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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 556 Part 1

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 556: Nostalgic Scenery Seen From the Wings of the Swallow’s Perspective Part 1
Scrap Gunman!

This is the title of the new and exciting Hack and Shoot Action game that is being developed by the Swallow’s Nest!

What is the premise of this game? It’s simple, really. You are being assaulted by the hordes of undead and monsters from every possible direction, and your job is to make sure that you are able to survive using the almost inexhaustible amount of scrap and materials that are lying around the place of tha action. And of course you can use that scrap to create virtually everything with it!

You want to make a knife or a sword? Sure! Put together an assault rifle? Go for it! Craft some really tricky explosives? Not a problem! …… It’s that kind of a game.

How do you play that game since it is an Augmented Reality one? The most important part here is the gear required for you to play: the Augmented Reality controller, goggles, gloves, plates, belts and boots! With all of that equipment, you can quite easily beat all of the opponents that Augmented Reality throws at you! You can even say that this is actually the bread and butter of AR gaming! But that being said, Scrap Gunman has a system that no other Augmented Reality game out there on the market has!

This is what the Glove is actually used for here…… You can use that to search for various pieces of scrap on the map, as well as scavenge parts from the defeated enemies and the weaponry that they have dropped. Then, you can use the “Scavenger’s Glove” and its “rebuild” system in order to create and rebuild a whole bunch of different things! And the best thing here is……? The possibilities here are virtually limitless, as the only real thing that limits you is your own imagination! In other words……

「Dig up! Strip the enemy of their possessions! Use those possessions to strengthen what you have! And then……!」

「Yes! That is exactly right! And then…… Somehow, I feel like this has turned more into a demonstration rather than anything else, don’t you think so too?」

Well, since it is a game that Rei-san has been fairly interested in, in order for us to enjoy it as much as we can I do believe that a proper demonstration is exactly what we need. After all, seeing is believing, and a practical explanation beats the dry theory on every possible ground.

「Uwaaahhh……」

「M-My, oh my, won’t you look at that……?」

And while we were busy here, I could see with the corner of my eye that there was already a pretty large crowd of people that was beginning to form on the edge of the Augmented Reality area, and that the staff members were doing their very best to contain them right there. …… And of course, unsurprising to no one, the ones that were forced to wait in line for their turn were already glaring daggers at those who were inside of the Augmented Reality zone and were getting ready to start playing.

And even though I have already been in a situation where virtually the entire world could see me play a game on the bigger screen, it was under a different set of circumstances and while I was wearing a pumpkin-like helmet that was serving as my shield from the burning gazes of the crowd. But right here and right now, I had nothing like that pumpkin-like helmet. There was nothing that could shield me from those fiery gazes. So it was something extremely similar, and yet completely different.

「Say, Rei-san……? Everything alright there?」

「Y-Yes, I’m fine, I’m fine…… Now then, good luck, and let the both of us do our best here!」

Now Rei-san…… Rei-san seemed to be completely different from me right now. Her body was standing completely solid, and she was armed and ready to challenge anything that this demo version of the game was about to throw at us. Hmm, I would like to be like her as well right about now…… to completely focus on the game and shut off any interference from the outside world. Okay, that settles it! After this is all over, I need to train myself to be able to stop paying attention to anything that is being unrelated to what I am doing at any given moment.

「I know that we might or might not be nervous here, but…… Oh well, there is no real reason for us to actually try to beat that high score. First and foremost, let us enjoy ourselves to the fullest. After all, that is exactly what we have come here to do in the first place, right?」

「………………………」

「Huh? Why the silent treatment all of a sudden? Could it be that it is my fault? Did I say something strange just now?」

Umm, Rei-san……? Why are you looking at me with your face completely stiff and devoid of any emotions……? Or it might actually be only my imagination, promoted by the fact that I could not see Rei-san’s eyes because of the goggles that managed to hide the vast majority of her face and the entirety of her eyes. But then all of a sudden Rei-san’s body twitched, and it seemed as though all of the stiffness was gone from her in an instant. I could not see her expression all that well, but I somehow knew that she must have been embarrassed, because right after that her body started to shake while she was looking towards the ground, her mouth slightly open. Could it be that she just woke up from a trance of sorts and was at a loss to what to say here?

「Ah, n-no! No, not at all! It’s not that! Yes, you are right! You are absolutely right! …… Let’s enjoy ourselves together and have fun while playing the game!」

「Oh yeah! Now that’s what I would call a spirit that I can get behind!」

But with that being said, a game is still a game. So it means that when we are playing it, we play to win! So at the very least let us aim towards clearing the stage, so that we can get the most out of this entire experience!

「And now! Without any further ado, let us begin the “Scrap Gunman Demo Version”! The mode you shall be playing right now will be “Aircraft Carrier Evacuation” Scenario!」

The moment one of the staff members announced those words to everyone present, the Augmented Reality cubes made a quiet sound that was most probably their boot-up sequence and the mechanisms inside of them sprang into action. As a result, the space around us was being turned into the Augmented Reality arena.

「Ooohhh……」

Object blocks started to pop up all over the place now. It was a true battlefield with a skeleton of an aircraft carrier, debris and buildings, armored cars and every other staple of a battlefield-like map. There were also armored vehicles riding back and forth here, all at high speed……

Also, as a side note, the rest of the scenery besides the AR field where the rest of the island was supposed to be was being repainted as a wall of insurmountable greyish smoke.