Chapter 39: Sniper

Based on the attributes of the four Knowledge Orbs that were displayed, David could tell that they were basically the abilities that those four mercenaries were best at.

However, to his surprise, there were Longsword Mastery (80% Proficiency) and Longsword Mastery (99% Proficiency) Knowledge Orbs.

The Longsword Mastery (80% Proficiency) Knowledge Orb came from Captain Feroman, while the Longsword Mastery (99% Proficiency) Knowledge Orb came from Clark. 

Even if David did not understand armorers, he safely guessed that Clark definitely had plenty of secrets. Now that Clark had died, those secrets were gone too. 

However, through the two abilities, David could see how terrifying Galen was. 

In front of Galen, the two strong armorers, who had Proficient-level combat abilities, were just babies who did not have the strength to fight back.

David couldn't help but think of the word 'extraordinary,' which Captain Feroman had uttered before he died. Unfortunately, he could not finish his sentence, but that was another reason David had made more guesses about armorers.

"These are still a little far from my current abilities!" he muttered under his breath.

It had been a day since the last fusion of a Knowledge Orb, and he could now absorb and fuse new ones once again.

This time, he had many more options. The Knowledge Orbs encompassed the mastery of most of the common weapons used by the armorers. He was especially excited about the Longsword Mastery (80% Proficiency) Knowledge Orb now that he had two Level 2 longswords.

However, in the end, he decided to absorb and fuse the Sniper (20% Intermediate) Knowledge Orb for today. In terms of melee combat, he already had 83%-Intermediate Warhammer Mastery. Since he already had the ability to carry out close-range combat, he was extremely envious of those who had long-range attacking methods, like sniping. 

A Sniper Armorer was safe, efficient, and powerful.

Sniper Armorers were usually far away from the battlefield and the bane of the existence of the enemy. However, they were also the guardian angels of their companions. 

In David's memory, his predecessor had a special affection for the Sniper Armorer. In David's current opinion, the affection stemmed from his father Hans, who was a Sniper Armorer.

His predecessor's inexplicable attitude towards Hans caused him to transfer the love he was supposed to have for his father towards the Sniper Armorer profession. 

His predecessor originally wanted to test if he had a talent in sniping or not after he had been admitted to college. However, he was attacked before he got into college.

Besides, he did not have enough time to practice and train recently because he had been casually absorbing and fusing the Knowledge Orbs. Most of his time had been taken up by his practice of the Stormy Warhammer Technique.

David took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and started ordering the Shadow Servant to fuse the Sniper (20% Intermediate) Knowledge Orb into his body. 

He immediately found himself at the edge of a battlefield, sprawled on top of a boulder. Right in front of him, there was an extremely long sniper rifle with a length of over four meters, most of which was the length of the barrel. 

David, who had experienced several battles and fused a few Knowledge Orbs, had already become accustomed to the inability to control his body while still being able to feel every sensation of this body, including the judgment of the enemy and the analytical process. 

On the battlefield, five armorers were forming into a battle formation, with two Defensive Armorers defending in the front with two large shields. They were constantly hitting the closest Spiked Chelae with their shields in order to close the distance.

There was a description of Spiked Chelae in David's journal, stating that it had two claws and six tentacles with poisonous spikes on its back, which would allow it to attack at high speeds and at close range.

There were about five Spiked Chelae, and without the assistance of defensive members, the five armorers would definitely fail and be defeated by the Spiked Chelae in such a battle. 

The only uncertain variable was the Sniper Armorer, who was lying on the boulder at a distance.

Behind the two Defensive Armorers, the two armorers who were holding onto warhammers jumped out of the defensive encirclement and launched explosive attacks on the Spiked Chelae. With David's Warhammer Mastery, he judged and reckoned that their level was at 50% Intermediate Level or higher. 

Unfortunately, the two armorers with warhammers could only manage to push back the two Spiked Chelae, not able to achieve any complete victory.

That was actually normal, however. In the face of five Spiked Chelae, the two armorers with warhammers dared not stray too far from the Defensive Armorers.

After the outbreak, the Warhammer Armorers retreated and hid behind the shields, while the Spear Armorer forced the incoming Spiked Chelae to stop.

Although there seemed to be a fair exchange of strikes during the battle up to this point, the Spiked Chelae had not even used their venomous spikes yet. They seemed to be teasing their prey for now.

At that moment, David's normal vision was replaced by the vision that one would see through a sniper scope, the T3 Sniper Assist Device that he was familiar with to be specific. However, it was mounted on an elongated sniper rifle, thus displaying a greater variety of content.

In an instant, David received the Sniper Armorer's analytical plan, which included the analysis and judgment of air temperature, humidity, wind direction, distance, and other factors.

The Sniper Armorer gently pulled the sniper, which David understood to be the process of switching ammunition.

The Sniper Armorer would use ordinary silenced sniper ammunition to attract the Bugs from afar, allowing the armorers to face only one Bug at a time. That would increase the armorers' combat efficiency and survival rate.

When the Sniper Armorers had to launch a deadly attack on the Bugs, they would have to switch to special ammunition.

For example, the Spiked Chelae in front of them were Class 1 Bugs, so the special ammunition that they would have to use would be bullets made of Class 1 material. 

Those precious bullets were extremely expensive, and although they were not as heavy as Level 1 weapons, they were not to be wasted either. 

The Sniper Armorers did not have much of a chance to attack because they could not turn on the silencer when attacking the Spiked Chelae. Although a silencer could reduce the sound of the gunshots, it would greatly reduce the damage done by the snipers too. 

David heard the sound of a bullet sliding into the chamber, a new piece of knowledge transmitted to his brain at the same time. An experienced Sniper Armorer would be able to tell what kind of bullet it was just by listening to the sound of the bullet sliding into the chamber.

In the display of the T3 Sniper Assist Device, it was stated that a Defensive Armorer with a large shield was forced to take a step back after being struck by the Spiked Chelae. This resulted in a flaw in the otherwise perfect and complete defensive formation. 

By this time, the Spiked Chelae seemed to have lost interest in playing. The moment a flaw appeared in the armorer's formation, the six spikes on the backs of the Spiked Chelae contracted abruptly and got ready to attack. 

At that instant, the sniper rifle sounded, and the Class 1 bullet darted out of the barrel amidst some flames. 

David felt the tremendous reaction force from the rifle. Fortunately, the exoskeleton armor of the Sniper Armorer dissipated most of the force. The remaining force was suppressed by the Sniper Armorer's strong body.

David was sensing the Sniper Armorer's state at this point. Since he could not allow the sniper rifle to shift, the Sniper Armor was forcibly suppressing all of the reaction force. Hence, the Sniper Armorer felt a sense of suffocation for a bit. 

In such a state, the Sniper Armorer skillfully slid a first-grade bullet into the chamber of the rifle, which was emptied once again.

It wasn't a reaction force where one plus one was meant to equal two. After two consecutive shots, the impact suffered by the Sniper Armorer was not any less than what the armorers fighting against the Bugs on the front line were suffering. 

In fact, in order to launch a lethal attack on a Class 1 Bug like the Spiked Chelae, the instantaneous attacking power of the sniper rifle burst had to far exceed the defensive threshold of the Class 1 Bug's shell. The attack would also have to be launched on the fatal spot of the Bug.

The first Class 1 bullet moved through the gap in the large shield and hit a speck of white just below the head of the Spiked Chela.

Another point of knowledge was transmitted to David's mind at that moment. The white speck was the Spiked Chela's heart. 

Most of the time, the Spiked Chela would use its thick helmet to block its fatal points. However, when launching attacks, it could reveal a fatal point. 

The Class 1 bullet flew across a distance of 500 meters and struck the white speck below the head of the Spiked Chela almost as soon as the shot sounded. When the Class 1 bullet made contact with the heart, a green substance spurted out, followed by the miserable howling of the Spiked Chela. 

The second Class 2 bullet, which was launched less than half a second after the first, again passed through the gap in the shield and struck another Spiked Chela, which had collided with the shield.

This time, the attack was launched on one eye of the Spiked Chela. The black liquid gushing out of the wound was accompanied by the howl of the Spiked Chela, which was severely injured.

In just a second, there was a change in the battle situation, the fearsome nature of the Sniper Armorer fully on display.