Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

His gestures, while looking at Ram Hwajeong, weren’t exactly delightful as he playfully moved his waist.

“…Filthy pervert.”

“Whoa, no way! Are you gonna talk to big bro like that? Weren’t we on the same side once? Isn’t that right?”

“No luck there.”

“Were you chickening out? Where were you? When we were fighting those guys, you were all buddy-buddy with me, and now you’re coming out like this? Huh? Did you forget the fun times we had back then—”

“Ice Spear.”

Ram Hwajeong didn’t wait.

As her near-instant casting skill was invoked, a beautiful ice lance shot out.

Swhooosh—!

“Eudadaadat, you, you scum!”

Kwaaah──────!

Croulli ran away while shouting, and a giant hand burst out from the ground where he had been standing.

Ram Hwajeong’s Ice Spear couldn’t even match the size of one of its fingers.

“Hehehe, you didn’t know about this, did you? Come on, get up, get up, you scum! Shall we first make that cute lady unable to move~?”

The makeshift golem, made from the remains after the destruction of City Gaza, was still in existence.

Thud, thud,

Rocks and gravel scattered as the ground slowly began to rise. Croulli had fled to the banks of the Tino River near City Gaza.

His reason for fleeing to the riverside was precisely to hide this golem. More than half of the massive golem’s body was submerged in the river.

Hwooooor──────!

A giant golem, about 14 meters tall, roared.

From its head to the water flowing at the top, it appeared surprisingly sturdy for a name like “scum.”

“How about that?! This is my masterpiece! With the right weapon, our scum can even take down a dragon 1:1—”

“Rubbish. Ice Wall. Ice Blast.”

Neither the overwhelming form of the giant golem nor Croulli’s noisy interference could change Ram Hwajeong’s expression.

She simply spoke her impression and immediately executed a double cast.

Quachachachachat—!

An ice wall sprang forth from the golem’s chest.

“Hoooot?! The golem is receiving ‘earth’ classification? Wasn’t that magic supposed to be usable on the ground?”

In an instant, a massive chunk of ice shot out to counter the frozen wall.

Ice Blast, showcasing a cold even more overwhelming than Ice Spear, collided with Ice Wall. The golem staggered momentarily, but that was it.

“Kyahahahat! That won’t do! You can’t just kill our scum like that!”

Proudly shouting, Croulli’s words were met with ice pieces breaking and scattering around the golem’s chest.

It was then that Ram Hwajeong’s true magic was unleashed.

“Freezing.”

Hwiiiiiii….

A magic that froze specific parts.

Though not an offensive spell, it was a status-altering magic. Every single piece of the Snowflake Mage’s magic acted as a refrigerant.

And the state of the golem?

The massive scum golem still had water flowing through various parts of its body, and Ram Hwajeong’s frozen magic fragments were scattering around that water.

“What’s this now…”

Kwadddddd, kwadddddd──────!

In short, a perfect environment for freezing.

Croulli stared at his golem with a bewildered expression.

He had seen ice crack and shatter many times, but this spreading and forming of ice was something he had never seen before.

Ice Wall rising, starting from the point of impact of Ice Blast, and every wet area of the golem began to freeze.

The time it took for around 70% of the 14-meter tall golem’s body to freeze completely didn’t even exceed two minutes.

Upon seeing the massive and slow golem, she had an instinctual link attack, realizing that parts of its physical form were subject to an ‘earth’ classification.

Her rapid and daring decision-making, a trait of the Middle Earth prodigy she was known as, was something that only she could execute.

“Whew…. Now, it’s your turn.”

However, even for Ram Hwajeong, it wasn’t an easy situation.

Pouring her mana into casting Freezing for over two minutes after the double casting was a daunting task.

Moreover, in that short span of time, she had cast four different types of skills, starting from Ice Spear until now, which inevitably led to rapid consumption of both her mana and focus.

“Wait, wait! It’s kind of unfair if you just kill me like this! We met after so long—”

“Die.”

Ram Hwajeong casually cut off his words. Blue particles were gathering around her body.

“Ahahaat—! You can’t do that! You can’t… Right. It can’t be done. Kukhuhu.”

Watching the scene where a potentially deadly spell was being cast, Croulli chuckled.

What he pulled out of his bag were yellow vials.

“I haven’t even had any fun yet, and I have to die now! Leeha, get up, you scum!”

Croulli grabbed the vials lodged between his fingers like a baseball player and threw them with all his might.

Whooosh— The vials flew through the air, hitting the golem’s chest and shattering.

Ram Hwajeong chuckled as she watched the scene.

“It’s useless. Status-removing potions can’t melt ice—”

Thudddd…. Thudddd….

Even before she finished speaking, the ice enveloping the golem’s body began to crack. Pieces broke off, fell, and shards of ice flew.

It wasn’t just ordinary ice; it was her ice magic, ranked 9th, the magic of the Middle Earth prodigy….

“…This can’t be happening.”

The blue particles that had entered Ram Hwajeong’s body disappeared in an instant. This meant that she was so shocked that it was difficult for her to focus on casting.

“Hehehehe! Can’t believe it? Or did your sister not tell you anything? The results of that research back then are exactly this! I’ve created a perfect Thawing Potion, here!”

Croulli moved his long body in a wobbly dance, showcasing the potion he had seen in secret to Ram Hwayeon just before the final battle between Flame Red and Byeolcho.

“…Urine…!”

“Oho? You remember, huh! That’s right. Of course, it’s not really urine, but hehe, this is an upgraded version of what we had back then! Leeha!”

Even a Middle Earth genius wouldn’t have been able to predict the exact dynamics.

Only Croulli and herself were here.

Despite having no one to assist Croulli, why did he cut off communication first?

Because of his tendency towards pedophilia?

“No-no-no, you scum! Go and grab that brat and squeeze her tight! And get up, you stone golems! Go and help your big brother~!”

That wasn’t it. Croulli was also a famous outsider in Middle Earth. He possessed the ability to read the flow.

In other words, Croulli had confidence in capturing Ram Hwajeong.

Croulli cast a skill once again. He reached out to the large rocks near the riverbank and started moving with his hands and feet.

“Blizzard.”

Ram Hwajeong immediately began casting a wide-ranging spell. However, the 14-meter tall golem’s stride was wider than she had anticipated.

Kwooong, kwooong…. The massive golem and the regular stone golems were closing in on Ram Hwajeong quickly.

***

“Oooh, Blizzard!”

Croulli suddenly started drooling.

“This is exactly what I’ve been wanting to see. If I can collect mana for that refrigerant, I could definitely create a similar potion with rapid cooling!”

Even as Ram Hwajeong cast her ultimate magic, Croulli’s eyes were flashing.

His obsession, perfectly fitting the term ‘mad scientist’!

To establish a certain reputation in Middle Earth, something had to be odd. As if to prove this point, Croulli performed a dance while holding a vial he had never seen before.

“Of course, I can’t take all of it! Just keep causing interference, you guys! Kikhikhi, charge!”

The stone golems sped up due to his dance moves.

Kwooong— Kwooong—!

The scum golem also stepped on the stone golems and hurried forward.

“Ugh.”

Ram Hwajeong’s expression contorted momentarily, and her mana flow trembled.

But she was an unparalleled genius of Middle Earth, and not just any genius, but a hardworking one.

Her skills, now even more advanced than her previous moving casting, could be seen as unparalleled in Middle Earth.

Casting the ultimate area-of-effect magic, she started running.

Backwards.

“A backstep?! Uwah! Casting Blizzard while moving with backsteps?”

Croulli exclaimed.

Of course, he was well aware of Ram Hwajeong’s excellence. However, her movements now were beyond just excellent; they were astonishing to the point that saying they were impressive wasn’t enough.

Even simple moving casting while walking was first-class. Running while casting moving magic was ranker-level. But what could you call it when you cast while running, not just forward, but backward?

With each step of her sparrow-like legs on the gravel field by the riverside, her body rapidly moved backward, as if she were becoming a ranger.

The stone golems, slow by nature, were now somewhat faster, but even the scum golem couldn’t keep up with her speed.

What about the Blizzard that didn’t budge?

She kept checking the target and the range of the magic as she backstepped, ensuring a safe distance to retreat her body.

“Kiiit, no! Where are you going? Give me that mana! Show me that refrigerant!”

Only then did Croulli sense a dangerous aura and hurriedly started running, but it was already after all of Ram Hwajeong’s body had absorbed the blue particles.

“Get lost.”

Paaah──────!

Raising both her arms to the sky, she released her mana.

Hail and snowstorm began to pour down from the sky in an instant.

“Khihik—! My, my golems, Jeeeeng—Ramhwa-jeeeooong—!”

Croulli poured thawing potion into his body in a hurry and dashed forward, but Blizzard’s strong winds wouldn’t allow it.

Whooosh—!

“Nooh, nooooot—! My goooooleeems! Ooh, aaack?!”

Wanting to escape far from Croulli to grab Ram Hwajeong, even the scum golem found it impossible. The golems gradually froze and stopped, and he found himself in an environment where he couldn’t leave either.

His playful expression turned grim.

“She said you won’t come…! This is a mess!”

After pouring thawing potion, Croulli threw various vials from his bag in a haphazard manner.

Vials that flew randomly in the blizzard, vials that collided with falling hail and shattered, vials that stuck into the ground…

Crack, crack!

The sound of glass breaking and various chemicals enveloped Croulli’s surroundings.

“I should have collected them for research, but… Well, you know, if you keep messing around with a girl for a while, it’s not something that can’t be resolved, right? Get up, get up, ice fairies—keh!”

Scattering mana with his arms spread out, Croulli’s body staggered from a hailstone impact.

But there was no way that a single hit would kill him.

Mana that had escaped from his surviving body flowed neatly into the vials he had scattered around.

Splash— Plaplaplap…

Strange noises started coming from the air at that moment.

While Blizzard’s strong winds were still ongoing, the blizzard that would have completely obscured the vision and hailstones that were large enough to knock someone out with a single hit had calmed down all of a sudden.

“…My mana….”

Not only had they calmed down, but the hail and snowballs had also converged.

This was quite shocking for Ram Hwajeong too. Her mana was becoming her opponent’s strength?!

“D-did it work?! Oh, yeah! Good! Now, ha, hehe, you have the mana of that girl! Use ice magic or whatever to your heart’s content!”

A type of golem made of ice.

In some sense, it was the worst monster for Ram Hwajeong.

“Ice Spear, Ice Spear.”

Swoosh, swoosh—!

Sharp ice spears flew through Blizzard’s strong winds, but it was all in vain. All it did was create more mud puddles from the mud splashed by the ice spears.

“Nnngh—! Gguh—!”

Squelch, squelch.

As the Ice Spears vanished, the size of the ice golem increased. The Ice Spears had been absorbed by the ice golem.

“Would the mana made of the same refrigerant be effective, I wonder? Kuhahaha! Damn it! I should have collected the refrigerant before throwing the vials!”

Croulli was disappointed that he had used up all his vials.

“Now, go, ice go—”

Swoosh—!

When Croulli shouted in joy at the success of his experiment, his disappointment, his persistent insanity, it was already 15 minutes later.

Ram Hwajeong used teleportation without any hesitation.