Bigger Guns, Even Bigger Guns (2)

But come to think of it, it was kind of obvious— no matter how much weight was concentrated there, the fact that it crumbled and collapsed just from me giving it a light nudge, along with all those bolts and whatever, said it all.

The machine gun turret (tower?) that naturally fell off the armored vehicle was in a horrific state to begin with, rusted and corroded all over the place. The moment I touched it, it popped right out and dropped. And that machine gun turret uncle—precisely, the turret part—got crushed immediately upon falling, spewing out gears, wires, and all sorts of unknown components from between the rusted metal plates like a pig being slaughtered.

So, the second I saw that, forget double curses, all I could think was, "We're f*cked."

On top of that, during the fall, the long barrel didn't just snap in two—it shattered into pieces like some d*ck. The attached mystery equipment met the same gruesome end, pulverized along with the turret.

"Ah, ahh."

"Kieek."

Not just me, but even the goblin diligently gathering guns on my command dropped the firearm from its mouth upon witnessing the catastrophe right in front of its eyes. Its big googly eyes rolled around as it glanced nervously at me.

But the silver lining—if you could call it that—was that the fall damage from the turret, mystery gear, and barrel snapping like twigs got absorbed. And since the main body of the machine gun was so ridiculously rusted it was more ceramic than metal chunk, it landed intact atop the wreckage without major damage.

Just like I'd tested in my room before coming here, with my equipped gear, I could repair anything below a certain damage threshold no problem...

"Let's see, mount!"

Shaking off the shock and horror for a moment, I hopped down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under the wrecked armored vehicle and decided to try mounting the lone machine gun turret (formerly).

Of course, if the shattered turret parts and mystery components counted as one single piece of equipment? Even a kid—no, even this three-limbed goblin would say, "That's over 70%, no 80% gone? Not 80% left?" loud and clear.

Up until the embarrassing moment I uttered "mount," my head was full of "What if it doesn't work?" doubts...

But right after that thought—

"Whoa, oh?!"

Thankfully, our status window buddy didn't go, "This ain't a machine gun turret anymore since it's smashed—get lost." Instead, it gave the perfect ruling.

Super naturally, the machine gun body—bigger than my upper half—shrank with a pop and seeped into my body as a glow. Seeing that, I felt my mood skyrocket. This was great.

Plus, after swiftly storing the machine gun and checking the guns our goblin buddy gathered, I discovered another feature of my trait not listed in the status window...

"This must be that 4D pocket or whatever."

"Kieek."

Honestly, I'd come this far just to snag a machine gun and maybe a sidearm. But grabbing these goblin-slobbered weapons? They just kept auto-storing into my body, piling up impossibly beyond physical limits. A bizarre, but super satisfying trait.

Compared to the hunter-favorite "inventory" trait everyone raved about in communities, there were big differences.

First off, no neat status window listing contents clearly. It was just mindless stacking inside, and whatever you wanted popped out on demand.

If I couldn't vividly picture the gear in my head?

"Thinking 'something I can hold and shoot' gets me random ones like that, huh."

"Kiik?"

"Okay, perfectly understood."

So it spat out random stuff. I shed tears of gratitude for the status window's spot-on convenience and gave it a standing ovation.

And at my seal-clap, the three-limbed goblin, peeking nervously, joined in.

"Kiiik!"

Smack smack smack.

Witnessing the status window's majesty, even a lowly monster was impressed. Inside, I was like, "This is what EX-rank is all about!" with 10,000 cheers bursting out.

But then, a sudden thought hit.

"...Wait a sec. If I'd absorbed the turreted armored vehicle whole, wouldn't that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be mountable too?"

The question slipped out naturally, my brain flashing with possibilities. But nah.

"No way. Even if I stored and mounted it, what the hell would I do with an armored vehicle?"

Thinking deeper, snagging just the gun was fine, but a whole vehicle? No clue how to use it...

Shoving aside stray thoughts, I aimed at the still-clapping goblin—convinced it was safe now.

...Thud!

Crack!

"Got the gist now. Floor 2, let's go."

For the inaugural machine gun debut, I casually loaded ammo via the Infinite Magazine function.

Perfectly vaporized a three-limbed goblin's head, then headed to the next floor to joyfully blast away with the machine gun and machine guns.

And as expected—and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠already mentioned—even in Hardcore Difficulty, the low floors 1-2 didn't pull any sudden map changes or BS...

"...Oh?"

Unlike Floor 1, it announced enemies right away. No need to hunt around—about 50m ahead, based on my position, the 15 mentioned goblins stared right at me.

Startled by my sudden appearance, they grinned creepily, gripping their weapons.

"Don't smile, kids. You'll grow on me."

"Kieak?"

"Say hi—this is our etiquette teacher, Machine Gun-sensei."

"Kick?!"

I deeply empathized with the goblins' philosophy of living life laughing—monster life or not—and grinned wide, pulling out the pre-swapped 20mm machine gun to unleash hell.

Obviously, that one 20mm round to the three-limbed goblin's head on Floor 1? Vaporized the whole skull.

Full auto here? 50 rounds of 20mm rained like hell on the 50m-distant goblins in seconds.

I watched all 15 drop without a single scream, "disassembled," and realized, "This is why they call it trigger-happy!"