14:13.

The video in the bar was displaying the log house from mid-air.

50 metres wide and 10-15 metres long. An approximately 8 metre-high, full two-storey log house.

Both the walls and the roof were constructed from shockingly thick logs. Each was around 70 cmin diameter.

Four brick chimneys stood on the gable roof made from slightly narrow logs. Likewise, four balconies lined the south side of the second floor.

Around the log house was a pleasant-looking meadow, among which numerous esplanade-like, well-maintained gravel roads extended to the east.

Several streams flowed along the esplanade, at times forming ponds──

Once the cameras got closer, they caught a wondrous spectacle. From the streams, and the ponds, rose a rather large quant.i.ty of steam.

Having noticed this, a spectator remarked,

"Oh? A hot spring?"

"Ahaha. That's not a hot spring."

Just as someone else said this while laughing, the water from one of the ponds spouted with violent force.

The 50 cm-wide fountain rose about 20 metres high, scattered water and steam throughout the area for about 10 seconds, and finally ended abruptly.

Among the flabbergasted spectators,

"Hmm…… a hot spring would have been better. It's a geyser. Those things that periodically spout up geothermally-heated water from underground."

"I see! So the reason why there was so much greenery solely in this area was because it was heated geothermally and the water hadn't dried up."

"And the log house is a hotel for people who've come to see the geyser── I suppose. Now I get what's with all the chimneys. On the second floor, there are as many guest rooms as there are chimneys."

Intelligent people remarked.

"Oh, M's guys, a tour ple~ase!"

M's group had now arrived at the building.

Holding his angular UTS-15 shotgun at his shoulder, the short man went to the entrance at the middle of the log house. After quickly checking for any traps, he pulled the large door open. Apparently, it was not locked.

Then M, carrying the woman like a princess, followed by the tall man who had put away the weapons into storage, and finally the big man carrying the MG3 machine gun with a suppressor entered it one after the other. During that time, there were no attacks from the enemy teams.

"They've all entered the log house."

Tohma's report was transmitted to LLENN through Boss,

"Roger!"

And LLENN's answer reached the other survivors of s.h.i.+NC, namely Tanya, Tohma, and Rosa, through Boss.

Neither LLENN's group nor Boss's attacked, but they did grasp PM4's actions.

At the moment, LLENN and f.u.kaziroh were 500 metres north of the log house. They were 10 metres apart, hugging the ground in the meadow.

To avoid being spotted and sniped, LLENN once again donned her green camouflage poncho.

Boss's group was on the exact opposite side. 500 metres south of the log house with a view of the entrance.

Aside from the kneeling Tohma, all of them were lying on the gra.s.s, prepared for the Line-less sniping from M.

LLENN observed the situation north of the log house through her monocle in great detail.

From her position till the building, there was knee-high gra.s.s growing on mostly flat

terrain. There was not a single piece of cover.

The log house was constructed on a 10 cm-high concrete foundation.

There were no big entrances on the north side; there were only small service entrance-like doors at either end.

It seemed that there was a straight corridor on both the first and second floor on the north side, as several small windows were lined up at equal intervals. For a building in GGO, it was bizarrely beautiful. Not a single pane of gla.s.s was broken.

She could not see the electric lights inside, but due to the lack of curtains it should be quite bright.

Boss's voice reached LLENN's ears.

"As agreed, we'll begin all-out suppressive fire. We're moving to a better position and range to make it a bit easier to shoot, so wait a bit. I'll give the signal."

'Roger', replied LLENN and informed f.u.kaziroh of this.

'Uu…… Thanks……'

LLENN thanked her deep inside. All the members of s.h.i.+NC should be frantically crawling right about now.

Despite their change in position, the plan remained unchanged.

During s.h.i.+NC's vehement attack from the south, LLENN would approach from the north and, one way or another, no matter what it took, defeat Pitohui.

However, right now, LLENN had to break into that building.

The problem was to decide which entrance to use.

The log house windows were awfully small and had thick, st.u.r.dy-looking wooden frames. That windows probably opened not sideways, but upwards.

The plan of using an approaching run to smash down the windows with her body and break in, just like in their first battle, was not entirely impossible, but it did look too risky.

An image of her being repelled by the window frame or getting the angle wrong and cras.h.i.+ng into the logs came to LLENN's mind.

Thus, they had no choice but to use the side doors at the edges of the building.

"I'm going in through the door at the building's western edge. Don't shoot there."

LLENN reported to Boss and f.u.kaziroh, and received 'Roger' replies from the two.

She would no longer have the cover of smoke, thus she had no choice but to dash to the building. If anyone from PM4 had foreseen their plan and stationed even a single man there, she would come under fire.

"Haa……"

As LLENN exhaled, firmly grasping the grip of her P90 under her poncho with a grim expression, f.u.kaziroh, who stood 10 metres to her right, used the comm item,

"Relax relax. You can do it you can do it."

To send her these calming words of encouragement. Then,

"LLENN, you sure are a lucky girl. Pito-san suffered damage from that sniper back then, so she's now an easy target, and since the battlefield moved indoors, the difference between the range of their rifles and your P-chan has become negligible. In a confined place like this, LLENN's small and fast body will give you the advantage. All you have to do now is to break in without a hitch. Go in there with a bang, a bang I say!"

Continuing to focus her gaze forward, she responded to her ever so reliable partner.

"Got it…… I truly, truly want to thank you, f.u.ka. For being by my side all this time."

"Yeah. It's the final showdown. Go out there and do your best. Go out there and bring down Pito-san… magnificently."

LLENN focused her glance from the log house to f.u.kaziroh on her right.

As she was once told by Pitohui, she knew that she absolutely had to avoid making any unnecessary eye contact while on guard, but──

Just this once, before starting the a.s.sault, she wanted to see her partner's smile.

'Yeah! Will do!'

The moment she was about to say that, as she focused on f.u.kaziroh's face,

"Wha?"

LLENN saw.

The meadows, f.u.kaziroh, and the brown land beyond. And also──

A thick cloud of dust rising in the distance.

At first, she thought that it could have been a whirlwind.

Because that cloud of dust looked way too big. Even if one, two, no, even if six people ran together, they would probably be unable blow up that much dust.

But, after 3 seconds, she realised that she was mistaken.

Because she saw the cloud rapidly becoming bigger,

"Ah!"

And that its source seemed to be rising from beneath the horizon.

Those were three cars rus.h.i.+ng through the dry land in a line.

Recognising the angular silhouette of four-wheel-drive cars,

"Cars carsing from the west!"(1)

LLENN shouted. Overwhelmed with shock, she misspoke 〝coming!〟,

"Buhoh!"

f.u.kaziroh spouted.

Hearing the punny report from LLENN,

"Haah──?"

Boss was a moment late to react, but while continuing to lie on the meadow, she quickly glanced in the indicated direction.

And there she confirmed the sight of dust rising into the sky.

At nearly the same time, Tohma raised the upper half of her body just a little and took a quick look toward the western horizon with her Dragunov's scope, even though she should have aimed at one of the log house's windows.

"Cars! Three off-road vehicles! They're coming right at us── no, the log house!"

Just after her report, Tohma was. .h.i.t in the right shoulder by a bullet that came from a window on the log house's second floor,

"Kyan!"

And dropped to the ground while letting out a cute scream.

She had not caught sight of any Lines, thus she had undoubtedly been sniped by M. As one would expect from a renowned sniper. Firing the moment he saw even a part of his target's body, and a.s.suredly succeed in hitting it.

"Craap!"

Boss uttered a resentful complaint to both sides.

"Something's comiiiiing!"

The footage in the bar now focused on the three four-wheel-drive cars causing the cloud of dust.

They were 《Humvees》, military transport vehicles employed by the US Armed Forces, among others.

Their colour was sand-yellow. A little less than 5 metres in length. Over 2 metres in width. 

Its large tyres were supported by the long suspension, thus it featured very high ground clearance. Even on rather bad roads, the vehicle would be able push forward without the bottom of its frame being sc.r.a.ped.

A great variety of Humvees existed, but the one being driven on screen was the US Army type〝M1114〟 which had an over-the-top number of bulletproof armour plates installed.

Atop its circular, open roof was a rack for a .50 calibre 《M2》 heavy machine gun and a bulletproof plate to protect the shooter. It also had bulletproof gla.s.s, allowing its user to oversee their surroundings without sticking their head out.

Of course, it was impossible for players to receive new arms, thus there were no M2 heavy machine guns on the vehicles.

The three Humvees, travelling in an oblique line about 20 metres apart and causing a long cloud of dust to trail them, continued driving at a recklessly fast speed, paying no heed to the wasteland. The provided aerial view looked like a broadcast of an automobile rally or a TVcommercial for a new car.

Vehicles could not be made into personal items, thus, like the hovercrafts and trucks in the previous tournament, they must have been found lying around somewhere.

Due to the reflective nature of gla.s.s, the insides could not be seen, but the audience could easily predict which team was driving them. After all, there were only two other teams still alive at this point.

"It's undoubtedly── those guys!"

"Let's go, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! We'll push forward and take control of the log house!"

The leader of MMTM, the group that had acquired hovercrafts and rampaged through the previous tournament, sent instructions to his comrades while sitting in one of the Humvee's pa.s.senger seats.

He was a hardcore GGO player who had been playing the game since its inception.

As he had mentioned in the bar, at the time, he had formed a squadron with Pitohui.

He was a man who did not fool around with other games, exhaustively trained himself, and thus held the power to partic.i.p.ate in the BoB main tournament that decided the strongest player in the game.

And right now, he was enjoying himself by fighting alongside his comrades in SJ.

This man,

"The battle here will essentially be the final showdown! Go wild to your heart's content! Bullets, courage, and your lives── don't spare a single one of them!"

He shouted with a truly joyful, boyish smile.

"So thaaaaat's it! It's you guys agaaaain! Stay outta my waaaaaaaay!"

The scream of LLENN's soul was aimed at the three Humvees, but, of course, that would not stop their a.s.sault.

They were 900 metres away from the log house when she spotted them, but that distance was being shortened before her eyes.

Gunshots began.

The heavy sound of a barrage in the distance was Rosa's PKM machine gun. It was an attack from the opposite side of the log house.

She also saw the gla.s.s pane of a window on the west side of the log house's second floor breaking, and bullets flying out of it. She was practically unable to hear it firing for some reason, but the vivid light of tracer bullets extending one after another undoubtedly belonged to a machine gun.

The PM4 machine gunner was set up somewhere deep inside so that neither his muzzle nor the fire from his gun could be seen, and he had begun shooting at the Humvees with all he had.

"Uugh……"

If LLENN had carried out her decisive a.s.sault through the door on the west side as planned, she would have been found by that shooter and would have had to slip through all that fire──

'Thinking of it that way, they helped me out, I guess?'

She felt quite conflicted about the matter.

LLENN took out her monocle and set her sight on the approaching Humvees.

'Nice work! Get 'em!'

She antic.i.p.ated the barrage of the 2 machine guns mercilessly turning those guys and their cars into beehives. In that case, she would immediately begin das.h.i.+ng.

Eventually, she chose the maximum magnification to see the details of the car clearly, and in the circular view of her monocle,

"Huh?"

Weren't the bullets that hit the vehicles merely creating sparks as the three vehicles continued charging forward with no concern at all?

Based on the knowledge she had once acquired from Pitohui, LLENN thought that vehicle plating and gla.s.s were thin and could easily be pierced by bullets,

"No fair!"

Thus she subconsciously shouted out.

Completely forgetting that in the previous tournament, MMTM had felt exactly the same when they went up against her team.

"s.h.i.+t……"

On the opposite side beyond the log house, Boss also groaned as she looked through her binoculars while lying on the ground.

Boss did not know much about military vehicles, but still understood what was going on. That four-wheel-drive car was an armoured vehicle. It paid no heed to attacks from 7.62 mm machine guns.

Even though they could have mercilessly kicked its a.s.s if they still had their anti-tank rifle with them.

It was meaningless to regret it now.

After Tohma, who had her hit points decreased by thirty percent when she was shot by M, applied a first-aid kit on herself, 

"Why you!"

She aimed the Dragunov placed right beside her at the Humvee while maintaining a just-barely-low-enough p.r.o.ne stance,

"Enough. Don't fire."

And was stopped by Boss.

"You too, Rosa, hold your fire. Unfortunately, it's a waste of bullets. All hands, while watching out for M's sniping, prepare for the perfect timing to fire at them as they disembark.

The roaring PKM quickly fell silent.

Tanya, whose attacks could not even reach them with her weapon,

"But what're we gonna do then? At this rate, they'll head straight for the log house, ya know? As far as I could see from footage of the previous tournament, MMTM is super strong in indoor battles, ya know? If they happened to defeat PM4──"

She did not finish, but everyone knew what would happen.

All of LLENN's effort thus far would go to waste.

Boss did not put it to words as they would be transmitted to the person herself, but she had a thought.

'Sheesh, is LLENN unlucky this time?'

"Go go! Charge on!"

The spectators in the bar,

〝Support the team that is currently doing their best to attack.〟

Because of that logic, or rather, because of the atmosphere,

"Kick all three teams' a.s.ses in one go!"

"Show your manliness!"

Were currently sending fired-up cheers to MMTM.

As if the excitement from the bar had reached them, MMTM continued the a.s.sault.

"LF's on the left and s.h.i.+NC's on the right, but you can just ignore them for now! We're not getting much of a counterattack, so we're just going to break into the log house like this! PM4 is undoubtedly wounded!"

The leader concluded thus about the circ.u.mstances.

Based on their position during the previous scan, PM4 had undoubtedly taken up positions in the log house and should have the advantage.

Since their enemies only attacked them with 1 machine gun, it could be surmised that they had suffered quite some damage during the battles so far. Of course, nothing was certain on a battlefield, but it was standard tactics to a.s.sume the most likely case when it came to making a decision.

"I'll fire a grenade through the second floor window beforehand. No need for support. Cover your heads! Afterwards, it's time for the indoor battle tactics that we take pride in! Let's clean this up good!"

At the leader's instructions, all his comrades responded with a short 'Roger'.

There were two people in each of the three vehicles.

The leftmost Humvee was driven by a man carrying an Italian ARX160 a.s.sault rifle; his name was 〝Bold〟.

Among the six men, he had the darkest skin and most compact figure. Coupled with his short dreadlocks, he had an exotic appearance.

He was also the only one of the men killed by LLENN in the previous SJ. Naturally, he was burning for revenge against LLENN.

To his right, in the pa.s.senger seat sat a man who used a German G36K.

His name was 〝Lax〟. He was the team's gun maniac and the man who had been thrown out of his hovercraft and drowned at the bottom of a lake in the previous tournament.

He was a medium-build with no special traits, but this time, because he felt like it, he had equipped a pair of sungla.s.ses that linked the lens sideways. In GGO, there was never a moment where it was 〝too dazzling〟, thus the sungla.s.ses were unnecessary, but he used them for the atmosphere.

In the central Humvee sat the leader in the pa.s.senger's seat. In the driver's seat sat a man carrying a Belgian SCAR-L a.s.sault rifle. His name was 〝Samon〟.

He had the most macho avatar among the men, thus his gun looked small. Though he was also the newest member of the squadron, and his character was the weakest. As such, he was made to carry Jake's ammunition at times.

The driver of the last vehicle was another guy with a G36K, 〝Kenta〟.

He had a short physique and black hair; coupled with his name, his avatar looked the most j.a.panese. However, his naming was not based on his real name; it originated from the name of a certain fast food restaurant that sold his favourite fried chicken.

Within the team, he was often nicknamed 〝chicken〟, but he was actually a brave man who was not wary of charging into a dangerous spot.

In the car's… back seat rather than the pa.s.senger's seat, was Jake, who held a role that could be called sub-leader and was also the team's only machine gunner.

He had an awfully slender body, thus, at a glance, it would seem like he did not have much strength, but that was avatar magic. In reality, he was a muscleman boasting the highest Strength stat.

In MMTM, which mostly focused on 5.56 mm a.s.sault rifles, Jake's HK21 7.62 mm machine gun's firepower was valuable.

Additionally, his HK21 was equipped with a variable magnification scope. It also had a semi-autofiring mode that was rare for this kind of machine gun, and it fulfilled the role of the team's sole long-range sniper rifle.

He was the only one sitting in the back and preparing to pound away by sticking his gun out through the roof while on the move.

Though, they were currently driving on rough road, thus the shaking of the car was intense,

"Uhi!"

Having not fastened his seat belt, he had to use his all to avoid hurting himself.

From their experience in the previous tournament, they knew that 〝as the tournament goes on, vehicles to make it easier to move around will start to appear〟.

Therefore, MMTM simply but stubbornly kept an eye on their surroundings for one.

And they found some.

This happened around 14:03. While they were running through the hilly area to attack T-S, they found an object covered by a camouflage sheet at the bottom of a valley.

When they descended into the valley and tore off the cover, there lay their treasure, three vehicles.

The leader instantly decided.

That they would postpone their attack on the team running around on the rampart and, with their newly acquired mobility, launch a surprise attack on the three formidable teams. And that defeating them would herald victory.

And so, they went around the dome counter-clockwise, and during the 14:10 scan confirmed for the last time the site where the hectic battle between the three teams unfolded.

Seeing cars move from left to right in her field of vision, driving recklessly fast while raising a cloud of dust,

"s.h.i.+t……!"

The camouflage poncho-wearing LLENN ground her teeth. f.u.kaziroh, lying nearby,

"Aww, if only they had come a bit closer…… I could have just blown them away……"

Said regretfully.

Before long, the three vehicles traversed 500 metres ahead of them. A distance that neither of their weapons could reach.

If it were at least 300 metres, f.u.kaziroh could have just blown them away by consecutively firing 12 grenades. Even if hitting the cars themselves were unlikely, they could have at least damaged one of the tyres.

LLENN was driven by an impulse to run at full speed to a.s.sault the three vehicles, but──

"Guu……"

She knew that she would only end up having the tables turned on her. If hit by one of the cars, the light LLENN could potentially be sent flying over the rampart.

"M-san, Pito-san! Run!"

Having thought of bringing the two of them down just moments ago, LLENN let out a shout that was like a prayer.

The machine gun that had been continuing to shoot from the second floor of the log house fired numerous bullets at the Humvee, creating flashy sparks, until it reached the 200 metre mark, but eventually fell silent.

She did not know whether the guy ran out of ammo, his barrel overheated, or he grasped that it was ineffective.

When 150 metres remained, the three vehicles finally slowed down.

The middle vehicle decelerated the most, and from its roof, guarded by armoured plates, a grenade was fired, 

"Ah!" "Oh!"

Before LLENN's and f.u.kaziroh's eyes, with magnificent aim, the black dot went through the window on the second floor. A beat later, it exploded. The gla.s.s pane, as well as the frame of the window, were blown away from inside and rained down below.

She had no clue how big that room was, but if the PM4 machine gunner was still inside, he undoubtedly could not be unhurt.

The three Humvees approached the western entrance of the log house and stopped just barely away from it. Regretfully, those guys were superb drivers.

Immediately, the men came out.

Green camouflage uniforms. Just as she was told by Boss, that was undoubtedly MMTM's equipment.

She once again began to hear the gunshots of the PKM machine gun that caused sparks as it hit the Humvees.

With nimble moves, one of them carefully opened the door, another kept watch on the second floor window, and the remaining four entered inside as if they were sucked in.

One of the two who were left pa.s.sed by the other, tapping on his shoulder, and the final one followed suit.

Due to parking right next to the building, all of that took a mere few seconds. Not a single one of Rosa's bullets. .h.i.t their target.

"What are those guys, special ops!"

"They got in without a hitch."

"That was too quick……"

From the spectators watching the event came voices of admiration.

"Have you seen the video of the previous tournament? Their battle in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was like a model demonstration of indoor combat. Without leaving any blind spots or stopping their momentum, they 〝cleared〟 each area in succession."

Just as someone finished his words, the camera changed to the inside of the log house.

The video showed the log house's corridor on the first floor from above the entrance. There was little light compared to the outside, but it was not dim either, thus they saw the scene clearly.

The men of MMTM advanced through the corridor between the walls of thick logs while holding their rifles compactly, and one after another rushed into one of the nearest rooms on the right.

The time was 14:15.

"So they got in……"

M's rock-like face showed signs of impatience and regret as he muttered this.

His current position was the second floor of the log house. Inside a guest room.

It was a rather large room, about 10 square metres in size.

Inside were four firm-looking, wooden single beds lined up along the wall.

Additionally, there was a closet, a sofa, as well as a fireplace at a corner of the window. Part of the room served as the kitchen. The room, just like the entirety of the building, was very lovely. It looked like visitors could lodge here even now.

The room was located to the east of a staircase in the middle of the log house.

On a wall not covered by logs hung a large picture──

A 『Geyser park map』 was placed there. It introduced the area of gra.s.s and water on the east side of the log house and explained how deep each pond was, the intervals at which water spouted from each geyser, and how high the water would reach; all of it was in English, of course, but it was explained in detail.

Atop one of the beds lay Pitohui. The hit effect on her right eye had already disappeared, but her eyes were still closed.

At the top left corner of their field of vision, M and the others could see that Pitohui's hit pointshad already recovered past fifty percent. The bar was yellow. It would still take a few minutes to fully recover.

And, most importantly,

"Oi, get up. We don't have the time for you to lose consciousness."

Despite M addressing her and slightly hitting her on the cheeks, Pitohui remained asleep.

PM4 was put in its biggest predicament yet.

Pitohui was sniped and fainted due to getting too excited. They safely retreated to the log house to make preparations, but thus far, all of this did not prove much of a problem.

The second floor of the log house had a splendid line of sight, so they could see farther away than lying on the plains, and could aim farther.

Hindering s.h.i.+NC and LLENN, who were probably coming from the south and north, would have been simple with their machine gun and sniper rifles. In fact, M had shot the shoulder of a female sniper who carelessly revealed her upper body.

Holding their ground here, awaiting Pitohui's full recovery, and, afterwards, borrowing her power to continue the battle.

To M and the three masked men, the plan had sufficient odds of succeeding.

That did not account for MMTM's unexpected intrusion and break-in.

There was no point in regretting it now, but they should have foreseen that cars would appear.

"No dice! Returning to you for now!"

The voice of M's comrade with the machine gun reached his ears. He was in one piece. However, a large machine gun was awfully disadvantageous in close quarters combat indoors.

They were being put in a more and more disadvantageous situation, but,

"Alright."

Nevertheless, that did not mean that they could just do nothing and be killed.

M instantly thought of the next best plan and conveyed it to his three comrades. Currently, the UTS-15 shotgun user was atop the central stairway, while the tall man was in the corridor in front of the room. The machine gunner was running towards him through that corridor right about now.

"We're gonna use the central stairway as our line of defence. That's the only stairway in the building."

While saying this, M operated his storage with his left hand. He materialised a large number of grenades. Not plasma grenades, which were just as dangerous to them with all that power in such a confined s.p.a.ce, but regular fragmentation grenades.

"No matter what it takes, don't let them get up to the second floor."

He began materialising grenades one by one, and while waiting for that to finish, M drew out the 《HK45》 pistol from his right thigh holster. After confirming that it was loaded, he returned it to its holster. He intended to fight not with his M14 EBR, but with the pistol.

At that moment.

"M-san── I know that our agreement was to 〝follow orders without asking questions〟, but can I ask a question?"

The not-so-talkative tall man asked a question as he went into the room while materialising a Savage 110BA from his own storage.

"Yeah. Sure."

"Alright, then I'll ask. ──What is Pitohui-san to you, M-san?"

At this awfully unexpected question,

"Hah?"

M's thoughts came to a halt. The tall man turned his face, hidden under the mask and goggles, straight at M,

"Umm, I mean── is she someone that you want to protect that much, is what I'd like to know."

"…………Yeah!"

After a moment of silence, he firmly answered in agreement.

This also reached the ears of the other two men.

"Hu──"

The tall man… smiled. In front of him, the Savage 110BA and its magazines materialised and fell to the floor.

"You heard him guys. It's our time to s.h.i.+ne."

In response to the tall man, the shotgun user,

"Now yer talkin'!"

And then the machine gunner on the way back,

"You got it!"

Responded in excitement.

The tall man took out his Glock 21 from its holster and reloaded its magazine. With a 25-round long magazine that stuck far out from the .45 caliber pistol's grip.

"We'll be sure to block off the stairs for a while, so in the meantime, M-san, please wake up our sleeping beauty. Once you do, we'll leave the rest to the princess. We'll be waiting for her order to 〝kill everyone〟.

Once he said what he wanted, the tall man suddenly turned around.

And left the room.

The video in the bar displayed MMTM's merciless room clearing.

As if they were actually 〝cleaning〟, they swept through the building where their enemies lurked; it was a close combat technique.

One man continued covering the corridor while the remaining five entered the room one by one and, the moment they were in, they thrust their a.s.sault rifles forward like blades to cover each other's blind spots. It need not be said that they would fire the instant they saw anyone.

After checking a room, they once again stepped out into the corridor, and while keeping watch on their surroundings through the windows, broke into the next room. They did not stop.

The members of MMTM finished inspecting the two small guest rooms and the rather big room that looked like an office on the the first floor.

They pa.s.sed by the stairs in the middle of the building, leaving one of their men to stand guard as they broke into the remaining rooms. Just like that, they were done clearing the first floor of the building.

All that time, they remained silent.

The spectators in the bar did not know when and at what moment the grand indoor battle would begin, thus they watched on, swallowing their saliva.

And so, MMTM came to the central stairway.

Who would take the lead during their a.s.sault was dependent on their current formation. Aside from the machine gunner Jake, any one of them could be the vanguard.

The SCAR-L macho man had just been the vanguard and Samon was providing support in the corridor, thus the ones who charged into the hall as the vanguard were the two G36K users, the black-haired Kenta, and the sungla.s.ses-wearing Lax.

The stairway in the centre of the building was about 3 metres wide. It began from the first floor corridor (north) side, had a large landing midway, then continued up to the second floor after a 180 degree turn.

The two men climbing up the stairs with their muzzles aimed upwards,

*Pakon!*

Were a.s.sailed by a rain of shots.

"Yeah…… they're in a fight……"

It had been tens of seconds since MMTM broke into the log house.

LLENN was peeking through her monocle from the same spot as before. Through the windows, she got glimpses of MMTM's camouflage uniforms, and understood that they were entering and then leaving the rooms.

And then finally, when they moved to the center of the building, she heard m.u.f.fled gunshots and saw something s.h.i.+ning inside.

"LLENN, it would be pointless for you to go into a place like that."

At f.u.kaziroh's calm voice that sounded like a reb.u.t.tal,

"I-I know that! I know……"

LLENN responded as if she were admonis.h.i.+ng herself.

Right now, even if she entered that place, it was obvious that she could not make use of the fight to go after and bring down Pitohui.

No, if she carelessly approached the log house, there was even a chance of being sniped by the members of MMTM. They still had six people alive, and they were undoubtedly formidable.

Currently, LLENN──

'G.o.d sorry please protect Pito-san till I bring her down myself!'

Could only pray that Pitohui's side would win, even if she were the only survivor of the PM4 versus MMTM battle.

"They're upstairs, just as I thought."

Kenta spoke out for the first time, informing his comrades.

Simultaneously, Lax continued aiming up the stairs for suppressing fire. The two returned to bottom of the stairs, prepared for a hand grenade to come from above.

The two almost predicted that the enemy would come shooting down the stairs.

Forcibly rus.h.i.+ng in was not their way of fighting──

〝Based on the structure of the stairway, if we stick our heads out a bit, the enemy upstairs will probably come down shooting.〟

With this in mind, it was natural to intentionally pretend to run up the stairs to draw out the enemy's fire. Just like what happened moments ago.

The short man who 〝fired〟 his UTS-15,

"Hah! Not bad!"

Praised the enemy, pulling the foregrip of his angular shotgun backwards and expelling an empty sh.e.l.l.

"But, this will buy time."

Next to the man who muttered this, the large machine gunner was working on something while crouching.

His work was forming a roll out of the large number of grenades that M had taken out, using a dull gray and highly adhesive tape called duct tape.

Duct tape was far more adhesive than j.a.panese gummed tape; Americans used it for any kind of repair work, and at times for other uses.

Even in GGO, it was one of the items that everyone had at least one of on them, as if it were only natural. This was to such an extent that there were even players who were awakened to how useful the tape was, and thus bought it IRL by mail order to use it.

With intricate finger movements that were unbefitting of his build, the man linked twelve grenades into a row by using the duct tape, creating an approximately 2 metre-long 〝hand grenade rope〟 . Finally, he wrapped the tape around the safety pins so that they could all be removed at the same time when pulled.

Then, he put that on his large body like a belt so that it would not fall off his body. He wrapped the tip of the tape for pulling out the safety pins around his right hand, grasped it tightly,

"Well, I leave the rest to you."

And, stating this lightheartedly as if he were asking to turn off the lights, ran loudly down the stairs.

Kenta and Lax, who were at the ready at the bottom of the stairs──

Despite being surprised by the man suddenly coming down the stairs, the moment he exposed himself at the landing, they fired their G36Ks simultaneously.

It was a quick semi-auto barrage. About 5 bullets went into the man's body, but he had crossed his arms in front of his face and was wearing a bulletproof plate on his chest, thus that alone was not enough to result in his death.

While running down the stairs,

"Uoryaa!"

With a yell, the masked man forcibly pulled his right hand, taking out the safety pins of all the hand grenades on his body.

Kenta and Lax immediately realised.

That he was a special suicide bombing soldier.

If the enemy had simply dropped a hand grenade from above, the two could have escaped.

So, the man's plan was to wrap them around his body and run out. Even if he were shot several times, he planned to continue running during the few seconds before his hit points fell to zero, and he exploded.

If that happened, neither they nor their teammates would escape unscathed.

However, even if they sacrificed one of their own to stop the man, it did not seem like they could stop the kinetic energy of his large physique descending the stairs. If they tried ramming into him, they would be the ones blown away.

'Then, what should we do?'

The two men instantly and simultaneously came up with the answer, and simultaneously took action.

The two pointed their G36Ks 3 metres, or about five steps, upwards──

And focused on the man's left ankle that had just stepped there.

The 2 G36Ks made well-matched roars as the 5.56 mm bullets they fired were soaked up by the man's black boots.

In an instant, several bullets made contact with the narrow area of the ankle, and it was torn off. Unable to support the man's weight, his foot was separated from the s.h.i.+n.

"Ga?"

The man, trying to step forward with his right foot in order to support his left, inclined greatly to the left. He then collapsed sideways atop the stairs and slid down the remaining three steps.

Kenta and Lax ran away by hopping to the left and right,

"c.r.a.p, they got me."

The man, no longer able to give chase, groaned a single phrase as he was enveloped in consecutive explosions from the hand grenades on his body. His upper body was engulfed in red effects and shattered.

*Zuzuzuzuzuzuzuzun*, an explosion resounded throughout the entire building, and hearing that,

"…………"

M, still standing, looked down at the face of the sleeping beauty on the bed.

The well-featured face, engraved with a tattoo, was quietly breathing in slumber.

He had already applied a third first-aid kit; her hit points continued to rise gradually and had already pa.s.sed seventy percent. It would probably reach the green state soon.

M no longer attempted to awaken Pitohui.

He neither hit her cheeks, nor called her, nor did anything else of the sort.

He just remained silent, quietly waiting.

The voice of the short man reached his ears.

"M-san. It seems that our suicide attack was quite the failure. But, well, I'll be buying time next. No need to worry!"

And then, seconds later, he could hear the sound of the UTS-15 shotgun's grand rapid-fire through the logs.

Then the sound of several a.s.sault rifles that were hiding there tearing a single man to pieces.

M did not look at his comrade's hit points. He did not need them to know how many were left.

MMTM prepared their formation and, at the exact moment they were about to charge upstairs──

A masked man continuously firing his UTS-15 ran down the stairs.

Immediately, Samon, who had moved to the vanguard, pounded away with his SCAR-L.

Although he managed to land a few shots on his target's chest, he had also been hit in the feet by some shots and toppled over on the spot. His hit points decreased by twenty percent.

If this were a one-on-one battle, Samon would probably suffer a finis.h.i.+ng round of shots and die, but,

"Uraa!" "Hah!" "Tah!"

If Kenta and Lax, as well as the leader behind them, simultaneously added their firepower, the short man would be unable to continue his next attack.

His left hand, which handled the pump action, was shot, thus the man was left with no way to counterattack.

Hit effects sparkled throughout his body, and he turned into a corpse while still standing.

Then, he collapsed, slipping down the stairs while leaning forward, and stopped at the spot where the large man had exploded and scattered.

Just as the 【Ｄｅａｄ】 marker lit up, the restoration of a large body began, creating a human shape with its limbs in place.

It regained the form of a corpse belonging to the man who died first, and the body landed heavily atop the short man.

"That sure looks heavy……"

Bold muttered shortly.

'Alright, get up!'

The leader's final command via hand signs.

Kenta and Lax, Bold and the leader behind them, as well as Samon, who had risen after being shot, all ran up the stairs at once.

Stairways were one of the most dangerous places in indoor battles. Especially when they had to attack from below, as was their current situation. If a plasma grenade were dropped, the whole team could even be wiped out.

Thus, once they decided to climb up, speed was life. They had no choice but to instantly run up as a team and take control of the upstairs area.

The men of MMTM went beyond the landing, saw the second floor──

And saw a bed sliding down.

"Uwa" "Aah?" "Uhh" "Hah?"

Even the members of MMTM were surprised by this.

Because a wooden single bed, turned sideways, slid down from the top while bouncing due to the stairs.

One by one, the lower bodies of the four men were rammed by the bed──

And pushed back to the landing by that force.

Then, their backs. .h.i.t the log wall, being sandwiched by the bed.

Their feet, lower bodies, and rifles were caught by it. They also suffered some damage, albeit very minuscule.

"Hah!"

At the exceedingly unexpected attack, a smile subconsciously appeared on the sandwiched leader's face.

And when he raised his head, he saw a tall, masked man standing at the top of the stairs.

Above the man's head, a single bed was being held up.

"Wha?"

And at that moment, it was thrown. At them.

The masked men of PM4, and the bed attack by the last of them with terrifyingly superhuman strength,

"…………" "…………"

Was broadcast to the bar as well, and the spectators were all dumbfounded.

From the room right beside the stairs, while his comrades were being brought down, the man took out two beds.

'I see, so when you raise your Strength high enough, you can do something like that, huh', everyone learnt something new.

"Long ago…… I think there was a video game where a large gorilla threw barrels from above……"

Someone said.

Another bed, identical to the first, landed atop the one that sandwiched the four men on the log house's landing.

The dull sound of wood cras.h.i.+ng into wood resounded,

"Guhah!" "Oooh!" "Buh!" "Gah!"

Followed by the helpless shrieks of the squashed men. Damage was registered again. Though it could not possibly be enough to kill them.

While being sandwiched, the leader saw.

That the man who threw the two beds had quickly drawn a Glock from his hip holster.

And how he mercilessly and slowly pointed his black pistol with the long magazine at them. Of course, he would probably fire out all of his bullets.

The tall man took a step closer to improve his aim. He stood at the edge of the stairs.

Before the man could fire,

"Jake! Now!"

The leader shouted.

Naturally, the tall man also heard his voice,

"!"

His aim with the Glock… faltered slightly. The Bullet Lines coming from his muzzle went from the four people, whose movements were sealed, to the corner of the landing.

However, a new enemy… did not appear there. Instead──

*Doka doka doka doka doka doka doka*.

One by one, holes opened up on the board the man was standing on.

The bullets that came from below pierced the man's feet and body one by one. Red hit effectsbegan s.h.i.+ning from his lower body.

"Nuu……"

The tall man let out an anguish-filled groan and, while being shot, aimed his Glock at the MMTM leader, and fired 1 bullet.

The .45 caliber bullet hit the bed in front of the leader, and its wooden frame caused a small wound on his cheek.

"Uooooooraah!"

The man underneath, Jake, pounded away with his beloved HK21 machine gun from the first floor.

Holding it with both hands, he raised the muzzle overhead and pulled the trigger. He unleashed a full auto rapid-fire.

The bullets on the belt coming from the ammunition box were sucked in and fired out with a roar. The bullets pierced the first floor ceiling boards, pierced the heat insulation in between, and then pierced the floorboards of the second floor.

*Kachin*.

The moment the last of the 50 bullets on the ammunition belt had been exhausted, the man standing there turned into a corpse.

As the 【Ｄｅａｄ】 marker popped up, the tall man collapsed.

"Jake! Dodge!"

Hearing the leader's voice,

"Hah!"

Jake took a step back.

Piercing the ravaged floor, the corpse fell down to where he had been standing.

"Uhya!"

Gun shots from a machine gun resounded beyond the log wall and his comrade's hit pointsturned to zero instantly.

M's large body was kneeling beside the bed.

Among the four beds lined up westward, atop the second bed from the window, the sleeping beauty had her eyelids closed.

"…………"

M lifted up a plasma grenade from the floor. The timer was set rather long, at 5 seconds.

His lips… moved quietly, forming words.

"You…… saved…… me……"

Tears flowed from his eyes and dripped on the plasma grenade.

"Thanks."

M slowly inclined his large body──

And placed a short kiss on the sleeping beauty's lips.

Then, he returned to his former position and quietly pulled the explosion switch of the plasma grenade on his left palm.

This event was not broadcast to the bar.

The members of MMTM,

'Hold on!'

'Sorry!'

Were conducting a rescue of the four men sandwiched on the landing.

While the leader, who was released first, and Samon, who had not been sandwiched in, were pus.h.i.+ng the beds, the remaining three members were released one by one. During that time, having reloaded his HK21, Jake was standing at a corner of the landing, aiming upstairs.

A few seconds later, when all of them regained their freedom of movement and quickly finished checking on their beloved guns,

'Alright, we're going up!'

The moment they were about to climb over the bed and rush to the second floor, following the leader's hand signs.

A roar that seemed like it made the whole building shake resounded and hit their earlobes.

'A plasma grenade explosion? Where?'

Instantly, they all had the exact same idea.