Chapter 4

Lately, I just can't seem to get into a good rhythm.

Working overtime until past 9 PM every day is pretty much the norm, so it's not a big deal.

The auction bid prices are trending downward due to an increase in competitors. For now, I'm still making a profit, but considering the effort, it's becoming less and less worthwhile. Maybe the idea of making money easily was a mistake from the start.

What's really getting me down is that I can't seem to win in "Guardian Troopers" anymore.

I can't beat Sagittarius on Stage 5 in CPU battles, and I'm losing more and more in player-versus-player (PvP) battles.

I think the reason I'm losing in PvP is that other players are getting more used to the controls. Not only are they skilled at shooting, but more and more of them are handling close combat well too.

Among players who mainly focus on PvP, there are still a lot of Scutum users. And they all seem to have the Scutum-specific Kite Shield and the BAR44 Beam Gun, as if they were stamped out in a factory.

The Kite Shield, like my X-Caribou, can deploy a beam on its surface, making it almost completely effective against both beam and projectile attacks. It's a universal barrier.

In addition, during close combat, they use the Acute, a spike attached to the tip of the shield, for thrust attacks. It's a cheat-level piece of equipment, on par with the X-Caribou. That's probably the intended positioning for specialized equipment.

This specialized shield seems to drop quite often from gacha tickets, and the trading market price is stable around 200k. Before I knew it, all Scutum users had it as a matter of course, but players with bad luck in the gacha had to spend a considerable amount of real money to get it.

Incidentally, there are already a few owners of the X-Caribou. The most talked-about point on forums seems to be the poor naming sense. I'm glad the creator's identity isn't revealed.

On the other hand, the BAR44 Beam Gun, while not a specialized piece of equipment for the Scutum, is a standard armament. Compared to other beam guns, it stands out by a head and shoulders with its long range, high power, and low fuel consumption, making it a renowned weapon.

Players often call it "YonYon" or "Beam Rifle." Its performance is so high that almost no one uses other beam guns. There are rumors that it might be nerfed, but personally, I hope they don't mess with the game balance after the fact.

The single shot from the YonYon has almost no openings, so if a skilled opponent targets you, it's over just like that.

If an opponent gets cocky and fires three consecutive shots, you might have a chance. The relatively long cooldown after the burst fire is an opportunity to close the distance quickly.

It's an opportunity, but if you go through all the trouble to close the distance and still lose in close combat, it's all for nothing.

You get thrust by the shield, shot at point-blank range by the beam gun, and slashed by the internal beam sword.

The Scutum has a beam sword on its right arm and a pulse beam gun on its left arm as fixed armaments. In close combat, they might suddenly discard the beam gun during its cooldown and attack with the beam sword.

The pulse beam gun on the left arm has low power but excellent rapid-fire performance. When it's sprayed at close range, it can be quite a hassle. If you can't gain the upper hand in close combat and end up stalling, you'll often find that you've accumulated enough damage to be game over before you know it.

The Scutum is just too well-designed, and it's no wonder some players are calling for a nerf.

Using the Buster Sword, I can hardly win in PvP anymore, and even with the X-Caribou, I'm losing more often than not. Is this a slump? Or is it a difference in skill? It's not fun to keep losing all the time.

I know that relying solely on close combat isn't going to cut it, but I don't think I can easily start winning just by practicing shooting now.

What the hell am I supposed to do?