Chapter 3: Treatment of a Gunner
Contractors do not use detection equipment or skills on each other; that is a blatant provocation, often leading to a life-or-death struggle.
Under Blood Rose's questioning, the contractors stated their specialties one by one. Blood Rose was enthusiastic about anyone who was a melee fighter, and a mage holding a green-quality staff became her main target for flirting.
Her intentional, suggestive glances made it clear to everyone how much she valued that mage.
However, this mage named Chen wasn't buying it, silently standing in the team.
"This hunk, you must be a melee fighter, right?"
Blood Rose stood before a muscular man. He was bare-chested, his upper body muscles sharply defined, and his white teeth seemed to gleam when he smiled.
"Ma'am, I'm a gunner."
The muscular man pulled out a shotgun and struck a few professional shooting poses.
Seeing this from a distance, Su Xiao suddenly felt a bit nauseous. No matter how he looked at it, this muscular man seemed like a muscle-bound brute.
Blood Rose's mouth twitched as she struggled to maintain her charming smile.
"It's not a good idea to pretend to be a ranged fighter with a crappy white gun."
Blood Rose's gaze turned dangerous.
The muscular man sighed and displayed the gun's attributes to Blood Rose.
"Oh, you really are a gunner. What a waste of those muscles."
The muscular man flexed his arm in front of his stomach, striking a bodybuilder pose.
"I'm a fitness coach. These muscles are just for show."
Soon, Blood Rose knew everyone's specialties. Some contractors tried to pose as gunners, but Blood Rose caught them and gave them two choices.
First, be expelled from Zone 3, making their mission completion rate zero and ultimately failing the task. Second, face the giants head-on and engage in close combat.
All those contractors chose the second option; no one wanted to fail their mission.
Based on the contractors' specialties, Blood Rose assigned their combat positions.
Su Xiao, now a "gunner," was naturally placed in the rear.
With the contractors arriving one after another, Zone 3 gathered a total of 43 contractors: 12 melee fighters and 31 ranged fighters.
Most of these melee fighters were forcibly identified; otherwise, the number of "ranged" contractors would have been even higher, showing how few melee contractors there were in Reincarnation Paradise.
"Everyone, listen up. Melee fighters hold the giants back, ranged fighters go all out. Engage!"
Blood Rose shouted and charged toward the giants. Su Xiao, a dozen meters away, was baffled. What kind of command was this? Was this woman really the vice-captain? There must be some shady deal going on.
The muscular man not far from Su Xiao also looked a bit helpless.
"Hey, friend. My name's En Tu. We're both 'gunners,' so we should look out for each other."
The muscular man flashed a toothy grin at Su Xiao.
"Uh."
Su Xiao instinctively stepped back, thinking to himself that this guy was definitely not a gunner, or he'd swallow his Broken Elf whole.
"If I remember correctly, your name is Bai Ye, right? Don't worry, my orientation is normal. I prefer the type over there."
En Tu pointed at Blood Rose in the distance.
Su Xiao smiled without saying a word. That woman was definitely a thorny rose, the poisonous kind. He began observing the frontline contractors. If there were only these four giants, they'd be fine, but if there were more than ten, it was uncertain whether they could hold.
However, considering Blood Rose wielded a blue weapon, a short-term defense should be fine.
These were all secondary. Su Xiao had heard of the Bloody Flower Adventure Group that Blood Rose mentioned before.
Before killing Black and White in his last world, Black and White had said, "The Bloody Flower Adventure Group won't let you off."
In other words, Queen, Black and White, and Leaf were all likely members of the Bloody Flower Adventure Group.
Since someone mentioned that the entire group was female, that should be correct.
As an adventure group capable of independently defending a zone, the Bloody Flower Adventure Group was not to be underestimated. He would need to be cautious from now on.
Coincidentally, both adventure groups Su Xiao had encountered had come to the Giant World.
Or perhaps it wasn't a coincidence. His overall evaluation from the previous two worlds was too high, so the difficulty of entering this world exceeded his rank. Plus, his identity as a Hunter added "bonus points."
As Su Xiao pondered, the melee team a dozen meters away had already made contact with the giants.
The giants were too massive. Many contractors aimed to attack the giants' Achilles tendons to bring them down, then jump onto their backs to strike the nape.
Without the "Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear" black tech, the contractors had to use crude methods.
The ranged contractors targeted the giants' eyes or thighs.
First, blind them, then cut them down, and finally attack the nape.
It sounded simple, but in practice, it was a different story.
"Charge!"
A group of melee fighters rushed to the giants' feet, about to engage in close combat.
The wild tank named Man Niu led the charge, eyes fixed on the giants' legs.
The contractors' shouts caught the attention of a ten-meter-class giant.
The giant looked down blankly, its expression dull, like a simpleton staring at the crowd of contractors.
The contractors' footsteps halted abruptly, their earlier momentum vanishing.
"So this is a giant."
A contractor wielding a large cleaver swallowed hard, sweat trickling down his temple.
Standing before a giant in person was a completely different feeling from watching anime.
The massive size, the vacant expression, the basin-sized flat teeth, and the bloated belly.
What would it feel like to have those basin-sized teeth bite into you? And then be swallowed into that blood-filled belly?
"Don't just stand there waiting to die. Follow me!"
Blood Rose charged ahead, spinning her long spear and creating a series of spear flowers.
After a moment of hesitation, the other contractors gritted their teeth and followed.
Since the melee fighters had charged, Su Xiao, acting as a gunner in the rear, couldn't just watch.
Bang, bang, bang...
With six rapid shots from his Broken Elf, six bullets formed from Haki pierced the air, creating layers of air ripples before embedding into the giant's cheek.
Slap, slap, slap...
Fist-sized holes appeared on the giant's face. One of the six bullets hit its eye—pretty good luck for random shooting.
The Broken Elf automatically generated bullets, taking two minutes, so Su Xiao lit a cigarette and sat on a large rock, waiting for the bullets to regenerate.
Hah! Bang.
A loud shout followed by a gunshot startled Su Xiao. He turned to see En Tu, who shouted with every shot, his momentum even stronger than the melee fighters.
Seeing this, Su Xiao was speechless. This clown's performance was too exaggerated.
Unlike the clowning En Tu, the mage named Chen had elemental energy swirling around him. A fist-sized fireball expanded rapidly, soon becoming a two-meter-diameter fireball.
Whoosh...
The fireball trailed flames as it flew, directly hitting the ten-meter-class giant's head.
With a splat, flames engulfed the giant's head and exploded. The giant swayed drunkenly a few times before crashing to the ground.
Seeing the dead giant, the melee contractors cast admiring glances at Chen.
One-shotting a ten-meter-class giant—this mage was no slouch, with at least 20 points in Intelligence.
Blood Rose let out a seductive laugh, her gaze toward Chen shifting. A mage who put in this much effort from the start was rare.