Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED:

“Drive them out!”

“They are weak to flank attacks! Their front area is small, so there are only a few places to hit! It is better to attack them from the side, except for those who aggro!”

“[Cyclone Kick]!”

One more, one more!

Due to the users’ coordinated attack, the fishmen began to fall out of the ship.

Unfortunately, not all users had good skill cooldowns, HP, or MP. It wasn’t simply because they were late in understanding the pattern. It was because the fishmen were stronger than most monsters from the Old Continent.

“Last one, [Iron Claw]!”

A fishman was thrown off the deck due to the skill used by ‘Bald Panda’ with all his might. By navigating the stormy sea, they finally drove them out! However, the crisis still existed because less than half of the fishmen were dead and the other half were thrown out of the ships. In fact, the only goal they achieved was protecting the ship.

“Where are we going?! Are we going to keep dragging them around like this?”

“Anderson!”

“It couldn’t be helped! As long as we are in the waters of the Dragon Palace, they will keep chasing us!”

The mermaid who was caring for the Sea God’s guard captain, who had almost fainted, cried out.

“How much further do we have to go before we can escape the waters of the Dragon Palace?”

“In this direction, at this rate, it will take at least 40 days. Or if we go back, maybe a day or so…”

“What?”

Shwaaaaa….. Bababaaaang.

The rain and wind still poured down, and a ray of lightning struck the surface of the water in the distant sea and thunder rumbled. The users were speechless. No one could bring it up first. What helped them make that decision was a word from Drake.

“The duration of the Wave Negate is not long. If we are affected by the waves, we will be overtaken by the fishmen.”

A cry was heard from the main mast.

“Th-th-there, ahead- there are a lot of spray ahead! Rubini-nim, is there anything marked on the map?!”

“There is none. Did something else appear?”

“More than a hundred fishmen are swimming this way!”

What did it mean if more than a hundred monsters were added, monsters that could not be detected by Rubini’s map, and monsters that required so much skill, HP, and MP to deal with only 30 of them?

Since the main mast of the Blue Marlin also had torchlight installed, they also knew the situation.

“Turn the bow. Make it the top priority to get out of the Dragon Palace’s area.”

Alexander immediately decided. It was the first time the ship of the New Continent Expedition, which had sailed for 41 days without hesitation, retreated.

“Haa… Haaa.. Yongyong-nim, Elmi-nim! Please report the scouting situation!”

“We can’t see those who are following us on the sea surface!”

“It’s the same on the sea floor. I think they have finally given up the chase.”

“I, phew, understand…”

The tamer and the summoner relayed information brought by their respective pets. Pei Wu nodded once and lay down on the deck.

“Hwaaa, I guess we can finally take a breather. Hey, Kraven brats!  Come and take the helm!”

“Damn it, the NPCs should do it, when things like this are going-“

“Are you going to ignore the captain’s orders!?”

“Understood!”

One of Kraven’s pirate users weakly answered and went on the helm to switch with Burke.

The sky just one nautical mile away from the Blue Marlin was still dark. It wasn’t just because the sun had set. The intermittent sound of thunder was now very faint, but there was no sign of the storm disappearing.

“… The storm is just concentrated there.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to say, Alexander.  It’s not a natural phenomenon.”

Alexander sat cross-legged, took a deep breath, and looked behind him. He was in a slightly better situation compared to the users who were exhausted everywhere, but there was no way he wouldn’t be tired.

“Of course! Isn’t that something you should have felt right from the moment we entered?!  Damn it, it is somewhat ominous. I wonder what idiot captain would steer his ship to a place like that, but I never thought that it would be me.”

The NPC Burke also knew that the man in golden armor next to Alexander was the ancient gold dragon, but it was proof that he had no time to be polite.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Alexander lightly thanked Burke. The past 24 hours had been such that he wondered if there would be more such hardships. It was truly a desperate endeavor to rescue the Sea God’s guard captain and escape from the sea full of dark clouds. 

The highly difficult retreat, in which they had to fight off the fishmen who were literally swimming after them without a single moment of rest, and drove the ships to a place with the weakest wind even in a typhoon to maintain speed, had just ended. The situation was no different with the New Serpent, which was 300m away from the Blue Marlin.

“Ahhhh, I’d rather do a dragon raid… I feel like someone beat my whole body…”

The person who looked particularly haggard was Kijung.

Because there was almost no one else who could act as a tanker, he essentially took all the damage in the New Serpent by himself.

“Was it hard, Kijung-ssi?”

“It was hard… Leeha-hyungnim is really lucky. They left at the exact time.”

“Biyemi-ssi and Lee Jiwon-ssi as well.”

Kijung even threw away his shield as he lay down on the deck. Hyein also collapsed helplessly next to him.

“What about Ram Hwajung and Pyro? Phew, our country’s ship must have felt like they are dying because of the lack of combat personnel. Unfortunately, people with high burst potential were in group 4, so we got so tired.”

“It’s a pity Fernand-ssi was not here. He is not here when we need to reorganize the sailing schedule and routes…”

Even Rubini and Bobae expressed disappointment. Until the expedition departed, the composition and proportion of logout rotation groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 were roughly similar, but as the voyage continued, each member of the expedition could see their importance had changed slightly.

However, no one brought up the idea of changing the rotation, and even if they did, it would hurt someone’s pride, so everyone just let it be. That’s exactly what resulted in this incident.

“… Ha Leeha must come.”

The users did not miss Drake’s muttering.

“Yes? Leeha-hyung?”

Kijung barely raised his head and asked, but Drake did not answer and asked the mermaid NPC.

“Anderson, is there no way back?”

“At least as far as I know. It was like that when I escaped. Since the fishmen came out, the storm over the waters of the Dragon Palace had not ended.” 

“If it were the entire sea area, there would be no way back… Is the Sea God’s guard captain awake?”

“No, not yet… Daoist Mu is still healing him, but he couldn’t do it alone.”

“Ugh.”

Of course, the conversation between the two NPCs, Drake and the mermaid, was not simply a conversation. To the surrounding users, each and every word was a hint.

‘There’s a correlation between the fishmen and the storm. Is a quest going to come out?’

‘We will find out more details when the Sea God’s guard captain wakes up. Chim, it’s a shame that Saint Raphaela is in group 4.’

‘But what did he mean when he muttered Ha Leeha-ssi’s name? When it came to the route, we need Fernand-ssi more.’

While the tired users were lost in their own thoughts, the sun gradually sunk into the distant sea. The 41st night of the voyage. However, the sailing distance based on the Old Continent remained the same as on the 39th day, and the Blue Marlin and New Serpent were just aimlessly circling the surrounding sea.

Shyuuk-! Shyuuk-! Shyuuk-!

Perhaps because they were already familiar with the intersection of Middle Earth and reality, all Group 4 users logged in at the same time, as if it was planned.

“Hwaaaaa, I slept well. Good morning, everyone!”

“Kiskis, I feel good after eating a lot of food.”

“I’m sleepy.” 

“Oh, my? Why is everyone’s expression so bad? What happened?”

Leeha, Biyemi, Ram Hwajung, and Raphaela, as well as Daoist Baeju, Chiyou, and Pyro from the Blue Marlin, were confused as they looked at their surrounding.

“What? Kijeong-ah? Why are you lying down? Bobae-ssi, what happened to you? Did a monster appear?”

“… Hearing that carefree sound makes me feel energetic again.”

Kidd sighed as he watched Leeha change the magazine into the Black Bass. Even with his hat pressed down, his haggard face was instantly recognizable.

“What’s wrong with you? R-really. Ah! Everyone from group 1! You can log out now! Sleep well!”

Leeha shouted energetically, but the users from Group 1 did not respond or log out.

The user who was in group 4  with Leeha who had a vague sense of the situation was Fernand.

“Huh? What? Isn’t the direction of the sun strange? “Captain Drake! The route-“

“We are currently circling around the same spot.”

“- what?”

“Huh? What kind of monster came out?”

Fernand and Leeha tilted their heads at the same time. It was also the reason why group 1 waited for them without even being able to log out.

“Group 4 is here everyone! Haaaa, we will tell you… everything that happened. Ah! Raphaela, could you please go inside the cabin?”

“Yes? Ah, yes.”

“There is another mermaid there, the Sea God’s guard captain. Please treat him. He couldn’t wake up even with the treatment from Daoist Mu.”

Just hearing Bobae speak to Raphaela made Leeha get a feel of the situation. Something had happened that made them do something similar to docking the ship.

“Listen to the explanation first. They said everyone would come over here after the explanation on the Blue Marlin is over, so let’s talk.”

The users of group 4 listened to the story of what happened in the past 2 days on their respective ships. In general, they were stating facts, but it could not be objective because they were described while being incorporated with the experiences of the users who have dealt with the fishmen. The only thing that group 4 could be sure of was that the fishmen were stronger than any monster in the old continent. That wasn’t the only problem.

“… The storm won’t go away?”

“We will find out more details when the guard captain wakes up. It probably has something to do with how the fishmen were born.”

Baileiphus nodded and answered.

“Oh……. Then? Captain, you have two skills- no, anyway, they can accelerate the ship, you were not able to get rid of the fishmen chasing you in the water? “The skill does not last forever.”

“So Leeha, I need you.”

“Me? What can I do against the storm? Should I try to hit the eye of the storm?

“Are you kidding? It’s that, that.”

Drake extended his fingers and pointed at the flustered Leeha. Even after getting called out, Leeha still did not understand Drake’s intention.

“That… why is he pointing at him?”

“Maybe he just wanted to point his finger at eong-ah?”

As Kijung quietly muttered, the users, including Biyemi, giggled.

The atmosphere on the entire new continent expedition team brightened just by Leeha logging in.

“I am talking about that coat.”

“Coa- ah! Ahhh! Right, right!”

Drake sighed as he looked at Leeha’s foolish behavior.

“Could it be that you’ve never used it before?”

“I did not have any activity in the sea! That’s right, there was that!”

“There’s no need to be at sea to use it, but..”

Drake’s gaze changed slightly. His gaze, which used to be looking at something interesting, had become a bit like looking at a simpleton.

Of course, it was not surprising to those who knew Leeha’s personality well in the first place. Most users, even Burke, shook their heads.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!