I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun
Chapter 31 Table of contents

Although I might have mentioned it before, I used to love FPS games.

Back then, I rambled on about how straightforward the objectives were, but to keep it short, it was simply because of their simplicity and the direct pleasure they provided.

Over time, games evolved to require more thought beyond just shooting, but I tried my hand at most FPS games regardless of additional features.

There were games with strange names like Rainbow-Siege and large-scale capture games that allowed 64-player multiplayer. There were also Duty Calls, which featured scenarios turning players into war heroes, and games about escaping from a closed economic zone.

While they all fell under the FPS category, they each existed on different platforms.

But...

"...There’s a lot here."

"They bought the rights to FPS games that were popular in the past and integrated them into the Dark Zone. That’s why so many users flocked here."

"It looks like it."

...These are all games I’ve seen somewhere before. Why are they all crammed into the Dark Zone?

Old memories are surfacing. Come to think of it, when I glanced at a Dark Zone-related article before, there seemed to be something about this. They said they had implemented numerous past FPS games into virtual reality.

It’s not impossible, I suppose… but it is absurd. I never thought I’d face the games of my past in this form.

The external mission lists, that is, the game modes serviced by the Dark Zone, were slightly different from what I knew in the past.

To be more specific, some modifications were made in the process of incorporating the worldview and settings, making it difficult to recognize the originals.

However, as if to say that what matters is the content, as soon as I opened the detailed view of Team Six, familiar maps unfolded before my eyes. There were mansions, banks, and coastlines scattered here and there.

Hmm.

"It feels like it’s been a while since I practiced rappelling...."

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"I was just thinking about what we might do. Have you decided yet, Harmony?"

"I’m figuring it out through a vote right now. You’re okay with anything, right?"

"Yes."

Streaming.

Streaming, huh.

Suddenly, I became a bit curious. How does streaming work, and how is she doing it? Perhaps this is how viewers come in.

After waiting for a while, Harmony received the authority through a party leader change request and pressed 'Team Six' at the top. With smooth internal UI navigation, the surrounding environment peeled away, and soon we were standing in a briefing room-like space.

The ranked match feature was locked due to a lack of level, but a message popped up saying that beginner matchmaking wasn’t applied to the normal match because there was a hardcore user.

I figured as much.

"Oh, actually trying it is making me nervous again. I played it on a computer a few years ago, but it’s been so long I forgot the maps. Are you okay?"

"I think I’ll manage...."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

Duh-dung.

Amidst this, an imposing sound signaling a successful match and a map appeared before my eyes. It was a bank. A complex three-story structure, including the second floor, first floor, and basement level.

The time limit was three minutes. After three rounds, the roles of attack and defense were switched, and the team that achieved five wins first would be victorious. It was a simple and clear system.

Harmony was next to me, unable to hide her fascination as she noticed, "Even normal games have the same system as ranked these days?" Meanwhile, the lobby began to expand little by little.

Three other players were entering.

But,

───!

"Please tell me we got in, please...!"

"Oh? We got in! Really? We succeeded in getting a viewer match like this!?"

"Noknyang group, we made it in───!!"

...I didn’t expect this.

They were all avatars that had nothing to do with FPS games. As I stood there with a bewildered expression, 'female avatars' of various appearances cheered at us as if having a fan meeting... Wait a minute.

Us?

"It’s Eugene, the teacher!"

"Teacher! Please take care of our slightly lacking but good-natured Harmony nuna! Without you, she might quit this game!"

"...Ah, yes. I understand."

The briefing room had become quite noisy.

Harmony, as if familiar with it, explained the rules to follow when doing a viewer match, and the others nodded in agreement.

Unlike the old days, when you couldn’t tell who the other person was beyond the computer screen, virtual reality games, even with avatars, revealed the player’s behavior and speech patterns, leading to more decent users.

Harmony, confirming that the broadcast was streaming smoothly, added:

"The location protection feature is on, so even if someone on the opposing team is watching my stream, the broadcast won’t be visible once matched. So, there shouldn’t be any major issues...."

A buzzing sound.

Along with the words floating before my eyes, a slightly muffled briefing came through my ears.

And the equipment list for the attackers was laid out.

There were countless gadgets, from breaching hammers, EMP grenades, flash shields, explosive grenades, and more that were too numerous to list. Naturally, more than two of these couldn’t be carried.

Except for me.

However, there wasn’t much worth taking, so I just casually brought along some explosive grenades. Carrying around all sorts of things was cumbersome.

Armor decisions and ban-pick selections began.

Thus, the final team composition was....

"Somehow, the composition naturally resembles a ranked game."

"It seems like there isn’t anything we can’t break through. You guys didn’t bring anything strange, did you? Like adhesive explosives instead of smoke or flash grenades?"

"No issues here."

"What about Harmony nuna?"

"I didn’t bring my skills."

"Oh dear."

While everyone laughed and chatted, I also checked to see if I forgot anything... but I didn’t have anything to begin with.

Others had their armor and speed change according to gadget selection, but except for the destruction round launcher and spare ammo on my back, my equipment was the same.

And sure enough,

"Uh... Eugene?"

"Yes?"

"Why, how are you 3-speed and 3-armor all by yourself?"

"Because I’m a hardcore user."

"...Nye?"

Four grenades, the default amount.

A hard-breach charge, a common gadget. I just casually brought it.

Bulletproof vest. I wore the heaviest and sturdiest one, as always.

Speed. I was simply fast at running.

"Is there a problem?"

It didn’t take long for four faces, struggling to find a problem, to look at me.

Buzzzz.

A small disc-shaped drone was automatically generated outside the base camp. As everyone’s gaze lowered to the floor, the sound of air being expelled followed as the drone began moving at the players' control.

All passages were blocked by planks, but there were gaps just wide enough for the drones to pass through, allowing smooth reconnaissance. Four drones entered the interior through the back door, front door, and wall vents.

Among them, one drone remained stationary.

After deliberately parking her drone close to her spawn position, Eugene accessed the camera network to check the movement of other drones.

The auditory function of a drone entering the second floor turned on, bringing a barrage of footsteps, reinforced wall installation sounds, and gunfire attempting to take down other drones scouring the area.

The continuous sound of shotgun blasts and sparking electricity bouncing off reinforced walls was heard.

Through the so-called construction process, the defenders were preparing to impose an inconvenient environment on the attackers approaching the objective.

Three drones survived the reconnaissance time. One was Eugene’s, and only two drones were positioned appropriately to provide real-time briefings on the enemy's position.

"The bomb is on the second floor. They’re in the middle of construction, and they’re wearing bulletproof vests. Watch out for entry denial explosives, there are ADS devices and...electric claws attached. I’m not sure about the last one."

"It’s a jammer gadget."

"Oh, really? Then all five are confirmed. I’ll head to the back door, so be careful of spawn kills. Where will you go, Harmony?"

"I’ll...just go where there are more people."

"Then follow us. Eugene, what about you?"

"I’ll go around and come up through the parking lot."

"Okay. Watch out for roamers!"

With the deep voice of the supporting operator, five figures appeared in the midst of the snowstorm sweeping through the city center.

Before approaching the bank in earnest, the operators cautiously commenced their movements, waiting briefly to see if any personnel would emerge to dismantle barricades and attempt spawn kills.

Three personnel approached the back door, while two others spawned at opposite ends of the front door—a player headed for the sewer, and Eugene went toward the parking lot.

Click.

A single round in the chamber. The 31-round magazine was filled with .300 AAC Blackout rounds, boasting significant damage and stopping power, and ten similar magazines were packed into her pouch.

After checking her weapon, Eugene picked up the disc-shaped drone on the ground, stuffed it into her multi-purpose pouch, and started moving.

No, it was closer to running.

Bang!

With a sharp sound, the CCTV mounted on the parking lot’s outer ceiling was shattered, and a figure seemed to be sucked into the building's interior.

From here, she didn’t know where the enemies might be. Silencing her footsteps completely, she began quickly scouring areas where enemies might be hiding, aiming her weapon.

There was no one in the parking lot.

Before entering the access route leading into the building, she subtly focused all her senses on her ears. There were no loud sounds. She retrieved the drone from her multi-purpose pouch and began operating it.

"...."

Inside the vault. CCTV control room. Not a single sound could be heard.

She exhaled briefly, then charged at the barricade, shattering it completely, and hid herself deep inside the basement level in an instant.

While the noise from the breaking barricade distracted the enemy, she planned to clear the basement entirely by meeting up with the teammate pushing from the tunnel side at the server room stairs.

But at that moment,

"Basement! Enemy waiting behind the server at the tunnel entrance!"

A loud gunshot echoed.

Immediately, Eugene in the vault started moving. The sharp sound of metal friction, traveling tens of meters in an instant, was drowned out by the gunfire.

She reached the control room, rapidly decelerating. Despite having numerical superiority, the defenders had the advantage of the first strike, meaning a bad turn could lead to a 3:5 situation instead of 5:4.

After pondering briefly, Eugene pulled out the drone she had retrieved earlier.

A few seconds later, gunfire resounded above the server room.

The drone shattered quickly, having barely traveled a few meters, but it was enough.

As her tail wrapped around the grenade launcher slung across her back and passed it to her hand, she inserted a finger into the trigger, launching an explosive round at the server room wall.

And the main body moved.

Just before the wall exploded, Eugene burst out of the control room with speed rivaling the flying debris, planting her feet firmly and quickly changing direction.

The target was the enemy hidden behind the server, and the distance was less than five meters. Her leg strength allowed her to cover the intricately winding space in the blink of an eye.

With the deafening boom of the destruction round launched for distraction, the enemy was tackled and slammed into the wall without firing a single shot at Eugene.

Bang!

"Cough!"

Even though it was a game, the impact was enough to leave him dazed. His HP dropped to below 20 in an instant, leaving him sprawled on the ground.

Before he could gather his thoughts, something appeared in his view—a tomahawk raised into the air—and he couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been better to die fighting rather than like this.

In the next moment, a rather horrifying sound for a game echoed.

It was the moment one more fell.

Chapter written by
Fenrir Translations
Write comment...
Settings
Themes
Font Size
18
Line Height
1.3
Indent between paragraphs
19
Chapters
Loading...