Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

A normal attack or typical combat pattern would never be enough to defeat him.

What on earth happened here?

“What are you looking at, surprised?”

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. But I brought some food for Tiamat… Didn’t you say we need to find plenty of prey for her since she just woke up?”

Pyro took out various chunks of meat from his bag. He and Igor traveled everywhere to gather food for Tiamat.

Bluebeard mentioned that Tiamat’s condition, freshly released from her seal, would be extremely frail and she needed a plentiful and varied supply of meat.

“Tiamat… that’s the problem. That, that thing.”

Bluebeard gestured with a deeply furrowed brow. It was definitely the ground where the magic circle had been drawn.

The place where the five dragon heads were placed.

“Oh no, who―”

Four of the dragon heads were intact. But one head had been significantly damaged.

“This is troublesome… If it were anything else, it would have been fine.”

Bluebeard clicked his tongue.

Pyro could also recognize it. The damaged dragon head seemed somewhat different from the others.

* * *

―A dragon head? You smashed a dragon head?

―Yep. I don’t know if it had any effect, but right after I reverted from being a dinosaur, I ran over and smashed it with Toon’s bone shield.

―So? What happened?

―I don’t know. Bluebeard was glaring at me like he’d kill me or something. I figured it must be important, so I’m asking you to find out for me, hyung.

―Oh, right. Wait! Wait!

Leeha hurriedly ended his whisper with Kijung.

He had already heard the ‘victory report’ to some extent from the side branch.

‘An incomprehensible light exploded, and Lee Jiwon and Kijung emerged from there… How did Lee Jiwon jump out?’

Leeha had no time to ask that far.

He was busy broadcasting the news he got from Kijung in real-time.

“Bailephus! Bailephus!”

“What is it? What’s the situation? Is Bluebeard alive? What about the Holy Knight?”

“Just a moment—to answer briefly, both are fine. Although, I’d rather one of them be dead. Anyway! That’s not the issue. The method to summon Tiamat! Has there been any contact from Bahamut?”

From the moment Kijung discovered the magic circle and the dragon heads, the ‘broadcast’ had been running.

Naturally, everyone, including users and NPCs here, mobilized all their connections to verify if it was really the summoning of Tiamat.

The most reliable information, of course, came from confirming through Bahamut, the leader of the metal dragons.

“Yes, there is.”

“What did he say? Is it true?”

“The Lord himself couldn’t confirm it completely. If he had seen the magic circle, he could have known for sure… However, he said that by the circumstances, it is highly likely to be Tiamat’s summoning. The six-headed dragon Tiamat, one of her heads is definitely ‘hers’.”

The five heads were made up of other dragon heads, with one being her own. If there were ‘six heads’ and Bluebeard was in a wounded state, Bahamut believed it was certain that it was Tiamat’s summoning.

“Damn it, Tiamat or whatever, what the hell is this…”

“Shh. Just listen quietly.”

“I know, damn Kidd.”

Luger muttered quietly.

Many people, including Fernand, had numerous questions they wanted to ask Leeha about the entity known as “Tiamat”.

However, the atmosphere didn’t allow for interruptions, so they couldn’t help but remain silent.

“Right?! Am I right?! Ugh, Kijung, that lunatic!”

Leeha felt like dancing with joy as he listened to Bailephus.

He hadn’t believed Kijung at all when he bragged about being able to stop the summoning of Tiamat.

In fact, he had been worried that if Kijung turned into a Chimera, it would cause significant damage to the “Sacred Alliance”.

“Why is that, Ha Leeha?”

“It means he did it! The summoning of Tiamat won’t be completed― or at least, not canceled, but it may be significantly delayed!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Kijung― Master Kay― the Holy Knight did it! Even though Lee Jiwon was with him―”

While Luger and Alexander overly reacted, shouting, “Why Lee Jiwon? Lee Jiwon?” they weren’t louder than Leeha’s current voice.

Bailephus, with a gradually brightening face, was also pestering Leeha, giving them even less opportunity to speak.

“What did you do that’s worth all this fuss? Talk quickly.”

Leeha’s actions were not ‘overdone.’

Kijung had managed to damage one of the sacrifices for the summoning of Tiamat.

“He smashed one of the Dragon heads! One of the heads to be used as a sacrifice for summoning Tiamat!”

“The Dragon head?”

“Yes! And it was…”

Leeha barely contained his overwhelming joy. He had to consider how Bailephus would feel upon hearing this news.

“It was red!”

“Red, you say… Could it be―”

“Yes. The red dragon. Kuzgunak’sh’s head can no longer be used as a sacrifice.”

Kijung had done it.

***

And he had done it far better and more efficiently than Leeha had expected, throwing a crucial wrench into the plans for the summoning of Tiamat.

It was no surprise that Pyro and the other members of the Demon King’s army looked grim-faced.

‘Damn it. If I had known, I should have stationed at least one person there. Where is that Faust… no, where is Sasuke, and what is he doing?’

No one had anticipated they would come first.

Not even Bluebeard or Ghibrid had mentioned the likelihood of anyone interfering with the summoning of Tiamat, let alone hinted at such a possibility.

If Chiyou had been there, they might have been prepared.

Even Faust could have had some other way.

But with both of those brains missing from the Demon King’s forces, they had failed to anticipate this.

It was unfortunate that Sasuke had been off on intelligence missions in the Old Continent.

“What… do we do now?”

Pyro asked through gritted teeth.

If the Dragon Head was damaged, they could simply kill another dragon and take its head.

Faust had already created several Lich Dragons.

Even with just Igor and Pyro, they could easily capture three to four Adult-class dragons right away.

The problem was that Bluebeard also knew this.

The fact that Bluebeard hadn’t suggested this method, despite its feasibility, implied that capturing dragons quickly wouldn’t help at all.

Despite Pyro’s question, Bluebeard did not relax his expression.

He continued to tap Kuzgunak’shy’s Dragon Head placed on the magic circle with his staff.

“What a waste. What a waste…”

“Pyrot…”

Ghibrid muttered a word from the side.

Bluebeard flinched for a moment but soon shook his head.

“This fellow. Pyrot-Cocri, I intended to summon Tiamat to rescue that girl. Is your opinion to call Pyrot-Cocri and make only her head undead?”

“…”

Ghibrid closed his mouth.

What Bluebeard said to Ghibrid was yet another hint for the users.

“Cut! Can you revive only the head? Is the Demon King’s Fragment that powerful as an undead?”

Igor, who didn’t miss the hint, asked. Bluebeard sneered.

“It’s not about reviving the whole body. They could only convert the remaining parts to an undead form and restore the lost parts using ‘other bones’. If we still had the torso, Pyrot-Cocri would be reborn perfectly as an undead… Tsk, tsk, who knows what that damned fool is doing…”

The flesh of Kuzgunak’sh was once used by Faust in the past. Having been completely turned to ash by Bailephus, it could not be retrieved.

However, if it was not about a complete undead but rather a partial rebirth with only some parts being undead?

Bluebeard hinted at that possibility. It was a concept shocking enough to surprise both Pyro and Igor.

“Is it impossible to summon Tiamat as is?”

“It’s possible. It is possible. It could be done by finding and attaching another adult-level head. However, her power would be halved. Kuzi, the fool brought the heads of all metal dragons. Can you believe he didn’t bring the head of his own kin, knowing he might be expelled from the Chromatic Clan?”

“Then…”

“We have no choice but to use this head. Ah, ah. Right, Ghibrid?”

Bluebeard shook his head.

His gaze slowly moved toward Ghibrid.

Although Ghibrid had a human silhouette, he was made up of wriggling filth and lumps of flesh, with hundreds of eyes on his body looking at Bluebeard.

“Well, isn’t it rather fortunate?”

“… What.”

“This… thing.”

Bluebeard smiled.

Pyro and Igor couldn’t discern the truth or feasibility in Bluebeard’s continued words.

“Can you make it into a chimera?”

“Resurrect… Impossible…”

“No, no. Who said to resurrect it? I don’t even hope for that. I mean to turn it into a chimera, not an undead. Just… this head.”

If not a rebirth as an undead but a transformation into a chimera.

Could the dragon head, whose preservation magic was undone and brain completely shattered, be utilized?

The hundreds of eyes attached to Ghibrid’s body widened. By the time his eyes tightened again, Bluebeard burst into hearty laughter.

In the dark night, light began to emanate from the magic circle in front of Bluebeard, Ghibrid, Pyro, and Igor.

* * *

“Now do you understand everything? Oh, I am going mad. Really.”

“So… Tiamat is the counterpart of the metal dragon Bahamut, and while trying to wake Tiamat to pit it against Bahamut, Bluebeard tried to awaken Pyrot-Cocri—your hyung stopped it. Is that right?”

“Yes! Damn! I’ve been explaining for hours, and it’s already daylight! How much more do I have to explain for you to get it?”

Knowing about Tiamat already, Alexander was excluded from Leeha’s “special tutoring”, which continued till dawn with Luger, Kidd, and Fernand as the students.

Of course, only Luger stayed throughout. Kidd had understood everything from the first explanation and was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, while Fernand had gone out to explore Saur Land as soon as dawn broke.

“I understand. I get it, but…”

Luger had a dissatisfied look on his face.

He had understood everything around the same time as Kidd. The reason he kept badgering Leeha until the end was singular.

“How. How did your hyung, that Holy Knight, manage to survive the magic circle guarded by Bluebeard and Ghibrid? Did Lee Jiwon help him? Even if Lee Jiwon was there, it’s impossible. There is no way that bastard, who flickers around with Blink like a housefly, could pull it off. Moreover, in the Eastern New Continent, even Blink is restricted, isn’t it?”

Wasn’t it a 2:2 duel between Bluebeard and Ghibrid, and Master Kay and Lee Jiwon?

What kind of trick did Master Kay and Lee Jiwon use to achieve their goal and even survive in front of Bluebeard and Ghibrid?