Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Smiling, Leeha, parted ways with Biyemi, only to suddenly flinch at an unexpected noise, raising his head and gun barrel.

“Who’s there?”

Something rustled from the branches of a tree. Quite distant, but not enough for Leeha to miss it.

“Biyemi-ssi! You heard that, right? There’s something in the tree! A paleo?”

“Wh, what noise…hehe, you heard something again?”

Leeha furrowed his eyebrows and asked, but all Biyemi did was dismiss his question with a wave of his hand and lowered his head. She didn’t even look up.

“Really? You didn’t hear that? There was movement.”

“It’s probably a bird. In the jungle, one wouldn’t know how big the bird might be, hehe. It reminds me of hunting eagles with Halihali-nim and Jin Gonggong.”

“Ah, a bird?”

“Hehe, indeed, since that time, Halihali-nim was different. I never would have thought he’d use the scent of gunpowder so efficiently.”

Biyemi closed his eyes reminiscing about the past.

Recalling memories from when exactly? Leeha lowered his gun cautiously, observing his as if savoring the thoughts.

‘Could Biyemi, who possesses such skill….. have not heard it? Or, was it truly a bird sound?’

The bird sound Leeha heard was clearly different from what Biyemi described.

Leeha, who had to hack his way through the jungle to get here, had made mental notes of the various sounds he had encountered. But, seeing Biyemi’s overwhelming confidence, he couldn’t stay on edge alone any longer.

Biyemi had arrived here before Leeha, surveyed the area before Leeha, and therefore would have known more about the area than Leeha.

So, if she said she didn’t hear anything, Leeha figured it should be obvious he didn’t hear anything either.

“Then, we – no, I will go and check.”

“We?”

Seeing Leeha tilt his head, Biyemi’s eyes briefly widened. However, his expression quickly returned to normal.

“Hehe, Jin Gonggong came to my mind, just forget it. Anyway, be careful and let’s hunt together again sometime.”

“Oh, yes. Take care too, Biyemi-ssi.”

Biyemi quickly moved away from Leeha.

Looking at his receding figure, Leeha tilted his head to look up at the dense jungle trees. Although the branch seemed to tremble slightly, this time, no sound was heard.

‘Wind… no, there was no wind. So, was it really a bird? Well, that’s not important right now.’

The information he received about Monkey paleo and Snake paleo. This jungle was more or less a crossroad to the distant visible volcano.

Although paleos themselves rarely share information, they aren’t completely clueless.

‘Good. The first to conquer is Monkey paleo.’ With a glimmer of hope that he might gather some information there, Leeha hastened his footsteps.

Just like how Leeha disappeared from Biyemi’s sight, she was watching Leeha with a lowered gaze.

Only when she was completely certain he was out of sight, she lifted his head.

“What’s he up to? If he had been caught by Halihali-nim, he wouldn’t have been left with bones.”

Scowling, Biyemi griped, but the direction she was looking at only contained thick trees.

Biyemi glanced back and forth between the tree and the direction Leeha disappeared. Nodding his head, she spoke,

“You can come out now. If you don’t want to die, you better pay more attention to my signals in the future.”

That was a cue.

As soon as Biyemi finished speaking, something in the tree branches swooshed, revealing its presence.

“Hehehe! As expected, you’re a fun outsider. Could it be that you are telling me to heed your words? Even if that’s true, why would an assassin ranked fifth have to be careful?” An assassin with cat ears who had been hiding in the tree laughed. He followed Biyemi’s gaze to the direction where Leeha disappeared.

“Even after dying once by him, such words aren’t funny.”

“That was because you were tricked by your own surprise. Shin Nara included, I didn’t think you’d be there.”

The two remembered a quest from sometime ago where they tried to assassinate the king of Fibiel.The Quest had brought nothing but regret for Petyr, and Biyemi wasn’t any more satisfied either.

“It’s not wise to think of Ha Leeha as the person he used to be. You, too, have experienced the New Continent Expedition, so you might think you know him… but he is different now.”

Biyemi had begun to acknowledge just how unique a user Ha Leeha was.

The main character from the time of golden eagle experienced a complete promotion in Biyemi’s perception. Moreover, just think of where he is now.

“Huh?”

“Right now… He’s at a point I can hardly catch up with.”

Petyr looked at Biyemi standing like a cat on a tree branch.

“Puhihihit, nice expression. The user who Dame Shin trusts, relies on and Nguyen is envious of… what a surprise!”

“It’s over, there’s no point in discussing it with you. By the way, did you get any message?”

“Yes, Yes!”

“What?”

“I’m not telling you—Puhihihit!”

Petyr spoke and then swiftly, he flew through the tree branches.

A place which had many footholds was particularly preferable for him being an acrobatic assassin. Watching the assassin dart around the jungle like his own room, Biyemi shook his head.

“That delusion… Why would Ha Leeha have come here? For me, it was because of this…

Wherever Ha Leeha goes, there is gain. This thought, which had basically become a rule, flashed through Biyemi’s mind.

Following Ha Leeha would undoubtedly lead to some information or item.

‘However…’

Right now, Biyemi had more urgent matters.

He had to hold hands with Petyr, use the force that Petyr practically controlled, the “Midnight Circus”, to deal with his matters.

‘You must keep your appointments first to be polite. No, it’s Lizardian etiquette. Keke,’ Biyemi held a water balloon-like container in his hand. The dagger he usually used was safely tucked into the sheath on his thigh.

Shush!

Shortly after the disappearance of the Mio Tribe ranked 5th, the number of Lizardian tribes also disappeared in an instant.

“The direction is right… How far did Biyemi appear?”

Even after Biyemi separated, the paleos couldn’t be spotted for quite some time.

Part of it was because Ha Leeha himself had walked slowly, but above that, Biyemi’s range of action was more curious.

‘He said to be careful with the Snake paleos, but they are good guys. They must have completed the familiarity process. Then what about the Monkey paleos?’

You will love the Monkey paleos, Ha Leeha. That was all Biyemi had said.

He didn’t say much about his assessment of them.

He didn’t say they were nice, easy to handle, or had any specific characteristics.

‘Uh, just teasing with words. But didn’t he mention he didn’t actually meet the Monkey paleos?’

Slap, slap.

It was a reasonable assumption for Ha Leeha.

And then he walked again for about an hour. Finally, something caught Ha Leeha’s eye.

“…You said I’d like it?” An artificially erected cross, and hanging from it was a skeleton. It was not a Palleo’s skeleton, but a ‘human-shaped’ one.

Instinctively, he knew this was a sign indicating ‘No Trespassing’.

‘Wait a minute, isn’t this the area of the Snake paleos?’

Ha Leeha scanned his surroundings, scratching the back of his head.

The path he had just walked on wasn’t visible due to the dense jungle. Can he remember the path and directions perfectly in a place like this?

‘There’s a chance…Biyemi mixed it up.’

He could have confused the directions of the Snake paleos and the Monkey paleos. Ha Leeha looked down at his Black Bass.

The bullet he had loaded while making a bet with Biyemi was still there.’Whisper-‘

As he was about to open up his friend window to check Biyemi’s location, Leeha lowered his head.

Would he really doubt the person who had kindly given him directions and information in this unfamiliar place? To Leeha, it was a rather rude behavior.

“Ah, it must be right. He’s not a stranger anymore. Why would the members of Kijung’s guild lie to me?”

Leeha decided to trust Biyemi.

There was definitely a reason why the wistful memories of the ‘Eagle Swordmaster’ era, which Biyemi had mentioned earlier, made Leeha sentimental.

Moving forward by overriding the mark of ‘approaching is death,’ Leeha stumbled after only five steps.

Screech—–!

“Woah, woah!”

A branch, filled with great force, sprung up like a whip, hanging Leeha upside down.

Thud- Jangling..!

And then a rock, acting as the counterweight to maintain Leeha’s upside-down posture, fell.

Simultaneously, a dense square frame made of wood flew over from both left and right, not to miss even a person hanging upside down, and it joined together.

“Yikes, what is this?! Jellypong! Cut this off!”

[Mowoo, Mowowow!]

Despite being flustered, the most profound feeling was tension.

Set a trap right in front of the danger sign? Even a beginner among beginners wouldn’t set a trap near a danger sign. That’s usually when people are most alert—right after discovering such a sign.

‘I thought so, too—’ Is this a trick designed to take advantage of that assumption?

While waiting for Jellypong to break the wood frame that was interwoven like bars and cut the string tied to his ankle, Leeha tried to collect his thoughts.

But no news came.

[Mowoo, Meow, Meow, Meow— Mow?!]

“What? Jellypong, ‘Combat Mode: Agility’!”

Jellypong couldn’t exert its strength. If switched to combat mode, Jellypong’s attack power would be unimaginable. However, even in that mode, Jellypong couldn’t put Leeha down. ‘…what is this?’ The sound was astonishing.

Jellypong’s sharp sword-like arm was definitely striking a frame made of wood. However, every time it hit, the sound of metal echoed.

“Target, the joint! It’s combined from two half-frames, so the joint must be crude-“

Kaang-! Kaang-!

Despite Leeha’s change in direction, Jellypong’s arm immediately moved but the joint was the same.

Was it possible that a half-frame flying from both sides in the air could combine so solidly in a mid-air cage?

‘Moreover, what exactly is its material… Doesn’t it break even if Jellypong hits it?’

Though it looked like an ordinary tree, the sound when struck and the toughness resisting the attack was a level above ordinary wood.

Leeha, hanging upside down barely touched the window frame.

It undoubtedly felt like wood to the touch. “It’s wood… no, it’s not wood. Even if it’s enhanced with mana, it can’t be this strong.”

It wasn’t just Leeha who was considering things realistically. He had seen plenty of Middle Earth’s fortification-related skills.

Unless it’s a spell that a dragon would walk, it’s impossible to make ‘timber’ so strong that even Jellypong can’t cut it.

“In that case, this is-“

Rustle, Rustle-!

At that moment, another sound was heard nearby. Three shadows, parting the grass, revealed themselves.

“Another pathetic one got caught.”

“It’s definitely a human anyway.”

Leeha could identify them in an instant. Those alternating between walking on two legs and four. They were shadows of people, but not of the human kind.

‘In fact… they have armor and weapons.’ Unlike other paleos, these monkey paleos, equipped with weapons, were approaching Leeha.

Leeha accessed the skill window to look at the initial skills.

If they attack, he should run away immediately. But if he escaped from here? The journey to the new continent’s volcano would be even further away.

‘What am I going to do then…

The monkey paleos approached and stared at Leeha. Despite being hung upside down, Leeha never averted his eyes.