Chapter 7 …
5th Floor.
A floor where the infamous mid-boss, the Goblin Warrior Chief, appears.
But the difference from the previous floors wasn’t only the Goblin Warrior Chief.
‘…A forest.’
Lee Hyun thought as he crawled forward again.
The number of goblins had increased significantly to 25 on the 5th floor, and they were camping.
There were three tents in total.
The largest tent belonged to the Warrior Chief, so finding his location wasn’t difficult.
The problem was the fairly large forest directly behind the camp.
If a hunter was considered strong enough, the goblins would apparently retreat into the forest and fight there.
That would be troublesome.
Humans unfamiliar with forests would inevitably suffer a disadvantage in terrain.
‘This time too, I’ll finish it with one shot.’
Moreover, for a sniper like Lee Hyun, trees in a forest weren’t very pleasant obstacles either.
There was now one more reason, besides getting an S+ rank, to finish things as quickly as possible.
Swish— swish—
‘Still, the stat effects are better than I expected.’
Meanwhile, Lee Hyun was feeling the effects of the increased stats from Soulmate.
Numerically, it was such a tiny amount it might not even equal 1 point.
Yet even that alone made crawling much easier, faster, and stealthier.
The sound of grass brushing or his combat boots dragging strangely barely occurred anymore.
Especially Stealth seemed to affect Lee Hyun himself broadly, even without the Soulmate skill.
Well, it made sense.
If only the gun were stealthy, it would be meaningless.
In any case, this should be enough that the enemies wouldn’t notice his approach.
‘…Okay.’
Lee Hyun arrived at the spot he had chosen in his earlier simulations.
A place slightly east of the camp.
The sun was behind him.
It wasn’t the highest point, but it gave Lee Hyun a clear view while blinding the enemy.
The distance to the camp was about 400 meters.
A common distance used in practice shooting.
‘It’s a shame I can’t bring binoculars.’
If there was one inconvenience in the tower, it was the absence of binoculars.
Clothes were somehow recognized and allowed inside, but items with special functions like binoculars were impossible.
Smartphones were, of course, forbidden.
Strangely enough, when you left the tower, they would still be in their original place.
Well, either way, he would just have to rely on his eyes and scope.
Lee Hyun observed the camp below.
Several goblins were outside, eating or messing around.
Since the numbers didn’t match the researched data, some were probably inside the tents.
The Goblin Warrior Chief hadn’t appeared either.
So Lee Hyun lowered the scope magnification slightly and began monitoring the camp.
Even after quite some time passed, the Warrior Chief still hadn’t come out of the tent.
‘…Don’t tell me he only comes out if a hunter reveals themselves.’
Lee Hyun had studied the strategy for clearing the 5th floor quite a bit.
When hunters approached, the goblin camp would become noisy, and the Warrior Chief would naturally appear.
There probably hadn’t been any hunter who waited this long without being detected, like Lee Hyun.
But Lee Hyun didn’t get impatient.
A sniper lives within two flows of time.
One is the great time.
The time spent holding one’s breath and waiting until the target reaches the optimal position.
The other is the moment’s time.
The few seconds when the target finally reaches that position, and all variables are controlled instantly to complete the mission.
Since monsters began appearing, the meaning of long waiting had faded somewhat for snipers.
But Lee Hyun was used to waiting.
Wait.
And wait again.
There are not many beings that can defeat a sniper through patience.
Lee Hyun smiled silently.
‘Yeah. With that big body, there’s no way he won’t come out eventually.’
A massive goblin wearing heavy armor appeared.
If the goblin warriors’ armor looked like nothing more than iron plates hammered together,
the Warrior Chief’s armor looked as if it had been taken from humans—shiny and high quality.
But Lee Hyun was confident.
His sniper rifle with 13 firepower could tear through armor like that as if it were paper.
Swish—
The sniper rifle’s barrel moved slightly.
The goblins gathered noisily around the Warrior Chief, so the angle wasn’t good yet.
He had to wait for them to separate a little more.
The Warrior Chief shoved the goblins away roughly as if they were annoying.
‘Good. Just a little more.’
The scene Lee Hyun wanted was only a few steps away.
Those few steps would be the Warrior Chief’s final march.
But then—
The Warrior Chief suddenly stopped.
“Huh?”
Why all of a sudden?
‘…No way.’
A bad feeling flashed through Lee Hyun’s mind.
Back on the 2nd floor, goblins had once noticed him because of a passing wind.
‘But I already considered that.’
He had confirmed there was no wind this time.
It couldn’t be smell either.
Then how—
“!”
Was the Warrior Chief looking directly at Lee Hyun’s position?
Through the scope, Lee Hyun’s eyes met the Warrior Chief’s.
Perhaps the Warrior Chief didn’t know exactly what he was seeing.
But the unexpected situation made Lee Hyun shiver.
It could only be described as monster instinct.
—!!
The Warrior Chief roared like thunder.
The goblin warriors looked startled, but soon blocked his front.
Sniping was impossible like this.
Sure, he might penetrate the warriors and damage the chief.
But if it failed, things could turn unpredictable.
More surprising than the chief noticing Lee Hyun was his next action.
Monsters outside the tower usually rushed blindly at humans.
But this one turned and ran straight toward the forest.
“What kind of monster is that?”
Lee Hyun clicked his tongue, tracking him through the scope.
Even if he hid, unless he ran deep into the forest, that huge body couldn’t completely disappear.
Behind a thick tree trunk, the chief’s shiny armor was still visible.
‘Fine. I admit it.’
Lee Hyun admitted that the Warrior Chief was unusually intelligent for a monster.
But that was all.
What good was a thick tree trunk?
It probably had less defense than a goblin warrior.
And standing that close meant it would be pierced along with the tree.
Lee Hyun planned to finish the 5th floor before the goblins recovered from their confusion and approached.
As usual, his index finger resting on the mana port moved toward the trigger.
Then—
‘What the—!’
Lee Hyun was startled while watching through the scope.
The monster he thought had only hidden from a long-range attack—
Whoosh—!
Had started a sniper duel.
It briefly revealed itself from behind the tree and threw the javelin strapped to its back.
The spear shot toward Lee Hyun at terrifying speed.
It was hard to believe it had been thrown by hand.
A spear flying 400 meters?
Could he dodge it?
Lee Hyun’s instincts told him not to think—just move.
“Damn!”
He hugged the sniper rifle and rolled sideways.
This wasn’t the time to worry about sniping positions.
First, survive.
After rolling twice—
BOOM!
“…Crazy.”
The javelin slammed into the exact spot where Lee Hyun had been lying.
The grassy hill was torn open like a giant beast had clawed through it.
No wonder it had such a reputation as a mid-boss.
‘If not for my stats, I couldn’t have dodged that.’
It had truly been a hair’s breadth difference.
Without the shared stats from Soulmate, he would have died or been critically injured.
Lee Hyun rolled down the opposite slope of the camp a few more times.
It was important to hide his position as much as possible.
Even if the monster sensed him by instinct, it was better than being visible.
‘I should invest more into Stealth.’
Lee Hyun realized the importance of the stat he had somewhat neglected.
He peeked his head out and looked for the Warrior Chief again.
The chief stood there in the same throwing posture, scanning the hill.
He seemed to realize his attack had missed.
Apparently, even he was surprised Lee Hyun had dodged.
Soon, the chief hid behind the tree again.
‘A sniper duel in the tower… never expected that.’
A gun versus a spear.
Lee Hyun was certain no sniper in the world had experienced something like this.
The thought of that spear still made his spine chill.
But Lee Hyun smiled.
“A sniper duel, huh…”
He had no intention of avoiding it.
In fact, he couldn’t.
He looked around.
There wasn’t time to change positions, and moving would expose him.
A head-on confrontation.
Lee Hyun climbed the ridge and set up his rifle again.
He didn’t even invest his remaining stat points into Stealth.
Right now, he needed to draw the chief out.
Calmly, he aimed his scope at the tree.
‘A monster like that might dodge after hearing the gunshot.’
It had found Lee Hyun 400 meters away purely by instinct.
After dodging the spear himself, assuming the chief couldn’t dodge a bullet would be arrogance.
Lee Hyun searched for the moment the chief absolutely couldn’t dodge.
Just then, their eyes met again through the scope.
‘Alright.’
Lee Hyun accepted the challenge.
‘Come.’
Will it work?
A doubt crossed his mind.
But he had to do it.
Like a spider hiding in darkness, he waited.
Then—
Whoosh!
The Warrior Chief threw another spear.
The spear’s trajectory grew thicker in Lee Hyun’s scope.
Yet Lee Hyun remained calm.
He didn’t move.
‘Not yet…’
The sniper’s second time.
The moment’s time.
His eyes.
The scope.
The rifle’s barrel.
The flying spear.
And the Warrior Chief standing exposed after throwing it.
Everything aligned in a single straight line.
‘Got you.’
The moment he had been waiting for.
BANG—!!
Powerful firepower erupted from the muzzle.
Yet his precision and stability controlled the recoil perfectly.
Through the scope, Lee Hyun watched his bullet’s path.
CRACK—
It swallowed the spear and surged forward.
Crossed 400 meters in an instant.
Erased the Warrior Chief’s shoulder and upper torso.
BOOM!
And finally vanished after carving a crater into the ground behind him.
The chief’s proud armor was nothing more than decoration before overwhelming firepower.
—!!!
The Warrior Chief screamed inside the crater.
Pain? Rage?
Or both.
‘…Should I fire one more shot?’
Even after losing a third of his upper body, the chief was still writhing.
Lee Hyun stared with tired eyes.
But before he could pull the trigger—
Thud.
The Warrior Chief’s body went limp.
Dead.
Literally finished in a single strike.
[Goblin Warrior Chief defeated.]
[You have cleared the 5th Floor.]
[Rank: S+]
Multiple notifications appeared.
But Lee Hyun ignored them.
Instead—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He kept pulling the trigger.
The goblins that had been running toward him froze in confusion after seeing their chief die.
They were perfect targets.
His Rapid Fire 7 stat helped him eliminate them quickly.
Soon the green plain was stained with dark goblin blood.
The once noisy camp became eerily quiet.
A scene created by one sniper.
Only then did Lee Hyun check the notifications.
Another S+ clear.
“Still… this one felt different.”
Unlike before where he simply clicked the trigger, this time had real tension.
It reminded him he was truly a sniper.
Achieving five consecutive S+ clears, known as the cursed milestone, brought him great satisfaction.
Now it was time to check the rewards.
Level-ups could wait.
[5th Floor Reward]
[You obtained 1 E-Rank Mana Stone.]
Instead of three F-rank stones, the reward was one E-rank stone.
“That’s huge. I can increase mana now.”
F-rank stones could no longer increase mana.
But an E-rank stone meant +1 Mana.
Next was the S+ reward.
“Another E-rank stone maybe—?!”
But instead—
[S+ Clear Bonus]
[Item Acquired: ‘Stealth Cloak (D)’]
An item, not a mana stone.
Clear rewards rarely appeared as items instead of stones.
And they were far more valuable.
Lee Hyun hurriedly opened his inventory.
A gray cloak was there.
He took it out with trembling hands.
Light, durable, and soft.
He checked the description.
Stealth Cloak (D)
Blends with surrounding colors when worn.
Increases Stealth but reduces movement speed.
Stealth effect is removed when attacking.
“Ooh!”
The cloak changed color depending on the surroundings.
Grass → green.
Dirt → brown.
It even increased the Stealth stat.
A perfect D-rank item.
He had just been considering buying a ghillie suit recently.
‘A ghillie suit? How foolish I was before the Stealth Cloak.’
Buying a smelly ghillie suit would have been terrible.
And it wasn’t even an item—he’d look like a crazy person wearing it outside.
The movement speed penalty wasn’t a big issue.
Ghillie suits also slowed movement.
And the cloak even auto-equipped when entering the tower.
Of course, stealth broke upon attacking—but that was normal for snipers.
‘Stealth Cloak… this is amazing.’
He carefully returned it to his inventory.
Next was the E-rank mana stone.
About the size of a thumb joint.
Worth around 200,000 won.
Four times the price of an F-rank stone.
But Lee Hyun’s choice didn’t change.
[‘Choi Ihyun’s Sniper Rifle’ absorbed the E-Rank Mana Stone.]
Mana: 31
The rifle greedily devoured the stone.
“Come back later as an S-rank stone~”
Lee Hyun then opened the status window.
Choi Ihyun’s Sniper Rifle
Lv.6
Firepower: 13
Range: 3
Precision: 10
Stability: 10
Stealth: 7
Rapid Fire: 7
Mana: 31
Unassigned Stat Points: 20
He had 20 stat points left.
‘I’ll keep about 10 in reserve.’
Since he cleared the 5th floor with a single shot, he could keep climbing quickly.
He decided to raise mana mainly through stones.
After thinking briefly, he distributed stats.
Firepower: 13 → 15
Range: 3 → 5
Stealth: 7 → 10
Rapid Fire: 7 → 10
A clean set of numbers.
Lee Hyun smiled with satisfaction.
Today’s battle proved that firepower alone wasn’t enough.
He was alone.
If he got injured or died, the raid would end.
Balanced stats were necessary.
And increasing them also made Lee Hyun himself stronger.
After finishing everything, another message appeared.
[Would you like to exit the 5th Floor?]
“Yeah.”
