The Imperial Hunter Chapter 52 - El Maestre (7)

The British military vehicles were enveloped in different magical fields, meaning that each vehicle had one or more awakened individuals on board.

Therefore, I couldn’t play tricks with their vehicles using magic. It might have been possible to approach those low-level primitive abilities a bit closer and overwhelm them with overwhelming output, but it would have been inconvenient if it were reported that there was a different type of awakened individual on our side. Such magic could only be used when it could definitively eliminate all enemies without giving them a chance to retaliate.

In any case, despite having multiple awakened individuals, the column of vehicles remained motionless in front of the roadblock.

‘Well, that’s understandable. They’ve probably seen similar situations in Iraq.’

Tactics of terrorists who block roads with obstacles and set up improvised explosive devices (IEDs), or ram vehicles loaded with explosives to detonate them. For the British military, which had deployed a significant number of troops to Iraq, second only to the United States, and suffered considerable losses as a result, it was normal to overreact to anything similar. The post-war report also evaluated the entire war as “totally inappropriate” in terms of causes, processes, and results.

Furthermore, at present, an unknown hostile force – in other words, due to our attack, all the reserve troops on board had been sent out as reinforcements for the Knights’ pursuit. So, there were no personnel to secure this site. It was difficult to deploy only a small search party to a place where you didn’t know how many enemies there would be.

Perhaps they were suspecting that the force attacking them in the dark was not the Sinaloa Cartel. There were some doubts, but in this area, Sinaloa was the only group capable of deploying that level of firepower.

An unfortunate standoff. The reason for the British’s perception of the Sinaloa Cartel’s attack. Ultimately, these two groups, entangled by fate, were wary of each other for the same reason.

In anticipation of this timid standoff, my subordinates arrived at their designated times and locations. Two teams of four individuals each entered the gas station, which was located near the obstructed road. Then, there were flashes of explosions. The blood of cartel sicarios (regular armed organization members) was splattered both inside and outside.

[Teams 4 and 5. Gas station secured.]

“Roger that. How much time do you need?”

[Team 4-1. We’ll need another 2 minutes… No, 1 minute and 30 seconds will do.]

“Understood.”

It would take 1 minute and 30 seconds at most to blow it up at maximum efficiency. It seemed that the cartel had done quite a good job with the groundwork. Even if my eyes were sharp, I couldn’t see the details of such work from this distance.

While Team 4, which included explosives experts, worked on the cartel’s work, Team 5 protected the work site. A drone approached them. It was the very same drone that had been circling the vehicle convoy all alone. I aimed my hunting automatic rifle at it.

Kwang!

I tracked the trajectory of the bullet with my eyes and adjusted my aim, taking into account the error and wind direction.

Kwang!

Just as the shot crossed the flight path of the drone, I decided it was the right time and emptied the remaining seven rounds in my magazine in full auto. Kwang, kwang, kwang! Three of the weighty rounds pierced the aluminum body of the drone. It spun and sputtered sparks. The weight of the rounds was excessive for a drone with no armor. The unmanned aircraft crashed in a chaotic descent, almost tearing apart.

“Excellent shot, hyungnim.”

“Enough of that. It embarrasses the kids.”

In any case, Kyung-tae’s compliment was refreshing. When I shot at a similar target in the mountains earlier, not a single shot hit. Despite having years of shooting experience.

This time, there was no need to suppress the gunshots. Explosions and gunfire of various sizes and the screams of cartel sicarios were spreading across the town center. Cars rushing to escape were blaring their horns. These indiscriminate noises created an auditory chaos that echoed through the dark valley.

It was a bit regrettable, but the more noisy and chaotic the world, the more helpful it was to me.

Additionally, there were no approaching drones. Probably because all available aircraft had been sent to the Knights.

[Teams 4 and 5. Extraction completed. We can detonate right now.]

“Blow it up.”

The shockwave, which made my ears feel stuffed, swept across the dry field. The explosion of the gas station, which had probably stored a minimum of 60,000 liters of fuel, created an enormous blaze, thanks to the different types of oil released and a well-timed detonation procedure. Rising and spreading in a mushroom cloud shape, the black smoke blocked out the stars as they billowed upward. The swirling, dark waves of the fire seemed like watching a sandstorm approaching a desert. The acrid smell spread in seconds. At the edge of the raging flames, local police officers who had been waiting to help the British army burned to death and charged onto the road.

“Mamá! Mamá! No quiero morirme, mamá……!” (+) ^[1] TLN: The author was not putting the Korean version of this, FYI. And this is the English version if you want to know what that means: Mom! Mom! I don’t want to die, mom…!

Screaming for their mothers, the farthest-reaching sicarios left their burning footprints some twenty yards away. I allocated a bit of time and mercy, putting quick and accurate single shots into the heads of the sicarios who were not able to die and were rolling around.

“Fire! Fire!”

All teams entered the assault as a signal for this explosion. This prey was the Sinaloa Cartel. Since the explosion we caused must have been important to their plans, the sicarios, who had been roaring while watching the exploding gas station without giving any notice, only started to take action when they received attacks from my subordinates.

Kill the British bastards.

I, too, quickly brought forward the bodies I had carried. Four British soldiers in thick body armor were placed in pairs facing different directions, enduring the rain of gunfire with their entire bodies and concentrating the enemy’s attention with relentless firepower.

“Damn it! Why won’t these guys die?!”

“RPG, get the RPG!”

The cartel sicarios, who had been retreating from the firefight toward the town center, now started resisting with all their might, without much thought, as if they had a system in place. This resistance seemed to be a ‘counterattack plan’ similar to what the cartel had prepared for a situation like this.

“Fire!”

Amid the dancing shadows of bushes swaying in the glare and heat, a rocket streaked through, drawing a destructive line. The close-range explosion of the high-explosive warhead shredded two bodies with a powerful shockwave and natural shrapnel. The bodies rolled away like they had been hit by a speeding car, and the sicarios cheered enthusiastically.

Goyo! Goyo! Goyo! Goyo!

It seemed like Rocket Senior’s nickname was “Goyo.” The guy with the empty launcher raised his arm as if showing off. Amidst all this, I couldn’t help but think he had no brains. Maybe he was high on drugs. They acted like lunatics. I pitied them but left the remaining two bodies conspicuously in their view.

That should be enough. I pulled back the foremost units.

“Teams 1 through 6, suppress the enemy and retreat to the second point.”

We started it, but the British troops were catching hell. From the sicarios’ perspective, they had defeated one side, but the other side was still there, and it was a noticeable column of vehicles. It would naturally be the primary target for them.

Sharp sounds of wind splitting seemed to form ominous harmonies, and then shells began to rain down from the sky. Explosions of all sizes, both large and small, erupted haphazardly amidst the field where I had discarded the bodies, the burning gas station, and the British military vehicles on both sides. It was a barrage of maximum-speed artillery fire delivered by the cartel. Large-caliber 51mm, 60mm, and 80mm high-explosive shells fell at intervals of 1 to 2 seconds, causing havoc in the vehicle column within moments.

Thud-!

A military Land Rover, in its hurried reverse, collided with a Foxhound armored vehicle in the rear, which then collided with a Husky armored truck being driven backward. Although there was enough spacing between the vehicles, the lack of lateral space resulted in numerous successive collisions occurring randomly. Amidst all this chaos, a single artillery shell struck the Husky armored truck. The armored plates on the left and right of the passenger compartment were torn away by the blast, and the entire vehicle violently swayed. Although the passenger compartment, engine, and driver’s seat remained unscathed, the passengers themselves weren’t as fortunate.

The driver stepped on the accelerator in panic, making a screeching sound, and the truck accelerated fiercely. A deafening explosion followed the rattling clatter. The charging vehicle, like a wild boar, crashed into the dilapidated wall of an abandoned building, crushing even the Mexican police officers who had been hiding there, before it finally came to a stop. Although the vehicle had been abandoned, cartel gunfire was concentrated on it. Clang! Clang! Bullets bounced off the hood, while a couple of shots hit the bulletproof windshield, creating spiderweb-like cracks. The driver, now alert, grabbed his weapon and hastily exited the vehicle.

“Enemy rocket up front!”

At the head of the vehicle convoy, the Land Rover’s turret gunner shouted like a banshee and squeezed the trigger of the machine gun. A tracer mixed with flares shot out in a laser-like trajectory, scraping past the sicario who was aiming the rocket. The body that was about to launch the rocket was instantly transformed into something unrecognizable in a matter of seconds.

Kwang!

A sniper round fired from our side pierced through the ear of the Land Rover’s turret gunner. The gunner’s head hung limply, and he flowed down like a lifeless creature. The Land Rover had no advantages other than being light, so with the gunner firepower evaporated, it quickly became useless.

“A la mierda culeros! (These fucking assholes!)”

A new sicario picked up the discarded rocket launcher, knelt down on one knee, and fired in a haphazard stance. Immediately after firing, he was turned into pulp by the firepower of the armored vehicle, but the rocket he launched managed to penetrate the front windshield of the armored vehicle, hitting the passenger seat. The flaming wreckage of the rocket hit one human square in the chest and impaled another against the door, turning them into a mangled mess. Even with bodies enhanced with magical power, they couldn’t withstand the firepower of the rocket.

From the perspective of an observer, it was quite a spectacular sight.

Kyung-tae said.

“This is a splendid mess. There doesn’t seem to be any need for further intervention, hyungnim. Let’s move on to the next location.”

“Yeah.”

From the town center, British troops began rushing in to support the vehicle column, and the pressure on Knight Commander had decreased. As much as I wanted to enjoy this well-orchestrated bloodbath a bit more, it was time to relocate to the next town.

I led my subordinates in their retreat and thought. 

If only the British wouldn’t withdraw.

With numerous casualties and one town turning into a hellish scene, if the British continued the operation as it was, they would have to bear a tremendous burden. Moreover, with the loss of drones and unmanned aircraft, they were in no position to demonstrate overwhelming firepower as they did in Andalusia.

The odds were fifty-fifty again. They would either owe a debt to the Round Table while being humiliated by a single cartel or achieve their goal even if it meant causing a second Andalusia incident. Either way, they couldn’t avoid damaging the country’s prestige.

Bwaaang-

A four-wheel-drive vehicle suddenly emerged from the northwest of our route, breaking through the side with a loud noise. The vehicle, bearing clear traces of gunfire, had four remaining cartel Holy Knights on board. The knights, armed with automatic weapons and shields, carrying swords on their hips and wearing ammunition belts, were driving a vehicle on the verge of collapse, rushing to escape the burning town. It was a scene that can be described as, well, incredibly…

‘Surreal.’

It was a thought that seemed quite irrelevant and worthless. I refocused my attention on the reality in front of me.

• 1. TLN: The author was not putting the Korean version of this, FYI. And this is the English version if you want to know what that means: Mom! Mom! I don’t want to die, mom…!