Chapter 331: Sniper

Chapter 331: Sniper

“Boss, I want to request leave!” After getting his new equipment, Carlin couldn’t control his hands anymore. The Sleeve Blade was fine; he just needed more practice to get used to it. It was very handy. When fighting with the Sleeve Blade, it was much quicker than drawing a weapon during combat. The benefit was that he didn’t need to pull out a weapon when approaching a target, keeping both hands free. During an ambush, this saved him at least half a second…

Was that a short time? No, it was actually a long time. Losing that less-than-half-a-second meant the person being attacked had less-than-half-a-second less reaction time.

As for the Firearm… it made a lot of noise. Testing it in the city? The “pop, pop, pop” sound after hitting something could attract the Law Enforcement Team in Kaja City. So, after seeing Lily on break and going to Zheng Yichen’s place, he decisively asked Zheng Yichen for leave. Zheng Yichen, who could probably guess what he wanted to do, generously approved the leave.

After getting permission, Carlin left the city without another word and hurried toward the Forest that had been causing trouble earlier. That place was very lively now. Because of the appearance of the unknown beasts, all sorts of people had gathered there. It was a great place for practice. When he chose that Sniper Rifle, he had compared many options before picking it because that weapon had a silencer configuration. Even if he wasn’t a gun user, Carlin still knew the importance of silencing.

Even if he didn’t target people, those beasts were good targets, right?

“So many people… tsk tsk, it’s only the second day. I wonder if anyone has realized some issues.” Carlin watched the situation at the Forest. The originally little-noticed Forest was now very busy. Every moment, he could see many Mercenaries walking in. The problems had appeared on the third day before, and now it was only the second day. Even if some people noticed something wrong with their bodies, they probably wouldn’t pay much attention.

The Academy had already posted a thread on the Forum of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, specifically explaining some problems in the Forest, such as the serious issue of affecting personal thinking. With benefits right in front of them, how could others easily persuade them?

So, there were still many people coming here.

Carlin learned to be smart. He had no intention of going close to check things out. The scope configured with his Sniper Rifle could adjust magnification—up to fifteen times, down to normal magnification. When the light was good, he could observe distant situations in detail from over a kilometer away. This scope had built-in calibration for magnification adjustment. As long as he adjusted to the relative magnification, the crosshairs would align accurately… one times corresponded to two hundred meters, and fifteen times corresponded to three thousand meters.

Of course, if the situation was urgent, he didn’t need to adjust. He could shoot based on the reference lines outside the center point of the scope, but this method required judging based on his own experience. The detailed introduction had clear information about this.

As for how to judge… there wasn’t any… Zheng Yichen didn’t know either. For now, achieving zeroing synchronized with magnification adjustment was his limit. More detailed? Let the user figure it out. He himself mostly used iron sights anyway. If he was afraid of missing, there were other ways—laser assistance, for example, which wasn’t impossible.

“Huh? What’s that?” Carlin squinted his eyes and turned the scope to look at another place. A small-scale fight was happening there, not inside the Forest, but about two kilometers outside the Forest. From their attire, one group looked like Adventurers… there was a difference between Adventurers and Mercenaries. Compared to Mercenaries, Adventurers were more free.

Therefore, their outfits usually prioritized carrying more items without hindering their mobility, while Mercenaries, who returned after completing Quests, mostly wore efficient attire. The difference wasn’t big, and usually only experienced people could tell. One side in the fight was Adventurers, and the other side was… Cultists!

“Such good luck, actually encountering Cultists here… oh, thinking about it, it’s not too surprising.” The Cult and the Demon Sword Sect often clashed. It was normal for Cultists to come near the Forest to target these beasts, right? Once they mastered such weapons, dealing with Demon Sword Cultists would be much easier in the future. It would be strange if they weren’t interested!

Cultists were universally hated. Generally, there was a reason why Cultists and Demon Sword Cultists had enmity. They were universally hated, but Demon Sword Cultists weren’t in the same situation. They were both Cultists, so why such a big difference?

Setting up the weapon, Carlin let out a soft breath, suppressing the excitement of firing for the first time. He had read enough theoretical knowledge; he just lacked practical experience. According to the detailed introduction of this gun, as long as he aligned the crosshairs with the target, it would work. The bullet deviation was supported by Wind Element Magic and wouldn’t deviate within the accurate range… Well, as long as he didn’t encounter winds above level three…

There were twelve Cultists in total… quite a number. The other Adventurer Team had only five people, one of whom was a woman who didn’t seem very combat-capable. At least from when he started watching until now, she only cast Fireball Spells. Even if she was accurate, the power of the Fireball Spell was limited. Some Cultists had been hit twice and still hadn’t lost their mobility.

“She… is very skilled!”

When Carlin was about to attack, he heard his sister’s voice. His hand shook, and the shot went completely off. These weren’t ordinary people fighting; anyone would notice if a hole suddenly appeared in the ground. The shot didn’t hit anyone, but it had a good effect of stopping the fight.

“Big sis… that wasn’t right of you.”

“I was reminding you. Four shots left.”

“…How is that woman skilled?”

“Skilled is skilled. You wouldn’t understand.”

“We’re the same age, how wouldn’t I understand…” Carlin grumbled unhappily, realigning the crosshairs on a Cultist. They were still in a brief state of alert and hadn’t resumed fighting, giving him a good opportunity. This shot accurately blew up a Cultist’s head…

“Nice!” Seeing the effect of this shot, Carlin was extremely satisfied and immediately switched to a second target. This gun could only support ten consecutive shots in a short time, exactly matching the bullets in a magazine. After that, the internal support Magic Rune Array would enter a cooldown due to Mana consumption, requiring at least a minute before it could function again. Of course, this cooldown could also be calculated separately based on the number of bullets used.

Continuous firing only consumed all the Mana at once, resulting in such a long cooldown. Of course, after the Mana was depleted, the weapon wasn’t unusable, but it could only be used as a conventional firearm then. Using Special Ammunition could still deliver sufficient power, and for recharging, he didn’t need to wait for automatic recharge; actively pouring in Mana also worked.

While those Cultists were still confused about why their teammate’s head suddenly exploded, the second Cultist’s head also exploded… This made them completely see the situation. Staying put meant waiting for death; moving immediately was key. “Retreat now!”

This batch of Cultists hadn’t completely lost their minds; they could still see the situation clearly. It wasn’t like they saw some target and only had the thought of charging forward. Now, without noticing any power fluctuations, their own people had been taken out. This place clearly wasn’t safe to stay. The unknown assailant was obviously targeting them. If they didn’t run, were they waiting to die?

Once they started moving, these Cultists immediately realized that the opponent seemed to only be able to use this unknown attack method effectively against stationary targets. Once they moved, there were just two more holes in the ground.

“My turn.”

“…” Carlin reluctantly swapped control of the body. This gun really needed more practice. Hitting stationary targets was accurate every time, but once people started moving, even if he aimed instantly, he missed.

Carlin stared at the fleeing Cultists. Her distance from them was over fifteen hundred meters… Without the scope’s assistance, it would be hard to see clearly over there. But with this tool, seeing clearly was easy. When the distance was far, there was a time difference for the bullet to travel. Even if this time difference was short, it could still miss due to the target’s movement. It required prediction.

Carlin wasn’t unaware of this problem; it was his first time using such a weapon, and the first two hits made him a bit overconfident, causing the next two shots to miss. After switching to her, with her brother’s experience, she could avoid this problem. The two missed shots weren’t without gain; at least they helped her determine the specific value for prediction.

“Should we try to stop them?” Two Cultists died mysteriously. Seeing them scatter and flee, Rick couldn’t help but suggest to his companions. Oss nodded. He was a Demon Sword Cultist and had no good feelings toward Cultists. Given the chance, he wanted to wipe them out here.

“Aren’t you… afraid of being hit by something flying from somewhere?” Picking up a missed bullet from a hole in the ground, Lena tossed it in her hand and said to Oss and the others, “This thing doesn’t seem to curve.”

“So this is what killed the Cultists?” Wood glanced curiously at the bullet in Lena’s hand, dug out bullets from two other holes, and frowned slightly. Killing people with such iron lumps like pebbles?

A musket? But musket balls were round, weren’t they? Why were these cone-shaped? While they were considering whether to block them, a fleeing Cultist’s back burst with a spray of blood and he fell to the ground…