Matan’s Shooter

How many times had he sighed, arms crossed over his chest?

Blaugrunn blinked slowly, looking up at Leeha with a steady gaze.

“Worrying like that will only turn your hair white.”

“What? Where did you even hear such a thing?”

“The Lord mentioned it, didn’t he? Said he got white hair from pondering over the continent’s justice and order.”

Leeha couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the seriousness of it all.

“Pffft! Oh, come on. The Lord, with the dignity of a Platinum Dragon, saying things like that – And you, Blaugrunn, a dragon believing such talk?”

“The Lord’s words are the truth.”

“Ergh… Well, if you put it that way, I’m at a loss for words, truly. As if changing white hair is anything challenging for the leader of the metal dragons—”

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong, Leeha-nim?”

“Hold on, hold on… there might be a way… No, it’s a bit rough, but it seems worth a try?”

“Really?”

Blaugrunn tilted his head in query, but Leeha didn’t reply. Instead, he looked directly at Blaugrunn.

“Blaugrunn.”

“Yes?”

“Right now… We’re not in a master-servant relationship, are we?”

“Of course not. We are partners, after all.”

“We care for each other, but we’re not beholden to one another, right?”

“Exactly. Why bring this up all of a sudden?”

Leeha’s eyes sparkled.

“Don’t look at me with those eyes! Whenever Leeha-nim gets that look, it always leads to—”

“Quiet! Just help me out already! This is all for the ‘justice and order’ the Lord desires!”

Seeing Leeha’s face twisted into a mischievous grin, Blaugrunn cringed, but it was too late. Those gathered around the [Divine Staff] were already buzzing with talk about the recent event.

“Did you hear? They say Leeha-nim did it himself.”

The speculation was rampant. No one really knew. As Leeha himself hadn’t clarified the circumstances or process of the deed, wild stories were inevitable.

There were whispers of a solo play, a team effort, a raid party formation, cooperation among the Three Musketeers, the involvement of Byulcho, even tales of a ‘Dragon Strike Force’ led by famed dragon knight Alexander and others.

The most sensational and seemingly miraculous version was the ‘solo play kill,’ which, in reality, was almost true for Leeha, but for those who barely knew or only knew of him in passing, other theories naturally abounded.

“The guy seems nice enough but doesn’t look that strong. Alexander truly is the best.”

“Ah, Alexander the Great! To hunt in a party with him just once would be a dream.”

“Idiot, you’re too low-level to even gain experience.”

“But even that would be an honor. To say you’ve partied with Alexander is a glory to your family.”

The intent of their gathering, which was supposedly about ‘vigilance,’ was nowhere to be seen among the chattering crowd.

Even as they spoke with Leeha, particularly about measures for vigilance and emergency situations, none of it seemed to have stuck.

“So, just a few more hours of guarding, right?”

“We seem to have about eight hours left. Just cracking open some nuts and increasing our Ezwen familiarity like this is nice.”

“Heh, exactly. Over these three days, the only monster we’ve encountered was a single ogre, if I recall.”

The quest to protect and guard the [Divine Staff] was given by a bishop dispatched to Juma City from Ezwen. Following the Kaztor incident, this quest was like a long-awaited rain for Fibiel users, whose familiarity with Ezwen had sharply decreased. However, because a certain level of Ezwen’s familiarity was required to accept the quest, not many users undertook it.

In the New Continent, there wasn’t an urgent need for Ezwen’s familiarity, and a quest that required investing three full days wasn’t particularly appealing to users exploring the New Continent.

“Anyway, as for us-“

“Contact, about 800m ahead, a giant figure spotted!”

The chattering users all turned their heads in the same direction. Three members of the knight order were diligently on their mission.

One among them, possessing specialized abilities in scouting and observation, spotted something approaching from a distance.

“What’s that?”

“Monster? Or, sir Knight, how many?”

“Ah, seems like a good chance to stretch a bit.”

The users exaggeratedly stretched their muscles while drawing their weapons. The knight frowned while sharing the observation results.

“Just one. Humanoid.”

“A humanoid? Again?”

“Eh, boring, boring.”

“But it’s a form we haven’t seen before.”

“Oh, really? Like what? Blue beard or something? Heh.”

Instead of focusing on their objective to protect the [Divine Staff], it seemed they found an interesting diversion in whatever they observed, causing the knights to furrow their brows even more.

However, at a time when any additional help was needed, sending them away wasn’t an option.

“I cannot say for certain, but… it’s size and shape are similar to a human. It’s very slow, so it will take some time to reach here, and if there’s anything particularly notable about its appearance…”

“Appearance?”

“It’s wrapped all over in bandages.”

The knights accurately described the monster’s appearance, causing the users to nod slightly.

“Bandages?”

“Ah! A mummy? Do mummies even exist?”

“I’ve heard stories of them appearing a few times in the northern ruins of the Old Continent.”

“Hmm, either way, let’s get ready! Whether it’s slow or fast, if it’s coming this way, we’ve got to fight.”

Until just moments ago, they were merely joking around, but they were players of the New Continent after all.

To move around the New Continent smoothly, one would need to be at least above level 250, and these bantering users certainly had the skills beyond that.

“Contact, 4000m!”

“Okay, now it’s clearly visible.”

“What shall we do? Let it come here or-“

“Obviously, we’re going out to beat it. Knights, please report back to Juma, will you?”

With all buffs applied, the ‘mummy’, creeping closer, was now barely 400m away from the [Divine Staff].

“Let’s go! Fight well, everyone!”

With a shout, seven users dashed forward.

“Now, let’s start with some magic…

[Pyro Spear]!”

One user quickly completed the casting.

Whoosh!

A flaming spear, taking shape in the air.

He didn’t wait and thrust his staff forward.

“Ah, hot!”

“Hey, learn to control your magic properly! Hehe.”

The flaming spear flew, narrowly missing the users rushing ahead as they dodged it playfully.

A pre-emptive strike with an explosive damage flaming spear was enough to seize the initiative.

‘The impact isn’t a joke either. If everyone rushes at that bandaged freak the moment I do…’

“It’s over.”

Woosh…

“Huh?”

“Uh?”

However, the anticipated sequence of events did not unfold.

The flaming spear, just before hitting the mummy, vanished into thin air.

“What? A dispel?”

“No, it didn’t look as if they used Dispel-“

“Move out!”

The distance between the seven users who had already charged and the mummy was now less than 50 meters. The mummy extended its hand towards the users.

[Begone.]

In that instant, from the fingertips of the mummy, a blazing spear of flame materialized.

“Pyro Spear!?”

“No, it’s not Dispel, but reversing magic-“

“Dodge it!”

Whoosh…

In a flash, the spear of flame struck one of the users at the front directly. Death in a single blow. As their comrade turned to ashes, the light in the eyes of the users dimmed.

“Crazy, kill it! Don’t give it a chance!”

“We’ve already contacted the back! Told them not to use magic, so don’t be scared and charge!”

The nature of the mummy was unknown. However, it had the property of not destroying magic but returning the inflicted magic just as it was.

True to the players of the New Continent, they quickly analyzed their enemy and geared up to fight back.

The regrettable thing was that their analysis was too simplistic.

[Foolish humans.]

Once again, a blazing spear of flame formed at the mummy’s fingertips.

“Ha, it’s not just once?”

“No, it’s not that it’s not once! There’s not just one! Scatter!”

Then there was one flame spear, then two, and then three.

“Use the barrier first!”

“Damn it, a mage-type monster!”

“[Dr- Blast!”

“Status ailment! That thing, it uses paralysis magic too!?”

Along with the three thrown flame spears, another spell unfolded from the mummy’s fingertips.

Even though seven users, all above level 250, exerted their utmost effort, they couldn’t avoid it.

They tried using items or creating shields and barriers, but it was already too late as they were afflicted by the status ailment.

They couldn’t even attempt to neutralize the flame spears by swinging their weapons. Three more users died, and the rest were quickly dealt with by a few gestures from the mummy.

The time it took for these admittedly skilled seven users to die was less than two minutes.

A mage user watched this scene with dumbfounded eyes.

“I, I, I must run, must escape! It’s impossible, how can it be so powerful! Three? Not only casting three Pyro Spears simultaneously but also interspersing them with status ailment magic! Even if I go all out now, I might barely manage two casts!”

“You cannot leave! In the name of the knight’s honor! We must defend this place, [Divine Staff]!”

The knight grabbed the mage user trying to flee, but the user was still determined.

“Someone has to report back to Juma City anyway!”

He shouted loudly at the knights, meaning he would go to Juma, so they should let him go.

The knights wore reluctant expressions but couldn’t hold back. After all, someone needed to convey this situation, and having someone who’s already lost their fighting spirit stay would do better heading to Juma since they might at least be of some use.

“Alright. Then… Please make sure to report to Juma City, and our knight order, that an unprecedentedly powerful mage-type monster has appeared.”

“That, that- Okay, I’ll make sure to do it! The knight order? Where should I go?”

“Sacred.”

“Virtue.”

“Just speak to the bishop of Juma. For the glory of our god Ahlo.”

He was from the capital defense knight orders of Fibiel, Minis, and the paladins dispatched from the Ezwen Papacy. Leaving behind these three meant that these knight orders could be considered among those with the most accurate understanding of the current situation in the New Continent.

More important than the chaos of the Old Continent. Especially when the Old Continent was in turmoil, it was of utmost importance to stay cautious in the New Continent.

They had clearly understood this and set up an emergency contact system in anticipation, but they too were hoping it wouldn’t need to be activated.

“Sacred, Virtue, and the Ezwen Papacy. Got it… Please take care of things here!”

As soon as the mage user activated a crystal ball.

His form vanished along with a glow, and the knight order members looked at each other.

“Not too long ago, I remember you folks came in front of our capital.”

“Ha! But you probably didn’t see my face. I was in our country’s capital then.”

The knight of Virtue chuckled as he looked at the knight of Sacred. The knight of Sacred returned the smile.

“What does it matter? The trial bestowed upon us by God is what truly unites humanity,” he said, maintaining a serious demeanor despite the banter of the two.

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