Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

『-uh…need to retreat?』

Kijung’s voice cracked oddly.

What poured out towards the charging Manticores were no longer suitable to be called ‘bullets.’

“What’s that? Fo- no, Kidd, what are you shooting now? I can’t even see-”

Even those with extensive knowledge of firearms were finding it difficult to grasp what kind of attack was being launched. The only thing known was that their attacks were quite effective!

“Kkiieee-!”

“Kaaaah! Kaaaah!”

“Kwahaha! Tremble in fear! No matter what, you’ll only end up as a sacrifice for Acht-Acht!”

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“How many were hit by that brutish attack? All those Manticores were killed by my attack.”

“Ha, don’t make me laugh! What kind of attack did you do with that toy gun-”

“That toy gun? Will you come to your senses when you’ve got a hole in your forehead from my toy gun?”

Kijung’s footsteps gradually slowed. There was no longer any strength left in him to tremble. The charging Manticores quickly changed direction and began to flee faster than before, while Kidd and Luger, impressed with their accomplishments, were indulging in childish banter.

“Hey…what’s going on? Th-the Manticores-”

“Leeha’s cousin.”

“Haha! Did Leeha send you to spy on us? Where is that idiot Leeha now?”

Kidd and Luger’s gazes turned to Kijung simultaneously. Despite Kidd’s eyes showing a hint of wariness and Luger openly teasing, Kijung did not react at all. The Manticores scattered on the ground were completely roasted.

“First, twenty-two… Lugermon died there, so twenty-one. Acht added to that death?”

Only about a dozen Manticores remained on Gibrid faction’s side. Countless users, including Byulcho, had been trying to kill the Manticores all along.

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They couldn’t let the Chimaeras increase any further. Taking into account the number of chimeras produced by a single manticore, it’s not an exaggeration to say that one manticore is worth a thousand chimeras.

“Even if we conservatively estimate, it’s worth at least 500 chimeras. In fact, even the Pope himself mentioned that depending on the individual characteristics, one manticore is worth a thousand chimeras. However, over the past few months, including the involvement of outsiders like the Nanda Guild, only three manticores were captured.”

As Kidd’s bullets — even if they managed to capture one per shot, it was considered a significant achievement — with just two people, in less than twenty minutes, they had already taken down eleven manticores.

“Surely last time… we couldn’t deliver a direct hit. No, it should be seen that way based on the manticore’s design itself. Firearms don’t work well. They completely abandon long-range attacks, and quickly evade close-range attacks, making them difficult opponents, Gibrid’s companion… monster.”

Looking at Kidd and Luger, Kijung opened his mouth again.

“What are you looking at? Counting your kills?”

“I didn’t want to show Leeha, but now that it’s come to this, maybe it’s better to be thorough in selecting.”

Kidd walked towards Kijung, alternately looking at Luger and Kijung.

“I was definitely faster than you, luger. All that’s left is between Leeha and me.”

“Don’t make me laugh! You came to brag to me as soon as ‘it’ was over! At that point, I was already finished. So, I’m first, you’re second— Leeha, of course, is third! It’s the same as it was during the Three Musketeers!”

『By the way… since earlier, what are you talking about…』

Meanwhile, Kijung thought to himself. People who can be considered rivals to Leeha aren’t in their right minds. Seeing this, Kidd and Luger shouted simultaneously.

“Ask when the time for completing the second job advancement was. Then we’ll know who’s—”

“-first! Hahahaha! Most likely me!”

『The second job advancement?』 Kijung’s tone changed as the video cut off. Leeha then realized something.

“Oh… I didn’t say anything to Kijung, did I?”

What might Kijung be thinking right now? While the two fools in the video were determined to determine who ranked first, what was Kijung pondering?

Of course, Leeha didn’t need to worry about that. It had only been a few minutes since he sent the video to Leeha, and coincidentally, Leeha’s phone was ringing.

“K-Kijung—”

Kijung: Uh, it’s really disappointing. How could you not say a word? Jin Gonggong knew.

“-Uh, well, that’s… I was about to tell you now!”

Kijung: Now? Oh, so you were about to tell me now?

“I-I need to succeed first, right? You’ll know whether it’s the second job advancement or what, or maybe the third advancement, right?”

Hearing Kijung’s cold voice, Leeha hastily made excuses. While there was some logic to the excuse, upon closer inspection, it was quite a far-fetched explanation.

Kijung: Eong-ah couldn’t understand the context of it? Didn’t even know just by looking at the quest title?

“… That’s not it. Heh heh, sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into it unnecessarily. You said you roughly heard about it from Jin Gonggong? Do you think you can win a battle targeting 30,000 Giants like you?”

It was just as Leeha had once thought. Members of the Byulcho were not the target of the quest. Engaging in combat with Giants meant bearing 80% of the burden and penalties to become younger.

No matter how close he was to Leeha, he couldn’t rashly jump in. No, the problem would only worsen if he did jump in. His own complicated feelings caused by their friendship would then become an issue.

Kijung: If Hyung had called me!

“If I had called you?”

Of course, Kijung wouldn’t have done that. If Leeha had called, Kijung would have even dived into a pit of fire with explosives. Nevertheless, Kijung didn’t continue the conversation.

Kijung: … No. So, did you succeed?

“Of course, brat. From now on, I’m not a Musketeer anymore!”

-And then?

“White- Well… um… White-”

Kijung: White?

Leeha barely managed to calm down his suddenly flushed face. He realized that speaking that word out loud was more embarrassing than he had thought.

“Don’t laugh! Ha, 『White Reaper』! You’re a Holy Knight too.”

Kijung: Wow!? White Reaper? Your job name is White Reaper? Awesome! What’s this? Hyung, that’s so cool!

“Yeah? Cool?”

Kijung: Exactly! White Reaper, man, amazing! Alexander’s second job is Dragon Knight, which is just typical! With a name like White Reaper, you sound like you’re the top rank!?

However, Leeha was the only one feeling embarrassed.

“Well, about that second job advancement, is there a distinction as well?”

He also had some questions as he heard Kijung’s flustered voice through the receiver. What is the difference if someone’s job title is closer to a common noun with someone’s job title being closer to a proper noun. ?

‘Is there a connection between the achievements of the Infamous Ghost of the Past? Hmm, then could there be someone inheriting something from a 『well-known』 figure from the past rather than a notorious one?’

What about those who receive overwhelmingly positive evaluations from NPCs and undergo a second job change after receiving special keywords from them? What is the difficulty level of the second job change? Such thoughts briefly crossed Leeha’s mind, but he couldn’t continue to dwell on them any longer.

He had a mountain of things to answer to the excitable Kijung, and he himself had things he wanted to figure out.

“Already two hours since the recording?”

Kijung: Yes. That should be enough. Since it includes Middle Earth time, it would have been about half a day by that standard.

Within the scene recorded by Kijung is the moment when Luger completed his second job advancement. From that moment on, Kidd would have also completed his second job advancement. And the time of the recording? It’s almost identical to when I underwent the advancement, isn’t it?”

So, who among the Three Musketeers completed the first second job advancement?

Regardless of whether it was Doctor Doom Rubini or not, it felt like one could foresee the future.

“It’s going to be noisy every time we meet.”

After a pleasant conversation with Kijung, Leeha lay down on the bed. Even lying down, the smile on my face did not fade.

※ ※ ※

“Indeed, our side leaking information is inevitable. They know what they know.”

“It’s time to start. It’ll be good for us if they don’t show up, why are you making such a fuss?”

“It’s not the time to be so calm! Minis is being dispatched in five days, you know that?”

Shin Nara slammed the conference room table, raising her voice. Lark nodded, whether approving or not. It was an attitude that he had experienced this ‘pattern’ too many times.

“Not only Minis, but also Shazrashian and Kraven. It’s a large-scale dispatch directly under the’s order! How casually…”

“Be precise in your expression. It’s not a dispatch but a deployment.”

Shin Nara pointed out with a sharp tone, to which Lark smiled.

“Then you should also use the right title. It’s scheduled to depart in five days as the 『Official Joint Deployment Force for the Development of the Sacred and Peaceful Erika Continent, and Economic and Military Cooperation between the Two Continents, lope Continent』. It’s so long that, already among the users, the abbreviated term 『Sacred Alliance』 has been adopted. Departure schedule, affiliated countries, country-specific deployment forces, ah, right, not forces but ‘personnel,’ but anyway, searching the internet reveals a stream of information. At this point, it’s not appropriate to say ‘internal information has leaked,’ right?”

Shin Nara couldn’t say anything in response to Lark’s words. She knew as well.

“But… it will be even more difficult to block if Faust and Igor show up after the knights have left.”

However, Faust and Igor had not appeared even once since that day. This fact confused Shin Nara’s mind. Having suffered enough anxiety about ‘defense’ after Petyr’s assassination attempt to Fibiel’s king, it was due to the unease that arose in her mind that caused her to be caught in a loop.

Lark patted her slumped shoulders.

“I understand your feelings, Nara-ssi. But now that things have come to this point, focusing on that side is a waste of brainpower. It would be more like you to quickly find Bluebeard and Chiyou in the New Continent to facilitate Igor and Faust’s return. That’s more like the Nara-ssi, right? You’ll soon be the 『Swift Swordsster』! No, was it 『Swift Knight』?”

“Swordsman! Chee, always pretending to be interested-”

“Hehehe, that’s right. The quest has made some progress, right?”

As a faint smile crept onto Shin Nara’s lips, Lark quickly changed the subject.

Shin Nara, who had just looked lifeless moments before, regained her vigor and opened the quest window.

“No, thanks to you, Lark, we seem to have passed the first one… but strictly speaking, since it has nothing to do with Lepanto, it’s difficult.”

“Hm, that’s true. The second job advancement shouldn’t be easy. I heard that Leeha’s situation has been quite serious recently; there might be something for us there as well.”

“Leeha? What happened?”

“Huh? Don’t you know, Shin Nara-ssi?”

Lark asked in a tone warning against lying, but Shin Nara’s expression remained unchanged.

Seeing her blink her large eyes, Lark sighed in realization.

“So Leeha managed to quell the rumors of going into Fibiel… Anyway, that president is quite something.”

“What, what’s going on? Why is Leeha-”

“It’s not a bad thing. There’s nothing bad about it, well… should I say it’s a bad thing for the Shazzarians’ giants?”

Lark recalled the information he had heard. It was a series of unbelievable events.

“I wouldn’t have been able to face 30,000 troops without going crazy. If it were me…”

He briefly gripped the hilt of his sword and then lowered his head.

“There seems to be no way. Not right now.”

Seeing him grin, Shin Nara urged him further, but Lark didn’t easily offer an answer.

“Just know that becoming the 『Swift Swordsster』 is going to be incredibly difficult.”

“Why! Why would you say that, Lark-ssi!”

“I mean, ask Leeha-ssi.”

“If I ask Leeha-ssi, will I get an answer? You have completed the second job advancement… right?”

Shin Nara’s expression quickly changed. She was also a user who felt disappointed if she couldn’t catch clues!

Even with Lark’s reaction, the outcome was easily predictable. Lark extended ten fingers towards her and nodded his head.