Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

When Leeha opened the gunpowder bag and inserted the iron bullet, Matsushige, who was watching from the side, suddenly asked.

“Yes? Oh, I…Since I’ve only played solo, I didn’t think of such things. What was it again?”

…“About 50m.”

They were not familiar with muskets anyway.

There was no need to say that the default range is 40m. Of course, there was no reason to say that he could hit at 100m either.

The distance with the most stable accuracy for Leeha was 50m.

“It’s shorter than I thought. It takes a long time to reload, so I thought the range would be longer.”

“Ma-chan! Don’t be rude.”

“Ah, I’m sorry if I made you feel bad.”

As soon as he heard Mame Hana’s words, Matsushige lowered his head. He was so polite that it seemed to be fake.

“No, it’s okay. Even I think that it’s short. Haha.”

Leeha laughed bitterly.

He himself thought that 50m was okay.

They would have been surprised if they knew that the range of a musket is 40 meters when the combat assistance system is turned on.

No, even before that. The reload was long? Leeha’s reload speed was 49 seconds. He was proud of himself for being fast.

They would be very surprised if they knew that it takes one minute to reload with the combat assistance system turned on.

‘This is why there are no musketeers…’

Phew, he sighed and walked over to Matsushige’s side.

“For now, one shot. If you attack, one more kobold will come out.”

“I understand. I trust Matsushige-nim.”

“Don’t worry about aggro.”

Matsushige lifted his helmet and winked.

As soon as Leeha saw his face, he got a little worried, but when Matsushige lowered his helmet, he looked reliable again.

‘I shouldn’t be prejudiced based on looks. Haha, I need to focus, focus. This is my first kobold hunt.’

Leeha went into a kneeling position and removed his distracting thoughts.

They were 40m away from the kobold and were hidden behind a bush. Because they were close, he could see the appearance of the kobold.

‘The body of a child. About the size of a 6-7-year-old child. With a very large head. It looks like something is out of proportion.’

If they were small, were their brains developed? Looking at a child’s body with an adult’s head felt bizarre.

Whether it was plucking herbs or digging mushrooms, the guy’s nails looked quite sharp.

‘Huuu… Leeha breathed. He aimed at the kobold. Leeha’s fingers moved smoothly.’

Taaang—!

It hit precisely. Leeha straightened his musket and started to reload.

“Kyaak”

“Waah, it’s so loud!”

The two Japanese hurriedly plugged their ears as the sound of gunshot resounded on the base of Sheymoore Mountain.

“Ah, I forgot to tell you… It’s a little loud.”

Leeha laughed and trembled softly.

“That’s a lot of smoke too! Kobol-…Huh?”

“How did it go, Ma-chan?”

Mame Hana was stunned and her eyes widened behind Matsushige.

Soon, two worker kobolds would come rushing in, and although they were lower-leveled, they would need to start hunting right away.

However, neither Matsushige nor Leeha moved.

“Ha Leeha-nim? Ma-chan?”

What was going on? If the tanker, Matsushige, did not settle down, he may lose aggro.

“What are you doing?”

Mame Hana, who quickly pulled out her rosary, tilted her head, but neither of them made a move.

Matsushige was the first to speak.

“Ha-Hana-chan. Have you seen anything like this?”

“What?”

“Come here.”

Matsushige raised his helmet’s face covering again, revealed his bare face, and pointed at the kobold.

“Hehehe?”

It was the first time Mame Hana had ever seen something like this.

The worker kobold who was gathering had his head blown off and died, and his body was already turning gray.

Did it die in one shot?

Even though it was the lowest level monster in Sheymoore Mountain, the worker kobold was level 30.

A party of 3 or 4 level 30 users was needed to hunt a kobold worker.

‘That… in one shot…?’

It was absurd for Mame Hana, but she did not release her tension.

Worker kobolds come in pairs of two.

In other words, there was still one left. And another kobold had teamed up with the dead worker kobold.

“Ka- Strong human! Ka- Run away!”

Throwing away its crude basket, it ran away with its tail falling out.

“Hahahaha? What was that? How? What happened?”

“The other one even ran away. However, before running away, a worker kobold considers the number of enemies first…. It’s the first time I have seen something like this.”

Mame Hana as well as Matsushige couldn’t help but be surprised.

They have seen kobold workers run away. But that was normal for a 4 to 5-man party.

After a 5-man party kills a kobold worker, the remaining kobold worker would run away while shouting ‘Ka- four too many!’ or ‘Ka- can’t beat five!’.

At least it ran away during the fight.

But what of the reaction of the kobold now?

‘It escaped before fighting…? No, did it run without counting the number of people?’

They were in a situation they have never heard of.

“Hmmm… Ha Leeha-nim, are you really level 41?”

“W-what do you mean?”

Matsushige suddenly asked a question. Matsushige’s eyes, which looked like a balloon doll’s, suddenly changed and became terrifying.

“Perhaps… Isn’t your level higher? Level 70? 80? Or 100?”

“Hmm?”

Leeha felt ridiculous. It was nice that he did not get caught for being low-level, but this time, they had a different suspicion.

“Phew… No, Ma-chan. Since our experience rose, Ha Leeha-nim should be level 60! If our experience points rose, it means that he is level 62 at most.”

“Ahh. You can only share up to a 20 level gap, right? Sorry.”

There’s no way to fake it.

“It’s okay. And I’m on the same level as you guys, so you don’t have to overdo it, and let’s try to climb up carefully.”

Leeha was happy to be suspected as a high-level, but at the same time, he began to worry if he could follow this sloppy tanker and party leader.

“There’s another party over there. There are four of them. Let’s go over there”

Matsushige picked a direction without hesitation and went up.

“Won’t we get in the way of that party?”

“They are already hunting kobold workers, so there won’t be any workers nearby. Kobolds are very clever, they even set their own work area.”

Matsushige answered Leeha’s question.

It was definitely knowledge of someone who has been hunting a lot of kobolds.

‘I think he’s pretty reliable when you look at it like this.’

He was showing loopholes in strange places, therefore, it was hard to decide whether to believe them or not.

‘The same goes for the woman Mame Hana. Something’s off.’

Her first impression gave me a sense of solitude.

She felt mysterious because she was dressed in clothes that could be seen in cathedrals, and a cotton cloth was even draped on her face.

‘Her reaction to seeing a kobold is…  she was a Japanese woman without a doubt. I thought it was only in anime. That was also the case in reality. She’s definitely pretty and cute, and her nose isn’t a joke either. Women don’t seem to like this kind of woman very much.’

Heeee?

Leeha’s reaction was quite strange.

It was not an exaggeration to say that he only served in the military after becoming an adult, so it was inevitable that he had strange feelings about foreign cultures.

‘All I did was interact with West Point once… after playing Middle Earth, I got to know people from Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Japan… all sorts of people. Haha, it’s thanks to Middle Earth. And the one who brought me to Middle Earth was Kijeong.

When he thought of Kijeong, Leeha’s resolve hardened once more.

As well as the flames of revenge towards Agromni Igor.

“Ground! It went to the ground! Hana-chan, be careful! Ha Leeha-nim, be careful too! It might suddenly pop out!”

Grrrrrr—.

When the monster’s head dug out of the ground, dirt and gravel bounced off.

“Damn it-!”

Dirt went into Leeha’s eyes. Besides, his distance from the monster that came out was too close.

Hwik, Leeha turned his gun to the ground and pulled the trigger, however, there was no response.

He started to feel vibrations from the ground.

“Kya, Kyaak!”

“Don’t panic, gather around! Hana-chan, come here! Ha Leeha-nim, please come too!”

Matsushige stopped and called for Mamen Hana and Leeha. When, where, and how will it come out?

As soon as one reached the foothills of Sheymoore Mountain, the first thing one had to deal with were the Mountain Worms.

‘Damn it, I can see why people hate mountain worms.’

The pressure was different from the pictures.

Mountain worms glisten with slime from their gigantic, earth-colored bodies. The monster that suddenly dug out of the ground was about 190cm in size!

Of course, it was not its full length. In order to support the part that protruded out of the ground, that much length must be embedded in the ground.

‘In other words, the overwhelming fear that comes from the huge size of more than about 4m in length and 1m in width is excellent, but above all else, it is fatal to Leeha.

If it was underground, one could tell its location based on the vibration and rumbling of the ground. If it suddenly jumped out of the deep underground as it did just before, it would have no choice but to get stuck.

‘I might have died without Matsushige.’

Leeha was glad he did not come alone. He thought he could avoid it if he knew…

With its speed, it may have been difficult to get away from it.

“What should we do?”

“Vibration. If you feel the vibration, run in front of it.”

Matsushige was also very tense.

“In front?”

“Yes. The mountain worm’s attack pattern is-.”

Kuuuu——

In an instant, they felt a vibration.

They felt trembling under their feet. When the ground, which should have been firmly supported, shook, land creatures would not be able to help but feel anxious.

Run!!!

“Kyaaaaa!”

Grrrr—!

Paaaat, a giant earthworm jumped out of the three people’s feet. It had a great amount of power that could plow dirt or gravel generously.

Even if it had been a little late to leap forward, I would have been sucked into that gigantic jaw.

“Slash!”

Matsushige ran and swung his sword toward the mountain worm. His appearance, while he held a shield and sword, was of a typical knight.

‘Wasn’t that quite good? Anyway, this might be the silver lining for level 42.’

It had a stable tanking ability, even in the midst of chaos.

“Protection!”

Meanwhile, Mame Hana finished casting.

Hwaaak-!

A bright green color embraced Matsushige. As the sister’s secondary magic was added, Matsushige became even more dignified.

‘The same goes for Mame Hana. That’s a level 40 dream.’

Leeha was taken aback by the surprise attack, he couldn’t help it. No matter how many times one goes through it, the ambush itself was what surprises people.

However, each person’s ability is revealed in what kind of response they take after that. Leeha carefully observed how the two matched.

It was a skill he could trust. If so, it was his turn to show off his skills.

(To be continued…)