The Lone Sniper: I Was Just Minding My Own Business Sniping Players, and I Ended Up Becoming a Raid Boss

Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Nadra Laboratory, Director's Office.

Nadra was monitoring the battle situation on a huge monitor.

"This is ridiculous... What the hell is this!!"

Two attackers were mowing down Space Gulls and humanoids, and one sniper plus eight sniper-type humanoids were picking off the lab's and castle gate's arsenal one by one.

"We're being pushed back...!? My fortress that took me two years to build... by so few of them!!"

What Nadra focused on most was the performance of the enemy humanoids.

The precision of their sniping, their quick reactions, the fluidity of their movements—none of it was humanoid-level.

"What are those humanoids...!? Who on earth did they model them after!!"

At that moment, a notification arrived in Nadra's message box.

"Wha—!?"

Nadra opened the message and was left speechless.

"A summons!? No way!! Only the top brass in the military can issue a summons... Did Eve have that kind of pull!? Dammit!! —Master! Can you hear me!? Master Green Ice!!"

The monitor turned green, and distorted black letters spelling 'Green Ice' floated in the center.

"What is it, Nadra? Why the panic?"

A mechanically processed voice rang out through the voice changer.

"Because of the order you gave, I'm in a jam. Do something!"

Green Ice spoke in a tone that sounded like mockery.

"This isn't my responsibility. I only said, 'Offer up the Growmetal.' You could have bought it from whoever held the mining rights, or had them transferred to you. Choosing an aggressive approach was your decision."

"To mine the amount you demanded, I had no choice but to seize the mining rights themselves!!"

"Wrong. You wanted not just the portion to submit to me, but also the portion you could use for yourself. That's why you went after the mining rights. If it had been only the amount I requested, you could have obtained it peacefully."

"Gh...!?"

"I won't ask why you wanted the Growmetal. This is my last piece of advice. Give up and leave the colony quickly. It's impossible to erase all the evidence of your misdeeds from that lab. There's no future for you inside the colony."

"So easy for you to say! Do you have any idea how much effort I put into building this lab!? Dammit!!"

"Effort... huh."

A mechanical laugh echoed through the basement.

"That's the end of the line, Nadra. If you want me to acknowledge the value of effort, then you—who trampled on their efforts—are the 'evil' one."

"Shut up... you bastard...!"

"Whatever the outcome of this incident, I'll say this: your effort won't be wasted. At the very end, you hit the jackpot. You brought along a being overflowing with talent, one who doesn't even think of effort as effort. Show me at the end, Nadra—show me the 'hard worker' being trampled by a 'monster.'"

Cutting the comms, Nadra bit her nails.

"...I have no choice but to run. I have a spaceship. I have money. I have knowledge. I'll start over in another colony—and this time I'll perfect ∞Arts...!!"

Alone, Nadra headed for the hangar where the spaceship waited.

---

The outcome had already been decided.

Nico and Kurenai annihilated the enemies outside the lab; Ren and the humanoids wiped out every visible TW.

All that remained was to secure the inside of the lab. But the enemy had already deployed most of their forces. The only option left was escape.

The biggest factor that decided the outcome was the eight sniper-type humanoids.

"Well I'll be. These are way stronger than any Space Gulls out there."

From atop the castle gate, Ren surveyed the battlefield.

The humanoids showed no mercy, continuing to attack the lab even now. They were so relentless that Ren almost felt sorry for the enemy.

A humanoid's combat power changes drastically depending on the ability data loaded into its base. This time, the humanoids were input with Shiki's ability data.

It's only a copy—able to reproduce about 45 % of Shiki's skills—but its sniping is precise, its judgment accurate. In no time, it destroyed all anti-air guns and gatling cannons via sniping, then provided covering fire for the ground troops.

Shiki Copy reproduces Shiki's skills while eliminating Shiki's weakness of "shyness," allowing seamless coordination. Eight pseudo-Shikis advance in perfect unison. Even with top-tier humanoids or TWs, there's no way to counter them.

Once this aerial unit including Ren secured air superiority, there was nothing the enemy could do. A rain of sniper fire continued to strike.

"...In that four-way brawl, we fought Shiki forty times and only beat her three. She won the other thirty-seven. She really is terrifying. I'm glad we came all this way to collect the data."

Ren pulls a data disk from her item pouch and grins.

"Well then, all that's left is to wait for the finishing blow."

She had been dissatisfied that none of her own ability data was used in the sniper-type humanoids. But after seeing this much power, she had no choice but to accept it.

There's nothing left for the breach team to do.

All that remains is to wait for the sniper team's single decisive shot.