Assassin at Range: The Sniper’s Lethal Power

Tristan glanced at the Fire Dragon, then at his own Shadow Dragon, and said with a teasing smile, "Look at their strength. You'd better work hard."

Shadow Dragon also noticed the Fire Dragon in the distance, feeling both awestruck and somewhat intimidated by its power.

Earlier, it had sensed the presence of a mighty dragon but hadn't been able to pinpoint its true strength. It assumed the creature was on the same level as itself—Dark Gold Grade—but now it realized how wrong it had been.

The Fire Dragon had been lying dormant in the magma, and the turbulent elemental energy had masked its aura. Now that it was fully awake, Shadow Dragon could feel the overwhelming difference in strength between them.

However, Shadow Dragon, named Seltus, didn't want to make excuses. It had lost some of its former power from being trapped in the dungeon for so long, but it didn't care to use that as an excuse.

Moreover, My Lord Shadow had told it to keep working hard, and that was exactly what it would do.

Seltus was filled with an unexpected sense of joy. My Lord Shadow hadn't given up on it! In fact, it seemed like My Lord Shadow had even higher expectations for it.

"I, Seltus, will rise to meet My Lord Shadow's expectations!" it vowed silently.

With that, Shadow Dragon let out a low growl toward the Fire Dragon in the distance.

The roar was accompanied by a powerful display of dragon's might. Although Shadow Dragon had only been level 30 when it first appeared, it was still a true dragon of Dark Gold Grade. Under its dragon's might, even the level 60 Lava Lords trembled.

The growl resonated with the Fire Dragon, who responded with an even more terrifying and powerful roar. As the ruler of the Crimson Mountain Range, the Fire Dragon's battle cry set the fire creatures in the area into a frenzy.

The fiery hawks flapped their wings and shot toward Shadow Dragon like red comets. Their intention was clear—they were ready to self-destruct in a fiery assault.

The magma giants on the ground also began moving, grabbing chunks of stone from the lava to throw at Shadow Dragon.

Up until now, Shadow Dragon had been prideful and fearless, but now it was cautious. It began dodging the incoming attacks at high speed while retaliating with dragon breath.

Tristan could no longer stand idly by. Activating Shadow Stealth, he quickly aimed at the fiery hawks approaching from the side and threw a Shadow Dagger.

The dagger landed with a massive impact, dealing over a million damage. The fiery hawks, who were only level 40-50, couldn't withstand such an attack. They quickly disintegrated into bursts of flame and scattered into the sky.

With Tristan's intervention, the pressure on Shadow Dragon eased considerably, and its confidence returned. However, it was also wise enough not to challenge the Fire Dragon directly.

The problem was that clearing out the fire creatures in the area before engaging with the Fire Dragon wasn't going to be easy. Would Fire Dragon even give them a chance?

Shadow Dragon didn't know, but one thing was certain: unless My Lord Shadow gave the command, it would fight to the very end.

The Fire Dragon was watching the battle from its perch at the volcano's rim. It could sense that the Shadow Dragon wasn't strong enough to defeat it, but the speed of this dragon caught its attention.

Fire Dragons weren't known for their speed, but this Shadow Dragon had surpassed even the Wind Dragons in that regard.

A flash of greed crossed the Fire Dragon's eyes. It must have acquired a treasure to be able to move this quickly.

"If I could get my hands on that treasure..." the Fire Dragon thought.

If it could improve its speed, it was confident it would become one of the top dragons in its clan.

Roar!

The Fire Dragon's roar echoed through the mountains, and Shadow Dragon immediately responded with a sense of urgency, "My Lord Shadow, the Fire Dragon is urging the surrounding fire creatures to swarm us."

Even without Shadow Dragon's words, Tristan had already noticed. After the Fire Dragon's roar, the nearby fire creatures began charging toward them recklessly.

The Lava Lords, even those of Gold Grade, abandoned their usual calm demeanor and joined the fray, eager to fight.

This was the commanding presence of an Epic Grade creature, far beyond that of a Dark Gold Grade.
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But this was exactly what Tristan had hoped for.

Perhaps, he thought, he could use this opportunity to quickly level up to level 30!

Whether he succeeded or not depended on whether the Fire Dragon would give him a chance.

For now, though, the Fire Dragon seemed content to observe. It likely saw him as an interesting subject to study—any sign of weakness, and the Fire Dragon would launch an all-out attack.

But for now, Tristan could continue harvesting experience points without worry.

With his Shadow Dagger and Rain of Corruption repeatedly launching, paired with Shadow Dragon's breath attacks, the incoming fire creatures didn't stand a chance. They were wiped out in seconds.

If the monsters got too close, Tristan unleashed Toxic Blood Plague, wiping out the rest in an instant.

Within just a few minutes, Tristan had leveled up to level 22 from this overlevelled combat, while Ivan, ranked second on the level leaderboard, was only just reaching level 16.

The gap between them had not closed at all—if anything, it had widened.

Ivan was lost in thought. Was his SSS-level talent a lie?

With this doubt in mind, Ivan aimed at a distant monster and cast his skill.

Boom. Instant kill.

His damage output wasn't the problem, but why was his leveling speed so slow compared to Blackshade, that player from Valoria?

Other players were starting to wonder the same. How had Blackshade found such an efficient leveling spot? How could he level up so quickly even after reaching level 20?

It didn't make sense.

The forums quickly filled with posts questioning whether Blackshade was cheating, especially from members of the Shadow Legion.

The IFA guild was also active, not to discredit Tristan, but to monitor the Shadow Legion. As soon as they posted something, IFA members were right there, replying.

[Your guild leader spent 270 million to be second!]

Though the post was quickly deleted, and the user blocked, the IFA guild's sheer numbers made it hard for Shadow Legion to keep up.

DarkSaber was furious, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The real issue for DarkSaber, however, was that Drake had also revealed his Guild Token and became the third person to establish a guild, making quite a statement.

But Tristan wasn't paying attention to the outside noise. His focus remained on the Fire Dragon, hoping it would stay dormant just a little longer so he could continue leveling up.

"Once I hit level 30, I won't rush to advance to my second class. I'll try to meet more NPCs. Who knows, I might trigger some hidden quests," Tristan mused to himself.

As he thought about his next moves, his Shadow Dragon let out an excited roar beneath him.

It had leveled up!