I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 160

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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 160
Ep. 160
“Huh?”
Ihyeon tilted his head at the notification window that had suddenly appeared.
It seemed the training effects were far more remarkable than expected.
When I informed Jia of this fact, she practically leaped with joy.
“I am truly grateful, Master. You are indeed the one destined to change towers.”
“Well, not to that extent…”
– Ugh, if it were me, I’d switch towers after being tortured like that!
“Torture? That was physical conditioning. And according to what Minjeong said, you went through quite a bit yourself?”
– …That was actually genuine physical conditioning.
Elsie, who was inside the inventory, grumbled about something or other, but I quickly shut her down.
After all, a few PT exercises were better than swinging a sword a million times beneath a waterfall.
In any case, the Knights who had undergone my training were now completely transformed.
“Everyone, rise.”
“Yes!”
Even if they felt like they were dying from exhaustion, they obeyed my orders first and asked questions later!
The Knights didn’t even think things like, “After all that commotion, what is he going to make us do now?”
If it was my word, they would accept it as truth even if I said I’d made soybean paste from red beans.
But I hadn’t called the members to put them through training again like before.
“Are you tired?”
“Yes!”
The members shouted vigorously in response.
“Good work.”
“????????”
At my suddenly warm words, the members forgot how to respond and were shocked.
Was this really the same person who had just been torturing—no, conditioning—them?
“What, do you want to do PT exercises again?”
“Yes!!!!!”
That wasn’t it at all.
“Now, everyone massage the shoulders of your comrade next to you.”
“Yes…”
The members hesitantly obeyed my order and began massaging their neighbor’s shoulders.
Rub, rub—
“Come on, massage a bit harder.”
“…You want me to crush the armor?”
In truth, they were all wearing plate armor, so there wasn’t much point to the massage, but still, beyond the cold metal came the warmth of genuine care.
“The shoulders of the comrades you’re massaging right now are the most reliable shield that protects you in battle.”
“…!!!!!”
After grueling training, there was no moment quite like when an instructor subtly delivers such stirring and touching words that shake the hearts of their soldiers!
“Don’t forget what your instructor did for you today.”
“Sob….”
Blue teardrops, matching the blue eyes of the Knights, fell here and there with soft patters.
“Don’t forget! Make sure to repay our enemies the same way.”
“My lord…!”
At first, they wouldn’t even acknowledge me as a proper Knight, but now they called me “my lord” with genuine reverence from the heart!
Especially the senior who had been directly counter-summoned by Ihyeon and beaten down was the most enthusiastic.
“PT exercises for our enemies!”
“PT exercises for our enemies!”
“Make it tenfold when calling out the final number!”
“The eleventh exercise with a helmet wedged in between!”
‘…Something about their method of repayment feels a bit off.’
Still, since everyone seemed pleased, I decided to let it slide.
Ihyeon nodded and spoke to Jia.
“Now let’s send them all back and let them rest.”
“Yes… Master….”
“Why are you crying again?”
Jia’s face was flushed as she sobbed openly.
Yet she dutifully counter-summoned the Knights through the ring.
A sense of emotion and fulfillment she had never experienced even at the Knights Academy.
In any case, the somewhat ambiguous item had been resolved.
Now Ihyeon had gained a reliable Knights Guild that he could summon whenever needed.
Moreover, it seemed Jia had also received considerable bonuses upon her promotion to Knights Guild Leader.
Something akin to the effect of reinforcing a sniper rifle through enhancement stones?
‘…I can’t imagine when I’d ever need to summon an entire Knights Guild, but having it is better than not having it.’
Though there were some ambiguous aspects, Ihyeon decided to think that something good was simply good.
* * *
The 76th Floor of Korea’s Main Tower.
It was also the floor that had captured the world’s attention as the next floor Ilgyeok would need to ascend.
However, unlike before, the atmosphere this time felt rather lukewarm.
“He cleared up to the 75th Floor, so wouldn’t the 76th Floor be a breeze?”
Perhaps it was a floor where Ilgyeok might struggle the most—though there had been dozens of such floors until now—but having cleared even the 75th Floor with an S+ rating and recorded an astounding time of just three minutes, no one expected him to face serious danger on the regular 76th Floor.
Of course, outside the tower, the One-Strike Service Corps, who positioned themselves as Ilgyeok’s devoted followers, were holding prayer vigils for his safe passage through the 76th Floor, but that sort of thing happened every day anyway.
The atmosphere at the site was more along the lines of: rather than worry about Ilgyeok, focus on seeing one step further ahead.
“Besides, the creatures on the 76th Floor are relatively easy among the 70s.”
Another Hunter nodded in agreement.
The 76th Floor primarily spawned monsters called Highland Gorillas.
Unlike other monsters that typically appeared white in the snowy mountain range, these creatures bore distinctive gray fur, as if confident in their own strength.
And they were indeed powerful.
They were far larger than any primate-type monsters that had appeared in the tower thus far, traveled in groups, and boasted tremendous strength and intelligence.
The accepted theory was that other monsters rarely ventured onto the 76th Floor precisely to avoid unnecessary conflict with these Highland Gorillas.
There was nothing to gain from encountering creatures that bounded across the earth on their massive frames hurling boulders, or those that flipped over frozen ground entirely.
Of course, Hunters who had no choice but to pass through their territory were a different matter.
However, the Highland Gorillas, perhaps due to their high intelligence, rarely committed to fights to the death like other monsters.
They would withdraw on their own after I eliminated a reasonable number of them.
Though one couldn’t afford to be careless, there was a reason the 70s floors were considered relatively manageable.
“Well, it’s a floor where even A-rank ratings are hard to come by, let alone S-rank, but maybe One-Strike is different?”
“If it’s him, he’ll somehow manage to pull off an S+.”
“I swear… how does he keep climbing? At this point, I don’t even know which path he’s taking anymore.”
“I heard he was an incredibly vicious criminal. They say he killed people indiscriminately just by making eye contact?”
“For someone like that to possess such tremendous power.”
“And even a Spirit on top of that.”
“How many times over should we be paying taxes?”
“But the tariff reduction One-Strike gave us alone is probably more than what we’d pay in taxes our entire lives?”
“W-well, that’s true.”
The Hunters exchanged conversation that was half-joking, half-serious, each wearing smiles on their faces.
Meanwhile, the subject of their gossip—Ihyeon himself.
I was ascending the 76th Floor’s pathway.
Thwip—!
Using controlled fire rate, I minimized firepower to its lowest while employing silent, covert shots to methodically eliminate the Highland Gorillas standing guard one by one.
These creatures, with their high intelligence, patrolled their territory as meticulously as humans would.
This was why Hunters had circulated the theory: “If we could only eliminate the guard gorillas quietly and covertly, wouldn’t we be able to ascend rapidly?”
This was a hypothesis of considerable plausibility that had been cross-verified with Claude and Deokhuun.
However, while it sounded simple to eliminate the gorillas quietly, once actual combat commenced, these creatures fought with such tremendous commotion that it was practically impossible.
‘Unless one possessed both my level of firepower and stealth… but there couldn’t possibly be another person like that.’
Though it might sound somewhat arrogant, what I said was fact.
There was no other Hunter as specialized in assassination as I was.
The Highland Gorillas I’d encountered coming this far had repeatedly fallen with their heads or chests pierced through, never even realizing someone had targeted their lives.
“That cloak is more impressive than I thought, Master?”
“Right? Now that I’m using it, it’s definitely something else.”
I experienced firsthand the power of the shadow cloak I’d obtained from the Lich.
This was my first time properly utilizing it in an actual strategy, and not only did the concealment effect not break in one go, but the shadow attribute aligned remarkably well with me.
It felt like it upgraded Mana Tan’s stealth to an even higher level.
The effect of gliding like a shadow and devouring the struck area with destructive force was truly wondrous yet brutal.
I was even more pleased that the color didn’t change as much as expected.
“At this rate, I should be able to finish the 76th Floor quickly, right?”
“That’s correct. It seems we’ve already passed roughly halfway, Master.”
Jia, who was slightly ahead, nodded.
Well, since Spirits rarely engaged in combat, she seemed somewhat restless in body.
Jia passed over it quietly enough, but as for Elsie’s case.
“Master… I… I want to fight…”
Elsie spoke these words while wearing an expression of utter boredom.
“Where did you pick that up from?”
“You don’t use the internet? This meme circulates everywhere.”
Elsie was reenacting a scene from a classic manga over forty years old.
By now, the original had degraded so much that it circulated as a classic meme redrawn with clearer lines.
However, regardless of what Elsie said, there was no reason for the Spirits to intervene in a place where they weren’t needed.
And if I were to send anyone, I’d call the Knights that Jia had recently acquired—why would I send Elsie?
Ihyeon chuckled and asked.
“Still, isn’t it more comfortable being with me?”
“That’s true~”
Indeed, Elsie was now climbing the mountain wearing a yellow training suit with a children’s padded jacket over it.
By any measure, it was attire ill-suited for combat, but since she wouldn’t be swinging a sword anyway, it posed no problem.
After climbing further for some time.
“It seems like there are no more guards visible around here?”
The Highland Gorillas visible to the naked eye no longer appeared.
Just to be sure, I checked with the Thermal Scope as well, but as before, the guard gorillas were nowhere to be seen.
Normally, they would post sentries at various points along the mountain path, so this felt off.
Then, Elsie sniffed the air.
“Is that so? Hmm… I smell something though.”
“You do?”
Ihyeon surveyed the surroundings once more.
This place had a valley-like formation, with steep slopes on both sides forming a V-shape.
If I were to miss spotting a guard and pass by, I’d end up struggling at the final stretch, so Ihyeon examined the surroundings carefully once more.
Whoosh——!!
“Jia, what’s wrong?”
“Something is approaching.”
“Huh?”
“Just like the armored fox said. The smell is getting stronger.”
Suddenly, Jia, who had been ahead, pressed close to Ihyeon, and Elsie too furrowed her brow as she drew her claymore.
As Ihyeon listened intently, he could hear something.
Boom— Boom— Boom—
The sensation of something extremely heavy repeatedly striking the ground.
Yet even though the noise was at a level suggesting it was almost here, the rumbling only grew louder.
Boom—!
And just as a sound nearly like an explosion reached his ears, a massive form appeared from above the valley.
“Hm?”
Ihyeon raised one eyebrow upon seeing the form.
Its appearance was similar to an ordinary Highland Gorilla, but its sheer size was on a different scale.
It was roughly the size of three ordinary Highland Gorillas combined?
Sheer magnitude incarnate.
Moreover, its fur was not dark gray but closer to white.
And finally, the long beard that hung beneath its chin.
Jia spoke.
“It is the alpha of the Highland Gorillas.”

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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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