Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Chapter 245

“Kikis. I see. ‘Fibiel’s Pillar, Granville’……. I’ve heard that he’s a general who only carries out very conservative and typical tactics, but this is definitely a bold operation on his part.”

Tale and Biyemi were also in the group.

Previously they were in the form of an independent army classified as a special force, but now they could not move as freely as before. For the time being, they must travel with this group.

They would often stare into the air while moving. It was to check their friend’s window.

“What are you going to do, Kay.”

“Firs…… First of all. There’s nothing we can do right now.”

Kijeong’s clenched his fist in regret.

In his mind, he wanted to go to Leeha immediately, but he wasn’t in a position where he could.

“Kikis, guild master-nim is right. We are in our place. We know a piece of information that others don’t, so we need to focus on increasing the contribution of the ‘special force’ with that.”

“Hmm, then do we go first?”

“Yes. We will go first. The most important thing to set the ball is to stand out.”

As Kijeong gave detailed instructions while looking at his guild members, the Fibiel army’s advancement finally stopped. Their army formed on the road to Castle Van Cowl which had been destroyed for some time.

The Minis users could clearly see the Fibiel army preparing for the last ‘stroke’.

“What should we do?”

“Ah, we’re fucked. This is crazy, why is there 1 million of them? I have only heard about things like this from the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’.”

“In any case, everyone needs to get ready. We will begin to cast when all of them are blocked by the barrier.”

On the walls of Van Cowl, the ranged damage dealers and magicians tried to calm their pounding hearts.

“Aren’t they right in front of us?”

“Yes. You should never cast too hastily. I heard that allied attacks go out of the barrier and all enemy attacks are blocked- no, the enemy forces could not even enter the barrier in the first place.”

“Will we last a week?”

The commander of the defense of the wall knew the most. The other users beside him listened.

“Yes. It would normally charge if it is deactivated, but once it is activated, it will last a week. But when it gets attacked, it will decrease, right?”

“It will not be able to withstand the attack of 1 million enemies for one week…… it will only last for about three to four days.”

“That will be enough time. Let’s pour out all our magic for three days, and get the contribution, and immediately use our scrolls after that. I am the commander of the defense, but this is nonsense from the start.”

“That’s right! How could we stop it! I don’t know if Alexander would show up, so I’m extremely sorry for Minis.”

“What if this castle is taken by Fibiel later?”

“Hey, Middle Earth probably wouldn’t let that happen.”

While the users were complaining, a loud trumpet finally sounded from the Fibiel army.

They saw a small dot running in front of the million slowly moving army.

***

“Then, there’s no one willing to go first.”

All division commander NPCs bowed their heads at Granville’s heavy voice. Granville looked around the crowd and spoke again.

“You don’t trust your allies that much?”

“But commander-in-chief-nim, all of the special forces are here now. They are going to do it alone, and if the operation is successful, doesn’t that mean that Castle Van Cowl is easy?”

“……What if it fails?”

“Well if it fails- the division that would take the lead……”

The division commander NPC could not continue talking. There was really no need to bring out the bad news.

What if he couldn’t destroy the keystone?

They would not be able to retreat and get stuck later because of their allies and because of the barrier, they would die without being able to fight back.

Standing at the forefront of a siege literally meant being the arrowhead. The division commander NPCs did not want to sacrifice their own troops in the war that had only now started in earnest.

Because there’s still a long way to get the biggest profits.

“Then let us go.”

“Huh?”

Kijeong, who had been listening to their words, stepped forward.

“Isn’t this the task you entrusted to the Byeolcho special force? Then we will be at the forefront.”

“Can you do it?”

“Please trust me.”

Granville nodded at Kijeong’s words, but the other NPC’s reactions differed. They only had 30 people. What could 30 people possibly do?

“Nothing is going to change! It’s only the difference between whether 30 people would die or not! Without the certainty of success-”

“Do you think we will do this without any certainty?”

“What? Even though you’re a special force, how dare you say you’re an independent army, -”

“Stop. Stop it.”

The division commander NPC glared at Kijeong’s words, but Granville stopped it.

Most importantly, Kijeong is a guild master that carries a guild on his shoulders. Although he did not receive any special training in this war, he had experience from several previous battles, including guild wars. His eyes, which were filled with faith, were not inferior to Granville’s.

“Okay. Prepare the trumpet.”

“Commander-in-Chief.”

“I told you to prepare the trumpet.”

“-……I understand! Prepare the entire army to advance, prepare for a siege!”

The advancement order was issued to the entire Fibiel army.

The users and NPCs who were preparing for the battle in the first place had nothing to prepare in particular. They only had to check their potions, scrolls, weapon state, and skill cooldowns.

A million Fibiel troops lined up in a half-arc in front of Castle Van Cowl for the siege. And in the middle of the arc was a tiny dot sticking out.

“Are you ready?”

Of course!

“Everyone, don’t die. The time allotted to us is a minute, or maybe less than 40 seconds.”

Kijeong raised his shield.

“But as long as you can move properly within that-”

A special-purpose formation that thirty people researched and practiced over and over again.

“Yes. The ones who will stand out and reap the most rewards in this war will be us!.”

Gulp, someone gulped.

Wuoooooong—-!

The first sound of the trumpet sounded like a boat horn. The eerie low tone resonated with everyone’s heart.

“Byeolcho special force! Get ready to charge!”

Go!

Step, step, step. Not only the tanks but also the dealers raised their shields.

An ancient defensive formation that surrounds 30 people in a square and defends the front, rear, left, and right, as well as the upper surface with a shield, Testudo.

In a formation like this, it would certainly not be stopped by a few arrows.

Wuoooooong—-!

And finally, the second trumpet blew. Kijeong bellowed.

“Charge!”

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!

Looking from the sky, it looked just like a tiny dot raising dust in the camp of a million men.

“Run, run!”

“Get in formation! Don’t tangle each other’s feet! Just like we have practiced!”

“One two, one two, left-right, left-right!”

At a steady pace, the stack of shields ran toward Castle Van Cowl. It was an absurd charge from the point of view of the Minis soldiers on top of the Van Cowl walls.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. A Suicide Squad?”

“I thought it was some kind of train. Are those shields?”

They honestly did not stand out.

However, the speed of one small group running ahead was faster than the speed of the main army which had one million troops.

“There will always be people like that in a war. Kids are running around due to excitement.

“Do you know what happened to those kinds of kids?”

“They die first. Kek, I’ve seen it a lot in the Marching Plains already.”

There were a lot of ranged damage dealers and magicians lined up on the wall. There were enough people to kill those running at them even if they only shot them once.

“Come, come, I will kill you if you want. They will get to the edge of the barrier soon, get ready to cast! The magicians in charge of the barrier please stand this way.”

Bows and crossbows were pulled. Magicians prepared their basic magic by raising their wands, staffs, orbs, or books. The main unit had not yet arrived, so it was a waste to use advanced magic on them.

“Get ready to inject mana to the barrier once they are 15m-20m away!”

The barrier would be activated in the immediate vicinity of the wall Whether it was bow or magic, it was enough to react at all ranges.

“10m- 7, 5, 3m, lm- Activate!!!”

The fortress defender shouted.

It was said that the moment it was activated, light would emit from the keystone and a barrier would appear in front of the wall in one direction. Even the user who was the commander of the defense had never seen it.

“Oh… Are they still running?”

“Hmm? What? Right there! Activate the barrier! Activate it! Didn’t I tell you to inject mana into it?”

“I-I have injected it already. I am activating it as I was taught- No, It is not activating!”

“Wah, what are you talking about?”

The commander of the defense hurriedly ran and injected his mana. He felt his mana decrease, but that was all. The barrier did not activate.

“What? What happened?”

“Commander-nim! What’s going on?”

“Wait. This-this, someone call the NPCs! There’s no barrier! They said all I had to do was activate it-”

“Huh? Ahhhhh! T-t-that, they threw their shields!”

The distance at which the barrier was created was only 50m from the wall, and if the barrier did not activate, then they would be able to reach the wall in a few seconds.

“Guild master-nim!”

“As expected! It’s as hyung said after all! Get everything ready! It would be clear when the timing is right!”

Byeolcho’s special force broke up the Tetsudo and ran at full speed. What was attached to the back of the shield they were holding?

“We are 20m away from the gate! Biyemi-nim!”

“Everything has to be right! Because the scope of this is not wide!”

Biyemi was also different from the past.

His move casting was not the same as it was in the past. The Lizardia was running at full speed while casting. It was only natural that there was a commotion on the wall.

“Sticky poison, Kaaaak—-!”

Spit, spit, spiiiit-!

His cheeks swelled up, and the venom shot out in an instant. Splat, splat, Kijeong exclaimed after seeing the thick venom sticking to the wall.

“Ignite!”

A short line protruded from the back of the shield they were holding. There was a spark there.

“Tuchoook-!”

Whip, whip, whip!

And the shields cut through the air. When all the shields flew towards the thick venom spit that Biyemi spat around the gates.

The ‘fuse line’ behind the shields was almost gone.

Baang—!

“Waah! What- what happened?!”

“The suicide squad really committed suicide- no, they threw something at the gate-”

The vibration shook the entire eastern wall of Castle Van Cowl and put everyone into a panic. A powerful explosion occurred near the gate, and a wall of dust rose.

When the dust began to disappear, they now saw the defenseless Minis army.

It was the defenselessness of their enemy that made the Fibiel army smile.

“The gates have been opened!!!! The Byeolcho Special force broke through the gates! Fibiel army—–”

No army would stand still after seeing that. The Fibiel army, which was advancing slowly with doubtful expressions, ran like beasts.

“——charge!!!”

“Kijeong-ah, the keystone is already broken.”

“However, do not report it to Ron or the other users.”

“Why not?”

“Aren’t we supposed to fill our belly first? Are we going to destroy the castle defense’s keystone and let other units break through the castle gates? Isn’t the main point of the siege is ‘Who will enter the enemy castle first’?”

Of course, our special force should join the ranks, shouldn’t we?

“So, as I said, you just have to charge. Go to Hell Anvil and find a smithy called Bottleneck. I’ve already talked to that dwarven blacksmith, so he should be able to pick it up immediately. Because I already asked them to make a special product that can be attached to the back of the shield with an explosive that is stronger than a normal bomb.

Then you will know what to do.”

“When other users or NPCs try to shirk responsibility while making a fuss, we must unconditionally take the lead. Trust me and run.”

“There will definitely be no barrier. Even if the enemy gets close to the gate and notices that there’s no barrier, there will be a gap of 30 seconds to a minute.”

“After thinking about what is going on or why it didn’t it work, Fibiel army will finally reach the front of the castle gate. So, before that, destroy the gate.”

“And…… hold on. You must.”

“If our allies notice that the gates are completely destroyed, they will rush in at a tremendous speed.”

“Before they go down to face you, they will try to tie up your feet and try to stop the army by launching ranged attacks and magic from the top of the wall.”

“Do you understand? It’s simple. First, destroy the gates.”

“Second, break in quickly.”

“Third, somehow survive for 5 minutes.”

“Fourth, pick up the items, and clean up all the gold for me. Okay?”

“There are a lot of Minis troops in Castle Van Cowl, is the third step a ‘simple’ thing to do, Hyung!!! It’s okay, it’s- shit, protection energy!”