Chapter 436

[▶Escape from the Sabiya Artificial Forest]

A man-made forest the size of Seoul created by Saudi Arabia on barren land.

The landscape of Sabiya Forest was filled with traces of death.

Branches and leaves were dry and decaying, and debris from rotting leaves was piled up on the ground.

Thin and gaunt trees stood in a crumpled manner, and no matter which direction one stepped, the vitality of life was nowhere to be felt.

The soil was acidified, and flora and fauna perished.

Thus, even if gunshots were heard, there were no birds flying in, cawing.

Bang-!

It was a stable discharge.

Naame exhaled into the air and relaxed her previously held posture.

“Asha, nice shot!”

Arimura clapped enthusiastically to celebrate her accomplishment.

-Wakya-Pya~~~~

-Our newbie is commendable!

-Adapted faster than expected?

-That pose was good.

-Arimura-sensei’s one-on-one coaching, whoa!

-What, is this golf? Nice shot, hahaha!

They say babies get praised even for cooing.

The treatment Naame received was truly like that.

+1 point for holding her breath while aiming, +1 point for maintaining her posture perfectly, +1 point for pulling the trigger well, and +100 points for her enthusiasm.

“Still, I think I need more practice. It’s harder than I thought.”

“Oh no. With skills like this without any compensation, you’re quite talented.”

The auto-correction feature is undoubtedly useful for beginners, but it’s ambiguous when dealing with moving enemies.

If she wanted to get used to multi-player later, she shouldn’t be conditioned to the auto-correct.

Thus, Naame accepted Arimura’s heartfelt advice.

Only after confirming that the shots were clustered tightly did the girl’s thinly quivering lips gently curve upwards.

Captivated by the pure appearance of the newbie, the viewers began to cheer even more fervently.

At that moment, Arimura, sensing the atmosphere, requested companionship from her.

“I accidentally selected hardcore earlier, so it might be a bit tough, but if you stick close behind me, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

“Isn’t there a short weapon in front and back here?”

“Do you want to swap with my pistol? This is a secondary weapon anyway, so I’ll have to change it later. There’s no short barrel on this map… But I guess a crossbow?”

“Huh? There’s a crossbow in this game?”

“It’s a tactical crossbow, and it auto-loads with a lever. But it’s going to be really hard…”

Arimura’s expression showed she wasn’t very keen on this.

“After all, newbies are newbies.”

The image of selecting a troll pick without a hint of hesitation is quite evident.

“I shoot the crossbow well.”

With baseless confidence.

However, it would be unreasonable to reject the girl’s earnest request.

The heart of the newbie is like a reed, uncertain of when and for what reason they might quit the game.

“Alright… then let’s take a slight detour and try farming first.”

The viewers, who had suffered greatly from the ally’s crossbow troll pick in multi-player, screamed in agony.

The terrain of Sabiya’s artificial forest was rugged.

They crossed narrow log bridges and sometimes climbed small rocky mountains using ropes.

Even though it was a dull and long journey that lasted over 10 minutes, Naame didn’t utter a word.

Witnessing the patience uncharacteristic of her age, Arimura and the viewers couldn’t contain their amazement.

“Asha, do you usually play other games often? I noticed it seemed like it was your first time playing Resonance earlier.”

“I used to play often when I was really into it. In fact, I started playing Resonance as part of a school project.”

“Wait, is the school telling students to play Resonance?”

“They asked us to create our own games.”

“Oh, I see. But honestly, making games sounds really tough, right? No matter how easy they say Resonance is. Hold on, are you perhaps a university student…?”

“No, I’m attending an academy.”

“Wow, nowadays even academies give that as homework. That’s interesting. You’re surprisingly studious, Asha.”

“Surprisingly?”

Rustling-

“…!”

A presence was heard amidst the bushes.

Arimura knelt down and aimed her AK-44 straight ahead.

It was a flawless posture.

The moment something dark emerged from the top of the bushes, the bullet was fired.

Bang-!

A metallic chunk shattered and fell to the ground.

Arimura picked up the prey and showed it to Naame.

“This is a murder drone operated by magic stone. Since this is an electromagnetic wave interference zone, there’s no worry about being revealed, but it’s an annoying type of creature throughout the campaign.”

Naame quietly nodded and reflected on his posture.

Not only the posture, but also the gaze, behavior, and decision-making when encountering enemies.

She was on the verge of simulating it in her head.

“By the way, Asha, I think you should consider growing a bit more in height.”

“…”

Suddenly, Naame’s mouth turned sharp.

It was a look that signaled someone was feeling offended.

“No, what I meant was your avatar…! But isn’t 140 too small?”

“This feels comfortable.”

“I won’t bring up height again…”

With their feelings slightly hurt, the two arrived at a remote log cabin.

Ding-

[☆Bill Levy’s Secret Base Found +500]

A challenge completion window popped up above Naame’s head.

Arimura kicked the firmly locked door open.

As she was about to enter the house after him,

Voooom-

Naame’s cheek was violently knocked back by something.

Thud-

“…?”

Naame, who had fallen on her bottom, rubbed her flushed cheeks.

She was blocked by a transparent wall with rebound properties and couldn’t get in.

[⚠ Only users who cleared the hardcore campaign may enter.]

Naame glared with stiffened eyes at Arimura, who had exited with the crossbow.

-Asha made a bang.

-Hahahahaha

-Feeling bad, now 2 stacks

-Asha’s bottom hurts!

-Why is this newbie such a klutz? Hahaha

-A quiet newbie is truly the cutest in the world.

-For real, she’s a million times better than those noisy voices.

-Kim Asha! Kim Asha! Kim Asha! Kim Asha!

“Here’s the crossbow I brought, do you want to give it a try?”

“…”

“Huh? Why are you acting like that…”

“Just give it to me.”

Naame replied with a sulky face, chewing her lips.

[Silent Serpent X-5]

[The Silent Serpent X-5 crossbow is stealthy and deadly like a desert viper. It can be easily loaded with the lower lever, and with a unified magazine, it can fire 0.5 arrows per second. The gold metal red dot sight that comes with the weapon can be adjusted vertically and horizontally. Use various bolts appropriately to develop strategies suited to the situation.]

Naame shouldered the stock and reduced the length to the shortest possible.

“Within 40 meters, a shot to the torso is a one-hit, while a headshot is a one-hit at almost any distance, so stay calm and aim for the head-”

“I’ll handle it myself.”

Arimura was taken aback by Naame’s irritated response.

-Of course, right?

-Just let me handle it!

-What do you know about crossbows, Arimura?

-If you’re going to help, help till the end, don’t just rush into the base alone! Hahaha

-This feels like a classic uncle-nephew relationship. Hahaha

-Arimura has a tough time with the mind of a young girl. T-T

Crackle-

As they wandered deeper into the forest, there was suddenly a response from the walkie-talkie that had been silent for some time.

It seemed they had left the electromagnetic wave interference zone.

Arimura brought the radio to her ear.

[We request a response from the stranded former troops.]

“Husky 3-1 is alive.”

[Husky 3-1. As of now, communication will be taken over by the Allied Command Headquarters. Please state your location.]

“Sabiya artificial forest vicinity.”

[Return promptly via the southwestern coastline. There are guerrilla forces stationed in Sabiya Forest, so please be especially cautious to avoid encounters.]

The brief communication ended, and knowing the future of the game, Arimura shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyway, in hardcore mode, you inevitably run into them, so what’s with caution! They’re probably watching us right now.”

Rustling-

Hardly had she spoken when an augmented reality hologram faded, entering combat mode.

As soon as a presence was felt, Arimura reflexively drew her gun.

The sights and aiming of the AK-44 aligned with the male’s eye.

Guerrilla forces dispatched for clean-up came into view.

The moment she aimed to penetrate his head.

Bang-!

The sound was subtly different from regular gunfire.

“Ugh!”

A large arrow was already embedded in the chest of the writhing enemy in pain.

“Uh?”

Arimura put down her still-warm barrel and rubbed her eyes.

Her brain momentarily halted as she processed what had happened.

“Oh, I missed.”

Naame said in a languid voice right behind him.

Click-

“I was aiming for a headshot.”

The refreshing sound of the crossbow’s loading followed.

* * *

A gun is a selfish tool.

Especially the first world I lived in was one where that selfishness was maximized.

Even the strongest in the world can die with just a snap of the fingers.

Do people long for a world where strength cannot last forever?

Is that why FPS games excluding mana have become so popular in this world?

Whoosh-

The crossbow shot from close range was quite powerful.

Enemies wearing brown turbans collapsed weakly.

Since they were NPCs, the kill log didn’t appear.

While Arimura kept pushing forward, I maintained a watchful eye from behind.

No mana or aura could be felt from the enemies.

If there were even one wizard among them, we would have been helpless in this situation.

But the enemy higher-ups didn’t give expensive magic stones to the lower ranks.

Or perhaps that’s just how the setting is.

“Ugh!”

The numberless enemies rushed like they had been stripped of the feeling of fear.

Dozens, even hundreds of lead bullets were fired every second, embedding into dead trees.

“Asha, get down!”

Given our team bond, I placed absolute trust in his briefing.

He must know more about the game than I do, given his experience.

I used the advantage of a small target area to jump to the nearby rock.

Bang bang bang-!

The rapid gunfire filled the air, ringing in my ears.

Finally, the enemies had a reloading moment.

It was a good decision to take the risk.

I immediately crawled up onto the rock to survey the enemy movements.

I loaded six out of ten with explosive bolts.

[Silent Serpent X-5]

[10/10]

Ten arrows.

Fourteen enemies were entering Arimura’s blind spot, which was quite a lot.

That means I needed to hit nine with standard bolts and take at least five with explosive bolts.

Without a moment to think, I sprang into action.

Bang-!

One by one, arrows struck between the enemies’ brows.

Finally, the sixth explosive bolt.

I deliberately averted my gaze from where I had persistently targeted the enemies.

My arrowhead met the enemies’ gunmuzzles.

There were probably six of them.

Boom-!

“Ugh!”

“Ahhh!”

Crimson flames erupted, setting the nearby trees ablaze.

“Oh dear, did Asha use the explosive bolt? This will cover us with smoke…!”

Ignoring the briefing, I targeted the enemies’ heads with four more arrows.

Brown turbans fluttered, and corpses piled on the ground.

‘Four, three, two.’

Then, with one arrow left, I searched for the enemies.

The dense smoke gradually faded, revealing a forest riddled with lead.

“Strange, why does it feel like this hardcore mode has become easier?”

Arimura, now visible, tilted her head.

At that moment, I aimed the crossbow into the air.

There was a small drone flying above us without making any noise.

[Twish- Yui Arimura]

However, one significant difference was that it was not a murder drone but a Twish broadcast drone camera.

By the time I realized that myself, the trigger had already been pulled.

Bang-!