Chapter 104. The Sniper.
Chapter 104. The Sniper.
I'd been so absorbed in the magic book that a great deal of time had passed by the time sunlight began to filter in and birdsong could be heard. The sword was my specialty, but in order to return, I had delved into magic just as deeply. And, naturally, as dawn broke, the girls woke as well.
"You're up?"
"Sihu, did you not sleep?"
"It's fine. A day or two without sleep does nothing to me."
Jia must have thought this was her fault. Normally, she'd give me a quick kiss, but now she was lingering a step away, hovering hesitantly.
— Smooch.
"Mmm... don't. I haven't even brushed my teeth yet..."
I gave Chaeyeon the same short kiss I'd given Jia, patted both of them on the bottom, and told them to go wash up. Once they were washed, changed, and had finished breakfast, I told them I'd learned a way to find their parents, and Jia was overjoyed.
"Sihu, but how...?"
I didn't fully understand the underlying principle, but I explained the method and the process that led me to it. Once I'd told her everything, Jia nodded with a resolute expression.
"So that means you can definitely find them, no matter what the method is..."
Perhaps energized by the prospect of finding them, Jia pulled out her short dagger without hesitation, pricked her thumb lightly, and let a few droplets of blood fall into a small, shallow dish. She looked up at me.
"Sihu, about how long will it take?"
"It shouldn't take very long."
I opened Leiral's Magic Book and carefully inscribed a magic circle into the middle of the living room floor. Then I dropped Jia's blood into its center and activated the spell.
"Finding a person with a high enough compatibility rate will take a little while. We just have to wait until then."
Because it was a process to locate an entity with a 95% match, it ended up taking a few hours. By the time the magic completed, the inscribed circle had burned a deep, pitch-black. And from the center of that magic circle, a fluttering red solid line stretched far, far into the distance.
"Can you see it?"
"No..."
"Nothing at all?"
I didn't know, as this was the first time I'd used this magic, but it seemed only the caster could see it. I explained this to them and told them that if we followed this solid line, the parents would be at the end of it. I planned to scoop them up and dash off in a single bound, just like before, but Jia grabbed my sleeve and held me back.
"Sihu, let's go a little slower..."
Perhaps afraid of finally facing the truth, a slightly anxious look crossed Jia's face. I took the hand that was holding my sleeve and told her I understood.
'It's an absurd hypothesis, but there really is the possibility that they went to Seoul because they were worried about Jia.'
If we walked with them for a while and they deemed it too far, I intended to pick them up and run just like before.
Honestly, I wanted both of them to be alive as much as anyone. No matter how much I had transcended, leaving the divine realm far behind, I could not perform the miracle of bringing the dead back to life.
We passed the apartment complex where Jia's parents lived, and we'd already passed through the bustling downtown streets where people once gathered. As always, zombies roamed the streets, and the ground was littered with corpses.
'No, this one... died before turning into a zombie?'
Examining it closely, I saw no bite wounds or injuries typical of a zombie attack. The most definitive sign was the absence of bloodshot eyes, the sign of progressing zombification. So then, someone had killed a human being who hadn't turned.
'Then why the hell?'
Looking at the cause of death, a small object about the size of a 500-won coin had pierced the head or the heart. It wasn't an arrow, as no arrows were lodged in the corpses, and it wasn't a bullet either, as there was no bullet fragmentation or ricochet marks.
Of course, the cause of death was the perforation of the head and heart, but viciously, several of these marks were also present on the arms and legs.
'Is there another lunatic on the loose?'
Just as I felt a surge of irritation at the thought of some bastard causing trouble, the most important thing crossed my mind. If the solid line leading us to the parents pointed this way, then Jia's parents must have passed through here...
For what had already passed, there was nothing to do but pray they were unharmed. Normally, I would have looted shops along the way to gather supplies, but under these circumstances, I had no capacity to care about such things.
At that point, not yet realizing someone was watching us, we were cutting through the apartment complexes and heading toward where the parents were.
We'd been walking for quite a while when I felt a mass of condensed mana flying toward us from afar.
— Clang!
'A mana-infused bullet?'
Kkamangi swatted away every bit of the incoming mana. When I looked in that direction, my eyes met those of a figure wearing a pulled-up hood and a mask. The bastard clearly hadn't expected his attack to be deflected and seemed flustered, but quickly fired several more shots at me. Once those were all deflected as well, attacks flew at Chaeyeon and Jia beside me.
"Kkamangi, leave him alive!"
I launched Kkamangi from my shoulder in that direction.
— Boom!
Given the order, Kkamangi shot off at supersonic speed, creating a sonic boom. It was a speed most wouldn't even be able to perceive, but the bastard's body dissolved into particles and vanished from the spot.
'Kkamangi missed him?'
The girls were just as startled by the sudden attack as I was, and they spoke to me.
"Wh-what was that just now?"
"Kkamangi missed."
"Is it someone from Titan, like you?"
I missed someone?
That was something not even the other members of our group, let alone these girls, had ever considered possible.
"To be precise, the bastard also looked surprised by his own sudden movement."
"Why would he attack us all of a sudden?"
Thinking back on the people who'd died before becoming zombies that I'd seen earlier, I explained to them.
"Sihu, so then, isn't he just a lunatic!?"
"..."
'He dared to attack first and then run?'
* * * * * * * *
At that moment,
[Due to a critical situation, automatic return to base has been activated.]
"Haaah... Wh-what the hell was that guy just now...! How?"
He had never once failed a human hunt. Even Awakened who swept through and slaughtered zombies could only barely react; by the time they realized anything was flying at them, a hole was already in their head.
"And what the hell is that pitch-black eagle? Is it a summoning type?"
Hurriedly, he opened the System and checked his Class and Skills.
<< Status Window >>
Class: Spatial Sniper
- Traits -
[ Base Establishment LV.3 - The Spatial Sniper meticulously prepares by creating multiple bases. ]
[ Weapon Inspection Max. - Consumes a large amount of mana to move to a base. ]
[ Last Bastion Max. - In a critical situation, the Spatial Sniper automatically moves once per week to a saved base. ]
[ Spatial Magic Bullet Max. - The Spatial Sniper can use mana to conceal their magic bullets. ]
- Skills -
[ Firearm LV.6 - All snipers carry their own firearm. ]
[ Magic Bullet LV.5 - Fires a bullet by consuming mana. ]
[ Eagle Eye LV.5 - Increases visual acuity. ]
It was utterly pathetic.
And that wasn't the end of it. And one thought, in particular, had refused to leave his head ever since he saw that man: 'A mere summoned creature deflected every single attack right before his eyes.' That memory was already beginning to cement itself as a dark stain on his history.
Checking the System, he saw that a timer had begun to tick down next to the Last Bastion trait. A sudden rage boiled up, and he started grabbing nearby objects and hurling them.
"I couldn't catch those bastards and ran away?"
It was preposterous. If you read a typical novel, when a zombie crisis like this erupts, someone with a rare class like his is supposed to be the main character, gathering women and forming a harem, right?
"And what the hell is with this damnable stat points system, anyway! I can't even invest them in my stats! Isn't there usually a shop or something that appears!?"
He raged alone for a while, but as the thought of the women beside him returned, his anger halted as if he were suffering from manic depression. A lecherous grin spread across his face as he let his imagination run wild.
"Heh heh heh... Is this some kind of trial meant for the main character?"
Judging by the direction those bastards were heading, they were clearly on a path toward 'that place.' If so, he had to prepare thoroughly. In movies and novels, the ones who run wild, drunk on their own power, are always the first to die.
"As long as I'm just careful of that strange eagle, that guy is nothing special..."
Normally, using Weapon Inspection drained a massive amount of mana, but moving via Last Bastion didn't consume any mana at all. The downside was he couldn't use it for a week.
"At this rate, I can use Weapon Inspection two more times, excluding the magic bullets..."
To ensure a more certain hunt, he inspected his firearm. Then he used Weapon Inspection to move near the crossroads they were likely to pass through. He climbed to the rooftop of a building with the best view of the surrounding area. There were quite a few zombies, but he methodically cleared them out on his way up to the roof.
"Huff... I swung an axe to save mana, and now I'm dead tired."
Not knowing when they would pass by, he mounted his firearm and scanned the area with binoculars, munching on emergency rations with his free hand.
"I have to kill him without giving him even a chance to summon it."
He waited there for a long time, until the sun gradually set and the sunset glow became visible. Through the binoculars, three tiny figures were walking from far off, so distant they were barely visible. No mistake could be tolerated, so he set down the binoculars and his rations, steadied the firearm against his shoulder, and lay in wait, even controlling his breathing.
Just in case the plan went wrong, he had also thoroughly prepared to use Weapon Inspection at any moment. He'd already used it once on the way here, so he only had one chance left.
Gradually, they entered his effective range. The man, and the area around him... the eagle he'd seen earlier was nowhere in sight. In that case, all he had to do was kill him before he could summon it.
When it comes to sniping, they say you have to calculate wind speed, wind direction, and for long distances, even gravity and the planet's rotation. But whether it was thanks to his Class and Skills, his magic bullets flew straight and true, exactly in the direction he shot them.
This time, he'd have to pack in even more mana and conceal the magic bullet's form to prevent any reaction at all.
Even aiming for the heart was too risky. A person doesn't die immediately just because their heart is pierced. He aimed the crosshair reticle of his scope precisely at the man's temple.
"Sssip..."
He breathed in and held his breath. He placed his index finger on the trigger, exercising caution to the utmost degree. He could feel the mana flowing into the firearm as he activated the Magic Bullet skill. All preparations were complete. He put strength into his index finger and slowly squeezed the trigger.
In that instant, the man turned his head with absolute precision toward his exact position, and their eyes met through the scope. With no time to formulate a single thought amidst the sudden moment, he pulled the trigger.
As he pulled the trigger and felt a small impact on his shoulder, an object simultaneously plummeted from the sky at the speed of sound.