I easily caught up to Koti as she escaped from Hirashia, then incapacitated her with the > taser gun <. Everything beforehand had gone well up to that point as well. That was until I noticed there were shadows tailing me. I’d planned to use the ally to corner Koti, but it ended with me being cornered instead by Cactus thugs…
They sent so many to get rid of me, and I’ve managed to get rid of them every time. I guess I hadn’t made myself in this matter.
First off, I needed to somehow get rid of these six clowns in front of me. The six clowns had lined up to block off the alley — was the clown with the big red nose at the forefront of the leader of the group? The clowns who stood slightly behind him were dressed similarly, but their make-up and a few other details were clearly different.
The big red nose at the front had a blue diamond painted over his eye. The second wore a blue jester hat with a pair of thorns that hung down, the third had a huge afro that was too yellow that it couldn’t possibly be a natural blonde. The fourth was a 2-meter tall dude, and the fifth was a fatty with a colorful outfit, with the last one was mostly bald with patches of red hair on the sides.
I recalled seeing these clowns when I entered the auction. So, it wasn’t a coincidence that they’d set their show up there… It was probably to set up an ambush at the later point or something.
“Uhi! Shaft-ca~~n. Do you really think that you can avoid us by getting out of Hirashia on your own? You see~, the capital is pretty much our turf.”
“You people — Did cactus send you?”
“Why of course~! Uhi! The guild that controls all the crime syndicates in Kurtmerga Kingdom, none other than Cactus!”
The red nose clown raised his hands as if he was gloating over the size of their organization. Meanwhile,m the other five were either groaning or showing signs of discomfort.
“But speaking of which, Shaft-chan~. What’s with the girl over there?”
“Her…? Just insignificant mud on the street.”
“Mud~? Uhi! Just an insignificant mud, you say — then why is the same hero who conquered the forsaken Wolf Labyrinth all by himself, the famed ‘Black Mask Shaft’ actually chase this so-called mud himself~?”
It’s difficult to retort to that. I was still holding the wooden box with the stone inside after all. I couldn’t afford to activate TSS to store it without knowing when we’ll start fighting.
“Also~ I wonder if there’s something precious inside that box~? Kihi! Aaah~, you don’t have to tell us.”
The red nose raised his index finger and waved it left and right, clicking his tongue a few times while squinting his eyes. That gave me a bad vibe.
“Dun~geon~Core~! Am I right? Kihi! I’ll be taking that along with your life, Shaft-chan~!”
There were six enemies, and all I had were a combat knife, an electric baton, and a taser gun, and an > FMG9 <, which unfortunately only had two spare magazines. Looking back at my encounter with the black knife, these clowns are almost certainly more than meets the eye. If I shot blindly, I’d probably waste ammunition. Moreover, I feel the need to keep at least one person alive as a warning to Cactus.
Ignoring the red nose’s attempt to demoralize me, I checked the map for possible plans. It might’ve seemed I was cornered, but it was not entirely true. There weren’t only walls around me, apparently, this was where the surrounding shops set their back doors. On the three sides other than the road, I could see a wooden door that looked to be a back door, and also the moving light dots inside.
On on corner of the alley, there were two large wooden boxes; probably garbage dumps. But that’s it. To be honest, it would be difficult to fight with six people here. As an FPS player, in a situation where you’re alone and outnumbered, there were usually objects placed around the map that could act as cover, and usually, our spawn would never be near the enemy spawn.
That’s not the case here, though. So… All I could do was attack head-on and stir up a mess while I was at it. Create a gap and use that to switch weapons.
I turned my attention to the red-nose clown who was shouting in a protracted tone as he stood before the five grinning clowns.
First things first…
I slipped my right hadn behind my waist to extract the FMG9 from my back pocket, then hit the deploy button as I brought it to the front.
“What in the world are you trying to do!?”
As I caught the grip, the weapon unraveled from its concealed box shape and into its gun shape with a spin. I started spraying 9x19mm parabellum bullets in full auto at the clowns. Aiming from left to right, I emptied the 33 round magazine. Their reaction was slow, but as soon as they saw the muzzle, they understood that the fight started. As expected, they had gathered information on my fighting style. However, my preemptive attack was not meant to hit anyways.
While they took evasive action, I put my hand on Koti’s waist and lifted her on my shoulder. I slid-jumped toward the garbage boxes, lifted the large lid, and dumped her there and the box inside. It’d smell a little… Oh well.
Of the two large boxes, the first one I’d opened was apparently meant for kitchen waste. Thankfully, those wastes were collected inside paper bags, but they still smelled bad. I couldn’t afford to be distracted by worrying about those two during the fight, so after a silent apology for the smell, I closed the lid.
“Shaa~~aft~! I haven’t finished speaking, yet you dare to start the fight~heh?!”
I don’t know how he did it, but the red nose was stuck to the wall of the alley with one hand and foot. His tone suggested that he was throwing a jest, however, the glint in his eyes held clear murderous intent. I had no word to spare for them. I simply pulled a spare magazine and reloaded it, leaving one spare left.
Switching to semi-auto, I moved it to my left hand and drew my electromagnetic baton, and extended it with a flick. The clowns didn’t stay put to watch me like previously. The red-nosed clown stayed in his position, but the other five pulled their own weapons. The blue clown pulled a short wand, afro pulled a long sword, the tall one pulled a spear, the fatty held two daggers, and the bald one had a double-edged ax.
“~~~~~,~~~~~, Boost strength.”
The blue clown chanted a spell, then cast the strengthening magic on the other four. That was not good. If the blue had the support role, I had to take him out first.
“Uhi! Now, let’s begin the hunt~!”
Afro and Baldy rushed forward at Red’s command. In the meantime, Fatty threw his daggers at me. They flew straight at me and I knock one away with my baton while the second was easily avoided. Knocking thrown projectiles away was a fairly popular defensive trick in VMB. Thrown projectiles could be used silently. From my favorite the tomahawks to throwing knives, chakrams, and even shurikens; various items were available.
If there’s a method of attack, it was only fair to have a method to defend. In VMB, they were much slower than bullets. By predicting the trajectory, a player could evade or deflect the object mid-flight. By now, it’s a natural move to me regardless of the opponent.
However —
““Dash!””
The daggers were a distraction. Both Afro and Baldy used Dash to immediately cover the distance between us. I pointed the firearm to Baldy on the left. Since I would be using it one-handed, it would be hard to aim with the iron sight. But that’s why I switched to semi in the first place.
I pulled the trigger three times. The recoil made the gun jump vertically, but I managed it. In the meantime, I used the baton to intercept the slightly faster Afro to make him lose balance, then struck for his throat with the FMG9’s grip.
“Guho”
Afro collapsed and I immediately wrapped my arm around his neck to choke him while I turned him around. In that instance, he became a human shield against Baldy who used his ax to protect himself from my shots. Thanks to the 9mm’s power, one of the ax’s blades broke off. But even with just one blade, the power was still there. However, Baldy was not expecting me to use CQC and make his friend my shield.
He was unable to halt or redirect his attack. As a result, Afro took the blow to his gut.
“Gyaa!”
Afro struggled to break free but I did not let go of him yet. With Baldy’s ax still in his friend, I put the FMG9 on his shoulder to use as a prop, then fired another three times. Baldy, still dazed from what happened, was unable to react in time as the rounds tore through his head and collapsed. With that… Left Afro, who was still somehow still alive, but he’d die either way due to the fatal wound to his gut.
I intended to use him as my meat shield while he lasted, and as for the rest of the clowns, they glared at me with hate-filled expressions.
I easily caught up to Koti as she escaped from Hirashia, then incapacitated her with the > taser gun <. Everything beforehand had gone well up to that point as well. That was until I noticed there were shadows tailing me. I’d planned to use the ally to corner Koti, but it ended with me being cornered instead by Cactus thugs…
They sent so many to get rid of me, and I’ve managed to get rid of them every time. I guess I hadn’t made myself in this matter.
First off, I needed to somehow get rid of these six clowns in front of me. The six clowns had lined up to block off the alley — was the clown with the big red nose at the forefront of the leader of the group? The clowns who stood slightly behind him were dressed similarly, but their make-up and a few other details were clearly different.
The big red nose at the front had a blue diamond painted over his eye. The second wore a blue jester hat with a pair of thorns that hung down, the third had a huge afro that was too yellow that it couldn’t possibly be a natural blonde. The fourth was a 2-meter tall dude, and the fifth was a fatty with a colorful outfit, with the last one was mostly bald with patches of red hair on the sides.
I recalled seeing these clowns when I entered the auction. So, it wasn’t a coincidence that they’d set their show up there… It was probably to set up an ambush at the later point or something.
“Uhi! Shaft-ca~~n. Do you really think that you can avoid us by getting out of Hirashia on your own? You see~, the capital is pretty much our turf.”
“You people — Did cactus send you?”
“Why of course~! Uhi! The guild that controls all the crime syndicates in Kurtmerga Kingdom, none other than Cactus!”
The red nose clown raised his hands as if he was gloating over the size of their organization. Meanwhile,m the other five were either groaning or showing signs of discomfort.
“But speaking of which, Shaft-chan~. What’s with the girl over there?”
“Her…? Just insignificant mud on the street.”
“Mud~? Uhi! Just an insignificant mud, you say — then why is the same hero who conquered the forsaken Wolf Labyrinth all by himself, the famed ‘Black Mask Shaft’ actually chase this so-called mud himself~?”
It’s difficult to retort to that. I was still holding the wooden box with the stone inside after all. I couldn’t afford to activate TSS to store it without knowing when we’ll start fighting.
“Also~ I wonder if there’s something precious inside that box~? Kihi! Aaah~, you don’t have to tell us.”
The red nose raised his index finger and waved it left and right, clicking his tongue a few times while squinting his eyes. That gave me a bad vibe.
“Dun~geon~Core~! Am I right? Kihi! I’ll be taking that along with your life, Shaft-chan~!”
There were six enemies, and all I had were a combat knife, an electric baton, and a taser gun, and an > FMG9 <, which unfortunately only had two spare magazines. Looking back at my encounter with the black knife, these clowns are almost certainly more than meets the eye. If I shot blindly, I’d probably waste ammunition. Moreover, I feel the need to keep at least one person alive as a warning to Cactus.
Ignoring the red nose’s attempt to demoralize me, I checked the map for possible plans. It might’ve seemed I was cornered, but it was not entirely true. There weren’t only walls around me, apparently, this was where the surrounding shops set their back doors. On the three sides other than the road, I could see a wooden door that looked to be a back door, and also the moving light dots inside.
On on corner of the alley, there were two large wooden boxes; probably garbage dumps. But that’s it. To be honest, it would be difficult to fight with six people here. As an FPS player, in a situation where you’re alone and outnumbered, there were usually objects placed around the map that could act as cover, and usually, our spawn would never be near the enemy spawn.
That’s not the case here, though. So… All I could do was attack head-on and stir up a mess while I was at it. Create a gap and use that to switch weapons.
I turned my attention to the red-nose clown who was shouting in a protracted tone as he stood before the five grinning clowns.
First things first…
I slipped my right hadn behind my waist to extract the FMG9 from my back pocket, then hit the deploy button as I brought it to the front.
“What in the world are you trying to do!?”
As I caught the grip, the weapon unraveled from its concealed box shape and into its gun shape with a spin. I started spraying 9x19mm parabellum bullets in full auto at the clowns. Aiming from left to right, I emptied the 33 round magazine. Their reaction was slow, but as soon as they saw the muzzle, they understood that the fight started. As expected, they had gathered information on my fighting style. However, my preemptive attack was not meant to hit anyways.
While they took evasive action, I put my hand on Koti’s waist and lifted her on my shoulder. I slid-jumped toward the garbage boxes, lifted the large lid, and dumped her there and the box inside. It’d smell a little… Oh well.
Of the two large boxes, the first one I’d opened was apparently meant for kitchen waste. Thankfully, those wastes were collected inside paper bags, but they still smelled bad. I couldn’t afford to be distracted by worrying about those two during the fight, so after a silent apology for the smell, I closed the lid.
“Shaa~~aft~! I haven’t finished speaking, yet you dare to start the fight~heh?!”
I don’t know how he did it, but the red nose was stuck to the wall of the alley with one hand and foot. His tone suggested that he was throwing a jest, however, the glint in his eyes held clear murderous intent. I had no word to spare for them. I simply pulled a spare magazine and reloaded it, leaving one spare left.
Switching to semi-auto, I moved it to my left hand and drew my electromagnetic baton, and extended it with a flick. The clowns didn’t stay put to watch me like previously. The red-nosed clown stayed in his position, but the other five pulled their own weapons. The blue clown pulled a short wand, afro pulled a long sword, the tall one pulled a spear, the fatty held two daggers, and the bald one had a double-edged ax.
“~~~~~,~~~~~, Boost strength.”
The blue clown chanted a spell, then cast the strengthening magic on the other four. That was not good. If the blue had the support role, I had to take him out first.
“Uhi! Now, let’s begin the hunt~!”
Afro and Baldy rushed forward at Red’s command. In the meantime, Fatty threw his daggers at me. They flew straight at me and I knock one away with my baton while the second was easily avoided. Knocking thrown projectiles away was a fairly popular defensive trick in VMB. Thrown projectiles could be used silently. From my favorite the tomahawks to throwing knives, chakrams, and even shurikens; various items were available.
If there’s a method of attack, it was only fair to have a method to defend. In VMB, they were much slower than bullets. By predicting the trajectory, a player could evade or deflect the object mid-flight. By now, it’s a natural move to me regardless of the opponent.
However —
““Dash!””
The daggers were a distraction. Both Afro and Baldy used Dash to immediately cover the distance between us. I pointed the firearm to Baldy on the left. Since I would be using it one-handed, it would be hard to aim with the iron sight. But that’s why I switched to semi in the first place.
I pulled the trigger three times. The recoil made the gun jump vertically, but I managed it. In the meantime, I used the baton to intercept the slightly faster Afro to make him lose balance, then struck for his throat with the FMG9’s grip.
“Guho”
Afro collapsed and I immediately wrapped my arm around his neck to choke him while I turned him around. In that instance, he became a human shield against Baldy who used his ax to protect himself from my shots. Thanks to the 9mm’s power, one of the ax’s blades broke off. But even with just one blade, the power was still there. However, Baldy was not expecting me to use CQC and make his friend my shield.
He was unable to halt or redirect his attack. As a result, Afro took the blow to his gut.
“Gyaa!”
Afro struggled to break free but I did not let go of him yet. With Baldy’s ax still in his friend, I put the FMG9 on his shoulder to use as a prop, then fired another three times. Baldy, still dazed from what happened, was unable to react in time as the rounds tore through his head and collapsed. With that… Left Afro, who was still somehow still alive, but he’d die either way due to the fatal wound to his gut.
I intended to use him as my meat shield while he lasted, and as for the rest of the clowns, they glared at me with hate-filled expressions.
