Manuke FPS - Chapter 245
The entrance to the underground temple was a heavy gate that would only budge after I pushed it with both hands. A slight squeak and an unpleasant metallic sound resounded. I don’t think Felix and the Second Prince Kilik, who was supposed to be inside, would hear me, but I couldn’t let them know that I’m intruding.
There is nothing inside. It’s a building with wooden frames and mud walls that looks like it might break if you poke it. But it’s protected with magic, so it can’t be easily demolished. The only thing here was the stairs that lead down to the basement. At first, there were wooden stairs, and after going down about one floor, there was a dark cave.
I summoned a tactical light attachment for FN P90 from my inventory and installed it. Having a light source will make my presence known to the surroundings, but NV night vision mode will not work in complete darkness. Without a light source, even the slightest, I can’t see through the darkness.
The light illuminates my path as if it were the only shining hope in despair. The inside of the cave, which is colored in two colors of green and white, draws a gentle descending line and curve. It went deeper and deeper.
Only one road was displayed on the map floating in my field of vision――I saw the stone steps after going a little further. Slowly and quietly, I walked through a silent cave, along a long, narrow path, and down the stone steps. The underground temple was built on the site of the labyrinth, and the royal palace was built above it, but this cave may have been the labyrinth itself.
I don’t know how many floors I’ve gone down, but when I got down to that floor, I was convinced that this was the lowest floor.
“Straight path…”
The single road on this floor stretched unnaturally straight. But, this road looks familiar――the passage just before the throne room. With a straight line that’s as easy to understand as this, there’s no need for a tactical light anymore. Besides, I noticed light at the end of the straight line――and voices.
“Father, isn’t it okay if you just tell me? Don’t you think it’s unfortunate that your cute son doesn’t know the full extent of Pedigree Skills?”
“Don’t make me say it again. Only the King and the Crown Prince know the full details of the Pedigree Skills of the Kurtmerga Royal family… Class Change.”
“Then make me the Crown Prince! It seems that my brother escaped from the attack on Flyhigh, but could he escape from my Rafflesia? And… that ailing body of his won’t last for years. Father, you should know that too!”
“Think again, Killik. I accept your track record of leading the Rafflesia, but there is a difference between putting together a clan and putting together a country.”
“You think I don’t have the capability to rule a country?”
“Not only that, you are overconfident in your power, arrogant, and conceited. Class Change is a skill that shows possibilities… it’s a double-edged skill.”
“How unfortunate……don’t you think so too, Felix!? My father doesn’t appreciate me at all. In fact……I think he doesn’t even consider me a decent replacement for Khan.”
“Give up, Kilik. It’s a fleeting illusion that will vanish the moment you think you’ve grasped it.』
“Hey, Felix… what are we going to do with this Kingdom again?”
“What? It no longer has anything to do with you, Your Majesty. Even if you don’t recognize Kilik as the Crown Prince, it doesn’t matter. Once we have confirmed the nature of <Promised Blessing>, you will have no value anymore”
“What a vain excuse….. Do you really think that that person will lend her power to Kurtmerga so easily?”
“I don’t think so too, father. However, there are many ways to convince her! First, I will kill the women of the Zephanel main family. Then, the branch family. If she still won’t comply, then I’ll kill every woman in this Kingdom.”
“What a foolish thing to do. The people of the country will die out…!”
“That’s not enough, Father. In order to govern the world of the new supremacy, inferior species such as women are unnecessary. At best, I will let them live as livestock to produce labor.”
“If you don’t let the people give birth to children, raise them, and inherit them, how are you going to keep the country alive? Are you planning to turn Kurtmerga into a land of the dead!?”
“No need to worry……it is now Zephanel’s problem, not yours anymore! It’s time to spread our supremacy to the world! For that reason, it was the quickest way to obtain the throne of Kurtmerga, but if father doesn’t approve of it, there is nothing I can do about it. At least in the end… consider yourself lucky to be beheaded by your son――Felix, sword.”
“No way, your true aim is―”
As if ignoring the current King’s words, Kilik raised the over-decorated longsword that he held in his hand with both his hands and stopped above his head. All that was left was to swing down and cut off the king’s head with a single stroke――but the longsword never reached the current King’s neck.
“Gyaaaaーー!!!”
I shot through Kilik’s raised arms from the elbow forward. VMB set the 5.7 x 28mm bullet used for the FN P90 as a bullet with excellent penetration power. However, by falling into this world, its power was fundamentally enhanced, and the 5.7 x 28mm bullets not only pierced the opponent, but the energy contained in them rampaged around the point of impact, destroying everything in its path as it went.
In other words—Kilik’s arms exploded from the elbows down, and his blown hands couldn’t withstand the destructive force and were torn all the way to the tips of his fingers. The final destination of the straight road is a place that is neither a cave nor an underground temple. It’s a place that I have seen several times now――the throne room.
At the same time as I shoot, I dashed down the road and tossed the M84 flashbang and smoke grenade with all my might. But right after I shot through Kilik’s arm, Felix cut in my line of fire. The special grenade took three seconds to explode after the pin was pulled out. The grenade was thrown at the attack target within that slight margin of error, but it was cut in half a few seconds before it exploded.
A lightning-fast counter slash. Felix slashed away the special grenades that I threw with my physical strength, which was strengthened with a powered suit, and immediately stood in front of me as soon as I turned my gaze to Kilik for a few seconds.
“Black Mask…”
I could hear him muttering, but immediately his mouth was closed, and his jade eyes, which seemed to be freezing cold, caught my whole body. However, that didn’t faze me, as I rushed through the straight road and into the throne room. The current King, with his hands tied behind his back, was kneeling in front of the throne a few steps up.
He was supposed to be beheaded by his own son――his eyes widened at the screams, and his eyes followed the now armless, writhing Kilik.
The throne room was a wide space with no pillars, but a red carpet was spread in front of the throne. The current King, Kilik, and Felix were just ahead――The two types of special grenades slashed away by Felix turned into particles of light without demonstrating their effect, and Felix smoothly sheathed his sword from the iai slash. Then, the waist falls slightly.
“Sword draw――Lightning Flash.”
Felix drew his sword with a lightning-like speed and swung sideways. I instantly understood what the words and actions meant, thus transitioning from sprinting to low-sliding――while aligning the crosshairs with Felix and squeezing the trigger.
As the silenced shot was fired from the muzzle, the flash of slash passed over my head. The 5.7 x 28mm bullets made their way toward Felix――but at that instance
“Thunder Drive.”
Felix’s entire body seemed to blur, then he jumped to the right with a movement that gave the illusion of the speed of light.
He’s fast….
The bullet that should have caught the area around the waist shot through the phantom and landed on the pedestal leading to the throne. It was clear from the movement of the flash that Felix moved to the right, and it was definitely a high-speed Skill.
He suddenly stopped sliding on the carpet and rotated his whole body. I moved the crosshair to the right, and searched for Felix――there!
Felix hunkered down to kill the momentum of his fast movement, his hand resting on the floor with his free hand. I pulled the trigger the moment the crosshair matched the body. Five bullets approached, but Felix dodged the attacks by spinning his body as if dancing.
Could he dodge continuously then?
I moved the crosshair to follow his movement, focusing the spread of ５.7x28mm bullets around the center of Felix’s body where it was unlikely to miss――however, this proved to be a bad move. Felix held up his sword like a shield, and just like in the manga or anime, deflected all the concentrated bullets.
Is that even possible….?
“It doesn’t look like a bow or crossbow, but it’s more like a projectile after all. There’s a limit to the number of attacks that can be fired at once. How many more do you have?”
Felix stared at the fake graphics of bullet holes on his sword and stood up as he watched them disappear. As Felix said, the number of bullets remaining in the field of view was 0/50. Still, I haven’t lowered the P90.
I shot too much when I was dodged by that high-speed movement… but I can’t easily replace the magazine. It’s not a good idea to show it to Felix now. Once Felix sees it, he will immediately understand the gun’s greatest weakness.
In a game called FPS, you were most defenseless when you were reloading magazines. Even after becoming a virtual reality shooter called VMB, that didn’t change. In order to shorten that gap by even one second, the players have thoroughly investigated various elements such as the position and timing of the spare magazine attachment, movement, feints, and so on.
However, the time was never zero.
If it’s me now, I should be able to reload faster than when I was a VMB player. I also have the option of returning the P90 to my inventory and taking out or summoning another fully loaded firearm.
However, as expected, that time is not zero, and I would like to avoid showing the summoning process in front of an enemy. I wanted to give him as little information as possible. If I don’t do that, all my means will be dodged, I will be repelled, and I will be cut down by that katana-like sword he has.
Besides, now is not the time for a decisive battle. In addition, there is also the question that only the throne room remains as it was in the ruins of the labyrinth that should have died――no, I can imagine the answer to this.
What I have to do first and foremost is――.
“Felix!!! What are you doing, help me quickly! I can’t stop bleeding, I’m going to die from blood loss at this rate!”
I was focused on how to avoid Felix who didn’t easily fall to my attacks, but what interrupted the confrontation was Kilik’s heartrending scream.
