I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 97

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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 97
Ep. 97
Meanwhile, hearing what Elsie was doing ahead of her, Jia smiled faintly and spoke.
“Our Spirits are capable of demonstrating greater power in proportion to our master’s potential. It seems Elsie has been greatly influenced by you as well.”
“…What are you saying?”
Ihyeon relayed Jia’s words directly through the Dummy.
Then Elsie, whose composure had completely shattered, stopped in her tracks and grumbled.
“That irritating armored fox, revealing trade secrets…”
After that, Elsie simply and obediently cleared the path.
It seemed she had quite the intention of appealing her abilities to Ihyeon.
‘Not that I need her to—she’s already proving quite helpful in the 50th Floor Range anyway.’
And what if she weren’t helpful at all?
“Master, there’s a Red Troll over there.”
“I see it.”
Crash!
Climbing the Tower alone was quite a desolate and lonely affair.
Hunters didn’t form parties and accept increased difficulty for nothing.
I had climbed to the 20th Floor alone, but thinking back now, I wondered how I could have ascended so cheerfully then.
How many times did the cycle of defeating Red Trolls and wandering through the Forest repeat?
“Master, there’s a totem.”
“There…?”
I followed Elsie’s pointing finger toward the middle of an ordinary forest.
As I approached, sure enough, a totem sat solitary beside an ordinary tree stump.
‘This is genuinely vicious.’
If I ignored it and passed by, I’d have no choice but to wander through the entire forest.
It wasn’t for nothing that Hunters found the 50th Floor Range tedious.
I paused briefly, looking down at the totem, then spoke to Elsie.
“Elsie, would you like to try breaking this one?”
The distance was too close to use my Gun, and it felt wasteful to spend 10 mana just to destroy one totem.
“What? Really?”
Elsie’s delight at my suggestion was unmistakable.
If she had a tail, it would surely be wagging.
Since I’d mostly avoided combat and only had her scout, she must have been frustrated.
As the Dummy nodded, Elsie drew her sword, ready to destroy the totem immediately.
“Wait, wait.”
“What is it, master?”
I stopped Elsie for a moment.
“…You can destroy it in one strike, right?”
Behind the Dummy’s stiff expression, my suspicious tone was unmistakable.
“That’s rude, master. I’m Elsie, the Legendary Sword.”
Elsie responded with a deeply disappointed expression.
‘What if Elsie can’t destroy it in one hit and I don’t get an S+ rating? That would be a loss for me alone.’
A sharpshooter who always taps the bridge before crossing—the exemplary Choi Ihyeon!
I’d never heard of other Hunters failing to destroy a totem in one strike either, but verification was still essential.
“Sorry, I was joking. Go ahead.”
“Tsk.”
Ihyeon offered a brief apology and gestured.
Elsie swung her arm lightly with a dejected expression.
Crack—
As expected, the totem shattered helplessly.
「Defeated 15 Red Trolls.
Destroyed mysterious totem.
Cleared the 56th Floor.
Rank: S+」
The rank came through as S+ without incident (?).
The clear reward and S+ bonus were each 5 C-grade Magic Stones—nothing special.
「Item ‘Choi Ihyeon’s Sniper Gun’ leveled up.
Check your status window.」
And a welcome level-up notification followed.
“Oh, level up!”
Ihyeon immediately opened his status window.
Level-ups were always welcome, but this time I had something especially to look forward to.
「Distributable Stats: 20」
“Yes, this is it!”
The proudly displayed distributable stats of 20!
The sniper gun’s distributable stats had already been absurd, and now an additional 5 had actually been applied.
“Hmm…”
But as Ihyeon admired the status window, I suddenly let out a regretful sound.
“Is something the matter, Master?”
Jia asked in confusion.
Ihyeon pondered for a moment before answering.
“Well, it’s obvious, but I realized retroactive application doesn’t work for previous level-ups.”
“…”
Whoooosh—
And for the first time ever, Ihyeon witnessed Jia wearing a disappointed expression.
Not anyone else, but Jia.
And directed at Ihyeon!
Ihyeon awkwardly tried to cover it up.
“Aha, just kidding. Right, retroactive application doesn’t make sense.”
Even by my own standards, it was greed as shameless as highway robbery.
Not satisfied with just receiving 5 additional stat points, I was hoping the previous level-up would apply as well?
If those words had come from anyone but myself, I would have had no qualms about slapping both cheeks three times over as a former soldier—mission or no mission.
But even with the quick apology, the awkward atmosphere refused to dissipate.
“What’s wrong? Why are you all acting like that?”
Even Elsie, who had just returned, sensed something was amiss immediately.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“??”
I hurriedly checked the status windows of Jia and Elsie in turn to change the subject.
Of course, 15 stat points had accumulated for each of them.
‘For Jia to make that expression at me… If I’d said that in front of Elsie, I might’ve caught a sword strike.’
I shook my head at the memory of Jia’s icy demeanor from moments before.
‘Still, isn’t it good for all of us if I get stronger? Why be so stingy about it… No, I was being too greedy.’
Even my usual self-justifications couldn’t shield me from this undeniable greed!
I ultimately decided to admit my mistake cleanly.
“The conquest is complete, so let’s head back now.”
“Yes, Master.”
“???”
Elsie kept tilting her head at Jia’s distinctly chilly aura.
Did someone confess or something?
I was curious, but since neither I nor Jia offered an explanation, there was nothing she could do about it.
I tried to naturally head to the common floor and execute some sort of smokescreen operation to ease the awkward tension.
“…Why is it so quiet today?”
Unlike usual, there weren’t many people gathered on the common floor to celebrate Ilgyeok’s conquest.
The reason was obvious without needing to investigate.
“No celebratory cheers today!”
“Everyone, please move in an orderly fashion!”
The Vigilantes from the 50th Floor Range were calming people down and sending them away.
“Hey, why not today?”
“We’ve received intelligence that it could be dangerous. For safety reasons, it can’t be helped.”
“Ah, then there’s nothing we can do~”
How frustratingly obedient the fan club members were to the Vigilantes’ control!
This was naturally thanks to Seongnyun’s petty revenge after failing to find clues about Ilgyeok using the defense-penetrating potion.
“I should just go home today.”
“Sure, Master~”
So I ended up returning home rather dejectedly.
But apart from the awkward atmosphere, the conquest proceeded without any hitches.
「The 57th Floor clear record has been updated.
Location: Tower of South Korea
ID: Ilgyeok
Rank: S+」
「The 58th Floor clear record has been updated.
Location: Tower of South Korea
….」
“Congratulations on the successful conquest, Master.”
“Haha, it’s all thanks to you two.”
About two days later, Jia returned to her usual self.
Of course, there was a secret behind this.
‘Ice cream really is the best. Since things have come to this, I should buy a few containers for the freezer at home….’
Indeed, nothing boosted subordinates’ morale quite like snacks!
After conquering the 56th and 57th Floors and eating ice cream to her heart’s content, Jia’s disappointment melted away like snow.
And it wasn’t ordinary ice cream either.
“This is what they call an ice cream cake.”
“An ice cream cake…?”
“Come on, eat up, everyone.”
「!!!!!”」
The arrival of this new delicacy—ice cream cake.
Not only Jia, but even Elsie, who knew nothing about it, devoured the ice cream cake as if hiding it from view.
How could her mood not brighten after that?
「Defeated 15 Flame Trolls.
Destroyed an unidentified totem.
You have cleared the 59th Floor.
Rank: S+」
Riding the momentum, I successfully conquered the 59th Floor!
The Flame Trolls erupted with ceaseless fire from their bodies, incinerating everything around them, but they were no match for my sniper rifle.
When firing from such a distance where flames and everything else were barely visible, what could they do?
After fulfilling the quota of 15 targets, I had Elsie and Jia take down a few themselves, and their synergy exceeded expectations, likely due to their increased stats.
Jia maintained her tanking without wavering against the flames, while Elsie gracefully dodged attacks and slaughtered them from range with her sword energy.
‘At that level, they could probably manage an A-rank even without me, couldn’t they?’
Since I still couldn’t precisely determine the criteria for S+ rank, I’d been attempting to conquer floors solo without the Spirits’ assistance, but the S+ rank items were certainly remarkable.
An ordinary Hunter probably wouldn’t have utilized them nearly as effectively as I could.
It seemed beneficial in many ways to deploy them in actual combat like this occasionally.
The additional Trolls defeated while destroying the totem also provided byproducts, making it a win-win situation.
And there was yet another reason.
After clearing the 59th Floor and returning, I gathered Jia and Elsie and spoke.
“You all know what comes next, don’t you?”
“Of course, Master.”
“Yep!”
My expression grew slightly tense.
“Right. On the next floor, you two need to be especially careful as well.”
Thus, the 60th Floor awaited.
A place where a Floor Master of the 50th Floor Range exists and stands guard.
It was also a floor where my sniper rifle strategy—nearly a loophole like before—would be impossible.
* * *
60th Floor.
Jia drew the spear of Rex Lizardman for the first time in a while.
She wiped the spear with black cloth as if conducting a final inspection.
Elsie crouched beside her, watching intently.
More precisely, it would be more accurate to say she was radiating envy rather than simply watching.
“I’m so jealous… You said your master gave you that armor fox?”
“That’s right. My master bestowed it upon me.”
“So jealous, so jealous!”
Ihyeon, who had been inspecting his sniper rifle just like Jia, let out an amused chuckle and spoke.
“Wasn’t it you who said the Legendary Sword can always display its maximum power regardless of tools?”
“Tools are tools, and jealousy is jealousy!”
Elsie grumbled again and stared intently at the spear in Jia’s hands.
She looked ready to snatch it away.
Though Elsie used a sword, so even if she were given such a spear, she wouldn’t be able to use it properly anyway.
‘But then again, Jia uses armor just fine, so maybe it doesn’t really matter?’
Still, Jia wouldn’t let it be taken so easily.
In any case, Elsie kept eyeing the spear until the very end and said this.
“I’m jealous of you, pointy ice cream.”
“…?”
That clearly wasn’t ice cream by anyone’s standards, was it?

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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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