Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

The enemies had already moved. It must have been quite a while ago.

“It’s not easy indeed. Well, I have to do this much. The distance is quite fair.”

The White Reaper was calling for him and Leeha decided to accept it.

“Now that it’s like this, should I go back to my dragon form!? Even if my little guy goes wild, if I breathe fire, what-”

“Oh, no. What’s the point of burning your soul too recklessly? Hehe, Blaugrunn is done now.”

“Huh? Done?”

“Let’s just go back now.”

To hear his story, one must earn his approval. One must deal with him in the way he desires.

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Using large-scale magic or the dragon’s breath will not earn his approval.

“Go back? Just like that?”

“Yes. And Blaugrunn doesn’t need to come anymore.”

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“Next time… I’ll have to come alone.”

1:1 sniping battle.

Leeha steeled his resolve.

Just a little preparation is needed.

“Leeha, great, became Leeha. Oh, nowadays it’s ‘Ha Leeha’, right? It’ll be fun, won’t it?”

Leeha raised an eyebrow as he heard Blaugrunn muttering incomprehensible words. After Leeha and Blaugrunn tidied up the surroundings, they teleported. After staunchly preventing Blaugrunn from following them, Leeha logged out. He needed advice on Counterattack 00406 against 5010108.

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Ppo*

“Don’t skimp on money and buy something big!”

“Oh, don’t worry. Do you really think I’d go to Sergeant Kim’s house empty-handed?”

“It’s not about going empty-handed! Don’t buy some weird stuff just for show. Get something substantial. Even if they say to come after dinner, discreetly slip away before the meal without causing a fuss-”

“Okay, okay. It seems like my mom still thinks I’m twelve. I’ll go and come back!”

Leeha smiled as he walked out the front door.

At that moment, Leeha, who had briefly returned home for lunch, met his mother who was about to leave. Looking at Leeha, who was wearing clothes to go out for the first time in a while, their mother sparkled her eyes and asked the reason, and Leeha eventually had to spill the truth.

“You’re meeting a guest on December 30th. Are you going out for no reason when you must be busy?”

As soon as logging out of Middle Earth, Leeha found Sergeant Kim.

Even though it had been a long time since they last talked, the teacher didn’t hold back.

“There were a few curse words mixed in, but.”

Upon receiving the message to come quickly without looking around, Leeha left home in a hurry.

“Where should I look… something substantial and big… not a holiday gift but an end-of-year present, what should I do,” Leeha said, going into a mart near Sergeant Kim’s house to choose a gift.

They finally pressed the bell after holding a meat set and a fruit set heavily.

“Sergeant Kim! Hi there!”

But before the bell sound ended, there was no sign of the front door opening. Leeha pressed the bell again.

“Sergeant-nim~ Hi there… What’s going on?”

Leeha carefully put his ear to the front door, Leeha heard banging sounds coming from inside the house.

After a moment, he could figure out what the sound was. The opening of the front door, and Sergeant Kim’s face dropping pearls, was evidence of that.

“Hah, hah… these! You said you’d come by 2!”

“Isn’t it polite to come 30 minutes early?”

“That’s, that’s nonsense! That’s only during training! Ugh, it’s hot.”

“Are you hot on December 30th?”

“Because of you— Oh, no. What do you want?”

As Sergeant Kim was about to say something but swallowed it, Leeha chuckled.

Even without hearing it, Leeha could easily predict what Sergeant Kim had been up to all this time. Though he had grumbled when Leeha came, there was no way he could actually dislike it.

Having suddenly started cleaning the house and preparing to meet the guest(?), he couldn’t help but to be a bit flustered. His tone seemed like he might scold Leeha on the spot, but the look in Sergeant Kim’s eyes as he gazed at Leeha was infinitely gentle.

“Hey! Are you going to leave the guest out there like that?”

“Oh, right. Come in. It’s so humble to have someone precious in such a modest place, my goodness.”

“What are you talking about, sergeant-nim?”

Leeha looked puzzled, and Sergeant Kim got irritated.

“So, are you saying a precious person came to this humble place?”

“Th-that’s not what I mea—”

“Hehe, come on in.”

After observing Leeha’s bewildered expression, he entered the house with a satisfied smile. The wife of Sergeant Kim, who was standing in front of the entrance, chuckled as she looked at Leeha.

“Oh my, who is this? When you’re in military uniform, you look like a complete gentleman, but now you look even younger! Looking good!”

“Madam, it’s been a while. Here, I brought this…”

“Oh, did you buy something like this again? Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”

It was not just because of Leeha’s gift. Even as she accepted it, sergeant Kim’s wife’s eyes were constantly fixed on Leeha’s face and legs. There was no way she didn’t know about Leeha’s accident.

A mixture of worry and reassurance filled her gaze, which was enough for Leeha to understand.

“Did you buy something nice? You didn’t buy some cooking ingredients again, did you? Soup, meat for grilling, fish, what else?”

“Honey! Why would you say that?”

Sergeant Kim scolded Leeha’s teasing while unable to find a way to react to his wife. Seeing the couple, who hadn’t changed at all since their military days, Leeha couldn’t help but smile.

Sergeant Kim, who seemed like he would kill his trainees, and his wife would come to them an take care of them like a mother. That was Leeha’s memory of ‘Sergeant Kim’s wife.’

“Sergeant, really. Who do you think I am.”

“Who else but you, you little rascal. Sit down.”

Leeha felt like he had returned to the army. He noticed the Middle Earth connection device placed in one corner of the living room. After some small talk about how things have been, whether ‘Dinosaur’ was used well, and if there were any issues, Leeha finally brought up the main topic.

“White Reaper? Shimo Hayha? Are you talking about the Finnish sniper?”

“Yes. And in Middle Earth, they call him Hayha.”

“When I was serving, we just called him Hayha. That’s why I felt annoyed the first time I saw your name.”

“Hehe, do you have to be annoyed about that?”

“Anyway, about reverse sniping… It really is an interesting game.”

The sniper duel inspired by the legendary sniper NPC. As the conversation turned to the showdown, sergeant Kim’s expression also became more serious.

“So, how did it go?”

“I just got ambushed. I couldn’t do anything since I couldn’t see where the shots were coming from.”

“Hehe, that’s the way it goes. Just having the name isn’t enough to be a sniper! Do you think you can get back at Shimo?”

Sergeant Kim looked as delighted as if he had become a White Reaper, or rather, he seemed closer to enjoying the confusion and pain of Leeha.

“The barrel flame isn’t visible, the camouflage is flawless, and even if you try to locate it using the game system, you won’t find it. What should I do?”

“Well, in the real world, using Gunfire Locator to find him is the fastest way. You draw the primary position through lenses on the tip of the vocal tract, pick the secondary position by detecting sound in each direction to obtain trigonometry, and cross-check. I saw the US military guys using it during deployment, and it was truly amazing.”

“… I doubt there is something like that in the Middle Earth.”

“Could you give some more helpful words? I almost spat out everything to the very end of the throat. But Sergeant Kim just kept on smiling.”

As their eyes met, Leeha’s expression began to grow stiffer.

“From what you were saying earlier, you seem proud of getting hit three times…”

“Ness.”

“He’s dead.”

“W-what are you t—”

“I said he’s dead.”

Sergeant Kim’s wife abruptly interjected with a heavy word, trying to erase it, but his demeanor remained unchanged.

Sergeant Kim’s once set expression was now turning into anger. It was enough to make Leeha feel flustered as he stared at him.

“Do you take pride in being shot three times by a sniper? Even after being hit three times, you couldn’t pinpoint the enemy’s position… then what’s left?”

“Indeed, that’s just a game. A very well-made game, indeed. I find it entertaining enough to still be playing. However, if you think of it as sniping, you have to take it seriously.”

“Yes, sir.”

Leeha nodded. It was true that Leeha had been too casual, counting on Blaugrunn’s presence and believing in his own abilities.

Since facing the difficulty of the New Continent, he thought there would be no one above to defeat on the Grand Continent with its level 400 monsters. It was a conceited notion.

That was the mistake borne of arrogance, and Sergeant Kim was keen in pointing it out just by listening to Leeha’s story.

“Be very careful. Sometimes you may act recklessly. And you used to be fearful. That’s a very important element.”

“Is being fearful a compliment or an insult?”

Leeha chuckled, tilting his head.

“Indeed. It’s said that carefulness is an essential element that cannot be left out for a sniper. But that’s a story in the real world. What about you in the game? Well, just by hearing what you say, I can tell. Are you afraid of enemy bullets? If that were a real situation? Are you prepared to never see your loved ones again the moment a bullet hits your body? No.”

“While it may sound like advice to play the game that way, when it comes to sniping… if you can’t maintain that level of tension and realism! You’ll never be able to defeat the White Reaper for the rest of your life.”

Sergeant Kim spoke decisively.

Leeha felt a sharp pang from his resolute words even though he had no idea the level of the ghost modeled after the White Reaper. Despite that, he felt the weight of such conclusive statements.

Sergeant Kim was the most exceptional individual Leeha knew in sniping. Because it was him saying so, Leeha could sense what the fundamental issue was.

“So… does that mean not to use defensive measures? To defeat him, should I…”

“Think about it. It’s good to risk your life once. But can you maintain tension by using such skills?”

“That’s right…”

Leeha, biting his lips, contemplated. If spells like 『Platinum Shield』 or Blaugrunn’s magic were cast on him, he would take the lead. He would extend his body first to guide the enemy’s bullets.

Because that was the most ‘comfortable’ way. There would be no continued tension when one foot was hit and facing death.

“Maybe this time, the White Reaper was deceived and let it slide. But if it happens like that next time, the White Reaper won’t shoot you at all. You said you must catch him? That’s why I said you won’t catch him in your lifetime. How can you catch him when he doesn’t reveal himself?”

“That’s true.”

Leeha opened his eyes roundly and nodded his head. The White Reaper was not just a simple monster but one form of the White Reaper.

In the Middle Earth with a learning effect, after realizing that even after eating several bullets, Leeha wouldn’t die?

Would Leeha even notice even if he was discovered?

‘Probably just hide. Although he’s a bloodthirsty ghost, the fact that he’s moving quickly after a shot means he’s thinking beyond.’

Sergeant Kim was touching on aspects that Leeha hadn’t even thought of. Leeha thought it was a good point, but the fundamental question remained unanswered.

“Well then, I will fight without rest like a professional. But… how do I fight when I can’t see the enemy? Since I definitely can’t disguise ourselves…”

“Believe.”

“What?”

Sergeant Kim adjusted his posture and looked into Leeha’s eyes.

Leeha met the eyes of a veteran sniper who had devoted his life to the advancement and training of military snipers.

“Leeha, sniping isn’t about shooting what you see.”

There was no passion in the eyes of the veteran sniper. If one could find passion burning in the eyes of the young, in the eyes of the old sniper, there was something left after burning everything.

It was clearly different from passion. But like frozen water, it remained unshaken and solid, taking on a specific form.

It was something only those who had reached the pinnacle of their life’s dedication could possess. Maybe it could be called ‘belief’. When Leeha thought about this, sergeant Kim said, “Believe and shoot.”

Leeha’s mind went blank. It felt like two extreme ends met in his mind.