Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Arcane Sniper 951

“What in the world!?”

Kijung found his legs nearly paralyzed from the tremendous noise. Even with the chimera rampaging in front of him, the sound was startling enough that he had to turn his head to see what happened.

Even more astonishing was the fact that the chimera, which was poised to attack Kijung, seemed momentarily disoriented by the noise.

While hurriedly dealing with the chimera, Kijung shouted, “W-what kind of noise is that?! What was that sound just now?”

“I don’t know, Kay. But it doesn’t seem like Tiamat’s roar!”

Tale couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

One of Luger’s newly developed projectiles produced a noise comparable to Tiamat’s roar. The combination of the shockwave and sonic boom created by the projectile was incredibly effective.

“Incredible.”

“Bobae, do you see anything? What’s happening?”

“The manticores have disappeared!”

Bobae had been releasing arrows towards the upper front indiscriminately. The sheer number of enemies made it unnecessary to aim at any particular chimera, but even she had been so startled by the sound that it absorbed all her attention.

“What?”

“The manticores are gone! Over there… there were definitely more than 35 manticores! What happened?”

Looking towards Kijung, Bobae seemed bewildered.

Kijung, who had been speaking intermittently, suddenly broke into a broad smile.

“Ha-ha-ha! I knew it! He’s not one to stay idle!”

“Kay?”

“It’s Leeha-hyung! Leeha-hyung―”

“Are you saying Ha Leeha did this? That’s impossible! Ha Leeha’s weapon couldn’t―”

“No, it wasn’t exactly him who fired it, but to be precise—.”

“That kind of power simply can’t come from his weapon, can it? This is a high-grade area attack, no, not even that, strictly speaking… it’s the energy from a projectile piercing through the upper atmosphere that’s causing―”

Bobae continued to elaborate her thoughts at length.

It took quite a while for Kijung to communicate to the group that “Leeha-hyung and Luger were together and it was Luger who fired it.”

“Heh, he’s quite the unusual guy. So, what did the guild leader say?”

“He told us to prepare to fight Ghibrid.”

“How do we even find Ghibrid?”

“We’re not finding it…”

As Kijung struck down another chimera, he laughed. To catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den. That was Kijung’s usual approach.

But does one really have to enter the tiger’s den?

“They plan to lure it out.”

There’s a way to draw the tiger out of its den.

Having slaughtered all the manticores that acted as Ghibrid’s messengers, the creature would surely react. It would come where the bait is.

Leeha and Luger’s thoughts matched perfectly.

Luger was catching his breath. He looked quite exhausted to Leeha.

“Heh, tiring, is it?”

“Dammit, without any agility or strength bonuses! With your stats, you wouldn’t even be able to lift this!”

“Whoa!? So the gear you normally wear must have some impressive options. Oh, so when can we use the next projectile?”

“Ugh― Do you think I’m some kind of machine… It’ll take another minute and 30 seconds.”

A minute and 30 seconds is not a short time.

A minimum of 3,000 MP is required to fire the electromagnetic railgun.

But for Luger, who had forfeited all stat bonuses to maximize MP recovery rate and speed, the delay was somewhat burdensome.

The upside, though, was that the skill had no cooldown period. Nodding at Luger’s words, Leeha acknowledged his struggle.

“Alright. Then focus on the manticores. Until Ghibrid shows up.”

“You’re asking me to ignore Tiamat?”

“Hmm, for now, it’s crucial to draw out Ghibrid. I’ll handle Tiamat.”

As Leeha nodded, Kidd, who stood next to him, cast a look filled with doubt.

“Ha Leeha, are you saying you can handle Tiamat?”

“I’ll at least try. Kidd, head over to Pyro and find out the information Chiyou has.”

“I planned to do that anyway. Then Ha Leeha, you—”

“I need to get going. Prea?”

Leeha pushed Kidd’s back and called out to Prea.

Prea, wearing an expression of keen interest, was shifting from foot to foot impatiently.

“Hehe, I’ve been waiting for this. I think I know what you’re going to do, Ha Leeha.”

“You think it’ll work?”

“I’m dying of curiosity! Hurry and go!”

“Kidd! Then I’ll leave Pyro to you— Aaaah!”

Prea quickly pulled Leeha, and their positions shifted swiftly, thanks to the spirits of wind and earth.

They were headed to the highest battleground in this war, where Tiamat’s head was located.

Luger snorted as he watched the two depart.

“Hmph, that damn guy. Fooling around with a woman.”

“…… Jealous?”

“What are you talking about! Don’t be ridiculous, Kidd.”

Luger yelled at Kidd, who chuckled, his shoulders shaking from amusement.

“Heh. Don’t get yourself killed if Ghibrid shows up.”

“Ha! I should be telling you that. If Pyro is there, Igor will be too. If Chiyou is targeting that place… You’ll be exposed to Kyle, Elizabeth, and Brown. Not that you’d be easily defeated, but even if I got caught, Kidd, you’d be faster to fall.”

Though his tone was mocking, Luger’s concern was genuine.

One of the more perilous tasks at this juncture was dealing with Chiyou, even more so than facing Tiamat.

Moreover, they had no clue where Bluebeard was hiding.

Compared to Luger, who had to deal with the known variable of Ghibrid and the unknown variable of Bluebeard, Kidd had to handle two unknown variables.

Kidd lifted the brim of his hat slightly to look at Luger.

And Luger realized that it had been a long time since he’d seen such an expression on Kidd’s face.

Kidd took something out of his bag.

He strapped something to each ankle and held something in both hands.

It looked like a cross between armor and weapons, but Luger couldn’t discern what they were.

“〈Crimson Geckos〉 won’t fall. No matter who the opponent.”

After finishing his preparations, Kidd began running towards the scene, where flames and screams erupted.

Only after a moment did Luger grasp Kidd’s words.

“It’s not that he himself won’t fall, but rather 〈Crimson Geckos〉 won’t fall? It seems like Crimson Geckos have been awakened… Does it have to do with those items?”

Watching Kidd’s retreating figure, Luger could only furrow his brow. As someone who dealt with ‘firearms’, he couldn’t make sense of the combination at all.

* * *

Leeha secured a spot, watching the furious battle of dragons.

Thanks to Luger’s valiant efforts, the movements of the chimeras became erratic, causing the front lines to fluctuate.

This allowed Leeha and Prea to move with ease in the rear.

Most importantly, the spirits assisting their movements enabled them to reach their objective much faster than regular users.

Their destination was the southern rear of the front line, just a bit further south from Tiamat’s ‘head.’

“Phew, seeing it from here, it’s truly enormous.”

Leeha casually lifted his Black Bass, aiming it in that direction.

Through the scope, Tiamat appeared so colossal that it felt like targeting an aircraft carrier. Moreover, there were multiple such aircraft carriers, and they were floating objects!

“Wow!? What are these spirits…?”

Leeha, startled, shouted the moment he took his eyes off the scope.

“Why are you so surprised? You’ve seen them before.”

“I’ve seen spirit kings, but these spirits―.”

『These spirits? Hah, you. If it weren’t for that necklace, you’d be long crushed by me.』

『…… Why did Lord Bozmok grant such power to a human like you?』

『I might understand why… or perhaps not?』

『Annoying.』

Leeha thought that if the guardians of the Dark Elves were miniaturized or if the spirits he saw in the spirit realm were transformed into 15-year-old human-like beings, they would look just like this.

He saw four types of spirits suddenly summoned next to Prea.

Prea laughed gleefully as she embraced them. She seemed to have already built considerable familiarity with the spirits. Though Leeha felt a pang of curiosity watching her interact so affectionately with them, now wasn’t the time to ask questions.

“Um, spirits. Our target to fight against is—.”

『Tiamat, right.』

『Krrrr, boiling anger! That stupid dragon born from demon fire knows nothing but demon fire!』

The spirits interrupted and thrashed about at Leeha’s words.

Leeha briefly felt perplexed. It wouldn’t be easy to make the spirits understand the strategy. Fortunately, Prea intervened.

“Yes, yes! So… let’s punish it! Destroy! Can you break Tiamat’s shield?”

『Breaking it is impossible.』

“What if anger helps?”

『Even with anger’s help, breaking is hard. But… we can make a hole.』

“Good! Just make a hole enough for you all to get through.”

The spirit of destruction looked at the spirit of wrath. He snorted immediately.

『But I don’t need this guy’s help. I can do it alone―.』

『What? Don’t be ridiculous! We’re both high-ranking spirits; what can you do alone!』

While the high-ranking spirit of wrath raged, Leeha whispered to her. Although he had roughly explained the strategy before, he hadn’t delved into the full role and potential use of the spirits.

— Prea, you’re amazing.

— You’re too kind. Based on what I heard, I figured it might be like this. Enhancing the spirit of destruction with the spirit of wrath to partially destroy Tiamat’s shield. Then we can infiltrate the spirits of chaos and spirit of lethargy and sloth inside, right?

Leeha cautiously asked her.

— Yes, exactly. Can you do it?

The spirit of wind had already emerged beside her.

Spirits couldn’t act independently at this distance from their spiritualist. Ultimately, the spiritualist had to get close to Tiamat.

Leeha, asking carefully, received a nod from Prea.

She had already resolved herself for this level of commitment. Prea’s determination was unwavering, no matter the danger.

“Ha Leeha-ssi, I leave it to you!”

Her protection depended solely on the mightiest cover fire from Middle Earth.

Leeha immediately pulled the bolt.

“Yes. I’ll stop anyone who approaches the spirits.”

Click.

“Then, let’s go!”

“Let’s go, Celestine! And the dark four siblings!”

『We’re not siblings! Stop making us boil with rage!』

One of Leeha’s secret weapons went into action.

There were a superior spirit of chaos and an intermediate spirit of power. If they could just reach near Tiamat’s head!Nôv(el)B\\jnn

‘It’s possible. If I combine the skills I obtained with the spirits’ power…’