“First Blood, First Blood! Yujin has taken down the German player, Piligran, head-on just four minutes into her first match!”

A red concentric circle that started from the bottom right of the map quickly expanded, eventually covering the entire NBV Desert Base. The camp attached to Yujin, which had been affixed to at least two or three other users, was the first to enlarge and was soon shown to everyone gathered near Madison Square Garden without any time lag.

Amidst the overwhelming cheers was a slight sigh. While they had all gathered to watch the Final Championship, not everyone was cheering for the same player. In short, the sigh came from the German supporters.

However, that didn’t matter; it was, after all, First Blood. It was the celebratory blast announcing the start of the Final Championship solo match. Even the most professional host couldn’t help but tense up as the arena filled with fervor.

And the moment the host emphasized that fact word by word, an enormous cheer erupted.

“Wow!”

“Yujin! Yujin! Yujin! Yujin! Yujin! Yujin!”

“Stop doing so well! Please, just stop! Who are we supposed to watch after this?”

They didn’t care if their throats went hoarse the next day.

They didn’t care if they got a headache from cheering too much.

The chosen few who had purchased expensive plane tickets and flown all the way from Korea to enjoy this spectacle without holding back expressed their joy more enthusiastically than anyone else, and after barely a microsecond of time lag, the crowd erupted into cheers for the First Blood.

But that was merely a spark, a lit fuse leading to a full-blown explosion.

The moment that result flowed across the network to Korea, at 5:09 AM, the entire country shook.

“That’s right! Wow!”

“From today, I will call her a goddess!”

“Wow, she’s really insane… How can she fly all the way to America and play without any tension?”

But whether Yujin was insane or not, one thing was certain—Korea was hotter than ever.

Though the sun had yet to rise, the consumption of chicken and late-night snacks rivaled that of Christmas Day. Amidst all this news, a tremendous roar erupted from the throats of the people, as if the very buildings were shaking. Even the part-time workers frying chicken and the owners couldn’t help but step out to see the screen.

And it was worth it. The first scene etched into the minds of at least hundreds of millions of people was Yujin’s rifle butt smashing the opponent’s head in half.

It didn’t take long for the commotion to settle, but this wasn’t simply excitement waning. Rather, it was the moment when the ‘what if?’ lingering in the minds of all the Koreans watching the match in real-time was completely cleared away.

The number of players gradually decreased. Though they approached the match with the utmost safety in mind, they could not avoid all engagements, and thus the number that started at 100 had dwindled to 65 by the time half of the match had passed.

As the sandstorm approached, the kill zone shrank. With each reduction in the map, red concentric circles indicating engagements burst forth from all directions, and within a few minutes, the number of users roaming the map dropped below 60.

However, none of the Korean members were eliminated. Instead, Mikael, who had acquired a ballistic shield, overwhelmed Brazil's Nuada player throughout the match, securing yet another kill and eliciting cheers for Korea once again.

As time went on, expectations rose.

But—

—Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

“Damn it, I’m completely screwed…!”

If someone was doing well, then there were those who were not. Today, Dice was assigned the negative role in the zero-sum game known as the first match.

A vehicle chase that would never be forgotten in the history of the Dark Zone was about to begin.

—Kakakakakak!

“What the hell!”

NBV Desert Base.

A path had been carved through rocks so old that their age was immeasurable, with bases built intermittently that could serve as hubs. There was no reason or capacity to demolish the entire stone to create a path and construct a massive building.

In any case, vehicles became the means of transport between bases. Whether between rocks or along open paths, wild off-road buggies became the norm.

And today, two armed buggies, heavily laden with all manner of attack and defense mechanisms, were kicking up clouds of dust as they raced across the desert.

The one being pursued was Dice.

“Whew, good grief. Recalculating route, waypoint, waypoint… switching to autopilot, damn it, whew…!”

As if reciting an incantation, she desperately manipulated the panel mounted at the front of the armed buggy, controlling both her mind and body.

Bullets whizzed past her head. Aside from the vehicle frame, there was nearly zero armor to stop the bullets, and Dice was maneuvering the vehicle precariously to evade them.

As soon as the autopilot was set, Dice, who had barely managed to twist her body in the cramped driver’s seat, precariously leaned out and began firing back at the pursuing armed buggy, maintaining about a 40-meter distance. The long hair trailing on the ground as she fired impacted the enemy vehicle fiercely.

However, the enemy didn’t seem inclined to take it easy; as soon as Dice leaned out to shoot, they quickly turned the steering wheel. The vehicle lurched violently, and the bullets struck the body instead of the wheels.

“Damn it, there’s nothing easy about this…!”

The number of bullets fired was fifteen. Keeping that in mind, she quickly inserted a nanite canister into the chemical launcher that was firmly secured in the passenger seat.

The green-glowing cylinder slid into the launcher. Dice unbuckled her seatbelt and turned around in place. The chain gun mounted on the enemy vehicle began spitting bullets like crazy as her buggy executed evasive maneuvers, drifting and accelerating wildly.

Amidst all this, Dice, managing to keep her focus, desperately pulled the trigger.

But—

—Puh-uhng!

“Damn ADS…!”

While the enemy executed evasive maneuvers, the rapidly spinning chain gun accurately smashed the canister flying in a parabolic arc.

With a loud swish, the green liquid sprayed into the air, just grazing the side frame of the enemy armed buggy, as if an invisible claw had violently struck the vehicle, leaving it torn apart.

That should have hit properly!

‘…Don’t I have something like that?’

But such disappointment was fleeting. The most important thing now was to neutralize that damn chain gun.

While Dice’s vehicle wasn’t without a machine gun, the situation was fundamentally different—unlike the machine gun’s default position aimed straight ahead, it could only be fully effective when attacking an object in front of the vehicle.

To put it simply—while the enemy could drive while operating the machine gun because the shooting direction and the vehicle’s movement direction were the same, Dice’s situation was exactly the opposite. Even if she wanted to retaliate with the mounted machine gun, she had to check for obstacles that the autopilot couldn’t cover with one eye. In the meantime, there was no way to attack the pursuing enemy with the machine gun’s linked camera.

The enemy was riding a unicycle, while Dice was juggling with her hands and balancing a plate on a long stick atop her forehead.

• [Alert: Entering the abandoned base in 10 seconds.]

 

“Already at the major terrain feature?”

Under normal circumstances, she would have needed to disembark and conduct a slow search and reconnaissance, but with the car chasing her, could she really do anything? Even if she managed to enter the intended building, she would be lucky if she didn’t attract concentrated fire given how much aggro had already been drawn.

The only option available was to reduce significant bleeding and jump from the vehicle, but it was more likely she’d be struck by that insane pursuing vehicle and be launched straight to the lobby.

Ultimately, it meant she had to somehow catch that one.

“Hah.”

From now on, it was time to focus on driving.

If she lost her focus for even a moment or continued to rely on autopilot, she would likely crash into the pile of materials strewn about, causing the vehicle to overturn. Cement bags, rebar, and bundles of scaffolding littered the area, obstructing the vehicle's path.

While dodging these obstacles, she could still be hit by machine-gun fire, but in that case, the bastard might get hit and die while trying to retreat.

“Please…!”

Gripping the steering wheel, she manipulated the brake and accelerator while feeling the state of the road with her whole body. To escape the obstacle course in the shortest time possible, she had to confirm in real-time the vehicle’s acceleration and deceleration, its contact with the ground, inertia, and the direction of the wheels.

As she braced herself, an ominous screeching sound echoed.

—Kagakakang!

The tires began to make strange noises.

However, at that moment, she quickly accelerated and activated the chain function. A drastic change of direction that would ordinarily be impossible occurred, with Dice’s foot never leaving the accelerator.

It was a vehicular maneuver that resembled art, yet the magnitude of misfortune attached to Dice had exceeded the ordinary.

And true to that—

“Wow, what on earth.”

With vehicle maneuvers as smooth as Dice’s or even better, the vehicle pursuing her elegantly dodged all the scattered piles of materials and began to accelerate, chasing after her.

However, no one could blame Dice for her lack of skill.

“…Incredible. Who is that?”

Even the user chasing Dice found himself murmuring that without realizing it.

A fact only the spectators, not the players, could know. The individual pursuing Dice in real-time was Lancer, a former member of the Secret Service who had long since mastered the driving skills of all types of vehicles.

In terms of sheer vehicle driving proficiency, Dice should have had no means to respond, but Yujin’s endless training had made that possible—if the only shortcoming was proficiency, then it could be filled with time.

But soon, shaking off confusion and curiosity, he began to operate the grenade launcher mounted under his chain gun. Each armed buggy was equipped with an ADS, making direct hits quite difficult, but—

—Kiiing!

He was aiming for something else.

The grenade aimed at the top of Dice’s vehicle marked the anticipated impact point on the hologram plate, and shortly after, a noise erupted from the launcher as the grenades began to fire.

And as a result—

“Ugh, what the hell!”

Chikigik!

As the ADS narrowly missed the grenade cutting through the air, it mercilessly struck a distant tower crane, which bent over as if it had been hit in the side, relinquishing its body to the embrace of gravity.

With a spine-chilling sound, as that which had united with gravity came crashing down, the crane, which had been rusted and hanging in the air for too long, began its free fall with a rebar pillar dangling at its end.

The outcome was predictable.

“Waaah!”

Gugugung!

Dice's vehicle drifted sharply to the right—specifically, the crane had bent and completely blocked the path, rendering the left curve and central straight route unusable.

But that wasn’t all.

Though it had been hanging on the crane, the H-beam was now beginning its free fall. Embraced by the gentle touch of gravity, it would soon descend from the sky, carrying more destructive power than a bomb, and after a few seconds passed—

A rusted rebar pillar piled high with sand and dust struck the asphalt.

A tremendous sound echoed.

—Kakakakak!

“I, I’m done…!”

She couldn’t even scream.

It was an outcome even Lancer had not anticipated. Eighteen H-beams that had been suspended in the air rained down onto nearby makeshift buildings and roads, with seven of them falling close to the buggy Dice was driving. While none hit directly, they certainly could deal significant damage to the vehicle.

And Lancer’s original goal was not that.

The impact from the falling rebar damaged Dice’s buggy, with the panel emitting a warning in a tearing voice.

• [Warning: No road ahead for 500 meters.]

It was only then that Dice quickly recalled the memory. It wasn’t that there was no road. The ground had completely collapsed due to a bomb experiment that had occurred nearby—meaning there was a cliff 500 meters ahead.

But compounding her troubles, the panel displayed red, indicating that both the steering and brake functions were disabled. As the rebar pillar fell, the ground heaved up or sank down, and fragments must have struck the hydraulic and steering systems.

Quickly turning to look behind her, she saw liquid flowing on the asphalt, forming a single path. Whether it was hydraulic fluid or oil, it was clear she was on the brink of being launched into the lobby.

There was only one way to survive.

Jumping out.

So, while frantically searching for a suitable spot to jump from the vehicle, a piece of equipment caught Dice’s eye.

A second crane was located 150 meters ahead.

With twenty H-beams hanging from it.

“…Alright. All or nothing!”

Crack!

Gritting her teeth, Dice pressed the accelerator of the brake-less buggy, and the engine cylinders spun remarkably smoothly, increasing the speed of the vehicle.

She couldn’t steer anyway and could only go straight. But that didn’t matter. All she could think about was how to bring down the crane—but in that moment.

‘…If that’s the case.’

The culprit that had damaged her vehicle.

The dozens of H-beams swaying in the desert sandstorm were gradually starting to shake, supported by their braces. The crane, though rusty, remained sturdy; however, the fact that it was shaking without being secured looked to Dice like a cat wagging its tail.

The calculations began, and the conclusion was simple—she didn’t need to bring down the tower crane itself; she just needed to drop the rebar pillars. The timing wasn’t overly lenient, but as long as she could avoid the enemy passing by when the rebar struck the ground, she would be fine.

In other words, she had to shoot now.

Immediately.

—Click!

The nanite canister settled into the cylinder of the chemical launcher. In that moment, Dice felt everything come together like a puzzle at the end of her misfortune.

Perhaps the gods, or Yujin… well, both were similar enough, so she intensely and thrillingly felt that they had arranged this situation for her. As adrenaline surged, her mind was sharper than ever.

She raised her hand.

As the transparent green chemical bubbled, the crosshairs of the launcher in her left hand aimed not at the support of the tower crane but rather at the metal cable precariously holding the H-beams.

The cable wasn’t large. Hitting it directly was impossible, but the contents of the canister could explode near the target without needing a perfect aim, much like a missile fuse. That alone would be effective enough.

And then—

—Thunk!

With a small recoil, the chemical canister flew through the air.

It crossed the sky at a speed comparable to or slightly faster than a vehicle, bursting near the cable holding the H-beams and splattering green liquid into the air.

If she focused a little, Dice would have been able to know what she had initiated, but unfortunately, Lancer’s sight and hearing were drowned out by the flames of the chain gun and the sounds of gunfire—

—Kikiing!

As the rusted cable began to fray halfway through by the nanite canister, twenty rebar pillars were scattered around.

However, the precision and focus were incomparable to before—while the entire tower crane had collapsed, causing Lancer’s rebar pillars to scatter everywhere, Dice aimed solely at the cable that held the H-beams.

The drop locations of the rebar had to be entirely different from Lancer’s focus.

It was like the difference between a defective grenade and a shotgun, and the twenty H-beams that fell almost simultaneously at Dice’s command created a killing zone on the road.

And unfortunately, Lancer found himself caught right in that killing zone.

“Guh—!”

Thock!

At least two rebar pillars pierced the buggy Lancer was riding. However, that was a fortunate case; the rebar that fell horizontally bombarded the asphalt and the vehicle in a line rather than a point.

Before even a comma’s worth of time had passed, everything changed. The vehicle ahead soared into the air, while Lancer’s pursuing buggy crumpled into a horrific shape, unprecedented in the history of the Dark Zone.

How long had it been since that?

—Kwahhhng!

The vehicle ahead became a pile of ash in its final flight on this earth.

The other buggy transformed into a haphazard mass of thousands of fragments and shattered vehicle structures, accompanied by a spark and an explosion. Of course, flames awaited after the explosion.

Crushed by the H-beams and pinned down—what had once been a vehicle crackled and burst into flames. The two-digit number displayed in the upper right UI decreased by one.

Not minus 2, but minus 1.

The last survivor was Dice.

“...Hah.”

Turbulence.

Her clothes were torn, her bulletproof vest was damaged, and the shield was ragged; her hair and complexion were in an even worse state.

But Dice had survived.

Having jumped from the buggy traveling at 80 km/h, she rolled several times on the asphalt and lived.

And she had won.

Laughing incredulously, she looked at the pile of rebar piercing through the fireball.

“Well, it looks like a tombstone.”

Several rebar pillars embedded vertically into the asphalt, with one vehicle burning in the middle. It was truly a fitting sight for this dust-laden urban setting.

Having said her short remark, Dice didn’t linger any longer in that spot.

The battlefield still awaited her.

The first match of the Final Championship was still demanding the blood of many more players.