Matan's Shooter

“It’s finished!”

“Let’s go.”

Whiiik! Kuzy moved from the spot where he fought the chimera toward Leeha with a single step. Leeha almost lost his mind once again at the sight of him traversing the same distance as a magician’s blink. What was the identity of this person?

“What are you doing?”

“Ah, let’s go.”

Leeha quickly followed Kuzy. There was no need to worry about what would happen if the chimeras chased them. They just sprayed poison in place as if they were angry.

“Grrrrr-……”

“Grrr,g-!”

Even while Leeha was distracted by Cushy’s movement and the names of the items, Leeha did not lose sight of the chimera. Their weaknesses were their relatively slow speed and low resistance to fire.

‘I will have to prepare that too.’

As long as the name Ghibrid has been confirmed, it was certain. The pack of chimeras, which were difficult for ordinary close or long-distance dealers to deal with, will definitely reappear, and until then, Leeha had to prepare.

“Phew……. Thank you.”

“Uh.”

Cushy nodded at Leeha’s word of thanks. After seeing Cushy deal with the chimera, it suddenly became difficult for Leeha to deal with Cushy casually.

‘What is it? Is he a ranker? No, he had never heard of the name Cushy. Still, Leeha searched everywhere until the top 50 rankers of the national war. As expected, isn’t he an outsider? Well, since he said he’s level 183-’

Leeha had worked diligently to investigate rankers to find a threatening enemy among Minis users. Of course, Cushy wasn’t one of those names. The ranking itself was only based on level, so there was no place for a level 183 user to cut in.

‘He’s not in the top 100, but in terms of movement, he is in the top 10. At his level, even if he is an outsider, his name would have spread quite a bit…’

In other words, he avoided all of the chimera’s attacks while he only showed one attack.

In addition to their normal attack, chimeras had an acidic poison spit.

‘It’s not like I could stop it with fire all over my body like Koma…… No, he didn’t even use a skill in the first place.’

Then, were all of those attacks normal attacks? Even if he turned off the Combat Assistance System, was it possible to move like that? Leeha suddenly imagined what would happen if Pei Wu or Tale fought against Kuzy. Although Tale was 5th dan in kumdo, and Pei Wu was the best martial artist in China, Leeha was not able to easily decide on who to bet on.

“It is my turn now.”

“Yes? Ah. Yes. Let’s go, I don’t know what kind of help I will be to Kuzy-nim-”

“You will be very helpful.”

“Thank you for thinking highly of me.”

Would an expert like Cushy be defenseless while doing certain actions? So, he’s asking for protection? Leeha could not read the expression of the man with a red-shaved head who still looked a little angry.

‘It’s near the dragon’s lair-…. Well, he could do all sorts of things. I think he can do everything by himself without me.’

Leeha followed Cushy and checked the quest window. At least, it was clear that he was able to clear Bottleneck’s quest.

‘It is a pity that I couldn’t check the experience. I should have checked that first as soon as the chimeras died.’

The first thing that Leeha wanted to check was his level. However, in addition to catching the griffin, and maybe because Leeha had caught the chimeras alone, his experience had already increased compared to when he left Radcliffe.

When Cushy caught two chimeras in the short time between loot items, did Leeha’s experience point increase?

‘If it went up, he’s really 183, if not, it must mean he’s at a higher level than that.’

There shouldn’t be a difference of 20 levels between them. Leeha peered at Cushy’s back, who was ahead.

“Cushy-nim. Did you participate in the national war?”

“I couldn’t participate because of the expedition.”

“I see.”

The reason may be a lie, but Leeha thought it would be true that he couldn’t participate. If a person like that participated, rumors would have spread. Leeha shuddered for a while, imagining that Cushy, who had discovered his sniping spot, was running at high speed.

‘Ah, right. I don’t know about outsiders-’

While moving toward the dragon’s lair, Leeha recalled other people. Aside from the rankers, didn’t he have other acquaintances who have a lot of information or data about outsiders?

Leeha: Kijeong-ah!

The first one was the guild master of Byeolcho and his younger cousin.

Leeh: Ram Hwayeon-ssi, what are you doing?

The second was Hwahong’s guild master.

Leeha: Fernand-nim, hello.

The third is the Pioneering King.

Leeha: Kidd, are you busy?

The fourth was one of the outsiders and of the Three Musketeers.

Leeha quickly whispered to the four people. In addition to the widely known information, he quickly summarized his situation to those he had contacted. He even confirmed that a party was established, so his ID was definitely Cushy. His level was 183, but he couldn’t believe it. For customization, he looked like a human with red shaved hair, but the size was set to be quite large. His weapons were two crescent moon-shaped swords. It was possible that he was a tank dealer or melee dealer job…….

He waited for the replies while conveying the information he had gathered while they worked together.

“How far is the dragon’s lair?”

“It’s nearby. We will arrive in 30 minutes.”

30 minutes, Leeha whispered to the four people again. The fact is that he only had 30 minutes left before arriving at the dragon’s lair with a very untrustworthy person.

He hoped that any clue would come out of it, but no satisfactory answer came.

Kijung: Hyung! Kuzy? Kuzy? My guild members have never heard of him. Since Biyemi said he didn’t know him, he’s definitely not a ranker. An outsider…… Or maybe a former ranker who created a new character like Biyemi?

Ram Hwayeon: It’s not on the list of outsiders I asked Jacheong to investigate. Is he that strong? If he is strong enough to surprise you, Ha Leeha, he is definitely high-level. Could you introduce him to our guild-

Fernand: Does anyone know about the dragon’s lair? Amazing! What are you investigating around there? Ah, I want to go there, if only I have time now! No, if you finish first my achievement will be lost- Ah, I have never heard of the name Coetzee. If he knows enough about dragon lairs and is at the level of exploring areas around them, he’s probably going to be my rival….

Kidd: Did you say he moves fast? He won’t be able to dodge the [Crimson Gecko]’s bullets anyway. Did you find any traces of Bluebeard? Hoo, I couldn’t find it either, but I will eventually find it.

‘Kidd, this guy, only has the stats on his eyes right now.’

All four people did not know anything about him, and everyone could only evaluate Coetzee based on the information Leeha had given them. The most reasonable guess was also Biyemi’s. It was possible that he had recreated his character after deleting the first one. Was Coetzee really that kind of person? Incredible movements that do not suit his awkward tone implied that he was a solo player, so his reputation did not spread.

“We have arrived.”

In any case, he did not have the time to think about it now.

“Is the dragon’s lair here?”

“Exactly, this is where the dragon’s barrier begins. The moment a being at a certain level of mana crosses this place, the dragon’s alarm magic will ring.”

Two people stood on the ridge of the Red Mountains, in front of a point that was not marked on Leeha’s map

“Indeed.”

“Can you see it?”

“What…… I think I know. Is it like this very thin, imperceptible membrane?”

A barrier that seemed to have been made of film from between the eggshell and the egg white, only thinner and more transparent.

A highly transparent film-like surface spread over the entire area, to the extent that it was sometimes invisible, and only occasionally visible to Leeha’s eyes.

Coetzee made a surprised expression toward Leeha for a moment. This was the first change on his face, he always had an angry expression.

“Ah, but do you know what kind of dragon it is?”

“Bronze dragon.”

“Ah…”

This time Leeha was surprised again. Even Fernand didn’t know what kind of dragon it was, did this guy really have more regional information than the Pioneering King?

‘Fernand did not reveal all the unexplored lands alone, so it’s no surprise that there are people like him……. That’s amazing.’

Most importantly, Leeha was somewhat relieved at the word Bronze Dragon.

If it was a Bronze Dragon, isn’t it a metal-type dragon?

50% intimacy with all metal dragons was automatically added to those who have received the blessing of the Gold Dragon, Bailephus.

In other words, the dragon would not spit out its breath as soon as it saw Leeha.

“Okay, what do we do now? What is Coetzee-nim going to do for the time being? Well, you asked me to deal with monsters, but there are no monsters around?”

“Of course. The dragon’s mana must be coming out of the lair. Normal monsters wouldn’t dare to approach it.”

“Huh?”

What was he talking about? Leeha tilted his head for a moment as he listened to Coetzee’s words. What was the reason they had come this far? Coetzee had asked Leeha to protect him while he was doing something.

But there were no monsters?

‘Does he know what he’s talking about? Or was there a translation problem?’

While Leeha thought about it, Coetzee rummaged through his bag. Leeha was taken aback by his action, but nothing happened.

“I have to investigate from now on, so just go inside the barrier and stay there for a while.”

“Yes? D-Didn’t you say that the dragon will notice mana if someone went inside? Wasn’t there an alarm magic or something-”

“That is what you have to do. Only when the dragon moves can I do my job.”

“Then I? You clearly said earlier that it was not dangerous!”

“It is not dangerous. If the dragon wants to harm you, you can run away immediately.”

‘Huh, really……’

Leeha suppressed the desire to just use a teleport scroll.

Anyway, his purpose related to the chimera quest has already been achieved. Traces of Bluebeard had been found, but the range is much wider. He could look for it anywhere else except the Red Mountains.

‘Yeah, but to do that again…it bothers me. Didn’t he get help anyway? And if it is an outsider who could  ‘instantly’ dispatch two chimeras’.

Leeha judged that even if the conversation did not work well, there was no need for him to act.

“Okay. But I’m really going to run away immediately, so don’t trust me that much.”

“Bronze Dragons are good, so it should be fine.  It will only take a moment.” 

“Since it’s a Metal Dragon, there shouldn’t be any-”

Leeha checked the Black Bass’ magazine, inserted it, and slowly approached the barrier. Kuzy was looking from a place some distance from Leeha.

‘Come to think of it, I know that the Bronze Dragon is good. Well, that’s what I am interested in, and I can find out his information if I investigate that. Even Biyemi-nim knew to some extent.’

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

After swallowing dryly in front of the barrier, he moved his feet forward. He felt a lukewarm energy run through his body.

“Oh……. Is this the end? He said there would be alarm magic, so I wondered if it would ring a bell or something.”

However, nothing happened. There was no special notification window popping up, and no special noise was heard.

“What are you doing now? How much longer are we going to be here- huh?”

No, one thing did happen. Looking back, nothing came into sight.

“Kuzy…? Kuzy-nim? Kuzi-ssi?”

The red-shaved head that had been standing at a distance from Leeha had disappeared.

“Kuz-“

Shwaaaaaa—-!

“-eup?”

Blue-green light emanated from Leeha’s back, who was looking outside the barrier.

What caught Leeha’s eyes, who hurriedly turned around, was the face of an American young man in his early 20s.

“This! I came because I felt Bailephus-nim’s mana…… human? Excuse me, who are you?”

A long blue-green hair that players had never seen before, geometric patterns embroidered on his white robes, and the long staff he was holding made him look like a magician.

His long, straight hair that reached his waist and his sculpted face made Leeha confused for a moment, but his voice was clearly that of a man.

“Oh, ooh, ohh- who are you?”

Even as Leeha asked, he could feel it instinctively.

And seeing the other person being polite to him, Leeha felt a kind of relief and anxiety at the same time.

“I am the owner of this lair……. I am called Blaugrun, the Bronze Dragon. Perhaps you are a messenger sent by Lord Bailephus…

“Dragon! Human?! Human- not human?”

He was relieved because the Bronze Dragon, which has a lair in the Red Mountains, was showing a kinder attitude than expected.

And anxiety, what was with the dragon’s current appearance? As Leeha stuttered, Blaugrun let out a wild laugh.

“Haha, that’s why I changed because I couldn’t surprise Lord Bailephus. Wouldn’t it be rude to show my body in front of a big adult? My real self is-”

“Dragon can transform into a human-”