Evening Game
Chapter 35

Ethan and Chione navigated through the complex, hiding behind houses, their sights on the slow-moving tank. The players inside the tank had limited visibility, while the ones attacking them probably didn’t even know that it existed. Most of them were caught off guard, while Chione, who hid in its blindspot, managed to steal two kills from the tank.

“People are going to hate you if you keep doing that.”

“It’s their problem, not mine.”

“Right.”

Ethan didn’t really care about it, either. He didn’t expect someone like Chione to be saying that, however. He let out a chuckle as he reminded himself that he was with a different side of Chione. He continued hiding behind the houses, a few of them consumed by thick flames as a result of the tank’s strikes.

He used a set of binoculars he found to watch the tank from a safe distance. His assault armor would make him the perfect person to counter this tank, as the armor allowed him to blend with his surroundings. The tank wouldn’t be able to spot him, and it didn’t have any rear defenses, either. He could even use the unmanned machine gun on its turret if he wanted to. If he did that, the players inside would face a difficult choice on how to remove him. Opening the hatch wouldn’t be a good idea, after all. To make matters worse for them, Ethan was a close-quarter player using an energy weapon. He would have the advantage in a battle within that tank.

The issue was, while the players inside this tank would struggle, other players wouldn’t. Being that high with his hands on a gun, in an area like this would only be inviting trouble. He would stand like a sore thumb that high above the ground.

His plan, for now, was to use the tank as a distraction. Ethan moved closer to it, hiding himself behind fences and slipping through houses. Chione meanwhile moved through the rooftops, her handgun in hand. She found an agility-boosting armor with a slight bonus to defense. The thin red shirt coupled with white pants was complimented with black body armor, which made her stand out in the field, forcing her to be wary of her surroundings. Ethan glanced above, the shadow of Chione barely visible as she leaped from one roof to the other.

“Still not interested in swapping to agility?”

He asked after seeing her leap.

“After I take this one out, we’re trading armor.”

“Fine, fine. If possible, I would like to take it for ourselves. It would really help.”

“Only if possible, alright?”

“Right.”

The distance between them and the next zone was quite far. While the game didn’t simulate fatigue, allowing them to run non-stop, it couldn’t do anything to stop them from being mentally tired. Driving a tank to the zone helped negate that effect. He checked his map, the new zone already shown on it, with a timer that counted down toward the next shrink.

Chione, meanwhile, was up there in case something goes wrong. He would enter the tank and try to cut the ones inside, and in case he failed to secure the tank, the second option would be to destroy it.

I need to get to it fast.

Apparently, the players inside the tank thought of the same thing and they started moving faster. Ethan ran up to it. Despite its weight, this tank still moved faster compared to an average person, and Ethan didn’t have his agility build on him. He maintained his balance, pushing his feet across the asphalt road that vibrated from the tank’s movements. He moved farther and farther, with no intention to stop.

Realizing this, Ethan took his ax and threw it toward the tank. It didn’t do any damage and simply fell to the ground. The hit caused the tank to stop, probably surprising the crew, and they turned its turret around. Ethan, meanwhile, ran closer while ducking down, trying to hide his figure underneath the tank’s barrel. The tank had no machine guns that could be operated from the inside. Seemingly realizing the threat, the tank moved once more, pulling away from Ethan, allowing its turret to get a lock on him.

He pushed his left leg and leaped to the right, before doing the same movements over and over again. He picked up his ax on his way and readied himself for an attack. He needed to slice its shell, and if not, he would most likely die, even if he wasn’t hit directly.

It didn’t fire, however. Instead, it sped away. Ethan swiped his hand on the bottom right of his vision, the minimap appearing on it. He made sure to not make the same mistake this time, and kept his attention on the barrel, in case it opened fire. The zone had started to move. The tank started moving faster, pulling itself away from Ethan, probably concerned with damaging their own vehicle. Realizing that there was no way he could catch up with them, he yelled her name.

“Chione!”

Chione leaped off the roof, an RPG on her. Seeing her, the tank’s operator fired, sending a projectile weighing around eight kilograms straight their way. Ethan concentrated on the incoming shell, his mind made a very brief calculation on where the projectile will land. He lifted his hand up at the perfect moment, slicing through the shell with his ax’s energy blade. It negated the shell’s effect, causing a strong shockwave to spread through his surroundings.

Both him and Chione stood strong, their feet planted to the ground. Chione held her breath and fired, sending a rocket toward the tank. As expected, it couldn’t dodge. The rocket pierced through the tank’s rear, causing it to grind to a halt. It didn’t explode, but its hatch opened.

Chione took her handgun out and aimed it at that hatch, but whoever was inside didn’t leave.

Did they die?

Then… who opened the hatch?

A tube suddenly appeared in the skies, originating from the tank’s hatch.

“Flashbang!”

Ethan closed his eyes, a loud sound ringing on his ears. He opened his eyes, his eyesight unaffected, albeit its painful sound continued to ring in his ears. From inside, a girl appeared. She reached out her hand inside and pulled a boy out from the wreckage.

Ethan quickly ran up to them, despite hadn’t fully recovered. The girl let go of the boy and took out a handgun, before swiftly firing at him. He sliced through the bullets with his ax and continued pushing forward. He leaped from side to side, dodging the rain of bullets, his ax continued swinging. By the time he reached the tank, the boy had gotten out and the two jumped off, trying to escape.

Oh no you don’t!

He threw his ax straight at the pair. It landed on the boy first, causing him to tumble and fall. The girl stopped to assist their partner. Ethan clenched his fist, realizing that he didn’t carry any other weapon. For a moment, he wished he took the assault rifle he previously handed to Chione, but he didn’t expect to turn his ax into a throwing knife. He knew he couldn’t do much until Chione arrived and was determined to hold these two down.

The girl turned around to face him, her eyes widened the second she saw him.

“Et- FireRock!”

She opened fire. Ethan didn’t have anything to slice its bullet with, but he knew that she hadn’t reloaded. Calista pulled her trigger, only sending a single bullet toward him. He threw himself to the ground, the bullet grazed the tip of his hair. His fall greatly reduced his speed, and he looked up, expecting a second shot, a second shot that never came. As he expected, her handgun was empty.

“Calista!”

He yelled. He threw his fist toward her. She used the handgun’s body to stop him.

“You’re not going to hide who you are!? What happened after I left last night!?”

She replied. He concentrated on fighting her, not giving her words any mind.

“It’s none of your business!”

“Oh, it isn’t?”

She smiled sarcastically and lifted her knee in an attempt to kick him away. Ethan dodged and turned to the side. He captured her arms, pulling them behind her head, preventing her from moving. She wriggled in an attempt to escape, her face turning toward him.

“Ouch! Ouch! Handle a lady a bit better, will you? Don’t say this is how you treat Chione!?”

“You’re lying, the game doesn’t simulate pain.”

“It does! Well, nowhere near the real world, but it still simulates them.”

“And I never treated Chione this way.”

“You sure?”

Bang.

The sound of gunfire filled the air, and Mason’s body turned into shards. Calista brought her eyes to the direction of the sound, which was accompanied by the sounds of grass being stepped on.

“Is that right, Chione?”

Chione smirked. She lifted her gun toward Calista.

“Yeah, he’s right. I hope you kindly don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Don’t worry, but after this, I don’t mind hearing about the juicy details.”

“I won’t say a word.”

Chione pulled the trigger.