You Came at the Right Time, I Have Good Performance (2)

The gallery was already a mess.

A little further down the page, another post caught my eye.

The post continued with a detailed breakdown of the loadout. Crazy Shot? Maybe at first glance. But look at the weapons—one pistol, one sniper. Definitely not SignalFlare. Because every single time I get bored and check SignalFlare’s match history, that guy never plays without the dual Tommy guns.

* * *

In truth, a kill bet was practically MoovGun’s home turf. Sorry to the lucky random who got dragged into the spectator slot, but the moment MoovGun picked up a sniper, his kill-catching ability went absolutely feral.

— Whoa, he’s going sniper mode.

— Serious mode activated.

— Let’s hear the viewer’s voice, go go go!

That was because the instant MoovGun shouldered a sniper rifle, his ability to snatch kills became downright insane. After all, he used to be a pro. And not just any pro—a sniper specialist.

— Lmao for real.

— If it was Hawk Eye he’d be racking up kills every time he popped his ult.

Hawk Eye could summon a railgun once every five minutes. The sniper rifle came pre-loaded with five rounds. Anyone hit by it suffered extreme slow for a short time, giving you the perfect window to finish ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them off or secure the kill outright. That was why sniper-specialized pros like MoovGun would almost always down at least one, sometimes two people the moment they got their hands on that railgun. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Choosing Hawk Eye was basically MoovGun declaring, “I’m killing at least one of you bastards, no matter what.”

“It’s fine. This is just a kill bet against a viewer. No need to sweat it that hard.”

— Lmao yeah.

— Versus MoovGun, I’m always at an advantage lol.

— True lol. It’s just a spectator slot, no reason to get that serious.

Still, like he said, it was a spectator slot. If some actual pro-level player had gone out of their way to mess with him, that would be one thing. But at this hour? Unlikely.

“Let’s start light. One kill, coming right up.”

Right on cue, a lone target was slowly crossing the open field, completely unaware they were being watched. Looked like their loot run had gone wrong and they were rushing to regroup with their squad. MoovGun locked onto today’s first sacrifice and pulled the trigger without mercy.

Crash!

The sound of a shield shattering rang out as the poor player dropped to the ground.

Even with a heavy sniper and double barrel, headshots didn’t always drop people in one hit. Not once the shield level went past two. In other words, the wandering player hadn’t even managed to find a level-two shield and went down instantly.

— Clean.

— Rest in peace T_T

— Of all people to run into!

While the chat mourned the poor soul, MoovGun loaded the next round. He was about to pull the trigger for the finishing shot when—

Bang!

A smoke grenade flew in from nowhere and bloomed around the downed player like a protective curtain. He fired a speculative shot at where he guessed the enemy was, but the kill didn’t register.

— ?

— Damn.

— Looks like they’ve got a guardian.

— That smoke reaction speed is insane.

Must have been a skilled player carrying a newbie in normals. With a sigh, MoovGun repositioned. Staying in one spot too long made you an easy target for others—a habit drilled into him from his pro days. Even though his current legend, Bifl, scanned the area every minute, it didn’t give exact positions or distances, so staying one step ahead was always smarter.

But the moment he slid into slightly lower ground and peeked out from behind a rock—

A kill popped up out of nowhere. And it was taken by MomoAnti’s pistol.

— ?

— ??

— What the—

— When did they even get there?

Just like that, MomoAnti stole one kill, and MoovGun got ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an assist. In ranked, kills and assists were calculated in decimals based on total damage dealt, but in normals it was simple: last hitter versus everyone else.

“Hmm… Viewer-nim? How did you get over there so fast? That was crazy quick.”

Technically, the kill had been stolen. Even in a kill bet, it was rare for someone to snatch them so blatantly. MoovGun figured the viewer must have come to help and luckily scored the kill through the smoke. That was when MomoAnti spoke again in that signature TTS voice.

— What is he even saying lololol

— I can’t understand a word…

— Isn’t he saying he’s happy he stole the kill? lol

— Ohhh.

— He’s happy he stole the kill lololololol

— Holy shit lololol

Just like the chat said, maybe the guy really was enjoying stealing kills. As if he knew MoovGun was watching through the scope, MomoAnti suddenly started dancing. He only stopped after eating a few bullets from far away, but it was an obvious provocation.

“Aha. So that’s how you wanna play.”

— Gasp.

— If you provoke, you gotta pay the price. Mhm.

— This is about to get messy lol.

But MomoAnti had just made a huge mistake. Now that his strategy was completely exposed, there was no way MoovGun would slip up.

One of the random squad members dipped, leaving only MoovGun and MomoAnti. In this situation, the moment one of them died, the bet was over. Sure, you could revive a downed teammate, but with a bet on the line? Revives were off the table. In a normal game it might be different, but there was no reason to keep someone alive after they’d stolen a kill and started taunting.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

MoovGun sprinted toward the distant MomoAnti, firing as he ran. The chat exploded the second they saw it.

— Is that SignalFlare? lol

— Bro what is this dirty tactic lololololol

— Genius idea lololol

— You’d rather lose the bet? lol

— Gotta do what you gotta do lololol

Even if it looked similar to what SignalFlare usually did to Momo, there was no better way to draw every enemy in the area straight to you. In other words, MoovGun had just declared open season. Like the game’s name suggested, he was throwing the colosseum gates wide open. Let’s have a proper bloodbath. First one to die loses the bet.

Sure enough, the squad that had been holding the nearest high ground immediately opened fire on the two of them. MoovGun slid instantly. Sliding, jumping, dashing, and mid-air directional changes—he used every bit of three-dimensional movement until he was safely behind a rock. The moment he took cover, he scoped in on the most likely enemy position. Up on the cliff, an enemy was reloading without even bothering to hide.

MoovGun pulled the trigger immediately.

Bang! Bang!

Why wasn’t the gunshot echoing? The updated kill feed answered that question.

Another level-one shield. The enemy who went down to MoovGun’s headshot was immediately finished off by MomoAnti’s bullets. In other words, MomoAnti had pulled the trigger at almost the exact same speed as MoovGun.

‘Their reaction time isn’t normal-person level…?’

You weren’t supposed to return fire the instant an enemy shot at you. Anyone who’d played the game a few times knew that. All it did was turn you into a sitting duck for whoever was already waiting. A perfect example of that mistake was Momo. The famous hothead always did the same thing and died for it. MoovGun had already nagged her about it a hundred times. Anyone with real game sense—especially pros—would first use evasive maneuvers to force the enemy to empty a magazine, then take cover. That was common sense.

MoovGun had done exactly that, of course. But the fact that MomoAnti—who he’d assumed was just an annoying spectator troll—did the exact same thing was surprising. Even more surprising was how perfect their cover was despite the rushed movement. The position was ideal: no chance of being shot in the back, so they only had to watch the front. And they couldn’t even hold back from trash-talking again, as if the kills tasted that good.

To sum it up, this spectator who was busy stealing MoovGun’s kills and talking smack was at least Diamond rank. At the high end, maybe even pro trainee level.

— Aaaah lololol

— The more I hear the angrier I get…

— Am I the only one dying of laughter? lol

— What kind of crazy bastard is this lolololol

— Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen someone talk this much shit to MoovGun. For real lol.

— How is the TTS even delivering this level of provocation?

MoovGun was still keeping his cool, but honestly, even he had twitched a little just now. He didn’t know where this practice-squad scrub had crawled out from, but they were getting way too cocky. Still, MoovGun wasn’t worried about losing. It was still early game. A two-kill deficit could be overturned anytime. And more importantly, his ultimate was almost charged.

The three enemies who had been shooting from the cliff earlier were now down to two. Against someone of MoovGun’s skill, that was basically free food. The legend he had picked this match was Bifl—a scout-class legend specialized in detection, searching, and scanning.

Ding!

Ultimate ready. Bifl clutched his head and let out a small scream. A spherical shockwave burst outward. Soon, glowing markers appeared on the map. One of the two remaining enemies from the squad that had been firing earlier was now pinged on MoovGun’s minimap. They were inside a mountain lodge built on high ground, so from MoovGun’s position at the bottom of the hill, the cliff blocked line of sight. The silver lining was that even after being marked, the enemy was just standing there like an idiot. After watching their teammate’s head suddenly explode, they seemed to have panicked and gone full defensive camper mode.

There was no reason to hesitate anymore. Besides, MomoAnti looked like they’d taken some damage in the last fight and were busy restoring their shields. MoovGun grabbed a fire grenade and sprinted up the slope leading to the cliff.

— Ready…

— Fire!

The grenade flew from the slope right in front of the lodge and exploded with a boom! Shattering the glass windows and filling the interior with flames. After a moment of frantic footsteps from inside, the two enemies burst out of the lodge as if they’d planned it. MoovGun’s sniper rifle, which had been waiting at the entrance, spat fire once again.

Baaang———!

One enemy, already badly burned, dropped instantly despite their high shield level. MoovGun reloaded and charged forward. There was still one enemy left, but this was a kill bet. The panicked opponent’s bullets were easy to dodge anyway, so finishing the downed player came first.

Bang!

Immediately after, MoovGun switched to his secondary pistol and fired bang bang bang bang. The final enemy, who had only just noticed him and was turning their gun, went down. Three out of four shots were headshots. Not bad for all the practice he’d put in today. Since it was the last member of the squad, the enemy died instantly instead of just going down.

The score was now tied at 2:2. MoovGun wiped the small bead of sweat from his upper lip and let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

…But what was MomoAnti doing?

Only then did MoovGun check the map. MomoAnti’s position was already ahead of his. They had somehow followed him and were looting the corpses. Realizing what was happening, MoovGun hurriedly searched the bodies, but it was too late. All the shield recovery items were already gone. It was a dirty sabotage tactic—preventing him from healing while trying to outlast him to the end.

At this point even MoovGun was dumbfounded. He had met plenty of snipers before, but this was the first time he’d run into someone this skilled with such a wide repertoire. From the mouth of a man who always tried to use polite language while streaming, a swear word he hadn’t uttered in ages slipped out.

“What the… what kind of bastard is this…?”