Matan's Shooter

Chapter 942

When Leeha asked, the Beard Brothers looked at each other. Then they burst into laughter.

『That damn Ha Leeha must be plotting something again.』 or 『Anyway, he’s just doing what he’s supposed to do, isn’t he?』

“You just nailed it! Acting all tough while missing the mark! Ha ha ha!”

Listening to their conversation, Leeha felt a strange sense of exhilaration.

Were they preparing another secret weapon against each other? Given the timing, it was certainly related to Tiamat.

‘Those guys couldn’t have missed the footage.’

What blossomed in a corner of his mind was relief.

It was a different kind of reassurance compared to seeing the thick defense line in the central part of the New Continent.

Witnessing new cards from recognized players served as a kind of refuge.

“Okay. Bottleneck Ajussi! Hurry! Finish mine quickly too!”

“W-wait! I’m hurrying as fast as I can!”

The time Leeha spent visiting Bottleneck’s smithy, spreading emergency alerts to Blaugrunn and Bahamut, and organizing his stats and preparations for war took roughly three hours.

Although he moved considerably fast, the enemies were not ordinary monsters.

Despite his expectations, they began to move extraordinarily quickly.

Beeeeep— Beep beep beep beep beep!

“Enemies detected on the radar!”

From the northern side of the central part of the New Continent.

Beep beep beep beep beep— Beep beep beep beep beep—!

“Multiple enemy signals detected from Doctor Doom’s scroll! They seem to be Chimeras!”

From the southern side of the central part of the New Continent. And from the center itself, within the forest of the Contaminated World Tree.

Shuuuuu!

“Alr

“They’ve come.”

“The stacks of scrolls were hardly worth it.”

The reaction came. Much earlier than everyone expected.

It had barely been five hours since they began deploying the stockpiled scrolls, enough for ten days, yet the enemy’s advance was rapid.

User players in the central part of the New Continent, including Kijung, were momentarily taken aback.

However, when gargantuan figures appeared on the map, they couldn’t even be shocked anymore.

“Rubini! This is—”

“Yes. It’s a dragon. At a straight-line distance of about 3.5 km. The chromatic dragons are spread out at regular intervals, but you might as well say they’re clustered together. The problem is......”

Rubini swallowed as she looked at the map.

“They’re coming with the Chimeras.”

The Demon King’s army, allied with the chromatic dragons, was coming.

More precisely, Tiamat, Bluebeard, and Gibehrid were coming.

* * *

“Prepare for battl

“Contact Hwahong Guild! As soon as the warp gate is ready, open it! We need to taxi all the users from the Old Continent here!”

“Summon Pei Wu for Hwangryong! Call all the rankers from the 〈Sacred Alliance〉! The enemy is coming!”

“Find Alexander! Contact Alexander and urgently request help from the metal dragon side!”

The frontline started to become noisy.

Even though they had simulated this several times and had undergone many practical training exercises, actual combat inevitably led to confusion.

As tension, excitement, and fear-induced trembling spread among the user players, Kijung lifted his sword and shield high, shouting.

“We can do this! Absolutely! Just like we practiced!”

The eyes of the user players turned to Kijung.

Standing on one of the roots of the Contaminated World Tree that protruded above ground, Kijung did not avoid the gazes directed at him.

― “Puhahahaha! That’s all for today! I’ll tell you after the battle!”

Throwing a ‘bomb’ at Ram Hwayeon, Kijung relaxed.

He might have laughed even more heartily if he had known that Ram Hwayeon had staggered on her way to knock on Ewin’s door.

And as the saying goes, speak of the tiger, and it appears.

Swoosh―!

A pale violet light flashed beside Kijung.

“Kijung!”

“Hyung!”

Leeha appeared with a stern face.

He briskly moved to Rubini’s side to examine the map without any formal greetings. The distribution of the enemies was not as widespread as expected.

At least, until then, it was within expectations.

“Rubini-nim, what about Tiamat?”

“Still... not detected.”

There was no reason to spread out too widely, as long as Tiamat was present.

Colored dragons and chimeras? The same applied to them. As long as Tiamat lived, they would display even stronger power.

“3.3 kilometers in a straight line. Their advance is slow.”

“It makes me more uneasy, sensing their confidence.”

A few minutes had passed, and they had only advanced about 200 meters. It was a decidedly cautious approach.

Were they conserving strength for a sweeping attack? Perhaps Tiamat intended to show her power first, and then advance at full speed.

“It’s lucky for us.”

Nodding at Rubini’s words, Leeha recognized that, despite everything, buying even a little time was fortunate.

― “Blaugrunn-ssi, finish the report?”

― “Yes. The Lord has awakened. Bailephus-nim and Arzenmacht, along with all the metal dragons, are gathering here.”

At least it meant that the metal dragon leader had time to prepare.

Bahamut had issued a summon to all adult-level metal dragons, and it took them only a few seconds to gather.

― “However, he said he won’t come immediately. We should go first, and he will arrive when Tiamat shows her true form.”

― “Hmm, indeed. That may be better. Since we also have Bluebeard and Ghibrid on our side.”

If Bahamut revealed himself first and got exposed to an attack from the two Demon King’s Fragments?

There would be no one left to hold back Tiamat, even momentarily.

That would result in the worst outcome.

Therefore, knowing the locations of the main enemy forces was essential to prevent that.

“Rubini-nim, have you found the Demon King’s Fragments?”

“We can track Bluebeard. But Ghibrid and Tiamat are still unknown.”

Rubini fiddled with the holographic map.

Beyond where the chromatic dragons were clustered, there appeared one overwhelmingly large circle.

“Usually, it wouldn’t show up, but there’s a reason it’s revealing itself now.”

Although Rubini sought opinions from everyone, no one was quick to answer.

The sheer magnitude of power held by the Demon King’s Fragment displayed on the map gave them much to ponder.

Leeha was the only one to respond to her words.

“Well, there could be several reasons. The first is deliberate. Everyone here knows that damn thing loves to play tricks.”

“Huh? Hyung? Then what’s the second?”

Kijung asked Leeha.

Leeha did not answer Kijung. After closely examining the map and checking the direction, he pulled back the bolt.

The heavy clank of metal reverberated.