FPS 234

“Shaft! Oi, Shaft, are you okay!”

The waves of information about  <Labyrinth Creation> flooded my brain, but I was able to barely keep my consciousness up, especially with Vee continuously shaking my shoulder.

“I, I’m okay. Vee, I suggest you rejoin Duke Barga. The Demon Steel Soldier will explode once defeated, so fighting it with a sword will be too dangerous.”

“….understood, is what I would like to say. But if I leave the scene right now, there will be very little information I can report to Frank-sama.”

I told her to go catch up to Duke Barga, expecting that she’d agree without much complaint. But it seemed that Vee had other things in mind.

Information――it’s certainly important. The front view of the Typhoon K that was still hovering in my peripheral vision showed that the vehicle had arrived in front of Duke Barga’s mansion. The information obtained from this place will be very useful for the Duke and Chancellor Zephanel to decide their next actions. For that purpose――

“Then, we have no choice but to capture Reiner alive.”

“That’s right. I’ll leave those exploding knights to you. I’ll target the man in command.”

“Then, take this shield with you. Even if it’s just a little, it should be able to block their attacks and explosions.”

I pointed at the Ballistic Shield on my back with my thumbs, and Vee’s gaze, hidden by her eye mask, moved slightly behind me――.

“Thank you, I shall put it into good use. But what about you?”

“I won’t be needing that. From here on out――I’m going all out to attack.”

At the same time as saying that, I jumped out from the upper part of the ballistic shield with a big leap backward, summoned two RPG-7s from my inventory, hefted them on my shoulders, and fired while I was still upside down at the demon steel soldier who was farthest away.――The Demon Steel Soldier’s laser attack was shot up into the sky as the rockets hit it first.

The impact caused an explosion of flames and dust, making my landing invisible――or so it was supposed to be, but the other Demon Steel Soldier must have found my position somehow. Breaking through the rising dust, one appeared in front while brandishing a six-foot staff that emitted high heat.

I dodged the staff while taking one step, two steps back, but a large piece of rubble that was taller than my height approached behind me, and I stopped retreating――The shadow of the Demon Steel Soldier completely covers my body, scorching heat. The six-foot staff was swung down.

“Too naive!”

Instead, I moved forward and weaved around the Demon Steel Soldier――at the same time summoning the Sledgehammer. Immediately after the six-foot club was swung down and melted the rubble, I struck at the back of the Demon Steel Soldier’s head with the momentum of the turn.

Along with the sound of a blunt weapon hitting something, the Demon Steel Soldier was knocked into the rubble that it had just cut in two, making it look like a criminal sent to the guillotine.

Making full use of the power of the assimilated Powered Suit, I swung another blow to the head of the Demon Steel Soldier, who was waiting for execution―― The rubble was pulverized with a destructive sound that surpasses the first hit, and the Demon Steel Soldier’s upper body is buried in the rubble.

However, there was still no sign of its whole body turning red. Two hits from a sledgehammer were not enough after all. Pulling out the sledgehammer buried in the rubble, I touched the neck of the Demon Steel Soldier, summoning a C4 bomb from my inventory and sticking it on. And then jumped away――I could see the Demonic Steel Soldier who tanked the RPG-7 approaching behind me from the map floating in my field of vision and the sound collecting sensor.

A six-foot staff struck the spot where I was standing, and at the same time, the rubble beneath exploded――of course, it was the explosion of the C4 bomb I planted earlier.

I threw away the detonation switch in the sky, kicked the wreckage of the Flyhigh that had become a pile of rubble to maintain altitude, and looked at the state after the explosion――I could see even more heat generated in the dust and white smoke.  It’s the Demon Steel Soldier’s self-destruct. I don’t know if it was the one that ate RPG-7 or the one that got hit by the sledgehammer, but one of them swelled up in red――again, there was a big explosion that blew away the rubble.

“Kuh!”

If I hadn’t protected my face with a Kevlar mask, it would have been difficult to see and breathe with the dust and debris that had been kicked up. When I landed while being fanned by the blast and checked the map, two light dots had disappeared. Apparently, the other one was blown away by the self-destruction――and now there were only two left.

The two stood beside Reiner as if to guard him. Vee, who was supposed to capture him alive, was nowhere to be seen――she must have disappeared with the <Shadow Walk> skill. The number has decreased, but we still can’t let our guard down. It’s too dangerous to receive a six-foot club that can emit high heat. I need to use the advantages of firearms and exploit the power of FPS――VMB system to its fullest

Spreading both hands, I summoned two remote-controlled heavy machine gun sentry guns on the left and right. The remote control monitor has been assimilated with the UI in my field of view―― I operated the aiming only by intention, overlapping each with the two remaining Demon Steel Soldiers――. 

Looking back… when VMB was just a game and I was just an ordinary person, it was not possible for me to control multiple targets and remotely control a vehicle at the same time.

Typhoon-K arrived at the front yard of Duke Barga’s mansion, so I opened the rear passenger compartment hatch and driver’s door. Prince Ark and Duke Barga began to move into the mansion.

Ashley, who remained in the crew compartment until the end, was staring at the back of the crew compartment――that’s the camera from where I was looking. The other side shouldn’t be able to see me――but she may have sensed something.

The moment I realized what I was doing casually, who I was, I felt the answer pierce my heart. However, even if my raison d’etre is the Labyrinth Master, my essence is completely different. I know that. But as long as there’s someone watching over me, my heart won’t go crazy.

Summoning Desert Eagles in both hands, I jumped backward and shot diversionary fire at the two targets――At the same time, willing the FCS (fire control system), the two sentry guns started pouring out hellfire of bullets. The sound of gunfire was as loud as the roar of the Demon Steel Soldier’s self-destruct, and the two Demon Steel Soldiers were pinned on the spot. 

The attack power of the Sentry Gun is by no means low, but it would take a considerable amount of time to down the Demon Steel Soldiers, which even 50 AE bullets can’t easily kill.

That’s why I need this particular firearm.

I took one, two jumps to make some distance, all the while keeping the two Demon Steel Soldiers visible without hindrance from my position. I was looking for a place where I could lay prone among the scattered debris of Flyhigh.

As soon as I reached such a place, I dropped to one knee and summoned from my inventory the Mag-Fed 20mm, “Anti-Materiel Rifle” category among the many VMB firearms.

An American anti-materiel rifle manufactured by Anzio, with a 2m long barrel and 20mm caliber bullets used for machine guns――the biggest feature is that it uses 20 x 102mm bullets, although the number of bullets it could hold is only three. The effective range is said to be 4,500m, but there was no place in the VMB where such long-range shooting is possible, and the distance to the Demon Steel Soldier was also not that ridiculous.

Then why did I summon this Mag-Fed among other things? Of course for its highest attack stat. Desert Eagle .50AE is certainly the strongest handgun. But even that was not enough to kill the Demon Steel Soldier quickly. This means the highest attack Assault Rifle class weapon will also struggle.

　

In fact, even now, the Demon Steel Soldiers had not reached the point where they self-destruct even if they received a fierce attack from the Sentry Gun. So, before the Sentry Gun’s ammunition was exhausted, I decided that in order to defeat the Demon Steel Soldier, it was necessary to use something above the ARF category, and beyond the SRF Sniper Rifle, which is the AMR.　

The Mag-Fed, which is longer than I was tall, comes with a bipod――to support the barrel, as it was meant to be shot from the ground.

According to VMB specifications――most of the AMR category firearms can only be fired while lying down. I haven’t tried it myself, but I’m sure it’s still the same. Looking down and looking through the scope at the top of the barrel, I put my Kevlar mask-covered face on the cheek-rest on the stock, held the trigger with my right hand, and the grip at the bottom of the stock with my left hand.

It’s a bit cramped――but the correct shooting posture is important to control the recoil when firing.

I aligned the cross reticle engraved on the scope with the head of the Demon Steel Soldier whose movement has been stopped by the Sentry Gun’s barrage――lowered it slightly and aligned it with the lower part of the chest.

Considering the power of Mag-fed, precision shooting is not necessary. One shot, one kill, all I need is one hit. In addition to only having three bullets, just a single shot is about as expensive as a single ARF in terms of CP consumption. In a situation where CP is limited, you don’t want to miss your shots at all.

I strengthened my hold on the grip, straightened my back, and braced my feet, preparing for the recoil――and pulled the trigger. Along with the roaring sound of the gunshot, the shock wave that spread from the muzzle rolled up the crushed wreckage around me, and the recoil from the firing pushed my prone body along with the two-meter-long Mag-fed backwards.

At the end of the scope, I could see the Demon Steel Soldier with a large hole in its chest and Reiner’s eyes widened upon witnessing such destructive power.

That did it!

I pulled the bolt handle to eject the shell――a cartridge larger than your finger was ejected, then I turned the handle to push it back and load the next bullet. I adjusted the angle of the Mag-fed, looked into the scope again, aligned the reticle to the other remaining Demon Steel Soldier, and fired another round.

A hole big enough to bisect the Demon Steel Soldier’s huge body in the abdomen opened, and I was convinced that both of them had been killed. If that’s really the case, the next thing to do is obviously a quick retreat. The first Demon Steel Soldier had already swollen red and was about to explode. The second’s body also turned red as if suffering from a high fever――.

I still had one bullet left, but the plan was to capture Reiner alive. As I willed the rifle back into my inventory with my thoughts, I hid from the explosion using the rubble as a shield. Meanwhile, the Mag-Fed disappeared into motes of light.

The dot that indicated Reiner seemed to be standing still beside the Demon Steel Soldier, but suddenly another dot appeared behind him and the two began to fall back as if the latter was pulling the former. That must be Vee. The third thundering sound of explosion signaled the end of the assault on the banquet venue. But, it’s merely the beginning of the greatest crisis that the Kurtmerga Kingdom is about to face.