Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

There naturally was a difference in speed between climbing Mt. Mannyeonseol and moving on flat ground, and it had been about 40 minutes since the onset of White Plague. The problem was not just the decrease in 840.

Middle Earth could confirm how much HP was left through the character window, but intuitively, it could be known without opening the window to assist the user’s view.

In other words, as time passed, the lower sights would be blocked.

“Leeha-nim? Are you okay?”

“Um um! Umpf!”

“Oppa, potion.”

“Um, ohpf.”

Ignoring Blaugrunn and Ram Hwajung’s concerns, Leeha firmly nodded and continued forward. There was no need for potions or healing. Otherwise, shouldn’t White Plague have nothing to fear?

If his HP falls below 20%, it’ll become difficult to snipe. Shooting with the naked eye would be even harder. Therefore, the actual time limit was 40 minutes ahead.

Leeha’s heart started to beat faster. Urgently moving forward, smashing the incoming snowballs, about ten minutes later, he finally noticed a stream of fire shooting up into the sky.

-Over there!

“Huh? That fireball… is coming this way?”

The fiery stream shooting into the air was fiercely aimed towards where Ehah and the others were as if alive and writhing.

“Human.”

“Wha!?”

Arzenmacht muttered while looking somewhere, and Leeha instinctively raised the Black Bass towards that place.

“[Mana Clairvoyance]!”

Zzziiing-!

One person buried in the white snow!

Leeha immediately pulled the trigger towards that place.

Pew-ahhhh!

“Damn it! Are they leaving one as a bait?”

Probably one of the Yamato members. Planning not just to slow them down but observing Leeha’s group and using it as a control tower to guide where Pyro’s skills should go?!

Despite knowing this, the group could not help but delay a little.

“Fire is coming! Leeha-nim! I will summon the mystical creatures!”

-It should be the most potent skill Pyro can use! Our most potent skill, too-

“[Absolute Retribution]”

“[Absolute Territory: Mana Seizure]”

As Leeha urgently issued orders towards Blaugrunn, Arzenmacht and Ram Hwajung teamed up once again.

The flying fire froze in its tracks. Watching a scene that was so difficult to even draw properly in reality, Leeha almost choked on the potion of a hundred undead soldiers.

Leeha’s group withstood the attacks from Chiyou’s group, but the counterattack from Chiyou’s group also failed to exert significant power.

The fierce battle of advance and retreat continued without either side showing any sign of yielding, and the mountain range made of everlasting snow and ice was being completely devastated.

Nevertheless, the pace of both groups never slowed down.

Fortunately, Leeha’s group, accompanied by the ‘Dragon,’ was somewhat faster.

Over there!

Leeha shouted.

When they were about 500 meters away from the Bransylvania Castle, they finally spotted the Chiyou party.

The distance from Leeha’s position to the Chiyou party was approximately 15,021!

Leeha multitasked.

One task was aiming at the Chiyou party running towards the entrance of Bransylvania Castle.

“Hee-woo-woo…)

However, Leeha couldn’t aim accurately at Chiyou.

It was because the members of Yamato were shielding and protecting Chiyou from the back.

But what if they continued to stick together?

“Think of aiming at a point about 307 steps ahead.”

Not using a scope. Instead, without the cumbersome click adjustments, aiming became even faster.

Most importantly, this approach increased the likelihood of Chiyou’s skill not activating. Chiyou’s skill [Social Dance] notifies the user in advance when they become the target of an attack.

However, isn’t Leeha aiming only for the Yamato members!

“It’s your grave that you dug, Chiyou!”

Leeha finished aiming. And then, proceeded with the second task.

Fireo, what’s going on here? Why are you there?!

Without laying eyes on Fireo, Leeha sent a mental message. Revealing the question now could risk leaking spy information, so Leeha held back until now.

The first reason for confirming Fireo’s true intentions and why he joined was to uncover the truth.

-… ] Leeha, you don’t know-

“Now, [Curve Shot].”

The purpose of Leeha’s mental message was to pressure and delay Fireo in preparing for the attack in order to target these two aspects. The bullets below bypassed the members of Yamato at the end of Chiyou and flew towards the anticipated point three meters ahead of them.

There was definitely Chiyou. It was not just a simple hunch. When about twenty people moved, the most important factor was where they were located in the group.

Countless sniping experiences in Middle Earth and practical knowledge acquired in reality guided the bullets to pinpoint Chiyou’s location.

“Whoa…”

The problem was that there was another person there.

“Wool!?”

Before the sound could be heard, a tingling sensation in the bullets signaled the outcome.

“Spirit? And that rock wall…?”

A towering stone wall rising from the center of Chiyou’s group. At this point, only one person could use skills related to stones.

“Prea! Are you betraying us here!?”

Prea’s defensive shield utilizing the earth mystical creatures saved Chiyou’s life.

※ ※ – “Preaaa! What are you doing!?”

Why, why?! You asked me to completely take Chiyou’s side, right? – “I can’t believe it!”

Prea’s astonished voice echoed in the mind. So much so that a bit of a healing potion dripped through crack in her lips as if she had gritted her teeth.

Since the start of climbing the snowy mountain, Blaugrunn had maintained continuous contact with Prea. Not only did he confirm this was not a trap through his own reconnaissance, but he also pursued after checking it several times.

But to betray at the last moment

I shook my head. There was no room for words. At this point, I had to believe!

“If even a glimpse of Chiyou is visible, I could target the Terror Spirit, but not now.”

Targeting skills are unusable if the target is not visible. But even if used without a target, there was also the possibility of Chiyou running without noticing it.

“You can’t use a skill that costs 1,000 mana per hour like a gamble. Now, I have only 2,300 mana left. Natural recovery is a little, but it will only recover to 2,300. If summon the Terror Spirit, there will be about 1,350 mana left.”

In that situation, I couldn’t use the Double Bullet that consumes 600 mana or the Curve Shot that consumes 900 mana in succession.

There was no room for regret for Haah at losing a valuable opportunity.

“Let’s try to catch them for now! [Chain Lightning]!”

“Snowball. [Ice Spear].”

“Hmm… [Ice Blast].”

It was a situation that perfectly fit the saying “add insult to injury.”

Blaugrunn attacked Chiyou’s group, causing Ram Hwajung and Arzenmacht to focus on the snowball coming at them.

The snowballs flying from the Brunsilveinia Castle became more challenging to shatter as they approached the castle. Multiple lightning beams shot out as if grazing over the snow.

“Huh?”However, Jeong-Geok was suddenly blocked by a protruding jaw.

“Uh, uh-huh! I knew this was coming! I had a hunch!”

A bizarre and crude laughter echoed.

The identity of the sudden jaw revealed that the bulging eye clusters were small snow golems.

For Crowley, who controlled dozens of stone golems, this was not a difficult task. The magic of the Jeong-Geok lineage was absorbed by the eyes and spread through the snow golems, losing its power in the process.

“Push them back with force! There are only eight left, and the castle is right in front of us now!”

“Understood!”

“Whoomp!”

Boom!

A burst of crimson light erupted in front of them.

Whether it was a time limit or the distance to the Bransylvania castle, it was time to unleash all their power.

“Gomtangi! Take out the enemies in front!” Issuing orders to the kid in place of Ee-Ha, Blaugrunn accelerated even more.

While the snow golems blocked with their bodies, Ee-Ha’s march did not stop.

“[Barbed Arrows]”

“Urgh! Ugh!”

Despite the resistance from Chiyoh’s side, it was far from enough to face Ee-Ha and his party.

After knocking down one of Yamato’s members rushing towards them, Ee-Ha passed a message to Pyro once again.

“Pyro, I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ve been thinking wrong for a while! Kill Chiyoh now.”

-You’re right, your words are always right. You are truly remarkable.

“What are you talking about? You know who Chiyoh is! You are a descendant of a hero, so why are you sympathizing with Mae?”

Woosh!

As if responding to Ee-Ha’s words, a massive stream of fire surged from Pyro’s body.

As if to melt all the nearby snow and ice, the fiery stream rocketed into the sky, momentarily calming Ee-Ha’s momentum.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

-What? -It’s a game, what does it matter? The priority is to eliminate someone you don’t like.

-You… What kind of- Continent’s peace, what, I don’t know! I’m ignorant! Why am I seeking approval more than you- Beep…!The massive pillar of flame rising towards the sky thickened as it ascended.

“I don’t understand the reason for this at all! It’s so frustrating!”

The vein on his temple bulged. As the pillar blocked their path completely, the few remaining snow golems covered the front to hide Pyro from view.

The flames beyond the blaze were so intense that even Chiyou’s eyes couldn’t pierce through.

“What is this? Just because of that trivial reason, you chose Chiyou’s side?”

Inferiority complex.

Leeha, who had thought there was some grand conspiracy or greed at play, was utterly dumbfounded. Little did Leeha know that the seed of his inferiority complex had sprouted from the “Fire Flower.”

When it came to fire, Leeha prided himself on being the strongest in Midas. His stubborn nature broke through at that moment, evolving into enmity towards Leeha.

“Damn it, if I had known it was such a ridiculous reason, I would’ve just shot a Mana Evaporating Sphere right off the bat. I never thought I could persuade such a stubborn human with mere words.”

But predicting such a scenario was impossible. Until then, he had been described as at least simple, ignorant, passionate, and persevering. Thus, the idea that he became an enemy over mere inferiority seemed unworthy of consideration.

“You’re arrogant, human! Do you dare think you can block a dragon’s path with that level of flame magic?”

Blaugrunn cast a lightning spell with an angry expression. Despite his words, everyone knew that as long as he didn’t kill Pyro, they couldn’t advance towards the Bransylvania Castle anymore.

“Blaugrunn!”

“Alek- whoaat!?”

Arzenmacht wrapped Blaugrunn, who was casting in mid-air, and batted him away. As Leeha turned around in surprise, he caught a glimpse of a black shadow passing through the air where Blaugrunn had been.

Ring… ring…

Simultaneously, an alarm went off in his mind. Leeha knew exactly what the alarm signified.

“Hmm…? Are you Bronze and Silver fish in the Illusion Lake? Ah! There’s also an unlucky Leeha in the mix? If I slit your throat here, not a lot of blood would come out. Phew, lucky, isn’t it? Kil kil.”

Casually twirling his staff, ramwajeong grabbed Leeha’s clothes. Her trembling voice revealed the approaching figure from behind.

“Bluebeard.”

With Pyro in front and Bluebeard chasing behind, Leeha’s group found themselves surrounded.

Leeha alternated his gaze between the front and the back. Bluebeard at this moment! – Prea said nothing – no, did she not even tell Prea. Leeha’s mind was on the verge of exploding in complexity. When did Chiyou call Bluebeard?

Or should he have assumed from the start that Bluebeard would come here? Although he had requested help from the Silver Dragon just in case, he hadn’t really thought that Bluebeard would show up, so he couldn’t help but be flustered.