The Imperial Hunter

Chapter 26: Trembling Giant (5)

Initially, this “Trembling Giant” was a slowly dying forest. New shoots needed to replace the aging trunks, but due to ecological distortions, such as an increase in herbivores and reckless grazing by nearby ranches, the new growth was not taking hold. That’s why there were fences around the forest’s boundaries. These were protective measures taken by environmental authorities, but there was no guarantee that this simple measure could revive the old forest.

However, now that the heart of the forest was so close, I was facing the emerald green shoots in the cold, white forest of the harsh season.

“…”

I kept my subordinates waiting and touched the new shoots with my fingertips. The forest reacted to the gentle swaying of magic as it extended beyond normal visibility. It sensed my touch. While different from human senses, plants also had their own form of perception.

On the sprouts were crimson runes, like graffiti added to a sacred painting. There was no beauty in the aesthetics of devil worshipers.

Above, the sparse light at the periphery was dimming. The fog in the center was thin, and, through clearly defined convection, it continuously received warmth from the periphery. It was a slow but steady flow. Thus, this place had become an environment suitable for photosynthesis.

The magic of the forest that I had observed so far could be summarized into two traits.

‘Phase transition of water. And confinement to water.’

The warmth in the fog was probably mixed with minerals and heat from the phase transition of water originating from solar energy. The latter was heat created by the physical compression of moisture.

It was impressive to efficiently build and operate this kind of spellwork when the proportion of effective circuits seemed insignificant. The soul of the Poplar forest, estimated to have existed for at least 80,000 years, up to a maximum of 1 million years, displayed the power appropriate to such a span.

It was possible to create a similar phenomenon using a high-level telekinesis spellwork. However, the forest’s magic was fundamentally different from telekinesis. Although there was still much waste and simplicity in this spellwork, if I could successfully adapt and improve it to fit my circuit, this alone could turn me into an unprecedented bomb mage.

“Hyungnim.”

Kyung-tae looked worried.

“Is it okay to engage in combat here?”

“Why?”

“I’m worried that if the stray bullets hit the tree trunks, the giants might get angry.”

Was that his concern?

“I have been continuously anthropomorphizing this forest, but it’s not appropriate to project human thoughts and emotions onto plants.”

“Um… You mean there won’t be any reaction?”

“No, there will be a reaction. If possible, it will even try to eliminate the threat. Just…”

I paused for a moment and then tapped my head with my finger.

“Just don’t confine your thinking to a single framework.”

“I see.”

“Think of it more like dealing with extraterrestrial life. They have senses, emotions, and intelligence, but all of these are entirely different from those of humans.”

Plants might not have sensory perception, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t perceive pain. It just meant their concept of pain was different from that of animals.

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‘Otherwise, there’s no suitable expression, so I have to use animal-related words.’

In any case, Kyung-tae would have understood my intention well. Even if we used the same words, there was an underlying difference to remember.

Separately, the concern Kyung-tae raised was something I had also considered. I had thought about what would happen if the forest expressed ‘anger’ or ‘panic.’ And I decided.

“We’re proceeding with the attack. Be prepared for strong winds.”

“Strong winds?”

“Yes. Currently, that seems to be the only way this forest can express anger.”

“I understand.”

As we stood in the center of the forest after breaking down the outer perimeter of the two-man hunter teams of the devil worshipers, we were left with the last group of Satan’s lackeys. In an environment where visibility had slightly improved, armed with automatic weapons, I would engage in combat. Even if we had to prepare for the aftermath of the bullets striking and causing secondary explosions in the tree trunks.

Although there seemed to be no other way to prepare except to maintain a strong cover, there was a big difference between knowing what was coming and not knowing.

Kyung-tae nodded.

“We’re ready.”

The attack would start with my shot. I was the only one who could observe the enemy. When the enemy began returning fire, Kyung-tae and his subordinates would respond based on the flashes of gunfire. If I had known the fog would suppress sound, I would have brought grenades.

Setting aside useless regrets, I synchronized the trigger and aligned the sights. I numbered the targets among the devil worshipers and had conducted image training. One, two, three. One, two, three. I would aim to kill three of them before they could react. With my finger on the trigger and my sights aligned on the heads of the enemies beyond the crosshair, I controlled my breathing calmly.

Heup, huu–

I pulled the trigger calmly while minimizing my body’s fluctuations by stopping my breath in the middle.

Tat-tat! Tat-tat-tat!

Two exploding heads and one shoulder pierced by a bullet. The third one didn’t go down. Cries and curses burst out. I immediately shifted my aim and fired three shots at the scrambling pests. Tat-tat! Tat-tat-tat! As the fallen stems sprayed fragments, a few streams of fresh blood were ejected. Two more casualties. Two wounded. The 6mm steel armor-piercing rounds penetrated even the living stems without hesitation.

Huahk – and the fog surged.

It was still a faint breeze. The fog was blurred due to the disturbance caused by the compression and expansion of water and wind. In the midst of it, the devil worshipers shouted in confusion. What the hell?! Who are these bastards?! Immediately after, counterattack bullets began to fly.

Chararararalak!

Gunfire from a high place. The sharp noises, thanks to the extreme firing rate, merged into one continuous sound from start to finish. It was only after the end of the long chain that a low-pitched echo could be heard.

However, I had misjudged the direction by a long shot. I had slammed three subsonic armor-piercing rounds into a senior’s upper body that was moderately covered. At the moment when the recoil hit my shoulder, three red dots appeared on the target’s forehead, and the back of his head exploded. The guy with a fractured skull staggered to his knees, and the remaining enemies began spraying bullets at the level of hundreds of rounds per second. The momentary firepower was so immense that I had to take cover myself this time. The body armor and helmet were nothing more than a last resort.

Swoosh. For a moment, the strong winds pushed my back. It felt as if the forest was panicking. After all, the fog, which only distinguished between light and darkness visually, couldn’t possibly know where the actual perpetrator was.

The enemy’s relentless barrage of bullets reached its limit in less than a minute. It was not because they ran out of ammunition but because their suppressors overheated.

“Fuck!”

A single-syllable curse was heard from the other side. The frenzied bursts of high-capacity drum magazines must have generated intense heat, hot enough to cause annoyance. The red-hot flashes were visible even through the fog. Their guns were items notorious for having fragile suppressors, to begin with.

Tat-tat! Tat-tat-tat!

Kyung-tae and the others braced against the increasingly powerful wind and initiated suppression fire. I, too, secured the ability to aim accurately in the rushing winds while firmly hunkering down behind my cover. Amid the sounds of the roaring winds filling my ears, my three-point shot blended in.

Damn it…!

I grazed one of them slightly. But I chose the one that was still unharmed in the confusion. Only sturdy poplar stems were constantly destroyed. After pulling the trigger four more times, I could finally see some blood from one of them. Perhaps the subsonic rounds were affected by the wind. It was somewhat reassuring to think of the wounded enemies as casualties due to Kyung-tae and the others’ gunfire.

Now, the enemies found it increasingly difficult to hold their positions. The violent wind thrashed the branches wildly. The fog, like waves, oscillated back and forth, repeatedly shifting between transparency and opacity.

While amateurs in combat, the devil worshipers had no shortage of guts. I read the instructions from a higher-ranking member to the rest as if they were whispering. Despite the chaotic environment, I repeated the orders multiple times without raising my voice for the subordinates who might have misunderstood. It was almost laughable to see them trying to ensure that this side didn’t overhear.

Tat-tat!

A bullet pierced through the side of the guy who was crawling out of his cover. The bullet, entering diagonally, tore through his belly, breaking through the other side. Half of the enemies, who had dispersed to divert our firepower and create a half-circle, faced a similar fate one after another, except for one.

“Maaaagick!”

One guy, his face drugged up, suddenly stood up and charged. My shot just missed where he was crawling. I quickly adjusted my aim and fired a three-round burst, but—

‘Body reinforcement…!’

The devil worshiper, who had gained the strength of darkness and awakened primitive magic, had an abnormal movement that couldn’t be predicted due to the newfound power. I would have been better off if he had charged straight at me, but this time, the issue was his erratic path due to the fog and the wind.

Clang! The round hit an empty chamber. Of all times! I immediately changed magazines, but the enemies on the other side were now raining down a desperate hail of bullets as if offering their lives in a suicidal banzai charge. The same rain of small fragments fell over Kyung-tae and his subordinates. (+)^[1]TLN: A Banzai charge (or “banzai attack”) (萬歳突撃) was a tactic used by Japanese soldiers against the American soldiers when they were losing World War II. Banzai charges were usually suicide charges. This was so they would have an honorable death without surrender.

However, the momentary silence of our firepower had unexpectedly become a poison for the charging drugged-up man. He stumbled in each direction he fell. I thought he was running straight, but was there a chance of maintaining direction in this fog?

“Maaaa–huh, huh—gick!”

Struggling with shortness of breath, the Satanic warrior, even while gasping for air, eventually passed by the line where we were.

“……”

I put an end to that pitiful soul with a burst of automatic fire. The dull thud followed the gunshots.

The fanatic warrior wore body armor, but we were armed with subsonic armor-piercing rounds in our assault rifles. Pistol rounds and lightweight armor plates couldn’t defend against armor-piercing rounds fired from rifles.

‘He would have died anyway.’

He was already a guy whose organs were starting to fail due to excessively using his awakened powers, driven by the newfound awakening of his power. Multiple organ failure due to using abilities beyond his limits. Incomplete circuits, rapid mana leakage, and cell collapse due to magic overload were dangers that Suyeon and Kyung-tae were made aware of early on.

The balance of firepower had been reversed.

The enemies could no longer overwhelm us with their instantaneous firepower. In terms of numbers, they still had a slight advantage, but their ammunition was running low. It was the result of them recklessly using a rate of fire exceeding a thousand rounds per minute.

I could see one guy was about to lose it right now. He slammed his gun into a tree trunk and shouted, infuriated by his overheated suppressor. But there was only one magazine left.

On the other hand, we still had plenty of suppressors and spare ammunition.

Tat-tat!

My aimed shot ended another worthless life.

Now that the enemies could no longer unleash their overwhelming barrage, the sporadic return fire from the Satanic fanatics was much less threatening than before. Furthermore, since we were still using suppressors, their ability to maintain direction in their return fire was compromised.

Contrary to common misconceptions, suppressors didn’t reduce bullet velocity or decrease lethality. In the case of guns like the “Vikhr” I was using, which had a short barrel, suppressors even increased bullet velocity and accuracy to some extent.

Moreover, suppressors not only suppressed noise but also reduced muzzle flash, minimizing the chances of being exposed by the flash.

The reasons we didn’t remove the suppressors up to this point were these.

The exhausted devil worshipers, after exchanging heated opinions, made their final choice. It was a fanatical assault, emulating the deceased fanatic warrior. They seemed to have no other option, feeling that violence was a virtue and murder was a doctrine.

They inhaled the drugs they had brought to their faces, nearly as if they were applying it like makeup, their eyes rolling back as they trembled and called out to their gods.

“Aaaaaarcturus! The dark constellation on high places!”

However, the magnificence the fanatics called for was a determination to face the gusts of wind. They didn’t have much of a choice, after all.

Anyway, it worked out well.

I might spare the higher-ranking one to pick his brain later.

• 1. TLN: A Banzai charge (or “banzai attack”) (萬歳突撃) was a tactic used by Japanese soldiers against the American soldiers when they were losing World War II. Banzai charges were usually suicide charges. This was so they would have an honorable death without surrender.

Disclaimer:

This novel is a work of fiction! While it may incorporate elements inspired by our "real" historical world, including historical events, settings, and cultures, it is important to note that the story and characters are entirely products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or deceased, or actual events is purely coincidental. This work should be enjoyed and interpreted as a work of fiction and not as a representation of historical facts or reality.

Also, if you find some error in translation please do let me know by tagging me (@_dawn24) in our Discord server. Since this series is kinda hard to translate. But I'll try my best to make it at least readable :)

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