Chapter 226

Work is not getting any easier at all....!

Comics volume two was released less than a month ago (T_T).

If you haven't bought it yet, please do!

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"Haa...."

"Oh, Suu-chan, are you tired?"

"No, I feel like I didn't get violent enough..."

"Isn't it usually the other way around..."

Watching Nana smiling happily as she retorted, Suupaa exhaled deeply once again.

The game itself felt comfortable to Suupaa, so it's more correct to say that she simply couldn't use up all of her energy rather than feeling unsatisfied.

She was too used to being alone. That's why a presence of a comrade was giving Suupaa more impact than she had ever imagined.

Anyway, HEROES easily won the main tournament.

This was due to them earning more points than expected due to a Babel Town-centered strategy that worked too well in the first game, and as a result, the second game is almost certain to be won regardless of what happens.

Their team gathered a total of 42 points, not quite one-third of the total, but close.

In the end, the second-place team had 20 points, making it a rather outstanding first-place finish in the C Block.

Even though the points ended up being much more spread out than Suupaa had expected, it was almost in line with Rinne's predictions.

The HEROES members... or, to be more specific, Suupaa and Nana were resting in a special room, leaving Rinne and Touka to do the winner's interview. The room they were in was a HEROES-only room that Rinne had set up on short notice.

Although Suupaa felt embarrassed when she learned that Rinne said she had prepared room for them, she was honestly grateful to be able to get away from the interview.

"You're getting a lot of attention, Nana."

Suupaa said these words while looking at the social networking site. Nana looked back at her curiously.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I think it's because of yesterday's broadcast that people are paying more attention to Nana than they are to me. [The superhuman girl who is the hot topic right now! Don't you curious about the result of her tournament?] something like that, you know?"

This is a typical click-generating bait caption, reposting yesterday's results with it. While not fake, there is notable content at all.

However, the fact that this kind of article is made is in itself proof that the public is paying attention.

Rinne has been doing this for the longest time. Every time Suupaa's became a topic of conversation for some reason or another, articles were created like bamboo shoots after the spring rain. {idiom: rapid growth after some meaningful event}

"I see..."

"You don't seem very interested in it."

"Yup. To be honest, I'm not."

Such effect became immediately apparent on social networking sites and online news, and the archive of yesterday's stream, which lasted less than an hour, has an incredible number of views.

Many people are probably eager to contact Nana herself. Some of them will be malicious enough to make negative content out of it.

Suupaa was once in such a position when she managed to get a hold of rank 1. Some articles were praising, and some were harshly condemning her.

Fortunately, Suupaa had cut off all means of contact, so the fire was extinguished before it became serious, but Nana's case was different.

She is a streamer, has a social networking account, a video posting account, and an official contact since she is a member of HEROES.

Especially since she is a streamer, she can be contacted by using her comment section, and that itself could be fatal. Although it is not likely to make an appointment with the said streamer considering the manner in society, some explicitly malicious questions and comments could still fly around.

Even Suupaa, who is not so familiar with the streamer world, can easily predict such a level of harassment. Nana does not seem to be aware of this, but Rinne should be.

That is why Rinne has decided that she will take responsibility for any side effects caused by this until the tournament is over.

Suupaa deduced that the fact that Rinne handled Nana's winner interview was a sign of her resolve.

Aside from Rinne as a professional gamer, only a few people in this country can have an opinion on [Rinne Takajou] once she takes the lead.

There are some reasons for this: One of them is her influence as the daughter of the Takajou family, and most importantly, the existence of Rinne herself.

Or, to be exact, Rinne's personal connections and assets.

No matter which one is used, Rinne has the [power] to easily destroy those who challenge her.

Suupaa knew this fact firsthand.

However, the fact that Nana was less interested in this situation than anyone else was a bit unnerving.

(I know what you mean by [not interested], but... you're in a scary position, you know? Don't you at least feel worried?)

While thinking about this, Suupaa looked at Nana once more.

She was swaying her body in a daze while not particularly looking at anything.

It looked as if she was just relaxing to the casual observer, but if we believe what Rinne had told Suupaa before she came here, Nana was actually feeling great excitement.

She is so overflowing with an unstoppable motivation that she can't sit still.

Rinne laughed and said, [She's like a child having fun at an amusement park.]

And Suupaa knows why. It was probably because of the strategy she proposed in the second game of the final round.

This strategy was clearly a playful one, and Suupaa herself had said [There is also such dumb thing], assuming that it would be forgotten because of how stupidly unattainable that strategy was.

However, when Rinne heard about it, she unexpectedly found it amusing and suggested it to Nana, who agreed to it with a simple [okay].

(Maybe Nana can do it. Yeah, that's probably what I hoped too...)

As for the first game, she plans to cause confusion by not use Ritu, the iconic character associated with Suupaa.

Whether or not this will actually produce results, it will certainly create a disruption.

Will they use Ritu next time?

Or will she come with another character?

This strategy was born to emphasize the threat of [Suupaa] even more to their opponents.

As for the second game, Suupaa had decided to shift the tactic around Nana's sniping from the very beginning.

Using her [Magic Bullet] shown on the first day. There was no way she would not want to use it because this boast a different level of accuracy than Suupaa's imitation [Magic Bullet].

Nana's sniping purpose was to avert the eyes focused on Suupaa in the first match.

During the main tournament, Nana's sniping ability showed its true shine. Naturally, a top-level player would have understood how dreadful its accuracy is at a glance.

They will try to carefully utilizes a natural shield because they were cautious of a dreadfully accurate sniper. However, the [Magic Bullet] will still find it way to sunk it fang no matter how cautious you are.

The only thing left to do is think about how to bring Nana's sniping skill to maximum...

And Suupaa had an idea to make that possible.

(I can't handle that thing... because it's more like a one-shot weapon in the first place...)

In Zero Wars VR, there exist a sniper rifle that is said to be the most powerful in terms of specifications but with no one to master it.

The name is [Metal Hazard - Kill Scope].

It is abbreviated as MHKS by the general players and earned a nickname as an illustrious anti-material rifle, with only one has been manufactured in the real world.

This weapon always appears in the same place in every game, so it is very easy to pick it up, and it is so well known that regular players who have played this game have touched it at least once.

However, it is also a weapon that is so useless that it is famous as a trash weapon.

It sits atop a high tower at the northernmost point of the field, and there is no way to enter the tower except by descending from above. There are no items other than a special sniper and a special magazine inside the tower.

There are no bulletproof vests, no recovery items, and within minutes of starting the game, the area is no longer even a safe zone.

And above all, since there is no entrance, which mean there is no exit.

Once you land on the tower, you are forced to choose between death by falling or death by chip damage because of the effect of being out of the safe zone.

It is so messed up that even Suupaa has never used it in a ranked match because death is guaranteed as soon as she goes to use it.

In addition, it can only be used in a match, as it is not allowed to be used in a training mode.

Suupaa has used it in normal matches not related to rankings, but she could not find a way to use it.

This is a romantic weapon that no one can handle, is a waste of a great weapon that only has value because it exists in the real world too.

In the first place, this weapon in the real world is so crazy that it will break your body if you shoot it, so it is only natural that it also becomes useless in the game.

It has a devastating range that can reach from one end of the field to the other, and yet it is an unfortunate weapon that no one uses.

For a moment, Suupaa thought that Nana might be able to handle it, and then she said comes to regret it.

Don't get it wrong, MHKS is only [fatally hard to handle] as a result of various restrictions in this game.

Although it is said to be [useless], the weapon's performance is definitely set to be the strongest in the game.

No matter how much HP you have, no matter the durability value of the bulletproof vest, whether the user is wearing a helmet or not, a clean hit to the torso will kill them instantly.

It is literally a one-hit kill. Therefore, it was a weapon loved by many, so much so that a certain number of players were stupid enough to go to MHKS and try to use it without regard to the match.

(I didn't think Rinne would be so eager to do it. Nana aside, there was no way Rinne didn't know about this weapon.)

Suupaa was the one who was surprised that Rinne agreed to this idea.

While it was true that Rinne liked this kind of flashy and silly strategy, her response was too intense for this one.

Rinne is a girl who likes romantic tactics, but at the same time, she is someone who can think calmly, and while the MHKS certainly falls into Rinne's favorite things, she must not be unaware of how useless this weapon is in this game.

Especially because [Metal Hazard - Kill Scope] was a monster rifle created by the Takajou group.

There was no way that Rinne was unaware of this fact, and even more so, she must have known how it was treated in the game.

Nana seemed to be very motivated, but as for Suupaa, she was a little regretful of the situation that her carelessness had brought about.

"Nana, are you sure you want to go with that strategy for the second game?"

"Why are you saying that now? I'm fine with it. I'm even looking forward to it."

"I know. But in yesterday's practice, we ended up with a hit ratio of less than 50%..."

After the decision to go ahead with this operation was made yesterday, the members of HEROES conducted a dedicated practice session.

It was a training session dedicated to using the full potential of Nana's sniping skill.

Even though it was a strategy with romance in it, Nana's specialized one trick and Suupaa's versatility would somehow allow it to work, or so Suupaa thought.

Although Suupaa was prepared for this, she was not happy with the results at this point.

Of course, it's something amazing if you can have a 50% hit rate using MHKS.

The load is imposed on the sniper tremendous, there's no recoil damage, but with each shot, you will get thrown around as if you've been hit by a motorcycle.

This is a very troublesome effect, and although you do not feel pain because you are in a virtual space, the shock of being hit all over your body is simply harsh, even if it is not painful.

Many players will feel as if they are hyperventilating, and it's just an illusion, but even so, many players find it unbearable.

It was almost impossible to instantly recover from that state and fire two or three shots in quick succession.

But that's not enough. As far as Suupaa assumed, she really wanted Nana to have at least a 70% hit rate.

Even though MHKS' bullets could reach from one end of the field to another, its Bullet didn't have a penetration effect. In other words, a single building or terrain could easily prevent it.

Considering that, and considering the probability of the enemy coming to the position where you can actually hit the target, you have to achieve a 70% hit rate before you can do anything with it.

No, even if you didn't score any points in the worst-case scenario, it is an operation for the sake of romance.

But if the strategy is too stupid and fails to produce any results, it will negatively affect the audience.

Considering all of this, Suupaa was worried when she learned that Nana could only get a 50% hit rate.

However, Nana kept a soft smile and did not lose her composure.

"Don't worry, I got my sniper instincts back after training yesterday and today. I was just a bit confused by the gap at first."

"It's true. Compared to other rifles, it's completely different."

Even with ordinary rifles, the recoil from shooting in a VR game can be surprising, but with the MHKS, it's a whole different world.

Even Nana, who can easily shoot sniper rifles with one hand, is surprised by the gap between the two.

Nana also has surprisingly normal sensibilities, Suupaa thought, but Nana denied her assumption with a wave of her hand.

"It's not a gap with other rifles. I'm talking about the gap between the feel of shooting it here and in real life."

"e?"

"What? You didn't know about that and suggested it?"

They both tilted their head.

There is some kind of discrepancy in perception between the two of them.

Before Suupaa could understand what she was talking about, Nana opened her mouth.

"[Metal Hazard Kill Scope] is my weapon, you know?"

"huh?"

The sudden revelation from Nana stopped Suupaa thought process.

===*

Although I remember that it was a bonus in a book or that I had written in the past... finally, MHKS-kun has appeared. I heard a certain rich lady named it that way because "the word feels right".

Tl note:

Make bad content about Nana? Be prepared to get erased by the power of Takajou... or rather Rinne's.

"[Metal Hazard Kill Scope] is my weapon, to begin with, you know?"

me: What!

*insert Kawachi face from yakitate japan*