I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 7

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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 7
Episode 7
5th Floor.
The notorious mid-boss floor where the Goblin Warrior Captain emerges.
But the difference from before wasn’t limited to just the Goblin Warrior Captain.
‘…A forest.’
Ihyeon thought this while moving in a crawl.
The Goblins, now increased to 25 on the 5th Floor, were in the middle of camping.
There were three tents in total.
Since the largest tent belonged to the Squad Leader, locating his position wasn’t difficult.
The problem, however, was the rather large forest that stretched directly behind the campsite.
If a Hunter were strong enough, the Goblins would retreat into the forest to make a stand, which would be troublesome.
Humans unfamiliar with forests would inevitably suffer from terrain disadvantage.
‘I need to finish this in one shot again.’
Moreover, for a sniper like me, the trees in the forest weren’t exactly pleasant obstacles.
There was now one more reason to finish this as quickly as possible, beyond just the S+ rank.
Whoosh— Whoosh—
‘Still, the stat boost effect is surprisingly good.’
Meanwhile, I was experiencing the effects of the increased stats from ‘Soul’s Perfect Match’.
In numerical terms, it was barely a 1-point increase.
Yet it was certain that even that alone made crawling much easier, faster, and more concealed.
Remarkably, the sound of grass rustling or the scrape of combat boots barely made any noise.
In particular, the concealment effect seemed to apply comprehensively to me as well, even without the ‘Soul’s Perfect Match’ skill.
Well, it made sense—there was no point in just the gun being concealed.
In any case, at this level, the enemies wouldn’t even notice my approach.
‘…Okay.’
I had arrived at the location I’d scouted in the simulation.
A spot slightly to the east of the campsite.
The sun was behind me.
While not the highest ground, it gave me a clear line of sight while blinding the enemy with glare.
The campsite was roughly 400 meters away.
A distance commonly used in practice shooting.
‘I wish I could’ve brought a scope.’
If there was one inconvenience in the Tower, it was the absence of binoculars.
The Tower allowed clothes through somehow, but items with special effects like binoculars were impossible.
Things like smartphones were naturally forbidden.
Strangely though, when I exited the Tower again, they were right back where I left them.
Well, without them, I’d just have to make do with my naked eye and the scope.
I surveyed the area below.
A few Goblins were outside the campsite, eating or playing among themselves.
Comparing the investigated data with the actual count, it seemed some of the creatures were inside the tents.
The fact that the Goblin Warrior Captain hadn’t revealed himself confirmed it.
I adjusted the scope’s magnification lower and began surveilling the campsite.
Even as considerable time passed, the Squad Leader still hadn’t emerged from the tent.
‘…Could it be that he won’t come out unless a Hunter reveals themselves?’
I had studied the strategy for the 5th Floor quite thoroughly.
When a Hunter approaches, the Goblin campsite grows noisy, and the Squad Leader naturally appears.
There had likely never been a Hunter like me, waiting for an extended period without being detected by the Goblins at all.
But I didn’t grow impatient.
A sniper lives within two flows of time.
One is vast time.
The time spent holding one’s breath and waiting until the target reaches the optimal position.
The other is instantaneous time.
The mere seconds when the target reaches that optimal position, when I instantaneously control all variables and execute the operation successfully.
Though the emergence of the monster had somewhat dimmed the meaning of vast time for a sniper, I was accustomed to waiting.
Waiting and waiting again.
There aren’t many beings that can defeat a sniper through waiting.
I smiled silently.
‘That’s right. With that bulk, how could you not come out?’
A massive Goblin clad in heavy armor appeared.
If a regular Goblin Warrior’s armor was merely scrap metal hammered and fastened together,
the Squad Leader’s armor gleamed as though stolen from humans, and its quality was superior.
But I was confident.
My sniper rifle with Firepower 13 could tear through such metal plates like tissue paper.
Whoosh—
The rifle’s muzzle shifted slightly.
The Goblins swarmed around the Squad Leader’s appearance, creating such a commotion that I couldn’t get a clean angle immediately.
I had to wait for him to separate a bit more.
The Squad Leader brushed the Goblins aside irritably and continued forward.
‘That’s it, just a bit more.’
Only a few steps remained until I reached my target position.
Those few steps would be the Squad Leader’s final march.
But then.
Thud—
“?”
The Squad Leader stopped just before those final steps.
Why suddenly?
‘…Could it be.’
An ominous premonition flashed through my mind.
On the 2nd Floor, the Goblins had once detected my presence because of the wind that brushed past me.
‘But I had already accounted for that.’
I had experienced being discovered by the wind before, so this time I verified there was no wind.
It couldn’t have detected me through smell alone.
Then.
How in the world.
“!”
Was the Squad Leader seeing my exact position?
Through my scope, our eyes met directly.
Though I couldn’t be certain the Squad Leader saw me with equal clarity.
Still, the impossible situation sent a chill down my spine.
Nothing but the primal instinct of a monster.
——!!
The Squad Leader let out a roar like thunder.
The Goblin Warriors seemed panicked, but immediately shielded their leader.
Sniping was now impossible.
Of course, I might penetrate through the warriors and deal damage to the Squad Leader.
But if the shot misfired, I had no idea how things would unfold.
What shocked me more than the Squad Leader detecting my presence was his next action.
The monsters I’d seen outside the Tower were creatures obsessed with humans, capable only of charging mindlessly forward.
Yet this one, without even glancing back, fled toward the forest.
“What kind of monster does that?”
I clicked my tongue and tracked its position with my naked eye before following through my scope.
Even hidden, unless it fled deep into the forest, its massive frame couldn’t be completely concealed.
Its gleaming armor was visible behind a thick tree trunk.
‘Fine, I admit it.’
I readily acknowledged that the Squad Leader possessed surprisingly high intelligence for a monster.
But that was all.
What good was a thick tree trunk?
It would have less defense than a regular Goblin Warrior anyway.
And pressed against the tree like that, it would be pierced right through along with the wood.
I intended to finish the 5th Floor before the confused Goblins approached my position.
Out of habit, I brought my index finger from the mana injection point to the trigger.
That was the moment.
‘What the—!’
I was startled as I watched the Squad Leader through my scope.
The creature I thought had hidden to evade ranged attacks did something shocking.
Whoosh—!
It launched a sniper attack against me.
It exposed itself slightly from behind the tree and hurled the javelin strapped to its back.
The javelin shot toward me at a terrifying speed, stretching out relentlessly.
The speed was unbelievable for something thrown by hand.
No, it wasn’t even a gun—he threw a javelin 400 meters?
Could I even dodge it?
My senses screamed at me.
There was no time to think—I had to move.
“Tch!”
I clutched my sniper rifle and rolled to the side.
This wasn’t the time to worry about sniper positions or anything else.
First, I had to survive.
By the time I’d rolled twice, perhaps.
Boom—!
“…Insane.”
The javelin the Goblin Warrior Captain had thrown embedded itself exactly where I’d been lying moments before.
The hillside, which had been completely covered in grass, now lay exposed and mangled as if a massive beast’s claws had raked across it.
It was no wonder this mid-boss had such a notorious reputation.
‘I wouldn’t have dodged that without stat enhancement.’
It was truly a matter of inches.
If I were still in my normal Awakened state, I would have been hit directly and died, or at least suffered a fatal wound.
It was precisely the difference in stats I’d gained from “Soul Bond.”
I immediately rolled down the opposite slope of the campsite several more times.
It was crucial not to reveal my position.
Even if he sensed my location through instinct or whatever, it would still be better than being in plain sight.
‘I need to invest more in concealment.’
I confirmed the importance of concealment, something I’d been somewhat neglecting.
With my body hidden, I poked just my head out to scout the Squad Leader’s position.
The Squad Leader stood motionless in his throwing stance, scanning the hillside.
He seemed to sense that I hadn’t been hit by his attack.
He never expected me to dodge the javelin.
I had no skill in reading goblin expressions, but I could tell the Squad Leader was quite shocked.
Unable to immediately pinpoint my location, the Squad Leader retreated behind a tree.
‘…I never thought I’d be in a sniper duel after entering the Tower.’
And a duel between a gun and a javelin, no less.
I could confidently say there was probably no sniper in the entire world who had experienced such an absurd sniper battle.
Just thinking about that javelin from earlier sent chills down my spine.
Yet I smiled.
“A sniper duel…”
I had no desire to flee.
Besides, I couldn’t flee even if I wanted to.
I surveyed my surroundings.
There was no time to relocate, and it would give away my position anyway.
A direct confrontation.
I climbed onto the ridge and positioned my gun once more.
I hadn’t invested my remaining stat points into stealth.
Now was the time to draw out the Squad Leader.
Then, calmly, I aimed my scope at the tree where the Squad Leader was hiding.
‘A creature like that might be able to dodge after hearing the gunshot.’
It was a being that had found me 400 meters away with nothing but pure instinct.
I had evaded its spear throw, but to assume it couldn’t evade my bullet would be arrogance.
I had found the one ‘moment’ the Squad Leader could never escape.
Just then, the Squad Leader’s eyes met mine through the scope once more.
‘Good.’
I gladly answered to that gaze.
‘Come.’
Would it work?
Could my reckless plan succeed? Such doubt crept in.
But I had to try.
Like a spider hidden in darkness, I waited for the Squad Leader’s move.
Then it came.
Whoosh—!
The Squad Leader confirmed my location once more and hurled its spear.
Just as before, the spear’s trajectory extended straight toward me.
Through my scope, the spear’s thickness grew larger and larger.
But I remained calm, not even dodging.
‘Not yet….’
The sniper’s second sense of time.
Waiting for the moment of moments.
My eyes and the scope.
The rifle’s muzzle and the incoming spear.
And finally, the Goblin Warrior Captain, completely exposed after throwing its last spear.
The alignment where all three lined up perfectly.
‘Got it.’
This was the moment I had been waiting for.
Crack——!!
Tremendous firepower projected through the muzzle.
Yet precision and stability matching that firepower dramatically controlled the gun’s recoil.
Because of this, I could see through my scope exactly what my bullet was doing as it advanced.
Shatter—
It easily consumed the Squad Leader’s spear and pressed forward.
Crossing 400 meters in an instant, it surged ahead.
Completely erasing the Squad Leader’s shoulder and upper body nearby.
Boom—!
Only after it carved a crater into the ground behind did it vanish, as if its duty were complete.
The Goblin Warrior Captain’s prized heavy armor was nothing but glittering decoration before such overwhelming firepower.
———!!!
The Goblin Warrior Captain, wedged into the crater from the impact, let out a wail.
Whether it was pain, rage, or some mixture of both.
‘…Should I fire one more shot?’
I watched the Squad Leader writhe and shriek even with a third of its upper body blown away, my gaze cold and indifferent.
It was unfortunate that two shots were necessary, but I couldn’t afford to sacrifice practicality for the sake of that regret—not if I wished to be called a sniper.
The moment I placed my finger back on the trigger.
Thump—!
All strength drained from the Squad Leader’s body as it shrieked.
Death.
Literally accomplished in a single strike.
「Goblin Warrior Captain eliminated.
5th Floor cleared.
Rank: S+」
「Item ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle’ leveled up.
Status window….」
Multiple notification windows cascaded into view simultaneously.
Yet I paid no attention to such trivial distractions, as always.
Instead.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
I simply pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The Goblins that had been charging toward the hill where I stood moments before now froze in place, unable to move after witnessing their Squad Leader’s death.
They were nothing but easy targets for me.
My rapid-fire capability of 7 proved quite useful in clearing the multitude of Goblins.
Soon, dark crimson Goblin blood was scattered across the verdant plain.
The once-lively campsite had grown desolate.
A landscape created by a single sniper.
Only then did I set down my rifle and review the notification windows that had appeared.
Another S+ rank clear.
“Still… this one felt different.”
Unlike before when I merely clicked the trigger, this time there was no close combat—only tension that filled every moment.
It reaffirmed that I was a sniper.
In the end, achieving five consecutive S+ ranks—the legendary threshold—brought considerable satisfaction.
Now came the time to confirm the actual rewards.
I could distribute stat points from leveling up later, so I’d skip that for now.
「5th Floor reward.
You have obtained 1 E-rank Magic Stone.
Check your inventory.”
The reward from the 5th Floor was an E-grade Magic Stone, not F-grade.
The quantity was reduced from three to one, but that hardly mattered.
“Being able to increase mana is absolutely incredible.”
Since F-grade stones could no longer raise mana, they were worth merely 50,000 won to me now.
But E-grade?
A precious mana stat point of 1.
Next came the bonus for clearing S+ rank.
“Are they giving me another E-grade Magic Stone again…?!”
I thought it would be the same as always, but here we are.
「S+ Rank Clear Bonus.
You have obtained the item ‘Concealment Cloak (D)’.
Check your inventory.」
This time it wasn’t a Magic Stone, but an actual item.
Occasionally, at low probability, clear rewards were given as items instead of Magic Stones.
Naturally, such rewards were far more valuable than Magic Stones.
Both in price and in practical utility.
And look at the name itself.
“W-wait, a Concealment Cloak…?”
The very aura of this treasure was already wafting through the air.
I hastily opened my inventory.
A single gray cloak occupied one slot.
With trembling hands, I pulled out the cloak.
It was light, durable, and fluffy to the touch.
I checked the cloak’s information.
「Concealment Cloak (D)
When used, blends with the surrounding colors.
Increases Concealment and decreases movement speed.
Stealth is broken upon attacking.」
“Wow!”
Indeed, as I put it on, the gray cloak shifted to match the surrounding grass color.
Over the excavated soil, it changed to brown in that area as well.
With a bonus to the Concealment stat as well, it was truly an item worthy of D-grade status.
Wasn’t I the one who had been trying to acquire a ghillie suit not long ago?
‘A ghillie suit? How ignorant was I before I had the Concealment Cloak?’
If I had bought such a smelly and difficult-to-maintain ghillie suit instead, it would have been truly terrible.
Moreover, since a ghillie suit wasn’t even an item, I might have been treated like a madman walking the streets wearing one.
Of course, there was a movement speed penalty, but honestly, it wasn’t much of a penalty at all.
The ghillie suit had the same drawback anyway, and once I actually moved in it, the reduction wasn’t bothersome.
On top of that, it even supported an auto-equip function when entering the Tower.
There was a condition that using the ability would break my stealth, but for a sniper, that was simply an inescapable fate—one I harbored no resentment toward.
If anything, not breaking stealth would have been the real exploit.
‘The Shroud of Secrecy… it’s perfect, absolutely perfect.’
I carefully placed the cloak back into my inventory as though handling a precious child.
Next came the E-rank Magic Stone.
It was slightly larger than the width of my thumb, with a price of roughly 200,000 won.
Compared to the F-rank’s 50,000 won, it had jumped a full four times over.
Regardless, my choice remained unchanged.
「Item ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Gun’ has absorbed an E-rank Magic Stone.
Mana: 31」
True to form, the magic stone gun readily consumed the stone and grew its mana.
“Come back to me as an S-rank stone someday~”
After organizing the gun into my inventory, I calmly summoned my status window.
「Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Gun
Lv.6
Firepower: 13
Range: 3
Precision: 10
Stability: 10
Stealth: 7
Fire Rate: 7
Mana: 31
Distributable Stats: 20」
Twenty points remained to allocate.
‘I’ll set aside about 10 as a reserve for now…’
Having cleared the 5th Floor with a single shot, even leaving some stats unallocated would allow me to continue climbing at an unstoppable pace for the foreseeable future.
Since I’d decided to raise mana as much as possible through Magic Stones, I’d hold off on that for now.
After a brief moment of deliberation, I began distributing my stats one by one.
「Firepower: 13 → 15」
「Range: 3 → 5」
「Stealth: 7 → 10」
「Fire Rate: 7 → 10」
Ten stat points used to bring the numbers into clean alignment.
Excluding mana, my status window now fell neatly into multiples of five, and I couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
Considering what had transpired today, blindly raising only firepower wouldn’t suffice.
I was alone, and if I were injured or killed, the clear would be over.
That was why I needed to invest evenly across all my stats.
Besides, the more I raised them, the stronger I became as well, so there was no reason to hesitate.
As I finished my tasks, a notification window appeared before me.
「Do you wish to exit the 5th Floor?」
“Yes.”

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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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