The Lone Sniper: I Was Just Minding My Own Business Sniping Players, and I Ended Up Becoming a Raid Boss

Chapter 1

'Gun Fight On-line'. Nickname: Gunfato.

A VRMMORPG where only guns are allowed as weapons. The concept of this game is to clear a fantasy world using guns.

Apart from the restriction that only guns can be used as weapons, the system is not much different from ordinary VRMMORPGs. You level up and grow stronger by defeating monsters and players. You obtain new equipment using monster drops and player drops. It's a game of repeating the cycle of getting stronger, fighting, winning, and getting stronger again.

Since it's an old game, it's already underpopulated. There's nothing particularly outstanding about it as a game.

Then why have I spent 2,000 hours on this game? It's because... I don't have to talk to anyone.

When fighting players, it's naturally a gunfight. It's rare to get close enough to talk. Since it's a deserted game, there aren't many people, and the guild system isn't that important, so it's fine not to join a guild. Wonderful.

Today as well, I was supposed to enjoy my hunting life in the desolate hunting ground, the Abandoned Castle...

"Gah"

A player icon appeared on the radar.

When I looked through the rifle scope from the 40th floor of the Abandoned Castle, I saw a party of three heading this way. They were walking across the wasteland while chatting.

Ugh... their destination is definitely here... I don't like this.

"...Should I shoot... I don't want to talk"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three kills.

"Don't take it personally. It's your fault for approaching a communication-disabled person (me) without permission."

That's a joke. In this game, you gain a lot of experience points and drop items by defeating players, so player kills are everyday occurrences. Even if you're killed, no one posts the other player on the bulletin board. If you lose, it's your own fault. That's how it is. Anyone who removes radar protection (equipment that prevents icons from appearing on the radar) in such an open area is just an idiot.

"Now then, today I'll aim for the 60th floor. 123 floors in total... the journey is still long."

And the next day—

"Eh?"

I logged out at the Abandoned Castle's save point and logged back in...

"Why are there so many!?"

10, 11, 12... 14 people. From the 60th floor window, I can see 14 people in the wasteland.

Around the area where I shot the trio yesterday. Distance: 2 km, ignoring elevation. The trio from yesterday is there too. They're re-examining the scene like it's a crime scene.

Could it be a guild? Did they come for revenge as a guild!?

"How troublesome..."

At this rate they'll come here, so I'll just have to kill them again.

I'll snipe and kill everyone.

A huge amount of experience points comes in without even planning. Drop items fall where enemies are deleted, so I gave up on collecting them. It's too much trouble to go retrieve them, and players of this level couldn't possibly have the items I need.

"...Is it time to leave? No, but I'm so close..."

This is a super-high-difficulty dungeon. A treasure trove of rare items.

Honestly, players at their level couldn't even reach the 10th floor after arriving at this castle.

I consider myself one of the top players in this game, yet even I took three days to reach the 60th floor. Retreating here... I don't want to. It'd be a waste.

"No choice... time for a siege battle."

From then on, I sniped players approaching the castle while continuing my exploration of the castle.

Sometimes sniping, sometimes ambushing and crushing thieves (players) who infiltrated the castle. This castle has save points every 10 floors, and once you reach a save point, you can warp to other save points. So it's easy to wait near save points for people who entered the castle while I was logged out and crush them. I know all the gimmicks and enemy monsters inside out, so I can also cleverly use those elements to provoke them.

Fufufu... try taking it if you can. This impregnable castle...!

《GunFight On-line Raid Member Recruitment Bulletin Board》

"Sudden raid happening at Abandoned Castle Abyss. Recruiting level 150+. There's a crazy strong guy"

"Sounds interesting. Details please"

"Abyss is that chaos-difficulty brutal dungeon, right?"

"One of our guild members just got close for leveling and got sniped. There's a sniper guarding the Abandoned Castle"

"Then it's just a player, lol. Why call it a sudden raid? Don't make me laugh"

"We went in today with the whole guild (40 people) and got wiped. Five reached the castle but got ambushed inside. All of us were Lv150+ btw."

"Seriously...? (trembles)"

"It's just one enemy?"

"No way it's one. No one can solo that castle."

"Seems like it's one guy. No one else was there."

"Maybe your guild was just trash lol"

"Talk is cheap. If you're so confident, come try."

"Whew... well then (cracks knuckles)"

"It's been a while... time to go all out (grins)"

"So anyway, we've named that sniper Abyss Hawk. He's got some stupidly powerful rifle, so spec for evasion, not defense. He's holed up in the Abyss and has the high ground, so sniping wars are impossible—don't even try. I'll post a video of the fight later, check it out."