Matan’s Shooter

Haaaaaaa────

‘One is enough.’

Leeha pulled the trigger.

─────────────…….

One of the giant bats that had scattered in both directions was plummeting to the ground. Out of the five giant bat scouts, only one managed to get away.

“Go quickly and tell Chiyou. The news will be delivered by tonight anyway…”

Leeha retrieved his Black Bass and thought about the next destination. Ha Leeha had appeared in the eastern part of the New Continent and had annihilated the vampire horde hiding in the Dark Forest. If this news reached Chiyou, what would she do? She would immediately use the skills she possessed. She would want to verify what Leeha’s objective was and what his thoughts were.

“Hehe, I don’t know when you’ll use it, but the cooldown should be up soon, right? Make sure to check my location well.”

Leeha couldn’t suppress his laughter.

“I’ll make it so you have to be teleported to 『Gaza City: Interior Office』.”

This created the possibility of exhausting Chiyou’s cooldown skill that had a month-long recharge.

“But even five of them are nothing special? Why did everyone struggle so much?”

Leeha knew well the difference between attacking and being ambushed. However, the thought of bragging to Kidd and Luger made him let out a hearty laugh.

“Prea! Let’s go! Oh, wait.”

Leeha walked into the Dark Forest, calling out to Prea. Then he opened the item inventory of the Black Bass.

“Is it over already? I barely heard any gunshots— Ha Leeha?”

Prea came out to meet Leeha and asked, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the air in a daze.

“Ha Leeha… ssi?”

“… Unbelievable.”

“What’s the matter— Eek!”

Prea slinked closer to Leeha. At that moment, she narrowly avoided getting hit by Leeha’s swinging arm.

It was an awkward situation to even get angry at Leeha.

“What is this— Haha! Hahaha! What is this!”

It was hard to curse at someone who suddenly started dancing and beaming with joy.

“W-What’s the matter?”

“This is amazing! Amazing! These vampire bastards, this! I should kiss them!”

And there was a solid reason why Leeha was so happy.

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

(Not tradeable)

Additional Effect—3: Awakening when charge rate is above 30%

Sleeping when charge rate is below 10%

Charge Rate: 2.08%

The charge rate reached a whopping 2%.

Considering it was at 0.56% before, how much did it increase in one go?

‘It rose by 1.52%! Unbelievable! How could this be?’

Could one of the creatures he just hunted have contributed 1.52%?

‘No, no, that can’t be. The 〈Gigantic Mimic〉 was a field boss above level 300! So, why would a common vampire give more than 1.5%?’

It wasn’t even during the 〈White Reaper〉, and those few shots shouldn’t give that much, even if they were lethal.

Those ‘few shots’ were a dreadful skill dealing over 100,000 damage, but it couldn’t be considered a field boss level.

‘If it recognizes each bat as a ‘separate entity’…’

It was different from typical monsters. Vampires were a new race recognized at NPC level.

If they were treated that way…

‘Do I have to return to Gaza City? No, I need to deceive Chiyou first, so I do have to leave…’

Leeha could somewhat grasp his subsequent moves. If all the vampires he encountered from now on contributed to his charge rate individually.

If the four he just fought were of similar levels, giving around 0.38% each?

Even though there might be individual differences, if each guaranteed at least 0.35%…

‘Please, please, God, buddha, please! Make it so! I’ll live kindly from now on!’

After a long time, until Prea woke Leeha with a fake cough, he had prayed, or rather pretended to pray, for quite a while.

“C-cough. Then, let’s go and see the spirits of darkness.”

As much as Leeha made new discoveries and glimpsed the future, Prea also gained something.

Prea, having entered the Forest of Darkness, made a pact with the spirits of darkness. A bright white light burst from her body. Not only did she level up, but also it was the first time in the history of Middle Earth that a user made a pact with the spirits of darkness. Leeha could only roughly estimate how many good achievements the system would bestow upon her.

* * *

“Ah, oh no, those damn condors again!”

“Get inside quickly! Hurry! Hide inside the mine!”

“If you don’t want to become bird food, run! We don’t have time to carry the dead!”

The giants started running into the mine in a frenzy. The cause was the yellow light illuminating the night sky. That light emitted from the eyes of the condors, which shone brighter than the moonlight.

Their eyes were so large that they weren’t intimidated by the moonlight in the slightest. It was staring directly at the giants.

“Hey, you there! Little girl! Come inside quickly!”

The giants, scrambling to hide, saw the figure of a young human girl. Though they shouted at her, she did not move an inch.

“Damn it, if I see a kid as small as my thigh die, I won’t be able to sleep!”

One of the giants, who had a high sacrificial spirit set as an NPC trait, ran towards the girl.

“Little girl! Come to this ajussi! I—”

“Don’t come.”

“What, what? What are you talking about?”

The girl commanded the giant. Though he stumbled for a moment, he did not stop running.

“Step back.”

“The beak of that condor is bigger than your head! Come with me—ugh!”

Shwoooosh…

“〈Extreme Low Temperature〉.”

Cold air started to radiate from the girl’s body. Although it was already extremely cold at the northernmost part of Shazrashian, the chill seeping from the girl was on a different level.

“Keeeaa—”

“Kiii—kk!”

When the condor got close enough to overshadow the moon with its wings, the girl murmured quietly.

“〈Jet Stream〉.”

Fwhooshhh…

The extreme cold, set at -259.14°C, shot into the sky at a wind speed exceeding 50 meters per second.

“Ahhhh!”

The extreme cold that emitted from her body was all blasted into the sky through the jet stream. Yet, the ‘residue’ that was not caught up in the wind scattered around, causing the giant, who was resistant to Shazrashian’s cold, to scream.

The girl glanced at him before she spoke again. The giants, curious about the sudden loud noise and the strange phenomenon, peeked out from the mine.

“Run away.〈Frost Barrier〉.”

“W-what, suddenly run—my legs are frozen from cold—”

Shwoosh—

With the sound of something rapidly falling, the bodies of the condors collided with the frost barrier surrounding the girl and the giant.

However, few could recognize them as condor carcasses.

“What is that?”

“I-is it… ice rain?”

The frozen carcasses shattered into countless ice fragments upon hitting the frost barrier. Only pristine ice particles were scattered around the girl and the giant who had tried to save her.

The girl casually nudged the ice fragments with her foot. She seemed completely uninterested in the giant she saved or what the giants were doing there.

“Little girl—no, I mean, milady, what is your name?”

But the giants felt differently. Seven condors had descended, and yet she had eliminated them with a mere gesture!

One of the giants carefully approached the girl, but she did not even glance at him.

“……Shazra—Leeha? Oppa?”

As the girl checked the identity of the monster she caught, she tilted her head. At that moment, clapping sounds were heard.

Until now, the girl’s reaction had been indifferent, but this time it was different.

“Is that a second skill? It seems more like a low-grade skill. It doesn’t seem cost-effective to use it on just seven monsters.”

“Lee Jiwon.”

“Hello, Ram Hwajung. Can we talk for a moment?”

Two teenagers wandering around the new area of Shazrashian had crossed paths.

Ram Hwajung did not particularly frown, but she was not eager to initiate a conversation with him either.

“No. Your tone is weird.”

“Wow. Who are you to say that? Don’t you know your tone is even weirder?”

“I don’t know.”

Even aside from their expeditions to discover a new continent, the two had crossed paths quite a few times.

Most of the time, it was usually when many people, especially Ram Hwayeon, were present, or when the surroundings were crowded.

Just like now, as the giant NPCs started to stealthily head towards the mines, being face-to-face alone was a rare occurrence for them.

“Hmm…… this is troublesome. But I have to talk to you.”

“Goodbye.”

Ram Hwajung teleported.

She disappeared with a flash of light purple, but Lee Jiwon did not panic.

Shuaaa―!

“See? Even though I’m not a Sage, I can do at least this much~”

“…….”

Ram Hwajung teleported again.

Lee Jiwon did not lose her.

Despite being the northernmost part of Shazrashian with no artificial lights or proper cities other than the moonlight, the area lit up with the light purple aura created by the two.

How many times had the light purple aura flashed?

Ram Hwajung kept avoiding, and Lee Jiwon kept chasing.

“Are you going to keep this up until your mana runs out? I don’t mind.”

Lee Jiwon baited after chasing Ram Hwajung’s 64th teleport.

Realizing that she couldn’t shake him off with typical evasive teleports, Ram Hwajung stopped avoiding him.

Using a crystal ball to teleport to her hideout wouldn’t help if he continued to chase, and she knew her “nuna” would scold her if the safehouse of the guild 〈Hwajung〉 was exposed.

Moreover, going to places like Castle Dale or the 〈Partisan Fortress〉 on the new continent only meant more trouble if things escalated there.

Therefore, Ram Hwajung had to choose.

Talk with Lee Jiwon, or fight him.

“So annoying.”

Huuu……

Blue particles started to gather around her body.

Lee Jiwon’s eyes lit up with interest.

“You? Against me? Are you kidding?”

Black mana particles started gathering around Lee Jiwon’s body as well.

He unsheathed his black sword with determination.

“You haven’t even reached max-level yet…….”

“I’ll win.”

Although Ram Hwajung had completed her second job advancement, her level had not yet reached 300, though it was close.

Lee Jiwon, who had surpassed the max level of 300 long ago, was confident he would not lose to her.

He acknowledged Ram Hwajung’s abilities, but acknowledging is different from classifying someone as ‘above himself’.

“You’ll win? Hmm~ Not really~”

Even if it were Alexander or Leeha, Lee Jiwon would not back down from a fight.

Just as he was about to move, a silvery radiance burst between Ram Hwajung and Lee Jiwon.

『Stop.』

“〈Reflecting Shield〉! What is this?”

Prepared for an ambush, he quickly leaped back, activating a repulsion shield.

The ability to perform such high-level magical and swordsmanship techniques simultaneously was Lee Jiwon’s hallmark!

Ram Hwajung pouted her lips as she looked at the massive silver figure that suddenly appeared.

The light began to fade, and Lee Jiwon finally saw who it was clearly.

“……Not even Alexander…… This is a bummer.”

“Arzenmacht.”

The Silver Dragon Arzenmacht had seen Ram Hwajung’s ‘crisis’.

Ordered by Bahamut to monitor the vicinity of Pyrot-Cocri in the city of Peckle, it was possible for Arzenmacht to intervene.