NOVEL NEXT Chapter 194 - Mayhem
Chapter 194 – Mayhem
───Drururuk!
The muzzle flash pushed away the darkness, and the sound of gunfire shattered the silence.
Numerous buildings constructed in the middle of the forest to manage the thick gas pipes extending in all directions from California – two figures traversed between them. The relationship between the prey and the hunter could change with even the slightest error.
It was a firefight that seemed like one side would be overwhelmed, but it wasn’t. As they moved out of the skill activation zone, the weapon drop rate noticeably increased. This allowed Case to suppress more effectively than before.
In contrast, Yoo Jin’s armament hadn’t changed much from before. This was the drawback of Hardcore mode.
‘…There’s no time to change into a bulletproof vest or reload.’
Though there was a quickloader attached to her bag, there wasn’t any opportunity to use it. Even though Yoo Jin possessed overwhelming skill, her opponent was someone who, just last year, was evaluated as the most skilled player in Asia.
Had she been in perfect condition and properly armed, she could have pushed forward slowly and heavily from the front. However, the situation wasn’t favorable. Yoo Jin, like Case, had started in the skill activation zone.
In fact, unlike him who at least managed to grab a few guns, Yoo Jin’s only weapon was a fire axe.
───Piyung!
“Ugh.”
Ear-splitting noise and fragments of shattered stone.
The gap between those with and without guns was enormous. Yoo Jin’s abnormal movement speed, strength, and perfect timing were all finely interlocking gears that allowed her to press Case so hard.
However, as they moved out of the skill activation zone, the story began to change. Existing users could secure loaded magazines instantly, but not everyone had this advantage, and Case exploited this by keeping his distance.
He intended to wear her down by maintaining a gap before grabbing a gun.
‘There’s a way to break through.’
The best method was to find a gun that required the least handling, like a machine gun with linked ammunition. But nothing like that had appeared so far. High firepower indicated good performance, and the drop rate was low. It seemed unlikely to find one here.
Furthermore, when facing terrain conducive to counterattacks, such as winding corridors or complex rooms, Case would not hesitate to use flashbangs, grenades, and all sorts of explosives to drive Yoo Jin away from that spot.
He had long since decided that it would be better to take his time here and cut Yoo Jin off, and she had a rough idea of his thoughts.
Bullets flew again.
-[Warning: Nanomachine residue below 50%.]
His shooting skills were considerable.
Being able to suppress the enemy skillfully at medium to long range without widening the gap significantly was a trait of a seasoned tracker. Trying to lure him into complex terrain wasn’t going to work easily.
She had already half-expected this.
A glimpse through the window showed that the situation outside wasn’t good. The fire was creeping closer. It wouldn’t take long for the building to catch fire. Catching her breath, she pressed her body against the wall deep in the shadows.
The footsteps of the approaching enemy, the vibrations transmitted through them, she could feel it. The silence continued. The only thing illuminating the darkness was the emergency exit sign above the door.
“….”
As she stared at it, her gaze dropped a little lower.
Below, on the floor, lay a red object. The most common item in the California gas complex… a fire extinguisher.
Suddenly, her mind went blank, then quickly filled with new colors. The gears of numerous variables reversed, creating new thoughts and tactics in real time. After shaking the fire extinguisher a few times, Yoo Jin’s face showed satisfaction.
In the next moment, she retraced her steps – in other words, she started to close the distance with Case.
From now on, it was time for realistic bluffing.
───Chclick!
She picked up a rifle lying on the floor.
It wasn’t loaded. But that didn’t matter. The bluff was to make Case feel she was hastily picking up a gun. Whether he kept his distance or not didn’t matter much – but he would likely try something to interfere.
And, sure enough.
-Piying!
Her sensitive ears caught the sound of metal friction. It wasn’t quite the click of a pin but a different kind of sound – anyway, the result was the same. A grenade flew towards her position.
However – although the dark metal object wouldn’t normally be visible, at that moment, she saw a faint red glimmer on the grenade. Thermal detection. One of her hidden skills.
Clang.
As Yoo Jin’s arm swung reflexively with the fire extinguisher, a sharp metallic sound echoed in the air.
A brief burst of light and hundreds of metal fragments scattered at the speed of sound followed.
───Kwoong!
But that wasn’t the end.
The next moment, a red cylindrical object flew straight towards Case. As soon as he fired his gun, white smoke burst out in all directions with a noise. The only fortunate thing was that it was a fire extinguisher, not a flashbang.
It took only four short seconds to wipe off the white powder and close in again, but unfortunately, in those short seconds, Yoo Jin had already picked up something from the floor and made some sort of preparation.
-Chclick.
A long, crude gun barrel emerged from the darkness. It had no rifling, and there was no visible magazine—actually, it wasn’t missing, but was a tube-type magazine, making it difficult to identify.
Benelli M4.
She picked up the gun, chambered a round, and loaded six more into the tube magazine. The entire speed reload process took no more than four seconds.
With a flick of her finger, twelve steel balls tore through the air.
“Ugh!”
Case quickly rolled out of the way, clicking his tongue.
The speed at which she reloaded the shotgun was unparalleled. Even back in Delta Force, with whom he had trained in the past, there were few who could reload this quickly. Yet, even in this urgent situation, her speed was remarkable.
Once the initiative was lost, the odds of winning plummeted. However, Yoo Jin, enraged, closed in a step faster. The tide turned as easily as flipping a palm, and Case’s shield wall was shattered by the torrent of steel balls.
Click. The shotgun was out of ammo. But by then, the distance between them was close—specifically, by the time the third bullet was fired from the assault rifle set to burst fire, it was within arm’s reach.
The buttstock swung.
-Kwajik!
“…!”
At that moment, Case barely managed to block the trajectory of the buttstock with his gun using an animalistic instinct. Although there was a brief flash of surprise in his blue eyes, a fierce fighting spirit soon flared up.
For Case, it was maddening. Just blocking it slightly made his arms tingle. He barely deflected the blow and fired the remaining bullets, but Yoo Jin, dodging by rolling, threw the empty shotgun.
As he narrowly avoided the spinning shotgun, a fire axe flew from below. He blocked it, but with a loud crash, the gun bent into an L shape like a candy cane.
In the next moment, abandoning the gun, he drew a pistol and fired rapidly. Yoo Jin, charging forward despite being hit, recreated a scene straight out of an animated film or a superhero movie right before everyone’s eyes.
Yoo Jin rammed into Case, pushing him all the way to the concrete wall.
Amid the heavy thud of hitting the wall, a sharp metallic sound was mixed.
-Piying!
“…Connecting the grenade pin to a molle is quite an interesting method.”
As he said that, he pulled a grenade out of his pouch as if tearing it out and gripped it tightly in his right hand. His left hand held Yoo Jin firmly. It was evident that he intended to take her down with him.
But in that moment, Yoo Jin pressed her left hand against Case’s hand holding the grenade – and twisted it. Due to the difference in strength, his right hand, with an ominous noise, was forcefully shoved between the wall and his back.
This took just 2 seconds.
Barely enough time to question how strong she was, Yoo Jin withdrew her hand, and a powerful explosion erupted from Case’s hand pinned between his back and the wall. The pressure threw her back, and the concrete wall cracked.
The body had already vanished.
Barely recovering from the impact of the explosion, Yoo Jin muttered quietly, so softly that no one could hear.
“Geez, not even paying royalties…”
Even with her steel stamina, Yoo Jin needed a break.
She collapsed to the ground with a heavy sigh.
The match was moving towards the middle stage.
“Wow, is that really a person?”
-Yeah, I know, right? Hahahaha
-Fact: That guy who got taken down head-on by Yoo Jin was in the top 10 of last year’s finals.
-Just let the other 99 compete alone, dammit hahahaha
-Payback for what was missed in Aurora yesterday hahahaha
-Shotgun speed reload, wow, that’s insane
It was chaos everywhere.
Of course, the broadcast wasn’t just through the official Dark Zone channel. In other words, fan broadcast rooms hosted by various streamers sprang up everywhere—the reason was simple. Watching the match with their favorite streamer and sharing opinions was one way to enjoy the tournament.
And naturally, the battlefield was displayed without any filters. The brutal CQB forms that could never be seen in previous tournaments were now etched into the retinas of millions.
Leaving the main broadcast as it was, highlight clips captured by viewers began floating below.
The first thing that caught the eye was Yoo Jin’s shotgun reload.
───Chclick!
It took just four seconds.
Case reflexively pulled the trigger at the fire extinguisher flying at him, and the white powder scattered in the air. From that moment, the timer started.
After precisely grabbing the shotgun from the floor, she picked up the scattered 12-gauge shells next to it. The first round was directly chambered, and two more rounds were inserted into the tube magazine at a time. Even after loading seven rounds, she still held a few shells between her fingers as she stood up.
In the next moment, the warehouse, lit only by the flames outside, flashed repeatedly.
The heavy sound of gunfire thudded against the heart. All the shotgun rounds were used up in an instant, but the spare shells held between her fingers were quickly reloaded. The fierce firefight, where bones and flesh were torn apart simultaneously, was shown without any censorship.
-True pros are different…
-Fact: Case isn’t just a pro; he’s active duty.
-Now I think I get why Yoo Jin doesn’t reveal her identity hahahaha
-So… do you know a lot of sensitive stuff?
-Snake-tailed woman (former Black Ops agent)
Countless highlights occurred all over, making it hard to keep up. It wasn’t just Case and Yoo Jin competing. With a total of 100 participants spread over a wide area, skirmishes were happening everywhere.
It was the same last year, but this year, especially, many wished they had more eyes and brains. At this rate, the highlight reel of the Asian preliminaries alone would exceed 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Yoo Jin, having awoken from her brief rest, cautiously rose and explored her surroundings. Having left the skill activation zone, the boxes she couldn’t open due to the fight with Case were now filled with items.
Things she couldn’t do just a few minutes ago were now possible. She picked up an MK47 from the floor, opened the ammo box, and poured the bullets into the quickloader. It made a metallic sound like filling a water dispenser as she placed the magazine in the designated spot.
Barely a few tens of seconds passed, and Yoo Jin, having fully loaded eight spare 40-round magazines, left the warehouse looking much more comfortable.
But the next moment, flames and alarms rose from beyond the ridge.
-[Warning: Large explosion detected.]
“…Who messed with the gas pipe?”
A pillar of fire and a heatwave as if the world was ending.
The situation was transitioning to a new phase.