Matan’s Shooter - Chapter 190

“Do you think hyung is one of the ‘Heroes’ Successors’?”

“Your guess is probably right. The next generation of the Three Musketeers. That achievement is A+ grade.”

“A plus! Really? Amazing……There aren’t many of those.”

Kijeong’s eyes widened. Since Leeha knew the value of the achievement, Kijeong’s reaction wasn’t surprising.

“Yes. And I got a weapon. I don’t know who the other heroes are, or what they do-”

“At least three people succeeded in the footsteps of the Three Musketeers, the heroes of the second Human-Demon war…… Like hyung, they also received achievements and weapons, right?”

“Right.”

Kijeong took a sip of butterbeer. There were many terms unfamiliar to Kijeong, who had been active since the early days of Middle Earth.

“Second Human-Demon war……. It was mentioned occasionally during quests, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. In any case, I am not the successor to the ‘Templar’ job. All of the successors have already been decided, seeing that I haven’t gotten such an achievement.”

“There may not have been a hero for the Templar job.”

“Sheesh. Too bad. Perhaps most of the early experts could have taken them? Wouldn’t it be nice if there’s still a spot for an unpopular job like musketeers?”

“Why do your words have thorns?”

“Haha, it’s a joke. Anyway, I don’t know much about the second Human-Demon war, but I have heard about the other members of the Three Musketeers”

“Ara? Kidd and Luger?”

Kijeong nodded at Leeha’s question.

“‘Sleeping’ Kidd is somewhat famous, but……. most importantly, as hyung just said, that guy named Luger seems to be ‘Mercenary’ Luger.”

 “Mercenary? Is he famous?”

“Very. Maybe if hyung can do things similar to destroying the Rising Sun ten more times, you might get a little bit closer to his fame? No, maybe not. I heard that he fought with the no.1 ranker and they were even. I have heard the rumor like it was a legend.”

This time, Leeha’s eyes widened. Luger wounded Kidd, who cleaned up Czar using one skill.

‘I expected him to be unusual but, no way……. He fought the no. 1 ranker.’

If he was ranked number 1, Leeha also knew him. It took a while, but there were quite a few videos.

There was a story where a user lost his shadow, and when he looked up at the sky, he saw a man riding a dragon that was large enough to block the sun.

Middle Earth’s one and only ascender, with an image of being almost invincible in the world.

‘That dragon knight and they were even…. Really. Well. It’s because he has the armor-piercing bullets. It could have pierced the dragon scales. There’s also the armor-piercing round.’

In reality, it had the destructive power of breaking through an armored tank and turning concrete walls into powder. Even if it’s a fantasy setting, dragon scales couldn’t be stronger than that.

Those who knew Luger’s weapon could roughly guess the battle situation.

“Then, what’s next? That attack is the best defense. Who are you fighting with? And will you attack, or will you defend?”

“Hmm, right. In the end, it means that we need to attack first. The purpose is actually to focus on ‘defense’.”

‘Attack is the best defense’ doesn’t mean fighting blindly.

It also means that you won’t be able to overturn the situation and obtain the strategic victory by passively defending.

‘In other words……. The opponent could not be defeated by only defending.’

In the end, there was only one reasonable target that came to mind. Leeha shared his thoughts.

“Demon King••…? Will there be an invasion of the Demon King’s army? Like the second human-demon war?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a guess.”

“T-Then? If your guess is correct, what should we do?”

“……Well.”

This time, Leeha drank the butterbeer. “

The words “Third Human-Demon War” came to his mind. However, there are limits to one’s speculation. 

Unless there was a quest, or an event occurred, there was only one thing that they could do at this point.

“We could hunt or something.”

“Hunt?”

“Demon King or not, we just have to hunt monsters so that they could not start causing a ruckus. Let’s not make it complicated, Kijeong-ah.”

They would respawn anyway, but Leeha’s words made sense. In order to be able to handle any situation, they have to become stronger.

Kijeong looked at Leeha and smiled.

“Hyung has changed. You’re relaxed now.”

“Isn’t it something like a strong person’s dignity? I just know that there are times where we can and cannot be impatient.”

“Wow! Awesome! Eong-ah.” Leeha and Kijeong drank the remaining butterbeer and got up from their seats.

“Show me your weapon later, hyung.”

“Okay. I still need to get it. I’ll show it to you later.”

“I look forward to it.”

The two ripped their scrolls at the same time. In the next moment, Leeha arrived at Hell Anvil, and went to the Bottleneck Forge.

“What? It isn’t finished yet?”

The Bottleneck Forge was closed. Surely they didn’t steal it? When Leeha carefully pressed his ear against the door, he could hear chattering inside. Leeha knocked on the door.

“Ha Leeha!”

And a moment later, the rattling door opened, and one dwarf, from the Beard Brothers came out. Unlike the first time Leeha saw him, he looked thin and exhausted.

“Phew……. Come in. The boss is waiting for you.”

“Wow…… did a war happen here?”

The inside was such a mess that it was impossible to describe it with words.

The first time he came, he had been distracted by the miscellaneous tools and the heat of the flames, but now it looked like a ruin because of the soot of gunpowder everywhere and the holes in the walls.

“War?! It’s like war! Really. This is the first time- no, I have nothing to say. You can talk to the boss.”

The dwarf, with dense veins in his eyes, found it difficult to get angry.

Leeha could roughly guess their hard work. It was because it wasn’t easy to make modern advanced ammunition.

“Bottleneck-nim. You must have been hurt.”

“Ho…… hoho.”

Bottleneck had a bandage on his hand. His body trembled for a moment.

“I have stopped doing business! It’s the first time I’ve seen something like this, Kidd and Luger’s weren’t like this!”

“W-why?”

“The legendary dwarf, Shining Hammer, sealed this beast for a reason! Take it, take it now!”

Seal? Leeha tilted his head.

“Isn’t it made by a legendary dwarf? Did he seal it?”

“You shameless bastard! If you have eyes, check it out yourself! Oh, Anvil God! Oh, Shining Hammer, forgive me!”

When Bottleneck went off, one of the Beard Brothers handed the [Black Bass: SASR] to Leeha.

‘See for myself? Ah, come to think of it-’ After changing the weapon, he didn’t see the item description. He didn’t have the time to read it because he was thinking about the bullets.

‘-What the hell is that?’

[Legendary Black Bass](Non-Tradable) Attack power: (User’s Agility) + (User’s Agility * 7)

Effect : Agility +25

Description: After hearing about its range and lethality from Miss Elizabeth, the legendary dwarf decided to seal it up in the form of a musket after her disappearance. “Nothing like this should exist in the world! I, [Shining Hammer] shall seal it for all living beings.” Perhaps, because of the legendary dwarf’s seal,  no one was able to use Black Bass’s original power.

Additional Effect: Additional skills can be activated when the seal is released.

“..?”

There’s no range. There’s no rate of fire either. There were no conditions for use. And it was a weapon of the Next Generation of Three Musketeers that couldn’t be traded.

In fact, Leeha didn’t even notice.

“Legend?”

Legendary-grade weapon! Leeha forgot how to talk.

‘At hero level, the damage is agility * 6. At legend, it’s agility * 7……’

The additional 25 agility was huge, but the attack power that was raised by a multiplier was enough to bewilder those who saw it .

“W-what about Luger or Kidd’s weapons? How about the [Crimson Geckos] and the [Cobalt Blue Python]?”

“They are just heroic-grade weapons! T-this [Black Bass] is definitely a weapon made by the devil! If you have any brain you must follow the will of the legendary dwarf!” Bottleneck bit his beard. And the more the dwarves showed their suffering, the stranger he felt.

‘Theirs is heroic, and mine is legendary? Does that mean my weapon is the best?’

It was a natural conclusion.

Pfft, barely suppressing his laughter and lowering the corners of his mouth, Leeha tried to sympathize with Bottleneck’s suffering as much as possible.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stop using it. but… ….  I will handle it carefully as per Bottleneck’s recommendation.”

“Of course, of course! It might be a weapon that shouldn’t appear in the world!”

“Okay. I will be careful. And the bullets?

“Cough.”

Bottleneck went silent as if he did not want to give it to Leeha. But what can the NPC do? Leeha had already paid, so he had no choice but to give it to him.

“Bring it.”

The Beard Brothers brought 20 magazines. Of course, there were 5 bullets inside each magazine. Leeha carefully inspected the bullets and the magazines.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the bullet, which costs 20 silver per shot, was the length of an adult woman’s palm.

It looked beautiful to Leeha.

“As expected of the best dwarf. I will be here in a week.”

“Y-you want to come here often?! Do not come! Never come!”

“Hey, why are you like that? You’ve had it rough, but you already experimented on it this time, so you should be able to make it easier next time. Then, I will come again next time! Thanks, Bottleneck! Beard Brothers!”

Now that he got what he needed, there was no need to feel sad.

Leeha put the magazines into his bag one by one and carried the Black Bass on his shoulder. The dwarves clicked their tongues as they saw Leeha’s smiling figure.

“Go away, your thick face is very different from Browless’s.”

“I feel the same way.”

For the dwarves, he looked like a demon going out to the world for the first time. Leeha left the Bottleneck Forge with his hips swinging. It’s now time to pick up the Hummingbird-Pistol.

Can it really be called a dwarf’s technology? As per Leeha’s instructions, the silver pistol with steel wires was worn on his waist, he had nothing to be ashamed of.

‘Now…… I am confident that I could even catch Luger!’ 

Of course, it wasn’t his priority.

“I should start with test shooting. Haha, ahahaha.”

And the location had already been decided.

The place where Leeha went was Tenero, a peak in the Rock Mountain, one of the tributaries of the Sentinel Mountain range.

(To be continued…)