I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 209
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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 209
Ep. 209
After Ihyeon silenced Elsie, he explained his reasoning.
“First of all, I have no use for the impact effect.”
“You speak wisely.”
“And the Volcano Worm’s Rage skill… I have a rough idea what it does.”
One must understand something clearly before finding a way to dispose of it.
Ihyeon entered the makeshift shooting range and tested the skill once.
First, he summoned a single Volcanno Drake as a test subject, then cast the skill.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—SHRIEEEEEEK!
“…”
Not long after, a massive maw suddenly erupted from beneath the unsuspecting Volcanno Drake’s feet, swallowing it whole.
Ihyeon and the two spirits witnessing the scene found themselves at a loss for words at the sheer grotesqueness of it.
The Giant Volcano Worm that Ihyeon had captured was, of course, a miniature version far smaller than an ordinary Volcano Worm, but if such an attack burst forth from beneath one’s feet, it would certainly be effective.
“But it’s not worth me using. Right?”
“W-well, that’s true.”
However, that was only among ordinary Hunters.
It wasn’t a skill worth using for Ihyeon, who could produce superior results with his basic attacks using a sniper rifle.
Whether in range or destructive power.
Ihyeon left the makeshift shooting range and stored the gloves in his inventory.
Then he sent a message to Deokhuun.
「One-Strike: How much for the combat gloves from a Giant Volcano Worm?
Bong Jangseondal: Did you catch a Volcano Worm? I’m not entirely sure about something like that… Please wait a moment.」
Deokhuun replied promptly, but the response afterward took noticeably longer than expected.
Given the nature of a merchant sifting through the system, it shouldn’t take that long.
After enough time passed for Elsie to let out a yawn, Deokhuun’s reply finally came back.
「Bong Jangseondal: How much did you find out it was worth?
One-Strike: …Deokhuun.
Bong Jangseondal: Ah, my apologies, hyung. I forgot for a moment…」
He didn’t hear the exact price, but just from that reaction, he could roughly guess.
It was clearly a massive item worth tens of billions.
Naturally, it was an item that had never been publicly revealed on Earth.
‘Considering cases like Pulisto, I might be the first to catch a Giant Volcano Worm.’
Just thinking about how many A+ rank items exist in Korea makes the calculation clear.
Even in Korea, which could be called a frontrunner in tower conquest, it was a grade rarely found.
「Bong Jangseondal: According to the system’s estimate, it comes to roughly 20 billion won.」
“Hmm.”
Isn’t that price a bit too steep?
Ihyeon let out a sigh at the estimated value of the gloves that had just been conveyed to him.
What kind of gloves cost that much?
…or so one might say, but it wasn’t strange that the gauntlets were worth only that much in pure value.
Superior items often played a decisive role, allowing Hunters to break through floors that had previously blocked their progress.
Considering how monumental it was to climb even a single floor as one ascended higher, spending that much money was well worth the investment.
Above all else.
“How much did you say, Master?”
“Around 20 billion?”
“What? Wasn’t that about how much we got when we sold those 10 junk items last time?”
“…”
Even the most ruthless merchant would weep at the premium One-Strike commanded, leaving me with nothing to say in return!
I couldn’t bring myself to argue against Elsie’s words and could only nod in agreement.
“W-well, I suppose that’s true.”
“I thought it was really something special~”
It was a remarkable item, truly.
Explaining the details felt like I was boasting about myself, yet agreeing with Elsie and dismissing the combat gauntlets weighed on my conscience. So I quietly brushed myself off and stood up.
“Everyone worked hard today—shall we go get some ice cream?”
“Oh, ice cream?”
“I shall accompany you, Master.”
Indeed, nothing worked quite like ice cream when changing the subject with Spirits.
I opened the door with a flourish, as if bestowing a great favor.
With 20 billion suddenly in my inventory, what was ice cream to me?
“Today’s special—Baskin-Robbins 31! The largest size for each of you!”
“My goodness, what’s gotten into Master?! Thank you, thank you, thank you…”
“Your benevolence, Master, is as vast as the seas… and the cosmos itself.”
The Spirits’ loyalty meter had just maxed out to the point where they’d lay down their lives for me.
…Actually, today was the 15th.
The Spirits didn’t know that Baskin-Robbins offered a free size upgrade on the 15th of every month.
* * *
Meanwhile, some time had passed since Ihyeon and Hwi-yeong’s rather awkward encounter.
Ssshhh— Ssshhh—
Four Hunters emerged in a pitiful state into the common floor that appeared after clearing the 84th floor.
“I… I’m dying…”
“Huff, huff, huff…”
“Whew… that was really dangerous today…”
“…”
Having poured out every last ounce of strength, even these renowned Rankers could barely catch their breath.
They were naturally Hanryeol, Juhyeon, Yuna, and Duseok, who had entered the 84th floor before Ihyeon.
Hanryeol, who had barely cleared the 83rd floor last time, and the other three had all been stuck against the wall of the 84th floor, unable to progress.
“…But.”
“Finally.”
“We cleared it!!!!”
Having unconsciously overcome the mannerisms that lingered within them, they finally succeeded in leaping over the grueling hurdle that was the 84th floor.
Four Hunters collapsed to the ground as if by agreement, their cries of exultation piercing the air.
Smiles spreading across their faces testified to their sense of achievement.
It had been a grueling twelve-hour battle.
To summon the Volcano Worm, they had drawn in monsters one by one, defeated them, drawn in more, defeated them again and again.
Later, the monsters in the vicinity had become so depleted that they had to venture farther and farther away, resulting in tremendous energy expenditure.
And that wasn’t all.
Defeating the final boss that appeared—the Volcano Worm—was even more demanding.
The Volcano Worm, a calamity that shook the very foundations of the earth itself.
It was a colossal creature whose circular maw alone measured thirty meters in diameter.
Of course, compared to the Giant Volcano Worm that Ihyeon had defeated, it was laughably small, but for the Rankers who had never witnessed that, it was nothing short of a nightmare.
Hanryeol and Juhyeon had managed to nimbly escape the creature’s maw radius and drag the Volcano Worm to the ground, but the real strategy began only after that.
Yuna, who had already exhausted and replenished her mana multiple times fighting miscellaneous monsters, could not unleash magic as powerful as before.
The twelve hours required to clear the 84th floor stemmed largely from this shortage of firepower.
But now that they had already cleared it, such concerns were trivial.
Chuckle, chuckle.
Even lying on the cold stone floor, laughter naturally escaped from the corners of their mouths.
The sensation of ascending the tower.
Soon, the sensation of being alive.
The sense of life itself, which they had forgotten for so long, had finally returned to the Korean Hunters.
The Rankers, who had lain there laughing for quite some time, eventually fell silent.
And Duseok was the first to speak.
“I’ve been thinking about joining the One-Strike Service Corps.”
It was truly a shocking statement.
Duseok, always taciturn, occasionally startled people whenever he did speak, and even accounting for his nature, this was enough to shock the other Rankers.
“What, what did you say?”
“Duseok, what do you mean by that?”
“The One-Strike Service Corps? That’s interesting.”
Juhyeon even sat up abruptly.
But Duseok, his gaze unwavering, looked at the ceiling and spoke.
“Isn’t that the organization that practices the One-Strike spirit? I’ve also wanted to try volunteer work.”
“But…”
“Hmph, what about your guild?”
For a Ranker to belong to an organization carried considerable weight.
Even among the top ten Rankers, cases of guild transfers could be counted on one hand.
Not only did their current guild provide them with the best treatment, but they also had no desire to become entangled in unnecessary gossip.
Of course, Duseok’s intention to participate in the One-Strike Service Corps was not quite the same thing.
Duseok turned to Yuna and spoke.
“Aren’t the guild and the service corps separate entities anyway? If I want to do volunteer work, there’s no reason to stop me.”
Although the One-Strike Service Corps was now nearly the scale of a mega-sized guild, strictly speaking, it was not a guild.
The One-Strike Service Corps hadn’t conducted any official raids, and even if the members voluntarily cleared dungeons among themselves, they didn’t forcibly distribute the profits.
They simply operated on voluntary donations from supporters.
Though the amount of those donations was truly staggering.
After pondering it carefully, Juhyeon, Yuna, and Hanryeol reached the conclusion that Duseok’s words weren’t particularly wrong.
The three of them rose slightly and exchanged glances.
“Well, I suppose that’s fair…?”
“Then….”
And the next day.
The One-Strike Service Corps’ Seoul headquarters.
Seongcheol, the commander of the One-Strike Service Corps—or rather, the chairman of the One-Strike Foundation as he would soon become—found himself facing unexpected visitors in his office early that morning, cold sweat dripping down his face.
‘W-why would these people come looking for me?’
They were bigwigs he’d never imagined meeting in his entire life.
“Commander Seongcheol, are you feeling unwell?”
“My, your complexion looks so pale… and why are you sweating so much?”
“Sh-should we, perhaps, take you to a hospital?”
Duseok, Hanryeol, Yuna, and Juhyeon.
Mid-tier rankers among Korea’s single-digit elite—what in the world were they doing visiting such a shabby place as the One-Strike Service Corps?!
Except for Duseok, none of them had particularly impressive physiques, yet even so, Seongcheol felt his quite spacious office was packed to bursting.
No matter how strong Seongcheol considered himself—having climbed to the 70s—these legendary figures he’d only heard rumors about were on an entirely different level.
Like a rabbit standing before a tiger.
And there were four tigers to one rabbit!
If only Jonggeon were beside him, things might be better, but that man—the one who’d announced the rankers’ arrival—had winked and said, “Brother, finally the time has come to show your true worth!” before slipping away.
Seongcheol felt as though the end of the world had finally arrived.
‘Why else would rankers come here? They must’ve discovered all our wrongdoings and come to wipe us out in one fell swoop!’
The perceptive Jonggeon must have sensed it and fled in advance.
Otherwise, there’s no way Claude from Frontier—that reckless fool who went to meet them—would avoid being here.
Seongcheol forced himself to suppress the grinding of his teeth and shook his head.
“Ah, no, it’s just that I haven’t yet heard the reason for your visit.”
If the rankers suddenly shouted, “You wicked bastards, we know you’re embezzling donations from upstanding citizens!” Seongcheol was fully prepared to prostrate himself and beg for forgiveness.
He’d even have to confess about the secret ledger hidden in Jonggeon’s office.
But contrary to Seongcheol’s expectations, the rankers smiled faintly and began like this.
“Why else would we come to the Service Corps?”
“A-arrest…?”
“? We came to volunteer.”
“Villain apprehension! We thought it would be perfect to participate in villain apprehension activities.”
“Ah~”
They really came to volunteer?
Seongcheol stared at the rankers with a dumbfounded expression, utterly bewildered.
‘At this point, isn’t something seriously wrong with the world?’
How could people not suspect anything about such a dubious organization as the One-Strike Service Corps?
No, even if I give them a hundred chances and don’t suspect them, the moment I suggest doing something, they all rush forward offering to help.
‘…Come to think of it, maybe my own skills at maneuvering people are better than I thought?’
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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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