#508

True Worth of the Sniper (1)

"……!!!"

Vernon's face turned pale as he realized that he had narrowly evaded death. It wasn't a reaction driven by logic or judgment. It was a spine-chilling shot that he could hardly sense, even when it was just inches from piercing his heart—almost a coincidence. His opponent was undoubtedly aiming to kill Vernon with a single, precise shot.

“Damn it, what the hell…!!”

Vernon, who had been impaled entirely through the shoulder by a long harpoon, trembled faintly as he spat out a curse.

“What is this? A throwing spear? Or a harpoon?”

“It’s an arrow,” Soryu muttered as he lightly rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s just been massively enlarged and reinforced in size and strength. Its purpose is clearly for sniping.”

Soryu approached Vernon without hesitation and examined the skewer that was still lodged in his body and stuck in the ground. He nodded as he observed it.

“There are friction marks left on it from when it was pulled back on a bowstring. It was definitely fired from a great bow.”

“Damn, then that means…”

“It’s an archer with incredible skill,” Soryu remarked, glancing back.

“And one capable of concealing their killing intent so well that no one here could sense their presence until the arrow was almost upon us.”

"An 8th-level monster, huh."

“You mean there’s a top-tier archer aiming at us right now…”

The atmosphere in Pandemonium changed subtly as this realization set in. It was clear to everyone how dangerous it was to allow such one-sided sniping without even identifying the enemy's location or abilities. Even Lennok, who recognized the opponent at first glance, shared the same sentiment.

‘I never thought I’d encounter her here.’

It was unthinkable that the external force aiding Aegis' operation would be her. He had heard she was practically unemployed after being dismissed from the Agency, but it seemed she had taken on new work in the meantime. 

Regardless of her circumstances, her archery skills were undeniably at the level of a divine archer. If the one currently providing reinforcements was the Emerald Archer that Lennok knew, the best course of action would be to retreat swiftly.

Evelyn, who had demonstrated overwhelming combat ability even in the Ganges sand Labyrinth where she couldn't exert her full power, now had the ideal setting to unleash her archery's full might. It was obvious how devastating her sniping would be in this setup—

SWISH!!

At that moment, a piercing sound rang sharply in everyone’s ears.

The intense presence that had pierced Vernon is now unabashedly directed toward this place, with no intention of hiding.

“The second shot…!! Which direction?”

“Towards the statue!!”

“Are they aiming for Doctor?”

Unlike the first shot, which was silent, a black radiance now blazes across the sky, shaking it entirely. Maya, who had been silently looking upward, sprang into action.

Vrrrmmm…!!

Three swirling streams of mana gathered at Maya's fingertips, and as she burst through a hole in the theater ceiling, they clashed with the second arrow aimed at the statue's head. The collision of Maya's microcosm and Evelyn's snipe created a deafening roar, accompanied by the sound of the air warping and tearing apart.

“…Hmph.”

Maya sneered and redirected the trajectory of the thick harpoon-like arrow, which then veered off course and flew toward the back of the theater.

BANG!!

The arrow, diverted on a diagonal path, carved a massive circular hole before vanishing into the distance. Despite Maya intercepting it directly, merely changing its direction was the best she could do.

“Considering the term 'Missile,' the next target will likely be…”

Soryu looked up at the theater ceiling, realizing that Aegis' members, including those wearing black visors, had swiftly retreated.

“The entire theater.”

Barely after those words were spoken, an immense concentration of mana descended into everyone’s range of perception. Black arrows, smaller than the one that pierced Vernon but about the size of a forearm, rained down around the ceiling.

BAM BAM BAM!!!

The arrows struck the theater ceiling with bombardment-like force. The impact tore off the curved roof, revealing the dark night sky above the main hall.

“Damn it!!!”

The statue's outstretched arm rose to block the assault but couldn’t hold for long. As the statue’s arm vibrated wildly and seemed ready to break, Doctor swiftly shifted his gaze.

“Sabrina, Chevien. I need your help.”

“Until the settlement is complete… we have no choice…”

“Coming here after so long, and now this…!!”

As Chevien’s mannequin opened its mouth wide, countless threads burst out toward the collapsing theater ceiling. Unlike the mana manipulation Lennok used, Chevien’s threads were a type of enchantment used in puppet manipulation. The threads connected to the crumbling ceiling, temporarily maintaining its structure.

Borrowing the power of the existing Word sorcery magic within the theater, Sabrina activated her Word sorcery magic again.

[Bind together.]

With the assistance of both sorcerers, the collapsing theater roof began to repair in real-time, providing some relief from the relentless downpour of arrows.

CRACKLE!!!

While it wasn’t enough to completely restore or block the theater, it was sufficient to mitigate the immediate hail of arrows. However, Soryu observed the situation with a cold shake of his head.

“It’s just a bombardment with reduced power, scattered to cover a wide area. We won’t last long at this rate.”

“If they start firing spears again, we won’t be able to hold out at all.”

“The range, power, speed, and accuracy—it’s an insane level of archery. Do you have any idea who it could be?”

“There’s only one archer around the Vulcan region with this kind of monstrous skill,” Maya said as she lightly leapt down from the cracked theater ceiling.

A faint smile appeared on her face, one that had not been there before.

“It seems the Agent’s Archer has come for reinforcements.”

“Ho, so it’s Evelyn Marcia…”

Doctor also understood Maya’s words instantly and let out a meaningful smile. They were rivals who had once faced each other directly in the Ganges sand Labyrinth, competing for the cradle.

“The external force mentioned by the Agent consisted of two individuals. We should assume that there’s at least one more superhuman here, tactically on par with the Archer.”

“…You’re saying there’s another monster like the Archer outside this city?”

“…”

WHAM!!

An arrow struck directly at Maya’s feet, burrowing into the hard floor of the hall and spinning violently, tearing the stone apart.

Hundreds of arrows rained relentlessly upon the theater, each one of them carrying immense power. Everyone fell silent as the storm of death relentlessly pummeled the streets around the theater. This was the full strength of an 8th-level designated sniper, operating with adequate preparation and warm-up time. The absurd magnitude of her power, range, and accuracy was clear to all.

Logia and Chevien exchanged a wordless glance and nodded to each other.

"She’s a monster. Let’s retreat."

"I wholeheartedly agree…"

With the Mid-term settlement complete, there was no reason to remain and clash with Aegis. Supporting Aegis was an archer who delivered sharper shots than any sniper the Labyrinth’s members had ever faced. The current situation provided an ideal battlefield for Evelyn Marcia to unleash her full potential.

"Maya, how many more shots can you block?"

"The one aimed at Vernon? I’m not sure," Maya replied dryly, rolling up her sleeves. 

"This is different from the Labyrinth. The Archer is firing from her maximum effective range. Even if I confront her head-on, I can't guarantee stopping more than ten shots."

Regardless of her versatility in close combat, Evelyn's true nature was that of a transcendent archer. The sniping from an untraceable distance like this was nearly impossible for even Maya to intercept directly.

"The best course of action is to dodge, but that’s probably not an option," Maya muttered as she turned her gaze toward the giant statue where Doctor was sitting. 

The fact that Evelyn was indiscriminately bombarding the inside of the theater with such immense firepower signified only one thing: she intended to utterly destroy the statue created by Doctor. Knowing this, retreating was not an option.

Doctor, lost in thought after hearing Maya's words, finally spoke.

"I’ll open the gate."

"The gate? Can you do that?"

"Once, by consuming the karma accumulated from the Old World’s causality. But it will take time."

The blue-eyed ball of fur surveyed the room.

"Someone needs to distract them and hold their attention. Can you do it?"

  *

Whoooosh!

The chilling wind swept through the early morning air. The vast barrage of arrows blanketed the theater and the surrounding area. Two men walked along the now treacherous theater entrance road, which had turned into a gauntlet. One was a masked manipulator cloaked in a pitch-black robe, the other a young man with a cold expression.

"Hyulno and Logia are at the back entrance, Sabrina and Chevien are maintaining the structure, and Maya is countering the sniper…" Soryu said, dodging an arrow without even looking at it.

"Vernon, who was injured, is out. So, our role is to act like we're breaking through and draw their attention."

Screeech!!

An arrow, skimming Soryu’s foot, drilled into the pavement and shattered it like a drill. The environment was rapidly becoming harsher, with arrows falling like a bombardment from all directions.

"……."

"What are you looking at?"

Soryu snapped another arrow in half and asked. Lennok, who had been staring at a small scrap of paper, quickly tucked it into his coat.

"It’s nothing."

It was information on well-known martial artists from World One, obtained from his deal with Vernon. He had only glanced at it, but given the limited time, there wasn’t much to gather. For now, he had to focus on the immediate task.

The two men crossed the main road, passing the theater’s entrance, and stood on a bridge that spanned a river running through the satellite city of Byrutz. As they stood on the bridge over the cold water below, agents wearing visors appeared from all sides, surrounding them.

[A manipulator of special abilities and a member of the Kabahim royal family.]

A black-visored agent, seated at the end of the bridge, tilted his head slowly and spoke through a transmitter.

[You’re slower than I expected. I thought you’d crawl out much faster than this.]

Soryu responded coldly.

"You know who we are."

[Did you really think you could walk around so openly without your identities being exposed?]

The black-visored agent tossed a syringe-like object from one hand to the other as he spoke.

[Even if you hide your face, it’s the same. The most vital, core information can’t be hidden.]

"……."

[Unless you’re a monster who calculates and controls everything at every moment, or a madman who harbors multiple personas within himself. Facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, breathing, footsteps, minor habits, and routines—these can sometimes be more precise identifiers than biometrics.]

An overwhelming amount of compressed mana emanated from the visored agent, who slowly turned his gaze toward Lennok and Soryu.

[You came out here to figure out the location of Missile’s sniping point, didn’t you? Without observing the arrows from multiple directions to gauge the distance, even you wouldn’t be able to determine which coordinates the sniper is using.]

As he said this, the agents steadily closed the gap between themselves and Lennok and Soryu.

[So, we’ll simply hunt down each scattered member of Pandemonium here, one by one.]

It seemed Aegis believed they had come outside intentionally to track Evelyn’s position. If they couldn’t predict Doctor’s plan, that was fine.

“No more words to exchange, it seems. One last question before we start.”

Lennok glanced down at the flowing river below.

[Go ahead.]

“I heard you brought two outsiders with you. Where’s the other one?”

There was a moment of silence. The black-visored agent rose from his spot and tilted his head slightly.

[Let’s save that for later.]

“For later enjoyment, huh…”

Lennok chuckled softly, mulling over the words.

“That was a pointless question.”

Before the words were even fully spoken, the river beneath the bridge exploded.

BOOM!!

It was as if dozens of chained bombs had been detonated underwater, sending massive sprays of water high into the air. Before Aegis’ agents could react to the sudden explosion, Soryu unleashed his mana, followed by a surge of intense cold.

CRACKLE!!!

The enormous waterspouts instantly froze, forming intricate patterns of ice flowers all around the bridge. As Lennok clenched his fist, the frozen flowers shattered, scattering countless ice shards into the air.

Thousands of ice fragments rained down over the bridge, and in the midst of it all, Soryu’s body dissolved into a cloud of ice, swiftly blending in and weaving among the agents.

CLANG!!

The ice shards connected through Lennok’s Magic threads, which, combined with Soryu’s lineage ability—Ice Manipulation—allowed the duo to control the shards with precision. The shards expanded across the bridge, covering the battlefield with a carpet of icy fragments and Magic threads.

[An ice manipulator! Everyone, focus!!]

[It’s the bloodline ability of the Kabahim royalty. It’s said to be an ability that differs from magic—a power passed down as a unique trait.]

[So they were aiming to change the battlefield from the start. Did they intentionally lure us near the river…?]

The Aegis agents quickly adjusted to the situation and tried to counter the duo’s attacks. However, evading the storm of cold energy created by Soryu’s body, alongside the swift maneuvers of Lennok’s Magic threads, proved nearly impossible.

“Gah…!!”

[This isn’t working—abandon this side!!]

Within moments, several agents on both sides of the bridge were engulfed, limbs sliced off, and wounds immediately frozen in place. Despite the agents’ skilled combat techniques that prevented them from being easily defeated, the injuries were severe enough to incapacitate them for the time being.

Soryu and Lennok’s rapid, coordinated assault caused ice and mana to swirl wildly on the bridge, resulting in a burst of frozen blood that rained down and shattered below.

The sight of blood-stained snowflakes drifting down created a beautiful yet deceptive scene. But the two were not focused on maintaining this stalemate; they intended to press on.

“I’ll take the black one.”

HISSS…!!

Soryu stepped forward, his upper body transformed into ice.

“You handle the pests.”