Chapter 80: Perhaps It Would Be Better If You Came Here Instead

The distant sniper! The pressure exerted by Maud made Bege completely forget about this threat. He could only watch helplessly as his subordinates fell one after another to the sniper’s bullets, each death stabbing into his heart like a knife.

However, the number of gang members present still far exceeded the frequency of bullets whistling through the night from afar. In this situation, even as some were picked off, it in no way diminished the remaining men’s determination to fire at Maud.

Bang, bang—!

A volley of gunshots echoed above the long street. Maud once again employed his old tactics, leveraging his superior speed to dart several paces to the right. Drawing their fire, he then leapt onto a rooftop, deftly avoiding the first barrage from the gang members below.

The gang had not arranged themselves into a formation for alternating fire, so after emptying their first round, they all fell into the vulnerable lull of reloading. Had these been ordinary pirates, they would have closed in with blades by now. But these gangsters were gun specialists, their reloading speed rivaling even that of elite navy soldiers.

In less than three seconds, they had all reloaded. And in that brief window, Saul had already gunned down more than a dozen armed gangsters. As long as the gang refused to put down their weapons, Saul would continue to fire, until they finally understood this point.

Nevertheless, the gang members ignored Saul’s threat, faithfully carrying out Bege’s orders. Gritting their teeth, they raised their guns and took aim at Maud, standing atop the building, eyes burning with murderous intent as they pulled their triggers.

Another hail of bullets tore through the air, enough to rip a man to shreds. But Maud was ruthless enough—he dove directly into the alley between buildings, vanishing from their sight.

“Damn it.”

The gang members, having lost their target, were left in a painfully awkward predicament. They couldn’t hit Maud, nor could they spot the sniper.

And then—

Bullets shrieked through the air again. More men were hit and fell dead. They weren’t idiots; they didn’t just stand there motionless. But no matter how they dodged from side to side, the lead bullets flying from the night seemed to have eyes of their own—there was simply no escape.

Just what kind of monster were they facing?!

This was the genuine thought of every gang member, and the onlookers around them felt the same. Anyone encountering such a sniper could only cry to the heavens and wait for death—no amount of pleading would help.

“Since when did Mad Hatter Town have such a formidable fighter?”

“Now that's a real sniper!”

“Terrifying. Thank goodness I’m not over there.”

“With a sniper like that, the gang is doomed!”

“Doomed? I say good riddance! I've hated those gangsters for a long time—hope not a single one survives.”

“…”

As Saul continued his deadly work, the crowd bustled with opinions. The grim marksmanship, like death itself collecting souls, showed them just how fearsome a true sniper could be. Because of this, many onlookers suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for the gang.

Inside the fray.

Bege gritted his teeth in frustration.

“D-drop your guns!”

He managed to choke out the order, then spat a mouthful of thick blood. The remaining hundred or so gang members instantly tossed away their weapons. At last, the shrieking bullets ceased. Just as Bege had suspected: as long as they didn’t use guns, the mysterious and terrifying sniper would not fire.

“Get me out of here…”

Bege’s vision clouded with swirling white mist, threatening to blur completely. The wounds were too severe… He had overestimated himself. Or rather, he'd once again fallen victim to his own lack of mastery over the Castle Fruit. Before the shell exploded, he hadn't managed to close the trapdoor in time...

The men hiding in his body were fine, but he himself felt as if his innards had been ripped out and battered before being shoved back in. That seemed to be why he was hurt so badly.

But in his original plan, as long as he could release all his men from within, no matter how badly he was hurt, it would be within acceptable limits. He had underestimated Maud’s resilience. In the end, it was as if he had to pay for his escape from Maud by injuring himself—a far cry from what he had envisioned.

There was no way to continue this fight. Escape was now the only option.

The gangsters themselves wanted nothing more than to bolt—the sniper’s unreasonable lethality had crushed their will to resist. So Bege’s final order sounded like salvation to them.

Immediately, one of the gang’s lieutenants scooped up Bege to carry him away from this place of disaster.

But—

A lead bullet tore through the human shield, dropping the lieutenant in an instant. He fell without a sound, taking Bege down with him. The jolt aggravated Bege’s injuries, making him groan in pain, his face twisting further.

He knew exactly what that shot meant.

It was a warning to stay put.

Who was it? Who on earth was behind this?

The sense of being toyed with drove Bege nearly insane. The urge to destroy only deepened the feeling of helplessness. He had always been the one with others in the palm of his hand—never had he imagined ending up in such dire straits.

Anger, impotence.

Bege’s face grew ever more contorted.

At that moment, Maud emerged from the alley, openly positioning himself opposite the gang.

He glanced at the guns scattered at his enemies’ feet, inwardly marveling that Saul’s covering fire was far more effective than any ban on firearms.

Bege glared viciously at Maud, his form shrouded in faint white mist, wanting desperately to ask why Maud had come for him. But pride kept him silent.

He didn’t need to give orders—the remaining fewer than a hundred gang members all drew their daggers, glaring at Maud with fierce determination. Under the sniper’s threat, it seemed their only remaining option.

“Come over here if you dare!!!”

One of the gangsters, unable to bear the pressure any longer, shouted at Maud. So what if they couldn’t use guns? They still had the advantage of numbers.

With this outburst, the gang’s morale began to recover.

Maud smiled, then drew his pistol.

A single shot rang out.

The shouting gangster dropped dead on the spot.

“…”

The gang froze.

As Maud reloaded, he said calmly, “Perhaps you should come to me instead?”

With that, he fired again.

This time, the bullet was meant for Bege. But a subordinate threw himself in the way to take the shot.

Maud was unfazed, reloading with lightning speed and firing yet again.

In less than ten seconds, three more gangsters had fallen to Maud’s bullets.

At this point, the gangsters felt as if they were being played to death.

Desperate to escape this fate, a dozen or so stayed to shield Bege while the rest charged at Maud.

Maud kept firing, thinning their numbers relentlessly.

When the distance closed to where shooting was no longer feasible, he drew his black blade, Dark Crow, and waded in.

Amid the chaos of flashing blades and clashing steel, the number of gangsters shrank at a pace visible to the naked eye. Deprived of their guns, they were like beasts stripped of their claws and fangs—no threat to Maud at all.

A few minutes later.

The ground at Maud’s feet was littered with corpses.

By now, several chips had appeared along Dark Crow’s blade—retirement was near. For a weapon of its quality, lasting this long was more than enough. A lesser blade, the kind you’d buy for fifty thousand Berries, would have shattered after a single clash with a cannon shell.

If not for that, weapon shops would have no business at all.

Maud, expressionless, looked at Bege, now shielded by the last dozen gangsters.

“It’s just you now.”