Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Indeed. If we have a dragon’s lead, there’s no need to worry.”

“Pardon?”

Romero, standing beside Blaugrunn, nodded his head.

Just when he was about to question what the sudden appearance of this grandfather meant, Romero introduced himself.

“I am Romero, who has come from Ezwen to secure the ‘Divine Staff’.”

“Ah, I see. My apologies for being late. A task I was preparing got slightly derailed, so I couldn’t help but be late—”

“How, how dare you! Do you know how long Cardinal Romero has been waiting for you!?”

Unlike Romero, a bishop NPC beside him was hopping mad, yet Romero soon calmed him down.

“It’s alright. What matters is what he has to do going forward… Waiting is of little consequence to me. Now, Leeha-ssi, shall we start with the guidance?”

“Ah, yes.”

Leeha nodded hesitantly. He felt a peculiar charisma emanating from the old man.

‘A character quite different from Bahamut or Lotzak. He appears kind but possesses an unmistakable charisma.’

Just knowing about dragons, it was clear he must be a person of considerable abilities.

“Leeha-ssi!”

“Ah, Fernand-ssi.”

“Let’s go. Today, I will be your ‘guide assistant’.”

“Ha, unbelievable! To think I would get the opportunity to have Fernand, the Pioneer King, as an assistant!”

Fernand caught up to Leeha’s side.

Checking the map Fernand had spread out, Leeha nodded towards Blaugrunn.

Before leaving, he had spent the whole night at the Bottleneck Forge pondering over what to say and how to say it.

As Leeha levitated into the air, all eyes were focused on him.

“Our destination is the former base of demons, the fifth one. Even when it was cleared, the area was swarming with monsters. Furthermore, now the ‘roots’ of the demon bases are interconnected, so it’s uncertain how many monsters are present there. Please, be prepared for the worst-case scenario and proceed with caution!”

The knights’ guilds and other user guilds momentarily hesitated.

Even as Leeha issued a stern warning, an unbelievable truth came to light that couldn’t be ignored.

“The fifth base, you say? Wasn’t it said that no one had cleared it? If it’s still undisclosed…”

“Yeah, I heard rumors that someone secretly cleared it, but…”

“It can’t be Alexander. He always roamed with different guilds.”

“Lee Jiwon made such a fuss asking who had cleared it… Could it possibly be him—”

“That person doesn’t even have a guild, so how could he clear it? It’s impossible to do it alone.”

The murmuring spread like wildfire.

Trust and distrust, suspicion and excitement quickly took over the knights.

Most of all, since Leeha appeared to have no guild affiliation, the biggest question was ‘with whom did he clear it?’

“Oh dear, Leeha, you didn’t have to say that…”

“Times like these really show his naivety.”

“Pfft, but that’s one of Leeha-ssi’s strengths. He tells us things to prevent us from making mistakes, things he could’ve kept secret.”

Ignoring the whispers, Leeha shouted once more.

“Then let’s depart! We have 12 days to secure the Divine Staff! Prioritizing its acquisition!”

Despite the myriad of questions, fortunately, everyone kept silent.

Instead, a unified word came from everyone’s lips.

“Departureeeeeee!”

The 3,000-strong ‘Divine Staff’ capture team set off from Juma City.”

Leeha-ssi, can you see them?”

“Yes. It’s massive. By a rough estimate, there’s over two hundred.”

“Two hundred… But since there’s no way to detour, we have to go through them.”

Leading the vanguard of the occupation unit, Leeha and Fernand were searching for the optimal route.

“A little more consideration; on this side, there are two hundred Armored High-Trolls. Earlier on the other side, there were five hundred mixed with Ogres and Trolls. It might be better to choose the easier side.”

Including Blaugrunn, they were trying to choose a route that avoided monsters as much as possible, but it wasn’t as easy as said.

With the distribution of monsters changed and even their level increased, there was no way to reach the Divine Staff without encountering some.

“Well, we have enough people, so the side with fewer monsters might be better. The level difference is trivial for these folks.”

Leeha glanced back.

Up until departure, users and knight orders that had been chattering about this and that were now completely focused on the mission without a hint of wavering.

“Understood. Let’s prepare for battle. Dragon, are there any hidden enemies?”

“None, human.”

“Okay, then. Let’s decide that place for our battlefield. I’ll arrange a surprise attack focusing on the knight orders.”

After barely getting an answer from Blaugrunn, Fernand ran towards the cardinals and bishops.

Leeha found something amusing in that.

“As commanding as you speak, you’re just a kid.”

“What are you talking about! Shh! If that human heard what you just said, they wouldn’t forgive you, not even if you’re Leeha-ssi!”

“Understood, Dragon Lord!”

Unlike Leeha, Blaugrunn was extremely cold to others.

Although aware of the situation, Leeha couldn’t help but laugh at Blaugrunn’s pretentious serious demeanor.

“Everything’s ready.”

“Already? Elite is truly elite. Let’s do this quietly, swiftly, and decisively. I’ll give special observations and orders through Fernand-ssi.”

The chosen NPCs and users also had a clear understanding of the command structure. There was no one who didn’t understand the orders to the extent of asking again.

With the order given, they raced towards the Armored High-Trolls. Making use of the terrain for cover, their approach was rapid.

“Closing to 400m. The foes haven’t noticed us yet—300m—250m.”

Leeha narrated their movements as if commentating, continuously scrutinizing the situation through his scope.

Listening to him, Fernand relayed the information to each representative, and they, in turn, informed their respective teams, making the group’s movement as agile as one entity.

“Entering combat.”

When Fernand suggested sending only the elite, Leeha thought it might be better to push through with all three thousand troops. But seeing the situation now, this seemed like the better option.

“…they should have come to help during the wave.”

Their battle was impeccably clean.

During the wave, a High-Troll would require at least five to ten users in their early 200s to handle one. Yet, here they were, three members perfectly subduing an Armored High-Troll.

The battle seemed fierce, but for those waiting or observing, it ended so easily it was almost mundane.

“Battle over! Twelve minor injuries among our troops, one seriously injured. The minor injuries have been healed on the spot; the seriously injured has two healers assigned and we will advance again!”

Facing two hundred Armored High-Trolls, there was only one seriously injured.

The journey to secure the Divine Staff seemed easier and faster than expected.

That was until Leeha saw something.

“Hey, what’s that?”

“What? There’s nothing on the ground.”

“Not on the ground—”

Leeha pointed in a direction and increased the magnification on his scope.

“In the sky. There was definitely a strange symbol there.”

Blaugrunn used mana detection beside him.

“The distance is quite significant… It doesn’t register for me. Was it just a bird?”

“Wait a minute, even for a bird, it was quite large. It cast a shadow on the ground after all. No matter how improved the scope is, it’s not like it can see a bird’s shadow… That was definitely something bigger than a bird-“

“Bigger than a bird?!”

“This… this is getting unsettling?”

The fact that whenever something ‘bigger than a bird’ was discovered, something that defied common sense usually happened, came to Leeha’s mind.

That ominous premonition soon became reality.

“What… what is that!? It’s huge!”

“What is it? What is it?”

“I don’t know! A lion? A lion without a mane? Just a bald lion— but with wings, like bat-like membrane wings, the body of some beast like a griffin—”

“A manticore?”

As Leeha rapidly described the strange flying creature in the scope, Blaugrunn’s expression twisted.

“A manticore? There are no manticores in Middle Earth!”

Fernand, who was next to him, exclaimed in surprise.

“What are you talking about!? There are manticores, just not commonly seen! But why is it suddenly here? Leeha-ssi! The tail, what about the tail? Is it a scorpion tail? Or does it look like a snake?”

“I can’t see the tail! It’s positioned this way, but why suddenly ask about the tail? Blaugrunn-ssi, how big is a typical manticore?”

“If it has a scorpion tail, then a height of 3 meters, body length of 8 meters; if it’s a snake head, then a height of 8 meters, body length of 20 meters!”

“I can’t see the tail, but its size is approximately…”

Leeha swallowed nervously.

Warnings were screaming in his head.

“What’s going on.”

It was then Romero approached and tapped Fernand on the shoulder.

Since the battle had ended, they needed to advance, but no other orders had come from this direction.

As the situation continued, those waiting began to grow curious, which is why Romero had come this far.

“Ah, cardinal. It seems something has appeared. Leeha-ssi is currently observing the potential threat.”

“A threat? I see nothing with my own eyes… must be Leeha-ssi then, what exactly is it?”

Romero glanced at Leeha and nodded.

Though he didn’t seem overly worried, perhaps due to having easily finished the recent battle.

“Um, it was a new name to me too. According to Dragon, it’s called a manticore—”

“A manticore! Is that true?”

It was then Cardinal Romero’s gentle squint narrowed.

Fernand still looked puzzled, but Romero seemed to clearly understand the gravity of the situation.

“The appearance of a manticore means—”

“It could signify that Ghibrid’s power is manifesting to some extent, one of Ghibrid’s breed. That one of his chimera toys is showing itself…”

Blaugrunn provided the answer.

The emergence of a monster never seen before! And one that is related to Ghibrid!

Romero hesitantly approached Leeha.

“Leeha-ssi, how far is it from us?”

“If Blaugrunn-ssi’s estimate of its size is correct, then it’s about 3.6km ahead in the air. It’s coming this way.”

Leeha answered without taking his eyes off the scope. Recognizing the urgency, cardinal Romero quickly spoke up.

“Then we should hide for now. If Ghibrid has released it… um, in the worst case, there might be others…”

even if not, a manticore itself differs from normal monsters. A messenger of the Chimera nests, executing Ghibrid’s will! Its size belies its viciousness and cunning, resulting in a massive loss of human lives during the Second Human-Demon War.”

“Is that so?”

Leeha’s hands were busily moving ever since he heard about the monster’s size from Blaugrunn.

Therefore, his response sounded somewhat indifferent and careless.

That made the respectful voice of Romero become more urgent.

“It seems you don’t fully grasp what I’m saying, we need to hide immediately. If it’s just one creature, we might be able to handle it, but our losses won’t be trivial. For the sake of securing [the light of God], we must first issue an evacuation order to—”

“Did you say you’re Cardinal Romero?”

Leeha’s hands finally stopped. He steadied his breath and asked Cardinal Romero.