Matan’s Shooter

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the Demon King’s Army showed no sign of movement.

Less than two hours remained until sunset.

If they were to attack, they would need to reveal themselves now to match the timing. Yet, there was no hint of an assault.

“Do you think even if Bluebeard himself showed up, they could breach our defenses in just two hours? What do you think?”

“Ah, Nara-ssi. You’ve been working hard,” Leeha greeted, raising his hand to Nara as she approached with a question.

Nara greeted him with a smile and sat down beside Leeha.

“I always have to come first. You remember you still haven’t fulfilled our last promise, right?”

“Oh, that- Ah- Ahh! That, I’ve been, ha, a bit busy outside. Sorry.”

The promise to meet just once outside. When exactly had they made that promise? It was a word given in Hong Kong, yet Leeha still hadn’t kept it.

Nara responded to Leeha’s apology with abroad smile.

She couldn’t help but think that he was someone who truly forgot about his surroundings when fixated on something.

“But what do you think their plan is? They surely don’t want the [Divine Staff] to be activated.”

“That’s true. I thought it might be a diversion, but that’s not it either. Besides tying the knights’ feet here, what else could they gain from it…? Maybe they’re just trying to waste time to prevent leveling up? At first, I even wondered if the Virtuous Knight Order was in collusion with them, but that doesn’t seem to be the case either.”

Leeha rested his chin on his hand as he responded to Nara’s question.

The plan that briefly crossed Leeha’s mind was to keep Sacred and Byulcho here while Virtue went around collecting [Subjugations]!

But that idea vanished soon as Virtue had not moved around after subduing three paleos, and the knight order Leeha had taken out using silencers and subsonic rounds were others.

“Or have they really given up? Just letting the sanctification proceed as is?”

“That’s the curious part. If that were their intention, what’s the purpose of Toon’s illusion, then?”

Leeha lightly lifted his Black Bass to measure the distance to Toon. Considering the magnification of the scope and the size of Toon within it, the current distance was roughly 260m.

Alexander also attempted to drive the Bailephus and burn them at once, but even a slight hint of action had Toon’s illusion and the horde of monsters fleeing far away in repetition.

“Toon is too busy healing to notice, I suppose. After all, Leeha-ssi blew his arm off.”

“Heh, was that all my doing? If Nara-ssi hadn’t properly blocked the surroundings, I might have collapsed from shooting flying monsters.”

Leeha stuck out his tongue and chuckled. Nara burst into laughter with a puff.

Amidst this enjoyable atmosphere, a different thought suddenly occurred to Leeha.

“But it makes you wonder. If everything we’ve seen so far is just an illusion, maybe the real Toon is somewhere else, hiding to conduct some secret mission… No, wait a minute.”

It’s not a diversion. The [Divine Staff] is about to have its [Spirit] affixed. But all this aside, where and what is Toon doing?

It wouldn’t be like Bluebeard to just watch!

“Could there be a more important mission…? By letting the activation of the [Divine Staff] proceed, they bind our feet here, while in the meantime, they’ve gone somewhere else?”

If it’s not a diversion but merely a bait, where has the real Toon gone?

The place he is now must be where Bluebeard is most concerned about!

“Ah, it’s almost over. Once the sun sets beyond those mountains, it’s done. Come on, Leeha-ssi!”

“Ah, yes? Yes!”

Nara helped Leeha to his feet. His immersion-broke, and his thoughts flowed away.

Around them, the knight orders were already in a festive mood.

With barely ten minutes left, preparations for the festival food began everywhere.”

Hyung! Hyung! Come over here! Jin Gonggong-nim brought some snacks from the capital!”

“Giggle, it’s been so long since I tasted something like this. Leeha-ssi, please join us too.”

Byulcho and the Sacred Knights were almost moving like a coalition as they prepared for the gathering. Led by the hand of the nation, Leeha also made his way to the festival site, hoping against hope that his concerns about Toon were just unfounded worries.

[The activated Divine Staff has received a response from the deity.]

[Six holy horns have formed.]

[Cardinal Romero’s prestige spreads throughout both the Lope and Erika continents.]

“There, there! Look! Something’s forming at the top of the Divine Staff!”

“Whoa!? What’s that? Some kind of bell?”

Shaaa—–…!

Clusters of bright light formed and flickered at the very top of the Divine Staff, so bright that those who first pointed it out were nearly the only ones who could properly see it.

However, there was no need to see the form of the holy spirit directly.

Something more certain reacted with Leeha’s body and eyes.

[You have completed the Sanctification quest.]

[Quest completion reward pickup location: The Ezwen Papacy]

[The knights who contributed to the sanctification are awaited at the Papacy.]

[Your level has increased.]

“Nice! It’s finally over! Bluebeard, Toon, Ghibrid, in the end, we won!”

“Ah, Kijung-ssi! We’re not even drinking, why are you acting all drunk?”

With [Sanctification] completed, there were still concerns about where Toon might be but, at least to some extent, Kijung’s words held truth.

“It’s done.

‘The Root’ can’t be used anymore. If the knights can block the monsters one by one from now on-‘ The plan by Bluebeard to fully resurrect Ghibrid won’t see the light of day. At least for today, Leeha decided to enjoy the festival with the knights gathered here from various countries.

“Ingredients! Any cooking ingredients!? I’ll whip up a dish in a flash! Today, I am the left-paghetti chef!”

“If you’re the left-paghetti chef, then I’m the right-paghetti chef!”

As Leeha enthusiastically jumped into the middle of Byulcho, Kijung said,

“Kijung-ssi, please.”

“Ugh, Kay…”

“I just found out there are levels to being unfunny. What you just did is a fail, Kay.”

Kijung’s expression, trying to suppress a smile, was met with groans from Bobae, Hyein, and Tale.

“Kijung…? I can’t even take it easy with this. You’re trying to make it funny – you probably need to get hit today.”

“Why, why! It was hilarious!”

“Quiet, man! Come here!”

As Leeha chased Kijung with Black Bass held upside down, Kijung hurriedly circled around the bonfire.

Laughter bloomed among the Sacred Knights and the nearby knights.

“Let’s also get ready.”

“Preparation’s already done. We’ve even handled the budget. Just need to execute it now.”

Instead of laughter, a few of the knights chose to move in secrecy.

“They’re opening the Papacy’s treasury?”

“Yes, that’s why I told you to log in quickly!”

“Sleeping and you text me to come quickly! How’s sleep supposed to run away? You could’ve at least called to wake me up!”

Leeha and Kijung bickered as they hurried along. After completing the sanctification, Leeha could truly rest at ease following the joyful festival (?) with Byulcho, the Sacred Knights, and others. However, perhaps because the tension had been completely eased due to getting an exceptionally good night’s sleep, logging in took a bit longer than expected.

“Hey, what if everything has been wiped clean? Ah, of all days, why did I oversleep today?”

“There mustn’t be much to worry about; around thirty people visited in total, so it can’t all have been taken.”

Kijung replied, shaking his head as Leeha hurriedly moved his feet and asked.

“Huh? Thirty people? How many members does the knight order have to only go in with thirty -”

“You’re such an idiot, hyung. Do you really think thousands of knights would be entering and exiting the Ezwen Papacy? The groups simply participated under their groups’ names, and the Pope himself decided the rewards. Well, the representatives dispatched or the high ranking users might have received some valuable items, though.”

“Ah, then the people who went back and forth to the Ezwen country are…”

“Right. Those who received the quest. That day, the attendees at the cathedral were the targets.”

Kijung had already heard information from the guild members of Byulcho who had gone to the cathedral to receive their rewards. Those who had the right to receive rewards from the Ezwen Papacy were the players who had initially moved to find and secure the [Divine Staff]. Hence, including Leeha, the number didn’t even reach thirty.

“Mmm, Alexander almost missed out except for the last week, though.”

Listening to Kijung, Leeha nodded. However, truth be told, he did feel a bit of sourness for being one of the last ones to receive the reward.

Kijung chuckled at Leeha’s reaction.

“Think positively, hyung! When else will you get the chance to give Alexander a ride on the bus? Who knows? Maybe that fair-play enthusiast will see this as a ‘debt’ and help out next time.”

“Well, that’s a valid point.”

After all, those who greatly contributed to this event were indeed the Sacred Knights, Byulcho, and other such groups. While Alexander did participate earnestly during the last week, Leeha’s companion, Lee Jiwon, hardly made a mark except for showing his face a few times in Leeha’s absence.

The first and second ranks didn’t earn their spots for nothing. They have mastered the art of pushing the tough work onto others while sharing the fruits of labor – a craft well understood by people in Middle Earth.

Just as Leeha was about to get angry, he suddenly thought of someone else.

“Rick, but if we’re taking this just among us, Lark, the ‘Knight of Bastards’, will be super annoyed, won’t he?”

“That guy can be a bit more annoyed. No, I hope he gets even more annoyed.”

Laughing at Leeha’s comment, Kijung couldn’t help but burst into laughter as well.

Still, Leeha, Kijung, Shin Nara, Bobae, and other players had the right to receive their just rewards at the cathedral. But Lark? Despite being in a leadership position within the Virtue Knights, he had no right to choose items from the cathedral’s treasury.

He wasn’t a quest recipient from the start. Though he contributed to securing the [Divine Staff] and thus received an item along with the cathedral’s blessing, compared to the rewards of Leeha and Kijung who were primary quest holders, it was considerably less.

“Phew, hello! We came regarding the completion of a quest!”

Finally reaching the entrance of the cathedral, the two men approached. Leeha tried to speak to the guards of the cathedral’s Pontifical Swiss Guard who didn’t blink an eye, nor did they look in his direction.

“Um? Excuse me? I’m trying to -”

“Cathedral guards, turn left, turn right—March!”

Suddenly they shouted an order. Their booming voice drowned out Leeha’s words.

Kijung, startled, even raised his sword and shield, but Leeha, quickly understanding the situation, merely wore an awkward smile.

The members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, positioned at various points around the cathedral to protect it, simultaneously turned their bodies towards the source of the voice.

Not just the guards in front, but those at the sides all turned to look at Leeha and Kijung.

“Ah, really. This is why it’s tiring to be famous. Ah, Kijung, this must be your first time experiencing something like this, right?”

“This is such a hassle, I could die.”

He nodded his head.

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