Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Surely, it’s not like there aren’t concerns, but now’s not the time to voice them.”

Realizing this, Leeha nodded with a smile.

“It’s alright, don’t worry.”

“Y-Yes?”

“After all, the five Paladins that came with Cardinal Romero are among the elite.”

Leeha glanced at the five knights surrounding Cardinal Romero. Responding to Leeha’s words, the knights brought their swords to their chests as a salute. Leeha, seeing this, smiled contentedly and then cocked the hammer of Black Bass.

“And then…”

Click!

The sound of a bullet being chambered made the Bishop NPC flinch.

“With me here, no enemy will come close enough to bother us, so don’t worry.”

“It’s not that we doubt you, but… Should anything happen to the Cardinal, our theocracy—”

Boom!

A Two-Headed Ogre’s chest vanished with a loud explosion.

“What was that? I didn’t catch it.”

Click!

The sound of the gun being reloaded.

“No, nothing at all.”

The Bishop NPC’s anxious expression had vanished. Leeha returned his focus to the scope.

“It seems handling the monsters won’t be much of an issue. Koma and Blaugrunn are also giving their all… Should be done in under three hours?”

While all showcased impressive skills, Leeha noticed discernible differences in combat ability among the groups.

“Hmm, as expected of Sacred Knights.”

Their white glowing halos and pure white cloaks. Their cloaks seemed unstained by blood. Led by Shin Nara, the Sacred Knights, Fibiel’s Capital Defense Knights, were overwhelmingly pushing back large monsters.

“Kay, Hyein, and Bobae’s combination seems pretty good lately. Kijung might be a bit jealous.”

Next, there was Byulcho.

Their past focus on elite numbers shone through at moments like this. Since the guild was well-coordinated, their division of members and link-up play were impeccable. Among them, Hyein and Bobae caught Leeha’s attention.

With Mass Blink, Hyein could instantly move close to targets, and Bobae, from any position, could precisely shoot arrows to their destination. Teleporting to a good vantage point to target the nape of large monsters, Bobae would swiftly fill it with various arrows, quickly eliminating nearby monsters.

Then there were Kijung, Tale, Biyemi, and Jin Gonggong, none of whom were ordinary.

“Kijung, that guy, not even sharing his ‘Strengthening’ results. But he’s definitely improved.”

While typical knights of knight orders and their tank NPCs would generally avoid monsters’ attacks as much as possible, within Leeha’s scope, Kijung alone was withstanding attacks from five huge monsters.

Without dodging, facing them head-on, holding only his shield.

Once he successfully drew the aggro, Biyemi’s debuff skills hit the mark! Tale, grabbed by Jin Gonggong transformed into a Golden Eagle, was bombing from the air.

The added velocity of Tale’s flaming sword thrust was perfectly aimed, exploiting the monsters’ weak points flawlessly from their blind spots.

“And then… it’s them, isn’t it?”

While other knight orders were certainly strong and spectacular, there was one group that caught Leeha’s eye. Not for the cleanliness of the Sacred Knights or the ingenious efficiency of Byulcho, but for their sheer ‘brilliance’, a knight order that in no way fell short.

“Anyway, since I don’t fully understand swordsmanship or knight skills, I guess I’ll never really know. But what in the world is that?”At least, Leeha was familiar with styles that involved cutting down an adversary with brute strength or swiftly slicing through them in an instant with a rapid blade.

However, the movements before him seemed to have no relation to either speed or power, leaving him at a loss for words.

The only sensation Leeha could ascertain was that it was ‘spectacular’.

Every swing of the sword left a vivid afterimage, and the fact that these afterimages were rainbow-colored seemed almost expected.

“The ‘Knight of the Rainbow’… just as literal as it gets. Even their knights’ skills are quite formidable.”

The Virtuous Knight Order was valiant. The attacks of the Sacred Knight Order mainly consisted of a combination of magic and swordsmanship.

One strike and one block. This clean execution was why Leeha considered them ‘neat’.

But Virtue was different. To Leeha, their approach felt nearly underhanded.

“All they do is attack?”

Strike once, then twice, thrice, and a fourth time? In other words, it was an overwhelming offensive that gave no chance for the opponent to counterattack or even find an opening. However, Leeha’s first impression was that it was ‘sneaky’.

Leeha: Kijung, see that, Lark?

Kijung: Yeah. Can’t help but watch even if I didn’t want to. What’s with that?

Leeha: What even… You don’t know?

Kijung: By the looks of it, probably a tanking class, and since it’s ‘Knight of the Rainbow’, the job’s likely a Knight. But I’ve never seen such skills.

Kijung also couldn’t quite figure him out. Leeha promptly sent a whispered message to Shin Nara, but she was similarly clueless. The difference was her judgement of his movements.

Nara: It’s slower than I expected.

Leeha: Slower?

Nara: Compared to me. It might seem fast to Leeha-ssi.

Leeha:… So, what do you think, Nara-ssi?

Nara: Not a strength-based or agility-based type, yet with such attack power… There’s only one thing I can think of.

Hearing Shin Nara’s words, something briefly dawned on Leeha as well.

Leeha had invested heavily in agility, and his attack power with a musket was indeed not weak.

But what was essential for Leeha to fully exhibit his skills?

Leeha: Could it be the weapon?

Nara: That seems like the right guess. A typical knight order would have a unified swordsmanship technique. For users, it means skills. Skills that are secrets passed down within the knight order. But only that guy has a sword that sparkles like a rainbow. If it were a skill, then all knights around him would have it too.

Shin Nara was thinking about the weapon Lark held. Leeha agreed with her theory.

Shin Nara used a rapier, designed for thrusting, but there were times when her movements or skills overlapped with those of the Sacred Knight Order.

Her unique fencing techniques added to create a distinctive offense and defense system.

“Indeed. Then, even on the lower end, it must be of legendary quality. No, maybe even more… potentially, ‘Mythical’.”

Considering that Kijung, holding a legendary sword and a specially enhanced shield, doubted his chances in a 1:1 fight, it was a significant thought.

“Damn, if someone wielding a mythical sword causes a disturbance—”

Leeha once again surveyed Lark through the scope. His swordsmanship neither felt swift nor heavy. Yet, those ordinary movements effortlessly sliced off the limbs of giant monsters. For Leeha, who could even discern facial expressions, the effort Lark put into his strikes seemed less than what one would use to cut through tofu.

“If we bring Blaugrunn into this, we might be able to stop him but…”

“Excuse me? What did you say?”

“Ah? Nothing important. Just keep taking good care of the Cardinal, bishop-ajussi.”

“Bishop-ajussi? Even though I am from the Ezwen Church—”

Leeha paid no mind to the NPC bishop’s words.

To involve Blaugrunn in stopping this? If by a one in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand chance, that sword cuts through Blaugrunn?

Even dragon scales aren’t invincible. No one knows this better than Leeha.

Considering that Blaugrunn, albeit closer to an adult than a juvenile dragon, could potentially be cut by a ‘Mythical’ item—

“Mythical items can even resurrect dead NPCs. Since bringing Blaugrunn back was an Easter egg from the myths. The opposite assumption is entirely plausible. With a mythical weapon… killing a dragon would pose no challenge.”

“Damn it, he looks like trouble. Should we just shoot him here?”

But there were too many eyes watching.

And the sound of gunfire was enormously loud. If a monster with an attack pattern similar to Black Bass was nearby, they might have been able to pretend it was something else, but otherwise, it was clear that all eyes would be on them.

“Still, if it’s a one-shot kill, it doesn’t matter, right?”

If they could achieve instant death… the attacker’s notification system would pop up before the guy could log out.

Leeha aimed at Lark’s head.

Lark had just slashed through a Two-Headed Ogre’s heads in a single swing.

As soon as he landed, he was about to launch another attack when his head whipped back, looking up at the sky.

“Huh?”

Lark pointed towards the sky.

His mouth moved, saying something, but Leeha couldn’t hear it from where he was.

However, at his shout, all the nearby knights looked up as well.

“What’s happening, all of a sudden?”

“Ah, aaaah… That- Those are surely not…”

Leeha, who had been focused solely on the world through his scope, was naturally the last to notice them.

It was only after hearing the bishop’s scornful voice that Leeha took his eye off the scope.

“Leeha-nim. Enemies are approaching. You have about 20 minutes left.”

“Hyung!? Hyung! What’s that!? Can it be that?”

“Leeha-ssi! In the sky! Up in the air!”

“Leeha-nim? The path to the Divine Staff is twisting! Something is here!”

Kijung, Shin Nara, and Fernand, who had been moving to find an alternative route just in case, all messages came in simultaneously.

But Leeha couldn’t focus clearly on those voices.

“This is insane…”

Divine Staff might have been beyond his scope, but it was visible enough through it.

Those darkening the sky as they flew. Those shaking the ground as they ran.

They were unmistakably minions of demons.

When the ground started to shake slightly, as if a minor earthquake had occurred, making the land near the Divine Staff tremble, their leader had already entered Leeha’s scope.

“…Toon…!”

A host of Manticore among other flying monsters, and a horde of massive beasts. Leading them was Toon.

The distance between the vanguard engaged in combat and the Divine Staff was about 400 meters. The distance from the Divine Staff to Toon and the others was roughly 1,000 meters.

“My Lord… Haven’t You led us to the Divine Staff?”

The bishop NPC knelt, trembling.

Even the NPCs who had prayed during every wave were scared enough of the might of these enemies.

“Leeha-nim, what will you do?”

“Huh?”

“Including myself, the guidance to this Divine Staff is now entirely left to Guide Leeha. Even His Holiness has said to prioritize your judgement above all.”

Cardinal Romero asked Leeha.

This was an unusual way of speaking to Leeha. The fact that they were leaving it to his judgement didn’t feel like a mere shirking of responsibility.

It was a genuinely earnest question.

Was there ever such a kindly grandfatherly NPC before?

‘Especially compared to Bahamut,’ Leeha thought, as he wiped his nose.

“Tsk, when you put it like that, there’s only one answer, isn’t there? And if the Divine Staff is gone-”

Then he pulled the trigger with a smile.

“Ghibrid will awaken. Why don’t you go ahead and pray? We need to reach the Divine Staff before those creatures.”

Click-!

The preparations for battle were complete.

All that was left was to see who would reach it first.