The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 109
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 109
With the determination to end it all with this one shot.
‘Even if I pass out after shooting, Oli will handle the aftermath. She’ll figure out the sniper position.’
[Lament: …I wish to meet the Creator. The Creator would perfectly empathize with this artificial spirit’s current feelings.]
[Casting: Applying enhancement magic to the user’s arms and eyes.]
Grace complained endlessly while casting magic at the precise timing. She was told to cast 1 minute and 40 seconds after the signal, so there were 20 seconds left until the promised sniping time.
’20, 19, 18…’
Lillieta peered at the rampaging Crawler through her enhanced vision, delicately adjusting her muzzle.
’10, 9, 8…’
She closed one eye and pressed her cheek against the gun barrel. Her hand moved from the trigger guard to the trigger. She slowly exhaled. The moment her breath left her lips, she held it.
‘5, 4, 3…’
In her concentrated, narrowed field of vision, the most vulnerable part of the Crawler’s body—the gap between what would be the clitellum and head in an earthworm—came into perfect focus. That point aligned in a straight line with the sight across the vast distance.
‘1.’
Fire.
* * *
“Luca, hold on! You have to endure somehow until Gid or Rita arrives!”
Olivia shouted. Beacon’s youngest, transformed into a blue-furred beast, howled like a wolf instead of answering and bulked up his muscles even more.
The response itself was manageable. No one was injured and the Crawler was properly contained within the magic circle’s range. Luca was holding up better than expected.
The problem was insufficient firepower.
The mage gritted her teeth while surveying the battle situation. At this rate, they could only hold their ground.
‘How long has it been since I sent the signal with no response? What are those two doing!’
The Special Agents were doing their best, but it wasn’t nearly enough. At their level, they could beat on it all day and not even scratch the Crawler’s hide. All their techniques were bouncing off.
To penetrate that damn rocky shell and deal damage to the Crawler required attack power on the level of Gid or Rita.
‘If worst comes to worst, should I send Luca into its mouth? Will the defensive magic hold up? That damn acidic fluid is the problem…’
It was then that her hand mirror glinted as she ground her teeth. Short text glowed on the mirror’s surface.
1km southwest, Matan on standby. Sniping scheduled in 2 minutes, targeting clitellum area.
‘Rita’s here!’
Olivia was delighted but immediately felt puzzled.
But why suddenly sniping? The old-style revolver doesn’t have a built-in sniper mode, so she must have crafted the parts herself, but that’s complicated and difficult, right? In that case, wouldn’t it be better to just run over and join us?
‘Did something happen to Rita?’
Though suspicious, she decided to check directly later, and Oli shouted to the Special Agents and Luca for now.
“Matan’s sniper support will come in about 1 minute 30 seconds! She said clitellum area, so be careful not to get caught up and hold on just a little longer!”
At those words, Luca’s face brightened as he grabbed near the Crawler’s tail, far from the clitellum. Meanwhile, the Special Agents’ atmosphere became unsettled.
‘Sniping? Sniping? When all the bullets are bouncing off?’
‘Even hitting it up close doesn’t leave a scratch, but sniping will work? Will it be effective?’
‘Even if she’s a member of Beacon… unlike the other Beacons, didn’t she just recently join?’
‘Where exactly is she sniping from? We can’t even see her?’
The Tritoma Special Forces didn’t know about Pascal’s history or the Ash Ruin Era, but they knew quite well about the new power called ‘Oaths,’ the secret technique called ‘Oathbinding,’ and the monsters called ‘Beasts.’
And the pioneers, teachers, and command structure who taught them all these things were precisely ‘Beacon.’
They had existed since the Special Forces was established three years ago, and were the strong ones who directly taught the Special Agents by classifying them into Enhancement, Transition, and Processing types.
Those who used swords learned from Gideon, infiltration teams learning dagger techniques and hidden weapons from Ethan, combat techniques and other weapon skills from Lucas, healers from Seraphina, unique Transition-type Oathbinders other than healers from Isaiah, and mages and Mage Gunners learned everything from Olivia.
Unlike the existing Beacons whose excellent skills the Special Agents had already witnessed and experienced multiple times, Lillieta was an unfamiliar and new figure.
They accepted her as a Beacon since the other Beacons said she was one, but they didn’t really feel it.
During the Kraken incident and the Doppelganger incident, no Special Agent had directly seen her combat. Of course, there were no agents during the boat trip since it was completely unexpected, and during the Doppelganger incident, even though it was a battle in Beacon Garden, all the Special Agents were captured and knocked unconscious, leaving no witnesses.
The Beacons had mentioned their colleague ‘Matan’s’ achievements and skills a few times, but since recalling Matan’s absence was itself painful for them, they didn’t go into detailed stories.
Therefore, this was the first time.
The first time the Tritoma Special Agents, who were modern-era Oathbinders, properly recognized what kind of existence ‘Matan’ was.
The red-haired swordsman and black-haired Mage Gunner who had become specimens for the Doppelganger in Beacon Garden belonged to Tritoma Team 3. They stopped beating the Crawler like a sandbag and had a quiet conversation.
“Matan is the one who saved us back then, right? What do you think, as a fellow Mage Gunner? Do you think sniping could penetrate this thing’s shell?”
“Don’t you see all the bullets bouncing off right now? Even explosive rounds, paralysis rounds, and armor-piercing rounds shot at point-blank range don’t work, but sniping from an invisible ultra-long distance? That’s ridiculous.”
“But she’s also a Beacon. Wouldn’t she have some special secret?”
“Hmm… Right, since she’s a Beacon, even if a killing blow is impossible, she’ll provide some kind of breakthrough. Like making a scratch or driving in a wedge…”
“You think that’s all? Then what does ‘be careful not to get caught up’ mean? The commander wouldn’t lie… Huh?”
The red-haired agent stopped swinging his sword and looked up at the sky. The black-haired Mage Gunner also stopped loading Oaths into his magazine and raised his head.
The sky was dyed red.
Was the sun already setting? Those who thought so for a moment soon realized it was a mistake. If it were actual twilight, it wouldn’t be falling toward them.
A sun burning white while wrapped in sunset-like red light falls across the blue sky.
Terrifying speed. It approaches in the blink of an eye, and the sound of air being torn strikes their ears.
“Everyone get out of the way!”
“Everyone dodge!”
Olivia’s cry and Lucas’s shout burst out simultaneously.
Anyone who wasn’t an idiot could tell that a tremendous impact would occur where that twilight fell. The Special Agents, who were already retreating after feeling instinctive danger, moved away from the Crawler even faster at their commanders’ orders.
Lucas, who had been holding onto the Crawler’s tail area until the last moment, escaped at lightning speed just before impact.
Soon after, the glowing sphere wrapped in red heat crashed like a comet into the bewildered Crawler’s clitellum segment.
An eardrum-bursting explosion erupted along with explosive heat. The earth shook, the forest trembled, and smoke rose like clouds.
Olivia reflexively cast defensive magic while cursing internally.
‘You crazy bastard, how much Oath did you cram into one shot!’
Her barrier blocked the heat and explosive sound from spreading too far.
The red-haired and black-haired Special Agents froze at the shocking power of the ‘snipe.’ Other Special Agents also turned pale or widened their eyes.
The Crawler’s hide visible through the rising smoke burst open and fluid sprayed like a fountain. The monster that hadn’t even been scratched despite their one-sided beating was now melting and convulsing.
Lucas, in his giant beast form, grabbed the frozen Special Agents by the scruff like catching cats and threw them backward to avoid getting caught in the explosion and the Crawler’s rampage.
Graaahhh!
In the billowing smoke, the Crawler let out an agonized roar while writhing its long, massive body. Lucas dodged the acidic fluid spraying in all directions and shouted toward Olivia.
“Sis, that thing still seems to be alive!”
“Even so, it’s all torn up! Once the heat dies down, approach immediately and finish it off!”
“Yes!”
He remained alert and ready to spring into action while watching the smoke. Olivia suddenly noticed her hand mirror was glowing and looked down at it.
Matan found, will protect. Focus on Beast cleanup.
It was Gid’s signal received moments ago.
‘Gid found Rita.’
The anxiety that had risen after hearing Rita would snipe quickly subsided.
Whatever crazy stunt that damn lunatic Matan pulled this time, Gid would perfectly handle it and take her somewhere safe. Oli let out a sigh of relief and focused on the battlefield.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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