Even after fighting in this world for a long time, Sinon still had to admit that this place was a little too much.
The snow and wind were almost excessive.
The cold itself was only sensory feedback. It would not truly freeze her body, and it would not lower any hidden stamina value. Even so, when the white wind kept slamming into her face, when every step sank into snow that looked soft but dragged at her boots, her breathing still grew tight without her noticing.
Her avatar was a petite female build. On top of that, she was carrying the Hecate II, a weapon that looked almost absurdly large on her back. In normal terrain, she was used to that weight. Here, with the wind cutting across the ruins and the ground giving way beneath her feet, the burden became impossible to ignore.
Of course, this was still a game.
There was no real exhaustion. The system would not make her collapse from fatigue. But FullDive was far too good at making the mind believe what the body was experiencing. The more realistic the movement and the environment became, the easier it was to forget that this was only a virtual battlefield.
Sinon narrowed her eyes behind the brown goggles and looked into the blowing snow.
The Isaro Ruins really were a malicious map.
If even she, a veteran GGO player, felt this uncomfortable, ordinary players would probably give up before they ever reached the deeper areas. For the first time, she found herself sincerely impressed by people who climbed real snow-covered mountains.
At the same time, she began to question something else.
Could a sniper really function here?
The Hecate II had overwhelming power, but it was still a sniper rifle. Wind, visibility, terrain, distance, firing position, line of sight; all of those mattered. In weather like this, even a small correction error could ruin a shot. If she had to fire through the storm, the bullet path would be much harder to judge.
But Samuro knew she was a sniper.
He had seen the Hecate II on her back and still asked her to come.
Then there had to be a reason.
Sinon looked toward the figure walking ahead of her.
Samuro's avatar was tall and lean. Wrapped in cold-weather gear, he looked almost too thin against the storm, as if the next gust might blow him sideways. But after watching him for a while, that worry faded on its own.
His steps were steady.
The snow dragged at him too, and the wind kept pressing against his body, but his pace barely changed. His build was obviously a pure AGI build, and unlike Sinon, he was not carrying a massive anti-materiel sniper rifle. In this terrain, that made a difference.
His dark silhouette stood out clearly against the white storm.
Sinon finally understood what people meant by snow blindness. If not for the goggles and Samuro's dark coat ahead of her, it would have been disturbingly easy to lose all sense of distance.
He held a detailed map in one hand and checked their surroundings as he walked.
Had he really drawn this himself?
The thought made Sinon glance at him again.
Mapping a place like this alone was not normal. He would have had to walk through this whiteout over and over, memorize the terrain, mark paths, avoid monsters, avoid other players, and keep going even when the storm erased everything in front of him.
It was almost like mountain climbing.
No, maybe worse.
At least a climber could reach a summit and see the view.
Here, there was only more snow.
Samuro slowed, checked the map again, and then stopped.
"Monsters start showing up more often past this point," he said. "Fighting here takes a bit of work. Want to rest for a minute? The first time in this area is rough."
"No need."
Sinon answered immediately.
She would not show weakness here.
"I'm a veteran too. Don't decide I'm fragile just because of how my avatar looks."
Samuro glanced back at her, then at the Hecate II on her back.
"One look at that anti-materiel rifle tells me you are not fragile."
His tone was sincere enough that Sinon had no good reply for a moment.
She looked at him again and said, "You've been walking in front to block some of the wind for me, haven't you?"
Samuro paused.
Then he smiled, a little awkwardly.
"Was it that obvious?"
"Very."
"Then do you want to switch? You can walk in front and shield me for a while."
"Are you even a guy?"
"...That is a surprisingly sharp question."
His expression went oddly blank for a second, as if the line had hit somewhere he had not expected.
Then he gave a dry little laugh and turned forward again.
"Fine. We will keep it like this."
Sinon looked at his back.
The holster at his waist was already unclipped. The optical handgun inside could be drawn at any moment. Every so often, he casually activated his Search skill with the kind of rhythm that came from long habit.
Sinon suddenly asked, "Have you seriously been walking around like this the whole time?"
Samuro slowed slightly.
For a moment, only the sound of the wind remained.
"...It's been a while since I had someone watching my back," he said quietly.
Sinon blinked.
"You say that like you're remembering a war."
"Maybe I am."
Then, before the atmosphere could turn heavy, he added flatly,
"Besides, if I stopped walking like this, what would I do instead? Crawl?"
Sinon stared at him for two seconds.
"You could roll."
Samuro gave her a look.
"Terrible joke."
"I thought it was helpful."
Samuro let out a faint laugh and kept walking.
Sinon followed after him through the snow.
In real life, setting aside certain things she did not want to think about, Shino Asada was not good at casual conversation. In GGO, Sinon was even colder. She did not chat much in parties, and she rarely tried to get close to anyone.
But with Samuro, the barrier felt oddly low.
It was not that he was overly friendly. If anything, he kept a very clear distance. He never stepped across the line between newly met partners. He did not pry, did not flirt, did not treat her like some fragile girl because of her avatar, and did not try to turn the conversation toward himself.
He was polite.
That was rare in VR worlds.
People wore another body here. Another name. Another face. Sometimes that made them freer. Sometimes it made them reckless. A person who was timid in reality might become loud in the game. Someone gentle might start shouting about PvP and headshots the moment a gun was placed in their hands.
Many people came online to be someone they could not be in the real world.
Shino understood that better than most.
After all, she could pick up a gun as Sinon.
But Samuro did not feel like a thug pretending to be gentle. He did not feel like a timid person forcing himself to act strong either.
He was strange because he felt natural.
As if whoever he was outside the game and whoever he was here were not all that different.
Maybe it was rude to judge after knowing him for such a short time.
Sinon let out a quiet breath.
Still, she envied him a little.
He walked ahead of her, blocking half the wind with his back. In that moment, she had the vague feeling that he had already accepted himself. That he no longer needed a mask.
If she had that kind of self, if she had that kind of courage, then maybe the fear clinging to Shino Asada would be easy to tear apart.
But even defeating him in the wasteland had not been enough.
It had not erased Shino Asada's shadow.
Sinon pressed her lips together.
Soon.
In the next BoB, if she defeated everyone there and stood at the very top, then surely it would be fine.
It had to be.
Samuro suddenly raised one hand.
"Monster ahead."
Sinon stopped.
Through the snowstorm, a twisted black shape moved in the white haze.
It was huge.
The silhouette crawled out from behind a half-buried ruin wall, its body swollen and misshapen, as if several incompatible creatures had been forced together. Long limbs dragged over the snow. Something like a head turned toward them, but the shape was so distorted that it was hard to tell where its eyes should be.
"A viral mutant," Samuro said. "Mostly setting flavor. Do not think too much about it."
"That is your explanation?"
"It is ugly, and it is annoying, but if you handle it carefully, it is not that dangerous. Do not let the size scare you. It is still just code."
He tilted his head and added, "Besides, it is only four or five meters tall."
Sinon looked at him in silence.
Only four or five meters.
This man really was a little strange.
Samuro had already drawn his optical pistol.
Energy filled the weapon with a low hum.
"I've seen things like this in other games," he said. "Enough talking. Let's deal with it first. You are the sniper, and Hecate II is a rare weapon, but making you fire in this weather would be a pain."
He stepped forward into the snow.
"I'll handle it."