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“Huh?”

I heard the sound of something being cut.

And it was very close by.

No. My neck was just cut?

While my head didn’t roll off of my shoulders, I felt the sensation around my neck.

I was the one who had been attacked.

I could see my body turning into light and fading.

I was killed…?

But, where was the enemy?

Was there someone else with long ranged attacks?

No, it had been a blade that swung down at me.

The person had to have been close by.

But how did they get up?

There were supposed to have been Magic Mines by the entrance.

While I was concentrating on shooting, I would have still heard the sound…

“Aha! I did it!”

Suddenly, a short girl with cat ears popped out of nowhere.

As if she had been invisible up until now…

“…Ahhh!?”

It must have been the special ‘Invisible’ action chip!

Even I knew of its effects.

Among the enemies I had shot down, there had been a few who tried to escape by turning invisible. 

However, the effect only lasted for a short while, and they could never get away.

However, this girl had escaped my sniping.

That must mean she used a lot of them.

Either that, or she put all her points into speed.

And like that, she had got to the base of the tower and escaped my eye.

But that didn’t explain how she got past the Magic Mines.

While you were invisible, you would still trigger such traps.

And so stepping on them would cause an explosive sound.

…Her weapons were the answer.

They were claws that were equipped on both hands.

Like this, she would be able to climb the outer walls!

I had gotten too confident…!

At first, I was aware that I was fighting other people. But at some point it just started to feel like I was shooting at targets.

A person climbing up the walls with metal claws would have still made some noise.

But I had missed it.

Furthermore, even if I had realized it, I would have likely not been able to run, due to the demerits of ‘Immobile Sniping Stance.’

There was no way that I could survive a battle with someone in the advance guard, if I couldn’t even move for 30 seconds.

They had caught me off guard.

I was…completely defeated!

　◆　◆　◆

Ultimately, I came in 3rd.

Apparently, there was someone else who had been hiding somewhere and survived.

Well, in this kind of battle royale game, survival was more important than racking up kills.

I wouldn’t call it cowardice. If anything, it’s what you were supposed to do.

However, it didn’t feel very good knowing that the cat girl, who won, had 5 kills. And the potato had 0 kills. Perhaps I had chosen the wrong strategy…

However, there was good news too.

The reward for this event was small medals known as ‘NSO Medals.’ And you could trade them in for all sorts of things.

The winner received 100. The runner up 50, and the second runner up received 30.

Aside from that, winners of different categories were also given medals.

In my case, they were ‘Most Kills’ and ‘First Kill.’

The ‘Most Kills’ award meant that I got an extra medal for every kill.

As I had ultimately killed 158 players, I received that number in medals.

The ‘First Kill’ award gave me an additional 20 medals.

So I received 208 NSO Medals in all.

That was more than twice the amount you received for winning.

In a way, perhaps I had won more than anyone.

However, 3rd was 3rd.

And I wasn’t a man that could be satisfied with anything but 1st place.

If I get another chance, I would definitely win!

This meant I would have to study VR battle royale theory and brush up on my playing style, skills, and equipment.

While I had lost, my motivation was at an all-time high.

I had a reason to become stronger!

Yes, I would still have fun in Next Stage Online!

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