Arcane Sniper

Chapter 957

Sniping.

Lark wanted Leeha’s sniping skills.

Leeha swallowed nervously. The distance to Onyx was not so far. He could easily shoot.

‘But… That Onyx…’

Would Onyx, who suspected Lark with magic that read whispers, really fall for it so easily?

Moreover, if he could absorb some of Tiamat’s power and immediately utilize that mana?

‘Shield…’

It wouldn’t be as thick as Tiamat’s. However, wasn’t Onyx much more agile than Tiamat?

Leeha gritted his teeth. There were only two options.

One was to immobilize Onyx. If he could have done that in the first place, he wouldn’t be having these troubles now.

“The other option is…”

As Leeha was about to make a regretful expression—

―It’s complete! It’s done, Ha Leeha!

“Ah!?”

Ram Hwayeon’s excited voice echoed in Leeha’s mind.

“You vile creature! I had already anticipated that you would betray us!”

Onyx scolded Lark while attacking him. However, Lark could sufficiently defend against the attack.

The Black Dragon would not kill Lark immediately.

Lark knew this fact as well.

“Is that so? As expected, you are impressive. But you also know, right? If I die, the mission to kill Tiamat is over too?”

“I know that well. But you are quite intelligent for a human. You should know what will happen to you if you don’t kill Tiamat here.”

However, Onyx was not an easy dragon to deal with either.

If he didn’t kill Tiamat? Lark looked at the ground.

The front line of the Chimeras had advanced much further west than initially.

It meant the Sacred Alliance was being pushed back.

That was natural. One of the dragons that had been blocking the various mana chunks intermittently coming from Tiamat was Bahamut, after all.

With no one to block Tiamat’s magic, and the morale of the Metal Dragons drastically falling after Bahamut’s retreat, the Chromatic Dragons were rampaging with excitement.

In other words, if Lark didn’t kill Tiamat, humanity’s defeat was a certainty.

And what would happen to him?

“I guess I’ll go down in Middle Earth’s history.”

He would forever be remembered as the ‘Traitor of Humanity’. Everything he had built up to now would collapse.

He would have to permanently quit the game called Middle Earth.

“Hmph, and you still think you have leisure.”

Green particles gathered in front of Onyx’s mouth. Lark urgently shouted.

“If I die! If you fire that breath at me, it’s all over—”

“I know. So I won’t be firing it at you.”

“What—”

Phwoosh─!

Onyx’s acidic breath was aimed at the ground. The breath pierced through the shield and descended, covering the users and chimeras on the ground.

It was surprising enough that it penetrated Tiamat’s shield, but it only melted the users without affecting the chimeras at all.

“Crazy…”

“I’ve already matched the Chimeras to the energy. Humans will inevitably see me spewing breath here. They will also see you. Then you will never be able to return.”

Onyx was confident.

Lark had left Onyx under Shin Nara’s surveillance while he logged out.

Shin Nara had reported no significant changes, but clearly, Onyx had managed to synchronize with the Demon King’s Fragments, bypassing their surveillance.

“Ugh… damn old dragon…”

“Fire. You have no other choice left, Lark. It’s eight thousand years too early for you to defy me.”

Onyx was smiling.

He leisurely turned his head and looked somewhere on the ground.

“If you were counting on that Ha Leeha guy as a last resort, it’s even more premature.”

“Pft, I heard you were defeated before. Haha, I should have seen that… No, if you were already defeated once—.”

『Do you think I’ll fall for it twice? 〈Absolute Shield〉, 〈Immune to Harm〉, 〈Protect from Normal Missiles〉, 〈Darkest Barrier〉.』

The Black Dragon enveloped itself in multiple layers of shields.

Lark bit his lip. A Black Dragon who had been defeated once would definitely be cautious the second time.

‘It’s not like I told you to take the shot on purpose. Tsk, the AI is quite formidable after all.’

『Attack, Lark.』

Lark scanned the ground. Could Ha Leeha really pierce through this? Could this attack succeed?

‘Hitting the target isn’t the issue. If it’s Ha Leeha… he’ll definitely hit.’

The problem was the damage.

Could these shields be penetrated?

Lark didn’t have much time to think. A breath was building up again in Onyx’s mouth.

If he managed to shoot a second and third breath, all the users would look up at Tiamat. And they would clearly see Lark atop it.

By then, even if they killed Tiamat, they might not be able to clear the misunderstanding.

‘Damn it—.’

—10 minutes! Lark, just hold out for 10 minutes!

—What? Ha Leeha?

—10 minutes is enough! By then… we can kill Onyx.

—W-what, what are you—

Lark tried to look at Leeha. Did he have some sort of plan?

Dozens of scenarios generated in Lark’s mind simultaneously. And then, all of them were instantly dismissed.

—Trust me.

Various scenarios stemmed from his insecurity.

If Ha Leeha asked Lark to trust him to this extent, then there was no need to worry anymore.

—Trust you or not, if you fail, it’s the end for both of us—but I might even be obliterated as a public enemy of Middle Earth— Ha!

—La-Lark!?

『No, for you, physical pain will be more effective. Considering the significant mental resilience you possess, burdening you might not be enough.』

Lark couldn’t respond to Leeha’s whisper.

Barely maintaining his stance, a thick green mist gathered around Lark.

Onyx cast another spell on both of Lark’s calves, inflicting the ‘Abnormal Status: Poisoned.’

“Aaaargh!”

Hiss…

Smoke rose from Lark’s calves. It wasn’t from flames.

What had penetrated even his armor was just liquid.

『Do you wish to feel the agony of your body melting?』

“If I die—you too—.”

『〈Great Heal〉, 〈Acid Ball〉.』

“Urgh— aaar—.”

Onyx simultaneously cast Heal on Lark and sent a highly acidic ball his way.

Tendons bulged from Lark’s neck.

The area below his ankles was melting.

—Lark! Are you—getting attacked?

—Don’t worry… about me, focus on—your task.

『Indeed. I won’t kill you. But I do know a pain worse than death.』

“Kuh, haha… Just perfect. I’m used to—this kind of suffering— aaaaargh!”

Two of Onyx’s claws pierced through Lark’s thigh. As soon as he withdrew them, he used Heal to immediately mend the wound.

『Attack.』

Lark didn’t attack.

Onyx, satisfied, injected a neurotoxic poison into Lark’s body.

Abnormal Status: Poisoned (Enhanced).

Lark couldn’t even scream due to the pain of asphyxiation and the contraction of his entire body’s blood vessels. He had to gasp desperately for a breath.

―”Lark-ssi! Are― are you okay?! I told you to come with me! You’re under attack right now, aren’t you?”

―”At…… tack? By whom…… no―?”

―”Yes? You’re being attacked right now, Lark-ssi!”

―”Nara… only… worry about yourself, and stay… far away.”

―”Lark-ssi! The synchronization rate! You said it was 93%! But if you’re under such an attack—”

―”Lies― of course. Ha, haha.”

Lark, mustering all his strength, whispered to Shin Nara.

『Hmm. So you want to appear strong to the female. You should have kept that woman with you from the start. What a shame. Or maybe this is part of your pathetic plan. Waiting for when I’m not around.』

“Eat… shit.”

Lark extended his left middle finger towards Onyx.

Onyx looked at Lark, a meaningful smile on his face. He then lightly exhaled towards Lark’s extended left middle finger.

Though a very small amount of acidic breath, it was enough to melt the skin and muscle of Lark’s finger in an instant, exposing the bone.

“Aaaaaah─!”

Unable to scream, trembling violently, Lark had to watch his finger melt away.

His vision, reddened by the extreme HP loss, no longer permitted him to even see his own finger.

Only at that point did Onyx use a healing spell.

His torture technique, controlling everything precisely up to the brink of death, revealed that this was not his first time in such a situation.

『Interesting. I’m curious to see if you can endure 10 minutes without stabbing Tiamat. Satisfy my curiosity.』

Those ten urgent minutes for Leeha, those ten heart-wrenching minutes for Shin Nara. To both of them, the ten minutes were a long time.

But for Lark, who had a synchronization rate of 93%, those ten minutes would be longer than an eternity.

“Ha… haha.”

On his pain-contorted face, a smile could no longer be formed.

* * *

“Hwayeon!”

“Leeha!”

Leeha finally met Ram Hwayeon.

Ram Hwayeon and the users of the Hwahong Guild were moving with something. There was certainly no shortage of guild members.

However, Leeha frowned.

“Is this all?”

“Most of the users who were supposed to participate fled! Since shortly after Bahamut was taken down, there’s been a significant drop in our forces!”

“Damn it… But with just this many—.”

There were about a hundred people at a glance. Even so, Leeha shook his head.

“We have to succeed at the first attempt. We won’t get a second chance.”

“Then… I understand. I’ll gather more.”

“W-wait!”

Ram Hwayeon headed towards the battlefield.

Leeha instinctively grabbed her shoulder.

Entering the middle of the battlefield is no easy task. Especially for someone like Ram Hwayeon with a low level, even a single chimera could be a deadly enemy.

“Do you know how dangerous it is there! At least take some Hwahong Guild members with you—.”

“Leeha.”

“Y-yes?”

Ram Hwayeon’s eyes were as red as her hair. Leeha looked into her eyes.

Her deep eyes seemed to burn like fire.

“All of us going won’t make a difference; you know that. And if something happens… It’s better if I die alone.”

Feeling the determination that even most men couldn’t muster, Leeha couldn’t say anything more.

“Be careful.”

“I’ll be back in 10 minutes.”

Ram Hwayeon immediately started moving, using Blink. Even though she was using her skills continuously, she was undoubtedly slower than Ram Hwajung.

Leeha then sent a whisper to Lark. Lark heard about the 10 minutes from Leeha at this point.

Just as Lark trusted Leeha, Leeha also trusted Ram Hwayeon.

Ten minutes.

Everything had to proceed smoothly within that time frame.