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Volume 7 Chapter 7 Part 5

Translator: Kell

Sniping is about timing your attack perfectly so it can’t be dodged. Like this, for example.

“Gaaaahhh!”

Right after I rolled, one of the enemies let out a scream. There was an arrow sticking on his back.

The reason I pretended to shoot the Steam Explosion earlier was to make my opponent defend against it. It’s immediately obvious that the I was bluffing, but by that time they realize it, the arrows have already reached the target. Their effort to shift to a defensive maneuver only made them easy targets for arrows raining from above.

“Now that’s how you snipe,” I said.

If you can create the right opening yourself, you don’t even need high-level Skills for sniping. Just informing the archers hiding in the woods around the city the location of the enemy is more than enough. With Sachylis’ Search Enemy, I don’t even have to tell them myself.

The arrow did not pierce very deeply, as the archers were more concerned about penetrating defensive magic than raw power. Naturally, it was not powerful enough to kill the enemy instantly, but the arrow was coated in toxin that paralyzes the victim and causes severe pain. It was enough to stop the guy from moving.

“Fire Bomb.”

Unable to evade my magic spell, the enemy was burned to death. Now there’s only one guy left.

“Looks like you got lucky,” I said.

There are several arrows stuck around the remaining one dude, but none hit him.

There were no expert snipers among Count Meigis’ men. So I asked the ones with long-range attack Skills to just fire a volley of arrows. Just hitting one out of the two was a great job.

“One hit the mark,” I said over the comms. “It’s not surprising, given your lack of training, but your accuracy can still be improved.”

“Sorry,” Sachylis replied. “I think I missed as well.”

“The fact that your arrows landed close is good enough. Your role is not to snipe enemies anyway.”

I informed them of the results so they could use it to improve themselves in the future. Like Sachylis said, her arrow indeed missed. Well, her role was to serve as a liaison for the rest of the troops, so her positioning wasn’t optimal. Compared to the rest who were tasked to snipe, she was at a disadvantage.

There may be times in the future when this kind of sniping will be needed, so it might be a good idea to train some people in long range combat. Even if their Skills work fine, sniping at a distance where you can’t see the enemy requires a different technique than normal combat. For now, though, just being able to reduce the number of enemies by one is a good accomplishment.

As I stepped closer to the surviving guy, he let out a shriek and fled, fear on his face. He no longer had the will to fight. He was just running away as fast as he could.

Their sniper missed, and what was a two-on-one had turned into a one-on-one. He thought he had no chance of winning in this situation. Of all the decisions the enemy has made today, this is the only correct one—to retreat. Of course, whether he can get away or not is a different story.

“Deadly Pain.”

I cast Deadly Pain for now and see what happens. This spell, which stops the enemy’s movement with a tremendous pain, has the ability to decide the fight with a single blow if not blocked.

The spell can’t penetrate defenses, so if the enemy casts defensive magic, it will have no effect. I was going to save it until the enemy’s defensive magic ended, but now that I didn’t need to do that anymore, I gave it a shot.

“I knew it wouldn’t work.”

The “Deadly Pain” I shot at the fleeing enemy had no effect whatsoever. Their countermeasures against me included using magic to block Deadly Pain. Well-researched.

Learning that made casting Deadly Pain worth it. Whether or not the enemy knows about Deadly Pain is important intel for future battles.

“Fire Bomb. Flame Arrow. Flame Circle.”

I unleashed a series of attack magic toward the fleeing enemy. None of these spells are particularly difficult to dodge, and I wasn’t trying my best to hit him either. There’s no need to reveal my cards when the fight is already over.

“Aaah! M-Magic Guard!”

Casting defensive spells blindly, the guy ran away at full speed. He was just running around randomly, and luckily he seems to be avoiding my attacks. Eventually he disappeared into the woods.

Several seconds later, Sachylis’s report came through the comms.

“Clean-up complete,” she said. “It was Dylan who did it.”

Looks like it’s over. While Sandstorm is a nasty magic, there’s no way a guy who’s just running around scared can use it well. Moreover, we have a grasp of the enemy’s position by means of detection magic like Search Enemy.

With a twenty-versus-one clean-up, failing to catch the guy is practically impossible. This is the reason why I didn’t bother actually following up with my attacks.

“Great job,” I said. “We’re retreating, but make sure to stay out of vision from the guys at the summit. And tell Count Gaze that we have defeated the enemy in Raijis, but that he is not to enter it yet.”

“Copy that.”

And so we succeeded in eliminating the enemy from Raijis. The city is now a perfect target for snipers using Ether Cannon, so we haven’t really reclaimed it in the truest sense of the word. Raijis was only a vacant land now.

There are methods to protect Raijis, but there’s no point in rushing things. It’s better to take care of the root of the problem first—the enemies in Raijis volcano.

The sniper, who had awakened themselves using a precious Wisdom Stone, is definitely an irreplaceable personnel for the Empire.

“Now that we know the enemy’s identity, let’s find someplace where we won’t get shot at and meet up there.”

“Yes, sir!”