Fatal Shot

East of Silvermoon City

Crimson Moon Gobi Desert

Coordinates: 1990, 0813

The vast, valley-like terrain was surrounded by steep slopes five to six meters high. In the middle was an expanse covered in sand and clouds of dust: the Gobi Desert.

The sun blazed in the cloudless sky, scorching the exposed earth and raising the temperature of the desert's surface, which seemed to be devoid of plants and vegetation, to 45 degrees Celsius. In this kind of weather, no ordinary man would dare to leave home, as he could never endure such frighteningly high temperatures. Even at this time of day, however, a group of people sat in three black-hooded SUVs, wearing severe expressions, driving around and "hunting" in the middle of the valley.

Members of the group wore heavy alloy armor, held flashing energy longswords, or wore elemental robes with mysterious symbols sewn on them. Some wore military helmets with camouflage combat uniforms and grasped oddly shaped assault rifles in their hands.

They all had one common identity—players of the virtual reality game, War!

The Elite-Grade Crimson Moon Bloodwolf variant—with silverish fur and bloodthirsty, crimson pupils, at a high level of 52—was surrounded by three energy SUVs. The beast's AI was anything but low, and it had an irritable temperament. Each time it tried to escape, it would succeed in pushing away the three Heavy Armor Warriors holding alloy shields blocking the way beside it. Its sharp, wolf-like claws left deep dents in their alloy shields.

Every time it beat back the shields, however, it would be blocked by the Level-30 skill "Earth Wall" used by the team's earth energy Manipulator, or it would be pushed back by a rain of bullets fired by the machine gunners wielding six-barrelled "Metal Storm" heavy machine guns. The beast would subsequently be surrounded once again by the Heavy Armor Warriors who rushed forward in the meantime.

After failing to escape several times, the Crimson Moon Bloodwolf revealed a hint of savagery in its bloodthirsty eyes—the look of a beast forced into desperation. However, the moment it revealed its ferocity, one of its eyes was accurately struck by a bullet. It blew up with a loud pang as blood flew into the air. Overtop of its head, a yellow-colored damage indicator number flashed by.

Pang!

−1935!

The damage number's yellow color indicated that this hit had delivered a special effect known as a "weak point attack." Moreover, the shot left a frightening, bloody hole in the face of the Crimson Moon Bloodwolf. It was a chaotic mess of flesh and blood, and half of its head had already caved in. It was well known that, within the Gunman profession, only a Sniper could deal such destructive power.

"F*ck!" said a middle-aged man on one of the SUVs. He held a flaming staff with a magnificent dark red energy robe, and he was surrounded by several Heavy Armor Warriors. He turned to look at a yellow-haired youngster with a sniper rifle in his hands. "Long, that shot was really accurate! Let's see if this bastard still dares to stare at us!" Then he let loose a burst of insane, satisfied laughter.

The youngster with a head full of yellow-dyed hair wore combat uniform and sat on top of the vehicle with a black AW sniper rifle in front of him. He stared blankly for a moment before shaking his head and replying, "Boss, that wasn't me. My shot just now missed."

The middle-aged man known as the boss also looked confused. "If not you, then was it Huo?"

The boss turned around and looked at the top of the energy SUV on his right, at another player. This player was short and similarly held a sniper rifle in his hands. Among the 20 of them, only two were trained as Snipers. After all, the Sniper class was somewhat useless in the early stages. Specialized armor-piercing bullets were expensive, and they could only deal single-target damage. As a result, not many people chose the Sniper class.

"I didn't shoot!" the Sniper named Huo answered through the party channel, shaking his head.

"F*ck! Someone is kill-stealing!"

By then, everyone knew what was going on. Since none of them had fired the shot, it was certain that it had come from someone else.

In War, a game with hundreds of millions of players, things like kill-stealing happened almost every second. The problem was, the members of this group were usually the ones stealing the kills of someone else. This time, however, someone had actually dared to use their own trick against them.

This was simply unforgivable! Someone had actually dared to challenge the marshal? These damned people were brazen!

Pang!

−2367!

Out of nowhere came another 7.62mm armor-piercing bullet, once again accurately hitting the head of the Crimson Moon Bloodwolf. A second row of weak-point damage numbers flashed by. The HP of the Crimson Moon Bloodwolf had been lowered to a critical level. It would likely be a goner after just a few more hits.

"F*ck! Hurry up and find that guy!"

"Don't be hasty! Let's kill the monster first!"

"The monster is going to get away! Warriors, block them!"

Due to the sudden emergence of the Sniper, the group in the valley was suddenly in disarray. Some grabbed their binoculars and looked around, hoping to find the location of the Sniper. Some, on the other hand, panicked and used their offensive skills against the Crimson Moon Bloodwolf, whose HP was almost depleted. Some low-HP players even frantically jumped off the SUVs, fearing they would become targets for the Sniper.

Amidst the chaos, on SUV in the middle, the middle-aged man wearing the magnificent magician robe's—previously well protected by several warriors—was left exposed. Over his head, a row of dark-red characters floated.

ID: Wielder of the End of the World, Level 44 Fire Manipulator (Wanted for Execution)

The report of a gunshot was followed by the familiar sound of a bullet hitting flesh.

Pang!

Splat!

−3623!

The damage indicator numbers flashed in red. A critical hit! However, the recipient of the attack was not the nearly dead Elite Crimson Moon Bloodwolf. Unexpectedly, the temple of the middle-aged man spewed forth a gush of fresh blood. Then, with a boom, his head exploded like a watermelon. A white light, signifying death, was emitted from his body, and after that, a huge load of equipment—shining crystals, blood tonics, and other items—burst out gorgeously.

For a low-HP energy Manipulator, in a shieldless situation, the critical damage received from being hit by a sniper rifle was enough to result in a one-hit headshot kill.

As for why the huge amount of items had burst forth upon death, it was due to the player's dark-red name and his state of being wanted. This was a situation that would occur in War only after a player's malicious player kill (PK) amount surpassed ten, and the player made it into the system's wanted list.

"F*ck! The boss died!"

"Damn it, it's a bounty hunter!"

"Hurry up and find him!"

The group of players was flustered and exasperated. They now knew that someone had accepted the "red name wanted mission" of killing their boss, whom they had surrounded specifically to protect while hunting monsters and gaining levels. They would never have thought that someone could still target him in a large squad, in this kind of situation, and take out their boss!

It was simply shameful! It was a damned Sniper!

This was why some people still trained in the profession regarded as most useless in the game of War. It was because this profession had a frightening long-range ability to kill. In the hands of an expert, it could have devastating and horrifying effects!

The group was still shouting and scrambling about in the Gobi Desert while on a slope around 800 meters away, a young man with clear eyes, wearing a yellow camouflage suit, slowly removed the camouflage net from his body. The net bore colors that were similar to his surroundings.

He half-crouched with one knee on the ground and disassembled the over-one-meter-long M110 sniper rifle in his hands with great familiarity before quickly putting it into a long, rectangular case. After that, he clicked on the personal computer on his wrist. A white flash passed by, and a metal motocross bike with a bit of science fiction flare, loaded with four silver streamlined heat pipes, appeared in the empty space in front of him.

[SCV-Type One Energy Motorcycle]

Retail Price: 180,000 Credits

Passenger Capacity: Two

Maximum Speed: 300 km/hour

Nickname: Land Bullet

"There!"

The white light produced by summoning the transport attracted the attention of a player with the scout profession in the faraway group, who was looking around with his binoculars.

After that, three energy SUVs filled with angry players roared toward the Sniper's location. They no longer even cared about the Level-52 Elite-Grade Crimson Moon Bloodwolf running away behind them.

The team's two Sniper players even started firing from their sniper rifles while standing on top of the SUV with the hard hood open. However, the effective range of their sniper rifles was 800 meters, so even if their bullets were to reach their mark, it would produce very little damage, as the distance exceeded their attack range. Moreover, with the skills of average players, shooting while standing atop a turbulent SUV traveling through the Gobi Desert. Even a blind squirrel found a nut once in a while, but how could they hope to hit someone?

"F*ck, drive a bit more stable, will ya? How do you expect me to hit anything with all this shaking?"

"Drive faster, man! The guy is gonna get away!"

"We have to avenge our boss!"

The group continued arguing and complaining about each other. By the time the vehicles found a location where they could put the pedal to the metal and rush up the steep slope, a huge booming sound that no one would have expected erupted from the ground in front of them. A shockwave of hot air burst outward, sending yellow sand flying several meters into the air and covering the whole group with sand and dust. But the biggest problem was that this shockwave flipped over the forward SUV, sending it toppling backward to crush the other two vehicles behind it.

As for the SCV-Type One Energy Motorcycle, known to players as the "Land Bullet," it had already long departed from the Snipers' field of vision, leaving a trail of sand and dust in its wake.

"Sh*t. There was even a damned time bomb buried here!"

"How did he know we would go through here?"

"Idiot! This is the only place where SUVs can get up there. That bastard must have planned this long ago!"

Devices referred to as bombs could not deal as much damage as weapons personally wielded by players, as their power was limited in the game, but when used in the right situations, they always produced miraculous effects.

Reasonable use of various equipment and items—and the nearly 100 percent realistic environmental factors—were the most appealing charms of the technologically advanced online game, War.