Chapter 322
Chapter 322
Before we got into class, Mr. Park gave us a quick reminder.
“The Silent Sniper you’re about to hunt is a dummy based on information from about six years ago. If you’ve been paying attention in class, you probably know the basic information about him.”
Silent Sniper specialties were sniping and stealth, especially his stealth, which made him extremely elusive, undetectable by tracking abilities or magic.
Perhaps that’s why he’s been given a title not given to most villains.
This is understandable, as he was always at the top of the World Cup of the most annoying villains in CS.
If anything, the community would have added the word “asshole” to the end of his name.
It meant that he was a complete hunter, especially if you’re an inexperienced newbie.
I know I was questioned by him many times as a newbie.
“The place you’re about to go to is a forest in the northern part of the Americas. A quick tip……is to always take cover. Keep your head down as much as possible, and if you know where the bullets are coming from, get out of the way.”
With that, Mr. Park heads back into the control room.
“Good luck then.”
At the same time, the imprints around the field begin to shake.
A strange feeling of enormous magic envelops the surroundings.
Soon, the surroundings begin to brighten in the aftermath, and the terrain begins to change.
Hills slowly rise from the ground, trees, rocks, streams, and the sounds of animals all around us.
The place where we were standing had suddenly transformed from an academy to an American forest.
“Uh, so what are we supposed to do now?”
Jin-woo scratched his head as he looked around.
Seeing that, Se-ah sighed and answered.
“You heard what the instructor said: survive for an hour and a half, or hunt it down.”
“Ah! Then I’ll just hunt him down!”
“That’s not going to work, you think you’re up against some neighborhood bully.”
Unperturbed by Se-ah’s harsh words, Jin-woo waved his sword finger in the air.
“Me. Jin-woo Bevalt. Master of the Corleone’s Bevalt family and right-hand man of the Young Boss. Do you really think I’m going to let a lowly villain be my opponent?”
“Oh……?”
“Hoo-hoo, there is such a thing. That means you don’t have to worry about anything during this lesson! Just wait a minute. I’ll be the one to take down the very…… evil!”
Suddenly, Jin-woo let out a scream and fell forward.
The entire class instantly freezes at the sight of him.
1, 2, 3.
───Tang!!!
“Everyone hide!”
Everyone ducks behind a tree or rock, leaving Jin-woo who is already on the ground.
“What about Jin-woo?! Isn’t he disappearing?”
Jin-woo’s body is slowly fading away, becoming one with the ground but the other kids respond as if it’s no big deal.
“If we leave him alone, he’ll regain consciousness as soon as the game is over. He’s probably lying somewhere we can’t see him by now.”
……She doesn’t seem too worried.
“Eugene, what do we do?”
Young-jae takes a slow breath and looks around.
“I think it’s best if we spread out for now. If we stay in one place, he’ll move around and hunt us down.”
“If we all spread out, one or two of us will be hunted.”
“Marie!”
“Oh, yeah!”
Marie answers my call from afar. She spontaneously raises her hand, but Kang Hyun, sitting next to her, grabs it and pulls it back down.
“Be careful, unless you want your hand to fly off.”
“I’m sorry!”
I’m starting to wonder if they’re really going to make it.
“……right now we need to spread out, so first, use your powers to create puppets in human form and scatter them in all directions at once.”
“What? Ah……to confuse him!”
She immediately realizes the intent of my words and smiles.
“Exactly. While he’s distracted by the dolls, we’ll spread out in all directions and search the area because apparently he doesn’t have a silencer right now.”
The moment his gun goes off it’s the only chance we have to locate him, so we have to be very careful.
“Right…here we go!”
Marie begins to slowly build up her power, creating dolls that look like us.
Then.
───Bang!
“Kaak!”
A loud bang echoes out as a bullet hits the other side of the rock Marie was facing.
“It’s okay, it can’t penetrate a rock this big, so stay calm!”
The snipe utilized another of his traits, the ability to see the flow of mana.
“If he uses an ability or uses magic, he can guess your location by the flow of mana, so be careful, everyone.”
With that simple piece of advice to increase the survival rate of the other kids, he turns toward the direction the gunfire came from.
“Uh, Eugene, I’m ready.”
The puppets are already cowering, ready to run at any moment.
“Okay. Now!”
At my signal, countless puppets start running in all directions.
───Bang!
One of them is hit in the head and instantly disappears but Marie doesn’t let that stop her from kicking the puppets’ feet even harder.
“Spread out!”
The rest of the class joined in and began to run toward the forest.
“Eugene, take care of yourself!”
“Everyone be careful! If you see him, yell or use your powers to make a loud noise!”
“…….”
Se-ah, Young-jae, and Kang Hyun were getting further and further away.
I kept my eyes focused as I sprinted in the direction I’d planned.
I need that much cover to stop him from sniping, so I maneuver around the tightly spaced trees.
As I move, I think only of the sound and the angle from which the bullet could come from.
───Bang!
From my left, I hear the sound of the gun once again.
[Activates Skill: Aura Sonar]
I try to use my skill in that direction just in case, but I can’t detect anything.
I realize that if he hides in a place like this, I’ll have a hard time finding him.
“I can’t help it.”
Should I use the second method?
I dug into my bag and pulled out a bunch of stones the size of a giant malachite.
These are the failed attempts at making gem bombs, and they’re far less destructive than normal gem bombs but my reason for taking them out was simple.
“He’s on American soil, let’s deal with him the American way.”
That is, to use a very traditional method of getting them.
Do you know how we hunt enemy snipers in the United States?
First, they look at the sniper’s area of operation, the angle of the bullet, and the sound of the shot to estimate where they think he might be.
Well, this might be similar to other countries but other countries would send people to the area to take out the sniper.
However the United States doesn’t do that. So what do they do about enemy snipers?
The answer is.
“Drop bombs on them.”
They just drop missile bombs on where they think they are, send in a helicopter to wipe it out and blow the whole area to smithereens.
They completely crush it, so that there’s no way to think it’s alive.
It’s simpler than wasting manpower, and they can safely move on to the next area with minimal unnecessary losses.
Of course, there was a major drawback to this method.
It costs money, lots of money but expensive is relative.
It’s not for the US military, and it’s not for me.
“Take off your mask. Show us who you are!”
I pick up the bomb and start throwing it toward the forest, which is covered with grass and trees.
Boom───!
BANG!!!
BANG!
Bomb after bomb explodes, shaking the ground.
The corners of my mouth twitch upward as I enjoy the fireworks.
BANG──!
A large bullet stops between my eyebrows.
[Item: ‘Gunslinger’s Protection’ has been activated!]
[2 shots remaining]
Stupid, there’s no way I’m just going to appear without any response, right?
It was the moment when the Gunslinger’s Favor finally showed its true colors.
[Name: Gunslinger’s Favor]
[Class: Artifact]
[Type: Amulet]
[Description: A feather amulet given to you by a gunslinger who once saved an oppressed Indian tribe. 3 times per day blocks up to 3 bullets directed at the wearer]
It made it possible to pinpoint the spot where he would be with more certainty.
“Hahaha, there he is!”
The bombs are thrown from the center of the gunfire.
The clumps that scatter from my fingertips soon spread out in all directions, dyeing the forest red.
Kwaang──!
Kwakwang!
Boom, boom, boom!
“So, hiding in the forest, hiding in the rocks? Try hiding as far as you can, I’ll just make the whole area flat and that’s it!”
In real life, this is how most players have been taking him down, whether it’s a massive AoE attack with a mage or luring him to a trap and capturing him.
That’s not all. The material for these bombs is magic stones.
The enchantments scattered around the area, disrupting their color vision and making it harder for them to target other kids.
Survival of the fittest + hunt by a silent sniper?
“Certainly, at this rate, no matter who comes, they won’t be able to beat our record.”
About 20 failed Gem Bombs are left.
Kwang───!
As I continue to throw the bombs without giving up, this time a bullet stops in front of my chest.
[Item: ‘Gunslinger’s Protection’ has been activated!]
[1 shot left]
Continuing to throw bombs, I climb up a tree, keeping a watchful eye on my surroundings.
There was no sign of him anywhere.
I wondered if it was afraid and tried to find it in other ways.
It was invisible but I didn’t worry, I’d soon be able to locate it.
Taang───!!!
[Item: ‘Gunslinger’s Protection’ has been activated!]
[0 uses left]
“There?”
Three times, I’m pretty sure I know where he is.
“Okay, now that I have a definite location…….”
All I need to do is finish with a bang.
This is not, never, ever, revenge for my past.
I pulled out the bomb I’d been carrying. A real bomb, not the ‘failed’ ones I’ve been throwing and I scattered them in all directions at once.
“Scatter. Scatter.”
The bombs instantly began to glow at the same time.
────!!
Not too far from me, something soared up and pointed a gun in my direction.
It jumped up, realizing it was going to die.
He must have been holding on for dear life, because his ghillie suit was charred.
His muzzle was pointed directly at my head.
A normal academy student would have been horrified, but alas, I am not a ‘normal’ academy student.
A sniper rifle at this distance?
I have a shotgun.
He showed a strange behavior of hastily turning the muzzle to aim at somewhere else, but…
“This is why Sniper Bugs are no good.”
I was faster than he was.
Kwaang──!
I squeezed the trigger of my shotgun and it exploded in his face.
“First place. I’ll take it.”
Well, this should be enough for revenge. Ah, not revenge, but first place points.