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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 557 Part 2

ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 557: A Nostalgic Old Friend Seen From the Perspective of the Swallow’s Ideals Part 2

But even if it was possible to cultivate your reflexes and senses inside of Virtual Reality, it’s really hard to believe that you would be able to respond in the same kind of way in the real world without any proper training or experience beforehand.

「Alright then, that covers the girl. But then, what about her boyfriend over there?」

「Hmm, that would be……」

It was somewhat difficult to explain properly, but the boy was giving off a feeling that seemed to be exactly opposite to that of the girl. In other words, his movements seemed strangely disconnected and chaotic, but they were ultimately connecting into one solid string as well. However, he seemed to operate more on instinct rather than ability, being all like “Hmm, I guess that the next enemy is going to appear here and there, so I need to move here and there in response.” It might as well be his own intuition, or it might be something that he managed to develop as a result of clearing many similar games in his life.

At the very least, it is pretty difficult for the citizens of a country like Japan to become familiar with the use and handling of firearms, especially when their use and ownership is prohibited by law. However, when it comes to Virtual Reality games, there are no such restrictions. One possible explanation of this situation right here might be because this young man here is extremely familiar with zombie panic type of games and First Person Shooters in general. Also, he seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the timings of his reloads and the strengthening of his weapon.

「What’s wrong? Is something the matter?」

「No, it’s just that…… I’m a little bit worried, that it……」

But, that’s not all this thing here was about.

Survival Gunman…… That should be the actual title of this game. Because Scrap Gunman was taking great care to reproduce the providence and setting that was once present on that Uninhabited Island as faithfully as humanly possible. And part of this recreation was to make both the recoil of the guns and the trajectory of the shots as overly realistic as possible as well. To put it simply, it may seem that the bullet is flying straight towards the target, but in reality it would miss its mark by mere millimeters. That fact is then cleverly masked by the fact that this is an Augmented Reality game, but the actual range of the weapons was shortened to make them less effective. Not to mention the fact that the assault rifles are severely nerfed in this game, because no matter what, the player is unable to put muskets on them.

Scrap Gunman is the project that Kazuya was supervising personally and very thoroughly, and he was doing that to every single aspect of the game…… And strictly speaking, there is only one solution to clear this demo version, the one that Kazuya set as well. It is to break through the initial wave of enemies with the default gun and by firing the strengthened ammo, saving the “slugs” and shotgun for the tougher enemies. There is also an additional factor here, and that is the right timing of one’s reloads and strengthening of the weapons. It would also help to try and not to miss as many shots as possible, since the ammo management is crucial to victory.

However, that’s not the only attractions that were thought out for this demo version. For the Scrap Gunman to truly be the spiritual successor to the Survival Island, there was a certain “hook” that was laid as a trap here. And that trap had only one aim: to directly assault the mind of the players trying to clear the demo. But the players would first need to reach that far into the demo to see what it was going to be. Now, whether or not they would be able to do that was a completely different matter altogether……

「…… Huh!?」

「Oh wow, the guy’s actually pretty amazing. It looks like he has already started to take notice of it.」

Yes, it seems that way. But at the same time, it seems to not be the case here.

It’s easy to forget that this game has a controller that allows you to suck in the resources when you are holding a gun and you are blasting with it without end. But another fact that people tend to forget in this game is that physical actions such as kicking and punching are also a legitimate way of dealing with the enemies. The difficulty level changes greatly depending on whether you notice this or not … But it wasn’t that fact that surprised Kazuya here the most.

Scrap Gunman is supposed to be nothing more but a message that a man who once called himself Atbird wanted to send to the entirety of Japan. And it was supposed to be a message that was supposed to be a specific group of people.

Even though we can’t meet on that uninhabited island anymore, it’s not the end of it. The wind that was once blowing through that lone island is certainly still going strong, even today ––––––––––––

To make a long story short, this game was nothing more but a means to detect one player: Mackerel Survivor.

It’s not that Kazuya was holding a grudge against that particular player or anything like that. Even though the two of them used to kill one another on a regular basis and were always at each other’s throats. No, his motives were even simpler than that he just wanted Mackerel to play this game and take delight as he would watch the poor sap slowly realize that he’s been there and done that before. This is the sole reason for the existence of Scrap Gunman. That, and supporting the basics of production, he guessed.

「Seriously now, is it possible to get a result so soon? Even though we were fishing with explosives from the start?」

「Umm, sir?」

「Hahaha, just take a good look at this, Tama-san. Don’t you think that what this person does is similar to walking on a tightrope?」

Tsubame Kazuya. Formerly known as Atbird. Currently going by Yashiro Bird in a different game.

What’s the deal with that well-behaved play style just now? Trampling the enemies and scavenging for their scrap metal, using the environment generated by the Augmented Reality engine such as loading platforms and armored cars, hitting them with your fists, thrusting the guns in between the plates of armor and firing at point blank range……Augmented Reality is only a reality in theory. It might have been only his imagination, but Kazuya had no doubt about it deep down within his heart. The image of the struggling high schooler was bringing back so many warm and exciting memories.

There was a small entity jumping around inside of his chest right now with excitement. And he did not care if this entity was an angel or a demon. A quiet assassin who shoots a wedge of instant death into the gap of human consciousness. At this moment there was no helping the fact that one cannot help thinking that “There is such a thing, μ server will also be like this”. In that other game, Atbird γ managed to conquer all the firearms that were available to the players. And it was because of that exact fact that his avatar resembling the little girl was able to strike fear in the hearts of those who were playing it and change the island into that of an absolute horror show.

「Umm, could it be that you happen to know that person?」

「Hmm, let’s put it that way: I know them pretty well, but this is actually the first time we can meet in real life like that.」

「…… In that case, can I ask you to not cause any scenes or problems? At the very least, not until I am going to have my bonus assigned to me? Pretty please?」

Yes, there was not a single doubt about it. That smile. The smile on the mouth that was unobstructed by the goggles or AR equipment was that of that small child that was burned on Kazuya’s memories so much.