Chapter 263 – Chase
“First Blood, First Blood! Yoo Jin takes down Germany’s Filigran head-on just 4 minutes after the first match started!”
From the bottom right corner of the map, a red concentric circle quickly expanded, eventually covering the entire NBV desert base. Among the numerous cams attached to at least two or three users, the one observing Yoo Jin was the first to zoom in, instantly displayed to everyone gathered near Madison Square Garden without any time lag.
Amidst overwhelming cheers, there were slight sighs. Although they were gathered to watch the final championship, not all of them supported the same player. Those sighs came from the German supporters.
Nevertheless, it was First Blood. It was the celebratory cannon announcing the start of the final championship solo match. Even the most professional host couldn’t help but feel the energy filling the arena, straining their voice.
And when the host emphasized that fact, an explosive cheer erupted.
“Waaahhhh!”
“Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin! Yoo Jin!”
“Stop being so good! Please, stop being so good! Who are we supposed to watch from now on?”
They didn’t care if their voices would be hoarse the next day.
They didn’t care if they got headaches from shouting excessively.
Those who had bought expensive plane tickets, flown all the way from Korea to America, and chosen to immerse themselves in this spectacle, expressed their joy more passionately than anyone else. Soon, the cheers for First Blood were joined by the rest of the audience, with only a microsecond delay.
But that was just a spark, a fuse leading to a real explosion.
The moment this result spread across the network to Korea, it was 5:09 AM, and the entire country was abuzz.
“Yes! Woohooo!”
“From today, I will call Yoo Jin a god!”
“Wow, that person is truly insane… How can they fly all the way to America and play without a hint of nervousness?”
Whether Yoo Jin was insane or not, one thing was certain – Korea was more heated than ever.
Though it was still night, the consumption of chicken and snacks rivaled that of Christmas Day. Amid this, the news broke out. Thunderous cheers, loud enough to shake buildings, erupted from people’s throats. Even the employees frying chicken couldn’t resist coming out to watch the screen.
And it was worth it. The first thing imprinted on the minds of millions was the scene of Yoo Jin’s rifle butt smashing the opponent’s head in half.
It didn’t take long for the commotion to subside, but it wasn’t just because the excitement had died down. It was more like the moment when the ‘what if?’ in the minds of all the Korean viewers watching the game was completely cleared.
The number of players gradually decreased. While considering safety to the maximum and engaging in the game, it wasn’t possible to avoid all confrontations. Thus, the number that started at 100 had dropped to 65 by the time about half of the match had passed.
The kill zone narrowed as a sandstorm approached. Every time the map shrank, red concentric circles signaling engagements erupted all around, and within a few minutes, the number of players roaming the map fell below 60.
However, none of the Korean members were eliminated. On the contrary, Michael, who had acquired a ballistic shield, consistently overwhelmed Brazil’s Nuada, securing another kill and bringing more cheers to Korea.
Expectations grew higher as time passed.
But,
───Vroom!
“Damn it, we’re totally screwed…!”
When someone is doing well, there are always those who aren’t. Today, Dice ended up on the negative side of this zero-sum game called the first match.
A car chase that would go down in Dark Zone history was about to begin.
───Ka-Ka-Ka-Kang!
“Whoa, this is crazy!”
NBV desert base.
People had drilled through ancient rock to make paths, establishing bases that could act as hubs along the way. There was neither the reason nor the capacity to destroy entire rocks to create paths and build enormous structures.
Therefore, the main means of travel between bases became vehicles. Wild off-road buggies, capable of traversing both rocky and open paths, became the norm.
And today, two armed buggies, loaded with all sorts of offensive and defensive measures, were kicking up dust as they raced across the desert.
Dice was the one being chased.
“Hoo, my God. Resetting route, waypoint, waypoint… Switching to autopilot, damn it, hoo…!”
As if casting a spell, she desperately controlled both her mind and body, manipulating the panel attached to the front of the armed buggy.
Bullets flew at the back of her head. Apart from the vehicle frame, there was almost no protection against the bullets, and Dice was precariously maneuvering the vehicle to avoid them.
The moment the autopilot was set, Dice twisted her body in the narrow driver’s seat, precariously leaning out to return fire at another armed buggy following at about 40 meters. Her long hair dragged on the floor as she fired bullets that fiercely hammered the enemy vehicle.
However, the enemy didn’t seem to intend to show mercy either, quickly steering away as soon as Dice leaned out to shoot. The vehicle jerked wildly, and the bullets hit the body instead of the tires.
“Damn it, nothing comes easy…!”
She fired fifteen bullets. Keeping that in mind, she swiftly inserted a nanite canister, which she had secured next to her, into the chemical launcher.
The green glowing cylinder slid into the launcher. Dice unbuckled her seatbelt and turned around. Just as the enemy’s chaingun, mounted on top, spewed bullets like mad, her buggy began evasive maneuvers, drifting and accelerating erratically.
Amidst this, Dice managed to pull the trigger with great difficulty.
But,
───Bang!
“Damn ADS…!”
As the opponent performed evasive maneuvers, the enemy chaingun precisely intercepted the canister flying in an arc.
The green liquid, scattered in the air with a hissing sound, brushed against the side frame of the enemy vehicle, tearing it apart as if an invisible claw had slashed it.
That should have hit properly!
‘…Doesn’t my vehicle have something like that?’
But that regret was fleeting. The most important thing right now was to neutralize that damn chaingun.
While Dice’s vehicle was equipped with a machine gun, the situation was fundamentally different – the cam linked to the machine gun was originally set to face forward, making it effective when attacking objects ahead.
In simple terms, it was like this – the enemy could drive while controlling the machine gun because the firing direction and the vehicle’s movement direction were the same. They didn’t even need to look ahead; just the cam linked to the machine gun was enough to reach their destination.
Dice’s situation was exactly the opposite. She had to keep an eye on obstacles that couldn’t be covered by autopilot, even if she wanted to return fire with the machine gun. There was no way she could attack the enemy following her using the cam linked to the machine gun.
The enemy was just riding a unicycle, while Dice was juggling with her hands and balancing a long stick with a plate on her forehead.
-[Notification: Entering abandoned base in 10 seconds.]
“We’re already at a major landmark.”
Ordinarily, I should have dismounted and conducted a slow search and reconnaissance, but with a car chasing me, what could I do? Even if I entered the target building, it would have been lucky not to get caught in a concentrated barrage, given the aggro drawn from all directions.
The only viable option was to jump out of the vehicle with minimal injury, but the odds were higher of being run over by that crazy car behind me and getting sent straight to the lobby.
In the end, it meant I had to somehow deal with that car….
“Haa.”
Now was the time to focus on driving.
If I let my guard down or kept relying on autopilot, the car might flip over after crashing into the piles of materials scattered around. Cement bags, rebar, and scaffolding bundles were obstructing the vehicle’s path in all directions.
I might also get hit by the machine gun while avoiding these obstacles, but if that happened, that bastard would probably fall behind or die during the evasion.
“Please…!”
Grabbing the steering wheel, I manipulated the brake and accelerator, feeling the condition of the road with my entire body. To navigate the obstacle course in the shortest time, I had to adjust the vehicle’s speed and grip, and monitor the inertia and direction of the wheels in real time.
As I gritted my teeth, an ominous screech echoed.
───Ka-ga-ga-gak!
The wheels started making a strange noise.
However, I quickly accelerated while activating the chain function. Even though sharp turns that would normally be impossible followed, my foot never left the accelerator.
It was an almost artistic, possessed driving maneuver, but at this point, the misfortune clinging to me had surpassed the ordinary.
And as expected—
“Wow, unbelievable.”
The vehicle chasing me maneuvered through all the complex piles of materials just as gracefully, if not more so than I did, and increased its speed to pursue me.
However, no one could blame my lack of skill.
“…Impressive. Who is that?”
Even the user chasing me muttered involuntarily.
A fact only the viewers, not the players, could know. The person chasing me in real-time was a former Secret Service agent, Lancer, who had long mastered the art of driving all kinds of vehicles.
In terms of pure driving proficiency, I shouldn’t have been able to compete, but endless training with Yoo Jin made it possible—if the moat was a lack of proficiency, I could just fill it with time.
However, erasing his surprise and curiosity, he began using the grenade launcher mounted under the chaingun. While it was difficult to hit directly with the ADS equipped on both armed buggies—
───Gi-i-i-ing!
He was aiming elsewhere.
The grenade aimed at the top of my vehicle displayed the predicted impact point on a holographic plate, and soon after, a muffled bang sounded as the grenade was launched.
And the result,
“Oh, oh? Damn it!”
Kiiik!
As the grenade, having missed the ADS range, mercilessly struck a distant tower crane, it bent like a person hit in the side, succumbing to gravity.
With a chilling noise, as the crane collapsed, joining gravity, the steel beam that had been hanging from the end of the crane for ages also began its long-overdue freefall.
The result was obvious.
“Whoa!”
Ku-gu-goong!
I executed a quick drift to the right—the crane had blocked the entire path, turning the left curve and central straight route into unusable paths.
But that wasn’t all.
Although the H-beam had been suspended from the crane, it was no longer so. Embraced by gravity’s gentle touch, it fell from the sky with a lethality surpassing that of a bomb. After a few seconds,
The rusted steel beam, covered in dust, struck the asphalt with a tremendous crash.
A tremendous noise echoed.
───Ka-Ka-Kang!
“I, Uhh…!”
I couldn’t even scream.
Even Lancer hadn’t expected this result. Eighteen H-beams, which had been suspended in the air, plummeted onto the nearby temporary structures and roads. Seven of them fell near the buggy Dice was driving. None of them hit directly, but the vehicle sustained significant damage.
But that wasn’t Lancer’s intention from the start.
Dice’s buggy, damaged by the falling rebar—the panel emitted a tearing voice of warning.
-[Warning: No road ahead for 500 meters.]
Only then did Dice hurriedly remember. It wasn’t that there was no road. Due to a bomb test that had occurred nearby, the entire ground had collapsed—meaning there was a cliff 500 meters ahead.
Adding insult to injury, the panel flashed red, indicating that both steering and brake functions were disabled. The falling rebar had raised or lowered the ground, and the debris had surely struck the hydraulic and steering systems.
Turning around quickly, Dice saw a liquid trail forming a path on the asphalt. Whether it was hydraulic fluid or oil, it was clear that Dice was on the brink of being ejected to the lobby.
The only way to survive was to jump out.
Searching desperately for a suitable spot to jump from the vehicle, Dice’s eyes landed on an object.
A second crane stood 150 meters ahead.
Suspending twenty H-beams.
“…Right. All or nothing!”
Gritting her teeth, Dice floored the accelerator of the brake-less buggy, causing the engine cylinder to rev smoothly, increasing the vehicle’s speed.
Steering was impossible anyway, and all she could do was go straight. But that didn’t matter. The only thought in her mind was how to bring down the crane—but at that moment.
‘…With that.’
The very thing that had wrecked her vehicle.
Dozens of H-beams, starting to sway gently in the growing desert sandstorm, and the support plates holding them. Although the crane was rusty, it was sturdy; however, the beams, swaying without any firm support, looked like a cat wagging its tail to Dice.
The calculation began, and the conclusion was simple—not to bring down the tower crane itself but to just drop the rebar. The timing was tight, but as long as the rebar didn’t fall too late and hit the ground after the enemy had already passed, it would work.
In other words, she had to shoot now.
Immediately.
───Click!
A nanite canister was secured in the chemical launcher’s cylinder. At that moment, Dice felt as if everything was fitting together like a puzzle at the end of her streak of bad luck.
Perhaps God, or Yoo Jin… Well, they were similar anyway, had arranged this situation for her. A powerful and thrilling premonition filled her. Adrenaline surged, but her rational mind shone more clearly than ever.
She raised her hand.
While the transparent green chemical bubbled, the crosshair of the launcher in her left hand aimed not at the support of the tower crane but at the steel cables precariously holding the H-beams.
The cables weren’t large. It wasn’t possible to hit them accurately, but the contents of the canister didn’t need a direct hit. Like a missile’s fuse, they could be detonated nearby. That would be enough to be effective.
And then—
───Thump!
With a small recoil, the chemical canister flew into the air.
Crossing the sky at a speed similar to or slightly faster than the vehicle, it exploded near the cables holding the H-beams, scattering green liquid into the air.
Had Lancer been a little more focused, he might have noticed what Dice was up to, but unfortunately, his sight and hearing were obscured by the muzzle flash and the sound of the chaingun—
───Creak!
The rusting cable, half-cut by the nanite canister, snapped, scattering twenty rebar pillars around.
However, the precision and concentration were incomparable to before—while Lancer’s previous attempt to topple the entire tower crane had caused it to sway and scatter rebar wildly, Dice’s pinpoint targeting aimed solely at the cables holding the H-beams.
The landing positions of the rebar had a completely different level of precision compared to Lancer’s.
It was akin to comparing a faulty grenade to a shotgun. The twenty H-beams, almost simultaneously released by Dice’s touch, created a lethal zone on the road.
And unfortunately, Lancer got caught right in the middle of that lethal zone.
“Guh-!”
Thunk!
At least two of the rebar vertically pierced through the buggy Lancer was driving. That was a lucky case, however. The rebar that fell horizontally bombarded the asphalt and the vehicle in lines rather than points.
In just a fraction of a second, everything changed. The vehicle ahead soared into the air, while Lancer’s buggy was crumpled into an unprecedentedly gruesome form in Dark Zone history.
How much time had passed since then?
───Boom!
The vehicle ahead turned to ashes with its final flight.
The other buggy, following closely behind, transformed into a chaotic heap of thousands of shards and broken vehicle frames, accompanied by sparks and explosions. Naturally, fire followed the explosion.
The once-vehicle, now skewered and crushed by the rebar, crackled as it burned brightly. The digit in the top right UI decreased.
Not minus 2, but minus 1.
The last survivor was Dice.
“…Haa.”
Tread, tread.
Her clothes were torn, her bulletproof vest tattered, her shield ragged, and her hair and complexion in even worse condition.
But Dice had survived.
She had jumped from a buggy speeding at 80 km/h, rolled several times on the asphalt, and lived.
And she had won.
With a laugh of disbelief, she glanced at the pile of rebar piercing through the fireball.
“Well, they look like tombstones.”
Several rebar pillars were driven vertically into the asphalt, with a burning vehicle in the middle. It was a damn fitting sight for this dusty city.
With those short words, Dice didn’t linger.
The battlefield still awaited her.
The first match of the final championship demanded more blood from the players.