Matan’s Shooter

Chapter 111

Middle Earth was definitely a game that encouraged and forced party play.

‘Except for the Biyemi and I were on the Marching Plains…… The last time I was in a party was when I caught kobolds in Mount Seymour.’

That was the first and last time Leeha was in a party with a tank, healer, and dealer.

Because when he was with the Venomancer Biyemi and the Giant Druid Jin Gonggong, their party did not consist of Tank-Healer-Dealer.

“Well, this is what it means to walk a different path from others- hmm?”

He could see dust rising from the edge of the wasteland, Leeha even felt disappointed. It didn’t seem to be a natural wind.

W-What? Sandstorm?

A huge amount of sand dust moved from Leeha’s left and right view.

What was it?

“Roadrunner!”

“Ah, if only that bastard did not appear, I would not have to take a break from hunting ……

Hearing the grumbling noise from the users, Leeha’s ears perked.

‘T-That’s…… a roadrunner?’

Leeha grabbed his musket and ran. He ran in the direction where the sand and dust rose, but…… It was not a speed that he could pursue.

“What is that?”

It was only when the already rising sun and dust subsided that Leeha arrived at the location.

Of course, it was after the roadrunner was so far away that he could not even see it.

‘I have to… catch that? Five?’

He didn’t know what to do. Fortunately, it left a mark.

Leeha began to follow the footprints left on the ground.

Its size was definitely small. It looks a little like chicken’s feet.’

The weight could be estimated by looking at the size of the foot and the depth of the footprint.

Of course, he hadn’t looked at the screenshot properly, but it won’t be huge.

For Middle Earth, which raised wolves to the size of a calf, it was a fair amount of consideration(?).

“I-Is it that?”

How far did he walk?

Leeha followed its footsteps and ran through the wasteland for a long time, and finally found the roadrunner.

“Great……. It’s rather unfortunate because it’s small.”

It would have been better to have a bigger target.

Leeha carefully opened his bag.

It was a little bigger than a pigeon, but definitely the size of a regular bird. It almost felt like a little pheasant.

And if it’s a pheasant? It’s the best bird for ‘hunters’ to hunt.

‘Reload complete. Let’s get this guy’s tailfeather first and get the next one.

His gaze was low. It was hard to shoot the little bird while standing up.

Their distance was about 50m.

Leeha slowly bent down and took a shooting posture.

What?

“Eh?”

The moment he kneeled, Leeha’s eyes met with the little bird’s.

Back?

Its neck was bent and it tilted its head. Leeha had a hard time swallowing his saliva. 

Don’t escape, don’t escape.

Get back!

“Waaaa!! No!!”

Pababababak-!

As soon as it turned around, dust rose.

It had unbelievable strength for such a small body!

Leeha jumped and took a shooting pose on his knee.

‘Damn it! Its eyes were so fast’

Barely aiming his musket through the dust, Leeha pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Leeha knew even before the gunshot went off.

He knew that in the place where it was standing, only the bullet would remain.

“I know now, at 50m……. it would notice me.”

Clack, Leeha tightened the musket’s shoulder straps again.

It was its mistake to leave footprints. ‘I will follow you until you shed tears of blood.’

After all, Leeha was someone with unlimited stamina. Compared to the thousand li march, it’s easy to track down.’

Leeha confidently began to follow in its footsteps.

Leeha couldn’t have imagined that the chase would take more than three days.

“Ah, damn it!. Please stop.” Leeha sat down near the road. Middle Earth’s sun rose, set, and rose again.

He wasted so much time that he grind his teeth thinking about it. It meant that he had been chasing it

for more than half a day in reality.

‘This is crazy. There are only 17 days left and I haven’t gotten a single feather!’

It wasn’t like he couldn’t help it. There were footprints, but no matter how hard he pursued, he couldn’t find it.

He couldn’t even see its shadow since he missed the roadrunner at 50m that day!

There wasn’t even any food. 

“Should I make something to eat?”.

While he was looking for ingredients, Leeha caught sight of dust rising.

‘Roadrunner!’

Leeha quickly stood up.

[Energy has been reduced to 40%. Penalty will be applied when it gets to 30% or less.]

‘I’m going to eat that bastard.’ It was Leeha’s honest feeling right now that he could eat it alive.

Its distance was quite far. And even now, the roadrunner was getting further away.

‘I won’t chase you. I’m such an idiot, what did I catch the Brass Golem for!’

He even blamed himself. If he had thought of this in the first place, there was no need to approach within 50m.

Leeha bent down his knee and went to shooting posture.

The sand dust was generated at a distance of 200 to 250m and was currently moving.

“The wind speed had to be taken into account. I have to do it right this time.”

His muzzle aimed at the fast-moving object 200m away.

It was a situation where there were no changes in Leeha’s threatening words.

“Eagle’s eye.”

The skill he acquired by hunting the Brass Golem was activated.

“Ah! It is too magnified!”

If one looked from the side, one would think of him as an idiot.

He squeezed the musket’s butt plate,

closed his eyes, and sat down. However, if one knew what Leeha’s sight was like, one would not make fun of him.

He was literally looking through the ‘Eagle’s Eye’.

Who wouldn’t be surprised to see the running roadrunner’s leg muscles twitch before their eyes?

‘The duration is one minute, with a 1-hour cooldown. The field of view can be enlarged or reduced within 500m range.’

How would one feel when they first tested it.

Leeha still wasn’t accustomed to it, but the ability to instantly magnify one’s vision without needing a pair of glasses was definitely surprising.

‘I have to reduce it more. It doesn’t have to look this large. Reduce, reduce.’

High magnification wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

If it was enlarged too much, it would be difficult to observe the target’s movement,  and even small movements would cause one’s vision to shake greatly, making it more difficult to aim.

Adjusting the magnification according to the target’s size and distance was the beauty of this skill.

‘It doesn’t have crosshairs, and you could think of it as an aiming scope. The crosshair should be the musket’s gauge as it is.’

Some people only used it for search and reconnaissance, but not for Leeha.

It’s nothing like a sniper scoper for an accurate shot.

‘Target on, distance still increasing at 220m. I don’t have time.’ It was even faster when zoomed in.

Its short legs were constantly moving, with great power, so that kind of dust was bound to rise. The roadrunner continued to advance 2 o’clock of Leeha.

‘Now.’

Click, Leeha pulled the trigger.

Bang-!

A thunderous gunshot rang. Leeha stopped at his posture.

After all the white smoke had disappeared, Leeha laid on his back.

“You, you crazy bastard!!! If you get hit, it’ll get worse! Where do you think you’re going!”

Leeha’s struggling figure was pathetic.

He was like that because no one was around.

“Why don’t you fly! If you flew, it would be less unfair! Why are you running on the ground! Damned bird! Damned bird bastard–!!!”

He had screamed for a long time.

Leeha who had hit the floor and cursed at a bird that was about 50cm in size, was able to regain rationality because of the notification window.

[Vitality has been reduced to less than 30%. Penalty has been applied.]

[HP, MP, and Stamina will not recover.]

“Ahh……. I’m going crazy.”

Leeha felt like he had to do what he had to do.

“Hmm, I should still enjoy cooking.”

On his third night in Middle Earth, after the sun rose, it had been four days since Leeha started chasing the roadrunner.

It meant that Leeha had spent almost a day in reality and he hadn’t caught a single one yet.

Leeha drew water from the surrounding, put it in a pot, and stared blankly at the sky.

‘Eagle’s Eye.’

He raised his musket towards the birds flying 40 meters above the ground.

‘I wonder if it’s a roadrunner. It’s just a normal animal.’

It was enlarged anyway, so he could see it well, but he still had to make sure.

Leeha turned his skill to 1x, then went through his bag and reloaded his musket.

‘[Grapeshot], what is grapeshot? Leeha tried naming the shotgun bullets using the Naming skill. Since it was used for shotgun, he didn’t expect a name like splash shot, but simpler names like buckshot or slug ……

However, he still got a name he didn’t like.

Grapeshot.

Leeha put the grapeshot, made from splitting iron bullets into the musket’s muzzle.

It was an arduous posture of having to lift his musket from a standing position to a shooting posture into the sky, however, Leeha did not shake at all.

Bang–!

The grapeshot was much louder than a normal shot, and a bird fell.

Leeha picked up the bird, poured hot water on it, and ripped off its feather.

The thing he improved the most while playing Middle Earth was preparing food, so Leeha wondered if it was more of a cooking thing than hunting.

‘Well, it’s easier to hunt if I use grapeshot.’

Even the grapeshot did not work for the roadrunner who was running on the ground with a small body.

Many bullets were lodged in the ground while it escaped.

‘Even grapeshot doesn’t work. To chase again, 

I don’t know when or where it would pop out next. Even if it appears, I will have to chase it for a few days.’

It would be the fourth day soon. Will he be able to get tail feathers in 16 days?

Leeha was anxious.

‘If you are a sniper, you need to know how to hit a moving target. I also had that kind of training but……

Leeha thought while eating the roasted bird leg.

What was the purpose of the quest?

It would be too much if the goal was movement training. It’s not about being hard.

If one could not see the target in the first place, how would you shoot?

‘So that’s why the Director laughed so hard. Phew, damn it. From the moment I saw that smile, I was anxious’

Thinking of Browless’s laugh, Leeha got more annoyed. He must have expected him to suffer this much.

Besides, the fact that Leeha thought it was an easy quest this time, but was not made his insides boil.

“Phew, nothing would happen if I stay still. I should take a look around. I’ll just have to sleep.”

After finishing the remaining meat, Leeha logged out.