I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 592

"That's the most brutal catfight I've ever seen."

"One of them is actually an avatar inspired by a real cat... Anyway, it's terrifying. Especially Harmony's play today, it's so passionate that sparks are flying."

"The map chosen for the final battle is the perfect place for traps to be used effectively. But using up traps that could crush Michael completely becomes Harmony's weakness."

Grenades bounce around, concrete blocks shattered by bullets tremble, and the debris melts away from the explosions of grenades and skills.

Harmony and Dice. Despite their cute or endearing appearance—or avatars—once they enter the real battle, they transform into death incarnate. The clash between two manifestation users creates a massive storm, not unlike a fierce game of chess where both are thinking several moves ahead, adjusting strategies based on the consequences of their actions.

Dice takes advantage of the moment when Michael is buried under a building, seizing the higher ground and occasionally using grenades to keep Harmony at bay.

In truth, it's more about keeping an eye on "something" Harmony might create, rather than simply countering her.

"Yujin, who do you think will win?"

"That's impossible to predict. Their skills have already surpassed the point where it's hard to quantify them objectively. Whoever wins, it wouldn't be surprising. Statistically, Dice has a higher chance, but there's a friend over there who has developed their creative thinking to overcome such things."

The first person I ever met.

The one who taught me all of my trap-making skills.

That very chemistry, mixed with Harmony's unique, unnecessary persistence, turned her from a simple streamer into someone who could compete at the top of the Final Championship. Given that fact, it wouldn't be surprising who won.

The outside is quiet, with occasional screams resembling those of spectators in the stadium. Since the outcome hasn't been decided, we watch the choices both of them make and the resulting consequences with bated breath.

At this point, it doesn’t matter who is watching whose screen more. The circle is closing in, and both are appearing in each other's view.

Dice, who had unlocked his skill, doesn’t rush but instead erases all cover large enough for Harmony to hide. But Harmony isn’t there, and instead, she keeps moving around, creating new cover from the debris.

In response, Dice throws a grenade near the impact point to force Harmony out.

As everyone knows, when a user unlocks a skill, the maximum weapon limit they can carry is a carbine rifle. Even then, they can’t carry many rounds. That's why Dice couldn't catch Harmony, who was darting around.

Until she took something out of her bag.

"I wasn't planning to use this..."

Clink, clink, clink!

While Harmony steadied herself, Dice began fitting several cylindrical pieces with threaded grooves together, and after some time, the millions of viewers watching realized what Dice had pulled out.

She had disassembled a rocket launcher from a Garganut she had killed before coming here, carried it in her bag, and pulled it out at a decisive moment.

With a clang, Dice inserted a rocket into the rear loading port and disengaged the safety. She then aimed her weapon, securing it tightly on the cover and firing suppressive shots.

She had two rockets, and even one would be enough to blow away the enemy's shield and reduce their health to a near-death state.

After some time, Dice aimed the rocket launcher at the debris near Harmony that had barely held up.

???Kwaaaang!

The earth trembles, and debris falls like a tidal wave.

Harmony, with a panicked look on her face, pulls two cylindrical items—smoke grenades—from her multi-purpose pouch and throws them ahead. White smoke billows up, completely obscuring Dice’s view.

The tens of tons of debris that had barely held up now tumble, raising the average height of the wreckage. Dice, clicking her tongue, uses thermal vision to peer through the smoke. But to her dismay, only a few bits of cover are visible, so she sprays oxidizer over the smoke.

There’s no need to get too close to the smoke. Dice, sensing this, purposefully begins to circle around. The explosions happening from all directions proved her instinct right.

Dice frowned and, as the smoke started to dissipate, she began her search.

"Why didn’t I bring a pulse…"

Her quiet muttering echoed as she neared the side, and Kato, who had quietly approached, asked.

"Dice is winning, but she doesn’t seem to be in a good mood."

"It’s because there are more grenade explosions than she expected. She probably used up most of her explosives trying to catch Michael, but she still doesn’t understand why her stack is so high. It’s not that it’s hard to guess..."

"I have no idea. How do you know that?"

I remained silent. As I had explained earlier, I could guess why grenades kept popping up.

I couldn’t say for sure, but at this point, Harmony probably still had two or three grenades left. Of course, if we shifted our focus to Mina’s perspective, we could see where she is and how many explosives she still has, but that would ruin the fun.

With the smoke grenade exploding at just the right moment, the unexpected amount of grenades, and Harmony’s position, which was impossible to find even as the smoke dissipated...

???Rustle.

Dice continued moving and searching the area.

Since the area had already been swept by debris, there was no need to worry about traps. Harmony couldn’t have set any deadly traps in such a short time among the wreckage. This wasn’t just a guess, it was the most obvious fact.

Dice continued checking near where Harmony had vanished. Of course, it wouldn’t matter if she stayed where she was, but since the Garganuts were closing in, there was no choice.

So, Dice kept scanning the area before hiding behind cover and checking the map. When she saw the circle moving to the other side, she moved forward, ignoring the wreckage where Harmony could be hiding.

She completely ignored the half-crushed ballistic shield propped up among the debris.

And then—

-Boo!

-...!

Harmony, having deduced Dice’s location from the sound of the debris, threw two pre-cooked grenades forward and added:

The explosion rang out, and Dice's shield gauge melted away in an instant like ice cream left outside on a summer day. However, Dice wasn’t going to stand still. She barely survived the blast and, wielding the battered shield, fired a rocket at the advancing Harmony.

The shield shattered, and Harmony’s avatar was thrown back like a skipping stone. The rocket’s firepower and the metal jet that pierced the shield shredded Harmony’s own shield as well.

At this point, both were down to less than 10% HP, and a brutal fight began.

"Ugh, my shield…!"

"Shit, my gun and ammo are all broken..."

With the power of fire that even an operator would have a hard time with, both of them were now fully exposed. Their bulletproof vests and tactical vests were shredded, and the magazines were the same. They were either crumpled, full of holes, or completely broken, making them unusable.

Without further hesitation, they both drew their pistols, closing the distance as if fighting over a dog in a brutal return to the world of killers. It was less tactical movement and more like a desperate fight to the death.

Naturally, once the spare magazines were spent, the knife fight began.

"…Do they even know how to knife fight?"

"Harmony had an axe, but well, that’s not important… She learned it, so it’s inevitable. I didn’t expect it to come to this."

The viewers, already excited by the real fight, watched the intense knife battle as I laughed contentedly, along with Lorentina, Logan, and Olivia. The screen flickered with sparks as the knives and tomahawks clashed—reminiscent of action scenes from Marvel movies, but enhanced by the game mechanics that boosted physical capabilities to levels on par with male operators.

Fists and weapons crossed two or three times per second. Dice's knife was targeting Harmony's arteries and vital points, aiming to incapacitate her with a single blow, but unfortunately for her, Harmony was well aware of that fact and knew how to counter it.

The axe crossed through the air repeatedly. The moves were big, but the game mechanics gave the feeling that Harmony intentionally left gaps.

And then, how much time passed?

-Gah...!

-Huff...!

Harmony was stabbed in the upper side of her ribs, sustaining significant lung damage, while Dice had her shoulder struck by the axe, rendering her left arm useless.

Both of them staggered back, and I watched with intense curiosity. Harmony's pistol, now empty of its magazine, hung limply at her side, blood dripping from her golden wound, but as I watched, I had a completely different thought.

"Ah, so this was the finishing move all along."

"What do you mean—"

And that sentence didn’t finish.

???Bang!

With a sudden burst of sound, despite the magazine being empty, Harmony swiftly snatched it up, aimed, and with a retention shooting technique, fired a round straight into Dice’s forehead.

Dice, with a look of disbelief, collapsed on the spot, and Harmony, her voice weak from the lung injury—though it wouldn’t have been possible if not for the game mechanics—muttered.

"I pulled out a bullet from the chamber... made it look like I was going to shoot. Did I ever say the chamber was empty?"

Bluffing, bluffing, and more bluffing.

In the end, what’s needed to guarantee a kill is deceiving the opponent all the way to the last moment, and Harmony had pulled it off flawlessly.

I couldn’t help but smile contentedly, while Lorentina, Logan, and Olivia snickered. The viewers couldn’t even cheer, left dumbfounded for a few seconds.

As the silence began to subside, I thought to myself.

‘She’s really grown, hasn’t she?’

This reward was definitely going to be a big one.

She’s my disciple, after all.

[General] Korea National Team <<<< Even if they came back to life, they'd never win, so upvote for sure, lol

<Animated gif of Harmony and Dice fighting>
At first, me too, lol

"How could anyone possibly win against that?"

Hooked, hooked, hooked, lol

[All Comments][By Date]

Relentlessly upvoted, lol

I’m giving a Pandral upvote because it’s getting old now

Seriously, how could anyone win against that?

Hooked, hooked, hooked, lol

Seriously, she pulled a bullet from the chamber and tricked everyone with it, that's some hardcore stuff, lol

But at the end, if Dice miscalculated his bullets, wouldn't he have noticed? Was it because he got hit by two grenades?

-- How the hell would a person count bullets all the time, crazy

-- Well, if it’s a national level, it could be done, right?

-- I’m not talking about the bullets; I’m talking about the game mechanics.

"Harmony is completely insane, I swear. How can anyone keep planting traps like that without even taking a breath?"

-- That's how she learned, lol.

"Honestly, I think it's even more impressive that Dice managed to hit Harmony with a rocket while avoiding all those traps."

-- Let's call both of them crazy.

-- No one thought they’d make it out of there alive, but that was legendary.

"This isn’t even like a fair fight, it’s more like watching gods clash."

"If you just shoot well and kill everyone in sight, that’s how you win, right?" <<< It's hilarious that people like this are just sealing their own fate.

-- Didn't Yujin win that way?

-- Aha, that’s a Viyam strategy!

-- Dude, operators and manifestations are two different species!!!!!

"Just watching those two reminds me of both Yujin’s power and skill, like they’re fighting separately within one."

-- It's like V vs Yam, wow.

-- The Viyam internal battle, lol.

"Those two should just get their pants off already. Stop hiding those Viyam tails and officially debut as manifestations."

-- Seriously, lol.

"Wait, wasn’t that shield that Harmony had, Michael’s? How did she get it after it was buried under the debris?"

-- Items like that automatically respawn on the ground once they’re buried under debris.

-- Ah, now I understand!

"Up to the Asia qualifiers, I could watch while eating, but for the Final Championship, I can’t even eat while watching, lol."

-- LOL, right?

-- Seriously

-- The moment you blink, someone’s getting instantly eliminated. It’s best to keep eyedrops ready.

"How did you guys end up like this after such a crazy fight?"

"It's the exact type of player I’ve always been. Crazy how it goes, right?"
"Dice lost, huh..."

"Don’t come to me, you little brat."

"Mina’s skill has improved again. I’m so proud. Come here."

"Hehe, soft tail... "

"Wait, the people who fought just now… Are they the same ones?"

"They’re the type to separate business and pleasure, I guess."

"Yujin TV tail flick is insane. Don’t come near."

"Crazy bastard, lol."

"Logan just straight up pushed her away, lol."

Dice, sinking.

Though the polar bear, not weak at all, dragged Dice from the bed, just like Harmony had to comfort Lorentina earlier, she patted her head, and Dice finally melted a bit and showed a satisfied expression.

It felt somewhat like the owner patting their pet, but I thought it was still something else. In any case, it was a weird feeling.

And so the first match ended. The break was scheduled for 40 minutes, but considering it had been packed with fights for over an hour, it felt a bit short. But, of course, we couldn’t have breaks for an hour, otherwise, people would get lazy.

Mina, curled up with her tail and getting patted on the head, was about to reach the peak of bliss, and I checked the next maps with Harmony. The next map was Atakaiya Volcano Island, and the final map was the radioactive contaminated town of Kalamansk.

Coincidentally, both were great maps for Harmony’s abilities—lots of buildings, easy access to explosives, and places to demolish buildings.

Well, who wins, we’ll just have to wait and see.

"Mina, ha... I never imagined I’d get buried under a building and be crushed. What a surprise."

"Ah, Michael! Your shield was well used earlier!"

"...Yeah, next time it won’t happen like that."

"Harmony <<< Completely insane."

"She didn’t even kill with guns, just crushed them with mass, LOL."

"Craaack, Mass Executioner, I’m so sorry!!!"

"To kill someone holding a shield... Required item... Building... Memo..."

"Michael always seems to be in pain, lol."

...Well, anyway, I got third place in that match.

At this point, we - the manifestation users, including myself - had no real words left. The Final Championship would wrap up in another two or three hours, and only the award ceremony would remain. So, the words that came out of my mouth were mundane and predictable.

"Dice might win if he doesn't make any mistakes, and Mina should end up in the top 5. We won’t help each other... so just do your best."

"This time, I don’t think it will happen."

"No chance. If Dice doesn’t win first this year, it’s all my fault."

Growl.

But since Harmony, the overwhelming predator, had her tail wrapped around me, and Dice, another dominant predator, was being cradled by Logan, they both retreated without a fight before things even got started.

But that time was about to end.

The beeping clock alarm signaled that it was time for the players to log back into the game.

As I combed through Harmony’s messy hair, I added:

"Both of you are my disciples, so I won’t say who should do better. Just do your best in everything."

"Hehe, I’ll get first place again!"

"Pfft, you’re already drinking kimchi soup. Should probably give you some antacid... See you in the next round."

"Haha."

As I taught them, I was glad they were all putting their fighting spirit into the game.

And so, leaving the five of us, the outsiders, in the room, we headed to the corridor and prepared to watch the game in the lounge set up for the staff.

Who would win this round? As I thought about it, time kept ticking away...

"…I told you, didn’t I? You won’t fool me anymore."

"This can’t end like this—AGH!"

Bang!

With a crisp sound, Harmony, now with a much lower rank of 16th place compared to her previous match, ended the second round.

Dice had more of a grudge than expected.

And that, too, was eerily similar to the polar bear.