Sword Art Online Alternative – Gun Gale Online Vol 2 Chapter 5

In a room of a certain tower apartment complex in a rather open area of Tokyo, whose residents were currently enjoying warm weather,

“Alright……, ready!”

Having closed the curtains to keep out the light coming from the clear sky, changed into her pale yellow pyjamas before adjusting the AC and humidifier,

“Now── time for the battle! And thus── I, am going to save, that person!”

And having carefully put the AmuSphere on her head, Kohiruimaki Karen lay down on her bed.

A number of high school girls put on their AmuSpheres in their respective homes.

A number of men, and a few women, throughout Japan put on their AmuSpheres.

The headquarters for the SJ2 tournament was the same large bar in SBC Glocken that had been used for the previous tournament.

The participating players, aiming to arrive at 12:40, gathered and waited until they were all simultaneously transferred to the standby area at 12:50.

10 minutes were given to prepare one’s weapons and equipment. And then, at exactly 13:00, SJ2 would start. Everyone would be transferred simultaneously to some part of the field.

As of that moment, the merciless killing fest would begin, and last until there was only one teamleft standing.

A broadcast of the battle would be provided by the management. Numerous markers indicating the position of cameras would fly around in the sky, searching for cool angles.

The spectators who wished to watch the live broadcast, and the participants who dropped out after being killed could enjoy themselves watching the broadcast of the battle in the bar, while eating, drinking, and saying whatever they wanted.

The previous tournament had concluded in 1 hours and 28 minutes, but there were twenty-threeteams that participated without any preliminaries. This time, a full thirty teams would participate, so would it take longer or, instead, become a fiercer battle and end quicker? It was anyone’s guess.

After 12:20, the number of people in the bar grew considerably.

The participating players gathered in groups of twos and threes. ‘Good luck’, ‘You can’t lose’, ‘Blow them all away’ and various other phrases were thrown around.

Speaking of SJ2, as was the case for the previous tournament, there were no sports gambling events like those which were held for the BoB. This was because the management lacked the resources to check for cheating ── so-called unfair actions, as severely as they did for the BoB.

Instead, the 『Predict how many bullets will be fired till the end of the tournament』 gambles were once again held, and once again spread excitement. Everyone resolutely entered larger numbers than for the previous tournament.

Among this commotion──

There were a few teams that caused the tumult to abate in a wave when they entered the bar.

The first was the team that took third place last time and was seeded, MMTM.

The name was abbreviated for display purposes, but their official team name was 《Memento Mori》.

It was Latin for 〝Don’t forget that you will die one day〟. It was an idiomatic phrase for ‘People eventually die no matter how hard they struggle, so enjoy the moment and live your life without regret’.

The six-man team, who used death as their motif and had skull emblems with knives in their mouths on their shoulders, moved through the bar.

Last time, every one of them wore their favourite gear as individuals, but this time, they wore perfectly matching uniforms to psyche themselves up.

Their garments were the camouflage uniforms used by Sweden’s army in Scandinavia. It was a rather stylish design that consisted of a simplistic mix of various shades of green, with barely any other colours.

Like others characters, they were dressed solely in camouflage from top to bottom aside from their boots. Their weapons and equipment were all left in their storage instead of being materialised, but those who had seen footage of the previous tournament knew what they were. 

Their weapons were an 《HK21》 7.62 mm machine gun as their main source of firepower, and 5 European high-powered assault rifles. Of course, that is, if they had not changed their arsenal in 2 months.

They were undoubtedly one of the favourites for this tournament.

“If there were any bets, I’d put my money on those guys.”

“Well, that is a safe bet. Their team coordination is the best.”

Such opinions could be heard around the bar.

Around 2 minutes after the amazon group disappeared into a private bar room──

“Oi, it’s him……”

A mountain-sized giant suddenly entered the bar.

It was a nearly 2 metre tall man with a chest as bulky as a breakwater, arms as thick as an earthen pipe, a foreign body builder-like figure, and brown, wavy hair.

He was wearing gaudy green camouflage pants that looked like they would be ripped apart by his thighs, and a T-shirt that clearly showed off his muscles.

To those who had seen the previous SJ, there was no need to explain who he was.

His name was M.

He was the man who teamed up with the pink chibi and entered the tournament as part of a merely two-man party, and although they did not have many battles, they were able to pull through every crucial part of the tournament and deal with the amazon group during the final battle. He was a highly skilled M14 EBR sniper with a powerful shield that could deflect 7 mm-class bullets.

He was also the man who aimed his pistol at his chibi companion mid-way during the battle, and fired, but missed and had the tables turned on him, then went off on his own for a bit.

Various guesses about the reason for the abrupt fallout came from the audience.

Some thought that there was simply a disagreement about their future plans, but there was even a conspiracy theory that it was an elaborate plan to invite the negligence of the amazon group by spreading false information to them via the audience.

In the end, it remained a mystery, and there was no one who had the courage to ask the person himself.

The man joined the battle at the very last moment, and supported the chibi, who was putting up a hard fight alone, with his high-precision sniping. He took down three of the amazon group’s members, and pulled off a marvelous win.

Having seen M in the distance, members of MMTM, who were wiped out by him and the chibi during the lake battle,

“So he did come…… The Line-less man……”

“ Revenge time. We’re doing things as planned if we encounter him.”

Had such a conversation.

Five of them were taken out by M’s special skill, sniping without Bullet Lines. They should have quite the grudge against him.

People who were probably his team members entered after M.

They were four men.

All of them were dressed in the same camouflage.

The camouflage pattern had an eerie design that was reminiscent of a reptile’s skin, with a gradient of brown and green that looked highly effective in both wildernesses and among greenery.

“What… the?”

What surprised the audience was the fact that all four of them had their heads and faces entirely covered by camouflage masks. Additionally, they had even equipped coloured goggles. With this, it was impossible to tell who was who.

‘It would be understandable to wear camouflage masks and goggles in battle, but was there really a need to wear them now?’

Everyone in the bar had the same idea.

The only way to distinguish between the four members was by their figures, which were greatly rich in variety.

One of them was short── in terms of men in GGO, so he was still at least 165 cm tall.

One had a large build── not to the extent of M’s, but he still had a muscular, large build and was over 180 cm tall.

One was slender── about 170 cm tall, but had limbs as long and thin as poles.

One was fat── and had the silhouette of a stout, pot-bellied, ranked sumo wrestler.

Without saying a word and while facing forward, the four men followed M.

Although they were in a VR game that created fake sensations, the aura that their demeanor brought about was still conveyed.

The large number of characters in the bar,

“They look… tough.”

“Yeah…… They might be hiding their faces because we know their mugs and names.”

“Could they be a group cut out to take part in the BoB?”

Felt that these four men were probably equally talented.

What kind of battle style would M, a member of the winning team from the previous tournament, and the ominous guys that he teamed up with show? This team became more and more interesting.

Under this tension,

“Yahoo! Thanks for waiting everyone!”

A laidback woman’s voice came in.

Everyone who had been following M’s party with their eyes looked over at the entrance, and saw a female character who had entered a bit late.

She was an approximately 175 cm-tall woman who had her hair tied into a ponytail at a high place. Her garments consisted of dark blue overalls, clearly showing off the lines of her body.

She had a brown complexion. Far from being fat or stout, her body was so firm that it looked like she had nothing but muscles on her.

She was a beauty with a sharp and well-featured face, but the geometrical-patterned, brick-coloured tattoo on her cheeks brought about a rather eerie vibe.

“Hey hey hey! Thanks for waiting, gentlemen! You’ve come to see me shine, right! Great! Look forward to it, okay!”

The woman smiled at everybody in this excessively high-tension situation,

“…………”

But all the bar patrons opened their mouths flabbergasted, not knowing how to react.

She was the sixth one including M to come in, so she was definitely a member of his team.

But, compared to the other five, her tensionless vibe was out of place.

“Thanks! I’ve kept you waiting! Thanks for your cheers!”

With a sociable nature that begged the retort ‘Are you running for elections!’, the woman moved through the bar, restlessly looking around and waving her hand.

Everyone spoke, not caring about the person herself hearing their conversation.

“Who... is that? Is she another one of M’s team members?”

“I guess so. But…… that one alone is completely out of place, right?”

“So is she the hime-sama to be protected by her knights?”

“There was the term 〝Otasā no hime〟 for it 10 or more years ago.”

“Never heard of that obsolete phrase. Is it related to arasā (2)?”

“No. 〝An otaku circle’s hime-sama〟. The sole woman in a female-less group. It means 〝a hime-sama no matter what kind of girl she is〟, as she’s pampered.

“Could it be that you are quite elderly?”

“Hey, quit using keigo all of a sudden.”

“So those men…… those other four guys, are they hime-sama’s escorts? So you have no intention of going after her seriously? It’s a shame if that’s the case……”

“Miss, you look great. If you didn’t have that tattoo on your face, you’d really be my type. Have you just started? I could teach you, in great detail, how to shoot……”

“You perv.”

“So, you’re saying that you’d let a good-looking girl like that walk right past you? Are you a geezer in RL?”

“Only brats ask about RL.”

“Whatcha say?”

“Stop it, you’re being indecent. There’s no proof that the woman is of the same age in RL……”

While the men kept spouting whatever was on their mind, the woman disappeared into the private room that M had entered.

Although groups of five or six players that entered the bar were typically participants, none of them stood out enough to draw the attention of the bar. They were simply ignored.

It was easy to imagine,

“Heh, their opinion of us will change by the time this is over!”

That they had such a thought. That they thought ‘I’m gonna be the next hero/heroine’.

Among them, there was a team that consisted of four men and one woman. When the men came into the bar, they had expressions of happiness on them,

“…………”

While in contrast, the woman had a very sullen expression of great displeasure.

Based on the appearance of her avatar, she was in the latter half of her twenties. Her face was that of a tidy beauty.

Her pretty bob cut hair was vivid green like fresh leaves. It was not a very common sight in RL, but it wasn’t entirely unnatural in the SF world of GGO. There were people with anime characterhair colours that stood out more.

As for her garments, just like her four group members, she were brown cargo pants and boots. And for her top, she wore a simple, black T-shirt. The bulging of her large chest was eye-catching, even if this was not her desire.

There was quite the number of male characters who were fascinated by her appearance, but no one dared to strike up a conversation with her due to her excessively sour look.

Each character used the 10 minutes in dim standby areas to materialise their weapons and equipment.

LLENN taught Fukaziroh how to use the satellite scan terminal, and being quick-witted, she quickly understood it.

This smartphone-like device would be SJ2’s lifeline. It could not be destroyed, but the possibility of losing it was not zero, thus it was necessary to be careful not to drop it.

As LLENN had expected, it was politely announced that this time, it would not have the 《indestructible object》 status. It would exist as an object, but every kind of attack, including bullets, would pass through it.

In front of the two in the dark room with nothing in it,

『Standby Time 04:33』

Was a large numeral that was counting down 1 second at a time. LLENN stored her full set of equipment, became a pink soldier, and waited for the count down to finish.

Her garments were exactly the same as the previous time.

Her uniform was a given, but she was pink from her boots and the tips of her gloves to the knithat on her head. And there was a pink bandana on her neck.

Her armament was a P90. She hung the second generation P-chan on her shoulder by its sling.

In her pouches on the left and right of her thighs, she had a total of six spare magazines to allow for quick reloading. Any more would have made movement difficult, thus she chose a number that she was used to.

However, there were another nine, three times more than last time, stocked in her storage. A P90 boasted 50 bullets per magazine, so the total of sixteen magazines held 800 bullets.

This time, she had an optional part for her P90, but it was still in her storage.

Like a true sport, she did not bring a single plasma grenade, a throwable weapon.

There was the possibility that one hanging on the waist could be shot, explode, and result in instant death, so she exchanged them for an equivalent weight of more spare magazines.

And, as the last of her last weapons, she had a 30 cm-long black combat knife equipped on the back of her waist so that she could draw it out with her right hand.

The sole hit point recovery item used during SJ2, a cylindrical injector called a 《first-aid kit》 was automatically distributed to everyone’s storage. Each could restore 30 percent of the user’s lost hit points, but it took 180 seconds for it to finish, thus it could not be used mid-battle.

Nevertheless, LLENN fully used all three of her kits during the last SJ. If she had not had their help, she would have died. Although she hoped that she would not need them, she hung them in an easy-to-reach place on the front of her body.

Although she wanted to keep her gear as light as possible, she had judged that a monocle with a rangefinder was absolutely necessary, thus she placed one in a pouch at the back of her waist.

Just like the knife, she had borrowed one from M the previous time. This time, she bought one for herself using the credits earned during training.

She, of course, had not forgotten to place several camouflage ponchos, suited for the various terrain, into her storage for disguise. They were light, thus it was no big loss to have them.

“Still not time yet?”

Fukaziroh, waiting beside LLENN for the countdown to finish, had finished her preparations for slaughter as well.

On top of her head with her blonde hair tied up was a large helmet. She was wearing a greenvest with a bullet-proof plate and extra MultiCam-wear.

As for her weapons, she had an MGL-140 on her right and left shoulders each.

Incidentally, Fukaziroh named the MGL-140 in her right hand 《Uta》 and the other 《Sako》. (3)

The sling for the one in her right-hand was placed on her left side, and the one for her left-hand was placed on the opposite, but the slings could have their fittings switched with one touch.

“They look exactly the same, so can you tell which one is Uta and which one is Sako when you take off the slings?”

When LLENN once asked this,

“That’s totes simple! Of the 2, the one in my right hand is Sato, ya know”

Fukaziroh replied. In other words, it seems it did not matter which one was which.

The backpack that Fukaziroh wore on her back was filled entirely with grenades.

There was a partition inside it to pull out a grenade from either side by extending either of her hands to her back.

Even her storage was crammed full, just barely a step from going overweight and suffering the movement penalty.

An M&P pistol on her right thigh. Three spare magazines, making up four x 17 bullets in total. And of course, the first-aid kits.

Fukaziroh asked LLENN a question.

“What equipment are the others going to come with, I wonder?”

“I don’t know. Though, M-san is probably going to use the same gun and shield as last time, I think.”

“And Pito-san?”

“I truly don’t know about that. Because that person has used a different gun every time we met. But, she does have quite high Strength, so I believe she’s able to equip a lot of suitably strong guns. I believe she has considerable firepower, so we have no choice but to deal with it.”

“What about the other four?”

“No info at all……”

Answering the question, LLENN felt belatedly uneasy.

From this moment on would be the beginning of the game tournament, but to Pitohui and M, it would be a battle with their lives on the line.

‘Can I, whose life is not at stake, actually stop that? Wouldn’t I lose in zeal?’

LLENN’s face became gloomy.

*Bashin*, Fukaziroh struck her back.

“Now, now. There’s also the possibility that Pito-san’s team will end up winning, aight?”

“True……”

It’s not like she could rely on that hope and do nothing.

The most certain thing is that she had to quickly take down Pitohui. That… was the reason why she was here now.

Of course, if their and Pitohui’s teams ended up being the last two standing, she could just resign at that point, but she believed that the killing route was proper manners as a gamer.

“Eei!”

LLENN slapped her cheeks.

‘Don’t waver anymore!’

‘Fight!’

And──

‘Kill!’

The minute counter for the waiting time had reached zero, and now, only the second counter── 43, 42, 41, 40, 39── mercilessly counted down.

LLENN pulled and released the P90 loading handle, and the first bullet was loaded into the chamber along with a dry metallic sound.

Chapter end