#26: [First Collab] A Sniper’s Job (2) — The Reincarnated Demon Lord's Streaming Life (WN)

—“Ahaha, I know. —But I see. In that case… you want me to run wild, right?”

《—Kukuku. There is still far more about this map that I do not know than what I do… but very well. Entertain me, humans》

I—Taki Yuzuriha—remembered those words my niece Rinne-chan had spoken to me the other day, along with that ferocious smile.

And now, hearing those words come through the voice chat connected to Effie’s stream, I could not help feeling that she was not merely calling herself a Demon Lord because it was part of the usual Vtuber roleplay, but that she truly was a Demon Lord in the most literal sense.

『Damn, that was cool lol』

『Demon Lord AIM is heeeere!』

『OFA Staff※: We repeat, absolutely no unauthorized tools were used in this play. Our entire monitoring team is laughing their heads off』

『Even the official staff are laughing lol』

“…H-Haha… This is definitely going viral…”

The prediction slipped from my lips before I could stop myself.

Even Effie—or rather, even a collaboration between those three—would normally have impressive plays clipped, but this time Rinne-chan had completely stolen the show.

“…Senpai, is your niece actually a Demon Lord?”

“Funny coincidence. I’m starting to think so too.”

I understood exactly what my junior, who was watching the stream with me, meant.

After all, thanks to Rinne-chan’s—Verchera Merisis’s—overwhelming skill and confidence, combined with the phrase 『Demon Lord AIM』 coined from what she had just demonstrated, terms like 『Demon Lord Verchera』 and 『Demon Lord AIM』 had already climbed near the top of the trending rankings alongside Effie’s name.

《Effie, Rio. I’ll call directions with north as twelve o’clock. Two are coming out from behind the building at nine-thirty. Three, two, —now》

《Hah-haaa! Nice!》

《Whoaaa! Veru-chan, you’re amazing!》

〈Rion Shishika　＞＞　ahoge2〉

〈Ephir Lunette　＞＞　Thick Edamame〉

『That countdown was dead on!』

『Damn, she’s ridiculously consistent lolol』

『Effie-sama’s excitement is starting to sound post-apocalyptic lol』

『She’s having way too much fun lmao』

《I am merely telling you what I can see. Suu, can you see the fourth-floor window of the building at two o’clock?》

《Mm, perfectly》

《Shoot the window slightly toward one o’clock. Someone has been peeking out from there for a while》

《Roger》

〈Snow Setsuma　＞＞　Gold30〉

『There really was someone there lol』

『I couldn’t see them at all?』

『Must’ve been an instant kill from the blast lol』

『This is seriously strong lol』

Someone please comment on the names of the people getting killed, I thought pointlessly to myself, while becoming even more convinced of what I had suspected.

Effie was the only one streaming today.

That meant I had no idea what Rinne-chan’s screen looked like, but even though she was my own niece, I could not help thinking what a waste it was.

After all, a player generating this mountain of incredible moments was collaborating with Gem Pro.

If she had been streaming and showing her own screen, I was sure viewers would have opened both streams just to watch Rinne-chan’s perspective and track every movement she made.

Rinne-chan’s channel would probably have exploded in visibility, and even her subscriber count might have shot up all at once.

Then again, while Rinne-chan did work hard, she did not seem particularly interested in growing her channel numbers.

Part of that was probably because she was still a student, but she did not seem to have any strong intention of earning her living through streaming either.

Still, I doubted that girl could remain an obscure streamer anymore.

Because right now, in front of forty thousand concurrent viewers, she was undeniably carving herself deep into everyone’s memory.

《Crap, I’m getting shot—!》

〈Verchera Merisis　＞＞　Mayo Chicken〉

《Veru-chan, nice cover! Thanks! You saved me!》

《It was nothing. I could see them from here. But it seems every last one of them has started moving through the buildings… Hmm, I cannot see anyone》

『Well, obviously』

『After you racked up that many kills that fast, of course they’d start watching out for you lol. The ELEPHANT is loud too』

『You don’t see teams where the lookout role actually works this well anymore, but isn’t this insanely strong? lol』

『And this kind of counterplay is exactly why Snipers stopped seeing much use』

Rinne-chan probably could not see the comments either, but they were undoubtedly correct.

Once the sniper-rifle shots and kill log revealed that our team had a Sniper capable of actually securing kills, everyone would naturally start avoiding open streets with long sightlines.

Things would not go nearly as smoothly as they had until now.

This was probably where the real battle began.

But… my clenched hand trembled faintly.

“…Senpai, this… don’t you think we might actually…?”

“…Win the 『OFA VtuberCUP』. Even if they don’t go all the way, they’ll at least leave a huge impression. But if she goes viral here, it wouldn’t be surprising if everyone started treating Snipers as an extreme threat.”

In fact, that was exactly what had started happening in the current match. The other teams had switched to moving indoors and fighting at close range to counter the Sniper, and Rinne-chan’s momentum had slowed compared to earlier.

The question was how Effie would respond, because if the enemy teams kept forcing them into situations where they had to account for a Sniper, Effie’s team would constantly have to challenge indoor fights while effectively down one member.

…Though knowing Rinne-chan, she looked capable of fighting with a sniper rifle even at medium or close range indoors.

While I was thinking that, sure enough, Effie’s group apparently decided to advance through the buildings for the time being and entered one nearby.

“Since team compositions without Snipers are mainstream right now, entire teams can afford to build themselves around countering one. With skill like this, I honestly wish she could have kept it hidden until the actual tournament…”

If this had been the real event, she probably could have shaken the participating teams badly.

But the stream was already near the top of the trending list, and there were surely plenty of rival teams watching it.

…This might end up being a very difficult fight—

〈Verchera Merisis　＞＞　Nukosama’s Oath〉

—…Huh…?

《…Huh…?》

《…Wait, why? More importantly, what even happened just now??》

《…………Was that, maybe…》

『Huh?』

『...What? Wait, why?』

『She was looking in a completely different direction, wasn’t she?』

『Yep, cheating confirmed』

Effie and the others sounded bewildered, and the comments began pouring in one after another.

But Effie and the viewers were not the only ones confused. I was too, and so was my junior staring at the screen beside me.

The kill log had definitely appeared, but on Effie’s screen, Rinne-chan’s character had been standing on the rooftop of the building opposite the one Effie’s group had entered and firing diagonally toward a road ahead.

And yet, the kill point shown on the map—the Shield class’s additional ability that displayed the location of enemies defeated by teammates on the minimap—was slightly behind the direction Effie’s group and Rinne-chan had been running.

It clearly did not match the direction Rinne-chan’s character had been facing.

…No way. Had Rinne-chan really been… cheating?

《—Effie-neesan! In front of you!》

At that moment, Effie’s screen moved.

At the same time as Snow shouted, the camera swung away from Rinne-chan’s character toward a player from another team who had appeared ahead, and then—

《Huh—》

—In an instant, a faint streak of light from an allied sniper round flashed across the edge of the screen, struck the newly appeared player near the shoulder, and downed them.

Rion immediately finished them off and triggered the kill log, but more importantly…

《I knew it! Veru-chan, that was a ricochet just now, wasn’t it!?》

《Indeed. I have 『Ricochet Enhancement』 equipped. I caught a glimpse of the one earlier while they were running, so I could aim according to their speed. But I could not see this one from where I was. Unfortunately, I only managed to down them》

『Whaaaaaaaat!?』

『Wait, seriously!? Also, Suu-chan shouting is rare enough that I’m shocked by that too!?』

『OFA Official※: HERE IT IIIIIIIIS! A ricochet! She is not cheating! She is simply using the 『Ricochet Enhancement』 superpower! She is not cheating! We confirmed it! The monitoring room is ERUPTING IN CHEERS!』

『No freaking way lololol. There’s actually someone who can use that thing!? lolol』

“…『Ricochet Enhancement』…?”

“…Wait, seriously…? That dead skill is actually usable…?”

“You know what it is?”

“Uh, ah, yes. Believe it or not, I play quite a bit. So, the 『Ricochet Enhancement』 superpower basically just prevents bullet trajectories from becoming increasingly unstable based on the number of ricochets. That’s literally all it does.”

“It stops the bullet trajectory from becoming unstable?”

“Yes. In 『OFA』, every ricochet causes range-based damage falloff, and from the second ricochet onward, the trajectory also starts deviating randomly in addition to being affected by the angle. But if you equip 『Ricochet Enhancement』, it cancels out that random trajectory deviation. That’s all it does, though. It doesn’t make the ricochet-angle calculations any less strict, so 『Ricochet Enhancement』 is normally considered a garbage skill.”

“…Which means that girl is…”

“…A Sniper who can read the ricochet point and send a sniper-rifle round into places she normally shouldn’t even be able to shoot from outside the building.”

“…What is that…? Is something like that even possible…?”

“…It’s considered a garbage skill precisely because no one has ever really been able to use it properly.”

“…And she’s mastered it…?”

“…Probably.”

…Rinne-chan.

I did agree when you asked if I wanted you to run wild, you know…?

But… don’t you think this is juuuust a little… too much…?