Matan’s Shooter

Chapter 777

Matan’s Shooter 777

“Hahaha! He wants me to bow my head and apologize? And he’ll give me money for that? You must be crazy, absolutely crazy. You, I thought you were pretty capable at what you do, but turns out you don’t know a thing about manners on this side of the tracks.”

“Still, with a bit of patience, you can gain a lot.”

“No, that’s not patience, greenhorn. That’s begging. It’s not about spreading rumors that I got paid by Sheriff Wyatt Earp of Deadwood, it’s about proclaiming that Wild Bill Hickok dug into Sheriff Earp’s rectum! Do you understand what I’m getting at!?”

Dong!

Wild Bill slammed the table. The beer glass shattered as it hit the floor, but neither of the two paid it any mind.

“Get lost! Looks like things are going south.”

Kidd’s body began to tremble. Nevertheless, he held back, walking out of the tavern.

“How much longer do I have to endure…?”

He had put up with a lot. Being called a greenhorn by Wild Bill, being called kid by Sheriff Earp, he had endured it all. After all, his nickname was Kidd, so he felt he had no room to object. But being called names aside, enduring such treatment was just too much to bear.

He wondered what he could do for the peace of the town.

Description: Make Deadwood a peaceful place.

Reward: ?

Condition for Failure: If either Wild Bill or Sheriff Earp dies.

Penalty for Failure: ?

It was the twelfth consecutive quest. Now, Kidd looked at the quest window again, finding everything obscured compared to the substantial rewards and penalties he had received before.

Kidd instinctively knew this was the final linked quest. The abstract nature of the quest made him think even more so. But now, he felt it was his limit. Requests from Lark or Shin Nara seemed so distant now, overshadowed by the sole purpose of his secondary job advancement. But what kind of treatment was this?

“Just because it’s Sheriff Earp or Wild Bill, doesn’t mean they always do good deeds or cause trouble… Whatever incident occurs, both of them bear responsibility. Ultimately, both of them are to blame for causing trouble….”

How could he bring about peace?

“Was it like this from the beginning? Law’s outlaw, does that mean… Desperado meant that?”

Kidd had to prepare himself while looking at the quest window. What he was thinking now would be an enormous risk. However, with that gamble, he felt a growing certainty that he would achieve the desired outcome.

‘If no words get through, no threats work, and no tricks succeed… What could be the way to bring peace to the town? If the two always stir up trouble?’

Sheriff Earp and Wild Bill are at each other’s throats. Refusing to back down from each other, they were in an absurd deadlock. Due to their uneven strength, the stalemate seemed inevitable to drag on. How to make them shut up?

“Suppressing the two of them… that was the solution.”

What was needed was a being stronger than both, an absolute presence. Kidd recalled the ridiculous trap he saw on the day he first arrived at Deadwood—the trap of the two. However, he had to win.

“I am not the same as I was back then.”

He had to trust his quickened hand movements achieved through clearing numerous linked quests. He must do it. A three-way showdown. But one of them must not die. There was only one thing he should aim for—the guns they chose. It wasn’t even a fair 1:1 showdown. After confirming that both had drawn their guns, he had to fire bullets towards their guns, making them drop the firearms from their hands. The difficulty would surpass that of a typical duel by many magnitudes.

“Though I am not an NPC… I will not evade it.”

Kidd remembered an old spaghetti Western movie that bore a striking resemblance to the quest’s title. Middle Earth had been hinting at it from the start with its title.

“Hmm? Still, practice… hehe.”

While practicing drawing 『Crimson Geckos』 from his holster, Kidd chuckled. The problem had not arisen yet. Only after repeated practices until just before the problem emerged, he would take on the challenge.

“Huuueeergh!”

Veins popped on Luger’s neck as if he was lifting the earth. Though his face was turning crimson, his body did not move as desired.

“You darn, cursed dwarf inspiration tank!”

Grrr… Giiii… Eek- Anyone watching would mistake him for lifting the world. The 『Cobalt Blue Python』 in his hands no longer resembled its past form. However, the skill acquired through the Three Musketeers’ quest or the legacy qualification of 『Piercing』 granted by the “Legendary Blacksmith Bottleneck” was in a different dimension.

“The form itself… If it’s made like this-!”

Even in its original state, Luger’s weapon was the most prominent among the Three Musketeers’ firearms. The rifle, named Colt Python as Kidd once called it, was already a sizable rifle, but the current size was beyond comparison. The rifle Luger was wielding, a deep cobalt blue color weapon named “『Cobalt Blue Python』,” remained the same as before.

However, the translucent mana overlaid on it was not just larger in length, more than five times Luger’s height, and thicker than Luger’s torso, making it so massive that the phrase ‘supported by arm’ didn’t even come close to describe it.

Alexander’s spear spread out on Baileyfus was of a similar length, but the difference between him effortlessly wielding the ‘Spear of Light’ and Luger struggling to hold up the rifle, which felt as heavy as carrying a steel barrel alone, was significant.

“The weight is another matter…!”

It was all due to the weight difference. What in the world was this weight, as if carrying a barrel made of pure steel instead of a mana-overlaid skill?

“Acht-Acht says the barrel weight of the Flegerabwehrkanone is 8,00kg, what in the world is this insane barrel weight-”

Luger successfully received a new skill through the Bottleneck.

『Acht-Acht-3』

Explanation:

“A perfect barrel can hit any angle, any target. The only barrel capable of anti-air, artillery, and fortification. But remember, planning, creating, and bearing it is solely up to you.”

Content: Eliminate synthetic manticore (target: Luger) with Acht-Acht.

Reward: ?

Condition for Failure: Failure if killed by synthetic manticore (target: Luger).

The quest was remarkably simple.

Enhance the Cobalt Blue Python using the skill and kill that creature, that’s it!

“Grroarh-Grrr- Guhh-!”

However, he still didn’t know how to handle it properly. Somewhere in the sparsely populated Corrupted World Tree Forest, he continued training daily to become familiar with the skill.

“Uh-hmm, this kind of feeling… Aha.”

“Kneeknee, you must be feeling really crappy.”

“Well, I still have to try it out, right? Check for any differences with each condition… How it’s different under buff status… How it varies with changes in climate and sunlight…”

“You seem to have a lot of time on your hands.”

Middle Earth is not a forgiving game.

Therefore, Chiyou has been busy checking her condition based on each circumstance since logging in. Above all, as the only ‘vampire’ who could roam around during the day, it was essential for her to confirm this status.

“Or should I also go over to the Old Continent? It might be tough with just Igor and Faust.”

“…No, there’s no need for that. It’s better for you to stay here for now.”

“Oh, why is that~?”

Chiyou glanced at Bluebeard, a slight fleeting stiffness in his expression not escaping her notice.

“There is a reason, it’s not for no reason at all. There’s something.”

Bluebeard was tense. At least since Chiyou had met him, there were only a handful of instances where the Demon Lord’s Fragment, Le, showed signs of tension.

‘And yet you are tense… I wonder who it could be. An event or a person?’

Chiyou considered it to be a person. If it were an event, Bluebeard would not have been waiting here in the first place.

‘He probably went to find Pyrot Cocri. The most urgent task for him should be finding the third Demon Lord’s Fragment. He must have gone to search, and when the incident broke out, he returned to wait.’

Even setting aside that matter, why would he be in this dim cave? The most reasonable assumption was that he was waiting for someone.

‘Leeha used to be at the northern tip of Shazrashian, in Hamina Castle. It’s a pity.’

She opened the skill window and examined the new skills she had acquired. One of them was to track the location of Leeha. After logging in and conducting sufficient espionage through Sasuke, she finally used the skill. Igor and Faust were already on the move, and characters like Le had failed to stop them. What’s next? Chiyou assumed he would cross to the New Continent and borrow power from Palleo or find Alexander.

“So you’re using skills and doing cute things? How amusing.”

She wished she could just kill Leeha right away, but it wasn’t what she desired at the moment. Most of all, the fact that Le was restraining her movements bothered her.

“Collecting dragons with just Igor and Faust must be tough.”

“Ha-ha, it’s okay. It’s fine. Those two are sufficient. And they need to be there for the Panjorea Ceremony.”

Bluebeard trailed off but then smirked, a hint of a smile forming.

“They need to be there?”

“No, that won’t be enough.”

“What?”

Chiyou remained silent despite Chiyou’s repeated inquiries. Chiyou was persistent.

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“Igor and Faust’s goal is to create a Lich Dragon… to oppose something with it? No, they are not intended to fight.”

Chiyou, who didn’t miss the word “oppose,” felt a faint thread of speculation taking hold by carefully observing the muscles in Bluebeard’s face move.

Chiyou: Sasuke.

Sasuke: Yes, oka-san.

“Tell Igor and Faust not to interfere for a while. No, to put it more extremely, tell them there’s no need to collect dragons anymore.”

“Yes, no need? But… that means Bluebeard–uh, got it. That’s what you mean.

Chiyou: Le seems to want to use the Lich Dragon as a gift or something.”

Sasuke: What do you mean?

Sasuke sent a confused remark, but Chiyou didn’t respond. There was no need to bring up the topic prematurely at this stage.

Chiyou: Anyway, no more dragon hunting. Tell them they know better what will happen if they violate it. It will be good for them too. Understood?

Sasuke: Yes.

Chiyou: Oh, by the way, did that person happen to contact you?

Sasuke: Yes, they did.

Chiyou smiled broadly upon hearing Sasuke’s response.

Chiyou: Any reaction?

Sasuke: They said they’ll come visit.

Chiyou: I thought so. It’s like the law of alcohol, tobacco, gambling, drugs… Once you taste it, you can’t quit.

She turned around quickly, facing Bluebeard.

“Count, could I possibly get one more vampire?”

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“What? A vampire queen like you asking me for such a thing?”

“Oh, come on, I’m just asking for another follower, no problem. But… like Igor or Faust, I’d like it to be ‘merged with’ it.”

Chiyou sat on the edge of Bluebeard’s bed with a sigh.

Le laughed lightly, looking at her.

“Is he a helpful one?”

“Of course. He is a descendant of the 『Flame Mage』. You met him last time, didn’t you?”

“Ah, that guy. Alright, bring him.”

After receiving Bluebeard’s permission, Chiyou whispered something to Sasuke.

“Tell Pyro… that I’ll be waiting.”

One of the descendants of the heroes has leaned over to the side of the complete witch.