The Imperial Hunter Chapter 49 - El Maestre (4)

We passed a small dam and slowed down as we approached the northern part of the battlefield. I had pre-marked footsteps to break away downstream. We left these deceptive footprints as we moved along the water, and when we had to backtrack, we used the waterway to avoid leaving additional tracks.

Kyung-tae divided the troops in anticipation of contact with the enemy, securing the flanks and rear. They could be used to flank or encircle the enemy if necessary. The forward guard, which included me, consisted of 16 individuals, a size modeled after a troop of British special forces. This allowed us to engage the enemy separately as a full troop when needed.

That’s how we approached, and finally, the London First Battalion that entered my line of sight was indeed composed of the expected 16 individuals.

‘I knew it would be like this. They are still in their infancy.’

How could a paradigm shift overnight? Until trial and error and research were conducted, the inertia of the past would inevitably remain.

All personnel ranked at least Corporal had formed blocking lines of four individuals each, spaced sparsely. To someone approaching from outside this line, they revealed a vulnerable rear. They maintained the basics of camouflage and cover but nothing more. No matter how skilled the enemy was, the negligence of the rear guard at this point, even if they were pushed back, was inexcusable. It was a result of the exhaustion from the relentless pursuit throughout the day and overconfidence in superhuman strength.

I warned myself to stay alert.

Seeing enemies who were too easy to kill, I felt the temptation to capture one and interrogate them briefly to learn about the current state of the London Round Table, who was leading the government, and such information. However, it was pure greed. The situation was what it was, and treating them as nothing more than cannon fodder devil worshipers would be a mistake.

Above all, there was a high possibility that they didn’t even know about the existence of the Round Table itself. Their circuitry level was too low to be considered elite members of the Round Table. They were likely just innocent soldiers being used out of patriotism.

However, their innocence was not a reason for me to hesitate to kill.

After distributing our targets, we aimed at our respective marks.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!

The gunshots were more like roars than mere shots. The unprotected parts of their body, the exposed necks, erupted violently from the impact of hunting rifle bullets, which were four times heavier than regular rifle rounds. While the kinetic energy was only double, the impact (stopping power) on the target was immensely different, and the ambush was decided in just 2 seconds.

The soldiers’ heavy footsteps trampled tall grass as they approached the bodies. The night, with only a crescent moon, was pitch black on the shadowy mountainside. All my subordinates, except me, wore night vision goggles, capable of infrared imaging.

“Hyungnim.”

I fastened the radio Kyung-tae handed me onto one side of my tactical vest. After wiping away the blood on the receiver, I put it on, and the orders and reports exchanged among the British soldiers came into my ears. Kyung-tae and I had also brought extra weapons from the British soldiers. Despite being heavily used and battered, these firearms had no traces that could be traced back to us. Furthermore, in terms of firepower and penetration, they surpassed the hunting rifles we had prepared. There were also explosive weapons like portable rocket launchers (LAW).

I received a large caliber sniper rifle as my share. It was regrettable that we didn’t have any camouflage gear (ghillie suits) since our main mission was not to ambush. Among the dead soldiers, four of them had miniaturized drone and controller sets, so I stashed them in our belongings. They might not be needed immediately, but their value as spoils of war was enormous.

“Let’s go.”

As I urged, I was already looking at the next target beyond the northern blockade line. I knew that even though I had used my telekinetic powers to block the gunshots, they would soon realize that a hole had been pierced. I had to kill as many as possible before that happened.

And then…

I hid behind a clump of trees, alternately looking at the ground and the sky. My subordinates immediately began to take cover as well. After a moment, a small aircraft flew by in the nearby airspace. It was an unmanned aerial vehicle (Raven) that could be launched by hand and patrolled at low altitudes.

We would shoot them down with magic and snipers as soon as we engaged in full-scale combat. For now, we left them alone for our ambush.

Once again, we resumed our movement. Despite being a tactical maneuver that emphasized stealth, it was a very fast pace, and we didn’t pay attention to noise. Even so, I had to endure my growing anxiety.

“En nombre del dios! (In the name of God!)”

A roar came from the other side of the mountains. The Knight Commander’s intensity exceeded that of a normal human, but even the sound of his voice showed signs of weariness. In the meantime, how much longer would the fake knights hold out? How much more room did I have left?

The Cartel knights had been running and fighting for at least 16 hours. If they collapsed, it would make hunting on our side more difficult. Perhaps the British army was just taunting the prey to accumulate combat experience. Even if they were in a state where they could end the hunt at any time, it wouldn’t be strange for them to do so.

New enemies came into view within normal line of sight. Once again, there were 16 of them. My subordinates quickly took positions at the signal, even though it would only take a few seconds to distribute the targets.

“Fire!”

The order to shoot was given before those few seconds could pass. A warning had been sent to the enemy’s radio channel. Specifically, a warning about us. Just as they sent a warning about us. Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom! I didn’t have time to aim precisely, so I compensated with firepower. Six powerful shots rang out, shaking one side of the enemy’s landing.

“Ugh, grrrr…”

The one who hadn’t died yet staggered to his feet, his face contorted in pain, only to be hit by two stray bullets in the face. Plop! His head exploded, and the shattered remains of the night vision goggles were embedded in the scattered brain matter.

Tsk. Might as well have finished him off in one shot. There was no excuse for the haste with which I had to deploy my telekinesis power. It was really quite a simple task for me now.

I pulled out the empty magazine and threw it as far as I could. While a standard rifle round magazine could hold thirty rounds, the large caliber bullets I was using now only filled nine rounds.

However, this inconvenience was well worth tolerating. If I were lucky, the bullets could be shot off like an elephant’s single strike. While the hunting rifle (.450 Bushmaster Rifle) we were using maintained the structure of an assault rifle, it had ammunition large enough to provide sufficient firepower for hunting powerful individuals.

“Take cover! Take cover!”

I warned as I quickly took cover, and my whole body slammed hard against a Mexican yellow pine trunk. The trunk on one side bent violently. Ignoring the creaking, I hid in the shadow of the tree and looked at the sky. The drones were about 3,000 feet high from here, and lower altitudes were flying in groups of three. Since the communication had also been disrupted here, it was a natural course of action.

The flight altitude of the drones was much lower than the limit altitude, due to environmental factors such as the dark night and dense forest.

Still, it was by no means a close range, so my available magic was limited. Each technique had an optimized range. I considered shooting them down with my eyes and sniper rifle, but I changed my mind and redirected the mana into my spiritual circuit. Crack! The life disappeared, and as a result, the magical field disappeared from the bodies of several dead superhumans and one sergeant, who flew towards me.

Expanding the magical field towards the night sky as much as possible, I endowed each water container with magical restraint and piled all the water containers into a tactical backpack. Then, I shot them all up in one bunch. The sound of the wind tearing apart was a fast projectile. When the ascending trajectory changed to a steep descent and finally approached the entry path of the highest drone, I instantly transformed all the water in each container into steam.

Kwaaaaa!

At an altitude of 3,000 feet, the moonlight-tinged grayness exploded. A volume increase of 1,680 times was like a bomb in itself as long as it was made to go fast. When it hit the drone head-on, along with the pressure and fragments from the water containers, the wings broke, and it fell spirally. But that wasn’t the end. After meeting the “Trembling Giant,” which had been about half a year, I succeeded in adding one change to the technique of the giant.

The moment the expanded air contracted due to the recoil, I decomposed all the moisture tied to my mana into oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, above my head in the upper atmosphere, a mass of gas, consisting of hydrogen and oxygen mixed in a 2:1 ratio, or a hydrogen explosion device, was created.

Next was just starting a fire.

The magical ignition created a more powerful explosion than the previous one. In effect, it was like a heat-pressure shell storm that swept the surroundings. Two of the drones that were flying diagonally below were shattered into pieces rather than falling. It was more appropriate to call it a complete destruction than a crash. The remaining one also broke at the end of its parabolic descent, making an insignificant collision sound.

The deafening noise and storm drove countless animals from the forest into the air, and groups of four-legged creatures without wings scattered in all directions, accompanied by cries. As the fallen leaves fluttered like autumn leaves, the magical field of the trembling forest swayed like waves in the invisible area. However, compared to “Trembling Giant,” which was one whole or the giant sequoia habitat, which had a mass of more than a thousand tons, the entire forest was at a level that was just a joke.

Despite the severe circuitry damage, I felt a sense of satisfaction from the results of the explosion. The hydrogen explosion of water was a technique that consumed an abnormal amount of processing power from the circuit since its optimization was less than telekinesis, which became less accurate as it got farther away. The British would be confused about what kind of people were using explosive bombs.

“Fall back!”

Kyung-tae and the others set up explosives on the bodies of the British soldiers and around them and retreated. It was a wide-area trap that would explode if even one of them was touched. Since I had absorbed the gunfire with telekinesis during this battle, the British soldiers, who hadn’t heard the reduced gunfire, first tried to check the condition and signs of their comrades. If they didn’t touch it, we’d make sure it exploded by ourselves.

They would be furious. Planting bombs on corpses violated international law. But why should I care about that? In our war against the Imperialists, there was no room for such humanitarianism.

After a short wait, new prey crawled into our line of fire. Even regular soldiers had Round Table’s wisdom etched into their souls. However, unlike my subordinates, these magical power circuits were somewhat rudimentary, not adjusted individually to each person.

Did they pay more attention to those chasing Knight Commander directly? I hoped so. If I could eliminate even a little more of the resources they put in, it would be worth it.

Approaching from all directions, the British soldiers in charge of this sector numbered as many as forty-eight. This included the remaining forces of the squadron responsible for this sector, plus reinforcements in the form of squad-sized units from other squadrons. I could sense their magical fields spreading widely as they approached without having to see them with my eyes. Magic power and magical power or mana in that area were under their control.

Among the forty-eight, only four were approaching their comrades’ bodies. The rest were prepared for any potential attacks.

It was difficult to handle such firepower with just the vanguards. As an attacker, I quickly changed the placement of my guys to match the movements of the enemy.

“Relay to the command. Team 4, move 40 meters in the 8 o’clock direction. Team 5, move 20 meters in the 2 o’clock direction. No, no. Halt. Yes, that’s it. Take cover there and watch the 12 o’clock direction. Next, Team 5-2, prepare the grenade launcher…”

Fine-tuning of the company-sized unit in 4-member teams. Just speaking made me breathless. Kyung-tae and the others, numbering 64 in total, executed the rapid-fire instructions flawlessly, without a hint of error. Precise directions and distances. There was no room for distortions in direction and distance perception, which were common in the field.

Four British soldiers had approached their comrades’ bodies, maintaining a tactical yet very quiet approach, securing the area. Our prepared wide-area trap was the backup explosion point.

‘Only four.’

The number of casualties entering the kill zone was lower than expected.

We maintained silence, concealed, so the British Staff Sergeant leading the team had given a hand signal to his subordinates to keep their gun muzzles up on the body armor bunker, in the same posture as before. It meant to examine the corpses. The corporal who was in charge of the rear area carefully moved forward to inspect the closest corpse.

“…Bloody hell.”

A voice too quiet to hear distinctly, but I could read the shape of the lips, and it was a curse. It was natural for them to utter an exclamation of surprise when all the bodies were so thoroughly destroyed. The corporal carefully examined the remaining scars on the bodies. It was an attempt to determine the weapons we were using and their numbers.

‘They seem rather cautious.’

The corporal’s touch was cautious yet experienced. The caution of the prey was uncomfortable, so I prepared the captured large-caliber sniper rifle.

“This is a command. I’ll take the shot. Do not fire until I give orders or we are under attack.”

As I issued the order, those close by understood with a silent nod, and those farther away sent short acknowledgments. Despite using radios with frequency-hopping capabilities, minimizing communication was still a good practice.

Now I had a virtual sight trained on the upper torsos of the targets. There was already a heavy armor-piercing shell loaded in the chamber. In terms of kinetic energy alone, it was more than five times the large-caliber rounds I had used earlier for hunting. I was considering where to hit when I decided to aim for a corpse instead of a person, given the slow speed of the heavy shell. It didn’t matter which side I hit; the bomb just needed to explode. As I adjusted my breathing and focused, my heart rate increased. Not actually increased, but other sounds faded into the distance.

Kwaaang!

A sound faster than the shell. And a flash faster than sound. The elite foes reacted to the latter.

“Enemy…!”

The sergeant, who was about to shout, was engulfed and torn apart by the flashing light. Even just the fact that he did not turn into complete shreds indicated an extraordinary physique. His ability to utter a single syllable was remarkable reaction speed and judgment in itself, but all of that uniqueness evaporated with a single extensive explosion. Inside a trap designed more to kill the enemy with shrapnel than pressure, everything softer than steel was broken or torn apart and scattered. Naturally, human bodies were among them. Bodies torn apart and entangled in different directions by explosions left grotesque shadows in the flickering light.

Then, dark silence returned.

Shh–

I once again urged my close subordinates to maintain silence. It was partly a plea to myself as well. Not to hurry. This was the fastest way.

Finally, the Cartel knights began to appear in my vision. Inside the swaying encirclement, they seemed to instinctively discern the direction they needed to go. In other words, they came to me rather than me finding them. 

How resourceful these people were.

If they surrender willingly, based on their resourcefulness, the Knight Commander might let me kill them personally. In a way, it was my way of showing respect to the opponent. It was, in essence, a matter of courtesy.