Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

“Don’t laugh too much. I’m not as good as Ha Leeha-nim, but I’m still playing Druid while taking advantage of the giant’s racial characteristics.”

“I’m not mocking you. It’s because you’re interesting. And I’m not a super expert. I was just lucky while pulling the trigger a few times.”

“You’re still humble. That’s even nicer.”

“Hehe, don’t compliment me so much. Aren’t we already familiar with each other?”

Leeha and Jin Gonggong joked around like that and entered the foot of the mountain.

It was hard to climb the snowy mountain without a designated hiking trail, it snowed even halfway up the mountain.

“Phew, I’m going to do some maintenance now. It’s a hunting ground from here.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“If you go in this direction, you will find the Angora Orc Village, further up from there will be the Yeti habitat. There are a lot of users, but you have to be careful.”

Jin Gonggong was skilled. Like someone who had been in the Shazrasian Federation for quite some time.

“Then I will summon him now.”

“Oh! I will see him again after a long time. Dance Dance Revolution!”

“W-well, that’s not his name.”

Though he was still shy, he didn’t hide behind a tree like he used to.

Leeha couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Jin Gonggong’s movements which were in harmony with nature.

“Hahaha, as expected, you’re the best.”

When Jin Gonggong danced like that, and beckoned to the sky and whistled. Something approached at high speed, blowing the snow off the snowy mountain.

“Hmm?”

The gigantic creature, with its back to the sunlight and only a silhouette, looked familiar to Leeha

“Golden Eagle?!”

Swooping and attacking? Golden Eagle in the snow mountain? As Leeha tried to lift his Hummingbird, Jin Gonggong stopped him.

“That’s why I couldn’t summon him in the town.”

Kuwaaak! Kuwaaaak!

“Amazing……. What is this?”

“This guy doesn’t even eat jerky anymore.”

Of course it wouldn’t eat it. Leeha couldn’t keep his mouth shut as he watched the giant crow flap its wings a few times, like the rotors of a helicopter.

What the hell was this size? The crow was bigger than Leeha.

Kkaaak–!

“Waah!”

“Hehe, do you recognize Ha Leeha-nim?” However, Leeha wasn’t happy. Ah- When the beak of the giant crow, which raised its head, came close to Leeha’s face, the only emotion he felt was fear.

“G-get rid of it please! I think it’s going to eat my eyeballs.”

“I tried it before, but he didn’t like it. He spat it out and then played with it”

“What? W-wait, Jin Gonggong-nim! Let’s go!”

Jin Gonggong continued climbing while grinning.

Leeha quickly followed, and the giant crow circled around Leeha, as if it knew the owner’s prank.

They climbed for another 40 minutes like that. Now, the trail was almost over. When they reached the middle of the snowy mountain,the temperature was so cold to the point that Leeha’s body trembled.

“Uh! Is it around here? I don’t think anything is going to happen.”

“Yes. Right, there’s only the snow rabbits in here. There are no monsters here, so I’m relieved.”

“By the way, you want that snow rabbit?”

“It is the animal that I have to tame this time.”

“Ahh……. Hmm, then why not just do it with that crow?” He vainly tried to stimulate the crow, but the quick-witted crow only cried

“Caaaaww-!”

“Snow Rabbits hate giants. The same goes for birds. That’s why I need a human user. Go back now, I’ll call you again next time.”

KKaak-!

Jin Gonggong sent the crow back to his subspace. Leeha realized what Jin Gonggong meant.

“Then……. You want me to be the bait to lure out the snow rabbits?”

“It’s not like that. Just……. There’s nothing to fight anyway. Because you can’t kill them. Just stay still until the snow rabbit shows up and I will do the rest. Please help me, Leeha-nim.”

It was like that. Leeha sighed, but he had no choice since they had come this far.

‘Adamantine mountain isn’t on the map anyway. I don’t know the way to the mountain range from the snowy mountain, so I have to go with Jin Gonggong.’

Jin Gonggong pointed out the location to Leeha and hid himself by lying down in a distant place.

In an instant, Leeha was left alone like a scarecrow. He would play the role of a bait to draw out rabbits from the snow mountain, where the knife-like wind blew, and snow dust fluttered on the floor.

‘In my own way, I’m part of the next generation of the Three Musketeers.’

Even if he complained, there was no one to hear him. Leeha decided to pass the time by standing still and holding the Black Bass while touching it here and there.

No matter how much information he had, he had never actually dealt with it. .He should get used to its weight, length, and aim as soon as possible.

‘It’s heavy and long. Of course it’s to increase range, but…. Its mobility is definitely low.’

What if he transformed the musket into the SASR while moving through enemy lines? That wasn’t enough either.

‘My mana is insufficient and there’s also the cooldown. He had a total of 1080 mana, but a single skill uses 500. If he used calm mind, snipe, or something like marking…

There’s also the continuous mana consumption. 50 mana per hour is not high, but when his mana reaches 0, the skill would automatically get canceled. In other words, there’s a chance that it can get canceled when he transforms Black Bass and uses multiple skills at the same time.

‘I can only use skills once my mana is sufficiently full through natural recovery. In other words, it is more efficient to give up the musket form and continue carrying it in the SASR form.’

Perhaps once I find the right sniper parts, I wouldn’t need the skill anymore.

However, there’s always an if. Leeha simulated various combat situations using the [Black Bess: SASR].

‘If that’s the case- hmm?’

Then he saw something dragging their feet at the bottom of the mountain.

They wore white robes suitable for the snowy mountain, but the way they dragged their feet as a group was different.

“No way……?”

Leeha put the Black Bass back on his shoulder and looked down through the Hummingbird’s scope.

‘Damn it, I don’t think I was marked, how were they able to find me?’

And grumbled. No, he thought he might have made a mistake by choosing the Shazrasian Federation in the first place.

“Jin Gong-”

“Shh, it appeared! Stay still!”

He tried to inform Jin Gonggong of Czar’s arrival, but the giant druid put his hand to Leeha’s lips and instructed him to lower his posture.

“-No, not now-”

Kkyu?

“-Huh?”

He heard a cute sound behind him and turned around.

“Ah…”

And sighed. Creatures tend to grow larger in cold regions. And this was Middle Earth. What was the size of the Snow Rabbit?

‘I had to think about it……’

A gigantic white rabbit with front teeth the size of a human thigh approached Leeha, while wiggling its nose.

-Stay still, don’t move! -I can’t! The Czar guild are approaching from below, let’s run-

-No! Let’s do whatever it takes to run away later, please wait first!

-It’s time-

However, Jin Gonggong did not even listen to Leeha’s whisper, and he attacked the snow rabbit.

Kkyuuu, Kkyuu-!?

“Catch it!”

Did he get it? It’s headlocked! Should I say that?

Leeha frowned as he watched as the giant Snow Rabbit ran around like a flash of light with a giant hanging around its neck.

Kkyuu, kkyuu! Kkyuu kkyu!

“Stay still! I am a druid!”

“What are you doing? No matter how high up we are, it would only take 7, maybe 5 minutes, before Czar arrives!”

“Still- Waaah! Absolutely- Aaack, if you shoot- no —! The rabbit ran away- waaah!”

Everytime the snow rabbit shook its head the giant’s huge body rose to the air.

Giants themselves were far larger than humans, but the rabbit’s strength that shook them was…….

Leeha was surprised by the unrealistic sight for a while, but that was a luxury.

‘What are they doing?! I discovered them first, but if I do a preemptive strike, I would have no choice but to run away.’ Yet Czar’s personnel were still searching.

However, the only people who went to the snow rabbit area were Jin Gonggong and Leeha, it was easy to follow their ‘tracks’ in the snowy mountain.

The combination of the snow and the mountain will slow down their climbing speed, however, they will still be able to reach them in 5-6 minutes.

“Isn’t our bunny so nice~? Do you want to be friends with oppa~? I’m a druid, a friend of nature!”

Kkyuu kkyuu! Kkyukkyukkyuuu!

Like the power struggle of the fisherman and the fish, Jin Gonggong tenaciously clung on the snow rabbit. Leeha roughly knew that the Druid is a nature-friendly job, and unlike tamers and summoners, they raise their skills and levels by increasing their ‘affinity’ with plants and animals. ‘That’s how you get close? Well, humans also become friendly with each other through fighting- no, it’s not the time for thinking about it!’

Leeha became impatient as he watched the snow rabbit running wild with Jin Gonggong hanging from its neck while bleeding.

“How long?!”

It takes —- around 5 minutes——

This guy is strong- Kuwaaak!

A little bit- more!”

Leeha bit his lips tightly. If he could shoot even one shot, he would be able to slow Czar down.

‘Then, will the rabbit run away? Damn it, we might die before he could get familiar with the rabbit.’

Besides, what did he mean by doing whatever it takes to run away?

Leeha was curious about what Jin Gonggong meant when he said that confidently. He should have understood the situation with the word Czar alone. Leeha could tell that Jin Gonggong knew about it without asking any questions.

‘But he still had the confidence to say that? He probably doesn’t know the space lock scroll, and if they approach within 200m, we won’t be able to use the return scroll anymore.’

Meanwhile, Czar continued to approach. Leeha watched Jin Gonggong wrestle with the Snow Rabbit.

‘Perhaps Czar……? No, Jin Gonggong isn’t like that.’

He didn’t have a traitor’s face.

He almost got backstabbed by Sasuke before, but it was different now. Leeha believed in the giant that was making the situation unfavorable. He took the map out of his bag, enlarged it,and examined the surroundings.

He had to plan the optimal route in order to run away immediately.

‘The road cuts this way. We won’t be able to climb unless we climb the ice wall. In the end, we would have to make a quick detour to the Yeti habitat- this wouldn’t be easy.’

The Czar are quickly coming up. If he didn’t want to go down and meet them, Leeha couldn’t choose the path.