I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 88

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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 88
Ep. 88
“Woof! Woof! Woof!!!”
After that, the untimely barking echoed faintly through the forest several more times.
Internally, I made remarks about military dogs and such, but that was purely metaphorical.
How could I genuinely think of such a precious S+ grade item that way?
But if she was going to perform her duties with such enthusiasm…
I decided not to worry about it too much.
“Shall we get going too?”
“Yes, Master.”
I sent Elsie ahead first, then Jia and I leisurely followed behind her.
Not long after, I received a message from Elsie.
「Elsie: Straight ahead! 500m, one Green Troll!
Ilgyeok: Confirmed.」
We’d only been walking for a few seconds and she’d already covered 500m?
Well, since my stats weren’t increasing but rather the Maesek Gun’s were, I didn’t feel it as acutely, but other Hunters all displayed superhuman abilities.
It wasn’t particularly surprising.
I calmly switched the Maesek Gun to a Thermal Scope.
‘A Thermal Scope really is helpful in terrain like this.’
Standard optical scopes are quite limited in use on terrain with many obstacles.
However, the Thermal Scope was quite helpful in locating enemies.
With a normal sniper rifle, I would have struggled to shoot while avoiding obstacles.
But my Maesek Gun?
‘Found it.’
I quickly located Elsie’s small frame and the unrealistically massive body of the Troll in comparison.
In fact, there was hardly anything to find—the Troll’s furious roar, the noise it made rampaging about.
The sounds were so unavoidable that finding it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Perhaps because I had instructed her beforehand to avoid contact and only evade, Elsie was faithfully focusing entirely on evasion.
There were quite a lot of trees blocking the path there.
‘Since there’s only me anyway, there’s no need to hold back.’
I didn’t hesitate and felt the mana loaded in the Maesek Gun.
Obstacles like trees meant nothing.
All that remained was predicting the Troll’s violent movements.
The moment the loaded mana bullet traveled 500m and pierced into the Troll—that brief instant of movement.
Normally, that would have been purely my responsibility.
「Ilgyeok: Elsie, fall back to the left.
Elsie: Understood!」
Now I could even control that to some degree according to my will.
I watched Elsie move sharply to the left following my instructions.
And the Troll entered the range of my predictions without deviating significantly.
‘Hold my breath.’
Then I pulled the trigger.
Taaaaang——!!
A brilliant flash of mana bullets streaked outward with a satisfying report.
The trees in their path vanished without leaving even fragments behind.
Grrr—?
The troll, which had been chasing Elsie in a frenzy of madness, seemed to sense the aura of death descending upon it in that instant.
Through the thermal scope, I could see it turn its head toward where I stood, if only for a moment.
‘But it was far too late.’
That was all.
Boom—!
Precisely between the head and chest.
The mana bullet that struck that point tore away the troll’s entire neck in an instant.
Not just the head—the upper portion of its chest caved inward as well.
The troll’s regenerative power, infamous for recovering even when its neck was half-severed, proved meaningless before such destructive force.
Pshhh— Pshhh—
The troll, which had made a few deflating sounds, crumbled slowly, as if unable to accept that its head had simply vanished.
That was the end.
A troll that ordinary hunters could barely suppress after grueling effort, and from which they would need to struggle further to completely sever its life, had fallen to a single attack.
‘Well, I wasn’t particularly worried anyway….’
Yet neither I, nor Jia, nor even Elsie expressed any surprise at this situation.
They all held the understanding that this was the inevitable result.
「Ilgyeok: Collect the byproducts and return.」
Following my instruction, Elsie returned after collecting the troll’s byproducts, her steps quick and light with excitement.
“Why are you so pleased?”
“At this pace, we’ll be climbing the Tower in no time! I knew it, but seeing it directly—Master, you’re really strong!”
Elsie answered with a beaming smile.
Was there some ghost that died unable to climb the Tower?
‘Ah, when you think about it, spirits are essentially ghosts.’
It was merely a metaphorical thought, but it might not be far from the truth.
“What’s at the top of the Tower? Or does it even have an end?”
I asked in an offhand manner.
Twenty years ago, towers suddenly appeared across the entire world.
Those who learned that calamity would befall them if they didn’t climb threw themselves into ascending with all their might, and by now it had become something people took for granted.
‘Yet no one actually knows where the Tower ends, or what happens when you reach that end.’
The most crucial element was absent from this reality.
People simply climbed because they had to, with no purpose to guide them.
Of course, I wasn’t deeply contemplating such matters either.
Life was always too busy dealing with the immediate problems at hand.
But upon hearing my question, Elsie’s expression changed drastically.
“I’m sorry… I can’t tell you that.”
“Huh? No, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
Elsie’s expression was uncharacteristically dejected.
She genuinely seemed apologetic toward me.
I found myself regretting that I’d even asked.
“But you’re still planning to keep climbing… right?”
Elsie’s cautious question.
I answered without hesitation, nodding my head.
My reason for climbing the Tower.
It stemmed from the terrible catastrophe that had befallen my unit two years ago.
By my choice, and if only the Hunters possessed such power.
But soldiers who had to charge in with nothing but a single gun in hand.
And civilians who unexpectedly encountered monsters in reality were completely innocent.
I had no certainty that I could reach the end of the Tower that no one had seen in twenty years, but I no longer wanted to run away.
Since the accident, I had been wandering through the depths of both body and spirit, and now I was climbing the Tower one floor at a time with this resolve.
After finishing my thoughts, I spoke again.
“I won’t stop until I die, so don’t worry.”
“Hehe, you’re the best, Master!”
Only then did Elsie regain her energy, pressing herself against me.
Jia, who had been quietly listening to our conversation from the side, chimed in.
“As you continue climbing the Tower, you will eventually learn about that secret.”
“Huh? Ah, I suppose so.”
Consider the structure of the Tower.
A vertical tower where you can never reach the top without arriving at the bottom first.
No one knows who created it, but there must be a reason for this form.
Surely information would be gradually unlocked as progress was made.
I casually looked upward.
The ceiling was not visible.
But up there, there was certainly…
I clenched my fist tightly.
‘Well, let’s go as far as we can.’
At the very least, I should climb to the 94th Floor, which the United States had supposedly reached.
I spoke to Jia and Elsie.
“Let’s finish up quickly and head back today too.”
“Of course, Master!”
“I shall comply.”
* * *
「Elsie: Master, I found the totem.
Ilgyeok: Already?」
As expected, it didn’t take long to eliminate all the Green Trolls.
Whenever Elsie tracked down a scent, I would immediately destroy it with a swing of my blade.
I had expected that even for Elsie, finding an unknown totem would prove quite challenging, but here we were.
Less than ten minutes after I sent her off to search, this report came back.
「Elsie: If I may say so myself, am I not the legendary Legendary Sword Elsie?」
Watching her boast as usual, Ihyeon and Jia headed toward where Elsie was located.
But Elsie was hanging from a truly extraordinary place.
“Here, here!”
“B-be careful!”
Rocks jutting out sharply between the withered trees of the forest.
They were so pointed and tall that they resembled awls more than rocks.
Elsie was hanging upside down from her legs hooked over the top of the highest rock, waving her hands frantically at Ihyeon and Jia.
The dizzying sight made me cry out.
“Huh? Don’t worry. This much is—”
Elsie dismissed my concern as unnecessary fussing.
Whoosh—
She released her grip on the rock and fell straight down.
‘That crazy woman!’
I was just considering whether I should immediately unsummon her with my blade.
Whoosh— Click—!
Elsie performed a maneuver that bordered on the miraculous, lightly rotating her body in mid-air before landing gracefully.
“….”
“Surprised? If I may say so myself—”
“Yeah, you’re definitely the Legendary Sword.”
“Hehehehe. Anyway, it’s up there at the top. My master told me not to touch it, so I left it alone.”
“Good job.”
“Hehehehehehe.”
Elsie laughed so carelessly.
I patted her shoulder a couple of times.
“But why are you saying you’ll destroy it directly? If I destroy it as soon as you find it, we could clear it faster.”
“You didn’t listen to the explanation properly, did you?”
“Ah, no, I just didn’t hear it because I was eating ice cream?”
So she didn’t hear it because she was eating ice cream.
Ever since we returned from the shopping mall, she kept singing about ice cream, so I made the mistake of buying her ice cream from the supermarket before our strategy meeting.
Jia, who ate beside me, understood it properly, but regardless.
“Since we don’t yet know the exact conditions for clearing S+ rank, I said I need to take the lead as much as possible. Like with those trolls earlier.”
“W-well, of course I had a rough idea!”
Elsie finally remembered hearing it and tried to brush it off vaguely.
Turning her body away from me, she grumbled, “Tsk, why didn’t I hear it?”
Regardless, I looked up at the top of the rock where Elsie had been hanging.
Just trying to look at it required tilting my head back sharply—and she had jumped down from there.
Truly fearless, that one.
In any case, it meant there was a totem up there.
I casually raised the gun and aimed at the spot above.
Even through the scope, it was difficult to detect the totem’s presence.
“How did you know it was up there?”
“After taking down the trolls, the smell got even stronger.”
Truly a hunting dog.
I chuckled softly, nodded, and completed my aim while maintaining a proper cheek weld.
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, but considering the destructive power and range of the Maesek Gun, it wasn’t a major problem.
I could just blow the whole thing away.
Crack—!
Even with the power reduced to its minimum through careful throttle control, the sharp tip of the rock was cleanly sheared off.
“Uh, huh? You use a staff like that?”
“It’s not a staff. It’s a gun.”
Elsie, seeing me fire for the first time, widened her eyes in astonishment.
After all, there was no precedent for using a staff by shouldering it and bringing it to one’s eye, so her confusion was natural.
“Hmm… I suppose. Well, other mages can certainly destroy rocks like that easily enough.”
The sniper rifle’s true power certainly operated on a different level from those “other mages,” but I didn’t reveal that much.
‘There will be a chance to show it properly later.’
If I said now that my sniper rifle was actually far more powerful than this, Elsie would just dismiss it with “Hmph, don’t brag!” given her personality.
「Defeated 10 Green Trolls.
Destroyed mysterious totem.
Cleared the 51st Floor.
Rank: S+」
Of course, the totem had been somewhere within the tip of the rock that I destroyed.
Simultaneously, a list of rewards for clearing appeared.
「Item ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Rifle’ leveled up.
Check your status window.」
First, the Maesek Gun reached level 27.
‘So it seems like roughly one level per five floors these days?’
Not only did the stats increase, but I was also one step closer to the skill selection that came every five levels, so leveling up was always welcome.
However, this time there was one more thing I needed to check.
“Elsie, you leveled up too, right?”
“Huh? Oh, of course. I’m keeping up with my master now.”
It was the Legendary Sword’s status window—Elsie’s status.
I checked Elsie’s stats.
「Elsie
Lv.27
Attack: 123
Agility: 130
Mana: 85
Distributable Stats: 13
‘Now I can see the characteristics clearly.’
Similar to Jia’s, but definitely distinct in its own way.
The primary stat should naturally be Attack.
Though comparable, Agility was set slightly higher than that.
Perhaps because she wielded sword energy, her Mana was also quite high.
Elsie puffed up with pride as she watched my expression.
“Well? This armor is on a completely different level from that fox, right?”
“Huh? No, it’s similar.”
“What, what?!”
Elsie staggered backward a step or two as if struck by shock.
I wasn’t lying.
The distributable stats granted per level were the same at 13.
Moreover, since the primary stat was set lower than Agility, one could even call it a minor character build if being generous.
It was 2 points lower than my Maesek Gun, but I refrained from mentioning that far to preserve a certain innocence(?).

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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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