The Lone Sniper: I Was Just Minding My Own Business Sniping Players, and I Ended Up Becoming a Raid Boss

Chapter 90

Chapter 90

Rabi-chan moves lightly to the right. She escapes from my front. She's mistaken to think she's vanished from my field of view.

(Ah, this is fun...)

I'm reminded of the past.

Back then, nobody around us could keep up with us either, so I fought with you all the time.

(I wish this moment could last forever...)

Calm down. Don't get excited. Pretend to be shaken.

Pretend I can't see her.

(Pretend to strain my ears...)

I mustn't let her notice.

The terminal for the one-off saber is tucked into my belt on my left hip.

If Rabi-chan circles to the right, I'll grab the terminal with my left hand. Then—

(Eh?)

At the edge of my vision.

For some reason, Rabi-chan is pointing Red-Lie at me—at me, who should already be caught in Red-Lie's trap.

I end up locking eyes with Rabi-chan.

"I knew it, you can see me."

(Damn it...!!)

I duck to dodge Red-Lie's single shot and extend the one-off saber, sweeping it horizontally, but the lengthened saber is leapt over and evaded. The one-off saber loses its light and becomes unusable.

"How did you block it? —Well, I've got a pretty good idea."

"......"

"It's shield pieces, right? You hid shield pieces under your clothes. Am I wrong?"

Correct. I pull ten shield pieces out from under my clothes.

Red-Lie's weakness is its low power. A single shield piece blocks it easily. Spreading shield pieces over a wide area is a simple countermeasure. But if I place shields where she can see them, she'll just dodge. So I placed them under my clothes.

Having tried it, I can say it's not a great tactic. The sensation of something hard crawling over my skin—creepy! It takes concentration, and once exposed, she can just target the exposed skin. I'm done with this trick.

"Geez! Putting shield pieces on your breasts—Shiki-chan, you perv!!"

(Don't let it get to me. Rabi-chan's aim is to break my concentration.)

"But only flat-chested girls can pull that off~. Someone like me, with big ones, would give it away right away if I tried to guard my chest with shield pieces. The swaying would look unnatural♪ My chest would also get in the way of the pieces."

(Grr...)

Keep calm, keep calm...

"How did you know I could see you?"

"Your acting slipped a little, and you had fewer shield pieces left. But the biggest reason... you were too careless for Shiki-chan. There's no way you'd take bullets so easily—I trust in your strength."

This. This is the problem.

She never lets her guard down or gets overconfident. She holds me in almost exaggeratedly high regard.

(All my tactics keep getting read...!)

Rabi-chan pulls red shield pieces out from under her skirt.

At a glance, about eighty of them. They're the same size as regular shield pieces, but the count is low. Normally, shield pieces come in sets of fifty, so two sets would be a hundred. Maybe they have some special power—like being harder than usual.

"These shield pieces aren't worth being that wary of. They're just..."

"!?"

Those red shield pieces aren't semi-transparent like normal shield pieces! The tip of the shield piece can't be seen. They've been made opaque—blinding!!

"They're just invisible."

You might think it's only the difference between visible and invisible. Ordinary people might think it's not worth sacrificing twenty shield pieces for such a feature.

Wrong. How terrifying it is to be able to create blind spots so easily. Anyone who's ever played a TPS or FPS even a little should understand how annoying that weapon is...!

"Illusion♪"

Eighty shield pieces sweep across in front of Rabi-chan. At the same time, Rabi-chan's figure vanishes.

(Don't panic! The moment she disappeared behind the shields, she just leapt into my blind spot!)

Using shield pieces as a blindfold... honestly, she keeps coming up with new tricks...!

(Open my field of vision fully!! There are only so many places she can hide!)

If I strain my field of vision to the limit, I can see everything except directly behind me. Yet I can't see her anywhere. Then—

"Behind!"

I whirl around. A human silhouette stands about ten meters away. In her hands, a red Walther at the ready.

I aim the G-AGE's muzzle, but my finger freezes. I can't pull the trigger.

"Wha—!?"

Standing there is the princess who should be on the moon. The strength in my finger—slips away.

"White... Meteor..."

And for some reason, she's in a bikini! A black bikini! Tiny coverage!!

"...Wrong!"

Electricity crackles over Tsukinami-san's form, her figure pops away, and Rabi-chan reappears.

(A weapon that disguises itself with 3-D projections!!)

One step. When my hand froze, she closed the distance by one step.

Just one step. Yet it's a huge one. A position I can't dodge by reflex. From here, Red-Lie can't be evaded.

—I'll lose.

(If I can't dodge it, then...!!)

I abandon defense and step forward.

"!?"

(If I'm going to take it anyway, I'll close to my sure-hit range!)

"Fine! That's the spirit—!"

Gunshots ring out. We each fire five rounds.

Red-Lie's bullets—the first three are blocked by shield pieces. The next one is shot down by my bullet. But the last one grazes my neck.

G-AGE's bullets—the first three are dodged, but the fourth knocks down Walther's bullet, pierces a shield piece, and grazes Rabi-chan's flank. That grazing hit creates a slight waver, an opening. The fifth shot pierces the shield piece, destroys Red-Lie, and lands square on Rabi-chan's right shoulder. The bullet twists and crushes the shoulder. Rabi-chan's right arm falls.

"Gh—!? These absurdly destructive bullets...!! That gun's something special too. But!"

A red lightning bolt flashes across my vision.

She vanishes from sight.

"Welcome to a world steeped in lies."

This time, I truly fall into a world of nothing but falsehoods.

(I have no choice but to use this! The Spades 3 that will save me, even though I've fallen into the Joker's hand!!)

I open my item pouch and pull out eight bottles.

I wedge the bottles between my fingers and toss them up. I destroy one bottle with a Bullet Piece. The bottle hit by the beam bursts, exploding. The explosion ruptures the remaining seven, scattering their contents.

(Only one was filled with fuel. The rest are just orange juice.)

The splattered orange juice bursts at the 11 o'clock position, two meters away. Only there do the bottle fragments change their falling trajectories.

Thanks to the orange rain and the rain of fragments, I successfully pinpoint the enemy's location.

"There!"

I aim the G-AGE in the direction the orange juice burst and fire.

(Got you...)

Psshh. The sound of air escaping.

"Wh...at...!?"

The object I just shot reveals its form.

It's a balloon shaped just like Rabi-chan.

"...No way!?"

I've completely lost her...!

(Not yet!)

I reload the G-AGE, grip it in my right hand, and point it forward.

I still have a second-best plan.

—Crunch.

(A sound... behind me... 5 o'clock... 3 meters...!)

I bend my right elbow, pass the muzzle behind my neck.

Without looking back, I pull the trigger—no-look. Behind me, the bullet detonates.

"Guh—!?"

I whirl around. There is Rabi-chan, back arched, her left arm destroyed.

(Did the shock break Red-Lie's jamming!? —I can do this!!)

I reverse my stance, face Rabi-chan head-on, and raise the G-AGE in my right hand.

—At that moment, an explosion rang out behind me.