Matan's Shooter

“If it wasn’t for Fernand, what would have happened to you? Tsk tsk, I can’t believe you are only this much, if you’re like this, I will have to think about it a little more.”

Every time he felt Browless’ disappointment, Leeha felt his ears burn. He definitely thought that he had grown quite a bit after dealing with Crolang. After his attack power had become stronger, to the point that it was able to dig into the scales of Alexander’s gold dragon, Leeha had become conceited.

‘But…… right. All of us are ranged dealers with the combat assistance system turned off. The moment our aim fails, no matter how high our attack power is, it’s useless.’

What’s the point of an attack that doesn’t hit? To think that he inherited neither [Pierce] nor [Rapid Fire] attribute but the [Bullseye] attribute, and failed to hit his target.

Even as the Three Musketeers reflected on their own thoughts, Browless’ movements did not stop. It was because the cyclops, who had figured out which of the five humans was the most threatening, focused its attack on Browless. Of course, its attack could not reach Browless. After grasping Blink’s pattern, Browless, the previous [Rapid Fire], showed a movement that was even better than a martial artist’s.

“Rapid fire isn’t just about moving your hands fast, your feet need to be faster than your hands. Kidd-kun. Be mindful.”

Dadadadadang-!

“The same goes for [Pierce]. You don’t have to rely on technology to pierce. Aren’t you depending on it too much? More than anything, it’s stupid to forget something important with the thought of getting rid of your enemy in one shot. Think about what you should have done, Luger-kun. What you should have done was neutralize the enemy. In other words, you should have aimed for its legs, not the head!”

Dadadadadang-!

“Only in that situation would Leeha-kun have an opportunity to move. You did well against the ogres, but the three of you are disappointing.”

Dadadadadang-!

A Cyclops collapsed one shot at a time.

Browless, who had already finished two, cleared the other three with calm and nimble movements. The ruler of the Sentinel Mountains, demon nobles with Bluebeard’s power, those names could not hold a candle against the ‘Hero of the 2nd Human-Demon War’.

“Phew…… Thanks, Kidd-kun. At least you have taken good care of the guns.”

It was like saying, ‘Your skills are not that good, but I’m glad you took good care of my guns’. 

Kidd pressed his hat down to hide his expression, then lowered his head as he took back the [Crimson Geckos].

“Leeha-kun, how long did it take?”

“Oh, the time? Roughly- it took… about 3 minutes.”

“Three minutes. I am too old.”

Browless jerked his shoulders, loosening his joints. In just ‘3 minutes’, he killed 5 new-type cyclops infused with Bluebeard’s mana, and he acted like an old man who had played gate ball.

‘He said that we took about 5 minutes and 30 seconds. And that is not even to defeat them, it was to figure out their weaknesses with the help of Fernand’s items and skills.’

Fernand was also slower than usual. It was because he discovered a new type of monster, most importantly, he believed in the power of the Three Musketeers. Just like the situation with the trolls and ogres, he believed that they would be able to clear things up in an instant while shooting ridiculous bullets. In a way, the Three Musketeers seemed to have lost a little bit of Fernand’s trust. In fact, an NPC handled the situation faster and more accurately than the four top Middle Earth users who joined forces.

“Whatever, let’s look for the demon nobles.”

“Ye-yes!”

Leeha answered with an attentive posture without even realizing it. Leeha had treated him too lightly because they had become more comfortable with each other recently.

Now that the Three Musketeers have realized that they still have a mountain of things to learn from Browless, they must approach him with the resolve to lose a limb or two! Seeing Leeha’s action, Luger and Kidd had similar thoughts.

Therefore, no one rejected Browless’ order. Might was right. The Three Musketeers scattered throughout the Sentinel Mountains to deal with the remnants.

“Seeing that the quest hasn’t been completed yet, it looks like there are still some left somewhere.”

It was a pity that he couldn’t use mana clairvoyance because it was on cooldown. While stepping on the ground covered in fallen leaves and checking the quest window, a phrase suddenly caught Leeha’s eyes.

‘Condition for failure: Browless’ death, huh? Does that make sense?! Even if the three of us, me, Kidd, and Luger attack together, we won’t be able to win.’

It occurred to him that the failure conditions of the quest were conditions in which the noble monster reached the town of Berfort or Browless’ death, which could not have been achieved, made him laugh.

‘Rather, this was a trap. The penalty for failure was an achievement – Beginning of the Fall. If they didn’t want to acquire such a terrible title, they would have no choice but to place Browless at the back of the party as much as possible. In other words, there was a high chance that the condition was there to prevent them from using Browless’ power.. It would have been a big deal if they put Browless in front and died.

However, they didn’t have to be intimidated by such a thing if they believed in their teacher from the beginning. Had they believed in Browless from the beginning, they would have completed the quest a long time ago.

“Middle Earth really has a way to play with people’s psychology in a strange way.”

“What are you talking about to yourself like that?”

“Kidd!”

Kidd quietly approached Leeha who shook his head. His expression wasn’t very good either.

“Did you come from the same direction as me?  Is there no aristocrat over there?”

“While Fernand looked for traces, the Director said he would look in that direction.”

“Then, why don’t you go with the director-”

“Do you have to ask that?”

“Ah…”

It was because he didn’t need to…….

Seeing Kidd biting his lip, Leeha felt a little bit of pity.

Still, because they were both [Rapid Fire] attributes, the Director took care of Kidd better than Luger and Leeha, but he looked disappointed in him today.

Rustle rustle.

What could he say in such a situation? Leeha and Kidd wandered around the Sentinel Mountains with strangely downcast expressions.

“But, a thought suddenly came to me.”

“What is it?”

“What if in the national war…… wouldn’t it have ended sooner if the director joined?”

“Cough.”

Kidd cleared his throat at Leeha’s question.

In front of that tremendous movement and aiming skills, would Alexander or Drake even be a big deal?

It was to the point where Leeha thought that Browless would have even been able to face Alexander riding Bailephus.

“Bluebeard is like that as well. I think the director should be able to handle him. In the first place, we are the descendants of such heroes.”

“That’s why it’s interesting.”

“What?”

“The fact that we still have a long way to go.”

Leeha smiled at Kidd’s answer. That’s right. Right now, he grumbled just for the sake of grumbling, but he didn’t mean it at all.

Melee, which had been pointed out as a weakness even before the national war.

He thought he had made up for it to some extent, but he still had countless weaknesses.

If he could overcome all of that, how much would Leeha’s appearance change? That expectation and imagination made Leeha’s heart pound.

“Heh, I like Kidd because he knows how to think like that. No, I mean, you think like that and let the cheesy words out of your mouth. Aren’t you ashamed? If you’re like me, even if you think about it, I don’t think I would be able to say that to anyone.”

“Y-You’re loud.”

Kuwa-kuwaaaa-!

As Kidd tried to hide his shame by pulling down his hat, they heard a troll’s cry. Did it break away from the group earlier?

Kidd and Leeha saw the the troll heading toward Berfort without purpose.

“It’s over there-”

Baaaaang一! The scream was buried by Leeha’s gunshot.

“I know that too.”

“You’re still able to hit accurately at a time like this?”

“If it’s walking or running at a steady pace, there’s no problem adjusting the click. You can just shoot without using a scope.”

Leeha picked up the fallen casing and put it in his pocket, holding the Black Bass again.

“But the cyclops from before- no, it wasn’t even a cyclops was it? We didn’t catch it, and we don’t even know its name. Anyway, I couldn’t keep track of the monster’s crazy blinking. That was the problem.”

“Can you make up for that weakness?”

“……Well, there are a few things that I could think of. I need to try first. How about Kidd?”

“It’s a secret.”

When Leeha smiled, Kidd smiled as well. It also seemed to mean they had completed a basic plan to identify and supplement his weaknesses.

“Ah, I guess it’s over.”

A notification window appeared in front of the Three Musketeers along with the sound of Luger’s cannon coming from afar.

When the last monster died, the Three Musketeers were no longer as downcast as they had been before.

“You’re here.”

“Yes!”

Leeha and Kidd answered vigorously, and Luger also replied in a very low voice.

Normally, he would have just nodded his head, but Luger probably thought that he had a lot to learn from Browless.

Leeha and Kidd appeared to want to burst into laughter at his unusual appearance.

“The end was a bit disappointing, but it isn’t that bad. You had a hard time.”

“Thank you, director-nim!”

Leeha responded loudly. He looked disappointed and worried that the intimacy might have fallen a little, but it was unfounded.

Browless nodded in satisfaction.

“Fernand-nim, did you find any traces of Bluebeard.”

“Hmm…… I think I know roughly, but this is definitely amazing. Normally, I can usually see the movement path, direction, and distance of the animal or monster, right? If I find new footprints, based on that, I can follow it and put information into my bestiary-”

Fernand excitedly opened his mouth.

Few people could handle the ‘pace’ of the Pioneering King which hadn’t changed at all from Kaztor’s lab.

While Browless was making a puzzled expression, Leeha intervened first.

“So, did you find any traces of Bluebeard?”

“-Ah, yes! It’s not detailed, and it’s different from usual… but I found it.”

“As expected of someone recommended by His Holiness, the Pope. Right, how is it? Where is Le?”

Browless was stunned at Fernand’s answer. However, the Pioneering King’s expression was not very good.

“That…… There are many directions.”

“What?”

“I detected him by linking the mana traces, but I can’t figure it out anymore. There’s one in the Northeast- in a province of Shazrasian Federation. There’s one in the Southwest- in Minis, There’s one in the west – in the wasteland…… and one in the east as well. Maybe in the east coast of Fibiel or maybe Kraven? Or maybe beyond that? East doesn’t even feel right. In other words, there’s one in each direction. Excluding the one with the least probability in the east, there are three directions. At the same time.”

In fact, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that there’s one in the east, west, north and south. If that was the case, what was the meaning of finding and tracking traces?

Leeha tilted his head and asked.

“It couldn’t be possible, right?”

“No, as I just said, it is mana-linked. Unless he’s in all four regions at the same time, that’s impossible. How is that possible?”

“Do you know the approximate location?”

“Roughly…… I have a rough idea. Wait.”

(To be continued…)

P.S.

The dwarves panicking about the Dragon Heart and Leeha trolling them. lol.