Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Chapter 831

Ha Leeha asked the Holy Grill to find out ‘other information’, purchased a small boat, and immediately teleported to the location.

“I will finish it today.”

Leeha gazed up at the sky.

Even though it was nighttime, the surroundings were bright thanks to the full moon.

“Jellypong, do you sense anything?”

『Myeong myeong!』

The idea of using the water spirit, harnessing the essence of the sea god, as a sonar was quite clever.

‘I’ve felt ocean currents before, so why not this… Hehe, my brain isn’t too bad after all.’

Squeeeak… Squeeeak…

Leeha could feel the waves growing slightly stronger than before.

However, with his mermaid transformation skill and having experienced a 44m/s typhoon, this was child’s play for him.

“All information about Pyrot-Cocri and the item ‘Liberated Legend’, a list of users either undergoing or having completed the second-tier job quest, and the location of ‘that guy’. Whether I can obtain all these is uncertain… but Madam spoke with a lot of confidence, so who knows.”

Through a whisper with Shin Nara, Leeha also learned that she had already started her second-tier job quest, and that Lark had also been assigned the second-tier job quest.

Leeha knew more than the average informed user, but there were still some figures that even he wasn’t aware of, which made him curious.

‘What is Petyr doing?’

What was Minis’s assassin up to?

Leeha had heard from Kijung that Biyemi had exchanged some information with him.

However, Biyemi only knew a few shared pieces of information and was unaware of Petyr’s exact location or activities.

‘Ram Hwajung leveled up immediately after her second-tier job quest. Even so, she couldn’t surpass Petyr in rankings.’

Ram Hwayeon bragged almost daily about how powerful Ram Hwajung’s ‘Snow White’ class was.

To Leeha, it sounded unbelievable, but it was true that Ram Hwajung had leveled up.

‘And the level Ram Hwajung secretly told me is—’

『Myeong myeong!』

“Huh?! You’re back?”

『Myo, myo myong myeong! Myeong!』

“Alright, it’s coming.”

Leeha loaded a cartridge into his Black Bass and pulled the bolt.

Click—!

“Jellypong, you need to cling to me just before it surfaces, got it?”

『Myeong!』

With his heart racing, the small boat began to dance on the waves.

Swish…

Swooosh…

Swoshhhh…

Feeling as if the ground beneath his feet was swelling up, Jellypong dashed towards him at full speed.

『Myo oooong—!』

In the open sea at dawn, a little away from the buoy.

In the moment when Leeha’s small boat was swallowed into the jaws of an unbelievably gigantic shark…

“Let’s go! 〈Partner: Arrival〉!”

Leeha activated his skill on cue.

From the small boat, straight up to 5,230 meters in the air over the sea, Blaugrunn, as if waiting, cast levitation magic.

* * *

“〈Eagle’s Eye〉, 〈Snip— e〉, wow, it’s insanely huge!”

“This is no time for comments, Ha Leeha-nim! Make sure I get the corpse to study, okay?”

“If it’s no time for talking, why are you asking? Focus!”

Leeha quickly observed the creature through the scope.

If you made a whale five times larger, would it look like that?

The massive underwater monster was tearing through the ocean surface, rising into the air.

‘It’s risen that high, yet I still can’t see its pectoral fins. The part that’s surfaced seems to be just past its mouth and eyes? That would make it somewhere between its head and chest…’

Leeha saw the monster emerging from the sea, using his 〈Eagle’s Eye〉.

Even from a distance of over 5km, it was visible enough to feel like a tree suddenly sprouting on flat ground.

Ha Leeha felt a burning heat gather in his eyes.

He realized that not only was the skill 〈Eagle’s Eye〉 active, but also the passive ability of 〈Distorted Vision〉.

‘The skill level is still low. I can’t see the wind perfectly at such a long distance yet.’

This was a distance of over 5km.

The guideline extending from the gun barrel was still around 100m, and the “Wind Path” visible in the night sky was all that Ha Leeha could discern.

Therefore, Ha Leeha had to make a choice.

What method should be used to kill the monster far away with a single shot?

With his Harpy Hat gone, no matter how well he read the wind, there was bound to be some penalty in long-distance sniping.

‘The item that can cover for the missing hat is right here… This.’

Ha Leeha quietly muttered the skill name.

“〈White Reaper〉.”

White Reaper activated.

Integration with the rifle began.

“Ha Leeha-nim! Hurry up! That thing is going back into the water!”

“It’s natural for it to dive after reaching the peak. Just wait a moment.”

Particles of light quickly gathered.

Thanks to Blaugrunn’s magic, the Black Bass floated and merged into Ha Leeha’s arm.

‘That phrase was accurate. While Shimo felt like a perfect merger, this…’

To Ha Leeha, it merely seemed like Black Bass was consuming his arm. The term “becoming one” was far from appropriate.

The rifle rejected the user.

Integration with the rifle failed.

『Final Integration Rate: 55.5%』

Despite having used it for a long time, regardless of proficiency, the weapon continued to reject him.

Ha Leeha chuckled bitterly while reading the floating text once more.

‘I will release you soon, Black Bass.’

White Reaper (restrained) fired.

At that moment, a beam of light shot out from Ha Leeha’s swollen right arm end.

────────────……!!!!

Thanks to Blaugrunn’s levitation and stabilization, he managed to avoid the embarrassing scene of being blown backward.

Ha Leeha immediately observed the fired light, confirming his hypotheses.

The fired bullet was affected by the wind.

Having verified it multiple times and having suffered not a little because of it thus far, he knew this well.

‘But what about light?’

At least from Ha Leeha’s perspective, 〈White Reaper〉 was an attack form judged as a laser.

Does light get affected by the wind?

What about the difference from the muzzle velocity of 830m/s of what fired from Black Bass?

Does it shoot at literal light speed?

Even if it’s in the form of light, how do we calculate the inherent limit of range the rifle possesses?

Would the light extend only up to the maximum range of the gun amplified by the skill and then disappear?

Ha Leeha was able to verify his doubts and his own convictions.

“Ha Leeha-nim!”

The moment the beam pierced the massive head of the monster that was going back into the seawater, especially its “eye”.

“Gotcha…!”

It pierced the eye, drilled through the brain, exited through the other eye, and extended about 300m further before dissipating.

‘The maximum range of Black Bass is 4,000m, plus a 40% sniping skill amplification.’

5,600m.

From his position, about 5,300m away from the monster, it was a perfect match.

Ba-bam—!

With the fanfare of an achievement, numerous system windows popped up before Ha Leeha’s eyes.

『Seal of Black Bass—6』

Quest completed.

Black Bass has awakened.

『Achievement Unlocked – “One Shot, one Kill – Gigantic Mimic”』.

『Achievement Unlocked – “Beyond Rotation”.』

Ba-Bam―!

『Achievement Unlocked – “Do you know who I am?”.』

‘What, what’s this? Another achievement popped up late― Wait, no, I completed the Black Bass’s quest six times, but there’s no skill reward! Instead of a skill reward, there’s…’

What shocked Ha Leeha was an absurd line stuck in the middle.

“… Awaken?”

The legendary sealed rifle had finally awakened.

* * *

Blaugrunn was flailing as he watched the spray of water caused by the corpse of the ‘Gigantic Mimic’.

“Wow, did you hit it?! It’s so far away I couldn’t tell if it’s dead or alive! As expected―Ha Leeha-nim?”

Just as he was about to rush to collect the corpse, he tilted his head looking at Ha Leeha, who wasn’t responding to his words.

Hit it, killed it, have to loot, achievements popped up. Those thoughts didn’t occupy Ha Leeha’s mind at all.

“Awaken, how?”

The black sniper rifle, which had reverted to its original state after the ‘White Reaper’ deactivating, was as it always looked.

“Hello? Black Bass-nim?”

Ha Leeha tapped the barrel part unnecessarily.

Blaugrunn laughed as he watched him.

“Pffft, what are you doing? More importantly, we have to collect the corpse quickly! If we’re too late, it’ll sink.”

―Finally… reached.―

At that moment, a sound leaked out from near the bolt of Black Bass.

“Whoa! It really talked! Blaugrunn, did you hear that?! Just now―just now―”

“… What?”

Blaugrunn, looking confused, questioned Ha Leeha, but Ha Leeha had no attention to spare for him.

“Black Bass! Black Bass-nim? Oh, Black Bass-ssi? Do you know who I am?”

―Shortest time… Sixth seal release… Name of the contractor.―

“Ha Leeha! It’s Ha Leeha. We’re actually talking, right?”

―Ha Leeha… I will remember the name of the contractor… now, tired…―

“Contractor? Well, it makes sense since it’s a non-tradable item―wait! Quest! What happens now? What do I have to do?”

Ha Leeha felt grateful that there was no one else around.

Shouting at a weapon, what kind of person did that?

Even in a game, it seemed strange. Blaugrunn was looking at Ha Leeha like he was crazy.

Ha Leeha, forgetting any shame, held that pose for a while. But Black Bass didn’t speak further.

“Black Bass? Ssi? nim? Hello?”

Ha Leeha turned the gun around while talking into the magazine insert slot and the muzzle, and even tickling(?) the trigger, but no reply came.

“What, why isn’t it talking? Just now near the bolt―ah, does it mean the bolt carrier is the life of the gun? Blaugrunn! Should we disassemble it? If we take out the bolt carrier, will it talk again?”

“… I have a lot of questions myself, what just happened?!”

Neither humans nor dragons could grasp the situation.

Expressing his frustration, Ha Leeha pounded his chest.

“Black Bass spoke! Didn’t you hear?”

“… You’re saying it spoke to you?”

“Yes! Could it be only audible to me?”

Blaugrunn’s expression changed at that moment.

Seeing Blaugrunn’s face, as though he didn’t care at all about the ‘Gigantic Mimic’ corpse, Ha Leeha felt a shock like electricity running through his body.

“No way… I’ve heard of Ego Swords but―”

“Ego Sword? What is that?”

“A sword with a will.”

“Yes! That’s exactly how it felt. It had a will! Can we call it ‘Ego Gun’―”

“No, but I’m not sure if Ego Swords actually exist in this world.”

“What?”

Blaugrunn’s voice grew solemn.

A sword with a will. What did that imply?

Even the existence of such an item was uncertain. Realizing the implication, Ha Leeha’s heart started to race.