Chapter 101
Chapter 101
14. Sky Hole, Tearing Out the Roots -4
Thud. The ground shook.
Then again, thud. Thud. The plants advanced in step. From far away, a forest was walking toward us. A green army came, with no battle cries and no rage.
By the long-standing convention that had held from the moment primates first set foot on this earth until now—a forest was supposed to be a still thing, without feet, bound to stay where it was. Yet they had torn free of the earth's restraints and were stamping their feet in unison.
They moved. Even though humans had not approached them, they came closer. They flooded forward.
On this battlefield, the roles of animals and plants were reversed. The animals had built a defensive line and were not moving, while the plants were lifting their roots and trying to break through. Every human here felt a sense of wrongness at that fact.
That was what made them so grotesque in their living movement. We called those things Monster Trees.
"⋯⋯Fire! Beat those plant bastards to death!"
"Open fire! Use your abilities! Burn them!"
Whoosh— boom-boom-boom-boom—!!
Unable to overcome that unprecedented sense of wrongness, the hunters burst the dam of their emotions, wanting to erase the enemy before their eyes. They pulled triggers and fired magic power. Wildly.
Explosions and smoke surged upward. The ground cratered and dirt dust scattered. At a glance, that concentrated attack looked effective, as if it were sweeping away that green legion, but⋯⋯
That was not what we had intended.
"──Wait, field teams. Suppress your firepower! Suppress your firepower!"
Yeon Arang shouted over the radio. I doubted whether even 10% of that order got through properly amid the barrage, but as she repeated it, the attacks gradually subsided.
And then, as the smoke slowly cleared, it was revealed.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud!
The sight of them still marching on, maintaining their formation.
"⋯⋯Th-they're fine?! Captain Noah Won, those bastards are fine right now⋯⋯!"
"No. They're not fine, Hyejin. They're not fine, but— not even half of the damage that should have landed actually went in. Don't panic for now, just stand by."
"Yes⋯⋯!!"
With magic power gathered in my eyes, I analyzed the green army. Their organization was as follows.
『Erect Violet』, frontline infantry. They probably had a self-destruct ability too.
『Bamboo』, spearmen placed in the middle ranks. They would likely fire bamboo like javelins.
『Multiflora Rose』, rear-rank archers. They would rain thorns from a distance.
『Monstera』, shield-bearers protecting the plants with their broad leaves. There were many in the front ranks, but a sufficient number were also placed in the middle and rear ranks.
And commanding all of them was the 『Chinese Milk Vetch Elf』 at the center of the formation.
The creature sat upon a plant throne, looking down at us with arrogance, and near it, two 『Roses』—apparently serving as an elite honor guard—attended closely. It was a textbook, if anything⋯⋯ military formation.
Its imposing presence aside, there were no less than two 『Roses』, each of which would require even an A-rank hunter to brace for serious injury to take down alone. It was no wonder the hunters had wavered.
Let me think.
The Monster Trees that had appeared were predictable. They were familiar ones, and so everyone had a sense of how tough they were. Even if the hunters under my command had lost emotional control and poured out attacks, they weren't idiots who would mess up their power control.
Weren't they survivors who had lived through all manner of insane incidents to make it this far?
So, with the firepower they had just unleashed, at least 40% of the green army should have been wiped out. By my calculations, too. But⋯⋯
Shrrrk. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Only about 20% had died, and the formation hadn't even been disrupted. What kind of ability was this? It couldn't be that they'd missed their aim. Had the elf pulled some trick?
As I was weighing the possibilities I could think of in this situation, a sudden headache struck.
I pressed hard on my throbbing temples and closed my eyes. As if responding to my question, fragments of information were swirling in my head.
└ A02LL57F0e2 '2'52E3 (-)
(Reappraisal required due to an error of unknown cause)
The skill flickered. As if a plant encyclopedia had been installed in my head, unfamiliar knowledge pierced through my mind along with the auditory hallucination of pages fluttering.
『Astragalus genus - Chinese Milk Vetch Elf (Astragalus sinicus elfs)』.
Chinese milk vetch is a plant of the legume family and Astragalus genus, a green manure crop that has root nodule bacteria and makes the soil fertile. It sounds complicated at first glance, but it means a plant that supplies organic matter lacking in the soil.
And now that it had become a Monster Tree, that trait was exactly—
"It's a buff. The kind that enhances all abilities."
"What?"
"It's not that our attacks didn't land. Those bastards got tougher. Director Yeon Arang, tell the hunters that the plant bastards have gotten at least twice as strong overall."
In other words, that elf was a powerful commander-type entity that was scattering a powerful buff over an abnormally wide area.
"Ah, got it. I'll relay it from the command room⋯⋯!"
Yeon Arang grabbed several radios and relayed the information to each hunter team on the battlefield. Twice as strong. At first thought, it sounded like an unprecedented threat, but honestly, thinking about it calmly, it wasn't that troublesome of an ability.
Because most of the plant legion, led by the 『Erect Violets』, were weak to begin with. Even if a creature with shoddy base specs got twice as strong, it only amounted to becoming fairly tough.
We were still at an advantage. We just needed to pour on more firepower. If the plant army kept advancing slowly like turtles like that, by the time they reached the main hunter force, less than half of them would be left.
It would be one thing if the plant bastards sprawled in the pits were still intact. But with the encirclement already in place and them getting pounded one-sidedly, even if that Joero came back alive, he would have no choice but to die—
Snap!
The elf snapped open its folding fan and raised its upper body from the throne.
"I smell a stench. You beasts have those disgusting expressions, so I can see right through what you're thinking, and it's pathetic. Are you so proud of cutting down the trash I sent out first?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"I'll show you. What the elves' home ground means."
Swish—!
As the Chinese Milk Vetch Elf swept its fan from left to right, a thick scent of trees arose. At the same time, the shield-bearer 『Monsteras』 and the spearman 『Bamboos』 began extending their roots toward each other and intertwining.
Crack— crack-crack—
They merged together and their forms were reconstructed. Unnecessary parts withered, and necessary parts took on a deep blue-green hue from the excess supply of nutrients. Legs made of stems extended out— and the shapes that had looked like crude clay dough gradually took concrete form.
Soon.
The entanglement of plants became the form of horse and rider.
"⋯⋯Wh-what the hell is that⋯⋯?!"
"What the fuck am I looking at⋯⋯!"
Horror burst from the hunters. I hadn't seen wrong.
That was— a spear cavalry, created by fusing a 『Monstera』 that had grown deformed into a shape resembling a horse with a 『Bamboo』 gripping a sharp spear.
And what we witnessed next was.
"Green Bamboo Cavalry, charge."
Deploying that spear cavalry unit to strike into the hunters' defensive line,
Clop, clop— clop-clop, clop-clop-clop-clop-clop—!!
⋯⋯A cavalry charge of plants.
"Block them—!!"
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo——!!
This is dangerous.
The future was already drawing itself in my head. Numbers weren't the problem. If we fought this head-on in a contest of strength, the hunters would be pushed back by the plant army.
The Monster Trees under the elf's control moved with precision, too. It was already absurd enough that things that had been shuffling along, swinging their stems irregularly, were now stepping in rough accordance with the concept of marching.
The plant cavalry was moving with clear mobility, like actual quadrupedal animals. From a distance, they looked natural enough to be mistaken for real riders.
Damn it, what era is this, and suddenly cavalry⋯⋯!
They'd hold out for a while, sure. But beyond that— our forces were insufficient to expect victory. And who knew what other bullshit the elf might pull. Let me think. What about fighting a delaying action while pulling the defensive line back, as originally planned?
Dangerous. It had become dangerous because of the elf's ability.
How do you fight a delaying action when there's cavalry slamming in at that speed? We'd be lucky not to end up skewered from behind while retreating.
And on top of that.
We'd reduced the numbers of the plant bastards around the East Sea as much as possible before the Gate opened, but because the deadline had been barely two days, they hadn't been completely cleaned out. Let's assume the worst here.
What if the elf could conscript the Monster Trees in the area to replenish its army? And what if it could mix them together haphazardly to create hybrids?
Then we might end up facing an enemy whose numbers never decreased no matter how much we fought.
So we had to crush it here.
Ultimately, what made the plant army function as an army, what made them elite soldiers, was the elf. If we could just snap that pointy-eared bastard's neck somehow, we could win this war.
Thinking of it that way, the scheme became simple. The hunters would tie down the plant army and keep them from breaking away from the East Sea. They were the anvil. Meanwhile, a detached force including me would hunt the elf. We were the hammer.
⋯⋯But to do that, we'd first have to stop that cavalry charge. Before a hole got blown through our flank. I made my judgment quickly.
"Let's use the planted explosives!"
"Noah Won! Weren't we supposed to lure them in far enough and then blow up the elf with those?!"
"We still have a few more cards prepared, so using one is fine. And first, shouldn't we stop that thing?!"
"Got it. B1 team, relay from the command room! Wag your tails and pull them all the way to the designated point!"
A group of hunters used their abilities. Rocks flew through the sky and slammed into the plant cavalry, drawing aggro and luring them toward the point where the explosives were planted. Fortunately, the planting location was close to the charge route.
KWA-BOOOOM——!!
An explosion erupted. The surface of the ground flipped over and 80% of the plant cavalry collapsed. I watched for a moment as the hunters engaged the tattered cavalry remnants in close combat, then turned my head.
Crack-crack— crack—
⋯⋯The second and third waves were being prepared.
We couldn't stall any longer. They'd break through faster than the hunters could hold. I had to take the elf's head off before the damage grew. I reached my conclusion and said it out loud.
"Please drag the fight out as much as possible with the hunters. I'll take the elf in the meantime."
At those words, Minsik voiced his concern.
"⋯⋯Hey, Noah Won. How are you going to take down a guy being protected in the middle of the plant army? There are even two 『Roses』 near him. No matter how tough a bastard you are—"
"I'll take him down somehow. So if you don't want to see me become a corpse, clear me a path."
"What are you leaving me with?"
I was leaving it with him. If it was Minsik, he'd provide maximum support. I transferred full command authority to both Minsik and Yeon Arang, and prepared to deploy.
I timed it. Let me watch.
Yeon Arang issued orders to the hunters according to the new operational guidelines. Fortunately, our generation had been through not one but two coups, so we were quite skilled at defensive battles fought using terrain and structures.
Swiftly— the hunters reinforced the defensive line and reorganized their formation with orderly movements. Instead of directly striking the plant army, they began delaying the advance by digging pits in the ground or setting fires.
Sha-sha-sha-sha-sha-sha—!
As the 『Multiflora Roses』 shook their bodies, thorns shot out and crossed the empty air. The sky seemed to fill with dense black dots, and then they fell to the ground as a menacing rain.
"Incoming fire! Take cover!"
"Crouch behind the temporary structures!"
But the damage was light. It had been worth building cover even at the cost of breaking down buildings. After evading one volley, our side fired back again.
Minsik kept pulling the trigger, prioritizing the 『Roses』. The nearby 『Monsteras』 desperately tried to take the bullets in their place, but the bullets imbued with his Bullseye ability drew bizarre trajectories and accumulated damage.
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo——!
The sound of hooves shook the ground once more. Once the fused plants charged out, naturally, the main body of the plant army thinned at the waist. Now was the time.
"Hup!"
I kicked off the railing and jumped down from the building, starting to sprint straight ahead. In my mind, I began a countdown. About 60 seconds until contact with the plant army's front line.
I knew charging in alone wasn't going to work. I was waiting.
'I robbed a fairly large mid-sized company last time. You can look forward to it. Or⋯⋯ I could show you right now.'
Before— when Elijah had observed the ceremony with Sergios, she had confidently boasted about her 『Coffin』. When I asked what had been upgraded, she'd said it was a secret and wouldn't tell me, but now I knew what was inside.
That was why I had prepared this operation.
Elijah. You're watching, right?
[Elijah : I'll start! ૮₍•̀⩊•́₎ა]
Yeah.
The moment she sent her own kind of start signal.
Wheeeeeeeeng——!!
From behind me came a noise similar to the sound of a blender running.
Elijah's strength came from the scientific technology of her homeland. She used machinery built into her body to tighten diamond-coated wire and exert cutting force.
In other words, the lethality itself wasn't Elijah's—it was concentrated in the wire and motors she possessed.
And so, expansion was also possible.
Wheeeeeng—!
What adorned the sky was a drone squadron. The drones crossed the sky maintaining fixed intervals, and the space beneath them glittered subtly depending on the angle of the sunlight.
The drones were carrying a net woven from wire.
"⋯⋯Cheap tricks."
Sha-sha-sha-sha-shat—!
As the Chinese Milk Vetch Elf gestured with its chin, the 『Multiflora Roses』 fired their thorns in a volley, trying to shoot down the drones. Countless thorns flew in with thin bursting sounds.
That was why I had run out alongside them, to block this. I grinned and clenched my fist. 『Internalization』. It was still a technique I was reluctant to use, but this wasn't the time to hold back. I gave my body over to the skill.
Whoosh—
My clenched right hand dissolved like wind and then found its shape again, repeating the cycle. The skill engraved itself into a part of my body, and I felt certain that I could exert power faster and stronger.
I surrendered my body to this sensation of the atmosphere willingly responding to the direction of my gestures, and pulled it in. From above— downward!
"『Azure Wind Wanderer: Cliff』!"
Sssss—
KWA-BOOOOOOM——!!
A torrent of wind slammed down vertically, as if plummeting. The thorns of the 『Multiflora Roses』, swept up in the waterfall-like current, instead poured down intact upon their own allies—the plant army.
Crash—!
And with strength still to spare, the Monster Tree bastards that had come within range were caught in the gale, losing their balance or being slammed into the ground. Over that army, the drones crossed indifferently.
Glint. Glint-glint.
The wire shone.
Elijah sat perched atop the 『Coffin』 and lightly tapped the lid. The industrial medium-sized engine she had acquired by robbing a mid-sized company lay quietly sleeping inside, along with spare parts.
From the gaps in the Coffin's surface, over a hundred strands of wire extended outward. Because of that, her appearance resembled a spider resting atop its web.
The drones' formation flight was over, and the wire net was fluttering as it covered the Monster Tree army. There was no risk of tangling or folding. The wind in the area was under Noah Won's control, after all.
So there were no variables in what was about to happen.
Whir, whir-whir.
The engine sound, like a growl, gradually rose. Elijah knew this was the precursor to an explosive contraction. The wire would soon be yanked with terrifying force all at once.
"Hmm, hmmm."
A technique name. She felt like she needed a technique name.
Didn't Noah Won shout a skill name every time? When she'd asked why last time, he'd apparently said it was to vividly draw out his mental image, so it probably wasn't just for show.
Should she say she wanted to imitate what her friend did?
After mulling it over lightly, Elijah was able to come up with a suitable name before it was too late. She clapped her hands and shouted clearly.
"Yes, 『Net of the Sky』— how does that sound?"
KWA-BOOOOOM——!!
At that moment, with an engine sound close to an explosion, the net of heaven and earth carved through the plant army.