CH 176

He had no time to think. a second or less, he got up first and ran.



‘There’s still time, at the most three seconds, but-’



They did not destroy structures such as ships or buildings.



The armored part of the warhead had been completely damaged, the armor-piercing grenade should have immediately detonated, but it did not immediately explode as  it was slanted  against the ground.



However, it was necessary to assume that a delayed fuse was installed.



Compared to himself, who shot iron bullets, what [Pierce] shot was  modern weaponry.



It would be too optimistic to think that there was no delay fuse when [Pierce] was able to use armor-piercing shells and armor-piercing grenades.



“Kidd!!!”



Kidd just looked at the armor-piercing grenade stuck on the ground for two seconds.



From the moment he thought he was going to die, he was unable to move. If he didn’t have the necessary knowledge, Leeha would have thought that it would not explode.



Kidd, who was standing still, suddenly felt a force drawn to him. Puuk- Leeha hugged him with a tackle, and with a forceful voice said.



“Force Barrier!!”



Boom—!!!



A huge explosion occurred near the south gate of Dale Castle. Unlike an improvised explosive,flames and shockwaves crushed Leeha and Kidd’s body. They felt so much pressure that they had no choice but to roll when the barrier got hit!



“Waaaa!”



“Cough-! Cough-”



Sizzle- Sizzle-…….



As if a typhoon had passed, only after the shockwaves were over did Leeha and Kidd raise their heads.



“I’m… not dead?”



Kidd sighed. The sight of the residual flames spreading to the surrounding grass and producing rancid smoke looked similar to the horrors of war.



What made Leeha more flabbergasted was that the jade-colored shield that surrounded him and Kidd had disappeared.



‘The Force Barrier was broken……?’



It was an expert-ranked skill. It was a shield that was even able to stop the Brass Golem’s spike, which made users in their early 100s tremble in fear. But with only one shot?



“Haa, haa, crazy, what the fuck is that crazy bastard-”



He didn’t even have the time to swear. Luger was already fiddling with his musket’s gun barrel. If you think that a bullet similar to the previous one  would fly again, you have no choice but to move immediately.



“Get up, Kidd! Quick!”



“Nice view-”



“Can you stop acting arrogant and move? Get up quickly!”



Kidd wriggled his eyebrows for a moment, but he stood up with the help of Leeha’s outstretched hand.



When Leeha looked at Kidd, Kidd’s condition was not good. The hole in his side was still bleeding, and because of the curse he continuously lost HP, and his vision continued to get narrower.



It was so serious that it could make a person cry, but Kidd did not want to show weakness in front of Leeha.



“Run to Dale Castle!”



Leeha and Kidd started running at the same time. What would the range of accuracy of that guy be?



They were around 150m away from him. It was still close.



‘I don’t know his effective range, but we should at least be 500m away from him!’



Leeha’s eyes, who glanced back, and Luger’s, who raised his musket, met. He was going to start aiming soon. He would fire close to them. There was a high possibility that they would not be able to get out of Luger’s effective range, let alone get to a safe distance. If that’s the case?



“Damn it!”



Leeha stopped his feet and raised the Hummingbird.



After all, Luger was not the type to aim. His overwhelming destructive power, lethality, and range was intimidating, but if it was simply aiming skills,Leeha would be better than him!



‘I know because I saw his battle with Kidd. It seems the duration of the skill had already run out-’



Hoooo…….



Leeha took a deep breath. When the breathing was rapid, the bell curve shifted



Haaaa…….



If you shake your hands or if you can’t move your fingers delicately, the horizontal line will be misaligned.



‘- It’s okay though. I can do it. I only get one chance!’



At a distance of 200m, the two musketeers aimed their guns at each other.



It looked like a duel in the west, but they were farther apart from each other.



It was similar to a chicken race, but the time to think about going straight or dodging was much shorter.



When Luger, who was in a standing shooting posture, and Leeha, who was in a knee-shooting posture, were in a completely straight line!



“Soul Link.”



Haaaa..



A red light flashed between them.



“Hmm?”



Luger frowned for a moment. A completely unexpected creature appeared in front of him, it was a huge bear.



Rooooar—-!!!



“This is [Matan]……? No, it can’t be. It’s a silly joke.”



Luger was not flustered when he saw the bear whose body started to burn.



He slowly pulled the trigger with a slightly annoyed expression.



Because he had already finished aiming anyway.



Boom–!



In the face of his bullet that could even smash the city wall, the field boss Brown Bear was not an obstacle. The armor-piercing bullet ripped through the air and ripped through ‘Kuma’s’ stomach. The height of the hole was exactly the same as what Luger had already aimed at.



If it was a normal bullet nothing would have happened, but if it was his bullet, it would have crushed Leeha’s head who had hidden behind the brown bear.



Luger opened the quest window and checked, but found that nothing had changed, and he got flustered.



“Why- hmm?”



And he saw.



In the place where the bear’s corpse disappeared as if it had evaporated, there was a figure of a person laying on the ground, and a silver muzzle rose from the green grass.



As soon as he saw the expression on Leeha’s face, who had shifted his body, Luger’s expression distorted for the first time.



‘You’re pretty good.’



Did he summon the bear to block my view, to move to a different position and aim at the same time?



However, it was a fleeting moment.



In addition, if his field of view was limited, Leeha’s skills would also be affected. Just as Luger couldn’t see Leeha because of the brown bear, Leeha couldn’t see Luger either.



In such a situation, it’s almost an acrobatic act to aim at Luger’s position after rolling using only memory!



Luger immediately moved his arm. There wouldn’t be a threat as long as he covered his head or chest! If he didn’t die in one shot, he could retaliate right away!



“-If that’s what you thought, you have underestimated me.”



And Leeha expected  Luger’s thoughts.



Leeha, watching Luger’s action, slowly gave strength to his finger.



At this moment, the only moving part of Leeha’s body was the tip of his index finger.



Baaang—!



The bullet flew past the ground and shattered Luger’s shinbone.



Leeha looked at the wobbling Luger.



‘It’s strange that he didn’t die, but he didn’t fall down, and he didn’t even scream? Is he even human?’



With such great skill, the assimilation rate would not be low, but even after getting hit by Leeha’s bullet, he did not even make   a single sound.



His leg bones must have been shattered, but he used his musket as a cane?



In a situation where the shooter felt more fear than the person who got hit, Leeha immediately got up from his position while supporting Kidd.



“Ruun!”



A normal musket can shoot even if the legs were broken. However, while watching Kidd and Luger fight, Leeha knew the weakness of Luger’s gun.



‘He could only shoot if he stood firmly with two feet and held the barrel with both arms. It will be difficult to do it while kneeling or lying down.’



It was possible, but it could also be dangerous. Leeha ran with Kidd and looked back. Looking at Luger, who was still standing, he knew his guess was correct.



A normal human would have made a decision. He wanted to reload quickly and shoot at the gap to kill him, however, Leeha resisted.



Because that man who was barely holding on was not a ‘normal’ human. If he acted out too soon, he may fall into a trap. He could be pretending to be weak, and then suddenly fire another huge bullet.



Leeha ran with all his might while supporting Kidd. Even when the south gate of Dale Castle was visible, he could not be completely relieved.



It was after Kidd’s eyes completely lost focus. Perhaps it was because he reached a level where he could not even see ahead.



“You have to verify your identity-”



“Ha Leeha!”



“Welcome Ha Leeha-nim.”



“Temple! Where is the temple? No, is it a church? Anyway!”



“Yes, if you follow this wall-”



“Thank you!”



Before the guard finished speaking, Leeha spoke and ran. Of course, the Dale Castle connected with an Instant Dungeon also had a temple.



It wasn’t in every city, and in that respect, the castle was not lacking.



“Kidd! Kidd! Are you dead? We’re almost at the temple!”



“……Quick.”



A droopy Kidd leaned against Leeha’s body like dry laundry. Leeha climbed the steps of the temple and showed Kidd to a priest.



“Excuse me! Someone is cursed! Please heal him quickly!”



They were in the territory of NPCs.



After seeing them moving inside with Kidd without hesitation, Leeha could barely breathe.



“Phew……. What kind of mess is this?”



Until a while ago, he was happily leveling in the underground waters.



Leeha shook his head and  tried squeezing his hand. Leveling up felt like a simple repetitive task. It was even boring.



‘Of course, I haven’t slept for 5 days, and I’ve been working hard, but……’



His sleepy brain woke up instantly. He confronted [Piece] for the first time, in a battle that risked his life.



Leeha couldn’t forget the thrilling stimulation.



Unlike the war between Hwahong and the Byeolcho Alliance, it was a battle in which he was the target. There must have been a reason why people were obsessed with duels in western movies. It was different from his fight with Rising Sun in which he could prepare.



He smiled, but at the same time, he felt regret.



‘Besides, I had no choice but to show my cards.’



The force barrier would have been known to most people because of the already circulated video. However, he was the only one in Middle Earth who had the skill Soul Link which summoned the brown bear ‘Kuma’ who was his soul mate.



Very few people were present when he dealt with the guild master of the Rising Sun, Kyokujitsu, additionally, even Kijeong and Ram Hwayeon didn’t know it.



‘But I showed it to Kidd and Luger.’



It couldn’t be helped. Without the brown bear, Leeha and Kidd would have died.



‘Ah, surviving is important. Surviving is important.’



Wasn’t he prepared to use the skill anyway?



Although it was a rare skill, it should be regarded as a skill with an expiration date, as long as the growth of the linked soul mate, ‘Kuma’, was somewhat limited.



It would be rather beneficial to maximize its effect by maximizing its use when possible, and from that point of view, the  Leeha used it at an optimal time.



‘……In fact, it was close. Because he didn’t know it was going to be one shot. One shot was enough to cut a hole in Kuma’s stomach.’



He knew Kuma wouldn’t last long, but he didn’t expect it to die in one blow.



If Leeha had been a little slower, Kuma and Leeha’s head would have exploded at the same time as Luger had intended.



‘The most important thing is why he came. Kidd said Luger was after me. Why? Besides, those guns…… Are they the guns of the Three Musketeers?’



He had a lot of questions, but Leeha couldn’t find the answer right away. And the person who could answer Leeha’s questions walked out of the temple after a while.



Unlike before, Kidd, who was completely healed and had a relaxed expression, approached Leeha and held out his hand.



“I have a lot to say, but first I have to thank you.”



“What are you talking about?”



Leeha held Kidd’s hand. It felt good to see Kidd’s pure and sincere expression. After all, didn’t people get closer when they experienced a crisis together?



“However, if I had been in my normal state, I wouldn’t have been beaten by Luger.”



The sight of him scratching his cheek with a smile on his face was enough to make Leeha laugh.



“Haha, that really is your personality. I understand. Anyway, let’s talk a little. What the hell is going on?”



(To be continued…)



TL’s Corner:

All of the next generation of the three musketeers have appeared. And it looks like they are not friendly with each other.