NoveLight ™
News transmission between countries has delays.
Especially in the case of the United States, it seems closer than any other country just by hearing the name, but the distance to Korea is quite considerable, exceeding 10,000 kilometers, with New York being a staggering 13,000 kilometers away—a completely different world.
For this reason, many people in Korea were quite in the dark about most news except for the results of matches and real-time broadcasts, and this was naturally a problem that also applied to Harmony.
As a Dark Zone partner streamer, she went there, but apart from her daily updates and communication with the Korean national team, she doesn’t engage in anything particularly interesting—though the significantly increased viewers compared to a few months ago didn’t seem to mind much, there wasn’t enough attention for her to spread beyond that.
Thus, several gatherings formed.
Among them were those who had a keen interest in the Dark Zone and the solo matches of the Final Championship but were largely indifferent to Harmony's presence or curious about why she was there.
"So why did Harmony go, anyway?"
"I don't know. She has connections with the national team users and was invited without any issues as a partner streamer, so she probably went to sightsee in America, right?"
An empty cart makes the loudest noise.
The less people knew, the more speculative comments flooded in, and this was not resolved by the Korean national team's direct statement that Harmony went to help with the players' scrims and that she had the skills to do so. Instead, it sparked even more heated controversy.
To summarize the gist, no matter how much Harmony had shown until now, it was still not enough for that. Of course, for the parties involved and their associates, it was nonsense, neither more nor less.
Judgment was the responsibility of the parties involved, and debating about it was nothing short of foolish. But in the world of the Internet, speculation without any basis spreads all sorts of nonsense.
As always, those around Harmony paid little mind to it.
Thus, Korean users flocked to the chat room for the partner streamer tournament that began after the Final Championship, eager to find out why she had gone to New York and if there was a valid reason at all, and started watching the gameplay.
Before the game started, some streamers participating in the game and some users simply unleashing their brainwaves in the chat evaluated Harmony’s skills down, saying she only fiddled with grenades all day. But it didn’t take long—less than ten minutes—before the kill log on one side of the UI spat out unusual results.
Not long ago, the viewers who had been expressing rough curiosity about her only playing with grenades suddenly widened their eyes and fell silent.
───Boom!
"Hehe."
-???????????????? -Oh, is she laughing while blowing people up? LOL -What is she doing with that? -??? : Is there really a need to shoot to kill someone? -Traps that scream in all directions, even while doing a jig, LOL
Under the simple and clear principle that if one grenade can’t kill the enemy, then use more firepower, Harmony used a total of eight grenades more effectively than anyone else, which anyone could see as excessive.
Thus, the storage room overlooking the skill activation area greedily drank the blood of four enemies, and she obtained a pile of items that would make equipping herself an easy task without even lifting a finger.
By that point, Harmony had already risen to the top kill rank in the partner streamer tournament.
Just by taking action, she shattered all the logic of those who were blabbering nonsense. Not to mention the viewers who couldn’t believe it either complied with reality or got forcibly removed for causing trouble; what about those who had been killed by her?
They wanted to deny it, saying it was just a pathetic trap, but if that were the case, wouldn’t they be the biggest fools for falling for such a simple trap?
In that cognitive dissonance, they were left with just one choice.
"Isn’t that person just too good?"
"We recorded everything you blabbered before the match started, so don’t make excuses."
"Damn it."
Of course, from Harmony’s perspective, it was no different from watching a farce where stupid people were being created at random—though ironically, she didn’t care about that at all.
The first match of the partner streamer tournament had only just begun.
The world was indeed a complex and bizarre place.
"This can go here, and what’s next…?"
-What the hell is she doing? LOL -Are there any pros here? If you’re watching the stream, could you please explain what this mess is about? -This is a trap to catch people, you know? -Look at how natural her hand movements are, LOL. How often must she have used it to do this?
Carefully inserting the support into a fairly large pit placed in the center of the path that must be traversed to head to a specific area, she separates the shooting part of the turret from its support. Then, she enters the turret's setting box and slightly modifies the support algorithm.
Taking nearby wooden boards that are scattered around, she covers the pit. The support automatically props up the wooden boards, transforming it into a natural scene of clutter in the storage room while a smile appears on her lips.
The main body of the turret is hidden in a suitable place. Of course, if she just casually places it like garbage, it would bounce off due to recoil when fired later, so she needed to surround it with heavy objects.
Naturally, it wasn’t a difficult task.
"One of these is roughly done, so what should I do next?"
-That looks like it would be detected with just one pulse, LOL -Why would it get detected by a pulse if it’s not operational? You must be a gamer to think that. -I can’t even grasp what principle would activate it, LOL -I came to see Harmony shoot, and all I’m seeing is her killing people with skills and traps, LOL -Already preparing for the next one is just ridiculous.
Even while setting up the traps, she does not let her guard down. She consciously tenses her body, ready to catch a vector with a suppressor at any moment, but unless you were particularly observant, you wouldn’t even notice.
Hiding in a safe place, Harmony turns on the map to check the location of the kill zone and the remaining time until it shrinks. She stares at the screen intensely, freezing as if she had stopped. But her mind was busier than ever.
Where the next safe zone was.
What vehicle was needed to get there.
How long it would take to move.
If there were enemies in the safe zone, how to drive them away.
Endless mixtures of predictions and experiences were generated and discarded repeatedly, but the results were successful.
Harmony set two timers that only she could hear, moving around the terrain to identify escape routes and building structures.
‘Since it’s the third to last kill zone, estimating the probability of enemies coming around here… it wouldn’t be too low.’
After reaching that conclusion, Harmony began waiting in the farthest spot from where she could see the likely enemy positions.
In the Final Championship, confrontations often occurred between those who arrived at specific landmarks first and those who arrived late, and devices like heart rate sensors and pulses, which could be attached to guns, existed to bridge the gap in balance occurring in between.
However, the range of the pulse was typically 45 meters. It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t meant to find users who were farther away either. And Harmony, having already gauged the distance with a laser rangefinder, began her vigilance on a balcony just out of reach of the pulse.
Of course, nothing in the world goes according to plan.
—Ping!
A faint ripple spreads from just below the balcony.
The unique resistance of the pulse enveloped her whole body, but there was no time to stand still. The muscle memory that activated before rational thought fueled her legs, and the moment she kicked off the balcony, dozens of bullets mercilessly penetrated the spot where Harmony had been.
Her index finger moved, and the sound of the gunfire rang out. Even as it spat out more than 20 rounds with just a slight motion, her speed of movement didn’t slow down at all.
The user who attacked Harmony, despite taking the initiative, took considerable damage and retreated the way he came, but the next moment, a grenade flew in, forcing him to take shelter much deeper inside.
Of course, that didn’t mean Harmony’s situation was good.
“Five minutes and 24 seconds.”
The two alarms she had set not long ago.
The first alarm was a 'recommended' alarm to clean up the traps and leave the area when it went off, and the second was a 'mandatory' alarm stating she must evacuate the area and move to the next safe zone no matter what happened.
Two minutes and 13 seconds until the first alarm goes off, five minutes and 24 seconds until the second alarm goes off.
‘First, I should change my position.’
The metal scaffolding balcony was quite a good place to monitor something, but it wasn’t ideal for a combat zone. If the entire ceiling was filled with the platform, it wouldn’t matter much, but in most cases, it limited mobility to an extreme extent.
Thus, Harmony swiftly moved as soon as the enemy re-entered. It didn’t matter if she backtracked the way the enemy came. She could simply blow up the traps she had set up as soon as the first alarm rang and escape through the pre-planned route.
Then, how would they come out?
Naturally, it wouldn’t be that easy either.
—Peeing!
The pulse bursts again.
As a light beam enveloped her body, something uniquely shaped and circular flew onto the balcony and rapidly accelerated with a strange sound, closing in on Harmony. It was a seeker mine.
In an instant, numerous thoughts flashed through her mind. Harmony could ascertain which two skills the enemy had chosen out of many at that moment, which was quite a decent haul.
But right now, the most important thing was intercepting the rapidly approaching tracking mine.
Pow!
As she emptied the remaining bullets in the magazine, more than two bullets hit the mine, filling the storage room with a thunderous sound. The balcony where Harmony stood swayed and tilted. The tremendous heat from the flame mine had completely melted the scaffolding support.
A steep incline was created in an instant. Harmony had already moved near the point where the balcony ended, so she wasn’t swept away, but had she been caught in that scene, it would have led to quite a troublesome situation.
Dropping the empty magazine on the floor, Harmony inserted the second magazine.
In the meantime, the enemy was swiftly moving away from the emergency exit.
“Ha, the trap trigger is remarkably not being stepped on.”
But she couldn’t whine. Hoping for the opponent to move where she wanted was something only amateurs would do. The progression of the operation was not determined by hopeful wishes.
In other words, she had to make her hopes a reality.
Thus, Harmony immediately began to act. She stepped onto the upper balcony and jumped down onto a pile of empty boxes she had suitably adjusted in advance, allowing her to land on the lower balcony without any fall damage.
In any case, what should she do to lead the enemy?
As long as they couldn’t stay still in one place, that would be enough.
“I’ll see if they can avoid coming out even when hit by a bomb.”
-?????????? -LOL -Why is it so fierce? LOL -Are you crazy, sister? Are you crazy? Are you crazy? Are you crazy? Are you crazy? -Oooh, why is Yujin descending in Harmony’s body? WWWWWWWW
Crack!
Taking out the sticky bomb launcher that had been quietly sleeping in her thigh holster, she attached a bomb. As it pointed straight ahead, the expected impact point and damage range appeared over the lens-like UI.
The moment it was fired, the enemy sprung out from cover like a spring. But an explosion was an explosion, and it was not impossible to shoot in the meantime. Accompanied by the oddly twisted sound of gunfire from the suppressor, another AP round shot out, slamming into the shields repeatedly.
The .45 ACP casings popped out dozens at a time, clattering on the ground. The massive consumption of ammunition characteristic of the vector, along with the unclear recoil of the gun itself, was indeed a disadvantage.
The eight magazines she had stashed in her pouch dwindled in an instant.
But,
───Tududududu!
“Ahhhh!”
The turret she had hidden all this time shone bright.
Due to the unexpected timing of the enemy's appearance, she hadn’t even thought about recovering the trap, but it had turned into a boon. The enemy stepped on the wooden board that had hidden the support, and the turret, which reacted automatically, detected the enemy right there and began to indiscriminately fire bullets.
The balance scale named an unpredictable situation was tipping towards Harmony.
But—
-Click!
“Damn it, I should never use the vector again…”
The vector.
Otherwise known as the bullet sprayer.
Over 1000 RPM. Though it was AP rounds, the suppression and damage were utterly insufficient with just semi-automatic fire, and to put it differently—it was impossible to manage with only eight 40-round magazines.
Moreover, the moment she unlocked two skills, the processor handling issue limited the portable guns to one, and that one was restricted to an SMG or carbine rifle. Harmony chose the vector precisely for that reason.
Not very effective, though.
Throwing away the gun with the empty magazine, Harmony quickly approached to ensure a solid finish with the pistol holstered. Holding a grenade with the safety lever depressed in her left hand and the pistol in her right, she showcased her throwing skills worthy of her nickname, the bomb queen, as she approached rapidly.
But naturally, that didn’t guarantee the enemy would be defenseless.
Thus, only after nearly exhausting her pistol’s ammunition did Harmony finally manage to capture the enemy. After embedding the remaining few rounds into their limbs, immobilizing them, she finally let out a weary sigh.
“Ah, this is really exhausting…”
-Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! -Is she a goddess? Is she a goddess? Is she a goddess? Is she a goddess? Is she a goddess? Is she a goddess? -Are you crazy, human? LOL -Wow, a former pro turned enemy streamer, LOL -I will never mess up again!!!!!!!
The used turret self-destructed. It would be available for reuse within five minutes.
Raising her pistol, she regrettably found herself in a situation with not a single round left. Harmony sighed and tossed it to the ground.
She wanted to finish it off with a sticky bomb or grenade, but unfortunately, with barely 30 seconds left until the second alarm went off, dealing with the enemy through explosives would scatter the items everywhere, and that would likely waste time.
However, Harmony had a contingency plan.
“…?”
Clack.
Removing the bomb part in front, she adjusted the sticky bomb head here and there, turning it into an excellent flame shotgun.
It was the excellent close-range flamethrower she had held when she pushed through the Washington D.C mission with Yujin.
Harmony placed it to her forehead and pulled the trigger.
“Wait, wait, wait!”
───Bang!
Her head completely evaporated, and her body scattered into polygons.
Only then did Harmony start gathering items.
-You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! You crazy person! -Is this person really insane? -Yujin, are you watching? This is what you forged! Please stop! Return Harmony to her former self!!! -Let Harmony do whatever she wants~ Just don’t do it to me~ -I can hear the Dark Zone PvP participation rate plummeting from here! LOL
Of course, the viewers were left in utter shock.
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