Chasing Apprentence

"Yo! No way!" Lars cried out as he watched his laser beam miss the target. That was supposed to be the killing blow, yoooooo!

Of course, Lars didn't actually miss. After all, his 200% accuracy was incapable of such goofs. No, it was Apprentece! That dude sidestepped the shot toward the very end!

[What a pro, yo!] Lars thought. [Though, I guess this one is partially on me, haha...]

Apprentece deserved some credit for juking that shot, but he only managed to do it because Lars went for the head. If Lars shot the Orc's back instead, then a last-moment sidestep like that wouldn't have been enough.

[Thinking of it, Yuel has been chewing me out about this habit every now and then but I just keep doing it.] Lars rolled his eyes.[ It's like an instinct at this point, yo. Gotta polish that Slinger tech at all times! Or something.]

Honestly, there wasn't any deep reason for these headshots. Lars just thought it was cool to always deliver headshots like that and he had the skill to pull it off, so he did it.

Every FPS game he ever played rewarded him handsomely for this habit. Lars deleted many unsuspecting enemies from existence with his 200% headshot accuracy!

Alas, Classmancers didn't respect this neat skill. Aside from Gunslinger, there weren't many classes that cared about landing headshots. What a shame.

[I shouldn't have gone for the head there.] Lars shook his head. [But, what's done is done. I just gotta land the next one and finish this, yo!]

But, that was going to be easier said than done. Apprentece had already recovered from Drow's slowdown debuff, so dude was now even faster on his feet.

To make things worse, the chase was quickly approaching the enemy's tower area. At this rate, Apprentece might actually escape to safety!

[But, of course I ain't gonna let that happen!] Lars aimed his laser gun again, this time at the target's back. With the next shot, he'll deliver that overdue killing blow and finally strike down the Korean pro that had been terrorizing the entire game!

[No, wait.] Lars paused right before pulling the trigger. [I need to roll in first. He's barely within range and I don't have the leeway to make any more mistakes.]

Lars had to finish this here and now. He couldn't mess this up, no matter what. Nia's sacrifice won't be in vain, yo!

[You're going down dude…!] However, just before he went for the roll, the world fell silent. Everything around him turned black. He could only see his Elf and the Appretence's Orc. The rest of the world vanished from existence.

Lars's concentration peaked, erasing everything unnecessary from view. There was only him and his target in the entire world right now.

[Oh, I know this feeling...] Lars's body felt light, almost like he was floating. He was both relaxed and hyper-concentrated at the same time. Every cell in his body was focused on the important task at hand.

This rare feeling struck him every now and then during tense moments like this. It's like he entered the zone, yo.

His original plan was to roll forward and shoot Apprentece's back, but something about this didn't sit right with him all of a sudden. He couldn't quite explain this with words, but his instincts were ringing alarms in his head. That idea was no good in its current form.

[He can also roll. I gonna miss.] Lars somehow reached that conclusion. [But okay, I got it.]

Lars rolled in as planned, and then he fired a laser beam. On paper, this sounded exactly like his original plan. However, there was one small but important difference in the execution of the shot. It was something subtle that the opponent surely didn't see coming.

[Here it is.] Jin nodded. [You sure took your sweet time with this shot, but now it's over.]

He had been waiting for this very moment. This was Gunz's last chance to reliably score a kill here, as Jin was already about to reach the tower area. It was now or never.

[So, I just have to dodge this shot and I'm in the green.] Jin thought. [It should be easy enough.]

Shortly after hearing the ZAP of the laser beam, Jin rolled forward. Most likely, this decisive shot was not aimed at Jin's head like the previous one, therefore sidestepping it wasn't an option. There was no choice but to roll the shot.

Besides, rolling also brought Jin much closer to the tower, so it was like killing two birds with one stone. At least, that's what the roll should've achieved.

However, in the middle of the roll, something passed through Jin. A moment later, his Orc splattered across the floor like a ragdoll.

『You have been killed!』

"Hull!?" Jin blurted. [What did just happen? … no, of course I know what happened, but... what?]

Jin was in the middle of the roll back there. As such, no matter where Gunz aimed when he fired, the shot was bound to miss. After all, Jin rolled AFTER hearing the audio cue.

And yet, the laser beam hit him. As unbelievable as it was, his Orc was dead now, that's a fact.

[Did he realize my Dodge Roll came off cooldown? Is that why he shot it like that?]

Against most opponents from the region, Jin would have disregarded a result like this as a fluke. But, Gunz was different. The guy's mechanical skills, especially his accuracy, were the real deal.