I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 25
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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 25
Episode 25
‘If they can buy me some time over there, that works perfectly for me.’
I climbed up onto the ridge of the hill while listening to their conversation.
Buying time was fine, but I didn’t appreciate how the noisy atmosphere continued to persist.
Just as Dongjun had mentioned, Cobolds were monsters with exceptionally keen senses.
Making this much noise even behind the hill would—
Clang—! Clang clang—!
They were already preparing to surge forward.
‘S+ rank, huh? There sure are a lot of them.’
True to form for the 20th Floor tier where difficulty adjusted to match the rank.
Nearly a hundred Cobolds—or so it seemed—stood with ears perked up, gripping spears and swords, eyeing me with unmistakable hostility.
Considering that Dongjun and Jumong’s B-rank party had faced roughly twenty Cobolds, this was an astronomical number.
The atmosphere suggested they could charge at any moment.
With a hundred instead of twenty, there was no way Heeuwon’s party, even with the Dummy included, could handle them.
Heeuwon was such a notorious incompetent Hunter that I’d seen her name plastered across Hunter Now while researching the 20th Floor.
Lying prone, I first located the objective of this floor with my naked eye—the Royal Cobold.
It wasn’t difficult to spot.
‘There it is.’
Unlike the other Cobolds, which were dark brown or black, the Royal Cobold was larger and had a striking bright yellow gaze that made it stand out.
The Royal Cobold stood at the rear, assessing the situation without appearing particularly agitated.
It was the system objective, so there was no helping it.
For a normal party, reaching the Royal Cobold would only be possible after clearing all the regular Cobolds.
But for me alone—
‘This is practically a sniper’s dream floor.’
I’d never encountered a mission this comfortable.
I aligned my scope’s crosshairs precisely on the Royal Cobold.
The Royal Cobold’s own abilities were nothing special compared to the monsters I’d faced before.
Certainly not on par with the Gate Frog or the Berserker Goblin.
Perhaps slightly stronger than Goblin Warriors.
Cobolds were monsters that were truly dangerous only when they swarmed in groups.
‘Black rounds for ammunition.’
Then I could proceed as stealthily as possible without worrying about firepower.
Click—clack—!
‘Loading.’
The bolt slid back smoothly and then forward again, announcing that one death had been prepared.
Just one death.
That would be enough.
‘Distance: 500 meters. Weak westerly wind. Temperature… no need to worry about that.’
My senses keenly analyzed the environment.
Every condition works in my favor.
What remains.
Hold my breath.
Squeeze the trigger.
Whoosh—!
With a dull sound as if a silencer were attached, my gun barrel flashed with fire.
“That’s really Ilgyeok!”
“Please give me your autograph!”
“Ah, no, we need to clear the floor, not do that!”
“With Ilgyeok here, won’t clearing be easier?”
“It’s an honor!”
“Ah, I’m telling you that’s not Ilgyeok! And in the Tower, carelessness is the most dangerous thing!”
The party members, who hadn’t even noticed my existence, naturally knew nothing even at the moment I fired.
The Dark Mage was retorting with such frustration that he looked ready to tear off his robe.
Before that conversation could even finish.
Boom—!
‘It’s over.’
The Royal Cobalt’s body above the knees was completely shattered, becoming unrecognizable.
「Royal Cobalt defeated.
You have cleared the 21st Floor.
Rank: S+」
“???!?!?!?!”
“What, what is this?”
“Ilgyeok, what on earth did you do?”
“What did I do? I’m not Ilgyeok… uh, wait, we really cleared it?”
“Wow, your acting is truly the best!”
Dongjun and Jumong, who were already convinced—absolutely convinced—that the Dark Mage was Ilgyeok, clapped and made a fuss.
Hastily checking the records, of course Dongjun, Jumong, and Heeuwon, who had already cleared it before, were recorded as S, but the notification window clearly showed S+.
I decided to add a bit more using the Dummy.
Bow—
“It was an honor, Ilgyeok.”
“Eh? No, now that I think about it, it was because of you!”
The stiff-faced Dummy bowed deeply at the waist, expressing gratitude to the Dark Mage.
The Dark Mage, the victim, seemed to sense something was off, but there was no problem.
‘Anyway, I’ll change my face on the next floor.’
My skill, Perfect Target, could change the Dummy’s appearance each time I used it.
Even if we met again next time, they probably wouldn’t notice.
Meanwhile, I continued pulling the trigger.
The Cobalts, enraged at losing their Royal Cobalt, died without understanding why.
Ping— Ping—
Later, I decided to test firing a Goblin bone projectile while considering my mana consumption, but my party members remained too preoccupied with their bickering to notice.
‘How on earth did they manage to reach the late 20th Floor range like this?’
At this point, even I found myself at a loss for words.
Well, it wasn’t about someone else—it was about me, so I understood their excitement to some degree.
When all the Cobolts finally lay sprawled across the Wasteland, Dongjun suddenly snapped to attention and spoke.
“Wait, we should go check out how Ilgyeok actually cleared this!”
“Yeah, let’s do it!”
“I really didn’t do anything! Why won’t you believe me?”
“Sure, sure, we’ll see once we get there~”
The group hurried up the rest of the Hill.
“….”
But upon witnessing the landscape beyond, the party members fell silent as if by mutual agreement.
The Wasteland, which should have been filled with the savage cries of Cobolts, had become nothing short of a hellscape of devastation.
Dark crimson blood drenched the red earth, and the metallic stench of blood pierced the nostrils of the party members standing at a distance.
It was impossible to even imagine what had transpired here.
“What in the world is….”
Even Dongjun and Jumong, who had spent considerable time operating in the 20th Floor range, had never witnessed anything so overwhelming and terrifying.
There was only one word that came to mind.
Death itself.
An incomprehensible amount of death pressed down heavily upon the Hunters’ shoulders.
“Ugh!”
The Dark Mage, despite being naturally accustomed to such scenes, felt his stomach turn and retched before hastily making his exit.
“Wh… what! Ilgyeok is leaving!”
“C, come on! This is insane!”
Dongjun and Jumong watched in stunned silence before belatedly following in retreat.
It was a shame about the byproducts, but that hardly mattered now.
Only Heeuwon, Dummy, and I remained, standing at a distance.
Heeuwon also seemed unable to regain his composure, but then—
Drip—
Tears began to fall.
‘Why is he like that again?’
“What’s wrong?”
Unable to understand, I used Dummy to ask Heeuwon.
Heeuwon responded in a trembling voice.
“Th… this is what true carrying really is….”
“Carrying, you say.”
“Yes, it’s truly perfect carrying. I’ve always dreamed of living like this someday.”
Admiration and joy.
Perhaps Heeuwon had recalled the pure aspirations he felt when he first awakened, witnessing the traces I had left behind.
Well, it had nothing to do with me anyway.
I spoke again through the Dummy.
“Will you be collecting the byproducts?”
“Ah, yes, yes! But… I’m not sure if I should…”
Heeuwon hesitated despite no one watching, having been belittled so much.
I moved the Dummy.
“Everyone else has already left, haven’t they?”
The tone suggested there was no reason to hold back when we were both in the position of being carried anyway.
「Harvestable Byproducts
Kobold Bone.」
‘Oh, so harvesting works through the Dummy too.’
I marveled once more at the performance of this newly acquired skill.
At this rate, it was almost fair to call the Dummy my proxy—it just couldn’t engage in combat.
As the Dummy moved about, Heeuwon gradually began collecting byproducts from the corpses.
After collecting about fifteen or so.
“I, I think this is enough for me.”
“There’s still plenty left.”
“No, this much should be enough for my living expenses.”
Heeuwon maintained a cautious demeanor.
It seemed this windfall felt like an undeserved stroke of luck.
When the Dummy nodded, Heeuwon bowed respectfully and left the floor.
Alone on the 21st Floor.
I scanned the remaining notifications.
「21st Floor Reward.
You have obtained 5 E-rank Magic Stones.
Check your inventory.」
「S+ Rank Clear Bonus.
1 D-rank Magic Stone will be additionally awarded.」
「The 21st Floor clear record has been updated.
Location: Tower of South Korea.
ID: Ilgyeok
Rank: S+」
“Oh, a D-rank Magic Stone is nice.”
I immediately absorbed the D-rank Magic Stone into my mana, then finished processing the remaining Kobolds.
The Kobolds didn’t drop any particularly special bones, but it didn’t matter.
‘I’ll get them eventually anyway.’
Given the number of Kobolds appearing today, I’d be able to obtain bones without limit.
After finishing up, I dismissed the Dummy and left the floor.
The atmosphere on the 20th Floor public level was
“It’s Ilgyeok!!!!”
“Grab him! Grab him!”
“Ilgyeok, please sign for me!”
“I’m a fan!”
“Kyaaaa! I’m not Ilgyeok!!!!”
It was absolute chaos.
‘…I really do feel sorry about this.’
Ihyeon watched the scene for a moment, then shook his head and slipped out of the Public Floor.
I hoped the misunderstanding would clear up soon.
* * *
Na Minjoo, the Dark Mage Hunter who cleared the 21st Floor with Ihyeon.
Minjeong couldn’t understand how things had spiraled this far out of control.
Without thinking—or rather, she hadn’t entirely given up hope of meeting Ilgyeok—but still.
‘I never wanted to get tangled up with Ilgyeok like this!’
Who could have predicted that she’d end up being mistaken for Ilgyeok herself?
Unable to escape the Public Floor while dodging the swarms of people, Minjeong could only flee from place to place.
Fortunately, she slipped between similar black robes and managed to evade their sight, ducking into an alley that wasn’t very conspicuous, where she caught her breath.
“Phew, now I can finally leave from here…”
“Wait a moment, Ilgyeok!”
“Uhhhhh…”
But when a few people persistently chased her into the alley, Minjeong couldn’t help but burst into tears from the sadness of it all.
The people chasing her were equally flustered and tried to console her.
“Oh, no, we’re not those kinds of people…”
“What do you mean ‘those kinds of people’! You were chasing me!”
“W-well, that’s true.”
One of them cautiously approached Minjeong and held out a civil servant’s ID.
“We didn’t chase you like that. We’re actually Hunters dispatched from the Management Bureau.”
“Sniff! The Management Bureau?”
Minjeong finally came to her senses and examined the civil servant’s ID.
It was very rare to see a civil servant’s ID within the Public Floor.
Since they had to be made from materials that came out of the Tower, they weren’t issued unless absolutely necessary for a mission.
Because of that, it was actually easy to verify their authenticity.
“Why does the Management Bureau want me?”
“Well, because you’re Ilgyeok…”
“I’m not! I’m not Ilgyeok! I’m not Ilgyeok!”
Minjeong, whose nature was kindness itself, experienced for the first time in her life what it meant to be furiously angry.
The Hunters from the Management Bureau spread their hands forward in a calming gesture.
“Yes, yes. But we do need to confirm some things. You are a Mage, correct?”
“That’s… true. A Dark Mage, though.”
“And you just cleared the 21st Floor today.”
“That too…”
“With an S+ rank?”
“Yes….”
“In a party with Ilgyeok?”
“Well….”
“It’s just that this matches the intelligence we gathered so perfectly….”
“Y-yes, I suppose it would.”
Only then could Minjeong assess the situation objectively.
‘W-wait, am I really Ilgyeok?!’
At this point, it was harder to believe I wasn’t Ilgyeok than to accept that I was.
It was already common knowledge that Ilgyeok was a Mage.
Moreover, though Minjeong didn’t know it yet, the Management Bureau had internally narrowed it down further—identifying Ilgyeok specifically as a Dark Mage.
How many improbable coincidences had to align for this to happen?
“Of course, since you’re not Ilgyeok, we’ll just do a simple verification and be on our way. You just need to share your ID with us for a moment, right?”
“My ID is….”
Of course, sharing my ID would clear up this entire misunderstanding.
But I couldn’t bring myself to take that simple route.
Because….
「ID: CorruptedPigMinjeong」
‘H-how am I supposed to show this ID to anyone?!’
When I first awakened, I’d thought it was just a chat ID that I could change anytime, so I’d set it carelessly.
When I later learned I couldn’t change it, I made a firm resolution.
I’d just keep it private for the rest of my life!
But how could I have known something like this would happen?
The Civil Servants from the Management Bureau drawing closer with increasingly intense gazes—though they weren’t actually doing that.
In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut and cried out.
“I-I’ll share it! I’ll share it with you!”
“Phew.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
I held back tears as I shared my ID with one of the Civil Servants.
And shortly after.
“….”
“….”
“…Ah. Y-yes. You’re not Ilgyeok.”
“…Yes.”
Minjeong and the Civil Servants parted awkwardly.
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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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