Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

*Kwang-!*

Leeha kicked the door of the reception room and stepped outside. Already, at both ends of the corridor, nPC presidential guards were aiming their arrows towards him.

“There he is!”

“Target spotted! Protect the President!”

“Fire!”

“Damn it, do you think I’m an assassin! 『Force Barrier』!”

*Whoosh-boom!*

As soon as the giants released their bows, Leeha activated a skill attached to his ring. However, he wouldn’t be able to withstand their powerful arrows for long.

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“Remember this well! You guys started this first!”

*Kaka-ka-ka-ka-ka!*

Seeing the force barrier weakening, Leeha adopted a defensive stance and raised his voice.

“『Multi-Warhead Shot』!”

“Block, b-block-”

Not even a thousand meters away, it was impossible to react after the multi-warhead shot was activated.

*Ka-clang!*

The 80 guards of the Remlin Palace, who were in the midst of aiming their bows or charging with swords, turned into a battlefield.

“What in the world—”

“Q-quick, all the guards on the opposite side…”

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After surrounding Leeha from both sides and attempting to arrest him, the giants stood there with bewildered expressions. They couldn’t fathom what had just happened.

“Freeze, freeze his mana! Prevent him from casting spells—”

*Taaaaang!*

Leeha immediately turned around and pulled the trigger.

“Captain!”

Hearing the cry of one of the giants, Leeha ran towards the corpses swept away by the Multi-Warhead Shot. Despite using 『Partner: Attendance』, it didn’t work in the reinforced spatial barrier.

“Blaugrunn, do you copy?”

-Ca-can’t hear properly, what’s—

“Prepare for battle! Secure the area! Respond if you hear me, prepare for battle! Secure the area!”

-U-understood-……-preparing-

‘Damn it, even the communication interference is enhanced. But if he understood…’ L

Leeha and Blaugrunn communicated with minimal keywords, yet Leeha didn’t doubt that his ‘Partner’ understood. Blaugrunn would immediately prepare to open a space through mana synchronization.

“There he is!”

“Go up!”

“Damn it.”–!

At the end of the hallway, the plan to go down the stairs had to be abandoned. The giants rushing towards him made it difficult to confront them immediately, so he swiftly pulled out a flamethrower and aimed it downwards, unleashing flames in that direction.

“Kka-a-a-ah!”

“Fire, it’s fire!”

However, the flamethrower’s effectiveness was short-lived.

“『Arctic Shield』!”

“『Snowstorm Energy』!”

Zzt zzt zzt zzt -!

By the time the giants in the front were engulfed in flames and turned into light, the ones in the rear were already ascending the stairs with frost attribute shields.

Continuing the futile attacks was pointless. He retracted the flamethrower into his bag and ran towards the stairs.

“Karelin! What do you think you’re doing! As a member of Fibiel, can we interpret this as a declaration of war against my country?!”

Ascending the massive spiral staircase, he exchanged words with Karelin. Amidst this, he didn’t forget to hang his rifle over the railing and fire downwards.

The giants moved unusually fast for their size.

Above all, reducing the distance with their huge stature and stride felt akin to some form of “movement speed correction due to high agility.”

-… Interference in internal affairs.

-What?

The reason why his actions had to momentarily halt was of course due to Karelin’s response.

“Ha Leeha, you have interfered in the internal affairs of the Shazrashian. The President of our country considers it an act of impurity and has decided to arrest you and formally protest to Fibiel.”

“This is insane. They’ve got it all wrong. You can’t be serious about this…”

“Well, it’s a disappointment to meet you under these circumstances. However, there’s no choice.”

“If that’s what Shazrashian wants – Tuuaaah–_—–!”

“Let’s give it a try.”

With determination fueled by anger, he climbed the stairs. Gazing at the seemingly endless corridor and countless rooms, he pondered, “Should I hide inside?”

If he could buy enough time to synchronize and strengthen the space barrier with Blaugrunn’s mana, he could manage.

Staying put for thirty minutes here wasn’t an option.

During this short game of cat and mouse, perhaps all he needed to do was conceal himself out of sight.

“Damn it, if only I could use camouflage! Without hesitation, I would have just gone into any room and hidden myself. However, the cooldown for camouflage is 12 hours, and it hasn’t been that long since I used it against the White Reaper.

“Hiding without camouflage is also a gamble. There could be alarm magic at the White Reaper’s residence. It’s naive to think that there wouldn’t be any here in the presidential palace.”

There is also a possibility of being detected through wide-range detection or mana detection skills. Therefore, being cornered in one place was something that should be avoided.

“The only remaining option is…”

He looked up.

“Go up, go up!”

“Corner them on the rooftop! There’s no escape route there!”

“Well, there’s no other choice.”

He forced a smile and put his hand into his bag.

In an instant, a small flame was burning in the hand that went in and out.

“Ah.”

*Click*

He immediately started climbing the stairs.

“Let’s go…”

“What’s this?”

“I’ll hold them off, so all of you go up!”

The fuse of the bomb rolling down the stairs was rapidly burning. A giant Royal Guard threw himself to envelop the bomb.

“Oh… impressive. Truly worthy of being the Giant of Comradeship.”

He briefly admired the scene below but had to turn his head immediately.

With the explosion sound, he didn’t want to see the massive collapsing body receiving all the explosive energy in his body.

“It’s visible!”

How many floors had he climbed?

He suddenly thought that the rooftop might be blocked like in the Bransylvania Castle, but fortunately, it wasn’t the case.

As he opened the door at the top where there were no more stairs, he was greeted by the complete darkness of the evening, welcoming even the setting sun.

Countless giants buried in the darkness were a bonus. Holding bows or casting spells, the giants surrounding the Lelumlin Palace were staring down at him.

“Give up, Ha Leeha-nim.”

“Karelin… Do you really want to address me as ‘Ha Leeha-nim’ even in this situation?”

Among them was Karelin as well.

He nodded as if he had no complaints about what Leeha heard from him. Throwing off his robe, the 12th-ranked wrestler who revealed his sturdy physique was transported to the rooftop of Remlin Palace by the mage users.

Leeha: Blaugrunn! Report on the readiness status! Report on the readiness status!

Blaugrunn: Archi-e-e… echoing… intermittent… struggling… exertion…

Leeha: Use summoning immediately as soon as ready! As soon as ready, use summoning!

Blaugrunn: Don’t worry too much~~.

Leeha: Don’t worry? Blaugrunn should be the one worrying about me! Ugh! I can’t back down. Countless giants are surrounding me up above.

And on the rooftop over there?

Step by step, Karelin was approaching from the other side. Leeha scanned the surroundings.

‘The spatial barrier covers the entire Remlin Palace. You can move within the Remlin Palace.’ What would be the quickest way? If only there were items created for moments like this. Leeha thought of a few types of grenades to use in this situation.

‘I need smoke or flash grenades. I should ask for those to be made once I go back.’ Amidst this, thoughts and actions were separate. Leeha, now wearing Black Vest, aimed at Karelin.

Leeha: If you come any closer, I won’t show mercy, Karelin.

Karelin: … What? Show mercy?

Leeha: Yes, things got messed up with Phietari, well, who knows what will happen later, but I didn’t want to stain my face with this kind of trouble by killing you. But if you take another step…

Karelin: I can’t bear it either.

Leeha shrugged. Karelin’s innocent expression began to distort gradually. Around that time, Karelin couldn’t be unaware of the meaning implied in ‘show mercy.’ Leeha considered himself ‘superior’ to Karelin, and the change that could be anticipated in how Karelin interpreted those words had begun.

‘Is his body getting bigger?’

Since all the giants surrounding the Remlin Palace were shining light on Leeha, Karelin only appeared as a backlight silhouette to Leeha. Therefore, it was difficult to tell for sure. However, even just from that silhouette, Leeha felt his muscles growing and strengthening simultaneously.

Click! Leeha adjusted his posture, pulling back on the bowstring.

“I told you to stop.”

“And if I don’t? What are you going to do?”

Only the silhouette of his tense head muscles remaining caught Leeha’s eye. Was it an angry expression? Nevertheless, Leeha relaxed amidst it all.

“The reverse light is such a relief. Facing a furious gorilla expression, oh, it would be terrifying. The term ‘King Kong’ will definitely come up.

Is it because Karelin took the lead in bringing the situation to this point?

It’s not just that simple reason. In fact, giants from other nearby professions were also stealthily making their way to the rooftop of the castle. So, there is only one reason why Karelin took the lead.

‘At least among these, I am the strongest, that’s it.’

Thus, Karelin poured out his power. If he can bring down that guy, the atmosphere will change momentarily. In the meantime, he can summon the terror spirit to freeze everyone, blow them all up with explosives and flamethrowers.

“Whew~.”

It took less than a second to finalize all these plans in his mind. And then? Execution.

Without a word or movement, he pulled the trigger. The gunshot startled everyone around. Only one person wasn’t surprised.

Huh…What’s this?

That one person wasn’t Leeha.

“Dodged it?”

The one person who wasn’t surprised was Karelin. The wrestler, crouching as if glued to the floor, laughed. His teeth reflected the light, making it visible to Leeha too.

“I see.”

“Are you insane, this is unbelievable-”

No target that he had aimed properly at had ever avoided being shot. Some bullets were blocked by Bluebeard, some were dodged at a considerable distance with confusing movements. But this, this was extremely… in the midst of confusion, Leeha did not stop his attack.

However, on the rooftop of Remlin Palace, there was only a bright spark on the ground. Karelin, who had been there just a moment ago, had somehow stood up and evaded to the side.

“Next time, aim better.”

“Ah! The price of stupidity-”

Leeha stumbled back as he pulled the trigger.

What he saw was not a bullet. It was the minute movement of the finger pulling the trigger. To confess that he dodged because he saw that!

“- It’s death! 『Curve Shot』!”

Leeha adjusted the rifle to the right with a snap.

He dodged by looking at the finger. Since the direction of the bullet is fixed the moment the trigger is pulled, if you can see that moment of pulling it, moving the body is not something difficult for at least the 12th ranked wrestler.

Then, how would you avoid a curve shot that even twists such thinking upside down?

Eeekk───! The bullet quickly curved from right to left from Leeha’s perspective, piercing Karelin’s left shoulder and heading towards his heart. Leeha knew it.

Even with common sense, facing opponents like the users or monsters of Middle Earth he had encountered so far, there was no way to dodge this attack from such a short distance.