I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 340
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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 340
Ep. 340
My nose had begun to tingle before suddenly clearing up again.
Though I hadn’t mentioned it until now, one of the most pleasant perks of becoming a Hunter was that chronic rhinitis—that modern plague—simply vanished….
“Tsk, Jia, put the straw hat back on her.”
“Yes, Master.”
“W-what?! No, that won’t do! If she puts on the hat, she’ll get pulled back into the tower…!”
Despite her somewhat disappointing protest, there was no way I would truly send Elsie away.
She could accumulate about 5% of the tower’s rewards even if she cleared floors alongside me, and besides, swordsmen thrive in solo combat anyway—I could deploy her as a separate unit across the vast 90s floors.
Instead, I opened Elsie’s status window once more.
「Attack: 325 → 385
Agility: 275 → 335
Mana: 246 → 313」
And I poured all the stat points I’d accumulated without distributing into her.
Her base stats were already capable of handling a single Bishop with ease, but with this massive influx of additional points, even Elsie could feel the dramatic difference.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
At my question, Elsie’s eyes glistened with tears (!) as she thrust her thumb upward triumphantly.
“So this is the secret technique of swordsmanship….”
But that wasn’t the end of it.
‘Actually, I haven’t used anything I obtained yet.’
I decided to save the stat points I’d gained from reaching level 71 for now.
Instead, I immediately used the skill rank tickets.
Riiip— riiip— riiip—
Rather than use the three tickets separately, I indulged in the luxury of tearing them all at once, and the Spirits and Squad Members’ eyes widened in shock.
“You’ll be struck down by divine punishment!”
“…Divine punishment for what?”
At Elsie’s point, I felt a bit stung, but I brushed it off with feigned composure.
The system had given them to me to use anyway—surely it wouldn’t invoke divine punishment over something like this.
「Skill, Armor-Piercing Round’s rank increases.
Effects improve.」
「Skill, Ricochet’s rank increases.
Effects improve.」
「Skill, Snipe Point Conversion’s rank increases.
Effects improve.」
In any case, all three skills had ranked up without issue.
Moreover, since I’d been using all three skills quite effectively, this was very welcome news.
This level of enhancement certainly elevated my already formidable combat power even further.
For Armor-Piercing Round and Ricochet, it was literally an efficiency increase.
Armor-Piercing Round now came with the descriptor that it ‘significantly’ ignored the opponent’s defense.
Ricochet’s description stated that the damage reduction rate that occurred each time a bullet bounced was now decreased.
As for the final change to Snipe Point conversion.
「Immediately after skill activation, the stealth effect increases until the first shot.」
Following the removal of the three-times-per-day limit and its expansion to five uses, this additional description was added.
An increase in ability stat effects had never once disappointed my expectations.
Essentially, now that I could use Snipe Point conversion, I would become truly elusive and unpredictable.
My enemies would find themselves unable to locate where I had moved.
I explained this skill change to my spirits with genuine delight.
“But Master doesn’t need anything like that….”
“Yeah, yeah. Since I’m hunting monsters well anyway, it doesn’t really matter, but it does make things a bit easier, doesn’t it?”
“That’s true~”
“It is always a joy to see Master grow stronger.”
…I settled my mind once more and checked the next reward.
“Next is something called the Demon Dagger, an S-rank item.”
“Only Master would speak of an S-rank item so casually, like it’s a neighborhood dog’s name.”
Choi Ihyeon the Sniper, Choi Elsie!
I shot Elsie a rather displeased glare.
Elsie retreated a step and offered an excuse.
“Ah, no, I mean it’s just that Master is so incredible, something like that….”
Actually, her words were true.
If other hunters besides me obtained an S-rank item?
They would immediately check it upon acquisition without a moment’s hesitation and let out cries of joy for five consecutive days.
Even if a Mage obtained it, an S-rank item possessed destructive power worthy of seriously considering a class change to Assassin.
And I was an excellent sniper with the magnanimity and moral character to accept my subordinate’s sincere counsel!
Thump—
“What are you doing, Master?”
“A prayer of gratitude.”
I promptly sat in formal seiza position, clasped my hands together, and offered a prayer to the Tower’s god.
‘Ah, if it’s the Tower’s god now, that would be the Overlord?’
…It did seem like I was offering a prayer to someone I probably shouldn’t, but regardless.
“You all pray quickly too. That way I might give you one more good item later.”
At my words, the spirits sat facing me and offered simple prayers.
While Elsie grumbled about having said something unnecessary, I retrieved the dagger from my inventory.
A single sleek black dagger was soon placed upon the mat.
Had the Management Bureau’s people witnessed this, they would have been aghast and furious at seeing a national treasure-class item displayed in such an open place on such a shabby spot.
But since there was no one here to point it out, it mattered not.
「Demon Dagger (S)
A dagger crafted from the bones and horns of a demon.
Greatly increases Strength, Agility, and Mana.
The exclusive skill ‘Demon’s Wrath’ is applied to all attacks.
Auto-retrieval function is enabled by default.
You can use the once-per-day exclusive skill, ‘Flame Demon.’」
“W-well, that’s good…?”
But an S-rank item is still an S-rank item, after all.
To be honest, even I found the options tempting enough to be swayed.
The stat increases it provided were remarkably essential, and beyond that, it was a well-crafted item without any unnecessary frills.
“Elsiya, can’t you use a dagger?”
“Well… I could, but why would I?”
Elsie said the claymore she was currently using felt most comfortable.
Since there was no difficulty in using it anyway, she had no intention of abandoning the claymore, which offered greater combat range and destructive power.
Ever since she’d defeated and enhanced that Dokkaebi last time, it had fit her combat style perfectly.
“I suppose that’s true.”
Ihyeon nodded after hearing Elsie’s explanation.
Then, the Vice Captain, who had been quietly observing from the side, called out to Ihyeon.
“Um, my Lord.”
“Hmm?”
“If you’re troubled about how to dispose of it….”
Ihyeon raised one eyebrow upon hearing the Vice Captain’s words.
“This?”
* * *
After Elsie returned, my conquest of the tower gained even greater momentum.
“So basically, we’re going in assuming I’ve already cleared the repeated conquests of the 90s floors.”
“Right, meaning that however we succeed in the conquest, it won’t affect what comes after?”
“Exactly. That’s why it becomes difficult if you think like other Hunters and assume multiple conquests as the baseline.”
“Quite cruel, really….”
The most fundamental approach was repeated conquest of the 94th floor!
But this process wasn’t particularly difficult.
Just as I’d discussed with Elsie, since I’d already cleared the 94th floor with an S+ rating, all that remained was to focus solely on the conquest without worrying about main or sub-objectives.
Having accumulated some experience in the 90s floors, I began conquering the 94th floor as simply and clearly as possible.
「Will you enter the 94th floor of the South Korea Main Tower?」
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, my Lord!”
“Kaez, where do you think you’re going without me, the Tribal Chief’s advisor!”
“I’ll report back when we return!”
“But that defeats the purpose….”
Boom boom boom boom———!!!
We advanced into the withered plains with only Jia and about one squad of Knights in tow.
Elsie was serving as a Goddess at this point, so she couldn’t accompany us from the fortress.
We entered the withered plains as quickly as possible and then rendezvoused with Elsie.
There was no need to fall for traps like we had the first time.
“You remember the exit we escaped through, don’t you?”
“Of course!”
Thud thud thud———!!!
“Huh? Goddess, where are you going?!”
“To catch a demon!”
“???”
At the same time, I led the Nomads who had been following Elsie toward the exit of the underground prison.
“Kekeke! So it was Ilgyeok and the Goddess, yet they didn’t even realize this was our trap….”
“But why are they coming out from there?”
“Huh?”
Regardless, the fact that the Saedos and Duogsinis had established their formation in the plaza remained unchanged.
“Damn, this is bad! The Nomads we lured are nowhere to be found!”
There was no problem in greatly disrupting their plan.
Seizing the moment when the Saedos were thrown into confusion, Ihyeon and Elsie swept through them all.
I had Jia and the Knights stand by at the entrance leading into the underground prison, just in case.
Since there were so many Duogsinis, a considerable number of them would likely swarm that location as well, but I judged that a single squad would be sufficient to handle them.
If it seemed like things were getting tight, Jia would summon additional reinforcements on her own, so there was no problem.
Whoosh whoosh whack———!! Scrape— scrape—!
As Ihyeon and Elsie caused quite a commotion in the plaza, the Bishop, who was considerably flustered, revealed himself.
“You wretches… how did you discover my plan?”
“If I had to say… well, I suppose you could call it regression.”
“Yeah, that’s right, Master.”
Ihyeon answered the Bishop carefully, having received confirmation from Elsie, who was something of an expert in this field.
Realizing that his plan had been discovered, the Bishop’s reaction this time was different from before.
“Nonsensical prattle… kekek, but the fact that you will meet your end here remains unchanged!”
With these words, he summoned Erkastrula without hesitation.
And unlike when he had been raging with fury, he now watched carefully, ready to flee at any moment.
However, even so, the outcome of the battle would not change.
“This time, I’ll handle Erkastrula.”
“Okay!”
The two of us quickly divided our roles and began to move.
If the Bishop’s earth spiders were absorbed into Erkastrula, things would become quite troublesome.
That’s why I tried to defeat Erkastrula as quickly as possible.
Click clack— click clack—!
Bang———!!!
“What, what is this?!”
…In truth, it was questionable whether that battle could be described as ‘quick’.
We had already obtained all the information we could get from Erkastrula anyway.
When I simply used armor-piercing rounds and silver bullets to cut off Erkastrula’s life, the Bishop froze stiffly, unable to even think of fleeing.
The remaining Saedos and Duogsinis were the same.
What remained was.
“Why are you standing there gawking?”
Scrape—!
「Main: Eliminate Erkastrula, the Demon of the Grasslands.
Sub: Eliminate the Bishop.
….」
It was nothing but clearing.
The same repetitive strategy, over and over.
Currently, my pace of ascending the tower was one floor per month.
Since I would need to remain on the 94th floor for roughly another month, my strategy could only become increasingly optimized, and as a result.
「Item, ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Gun’ has leveled up.
Check your status window.」
「Item, ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Gun’ has reached level 75.
Select a skill.」
By the time I was about to move toward the 95th floor, I had raised four more levels and reached the pinnacle of level 75.
「Firepower: 360 → 400
Range: 140 → 150
Precision: 150 → 160
Stability: 145 → 150
Concealment: 350 → 400
Rapid Fire: 150 → 160」
I immediately distributed the stat points.
Beyond cleanly raising firepower and concealment to 400, I balanced and distributed the remaining stats evenly.
As for the skills.
「1. Bayonet Attachment (C)
Equips a bayonet that allows close-quarters combat.
Damage is affected by firepower.」
‘Nothing particularly appealing, so I might as well take this.’
The choice was straightforward.
The other two skills that appeared were both useless to me right now, like ’emergency rations’ or ‘first aid’.
If I needed them, I could use them effectively, but there was no reason to eat inside the tower, and with my healing gun and Seongtae around, first aid was even more unnecessary.
The bayonet attachment, however, was different.
“Just in case, it seems like a good idea to carry a backup blade for self-defense.”
“Your words are wise, Master.”
Currently, I handle close-quarters combat with bayonet techniques or my pistol.
But the pistol wasn’t a dedicated close-range weapon, and while my bayonet technique was skilled, it wasn’t a formal skill, so its power was lacking.
Thinking of it as filling that gap, using a skill selection that appears once every five levels didn’t seem like such a waste.
I decided to head straight into the makeshift shooting range to test out the bayonet.
“But isn’t an S-rank item definitely better than a C-rank skill?”
Elsie spoke while interlacing her fingers behind her head.
Back when I only shared some of the gun’s stats, it might have been different.
As long as I could fully share the sniper rifle’s abilities, which had risen to absurdly high levels, I could fill the gaps in my skills with items.
“Still, it’s more convenient to use something I can deploy directly with my own Gun right away. As for the opponent….”
Ihyeon pondered who would be the best first target to test the bayonet attachment skill on.
Summoning a monster would be simple enough.
‘Lately, watching Erubein and Hwiryeong Hunter, I’ve been wanting to look cool too.’
Yet calling them felt wrong when my bayonet technique—learned merely by watching over their shoulders—seemed far too shabby in comparison.
Ihyeon turned to Jia and asked.
“Is there anyone among the Knights who’d be willing to spar with me?”
“…I apologize, Master. It doesn’t seem likely.”
Jia bowed deeply, her tone deeply apologetic as she answered.
“…Really?”
Ihyeon, unconvinced, summoned a few members to gauge their intentions.
“Eeeek!!! What have I done wrong, Lord!”
“If you mean to kill me, just blow my head off with that Gun in one shot!”
“Or I’d rather do PT exercises instead!”
Jia’s assessment didn’t seem far off the mark.
Next, I glanced over at Elsie.
“S-sorry. I can’t really face your Master skill either.”
Elsie averted her gaze and hurried backward with quick steps.
…I felt a bit disappointed.
‘Even so, they didn’t have to show their reluctance so openly, did they?’
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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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