I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 117

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 117
Ep. 117
Meanwhile, at the moment when Minjeong met with Roel and was attempting to escape the Tower.
I was resting at home with the Spirits.
“Sniff, sniff.”
Elsie, who had been lying beside me, suddenly began sniffing the air.
I clicked my tongue and spoke.
“No mackerel.”
“That’s not it! Who do you take me for, some Spirit obsessed with mackerel!”
Really?
Given that Elsie had been singing mackerel songs every chance she got since that braised mackerel incident, I found her denial rather absurd.
But Elsie paid no mind and called out to Jia.
“Hey, armored fox.”
“Yes, Elsie.”
Jia responded with a serious expression, as if she too sensed something.
Watching them, I muttered.
“…Is it ice cream?”
If both Spirits were reacting this way, it had to be ice cream.
It seemed one of them must have secretly ordered ice cream through a delivery app.
Just as I was thinking this, both Spirits simultaneously objected.
“It’s not!”
“That’s not it, Master.”
“Then what’s going on? …Did a Gate open somewhere?”
I finally took on a more serious expression.
Since the Spirits were sensitive to matters concerning monsters and the Tower, it seemed plausible.
But the Spirits shook their heads again.
“It’s a bit different from that.”
“This feeling is more like….”
Something else had occurred.
Something that hadn’t happened before.
Jia and Elsie exchanged glances for a moment.
Then Jia opened her mouth.
“It seems another Spirit has appeared.”
“Another Spirit?”
That meant another S+ item had been released besides these two.
Jia nodded.
At that, I looked intently at Elsie.
My gaze clearly conveyed the meaning: ‘Don’t tell me you’re following me around like that one?’
“I came to help my Master! …Though I’ll admit I was miffed about not being chosen.”
It didn’t seem to be for that reason.
Then there are broadly two possibilities.
Either neutral or hostile.
‘If they were neutral, that would be fortunate, but if that were the case, they probably wouldn’t have reacted.’
I leaned toward the latter possibility being more likely.
If so, I should prepare accordingly.
‘But I don’t know anything yet. Besides, it seems I won’t be able to hear the details.’
There was no clear solution to be had.
At minimum, I needed to know where my opponent was and what kind of being they were.
Jia, who could sufficiently infer my thoughts, continued speaking.
“Please do not worry too much, Master. I believe your curiosity will be resolved before long.”
“Before long? When exactly is before long?”
I asked with genuine curiosity.
As one ascends the Tower, information becomes available.
Moreover, I had Spirits who currently couldn’t speak in detail due to restrictions, so I could obtain information far more directly.
Jia paused to think, then answered thus.
“The 70th Floor?”
“Right, at that point quite a lot should be revealed.”
Beside me, Elsie also nodded with an expression far too serious for a child.
“…But that’s the very next Floor, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Wasn’t that too soon?
I nodded somewhat reluctantly, not having expected the near future to arrive so quickly.
Well, if anything, it was fortunate.
Then my course of action was already determined.
I rose from my seat and spoke.
“Then I’ll clear the 70th Floor.”
The 70th Floor was guarded by the Floor Master of the 60s range.
Moreover, it was famous for having a particularly unique boss.
Considering that boss’s characteristics, I made an exceptional decision this time.
“I do not doubt your success, Master… but are you truly certain this is wise?”
“That’s why. It worries me that you can’t keep up.”
I had decided to enter alone, without Jia and Elsie.
Moreover, I was already thinking of the 70th Floor as a sort of turning point.
‘Since Frontier has shown interest in me anyway… let me finish the conquest first and then think about it.’
The Floor Master of the 70th Floor.
That being could perhaps become the greatest threat I had yet to face, and the greatest threat the Tower could offer.
* * *
The common area of the 60s range.
I felt a fresh sense of novelty at experiencing this feeling after so long.
‘How long has it been since I entered the Tower alone?’
Since acquiring the black outfit, Jia had always been with me—it had been quite a while now.
I obtained Jia on the 30th Floor, and now I was on the 70th Floor, so it had been exactly forty floors of companionship.
People had already come to think of Jia as Ilgyeok.
No one paid any attention to Ihyeon, dressed in ordinary assassin’s garb.
“Ah, isn’t Ilgyeok coming in today?”
“Yeah. Now that we’re climbing into the 70s, we can’t even keep up.”
I caught fragments of such conversations from the people around me.
“I heard the One-Strike Service Corps is doing some kind of talent show over there.”
“What are they doing?”
“Something like dragging rocks with their teeth?”
“That’s not a talent show—that’s a strength demonstration!”
‘…What on earth are those people doing?’
No wonder that area was so noisy.
Ihyeon recalled the members of the One-Strike Service Corps he’d been seeing frequently around his neighborhood lately and shook his head.
At first, I thought they were genuinely trying to rehabilitate their image through some suspicious scheme, but I no longer felt that way.
You could say their reformation was genuine—there was no doubt about it.
Not long ago, they’d even received a commendation as a model civic organization from a National Assembly member in Seongnaegu, which seemed to validate them sufficiently.
Moreover, through a partnership with Hanbang Café and formal collaboration, they were recruiting new members in droves and expanding their activities nationwide.
‘That man really seems to have made up his mind.’
Ihyeon recalled Seongcheol’s face, marked by a long scar across one eye.
Still, once I finished conquering this floor, the One-Strike Service Corps would also….
While thinking such thoughts, Ihyeon reached the zone where he could enter the 70th Floor.
「South Korea, Main Tower 70th Floor. Will you proceed?
Please select ‘Solo’ conquest or ‘Party’ conquest.」
The notification window asked as it always did, indifferently.
But only Ihyeon knew what threat lay beyond it.
He nodded.
‘Solo.’
It was the obvious choice.
At the same time, Ihyeon’s body was transported out of the common area and into the space of the 70th Floor.
* * *
The 70th Floor.
The final place where Hunters, battered by mirror mazes and sudden ambushes over nine consecutive floors, would face their ultimate trial.
When Ilgyeok surpassed the 69th Floor and reached the 70th, the internet was ablaze with speculation.
[ Title: Isn’t the 70th Floor a real big match?
Content: Ilgyeok vs. Ilgyeok lol My heart swells with excitement.
└ Are you laughing right now?
└ For real, what do we do? Honestly, if it were the 80th or 90th Floor, I wouldn’t worry, but the 70th seems iffy
└ Do you even know what comes out on the 80th and 90th Floors? ]
Ilgyeok versus Ilgyeok.
This wasn’t merely internet gossip—media outlets and experts alike threw the term around casually.
In truth, there was no other way to describe it.
The Floor Master of the 70th Floor was none other than the Doppelganger.
As commonly known, it was a monster that duplicated the exact appearance and abilities of Hunters who entered to conquer it, then countered them accordingly.
While the floor could be conquered either as a party or solo, most Hunters chose to go solo specifically on the 70th Floor for this reason.
After all, if you formed a five-person party, your opponent would become five people as well.
Since no one could predict what variables might emerge, it simply felt more comfortable to challenge it alone.
Ihyeon’s decision to leave Jia and Elsie behind was for the same reason.
Just to be safe, he’d even removed them from his inventory entirely.
It was unfortunate not to wear the black combat suit that now felt like an extension of himself, but the clothes from the Military Gear Store, worn after such a long time, proved surprisingly comfortable.
‘Even if it’s Jia’s black suit, it won’t survive a hit from my Gun.’
Thinking about why those thick suits of armor had disappeared as civilization transitioned from the medieval era to the modern age made the conclusion simple.
Meanwhile, what the Doppelganger perfectly duplicated was appearance, skills, and stats.
Beyond those metrics, slight differences emerged in personal technique not expressed through the system, and personality could not be copied.
It simply attacked emotionlessly, devoid of feeling, trying to kill the Hunter—no different from any other monster in that regard.
The conquest method seemed somewhat vague, but there was no choice but to exploit such differences skillfully.
Unlike monsters faced until now, Hunters found themselves in a difficult position having to confront a humanoid form imbued with the system’s power.
Ihyeon opened his eyes upon entering the 70th Floor.
But unlike usual, a notification window appeared before him.
「You are a standard Awakened One.」
‘…What is this?’
When Ihyeon first tried to enter the Tower, he’d seen something similar to this.
Back then, it had included a note about restricting entry, but this time it didn’t.
「Awakening Item confirmed.
Synchronization confirmed.」
Yet the notification window that followed was similarly reminiscent of that time.
The Spirits’ words flashed through Ihyeon’s mind.
They’d said that after the 70th Floor, there would be more they could tell him.
Was this evidence that the 70th Floor, like the 45th Floor that only Ihyeon could enter before, was another such special floor?
But the notification window soon vanished.
And as Ihyeon glanced around his surroundings, such questions no longer occupied his mind.
Instead, the interior of the 70th Floor where he now stood felt as though it were squeezing his entire body.
His whole frame trembled, and his blood ran dry.
‘Where is this…?’
And for good reason—the place where he stood was not the Tower but a city street commonly seen on Earth.
According to what was originally known, the 70th Floor’s background was supposed to be the middle of a snowy plain surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
This was certainly an anomaly.
And this city was a place Ihyeon unmistakably recognized.
No, it was a place he could never forget even if he tried.
How could he possibly forget this place?
‘A year ago.’
The operational zone where my entire squad was annihilated.
That very place which had thrust me into the abyss of nightmares every single night.
Though it lacked signboards and vehicles, making it feel somewhat alien, I could sense the truth from the building layouts and shapes alone.
The Tower and its System, which had responded to me with such inexplicable fortune until now, revealed their cruel claws to me at last.
Originally, I had planned to hide the moment I entered the 70th Floor.
I couldn’t gauge the Doppelganger’s marksmanship, but standing still in one place would be no different than offering my neck meekly beneath their blade.
But my trauma.
This place, which I could never have imagined encountering within the Tower.
Seized my feet like a cunningly concealed trap.
A tempest of conflicting emotions and thoughts that froze rigid.
Of course, it lasted only a moment.
The time it took to realize this wasn’t the real place but inside the Tower, and to reclaim my original control, was truly nothing more than an instant.
But an instant is enough.
Boom——!!
It meant that even my life, which had continued the S+ Rank Conquest march until now, required nothing more than that single moment to be severed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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