Chapter 22
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Gang Sweeping Operation (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The echo of the explosion hadn't even faded before Jinwoo's body was already shifting into the next move.
Thud thud thud!
Wasting no time even to brush the dirt from the ground, he whistled sharply. Falcon raced to his side, and Jinwoo vaulted onto its back once more.
"Time to clean house."
At his low command, Falcon kicked off the earth and leaped into motion. It took only an instant to return to the village.
Boom!
The massive beast made an unbelievably light hop, landing on the eaves of the nearest building before surging straight up onto the roof.
The eyes of the villagers fighting desperately at the main gate caught sight of the wondrous spectacle.
"It's a Pellicon!"
Jinwoo's silhouette stood tall atop the ridgepole, smashing through the tiles!
Jinwoo surveyed the battlefield from above.
'No time to rest.'
What entered his view was a brutal scene of close-quarters melee.
Even without the cannon's support, the Trade Federation's elite soldiers pressed forward with terrifying momentum.
The villagers were holding out behind buildings around the square or the second barricade, but it was precarious.
Numerical disadvantage.
Everyone was clinging on as if they might collapse at any moment.
'...Guess I have to run more.'
Jinwoo's eyes flushed blood-red once again.
Red Eye
Activated
Time in the world slowed once more within his vision.
The hail of bullets, clashing blades, and the movements of screaming soldiers were captured with crystal clarity, like a frozen picture.
Jinwoo selected the most efficient targets in sequence amid that halted tableau.
'The one climbing over the barricade.'
Pew!
The pistol, switched to Hawk Eye mode, spat a brief burst of flame.
The bullet pierced the forehead of the soldier reaching for the top of the barricade.
His body plummeted limply below without even a scream.
'The one about to toss dynamite from the flank.'
Pew pew!
The wrist of the soldier lifting a lit stick of dynamite exploded.
"Argh! N-no!"
Boom!
He was engulfed in flames, his last sight the explosive dropping from his own hand at his feet.
'Third, fourth, fifth...'
Jinwoo's shooting didn't stop.
He moved left and right along the rooftop, eliminating the most threatening enemies in order, like clearing pieces from a chessboard.
"Argh!"
He shot the eye peeking from cover, then pierced the heart of the one reloading using the fallen comrade as a shield.
"Sniper again!"
"Don't stop! If you stop... guk!"
He nailed the throat of a junior officer urging on the soldiers from the rear.
No mercy, no warning.
The muzzle flashes delivered only instant death.
As Jinwoo's overwhelming covering fire began, the flow of the battlefield shifted noticeably.
"We've got 'em! They're falling back!"
As if to contradict the old sheriff's shout, the hail of bullets suddenly thinned.
The villagers, who had been pushed back relentlessly, caught a moment to breathe, while the enemies halted their advance in terror of bullets from an unseen source.
Attempts to scale the barricades became meaningless suicide, and the crumbling defensive line miraculously regained its balance.
"Damn it! How's it so fast?!"
"Does it even run out of ammo?!"
The enemies couldn't even raise their heads, huddling behind cover in desperate fear that the reaper on the roof would target them next.
Jinwoo's hunt didn't end there.
'Opponent is the Trade Federation. High chance they'll come at us with brute force here too.'
Sure enough, he spotted new orders coming from the rear.
"Elite squad, advance into the village! Hunt the sniper!"
As if they'd been waiting, dozens of soldiers broke from the ranks and poured through the gaps in the village's shattered barricade.
They warily scanned the rooftops as they cautiously dispersed into the alleys.
Jinwoo looked down at them and lightly patted Falcon's neck.
"Let's go rat hunting."
The battlefield had now become a tangled maze of buildings and alleys. And Jinwoo was the perfect master of this labyrinth.
The lead squad spotted Falcon charging down the alley ahead, kicking up dust.
"Found it! Fire!"
The moment they raised their guns, Falcon mocked their expectations by kicking off the side of a building and soaring onto the roof.
Then it silently landed in another alley behind their backs.
"It's gone! Where did it... krrk!"
Blood burst from the squad leader's throat. A bullet from beyond their sight, at the very rear of their formation. Terror engulfed them. Wasn't the enemy just one person?
No.
Jinwoo and Falcon were simply too fast!
Thud thud thud!
The sounds of kicking off wooden walls, pillars, and rooftops echoed from all directions.
Jinwoo rode Falcon freely between rooftops and alleys.
Eliminating the vanguard the moment they rounded a corner.
Luring them into dead-end alleys and cutting off their rear.
And the finishing touch.
The endless barrage from the Infinite Ammo Pistol!
Pew pew pew thunk!
Pull the trigger every time an enemy appeared.
Designate targets flawlessly every time Red Eye's cooldown reset.
Jinwoo's every movement produced optimized slaughter.
"Flank 'em! Kill the villagers first!"
Another squad was cautiously searching the main road toward the square.
Crash!
Falcon burst from the second-floor window of the inn above their heads, shattering it noisily. It leaped straight across to the balcony of the opposite building.
"When did it get here...!"
The mercenaries' shock was fleeting.
In that brief moment airborne, Jinwoo's pistols spat fire.
Tat tat tat bang!
Four soldiers dropped simultaneously, bullets in their heads.
They couldn't even respond to this bizarre, multidimensional assault.
The village was turning into a massive trap and slaughterhouse that silently devoured their comrades.
But Jinwoo was still far from satisfied.
'The real commander hasn't shown up yet...'
Trade Federation mercenaries would wear even stranger armor than the ones he'd sniped earlier.
'Guys like Gerion!'
Whether assault commanders in bizarre steam armor or gunslingers draped in odd cloaks. The real fight ends when they arrive.
*
"This can't be happening!"
Commander Vulcan's face hardened as he watched the battle from the rear.
The scene in his eyes was one of defeat.
Battle-hardened elites crumbling, toyed with by a single rider!
The soldiers' gazes were filled with terror, fixed on the sky.
The massive monster dashing across rooftops and its rider looked like reapers risen from the underworld.
It leaped from roof to roof, mocking human common sense.
"Taming a Pellicon..."
The rumored Pellicon rider, known only from tales!
Swifter than any horse and utterly fearless—the stories were true.
No ordinary horse could have produced such a sight.
Death rained down like bullets from above every time it moved.
"Damn it, is that a man or a ghost?!"
"Bullets can't touch it! It never stops moving!"
Cover meant nothing.
The enemy overlooked everything from above.
Hide behind a crate, and a bullet punched through it. Duck into a building, and a shot shattered the window to tag your head like a ghost.
"What do we do, Captain? We've lost the cannon! The villagers are resisting stubbornly!"
His adjutant's trembling voice twisted Vulcan's expression.
The fear on the soldiers' faces was what he despised most on the battlefield.
The helplessness of dying without resistance!
It was poison that eroded army morale.
The adjutant continued his shaky report.
"Captain, at this rate, the casualties are unsustainable. The soldiers who entered the village have gone silent. We should retreat and regroup..."
Slap!
Vulcan's iron-gloved hand struck the adjutant's cheek. The man tumbled to the ground with a scream.
"Shut your mouth!"
Vulcan's voice trembled with rage.
"You telling Steel Vulcan to show his back to some petty thief?!"
Vulcan's pride couldn't accept this humiliating defeat.
Failure here?
It meant delaying the Trade Federation's gold mine monopoly.
It would tarnish his string of unbroken victories.
Above all, it besmirched the Trade Federation's name and his own honor.
"Dare to defy the Trade Federation! No retreat! Let's see who dies first!"
He drew his pistol from his belt.
Nothing like the crude revolvers his soldiers used.
Its barrel was etched with blue lines evoking ancient civilizations, and the grip molded oddly to fit its user.
A destructive pistol infused with Atlas civilization tech, said to crumble buildings with one shot.
"You rat bastard! So what if you're nimble? I'll blow the whole roof off with you on it."
Vulcan mounted his horse, pistol in hand.
His eyes locked on Jinwoo's ghostly silhouette flitting across the rooftops.
"All units, follow me!"
At his shout, dozens of his elite guards snapped into formation with perfect discipline.
"We're starting the hunt for that ghost rat! I'll put this bullet in his skull myself!"
His declaration reignited the killing intent in his guards' eyes.
"Charge! Charge!"
As the top commander led the way, the dying morale flared like a final flame.
The armored commander and his elites advanced to hunt the village ghost.
And Jinwoo didn't miss their approach.
"Let's see, one's in armor."
Hawk Eye won't penetrate.
A shame sniping wouldn't work.
'Doesn't matter. All within expectations.'
Returning inside the defensive line, Jinwoo shouted briefly to the sheriff.
"Reload and get everyone ready! This is the finale!"
"...Yes!"
The ultimate target had finally stepped into the slaughterhouse.