Matan’s Shooter

Only one was caught by Lark, and one was killed by Kijung, but it was Leeha who suddenly desired the head. Had they arrived a bit earlier and captured all three units of Pyrot-Cocri, 30% of their charge would have been filled.

‘If it felt fresh because I hadn’t killed it before, the place I’m heading to now has plenty of such things. Let’s join up as quickly as possible and kill not only Faust’s Lich Dragons but also the vampire Faust and Chiyou.’

As of the moment just past midnight, there were five days left until the charge rate would start to decrease again. Though Leeha didn’t know how vast the eastern part of the New Continent was or how diverse the monsters there were, he believed that in that amount of time, he could catch up with the preceding expedition team.

‘Above all, Chiyou won’t be able to care about me!’

One of the reasons Leeha could rashly head to the eastern part of the New Continent was because of the conversation he had with Lark in front of Pyrot-Cocri’s corpse.

* * *

“You’re going to the eastern part of the New Continent? There’s already a team that went ahead? Ha, really. Old Ewin didn’t even tell me about that?”

It wasn’t because Ewin didn’t mention it. Lark was angry that he hadn’t even guessed such a thing.

“Indeed, knowing that there’s absolutely nothing in the western New Continent, and even though the Pope kept babbling about Laputa and whatnot, I wondered why we were digging around here. Despite knowing that Ewin wasn’t someone who would do that, I got fooled. This cursed game shows no mercy.”

Listening to Lark’s complaints, Leeha laughed. Maybe because they were building a bit of camaraderie through various conversations, but Leeha felt a slight hint of humanity every time Lark voiced his honest grievances.

“But once I head to the east, Chiyou will probably immediately try to stop me. Bahamut said that Bluebeard likely knew about Pyrot-Cocri waking up. Naturally, Chiyou will know too. And… she’ll use all available resources to finish her mission and come here.”

He had to stop her. If Bluebeard knew about Pyrot-Cocri, then surely Ghibrid would know too, and in the worst case, the Manticore and Chimera Corps might start an invasion of the western New Continent.

If they knew the precise location of Pyrot-Cocri, they would come here straight away to buy time to wake her up.

“You’ll go to the eastern part of the New Continent. Kaztor went there. Chiyou went there with him. Hmm, then it’s just a matter of ensuring Chiyou doesn’t focus on you, Ha Leeha, right?”

“It’s easier said than done. Even tinkering with the forces at the border won’t be enough. You know she’s not someone easy to fool.”

Mobilizing unnecessary units, including the Byulcho, would only make Chiyou more suspicious. At Leeha’s words, Lark showed a sly smile.

“I still don’t get it. Not only you but all Fibiel-affiliated users seem somewhat lost, but you are especially worse. You look like you’re missing part of your soul.”

“What?”

“There’s a good bait to catch Chiyou’s attention.”

“Bait? Who? You?”

“Ha! That would be odd too! So, who’s with Chiyou right now, as you mentioned?”

“Kaztor. The former Fibiel Magic Division Head, rota Jaak.”

“Exactly!”

Lark applauded, signaling that Leeha had got it right.

Leeha, puzzled and unsure what that had to do with anything, saw Lark smile again.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Back during the incident involving the death of the former Pope, there were people involved, right? I also investigated, so I know! There were tons of NPCs in Fibiel with grudges against ‘Rotzak’ from the past!”

“Ah! Ah?!”

Skewer Lepanto. The white-haired Blade Master who handled dozens of daggers. Yenhua, an expert in linkage magic whom Kaztor personally referred to as “The Linker.”

At least three, as far as Leeha knew. Others who regained their memories or bore grudges against Rotzak during the Second Human-Demon War surely existed as well.

“So they, then—”

“I know someone close to Lepanto. He’s still in the western New Continent.”

“Great! Then with them—”

“With them? Ha Leeha, get a grip. Every minute and second right now is crucial! You must leave immediately.”

“What? Then what will you do?”

“I told you. I have connections with Ewin. Convincing that old man with my words will be tough… but I’ll put together a team from the relevant members and send them to the eastern part of the New Continent before dawn tomorrow, causing a big ruckus.”

Lark got up from the rock he was sitting on and drew a map on the ground.

On a roughly drawn map of the New Continent’s central region, he drew a line towards the east, then quickly extended it northward with a “ziiiiik”.

“Heading east, then turning north. Taking a brief detour through parts of the north before returning to the west. Even a simple ‘roundabout’ like that should suffice to catch their attention.”

In reality, they must not be sent to the east.

They couldn’t afford to have Chiyou become wary of those ‘chasing her’.

In essence, they would serve as a ‘decoy’ to buy some time for Ha Leeha as he made his moves in the east.

Lark knew that typically, NPCs possessed superior combat abilities compared to players. Nonetheless, this time he intended to utilize several such NPCs to clear a path for Ha Leeha.

“…… Indeed.”

“There are plenty of Musketeers in Minis, even if they’re not of your caliber. Mix in one who can cause enough noise with gunfire, and Chiyou’s spies would be easily fooled.”

The aim was to make Chiyou perceive that “Ha Leeha has entered the east with NPCs like Lepanto, then headed north.”

This was Lark’s proposal, and Ha Leeha accepted it. As a result, even past midnight, he continued speeding eastward.

“In that case, don’t head directly to the north. I’ll point out several spots for you to pass through.”

“Are you trying to frame me again?”

“Framing? It’s just making the best of a situation.”

Ha Leeha planned to have them pass through the territories of the vampires he had previously wiped out.

If Chiyou hadn’t yet learned about the massacred vampires in those territories?

‘It would entirely erase any evidence of my involvement.’

Chiyou wouldn’t be able to find his traces.

She would likely remember him as some fool who reached the north of Shazrashian and only then belatedly set off towards the east, heading even further northeast.

‘Great. Let’s go. As fast as possible!’

Ha Leeha was confident that Chiyou’s skill to track his location had a cooldown of a whole month.

He was certain she had used it when he was in Gaza City just a while ago.

Thus, there would be no way for Chiyou to be 100% certain of his current location.

Despite her sharp mind, without firm evidence, she would continue to be mired in confusion.

“Ha Leeha… Now that I see it, you do have a bit of a con artist in you, don’t you?”

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Who is the original swindler here?”

A plan, concocted by the swindler from Fibiel and the swindler from Minis, was about to be set in motion.

The fact that they exchanged and trusted each other’s information was because of their ‘previous conversations’.

“Tiamat… I am paying off a bit of my debt for that premium information, okay?”

Lark extended his hand.

He was smiling.

“You’re quite ethical. I thought you’d claim the full debt was paid off.”

“I understand the weight of important information too. I’ll repay the rest in due time.”

“Good. Simply telling me what that sword is has earned my trust.”

Ha Leeha grasped his hand.

Having explained the structure and the queen of the Chromatic Dragon, Ha Leeha had learned everything that Lark knew about his sword.

‘That sword… it might become an Ego Sword. It doesn’t seem like a Divine Sword yet.’

He didn’t articulate his suspicion out loud, but he could at least tell that Lark’s sword had the potential to be something on par with the Black Bass.

“Black! There must be many other Ego Weapons besides you, right?”

—I’ve told you before, it’s impossible to know, contractor… Even if they possess a consciousness, unless their bearer can unlock it, they’ll remain dormant forever.—

“That’s true. That must be the case.”

If there was a Black Bass for firearms, there must be similar weapons for other types as well.

Although Blaugrunn had mentioned Ego Weapons were rare, the difficulty in finding them was compounded by the fact that such weapons had to be awakened or unsealed through the abilities of the ‘user’.

‘What about the Cobalt Blue Python and the Crimson Geckos? Only Black Bass being like this doesn’t quite make sense… especially given the Three Musketeers’ class.’

This was the very question Ha Leeha had asked when Black Bass awoke, and they discussed Ego Weapons.

However, Black Bass only responded by asserting it was the strongest gun, without providing additional information.

That alone had already fueled Ha Leeha’s suspicions.

‘The strongest rifle… There’s a gun imbued with Zamiel, the Gun of Arcane Sniper.’

From Ha Leeha’s perspective, wasn’t that gun, which endured the Arcane Bullet, clearly superior to Black Bass?

Leeha thought to himself that he shouldn’t believe everything Black Bass said.

– And I am Bess.

“B, bess… that name is nice too, but it reminds me of someone I know. Just endure with Black.”

– I don’t feel good about that.

“Hehe, that’s why I’m trying to make you feel better. You said there are two steps left to achieve 100% charge.”

– Hehe… I commend you, contractor, for awakening me faster than anyone in history, but it won’t be easy for even you to fully unleash all my abilities.

Black Bass’s bolt trembled.

Leeha accepted his taunt, wondering if this was what it looked like when a gun laughed.

“Everyone said the same so far.”

– Hmm? What are you talking about?

“You don’t know because you’ve only just woken up… everyone said that to me since I came to Middle Earth.”

– Everyone said that?

SWISH—!

A tentacle of Jellypong sliced through the night sky, stretching out refreshingly.

‘Jellypong, toss me again! We’re going with Ghost in the Shell maneuver.’

『Myong!』

When the tentacles caught a tree like a slingshot, Leeha spoke to Black Bass.

– Yeah, everyone. Whenever I said I would do something, the first thing they all said was, ‘It won’t be easy.’ And I will—

『Myong!』

Jellypong hurled Leeha toward the moon hanging in the sky.

Although the speed made it momentarily impossible to open his eyes, it didn’t matter to Leeha.

His adept actions, honed to perfection, loaded the bullet without any wasted motion, and he successfully aimed at the easternmost tip within his sight.

“—I achieved all the things everyone said wouldn’t be easy.”

– Hehe… As my Contractor, you should have at least that much confidence.

Listening to the familiar conversation with the ‘chuunibyou’ patient of a few days, Leeha smiled faintly.

“That’s what I’m saying! Let’s go quickly. 〈Ghost in the Shell〉!”

─────────────!

The gunshot made Leeha’s ears ring.

A few seconds after the bullet was fired, Leeha’s falling body from the apex suddenly disappeared.

At the impact point, Jellypong was naturally connecting with three-dimensional maneuvering, moving Leeha’s body.

* * *

Fernand lifted his compass toward the direction where the sunlight was pouring and used his skill.

Unlike a typical flat compass needle pointing north, the needle inside his completely spherical compass spun and pointed toward a part of the sky.

“As expected… it’s moving. The direction has changed.”

“Does that mean 〈Laputa〉 is heading south?”

“Indeed. So…”

Responding to Alexander, Fernand looked at Browless, Luger, and Kidd.

Unlike those who had to go east to find Kaztork, Alexander and Fernand had another purpose—to search for 〈Laputa〉. Their expedition’s goal was to hit two targets with one shot, but at this point, they had to choose a direction.

“I oppose splitting the party. I also oppose investigating 〈Laputa〉 first.”

Browless spoke firmly, looking at Alexander and Bailephus.

Alexander wanted Bailephus’s agreement. Kaztork and Arcane Sniper didn’t particularly matter to him.

“If you don’t want to split up, we should head to 〈Laputa〉 first—”

“No… no. We should head east first, my friend.”

However, Bailephus did not agree with Alexander.