Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Yes. The one Blaugrunn detected…, it self-destructed.”

Despite detecting a creature capable of seeing kilometers away without any skills or scopes, Leeha could not feel happy about it.

[Ice Ostrich Self-Destruct Limitation:

1/4]

One chance out of four had flown away, futilely.

“Can’t believe it, the answer was an ostrich.”

Leeha was browsing the internet when he suddenly grabbed his head in realization. The lens he had desperately been searching for was right here all along.

“Birds generally have good eyesight……. Right, of course. Eagles or hawks for the day, owls for the night! I was just running around confused, but ostriches too-“

They too were birds.

And not just any birds, but giant birds that tower over others in size.

Even the eyesight of ordinary ostriches on Earth can surpass 25.0 in human terms because their small heads, containing almost no brain, are filled with massive eyeballs.

Imagine then, the size of the eyeballs in the Ice Ostrich they were targeting, which was as tall as a giraffe!

Imagining the immense size of its eyeballs, Leeha couldn’t help but flash a wide grin.

“Moreover, the tribe that requested this uses the paleos, known for processing ice as clear as glass.”

Leeha swiveled his chair with a creak.

He had wondered how the Ice Walrus paleos could obtain the material for the lens, but now it was clear that the eyes of the Ice Ostrich itself could serve as the material.

If processed with the technology of the paleo tribe, it literally turns into lenses, and bringing this to Bottleneck would allow them to immediately make scopes.

The equation of quest success equals scope production was perfect, but the problem was that it was tough to feel purely happy about it.

“Ah- but how do we catch it……

While information and knowledge about ostriches could be found on the internet, hunting methods in Middle Earth were non-existent.

Let alone the common ostrich hunting methods, which are mostly from ostrich farms, finding natural hunting methods was challenging, presenting a considerable difficulty.

“No, being too pessimistic isn’t the way.”

Leeha shifted his thinking slightly.

“Though one failed, we tested another for 2km, right? That went well. So, that distance is definitely reliable. Let’s approach it slowly.”

Leeha followed another Ice Ostrich detected by Blaugrunn to a distance of 2km.

The problem came after that.

If the terrain had been rugged, they could have attempted to approach stealthily, but since it was all plains, there was nowhere to hide.

Despite their persistent attempt, they couldn’t cross the 1.3km barrier.

In the end, after maintaining the distance during the chase, Leeha and Blaugrunn were the ones to give up first.

“It’s maddening. Approaching with teleport causes self-destruct, and following across the plains makes our movement too obvious…

Run after it?

Such an option was impossible. The opponent was an ostrich, a bird with the strongest legs.

Even if one were to invest all 3,500 agility into the sub-stat run, it wouldn’t narrow the distance, and even if it did, the ostrich would eventually self-destruct feeling threatened.

“Camouflage!”

The skill that suddenly came to mind soon faded away.

“…was a skill attached to Black Bass.”

[Camouflage], [Multi-warhead Projectile], [Mana Evaporation Shot]none of them could be used.

Approaching through teleport wasn’t an option.

Sniping with a musket or similar was out of the question.

Turning Blaugrunn into a dragon to approach from the sky?

‘That would be difficult too.’

Considering the field of view similar to that of horses,Objects nearly resembling a 360-degree sphere, encompassing front, back, left, right, and even top and bottom, will be visibly confirmed.

The mere sight of the dragon suspended in mid-air was enough to cause a high likelihood of self-decomposition among them.

‘How on earth are we supposed to catch this thing?’ Leeha rummaged through his thoughts, frantically gathering more information.

The more time spent outside, the more rapidly time seemed to slip away in Middle Earth.

At this rate, the chance of making it in time for the 3rd wave was becoming increasingly slim.

‘But without any information, entering Middle Earth would be meaningless. And now, there are only three chances left.’

What caught Leeha’s suffering gaze was a smartphone.

He hurriedly ran over to pick it up.

‘Right, that’s it! There might not be any information, but there are seniors!’

Weren’t there people who had already cleared this quest? Without hesitation, Leeha called Ram Hwajung.

The call was answered in no more than two rings.

Hwajung: Oppa!

“Uh, hello, Ram Hwajung-ssi! Do you have a moment to talk?”

Hwajung: Yeah. I’m going to be up all night.

“Um… that might be a bit difficult for me, haha.”

Over the phone, hearing Ram Hwajung’s voice couldn’t have been more welcoming to Leeha.

“Ah, there’s something I wanted to ask. Do you happen to-“

What started with a smile ended with a sigh.

Ram Hwajung was able to thrive there due to the full-blown support from the Hwa Hong Guild using a “Mana Injector”.

Comparing the magical hunting style of magician Ram Hwajung to the musketeer, Hai Ha, was impossible, not to mention the vast difference in scale.

“…You froze everything?”

Hwajung: Yes. Blizzard. “Overdrive”.

To surpass the “Full Mana Charge” state…

To fully load a single spell with mana was already extraordinary.

Moreover, if continual mana was supplied through a “Mana Injector”? It was said to trigger the next stage, “Overdrive”.

The power when a player with a full 100 mana pours more than 200 into a single spell!

Under normal circumstances, this would have been impossible in Middle Earth, not to mention she suffered the aftermath for a while. Yet, all Leeha could imagine was her overpowering figure.

‘Freezing everything within a 2km radius? Insane…

The freezing ostriches would self-destruct, blending with the surrounding snow.

But with snow or anything else, when one simply uses magic to freeze every living and inanimate thing within a 2km radius, even the freezing ostriches had no choice but to be annihilated!

‘It would probably take an Ancient-class dragon to pull that off, right? Maybe the breath of a Silver Dragon clan… No, even their breath doesn’t have that range…

The notion that, in terms of range, this might have been the strongest magic in Middle Earth gave Leeha goosebumps.

‘Anyway, this isn’t realistically helpful.’

Leeha, reluctant to end the call, exchanged more chit-chat with Ram Hwajung.

While his ears and mouth were focused on Ram Hwajung, his eyes were glued to the monitor.

Hwajung: Next time. Go to Korea.

“Ah, you’re coming to Korea? That’s great, I owe you a lot from Hong Kong. Come with your sister. I’ll treat you in Seoul. Last time, I couldn’t fully take you around because I was not well. Korea has lots of great food places. I’ll show you some fun cuisine that you can’t even imagine in Hong Kong.”

Hwajung: Hehe, yeah.

Thinking of Ram Hwajung, who generously gave her all to him alone, Leeha felt a strangely heavy heart.

‘What, treating a kid… She’s just a cute little sister.’

And that, a younger sister with quite an age difference.

To Leeha, who had no siblings, Ram Hwajung held a different kind of significance compared to anyone else around him.

As their sweet call wrapped up,

Leeha was left with a knowledge of ostriches that could rival a farm owner’s and Middle Earth know-how that wasn’t particularly beneficial to him.

“Guess I’ve learned all there is to know, so there’s nothing left but to give it a try?”

With only two and a half days left until the 3rd wave – effectively only half a day of leeway already spent.Oblivious to hunger, as he walked toward the login point for Middle Earth, Leeha braced himself with determination.

“Not a second to waste,” the sniper’s eyes gleamed.

“So, this is to be expected, huh? 1.8km, the same as before.”

“Indeed. You’ve got sharp eyes. Yes, of course. Ostriches are naturally cowardly. And they’re weak to stress. If you think about it, everything Odoberg gave in the quest was a hint.”

It turned out that Middle Earth had already revealed the characteristics of ostriches.

Despite receiving hints indicating that the nature of ostriches had to be strategically exploited to clear the quest, they hadn’t thought of it on their own.

“It’s easier said than done. How would I know what ostriches are like? The ones I’ve only seen once or twice at a zoo.”

While grumbling as he walked with Blaugrunn, the answer still eluded them. Even at this moment, the Ice Ostrich maintained its distance as it moved.

But this time, it wasn’t merely repeating something they already knew.

Leeha had logged into Middle Earth with relative confidence because he wanted to compare the differences between reality and the game and think of a method.

However, Blaugrunn looked bored.

“Right, right. But nothing’s changed. The distance is still 1.8km, not shortened at all.”

“Well, the sight is sharp and the ears are on the back of its head to hear all sounds. It’s truly surprising, but an amazing bird, right?”

Leeha smiled sheepishly as he spoke.

“Incredible. Thanks to you, Leeha-nim found out that ‘sneaking up with absolute confidence using invisibility magic then sniping’ doesn’t work either.”

Blaugrunn grumbled.

In fact, Leeha was a bit puzzled himself.

He knew about the visual capabilities, but to think the hearing was so exceptional as well.

He thought approaching with invisibility magic would do the trick, but somehow, the Ice Ostrich was fairly accurate in detecting both Blaugrunn and Leeha.

Perhaps it was guessing their location through the crackling sound their steps made on the snow… but he couldn’t be sure.

The critical issue was that they were unable to close the distance.

“We overlooked that it’s not a real ostrich.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, just talking to myself.” Using the game’s skills to approach? The approach was not wrong, but they had underestimated the Ice Ostrich.

‘Maybe it has a sensory ability to revert the refraction of light created by invisibility back to its original state. Damn, it’s a world where ice ostriches run around, and I underestimated it too much.’

What should he do now?

After his seemingly last resort crumbled, Leeha’s mind went blank.

“1.8km, it’s still the same. Are you going to keep chasing it like this?”

“Moving helps me think. I’m not even sure what to do anymore.”

Leeha meticulously reviewed his skill set, but no clear answer emerged.

As a gust of wind blew past his ears once more, Leeha felt it anew. Musketeer… the cursed limits of this job.

‘Especially against [Accuracy], it’s just too much of a disadvantage. Without Black Bass, I’m just easy prey.’

Of course, it wasn’t something to grumble about.

Luger, too, wouldn’t be able to use his various boasted skills without his Cobalt Blue Python. Knowing this, Leeha still felt cornered enough to complain.

“What about a hallucination? Summoning a vision of Bahamut?”

“Just looking at my teleport, if those creatures scatter even before the Lord’s presence, would they even withstand it? Moreover, if it’s the Lord’s physical form, they’d be able to see it from afar, meaning the moment High Lord uses that skill, it would be over.”

“Figures, right?”

In such an open terrain, summoning a vision of Bahamut in the sky? The Ice Ostriches would self-destruct in an instant, turning into more than 200 birds.

“Ah! Zephyr Wind doesn’t work either, and all I have left are skills like Pure Barrier. Even the little guy is useless… it’s driving me crazy.”

“I could turn into a dragon and use my breath.”

“No way. What’s the range of Blaugrunn’s breath?”

“Um… well, it would spot and run away first.”

“If it just runs away, it’d be a mercy. It would self-destruct on the spot.”

Whether Blaugrunn maintained his human form to cast spells, or returned to his dragon form to use his breath, the distance was insufficient. The Ice Ostrich, with its keen sight and swift speed, was indeed a difficult prey to hunt.