Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

『Myong!』

The internal gases of Jellypong, which enveloped Leeha’s upper body for three-dimensional mobility, squirmed inside.

A strange sensation even through the body armor.

As if feeling like worms wriggling and spinning their bodies, Leeha’s body slowly rotated. The direction of movement was clearly forward. Indeed, when it came to movement, Leeha entrusted everything to Jellypong and his body faced completely backward.

“What”

Karelin, who was running on the ground and raising his head to check Leeha’s condition, froze his expression.

“Kahaha, you didn’t know about this!?”

With the close distance of about 30 meters, there was nothing for Leeha to hide. At this distance, there was no way to avoid it. No need to adjust the scope. Just one thing, point the muzzle at the enemy and pull the trigger!

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Bang!

Karelin quickly maneuvered to evade as if he were expecting it. But the gunfire didn’t stop. This time, they were not standing still facing each other. There was nothing threatening Leeha.

As long as Jellypong’s mobility didn’t stop, they could maintain the distance without getting closer.

‘It means only I can attack! At this distance, no matter how fast you are, one shot will definitely hit!’

Leeha’s attack progressed fiercely. As both were moving quickly, precise aiming was not an easy task. So, his successful evasion was attributed not only to his physical abilities but also to Leeha’s misaiming.

However, it was different when it came to catching the bullets. At that moment, Leeha watched carefully.

How does one catch the bullets? In what pattern can they be blocked? What is the enemy’s response when the bullets make contact?

“One more-”

“Ha Leeha, do you think you can win?!”

“Huh?”

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“Even now, our forces are closing the distance! If you can’t handle one, no, even if you handle me, you can’t defeat us!”

Karelin spoke firmly as if struck by something. Leeha saw through his intention to delay the attack.

“Well, you never know!”

“Mi-ra”

Bang’!

“Ha Leeha, just stop it.”

With a dismissive wave, he pretended to be calm. However, Karelin even caught that bullet. As his expression turned even more fierce, as if about to say something, a flustered Leeha opened his mouth first.

“I’m not sure if I can beat you! There are not many in this world who can be confident of victory!”

“Well, then why—”

“But there is one thing I can be confident of, you know?”

“Is that so? Gaining honor? Satisfaction of fighting against the Giant’s 30,000 army? Praise from other players?”

“Huh? No, it’s not like that! What’s certain is—”

Leeha yelled at the top of his lungs, “—the fact that I can make sure you don’t win!”

Leeha couldn’t guarantee victory. Victory doesn’t come solely from one’s efforts. Leeha knew that effort does not always lead to victory.

Besides individual effort, there are countless variables at play. Leeha was prepared to accept the result based on those factors. But preventing the opponent from winning was different.

“What the—”

Karelin looked at Leeha with a face of disbelief. After crossing his arms for a moment and shaking his head, Leeha spoke again.

“I need to make sure you don’t win! Even if it doesn’t lead to my victory! That’s all I can do! And I will do my best at that!”

In a fight, doing one’s best ultimately means destroying 『the enemy』. It was Leeha’s attitude to focus solely on that task, regardless of whether it would result in victory.

Karelin’s expression changed somewhat subtly upon hearing Leeha’s shout.

… He didn’t expect them to see eye to eye from the beginning…

However, his expression was not entirely engulfed in anger.

“I find you more likable than I thought.”

“Hehe! Then how about helping out with the next mission to take down the Shahzarian Public Enemy! Even though we are allies by name, what about pride? I, as the Lord of Fibiel, am doing well enough there, you know? But in Shahzarian, the trea—”

There was a smile with acknowledgment towards Leeha.

On the contrary, it also meant that Karelin no longer intended to confront Leeha with the statistical advantage of 30,000 to 1.

“The price of teaming up with a Human Flesh Hunter is not cheap! The price must be paid, let’s go!”

“Hehehe, that price will only be paid up to this point! Next time, it means you have to help me! 『Multi-Warhead Shot』!”

Karelin accelerated abruptly, while Leeha unleashed a skill to block him.

Although Leeha wanted to summon a terror spirit and land a precise shot, it was not the right time to use it due to a one-hour cooldown time and a consumption of 40 mana.

Pwohahaaaa—_

“Oh no!”

A total of 42 bullets were fired. Karelin hastily changed direction, but the range of over thirty shots was wider than expected.

“If it’s this distance, no matter how fast he moves, he’ll be hit by at least 5 shots! Blocking won’t- hm?”

Leeha could only see afterimages. Karelin’s arms moved so quickly that Leeha could only see afterimages when he caught the bullets.

Yet, the strange thing was the number of afterimages.

“Eleven times?”

Karelin moved his arms eleven times. Did it mean he caught eleven bullets?

“No matter how many, it wouldn’t be a range of more than eight shots, right?”

It was at least 5 shots and at most 8 shots. Assuming the maximum, why did he catch three more?

“Stop, hey, hiccup!”

“Oh no!”

There was another strange thing. Karelin suddenly slowed down, but he rammed head-on into a tree trunk that Leeha had moved on. Karelin displayed a tremendous force that broke the tree trunk and then started running again, but it was clearly strange. His speed had slowed down, and the action of ramming into the tree seemed to have shortened the distance, from just under 400 meters to 450 meters, to 50 meters in an instant.

“You said we wouldn’t be able to win, but do you know how much time we’ve gained just with this game of cat and mouse? Our forces have already reached point 3!”

Leeha: Blaugrunn, what about the giants?

Blaugrunn: They are 2.56 meters away. The human’s ghost seems to be completely battle-ready, and even my detection can’t catch him.

Leeha: Damn it, they are fast indeed.

With no interference detected, the giant forces were clearly moving at an incredible speed. Although Leeha and Karelin’s hide-and-seek game hadn’t been long, they had already reduced the distance by more than 56 meters.

“Just because you get there doesn’t mean it’s the end! The battle is-”

Leeha aimed at Karelin.

He needed to confirm what he was thinking once again.

‘Jellypong, a little lower.’

『Myongmyong.』

Karelin’s speed noticeably slowed down. And compared to when floating in the air, the speed of moving on the land was even slower. If he descended a bit more to get closer to the ground?

“The wind speed is 40m/s, and the distance with Karelin is merely 602m. No rain.”

This should be sufficient. Leeha pulled the trigger.

At that moment, Karelin flickered his right arm to the side as if stretching it out. His expression twisted and then relaxed in an instant, but he did not miss that scene.

“You can’t hit me. It’s easier to just give up.”

“Hehe, indeed. You’re quite impressive. Well then, I’ll have to run away, right.”

“Let’s meet at ‘that place,’ Karelin!”

He activated the 『Partner: Retreat』 skill.

Inside Leeha’s mind as he returned, a voice echoed.

Ram Hwayeon: Hwajung succeeded.

Leeha: Oh, ran Hwayeon? Success? Second job change?!

Ram Hwayeon was the first to inform Leeha of Ram Hwajung’s successful second job change.

Upon hearing Ram Hwayeon’s voice, Leeha also had something to share. Shoowaaaah…!

As the dazzling light flickered and Leeha disappeared, Karelin ran a few meters further.

“Shimo-nim! White Reaper-nim!?”

“It seems they’re not coming out. We’ve reached what seems to be the expected location. Even if people from the same side come, this human doesn’t respond. I feel like-”

“No, seriously, where are you? Did you just evaporate?”

Blaugrunn was dissatisfied in their own way, while Leeha was anxious like himself.

Due to the Giants’ rapid advance, there was a need to strategize for the final sniping points and routes. At least, there were areas where claymores were set up. Therefore, to lure one more Giant to the target area, decisions needed to be made regarding the direction of the snipe, who to target first, and who to shoot first.

The basic rule for snipers is to eliminate the enemy without revealing their position. However, as evidenced by the fact that the White Reaper makes gunshots, this is not always the case.

“Location Tracking is not an incredibly advanced technology. Even if not a sniper by trade…”

If there is a Middle Earth user who has military experience, they can roughly estimate the distance. This also applies to finding the angle of impact.

Calculating the time it takes for the shot to reach its target and the time for the gunshot to reach. For Leeha, it was a basic level of automatic calculation without needing to think further but generally required considerable training.

On the contrary, if there is a user trained to a decent degree, working out the sniper’s distance with Location Tracking is not a difficult task.

“So we need to talk! What’s going on here?! Weren’t we supposed to head towards this point?”

Initially, he headed towards the point while flying in the sky, but the White Reaper was nowhere to be seen.

Suspecting, he circled through all the snipe points and returned to the starting point, but still, the White Reaper was nowhere to be found. Not visible, he couldn’t find the White Reaper even after searching the surroundings thoroughly. Even though he tried to engage in conversation, there was no response, and no reaction whatsoever, driving his almost crazy.

“The 2nd point is breached! Massive mana detection 1.86km ahead of the iron gate! It’ll be visible to the naked eye too!”

“Oh man! I believe in you! You’ll handle it fine! Sergeant Kim told me to trust you!”

It wasn’t meant in that way, but now it couldn’t be helped.

“Blaugrunn, guard the place! I’m off too.”

“Do you really need me here?”

“Yes. But if Blaugrunn intervenes, things might go awry.”

“Huh? What do you mean-”

“Ah, there could be some trouble. Just focus on guarding. I’ll make sure no one gets through.”

After patting Blaugrunn’s head, he headed towards another sniper point he had discussed with the White Reaper, who was also known as the first one to discuss Ram Hwajung’s second job advancement.

“Second advancement of Ram Hwajung, 『Snow White』?”

He had heard a detailed story about Ram Hwajung’s second job advancement from Ramhwa Yeon.

Ram Hwajung cleared a quest alone at a place called the ‘Abyssal Maw,’ returned triumphantly, and successfully achieved the second job advancement without anyone else’s help.

“Yeah. In a way, that’s true. Building your skills is up to you. Finding keywords about your traits is also up to you. But pulling those keywords out probably falls on me.”

However, that’s where it stops.

Even when it comes to keywords about traits, he can only assist in ‘pulling’ them out. Ultimately, who is responsible for carrying out the missions assigned to them?

Undoubtedly, the responsibility lies with his. In that situation, would Midlir’s intervention be forgiven?

There was even a possibility that intervention itself could lead to an impossible situation.

“Even if Blaugrunn is my partner, it’s no good. Even if I try to party-play to stop this situation, who will join my party?”

Will Kijung come too?

Not many from Starry Initiation would show up. Or rather, it is awkward for his to call them in the first place.

Although Leeha himself is a quest target and does not suffer from chaotic numerical penalties due to interactions with giant users, what about them?

If he kills giant users without dying, he will be labeled as the worst murderer in Middle Earth, with his chaotic numerical value skyrocketing exponentially, making it impossible to operate properly even in Fibiel. This is how it goes.

“With Middle Earth controlling the situation like this, testing only the individual’s skills is the true essence of the second job advancement. Then I shall accept it. Tap, tap, tap.”

The first sniper point found by Leeha was their complete frontal view. Once guarded by the Giant Vigilants, they stood by the iron gate, the upper part where Leeha took a knee.

“No matter how hard I fight, I can’t kill them all. Eventually, they will make it here.”

They were already at a distance of 1.7km. In less than 10 minutes, they would open the iron gate and rush in. He had to stop them.

“Huuu…?”

He checked the wind direction and speed. As he was adjusting the scope, the sound of gunfire finally rang out.