My Sniper System

Chapter 20 - Grind

When the bullet pierced through the Winged-Gorilla, the animal plunged to the ground. I foresaw that would happen. These physical and magical bullets took down the terrifying Grim Reaper that was a hundred levels above me. How could I even lose against an army of low-levelled monsters? Logically speaking, that won’t happen.

[Level 20 Winged-Gorilla defeated]

[Experience + 720]

[Level 15 Goblin defeated]

[Experience +500]

My experience points continued increasing when I killed these three monsters. I even levelled up. Since my status points increased automatically, I didn’t care much about how strong I had become. I just knew that my senses dialled more than an average human.

I resumed the killing spree and fought a horde in front of me. With the sniper in my hands, there was no way that I would be beaten by these worms and whatnot easily.

The goblins were crafty with their weapons. Those midgets used the logs resting around and tried hitting me with that. But that failed. When I aimed my scope and sniper at them, the bullet I let out killed them within one shot. Even though there were forty… fifty… a hundred of them, I emerged victorious from that battle.

Within thirty minutes, I killed a thousand more and claimed their experience points. I didn’t know who I was up against, but I pulled the trigger. My smile remained intact on my mouth and never changed. This was my first time feeling exhilarated, as if every blood running through my veins jumped with maximum energy.

“Why was I even afraid of this? What am I even thinking?!” I asked myself, while compiling the monster’s corpses into a summit. And that mountain became their grave.

When was the last time I felt this powerful? The fantasy powers I received flooded through my veins and aided me in killing these monsters. I didn’t care about their feelings and the consequences behind them. I just aimed my weapon and pulled the trigger.

[Congratulations! You have levelled up!]

[You are now level 50]

Eventually, I became a level fifty adventurer. If I could measure my strength and compare it with the Crimson Guild members, I may be called a prodigy and a leader of that party. It was too bad that the guild didn’t accept my invitation. If they could see me massacring an entire army of goblins and winged gorillas, maybe the Crimson Guild would think of me otherwise.

“If this continued, I would get my hands on that treasure in no time,” I said, and slowly submerged myself into this new personality.

The portal made me mad. And I was aware of every change inside my body. These monsters I had murdered had fed my famished soul from the stress I received lately. My parents died at the hands of both the masked man and the portal. And my best friend had traded his life to save Hina and me inside that twisted dimension. It wasn’t just me. Everyone living on this planet had experienced petrifying things inside and outside those hellish gates. So when I tasted that sensation, I became unstoppable.

And I craved for more. It didn’t matter if it was more power or capabilities to outmanoeuvre my enemies. I just wanted more.

The horde didn’t like what I was doing. Those monsters charged in like the feral beasts they were and hoped to crush me in their arms. I never let them.

There were a couple of goblins and worms sprinting in my direction. They revealed their claws and weapons and attempted to hit me with everything they had. But I was quicker than them. Thanks to my heightened senses, I dodged to the side and prepared my sniper in my hands. When I aimed my gun and pulled the trigger innumerable times, I finally hit the goblins and worms behind me and changed my view. Those winged gorillas tried sandwiching me with their numbers at my fore, while the goblins and worms served as a distraction. However, their simple strategy turned into ruins as I obliterated them with one bullet.

But there was something odd that happened behind me. Those monsters ran at me and strived to wound me. So I dodged. But when I evaded the monster’s attacks, someone groaned in pain at my flank. It came from a human. And the sound reverberated inside the dimension.

In spite of that event, I didn’t care about anything else but killing these monsters surrounding me. I couldn’t touch the humans walking in the streets, so I assumed they were immune from taking any damage. It was more important to kill the monsters for revenge and experience points than to dwell on trivial matters, and that was the audible voice resounding in the portal.

As soon as the hour hit, I received my C-Class treasure. A panel appeared and congratulated me for my efforts within this hour. The portal didn’t state what prize I received, but it didn’t matter. All I had to do was exchange the treasure for cash and use the bills for Hina and her parents.

[Congratulations on conquering the C-Class portal!]

[Since the portal had unique instructions and more hordes appeared inside, the portal grants you a Class-B treasure instead of the Class-C.]

[Reward: Assassin’s Dagger (Rare)]

[The Assassin’s Dagger will be placed inside your storage system. You cannot use the Assassin’s Dagger, since you have the Sniper Class.]

It was just what the portal had mentioned. I clashed against enemies that I had never fought in my life. Before, I would struggle to wield my gun and even lift it from my arms. My hesitation took the life of the people surrounding me, especially from these portals.

“Why should I even care about these monsters and my feelings? I should avenge them… I should kill those monsters like those creatures killed my best friend,” I uttered. “And it’s too bad that the masked man didn’t leave any hints about his whereabouts. Well, if I think about it, this portal is just some random ass portal. If I really want to see him, I need to conquer an A-Class portal and higher. Maybe if I do that, then that bastard will appear.”

Vengeance was an ink that spread inside my head and consumed me. I knew that there was still a part of me trapped inside my heart that wished to stop this madness. However, my brain said otherwise.

I became rageful. I wanted more. And that was what I did after conquering this portal.

[You are now exiting the portal]

[You are changing back to your original appearance.]

When the system announced those words, the distorted dimension shattered and threw me back from where I had come from. My casual clothes glued on me, and the sniper I previously held disappeared and went back to my inventory. The sky-scraping buildings in every direction greeted my eyes, and the people wandering around didn’t notice me. It was as if I was one with the crowd and blended in. I got sent to the back alley, where nobody could see me. Fortunately, this place was what I needed.

While that happened, a group of people gathered around a specific site. There were no adventurers in the vicinity. Only police officers, police cars, ambulances, and medical staff were present on the field. A doctor- I assumed brought a corpse of several individuals inside the medical van. I knew they had died because their eyes had already fled their body. And there was not a hint of life on their faces.

“What happened here?”

“Do any of you know what has happened in the area?”

“Please, can you give me any detail regarding the incident?”

“Did you see anyone, maybe an adventurer, who may have killed them?”

“Everyone who was in the scene, please report everything you know to us or our social media account. Your information will be vital for our investigations. Thank you.”

Those were the questions asked by the officers as they interrogated the bystanders on the streets. Even the news station staff showed up and prepared their cameras for anything they could scavenge. Those people needed articles to share with the entire world, and maybe this occurrence might spark an interest in the public. They were truly masters of the media.

No adventurers showed up. That group wouldn’t appear in this place without any portals they could find and conquer. All those adventurers cared about was the money found on treasures dropped by portals. It was just like mine.

But alas, the various groups that arrived at the place made nothing out of the situation. Their efforts didn’t bear fruit. The people who had witnessed the deaths of those individuals had no clue and were ignorant about what had happened to them.

And those witnesses had only one answer. It was…

“I don’t know. They were just fine when I was stopping by. I didn’t even know there was a portal here. The Crimson Guild and the prime minister told us that this place was a haven. Why would there be a portal in the first place? Anyway, after a few seconds, those people touched their chest and… the next thing I knew, they were already on the ground. Anyone who first saw them called an ambulance.”

The police officers could conclude that there was a portal within this area. They tracked the golden circles and the purple smog that came after I had defeated it.

Since it had already come to this, I left the alley and walked on the streets like a normal citizen. But unfortunately, I bumped into one police officer that wanted my answers for their interrogations. I was the one who stopped the portal, but telling it to everyone might cause me some trouble. So it was best for me to keep my mouth shut and give the policeman a white lie.

“I’m sorry for stopping you, kiddo. But did you see anything weird that has happened within these streets? We just need a brief answer about it,” the police guy asked, with a small notebook and a pen in his hands. “I’m really sorry for taking your time. It’s really urgent.”

I shook my head and answered, “It’s fine. You’re just doing your job. About the portals, I actually don’t know. Sorry. I was just running an errand for my little sister in the hospital. And I was just on my way to see her.”

“Oh, I see. You’re just passing by. Well then. Thank you for your time, and I hope your sister and your family have a good recovery.”

After telling the policeman my answers, the guy left and continued asking more questions about the nearby groups. Those people who unintentionally watched the scene were interrogated as well. It was a drag for us, but the police officers needed those answers.

I opened my phone and browsed the internet for more details about my next objectives. There was only one thing to do now: conquer those portals. I needed to claim more treasures, find more clues about the masked man that killed my parents, and slaughter more monsters until I dropped to the ground. 

The monsters that I wiped out automatically turned into materials that I could use to create weapons and other tools to aid my battles. But since I had yet to meet a blacksmith, I still couldn’t use those mediums and turn them into something useful. In the meantime, I held on to these carcasses left by the monsters and proceeded to my next objective.