Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Despite Lee Jiwon rushing over after witnessing a high-level chain lightning spell, a blinding flash of light suddenly made Blaugrunn and Koma disappear.

“Where did…?”

Like a dog that lost track of the chicken it was chasing, Lee Jiwon unleashed his frustration on the monsters around him. That these monsters were mercilessly scorched was only to be expected.

“Kuwoo… Kuwoo-“

“Huh? That’s possible?”

“It’s my first time seeing something like this too, so I’m not sure. But seeing Ignis actually fall from the bear…”

“Crazy!”

Even as they discussed the report (?) from Koma and Blaugrunn, Leeha’s Black Beast didn’t stop its onslaught.

A thrilling gunshot completely obliterated a troll’s neck.

It wasn’t just out of pain or embarrassment that the shot targeted there.

If you could deliver a strong impact to the connecting point between the upper and lower body, the target would inevitably lose its center of gravity! Leaving the troll swaying and falling, its disposal was something the other users could handle.

Leeha shifted his gaze from the scope to look at Koma and Blaugrunn.

The child seemed sullen, as if feeling personally responsible for the mishap.

“Sigh, who could have done such a thing?”

“No mana flow was felt.”

“Damn! Does this mean the enemies have been upgraded from the second wave? Did you see any unusual monsters nearby?”

“Not at all. If there were giant beasts, the bear and I would have taken care of them without any problem. The rest were just small fries.”

Blaugrunn’s explanation was calm.

Indeed, if Blaugrunn, a dragon, said as much, it was clear there were no abnormalities in the vicinity.

“Wait! Then that means…”

“Do you suspect something?”

“I did, or rather, I do. Not sure if it’s still relevant, though.”

“What is it?”

Leeha did not answer Blaugrunn’s question.

Slowly, he began to adjust the aim of Black Beast’s barrel with precision.

“There was something on Toon’s foot.”

[The Heroic Dwarf’s Ultra-High-Magnification Scope]

Description: A miniature telescope crafted by the master craftsman Dwarf Bottleneck. Made using the ice walrus tribe’s glass forging technology and the eyeball of a Frost Ostrich for materials, it boasts exceptional performance even in its compact size. “Of course it’s amazing because it was made by someone amazing!” the creator boasted, albeit admitting that without the same caliber of materials, remanufacturing would be impossible.

The increase in the lens diameter was inevitable. “How could an ostrich’s eye be this big?!” Bottleneck almost fainted at the size of it.

“However, if considering magnification relative to size— where the traditional scope used a 35mm main tube for up to 30x magnification, this scope only increased to 45mm in diameter yet substantially outperformed its predecessor in terms of effectiveness.

Not just size, but the power inherent within the lens, its ability to focus and gather light to form images, differed across lenses in the world of Middle Earth.

‘A technology still impossible in reality.’

Naturally, it allowed for both vertical and horizontal level adjustments.

And click adjustments. If the traditional scope adjusted at 1/10mm, this one could fine-tune to 1/20mm.

‘A marvel of precision engineering,’ but that wasn’t even the main dish.

[The Heroic Dwarf’s Ultra-High-Magnification Scope]

Effect: Minimum 2x magnification / Maximum 80x magnification viewable

‘The main deal is this! A whopping… a whopping 80x magnification!’

At 80x magnification, in reality, this would start to be classified under astronomical telescopes!

‘Imagine making this compact thing fit on a gun – if this were real, just selling this would make a fortune! Oh, but as it’d be categorized as a defense item, export would be tricky, right? Hmm, considering domestic demand alone might not be too lucrative – no, now’s not the time for such thoughts.’

Leeha adjusted the scope’s magnification.

From the walls of Juma City where Leeha was positioned to where Toon was, it was merely 1.5km. “Even with [Eagle’s Eye], it’d be awesome to see Toon’s figure clearly at this distance.”

‘But to see the dirt under Toon’s toenails would be a challenge. However, with this scope-‘

Zoom in, zoom in, zoom in.

Leeha kept increasing the magnification. With an existing 30x magnification scope at a 1.5km distance, it’s like observing from 50m away.

It could distinguish small creatures’ forms and colors.Even if it’s a life form with no distinguishing features, it means it can be clearly identified for what it is.

But what about at an 80x magnification?

From a distance of 5km, maximum magnification view allows observation as if the target object is merely 18.7m away.

At such a distance, it’s not just about recognizing faces; even protruding nose hairs would become visible.

Thus, Leeha was astoundingly surprised.

“What! Chiyou? …Chiyou is…

Why? No, how…

Just then, Chiyou and another person walked in.

Why was Chiyou there?

How could she be sitting so docilely on the edge of Toon’s foot?

Leeha felt a dizzying sensation for a moment. It was because an unbelievable hypothesis had flashed through his mind.

‘The extermination order on the unique creatures… Yes, she hasn’t been seen since then.’

Who was she with at that time?

According to Tale’s words, it was clearly Igor and Faust who had come.

‘Why didn’t I think of that possibility?’

If it were Igor and Faust, they were the ones who played the role of the vanguard for the Demon King’s Army.

Could it be that those connections still remained?

That through those connections, they crossed over to the New Continent and joined the Demon King’s Army?

Wasn’t the Demon King’s Army’s position just a one-time event-like affair? Above all…

‘Faust must have lost his position as the chief of the Demon King’s Army in the Rophe Continent. Or is there another line of connection?’

Though it was an incomprehensible progression, who was the opponent?

In the case of Chiyou, it was a convincing enough situation.

If it was her… it was believed she could stand by Le’s side. She was, after all, the most unpredictable opponent among all Middle Earth players.

But why had they forgotten about her until now?

“Blaugrunn-ssi! Can you see Toon?”

“Of course.”

“When we were hunting ice ostrich, didn’t we detect mana from more than 1km away?”

“Yes, why?”

“Can you detect any mana near Toon right now?”

“Hmm, well, I’m not sure until I try… one moment, please.”

Blaugrunn quickly cast a detection spell. However, all he did was shake his head after a while.

“No, there’s nobody there.”

“Are you sure there’s nobody?”

“Yes, at least nothing is detected by my mana detection. Why?”

Leeha did not answer Blaugrunn’s question. At the same time, it seemed as if the secret of the ranking was being unraveled.

‘Right, now I understand. Bailephus would undoubtedly have superior mana manipulation than Blaugrunn but…

He probably wouldn’t find it either.

The current situation likely involves ‘something’ undetectable in the scope of mana detection spells. Whether it’s an influence created by Toon or a measure directly taken by Bluebeard.

Then, what could be the reason for this?

Leeha finally realized why.

‘While we were blocking the wave and leveling up, they were running the wave and gaining experience.’

It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

After all, there was the case of Faust, who was a former vanguard of the Demon King’s Army.

He gained immense strength from Bluebeard and used it as a pretext to gain a significant increase in threat level, successfully accruing numerous evil feats, including leveling up.

‘And the person next to him…

Was a user he had never seen before.

Pointy ears indicated that he was of the Wood Elf race, but Leeha barely knew any Wood Elf users.

The peculiarities were perhaps being barefoot and quite tall?

‘No, it’s the first time seeing her but…

At this point, Leeha was fully experiencing the benefits of the scope upgrade.With a clarity of vision boasting a 100% conversion rate, endowed with the skill “Eyes of the Hawk,” Leeha could even discern the color of a wood elf’s iris from a distance of about 18 meters.

‘I know who it is.’

She had white eyes.

A wood elf with white eyes, and… on Chiyou’s side.

Though Tai-il’s testimony hadn’t confirmed it, Leeha could roughly guess what kind of conversation Chiyou and Prea had when they exterminated the Starweed. There had been some sort of deal, and Prea was tempted by it.

“Prea, the spirit mage with white eyes, huh? There were so many things I wanted to ask.”

Leeha, whose affinity with spirits had increased, had always wanted to meet this user.

But to think that their meeting would be at gunpoint.

After watching her for a moment and then once more directing his scope towards Chiyou, a word flashed through Leeha’s mind.

“A spirit mage with white eyes? Spirits?”

Spirits.

Instantly, Leeha turned to Koma.

The kid, whose duration of soul link had yet to expire and was still present in the physical realm, looked at Leeha with a puzzled expression.

“Blaugrunn-ssi! Didn’t you say that Ignis has disappeared?”

“Eh? It’s just speculation, but that’s what I think, yes.”

“No, I’m certain. Let’s just assume I’m right! So, hypothetically, could an excellent spirit mage separate something when it has merged with a spirit?”

What did this sudden anomaly signify?

No harm had come to Blaugrunn, but Koma had taken a critical hit. And that critical hit was related to ‘spirits,’ and the person in front of him was the most outstanding spirit mage user in the lore of Midlearth.

Could the possibility not be substantial?

Leeha’s speculation was on point.

“…I can’t be certain about the system of spirits. But considering the cases of the highest-grade earth spirit Noeanean and the highest-grade wind spirit Celestine, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible.”

“Right?”

“Yes. They were definitely in control of spirits of a lesser grade than themselves. Hmm, but to manipulate Ignis to such an extent, the adversary must be handling a highest-grade fire spirit or beyond. Is there a human capable of that?”

“It’s not a human.”

“What?”

“It’s a wood elf.”

“Alen Sruna?!”

Blaugrunn exclaimed in surprise, mentioning a name. However, Leeha could not recall who that was.

“Huh? Suddenly, who’s that? Prea – no, I mean, a wood elf.”

“If it’s a wood elf who can freely handle spirits of the highest grade or more! Leeha-nim has the ‘key’! The only being who made contracts with all the spirit kings! A wood elf, Alen Sruna!”

“Ah? Ahhh! That ‘Key of the Spirit Realm’!?”

“Sigh, how do you not know what you possess!”

“That, well – I just forgot for a moment! How could I not know something so important.”

Recalling effects and names was one thing, but remembering detailed explanations was another matter.

‘Alen Sruna, a wood elf, Prea… and spirits.’

How are they connected?

Was Prea aware of the “Key of the Spirit Realm”?

Various thoughts swirled through Leeha’s mind.

Regardless, that was not immediately important.

What mattered was that on Toon’s instep, Chiyou and Prea were sitting side by side.

And there was a high probability that Prea had done something to his ‘little one.’

There was no proof, but that was enough.

Merely the fact of being with Chiyou was proof enough, wasn’t it?

“Alright, then I should extend my greetings from here.”

Chiyou and Prea.

Leeha alternated his gaze between the two.

He would have loved nothing more than to blow Chiyou’s head off, but he knew taking a shot at Chiyou was always something that had to be approached with caution.

‘Besides, they must know I’m on this battlefield now.’

Then? Chiyou’s specialty in predicting the future might have already been in motion. Definitely, they would be prepared for a snipe, and a failed attempt grants no second chance.

‘Rather…

If I’m to take aim, it should be at this.

Leeha then shifted his gun barrel away from Chiyou.

Still under the effect of levitation magic, there was nothing in his view that could obstruct the shot.