Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED:

It was somewhat fortunate that Kijung led all the users into the cabin.

His consideration, ensuring that aggro doesn’t spike and other users don’t suffer damage, was a kind gesture that now served as compensation. If, for instance, when taking about 149,000 damage, Raphaela had applied healing even once, all conditions would have been reset.

‘Considering this, Middle Earth is truly amazing. Why did they insert so many conditions to torment users like this? Despite that, it seems the game is popular… Perhaps the difficulty is what makes it appealing?’

Leeha looked up, exhaling bubbles. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but wish the game would remain as relatively easy as it was now.

Leeha’s C-team, as well as A-team, which wasn’t pursued by the fishmen after Drake’s transformation into a merman, were smoothly advancing. 

“It would be great if things could continue like this… The next week is crucial.”

The A-team would enter the central part of the Dragon Palace’s waters in just two more days. If nothing unexpected happened, Hyein’s B-team would start moving in earnest. And what about Leeha’s C-team?

Three days later, they would arrive near the Dragon Palace. After that, Leeha would have to log out, take a day of rest in reality, and then log back in to continue their journey.

[Kyukyu, kyukyu!]

Blaugrun, who was held by Anderson, flapped his wings at that moment.

“Hey, are you trying to say something, Blaugrun-nim? Did you detect something we didn’t detect?!”

“…He doesn’t like something, Anderson. What’s there, dragon-nim?”

[Kyukyu, kyukyu!]

Hearing the urgent cry of the bronze dragon, Leeha’s expression began to harden.

What did it mean for Team C, Leeha, to be on the 18th day of entering the waters of the Dragon Palace?

From Leeha’s perspective, it meant that he had been logged in for about 48 hours, took a 5-hour break, and had been logged in again for approximately 36 hours.

It indicated an immense accumulation of mental fatigue.

After understanding Blaugrun’s words, Leeha sighed.

“Kokok, kororok…”

There are fishmen.

Even with words only spouting bubbles, Anderson and Sea Bream understood the situation by looking at Leeha’s expression.

“Sigh, then that’s how it is.”

Middle Earth wouldn’t let them off so easily.

[Kyukyu, kyukyu!]

“We still can’t detect them in our detection range… What should we do, Captain?”

“Our signals may have been detected by them. First, pay attention to the direction the dragon-nim is pointing and stop for a moment. Move together with the school of fish over there.”

“Understood!”

Anderson and Sea Bream, who were moving at high speed, slowed down and approached the surrounding school of fish.

If humans approached, the school of fish would scatter in an instant, but these were mermaids, water spirits, and members of the undine clan!

The fish gracefully swam, accepting the mermaids as part of their group.

“Do you understand through the ripples? I see. Moving together at this speed interprets us as just a part of the school of sea breams in the sonar detection of the fishmen.”

In a way, it was a camouflage tactic.

However, for Leeha, a sniper on land, it was a somewhat unfamiliar camouflage, closer to what a submarine could achieve.

“Kokok?”

Suddenly, Leeha felt a cool sensation on his neck.

A fish, only the size of Leeha’s palm, was poking, poking his neck. The sparkling eyes of the sea bream and Leeha’s eyes met for a moment.

“Well, the game is annoyingly difficult and all, but I can’t quit because of experiences like this.”

An experience different from traditional virtual reality games.

Freshness was stimulated by various sensations that were hard to experience in reality.

From practical chairs efficiently utilizing the time difference between Middle Earth and reality to users playing the game for a new and unique experience, there were many reasons why they couldn’t quit.

“Ah! I detected them! They’re over there.”

“Already?”

“Huh? Oh… yes.”

Sea Bream looked at Anderson with surprised eyes.

With a much smaller size and a cute face that might not be trusted in battle, he had the ability to detect enemies equal to or even surpass Sea Bream.

“Well, indeed… With that ability, if you add speed, you could survive alone.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind… How many enemies?”

“There are three. No other marine life around, just three fishmen swimming. But the direction… the direction is… it’s this way. If we stay still like this, we might meet them!”

After hearing Anderson’s words, Sea Bream closed her mouth for a moment. The Captain of the Sea God’s Guard also frowned as he detected the enemies.

“Oh no. There’s no suitable place nearby to hide.”

“They are more agile and accurate than expected. It’s been about 6 minutes since they started moving! Do they perhaps know we’re here?”

There was nowhere to move. Moreover, in the vast sea, which wasn’t just limited to the cardinal directions but extended to the vertical axis as well, it was unfortunate that the enemies were approaching from this direction, making it seem like they knew the whereabouts of Leeha and his party.

[Kyukyu, kyukyu…]

The still-winged Blaugrung, embraced by Anderson, looked at Leeha. While observing the uneasy dragon, Leeha had different thoughts.

“Maybe this is a fortunate turn of events. Three fishmen, they are undoubtedly scouts or patrols. If they know we’re here, they’ll rush at full speed. They still don’t know… yet.” Unlike Anderson’s fuss, Leeha remained calm.

If the mermaids still didn’t know about them, it could be an opportunity.

Leeha: Let’s move along with the sea breams’ flow.

“Do you have a play?”

“Kokok.”

Leeha nodded. Strictly speaking, he hadn’t properly fought against fishmen yet. Perhaps, using Black Bass underwater might not be impossible.

Leeha: Sea Bream-nim, how many mermaids can you handle?

“Three would be too much.”

Leeha: What about two?

Sea Bream nodded, but his expression wasn’t bright. Even if he faced two, there was still one more remaining. It was too risky to believe that Anderson or Leeha would handle that.

“Can you do it? If you trust Anderson, I’d rather-“

Leeha: If Anderson-ssi has something to suggest… But I can’t just play around. Let’s try. Let’s lure them and, if possible, kill them.

As they approached the vicinity of the Dragon Palace, the probability of encountering these creatures would increase. So, now might be the opportunity.

A chance to experience a very practical test.

Leeha carefully opened a waterproof bag and took out an item from inside.

“They’re approaching. About 3 minutes and 30 seconds now. Be careful with your words, High Guard. Their breathing is different from the jellyfish friends, so you might get caught.”

With Anderson’s final warning, something else in the distance came into Leeha’s view.

With human-like arms and stationary legs, only the fish’s body moved as three mermaids swam closer.

Their bone-like harpoons held in their hands looked sharp even underwater.

The movement of the jellyfish herd became faster and more intense. Hiding within the herd was an appropriate choice for Sea Bream and Anderson.

Unlike other fish that would scatter or flee when enemies appeared, jellyfish herds became more cohesive, moving together.

It’s like their gathering is a disguise, making them look like a single living entity. “But the sharks know about that and swallow them all at once, right?” Suddenly, a scene from the documentary came to mind. Suddenly, these jellyfish seemed a bit pitiful, but it was fortunate that it allowed them to hide even better.

In the swirling mass of jellyfish, Leeha, Anderson, and Sea Bream clearly spotted the three mermaids.

“Captain!”

“Not yet—draw them in a little more. Anderson, you take care of the left one.”

Listening to Anderson and Sea Bream’s conversation, Leeha also prepared. What was the purpose of these three mermaids? Their eyes were rolling in a way that clearly revealed Leeha’s position.

“Hacket, it’s food.”

“Homut, hakut. Just bring the kraken here, and it’ll be fed.”

“Hacket! Go back—”

“[Bubble Shoot]”

“[Bubble Shoot]!”

And finally, when they approached, Sea Bream and Anderson used their skills. Clusters of bubbles shot from the mermaids’ hands were instantly sucked into the mermaids’ mouths.

What was surprising came next. Leeha, who didn’t know how their skill mechanics worked, witnessed a somewhat ridiculous scene.

“Hakyuep!”

“Kiip, kiieep—!”

Two fishmen were upside down, struggling and slowly, gradually floating up.

“Koktok?”

What’s that? There was no time to question.

“Now, Ha Leeha-nim! The duration isn’t long, so hurry!”

Sea Bream quickly swam out and began dealing with the disarmed mermaid while Anderson engaged the other still-armed one.

“Kokrok, koktok!”

Leeha swam towards the last fishman without getting help from anyone. However, he couldn’t attack the fishman who were upside down and screaming without understanding what had happened to them.

[Kyukyu! Kyukyu!]

“Just attack, Ha Leeha-nim! The air we fed them is making them float! We can’t make them sink because we can’t control the buoyancy! Just kill them, they won’t be able to find their balance flipped like that!”

Hearing Anderson shout from behind, Leeha understood. The brutally realistic Middle Earth also revealed its true nature even in a place like this.

“Is that a method—because they are fish, are they susceptible to being eaten? Good! Then I can’t just stand still!”

Fishmen were said to be more aggressive than mermaids and had excellent basic physical combat abilities. Although Sea Bream, being of the Sea God Guard Commander level, could quickly kill one mermaid, the other would likely recover before that.

What Sea Bream and Anderson hoped for was to neutralize at least one of the remaining two mermaids before that happened, and Leeha was confident in accomplishing that task.

“Kokororok, buggurrug!”

Leeha reached into his bag and pulled out a black stick slightly longer than a wand.

[Kyukyu! Kyuuuuuung!]

Leeha: Haha, Blaugrun-ssi! That’s why you should hurry up and become an adult! That way, we won’t have to deal with making more of these!”

Underwater, even Black Bass turned into a useless lump of metal. What other weapons remained? Would he use the flame thrower? That was unreasonable too. Unless it was the skill level of the flame sorcerer Pyro, it was impossible to surpass seawater with flames underwater.

“If I didn’t have this weapon in the first place, I wouldn’t have volunteered for the mermaid quest!”

He had never used it before. He kept it as one of the last resorts for ‘self-defense.’

However, what could Leeha’s stick with no decorations do?

“Hacket! Humans—chase!”

“Inae, hamut! Brought a human! The surface’s hakut, came down!”

Even the struggling fishmen noticed Leeha. Their actions, wielding weapons and limbs, were somewhat threatening, but they couldn’t move properly, so Leeha, with somewhat lacking swimming skills, could easily avoid them.

[Kyukyu!]

Blaugrun cheered for Leeha. Understandably so, as what Leeha was holding was another ‘item’ from ‘him.’

Before being reborn using the Easter Egg, when he was a bronze dragon of the Adult level, Blaugrun gave him two dragon scales. One was used to craft a flamethrower, but the other?

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