Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

The Black Crane paleo and the Red Goat paleo had already reached a state beyond mere distrust of humans to an outright loathing of humanity. Convincing them, who had achieved the first-ever -100% affinity towards all of humanity in the New Continent, was never going to be an easy task.

Had Leeha not been among the first to set foot on the New Continent, or if he had not been the one to rescue Hudid from his hallucinatory state caused by Bluebeard, this operation would have definitely failed.

“How dare you ask us to trust you, after all the havoc your kind has wreaked upon us?”

Hudid’s eyes were already ablaze. The flames in his gaze alone seemed powerful enough to incinerate Leeha on the spot. Though Blaugrunn was ready to protect him at any moment, Leeha did not want his protection. If he couldn’t convince them with words and trust, being protected by force would make him no different from the users who earn the “Subjugation” achievement.

“Not all humans are like that. I, more than anyone, am definitely not. Those fools don’t even understand the gravity of their actions. So…”

“You’ll personally sort them out?”

“Yes. More than anything, I don’t want to see you getting ‘subjugated.’

After all, it’s an achievement I don’t have.”

“What did you just say?”

“I said, I want to protect you, heh, that’s right. Please believe me. I’ve come to help you.”

“I have no doubts about your skills, considering you once shot off my toe from a distance. But can you really betray your own kind and still survive?”

Hudid twitched his long leg. One toe was noticeably shorter than the others, a result of Leeha’s sniping that had left its mark.

“Right. If they found out I attacked, it would undoubtedly create a huge uproar. I might even be constantly on the run.”

“But you’re willing to take that risk to help us?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Hudid tilted his head, wondering why anyone would go through such trouble without a clear incentive. But that was a story for yesterday.

Leeha looked at Hudid and pulled out two items.

“Because they won’t know it was me.”

The silencer and the subsonic bullet had their first real test. Leeha proved the effectiveness of these items to them.

“This, is this from that time-“

“Eldest. Quiet.”

“-Yes! Guardian deity.”

The effect was evident enough to make the Black Crane paleo, Hudid’s eldest, stutter in surprise. Quieter than a whistle.

Quieter than the sound of their own footsteps on the new grass. The combination of the silencer and the subsonic bullet demonstrated an ultimate decibel reduction, and from that alone, Hudid understood completely what Leeha was saying.

“If I can keep hidden in my abode, it would be easy to expose that sharp-nosed one.”

“Thank you for your trust.”

“Our hearts are with you. Everyone, get ready. Humans come at dusk.”

Flap – flap!

Hudid took to the sky immediately. The Black Crane paleos dispersed around, casting fleeting glances at Leeha. The gunfire was quieter than the sound of a sword slicing through the air. For the Black Crane paleos, who had either seen or experienced Leeha’s attacks at least once, it was an unbelievably silent affair.

“I can’t feel the waves of mana at all. To think that this is possible without silence magic… Leeha is truly unpredictable. Where does he keep getting such knowledge from?”

“Ah! It wasn’t by chance that I became Blaugrunn’s partner. Save your admiration for later, and please gather intelligence once we’re back in Juma City.”

Magic or skills weren’t the tools here.

It was the path where only the performance of items enhanced the utility of a sniper.

Leeha knew intuitively. Today, in battle, he would undergo a transformation as a sniper.

“A great sniper is one whose presence was never even known. Isn’t that what they say? A famous sniper on the battlefield is virtually asking to be killed quickly.

A perfect snipe is when neither friend nor foe realizes the sniper existed.

‘Though I mentioned it today to the Black Crane paleo tribe… if this weren’t the battlefield-‘

Leeha shivered. Thus, 4 hours later, on the outskirts of the Red Wood, in the Black Crane paleo tribe, a true [Shadow Hitman] was born. The annihilation of the Castilla Knights never made it outside. There were no survivors to tell the Tale.

Not to mention, the residual light body lasts less than 15 minutes.

Since no one knew what had happened within the Black Crane paleo tribe, another knightly order of Minis, the Brytax, was approaching the tribe from a location about 1.56m away, oblivious to everything.

“Leeha, they’ve arrived.”

“Okay, I see them.”

Leeha was hidden in the nest of Hudid.

After a wide encirclement of the paleo tribe’s outskirts, a pattern of synchronized action ensued.

Despite trying to hide and move, he couldn’t escape Leeha’s eyes, who already knew the ‘route’ and was watching it.

“Should be thanking Lark for this, right? If he only teaches us one attack pattern, they’re all going to want to use just that.”

In other words, if that path is blocked, there’s no need to worry about the others!

I wonder if the Virtue Knights cleared it with this strategy too?

Lark, wielding the [Rainbow Sword], Leeha thought they must have chosen a different distribution of forces than regular knightly orders.

“But the overall framework can’t change. Stop the black cranes from flying, the elites deal with the mystical creatures to buy time, while the rest of the order subdues the regular paleos.”

Once the system is understood, there should be variations. Watching the Brytax Knights move without a single deviation from the Castilla Knights, Leeha shook his head in disapproval.

“Being stubborn is different from being stupid. Now that everyone’s surrounded, in about… five minutes or so?”

Leeha rummaged through his bag for a new magazine.

Its shape was not much different. To differentiate from the standard magazines, however, the color was changed.

“Heh, reducing the gunpowder is one thing, but this method is even better. There’s also an expectation of increased destructive power.”

The direction chosen by Leeha and Bottleneck for the [Subsonic Rounds] was to manufacture and mount thicker bullet heads. Reducing gunpowder required more delicate adjustments and risked losing the initial destructive power.

‘But this method-‘

“The mana net is ready. We’ll start soon. The direction is– yes, I already know the direction.”

Leeha combined the magazine. The mana net is a special item that stays invisible until activated.

But what was mounted on Black Bass?

Leeha peered through the “scope.”

“It was the eyes of the frozen ostriches that even revealed Blaugrunn’s invisibility. Adding this to it…

[Mana Clairvoyance]”

Swoosh-

Switching to normal vision was also an option at any time.

It boasted performance comparable to a thermal infrared camera combined.

Leeha extended the barrel of Black Bass outside the Hudid nest.

What stuck out of the firm ‘comrade’, less than 500m in length, was a pitch-black barrel.

Of course, there was no one in this world who could recognize it in an instant.

“Blaugrunn, I’m well-hidden. Starting now.”

“Got it.”

Leeha aimed his crosshairs at a figure stealthily moving with a mana net in hand. Then, he pulled the trigger.

Pft-.

All that was heard was a sound reminiscent of air leaking from a balloon, brief and subtle. A knight from the Brytax Order, holding the mana net, fell dead. It was an instant death with no time for screams, and the fallen couldn’t provide any clues about their attacker. Add the thick underbrush of the Red Woods to the equation?

Slipping quietly, Leeha could see the body collapse into the bushes. This was precisely why he hadn’t initiated his attack earlier. The sound of the falling body could only be masked when the others were moving.

Pft- Pft- Pft-.

Within moments, he had dealt with four more knights wielding mana nets, waiting for Hudid’s roar. Once they were out in the open, the trajectory of the bullets made it possible to infer where the attack came from.

“Now, would the Black Crane please give us a shout~”

Hudid, following the plan, shouted as agreed. The Black Crane paleos began their transformation, everything proceeding exactly as Leeha had anticipated. All that remained was to attack the knights ‘at the right moment’ during the paleos’ assault.

“Block them! Black Cranes are not that strong! Overpower them with force! Advance in an attack formation!”

“Huh, they all sound the same,” Leeha murmured to herself, nodding at the sound strategy. However, it was merely a second-best option.

“Suspect battlefields are best avoided. Stubbornness won’t change that…”

A knight within Leeha’s scope positioned his shield and sword.

Swiftly blocking an attack from a Black Crane paleo’s beak, he swung his sword.

Pft-.

A part of the shot successfully severed, and as he stepped forward for an additional strike, he turned to lead. The small hole in his side was the cause of his demise, unnoticed by anyone around, including the 448 users.

“Alright, let’s clean up this mess,” said Leeha, as cute (?) puffing sounds continued around him. They were reminiscent of living Black Bass whispering the breath of death to their enemies, a sound akin to breathing. The Brytax Order, nearly equal in number to the Castilla Order, was annihilated in 11 minutes and 27 seconds.

The brave Castilla knights could barely enjoy the victory, noting, “Even a lesser order couldn’t last long against us!” realizing that an entire knight order had been decimated in less than 15 minutes.

[Your level has increased.]

[Trust with all creatures in the New Continent Erika has been established.]

“Oh, look at that! Trust, of all things.”

The system window was unexpected for Leeha. No specific quest had been undertaken. It was merely an act of goodwill, of greater purpose.

“Does it mean that my choices weren’t wrong after all? Would Alexander or Lee Jiwon notice this?”

Leeha pondered for a moment. Alexander was logged in, Lee Jiwon logged out. Abandoning the idea of contacting Alexander, Leeha shrugged.

“No, I need to look into this more. It’s too early to jump to conclusions without knowing what it means. Being informed by the system window alone is a privilege comparable to the one given by Middle Earth itself.”

In a game where every choice and the flow of the world are in the players’ hands, receiving hints through a ‘system window’ was something else. Leeha opened his character window to check his stats and rotated his shoulders.

“Ugh… two sessions in one day are tough. My shoulders are stiff. Blaugrunn! Come here and help me with a massage!”

Leeha had become the first user to start building ‘trust with mystical creatures’, now exploiting a dragon for massages.

※ ※

“It seems like the number of knights is decreasing, doesn’t it?”

“They didn’t go back to their homeland either… especially the numbers from Minis’ order have drastically reduced.”

“As much as the days we have left to defend are few, we should be joining forces now more than ever. This is too much!”

Complaints near the [Divine Staff] were growing. Since Fibiel and the Shazrashian were already enemies or in unfriendly terms with Minis, their stance was expected. However, even allies from Kraven became increasingly uncomfortable with the dwindling numbers of Minis’ knights.

[Sanctification]

Objective:

Secure the Divine Staff in New Continent Erika within 15 days (Completed)
After securing the Divine Staff, provide protection for 21 days (5 days remaining).

The remaining time until the Divine Staff activates and forms a contract with the divine spirit is only 5 days.

“These guys, they make us do all the dirty work while they enjoy themselves somewhere? They only showed up for the first three days and haven’t been seen since.”

Whether they were illusions or real beings, Toon and the monster mobs appeared here every day for the past 16 days, changing locations each time. As a result, other knight orders were unable to properly complete quests or hunt because they were tied down to this place.

Therefore, the remaining knights of Minis near the [Divine Staff] had no choice but to hear all sorts of suspicions and gossip. At the center of it all was, of course, the Minis Defense Knight Order, led by Virtue.