Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

A single bat that had been flying towards him plummeted to the ground. Just from the dull thud it made upon crashing, one could estimate its monstrous size. However, Leeha was far from satisfied.

A mere one bat had fallen.

Naturally, it was not enough.

“Why- why only one- ah, ah!” Leeha couldn’t contain his shock at the sight of his musket-pistol, from which a thick white smoke was billowing.

The reason Multi-Warhead Shot didn’t function was clear.

He had no Multi-Warhead Shot skill at present.

It was merely an ‘optional skill’ attached to Black Bass. Without Black Bass, he couldn’t use this skill with any other firearm.

“Screeeeeee—!”

“Damn it— what is going on-!” Caught off guard by a single shot from the musket hummingbird pistol, the bats swooped down aggressively. Instantly, Leeha fired a grapeshot from his needle gun pistol. Accompanied by reverberations within the cave, the grapeshot formed a barrage.

“Thud!” “Screech!”

“Just two of them?!”

The grapeshot from the needle gun pistol had only managed to kill two bats. Some bats had merely grazed by a second or third shot and were now circling erratically but they were far from dead.

If they were ordinary, small bats, certainly more than a dozen would have perished. However, what Leeha was dealing with were not ordinary bats.

“Freaking hell– the New Continent is known for its scale! But if the bats are bigger than a retriever–”

A barrage of fireballs spewed from the mouths of bats the size of large dogs with wings.

There were over 50 bats, illuminating the entire cave with the 50 fireballs fired from their mouths.

“They’re even breathing fire– this bloody New Continent playing fire games from the cradle. Force Barrier!” Astounded, Leeha managed to release a jade barrier.

But this wasn’t the Old Continent. Given the monster level distribution in the New Continent, the Force Barrier couldn’t possibly handle fifty incoming fireballs.

‘Besides, they move too fast. With my skills…hunting with two pistols is… challenging…’

He needed to make a decision.

What would be the optimal strategy to neutralize the incoming fireballs while exterminating the bats?

“Boom! Boom, Boom!”

“Jellypong?!”

As if understanding his dilemma, an arm of Jellypong emerged from his chest.

When their eyes met, it was the start of show time.

“Alright, once the Force Barrier breaks—”

Clang, thud! Clang, thud!

The Force Barrier shook violently before giving way, sapped of strength after intercepting around twenty fireballs.

“Platinum Shield, let’s go, Jellypong! Bayonet Assault!”

This was the moment Leeha’d been waiting for.

Jellypong, agile enough to rappel through complicated trees like a redwood, let alone maneuver through Bahamut’s protective magic, faced no peril from being hit!

“Screech!”

“Whooooosh!”

Jellypong’s arms moved like wires.

They hooked into the ceiling, quickly gained velocity, and approached the target monster.

“Cut!”

Before bats could even dodge, the elongated gun sword from the musket-pistol and Jellypong’s other arm cut a bat in half.

“Screeeeeeech-!”

“Oh, did you think you could dodge the gun sword if you came from the left? But—”

Leeha swung his left arm towards the bat that was approaching.

In his left hand was the upside-down needle gun pistol. The hilt, which now functioned as a blunt weapon, was ready to make an impact.

“You have any idea how many rabbits I’ve killed with a mere club?”

The bat didn’t even get the chance to scream before it dropped to the ground.

In a matter of moments, Leeha had killed five giant bats. Not daring to approach Leeha, the bats must have sensed their impending doom.

“Hehehe, not coming? You will die whether you do or not.”

Hanging from the ceiling, Leeha was swinging by Jellypong’s arms with a smirk on his face.

Flexing his biceps and smirking, he looked as formidable as a demon to the bats.

“I’ll show you who the madman of Candle Castle is. Zellarwiiiind!”

“Myong, Myong!”

“Squeak, squeak!”

“Squeak, squeak, squeak!”

The bats started to scatter in all directions. But none could move faster than the Jellypong.

“Ha-chow!”

“Ha-rat, chachacha-!”

“Ha-it, ha-it, haiya!”

Moving all around with strange battle cries.

Leeha’s arms, moving-nimbly and smoothly, swung his bladed weapon, hit hard with the butt of his gun, struck with Jellypong’s arm, and even climbed on the bats, biting their necks.

[Myong, myong…]

If Blaugrunn had been there, it would have been an embarrassment to watch, but it was enough to subdue the bats.

[Your level has increased.]

“Phew! Man, this feels great for stress relief! Maybe I should start a business like this?”

Leeha, looking at the bodies of over fifty bats scattered on the ground, wiped his sweat and burst into a hollow laugh.

No Black Bass? Blaugrunn can’t help? Can’t summon Koma?

“Not even a mage with power. Just beaten like this.”

Even so, it seemed ridiculous for Leeha to be able to defeat the monsters of the New Continent in such a brutish manner.

“Alright, alright, even after leveling up, let’s see what our bat friends gave us-”

Squeak, squeak…

From behind Leeha, who was flexing his shoulders and loosening his body, came a strange sound. It was the ominous sound of something very hot falling to the ground.

[Myong, myong-]

“…Can’t be.”

Leeha slowly turned around.

The narrow path with enormous caves branching out had certainly been empty just a moment ago. He knew this better than anyone because he had pass through it himself.

But now, there was another creature in that place.

“Squeak. Squeak. An intruder.”

“Squeak, all the fuel bats are dead.”

“…Lava lizards… Are there many of you?”

There was no need to ask. Those creatures, crawling up the wall of the cliff where the lava flowed and stepping onto the ground, were dripping lava from their skins.

One, two, three… The number of lizards crawling up the narrow path and setting foot in the underground cave exceeded ten.

‘Isn’t the lava flowing, but the skin itself made of lava.’

The lava itself, like trapped water, was forming their shapes.

Leeha had never seen it before, but he thought that the fire spirits, Salamanders, might have felt the same.

“I am totally… Totally! I have no intention of fighting. I came here to meet the lava lizards, my name is human Leeha.”

Leeha quickly raised his arms, watching them narrowly, and assumed a surrendering posture. He quickly finished introducing himself, but the lava lizards did not let down their guard.

After hearing Leeha’s words, their eyes briefly turned to the bat bodies that had fallen on the ground.

You say you don’t want to fight, then why did you kill these? Leeha quickly answered their questioning gaze.

“This- these guys- the bats attacked me first so I had to react and I really-”

“Squeak! Squeak!”

At one lizard’s shout, all of them moved simultaneously.

Screech!

When the lizards surrounding Leeha shook their tails, chunks of lava were shot out and flew.

Even compared to the fireballs the bats spat, the force of this was so horrible that it could be called a mere gesture.

[Myong-]

‘Don’t come out, Jellypong!’

Jellypong stretched out his arm and tried to perform a ‘three-dimensional maneuver’, but Leeha stopped him. Overpowering with flashy moves would be good, but then they might end up having to fight.

Without Black Bass, overpowering them completely by force would be difficult.

If that’s the case, this way might be better.”Haaaah- It’s so hot!” Pow, pow, pow, pow-!

“Gah!”

Leeha staggered backwards as the multiple thuds hit him. The physical impact of the flying chunks of lava was not trivial.

Even as he tried to stand firm, the chunks of lava sticking to his upper and lower body made it excruciating as they burned his flesh.

The most unbearable part was the sizzling sound that seemed to burn through the armor, which was enough to make Leeha wince.

“Ha ha ha, hot, hot, hot! Water, water! Potion, potion!”

Every time Leeha flung his arms and legs, lumps of lava from ‘Lonely Volcano’, with its mucky texture, dropped to the ground, plop, plop.

The lava lizards, watching Leeha frenziedly pulling out a potion to pour over the steaming wound, couldn’t help but feel surprised.

“..Sking?”

“Human, sking, not dead.”

They were shocked how Leeha could survive, as the lava they fear even touching burned him directly.

The guards of the lizards became more alert. Leeha forced a grin at their astonishment.

“See? Phew, I have no intention to fight with you guys.”

Even with a high pain tolerance level, he mentions how unbearable the pain is. Barely swallowing those words, Leeha opened his character window.

These were the reasons why Leeha confidently dared to confront Jellypong without a ‘Platinum Shield’.

[‘Bailephus’ Blessing’]

Explanation : The metal dragon race? They ease their pain by bonding with those they recognize as their own. The mana of the gold dragon will always be wrapped around you.

Effects: Immediate communication with the Meta Dragon that cast the magical sphere.

Fire Resistance +15%

Intimacy +50% with all metal dragons

Intimacy -80% with all chromatic dragons

[‘Protection of the Water Spirit’]

Explanation : The Water Spirit never forgets the one who resurrected it.

Effects : Damage taken from water attribute attacks decreased by 50%

30% of damage from water attribute attacks heals health

Damage taken from fire attribute attacks decreased by 40%

Leeha did not trivially step into the lava.

Those lava lizards flung lava chunks at Leeha with a swing of their tails, an unmistakable act of ‘aggression’.

Feeling the heat was inevitable, but believing that the damage can be borne due to that heat, Leeha was confident.

Because he had these buffs.

“I didn’t come here to fight with you. I’m sorry about killing these bats, but I’ll make it up to you. Will you escort me to where your tribal deity resides? Let me reiterate, my name is Leeha. I’m very close to ‘Koba’ of the volcano beneath the jungle.”

Leeha named his mission and repeated his name.

His name was not welcomed at bonobo Paleio Tribe either. He was sure that universal reputation was meant to be used at times like this.

“…So, Leeha.”

“Koba, bonobo, Koba.”

“I recollect, he would say something about the bonobo guys.” The lava lizards murmured and exchanged opinions.

Leeha hadn’t completely loosened up, but he could tell that things were going well.

‘The priority is to clarify that I have no intention to attack.’

There was no reason why the strategy used against the red goat Paleios back when he had no reputation whatsoever wouldn’t work here.

“Let’s go, we’ll take you to our guardian deity.”

“Let’s go. Let’s go.”

“Hold on, Grab the-“

Swoosh-! Swoosh-!

As soon as he finished speaking, the lava lizards jumped into the abyss. The splashing, hissing sounds of their landing came after that.

“Huh?”

Only then did Leeha remember.

That’s how the lava lizards got here, from the lava-filled abyss. How was he going to go back?

Obviously, through the lava.

Leeha ran hurriedly and sat down at the narrow path, looking downwards.

“Wait, wait! Take me with you! How do I get there?”

But the lava lizards had already disappeared into the lava.

While he was indecisive, he heard a Crunch-! The narrow path where he was perched crumbled.

Did the lava from the lizards’ bodies weaken the ground’s stability? Leeha, having already lost his balance, did not have the leisure to ponder over that.

“Whoa, Haaaaah-!”

Kicking out his arms and legs, he fell off the edge of the abyss. He managed to rummage through his bag and take out a teleportation scroll, but the plunge into the lava is faster.

“Hellllp-!” Splash——-!

Leeha’s body disappeared into the lava completely.