I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 467

“...Seems like everyone is enjoying the sounds here, haha.”

“…Isn’t that the scream of pain?”

A scene of chaos was unfolding.

However, Eugene’s movements, when viewed from a distance, were comedic, but up close, they were tragic. The suspiciously plump SD Eugene raised her lightsaber and rocket launcher, and the distorted, insignificant screams echoed from all directions.

Swoosh, boom. With an astonishingly realistic firing sound, a rocket shot off, leaving a trail of white smoke behind it. As it collided with a building, it exploded with a pop, sending pink jelly flying with a star-shaped effect, and the HP of the users caught in the jelly started to melt away slowly.

The number of users who disappeared into the aftershock or direct hit was minimal, but those who were covered in jelly saw their movement speed decrease to less than half.

In other words, they were Eugene’s prey.

“Ugh, it’s coming! Get out of the way! Kyaa-!”

“I’ll let you off once. There’s no second chance.”

Whoosh!

Even though she had the label Donut on her head, Eugene was surprisingly fast. Instead of the rocket launcher, she now held a mallet and moved toward them at the same terrifying speed seen just a few days ago in the 1:300 battle. With that same speed, she landed a Rider Kick, sending a person flying into the air.

Bong, and thunk. With a pitifully small sound effect, the SD character bent into a "D" shape and crashed through the candy-like building wall, flying far away. Thanks to the event match mechanics, where damage from non-designated weapons was not as impactful, the damage wasn’t lethal, and users didn’t die despite the hits.

About three users suddenly found themselves riding what could only be called the Eugene-Kick roller coaster, flying around the map with the same horrifying speed, and the remaining 590 or so users slowly started to regain their composure.

“…Can we catch that?”

“First, gather the grenades! Set up a booby trap!”

Despite the grim future, they did not give up.

The trainees who had been touched by Eugene’s hand had long been taught that they must never give up in any situation. Thus, the 100 KSM participants desperately tried to escape Eugene’s reach while searching for other participants nearby.

The 500 general public members, added just to fill the numbers, were automatically excluded. It couldn’t be helped. Even if a handful of professional gamers from KSM gathered, they would crumble like a sandcastle before the waves; adding general users with poor situational judgment wouldn’t make much of a difference.

While the massacre of plump SDs raged on in one corner, the collective strength of the remaining players was starting to grow.

Among them, the largest force was formed by none other than Harmonie.

“Jelly bomb installation points… here, here, and here. We need to target places where, if destroyed, could take down the entire building. We’ll bury them with the debris.”

“…Doesn’t this mean someone has to sacrifice themselves?”

“If anyone can avoid dying with Eugene in front of them, they must be a god or a manifested being. To subdue someone like Eugene, we need to control the entire space.”

It was absurd to be talking about sacrifice when only a few days ago, someone had single-handedly taken on 300 people.

And yet, the one who spoke could hardly be the one to sacrifice themselves. Among the 30 people gathered around the building, Harmonie was the only direct disciple of Eugene. The rest were professional gamers who had earned their right to participate in KSM.

In other words, Harmonie had watched Eugene’s many facets more than anyone else, and had experienced firsthand the combat power she could project onto reality. To put it simply, Harmonie was someone who could not afford to die.

And based on her prediction, she believed that everyone in this building, including herself, would be dead soon.

Boom!

“…Oh.”

“While you’re hesitating here, a group of 20 users over there has probably been wiped out by now. Come on, everyone, move! If you don’t, we’re all dead!”

As expected, the first to move was Harmonie.

Having inherited Eugene’s combat skills and dexterity, the small, agile Harmonie began to set up jelly bombs in multiple locations, crafting many traps. She pulled out several magazines filled with freeze rounds from her pistol and crafted ice bombs, setting them up in places where no one could spot them.

Meanwhile, the map was growing smaller and the explosions growing louder. The Reaper’s footsteps were drawing nearer. Harmonie had already prepared an escape route to the adjacent building, but that alone wouldn’t be enough.

The rest was up to chance.

Everyone stood, holding a gun each with freeze rounds, flame rounds, and shock rounds loaded.

Though no one had to say it aloud, they all stood up with complex expressions. Some took position by the walls, others by the pillars, and some next to the walls. It wasn’t a signal; it was just something that happened naturally as the air grew colder.

When the explosions grew quieter, everyone felt it.

She was here.

Crack!

“…Were you waiting?”

“I was hoping you’d never come.”

“Unfortunately, I was asked to turn this event session into a hellscape.”

A chilling smile appeared on Eugene’s face.

From the mallet in her right hand, pink jelly droplets were falling instead of blood. It wasn’t blood, but the sight was strangely cruel — like the strange situation of pulling out a dual disc in front of someone holding a gun or knife.

But one thing was certain: when Eugene swung the mallet last year, her enemies had been sent flying into the sky, and this year, the situation wouldn’t be any less.

The jelly bombs triggered by the pillars started the battle.

Hiss…!

Crack!

When Eugene’s mallet spun in her hand and slashed horizontally through the air, the building’s pillar — made of candy — shattered into thousands of pieces. As the mallet struck the SD user’s edge, a sound rang out, signaling destruction.

With a soft pop, the person was sent flying after being struck by the mallet.

At the same time, the ceiling collapsed and jelly poured down.

“Ugh…”

“We’ll see you later. We’ve thought up some strategies ourselves.”

Harmonie disappeared.

The remaining players, those who stayed to try and catch Eugene, were now facing only one obstacle — Eugene. She easily maneuvered through the jelly that was spilling out across the lower levels, making her way closer to the users, and raised her lightsaber.

Her speed was invisible. The moment she struck, SD users collapsed, their bodies turning into grilled pork belly. It didn’t take long for Eugene to finish off the last of them.

However, to go up, she would have to open a door and climb stairs. Considering Harmonie’s playstyle, it was highly likely that this would be a suicide mission.

So Eugene turned her gaze sideways and destroyed the entire wall with the glass window.

Since the building itself was made of cookies, the structure wasn’t too sturdy. As she shoved her fingers into the wall, a sweet smell filled the air, and a handhold appeared. Eugene started climbing by breaking the wall apart. After reaching the second floor, she broke the window and entered the building once more.

Through vibrations, she could feel the positions of Harmonie and the users on the second floor. Of course, the building was now surrounded by enemies.

But she didn’t care.

Boom!

“Ahh!”

Another one disappeared.

Eugene threw the body of the user who hadn’t vanished yet into the door, and the body froze in place, turning into grilled pork belly. After a delay, the jelly bomb exploded, and Eugene looked at it with satisfaction before heading up the stairs.

Unlike most buildings, this one required traveling across a floor to reach the other side. Harmonie had likely planted traps everywhere in preparation. Eugene, thinking this, reached the top of the stairs and knocked on the wall.

Then, a second later…

“Ugh…”

Crack!

Eugene crashed into the wall and broke through it.

This happened multiple times, and the users who had scattered in an attempt to delay her felt as if their sanity was being tested.

But there was no need to worry. Eugene’s mallet would easily send anyone to the waiting screen, no matter who they were. The moment they were hit with her "Quiet down!" attack, they would vanish in a golden haze.

Harmonie hadn’t done anything wrong, but she never expected Eugene to cut through the cookie wall and clear a path so easily.

Eugene was, after all, the most demanding teacher and Reaper, and she was about to exact the price for failure with death.

She stood in front of Harmonie.

Harmonie had tried to cross to the adjacent building after Eugene demolished the previous one but failed, and as expected, she sighed briefly.

Boom…!

An explosion.

Harmonie pressed the button in her hand, and at that moment, the bridge connecting the buildings and the base of the building Eugene stood on began to collapse with a heavy sound.

She wasn’t going to waste time chatting like in a movie. Eugene wasn’t going to make it to the other building. Harmonie threw all the remaining jelly bombs from her pocket into the air and toward the ground, not to cause significant damage, but to keep Eugene stuck on the building roof.

The building, about 20 meters high, started to lean sideways.

Harmonie sensed her impending doom.

“Ahh!”

Beep!

In the blink of an eye, the golden haze appeared. With the clear sound echoing, Harmonie felt her HP drop to zero, and Eugene, holding onto the falling rooftop’s guardrail, added:

"You know there’s another round, right?"

"Please, save me…."

"Don’t worry, the next round is an obstacle course."

Whether that was a relief or not, Harmonie didn’t care anymore and melted away into a golden haze.

Less than 300 participants remained in the session.

“...Ugh.”

Then, a few dozen seconds later, Harmonie, standing on the tilted building’s side, saw Eugene quickly descending with a lightsaber embedded in the adjacent building and sighed in disbelief.

Just as expected.

“Phew, I’m glad I didn’t play. I only watched.”

“…I really need to make it into the top 10 this year. I’ve got to make it into the Asian qualifiers.”

“Wasn’t it pretty fun?”

“I thought it was a horror movie!”

After the battle, during the rest period.

Of course, while it was called a rest, the aftermath of the match was far from over. I had practically wiped them all out. Still, to defend myself, last year, those Donuts in the padded suits were firing jelly rockets, and honestly, it was always a gimmick from the start.

These guys... were just scared of my name. I can’t say I don’t understand, but it’s in the past, so let’s wrap up this topic.

And I was also prepared with some gentle threats for those who were disappointed.

“If I knew this was going to happen, I should’ve brought Lauren Tina along.”

“Ugh.”

“Oh, what a shame. Why didn’t you bring her? I don’t do event matches—kyaaa!”

“Come here!”

Harmonie, exploding.

With a clean rear naked choke, Harmonie brought Dice to his knees, and he paid the price for not participating in the event match.

Harmonie, now free of stress, smiled and added:

“You’re going to have quite a workout before going to Hawaii.”

“Well, the event match appearance will probably be my last for this round. The phases are split into four parts, and there’s only so much I can do with events in between.”

“…You’re not lying, are you?”

“Why would I lie?”

“Well, you’ve got me there…”

The clock was ticking, and about 30 seconds later, after Dice had returned to his senses, the three of us were back in a new, yet familiar, space, waiting for the second event match to begin.

The sweet smell of instant-death jelly slowly began to rise.

“We’ll see you alive.”

One year had passed, and now the past memories had become the second reality.

The 601 SD users began to climb obstacles with cute movements.

“Ugh, I told you to stop hanging around!”

“Kyu!”

“…As expected.”

Thwack!

Of course, the world didn’t run so smoothly, and I kicked the friends who were grabbing my pants into the jelly, sending them for a deep conversation with it.

Once again, it was the world that made me the villain.