Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

However, that was not the case ‘right now’. That was the greatest misfortune for the vampires.

Leeha quickly scanned the swarm of vampires and pointed his finger at them.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on him.

So, what was next?

“〈Terror Familiar: Summon〉.”

─────────────…….

Uncanny appeared at the tip of Leeha’s finger.

The giant bat that was flying had to stop flapping its wings, and the vampires that were rushing forgot to bare their fangs.

Leeha aimed at them.

“I already know it works on you guys…”

There was no need to test it on small-fry vampires.

Wasn’t it a technique that even worked on Chiyou, the second-generation Bathory, and the queen of the vampire clan?

Leeha aimed at them and quickly shouted.

“〈Multi-Warhead Shot〉!”

The cooldown was just one minute.

With more than 5,000 total mana, this skill combo was a piece of cake for Leeha.

As the forty-four bullets cleaned up all the remaining vampires, Uncanny also vanished.

“If this was a musket, I’d blow away the gunpowder smoke with a ‘whoosh!’. Right?”

『Myong?』

“Modern guns lack that a bit. Hehe.”

『Myong! Myoooong!』

Expressing gratitude for Jellypong’s incomprehensible response, Leeha carefully opened his item window.

“Now, it’s time to unwrap the gift… Please, please, this feels like gambling, but there is some sweetness to it.”

Closing one eye and squinting the other, Leeha chuckled at his trembling self and pressed the detailed window of Black Bass.

“Voila!”

〈Awakened Legend of Black Bass (First Enhancement―Lava)〉

(Untradeable)

Additional Effect―3: Awakening at Charge Rate 30% or more

Sleeping at Charge Rate below 10%

Charge Rate: 14.85%

The gamble was a success.

“Woohoo, haha! 14%, no, almost 15%, amazing!”

Leeha shouted in joy with curses.

‘If 12.77% increased by killing thirty-seven, then one small-fry vampire guarantees about 0.35% charge.’

Was the tightness in his chest a reward for his past efforts?

With a face almost bringing tears, Leeha opened the vampire achievement.

“When there are vampires around… Alarm function….”

With this valuable achievement alone, achieving a 30% charge rate in the dark eastern continent wouldn’t be impossible.

“Not the time for this. Jellypong, to that cave… No, hold tight!”

『Myong?』

Leeha aimed for the cave entrance drilled into the cliff.

Knowing the relationship between vampires and charge rates, every minute and second waiting here was a waste. Even the travel time using Jellypong was a waste.

“〈Ghost in the Shell〉!”

Bang─────────────!

“Ugh!”

『Myoo, myoooong!』

Jellypong’s tentacles quickly extended around them.

The moment the bullet reached the cave wall, Leeha and Jellypong were already inside the cave.

With an abrupt sensation of falling, Jellypong instinctively moved to support Leeha’s body, while Leeha, surprised, pulled back the bolt.

Beep. Beep.

“Wow… I came here on a hunch, but you guys are smart? If I moved using Jellypong, I might have missed you.”

“Wh-what―who are you―”

“You don’t need to know.”

Inside the cave, a vampire remained.

Leeha pulled the trigger towards the pale-skinned being who didn’t know what to do looking at him.

‘One thing was certain. It was smarter than a Manticore.’

The recharge rate due to additional charging was 15.18%.

Confirming that it was at least as intelligent as most humanoid monsters, Leeha had been exploring the vampire deployment area closest to his current location.

―Ha Leeha-nim?

―Oh, Blaugrunn-ssi! Did you find out anything?

Leeha received a call from Blaugrunn. Hearing the whisper in his ear, he frowned.

—

―Is there something like a golden lizard mixed in?

―…It wouldn’t have been possible to catch that with Faust’s ability.

―No, I told you. Faust roamed around Kraven and turned seven adult dragons into lich. And combining the power of those seven with Pyro’s…

This was one of the worst confirmations Blaugrunn had made. Leeha hated to bring it up but had no choice but to inform them.

―He even created an Ancient Lich Dragon. Eight liches, one ancient and seven adults. This excludes the two with Chiyou.

An adult lich dragon had almost the same power as a regular adult dragon. But an Ancient-grade? At least of those Leeha had encountered, there were only three Ancient-grade dragons.

An Ancient Gold from the metal dragon clan, Bailephus. An Ancient Red from the Chromatic Dragon clan, Kuzgunak’sh’sh’sh. And similarly, from the Chromatic Dragon clan and revered as an elder, onyx the Black. Considering the power of each one, it was no exaggeration to say that the Ancient-grade dragons were near ‘monstrous’ in Leeha’s mind.

―Damn it. Are all Chromatic Dragons just idiots?

―No, it’s not just Chromatic Dragons. They said three were also among the Metal clan. That’s why I could investigate.

―To meet Kaztor, we might have to deal with them first.

―Ah! That part is still unknown. If they moved together, Chiyou would have moved with Faust. If their relationship—

―Are you saying there’s internal conflict? Haha, then we could take advantage of them fighting each other.

Luger’s small laugh reassured Leeha and Kidd. Leeha agreed with that idea as well, and it pleased him that the fact found by the ‘Hunter’s’ intuition aligned with his own thoughts.

‘But I can’t just agree blindly.’

However, Leeha first offered a counter-opinion.

―It’s all speculation. I can’t grasp those details precisely, so you must decide for yourselves. Especially consult Bailephus, since he’s a dragon like them, and discuss with the Headmaster—

―No need for nagging. Even this much information…hmm, it’s… sufficient.

―You always have a hard time saying thank you. Anyway, do well! I’ll chase after you as soon as possible!

―No need to come, you fool.

―Feeling disappointed? Alright, alright.

Now, Leeha could understand them both thoroughly. With Kidd’s shy gratitude and Luger’s complaint implying he missed Leeha, Leeha responded, understood them, and ended the call after hearing a flurry of jesting remarks denying any such sentiment.

“Phew… What a predicament. Still, I must do my part first.”

If he had to choose between Pyrot-Cocri’s side and the eastern expedition team of the New Continent, Leeha was inclined towards the eastern side. Blaugrunn’s report did not solely contain bad news.

‘I had expected something like this when Ram Hwajung intervened, but this was much better news.’

Leeha found encouragement in the fact that the Silver Dragon, Arzenmacht, from the metal dragon clan, was included in those searching for Pyrot-Cocri. Although Ram Hwajung might have already known, Leeha first conveyed this to Kijung, who jumped for joy at the potential support from a dragon.

‘Somehow that side will manage. Somehow… Now, the East remains.’

Leeha cautiously surveyed the front, holding his breath silently. As expected, this location was also a cave. The only difference was that it was situated at the foot of a typical mountain rather than a cliff. nd now, giant bats started flying into the cave one by one. Leeha carefully counted the number of giant bats. According to Prea’s information, the location was to house around 25 bats, and currently, 23 had entered.

“Two are missing, but that’s good enough.”

This time, it wouldn’t be like ‘last night.’

Leeha quickly ran to the second deployment zone for the vampires and waited there continually.

“Alright, let’s go. 〈Camouflage Release〉.”

The sunrise had lasted until just now.

There was no reason for the ‘small fry’ vampires, who couldn’t operate under the sun, not to have returned to their base.

Therefore, Leeha had to recognize that twenty-three vampires constituted the confirmed count for this deployment area, and all he needed to do was handle them.

“Breaking statues is a first for me. Jellypong, don’t touch the statues, okay? I have to break them all!”

『Myong? Mew!』

Handling twenty-three vampires turned to stone was easier than eating porridge.

Leeha only thought about dealing with these quickly so that he could reach the third vampire area before sunset.

—

– Huh… hyung?

– Hey, Kijung. How’s it going?

– Did you call me?

– What? Who?

Perhaps to be safe, Leeha had been breaking the statues only with bullets and not using Toon’s dagger at all.

In the middle of this, he received Kijung’s message.

– Hyung, did you not call and send this person to me?

– What? What are you talking about? Who?

Kijung’s voice conveyed his confusion.

Leeha was also bewildered because he hadn’t contacted anyone.

Finishing his whisper with Leeha, Kijung bowed to the person standing before him.

“Hello… Pei Wu-nim.”

“Hao! It’s been a while, Master Kay!”

The guild 〈Hwangryong〉, which had the largest number of members in Middle Earth.

Among them, the fourth-ranked user and the strongest of them all.

Pei Wu, who had been rumored to have recently completed a second job change, raised his fist in greeting to Kijung.

– Fe, Pei Wu? Pei Wu is there? Why?

– That’s what I was trying to ask you, but… so it’s not you, hyung.

– What does Pei Wu want?

Hearing Leeha’s flustered voice, Kijung became confident.

– He wants to join. To be precise, he asked if there was a way for him to help.

– … Hunting Pyrot-Cocri?

– No, yes. That’s all there is, isn’t it? Or is it something else? What?

– What are you talking about?

– That’s why I contacted you! Anyway, hang on!

Kijung ended the whisper and quickly scanned Pei Wu and his surroundings.

Pei Wu continued to look at Kijung with an upright gaze.

Just from that alone, a tremendous aura seemed to emanate, but there was a line of 〈Hwangryong〉 guild members standing by Pei Wu’s side.

Even at a glance, they were the elite members of 〈Hwangryong〉.

‘Such personnel here…’

Why had they suddenly appeared?

Even Kijung, who lacked intuition, couldn’t fail to grasp the meaning behind “wanting to help”.

The issue was that even Pei Wu didn’t exactly know “what he was supposed to help with”.

‘So the story has gotten out but not clearly. Can it be interpreted that way?’

While he didn’t know about Pyrot-Cocri, Kijung did know that something critical was happening at the northernmost point of Shazrashian, and that the person acting as the responsible party was Master Kay=himself.

“Excuse me, Pei Wu-nim, how did you come to know about this—”

“Ha ha, don’t worry about maintaining secrecy. It was some intelligence that reached us 〈Hwangryong〉 guild members, and we are solemnly keeping that secret.”

“Oh, um… so only the four of you present here know about this?”

“Well, not just us—some members were involved in finding Master Kay.”

Pei Wu replied with a somewhat embarrassed expression. It was a part that Kijung was concerned about.

“How many of you then…”

〈Hwangryong〉 guild operated on a different scale compared to typical guilds.

If all their members had flocked to the northernmost point of Shazrashian and “turned it inside out”.

‘Chiyou is likely to find out. As Leeha hyung mentioned, that’s the worst-case scenario—’