Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Leeha couldn’t take his eyes off the scope.

He had clearly shot through the head, so why hadn’t it died? Not only had it not died, but…

“Has it discovered me?”

How had it pinpointed his location so quickly? It wasn’t just sensing the direction. The vertically split pupil of Toon was unmistakably looking right at him.

Leeha felt sweat trickle down his spine.

The mere eye contact with Toon reignited a sense of impending doom in him.

No gunshot could have been heard in that chaos, but with just one attack, Toon had definitely pinpointed his location.

What could be the method? It meant someone was watching.

As if to prove Leeha’s hunch, the pressure on Bailephus had just eased. Leeha hastily got up from his position.

“Damn it, I always have bad feelings about this-” Thwack-!

The ground where he had been lying erupted in dust and gravel.

A piece of gravel shot up towards his face, but his Jellipong armor, transformed into a coat, easily deflected it.

[Mong Mong Mong!]

“Thanks, Jellypong!”

There was only one reason Toon could have spotted him.

Either Brown or Elizabeth, one of them had spotted him.

“Damn it! Shared vision!”

Most users couldn’t understand why Toon had staggered momentarily or why it was bleeding from its eye sockets.

Only those who knew of Leeha’s prowess understood that attack, thinking that with Leeha’s sniping, they could defeat Toon. However, such a shot would no longer be possible.

Though not as noisy as the pandemonium between Toon and the users, a more intense and suffocating chase between the snipers had just begun.

“Damn it, I based the sniping points on where Toon appeared during the first total attack-“

Leeha frowned as he looked over the map drawn by Rubini.

He had set five sniping points specifically for targeting Toon.

Indeed, Toon had appeared in a similar spot as during the first total attack, and Leeha’s sniping point setup was excellent, but regrettably, too perfect, making it easy to be exposed to the enemy.

A position a top sniper would think of could be easily predicted by top snipers on the other side.

“I just wanted to take down Toon and escape! I wasn’t ready to face the original three snipers yet-“

Thwack-!

“Argh!”

Leeha stumbled as the ground suddenly gave way. Tripping in the dug-up earth, he rolled down helplessly.

“Shooting at a moving target with such precision-“

But even as he fell, he noticed the dug-up ground. Based on his current position, the angle was about 340 degrees. From this angle…

“Behind this rock, they can’t hit me!”

Leeha crawled without a care for dignity, seeking cover behind the rock.

The rock was small, barely enough to cover him if he huddled up, but it was the safest refuge at the moment.

‘I’ve got the direction but can’t figure out the distance.’

His head was regretful, but his body was already reacting.

There was almost no sound, only a faint sound of air displacement. It was definitely more than 4 km away.

‘And if I assume they fired two shots at Bailephus…’

When Bailephus’s duplicate and the real one split in different directions, Leeha couldn’t tell which was which, but one of them had been hit twice.

Leeha had observed the entire situation.

‘3.3 seconds. Assuming a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s, the distance of one of them from Bailephus at that time was about 2.7 km.’

Bailephus was much farther ahead of Leeha.

Based on that location, if it’s 2.7 km from Bailephus, what would be the distance to Leeha now?

He already knew the direction.

With only approximate data on direction and distance, Leeha’s mind compiled all the necessary information to solve the trigonometric puzzle.

‘Anyway, finding the target is about moving from abstraction to approximation, and from approximation to detail! So, based on the current standard, the distance between the enemy and me is around 4.5 km or so!’

Click, click, click.

Leeha quickly adjusted the Black Bass.

He knew without seeing. The last thing left was to check! Cautiously, Leeha peered out.

‘1.2… 3..4..5..

Thwoooaaah!

Leeha’s head was struck and sent flying far away.

“Ah!”

Or rather, precisely speaking, it was a piece of jerky he had taken out of his bag, stuck on a branch, and slightly exposed as a decoy.

It was a powerful blow enough to numb his hand, but Leeha was not discouraged.

In fact, he was slightly excited.

That single shot allowed him to infer much.

When someone too skilled makes a mistake, it often turns against them.

‘Good. Good. That beastly reaction, thanks to that, you’re going to die.’ If he had observed a bit longer, he would have realized it wasn’t a head, but the skill was too good, triggering the trigger without even confirming it was a decoy.

‘And with that reaction – I can guess who you are. Same personality as Luger, huh?’

Reacting before thinking? Snipers don’t do that.

Then, the one targeting Leeha now is more likely to be using ‘piercing’ shots rather than ‘accurate’ ones.

Seeing the unseen enemy.

No, one must be able to see in order to survive a sniper battle. It’s the most basic and crucial point.

An instinct, even without experience, stirred Leeha’s blood.

‘Well, then it’s time to return the favor.’

Leeha took out another piece of jerky.

There’s only one chance.

He steadied his breath.

Then he threw the jerky to the right and rolled to the left. At the same time, he quietly murmured the skill of the Black Bass.

“[Camouflage]!”

Whoosh…

Now he knew the direction.

Leeha moved the scope busily. Using Camouflage, as long as there’s no significant movement, the enemy shouldn’t be able to see him.

More importantly, he threw the jerky and rolled in the opposite direction.

Even Brown couldn’t see this place with the naked eye. He must be using a scope. Therefore, a moment’s shake would have prevented him from detecting Leeha using Camouflage.

‘Where are you?’

Haaah…

But it’s not a guarantee of safety.

Even if it buys time, it wouldn’t be more than a minute. Leeha’s scope moved rapidly.

The direction wouldn’t be more than 10 degrees wider than the front. The distance had already been sufficiently predicted.

He can find it. He must trust his calculations.

The enemy is definitely there.

In Leeha’s scope, something shimmering entered.

The light flickered for a moment and then disappeared, but Leeha knew what it meant.

A sound of thwoooaaah came from his right.

‘Opened the scope cap, used it to fire, then as soon as he realized it was a decoy, closed the cap.’

But it was too late.

The sunlight reflecting off the lens had already given away the position.

Leeha focused there. It was all similar natural colors, but it couldn’t escape his eyes.

On a rotting tree stump, he saw a long stick coated in dark brown.

A camouflaged rifle, but once seen, it was not difficult to filter it out.

Behind the stick, he quickly spotted a figure in a dark brown robe, fully cloaked.

Someone was there.

Sitting and shooting, a person had placed the rifle on the tree stump.

It wasn’t close enough to see the face, but Leeha recognized him.

‘Mr. Brown.’

The distance was about 4.4km.

Finally, Leeha had found Brown.

If he was slightly distracted, he wouldn’t be able to distinguish if what he was seeing was a person, a slightly elongated rock, a cactus, or a tree.

From 4.4km away, Brown appeared at that level to Leeha.

For Leeha, succeeding in a snipe over 4km had only happened once before, and that was against a Brass Golem over 10 meters tall and distinctly colored.

‘There’s no time to whine. I just hope Camouflage doesn’t wear off…’

Leeha clenched his teeth.

If this skill broke the camouflage effect of Camouflage, it would all be over.

But Camouflage is a legendary skill of the Black Bass!

Leeha trusted in it.

Above all, without these skills, sniping Brown from this distance would be impossible.

“[Joint Fixation: Lower], [Joint Fixation: Upper].”

Whirrrr…

Leeha felt the mana vines wrapping around his body and focused his gaze on Brown.

Were there any movements, had the scope cap been opened again, did he notice any flickering dark brown mana energy?!

‘No movements. Good.’

Camouflage had indeed met Leeha’s expectations.

As long as the user doesn’t deactivate it themselves, the only condition to break Camouflage is ‘moving more than 1m in 1 minute.’

Leeha would have loved to shoot Toon, but if Brown was watching him from that spot, he would undoubtedly die after the shot.

‘Let’s do this. I have to.’

Leeha steadied his breath.

Brown hadn’t discovered him yet.

If he doesn’t take down Brown now, neutralizing Toon would also be impossible.

Leeha saw Brown.

It wasn’t clear, but it was enough. As long as there was no movement like now, even an absurd ultra-long-range snipe of 4.4km might have a chance.

‘This isn’t reality, a place where impossible snipes become possible. Besides, I can even ignore wind direction and speed.’

Leeha pulled the trigger.

Click!

His heart rate, heightened by intense movement and tension, was now calming down.

He shouldn’t be excited. The most crucial moment should be met with the most relaxed mind to pull the trigger.

Leeha completely relaxed his body.

Even in a moment of emptiness, his body was firmly supported by the vines created by the Joint Fixation skill. Focusing on Brown and aiming at him, Leeha couldn’t even think ‘Will I become the Matan’s Shooter if I kill Brown?’

“Haahaaaa—-[Sniping]”

After using the last skill to increase range, Leeha’s index finger began to pull the trigger.

He had perfectly observed Brown.

The timing of the shot was also excellent.

But if there was one thing lacking, it was not figuring out who the old generation ‘pierce’ was.

What does it mean to throw a decoy and stay hidden all the time?

Where can someone who doesn’t use spatial movement go?

Using a decoy is not something a defensive person does.

If one wants to act offensively, what can they do?

Especially if such a person is invisible? What should I do now?

Brown had already finished thinking about all this.

Just before pulling the trigger.

“…Huh?!”

No, when Leeha’s index finger had pulled the trigger about 30%, his mind suddenly snapped back to awareness.

He saw the long stick on the tree stump shaking.

He knew what it meant. Leeha quickly tried to pull the trigger.

“Damn – Hurry -“

Thwoooaaah——–

“Whoaaa!”

The rock where Leeha had been hiding just moments ago was shattered.

The penetrating explosive rounds that Luger could use were techniques passed down from Brown. It would be impossible for the original three snipers not to be able to use that skill.

“Thanks, Jellypong! But – where’s my bullet?!” Thankfully, due to the Joint Fixation skill keeping his body fixed and immobile, he didn’t move!

Leeha’s Camouflage was still intact.

Jellypong had protected Leeha, enveloped within the explosion range, so his HP wasn’t reduced.

But that was all.