I Got A Legendary Sniper Rifle - Chapter 98

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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 98
Ep. 98
Jia, finding Elsie’s words equally absurd, seriously corrected the error.
“This isn’t ice cream, Elsie. It’s the spear of Rex Lizardman.”
“If it looks good, it’s ice cream anyway.”
In Elsie’s mind, the word “ice cream” had taken root as a kind of universal pronoun.
It seemed fair to say she’d attached all manner of positive meanings to it.
I eventually made Elsie a promise.
“When an appropriate weapon comes your way, I’ll give it to you. Don’t be so envious. I got this before I met you.”
“Really?!”
At that, Elsie brightened and clung to me affectionately.
If I didn’t give it to her later, it seemed even ice cream wouldn’t appease her.
One could call it an empty promise, but it wasn’t particularly difficult.
‘If giving items makes them stronger, there’s no reason to refuse.’
Of course, the situation was somewhat different from Jia, who lacked an appropriate weapon since she was armor herself.
Elsie was such a magnificent sword that she’d earned the title of Legendary Sword.
Still, giving away one item was nothing.
I finished the final checks and rose from my seat.
“Now, everyone focus.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Got it!”
The moment the words left my mouth, the Spirits’ gazes flew toward me and fixed there.
Jia had always been that way, so it wasn’t strange.
Elsie, however…
‘Anyone could see she’s desperate to get that sword.’
That was a dimension far removed from ice cream.
Sparkling eyes, hands gathered demurely.
If I gave her a second sword, her personality might change completely.
“As we discussed beforehand, you two advance first. When you encounter enemies, don’t push yourselves—just buy time appropriately until I reach my position and send a message. Understood?”
The Spirits nodded as if there was no question about it.
That was settled.
Having cleared the 50th Floor Range, their tactical execution ability and combined combat had already been sufficiently verified.
If only one of them existed, I might feel somewhat uneasy, but with both together, I felt reassured.
‘I don’t want to lose anyone again.’
Of course, the Spirits said that even if they took significant damage and were unsummoned, they could be summoned again after a certain time passed.
Still, dislike was dislike.
I didn’t want to see someone get hurt before my eyes again.
And so.
“Let’s go.”
The conquest of the 60th Floor had begun.
Jia and Elsie advanced in tandem at a swift pace.
Meanwhile, I moved to find a sniper point for the first time in a while.
‘Normally with trolls, I wouldn’t need a point—just shoot whatever I find. But this time is different.’
A creature befitting the name Floor Master, possessing considerably troublesome characteristics.
Moreover, the terrain itself was utterly disadvantageous.
I climbed a tree to find the highest vantage point.
The Dead Forest terrain.
There were no leaves to be found, which made securing a clear line of sight far easier than in other forests.
At least that was one thing working in my favor.
From a moderate height, as I surveyed my surroundings, the environment opened up clearly before my eyes.
‘Since I need to target that location, the place I must go is….’
I examined the optimal sniper point with sharp eyes.
The 50th Floor Range was unlike the lower floors where detailed terrain simulations could be conducted outside the Tower.
This was because sufficient high-quality data hadn’t been secured.
The 60th Floor similarly had no records of notable structures or elevated positions beyond the characteristics of where active conquest operations took place.
Such information wasn’t particularly important to ordinary Hunters anyway.
In other words, here I had no choice but to maximize my instinctive animal senses and knowledge as a sniper.
With the surroundings still quiet, I smiled faintly as I felt the wind blowing past.
‘Now this finally feels like real combat.’
My allies were already advancing forward, and I had to find a position to protect them from an unfamiliar location.
Not long after surveying the area, a single abnormally tall tree caught my eye.
‘That should work….’
With practiced movements, I descended from the tree and moved in that direction.
It didn’t take long to reach the tree I’d found.
I climbed quickly to the highest branch where I could rest comfortably, switching into sniper point mode.
I immediately mounted the sniper rifle and draped a concealment cloak over myself, then surveyed the target area.
A terrain distinctly different from where the dead trees stood out caught my attention.
“There it is.”
An open field, you might say.
A desolate wasteland with a strange clearing visible.
Large, gleaming objects jutted out densely.
Through the scope, I could discern their nature.
Stones polished smooth as if by someone’s hand, reflecting the opposite side like mirrors.
The true purpose of those cunningly angled stones could only be understood by entering within them.
That didn’t apply to me.
But I wasn’t alone here.
The Floor Master would only reveal itself once someone entered that clearing, so the Spirits should already be approaching that area.
A fitting tension began at my fingertips, traveled along my spine, and finally spread to the finger resting on the trigger.
From this tree, the clearing was fairly visible, but I couldn’t be satisfied with just this.
‘I need to arrange one more contingency.’
The moment Ihyeon had such a thought.
BOOM——!!
A tremendous explosion echoed from the direction of the lair.
Simultaneously, dust billowed up from the edge of the Open Field.
It had begun.
Ihyeon peered through the scope into the dust cloud.
Jia and Elsie were positioned at a suitable distance apart.
Between them, large dark figures were confronting each of them.
Much smaller than ordinary trolls, but the silhouettes revealed their unmistakable characteristics as trolls.
‘Avatar Troll Warriors.’
The designation of the 60th Floor’s Floor Master flashed through my mind.
Jia and Elsie had essentially stepped into the prepared hunting ground of the Avatar Troll Warriors.
But what if that hunting ground were shattered from the outside?
I methodically constructed the plan piece by piece and sent a message to Jia.
「Ilgyeok: Point of arrival confirmed. Operation commencing.
Jia: As you command, Master.」
* * *
“Elsie, operation commencing.”
“Armored fox! Even at a time like this, that voice of yours!”
Elsie clicked her tongue upon hearing Jia’s serene voice.
True to her armored nature, not a tremor in that tone!
Whereas someone fragile and delicate like herself.
WHOOOOSH———!!!
She had to focus all her senses on the bone-chilling sound of the blade tearing through air.
Tap—!
Elsie lightly bounced and leaped upward.
A massive black greatsword passed through where her waist had been moments before, its wind pressure trailing behind.
Avatar Troll Warriors.
Tedious creatures.
Ones she had never wanted to encounter on the 60th Floor, in this place.
Or rather, was “creatures” even the right word?
‘Who knows—one careless mistake and I’ll be summoned back!’
Elsie created a sword wave in midair, then kicked off it and bolted in a completely different direction.
WHOOSH— CLANG—!
The black greatsword pursuing her relentlessly caught up and collided with her sword wave, producing an eerie sound.
Elsie unleashed sword waves at it with all her might.
Whoosh—
It seemed she could carve deeply into the creature’s body at any moment.
Poof—!
The creature that had been beneath Elsie’s feet an instant before vanished without a trace as her sword wave approached.
It was a peculiar sight, as if I were witnessing a mirage.
No, it would be more accurate to call it an actual illusion, or perhaps a mirage.
Elsie gritted her teeth and surveyed her surroundings.
The sword energy I had unleashed was never meant to capture him in the first place.
It was merely a warning to drive him away.
Massive Mirror Stones gleaming like mirrors.
As I quickly examined several of the stones nearby, I caught sight of a black silhouette in the closest one.
The reason we called them ‘Avatar Troll Warriors’ rather than simply ‘Troll Warriors’.
They exploited the Mirror Stones here as if they owned the place, emerging from anywhere to unleash devastating attacks.
And that wasn’t all.
The creature that had been attacking Jia had vanished without a trace.
It was the same illusion.
There was only a single true body.
Finding and destroying that one real form was precisely the requirement to clear the 60th Floor.
In other words, all of these Mirror Stones were potential threats that could target Jia and Elsie at any moment.
“Armored fox, you still remember the strategy, right?”
“Of course, Elsie.”
Jia nodded calmly in response to Elsie’s fierce question.
Elsie shouted with that same savage tone.
“If you get in the way or fall behind, I won’t go easy on you!”
With that, she bolted off to the right like an arrow.
Jia began running to the left almost simultaneously.
Whoosh—
Black energy rippled across the surfaces of the Mirror Stones they passed, then vanished rapidly.
Operation codename ‘Quicksilver’.
The strategy of Ihyeon, Jia, and Elsie to find the single true body among dozens of illusions had begun.
* * *
Information about the 60th Floor hadn’t been fully disclosed, but the essential elements for clearing it were at least somewhat known.
First, the Mirror Stones were divided into two main categories.
One type merely projected Avatar Trolls.
The other type was closely connected to the Avatar Troll’s true body and couldn’t be destroyed.
Therefore, the essential task for clearing the 60th Floor was to thoroughly destroy the first group.
Only by minimizing the Avatar Troll’s unpredictable movements could there be any chance of victory.
How do you distinguish between the two types, you ask?
“This one!”
Crash—!
Whenever Elsie and Jia spotted their reflections in a stone, they would instantly close in and swing their sword and shield.
Destroying the destructible stones wasn’t particularly difficult.
Moreover, it didn’t affect the rank rating.
No, the rank wasn’t the issue—it was an essential requirement for clearing the Floor.
Why?
‘I need to destroy all of it for the main body to appear.’
The true form of the Avatar Troll Warrior lurking somewhere within the Open Field of Mirror Stones.
The creature, clearly possessing far greater intelligence than an ordinary troll, rarely revealed itself unless the destructible stones were shattered.
Whoosh— Crash—!
All of the creatures moving back and forth between the mirror and the outside world, continuously swinging greatswords, spears, and clubs at Jia and Elsie, were nothing but illusions.
Of course, being struck by those attacks wouldn’t end with the word ‘illusion.’
Even if one could distinguish the destructible stones, actually destroying them proved extraordinarily difficult.
While two or three phantom trolls clung to her.
Whizz—! Clang—!
Suddenly, thick iron arrows were fired from within the mirror.
Jia angled her greatsword across her shoulder while simultaneously raising her shield to deflect the iron arrows.
True to its Warrior designation, the creature not only manipulated countless illusions but wielded many weapons with perfect freedom.
Merely contending with the visible enemies was overwhelming, and those iron arrows arriving from blind spots were nothing short of assassins themselves.
Fortunately, with Jia and Elsie splitting their efforts across both sides, the attacks didn’t concentrate on one target but dispersed between them.
Observing how smoothly the battle progressed, Ihyeon’s thoughts briefly wandered.
‘Come to think of it, there would be no record of two—or rather, three people clearing the 60th Floor.’
Of course, there might be S+ rank items existing in secret that even Ihyeon didn’t know about.
But since information on such cases couldn’t be gathered anyway, I set that aside.
In combat, the violence of numbers applied even when they were few.
Rather, it worked even more dramatically.
Work that one person had to do alone, done by two or three, meant combat power doubled or tripled.
Such idle thoughts didn’t linger long.
‘There.’
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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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