Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

『Huuuup―!』

───────────────!

The breath of the Ancient red dragon Labatt was unleashed.

Despite a considerable delay in starting, Faust finally managed to catch up with Kaztor and Chiyou, actively using the “flight” of the Lich Dragons.

“Oh my… Faust.”

“Is that ‘the vampire’?”

Although a nearly white flame breath was unleashed, Chiyou and Kaztor laughed nonchalantly.

While Faust’s departure was clearly secret, the exact time of departure had been reported by Sasuke. More importantly, Chiyou, who could hear the information of “Ghibrid” spreading across the eastern parts of the New Continent, had a fairly accurate grasp of Faust’s movements.

“I mentioned it could be today if he was fast, or tomorrow at the latest, right? You said I was useless to the Count, but I’m not that easy to overlook.”

Chiyou appealed to Kaztor, who subtly belittled her, trying to show her worth.

Collecting information through Ghibrid was essential with the cooperation of Bluebeard, which, in itself, almost proved her capability.

“Hmph.”

Of course, Kaztor was not one to acknowledge such things.

The seasoned dark elf, still maintaining the form of Rotzak, waved his hand at the red dragon’s breath.

With a simple light gesture, the incoming breath turned into a flock of sparrows and flew around.

“Goodness… that’s―”

“There are many interesting techniques among the dragons.”

It was an application of what Bahamut once did, converting the black dragon Onyx’s breath to “acacia scent”.

Although Chiyou couldn’t know the details, she could roughly guess there was a dragon-specific skill to counter breath attacks.

“… What? Why did the breath― Damn it, everyone attack! Subdue those damned guys!”

The one most surprised was the originator of the breath.

Faust commanded all his Lich Dragons. The roar of the Lich Dragons spread through the air.

Some monsters nearby, frightened by the dragon roar, tried to flee, but Chiyou and Kaztor, the intended targets of the dragon roar, remained calm.

“You don’t expect me to clean up your mess, do you?”

“Of course not. But… if Kaztor-nim could help just a bit, we might clean it up faster.”

“No chance. If you hold me back when every second counts, I’ll leave first.”

“Hmph, understood. Please wait, then.”

Without Chiyou, Kaztor couldn’t assure safety with just his combat power alone.

Nonetheless, he acted tough, and Chiyou knowingly fell for it.

‘It would have been dangerous at night.’

Chiyou was confident of her victory. It would be inevitable for Faust too, after all.

Having become a vampire, she had never fought another vampire and had never encountered anyone who opposed her as the Vampire Queen.

“Chiyooo! How dare you treat me like a mere pawn―”

“〈In the Name of the Queen〉, stop.”

Can an ordinary vampire defy the Vampire Queen during the day?

Regular vampires can’t move in daylight.

As for NPCs, they have the penalty of turning into statues.

So, what about players?

“―Kh!”

Faust froze in place.

Stunned by the fact that just a single word applied the same effect as 〈Status Effect: Paralysis〉, Faust couldn’t even open his mouth.

―I merely made you stop now. If I use the skill once more, I could kill you right here.

―What is this? How did you do it?

―I am the Queen. You understand, right?

―What does that― does it mean you can do as you please?

―Heh, this must be how Le felt. Even if it’s an NPC, this kind of fun is hard to pass up.

He had enjoyed becoming a vampire.

With the grand second job of “Deathbringer”, he could handle the undead he couldn’t manage before, and the level of the undead he had handled rose to an absurd height.

However, rapid growth inevitably comes with repercussions.

One of those penalties was exactly this.

The deprivation of freedom.

The Demon King’s army, structured like a pyramid, had to completely defer their actions to the “superior ranks” no matter how great a power they obtained. It didn’t matter whether the superior ranks were users or NPCs.

“Could it be that all this time, you’ve been controlled by Bluebeard?”

“Hehe, that’s none of your concern, is it?”

Hearing Chiyou’s laughter, Faust felt a chilling sensation. During the Kuzgunak’shy incident, he had once received a quest from Le and gained power 1:1. However, there wasn’t such a restrictive limitation of actions in the “storyline” that progressed back then. Moreover, since he had been expelled from the Demon King’s army due to death, the penalty at that time was merely the compounded severity of penalties caused by death.

He thought it would be the same for Igor and other users. But now? With the emergence of Toon, Bathory, and other Demon King’s Fragments, and as they delved deeper into the Demon King’s army, it seemed the Middle Earth’s system imposed penalties on users to prevent them from escaping.

“You crazy woman. What do you think you’ll gain by doing this?”

Having grasped the situation, that was all Faust could manage to say. Despite understanding it was fortunate he could still whisper, and even though every physical control could be stripped away by an NPC, he continued to blame Chiyou, who didn’t even blink.

“Shut up. Stop the dragon. I’m giving you two seconds.”

The response was merely a ruthless threat! Faust, frozen in place, watched Chiyou approach. Without his explicit command, the lich dragons would tear the target before them apart. Would that happen first, or would his body explode first? Faust had no choice but to decide.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!”

Screeeeech…

The flying dragons gradually slowed their flight. Seeing this, Chiyou smiled.

“It’s nice to see you from a distance, Faust.”

Even the superficial respect shown until now was gone. The vampire queen, who had now fully displayed her power, showcased her superiority over a ‘lesser’ user like him. Kaztor approached them.

“You arrived at a perfect time. It might not have been sent by Le, but the timing couldn’t be better.”

“……”

Faust couldn’t utter a word, merely staring at Kaztor. Only then did Chiyou, as if she had just remembered, release his paralysis.

“Ugh, I thought you might have noticed me… But what do you mean by perfect timing?”

“Show proper respect to Kaztor-nim, Faust.”

“……What are you saying?”

At Chiyou’s single remark, Faust’s tone changed. Kaztor glanced briefly at Chiyou before turning his gaze back to Faust. Chiyou, interpreting the look as praise, bowed politely. Satisfied that the hierarchy had been perfectly established, Kaztor began to speak more to Faust.

“Pyrot-Cocri has awakened.”

“Pyrot-Cocri!? If that’s the case—”

“It might be natural for Le to make a move, but the problem lies in the humans’ actions. Chiyou?”

“Yes. The one related to Pyrot-Cocri is Ha Leeha. There was a large-scale massacre of vampires in the eastern part of the New Continent. We should’ve noticed when the incident occurred near the Dark Forest… But this time it was impossible to cover it up. Either Ha Leeha himself or those connected to him will be coming for us. There’s over a 70% chance.”

Chiyou hissed. For her, information with about 70% accuracy was as good as trash. It was natural for her to be angry at herself for having to package such “trash” as information and at the group of people who deceived her.

‘Decoys like Lepanto… That damned guy. But from the moment I noticed those plans, it only proved that Ha Leeha, you bastard, are coming at us.’

The decoy tactics using Lepanto bought them exactly one day. However, during that day, Chiyou, having lost her direction regarding where to concentrate her efforts, failed to allocate Shinobigumi and Yamato’s powers properly. As a result, she could explain the situation only as an uneasy assumption rather than with assured information.

‘This whole thing was a trick from the Dark Forest. Moving deliberately to the Gaza City, wasting time in the western part of the New Continent just to hide Pyrot-Cocri—’

Finally realizing that she’d been deceived by Leeha, Chiyou was already thinking of swift countermeasures, although she couldn’t use her ‘skill’ anymore.

“Therefore… Faust, I hope you stay here and hold them off. I don’t know how many will come, or who, or how great their power is. But it’s certain that Ha Leeha and Alexander will be among them.”

***

She recalled Faust, who was pursuing her.

He was not a user who had good feelings toward him anyway. However, compared to Igor or Pyro, it was clear that he was a much more useful card.

Betrayal could be controlled, but one could not stop ‘words’ from spreading.

If someone deserted, even at the cost of a penalty, there was a likelihood that various information about the Demon King’s army would leak out. Thus, Chiyou was altogether aiming for mutual destruction, like the classic strategy, against the mysterious group that had crossed over with Faust to the Eastern New Continent.

“You are so confident despite saying it’s only at 70% certainty?”

“The decision-making process should be swift if you have more than 70% of the information. I made the proposal; now it’s your turn to decide.”

Chiyou, treating Faust with respect again after belittling him earlier, asked in a composed manner.

Faust pondered for a moment at her knack for giving and taking away control over people.

“What if I agree… what’s the payoff?”

“Payoff? Ahaha! Even in this situation, you’re asking for a payoff—”

“〈Dark Protector〉!”

Kaztor abruptly chanted his skill name. As a dark aura enveloped his body, a loud sound echoed.

Kaaahhhhhhhhhh—!

With the sound of a gunshot, Kaztor’s body crumpled like a puppet and rolled on the ground.

It all happened in an instant.

* * *

“Kaztor-nim!”

“W-what’s this?! 〈Bone Shield〉!”

Quickly creating a bone shield, Faust covered himself and ran toward the horde of Lich Dragons.

Chiyou also ran toward Kaztor, using her 〈Dance of Socialites〉 skill, worried she might get attacked. However, their concerns were only driven by their racing hearts.

Bang, bang!

A series of gunshots resonated along with sharp, piercing sounds cutting through the air. But none of the bullets were aimed at Chiyou and Faust.

“Damn it! Stop running and fight back—”

Kaztor couldn’t even stand up properly.

Although he managed to deflect the damage by creating a shield, he couldn’t ignore the inherent physical energy of the bullets. Each hit caused him to stagger, losing his balance.

“—Chiyou! Over there! Capture those bastards! The fact they launched a counterattack means they couldn’t have entered Saur Land! We must catch them this time!”

“Understood!”

Though Chiyou awkwardly changed direction, she had no clue what or how to pursue.

She recalled the formidable power shown by Brown, Elizabeth, and Arcane Sniper as she came this far.

‘Damn, avoiding just Ha Leeha’s bullets with the Dance of Sociability was tough. To evade three…’

Three who could easily be considered beyond Ha Leeha’s level.

Chiyou’s half-hearted pursuit was understandable.

As Kaztor continued to layer shield-type skills for protection, and Chiyou initiated a half-hearted pursuit, Faust thought.

‘Saur Land? What’s that?’

The single word, overheard, was too vital to ignore.

Although not as perceptive as Chiyou, Faust was not a clueless user. Who were Kaztor and Chiyou chasing?

Given their intent to reach somewhere, the overheard word provided an essential clue.

‘Saur… like dinosaurs? Is there a land of dinosaurs? Why? I’ve heard something about Arcane Sniper, but what does that have to do with dinosaurs—no, toawn?’

Toawn was a remarkably unique entity for a monster.

‘Could it be related to that?’

The rapid barrage of bullets suddenly ceased, and Chiyou returned, having failed her half-hearted chase a few minutes later.

“I’m sorry. Their movements were simply too fast for me to pursue…”

“Ugh, is it because it’s not night yet? You’re useless as a vampire. Fine. But the fact that they showed themselves indicates urgency. We have to chase them right now!”

Kaztor’s uncharacteristic urgency left Chiyou bewildered.

Watching them, Faust stepped forward.

“I… will hinder the pursuers here.”

Had he been less perceptive, Faust might not have accepted their proposal.

But having a taste of valuable information, Faust couldn’t escape their offer.

“Good. You will—”

“However… nothing comes free, ‘Queen’.”

Of course, Faust wouldn’t die alone.

What he swiftly pulled out from his bag was a 〈Contract〉. Chiyou’s expression twisted.