Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Dragon? Why? If we need a dragon, we already have Alexander.”

“But we need proper communication. I’ve told him several times that it’s a moment to uphold justice, but he hasn’t been responding. Will Leeha respond if asked? If not, we can call Alexander instead of the dragon.”

Leeha opened his friend’s window. Alexander’s location was private, but he was clearly online.

“Damn it. Anyway, concept lover!”

Did Leeha not receive Lark’s call because something bothersome had occurred? Yet at that moment, Leeha could understand Alexander’s mentality. When that kind of tone resounded, anyone would want to avoid it.

“Ah, alright. Let’s hear the reason then. Why suddenly the need for a dragon? Do we need a dragon to catch some troublemaker? You don’t even know who it is.”

“While we don’t know who the perpetrator is, there is a commonality among the ‘victims.’”

“Commonality?”

As Leeha chuckled, Lark took a step closer to him. Leeha met his gaze directly. Despite his mocking tone due to his abrasive personality, there was no denying his handsome face.

“The four villages destroyed in Fibiel. And the four villages attacked in Minis, all of them were villages of women.”

A fleeting sense of unease crossed Lark’s handsome face.

“The point is that therer are dragon lairs near the villages. And all the dragons in those lair areas have disappeared. There were no dragons in the lair areas. It’s as if they vanished in an instant. Poof, gone.”

At that moment, one word passed through Leeha’s mind.

“No way….”

“Is there something on your mind?”

Gulp

Leeha swallowed the name that was on the verge of slipping out. There was no need to create unnecessary confusion in the midst of uncertain information. However, if an individual had carried out such a significant event in a ‘very short time,’ and the ‘dragons in the vicinity disappeared,’ then that being possesses power beyond that of dragons. Besides Bluebeard, who else could it be?

Leeha thought of the name of a dragon he knew but had never seen.

“Tiamat?”

The queen of the chromatic dragons.

The six-headed dragon, Tiamat.

A warning was going off in Leeha’s head.

“Wh-what did she look like? Even if it was just one person. If there were any users, wouldn’t they have spread the word to someone they knew?”

“That’s exactly the problem.”

“Excuse me?”

“The fact that even those who saw her couldn’t properly describe her.”

Lark clicked his index finger back and forth. Leeha’s pupils dilated.

“… That’s absurd. It’s not even blue hair-“

“That’s why I said it’s a problem. It means someone that extraordinary appeared out of nowhere… Really, where could such a thing be hiding?”

Lark’s words were spot on.

That was the ‘problem’.

Leeha could also deduce that the level of the users swept away in the turmoil was not high. Even so, weren’t there a few users above level 150?

“Did those people not see clearly who attacked them, or who their neighbors were being attacked by?”

Watching Leeha’s serious expression, sinaara cautiously opened her mouth.

“There are not many useful testimonies. A very large figure, wearing something like a robe… and ‘swinging something huge like a dragon’s tail’…”

“A dragon’s tail?”

“Yes. Wrapped in a cloak and robe, there was something thick and long protruding between them.”

Shin Nara didn’t hesitate to call Leeha immediately, also supported by Lark’s suggestion for testimony.

Leeha didn’t hesitate anymore. At this level, whether it was Tiamat or not, it was a serious situation.

‘With Chiyou and Bluebeard alone being complicated…’

Leeha furrowed his brow, organizing his thoughts.

“If it turns out to be Tiamat… this isn’t something I can handle alone!”

Leeha immediately sent a confidential message to Blaugrunn.

Even Blaugrunn, who took the conversation seriously, eventually acknowledged that it wasn’t something he could handle just before entering the adult level.

Blaugrunn: I’ve informed Lord.

Leeha: I’ll come over right away, so let’s meet on your end.

Blaugrunn: Yes, Leeha-nim. If the queen of the chromatic dragons caused the incident, then it should be the king of the metal dragons who finishes it.

“Nara, I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Yes. Please let me know what happened. I’d be happy to help.”

“It’s always best to lend a hand, isn’t it? It would be much easier with Ha Leeha around, don’t you think? Bang, bang with that rifle!”

“… Hmm, anyway.”

Meanwhile, watching Lark point his finger rifle at him, Leeha activated the teleportation scroll.

“Oh, by the way, I can vaguely guess where you’re going. Can’t I come along? Wasn’t it the last time that ‘Grandpa’ told me to get along with Ha Leeha? Did you forget?”

“Huh? Oh, no, I was about to activate it.”

Just from that brief chat and action, did he accurately deduce where Leeha was heading, even mentioning ‘Grandpa,’ Bahamut’s human form? He could foresee the future just from my actions? The master of foresight through observation.

“Ha-ha, wanna go? Huh? Let me show you my readiness. I always carry around five spare teleportation crystals, you know, in case we need them! Let’s go, shall we?”

Seeing Lark approaching with a considerate expression while Leeha hesitated did not sit well with me.

“Ugh… but… I… I don’t want to go with you! I don’t like it! Just no! I hate it! Maybe one day, but not now. Shh!”

Leeha glanced at Lark for a moment, then simply activated the teleportation crystal.

“Hey, that’s cold.”

“But how does Lark know where Leeha is going or what he’s going to do? ‘Grandpa’?”

“You mentioned it before.”

“Me? What did I say?”

Shin Nara blinked, looking at Lark.

Lark tossed and caught an empty crystal and replied, “You and Ha Leeha are similar.”

“What… what are you talking about? When did I-“

“People who are alike have a way of understanding each other~ Let’s investigate quickly.”

Lark caught the crystal and turned away.

Shin Nara silently watched his back.

“… What will Lord think?”

Leeha unraveled everything he heard from Shin Nara and Lark in Bahamut’s Lair, wishing deep down that Bahamut would respond with something like, “Really? Let’s confirm it right away!”

However, Leeha already knew that Bahamut was not the type to act impulsively like that.

“I’m aware that two beings have disappeared. They were younglings who had just begun constructing Lair.”

“That’s right! According to our investigation, it was an Adult Gold Dragon and an Adult Brass Dragon-”

“Not much different from what humans are capable of.”

“How do you-”

“Well, you are a part of my clan. You may be a member of the human race, but to me, you are not just a human. Do you understand what I mean?”

Bahamut chuckled as he stroked his long beard.

Dragons in Middle Earth exist as entities between NPCs and monsters. Depending on how players handle them, they could become partners like Alexander, mentors like Ram Hwajung, or turn out as Bahamut described.

“Dragon Raid… damn it. Hunting dragons. Isn’t it essentially human to gather in groups and kill your own kind? From Bahamut’s perspective, such behavior was also part of the natural order and a common occurrence.

“If you can’t protect yourself, then don’t try to be independent.”

“But the dragons’ individualism doesn’t allow that either, right?”

It means that achieving success on your own and establishing a position is the top priority for young dragons.”

“So, are you just going to observe Tiamat’s movements?”

Despite attempting a hint of rebellion, Leeha’s words only filled the Lair with Bahamut’s laughter. Only after Blaugrunn closed his ears to the uproarious laughter, Bahamut spoke, looking at Leeha.

“If you weren’t my lineage, I would have wrung your neck! Didn’t you just say that the Chromatic Dragons fell victim as well?”

“Well, that’s true, but Tiamat is, uh, trying to regain her strength by sacrificing her followers-”

“She doesn’t need such futile actions. The moment she resurrects is when she regains all her power. Above all, if she is roaming the world… I cannot remain unaware.”

Tiamat is the queen of Chromatic Dragons. Thus, Bahamut thought that there was no way Tiamat could be behind the Chromatic Dragons’ demise. However, Leeha not only had simple speculations but also obtained concrete information.

“At the very least, I won’t miss the moment Tiamat awakens.”

It was Bahamut who would be the first to know among all living beings in Middle Earth. Calling for Alexander and others, including Leeha, would be his top priority… That moment would truly be when Tiamat awakens.

“Then who possibly did it?”

“A human.”

Bahamut replied in a deep voice.

“Human… Are there humans like that? Moreover, there are few who wield such thick weapons.”

At least someone who possesses the power equivalent to Bluebeard from Middle Earth users?

It was difficult for Leeha to sift that out from his experiences and information.

Kaztor’s name briefly came to mind, but that was it. If mixed with the magic of a Dark Elf, they might show an extraordinary speed, but their weapons and attack methods were different from his.

“It’s not magic. You can tell just by looking at the surrounding buildings covered in armor. There was an excessive amount of blood. It seemed as if someone had torn apart a human body.”

By the time Leeha arrived, they were already dead, so their blood had turned jet black.

But when they were being slaughtered, the entire town would have been painted a deep red.

“No matter it’s a game, even if it is, people usually don’t commit such cruel acts due to conscience… They are not monsters, so who would commit such acts?”

To the perplexed Leeha, Blaugrunn approached.

Just by looking at the young boy’s face, the intention was clear.

“That’s right. If we try searching for the lairs of the disappeared dragons, we might find something, right?”

“If you’re not going to do that, why did you call me here? Ugh… Then, Lord, I will depart with Leeha now.”

“Oh, Azernmart is thankful to you. He wanted me to convey that to you.”

“Azernmart?”

Just as the two were about to leave, Bahamut stopped them.

Blaugrunn laughed, nodding along to Bahamut’s words.

“I’ve met him once too. Maybe he’s better than that smart aleck.”

“Oh? Wait a minute. Could it be that! Ram Hwajung-ssi, no. The – Bluebeard, small human woman you’re talking about -“

“See for yourselves.”

Bahamut gestured interrupting Leeha’s words.

With a casual hand movement, the bodies of the two disappeared and were forcibly teleported to the rare of an adult class Gold Dragon.

Though the fact that it wasn’t Tiamat and that Ram Hwajung had met Bahamut injected a sense of urgency into Leeha, the situation was still perplexing.

“You may be a single family! It’s because you’re sometimes so mean.”

“But you must understand that Lord cannot go to places casually.”

“Hmm… The Chromatic Dragons, including Onyx, are not quiet about this, right?”

“Yes, Tiamat… If, if that comes out, I don’t know.”

Blaugrunn shuddered mentioning Tiamat.

Leeha was curious whether Blaugrunn had ever come across Tiamat or had any memories, but he didn’t ask.