Matan’s Shooter

“Having seen us, we cannot let you live. It’s just a matter of whether it happens sooner or later. Farewell.”

One of the bonobo paleos turned away.

The signal to start the attack was seen, and at that moment, as Jin Gonggong tightly closed his eyes, a voice came from behind the hill.

“No wayyyy! [Seal of Protection].”

• What followed the voice was the sound of countless bean-sized bullets exploding. Sounds like crack! and clink! continued non-stop.

“All paladins, form a barrier. Holy Shield.”

Holy Wild!

Three hundred paladins simultaneously activated their skill.

Jin Gonggong was still far ahead, but now there was no need for Byulcho to approach any closer.

“Are you okay, Jin Gonggong-ssi?”

Hyein, who had teleported Jin Gonggong to safety, along with Bobae and Tale, was now tending to his wounds. It meant that not all attacks could be blocked, even with Kijung’s skill.

Of course, not dying was what mattered most.

Kijung immediately deactivated his skill and stepped forward.

“… Taking hits on behalf of others? How-“

A bonobo paleo cut off his sentence, furrowing his brow.

“-Oh, is he a loyal follower of that giant?”

His expression was distorted, trying to hide his shock.

If he took the hit instead, then judging by the norm, the human coming towards them should also have become a guardian, but the approaching human wore an exceedingly serene look.

It was no less than the dignity of a prospective holy knight.

Not even items crudely made by orcs or kobolds, but items made with sincerity by bonobo paleos, were unable to inflict significant damage on Kijung.

“You wouldn’t understand. Defending isn’t just from the bottom up. It’s also from the top down! I am the guild master, and that person is our guild member. So, I will ask. Who are you? And why are you attacking our guild member suddenly?”

After checking his status through the character window, Kijung asked.

He wanted to counterattack, but what was important was to understand their ‘purpose.’

“A guild… So you call groups of humans that. Well, you seem to know already.”

The bonobo paleo nodded after hearing Kijung’s words.

Kijung realized that this creature before him was not an easy opponent.

‘Not a mystical creature but a regular paleo with such knowledge of us? This is the first time I’ve seen such a paleo…’

Even paleos near Juma City, like the red goats or black cranes, took considerable time to understand the concept of guilds.

A group formed by those who are not family nor friends but share a common goal.

“This monkey knows the concept. Have many players already passed by here?”

Kijung asked the bonobo paleo.

If the response to his formal speech was disrespectful, Kijung had no reason to respect the paleos anymore.

“What do you know?”

“When I touched that giant, you said ‘protecting the guild member.’

Then why shouldn’t we do the same?”

“Huh? I don’t understand. I haven’t touched any of the paleos gathered here.”

“No, you did. You just didn’t realize it!”

The bonobo paleo’s eyes sparkled.

Although Kijung confidently stepped forward, as he gradually understood the paleo’s words, he couldn’t help but relax his stance.

“What are you talking about- wait, hold on-“

“You humans have touched our paleos. Aibex and Hudid contacted Cobra. Harhe also joined, I heard.”

“What… What do you mean?”

The bonobo paleo stepped closer. Kijung stepped back.

It wasn’t just because he was overwhelmed by the bonobo’s presence.

“Okay, come back. It’s better to retreat now.”

“Huh? What do you mean, Hyein hyung. We should listen until the end–No. I understand now. We have to go back. There’s no chance of winning. According to Bobae, there are over fifteen hundred paleos laid out around us. We can’t handle this.”

It was because Hyein, who fully understood what the bonobo paleo was saying, was there.

As Kijung moved, the bonobo paleo’s gaze grew even more intense.

What was happening was beyond the understanding of Byulcho’s guild members or the paladins a good distance behind Kijung. However, Kijung could not forget the look in the eyes of bonobo paleo.

“I never thought I’d be grateful to humans. Thanks to you, the guardian gods who haven’t communicated for over 300 years started exchanging messages. In your terms, they’ve formed a ‘guild’.”

Eyes filled with resentment are hard to forget.

“Everyone dies-”

“Kay! Quickly-”

“Aaagh!”

“-[Mass Teleport]!”

Hyein immediately charged forward, grabbing Kijung and disappearing.

At the same time, everyone else who had been instructed by Hyein earlier was enveloped in a pale light.

“-Ah… should’ve… I never expected you to catch on so quickly. Blocking space should have been my first move when dealing with humans.”

bonobo paleo clicked his tongue, searching.

A pig approached him, snorting heavily.

“What shall we do, Pygmy.”

“There’s no change in plans. For now, all paleos in the western part of the New Continent must unite.”

“Will the guardian gods also come then? Ah-”

“Exactly. And… we must all join forces to expel the outsiders. Those barbaric humans.”

bonobo paleo’s older hyung, Pygmy, looked out towards the hill that Kijung and others had sprinted over.

“How do we differentiate teleport points though? Jellypong, can you tell?”

[Myong?]

“Impossible. Hmm, should I keep summoning and testing with Blaugrunn-ssi? It’s complete drudgery. Maybe I should just have Luger keep using chain teleport? Hehe. No harm to me since he can move to my location in an instant-”

Kijung: Hyung! Hyung!

Leeha, who was rambling in front of the unresponsive Jellypong, was startled.

Only after displaying the expression of someone caught in a mischievous act did he realize who was calling him.

Leeha: Oh, Kijung? What’s up?

Kijung: It’s serious! The paleos have united!

Leeha: Huh? What are you talking about? Oh, right. Hey! I picked up Toon bone, and its performance is-

Kijung: No, it’s not the time to talk about items! The paleos have united!

Hearing Kijung’s urgent words, Leeha shrugged his shoulders.

The reason Leeha couldn’t easily comprehend the message was also because Kijung had omitted a crucial word.

Leeha: Why does that matter? That’s great! If they’ve united, those guys who were boasting about [Subjugation] will now be-

Kijung: That’s not it! I was attacked by the paleos! Hyung, don’t you remember?

Only then did Leeha’s expression turn serious, realizing what Kijung being ‘attacked’, who had been sympathetic to the paleos, meant.

Leeha: …~ No way.

Kijung: It’s pure ‘human detestation’. Just a glimpse earlier showed more than fifteen hundred.

Leeha: The paleos have united to attack humans? But, suddenly-

Kijung: It’s not sudden. There have been signs. You said so yourself.

Leeha couldn’t continue his earlier thoughtless words.

From when the Virtue Knights first intervened, and they faced off with Lark, this was the worst scenario Leeha had imagined.

“Ah… those crazy bastards!”

Leeha sighed. It was not ‘sudden’ for the paleos. It was merely the culmination of long-standing grievances.

Looking solely at the small accomplishment of [Subjugation], they had inadvertently brought about a more significant danger.

‘It’s not just making the New Continent play difficult. Damn…”

Without the cooperation of the paleos, playing in the New Continent could become difficult.

That was why Leeha had stood in the way of Lark and the knights with the goal of [Subjugation].

But now?

It was not a matter of not cooperating; they were united in their intent to attack?

Leeha: Oh! What about the mystical creatures?

Kijung: None.

Leeha: Phew……

Kijung: That’s hardly a relief.

“Yes. Wouldn’t they call the mystical creatures for using ‘guns’, not bows? Hyein hyung thinks that once their place is completely secured, all the mystical creatures will gather.

Guns? Guns, you say? What kind of gun?

I don’t know. But it wasn’t a musket. It was this paleo that looked like some kind of monkey… Biyemi called them bonobo paleo.”

Leeha’s expression turned as if he had been struck. They must be talking about the bonobo paleo. Then, they wouldn’t be using something like a ‘musket’.

“Crazy… to think we entrusted [Enhancement] to those things…”

It seems like a bad move now.

At least, the schematics for Leeha’s Black Bass and Luger’s Cobalt Blue Python are not perfectly intact.

“Of course, they can’t produce exactly the same thing. Or, could they possibly?”

Even so, they couldn’t possibly be legendary items. It was certain.

No matter how capable those bonobo paleos were, they couldn’t effortlessly produce such things.

If fifteen hundred paleos were armed with Black Bass, no force in Middle Earth could defeat them.

“Still, it won’t be ordinary. It’ll be much better than the muskets sold in the Old Continent.”

How about proficiency?

It wouldn’t match his own. However, even if it’s not a musket, a bolt-action level item wouldn’t require much time to master, which was also a problem.

“Are you coming, hyung? From the looks of it, they might storm into Juma City in a few days.”

“… I want to go. But teleportation doesn’t work here. Going back would take at least a week.”

“Huuuh… is that so?”

Listening to Kijung’s sigh, Leeha thought of someone. Leeha’s face grew fierce.

“Ah, right. Kijung, I’ll contact that side.”

“That side? Which side?”

“The bastard who caused this situation. Let’s hear what nonsense he’s spouting even now.”

“Wait, hyung! Don’t make the situation worse–The situation is already bad. What more can you do? Just wait.”

Leeha immediately softened his voice.

Leeha: Lark? This is Leeha.

Lark: … Huh? Oh? Really? It’s really Leeha? Wow, nice to hear from you! I thought I was blocked and was about to speak first-

“Cut the chatter. I’ll ask you straight. Do you know what’s going on with the paleos?”

“Who? What?”

Leeha counted between seventeen and nineteen about five times to calm down.

He hadn’t said anything special, but it was difficult to figure out what to talk about with a person who was as good as dead based on voice alone.

Still, now wasn’t the time to get angry.

Leeha: I won’t go as far as to call you ‘Eijay’… But you should take responsibility. The person who started a fire, must extinguish it.”

Leeha slowly relayed to Lark what he had heard from Kijung.

With a strong nuance that all of this was his fault. Lark listened obediently to Leeha’s words.

Lark: That’s serious… But you see, I’m currently bound by a ‘contract’.

Leeha: Another – Huh… What is it?”

Lark: Ah~ What to do. I’m in a situation where I can’t attack paleos at all… What should I do? I should ask Dame Shin for help?”

Leeha: Dame Shin?”

Lark: Yes, yes. That Dame Shin. I lost to her in a 1:1. So, I’m really impressed with her determination to target only me. Anyway, I ended up promising, no, contracting not to point even the tip of a sword at paleos for about a month. Sigh… If I don’t make a move, neither will the Virtue Knights. From what I hear from Leeha-ssi, we should negotiate before the paleo groups grow larger… Somehow, if Leeha-ssi could bridge the gap, neatly break the contract, and tidy up the gathered paleos. Well, that would cleanly wrap things up.”

Leeha’s rationality snapped.

Rather than reflecting on his mistakes, and without any intention of taking responsibility for what had happened, he was first and foremost thinking about his own gain.

Leeha: Hey!!! You!!!! will die when I come back!”

“Jellypong! Stop! Let’s find the teleport point first!”

[Myth, Mongryong?]

Leeha: Luger! Kidd! Both of you, stop talking nonsense and keep using chain teleport on me, keep it activated. Until I say stop. Got it?”

Leeha: Blaugrunn-ssi! Continue using the summoning magic. Until mana synchronization. Lark couldn’t know.

Nor could anyone in Middle Earth. It was the first time in the history of Middle Earth that Leeha was completely infuriated by someone.

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