Arcane Sniper

Chapter 938

Ha Leeha’s aggressive marketing strategy was not limited to within Middle Earth.

Their advertisement, posted on the community in a public hiring format, had soon spread across global communities famous for Middle Earth.

In South Korea’s largest Middle Earth community, the job postings of Ha Leeha were being discussed so frequently that they accounted for more than half of the board’s posts.

〈Title: Level 180, passed Ha Leeha’s interview ㅅㅅㅅ〉

〈Title: └re: Of course, you passed at 180, lol. Even level 160 passed.〉

〈Title: But is there really a reason to join Ha Leeha? Can’t you go alone?〉

〈Title: └re: Haven’t you seen the Tiamat video? What can you do alone? If you want to contribute at all, you have to stick together.〉

〈Title: └re└re: They say there are Demon King’s Fragment alongside, and lots of regular mobs, too.〉

〈Title: └re└re└re: What about the 38 dragons, lol? Even just breathing will unleash 38 breaths, insane. lol〉

〈Title: Can we really clear that? It just looks like an event boss.〉

〈Title: └re: I agree. Everyone will probably die trying, and then get level-drained. lol〉

“Of course, there would be a lot of pessimistic views. It’s understandable.”

Leeha scrolled through the posts, reading the endlessly flowing messages.

The atmosphere of “let’s all work together to hunt Tiamat!” and users cheering “hurray!” had its limitations.

〈Weekly HOT Post 1 – First video reveal of Tiamat (4 minutes 23 seconds).avi〉

The video showing Tiamat, which had surpassed 50,000 comments on Korean communities alone.

Just posting the Tiamat video on their YouTube channel had garnered thousands of new subscribers, making it the hottest topic across Middle Earth recently.

‘I should be grateful that there are people who haven’t lost their will after watching that.’

Even Leeha, who had watched it multiple times, found Tiamat’s true form terrifying.

No matter how many times he watched the video, identifying the weaknesses in the current situation was not easy.

First, they had to determine if Tiamat had a Dragon Heart.

If it did, and if destroying that was its weakness, then which of its six heads and six bodies contained it?

‘The strategy to conquer Tiamat shouldn’t take too long. It must end in ‘one try’.’

It had to be finished in a single attempt.

If their strategy got exposed, Tiamat wouldn’t fall for it twice.

Fortunately, many major guilds from other countries mimicked Ha Leeha’s strategy.

Especially users not affiliated with Fibiel were quickly joining the temporary defense forces recruited by large guilds from Minis, Shazrashian, and Kraven.

‘Has it already been two weeks since Hwayeon’s 〈Guerrillas〉 started their surveillance?’

It had been a fortnight in Middle Earth’s time since Tiamat’s initial appearance. Users hadn’t just sat idle.

〈Weekly HOT Post 2 – Analyzing Tiamat’s Specs Through Video〉

One of the representative posts was the second hot post, the analysis of Tiamat’s specs.

Leeha clicked on the post to check the content.

Various known facts about Tiamat were listed, but since there wasn’t much disclosed information, most of the post relied on the author’s conjectures.

‘But that doesn’t mean they are irrational.’

―If you look closely, you can see that it didn’t breathe after the first breath attack. I checked all the updated YouTube videos and observed from multiple angles; it appears that a significant recharge time is required. Regular dragons also need time to recharge their breath, so it’s only natural that Tiamat, being over 40 times bigger, does too.

The first was Tiamat’s attack.

‘The cooldown of its breath. It’s probably true that there’s a significant delay. If it could breathe without cooldown, even the 〈Sacred Alliance〉 would be wiped out. Moreover…’

―Those who watched the video attentively might have noticed this. You can see that the appearance of the chromatic dragons seems slightly altered. (Dragon raid participants must have noticed, right?) Overall, the scales are erect. Erect scales likely indicate an excited state. The gap between the scales has increased compared to when they are flat, which might mean decreased defense and increased attack power. This is something we would need to test in battle. Also, a small horn seems to have grown on their foreheads, which might be related to increased attack power or magic.

The second issue was the impact of Tiamat’s arrival on the chromatic dragons.

“This requires a little more investigation. Wouldn’t users affiliated with Minis, like Raphaela or Rubini, know more about this?”

Leeha had seen chromatic dragons up close.

However, since it wasn’t in a combat situation, he couldn’t pinpoint the differences as clearly as they did.

Above all, the horn-like protrusion on their heads seemed to be just a matter of video quality in Leeha’s view.

Then, there was the third and most significant issue, enough to be selected as the weekly hot post.

There was content that even Leeha couldn’t help but fully acknowledge.

―If we compare their sizes, this is the scale chart. We’ll look at the Blue Dragon, which is the most uniformly distributed among the chromatic dragons. For those who can’t determine the length or height due to Tiamat’s wriggling body, this picture will help you out!

Using graphic editing software, the poster had isolated Tiamat from the video and separately isolated the Blue Dragon.

After adjusting the Blue Dragon’s size according to the distance, he matched the length of the Blue Dragon with Tiamat’s body segment by segment.

For Leeha, this was not a difficult task.

Leeha clearly remembered Onyx’s size, and since he knew Onyx’s size near Tiamat, the task of measuring Tiamat’s size was automatically conducted based on that.

It was a target size assessment that any sniper could clear effortlessly.

However, as general users could not do it easily, such an analysis post naturally gained popularity. Since there was little discrepancy between the analysis provided by the post’s author and the figures in Leeha’s mind, he had to acknowledge the analysis to some extent.

―If we consider this as one piece of Tiamat’s body, the total length or overall length is about—

This also contributed to Leeha’s gratitude for the participation of general users in the event.

―530 meters! Isn’t it shocking? A single monster is 530 meters long! And it’s the form of six 530-meter-long bodies twisted together! It’s certain that the developers of Middle Earth are not normal!

“The last sentence is 100% spot on. If only I could meet the GMs again, I’d shout at them. Even the length of Tioon was longer than an average dragon, but this is just…”

Although it’s mentioned as length, not height, it required about fourteen Tioons lying down to match that size!

Not just the overall length, but what about the height and thickness? The overall height and length required several Tioons each.

‘No, tioon is not the problem. If it’s 530 meters… it’s on par with the tallest building in our country.’

Moreover, such things are alive, moving, and wriggling.

If the overwhelming presence of a typical dragon came from its enormous height and wingspan, then Tiamat’s overwhelming factor was purely its immense size, excluding all those ‘trivial’ characteristics.

Was this really something to be tackled?

Even Leeha began feeling a sense of skepticism after grasping Tiamat’s specifications.

‘Is Lark’s Sword really capable of taking this thing down?’

Even with Bahamut’s affirmation, Leeha couldn’t help but doubt due to the sheer size of the enemy. He shook his head and closed the internet browser.

At least, it was reassuring to see that the flow of users gathering wasn’t disrupted.

‘The rest… are tasks that need to be handled within the game.’

How much have the other users investigated Tiamat?

Not just Alexander, but almost all users within the official top 100 and the unofficial top 1,000 were now focusing solely on Tiamat. It was possible that secrets Leeha hadn’t even thought of had already been uncovered.

Leeha headed to the Middle Earth login device.

As he prepared to log in, changes were subtly occurring within Middle Earth as well.

The first to encounter the incident was Prea.

“Kyahak―!”

The white-eyed spiritualist suddenly collapsed as her vision narrowed.

『Huh?! Prea, are you all right? Your life force has plummeted.』

“Noea― Noeanen! Call Elestera quickly, quickly!”

As soon as the highest-ranking Earth Spirit, Noeanan, heard Prea’s plea, it vanished into the spirit realm.

What appeared in its place was the highest-ranking Water Spirit, elestera.

The moment she appeared, numerous water droplets formed around Prea.

『Prea, what’s going on? This kind of damage…』

After raising her HP somewhat with Elestera’s healing skill, Prea hastily opened the friend window.

Unable to properly respond to Elestera’s question, Prea’s expression darkened as she scanned the friend window.

‘Logged out, really? Oh!’

When one of the IDs in the friend window lit up, her expression finally brightened.

However, her face darkened again as soon as she whispered.

—Ha Leeha-ssi!

—Ah, yes, Prea-ssi. Hello—

—We’ve been caught! The dark spirits, the Shades have been detected!

Leeha was perplexed as he listened to her story.

Weren’t they the dark spirits that had gone undetected even near the Demon King’s Fragment?

—What? But on Bluebeard’s side…

—Right. Even when his face scrunched up, Le couldn’t notice the Shades.

—Then— No way?

—Yes. That ‘no way’.

Immediately, Leeha took out his crystal ball.

—Where are you now?

He needed to hear the story immediately.

This would likely be the ‘last’ moment to get vivid information about Bluebeard, including Tiamat, near the Demon King’s Fragment.

Simultaneously, Leeha also contacted Ram Hwayeon.

—Hwayeon!

—Huh? What? Hwayeon, why are you suddenly just using my name…

—I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to talk. Get the scroll ready now! It seems something unusual is happening with the Demon King’s Army.

—Unusual? Got it. I’ll station paleo for defense and activate the scrolls immediately. We can roll the Middle Earth clock for exactly ten more days with the current budget of the Sacred Alliance.

—Yes, please.

Ram Hwayeon burst out of the office door of the temporary command center, shouting.

“Red alert! Entering red alert status immediately! Activate all scrolls including alarms and teleport detection! Broadcast emergency contact network and prepare for warp gate establishment in Lope Continent’s cities!”

From now on, neither Ram Hwayeon, Hwajung, nor anyone in the Sacred Alliance protecting the central part of the New Continent would be able to rest easily.

“Tiamat is likely to move! All guild members, to your positions!”

After a fortnight of calm, the news that the chromatic dragon might finally move left everyone’s legs weak with fear at even the mention of its cosmic terror.

It took only seven minutes for this name, frightening enough to sap the strength from knees at the mere mention, to resound throughout both continents.