I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 284

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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 284
Ep. 284
I realized my mistake when I noticed I hadn’t been paying attention to my uncle’s words while thinking about what lay ahead.
When Kaez’s father died, I was a newborn.
It was only natural that I wouldn’t know what weapon Kaez’s father had used—logically, no one would have returned to the land ravaged by monsters to recover his remains.
It seemed my uncle hadn’t mentioned it, and there didn’t appear to be any tribal members who would kindly share such information with Kaez, who had become a public enemy.
“I heard about it once when you were sleeping after drinking rice wine, Uncle.”
“Heh heh… I see. It seems I was talking in my sleep. My mistake.”
When I smoothly glossed over it, my uncle took my words at face value and his face flushed with embarrassment.
‘Uncle, I’m sorry!’
I felt a twinge of guilt deceiving this good man—a man who didn’t even exist in reality, yet had faithfully cared for his nephew for fifteen years out of respect for his brother’s dying wish.
But surely that was better than being exposed as someone who wasn’t actually Kaez.
‘I don’t know the exact clear conditions yet, but it would be fortunate if I don’t get an immediate failure judgment.’
After that, my uncle continued to tell me various things about the coming-of-age ceremony.
The part I found most interesting was the evaluation based on weapons.
What the nomads valued most highly was the curved blade, and right below that were various swords.
Second was the bow.
Third was the spear or shield.
Last were staffs and orbs used by mages.
It seemed shamans, of whom only a tiny few existed in each tribe, were treated with some respect, but otherwise they were usually driven out as cursed beings.
‘Do I get the weapon I was actually using? Or do they just give me something with a similar form… The worst case would be if it’s completely random.’
What I used was a gun, which didn’t fall into any of those four categories.
Moreover, thinking about it carefully, while I shared the stat bonuses of the sniper rifle, it was technically the gun that had awakened, not me.
‘Status window.’
「Awakened item synchronization not detected.
Status window access is restricted.」
‘Damn it.’
Ominous predictions always became reality.
With my inventory sealed and the sniper rifle nowhere to be found, the status window wouldn’t open at all.
Just moments ago, I’d been confidently declaring that the 90s floors were my specialty.
‘Turns out it was a complete counter matchup…’
In truth, I could always exit by abandoning the first clear attempt, so there was no safety issue.
But after boasting about saving the world and seeing the end of the Tower, how could I go back outside and say something like, “Oh, it turns out I can’t climb the 90s floors. I apologize”?
‘Well, considering all the deceptions I’ve pulled off so far, it seems like I’ll manage somehow… Unless they’re going to give me a completely random weapon?’
While I was racking my brain for ways to navigate this situation, I had already reached the shaman’s location.
“Tsk tsk tsk… So you’ve finally arrived, boy of the cursed comet.”
‘No matter what, calling someone cursed right to their face? I’m already anxious enough as it is…’
It was an old man with such peculiar features that you’d wonder if anything remained besides the wrinkles on his face.
Behind the old man, a circular magic circle had already been drawn just large enough for one person to stand in, and several wildflowers were scattered around its perimeter.
The old man smiled unpleasantly and stepped aside to let me climb onto the circle.
“Now, first we shall divine your words. Go on up and try.”
“Go, Kaez.”
My uncle gave me a light push on the back as well.
According to his explanation, the larger the horse chosen during the coming-of-age ceremony, the better the evaluation.
This was because other horses typically followed the largest horse as their leader.
Once I climbed onto the platform and the Shaman began the ritual in earnest, a wild horse drawn to the boy’s spirit would find its way across the grasslands on its own.
As I entered the platform, I imagined myself riding a horse.
‘Is Kaez’s memory bleeding through? It feels more familiar than I expected.’
Though I had never had any connection with horses in my previous life, Kaez was different.
No matter how much the tribe ostracized him, as long as he lived as a nomad on the grasslands, horsemanship was something he naturally had to learn.
At the very least, I wouldn’t clumsily fall off or hesitate once I received a horse.
‘Still, a horse that responds to my soul… I have no intuition for this at all.’
With weapons, I could form various hypotheses, but horses were entirely different.
To begin with, there were few Hunters among those who rode something while climbing the Tower.
Occasionally Dark Mages would summon phantom horses for show and ride them, but even they didn’t do such things during official clears.
Regardless, the ritual proceeded on its own.
“Wind that brushes across the grasslands, here a single blade of grass blooms, drawn to its roots…”
The Shaman leaned on his staff and began circling around the platform, chanting incomprehensible incantations.
Yet shamanism didn’t seem to be entirely baseless.
Zzzzzzzzz———
“Hmm.”
Though I felt no movement of mana, a soft light emanated from the platform where I stood, and the ground began to tremble slightly.
While this was quite remarkable to me, it seemed natural to the other tribal members.
“Hmph, what kind of horse will that one receive?”
“A proper horse? At best, some dying donkey will show up.”
“Hehe, it’d be entertaining if he collapsed and died before even getting here.”
“Though I’d never let him ride my horse anyway!”
The tribal members were already laughing gleefully among themselves, though no result had even appeared yet.
I chuckled as I listened to their words.
‘Such words would have hurt me before, but now they barely move me.’
What was the psychology of those who found reasons to create targets and attack them?
Their own lives were simply too harsh and painful.
They desperately wanted to push that pain onto others.
Even knowing that pain could never be transferred that way, that they were only leaving new suffering for others, they hypnotized themselves.
Before long, the vibration I felt beneath my feet changed in nature.
‘Something’s coming.’
Not the vibration of the magic circle, but something fierce rushing toward this place.
It must be that horse drawn to my soul.
The nomads who had lived their entire lives on the grasslands couldn’t have failed to notice the vibration that even I had detected.
“Something’s coming?”
“Well… it doesn’t seem to be a dying nag after all.”
“Or maybe it’s a wild horse too vicious to even ride?”
The insults had shifted slightly in their repertoire.
But the people’s mockery soon—
Thud-thud— Thud-thud—
“Huh, huh?”
“What is this?”
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom——————!!!!
“?!?!?!?!???!!!!”
Their mockery transformed into sheer terror.
The vibrations were far too violent and immense to be merely the sound of a single horse galloping.
“K-Kaez, what have you done?”
“No, Uncle, I haven’t done anything at all…”
“Ah, right, of course. Phew!”
Even my uncle was so startled that he’d begun to interrogate me before awkwardly backing away.
‘What on earth is coming this way?’
Either way, I was just as shocked as the others.
This far exceeded the category of a horse—it was practically monster-class.
Most of all, despite shaking the very earth itself, the creature hadn’t even crossed the horizon yet!
Tense gazes swept across the surroundings.
Someone among them pointed to one direction and shouted.
“There, it’s coming!”
“Where, where?”
“Good heavens, what is that!”
I turned my head toward where the people were screaming.
Indeed, a colossal four-legged beast was charging ferociously toward us.
Its size defied all sense of perspective.
‘One thing’s for certain—that’s definitely not a horse.’
If that were a horse, the White Panther from the 70s would be nothing more than a cute puppy.
Yet as I gazed upon the four-legged creature, I felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
‘I’m certain I’ve seen this before somewhere…’
I narrowed my eyes and stared intently at the beast.
As the massive creature drew closer, the nomads were absolutely terrified.
“Calamity! It’s a calamity!”
“The cursed child has summoned a cursed horse!”
“Our tribe is doomed!”
To be honest, I had to admit that this time their curses and hysteria weren’t entirely unfounded.
I’d thought the same thing at first, after all.
“That creature… now that I look closer.”
I finally recognized what was charging toward me.
It was absurdly true.
Or rather, according to the Vice Captain, it was a hybrid creature—part horse, part ox.
Neighhhhhh—!!!!!
Twice the size of an ordinary horse.
The sheer monstrosity of its appearance, with muscles packed beneath leather as hard as stone, seemed to multiply that size several times over.
A mane sharp as a blade and a face bristling with grotesque horns.
That phrase about my soul’s wavelength matching with Ihyeon’s meant one thing.
“So it was Purung.”
Purung—the docile horse-ox hybrid that the One-Strike Knight Order had brought from another world.
Though I’d never brought him into the Tower before, seeing that familiar face now filled me with unexpected warmth.
Especially since Jia and Elsie, who always traveled with me, weren’t here.
“You’re wrong—we’re all going to die!”
“Tribal Chief, please escape! We’ll hold it off somehow!”
“You fool, how are we supposed to stop that thing? Just being trampled by those hooves would kill us!”
The tribal members had descended into complete panic.
But separate from their terror, Purung—specifically, number one—
Neigh— neighhhh—
“There, there, good to see you, buddy. How did you get all the way here?”
“?!?!?!?!?!!!!”
He stood before Ihyeon with perfect gentleness, quietly pressing his face forward.
Though he breathed heavily now and then, it seemed only from the fierce gallop that had brought him here.
When Ihyeon raised his hand to stroke his face, the obedient Purung ghosted his horns right into the touch with uncanny precision.
“I-impossible… how is that monster being so docile?”
“I thought it would bite and tear Kaez to shreds, turn him into salted fish…”
‘…Isn’t that a bit harsh?’
Ihyeon turned to regard these people who’d just cheated death, now spouting whatever came to mind, with bewilderment.
The saying that bigger creatures earn more respect didn’t seem entirely wrong—the nomads, instead of meeting his gaze with the savage hostility from before, simply averted their eyes and shuffled awkwardly.
That was when it happened.
“GAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“?????”
The shaman, who moments before had seemed on death’s door, shuffling about with his staff, suddenly bellowed with tremendous authority.
The chaotic atmosphere instantly settled into calm—clearly he held real power within the tribe.
“The sacred ritual is not yet complete!! And how dare our people, born with horses and destined to die with horses, make such a fuss with one standing before them!”
“Technically, we’re not born with horses…”
“We meet them at the coming-of-age ceremony?”
“And besides, is that even a horse?”
“GAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”
“J-just be quiet, alright.”
‘Grandfather’s got quite the voice on him.’
Ihyeon regarded the furious shaman with a lukewarm expression.
It was quite remarkable that the tribal members would dare to be cheeky in front of a shaman with such a temperament.
Were all people from this world like that?
In any case, the shaman’s words proved accurate.
I stroked Purung’s face as I spoke.
“There’s still one more ceremony left. You wait over there quietly and stay put.”
Purung—!
Remarkably, Purung understood my meaning and withdrew.
It was only a few steps, but given his massive size, he already seemed far away.
I turned to look toward my uncle and the shaman.
The shaman didn’t seem particularly surprised from the start, while my uncle had already composed himself from the shock and was watching me with a somewhat flushed expression.
Though his appearance differed considerably from other horses, his sheer size rivaled that of an elephant, which seemed to make my uncle think it was extraordinary.
‘It is extraordinary, though.’
That was undeniable.
I wasn’t sure which of the horses the tribe currently raised was their leader, but it was obvious as day that they would tuck their tails and remain silent as mice the moment Purung approached.
Thus, Kaez’s coming-of-age ceremony proceeded to the second and most important ritual.

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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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