The Air Vent Sniper
"Hold up, hold up! Stop, boss!" Ayla, who had been glued to my side holding her breath, grabbed my shoulder in a panic.
"You're not thinking of smashing that mana stone whole, are you? That's the 'Starlight Illusion'! It's a top-grade magic artifact that floods hundreds of meters with illusions and mana waves. If you break it, Kasian's event goes to shit, and you'll trigger that World's Compulsion Force curse you mentioned!"
Her point was perfectly valid by this fantasy world's logic. Physically wrecking a main plot event from the original story freezes the shop right away.
"Keep the explanation short. I'm not shooting the mana stone directly." I grinned leisurely, pulling my cheek off the stock and rummaging in my pocket. I pulled out a hefty single round and dangled it in front of her eyes. It looked like a standard sniper round, but faint blue geometric circuits pulsed along the bullet's surface.
"[Mana Absorption Round] from the System Shop—cost me 50 SP. Those fireworks shooting up from below are pure 'energy blobs' with zero armor. The second this hits the core, it sucks up the mana filling like a sponge."
"Sucks up... the mana?"
"Yeah. Even if the guts get drained, the shell—the light particles—scatter into the night sky on inertia, right on schedule. To the nobles on the ground, it'll just look like flashy fireworks bursting. Perfect visual illusion."
I tapped the thick special copper wire securely bound to the barrel. "The massive mana the absorption round slurps up will go berserk with nowhere to go, but this copper line acts as a 'forced ground wire.' It converts the rampaging energy to electricity and sucks it straight into the empty batteries of our Zone 17 Bunker."
Ayla's jaw dropped. True to her elite noble lady roots, she grasped the essence of my scam in an instant.
"Holy shit... So you make the shell burst all flashy, but siphon every drop of that massive energy down the sewer through the copper wire?! Without a single elite mage noticing?!"
"Bingo. They'll cheer a heatless hollow hologram and swoon over their romance. Kasian stole your idea, so we legally steal his capital. Perfect royalty collection with eyes wide open, right?"
At my shameless miracle logic, the fear in Ayla's eyes slowly twisted into manic glee. The aesthetics of vile theft—pilfering someone else's capital. Her red lips quivered, then curved into a wicked grin.
"Boss... you're a villain rotten to the bone."
"Highest praise. No time for chit-chat. You're my competent spotter making sure I don't waste expensive ammo. Brief me on the launching mana stone's attribute and street value. Higher haul means better rations for you tomorrow."
"Leave it to me!" Ayla slammed her binoculars to the feather gap in combat stance. The perfect '#1 Employee' was born, burning with revenge to fleece her ex-fiancé and capitalist hunger.
"There! Northwest flowerbed! Mages gathering light on launch pad 3!"
With Ayla's sharp call, a dazzling red mana orb rocketed skyward from the garden center like cannon fire. Screee—! The shrill friction sliced the air. Hundreds of nobles froze their wine glasses, gasping up at the sky.
"Seria! My sun, my one true salvation! This red star slicing the heavens is a fragment of my burning heart for you!" Kasian's oily voice boomed across the garden via magic amp from the terrace center.
"Urk...!" Ayla gagged openly through her binoculars.
"B-Boss! That cringey line was from my 3 a.m. pitch draft I slaved over! How does that shameless bandit recite it verbatim without a single tweak?!"
"Save the review for your diary—brief me! It's climbing!"
"Ahem! 12 o'clock! Altitude 30 meters, rising at 15 m/s! Grade 3 Fire Mana Stone! Auction house floor price, minimum 50 million gold!"
"Good. 50 million gold worth of lights, flipping the switch." I wedged the stock firm against my shoulder, aligning the tactical scope's crosshairs perfectly on the red trajectory soaring skyward. The apex where ascent slowed imperceptibly. The 0.1-second window before core burst for flame illusion. Breath held, trigger pulled.
Thump! Muffled rupture through the heavy suppressor. The hypersonic absorption round sliced moonlight, piercing the Grade 3 Fire Mana Stone's heart dead-center in mid-air.
Fwooom—! A massive red rose of flame bloomed brilliantly in the night sky.
"Ooooh—!"
"Ahh, Your Highness... so beautiful!" Seria wept in rapture, melting into Kasian's arms as thunderous noble applause erupted. Visually, perfect original romance execution.
But reality differed.
Original romance progression confirmed. No Compulsion Force intervention.
Mana Absorption Round feed complete. Energy conversion rate 98.7%. Zone 17 Bunker main battery charging... Current power: 22%.
Crackle! Zzt!
"Eek!" Right after the stone burst, sparks flew wildly from the thick copper wire on my sniper rifle, writhing like a snake. The massive 'pure mana' swallowed by the round converted to electricity, cascading down the vertical shaft to the bunker like a waterfall.
The red rose blooming groundside was now a cold hologram devoid of warmth. No noble questioned why the high-altitude fireworks' heat never reached them.
"Heh heh..." A wicked chuckle escaped me. The World's Compulsion Force bought the hollow romance shell as real, and my starving bunker's battery gorged on a 50-million-gold mana stone essence in one gulp.
"B-Boss! Blue light flashed on the copper wire! It's hot! That massive mana really got sucked underground?!"
"Yup. Battery's charging sweet. That thief's 50 million gold will boil our bunker's induction cooktop."
"Ha, hahaha! Serves you right, Kasian! Your imperial budget's all spam fuel for this #1 Employee now!" Ayla swept back her sweat-damp bangs, unleashing manic laughter. Capitalism's thrill hooked her. The noble lady was reborn a perfect wage slave.
"Let's milk it! Next target's up! Focus, spotter! Pick the pricey ones!"
"On it! Multiple this time! East garden pad 1, west pad 4—simultaneous launch!" Ayla gripped her binoculars white-knuckled, spitting as she yelled.
Two massive light beams shot skyward from the ground.
"Grade 4 Ice and Grade 4 Hydro combo! Total 100 million gold! Shoot! Fire now, boss! 100 million's flying away!" Her broker-possessed diction was spot-on.
I mechanically racked the bolt-action rifle. Clack—Thump! Clack—Thump! Two muffled shots rang in succession. The absorption rounds nailed the two mana orbs' cores at apex, shattering them.
Fwooom—! Blue and silver illusions scattered like a galaxy across the night sky. Nobles swooned in ecstasy, but the majestic galaxy's energy all drained to the sewers below.
Sizzle! Pop!
"Hot!" Dense ozone filled the air.
Zone 17 Bunker main battery charging... Current power: 40%.
"Nice shot! Double hit! Battery past 40%!"
"Kyaaah! 100 million gold at my feet!! Kasian, you moron! Launch more! I'll dump all your wealth down the sewer!!"
The statue interior drowned in labor catharsis. We harvested sky capital with flawless business rhythm. Groundside, saccharine romance sprinkled pink.
"Ahh, Seria. Even that heavenly galaxy pales before your eyes."
"Your Highness... I'll never forget this moment."
Kasian pulled Seria's waist, kissing her forehead. Textbook romance fantasy cutscene. But beneath, in the musty moldy bronze gut, a savage festival raged.
"Quit yapping and burst more mana stones, Kasian! Boss! 11 o'clock, pad 5! Grade 3 Wind! Value 80 million gold!"
"Wind to 2 o'clock at 3 m/s. 2 klicks. Firing."
Thump!
"Hit!! Battery 65%!! Muahaha!"
"Breakfast is rolled omelet tomorrow! Got it?! Thick omelet chunks with diced spam!!"
"Spam slice per 100 million haul! Call next target!"
Illusions scattered skyward, essence straight to bunker. Capitalism's monster division of labor.
"Boss! Bloodbath now! Garden edge pads 6, 7, 8—three Grade 2 Compound Stones in a row! Total 200 million gold!"
Clack—Thump! Thump! Thump! Chain bursts flooded mana, furnace-heating the statue.
Zone 17 Bunker main battery charging... Current power: 95%.
"Good. Past 95%. Almost full." I cracked my stiff neck. Power worries done for now. Perfect capital snowball pre-apocalypse. Just pack and ladder down.
Until romance-drunk Kasian pulled an off-script 'brain fart.'
"My Seria! And glorious nobles of the Empire!" Kasian bolted up suddenly.
"The fireworks so far were mere prelude."
"...Huh? What's that?" Ayla tilted her head at her binoculars.
"No such line in my pitch. That was the finale."
Kasian flung arms wide dramatically. "For you alone! I secured special imperial export permission for the secret star!"
Subordinate mages grunted a heavy lead box to the terrace center on a special launcher. As it opened, blinding golden mana flooded like daylight, rippling to swallow the garden.
The moment we saw it.
"...Huh?" Ayla choked out, breathless.