Arcane Sniper

Chapter 960

A seemingly endless line of users trailed behind Ram Hwayeon, Ram Hwajung, and Lee Jiwon.

When they arrived at the location where the Hwahong Guild members and the ‘item’ were situated, an overwhelming scene of battle remnants unfolded before their eyes.

“Ha Leeha!?”

“… Damn.”

“Wh-what happened? What is this? Prea, you—.”

“Phew… Even feeding it for a minute straight didn’t kill it.”

“What? What didn’t?”

Ram Hwayeon quickly inquired.

Prea sighed, looking at Ram Hwayeon, and Leeha glanced between her, Ram Hwajung, and Lee Jiwon, then gave a brief summary of the situation.

“Le was here. And… he escaped.”

Users within earshot of Leeha’s voice stirred briefly. They couldn’t fully grasp what Leeha meant.

However, taking Leeha’s words at face value, even Ram Hwayeon, Ram Hwajung, and Lee Jiwon seemed shocked.

“Even so, didn’t ‘our’ combination work? We’ve confirmed it once, so—.”

“No, it’s meaningless. We had to kill him this time… Such a plan won’t work twice.”

The duration of 〈Burn Out〉 was merely a minute. Leeha felt that time slip away too quickly.

‘If only I had one more minute… If only I could have used Multi-Warhead Bullet one more time!’

The cooldown for Multi-Warhead Bullet was one minute. Faced with the inevitability of being showered by Leeha’s Multi-Warhead Bullet, Bluebeard focused on defending against it, even at the risk of exposing himself to the elemental spirits’ attacks.

Despite the explosion and numerous assaults from the four elements, Le survived.

And then he fled.

Prea attempted to find some meaning in the battle, but Leeha shrugged it off nonchalantly.

It wouldn’t work twice.

In the rare chance they found an opportunity, Leeha hoped it was like winning the lottery by chance, but Middle Earth never allowed coincidences to resolve everything.

“Amazing, chief. Bluebeard… almost turned to rags…”

“He was practically stripped bare. His top was completely torn, and those wounds all over—.”

“All that blue splatter on the ground is Le’s blood!”

To the Hwahong Guild members who witnessed the entire battle, it held a different meaning.

To have pinned down the great Bluebeard and beat him without letting him move?

It was a significant hope and an incredible achievement!

However, Leeha still wore a somber expression.

Clap—! Clap—!

“Phew! Enough, what’s lost is lost! How much time has passed?”

“Time— 8 minutes 40 seconds! Within 10 minutes!”

Ram Hwayeon recited the duration since she left and returned. Leeha nodded.

“Okay! Everyone! Thank you all for coming here! I will tell you the only way to catch Tiamat!”

And so, he began revealing his ‘secret.’ How to deal with Tiamat.

What could be done at this point with so many users below level 200, and some even around level 150?

Users who heard Leeha’s brief explanation screamed if he was crazy, but their protests soon died down.

“For real?”

“Yes. For real. Lark is… already there.”

As Leeha pointed in one direction, everyone’s eyes followed. However, few could see Lark and Onyx from the distance.

“Okay. Everyone except for the ‘magic-runt’ should fall back. Let’s go!”

Lee Jiwon was the first to take his position. Once he and Ram Hwajung settled, the users began to move hesitantly as well.

『Here are the key points! It’s not difficult! It’s like using a skill! Only—.』

Ram Hwayeon floated into the air, tore an amplification scroll, and shouted.

Leeha also took his place by their side.

—Lark! We’re ready! It should only take less than a minute from now!

The one who had to be the starting point of this entire journey. Yet Lark’s response did not come.

Through 〈Eagle Eyes〉 and the scope, Leeha confirmed that Lark indeed stood atop Tiamat’s main body, along with Onyx.

—L-Lark!

Leeha wanted to believe he saw it wrong.

Lark was naked.

All his armor had melted away, and his flesh was melting, about to expose his bones, before suddenly healing.

―Too… late…

―Now! Everything is ready now!

―Hng… I was prepared for this… but I’m really gonna die―

Lark’s voice trembled.

Leeha suddenly realized how much pain Lark had been enduring.

He was the one who had killed Chromatic Dragon alongside Shin Nara. No, even before that, he had managed to suppress the Paleos without any issues.

There was no way his synchronization rate was low.

He must have felt all kinds of pain almost as if it were reality!

However, unable to run away or escape by logging out, Lark had endured the 10 minutes Leeha had asked for by gritting his teeth and relying on sheer willpower.

―Don’t… Don’t say anything! Just the skill! Shove the sword into Tiamat and just use the skill!

―Okay… Grr, tell Nara―

―What?

―Don’t… cry― quickly. Tell her.

Lark’s words came out brokenly. Leeha understood what he meant.

How could Shin Nara, who had been with him all along, not know that Lark was in pain?

How could she not know his synchronization rate?

‘Damn it…’

She must have been watching the battlefield closely enough to catch the moment when Leeha had impulsively tried to move in.

She must have seen it all.

How Lark was being tormented.

Unable to approach, unable to help, unable to touch, and even having to pretend to be fine to keep from showing anything in the whispers.

―Okay! I’ll tell her! I’ll whisper it to Nara―

―Anyway… Kuuh, I have to― die for this to end.

―What― Lark! You’re going to die?

While hearing Leeha’s voice, Lark steadied his breathing.

『It’s amazing that your mind hasn’t collapsed.』

“I… Hrk, won.”

『Hmm?』

“Stupid― dragon.”

Lark barely managed to move his arms, with the flesh stripped off and red muscle exposed. It seemed like he was simply collapsing.

However, Lark’s sword lightly pierced through Tiamat’s thick scales.

Onyx did not take pleasure in watching Lark’s actions.

『What has Ha Leeha done. Gathering humans― what does he think he can achieve by doing that.』

The Black Dragon was tense, but Lark no longer paid any attention to him.

―Take… care of things. Hnn… I can’t bear this pain any longer.

Was Lark prepared to die from the start? Or perhaps from the moment Leeha asked him to buy time?

Or was it from the moment he had tried to persuade Onyx?

In any case, Lark never believed he could clear the quest alive, kill Tiamat, make his second class transition, and return safely.

―… Understood. Leave it to me.

Leeha whispered.

Lark tried to smile upon hearing those words.

His facial muscles were all torn, ending with only a slight twitch, making an unimpressive expression. However, it did not hinder him from using his skill.

“〈Dragon Slayer, Six-Headed Dragon〉.”

All the users saw it.

Above the cosmic being that had covered the sky, an aurora, cosmic in its energy as well, began to spread.

The aurora unfurled across a vast area vast enough to cover the entire body of Tiamat.

As the rainbow-colored blanket spread across the sky became clearer, it began to descend onto a single point.

A single point on Tiamat’s body.

That point was where Lark was located.

“Kyahhh—!”

“Bailephus!”

As soon as the aurora began to be absorbed, Tiamat started to writhe.

Chunks of mana that burst intermittently shot out faster and stronger.

Tiamat’s radiance didn’t distinguish between friend and foe.

A flying chromatic dragon lost one of its wings upon being hit by a chunk of mana, and twenty chimeras, trying to absorb the users, were instantly obliterated.

Leeha watched the scene while gritting his teeth.

The opportunity Lark had secured with his life was one that wouldn’t come again.

If Onyx escaped from this, everything would be over.

If Leeha didn’t completely pierce through Onyx’s multiple layers of shields and relentlessly track him down, the nightmare would repeat.

“〈Snow Storm〉.”

Leeha used a skill quietly.

White snow began to fall from the sky, rippling with aurora. Although the snow clouds were vast, they covered only about half of Tiamat’s body.

However, within that range, Lark and Onyx were certainly included. That was enough.

Tiamat was not Leeha’s target.

Leeha aimed at that spot.

“Everyone, get ready! 7 seconds, 6 seconds!”

Ram Hwayeon commanded the people while watching Leeha. The device made by Bottleneck was a massive singular apparatus.

At the apex of the fan-shaped device stood Leeha. The wings of the device spread out widely, with users gathered in a fan shape.

The formation extended back from Lee Jiwon and Ram Hwajung, each person placing their hand on the back of the person in front.

At the muzzle of the Black Bass, white energy coalesced.

“Concentrate! If even one person’s mana is severed, the supply won’t hold! Think of it as casting a skill, and relax! Just make sure not to let go! 3 seconds, 2 seconds—.”

The snow was about to touch the ground. To Leeha, this was a practiced timing.

The snow must not touch the ground.

If it did, both users and NPCs could get caught up in it.

If Onyx couldn’t be bound and killed, there was only one other way.

To melt everything with an attack so vast that Onyx couldn’t evade it.

Normally, this wouldn’t be possible. Leeha’s total mana, especially after spending more than half of it against Le, wouldn’t allow such an attack.

But what had Bottleneck made?

“1 second! Supply the mana!”

Once, Ram Hwajung had captured ice ostriches with the guild members of Fire Red using a ‘mana supplier,’ transferring the guild members’ mana to herself to cast a blizzard that she couldn’t do alone.

Leeha had calculated precisely this in Ram Hwayeon’s office that day.

What if he made the mana supplier bigger, allowing him to receive the mana of the users?

『Ha ha ha! If I just absorb the Queen’s Heart—Bahamut and the Metal Dragons could be wiped out this very day—.』

“〈White Reaper〉.”

At the moment when the aurora, absorbed by Lark’s sword, was cut off, a white beam shot out from the muzzle of the Black Bass.

The beam, stretching toward the black Tiamat, covered the space.

At that moment, fanfare echoed throughout Middle Earth, and a new notice was updated on the official Middle Earth homepage.