Arcane Sniper

Chapter 986

‘Vibration?’

It was vibrating with a very short and rapid cycle.

Watching the trembling object, Leeha felt he could almost discern a specific emotion.

‘It is in distress. Black!’

Leeha attempted to call Black Bass, just in case, but there was no response.

He thought of trying again but soon dismissed the idea. After all, this was just a ‘reconstructed memory.’

He assumed that since it wasn’t a current anguish, it probably wasn’t anything serious.

‘But… it’s certain. That is pain.’

Humans cannot comprehend the emotions of animals.

They can only infer from their reactions and states.

The state in which humans best infer emotions is through suffering caused by pain.

In this perspective, Leeha was convinced that what he presumed to be Black Bass was in distress. As the flow of emotion became more evident, the vibration gradually intensified.

Moreover, it was taking on a much clearer form than before.

Therefore, Leeha was bewildered. Despite being able to almost recognize its appearance, there was one reason he remained confused.

‘This isn’t Black Bass?’

He would definitely recognize his own rifle.

It was not the musket form before using the SASR transformation skill.

Nor was it the current form he was using. Rather, what was visible to Leeha now was similar to the type of rifle “Arcane Sniper” used.

Was it the very gun Kyle currently used?

‘No, it’s not the same as the gun Arcane Sniper uses—it’s definitely different. This is a form I’ve never seen before!’

Leeha shook his head. Since the time he spent with Elizabeth, he’d seen it so often, it would be impossible not to recognize it.

It was not that gun.

So, what was this completely unfamiliar rifle?

‘Ah, the vibration stopped.’

The gun that had been trembling ceased its vibration. Only then did Leeha realize that this must indeed be something he had never seen before.

It was actually a gun he had never seen.

The gun, having ceased its vibration, began to conceal itself again in darkness. But the important thing was not that it was hiding its form.

What mattered was that the gun, which began to be enveloped by something black, was starting to split into ‘three parts.’ That was what was important.

‘Ah!’

Two of the three divided masses suddenly surged upwards.

The sight of those from the riverbed piercing through the surface was exhilarating in a way.

After they disappeared, the remaining mass began to gradually take shape as if an unseen hand was shaping clay.

When it finally became a form very familiar to Leeha, Black Bass spoke.

―My name is Black Bass… the oldest consciousness.―

The bold voice of Black Bass echoed with each click of the bolt.

Leeha felt like smiling for some reason. Because he began to comprehend what Black Bass had said in the past.

“So, the greatest… Indeed. So that’s why― that’s why you said what you said back then?”

―Keke… What do you mean, Bearer?―

“I once asked if there were any ego weapons besides you, black. Since you were the first ego weapon to develop a consciousness, you wouldn’t know if there were others. Hang on. By that logic… does that mean Arcane Bullet’s gun can’t be considered an ego weapon? Hmm, indeed that Zamiel seemed like a complete life form—”

Leeha asked.

Black Bass did not respond. When Leeha thought that silence was an agreement, another question arose in him.

“No, wait. But earlier, wasn’t there those two masses that detached? What were they—”

―I could not handle them.―

“Hmm?”

―What you are seeing is the compression of time over several hundred years… For an unfathomably long time, I had to forcibly assimilate it in order to survive. I had to consume everything against my will to live. In that arduous time, I suffered continuously, over and over.―

“Ah, is this video……”

Had hundreds of years really been fast-forwarding?

Indeed, the river seen through Leeha’s gaze was different from just a moment ago. The creatures that had turned the boat upside down were already gone.

—I had no choice but to admit it. Admitting I couldn’t fully bear that power, I regurgitated what I had swallowed. With the vow that no matter what happens in the future… forever… I would never again spit out what I consume.—

Black Bass paused for a moment. Leeha understood.

Unlike the Arcane Bulet directly handled by the Devil, Black Bass which had been formed from the remnants of Arcane Bullet couldn’t contain all the power.

Thus, Black Bass, an Ego Weapon already possessing its own will, had made a decision on its own!

And that decision led to the current outcome.

“A division of attributes… Then the two masses that went beyond the river—?”

—Haha… Do you want to see?—

────────────────!

The shift in perspective happened in an instant.

Leeha’s view, which until just now was in the turbulent river, was suddenly positioned in a dense rainforest.

In the isolated forest, a black mass was writhing while a silken python was slithering toward it.

The moment the blue-streaked silken python approached the black mass, Leeha’s view flipped again.

Only the golden sand of the desert was visible, with a black mass rippling in its center.

Leeha inexplicably felt a pleased smile form.

Near the black mass, a few white geckos were scurrying rapidly.

They weren’t purely white, of course.

The geckos had a fundamentally white base with strikingly red patterns scattered across their bodies.

They came to be known as the “Cobalt Blue Python” and “Crimson Geckos.”

Just like the giant fish that had overturned bore the attribute of 『Accuracy』 and was named ‘Black Bass’, the masses were named beside the silken python and the geckos.

This was why the Three Musketeers’ holdings, different yet somehow similar, were related. They were all weapons birthed from the same origin.

Leeha pondered another question at that moment.

Why 『Accuracy』?

“Then why… if the attribute was deliberately removed, it implies that Black chose 『Accuracy』.”

—Didn’t I say I suffered for so long that I couldn’t remember it? Hahaha, in that torment, I focused on only one thing. Revenge against the existence that caused me such pain. I must ‘strike’ it. Like a snake devouring its own tail, my obsession, with the determination to devour my creator, led me to acquire the power of 『Accuracy』.—

“I see… Then, what will you do now…”

—Until now, I deemed it impossible. Even if I unleash all my buried power, I thought I couldn’t consume my original form.—

Leeha pondered while listening to Black Bass.

Black Bass had mentioned devouring its creator. It had thought it couldn’t consume its original form.

Those two are the same thing.

“…… Then now? Can you devour your creator, your original form?”

Was that possible?

—I am different from my past self. Even in the past, neither I nor my original form consumed what you gave me, Bearer.—

“Divine blood?”

—Yes.—

Even the Devil, and certainly not Arcane Bullet, had ever absorbed it. The blood of God.

Even Black Bass’s ‘original form’, Arcane Bullet, had never absorbed divine blood. After all, why were the seven rounds of Arcane Bullet created to begin with?

Hadn’t a being presumed to be the Devil created the ‘seven forces’ and left? If that was the ‘original form’ of Arcane Bullet?

‘A conflict between God and the Devil. A potent force to break what the other had designated with the power they created.’

The sole condition was that they wouldn’t target each other.

At least, the myth Leeha heard in the Dark Elf village told the story that way.

If that story held truth?

‘Arcane Bullet, created by the Devil, has never touched a god!’

Even the force capable of obliterating everything, including Arcane Bullet, had never touched God.

However, what about Black Bass?

Thanks to the help of his companions, Leeha managed to obtain it. And he infused it into Black Bass.

Even though the Arcane Bullet was created with the will of the Devil, while Black Bass was made without the Devil’s will, merely from remnants… In terms of absorbing the blood of God, it was actually superior to Arcane Bullet, being the only existing entity and rifle of its kind at present!

― Bearer, Ha Leeha. ―

“Uh, what?”

As Leeha was trying to organize his thoughts amidst his surprise, Black Bass’s voice echoed again. The difference this time was that light began to spread across his field of vision.

It was as if light was leaking through holes in a sheet of paper.

The light, so bright that it encroached upon all the surrounding scenery and shapes, eventually made it so that Leeha could see nothing at all.

At that moment, Black Bass’s voice was heard.

― I thank you. Therefore, I must ask once more. ―

“… What?”

― Will you join me? Consuming my origin, my creator, will be no easy task. You might end up cursed with eternal immortality or become the remnants of a soul unable to die. ―

Leeha looked at Black Bass, floating in front of him.

The sensation of meeting eyes with a rifle was quite unfamiliar, but at the very least, he could feel that Black Bass was entirely focused on him.

‘The origin ultimately is Arcane Bullet. The creator is…’

The Devil himself.

But how could he fight against the Devil?

With no opponent to fight in this world, how could a battle be waged?

As he pondered this, a part of the image he had seen a moment ago came to mind.

The strength of Arcane Bullet, the seven things that the Devil had carefully placed on his hand, departing. There was certainly something else on his hand, three of them to be exact.

‘That reddish thing—wait a minute. Could it possibly be!?’

〈Demon King’s Fragment〉?

Did he not just create Arcane Bullet here but also the Demon King’s Fragment?

‘No, the Demon King’s Fragment wasn’t created. It was a piece torn from his avatar and main entity! Yes! That interpretation is correct given the timeline!’

As Leeha himself recalled, it was now before the mythical battle between God and the Devil was to occur.

Through a wager with God, the Devil eventually used his final, seventh power to annihilate himself, and God, who could not commit suicide, acknowledged defeat and sealed himself.

Once the battle started, it could never be undone. From the Devil itself, this alluded to near extinction.

And after that?

Leeha already knew the flow of the world setting of Middle Earth. Before his wager with God, the Devil hid fragments of himself in various places.

‘So, at the time before the confrontation, the Demon King’s Fragments had to have already been completed. And that means…’

It implied that they were created right here, where Arcane Bullet was made.

Then what about Black Bass?

‘It wasn’t just remnants of Arcane Bullet—could it be?’

Leeha’s eyes widened. If what he suspected was correct… there was nothing more to contemplate.

It would be the result Leeha desired the most.

It would also be the result desired by the sentient rifle that he favored most.

“Black, I will join you. Together with you… I will eliminate your origin and creator.”

Leeha stated plainly. Black Bass shone brightly.

― I acknowledge you. ―

“Great. Then now fully unsealed, hehe, 『God―.”

― Then I shall commence the trial. ―

“What?”

As soon as he finished speaking, a quest window appeared before Leeha’s eyes.

TL’s Corner:
LOL, Leeha can’t catch a break.

I will be changing Bearer to Bearer. “각인자” (刻印者) translates to Engraver,Imprinter, or “Bearer of the Mark”.