Matan’s Shooter - Chapter 219

Riip-.

Leeha tore a detection scroll. Although the form is different from mana clairvoyance, it was perfect for finding those who were hidden. Although the range was narrow, at least there was no one hiding nearby.

“Phew…”

He didn’t know what would happen. Anyway, according to the NPC’s words, there was no one who went into the forest that had come back alive, it sounded like there was something there.

‘After all, the users must have gone to another place because they were upset after they had died, but there’s nothing good about ignoring the NPC’s words.’

With a click, he pulled the bolt and loaded one shot.

How far can he go to find their traces?. 

The feeling of fallen leaves and pebbles being stepped on by the sole of his shoe was felt completely. .

Fortunately, there was quite a bit of moonlight.

Unfortuately, even the moonlight could not completely illuminate his vision.

Leeha continued to walk into the forest with a blurry and dark silhouette. The cries of insects and unknown animals could be heard intermittently.

‘If only I had  night vision…’

Night vision goggles

It didn’t even have to be in sight form. They would have been struggling to make a general scope, so it is unreasonable to expect that they would be able to make a Night Vision-scope as well.

‘It would be nice if I had the goggles type. The creation material shouldbe an owl or an owl-like creature.’

They were making a sight item by using the eyeballs of a cyclops.

If the eye structure of the night-eyed beast was applied, it should be plausible to create a night vision item.

‘It would be impossible with the eyes of a normal owl. I have no choice but to find an owl-like monster after all.’

Of course, Leeha didn’t know how to handle eyeballs and to make them into objects that are usable for humans.

‘I would be in trouble if I found out about the dwarves’ trade secret. Haha.’

Step, step.

In the meantime, Leeha advanced slowly.

Leeha knew that there’s nothing more foolish than moving aroud at night. There was a regular sound of footsteps. He should focus on every sound he heard.

Because I might instantly get caught. However, he shouldn’t look back right away. He needed to find where the sound came from. Something moved. It could just be an animal but….

After moving a few steps, Leeha heard the sound once again, and he concentrated his senses.

Tok- Grrr….

There was an echoe, but he knew where the source came from.

He heard it from behind. It was close to a sound of a small stone falling. It was behind Leeha, but a little bit higher.

‘Mana Clairvoyance.’

Leeha did not stop moving.

Keeping a regular pace, he leisurely stepped on the forest floor. If he stopped now, someone over there will notice.

Immediately after using his skill, as if looking at the moon and stars, he slowly turned his head very slowly.

And found something.

Unlike the trees and vines that did not change colors, the mana clairvoyance caught a figure. There were 5 of them. Should I shoot? He discovered them, but he couldn’t easily make a decision.

He lowered his head again and started moving slowly.

‘If I shoot, I would definitely catch one.’

But was that a good thing? What if they were dark elves? Leeha needed to talk to the dark elves right now.

He wouldn’t be able to have a conversation with them if he punctured their heads. There’s no race in the world that would be able to do so.

It was the downside of mana clairvoyance. He could know if there was something there, but he couldn’t know what that something was.

Was it the dark elves? If not-.

He didn’t have to worry. If he was in a hurry, he should be prepared to use a scroll. Unless they were dark elves….

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Leeha’s worries did not last long.

“Kikit, grab him!!!”

Because the other party revealed their identity first. Leeha immediately turned around and knelt down on one knee.

“Damn it, it’s you guys again?!”

And bang—!

A loud gunshot rang out in the forest of Siand Frontier.

Midnight Circus was a tenacious group. But even with the name of their group as it was, Leeha didn’t know that they liked to wander around at night. (ed: cuz you a dummy ( ─︣ ‿ ─︣ ) )

“Cough.”

One of the people jumping towards him flew back. And he immediately retreated and pulled the bolt again.

They hid behind trees or moved between them to avoid being caught by Leeha, but this did not work with the current him.

Even if they tried to move between the trees in the dark, click, bang—!

He had mana clairvoyance.

They tried to hide behind the thin trees, however, Leeha was not using an ordinary musket, click, bang.

“Did you think I didn’t attack you because I couldn’t kill you? You bastards!”

Wait, weren’t there only 5 of them? Why are there now 6?? Just as Leeha was about to fire his rifle at the unfamiliar assassins again, something flew. Something that did not have a sound cut through the air in the dark.

“Heup!”

He hurriedly raised his left arm to cover his face, but that caused a different problem.

Small needles stuck into his forearm, and his eyesight did not turn red, but the notification window that appeared in front of Leeha made his face darken.

[You are under the abnormal status condition ‘partial anesthesia’.]

[You will not be able to move your arm for 2 minutes.]

Two minutes of being unable to move his left arm was enough to bring Leeha to his death.

“Kek, did you think we were that stupid?”

Two-armed pistols? That was a risk. A sniper is not a risk taker. Leeha immediately started running while holding the Black Bass.

“Follow me if you can!”

And he ran, paat-! Even with that single jump, Leeha had enough jumping power to climb a tree.

“Kihihit, get him, catch him!”

“Tag, you’re it! Muahahaha!”

The cheeks of the clowns rose at the hide-and-seek game that started in the middle of the night. “They really were psychopaths.” 

They were enjoying this situation. Was it impossible to join Midnight Circus without being crazy?.

“Stop, stop!”

“If I told you to stop, would you stop?”

Still, he had the Flying on Grass achievement. Aside from his increased agility, it also meant that he had to some extent trained in moving from tree to tree.

It was a moonlit night lacking in light, but Leeha’s speed was not slow.

Swiish- swiish-.

 The leaves and wind that appeared through the darkeness slapped his face.

Yet, Leeha still had to play this game of tag for a minute or so. The earie laughter coming from behind him was getting closer and closer.

‘Experts are still experts huh, so they’ll catch up eventually. If they do, I will have to use a scroll- huh?’ 

Something got caught in the mana clairvoyance. There were four unknown beings in front of Leeha!

‘What the fuck is this?! It was a two-way operation!?’

That’s why there were fewer people at the start!

Leeha barely managed to open his bag using his right arm. He couldn’t afford to fight six assassins now that he was not able to use Black Bass!

“Damn it, scroll-”

Swiiiik-!

At that moment, something flew passed Leeha’s cheeks.

“Cough!”

“Keuk…”

He heard the death of the assassins along with a strange puck sound.

‘Arrows? If they’re not from the Midnight Circus……!’

The people he saw through mana clairvoyance were rapidly approaching.

As everyone knew about their inclinations, dark elves kill people without even trying to talk to them.

But Leeha did not come empty-handed.

“Waah, quick-quickly-”

The reason wood elves did not like the dark elves was because of their different ‘nature’. All of their dispositions, including food, clothing, and shelters were the opposite to each other, so they had no choice but to fight.

Wood elvess made villages in bright places and lived by eating fruits. And in contrast?

“Captain, it’s this one.”

“Indeed…”

They finally stood in front of Leeha.

They weren’t as tall as the wood elves.

They were rather around the same height as humans.

Their attire was kept minimalistic, as their jet-black skin worthy of their name did not require a separate camouflage.

At first glance, they looked like primitive people, however, their sharp and clear facial features exuded a western charm. (ED: um Leeha… ( ͡⊙ ⏥ ͡⊙))

“H-hello, I am not an intruder! Uh-”

Leeha quickly pulled out a small box. Of course, it contained meat dishes that were cooked to the best of his abilities.

“-Here! First of all, don’t shoot and please listen to what I have to say first. I-”

Leeha did not care if the dark elves listened to him or not, ashis words poured out like a waterfall.

“-I did not come here as yourenemy. First of all, I can cook delicious food, so it is worth listening to me, and I don’t intent to go anywhere near the dark elf village, I just came here because I was curious about the old tales of the dark elves.”

Leeha thought about increasing intimacy with the dark elves through food. As the duration for the debuff was almost over, his left arm also started moving, and Leeha politely opened the lid of the box with both hands.

“Hmm, this smell!”

“Wow, it’s meat! Meat!”

The dark elves’ expression loosened at the smell of meat. Nice, I got you!

“Everyone stop…… You who inherited the power of the hero, what is this?”

However, the one behind the four dark elves spoke with a heavy voice. All the dark elves who tried to eat Leeha’s food stopped moving.

‘The one who inherited the power of the hero?’

There was no hostility in his voice, but what did he mean by that?

“It’s food, but……. I came here to get to know you guys.” 

The dark elf captain looked at Leeha’s eyes. There was no hostility in it. It was a look that gave off a vague feeling.

“You didn’t have to……. Thank you. I will definitely give it to the chief.”

“No, well- but what do you mean about the power of a hero?”

When the captain lifted his chin, one dark elf accepted Leeha’s gift. Leeha’s question was answered at that time.

Why is this so easy?

Weren’t they a race that never talked to any of the other races, didn’t they only attack when they saw them, and curse all living creatures?

Also, are they gonna eat the meat dish??

“The one who carries the wrath of his blood.

A person who proudly announces the will of  blood even in times of crisis in the past. We call it the strength of the hero.”

“So what does that- oh!”

Then Leeha realized. Why they were doing this.

They didn’t fall for the meat trick. The item that Leeha has currently, had [Forbidden Rage]. A skill that was attached to the item!

‘The necklace dropped by Agromni Igor! That’s right, it increases dark elf intimacy!’

Leeha reconfirmed the item’s description of the necklace

Intimacy with the dark elves 100%. Intimacy with the wood elves -50%.

‘Damn it! I didn’t even need to bring food in the first place, I cooked for no reason.’

Seeing Leeha’s expression, the dark elf captain tilted his head.

“What are you doing? I saw you coming here during the day, and I was going to meet you, but then you entered the human village-”

“During the day? Ah! Ahh, yes, yes. It was like that.”

The marks on the tree Leeha saw when he was on his way to Siand Frontier. It must have been the dark elves doing.

They weren’t there to kill him, but to pick him up.

“Then I will guide you to the village, you who inherited the power of the hero.”

“Yes… Please.”

Should he thank Igor? Leeha happily followed the dark elves.

Just how much blood, sweat, and tears did Igor put in to get this necklace? No, there was no need to even think about Igor.

There was no way of knowing how much hard work Luger and Kidd had to put in order to win the favor of the dark elves and enter the village.

(To be continued…)

TL’s corner:
I believe Leeha will get his black coat in the dark elf village. That’s my prediction.
And also, Leeha can be such an airhead sometimes, like I don’t know about other people, but when I play games I always check my gears and what their effects are. It’s just dumb to forget the effect of an item you have. Or maybe that’s just me. 

(ED note “I very rarely play games, but when I do, It’d probably be very similar to Leeha’s playing style, if you could even call it that. If I come across an item that had effects on it, I’d just skim through it and then forget about it. I’d much prefer to just roam around and do my own thing than follow a game plan. I guess you could say that I’m free-spirited lol.”)