Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Chapter 952

Leeha opened the skill window as he watched Prea and the spirits move away.

The hint that led him to create this plan stemmed from his battle with Prea. It was tough to fight against the overwhelming power and destructive force enhanced by wrath, but the real challenge was…

“The Reservoir Dogs”

Description: The Spirit of Chaos King Karghasha is everywhere and nowhere. Many have stood before her wanting to find her, but no one has ever succeeded, which is proof of her power. Her infamous ability to make everyone distrustful and turn everyone into targets is renowned in the spirit realm. Even the Fire Spirit King Ifrit had once massacred 4,371 of her high-ranking spirits under Karghasha’s influence.

Effect: Upon a successful initial attack, all subjects within a 50m radius will attack each other.

(The caster’s form or a random threatening figure will morph the appearance of all subjects within the radius)

Mana: 1,500

Duration: 10 minutes

Cooldown: 1 hour

It was pure chaos.

* * *

This skill was why Leeha believed he could break through even if surrounded by numerous enemies. It was a skill that made everyone turn their weapons against each other.

Prea’s high-ranking spirits of wrath and mid-grade spirit of lethargy and sloth fought each other under this skill’s influence, and even Leeha himself was attacked by the spirit ‘Jellypong’.

What did it mean that the ‘item’ whose main goal was to protect Leeha ended up attacking him?

『Myong— Myong!』

“Jellypong, it must be a painful memory for you. But that’s exactly why… it will be our card.”

What if the six heads and six bodies of Tiamat were made to fight each other?

To explore that possibility, certain assumptions had to be made.

Could each of Tiamat’s six heads think individually?

And could the six intertwined, writhing bodies be separated from each other?

Neither assumption had been confirmed.

However, Leeha, wearing an expectant expression, aimed at the Manticore flying near Prea.

‘Now, I’m actually looking forward to this.’

At least one thing had been confirmed.

‘Kuzgunak’sh’s head… had shown different behavior compared to Tiamat’s other heads!’

“So, it should be possible! Go!”

Boom!

One Manticore turned to ash and began to fall.

Prea, who was flying in the sky, garnered much attention from the users on the ground.

The white-eyed spiritualist flew toward Tiamat!

Moreover, the Manticores approaching her were melting away.

“The woman who ignored our request for cooperation is now doing this?”

“Hmph, there’s a limit to solo play! Damn it, what are those annoying spirits around her? I can’t even see them properly.”

“Ha, but… aren’t Manticores failing to approach her? How is this possible? No matter how strong she is, maintaining that level of spirit concentration should be tough.”

Even the Wood Elf rankers commented as they noticed her sudden prominence.

A user who insisted on solo playing and knew nothing but her spirits, now displaying overwhelming power beyond the collective efforts of the Wood Elf race.

“Leeha-nim! Many enemies are gathering around!”

“Just protect Prea-nim. I’ll handle the rest. You’ve informed Bahamut-nim, right?”

This was all the result of Leeha and Blaugrunn’s efforts.

“Yes! For now… I’ve told him.”

“For now? What do you mean ‘for now’? Bahamut-nim can fight for a while and then retreat. I’ll tell you the timing. Make sure he retreats as soon as I say.”

“But—”

“No, Blaugrunn-ssi. Even if Bahamut-nim refuses to leave, you must ensure he retreats to a safe place.”

Leeha had a rough idea of what Blaugrunn had swallowed back, but he had to remain firm.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Because Chiyou might be involved.

In other words, Arcane Sniper might aim for Bahamut.

‘But… if Bahamut is completely out of sight and not in a threatening state—he won’t shoot.’

Only six bullets remained.

It was a number that could absolutely not be wasted.

If Chiyou was here with Kyle, or even watching this place, they needed to conserve even more.

That was Leeha’s belief.

The problem was finding the right moment to retreat.

‘I can’t let Bahamut die!’

Fwhaaaaaaa—aah!

At that moment, flames soared again from a place considerably far from Leeha.

“Whew, Pyro is as relentless as ever.”

Had Kidd not arrived yet? While Leeha shook his head, he heard a loud whisper that seemed to rumble in his mind.

—No! It’s not Pyro!

—Huh, what? Hwayeon? It’s not Pyro?

Ram Hwayeon’s voice trembled. Not Pyro? Then who?

“Ah, wait a minute—.”

Only then did something dawn on Leeha.

It wasn’t something he had considered important before. Although he didn’t know the exact details, Leeha thought that the current situation might be ‘it.’

—It wasn’t Pyro, oppa!

Ram Hwayeon was so distressed by the menacing creature wreaking havoc on the battlefield that she unintentionally called Leeha ‘oppa’.

* * *

“Waaaah! Run! Run!”

“If only we could run—gah…”

Its movements were unpredictable. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary giant.

The size was similar, and it had two legs and two arms.

The key difference that marked it as a monster, and not a player, was the shape of its arms.

One arm was shaped like a skewer, impaling two players, while the other resembled a saw blade, slicing off chunks of their flesh.

“What the hell is that thing?!”

“Does it matter?! The important thing is to run! It’s fast and also has fire skills—oh, it’s coming!”

Fsssssh…

As the monstrous creature swung its weapon-like arm, a massive flame lance shot towards the players.

Caught in the chaos, many players couldn’t avoid it and turned to face the scorching heat.

The flame lance had already reached dangerously close.

“Damn it! Dying to a monster we don’t even know!”

“No. It’s a Chimera.”

In front of the shouting man, a small girl appeared. Her shimmering blue waves quickly transformed and launched a spell.

“Ice Blast.”

—————————!

Suddenly, hot steam filled the battlefield.

After the steam that obstructed their vision dissipated, the players saw it.

“It’s Ram Hwajung!”

“Whoa!? It’s Ram Hwajung! Let’s kill that damn thing!”

“Hwajung!”

Ram Hwayeon shouted her sister’s name at the top of her lungs. She was already significantly ahead.

From the first sight of the suspicious pillar of fire, she had advanced to gather information about it, and to prevent the undiminishing flames from approaching the Wood Elves.

The most important reason was that if the warp gates, painstakingly installed, were attacked and destroyed, they couldn’t be restored.

“Unni.”

Ram Hwajung briefly looked up at the sky.

Arzenmacht was busy fighting the chromatic dragons near Tiamat’s head.

She turned her head to look at Ram Hwayeon.

“Get out of the way.”

Then she cast her spell.

Ram Hwajung could tell. She knew how powerful the monster in front of her was, what this chimera really was!

“What, why? Hwajung, if you handle it—.”

Shuaaaaa────────!

The monstrous creature that had been standing idly suddenly jumped towards Ram Hwajung.

Shiiiik, the sound of the wind being cut was so loud that even Ram Hwayeon could hear it as the creature swung its arm powerfully.

“—Hwajung!”

Ram Hwayeon hurriedly shouted, but Ram Hwajung was nowhere to be seen. She reappeared behind the creature and used a skill.

“Ice Fog.”

“Whoa! Double casting!”

“That’s Lee Jiwon’s signature move! And she cast the ice attribute first and then used Blink!”

As the ice fog enveloped the vicinity of the creature, the users cheered.

“Everyone. Get out. Absolute Zero, Ice Ground.”

However, Ram Hwajung’s expression was not bright at all.

Freezing the ground the creature stood on and making its legs slow was not enough!

All of this was not for ‘attack.’

Even though Ram Hwayeon couldn’t hear her sister’s voice, she knew. Ram Hwajung was trying to save the surrounding users.

In other words, this monster possessed a level of strength that was overwhelming even for her.

“Everyone, get out! Quickly! It’s a monster that Hwajung can’t handle alone!”

“Hah hah! Ram Hwajung is here, what are you talking about!”

“Yeah, yeah! Compared to Tiamat—this punk is just a toy! I’ll kill it—.”

The user’s neck, who was running towards the creature, suddenly separated from their torso.

The expression on the head, which didn’t even know how it died, rolled on the ground and turned ashen grey.

The blood fountain gushing from the still-standing corpse started to be absorbed by the creature’s body.

“…… What is this?”

“Berserker skill?”

It wasn’t that Ram Hwajung hadn’t foreseen this. With so many users and NPCs around, she must have considered the possibility of facing it together.

Nevertheless, she advised the surrounding users to escape.

Ram Hwayeon finally realized it. She had heard from Leeha once. After Leeha heard everything from Prea, he had casually mentioned it once.

“Igor! Pyro! It was a chimera combining those two!”

She finally remembered that Ghibrid had used the corpses of Igor and Pyro.

Ram Hwajung’s face contorted slightly, and Ram Hwayeon tried to evacuate the surrounding users.

“Everyone, run away! There’s no point in you being here….”

“No, you don’t need to run away. You all need to maintain the frontline against the chimera. I will lure it away.”

A voice cut through Ram Hwayeon’s words and reverberated through the battlefield clearly.

At this moment, it was as if time had stopped; even the frantically moving users turned their heads to him with fascinated expressions.

“They combined Igor with Pyro to make a chimera… Isn’t this interesting?”

“K-Kidd! Kidd is here!”

“Rapidfire Kidd!? What, why suddenly—huh?”

The moment the users recognized him, Kidd’s form vanished.

Bang──────!

“What—Ah!?”

With the sudden sound of gunfire, they turned their heads naturally. To where the chimera had been just moments ago.

But no monster could be seen there.

Whoooo────────!

A strong wind blew, scattering dirt and sand briefly. Another long gunshot followed.

The users couldn’t understand what was happening.

“What the—.”

“Where did Ram Hwajung go again?”