Arcane Sniper

Chapter 958

“I need to gather people somehow… Considering the necessary number, this much wouldn’t be enough—”

He couldn’t rely solely on Ram Hwayeon. At that moment, Leeha thought even he needed to take action.

Ding… Ding…

“Hmm?!”

Leeha’s ears picked up a strange sound. Though it had been a while, he could immediately tell it wasn’t a pleasant “alarm.”

“Th-there’s something—”

“It’s coming… It’s heading this way.”

Members of the Hwajung guild began to murmur. Leeha also looked towards the direction. A figure lightly leaped over the chaotic battlefield of chimeras and users, landing on the ground gracefully.

That figure was heading towards them from a spot even further behind the front line.

“So you were here, Ha Leeha.”

“… Le!”

Bluebeard who had been roaming around looking for Leeha hadn’t missed the Murti-Warhead Shot Leeha fired to signal Lark. Leeha swallowed dryly.

There was no need to doubt that Ram Hwayeon would gather the required number of people within ten minutes. But what good would it do?

‘If I get caught by Bluebeard, it’s all over. Even if there are people left…’

“What’s that behind you? It looks like quite an interesting device.”

‘If that gets destroyed, we lose.’

Bluebeard was looking beyond Leeha at some object. Leeha didn’t turn his head. The moment he showed interest in it, Bluebeard might focus on that object more than killing Leeha directly.

“Well, I find it more interesting that I can kill you right here.”

“Huh? Haha, Ha Leeha! Oh my, oh my! Haven’t you grown! How dare you spout such words!”

Leeha raised Black Bass and aimed at Bluebeard. Le’s attention, which had been on the object beyond Leeha, now focused entirely on Leeha.

Leeha whispered to a user in Hwahong Guild whose ID he recalled.

“Move that very slowly. Make sure Bluebeard doesn’t notice. And don’t get involved in the fight.”

“Huh? B-but Ha Leeha-nim, you alone—”

“That’s better. It’s much better than all of you being slaughtered.”

The reason why Ram Hwayeon went alone was the same. Each and every member of Hwahong Guild was a critically important asset now. Rather than sacrificing them, it was better for Leeha himself to deal with Bluebeard.

“Of course, I can’t die either…”

Click—!

The loud crack of Black Bass’ bolt made Le pause.

“What’s wrong with saying such things? Hmm, come to think of it, you seem to walk uncomfortably. How about… I find you a cane?”

“Arrogant—”

Swoosh—!

Bluebeard lunged at Leeha in an instant. Leeha didn’t stand idle either.

Boom—!

A shot aimed directly ahead. Bluebeard sidestepped and dodged it effortlessly. Using the minimal necessary movements, his speed didn’t decrease at all.

Due to the nature of the field, Leeha couldn’t use three-dimensional maneuvers, so he attempted to change the battleground by escaping with Ghost in the Shell.

Afterward, using the Fear Spirit and Murti-Warhead Shot sequentially, he hoped to create a winning chance.

“〈Ghost—”

“Haah—!!”

A black streak emanated from Bluebeard’s hand. Sparks flew wildly from his hand as he grasped it.

He swung it right away. Bluebeard was smiling.

*Buaaa────!*

The magical energy was so intense that even the grass wilted merely from its touch.

The sheer force was powerful enough to cut down small flowers with the wind pressure.

“What the…?”

The problem was that Bluebeard was slashing the space in a completely different location from where Leeha was.

Leeha canceled his skill and observed Bluebeard.

He slashed another location. The immense wind pressure slightly touched Leeha but that was all. He didn’t take any significant damage.

“Hmm?”

Bluebeard shook his head. The smile disappeared from his face in an instant. At the same time, an entirely opposite expression began to surface.

It wasn’t just simple anger.

The look of shame, humiliation, and the self-loathing that spawned from them contorted Bluebeard’s expression.

Leeha finally noticed Bluebeard’s odd behavior.

“Ha Leeha, are you okay?”

The White-Eyed Spiritualist quickly passed over Bluebeard’s head and approached Leeha.

“Prea!”

Prea quickly whispered without even looking at Leeha.

“―Anger, destruction, and might don’t work. Even the highest level of Spirits of Chaos could only deceive him twice.”

“―Does that mean there’s no effect at all?”

“―I don’t know what would happen with Ha Leeha’s skill, but… it’s impossible for the Spirits of Chaos to help any further.”

The disappearance of all dark attribute spirits around her, and the appearance of ordinary spirits, indicated as much.

Seeing the highest level spirits of fire, water, wind, and earth, users of the Hwahong Guild were astonished.

“Are all four elements at the highest level?”

“―According to our information, it should have been two high-grade and two mid-grade spirits.”

However, this wasn’t necessarily good news.

It also meant Prea, who had even deceived Hwahong’s information network, could not afford to be picky any longer.

“It’s been quite a while since I last saw that wretch Karghasha… This is a perfect opportunity. I need to extract Karghasha’s whereabouts from Prea.”

The trembling body of Le began to calm down.

All his feelings of humiliation and the resulting anger were gradually turning into rationality.

For Leeha and Prea, this wasn’t a good sign at all.

A cold Bluebeard was more terrifying than any other presence.

There was only one thing left to do.

“Elerestra, Celestine, Selena, noeanen. Attack!”

*Tokwaa────!*

Leeha’s bullet and the highest level spirits of the four elements all charged at Le.

* * *

Bluebeard lightly leapt backward and swung his magical energy.

Unlike the consistent thickness and length that would come from a staff, the wriggling, uncontrolled magical energy aimed at the highest level wind spirit at the forefront.

*Kuugugug!*

Simultaneously with the wind spirit’s ascent, the rock shield formed by the earth spirit was cut through.

Seeing the rock of significant thickness being sliced like tofu, Leeha was impressed, but it wasn’t the time to admire the enemy’s attacks.

As Bluebeard faced the earth spirit, the fire and water spirits cooperated to attack from both sides.

Confident that he could handle all three at once, Le extended his dark magical energy with both hands.

Though he assumed a stance to swing it like an elongated crescent blade, Leeha didn’t miss the opening.

“Damn. This is annoying.”

Bluebeard halted all movements and immediately took evasive action.

BANG────────!

By the time the gunshot resounded, Le was already in the air.

Six massive fireballs were fired in quick succession from the hands of the top-grade fire spirit.

Boom, boom, boom!

Le shortened his black demonic energy, wielded it in both hands, and effortlessly deflected the fireballs before landing smoothly.

“… It’s been a while, this feeling.”

Then he looked at the ground beneath his feet. What had been a solid field moments ago had turned into a swamp, absorbing up to Le’s ankles.

The top-grade water and earth spirits were not just for healing or defense.

They were spirits capable of practically combining the respective elements.

Of course, Leeha did not miss this opportunity.

“Got you! 〈Multi-Warhead Shot〉.”

BOOM────────!

What happened was in a very brief moment.

Bluebeard had discarded all his demonic energy and immediately grabbed his hat, angling it so that the empty space faced the incoming direction of the Multi-Warhead Shot.

─────────────…

The empty space that usually covered Bluebeard’s head expanded infinitely, swallowing all the incoming missiles in darkness.

At least, that’s how it appeared to Leeha.

The barrage of 50 bullets was not broadly dispersed, yet it was enough to cover Bluebeard’s entire body.

But could it really be possible to absorb all the bullets through the small hole of the hat, which was smaller than that range?

“It’s not checkmate, but it was an interesting move.”

Bluebeard twirled his hat and placed it back on his head.

Then, he pulled one foot out of the swamp and stomped on the ground. In that moment, the swamp was restored to its normal state.

‘This is Le…’

Witnessing Le’s full power after such a long time, Leeha swallowed dryly. He had thought his attack was effective.

Utilizing four top-grade spirits and waiting for an opening himself, yet Bluebeard, despite his ‘abnormal status,’ remained unfazed.

‘No, still, with this much, it should be enough to give it a shot…’

“You’ve also improved your skill with spirits, Prea.”

“Stop talking nonsense! I have never shown everything to you from the start…”

“No, no, I mean it. Pretending you only summoned four top-grade spirits… you kept using the higher-ranking light spirit to aim at my eyes. The one probably watching from nearby is the high-grade lightning spirit, right? Or is it the top-grade? It’s confusing.”

“―Ugh.”

Le raised his arm slightly, blocking the sky.

Leeha, with wide eyes, looked at Prea.

Only four spirits summoned for this battle? Prea wasn’t an inexperienced user.

“Prea…?”

“Ha, ha, as expected― Le is still Le. I intended to end it quickly…”

The white-eyed spiritualist was gasping for breath.

Four top-grade elemental spirits and high-grade light and lightning spirits, which Le hadn’t noticed, yet hiding within the shadows of the battle were higher-ranking snow and ice spirits.

Summoning and using a total of seven different kinds of spirits, she put everything into the attack, yet none of her efforts seemed to land.

Even considering that Leeha had occasionally fired shots to disrupt the timing, and the final attack of the Multi-Warhead Shot?!

It all culminated in a short-term battle, exhausting every resource!

“Haha… It’s already been 3 minutes. Can you hold out for another 2 minutes like this?”

The gigantic demonic energy coalesced once again in Bluebeard’s hands.

In that electrifying moment, Leeha could clearly see his hands.

Bluebeard’s palms were riddled with pitch-black, cracking marks. At that moment, Leeha realized.

“… You’re in the same situation, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“You can’t keep holding that, can you?”

Even Le, without a staff, could not freely use it.

The continuous sparks flying from Bluebeard’s hands, those black sparks were wounding Bluebeard’s hands.

It wasn’t just Prea who intended to conclude the battle quickly.

Despite Leeha’s pointed remark, Le’s expression did not change at all.