The Villain is Too Good at Sniping - Chapter 114



Only Noblemtl

Episode 114. Puppet (2)

A large number of experimental specimens that were not displayed in time explode.

Kyle’s black mercy is absent. The same goes for Esili. Lara Stillheiden, who came to her senses late, is also secretly increasing her magical power while protecting other cadets with a barrier.

The opponents are Elysium’s armed guards. Each of them is strong enough to rival a Hunter, but if the cadets gathered here combine their strength, they can buy some time.

I watched the whole scene from a distance with Professor Reina. Professor Reina seemed quite bewildered by what was happening at the exhibition hall.

“I expected something big to happen, but I didn’t think it would be this bad.”

I understand how you feel. It’s like they’re barging in and destroying things without any solid evidence.

“At this level, even Arsene can’t protect you. Terrorism at the exhibition hall? At the magic engineering exhibition hosted by the Ivory Tower… And by Arsene’s students… …?”

“There is a good reason why I came forward.”

I added one more word to Professor Reina, who was still dumbfounded.

“You guessed it, Professor. There must have been something evil inside me, and there must have been another reason for holding the fair.”

Kyle and I, both of whom were cadets, felt it, so there’s no way Professor Reina didn’t feel it. She probably felt something ominous as well.

It was just that he couldn’t act rashly because his position was Arsene’s professor. Perhaps the strict control of external activities was also along the same lines.

“But it would be difficult to justify storming into the exhibition hall and destroying everything like that.”

Originally, it would have been like that.

“…Eltus van Siegheim, one of the executives of the Mine Association. If that man hadn’t been there, that would have definitely happened.”

Professor Reina took up her bow. There was no hesitation in drawing the string. Reina’s bow was filled with a radiance. It was a pure white light that was so dazzling that it was impossible to look at it properly.

Before I could let go of the tightly-pulled protest, I stopped Professor Reina.

“…Are you not going to consider the aftermath?”

“We’ve come too far to consider the aftermath. Look at that.”

The place where the battle is taking place is hundreds of meters away from us. It is a sight that I would not have been able to see properly if my eyesight had not been enhanced through [Thousand Eyes].

But Professor Reina and I are now seeing the same sight. Only Iri is holding binoculars and barely keeping up with the view.

“The enemy is Mine. As you know, he is a member of the evil Mine Association. If we don’t kill him now, he will surely cause terrorism somewhere else later.”

“If you keep doing this, you might get fired from your position.”

“It’s better than seeing a cadet die right before your eyes.”

Professor Reina said he would not consider the aftermath.

There’s a difference between a cadet using force and a professor using force directly. The Elysium Defense Forces will probably rush in here soon after detecting something unusual.

When that happens, Professor Reina will have to explain why she took out the bow here.

In the end, the story will probably end with Mine going wild and there was nothing they could do, but it will definitely get you involved in some tiring business.

Airi put down her binoculars and cautiously took a step closer.

“Professor Reina, that’s not the main body.”

“It’s not the main body… … ?”

“Yes… This will be over once we catch the main body… That, Mr. Zion said.”

Professor Reina looked at me with a look of disbelief. Only then did I explain the reason I had called Professor Reina here.

“If we don’t kill the main body, Eltus will probably run away from here. Just like how no matter how many times we kill the summoned monster, it’s meaningless if we don’t catch the caster.”

However, the main body of Eltus is definitely nearby. I cannot detect it, but Professor Reina, who is a seasoned hunter, will definitely be able to come up with different results.

“As you know, Professor, Elysium is the only place on the continent where magic is detected and just ignored.”

Here, monsters and mines are used as research materials. In the process, magic is inevitably generated, and the Ivory Tower does not raise an issue if there is a legitimate reason. The Hunter Association is the same.

In fact, most of the research on mines comes from Elysium, which is why the people of Elysium have less antipathy towards Magi.

It is also a place where a small number of mines are hiding by using such a system. Eltus is probably the same. Illegal experiments using human blood and magic can also be covered up naturally here.

“Isn’t there a place where you can feel something?”

“… … .”

Professor Reina put away her bow. She closed her eyes and felt the magical waves, then took out an arrow and struck it down on the ground.

A green light swirled around the arrow, which seemed to be made of twisted vines, and a small leaf sprouted. It didn’t take long for it to grow into a tree of light several meters tall.

This is one of Professor Reina’s techniques seen in the original.

The effect is wide-area color and magic regeneration. It is Professor Reina’s signature technique that offsets the extreme magic consumption that is an inevitable disadvantage of a shooter. As long as you are here, you will not suffer from magic depletion.

“…doesn’t exist.”

However, Professor Reina gave an unexpected answer.

“The magic is thick and distracting. If you search all over Elysium, you might find something different, but it won’t be something you can do in a short period of time.”

“How long will it take if I make it as short as possible?”

“It would take more than a week to search the entire city even if we caught them quickly.”

… it was a disaster.

“I can’t just sit there and wait a week. I’ll run away before then.”

The one swallowing the silence was Professor Reina, not me. Right now, the first-year rookies, including Kyle, are being thrown into the field and fighting. The one leading them is none other than Professor Reina herself.

“First of all, I can’t leave it like that.”

Professor Reina pulled the trigger with a look of considerable responsibility on her face.

Papak—!

Dozens of arrows shot into the sky and flew into the exhibition hall. Several armed guards who had been threatening Kyle and his party were knocked down by arrows.

Several arrows fired after that landed on Eltus’s back, but Eltus was still alive. Instead, he looked this way and attempted to counterattack.

I felt a genuine chill at that moment. My eyes met with Eltus’s at a distance that was impossible to discern with the naked eye.

As Duke Esperland was, it seemed that when you become an executive of the Mine Association, you would have ridiculous eyesight, such as [Clairvoyance].

The cubes floating in the air simultaneously emitted flames. Professor Reina stood before us, facing the orange rays extending in a straight line. The strongly concentrated magical power formed a protective wall, blocking the pouring rays.

“Unfortunately, for now, it seems the most realistic way to safely rescue the cadets and get out of here. Zion, you too—”

“no.”

Before Professor Reina could say anything, I cut her off.

“The professor said, if we don’t kill them here, they will definitely commit another terrorist attack somewhere else.”

“Isn’t there a good way to find the main body now?”

“The main body should be around here, I told you. That thing you’re fighting with Kyle over there isn’t the main body, it’s an avatar he’s using.”

I remember the terrible events that Eltus would commit after this.

Although Eltus fails to transplant his body into Adam, whom he created, he repeats the same thing three or four times after that.

Those who are sacrificed in the process are Arsene’s cadets, the Hunter Association’s staff, and lastly.

‘player.’

In the original, there was an ending where even the player was reduced to an experimental subject for Eltus.

“As you know, professor, the farther away you are from the main body, the less control the avatar has. Just like a network, the farther away you are, the more power you lose, and the connection can even be lost.”

Eltus is inside Elysium. He has hidden his body not far from the exhibition hall.

Even now, when dealing with multiple cadets at the same time, he counterattacks them. This shows that his synchronization rate is that high.

The most suspicious location is the basement of the exhibition hall. However, in the original work, Eltus’s main body was not in the exhibition hall.

If it had been hidden in the basement of the exhibition hall, someone else would have noticed it long ago. Like Rebecca did, like Kyle did.

“The main body controlling the avatar cannot move.”

To put it simply, it’s like controlling a drone remotely from a distance. Naturally, the main body can’t move its body arbitrarily because it’s controlling an avatar.

Eltus is not a good fighter. He is a guy who rose to the position of executive of the Mine Association with his innate intelligence, madness, and unhesitating actions. That is why the attacks of Kyle and I, who are only first-year students, are effective.

“And there is only one avatar left.”

Eltus does not fight himself. His avatar does the fighting for him. It takes a long time to create an avatar, so Eltus only has one left to fight Kyle.

“Eltus will not be able to give up on Adam, the experimental subject he created. You must have felt how terrible and strong that thing is during the day, Professor.”

“If it’s being introduced as the next-generation weapon of war from the ivory tower, then it must be so.”

A one-of-a-kind masterpiece painstakingly created by the wizards of the ivory tower.

Most of the wizards who worked in the ivory tower and assisted in the research probably did not know that they were cooperating with Mine’s plan. Especially not that it was a body that Eltus had cultivated for the purpose of implanting his consciousness.

“Whatever the case, the conclusion is this. If not now, while Eltus is still holding on to his obsession, there will be no chance of capturing the main body.”

I tried to reduce Eltus’s power so that he wouldn’t cause any trouble. So while Eltus was at his leisure, I destroyed all the avatars.

I wanted to hit the main body, so I did some preliminary research, but I calmly thought that my current strength would not be enough to hit the main body, and that this would be the best option for now.

It was a naive thought. In this place where sudden events exist openly, you never know what variables might arise along the way. It is best to suppress the variables before they explode.

“So, if you want to kill Eltus, now is the time.”

When he’s at his weakest. When he’s closest.

And yet, when my bullet reaches the guy.

“As the professor said, if we don’t catch him here, he’ll end up in even bigger trouble. A guy who’s been hurt once won’t make the same mistake again.”

Perhaps Eltus will appear next time with a completed body, just like he did in the original. Then, he will not have mercy in his hands like he does now, nor will he be leisurely.

Clank-

I changed the magazine. I loaded the magic bullet with increased destructive power using Rebecca’s magic power.

“Isn’t the biggest problem that we don’t know where Eltus’s main body is? It would take more than a week just to find it.”

I shook my head. Talking to Professor Reina, I realized that I was missing the most important thing.

I vaguely thought it was somewhere around the fairgrounds, or Elysium. I was only seeing trees, not a forest.

“If there was a place to hide the main body, there was only one place from the beginning.”

A place where you can legally hide your magic. A place where it wouldn’t be strange if something happened.

A place not too far from the exhibition hall, and where no outside interference would come in. There was only one place like that from the beginning.

I saw the ivory tower.

The Tower of Babel of this world, a symbol of Elysium and a place where the absolute rulers who wield absolute power in this city gather.

To be precise, I saw a medieval cathedral-style laboratory connected to an ivory tower.

Even for Eltus, directly facing the Ivory Tower’s lord would be an undesirable choice. In order to reduce the risk of having one’s identity revealed, one would have to refrain from entering the Ivory Tower directly.

Professor Reina read my gaze and raised her bow. An arrow of light easily over 4 meters long was hanging on the bow.

“Please don’t do that, Professor.”

“This is the only way to get rid of it for sure.”

“If we do that, we might be able to catch Eltus, but it would put you in an awkward position, Professor. There might be an innocent wizard there too.”

There will probably be other wizards residing there. If Reina attacks, the entire building will be destroyed, and innocent people will suffer. If that happens, things will get out of control.

In the ivory tower, this matter will be dragged out to the end, and Arsene will have no choice but to abandon Professor Reina.

If that happens, most of the cadets who want to become shooters will lose their way. Among them is Kyle’s colleague, Ashley Silvergarden, and me.

“I will go myself. If I fail or if Eltus shows signs of escaping, it will not be too late to shoot then. So, save destroying the building as a last resort.”

“… Are you sure it’s okay?”

I nodded without answering.

I don’t know about Reina, but I have a legitimate reason to go in there. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say anything.

Professor Reina hesitated for a moment and then nodded to me without saying anything. Perhaps my overwhelming score on the entrance exam also played a part in Professor Reina’s judgment.

“Don’t do anything too reckless. If you’re using an avatar like me, your main body may not be strong enough, but if you feel danger, send me a signal right away. I’ll come to your aid immediately.”

“yes…….”

“I believe you because you are Zion Illionheart.”

When the name Zion Illionheart was called, my conscience pricked for no reason.

Although he didn’t give me a direct order, I tacitly agreed to this. I nodded to Professor Reina and jumped down the pipe without hesitation.

“Hey, wait a minute! Alone?! That’s too reckless! Mr. Zion… …!”

Airi’s voice echoed through the building. I felt someone approaching nearby and hid myself at a reasonable distance.

Chubbuck! Chubbuck!

The Elysium Defense Force, which had been dispatched after grasping the situation, ran through the streets at night. I confirmed that they had all disappeared and took out the mask that I had placed in subspace.

A camouflage device worn by Esperland’s assassins to avoid revealing their identities.

I am not Zion Illionheart at this moment, but Zion Esperland… … .

To be exact, it was supposed to be Galion Esperland.