Matan’s Shooter

『What is that size! No, more than that—』

“It, its form, its form is ridiculous! I definitely heard it was a dragon! But that’s not a dragon! That’s more like…”

Kijung and Jin Gonggong screamed.

Hyein, looking at it, could think of one of the creatures from a fantasy.

“…a dragon?”

The queen of the chromatic dragons, the six-headed dragon Tiamat, took on a form closer to an Eastern dragon. No, it resembled a Hydra from myth, a dragon with multiple heads.

Six dragons entangled like snakes, struggling in midair without wings!

They were so massive that they filled the entire sky, dominating the field of vision!

Even users who knew about the six-headed dragon could only imagine a regular dragon with a few extra heads, so the shock of seeing Tiamat’s true form was even greater.

“This size is ridiculous. Where on earth are we supposed to attack? And what is that… thing?”

Hyein barely managed to stand, using his staff to support himself.

Her legs had gone weak, and standing was a struggle.

Despite being overwhelmed by the monstrous size that defied comprehension, Hyein noticed a particular characteristic of Tiamat.

“It has… arms.”

Tentacle-like arms sprouted from the bodies.

The tentacles, protruding at regular intervals on their six torsos, emitted extreme revulsion.

The sight of the six bodies writhing and flailing with those arms bore an almost indescribable and unbearable level of disgust.

“Attack quickly! There’s no time to rest! Hurry, Kijung! Before Tiamat breaks in!〈Twisted Shot〉!”

Bobae raised her bow with trembling arms.

On the verge of losing all her strength due to instinctive fear, the mental fortitude of an archery athlete kept her focused on the target.

『All Paladins, cast now! Aim for the Onyx! Attack before Tiamat breaks the barrier!』

Kijung hurriedly resumed his command.

“If we can’t hit the Onyx, then focus on the closest Chromatic Dragon! Start with the Yellow Dragon on the far left!”

Ram Hwayeon encouraged the nearby Paladins, sharing information about their targets. However, the commotion did not translate into many actions.

At this moment, it was only the ‘Eastern users’ who quickly regained their composure and attempted a counterattack.

Other than having some differences with dragons, they had some understanding of the concept of a dragon.

But for Western users?

It was like when a foreigner first sees a basin filled with countless loaches, gnawing at each other’s bodies.

Except each loach was enormous, filling the entire sky, stretching from one end of the horizon to the other.

The reactions of the people seeing this for the first time were identical to those upon seeing Tiamat.

Crushed by the menace exuded from its grotesque appearance and scales, western users were too stunned to even move.

“All Yellow Dragons, prepare to charge! Users below level 240, support with talismans!”

The forces that recovered the fastest were Pei Wu and the Yellow Dragons.

Since they were all Chinese, they were not overwhelmed by the monstrous form which was, at least, a variation of the Eastern dragon. But the problem didn’t end there.

“What should we attack?”

Pei Wu frowned as he heard a guild member’s question.

Seeing 38 Chromatic Dragons filling the sky like an impenetrable wall was indeed frustrating.

“The Chromatic Dragons! Our main target is… ugh, but—”

Pei Wu shouted.

However, even he could feel that they had already lost. The presence of Onyx, the most notable among the 38 dragons, was overshadowed by Tiamat and was barely noticeable.

“What exactly is the main body?”

“I can’t figure out where we should even attack.”

Defeating the Onyx? The guild members, distracted by Tiamat, could not focus.

Pei Wu, too, was trying to figure out which part of her writhing body was the main body and its weak point, which might have been natural for a player.

『Onyx! Attack the Onyx!』

“Don’t lose focus, time is— there isn’t much time!”

“Attack! Just attack it, even a little bit—”

Despite Kijung, Bobae, and Tale yelling to motivate those around them, it wasn’t progressing as they hoped.

The users who had once been entranced by Tiamat found it hard to regain their focus.

The chromatic dragons that had been hovering in the air also started to move slowly.

They no longer tried to leave the barrier.

Was it because they had seen Tiamat?

The direction in which the chromatic dragons were moving was clearly towards the users.

“Co-counterattack! It’s a counterattack! Quickly, focu―”

Just as Hyein was about to run, holding his staff in a hurry, a clear sound echoed amidst the meaningless shouts that conveyed nothing but confusion.

Bang─────!

“Ha!”

“Huh?”

“A gun?”

The users turned their heads in the direction of the gunshot, as if by sheer reflex, as if some hope lay there. This included Kijung.

They saw the one who had fired the gun.

The person, who had deeply pressed down his hat, threw it away and shouted.

“Get a grip! Tiamat hasn’t entered yet! Focus on the battle in front of you!”

With his shaggy beard and worn-out coat, it was Browless.

His voice, known from Musket Academy, still roared. Upon hearing him, the users snapped back to attention.

『That’s right! We have to fight while the barrier is still intact!』

“Come here for necessary potions and buff scrolls!”

“Let’s take them one at a time! Start with the one at the front!”

Finally, the users reorganized themselves.

And just as they were about to focus all their firepower on one advancing chromatic dragon, Hyein’s gaze turned in the opposite direction.

“No way…”

Crackle!

It wasn’t just the sound. Deep cracks that crossed the entire light violet dome were visible to everyone.

“H-how is it already?”

They had poured all their mana into it. They had given everything until they couldn’t recover, yet the barrier couldn’t last even five minutes?

Even an Ancient Dragon would need to focus on breaking it for more than thirty minutes, or so they had confidently affirmed about the barrier.

Hyein was flustered.

Whether he was flustered or not, Tiamat was already presenting a clear answer.

Your barrier is meaningless.

The moment the My Space Skill was broken, Tiamat roared.

Roaaaarrrrrrr!

The air quivered and the ground trembled.

As the users saw Tiamat in its vivid, untouched form – not even the ‘light violet filter’ concealed it – they lost any will to resist.

“Run, run, run awaaay―!”

“We’re all gonna die! Run!”

The spread of fear was instant.

In Hyein’s sight, numerous users and NPCs were rushing forward like a tidal wave.

As soon as the spatial barrier broke, the dragons set up their own barrier. Teleportation was impossible.

It was then that all six of Tiamat’s heads opened their mouths.

“Ah…?”

Hyein could see it.

The six different lights gathering into the six widely opened maws.

He could clearly see how enormous the beam launched by the massive entity was.

One of the beams from Tiamat’s breath grazed past them, hitting the fortress where Leeha and the users were currently gathered.

* * *

“How many users were obliterated by those six beams? How many NPCs vanished?”

Since Tiamat’s breath attack, the scenes Leeha had been witnessing couldn’t even be described with terms like battle or counterattack anymore.

“How… could this…”

The Chromatic Dragons, led by Onyx, were committing an indiscriminate, one-sided massacre. Could he even say it was fortunate that Tiamat hadn’t breathed again?

Even amidst all this, the surviving users fought valiantly.

However, their resistance was too weak to even provide minimal relief, like peeing on frozen feet.

Kijung, positioned at the rearmost, tried to save as many people as possible while maintaining his dinosaur transformation.

Ram Hwayeon transferred her remaining mana to Ram Hwajung, enabling her to use her skills a few more times.

But none of these actions had any meaningful effect.

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t slow down the rate at which users perished.

The users were slowed, poisoned, and disoriented by the breaths of the Chromatic Dragons, eventually meeting their demise.

“It was… serious.”

Leeha frowned deeply.

“Alexander wasn’t there… Hyung wasn’t there either.”

“Nor was Lee Jiwon. Among the top-rankers, only Pei Wu was there, but he too fell back when the formation crumbled.”

Seeing Leeha’s dismayed expression, Kijung and Bobae spoke gently.

“If the Metal Dragons were there, could they have stopped it? If Bahamut was present?”

“…”

Kijung wanted confirmation from Leeha, but it was a question that no one, including Leeha, could answer.

Could Bahamut stop Tiamat?

As if analyzing the cause of their defeat, Hyein spoke up.

“The defensive line was too wide. Even with quick whispers and relaying messages in polymorph state, it took time to gather.”

Biyemi added his thoughts.

“Ki-kit, it’s unfortunate that we got ambushed by the Chromatic Dragons. How did they know Alexander had logged out and attack at that moment?”

“Exactly. Thanks to Biyemi and Petyr, we contacted Alexander and coordinated to move if the Chromatic Dragons did, but they struck precisely during his logout time. Sigh.”

Hearing Biyemi’s words, Kijung sighed deeply.

As someone who had been gathering intel on the Chromatic Dragons’ movements via Biyemi and Petyr from the start, it was even more regretful.

Tiamat’s resurrection and the Chromatic Dragons’ contact with her – two events Kijung was desperate to prevent had come to pass.

Leeha shook his head as he listened to them.

‘Even if all that had been achieved…’

Could they have killed Tiamat?

With Alexander, Lee Jiwon, the Three Musketeers, and a fully united defensive line given ample time to intercept?

If the Metal Dragons and Bahamut had shown up?

‘Could we capture her?’

Tiamat, the queen of the Chromatic Dragons, her attack didn’t even show up properly in Hyein’s crystal ball.

She had only used her breath attack once.

Other than that, she hadn’t used magic or attempted additional attacks.

They had seen her body, but determining her weak points was impossible. Facing her like that? With just the users?

‘That’s absurd. Simply amassing damage wouldn’t be enough to kill her.’

Even if they addressed all shortcomings from this battle, Leeha couldn’t guarantee victory.

Then he thought of one person.

‘That sword… the keyword is that sword.’

Perhaps only Lark could kill Tiamat, hence she was designed to be an impossibly overpowered entity.

Leeha asked with hope and excitement.

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