CHAPTER 394: CHAPTER 323 SACRED RELICS: THE TERRIFYING SOCIAL CLOCK, TICK-TOCK!

Distance and range meant nothing to the [Sacred Relic・World’s First Matchlock Rifle]. As long as the sniper could see the target, they could surely hit it.

It seemed the Musketeer had chosen his ambush spot to ensure his own safety, positioned an extreme distance from the docks. He had taken cover at the other end of the port coastline. The estimated direct distance was over ten kilometers, which would double if one approached by land. He had unilaterally created a strategic advantage: only he could strike, and his enemy couldn’t retaliate.

The Swarm’s Incarnation—a sky full of locusts—had not yet descended.

After failing to kill Byron ten times in a row, the bullet with the flame pattern immediately returned, then charged out of the barrel to shoot again.

WHIZ—!

This time, it seemed much slower than its initial triple speed of sound but was strengthened in another aspect. It resembled a colossal, two-toned golden-red rainbow that filled the sky, its power magnificent and utterly terrifying.

Byron had already taken the time to down a cup of [Blood Brew・Majestic Eagle God]. His eyes transformed into sharp, golden eagle pupils, giving him a clear view of the scene ten kilometers away.

Underneath a bald cypress with a diameter of at least five meters and a height of eighty meters, an Old Continent Human with reddened skin and golden hair lay prone, wearing a mask. Near him lay an open wooden weapon case, brimming with all kinds of firearms, explosive crossbow bolts, Bombs, and other such thermal weapons; not even the most common dagger could be seen. He was also draped in green clothing woven from leaves and stems, achieving a camouflage effect not inferior to a transcendent ability.

Before he fired his weapon to launch the sneak attack, no one in Byron’s party had been aware of his presence.

At that moment, he was holding a serpentine-stocked matchlock rifle that looked old but radiated Divine Light from the inside out. The smoldering end of the matchcord still glowed faintly.

As they gazed at each other from a distance, a silver cross appeared in the sniper’s eyes, and he made a throat-slashing gesture at Byron. That was the sign he was using the Third Order ability [Unerring Shot].

Byron knew the Musketeer could endow the Firearm in his hands with various enchantments, such as [Piercing], [Acceleration], [Power Amplification], [Charged Strike], [Death Mark]... and so on. For such a professional to wield a Firearm-type Sacred Relic was akin to giving a tiger wings.

For instance, the current bullet was imbued with [Piercing] and [Charged Strike], greatly enhancing its armor-penetrating capabilities. A Transcendent of this path asserted that if firearms had been invented when Sub-dragon Species still roamed the Old Continent, such a shot could have penetrated a Sub-dragon’s Dragon Scale.

Clearly, after his first sneak attack failed, the sniper immediately abandoned the combination of stealth and speed and began to fire with full power.

Seeing the long rainbow arcing down from the sky, Byron immediately sheathed his longsword as the large-caliber revolvers, [Thorn Rose], fell into his palms.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!...

[Gun Dueling Technique] was instantaneously activated, fire lancing out, crisscrossing like a web. And that brilliant long rainbow seemed to weave through the air like a fish, leaving behind a dazzling and bewildering trail of light.

Fortunately, every bullet from Byron’s guns was manually guided by a Storm Elf. Even without the Musketeer’s accompanying professional abilities, nearly half of them accurately struck the matchlock bullet. The Supernatural Aura on the bullet was stripped away layer by layer.

Afterward, Byron decisively recited the Decisive Incantation:

"Thorn Rose!"

The twin guns discharged a searing barrage, forming a massive Storm Rose, chasing the previous bullet’s impact point and precisely striking the [First Bullet].

Once again, its kinetic energy exhausted, the bullet was flung backward.

The sniper calmly reloaded, this time changing the enchantment type to the perceptually confusing [Phantom Seven Layers of Veil] and the spirit-infused, control-enhancing [Man and Bullet as One].

But Byron noticed the sniper’s gaze had been fixated on him from the start, completely ignoring the terrifying insect cloud about to descend upon his head.

Far from feeling the joy of impending Victory through the use of the [Swarm], Byron’s internal alarm bells rang loudly:

There must be an ambush. The Kingdom’s Regular Army assassination squad must have found a way to compensate for the sniper’s weaknesses. There’s definitely a powerful melee teammate near him. This is a meticulously designed chain assassination, exploiting the sniper’s weaknesses. They clearly knew I could fly and specifically tailored this trap for me. Whoever dares to attack him will fall into the trap.

Realizing this, he reluctantly held back even the [Sure-Hit Spear, Gungnir], which he had been about to use to strike a fatal blow.

As expected, before the massive locusts raining from the sky could land, two more figures in different attire emerged from behind the bald cypress. Including the sniper, all three wore identical Miracle Masks, concealing their true faces and rendering their features unmemorable. Clearly, they were all highly professional assassins.

One of them, a [Law Mage] clad in a Third Order robe and holding a thick Law Code that could be used as a hammer, shouted at the Swarm:

"Decree: Flying is prohibited in this area!"

Grand Judges of the Tribunal Sequence, having reached the Third Order, had already acquired a certain degree of discretionary power. They no longer needed to recite specific edicts or rigidly adhere to legal articles. As long as they themselves deemed something appropriate and reasonable, they could issue Decrees according to their own will. This single Decree ability alone could give rise to a series of formidable techniques with no apparent weaknesses, truly exemplifying ’word follows the law’.