Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Reload complete, please get out of the way!”

Grrrr—!

Claang, a huge spark spewed out from Matsushige’s shield that blocked the mountain worm’s jaw.

And while the earthworm tilted its head for a moment, Matsushige stepped aside.

‘Hold.’

He quickly raised the musket.

Leeha looked at the mountain worm. In its circular mouth, its teeth spun endlessly.

‘It looks like a document shredder! It should be good at shredding security documents in bulk.’

Baaang…!

Chwaaak, thick juice poured out of the body of the mountain worm.

“Phew, it’s big, so what.”

“Don’t let your guard down! Hana-chan, get back!”

“Kill it quickly, Ma-chan!”

“Ara?”

Isn’t it dead? At Matsushige’s sudden shout, Leeha was startled and raised his musket.

Surely, didn’t they see the trajectory of the bullet going through the cog-like jaw and pierce through its back?

‘Ah……’

Earthworm!

Leeha quickly opened his bag and took another bag of gunpowder.

Right, it was an earthworm. Not a four-legged animal, not a humanoid monster, but an earthworm.

And what about earthworms? If you step on it, it will wriggle.

Even if its head was pierced or severed, its body would still move.

Grrt- grrt- grrt- grrt-

“Huh? Huh?”

And Leeha saw the mountain worm approaching him rapidly. Matsushige was on the right, but wasn’t Leeha the one on the left?

It meant that the mountain worms aggro, which was aimed at Matsushige, was transferred to Leeha.

“Kuwaaaa!”

If so, there was no time to think.

Leeha ran towards Matsushige.

The mountain worm’s toothed jaw had already come close.

“Damn! Matsushige-nim, aggro, hurry!”

Leeha exclaimed loudly.

“Ha Leeha-nim, come this way!”

The mountain worm’s teeth sounded like a grinder, eerily from behind.

At that moment, Matsushige jumped in.

“Slash!”

The mountain worm’s attack changed and it crashed on the shield with a ‘Claang’ sound. Had it been a little late, Leeha’s body would have been ripped apart.

“Hurry up. I dragged back its aggro. I’ll be careful in the future. I’m sorry!”

Even though the mountain worm’s head was pierced, it did not stop.

‘Haa, I was a little nervous too.’

Because of that brief aggro mismanagement, Leeha almost died.

‘Surely… it wasn’t on purpose, was it?’

He made some big mistakes once in a while, so Leeha had no choice but to think like that. In action, one mistake could take one’s life.

And for Leeha, death would cause the failure of his quest. The quest with unusual conditions would disappear into the air.

‘No, I should focus on hunting first. I have to be cautious of all the earthworms.’

One must not doubt ones’ comrades while hunting. But it will be different in the future.

Leeha first focused on the mountain worm.

‘His first death in Middle Earth should not be caused by jeering.’

He quickly finished reloading. He wanted to feed it bullets in anger, but the earthworm was moving too fast.

‘Damn, aren’t you moving too much now?’

Leeha tried to predict the pattern of the mountain worm attacking Matsushige, but it was not easy. The monster wriggled and struggled ceaselessly.

However, if Leeha hit its body, it would not deal much damage.

If he shot it in the head, he might have hit Matsushige. It was as if all the possible angles to shoot were blocked.

‘If so…’

Leeha lowered his musket and changed direction altogether.

“Ha-Ha Leeha-nim? Where are you going!”

“Phew, huhu. Mame Hana-nim. If something goes wrong, please heal me.”

“Is something wrong? What are you going to do?”

Leeha sat behind Matsushige.

“Ha Leeha-nim?”

“Matsushige-nim. One, two, three, get out of the way.”

“Yes? Pardon?”

“Get your timing right. I don’t want to kill you.”

“Yes? What-.”

“One.”

Claaang-!

Meanwhile, the mountain worm gnawed at the shield.

“Two. You have to keep yourself safe.”

“Wait! There is also the  timing of the mountain worm, so suddenly-.”

“Three.”

“Uwaaak!”

Matsushige jumped away.

The mountain worm that lost its target, could not be stopped. The sawtooth teeth naturally fell down.

Its target naturally fell to Leeha who was hiding behind Matsushige.

Krrrrrr—!

Its teeth rotated with a strong force. If one gets sucked in its mouth, it was so threatening that its target would die instantly.

It took a while for the terrible idea to float on Leeha’s head.

Leeha pulled the trigger.

Taaang—!

“Kkuwaak”

Ah, so that was how it worked? He shot and killed the earthworm that was approaching him. Will the earthworm fall down in a  different direction?

Of course not. The huge body of the mountain worm fell toward Leeha as it was.

Kuung, the earthworm superimposed with Leeha’s body.

“Ha Leeha-nim! Are you okay?”

“I will cast heal right away, please get out of there!”

“Ahhh, ahhh.”

“Huh? What?”

Mame Hana lowered her hand that held the rosary.

“Phew, it’s okay! You have to save mana.

Leeha quickly pushed the giant earthworm that fell on him, away.

The slippery feeling in his hands was not pleasant.

“This… Did you catch it?”

Mame Hana looked at Leeha with a surprised look on her face.

“Don’t you think it’s dead? It’s not wriggling anymore.”

“Heol… Hunting a mountain worm in two shots?”

Matsushige also raised his face cover and looked at Leeha and the mountain worm alternately.

Although he had given it a few slashes, there was no way his slashes dealt huge damage.

The mountain worm’s slick, and slimy surface was used to prevent swords from penetrating its body.

Leeha only shrugged his shoulders.

“Ah, before that. Shall we talk about your skills for a moment?”

Then he suddenly remembered. He just couldn’t get past the mountain worm’s aggro management.

“Yes?”

Matsushige had an expression that something was coming.

It was not an exaggeration to say that aggro management was the most important factor in party hunting.

If a tanker did not draw aggro and focus the monster’s attack on them, other party members with relatively low HP could get annihilated in an instant.

Even if a dealer missed their attack, as long as there was a healer and tanker, they could have another chance, that was not the case for tankers.

One mistake could lead to the annihilation of a party.

“Matsushige-nim, did you say your job was a knight?”

“Yes, yes. I am a knight.”

“That is a tanker job, right?”

“Y-yes. That’s right.”

“Then, why did the aggro transfer? No, you didn’t use a skill a while ago.”

It was the part that made Leeha suspicious.

Leeha’s attack power was so strong that it could transfer aggro. Monsters are also living things, so it was natural that they deal with the most threatening target first.

But it was the tanker that kept monsters from acting like that.

They use taunting skills such as stomp in order to draw their attention.

It was unavoidable to have doubts when a tanker in his 40s suddenly mismanaged aggro like that.

“T-that……”

“Were you trying to kill me?”

“No, no! Absolutely not!”

Seeing Leeha’s bitter eyes, Matsushige waved his hand. Leeha wouldn’t have such an extreme reaction if it was the usual, but he had been through too many things lately.

He tended to look at bad people as good. In the forest of spiders and bats, the people who bet whether he lived or died, Petal Kim shouting for items…

“In Middle Earth, high-end equipment is especially expensive, so there is no special skill for managing aggro.”

“Then?”

“Like the slash you just saw. It could be said, that it is a concept with a lot of aggro indexes attached to attack skills. Attack itself is aggro management, but as you know, attack skills have a high cooldown…

Matsushige bowed his head. Of course, he was tall, so even if he lowered his head, he was a lot taller than Leeha.

“Okay?”

“Yes, really. Why would I lie to Leeha-nim.”

“Right, Ha Leeha-nim. I know because I’m always with Ma-chan, and he’s not that kind of guy.”

“Hana-chan…”

Mame Hana stuck next to the depressed Matsushige.

Maybe they’ve been hunting together all along. They even called each other by nicknames, so there was no need to listen to Mame Hana.

Of course, she will take Matsushige’s side.

Leeha looked at the two of them alternatingly.

He could see no lie. It might really be because of a lack of skills.

‘Even if they have the same level and job, the skill composition might be different. Depending on how you leveled up, there would be skills that one has and hasn’t learned. I know that.’

Therefore, it means that it is difficult to tell what skills others have. If one compares oneself to others, they might look down on themselves, or they might find their own weakness depending on what kind of skills they have.

There was no one in the world who revealed their own information openly.

“Hmm…”

Leeha deliberately took his time.

It certainly made sense, but right now, ah, that was right. He couldn’t say sorry for the misunderstanding. After a few moments of waiting with tense expressions on their faces, Mame Hana and Matsushige finally spoke up.

“Ha Leeha-nim, please forgive Ma-chan!”

“Ah, until he says sor-.”

“I’m sorry, Ha Leeha-nim”

Matsushige bowed his head. Right, it was done. Leeha closed his mouth and nodded.

“Yes, yes I know. If that is how your skill works, then there’s nothing I can do. Instead, let us be clear. How many skills do you have that could get aggro?”

“One…”

“Only the ‘slash’?”

Matsushige nodded. Also, the cooldown was over 1 minute. It was longer than Leeha’s reload.

“Then what other skills do you have?”

“That… Aside from the shield skill, things that mostly protect….”

“Protect?”

“Chivalry. It is a knight skill. Instead of the target, my HP will be reduced instead.”

What-ly? Shibalry?

“Yes? Ah, knights too. That’s tanking. But why didn’t you use it on me?”

“Ha Leeha-nim is a man.”

Hmm?

Leeha’s expression hardened. What is he saying now?

“N-no. Do not misunderstand. As the name ‘Chivalry’ suggests … it’s a skill that could only be used on women. I’m sorry.”

“Ah……My… Neck.”

Leeha swallowed a sigh.

(To be continued…)