Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

However, Kijung, whose physical capabilities had been greatly enhanced through “Dinosaur Transformation,” was not intimidated.

He ducked under his attacks, punched away the incoming magic spells with an open palm! With a loud crash, the moment his arm wavered and broke free, he head-butted Ghibrid’s chest and rolled to the side!

[Hit-]

Ghibrid couldn’t even assume a proper stance. Kijung had already dodged all the incoming magic spells. All that was left was for the magic to hit Ghibrid directly! But, that did not happen.

[-Ah……….]

Because all the incoming magic spells were annihilated.

“Uh, it disappeared?”

“Dispel? No, a dispel? And so quickly?”…

It was quite an odd scene. It was only natural for Hyein to be flustered.

“Didn’t you say it absorbs, sage?”

“Ah, no, last time- last time it surely did. It neither dodged nor blocked the attacks. But now…”

It blocked them. It neutralized the incoming attacks mid-air. The holy light cascaded down, and the white hammer lost its light.

Only some yellow gold dust fluttered towards Ghibrid’s flesh but was also annihilated before reaching him.

“Changing tactics? Teehee, not absorbing anymore…”

“No, maybe it can’t absorb. After all, they are of holy attributes.”

Maybe it didn’t absorb because the skills were inflicting damage of opposite nature.

[We can’t relax; if we want to push back Ghibrid, we must deal a real blow! Lark!]

Kijung dodged Ghibrid’s attacks, blocked them, and shouted. That moment, Ghibrid’s bandage-wrapped hand struck Kijung’s chest.

“Kijung!”

Whoosh!

Kijung’s body was propelled back, rolling several times. Bobae quickly prepared to approach with a potion, but Kijung stood up right away and dashed forward again.

Kijung quickly toggled his character window, checking his condition.

[No damage! Don’t worry!]

“As expected!”

“Good job!”

Tale even took a fighting pose, cheering on Kijung. However, Kijung himself was the most bewildered.

‘I don’t bleed at all. What is this? Is Ghibrid that weak? No, this skill does significantly increase the ‘complete defense chance’… But that wasn’t a ‘complete defense’ just now, so why didn’t it take any damage?’

Currently, he was as if he had Toon’s Great Breastplate Shield wrapped around his whole body. Since the [Complete Defense Chance] attached to the Bone Shield applied to his whole body defense, it would turn the damage from physical attacks to zero with a certain probability. But what about that attack?

Nonetheless, not taking any damage at all?

“Looks like I won’t need to help for him to win, but should I still use my skill-“

[That level of ease isn’t there, hurry!]

“Okay, okay, got it… then, [Red-Sun].”

Whoosh!

Red energy gathered at the tip of Lark’s sword. It wouldn’t take much time.

[If Lark’s attack is successful, everyone, be ready to rush in! We will finish Ghibrid here and now!] Kijung bravely exclaimed.

Avoiding Ghibrid’s physical attack, dismantling the incoming Pyrosphere, and again, breaking down the Paladins’ holy magic with tackles and defensive stances, his actions were heroic.

“Awesome~”

“Kijung is really something today. Even I would struggle to follow those movements.”

“It’s terrifying that attacks might be nullified. Even Ghibrid’s attack ended in nullification.”

“I hope it doesn’t nullify magic too. If it ignored something like [Reverse Gravity]… I can’t see anyone defeating him.”

As Lark was casting his skill, the members of Byulcho and Shin Nara watched in admiration.

To think he’d confront the “Demon King’s Fragment” 1-on-1 and even attempt to decipher its patterns, will the name Master Kay finally echo throughout Middle Earth!

“Ready- Set!”

[Understood! I’ll disrupt his stance, so use it on my signal!]

Kijung glanced back. Lark’s blade was as red-hot as iron thrown into a furnace.

“If it hits, there’s no surviving it. Even Full Power Bluebeard struggled! If it’s Ghibrid with his power not fully returned- we can definitely catch him! I just have to do it right!”

That’s when Ghibrid’s movements suddenly sped up.

[Hmm, guess he doesn’t know fear?]

Seeing Ghibrid’s movements, which were clearly faster than before, Kijung was momentarily flustered but not to the point where he couldn’t react.

The issue was timing the coordination with Lark.

“Master Kay! If you can’t dodge properly, you’ll die!”

[Don’t worry about me! I’ll manage, use it 5 seconds from now!]

“Enduring this will be the death of me, this skill!”

[4 seconds! 3 seconds!]

Ghibrid stretched out both hands, but Kijung knocked them away with each fist. Ghibrid, somewhat desperate, rushed towards Kijung. But a tanker isn’t called a tanker for nothing.

Kijung slipped his leg between Ghibrid’s legs and pushed his chest with his shoulder. That alone was enough to throw off Ghibrid’s balance.

“That’s it! He’s bound to stagger due to the structure! Kijung shouted.

[He’ll be sent flying to my left, 1 second!]

Boom———!

The powerful impact sounded then. Ghibrid momentarily stopped then redirected that force towards Kijung.

“What, what? You said left from your perspective!”

Kijung was the one sent to the left.

[Ah!]

“Damn! The skill was already.”

Believing Kijung’s words, Lark who had tilted his sword to the left, had to hastily raise his wrist to the sky. Something above Lark’s head sparked and then disappeared. Thus, red-Line vanished vainly.

“Kijung!”

“Kay!”

“Protect the Cardinal!”

Byulcho and the Paladins rushed forward. However, there was no further threat to Kijung.

“Ghibrid is disappearing!”

“After driving him away, don’t follow! It’s dangerous!”

Ghibrid was swiftly moving away. Bao still ran towards Kijung, who hadn’t gotten up yet.

“Kijung! Are you okay? Your health? Drink a potion first!”

Whoosh…

The skill “Dinosaur Transformation” was released, and soon, Kijung held the sinister-looking Bone Shield in his hand again. His body didn’t transform into light.

However, Kijung’s expression seemed somewhat vacant.

“Kijung-ssi! Snap out of it! Paladins, please remove the status ailments! Start with lifting the status ailments! Kijung-ssi has been caught in something-“

“No, no, it’s okay, Bobae.”

Bobae thought Kijung had been affected by some skill because he had been staring blankly for a while, but that wasn’t the case.

Kijung got up from his position with Bobae’s support.

“Kay! Are you alright?”

“Ghibrid has gone back!”

“It was a regrettable battle. If only one of us could have joined the fight.”

Maybe we could have really captured Ghibrid. If someone had risked their life. Although Tale’s voice held bitterness, Kijung himself still had a blank expression on his face.

“But compared to Bluebeard, it’s much easier, isn’t it?”

“It’s probably because he hasn’t fully regained his strength yet.”

“Kikiki, think of it the other way. Even without regaining any strength, he neutralized all of our perfect attacks and played around with our guild leader, who’s almost as good as ‘a trickster’.”

All evaluations were indeed true. The members of the Sacred Knights, the Virtue Knights, and the Ezwen Paladins all agreed with this assessment.

“Anyway… it’s clear that he’ll be a continuous threat to the Divine Staff. Appearing twice just today.”

Lark had missed his chance with a Red-Sun skill failure, but he considered this ordeal somewhat lucky.

If hit, without being sure of death, Ghibrid leaving was “the most definite and safest defense success”. It was around then Kijung’s face began to regain its vitality.

“That’s right. Therefore… Cardinal Romero must become the Pope. If the Divine Staff takes a hit, Ghibrid will become stronger and then we will-“

The end was left unsaid, but everyone understood what was left unspoken. How much of Ghibrid’s power is currently available?

Even in a generous estimate, not even 30%. Facing such a being, what would happen if he were given 100% of his power?

The main members of the Tebiel, Minis, and Ezwen Knights were painfully made aware of this.

“First, I’ll return to the capital and convince the nobles in the palace powerfully. We must, of course, re-deploy the knights here, and ensure Cardinal Romero receives strong support during the forthcoming conclave. All members of the Sacred Knights will put forth our best effort.”

Shin Nara spoke in a somewhat stiff tone to Kijung. Kijung nodded in response, meeting her eyes.

“We also have no choice but to step up. The king has been so stubborn, refusing to help… Virtue will move in its own way. We’ll send someone for undercover work in Ezwen.”

Lark said to Kijung as if he understood everything. He had already been in touch with Minis’s power brokers to support Cardinal Romero’s election but promised to act more aggressively.

“Undercover work?”

“The conclave is chosen by the cardinals, isn’t it? Better to approach the cardinals who have voting rights than for us to keep showing up. I’ve heard rumors there’s a skilled individual for such situations, but I wonder if we can pull it off. We’ll do our best to send them.”

Lark winked, causing Kijung to feel somewhat reassured. If he talks this confidently, he must truly be a powerful ally.

“Really, you’re amazing. It’s incredibly annoying, but trusty at the same time.”

Kijung couldn’t help but think. Through their conversation, beams of light flickered in various places.

The arriving forces were members of the Tebiel and Minis knight orders. Although not as many as before, given the urgency of the situation, these groups had pushed to send whatever forces they could.

“Let’s leave protection to them for now… Let’s move, everyone.”

“What are you saying, why are you acting all high and mighty? It was all thanks to Kijung-ssi, right?”

“Haha, but, do I really earn that much dislike, Bobae-ssi?”

“It’s not just earning dislike- Ugh, never mind. The more I talk about it, the more infuriated I get.”

Bobae turned her back sharply away from Lark. Nonetheless, Lark just smiled.

“Then, Shin Nara-ssi, Lark-ssi. I’ll leave it to you. For Cardinal Romero.”

“Don’t worry. Bringing Ghibrid invasion incident to the palace will be enough to persuade them in the direction we want.”

“Same here. Let’s toast in ten days.”

Kijung shook hands with Shin Nara and Lark, signaling the departure of the Sacred and Virtue knights back to their home countries.

“So, Kijung-ssi, you’re going back to Ezwen?”

“Yes. As usual, the Byulcho members will be near Juma City-“

“Ah, ah, don’t worry. Hyun hyung is already taking care of everything.”

“Teleportation always leaves a trace. If Kaztor, that dark elf, comes near the continent, it might be near Juma City by the coast. We’ll thoroughly search that area, so don’t worry, Kay.”

Hearing Hyun’s words, Kijung nodded.

Not just because of what Hyun had said, but the seriousness of the Kaztor situation was felt by all Ezwen affiliated users. Considering what event L4480 might lead to, tracing his steps was a critical task.