NoveLight ™
In this game, guns aren't as overpowered as they are in real life.
The bullets are fast, making it hard for enemies to react, but there are few skills to imbue them with magic.
Especially when it comes to dealing damage to guard gauges, guns tend to be weaker.
They are difficult to dodge, but easy to block.
For example, when you successfully parry, the amount of impact is halved.
A straight-line approach. After deflecting the third shot, the Gunslinger bit his lip.
"It's actually easy if you practice. Don't think about deflecting the bullets. Just imagine placing your dagger in the gun's path beforehand."
I said it was easy because it really is.
It seems my viewers like to exaggerate.
If it were a real gun, sure, but in the game, the trajectory is displayed once the trigger is pulled.
If your answer is wrong, the game even gives you a chance to correct it.
With enough practice, even an average person could manage this.
Anyway, gauging the aim of a gun-wielding character is just basic.
Once you get used to it, it almost feels like the bullets fly toward the dagger on their own.
Just like now. I lightly moved my blade and deflected the fourth bullet.
“See? I told you it’s easy. They only have one bullet left.”
Thank goodness.
Maybe because it’s in-game, I’m able to talk without any trouble.
Even being conscious of the stream didn’t seem to affect my concentration much.
The Gunslinger’s sniper rifle holds five bullets in total.
The last bullet packs an extra punch.
If Kanu were using an explosive round, there’d be a risk of damage even if I parried it.
There were still two enemies left, so there was no need to take unnecessary risks.
As soon as the Gunslinger finished loading their bolt-action rifle, I deployed a smoke screen ahead.
I threw two daggers, one to each side of the Gunslinger, as I entered the white smoke.
Scattering my weapons while approaching in stealth.
[You have received the 'Blessing of the Ashen Moon'.]
[For up to 10 seconds, you blend into shadows within a 10-meter radius of players...]
As soon as I disappeared, the Gunslinger responded in textbook fashion.
A ‘Sentry Gun’ installation—a fully automated, fixed turret to cover for their limited mobility.
Though it's crude compared to modern technology, based on magic, it still couldn't be underestimated.
That turret is what makes the Gunslinger shine in one-on-one combat.
Even a knight class shield can’t just tank those shots.
I’d already noted the turret’s position.
I still had time left in stealth, so I twisted my path toward the ceiling and set up some wires.
As soon as I landed, Kanu’s face was right in front of me.
Since his reaction was a bit slow, I jabbed his chin with my finger...
Not a dagger, just a finger under his chin.
"One kill? I let you off easy."
"…?!"
If I’d used my dagger, it would’ve been a critical hit.
But rules are rules.
I wasn’t planning to deal damage unless it was with a gun.
I originally wanted to flick his forehead, but the height difference made that tricky.
Kanu’s expression seemed to ask, ‘What just happened to me?’
“Excuse me for a second.”
While he was distracted by my finger, I swiped the gun from his holster.
Confirming the weight of the live rounds, I moved through the shadows, heading toward my real target—the Sentry Gun.
I wasn’t all that interested in the Gunslinger from the start.
Since I’d decided to kill him with a gun, close combat didn’t hold much appeal.
After all, Infinity Black is a game, and with games come certain flaws.
One of them is that the algorithm for recognizing enemies and controlling the gunfire operates separately.
I tightly tied a rope to the turret’s body and stepped into its detection range.
At the same time, I sent out my decoy...
"Fire away!"
"What the hell!"
The turret recognized the intangible decoy as me and opened fire.
A barrage of bullets poured down toward its owner!
I yanked the rope, forcing the turret’s aim to pivot.
Kanu panicked and canceled his skill, cutting off the ammo supply, but it wasn’t like the chamber emptied instantly.
I followed Kanu’s escape route, forcing the turret to keep firing.
Though Kanu used several survival skills, there was no way he could dodge every single bullet scattered in his path.
Eventually, a few rounds found their mark.
The sight of him scrambling to flee was so amusing, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
With the turret now out of ammo, it had served its purpose.
I destroyed it with a dagger, putting it on cooldown until it could be resummoned.
I also emptied the remaining five bullets from the revolver.
As an assassin, I didn’t have accuracy bonuses, but the hallway offered no real hiding spots.
Unless someone plans to deflect, they’re bound to get hit at least once.
“Phew. Only hit him once, huh? Still, doesn’t this look fun? You guys should try it if you get the chance.”
The enemy wasn’t dead yet, so the match wasn’t over.
With the troublesome turret taken care of, I could now tackle the remaining cards at my own pace.
“Personally, I find the feel of shotgun blasts pretty satisfying. If I can, I’d like to finish with a shotgun.”
I could always just take another weapon.
Kanu was a person who assessed himself rather objectively.
After spending several seasons circling the same ranking range, it was impossible not to realize.
Ah, this is my limit─he knew exactly where his boundaries lay.
That’s why there was no real malice behind his snipe attempt.
He already knew it would be difficult to beat Ga-wol.
It wasn’t often you got to face someone like him, anyway.
He was just curious about how strong someone who had defeated top-tier pro gamers could be.
And if he could also stir up some attention, maybe get his name out there—it wasn’t a bad deal.
Even if Ga-wol had ended up on his team, Kanu would have still given his best effort.
And if they met as opponents and he lost, he was ready to accept it humbly.
But he hadn’t expected it to go quite like this.
“What the...? That was a high-velocity round.”
From the first moment of their encounter, Kanu had sensed something was off.
The assassin, who should have been rushing to close the distance, seemed unusually relaxed.
Given what Ga-wol had shown in the Arena, it wasn’t exactly surprising, but...
When he let Ga-wol get close, the moment her finger touched his chin, he felt genuine danger.
‘If I screw this up, I’ll get roasted and mocked forever!’
This was no joke.
Recently, her image had softened a bit, thanks to cam streams and voice recordings, but who was Ga-wol, really?
In the Arena, her introduction video was themed around teabagging.
Not to mention, her notoriety had always been built on PK (player killing) against streamers and pro gamers.
There was an unbridgeable gap between Ga-wol and any notion of righteousness or fairness.
‘But... what can I even do?’
His sturdy Sentry Gun, his bastion, had betrayed him.
After the harsh pistol fire, Ga-wol’s real body rushed toward him.
She was fast.
Even though he responded with a wide-range buckshot, it was difficult to land even a scratch.
The rising shadow spikes turned into cover, and her body twisted, soaring toward the ceiling.
Now’s my chance.
The intuition that had carried him to the Infinity tier screamed at him.
[Active: Quick Reload]
[Consumes mana to instantly reload all bullets.]
[Active: Consecrated Ammunition]
[Increases all bullet damage by 10%. Additional 15% increase against dark-element enemies.]
No matter how skilled Ga-wol was, she couldn’t change direction in mid-air.
He waited for her momentum to slow just enough, then pulled the trigger.
But at that moment, the assassin used the wires she had set up earlier as a foothold and gracefully changed direction.
"Wires? When did she set those up?"
It must have been when she first shifted toward the ceiling!
Normally, he would have had at least three or four more chances to shoot.
But his misjudgment cost him, and he lost his aim.
Now, there was only one more chance for a close-range shot before the assassin reached him.
Just as he prepared to pull the trigger─ Bang!
A split-second earlier, a bullet hit the shotgun barrel.
It was the last pistol round she had stolen.
Considering the superhuman strength of players, it was a minor deflection.
He regained his aim in an instant, but something else flew into his line of sight.
It was the pistol she had thrown at his face.
‘Wait... if she’d just thrown her dagger, I’d be dead by now, right?’
There was no time to think.
The assassin was already right in front of him, and now all that remained was to be sliced to pieces.
But instead, what came next was a joint lock that restrained both his arms.
He fired the shotgun wildly into the air a few times, but when he came to his senses, his weapon had been taken away.
"Done. I pulled it off, right?"
“?”
They were barely a step apart.
Two bullets were fired, shattering both of the Gunslinger’s legs.
After a brief moment of pain in his chest and jaw from being struck with the stock of his own shotgun, Ga-wol calmly pulled a slug round from Kanu’s belt.
Click. She loaded the round, and there was something almost ominous in her expression.
“You’ve done well.”
Flames erupted from the black muzzle.