NoveLight ™
[General]
"Farming, huh? Crazy bitch. Hahahahahaha!"
<Kill Count 6/15 photo>
"This is what a person is?! A bulldozer?!"
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"That guy's shooting some serious rounds…"
Giiing!
The sirens, which might have been above without anyone noticing, began to spin loudly. The surroundings turned red, and from the ceiling connecting the nearby stores and malls, blast doors descended. The gunfire that had been heard continuously suddenly stopped, and the ceiling exploded, sending rubble falling.
And how much time passed? From the ceiling, three ropes dropped down, and three enemies, looking unusually dangerous, descended. Their sleek, body-covering armor wasn’t just bulletproof; it looked like external attachment armor plates.
Among them, one particularly tall figure began giving commands, pulling out a long and familiar weapon.
Mk.18 Mjölnir.
It was my most-picked weapon—a crazy gun that fires Lapua Magnum rounds semi-automatically.
───Tuung! Tuung! Tuung!
The rounds seemed to be using something special, making the destructive power far beyond normal. After just a couple of shots, the concrete pillars were pierced.
At the same time, a voice came over the speaker from the ceiling. It was faint, but I recognized it was from a user.
"If there are any survivors, come up to the second floor! Hurry!"
I didn’t know how many would make it up, but from the half-destroyed flower bed, I quickly jumped up and began firing at the direction of the enemy. With one hand, I unloaded the MP7 I had just acquired. It was a kind of run-and-gun tactic.
Several sparks flew from my body. Fortunately, one or two rounds hit effectively, causing the enemy’s shooting to falter for a moment. Taking advantage of this, I quickly circled around to the escalator heading up to the second floor. My heartbeat quickened as I kicked off the ground and started climbing.
As I moved, I kept scanning for any survivors and soon found them.
And then—
"Eh? Huh? Wow, is that... Biyam-sensei?"
"Wow, this is it. This is insane."
"The savior has arrived!"
The four others, soon to be five, cheered and started clapping.
But now, I needed to explain the situation. It had been too chaotic earlier to check the chat, and now that things were calmer, it seemed faster to ask them directly. So, I asked what was going on.
Here’s what I found out:
"Normally, in most EU maps, there’s a boss that spawns, but sometimes... about a 1/20 chance, there’s an 'infiltrator'—a hunter from Artemis faction."
"Ah, I see."
"In the current session, about half of the remaining players, or if the number is odd, less than half, show up. So, if there are five players left, two hunters would spawn."
"It would’ve been easier if we had killed one more person earlier."
"Ugh, please save me!"
It was a joke, but...
Anyway, there was a reason they were called hidden bosses. Not only was their spawn rate rare, but the items they carried were also fitting for a hidden boss—if you could catch them.
Of course, EU had been out in the Dark Zone for quite some time, and strategies for dealing with these hidden bosses had become somewhat established.
In short, team cooperation.
It wasn’t mandatory, but as I saw earlier, once a hidden boss appears, escaping the map becomes restricted to some extent.
So, what’s the point here?
"Help us, sensei!"
"Do you need grenades? I can give you all the ones I have left."
"I have a graphics card in my panties! It’s still warm... Ugh!"
"Really? You’re being so crude, seriously..."
There are really so many perverts in the world, and thank goodness this is VR. It’s not the worst thing seeing a green-haired girl making weird jokes.
Anyway, somehow, I ended up taking on the leadership of these guys.
"Let’s split into groups. Pair up two by two to make three groups, and each group will monitor one of the escalator entrances. There are three escalators, so I’ll take the middle one, which is the most dangerous. I’ll pick the strongest ones to go with me."
"Me! I’m wearing a Jabrallo suit, so I’ll be hard to kill!"
"I trust you. Let’s go. The other four, pick your teams quickly and prepare for a firefight at the escalators."
Hodadadak.
I headed toward the designated area, as far away as possible from the balcony without a fall-prevention fence.
The weapon was a bit awkward, but it wasn’t impossible to fight. Below, only a chilling silence lingered. In the meantime, I started asking the user I came with various questions to gather as much information as possible, learning a lot in the process.
It wasn’t by chance that they were called hunters; they used an Icarus skill. But the shield wasn’t perfect, so it had a clear activation signal. I had anticipated this. If they had a complete shield, they wouldn’t have been wearing such heavy body armor.
Another note was that once the shield or armor was broken, they became temporarily vulnerable.
After a moment of thought, I added:
"When the action starts on the second floor, please do the tanking. Give me all the remaining grenades."
"...Sensei, just grab my pants leg, right?"
"Make sure it’s the pants hem, not the leg."
"Ah, yes."
Chiiiiiik!
Then, an ominous sound. It was a familiar sound. Immediately, I told those guarding the escalators to get down. At the same time, gunfire rang out, followed by a loud crash. A Sicar mine climbed the escalator and reached the second floor.
Fortunately, no one had died yet, and the firefight officially began. This meant the direction I was in was also under threat.
With a deafening explosion and the flash of gunfire, Lapua Magnum rounds defied gravity and flew in a diagonal line, grazing past my head. I returned fire immediately.
"Report your positions!"
"Climbing the escalator!"
Tududududu!
The map layout was now fully imprinted in my mind. I gripped the trigger, stood up, and aimed at the escalator. At that moment, the silhouette of the hunter appeared in my crosshairs, and bullets flew from every direction.
Two of them, firing at an insane rate of 700 rounds per minute, seemed to have trouble handling all the firepower, and the hunter leading them began returning fire as he scrambled to the second floor.
"Two hunters entering from the central escalator. Current position: campfire. Be careful when retreating."
"Got it. Wah! Front, front! Return fire!"
The other side was in chaos as well.
But as I briefed, I was already grabbing a grenade. The distance to the hunter was about 60 meters, but my superior strength meant I could handle that distance with ease.
I threw a grenade, which flew on a low arc and landed near the hunter boss, who had just reached the second floor.
───Kwaang!
"I'm moving forward. We’ll split into two groups and approach the escalator ends. Match speed."
"Okay. I’ll try to keep up."
The movement began.
The central area was a giant hallway, with the escalators running parallel, splitting naturally into two paths. I headed for the lower route, while my teammate took the upper. There were plenty of cover along the way.
Still, I reminded them to be careful of bullets piercing through cover and dashed forward. If the enemy moved in the opposite direction, the whole strategy could be undone.
Then, a pulse burst out. It was a signal that the enemy’s position was revealed. Normally, this would have been bad, but there was a way to turn it to our advantage—we could see the origin of the pulse as well.
And so, grenades were thrown.
"The enemy’s still there. I’ll throw two grenades. Pour all remaining firepower into them."
"Understood."
Two grenades flew into the air. One landed nearby, and I quickly took cover. That was acceptable. But the second grenade would leave no room for the enemy to escape.
When the grenade exploded, sending shrapnel flying in all directions, the hunter jumped out, and at the same time, my teammate who had just caught up on the left opened fire, showering the recovering enemy with bullets.
───Kakakakakang!
"Wow, this guy’s insane!"
"I’m joining in. Reload!"
Of course, just because my teammate finished firing didn’t mean my turn was over. Like a hammer smashing meat, 30 rounds of ammo were spent without hesitation. Though I had a slight jam, I fixed it immediately, and by the time their reload finished, I had already finished reloading as well.
I tossed the remaining 5 rounds aside and instead, threw two of the remaining grenades one after the other. With a deafening explosion and a fiery burst, over a thousand shrapnel pieces scattered.
The way to defeat the Icarus operator, or Fallen, was simple.
Just have double the number of people and continue hitting from a distance without losing firepower.
"Dieeeee!"
As my enraged teammate emptied the third magazine, the enemy fell motionless. Once the armor or plates couldn’t absorb the shock, it was over.
I, too, was almost out of ammo, so I discarded the AK-101 and approached the corpse. Despite some scratches, the Mk.18 Mjölnir was still fine. Quickly, I looted it along with three more magazines.
At that moment, the comms crackled.
"Sensei! Help us out!"
"Of course."
So, one person went to the octagonal pavilion, and I circled around to the sinkhole direction and started hitting the hunter from the side.
The pain and irritation caused by the feather-like touch on my side was unbearable, but once I shoved a Lapua Magnum into them, it was clear they were done.
After exhaling deeply, with the smell of smoke still hanging in the air, the others emerged from cover with bewildered expressions.
"...It looks like we won without doing anything."
"Usually, they come at us in a group, but why are there only three of them today?"
"Maybe they’re sticking to numbers."
Ah.
Looking at the expressions of the friends behind me, I took a deep breath and added.
"Good job."
"If it weren’t for you, we would’ve been wiped out. Thank you…"
"Really, good job!"
They all smiled brightly.
At that moment, I added a smile of my own and said, as the other side’s firefight was winding down.
"Now, let’s discuss the loot division."
Well, this is farming, after all.
It’s a farming game, no doubt.