Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Blaugrunn hurriedly ran to Leeha’s side and asked. Blaugrunn couldn’t perfectly read Leeha’s expression.

“Heh, hehehe… hehe….”

“Oh, did it increase? Or―”

“Blaugrunn-ssi…?”

“Yes?”

“It… did increase but….”

The charge rate of the Black Bass could only be obtained from the first creature of the species hunted for the first time.

This meant that even if they captured and killed 1,000 more nameless monsters, a mix of kangaroo and monkey, the rate would never increase again.

〈Awakened Legendary Black Bass (1st Enhancement―Lava)〉

(Not for Trade)

Additional Effect―3: Awake when the charge rate is above 30%

Sleep when the charge rate is below 10%

Current Charge Rate: 0.27%

With great difficulty, the charge obtained from one creature was just 0.27%.

If future monsters granted a similar charge value?

It would mean Leeha needed to find at least 112 completely new monsters in the Eastern New Continent, ones he had never encountered before, to just reach the minimum awakening condition of 30%.

And this, before the charge rate dropped again.

“Damn—”

You damned Middle Earth──!_

In the situation where he couldn’t even raise his voice for fear someone around might hear, Leeha expressed the anger arising from the depths of his soul in silence.

Blaugrunn watched as Leeha struggled, gradually stepping back.

While Leeha suffered with the charge rate, there were also other users cursing “damned Middle Earth.”

Not just one, but two.

* * *

“Damned Middle Earth! Kidd, I told you to check the left first!”

“That’s—”

────,

“As easy as—”

────,

“You can do it yourself then!”

Kidd ignored Luger’s shouts and dealt with the enemies on the right.

Luger, frustrated, had no choice but to deactivate his 〈Acht-Acht〉 mode.

“Kuhhh, these crazy bat bastards. If they touch you, they rip you apart from the wings to the thighs—”

Luger hastily lifted his Cobalt Blue Python and fired, but the monster dodged it with an unpredictable movement.

“Kyaaaa—!”

The giant bat, spinning as it flew, seemed to dodge all of Luger’s shots as if it could foresee them.

“Damn it, you damn—”

Ta-daaang──────!

The giant bat, which was aiming for his neck, suddenly turned ash-gray and started to transform.

As Luger, overpowered by the force, wrestled with it on the ground, the bat’s figure had already vanished.

“Such complaints can wait till later, Luger.”

“… Major. Damn it, what’s with these vampires!”

Luger pushed off the vampire’s corpse that had attacked him, heeding Browless’s suggestion.

It had been about 5 days since they marched past the Corrupted World Tree Forest when they first faced this serious obstruction.

‘A vampire is still a vampire, I guess!’

There were no disruptions at the entrance of the eastern forest.

They managed to march forward, expertly avoiding even Ghybrid’s Chimera, and successfully moved past the temporary house where Elizabeth and Brown used to stay, reaching the dark forest without any problem.

Now, they had just emerged from that dark forest, but within minutes, they were ambushed “from behind.”

‘Who would have thought they were hiding in the dark forest… They deliberately waited until we passed and then attacked us—’

Luger frowned as he fired at the giant bats flapping around.

The massive flames from the muzzle briefly illuminated the dark night.

“Don’t let them escape!”

“I know!”

Even without conversing, everyone knew what to do.

〈Vampires〉 were different from naturally occurring monsters.

Why did they wait in the dark forest as if lying in wait, and then ambush from the rear once night fell?

‘It was an ambush. The dark forest blocks light, making it ideal for waiting regardless of day or night. And there’s only one reason for such a calculated attack!’

The vampires were given orders.

The expedition members knew who was currently commanding the vampires.

“Kidd!”

“Director!”

Kidd and Browless ran in opposite directions, guarding each other’s backs, while Alexander and Bailephus were busy chasing the fleeing vampires.

“They’re not threatening, but they are annoying. Partner, track all the vampires in the vicinity.”

“No problem. The traits of these blood-sucking insects are clear!”

Bailephus cast tracking magic on the vampires, turning them into glowing targets in the darkness for Alexander’s spear.

“Your spear is more agile than my whip. It’s like you’re swatting mosquitoes with an electric racket… Well, since they’re vampires, there’s a similarity.”

Fernand simply defined Alexander’s spear skills.

Its length could extend freely like a magic staff, and it even incorporated a form of holy power based on ‘justice’, making it nearly impossible for the dark race of vampires to defend against.

“Screeeeetch!”

“Their screams are quite loud.”

Especially considering that the person wielding such skills was ranked number one among users.

“〈Dark Spear〉!”

There were some vampires who transformed from giant bats into human form and used magic, but it was child’s play before Bailephus.

“Do you think you can mock an Ancient Gold Dragon with such paltry magic!”

Even though Bailephus’ strength had decreased somewhat since crossing into the eastern continent, the intimidation emanating from an Ancient-level being was on a whole different level.

“Kuhaha! Golden lizard! You should’ve tagged them sooner, right!?”

“Be quiet, Luger.”

Once Bailephus illuminated the vampires’ movements, Luger’s artillery was revived.

“Eat this and die, you bastards!”

The exact number of vampires that had emerged from the dark forest to ambush the group was forty.

Besides Fernand, there were only four full-fledged combatants, but they calmly reduced the enemy numbers, and by the time Luger’s artillery fire dwindled, all the flying objects in the night sky had vanished.

“That last one was the fortieth. The number of vanished corpses matches the initial count.”

Fernand meticulously checked the number of obliterated vampires.

“Kuh… Chiyou, who supposedly absorbed vampire traits in her second job change, is at this pathetic level—”

Luger laughed as he looted a fang from a vampire’s corpse.

“They are the lowest level of vampires.”

“—skill—what?”

The laughter vanished within seconds.

Bailephus’ words were confirmed by Browless’ nod.

“The dragon is right. Compared to the power of the vampire legion led by Bathory during the Second Human-Demon War… these guys are just scouts.”

“How many of these are there?”

“If it’s similar to then, at least several thousand. Well, it was a night ambush, and you guys are still adapting to the attack, but… these ones aren’t that difficult.”

Browless gave a faint smile, encouraging his students, but Kidd and Luger were in no mood to be happy.

‘The precise problem is the night ambush. In pitch black darkness, how do you hit something moving so fast—’

‘Dammit, how can we hit them? Did Ha Leeha really take out so many of these things? And we know more night ambushes are inevitable!’

Even they could hit distant targets fairly easily.

“It was because they also had skills similar to ‘Eagle’s Eye’.”

However, it was different from ‘Distorted Vision’.

Without a skill that could see all movements, enemies like Vampires would continue to be quite troublesome for Luger and Kidd.

“Bailephus, are there any Vampires hidden inside the Forest of Darkness?”

“I don’t sense any right now. But… if they are maintaining a distance somewhere around here, it would be difficult for me to track them.”

While Fernand pointed inside the Forest of Darkness, Bailephus scanned the surrounding area. No matter how extensive mana detection could be, it had its limits.

What if someone watched this battle from a distance, from a location not caught by detection?

Especially if that someone was a Vampire?

“It means there’s a chance that Chiyou and Kaztor noticed our movements.”

“If it’s a lower-level Vampire—of course, their intelligence is among the highest of common monsters, but still low within their kind. It’s more likely that Chiyou, who’s become a second Bathory, set this up as a trap, more for reconnaissance or surveillance than predicting our movements.”

To Fernand’s disheartened statement, Browless provided a counterargument. But the conclusion was essentially the same!

What if the Vampires stationed for reconnaissance or surveillance were all dead?

Surely, questions would arise about who killed them. Especially if their leader was Chiyou, such a conclusion would be inevitable.

Naturally, they would suspect the experts of the ‘Sacred Alliance.’

“And then—phew, the problem is—ugh, listen up! I—whew, can set them—”

“Who’s there!”

“Hm!?”

At the sudden voice, Alexander, Luger, Kidd, and Browless all went into alert mode.

The only one with a calm face was Bailephus.

“Damn golden lizard, you’ve lost your touch! Who’s there? If you don’t come out now, I’ll punch a hole through your belly!”

“… It’s not magic.”

“What?”

It was natural for Luger to growl in tension.

The sound, coming from a sparsely wooded area, gradually grew closer. Meanwhile, there was a dragging sound, *swish*, *swish*.

“It sounds like the movement of a Chimera… similar to a Chimera.”

Though Browless suspected the worst with a worried expression, the others remained doubtful.

Chimeras do not speak.

And they would never offer to help.

When the silhouette emerged more clearly from the darkness, even Fernand, Luger, Kidd, and the usually unflappable rank one, Alexander, couldn’t help but widen their eyes.

“Whew! Hello, everyone?”

“… Prea?”

“The White-Eyed Spiritist!?”

It was Prea.

* * *

“First, take this, ugh, this was the squad leader commanding the pack of Vampires in the Forest of Darkness.”

The strange dragging sound turned out to be the corpse of a Vampire.

Perhaps she was trying to drag it along using an Intermediate Earth Spirit. Beside her, something made of rock was bellowing, *oooh*.

“Anyways, completely useless. Fine, you can go now!”

“OOOooOOOoo—!”

“Quiet!”

Prea kicked the rock, roughly half her height. It soon faintly disappeared.

Alexander and the rest didn’t know how to respond.

Why was she bringing the corpse of a squad leader from a Vampire pack?

“As the rumors say, you are under Chiyou’s side.”

“Oh my, absolutely not! Who would say such terrible things! If I were, would I have brought this one’s corpse?”

“It’s Chiyou’s specialty. Everyone here knows her main skill is sacrificing the small to gain the big.”

Luger and Kidd were the first to guard against her.

It was perfectly possible with Chiyou.

Giving away a bunch of Vampire underlings and a squad leader, only to gather information on everyone’s location here, their objectives, and current state would be a major success.

“If I were a Vampire, a member of the Demon King’s army, or a comrade of Bluebeard, wouldn’t our Dragon here have already figured it out?”

Prea pointed at Bailephus.

Though he was currently in human form, with his golden armor and golden aura surging from his sword, no one would mistake him for an ordinary user.