Chapter 243

"I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about it; it was fun to watch."

Rinne smiled wryly at Suupaa, who bowed her head deeply.

After that, HEROES won the first match with 7 kill points and 2 survivor points for a total of 9 points, an impressive result.

They finished fourth in the overall standings, which is not bad.

The team received two survivor points because it was eliminated in fifth place and was eliminated early. Despite this, HEROES received 7 kill points and finished third in terms of kills, demonstrating how high their ability to take the kill was.

It wasn't because someone made a fatal mistake that they were annihilated. They simply lost because their opponents were better.

So why was Suupaa apologizing so profusely?

It's because Suupaa, of all people, was the one to drop first.

And she died in an unexpected situation, finished by a sniper rifle.

It happened only 20 seconds after the third safe zone shrinking began, while they were engaged in close-range combat.

Suupaa was killed by the "Explosion Trampoline," a fixed trap combo with a high difficulty to execute.

☆☆☆☆

Master V is the ace and leader of Team [V-Yanen!] He is one of the best bomb users and a well-known player with his own fan base.

He was the man who respected Suupaa the most in the Zero Wars VR game and, at the same time, the one who hated her the most.

Why? It is because he was one of the best mi-ona players.

Mi-ona is an abbreviation of [minor masturbation]. In short, it is the player who dares to use minor weapons and characters and take pleasure in doing so.

{tl: don't ask, just... don't... it comes from Japan pokemon fandom btw}

Strong weapons are strong, and strong characters are strong.

And if they are strong, everyone will use them, and they will be popular. This is a truth that applies to all games, not just Zero Wars VR.

The differences in feel and performance stood out in the first place. There are characters that are easier to lose with and weapons that are easier to win with. Such a simple reason was an unavoidable cause of the separation that would later separate popular and unpopular things.

For example, in WLO, slashing weapons are more popular than blunt weapons not only because of their cool looks but also because they could use the special attribute attacks and status such as [sever].

The premise is that mi-ona itself is not evil.

One may simply like the look of a weapon or character or loves its quirky performance, or in extreme cases, they just like the sound of its name.

The feeling of wanting to be the best at what you like is not a bad thing, and the unique skills born from that love can attack like-minded people or even attract normal ones.

If one had to point out a drawback, it would be that mi-ona player is easily disliked in games that focus on team play.

Because it's a truth that it's more acceptable to have a strong character on your side, and there's a belief that using a weak character even if it puts a burden on your teammates is selfish.

However, if we talking about the ranked game while soloing, then it is just another play style.

And Master V was such a prime example. He was the man who held the title of No. 1 in the monthly kill ranking [by item] until Suupaa came out.

This proves that he was the best player at using items such as bombs and traps in this primarily gun-oriented shooting game.

He the unrivaled one-trick in his use of drones for detection, bomb items such as hand grenades, and traps that needed to be installed.

His fame may have been minor, but still, he was certainly at the top of his field at one point in time.

But that position was easily taken away from him by Suupaa.

There is no record in the current Zero Wars VR that relates to the number of kills that Suupaa does not reign over.

OR you could say there are people in all fields who have surrendered their position to Suupaa.

He was only mildly agitated because his friend was teasing him about being robbed of his position at the time. And that was his first experience of such a thing; until now, no one has been able to mock Master-V.

But Master-V was only passed over once, and he believed that would get his position back again. Nevertheless, that thought has continued for more than a year. Until this time, not even once was he able to break Suupaa's record.

"....damn it all."

The sense of helplessness that despite his efforts to grow and improve, he could never reach his goal.

But because Master-V has studied the use of items more than anyone else, he also knows the difference between Suupaa and himself.

If it is strictly about how they use an item, Master-V is still better than anyone else.

But Suupaa is just better at [getting kills] with it, and there was a huge wall that could not be overturned between them.

Respect for a skill that he could never reach.

And frustration at being trampled in his own territory.

Also, a contempt that no matter how hard he tried, Suupaa remained as unreachable target.

Master-V found that Suupaa had become someone he had no choice but to direct his incredibly complicated and heavy emotions.

[I don't care how. Even if it is just once, I want to give a blow directly to Suupaa.]

With that one thought in mind, he was looking for an opportunity to defeat Suupaa.

Believing that the opportunity would come, he made repeated efforts to seize it.

He gathered all the videos in which he could confirm Suupaa's existence, carefully observed and studied them, even those in which he could only see a speck of Suupaa.

Photon and Light Speed Yuta were certainly good players, and they knew exactly to what extent the threat of Suupaa was.

However, they did not set Suupaa as their target despite their acknowledgement.

The reason was simple, they didn't think they could beat Suupaa in direct confrontation.

As professionals, the results of ranked matches are unimportant, and that is why they have not studied Suupaa, who theoretically will never be their adversary. That is also why in this tournament, they easily accepted their inferiority and responded in a straightforward manner.

But Master-V is different.

He had been studying with the sole goal of killing Suupaa with his best tactic.

Fearful to the point of paranoia, he continued to study only Suupaa without being noticed by others.

That is why Master-V was the only man who was truly pleased with her participation in this tournament.

Because now he had a chance to show the results of his study on this big stage.

The [Explosion Trampoline] is a trap combo that has existed in Zero Wars VR since its inception, which requires two items.

One is a camouflage trampoline. This is an item that will launch the player who steps on it up three meters and is usually being used to quickly get oneself to a higher elevation rather than as a trap. {tl:...Octane}

The second is the motion sensor bomb. As its name states, it is a mine-like bomb that explodes when it detects a character moving around the bomb.

The explosive trampoline is essentially a combo in which these two items are planted in the same location to inflict massive damage from the explosion and stun from the launch, both of which will completely drain enemy HP, leaving them open for a finisher.

This may sound like a handy combo on paper.

If it were only about the effects, both items certainly seem easy to use.

However, the actual reason why this combo is so difficult is that the effective range of that item is only one-meter square. In short, both the trampoline and the sensor bomb have extremely narrow effective ranges.

Furthermore, sensor bombs cannot be used indoors because the game prohibits their use in such spaces.

As a result, even though they appear to be effective tools for use in confined areas, they cannot be placed there.

It's not difficult to imagine how difficult it would be to make an opponent step on a specific one-meter square in a vast field.

And it's even more difficult to actually execute it; additionally, at a tournament like this, an obvious location like the corner of a building would be generally considered a dangerous spot.

But if it were to succeed, it would be entertainment that would drive everyone insane. Master-V was well aware of this.

Master-V, who had observed and studied, detected the slightest quirk in Suupaa's play.

Even Suupaa is a human being. Just because she is capable of doing anything does not imply she will always choose to play in a disruptive manner. There are still some easy road she would pursue since they would provide her with an unbreakable flow that would lead to victory.

What Master-V had were tactics that could never be performed again if the player is made aware of the existence of such a move. After it is shown, the trap will fail no matter how hard he tries to do it again.

However, if he succeeded even in one of the three tries, that would be enough for Master-V to achieve his revenge against Suupaa.

There were a total of four types of "Explosion Trampolines" that he had set up.

And the traps he placed on the routes that Suupaa was most likely to take, whether by good luck or bad, exploded beautifully in the first game.

The third contraction of the safe zone began, and at the critical moment, Suupaa ran out from behind a rock and flew through the air after an explosion sound.

Regardless of her armor or HP, she was instantly brought into a downed state, and the impact of the sensor bomb has stunned her movement for several seconds.

At that time, Mimyon, the sniper of [V-Yanen], did not miss the opportunity and made sure to kill Suupaa in her down state.

☆

"I'm not frustrated or anything. I'm just embarrassed... after all that big talk, this is just..."

Suupaa covers her face with her hands and crouches down in embarrassment.

After all, this time, she had a shocking zero kill points in her match.

The results were so miserable that it was hard to believe that this was the same monster who had scored 26 kills in the second round of qualifying.

"Don't be that stiff. You think too much about trying to do everything."

"Uuh."

"You need to relax. We certainly can't keep up with your strength, but we have enough skill to keep us from totally failing. Right, Touka?"

"Of course! But to be honest I didn't expect Rinne to rely on me here."

Said Touka while smiling because she couldn't hide her joy.

Of the seven kill points, HEROES scored, two were taken by Nana's sniping in the early stages of the game, but the remaining five were all thanks to Touka after Suupaa died.

Because the match itself reached a fairly quick conclusion, Touka's consecutive kills were barely visible to the spectators.

Suupaa knows this because she watched it in the waiting room after the death, but it was difficult to believe because she had seen Touka's usual ability.

"Uuh.... Touka, did you hide your true ability?"

"I've never done such a thing. My true ability is just as I've shown you."

The big smile on Touka's face seemed to be a lie to Suupaa.

Yes, it is true. In fact, Touka's ability to play is one of the lowest among all the players participating in this final round. She was the second-best overall player on this team because she had practiced for several weeks beforehand, but it was clear that she was not good enough to score five kills against the top players.

There is no doubt that she is hiding something.

But maybe that's something Touka doesn't want us to know too much about.

"oh well, at least we earned the minimum points, so let's not worry about the details and focus on the next match."

"You're right... Okay, got it."

Although Suupaa felt a little uncomfortable at Touka's blatant attempt to divert the conversation, Suupaa swallowed her feelings, saying that in the end, it was her own fault that she had brought this on herself.

It was great that Touka had earned kill points and that the team had managed to finish in fourth place overall. If they had been near the bottom of the standings, they would not have been able to play recklessly in the second match.

"Next, it was finally Nana's turn. It seems that you haven't lost your concentration. Are you feeling nervous?"

"I'll be fine. This time I'm not alone, even if I make a mistake, everyone is here."

Suupaa doesn't feel the pressure Nana emitted earlier, but she still feels her sharpness. The current Nana is like a knife that will cut anything it touches.

Whenever they exchange glances, Suupaa feels as if she is being held at gunpoint from somewhere and unconsciously swallows her saliva.

Suupaa can now glimpse the full might of the person she admires.

The truth becomes plain to Suupaa when she looks at Nana, and her heart is pounding so hard that she swallows down her saliva once more.

Tl note:

I have a toothache, my doctor's appointment is on 4 July, dammit, this is hell.