I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 215
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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 215
Ep. 215
Elsie was startled when she saw Ihyeon suddenly close his eyes.
When they needed to keep both eyes wide open and search for any possible way to break through this situation, he suddenly shut them?
“How am I supposed to handle this…?! Master?! What are you doing right now!”
Elsie’s role was to repel any Dokkaebi flames that might approach him.
Having witnessed the squad members being unsummoned and unable to do anything about it, Elsie could only feel her anxiety mounting, making her shock all the more profound.
Ihyeon had to find the Dokkaebi’s true body and use his soul destruction skill.
Only then could he prevent the meaningless sacrifice of the squad members burning away into nothingness.
No—before that, he could save Jia, who was single-handedly facing one of the clones.
Boom—! Thud-thud-thud— Crash-bang—!!
To call it “facing” was generous; Jia was being pushed into a pitiful defensive position.
Even with dozens of stat points newly invested, she was in this dire state—had she entered in her previous condition, she would likely have been unsummoned already.
Holding up barely a single shield, she received the fists of the Dokkaebi wreathed in white flames, and already her exposed shoulder guard and flank were completely destroyed.
Occasionally she launched counterattacks with her spear, but they proved futile every time.
No matter how high Jia’s stats were, the Dokkaebi’s spirit-flame state possessed specs so absurd that even an item couldn’t match it one-on-one.
Or rather, it was remarkable that a Spirit of an item—not even a Hunter—could hold out this long.
In that moment of absolute crisis.
Ihyeon didn’t even attempt to find the true body; instead, he simply squeezed his eyes shut.
It was no wonder Elsie jumped in alarm.
Yet Ihyeon paid her no mind.
He tried to ignore all the stimuli he felt around him—not just from Elsie, but from everything.
He was creating a state of absolute, complete concentration.
‘I have to find it. To save everyone.’
The Knights and Jia’s conditions were already on the verge of breaking through.
But even that burden, Ihyeon cast aside.
Cast it aside, and cast it aside, and cast it aside again, and again….
Until only the Dokkaebi and himself remained in this world.
There was no certainty that this would allow him to find the Dokkaebi’s true body.
He simply believed.
The single source of pride that had kept him from falling even during those days of drifting through the bottom of the military barracks.
The foundation that formed Ihyeon’s core, the basis that created Ilgyeok.
His marksmanship—an instinct honed to near-perfection.
Ihyeon’s consciousness, having entered darkness with his eyes closed.
Nine stimuli alone remained around it.
Though the Dokkaebi’s clone moved too fast to grasp, Ihyeon’s consciousness gradually narrowed the gap.
First.
Second.
Third.
Fourth….
What is the Dokkaebi’s true form?
Within his consciousness, Ihyeon fired imaginary shots at each of the clones.
Crack—
Crack—
Crack—
Crack—…
One clone was struck by the imaginary shot and vanished.
Another clone was struck by the imaginary shot and vanished.
Ihyeon continued firing.
And the final remaining clone.
Imaginary breath held.
Imaginary trigger pulled.
‘…’
No response.
Even as a fierce battle of life and death raged outside, the assailant simply stared intently at Ihyeon’s consciousness.
As if it were a confrontation between soul and soul, the crossing of their gazes was raw and burning.
Boom—!
How much silence had passed?
The final remaining clone charged toward Ihyeon’s consciousness with a piercing sound.
Snap—!
Ihyeon’s eyes opened.
The moment his eyes opened, he twisted his body backward into a half-seated position and aimed his gun.
The world he returned to, rising from sleep back into reality, moved terribly slowly.
Squad members swinging swords and spears.
Dokkaebi flames appearing and disappearing in the air, blinking repeatedly.
Jia, locked in a fistfight with one clone, and
Elsie beside him, shouting something as she faced the Dokkaebi flame lurking at his side…
And.
Crash—!
The Dokkaebi, charging fiercely toward him just as he had seen in his consciousness.
Its indifferent, gleaming face appeared clearly within the scope Ihyeon had aimed.
Ihyeon sensed it.
The condition of maintaining precise aim required by the Soul Destruction skill had been achieved.
Actual breath held.
Actual trigger pulled.
Soul Destruction was a skill that activated simply by pulling the trigger without requiring meticulous aim.
Yet Ihyeon used the skill as naturally as an actual snipe, flowing like water.
Click—
It was an impossibly quiet sound.
Jia, realizing the clone charging at Ihyeon, ran toward him even as she threw down her shield.
Elsie also raised the Claymore she’d been holding and tried to block the Dokkaebi’s clone with its broad face.
Crash—! Sizzle—
But despite Elsie’s efforts, the Dokkaebi’s fist melted through the Claymore’s surface and reached right in front of my face.
I simply stared at the fist descending toward me.
Through the hole torn in the Claymore, I could see the expressionless face of the Dokkaebi.
I thought to myself.
‘Goodbye.’
Poof…
The Dokkaebi’s fist, which seemed about to shatter my head just as it had done to me moments before, dissolved into particles of light and vanished.
“…What?”
For a moment, no one could properly react to the Dokkaebi’s disappearance.
It was merely one of nine Dokkaebis, whether a clone or the main body, no one could tell.
A powerful one that could deal death with even a single strike if it allowed close approach.
But then.
Whoosh——
After I activated the Soul Destruction skill, the clones that had been tormenting the Knights throughout the battlefield began disappearing one by one.
It was only natural, since the main body had vanished.
But how?
With my eyes closed, how could I have sensed the Dokkaebi’s presence as it rushed toward my back?
Setting aside the fact that I’d detected it, how had I managed to complete the conditions for Soul Destruction and activate the skill in that brief moment?
Even when pushed to the brink of desperation, I had ended the battle in a single move.
And with perfect victory at that.
After confirming the Dokkaebi’s disappearance and removing the sniper rifle from my shoulder, I spoke with a slightly dazed expression.
“It worked….”
The task of fully immersing my consciousness to locate the Dokkaebi’s main body.
Had I lacked faith in success?
That wasn’t it.
My life had been on the line.
I couldn’t have attempted it without faith.
But unlike with the Avatar Troll Warrior, the experience of truly feeling the entire process was genuinely mystifying.
Even I couldn’t quite grasp the sensation of following that flow properly.
I asked Elsie, who was holding the hole-riddled Claymore.
“How many seconds have passed since I closed my eyes?”
Elsie hesitated for a moment with a bewildered expression before answering.
“Um… seconds? So, about 2 seconds…?”
2 seconds.
Just 2 seconds.
Elsie hadn’t used a stopwatch to count, but it was likely accurate enough.
Within that brief span of time, I had mentally fired nine virtual shots and actually located the main body.
‘But was finding it this way really meaningful? Maybe I just broke through a 1 in 9 probability?’
It was neither a Skill nor a System ability.
A third force that even I couldn’t put into words.
When facing the Avatar Troll, I’d thought it was a sensation born from coincidence and crisis awareness overlapping, but now at least I could confirm it was real.
I clenched and unclenched my fists, verifying the sensation.
This was undeniably the present moment.
The 85th Floor.
Just then, Elsie burst into tears and rushed into my arms.
“Is that really what matters right now?!”
“Waaah!”
“Master cleared the 85th Floor! You really did it! On the first try!”
The situation had essentially teetered on the brink of failure.
The Knights of the Evil God were literally melting away, and Jia, my most stalwart shield, had been driven to the edge of defeat.
Above all, even Elsie’s blade had been rendered useless, yet I had completely reversed the tide of battle.
For the Spirits, who had been frozen in terror as their past nightmares seemed to resurface, it could only feel like a dream.
I had awakened from the dream, while the Spirits had sunk into one.
Thud— Thud—
“Master.”
Jia, who had rushed forward without regard for her own safety to protect me, called out with a gentle smile.
I turned to look at Jia while patting Elsie, who clung to my chest.
Jia’s appearance, usually so neat and composed, was in terrible condition.
Her armor was melted and shattered in places, and her exposed skin was covered with quite deep wounds.
Yet her expression conveyed that all these scars were nothing.
“Yeah, Jia. You worked really hard.”
I chuckled softly as I spoke.
That seemed like it should be enough… but it wasn’t.
“Your body is alright, though?”
If she were human, it would be no surprise if she collapsed on the spot.
Jia shook her head.
“These are wounds that will heal with rest. I should spend some time in my inventory, though.”
It seemed that items too required rest when they sustained enough damage.
I stood up, cradling Elsie in my arms.
And I simply switched the Gun’s form.
Pew—!
The healing mode, which I rarely had occasion to use.
A white beam shot from the Gun’s muzzle, now turned white, and struck Jia.
‘I’m not sure if it’ll work on a Spirit, but there’s no harm in trying.’
But surprisingly.
Whoosh—
While the melted armor didn’t restore, Jia’s wounds healed perfectly.
“How is it now?”
Ihyeon laughed brightly, and Jia responded with a smile equally radiant.
I had never seen Jia laugh so openly before.
*Thud*
“I am deeply grateful for your grace, Master. I also congratulate you once more on clearing the 85th Floor.”
Jia knelt on one knee and expressed her gratitude to me.
I helped her to her feet.
“Without you, I wouldn’t have succeeded. So don’t worry about it.”
Then, notification windows that arrived just a moment late cascaded before my eyes.
「Dokkaebi defeated.
85th Floor cleared.
Grade: S+」
First, the clear notification.
The grade was S+.
In reality, only two direct attacks had been landed on the Dokkaebi.
One attack that ended Phase 1, and one that ended Phase 2.
There could be no more perfect clear than this.
And gradually, I was able to organize my thoughts about this clear.
‘Not using Soul Destruction in Phase 1 was the right call.’
The Dokkaebi’s Phase 2 was essentially guaranteed to trigger.
It was nearly at the level of soul reconstruction.
My skill was soul destruction, not soul annihilation.
Even if I had succeeded in destroying the soul in Phase 1, the Dokkaebi would have simply advanced to Phase 2 unscathed.
Also, the abnormally rapid fulfillment of the soul destruction condition.
‘Maintaining precise aim… it’s not just limited to physical time. I should think of it as the total amount of my concentration.’
If the condition had only been time-based, it would have been specified as ‘aim for several seconds.’
The fact that it wasn’t meant there was a complex calculation method beneath the surface that couldn’t be expressed in simple numbers.
In theory, I had now found a way to dramatically shorten the condition for soul destruction.
“I don’t want to experience something like that again.”
To enter that level of concentration, I had to push myself to the brink of death.
Hyper-focus that isolated the world and myself endlessly, leaving only the minimum stimulation necessary for survival.
To meet such conditions, I would need to face a crisis of at least this magnitude.
But hardship that cannot destroy Ihyeon only makes him stronger.
Now, it was time to claim the rewards that would truly make me stronger.
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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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