I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 145
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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 145
Ep. 145
I hadn’t deliberately ignored Minjeong’s words.
Now that I was beginning to seriously plan out the combat within the corridor.
To finish it with a single shot as usual, I needed to calculate everything precisely.
The width of the corridor, its height, and the monsters pouring in….
To do that, I was in the process of switching my mode to an Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle when Minjeong suddenly cried out, so I couldn’t properly hear her.
Minjeong’s face flushed red as she changed the subject.
“No, I mean, the sniper rifle transforms and it’s really cool. It’s big and long. Haha.”
It was an awkward deflection no matter how you looked at it.
“Thank you for the compliment. I think so too. Do you happen to have some interest in sniper rifles? This form is called an Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle, and when configured like this, the caliber and barrel length expand, naturally increasing the destructive power….”
For me, receiving praise from someone else for the first time since my sniper rifle awakened was incredibly effective.
It was exactly like how people who own pets remain indifferent to compliments about themselves but become delighted at praise for their pets.
Sensing that if left alone, my explanation would take longer than the actual combat, Claude hurriedly organized the situation.
“Ah, I understand. Let’s proceed with the conquest then. You seem quite confident…but we’ll also be ready to step in from behind at any moment. Ilgyeok, if things don’t go smoothly, please retreat immediately.”
“Yes? Ah, of course.”
I tilted my head slightly for a moment but nodded without raising any objections.
My expression and demeanor radiated confidence that such a situation would hardly occur.
‘What exactly is going on here?’
Claude remained confused but finished preparing to support me.
The strategy itself didn’t change much.
Except that I, who was originally supposed to hang back in a normal Assassin role, was now taking the lead.
He had been thinking of it as merely a superior trait of an Assassin, but never imagined I was actually a sniper.
Even Claude, who prided himself on having experienced most surprising things in the Tower, found this bewildering.
…Setting aside whether this was even possible in the Tower in the first place.
With me leading the way, the Party Members began passing through the tunnel and entering through the door.
The corridor beyond the door was extremely dark.
After a brief moment of dark adaptation, the gradually emerging outlines revealed that the hallway was very long and wider than expected.
‘Compared to the First Floor reports, there are more monsters than I anticipated, and the corridor is twice as long.’
Claude felt a chill run down his spine as he stepped into the corridor, sensing the distinctive murderous aura that monsters naturally exuded, pressing against his entire body.
The term “Den of Demons” was truly fitting.
It was even a waste to try to estimate where and how many monsters were present.
Because unimaginable numbers would be lurking everywhere.
In a place like this, a Mage with expertise in area attacks would have the advantage over an Assassin.
In other words, by common sense, Claude, who specialized in magic, should take the lead rather than me, a sniper who excels in one-on-one combat.
Moreover, how could anyone even snipe in such a dark corridor?
Click— Whirrrr—
‘Ah, he has a Thermal Scope.’
But as if answering Claude’s doubts, I immediately manipulated the scope and switched it to thermal vision.
Though I wasn’t looking directly through the scope, it was noticeable from the side.
And Claude was now confident that Ihyeon would step back, saying, “Ah, there are too many of them.”
The number of monsters he could sense immediately was in the dozens.
If he cleared the entire corridor, there would be hundreds.
It was impossible to take them all down from the front with sniper fire.
“Well, as you can see, Ilgyeok, perhaps we should stop now….”
Just as Claude was about to call out to Ihyeon.
Ilgyeok’s command was far more decisive and concise than Claude’s.
“Jia.”
“Yes, Master.”
Moreover, the coordination between him and his subordinate who would follow that command was flawless.
With just a name, they each understood their roles precisely.
When Ihyeon called Jia, she immediately raised her shield.
Kuuung——!!!
She drove it forcefully into the ground.
Jia’s unique taunt skill that drew those with hostile intent toward her.
Monsters that would normally have lurked in the corners of the corridor, targeting the Hunters’ lives.
———!!! Uuuaahhh—!!!
Under the influence of this taunt skill, they couldn’t hide their hostility and burst forth.
“These followers of the Watchman…! The rage…!”
For some reason, Roel beside him also began to writhe with dark magic.
Sling—
“Be quiet.”
“I truly cannot forgive these vile monsters…!”
When Elsie’s claymore blade gleamed, he immediately calmed down.
But this was merely a strategic judgment made by a Dark Mage at a disadvantage in close combat… and so forth.
Simultaneously with such a farce, Claude also instinctively felt what Jia’s action meant.
At the same time, he couldn’t hide his anger and shock, crying out to Jia.
“What are you doing right now?!”
Taunting an overwhelming number of monsters in such a narrow corridor?
And with a sniper placed at the very front?
No matter how much it was the master’s order, this was nothing but a suicide move, wasn’t it?
But now dealing with the situation took priority over assigning blame.
“Minjeong, Roel!”
“Yes, yes!”
“Understood…!”
When Claude called Minjeong and Roel, they immediately began summoning their servants.
The Undead summoned without preparation were at best just Skeletons.
Still, this much would be enough to buy time to reorganize their formation.
Claude was about to continue with follow-up orders with that thought.
‘Multi-target. Pace control… about 85%.’
Click-clack— Click-clack—!
Whoooooosh———!!!!
“??????”
Ihyeon worked the bolt faster than I could blink, then squeezed the trigger.
The massive barrel of the Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle erupted with fire.
Due to the Multi-Target effect, two mana rounds burst forth.
The range of the mana rounds expanded violently before the muzzle, nearly filling the entire corridor.
Splorttttttttttttt————— Splorttt————!!!
“?!?!??!?!!?!?!!?”
Every monster that crossed its path was obliterated in a march of death.
Nothing could resist the flow of the mana rounds.
Even if they threw their entire bodies against it, only their flesh would disappear.
The entire corridor seemed to flicker briefly in the light of the mana rounds.
Claude, Jack, and Minjeong could see exactly what the corridor looked like in that moment.
It was pure hell itself.
A hell filled with monsters.
And a hell within that hell, where those monsters met their gruesome end.
What could possibly survive?
The three of them naturally found themselves imagining that ‘what’ as themselves.
‘It can’t be. Impossible….’
The conclusion was simple.
Nothing could survive.
Nothing at all.
It was only a single shot.
What I did?
I simply pulled the bolt back and released it, aimed, then pulled the trigger.
I’m not sure how much calculation and focus went into that process, but at least that’s what it looked like.
Yet the result was devastating.
Even if they had been enemies rather than allies, the impression would have been the same.
Could it really be possible for hundreds of living creatures to perish so uselessly, so futilely?
A Mage’s area attack?
Claude, who had considered such a thing as an alternative, felt something close to self-loathing.
Before Ilgyeok, everything is futile.
Just like the bodies and souls of those monsters being swept away just now, and still being swept away….
Though it was not their own death, the three experienced a flood of thoughts as if watching their entire lives flash before their eyes.
In reality, Ilgyeok’s battle ended in an extremely short time.
The result?
Conclusion.
An incredibly clean conclusion.
There were no more monsters remaining in the corridor, and Claude knew this better than anyone.
Claude belatedly realized he had been holding one arm up to give instructions.
Thud—
Claude’s arm fell limply back down.
His gaze remained fixed on Ihyeon, who had assumed a seated shooting position.
His emotions shifted once more.
It was closer to helplessness than self-loathing.
Looking at such a Hunter, who could possibly claim to be a Hunter themselves?
The reports I’d received countless times were already astonishing, but witnessing Ilgyeok’s combat firsthand was utterly overwhelming.
Meanwhile, Ihyeon confirmed the situation was over and stood up.
Jia and Elsiya had been clearing dungeons alongside me all this time, so naturally they showed no particular reaction.
But the expressions on the Frontier members’ faces were such that Ihyeon almost felt apologetic.
‘Well, I suppose it would seem rather shocking at first glance.’
It might have been less jarring if they had witnessed my growth from the beginning.
Initially, while my destructive power was abnormally strong, I still had the inherent limitations of an Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle.
But now?
Ihyeon glanced into the darkness of the corridor.
As I had already confirmed, it would be filled with fragments of countless monsters.
And there were countless others that I hadn’t even left fragments of.
No matter how generously one looked at it, calling this an Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle was embarrassing.
And in this situation, I already knew to some extent how to respond.
“I tested this method once on the Highway of Death, and the results were excellent.”
Just brazenly move forward!
If I said something like, “Oh, it is surprising, isn’t it? I was shocked at first too,” people would only become more confused.
What is this, is this a scam, this is unacceptable, I’m reporting this to the Defense Ministry right now (?) and so on….
But if I brazenly ignored it instead, I could make them think, ‘Wait? Could something like this actually exist?’, ‘Did I just not know about it until now?’
“What on earth is this…. Even the Highway of Death isn’t like this…? This doesn’t make sense….”
‘As expected of Frontier-level people, they’re quite sharp.’
Of course, it was only a possibility at best—it didn’t perfectly align with reality.
Despite Ihyeon’s shameless tactic, Claude, Minjeong, and Jack remained in a daze as if they had been attacked themselves, struggling to recover.
Jia spoke to Ihyeon.
“Your combat is overwhelmingly dominant. I was the same way when I first witnessed it.”
“Y-yes, that’s true, isn’t it?”
Ihyeon nodded.
Thinking about it that way, it seemed I should give them some time to accept reality.
But surely Roel would be better?
‘After all, he has a fairly S+ grade item, and he seems to have close connections with beings like the Watchman and the Overlord. He must have seen people stronger than me.’
It couldn’t be that I was the strongest in this Tower by far.
With that thought, I shifted my gaze.
“Hey, why did you put your staff away?”
“…I-it became useless, didn’t it….”
“Why not? Go ahead and try. You said you were followers of those filthy Watchmen, didn’t you? Huh? Huh?”
“Such a violent little sword-wielder… Unlike you, I’m a Dark Mage who loves peace…”
Despite Elsie’s relentless taunting from beside me, I could see Roel had become completely subdued and meek, his confidence thoroughly shaken.
Ihyeon found himself thinking with a sense of unease.
‘Am I the strongest one here…?’
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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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