first.

• Damage Parts × 1

• Range Parts × 1

• .45 Caliber Ammo × 30

• 140 chips

Parts? What are these? They look like circuit boards. I stashed them for now.

Next, the ammo. Nice— but judging by those rude girls' reactions, hardly anyone uses .45. I can't believe the devs bothered to set it as a drop.

I checked the manual guide-girl gave me. Ah, here it is.

"When you defeat a Machine World Beast with live ammo, it may drop ammo of the same type. Note, however, that Machine World Beasts that don't use guns won't drop ammo."

Looks like a small mercy for unpopular live-ammo guns. I'll take it.

I opened the sword-dog's case.

• Energy Parts × 1

• Repair Kit × 1

• 98 chips

A repair kit is a consumable that restores a Space Girl's part durability— basically potions or herbs in a normal RPG.

I'd have loved to get the rifle or saber these pooches were using, but I doubt it's that easy.

"It takes time to down one unit, but man it feels good~"

The M1911 reproduction is sweet! Most games tone down recoil and muzzle blast, but not here— the muzzle climbs sharply with each shot, just right. Against a human target, a chest shot would make the barrel point right at the head— perfect for a double-tap.

Only complaint: the grip safety is cosmetic. You can fire without squeezing it. Most custom M1911s ditch it anyway, so whatever... still, I wish the stock version kept it.

"Ahh... I'm so happy. Sure, I'll switch to laser guns soon, but blasting away in an empty wasteland with my favorite gun is bliss...! Thinking the whole loss brought me this joy makes it not feel bad at all~. Though blowing up my spaceship is unforgivable!"

Talking to myself keeps the conversation lively.

I'll think about the ship problem later. I doubt the devs would trap beginners this hard; some safety net must exist. For now I'll ride this high and— enjoy!

――――――Afterword――――――

Thrusters maintain max acceleration for 3 seconds, after which speed drops, so many players stop at 300 capacity. How to raise stats is a story for another time.

Snipers seem stationary, but the role involves lots of running— relocating to sniper spots and keeping distance from enemies— so thruster capacity is actually important.