Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Ch 72

But Hijuit-Ka was smart. It did attack from the front.

Like a user who turned off the combat assistance system, he moved to the side and cut off Petal Kim’s wrist in an instant.

Blood spurted out of Petal Kim’s wrist.

“Uwaaak! M-my arm! My arm!”

It was the result of excessive greed.

‘What kind of wealth and glory are you going to enjoy now? Poor guy…’

Besides, he was the one who harassed Leeha until the end, so there was nothing to feel sorry for.

“T-Tikal hyung-nim… hyung-nim…“

“Petal… Kim…”

Petal Kim cried and turned towards Tikal. However, Hijuit-Ka showed no mercy. The neck of Petal Kim, who was not able to lift his shield anymore, was cut off in one stroke.

His head tumbled down from his body.

“You, kaa- you are the last one.”

“There’s still the gunman! Gunman, are you watching! Help me! If you help me, I won’t kill you! Huh?!”

Tikal shouted at random.

“Are you nearby? Where are you? Where are you? Hurry up and help me!”

“Kaa- a human remains, kaa-.”

Hijuit-Ka stopped and turned its head. It gave simple instructions to the kobold guards. The guards started searching.

‘You, you bastard! If you’re going to die, die beautifully!’

He was of no help to Leeha until the very end.

“Quick! Help me!”

Tikal wailed. It didn’t mean they would die together. Tikal sincerely hoped that Leeha would stand up for him.

‘Aren’t you delusional?’

How could he ever think like that? Does he think the world revolves around him? There was no one as oblivious as him.

Leeha was hiding on a big tree in the middle of the village, therefore it was hard to find him, however, there was no doubt that he was put into a dangerous situation because of Tikal’s shout.

For kobold guards that were 130cm tall, the tree was huge.

Even if they searched, Leeha won’t be caught immediately, but their searching ground was narrowed down, nonetheless.

‘I have already reloaded. But I can’t aim here.’

He needed to get a good position. Hijuit-Ka was right in front of Tikal, so it was only 25m away from Leeha. If he shot in his current position, Leeha could hit it without using any skill.

However, there were two problems.

‘What if it didn’t die in one shot? I would die. What if it died in one shot? I would still die.’

Hijuit-ka would run over Leeha and cut off his head.

Or, if he went down, he would get attacked by the kobold guards and die. Besides the ones that Hijuit-Ka brought, some have respawned and appeared.

It was impossible to shoot unless there was a secure escape route available.

‘Don’t come, don’t come….’

Leeha suppressed his nervousness.

Naturally, he laid himself on the branch of a large tree and held his breath. Slowly. And naturally, like a bird perched on a branch.

“Kaa- never come again, human.”

Hijuit-Ka ordered the guards to search and walked towards Tikal again.

“Y-you bastard! Are you the Chieftain? If I die! Oh! Do you know who I am? The moment I die!”

–Thwack.

“Kuwaaaaa!!”

Hijuit-Ka slashed its Eonwoldo and cut off Tikal’s ankle.

“I-I will take my revenge on you. Chieftain! And you gunman bastard! I will bring all my guild members and I’ll come back to this village–!”

Slash. Slash.

“Waaaaaa!!”

Hijuit-Ka mechanically shredded Tikal, without smiling or having fun.

“Heuu, uh…”

“Ka– I won’t let you come again.”

“Heu, uuh…No! I understand! I won’t come, I won’t come again!”

“Humans do not keep their promises, kaa-.”

Hijuit-Ka slashed its Eonwoldo downwards and Tikal’s torso, with only the upper body remaining, got split in half.

At the same time, two shiny items fell under him.

‘Dead. They’re all dead.’

Tikal included.

All Rising Sun guild members died. Four were killed by Leeha, and six were killed by the hands of Hijuit-Ka. Who was left in the village now?

‘If other people were hunting, how many people are left, including me? Now, I need to find a way to live.’

No. He shook his head.

I have to take the chance. There were clear limits to hiding. Most of all, it was a waste to miss this quest. What if he failed? Would there be another chance besides this one?

‘More and more kobolds were respawning. The chieftain? If he kills all the humans, will it go back to the cave again?’

The longer Leeha hid, the more unfavorable his conditions were. Sniping and running away….

“Ka- find the hiding human, kaa.”

Fortunately, Hijuit-Ka did not enter the cave. Of course, it was bittersweet that the kobold guards were scattered all over the place in their search.

‘No, that would be better. When they scatter, there would be room for me to escape.’

…Unless I get caught.

While Leeha was nervously looking for a chance, Hijuit-Ka looked intently at the entrance of the village.

‘That… It does not have a monster’s range. It should be regarded as humanoid NPC level.’

It also had a scary intelligence.

Leeha suddenly got goosebumps. In the second Human-Demon war, there were thousands or tens of thousands of those guys?

It was a terrifying sight to imagine, that there were thousands or tens of thousands of Hijuit-Ka’s that were more than level 50.

“Kung, Kung Kung.”

‘Haaa.’

Leeha’s body became rigid. Hijuit-Ka suddenly started sniffing. Smell? Did he smell me?

“Kaa- human… There is.”

Hijuit-Ka started walking towards the tree. Leeha chewed his lips.

‘Should I let him get closer?’

Leeha knew that it was heading towards the tree, however, it still did not know Leeha’s exact location?

‘Should I shoot it when it comes? Will I get another chance? Should I shoot now?

Calm down, Ha Leeha. Calmness is flexibility. And flexibility is agility. You know that. Calm down.’

There was no second chance. That was for sure.

The only thing the Rising Sun guild members were of any help to Leeha was to confirm

Hijuit-Ka’s attack pattern and his agile movement.

‘If I miss, it’ll be over. That movement, that speed. I would not get a second chance.’

They will never give him the time to reload.

“Kaa- human smell. Kaa!”

They were 8m away. Now, if one looked closely, they would see Leeha’s body, covered by leaves.

Leeha lifted his musket as slowly as possible. Even just the rustling of leaves would alert Hijuit-Ka. Then, even his one chance would be blown away.

‘Phew, focus. The closer it is, the higher the accuracy will be. That is a good sign. I should think positively.’

Leeha ignored the sweat in his hands.

Hijuit-Ka took a couple of steps. He was only 6m away now.

‘Come on, one more step. I’ll get you, no matter what.’

Just as he was about to take another step, Hijuit-Ka stopped.

It was still 6m away.

‘Eek-.’

Leeha barely resisted the urge of pulling the trigger. His finger wriggled wanting to shoot Hijuit-Ka regardless of his will.

However, the will of the sniper blocked his instinct.

If he was a bad marksman, he would have already pulled the trigger.

“Kaa-! All guards assemble! Humans, there are humans!”

Kaa- Kaa-!

Hijuit-Ka gathered all the kobold guards that were searching.

‘Was I caught? Should I shoot now? I will shoot when I feel like it.’

“To the entrance! Kaa- to the entrance!”

Hijuit-Ka and the kobold guards began to run.

‘Huh…? What?’

Where? To the entrance? Why? Who was it?

He couldn’t figure out what happened. Did another party come? At such a good time? However, Leeha stopped thinking about it anymore.

He didn’t know the current situation.

What was important was that his life had been extended and that it was possible to secure an escape route.

As soon as the kobolds moved, Leeha immediately went down the tree and took out his map.

“Ma-chan! Ma-chan! I got it!”

“Ah, Hana-chan! I told you to do it in moderation.”

It was Matsushige and Mame Hana who were hanging around the entrance to the village of the Hijuit Kobold tribe.

“But I have a question! This is the first time we see the Chieftain…. By the way, will it be strong?”

“Didn’t you see the Rising Sun die? Anyway, run. If we get caught, it will be hard for us to hold on.”

“Okay, sorry.”

Mame Hana puffed up her cheeks and acted cutely. Matsushige had always seen Mame Hana who always tried to cover up her mistakes with cuteness, but every time he saw her, he had no choice but to like it.

‘By the way, that guy named Ha Leeha summoned the real chieftain…  As Otto-san said, he’s not a normal guy.’

A kobold patrol was caught and tickled… he went through a lot of trouble, and summoned the real Chieftain.

‘Did he notice a small hint?’

The corpses of kobolds were scattered all over the village, and as a result, he understood…

Matsushige could only vaguely understand the words of the kobold patrol. However, something like this had never happened before.

A few times, their guild’s high-levels, who knew the chieftain’s existence, came and tried everything they could do to catch the chieftain. There was also a time when they annihilated the entire kobold village.

Still, the chieftain did not move.

‘It must have been some kind of chain quest.’

Matsushige thought and moved quickly. Suddenly, the chieftain came close.

“Kaa- Catch them!”

“Humans! Humans! Kaa-!”

“Haa, haa. Ma-chan! My stamina, haa…”

“Hmm. already?”

As Mame Hana stood on her knees, Matsushige scratched his chin.

They still had to run quite a bit, to get out of the village, but her stamina was already low. It was a pity but it couldn’t be helped.

“Firewall.”

Matsushige looked back and tore a scroll. Boom, an explosion of mana occurred. A wall of fire rose from the ground under which the kobold guards were running. “Kaa! Kaaaat!”

“Hot- Kaa-!”

“That’s amazing, Ma-chan!”

“Stop talking and recover your stamina.”

“Yes, yes!”

Matsushige looked at the kobolds in front of Mame Hana. The weak ones would die, but there were far more unwavering ones. The chieftain wasn’t even there at all.

‘Would we be able to kill the chieftain?’

Matsushige thought seriously.

After examining the situation, it was clear that Ha Leeha came to hunt the Chieftain. Matsushige didn’t know why.

What if Matsushige himself caught the chieftain here?

It could ruin Leeha’s plans.

As the guild master said, that musketeer was highly likely to be potential harm for the guild.

No, it was already close to real risk. But the problem was…

‘I came wearing low-level items to deceive Ha Leeha.’

There were a lot of scrolls, so he might be able to fight. The risk they needed to take was too high.

‘It would be nice if they could go to the warehouse…’

It was possible to return to the village using a scroll, but they had to walk to get back here. It would take quite some time.

(To be continued…)