Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

[Alexander!]

“Beeliphus.”

In the place where Faust and all the Undead had vanished, only traces of the Demon King’s passage remained.

“I need to contact Leeha.”

[Do it right away.]

The moment Faust was about to escape, it hadn’t been long since E Jiwon and Ram Hwajeong had retreated.

―What is it?

Lee Hwan received the message and felt like crying.

Just a while ago, he had received a message from E Jiwon and Ram Hwajeong. And now Alexander was saying something else entirely.

‘I missed everything…?! No, it’s not just that I missed it.’

“Why’s your expression suddenly like that? Aren’t you paying attention in class?”

Ram Hwayeon spoke to Lee Hwan without knowing the situation. Lee Hwan took a moment to organize the current situation.

‘Accidental as it might be, considering the full strength of both teams, they should have killed at least two teams. But not a single one… Not even Alexander could capture Faust?’

Alexander had at least managed to chase Faust away.

If only Cooz Gugnak’csh hadn’t been interfering, Beeliphus could have easily taken care of the situation.

But what about the other two teams?

‘E Jiwon and Ram Hwajeong ended in a draw… Well, they both claimed it was a draw just due to their pride, but in reality… They both lost.’

The accidental individual battle score was 1:2.

The battle to subdue the Demon King’s forces, where Hyei managed to gain the upper hand just recently, had suddenly turned the other way.

“Miss Ram Hwayeon, I need to go.”

“What, what? Where?”

“I need you to oversee the city for a while. Sorry.”

“Leeha?! Wait a second—! Where are you just going—”

Shwook—! Lee Hwan briefly checked his friends list and then immediately activated the Modify Gem.

***

“Hooook, hooook, hooook…. Kruar? Igor?”

“Kyahaha, you’re late! You told us to come here—”

“Shhh. Shut up and confirm first. Igor, have you had any contact with Chiyowa?”

“Whoa, what’s with that question, damn lizard?”

“Have you had any contact with Chiyowa? Or have any of you had Chiyowa’s pursuers attach to you?”

Since Faust had received a call from Alexander just before he escaped, meeting Igor and Kruar in the same place wasn’t unusual.

Igor and Kruar, who arrived first, were wearing triumphant expressions, but Faust’s priority was confirmation.

“None! That damn woman’s tavern was the only place she mentioned! She showed up like she was waiting for us, claiming the 1st, 2nd, and 9th rankers were waiting!”

No one among the Demon King’s subordinates was foolish enough to chalk that up to ‘coincidence’. Suspecting Chiyowa was the natural course of action for them.

“She probably hasn’t registered friends, but release all of them and block her whispers. Then we’ll move again. For the time being, we’ll use the cover of darkness and head on foot.”

“Kukukukuk, interesting. Where are we going? Do we even have a destination? That crazy woman’s eyes are pretty wide open. It won’t be easy to avoid her.”

Following Faust’s prompt, Igor revealed a grin.

With Djar’s power well preserved and the joy of defeating E Jiwon evident on his face, he was feeling good.

Faust pondered for a moment before speaking. She was well aware that Chiyowa’s enigmatic ‘information network’ was quite impressive. Not to mention, she was a member of Minis.

Escaping from her territory was their top priority.

“…We’re going to Puvier.”

“Crossing the border?”

“We’ll only go that far. There’s a force that will support us with their full strength if we make it there. Are you ready?”

The initial plan had changed slightly, but Faust’s determination remained firm.

‘Quest rewards change in proportion to the damage done to human nations and the duration. We must not be captured under any circumstances.’

The Demon King’s vanguard couldn’t afford to log out for an extended period of time, as quests would disappear if they did. Thus, they had no choice but to move within Midgard’s borders.

“What are you hesitating for?! Let’s go already! We might not have many vials left, but—”

As Crowly spun around with a whoosh, ice golems started materializing in the previously empty space—popping into existence.

“—I’m not the same as before either. And there are still some annoying jerks around.”

Seeing Crowly’s power, Faust nodded in agreement.

“…Alright. What about Igor?”

“He’s being a bit stubborn. He’s quite angry. And on top of that, those three idiots we wanted to kill are chasing after us.”

“And not just them, we need to be wary of Leeha too.”

Faust’s intelligence was nothing to scoff at either.

Even without Chiyowa’s direct words, she had a decent idea that Leeha would be after them.

“Heh heh heh, this is getting better. Much better. Whether they’re ranked or Leeha, whenever they want, they can come. We’ll squeeze them dry.”

“Let’s move as the sun sets.”

While it might have been a mistake on their part to underestimate Leeha’s capability to rally the ranked players, at least it wouldn’t significantly alter the current situation.

As the sun began to set in Midgard, the Demon King’s vanguard set their hidden plans in motion.

Chiyowa wouldn’t find out about this turn of events until much later.

***

Inside Chiyowa’s upscale tavern in City Gaza, she vented her frustration to her heart’s content.

“You couldn’t find Faust?!”

“I apologize, Okasama. They weren’t the kind of targets that our marks could track—”

“Yiik—! Again, you’ve messed up again!”

The members of Shinobigumi couldn’t pursue those who completely concealed their presence.

Although there were users with Hunter and Adventurer skills, their levels weren’t high enough to chase after Faust, Igor, and Crowly.

“How the hell did those humans find our hiding place?! Leeha herself told you that we were sitting here doing nothing! She claimed she hadn’t even contacted Alexander or E Jiwon!”

It was exactly as Faust had feared. Chiyowa had scattered enough “eyes” around their designated hiding places.

She had already heard the reports that Alexander, E Jiwon, and Ram Hwajeong had appeared from their designated hiding places.

“That’s… I apologize. It’s not yet determined whether Leeha has any relation to them—”

“Are you blind? Sasuke! Are you a moron? How the hell did those three—Alexander, E Jiwon, and Ram Hwajeong—end up working together? There’s someone behind them! If it’s related to the Demon King’s quest, of course Leeha is involved!”

Chiyowa’s worries had come true. She had left enough “eyes” around their designated hiding places.

“It was… my mistake. We haven’t determined if Leeha has any connection to them—”

“―Huuuuu….”

Chiyowa shut her mouth instead of venting her anger.

She couldn’t blow up at Sasuke because it was her own luck that had spun out that fortune about Ram Hwajeong going to Castle Dale.

Sasuke just bowed his head like a sinner.

“Moreover, Ram Hwajeong has moved! The Ram Hwajeong who was sitting by Leeha’s side like a piece of furniture!”

“I thought she went to Castle Dale—”

“—Huuu….”

Chiyowa held back her anger and didn’t say anything further.

It was her own doing that had spread the luck about Ram Hwajeong going to Castle Dale.

“So, Leeha has disappeared?”

“Yes.”

“Send a message to all of Shinobigumi. Stop whatever you’re doing and focus on the new search target.”

“…Although it’s hard to say at this point, is that blue beard really that important?”

“Of course. The NPC at the center of Midgard [Phase 2] is none other than him! How long are we going to live controlling weak NPCs and users like cowards? To control the entire continent, we need to be connected to NPCs of that caliber.”

“Understood. Then the new search target is…”

Sasuke didn’t show the slightest sign of hesitation in the face of her words.

Her subordinates who fully trusted her judgment were waiting for her new orders.

“Leeha, Kid, Luger, the Three Musketeers. Puvier’s NPC Broulis, ranked 1st Alexander, ranked 2nd E Jiwon, ranked 9th Ram Hwajeong. And the Demon King’s vanguard or noble Oni Clan monsters. In other words, everyone related to this incident. No matter what happens, we must find them. Since we’ve learned that we can’t find blue beard directly, we can only follow in his wake.”

“Haat!”

Shinobigumi, which had turned into a completely neutral third party in the confrontation between the Expedition Force and the Demon King’s vanguard, entered the fray.

They were playing a game of hide and seek, pouring out all their information, connections, and knowledge.

And there was one more disadvantage to Chiyowa’s broad perspective. Too wide of a view sometimes meant missing the small things right under your nose.

At Chiyowa’s tavern located in the northeastern outskirts of City Gaza, she couldn’t even guess who might be in the newly built massive restaurant in the southwestern outskirts of City Gaza, perfectly symmetrical to her own place.

***

The building under construction in the southwestern outskirts of City Gaza, also known as the facility that Leeha had requested earlier, was being developed simultaneously with Ram Hwayeon’s city restoration.

At the time, the main purpose was information gathering; Leeha couldn’t have known that this place would be used as a hideout, but she could instinctively sense that this turn of events had become a “divine move.”

Although there were occasions when construction worker NPCs could be seen coming and going, they had no idea who had gathered on the third floor of the building.

“Thank you, madam.”

“Don’t mention it. You haven’t forgotten about the tax benefits for three months, have you?”

“That promise was related to the Heuschling data! I haven’t been able to confirm the data yet, so I can’t give you a definitive answer, but… I will definitely repay you for providing this hideout.”

“Hehe, thorough as ever. But that’s what I liked about you, Leeha. Well then, enjoy your time everyone! Don’t worry, we’ll make sure no one else can come up here!”

With a wink to the members gathered, Leeha left the room.

As the door closed with a clicking sound, Leeha’s expression changed, her face contorting.

“What’s the current situation?”

Her usual voice was now low and deep, completely different.

The atmosphere was tense enough that the people in the room were exchanging glances.

Of course, there were those like Luger and Kid, who were absently fiddling with their firearms, seemingly unconcerned. But for the most part, those present were people who found it difficult to escape the criticism of this incident.

“I apologize. The moment I saw Kuzgunak’Sh, it was hard for me to restrain myself. As an Ancient, I still feel my progress is lacking.”

The first to speak was Baileifus, clad in golden armor. The Gold Dragon bowed its head towards Leeha.

Alexander, who stood by his side, also gave a light bow, but it did nothing to alleviate Leeha’s anger.

“No, you—ahhh… Baileifus, you’re over five thousand years old, right?! At that age—especially for an important moment like this—you should have restrained yourself at least once! We could’ve just followed those guys until they gathered, and right before Blue Beard appeared, we could’ve wiped them all out! No, no, even if you couldn’t hold back a hundred times and did something as drastic as killing Faust! If you let that chance slip—”

“I’m sorry.”

How many users could apologize to an Ancient-level Gold Dragon twice in a row?

But no one in the gathering was concerned about that.

E Jiwon was being E Jiwon, and Ram Hwayeon was being Ram Hwayeon. Their pride had been crushed as much as it could be crushed.

“Ahhh… E Jiwon, Ram Hwayeon, you too. What is it? Not just in terms of position, but also in terms of skill, you were more than enough! But to lose and run away like that—”

“I didn’t lose. It was a draw.”

“Hyungnim! Run away? What kind of words are those?! If you were about to die, and Faust gave you a break right before the finish, would you accept it? Huh? Would you?”

Even if they said it was a draw, it was essentially a loss.

Because the stronger individuals had run away from the weaker ones.

“Kukuk. I should’ve taken care of it myself. What were you expecting from idiots and riffraff? The only thing going wrong here is the brain of the one who devised that strategy.”

“Shut your mouth, Luger. I don’t want to waste my energy now.”

Did Luger enjoy seeing stronger individuals being scolded by Leeha? He kept a constant grin on his face.

Suppressing the urge to smack him, Leeha sent a whisper to Fernang.