Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

‘Ah…’

From the beginning, Leeha hasn’t used a single point on mind! Obtaining a staggering amount in this area was already a luxury, enough to provoke envy from other users.

“It’s not too late now. I should start paying more attention to mana management for a while.”

The character invested 5 points into mind and, after closing Leeha window, darkness on the edge of the forest began to come into view for Leeha.

“Ah! Blaugrunn-ssi! Can you see it clearly now? It’s the perfect time to attack.”

“Is that so?”

With dusk beginning to fall, the Shades would likely start becoming active. As Leeha rummaged through the bag once again to retrieve items, Blaugrunn suddenly raised his head.

“Ha Leeha, be careful! It’s dangerous!”

“Huh? Whoa!”

“[Absolute Shield]!”

Blaugrunn quickly cast a spell while embracing Leeha. Completely unaware, Leeha had to endure the onslaught of various types of magic pouring down before him.

“What, what is this sudden magic?”

Despite a massive explosion causing both Blaugrunn and Leeha to be pushed away significantly, thanks to the Absolute Shield, no harm was done. However, Blaugrunn’s face was noticeably distorted.

“I don’t know either, but… that’s incredible power.”

It wasn’t without damage. After checking Blaugrunn’s tense face, Leeha immediately turned his head.

“Absolute Shield has cracks in it…”

The aftermath of the explosion made it difficult to see ahead due to the debris. However, the fact that gold had chipped off from one of the most powerful defensive spells Blaugrunn could use was visibly concerning.

“I sense at least four energies. It’s not a joke. Be careful—”

“Leeha! You son of a-!”

As Blaugrunn was casting a new barrier spell with tension, a voice from the other side of the dark forest could be heard.

“Who- who’s there!? Who is it?”

“I’ll kill you! Because of you—! Get lost!”

The voice sounded familiar, but the owner didn’t immediately come to mind. Did they recognize him? Did someone bear such a grudge against him?

“Elerestra! Celestine! Selena! Noeanen! Kill that bastard right now!”

As the next words followed the voice, he realized who it was. His eyes widened, but there was a strange sense of amusement creeping up.

“Pff, P-Prea.”

The white-eyed spiritualist, Prea, was trying to offer everything she had to him.

“Master! Release the transformation-“

“No, not now.”

Blaugrunn was preparing to transform back into his dragon form to confront Prea, but Leeha stopped him.

“You??”

“I was the one who set the conditions from the beginning… I had somewhat expected this.”

“Conditions? Expectations? Is this the time to talk about that? [Absolute Barrier]!”

Blaugrunn hastily used barrier magic.

The supreme elemental magic of the four highest-ranked mystical creatures poured down. The supreme water spirit Elerestra.

The supreme wind spirit Celestine. The supreme fire spirit Selena. The supreme earth spirit Noeanen. Handling just one would elevate someone’s status as an outsider.

It was a well-known fact from the national war that even a rock mage who once faced Leeha had raised his name by handling just one earth spirit.

Handling the four top-grade spirit indicated a level of skill that could be described as ‘cheating.’

“But you should’ve provided that level of power. Um, certainly… I thought there would be something!”

At this moment, Leeha couldn’t understand why Prea was here, but he knew very well why she was furious with him.

“So, what’s so special about the dark spirit we found with great effort! Who do you think you are! If you guys can’t do it, I’ll kill you all!”

Prea shouted as if pleading. Leeha felt a mix of guilt and satisfaction.

Why were they heading to the Dark Forest? It was because they had negotiated a deal with them to help Leeha escape from the forest in exchange for showing them scenes of Toon’s assassination!

And the one that was missing was right there. Leeha didn’t even have to contract with them. However… when thinking about the connection between Prea and the Demon King’s Army, one thing came to mind.

[I don’t want to play but I want to see!]

“Kishi! How will that addict’s end be?! I want to see! I want to see!”

“Yeah, you’re right, I’m curious, curious!”

The Elementals liked Toon but didn’t want to be close to him. Playful as they were, there would be no more serious beings than the Elementals if it meant protecting their own ego.

Their bodies are always buried within the Element. Let’s film Toon’s death scene for the Elementals and deliver it to them.

Subject: Filming Toon’s death scene for the Elementals

Reward: Move to the outskirts of the Dark Forest East designated for User Shadow Elemental Contract Prohibition (Target: “Prea”)

Failure Condition: Failure to film Toon’s death scene

Failure Result: -100% Intimacy with all Dark Elementals, nightly unexpected attacks by Shadow Elementals

Therefore, it was necessary to embark on an adventure. Through negotiations, Leeha had to put up two ‘rewards,’ and the cost of failure was as brutal as it gets.

From the moment he heard that Toon passed through the Dark Forest, Leeha had the determination to capture him, no matter what.

“Leeha-nim! Then let me retaliate! Just blocking won’t be enough!”

“Retaliate? We have to. But… I will do it.”

“Yes! Yes?”

Casting another spell, Blaugrunn, who was about to rush out, turned back to Leeha with a bewildered expression.

“I know your attacks are strong, Leeha! But the top-grade Elementals are not beings that can be easily destroyed.”

“Well, there are things stronger than swords in this world. Watch carefully now. There are a few things I’ve been curious about for a long time.”

“Wait a minute! Leeha-nim!”

Leeha clasped Black Bass and walked out of Blaugrunn’s barrier. Without giving Blaugrunn any chance to stop him, Prea commanded her Elemental, “He came out on his own feet! Elerestra! Restrain!”

The top-grade Water Elemental, with a flowing skirt, stood before Leeha. Just as a large water droplet seemed to swallow Leeha whole, his mouth finally opened.

“Top-grade Water Elemental, Lady Elerestra. Nice to meet you. Is Elaim-nim doing well? It’s been quite a while since I couldn’t greet her.”

“What, how did you…”

“Jellypong, greet her.”

[Myong!]

Swish-!

Jellypong unattached from Leeha’s body. The large water droplet that was rapidly approaching Leeha stopped in its tracks.

“This was directly granted by Lord Elaim, water Spirit King. There’s no way the Water Spirits can’t recognize it. Well… it’s a fact confirmed by ‘Drake’ in Dragon Palace, after all.”

Prea called upon the Water Elemental. Leeha encountered the mermaids who had manifested as water spirits. Among them was even the sea god, who seemed to be the embodiment of the Water Spirit King. If the sea god was indeed the embodiment of the Water Spirit King, could the water spirits used by Prea defy the sea god’s commands? These were the hypotheses that Leeha pondered one day. Confirming it was not difficult since communication with Drake was always possible.

Elerestra blinked her large eyes. But Prea, the spiritualist with shimmering white eyes, was blinking at an even faster pace, seemingly unable to focus.

“What, what are you doing, Elerestra! This is breaking our promise!”

Prea shouted towards Elerestra, who simply tilted her head in response.

“Well, fine. We’ll discuss that later. Then, selena! Incinerate him!”

“Sure thing. He has a spark in him too!”

The next spirit Prea referred to was the top-grade fire spirit, selena. The fire spirit, who had once targeted Leeha on behalf of Toan, now threw a burning ember at Leeha with a scowling face.

“Leeha-nim!?”

Leeha, however, remained still. He didn’t use Platinum Shield, nor did he dodge using Ghost in the Shell.

“Y-you dare to oppose me… All of you will be excluded…”

Prea, whose forced smile twisted into a grimace, quickly hardened his expression. As flames engulfed the area, Leeha shrugged off the ashes, removing the charred layer from his shoulder.

“By the way, I apologize for my rudeness last time, selena. I troubled you a lot due to my lack of manners. Is Ifrit doing well?”

“Y-you… H-how did you… How could you withstand that attack?”

Leeha looked at the rabbit-eyed Selena, showing a calm smile. Naturally, he had endured it.

“I once fetched a Fire Flower for Ifrit, you see. You haven’t heard about it in the spirit world? Oh, while I was at it, I also took a bit of root for myself… I’m quite resistant to fire.”

Leeha’s fire resistance was +125%.

“Fire… Flower?”

Leeha’s expression of surprise at the differences in the personalities of water and fire spirits clearly showed.

“Wow… Impressive.”

“Indeed. He was always a troublemaker, but I never expected him to find his way to a place like this.”

Chiyou couldn’t help but think, ‘It’s incredible.’

How long had it been since they crossed over to the eastern part of the new continent where even spatial movements were restricted and walked northward?

Chasing after the swift footsteps of Bluebeard towards the north, they finally reached a snowy mountain peak.

“The terrain heading north from the western part of the new continent was closer to the eastern region. It even felt like the Arctic over there. Here, everywhere you looked was filled with perennial snow.”

However, the place where Chiyou and Bluebeard stood was not even a ‘summit.’

It was merely the middle of the mountain, where nothing could be seen except snow and ice.

“Could this be the Himalayas?”

The relentless snowstorm, the abrupt crevasses disappearing, and occasional avalanches threatened Chiyou and Bluebeard.

Even for her, a high-ranking Ranker, there were traps in the terrain that she couldn’t avoid despite her movements, making her heart race with fear. The level of danger was beyond words.

“If Count Le hadn’t helped, I would have died. Shamefully.”

She said, looking at Bluebeard before raising her head. The mountain peaks still looked far away.

“That way.”

However, there was something faintly visible near the peak.

“It’s Bransylvania Castle.”

“Keep in mind. I won’t be able to help you from there onwards. Be careful. If you think you can’t make it, it’s better to come back more prepared.”

Bluebeard looked straight into Chiyou’s eyes.

It was amusingly serious, but Chiyou understood that his laughter contained no mockery or provocation.

“Is this guy really giving advice…?”

Literally meaning ‘not ordinary.’

The danger there was beyond imagination. Chiyou nodded her head.

She had roughly grasped their current location. However, even if she ‘prepared,’ wouldn’t she need to know what to prepare for?

“Well, I appreciate the Count’s concern. But you need to test the water by dipping your foot and checking whether it’s hot or cold.”

Chiyou used a Japanese metaphor, and Bluebeard understood it, bursting into laughter.

He then replied with a cryptic remark.

“Haha, no need to worry about that. The coldest thing you’ve ever experienced since birth will definitely be there.”

Chiyou was approaching the coldest place in the world, the snowy mountains of the northeastern part of the new continent.