I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 53

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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 53
Episode 53
No matter how I looked at it, the situation was disadvantageous for me.
Engaging in close combat against a skilled Hunter was suicide.
I fired a poison pellet at the ground.
Instantly, a thick smoke screen swept across the area where we both stood.
“Cough! Damn it!”
Thwack—!
The panicked Specter swung his sickle at where I had been, but found only bare earth.
I had already vacated the position.
Whoooosh— Pssht—
Moreover, smoke pellets continued detonating around him.
Specter suppressed his coughing and held his breath.
Poison.
So potent that it was hard to believe such a small inhalation could be so deadly.
At this concentration, merely standing in place could prove fatal.
‘Emergency retreat!’
Specter had no choice but to escape the smoke while simultaneously activating his concealment skill.
His entire body already felt twisted and contorted.
Reason screamed at him to abandon the operation and flee.
But Specter had no intention of listening to reason.
‘I can’t let a prey like that escape!’
His blood boiled with an intensity he hadn’t felt in years.
It felt like encountering proper game for the first time in ages.
And he sensed it instinctively.
Even if he retreated now, there was no path to survival.
His body could still endure the poison, but the limit was near.
Specter moved at full speed.
He felt that if he stopped for even a moment, a bullet would pierce through him.
The personnel he had brought were also masters of assassination.
The fact that they couldn’t mount any resistance and were struck down showed how outmatched they were.
No matter how much smoke I deployed, they couldn’t have fled far.
“Kekeke… Hack. Kahahaha!”
Specter laughed wildly as he circled the area frantically.
Specter, who had succeeded in countless missions.
An assassin must know how to achieve perfect focus on their target.
In a situation like this, what would the opponent think?
How would he move?
How would he counterattack?
‘If I were that bastard….’
Specter’s eyes gleamed with manic fervor.
The audacity to spray poisoned smoke directly before him.
He knew full well that poison held no sway over him.
Moreover, if this one knew how to fight, then surely….
“I found it.”
Specter, sprawled across a thick branch, spotted Ihyeon’s back once more as he surveyed his surroundings.
The position was right beside where the smoke grenade had detonated.
The plan was clearly to make him think I’d fled, and once sufficient distance opened, strike.
Even a cloak that blurred his outline was draped over him.
Concealment so masterful that even Specter required complete focus to discern it.
Had he possessed such an item, Specter would have made the same choice.
‘You’ve shown some wit, but your singular misfortune is that your opponent is me.’
Specter let out a bitter laugh and drove his scythe into Ihyeon’s back.
Thunk—!
The moment he believed success was assured.
“Blink?”
Specter’s expression twisted.
Ihyeon, who had been there mere moments before, had vanished.
Tap—
Instead, Ihyeon appeared dashing away in the distance.
Whoosh—!
Smoke to conceal his body once more.
What manner of combination was this?
‘Is the rumor of him being a Dark Mage because he can wield magic as well?’
Specter tilted his head in confusion.
Yet nothing changed.
Assassination was also relentless pursuit.
Specter’s form vanished once more.
In the forest where chaos subsided, the chase between Ihyeon and Specter continued.
Specter held overwhelming superiority in movement speed and related skills, but the troublesome smoke and blink were problems.
After spotting and narrowly losing him several times, Specter finally found Ihyeon again behind a massive boulder.
‘This ends now, you bastard.’
This was the limit.
The mages he’d assassinated before all had restrictions on how many times they could use blink per day.
At most, three times.
Ilgyeok had already used it twice, so he must be nearing his limit.
The smoke was also a skill that consumed considerable mana.
Enduring a prolonged battle like this without depleting mana was nearly impossible.
Moreover, his taut expression and diminished posture revealed that even the legendary Ilgyeok had reached his breaking point.
‘With that level of power, yet this much stamina? What kind of cheat is this fraud?’
Specter clicked his tongue.
He’d assumed that because they were clearing Floors at such a rapid pace, they must be the short-burst combat type, but now he realized that wasn’t the case either.
Of course, even if Ilgyeok’s power had been depleted, Specter wouldn’t have let his guard down.
Before he could even realize it, the battle would be over.
‘The Reaper’s Scythe.’
The reason Specter’s primary weapon was a scythe.
A desolate black aura coalesced around the scythe he held.
Simultaneously, above Ilgyeok, there appeared a grotesque shadow wielding a scythe—visible only to Specter.
A skill that allowed Specter to literally ‘assassinate’ any target he visually identified and designated.
Specter smiled coldly and brought the scythe down in a light arc.
Shrieeeeek——!!!
At the same moment, the shadow above Ilgyeok also swept its scythe downward from shoulder to flank.
Crunch—
With a chilling sound, Ilgyeok’s body was cleaved in two.
Dead.
If the body was split like that, there was no way a bleeding organism could survive.
“My name is Specter.”
Normally, it was protocol to embed the scythe directly into the chest and whisper the codename into their ear, but that wasn’t possible now.
Soon, Korea’s reinforcement troops would arrive and begin searching the Forest.
I had to escape without being detected.
Whoosh—
Specter retrieved only the scythe using the auto-recovery function and prepared to leave the area.
But then.
The severed head of Ilgyeok, lying on the ground, slowly began to turn.
“…?”
It stared directly at Specter once more.
Specter found himself unable to look away from those unchanging eyes.
A mere involuntary movement of the dead?
If not that….
Click-clack— Click-clack—
‘This bastard…!’
Specter was startled by the chilling sound coming from behind him.
The only ones in this Forest should have been himself and Ilgyeok.
Yet Ilgyeok had just died.
But he hadn’t died?
‘A Dummy!’
Specter recalled the only possible explanation.
A Dark Mage who uses a Gun.
As if mocking Specter, the Dummy’s body scattered across the ground transformed into dust and vanished.
How was this even possible?
Since when?
“Disappear.”
But Specter couldn’t resolve that question.
Bang—!
A single bullet fired in an instant pierced through his forehead with perfect accuracy.
Ihyeon, who had been concealing his body in the tree, finally rose to his feet and pulled back his cloak.
‘What kind of monster is this guy?’
He was a formidable opponent.
I would have rather hunted one more boss monster instead.
Even though I had mobilized all the knowledge I’d been trained in to conceal myself, I ultimately had to face him while exhausting three sniper position switches, my Dummy, and nearly all my mana.
There was an objective level difference, but it was likely due to the overwhelming gap in practical combat experience against human opponents.
If my Dummy hadn’t enhanced my concealment and created an effect to draw the enemy’s attention, this deception likely wouldn’t have worked.
I had merely severed the limbs of the others to keep them alive, but I couldn’t afford to spare Specter.
Hadn’t he already seen everything about me?
I exhaled a sigh, confirmed Specter’s death, and only then surveyed my surroundings.
「Jia: Are you alright?
Jia: Master, are you alright?
Jia: I’ll head there right now.」
Her messages in a tone far too urgent.
Boom— Boom— Boom— Boom—!!
From a distance, I could hear her charging forward like a madwoman.
The Vigilantes were surely following behind her, and meeting them head-on would be problematic.
「Ilgyeok: I’m fine. More importantly, calm down and do exactly as I tell you from now on.
Jia: Yes, understood.」
Jia stopped the moment I sent the message.
At her immediate response, I exhaled softly and relocated, concealing myself.
Not long after, Jia and the Vigilantes arrived.
The Vigilante Members gasped upon seeing Specter’s corpse lying alone in the forest.
“How many of them are there…!”
And anger.
The truth of the incident was being conveyed piece by piece through the chat.
The damage to the innocent Hunters had been severe.
If the mysterious attacks hadn’t stopped the Villains, the Vigilantes would have been helpless against them.
Jia spoke.
“This one is the last.”
“Ah… Ho, perhaps.”
One of the Vigilante Members asked with a trembling voice upon hearing Jia’s words.
Just as he had admitted with his own mouth earlier.
The overwhelming strength of not sustaining even a speck of damage against the Villains.
And coincidentally, the timing of his appearance was similar to when Ilgyeok cleared the 34th Floor.
I couldn’t help but recall that ID.
“Is it really Ilgyeok…?”
“Ooh….”
“Indeed….”
The other Vigilante Members waited for Jia’s answer with eager eyes.
Ihyeon, who had been listening to that conversation, gave Jia an instruction.
“No. I was merely trying to divert the enemies’ attention.”
“Ah… I see.”
As she spoke, Jia unequipped the helmet she had been wearing.
“…!”
The Vigilante Members were momentarily captivated by Jia’s beautiful face revealed beneath it.
The situation had been so urgent before that they hadn’t gotten a proper look, and only now did her appearance truly register.
But the Vigilante Members quickly regained their composure.
「ID: Jia」
“Ah….”
“So it really isn’t.”
It was because Jia had revealed her ID to prove it.
With “Jia” displayed so clearly, what more could be doubted.
Besides, it was true that she had saved people’s lives.
Even if she wasn’t Ilgyeok, that didn’t change the fact that she was a hero.
Before the Hunters could even fully process their emotions, Jia added one more thing.
“I am Ilgyeok’s representative.”
“!!!!”
The Vigilante Members’ jaws dropped.
“Then this one too, perhaps?”
“Yes, Ilgyeok dealt with them. The same goes for those from before.”
“Ah!”
Not Ilgyeok himself, but his representative.
Since the Vigilante Members themselves were originally affiliated with the Management Bureau or Major Guilds, their reaction was intense.
The memory of nearly dying moments ago was already forgotten.
The Vigilante Members each began hopping excitedly as they spoke to Jia.
“We’re from the Daeseong Guild, please convey our proposal to Ilgyeok…!”
“We’re from the Mighty Guild! Us too!”
“Us as well! Even if not Ilgyeok himself, at least the representative!”
Crash—!
“….”
But Jia simply silenced the Vigilante Members by bringing down the black shield she was holding.
“I will convey Ilgyeok’s words.”
The Vigilante Members swallowed hard without exception, focusing entirely on her.
“Do not seek me out. I am merely doing what must be done.”
Slowly, deliberately, Ilgyeok’s intention was laid bare.
The Vigilante Members exchanged glances with one another.
‘This… now that I think about it, isn’t this Ilgyeok’s first message?’
Indeed it was.
Ilgyeok, who had only made his existence known through announcements until now.
Though it came through the mouth of a proxy, Ilgyeok had finally revealed his will to the world.
Yet separate from that, everyone felt a sense of regret.
It was somewhat expected, but this meant that Ilgyeok’s recruitment had definitively fallen through.
The Vigilante Members swallowed hard as they recalled the countless corpses they had witnessed following behind Jia.
Clearly there had been many powerful figures of higher standing than themselves, yet they lay collapsed without a single act of resistance, having lost parts of their bodies.
Whether Ilgyeok would truly go that far was debatable, but naturally they found themselves projecting their own images onto those fallen bodies.
Meanwhile, the Hunter from the Administrative Bureau raised his hand and asked.
“Might you… be willing to explain the reason you wish to remain hidden from the world?”
Unlike the other Guilds, he was not in a position where recruitment was necessary, but he needed to understand that circumstance.
Only then could the nation provide maximum convenience and protection to Ilgyeok.
“….”
However, Jia merely hardened her expression and stared at the Hunter from the Management Bureau without answering.
「Jia: My master is being asked for the reason he conceals his identity.」
Naturally, Jia herself did not know that reason.

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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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