Matan’s Shooter

TL: xLordFifth

ED: 

“What kind of monster is that—”

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice! Get back, Luger!”

As Kidd moved to observe the creature, Leeha pushed him aside with Black Bess’s muzzle.

The click was already adjusted.

BAAAAAANG—!

Instinctively capturing the creature’s weakness derived from experience! Leeha’s shot hit the creature’s horn squarely in the middle of its face.

The horn, protruding like that of a rhinoceros, couldn’t withstand the force unleashed by Black Bass. Watching the shattered horn fly, Leeha nodded.

Leeha recalled the time when, along with Browless, they faced Cyclops imbued with demonic power.

For monsters with horns, it was already known that the horn served as the source of energy and a weakness, thanks to previous experiences.

“Right! Damn it, Luger, when will you act like a meticulous hunter and shoot at the body of such monsters? Obviously, the horn is the weakness—”

Roar—

However, that was the case for monsters imbued with demonic power. The creature, a ‘normal monster’ in the Erica continent, emitted a low and pained cry, expressing its disappointment that the horn had broken and anger.

“Huh… not a weakness, huh?”

The horn turned out to be neither an instant death point nor a weakness. Realizing that the attack had only fueled its anger, Leeha looked helplessly. Luger, who had just received a blow, glared at him with a sharp look.

He deflected the [Penetration] bullet and withstood the [Sharpness] bullet, and even though both failed, the last of the trio was laughing.

“Your accuracy is acknowledged, but it was too hasty. For monsters with a shell-like structure, the weakness is generally the ‘belly.’ Overwhelm the soft flesh underneath, and with explosive firepower, you can pierce through it in an instant.”

Kidd relaxed his muscles as he walked. The tension in his calves and forearms was evident even to me and Luger.

“You speak well. So, can Kidd really do it?”

“I remember Master’s advice.”

“Did you hear some other story alone again?”

“You all heard it too. Recall it.”

Alternating between answering Luger and me, Kidd’s body swelled at that moment.

“What—”

Paaat-!

Kidd’s body was instantly propelled forward. His speed, running across the field, was truly phenomenal! Even a tightrope-walking panda would find it challenging to keep up with Kidd’s current speed.

“[Rapid Fire] is done with the feet! You can’t know how frustrating it was being stuck on the ship!”

Roar———–

With Kidd’s sprint, the monster also began to move vigorously. While keeping its raised ‘upper body’ still, only the legs that touched the ground were moving, digging into the grass and soil.

The momentum of the monster rushing toward Kidd was also fierce.

Looking from a distance, both Leeha and Luger appeared visibly concerned. However, the actual person, Kidd, remained calm.

Buoooooot-!

The creature facing Kidd had a raised upper body that was roughly close to 2m in size. However, for the three individuals who had faced Serpent and Kraken, it didn’t feel particularly large.

Yet, the small hairs attached at the ends of each leg looked as sharp as needles. A long-range dealer without proper armor would have their flesh torn even with a fleeting touch.

Kidd was staring intently at the creature resembling a centipede. As rapid fire, he knew well that the most dangerous things were failing to observe the enemy properly and overly tensing oneself.

He couldn’t shrink back upon seeing the enemy. To insert a volley of bullets precisely at the target, one must control even the slightest tremor in the muscles. That was the destiny of [Rapid Fire]!

“First shot!”

Kidd quickly applied the brakes, came to a halt, and brandished the revolvers in both hands. Unlike the rapid shots with both hands handling a single revolver, this time, it was different.

Literally, one gun in each hand.

The coordination of pulling the trigger and squeezing it with the thumbs and index fingers was as fluid as using a single finger.

Tadaaai—!

The creature’s movements slowed down in response to the continuous gunfire.

“Hitting is obvious, but-“

“Slightly off! It seems like he tried to concentrate the aim of the left and right hands in one place…”

After Kidd closed the distance Luger, and Leeha observed the battle scene. Kidd’s bullets hit the creature. Despite the tremendous speed and intense sudden stop, each of the six bullets accurately hit the creature.

However, it was regrettable that the impact groups of the left and right hands were slightly spaced apart.

Buooooot-!

The creature had holes, and yellow liquid flowed out, but it still looked intact.

“Hoo… As expected, there’s still room for improvement.”

The monster sharply swung the legs of its upper body that were not touching the ground.

The monster’s leap, which closed the distance in an instant, was unexpected, but the fact that the legs of the upper body stretched ‘a little more’ in the meantime was fatal to Kidd.

Kidd tried to widen the distance with a back step, but before he knew it, his front legs were narrowing the distance before his eyes.

“Ugh, what-“

The impact sound resonated as Kidd felt the pressure shaking his body. The creature’s forelegs, rapidly approaching, had stopped moving. The main body of the monster had turned gray.

“…What the.”

With their bodies in the middle, Luger and Leeha each fired their guns as if passing by, hitting the monster!

Kidd was not the only one who honed his [attribute]. Leeha’s [Hit] went through the hole made by Kidd’s left revolver and dealt damage.

What about the bullets shot by Kidd’s revolver?

The spot where Luger’s [Pierce] passed through had created a hole large enough to fit a person’s head into.

“Whew… Certainly, the belly side seems weak. Is it because Kidd created a hole? Experience points are quite generous, but it’s a very difficult hunt.”

“How pathetic must your level be to get ‘quite a bit’ of experience points from such a monster?”

“The monster’s name seems to be ‘Rhinodilo.’ ‘Rhinodilo’s Shell,’ ‘Rhinodilo’s Elongated Leg Bones.’ Did the horn not come out because it was broken?”

Luger, with a determined attitude to recover his crumpled pride, was dismissively ignored by Leeha, who focused only on looting.

Watching them chat and laugh, Kidd swallowed dryly.

“As I advance… they advance as well.”

Already during the voyage, Kidd had sensed it, but Leeha and Luger’s skills were rapidly improving, enough to offset his efforts.

“No achievements?”

“Yeah. I thought there would be at least one like ‘First Monster Defeated!’… “

“You didn’t get the finishing blow.”

“Huh? What did Luger get?”

“Hehe, it’s a secret.”

Luger smirked triumphantly, snorting through his nose.

Leeha, who momentarily opened his mouth in surprise, realized he had been deceived when he saw Kidd’s exhaling a sigh.

“No way! No way that’s true. You used to have this cool warrior vibe, and now you’ve become such a scammer? It’s embarrassing to be caught in such a lie, you know?”

“Who? Who’s calling me a scammer? What kind of nonsense is th—”

Nothing had changed since the Crolang incident. [Rapid Fire] smiled bitterly as he watched [Accurate] and [Piercing] still bickering.

“We caused too much commotion. We should move qu— huh?!”

Kugugugugug…

As Kidd tried to calm them down and prepare to move again, a sudden vibration caused him to lose balance. The ground shaking was definitely not due to mood swings.

Even Leeha and Luger lowered their postures and looked around.

“What’s going on?!”

“Earthquake? Is it an Earthquake skill?”

However, there was no one around. There was no presence casting a skill anywhere on the vast open ground, not even a shadow toward Redwood.

Unless it was a dragon, no creature casting a skill while avoiding the gaze of Leeha and Luger could exist.

“Who on earth would cause such a—”

Paaa, paaa, paaaat-!

After a moment, soil started gushing up like a fountain from various places around Kidd.

Skill? The vibration that bewildered the Three Musketeers was not something as simple as a ‘mere’ skill.

Paaa, paaaat-!

The Three Musketeers identified the essence of the vibration. Their faces turned grim as it became clear that the shaking signaled the appearance of monsters.

“…Ah, right… But I did think, ‘It feels somewhat like that〜.’”

“Are you saying that now?”

Though Leeha forced a strained laugh, the other two couldn’t find it in themselves to laugh.

Booooom^ ^oooo—§–!

The vibration was a signal announcing the emergence of monsters!

It turned out they were creatures moving underground.

While there were monsters like Basilisks in the Lope Continent, they were limited to deserts. Who could have guessed there would be creatures moving in the soil of such a simple field?

Those horns weren’t the source of mana but were necessary for digging through the underground soil!

“Shut up and run, you idiots! They’re coming from that side! Scatter!”

Luger was the first to carry his Cobalt Blue Pythons and run away. Leeha also grabbed his Black Bass with both hands and ran.

Kidd, too, needed no encouragement.

Run?

Even just a while ago, they had a considerable struggle to catch one of them, but the creatures that had emerged now numbered more than 30, at the very least. Moreover, as long as the distant ground continued to vibrate, it was impossible to predict how many more would emerge.

“Sometimes running away is the answer!”

“Who said we should catch those?! Foolish, truly idiotic individuals!”

“The first one to shoot was you, Luger!”

Even while running away, the Three Musketeers continued their bickering. Behind them, the rhythmic pounding of the creatures’ footsteps echoed continuously.

The item that most affects running speed is the ‘shoes.’

However, taking agility stats as a foundation is a matter of course! Kidd was marginally faster, but Leeha and Luger were not slow by any means.

Nevertheless, the increasing volume of the sound was truly horrifying. Could it be that creatures with many legs were gaining speed significantly?

“Ugh! There are urgent skills to use, but… do we have to go through this trouble with just the first batch of monsters!?”

“Did anyone ask you not to use them? After creating distance, we can think about the strategy again and approach!”

“So, I told you not to shoot in the beginning! I said we needed to observe, but someone went ahead and shot without warning.”

“Shut up and keep running!”

Luger, upon hearing comments that put him at a disadvantage, closed his mouth again and continued to move his feet. Originally, the direction they started running was towards the side where the Rhynodilos did not appear! It was in the opposite direction of Redwood, towards the vast cleared area.

“Run, run!”

“If I party with you, Luger, from now on, I won’t be human anymore—oof!”

“Duck!”

Swoooosh!

Kidd tackled Leeha, who turned his head to scream at Luger. Leeha, even though feeling a powerful impact on his abdomen, could clearly see the black shadow flying over Kidd’s nape.

Both of them tumbled to the ground.

Leeha, using his hands to clear the rising dust, checked on Kidd.

“Kidd! Kidd! Are you okay?”

“I’m f-fine.”

Kidd lay sprawled on the ground, twisted from being thrown. How much strain would it take on his lower body to attempt a leap in the opposite direction at full speed? Leeha couldn’t gauge Kidd’s agility, but his contorted expression gave a rough idea.

“Darn it, what are those things again?! Where did they come from?”

Instinctively, Luger raised the Cobalt Blue Python.

Lowland! Lowland!

Something unfamiliar appeared ahead.

Should they welcome it, shouting words they couldn’t understand, or should they be sad? Leeha, still supporting Kidd, got him up and also looked ahead.

“Paleo…? What’s that… Gorilla?”

Ahead were new paleos, similar to the gorillas, and a horrifying horde of Rhynodilos in the rear. Leeha briefly considered which side would be easier to break through.

Still, communicating might be better.

“Save us!”

“…This crazy guy.”

Luger’s comment was Leeha’s sentiment.

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