NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 114: Downtown Area (5)
A jeep rattled across the heart of the jungle.
In the back seat, a man and a woman dressed as explorers were checking their firearms.
These were the avatars we would control in this mini-game.
Eventually, the jeep came to a stop deep within the jungle.
After exchanging glances, the pair nodded and began to make their way through the dense foliage.
A bright flashing message appeared on the screen:
[Mission Start!]
<Gunslinger Adventure> has begun.
As we progressed, two zebras were spotted deeply engrossed in grazing among the bushes.
They suddenly sensed our presence and snapped their heads up. Their teeth were as sharp as saw blades.
Moreover, they stood up on two legs and charged at us frantically.
Heeheeheeheein!
Bang! Bang! Bang-bang!
We immediately opened fire.
The bipedal zebras fell under the barrage of bullets.
Heeheeheeheeing!
As we moved further, more zebras appeared.
“Aim for the head.”
As Seo Ye-in focused her shots around the heads of the zebras, they fell more quickly.
After we continued to move through the jungle, various wild animals other than the zebras suddenly appeared and began to threaten us.
Their bodies were disproportionately built and all had sharply pointed teeth, making them look like carnivores.
They seemed truly aggressive as if they viewed the explorer duo as prey.
Heeheeheeheeing!
Gazelles with horns at the forefront charged at us, but we maneuvered our avatars to dodge them.
We then focused our gunfire to bring them down.
Kikiik!
Occasionally, monkeys perched on the trees threw fruits at us.
Although we didn’t know what was inside, when they hit the ground they burst and released some kind of acidic liquid that melted the soil.
It was clear what would happen if one hit us directly, so dodging them was essential.
Tutututututututut!
We shot all the monkeys down from the trees and continued to advance before encountering more and more wild animals.
The first stage is pretty easy.
It was essentially a tutorial stage with low difficulty, and since Seo Ye-in had accumulated experience as a marksman herself, she managed well while shooting and dodging as necessary.
Tutututututututut!
After dealing with another group of zebras,
Suddenly, red warning lights flashed across the screen.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
This time, a bipedal elephant with a muscular body filled the screen when it appeared.
In one hand, it tightly gripped a long horn as if it were a weapon.
It was the first stage boss battle.
Bwoooh!
The elephant spun like a windmill while swinging its long trunk around.
As we crouched to dodge at the same time, it followed up by swinging the horn it held in its hand.
Likewise, we leapt to the sides to avoid the attacks and then opened fire with our pistols.
Tutututututututu!
Bwoooh!
The bipedal elephant thrashed in agony.
Soon it was engulfed in even greater fury, it alternated between slamming its long trunk and the horn in its hand.
The pattern was predictable and the preparatory movements were wide enough, so dodging was not difficult.
Opportunities to strike were also fairly frequent.
“Now, shoot.”
Tutututututututu!
“……”
Seo Ye-in was diligently following the advice to aim for the head.
The bullets reliably lodged in the elephant’s forehead without missing.
And the boss’s health gauge quickly decreased,
Bwoooh……
Finally, the exhausted elephant collapsed onto the ground.
[Stage Clear!]
A brief cutscene followed.
The two protagonists, the man and the woman, examined the fallen elephant closely with serious expressions on their faces and took samples.
The man said,
– We need to investigate this more thoroughly.
And then they ventured deeper into the jungle.
The second stage started immediately.
This is where it really begins.
In truth, the first stage was merely a device to bury the challengers.
It was designed to give them a sense of, “Hey, I could actually do this?” before significantly raising the difficulty from the second stage onward to start collecting tokens.
It was indeed a vicious design.
Sure enough,
While we were dispatching a few bipedal gazelles, an ostrich’s head suddenly popped up from a bush some distance away.
It stared intensely at us,
Dadadadadat!
and charged at a terrifying speed.
“Move to the side.”
I said this as I stepped out of its path, but Seo Ye-in was a step too slow in her reaction.
Kyaak!
The ostrich grabbed Seo Ye-in’s avatar and ran off into the distance with it.
Seo Ye-in’s screen turned grey and a small message appeared.
[Continue?]
[10, 9, 8……]
If the countdown reached zero, it would count as giving up.
No completion meant no prizes, of course.
Seo Ye-in inserted a token and her avatar reappeared with a pop.
I fired my gun lightly and said,
“Here, I’ll tell you when we’re approaching dangerous sections, so listen carefully and dodge.”
“Okay.”
The mini-game was like an elective subject for the seasoned players.
Naturally, I had memorized everything from start to finish. This was also true for the <Gunslinger Adventure>.
Knowing where and what would pop out, there would be no death for Seo Ye-in as long as she followed my instructions immediately.
As long as she follows them right away, that is.
However, reacting immediately upon hearing isn’t as easy as one might think.
Especially when you’re deeply focused on the game and suddenly advice comes from beside you.
“Jump back.”
Aaah!
The jump back was delayed and Seo Ye-in’s avatar got trampled by a rhinoceros.
[Continue?]
She inserted another token and continued.
“An alligator comes out of the water.”
Swoosh!
The next moment, as we passed a puddle, an alligator suddenly leaped out and dragged Seo Ye-in’s avatar into the water.
[Continue?]
“Two ostriches.”
Dadadadadadat!
Two ostriches grabbed Seo Ye-in’s avatar and ran off.
[Continue?]
“……”
Seo Ye-in let her gun hang loosely and stared blankly at the screen.
The atmosphere somehow reminded me of the time I tormented a certain “someone” with Wind Force in a double duel battle match.
Was she angry? Was she about to quit?
“……”
However, Seo Ye-in glanced at me once, then turned her head to gaze at the tiger plush in the prize corner before she inserted another token into the arcade machine.
I wasn’t sure if she was holding back because of me, because of the tiger plush, or both.
In any case, she continued.
[Continue?]
[Continue?]
[Continue?]
After that, Seo Ye-in met various deaths at the hands of different bipedal wild animals.
And each time, 300 points were deducted from her account.
She’s slowly getting the hang of it.
She wouldn’t get caught by the same thing more than once or twice, and her response to my commands was getting faster.
“Here comes the ostrich again.”
“Mhmm.”
Tutututututututu!
After dodging the carnivorous ostrich’s charge range, Seo Ye-in fired her gun rapidly.
The ostrich was trying to escape but it got hit in the head by a bullet and fell with a thud.
“See that puddle? Get ready for the alligator.”
Swoosh!
An alligator jumped out of the puddle. Its jaws were wide open and it was lunging at us.
But Seo Ye-in and I had already moved to a safe spot long before.
A barrage of bullets rained into its gaping mouth.
Tutututututututu!
A warning message appeared after we dealt with the alligator.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
This time, a huge gorilla with four arms landed with a thud.
It held objects and other animals in its hands that were ready to be thrown.
Stage two boss fight.
“It’s throwing the ostrich.”
As soon as I spoke, the gorilla grabbed a nearby ostrich and threw it at us.
The ostrich that was curled up like a ball fluttered towards us, but Seo Ye-in was not one to be caught off guard again.
Tututututututututu!
“Tree fruits. Step back.”
As we stepped back, the next moment the gorilla threw a tree fruit that exploded on hitting the ground.
The fruit was large and the acidic solution it released had a wide corrosive range.
“Focus now. Bees are coming from the hive.”
The gorilla tore a large beehive from a nearby tree and threw it.
I managed to smash the hive in mid-air but dozens of fist-sized hornets flew out.
We intercepted the swarm of hornets one by one.
Tututututututututu!
Tututututututututu!
However, Seo Ye-in missed a few,
-Aaagh!
and her avatar was stung to death by the hornets.
Meanwhile, I intercepted them perfectly.
[Continue?]
“……?”
Seo Ye-in inserted a token and stared intently at me.
Her gray eyes seemed to ask, “Why are you better at shooting than me?”
I’m the mini-game demon king.
However, I couldn’t actually say that, and just then her avatar revived, so Seo Ye-in turned her attention back to the screen.
Tututututututututu!
The four-armed gorilla was grabbing whatever it could and throwing it wildly at us.
Each time, I gave Seo Ye-in a heads-up and we moved our avatars around to dodge.
“Tree fruit.”
“Two ostriches.”
“That rock is going to shatter. Watch out for the shards.”
“Here comes another beehive. Get ready.”
Tututututututututu!
The hornets that burst from the second beehive were neatly intercepted by Seo Ye-in. She didn’t miss a single one.
And whenever the gorilla revealed an opening, we concentrated our attacks on it.
[Stage Clear!]
And with a final thud, the creature collapsed and stage two was cleared.
The explorers’ complexions became darker as they investigated the gorilla.
– This is not good.
The two then moved deeper into the forest.
The density of the trees increased, making it more like a forest than a jungle.
The forms of the emerging animals became even stranger with creatures having multiple limbs at a cute level and countless others being combinations of two or three different animals.
Tutututututu!
Indifferent to the obstacles, we turned everything in our path into a honeycomb of holes as we progressed.
A black panther with a snake for a tail collapsed to the ground under a barrage of bullets from Seo Ye-in.
I glanced at Seo Ye-in.
She’s a quick learner.
She had struggled immensely even in stage two.
But by stage three, her deaths had dramatically decreased.
Although I had pointed out the dangerous spots in advance, as in stage two, most couldn’t avoid them even with guidance.
She had adapted to this mini-game and was now dodging everything effortlessly.
– Kheuh-heng!
The two-headed lion that appeared as the boss of stage three also fell easily, following my directions.
[Stage Clear!]
The grand final stage began.
The explorers, the man and the woman, were pushing through the forest when they suddenly stopped.
– That’s…!
A building stood ominously in the midst of the deep forest.
Just then, one side of the building suddenly opened and people dressed as researchers came out dragging a large cage behind them.
They released the creatures trapped inside.
And most of the animals that were a mix of two or three different species disappeared into the forest, but among them a leopard with a dizzying pattern spotted us and charged at us with incredible speed.
– Kyaaak!
Tutututututu!
While Seo Ye-in was firing her gun repeatedly, I suddenly had a thought,
It’s always the human’s fault.