Chapter 34: Hey!! 2nd place is good too!! Hey!! 2nd place is good too!!
by Afuhfuihgs“Ah, I… I died too…”
First round. Of course, winning was impossible.
Since I was playing a duo with my senior, most of our opponents were also duos.
No matter how well you loot and how skilled you are, this game is fundamentally played in first-person view, so even
if you have a good vantage point, there will always be gaps if you’re surrounded.
On top of that, my senior died early, and our opponents were snipers, so there was no way we could win.
-But still, Mei-chan is really amazing.
-She took out 3 people while being surrounded by three teams, right?
Even so, the chat was quite favorable toward me.
Well, even I had to admit, it was a pretty cool play.
“Hehe… but still, it’s, a little disappointing…”
The feeling of disappointment was genuine.
Even though I was surrounded by three teams, it had only been five minutes since the game started—still very early in the game.
In the end, my opponents’ damage wasn’t enough, and if it had been during my peak, I wouldn’t have been able to
kill them all, but I probably could have survived and escaped.
-I’m sorry, everyone, for being the useless senior compared to our brilliant Mei-chan.
-Should Mei-chan be the senior instead?
[Haaaah?! How absurd! I clearly said it was awkward because it’s been a while, didn’t I?!]
“Y-yeah, it’s been a while for senior too, so it, it must feel awkward…”
[Hmph! See, Izumi knows, right? Watch carefully. The next round will definitely be different!]
“Mmm….”
[…]
The senior, who had been so confident earlier, had fallen silent.
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Even with snipers, this is just too much ㅋㅋㅋ
-Honestly, Mei-chan, don’t you kind of hate her?
“T-that’s not true at all.”
I said that as I checked my match records.
Bloody Night runs with a total of 40 teams.
The rankings shown in my record were 40th, 38th, 40th, 39th, 39th, and 38th, with the highest being 35th.
It was pretty bad…
The longest I had lasted was 9 minutes in the last round.
Even in this match, we had fallen into the same pattern.
We land in the area, then spread out to loot.
The enemy either finds my senior first, or my senior finds the enemy.
Even if my senior manages to take out one, more enemies arrive and finish her off before I can get there.
Of course, as soon as I heard my senior’s call for help, I would rush over.
But every time, except for once, my senior had already been defeated by the time I arrived.
When I did get there, the sounds of battle attracted other teams, and we’d end up fighting outnumbered, leading to defeat.
It’s a game system where rushing early isn’t usually a viable strategy, yet she somehow forced the enemy to play it that way.
In a way, that’s an impressive kind of talent, I guess…
“Mmm.”
To be honest, the problem wasn’t the snipers.
In the second and fifth rounds, I didn’t think there were any snipers at all.
Or maybe we died before we even ran into the ones sniping us.
“K-Kurokami senpai….”
[…Yes?]
It had been a long, silent pause.
-Finally, Mei-chan speaks up…
-Doesn’t it seem like the lady is a bit flustered too? ㅋㅋ
Even if Kurokami-senpai’s rank was bronze, I thought she would still have her own strategy.
Even professional gamers say that when they play at lower ranks, they can get thrown off by how different the
gameplay feels, which leads to mistakes.
So, up until now, I had followed her instructions completely.
But if we kept going like this, winning wasn’t even a question—breaking into the top 20 seemed impossible.
“F-from now on, c-could you follow my lead…?”
I-I said it.
What if she thinks I’m being arrogant?
When I think about it, it’s been a while for me too, and even if we do things my way, it’s possible our rank won’t improve.
M-maybe I should take it back?
“Uh, um…”
[…Okay.]
“…Eh?”
[I said okay! It seems I’m not in the best condition today, so I’ll leave it to you, Izumi! But the goal is to win! Got it?!]
“Y-yes! I-I will definitely aim for victory!”
-Isn’t it the lady who should be asking Mei-chan for help?
-The lady’s charm is her confidence as always.
[Ohohoho! Managing subordinates is also a respectable skill!]
“T-then, let’s begin, Senpai.”
[Sounds good!]
-What is this…?
-Can someone explain what I’m watching?
“Senpai, u-use Night Arc towards 105 direction, please.”
[Got it!]
At my command, Senpai immediately used Arsen’s Night Arc, “Spatial Sever.”
[There is nothing I cannot cut…!]
With that line, Arsen swiftly drew his sword.
A brilliant silver blade extended straight ahead, cutting through the space in front of him.
The space sliced open instantly, revealing a pitch-black veil. At the same time, countless bullets and skills poured toward us.
However, all those attacks were absorbed into the black veil, and both Senpai and I took zero damage.
Night Arc. It’s the name of the ultimate skills used by characters in BN.
And Kurokami-senpai’s character, Arsen, uses the Night Arc “Spatial Sever,” which creates a black veil that blocks all
incoming attacks.
Since it also blocks ally attacks, it can turn into a trolling move if used incorrectly. Also, Arsen’s Arc gauge is
notoriously hard to fill. But if used properly, it’s considered one of the tank characters’ highest-potential Night Arcs,
which is why Arsen is frequently banned even in tournaments.
“I-I’ll run towards WN direction now. After you throw the smoke grenade, please a-approach and fight using your Q skill.”
[Leave it to me!]
Smoke grenades deployed, and Kurokami-senpai charged toward the enemies in the WN direction.
Seeing them trying to focus on both Senpai and me indicated that they were quite a skilled party.
[Time for a full burst charge!]
As soon as Rina spoke, blue flames engulfed her legs.
Rina’s Night Arc, Full Burst.
For 9 seconds, her movement speed increases by 70%, and all skill cooldowns are reduced by 80%.
In addition, she can teleport a set distance three times, making this an enhanced form of Night Arc.
“I-I’ll go behind them. C-can you use your E skill to pull them in…?”
[Of course!]
Using teleportation twice in a row, I managed to get behind their damage dealer.
But as expected from a skilled party, he instantly turned and aimed his gun at me.
However, Arsen’s E skill, “Lunar Domain,” had already been activated.
Lunar Domain.
For 0.5 seconds, all enemies within range are forced to focus on Arsen, and for the next 0.5 seconds, all attacks are sealed.
Some might think a crowd control effect lasting only 1 second isn’t much, but honestly, in a damage dealer duel, a 1-
second gap is more than enough.
I immediately used Rina’s Q skill, “Weakening,” which slows the target’s movement and forces their view rotation
speed to decrease for 2 seconds. Then, I aimed my gun at his head and fired.
Thanks to Rina’s passive skill, “Exploiting Weakness,” which adds bonus damage, his HP quickly turned red, and I
finished him off using the E skill, “Sprint.”
With “Sprint’s” cooldown reset, I dashed toward the enemy tank fighting Senpai and took him down as well.
“The enemies from 105 d-direction will come soon, so let’s hide and h-heal up first.”
I hadn’t taken any serious hits, so my HP was still fine, but after the last fight, Senpai’s HP had already turned red.
[Haa. How many are left now?]
“Umm. There are three teams left in t-total, excluding us.”
We had already taken down the snipers, so from now on, it would be a pure test of skill.
But after using up all our Night Arcs in that last fight, we were at a serious disadvantage.
“How many healing kits do we h-have left?”
[After using one just now, I’ve only got one left.]
I had given all my healing kits to Senpai, so that meant this was the last one.
Looks like winning might be a bit tough after all.
As I thought about that, I glanced at the chat.
-What is this? What am I even watching?
-As soon as Mei-chan started giving instructions, their rank shot up ㅋㅋㅋ
-That Spatial Sever play was insane earlier.
-Combining Full Burst to catch the enemy’s back and then timing it perfectly with Lunar Domain and Weakening
was crazy.
-Every time I see Arsen and Rina in BN, it’s just trolls, though ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-The lady’s not doing much as the senior, huh?
-Aren’t both of those characters really hard to play?
“Arsen’s Night Arc can turn into a trolling move if used incorrectly, and Rina’s body is practically made of glass, so it’s tough to use her properly.”
“Hehe…”
The chat was full of compliments for me.
Well, of course. Our team, which had been sitting at ranks like 40th, 38th, 40th, 39th, 39th, 38th, and 35th, had
suddenly shot up to at least 4th place.
-But is it even possible to get this rank with the lady on your team, no matter how good Mei-chan is…?
-Lol, after watching the first five games today, I thought there was no way they’d break into the top 20.
“That time when Senpai died, it was the limit of the character, not Senpai’s skill.”
-???
The chat instantly filled with question marks at my words.
Well, it’s understandable. So far, Senpai had died every time in 1v1 fights, except for once, so their reaction made sense.
But I wasn’t lying.
Senpai’s character, Arsen, is an incredibly unique character in BN.
For starters, in a game where the main goal is to shoot down your enemies, Arsen uses a sword for skills.
On top of that, his base HP is the lowest among tank characters, and he even has two penalties attached to his passive.
The first penalty is that he can’t use skills while holding firearms.
The second is that after using a skill or basic attack, he enters a sheathing motion where he can only move but not take any other actions.
Senpai’s deaths in the early 1v1 fights were mostly due to the second penalty.
After Arsen uses a skill or basic attack, he is forced into a sheathing motion. He can only take further actions once the
sheathing motion is complete.
While Arsen’s basic attack deals more damage than other characters, the opening left by the sheathing motion is a
huge vulnerability early on.
If you pick a character like that and avoid 1v1 fights early on, there’s no way you’d lose.
…Come to think of it, fighting early on was the real issue, wasn’t it!
“Anyway, when Senpai fought just now, t-there wasn’t any mistake in their movement or skill allocation. T-that’s why this rank is possible….”
-If Mei-chan says so, then that must be the case.
[The healing is done, Izumi-chan! What should we do next?]
“Hmm. For now, let’s wait.”
We were out of Night Arcs and had used up most of our supplies taking down those snipers. There was no need to
rush into another fight and risk depleting what little we had left.
Thud, thud.
[Ah.]
“…They’re here.”
The footsteps were coming from the SE direction, meaning it was likely the team we had seen earlier at 105.
My Night Arc charge rate was at 81%. Senpai’s was at 49%.
Could we take them on?
Arsen’s power doesn’t drop significantly without his Night Arc, but for Rina, the Night Arc makes up 90% of her effectiveness.
“L-let’s avoid them for now.”
If we could just hold out for 40 seconds, Rina’s Night Arc gauge would be full, charging at a rate of 1% every 2 seconds.
“…Oh no.”
Footsteps began echoing from all directions.
Well, the game had already passed the 20-minute mark, and the field had shrunk considerably.
[Looks like running isn’t an option.]
“Yeah….”
Of all the places to be stuck, we were in the center of the map. Talk about bad luck.
Boom!
The sound of an explosion signaled the start of the battle.
“Senpai, f-fall back to the rear….”
I wasn’t sure if we could win this.
“Looks like w-winning is out of reach now….”
[It’s unfortunate, but nothing we can do about it. Still, coming in second place is a solid performance!]
Yeah. Considering it was my first return match in a while, getting second place was pretty impressive.
We had been sniped multiple times, and given Senpai’s rank, it was even more remarkable.
But…
ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
-Lolololol
-Yeah, they did well, but lololol
The chat was filled with laughter.
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