Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Across the gun barrel, the face of Toon, with eyes that could hardly move, seemed to completely dominate Leeha.

‘I can shoot. I must shoot-‘

“Leeha-nim!”

“Ah! Blaugrunn-ssi.”

It was Blaugrunn who woke Leeha, who was losing himself in his own mental world.

Blaugrunn had left the front lines where he had been, and as the users screamed in fear facing the giant monsters, he could no longer stay there.

“Stay calm. It’s alright.”

He was the only one present who understood Leeha’s condition.

Blaugrunn placed his tiny hand on the back of Leeha’s hand.

“So what if you fail? If it’s not working, I could turn into a dragon right now and tear Toon apart. Just give the word.”

Hearing words of tearing and shredding in such a cute voice strangely brought a smile to Leeha’s face.

That brief moment of relaxation stopped the tremor in Leeha’s body.

“What kind of improper home training is that? Talk like that and you’ll get scolded by Lord Bahamut.”

“Lord?”

“Well, anyways, thank you. Because of you-“

Whoooosh…

Leeha took a deep breath.

Magazine loaded, gun charged, aimed. Everything was perfectly ready.

Only one step remained before firing.

“I’ve got the confidence. Screw it, it’s just a game anyway.”

Haaaaah…

Leeha’s index finger pulled the trigger.

[Holy Power Charged: 88.33%]

Baaaaaang……!!

A bullet traveling at 830 m/s just to cover a mere hundred meters.

The target should be completely torn up by it before even realizing the bullet was upon it.

If only Leeha had pulled the trigger a bit sooner.

Craaaash…!

What was heard was the sharp sound of shattering.

The rock mass that had somehow clustered in front of Toon’s forehead disintegrated into fine particles and vanished.

“What-“

Certainly, the users on the Demon King’s Army, aware of Leeha’s presence, could not just stand by!

“Well done, Prea! And thanks to-“

Chiyou leaped from behind Toon.

Time remaining 1 minute 10 seconds.

Sylphs clung to her back. Users were momentarily baffled watching Chiyou covering the distance in the blink of an eye.

It took a moment for the users, who had been focused only on Toon, to switch their target to Chiyou.

“This-“

Leeha hurriedly turned his gun.

Chiyou could be shot. She’s different from Toon!

But hitting Chiyou, who had sylphs attached and was rapidly closing the distance with the “Divine Staff” in a gliding motion, was a challenging task.

“Leeha-nim, I’ll block it for you!”

Blaugrunn rushed to cast his spell, but there seemed to be too little time.

One person alone!

A user who had been focusing solely on Chiyou from the beginning instead of the surrounding monsters or Toon executed their masterstroke.

Whooshing through—–

“Argh!? What, what is this!?”

Chiyou’s body suddenly came to a halt mid-air as someone snagged her ankle.

“Hehehe. Surprised?”

“Biyemi-nim? How could you- no, what is this-“

Chiyou frowned.

It was an attack form she had totally not anticipated.

Biyemi-nim’s body was still on the ground. The reason he could snatch Chiyou’s ankle from the air was because his ‘neck’ had extended!

“I didn’t just receive acid poison from the snakes. Hehehe, I thought you would certainly prepare the next move, you.”

“So close-“

At a distance where the grain of the Divine Staff was visible, merely about 20m away, Chiyou turned ashen. But there was no time to heave a sigh of relief.

“Argh, what is everyone doing!? This isn’t the time to focus there! Everything’s ruined!”

The arm of Kijung holding the sword dropped to the ground.

With his vision completely obscured, Kijung could not tell from where Toon’s attack would come.

[Well done, Chiyou and the spirit summoner! I’ll finish this!]

Toon raised his arm, which had completely lost energy, and struck down towards Kijung.”

No, no, noooooo——–!”

Even as Bobae pulled the bowstring, they couldn’t stop the dinosaur’s arm. The only thing that could stop the dinosaur’s arm at this moment was a gunshot that suddenly rang out, loud enough to drown out Bobae’s screams. Despite the noise, a few users with good hearing caught a very faint voice just before the gunshot, saying, “Ice Age: Mana Pool Charging.”

“Ice?”

“Ice Age! It’s Ram Hwajung!”

As users cheered, they watched Toon’s arm, which had been swinging like a whip, freeze solid.

“What? What’s happening? Why is Ram Hwajung here?”

Though Kijung, the victim at risk, couldn’t quite grasp the situation due to blurred vision, the happy voice of Bobae and the mention of Ram Hwajung allowed him to roughly guess what was going on. [An ice mage!? At this level…]

Toon frowned. It wasn’t just a hand or forearm that was frozen, but all the way to the shoulder—a powerfully potent spell!

Though he completely lost control of one arm, Toon was still complacent. After all, Ram Hwajung had used all her mana to freeze only one arm, and that too, an arm that Kijung had weakened by using [Sacrifice] to drain its power.

Toon still had his other arm, and besides, a simple yet effective headbutt was among his remaining options.

“Ram Hwajung, I’ll thank you later!”

“Sorry I’m late. Oppa. Quickly.”

The person who whispered to Leeha right after the battle began was Jachung. Leeha, who had been continuously checking the friend window to call for help, had asked Jachung to quickly summon Ram Hwajung.

Although Leeha couldn’t assess the situation precisely, it was clear that Jachung wouldn’t refuse Leeha’s request. After all, if Leeha called, Ram Hwajung would hurry over even if she was shopping.

[Holy Power Charging: 93.33%]

“What about Ha Leeha’s attack?! The one just shot—”

“It missed. Please quiet down for a moment, Blaugrunn.”

Leeha knew that the shot had missed. It was aimed at the head, right between the eyes. But at the moment of firing, Leeha inadvertently tilted the barrel slightly, pulling the trigger. It was a form of natural avoidance dictated by a different fear than a simple mistake.

‘Just need one fatal hit. Shoot, I have about 40 seconds left!’

That’s all that was needed to survive!

Leeha aimed at Toon again, but this time the direction of the gun barrel was slightly different. Although aiming at the forehead, Leeha’s body still wasn’t cooperating, but what about that frozen arm?

[It was fun, nameless paladin.]

Toon raised his remaining arm again. The moment his elongated arm swung, Kijung’s body would shatter into pieces.

“Sacred Knights! Protect Master Kay!”

“Get lost! Get the hell away, you dinosaur bastard!”

Shin Nara hurriedly led the Sacred Knights in a charge. Bobae also tried screaming and pulling the bowstring, but only a few arrows were able to stick into Toon’s frozen arm, unable to inflict lethal injuries with normal attacks instead of skills.

“Activate the joint barrier!”

Shin Nara swung her sword, drawing a diamond in the air. The Sacred Knights’ chant flowed into that diamond shape.

“Hehe, that magic is said to protect the king, but with this number of knights…”

Without a significant number of Sacred Knights gathered, it was difficult to form a proper alignment to combat the surrounding large monsters.

With just four members, including Shin Nara, could they really stop Toon’s attack? There was a time when top tankers like Alexander, Lee Jiwon, and Pei Wu barely managed to block such an attack.

Biyemi’s pessimism was entirely justified.

“Die.”

Toon swung his arm. The chilling sound of it slicing through the air reached even Leeha’s ears.

Still aiming for Toon’s frozen arm, Leeha’s forefinger trembled as all effort went into pulling the trigger, yet it wouldn’t move.

Just when everyone thought Kijung’s life was truly in danger, one more user made the same guess as Biyemi.

“This can’t happen!”

Whoosh!

The master of space magic, sage Hyein, had already set the coordinates. Immediately after teleporting beside Shin Nara and Kijung, she tapped the ground with her staff.

“And now, [Mass Teleport]!”

Pop!

“Waaaaaah-!”

The mere rush of air was strong enough to send Bobae flying 3 meters, but miraculously, there were no victims.

“Haa.. Haa… Hyein-ssi?”

“Hoo, I acknowledge the Knights’ stance on protecting the defenseless, but if Shin Nara-ssi and the Sacred Knights fall, all hope will too. Please keep that in mind.”

Hyein lightly patted Shin Nara’s head and then ran off.

In that moment, Kijung, who suddenly found himself treated as ‘defenseless,’ was still looking around, not quite understanding the situation.

“Kijung-ssi!”

“Bobae-ssi, d-do you have a potion?”

“You didn’t bring any potions?”

“No, I… drank them all…”

Bobae’s attempt to rush into Kijung’s arms deflated with his nonsensical response.

However, she couldn’t afford to stay disheartened forever. Toon, whose attack had just failed, began charging in a fit of heightened rage.

[You bugs are so annoying! I’ll make you-]

“That’s right. There should have been no one here.”

Leeha, witnessing Toon’s furious charge, strangely felt a sense of peace.

She couldn’t be sure, but it felt like she was faintly gazing into the essence of the fear she had felt all this time.

[Not even satisfying to crunch-]

Her trembling fingers finally moved.

Twaaang——-—!!

[Gahhh!]

Toon stumbled in his attempt to charge.

Considering the added weight from his frozen limb, any abnormal force applied could easily disrupt the balance of even a 44m-tall dinosaur.

[Ha… ha…!]

Thud, thud- thud—!

Toon finally initiated his last assault.

He no longer had the luxury to perform any minor attacks, including swinging.

[Mystic Power Charge: 97.6%]

“Please, do something, Leeha! Just 14 more seconds- if we can hold out for just 14 more seconds!”

The bishop NPC, unable to even stand properly, urged Leeha on while being supported by a paladin.

Baaaang——! The sound of Leeha firing rang out

once again.

Toon, though stumbling, didn’t completely lose his balance.

Given Toon’s size, even if his frozen arm completely shattered and fell off, the distance of about 100 meters could be covered back and forth several times within 14 seconds.

“Leeha-ssi! Permission!”

Blaugrunn shouted to Leeha.

If he transformed into a dragon, he could block it with a body slam.

Even tumbling with Toon for a few seconds would be enough to halt it!

Leeha was left with no choice but to make a decision.

Now was not the time to hide this.

After calculating the impact of Blaugrunn’s influence and Toon’s charge, Leeha shouted.

“Damn, damn! Alright, Blaugrunn-ssi, transform into a-“

“Whoa—Haha! The fun starts here!”

“-Eh!?”

“What, what’s that?”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind Leeha.

Prea’s erected stone wall was still standing tall, but someone clambered up and leapt down, shouting!

Leeha did not turn her head towards the noise and instead pulled the trigger once more, striking Toon’s arm.

Baaaang——! Cracks began to spreadthroughout the entire arm of ice.

But a few users who were distanced from Toon turned towards the source of the voice.

What caught their eyes was a brilliant 7-colored afterimage.

“Im… [Knight of the Rainbow]! It’s Lark!”

As Lark ran, the afterimage of his sword flashed in seven colors.

Even with Toon right in front of him, he didn’t slow down.

“I’ve always wanted to join in the fight, dinosaur! Isn’t it cool? Tyrannosaurus?”

[Foolish human-]

Toon, having not yet a chance to experience Lark’s attack patterns, attempted to sweep Lark away with his remaining arm.

Even without previous experience, the abnormal length of the arm and his movements made the attack rather predictable.

“La, Lark-ssi!”

Yet, Lark did not retreat.

Facing the natural-disaster-like attack of Toon, he too swung his sword with all his might, head-on.