Chapter 25
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Transport Caravan Ambush (2)
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Through the scope of the Hawk Eye sniper rifle.
The dust cloud rising from the horizon finally began to take shape.
Black carriages emblazoned with the Trade Federation's emblem, surrounded by a procession of mounted riders.
Under the scorching sun, their armor and gun barrels occasionally flashed, stabbing at the retinas.
They had no idea.
That they were walking straight into the jaws of death of their own accord.
Or how many traps lay in wait in the canyon they were passing through right now.
Jinwoo held his breath, not moving a muscle.
His finger rested lightly on the trigger, but he had no intention of firing just yet.
'Not the right moment.'
Like a leopard lying in wait, Jinwoo simply crouched, biding his time until the prey entered the perfect spot on its own.
A faint itch of boredom and tension crept up his spine bit by bit.
The rock's heat rose faintly along his back.
In his ears rang only the sound of the dry wind brushing through the canyon.
In that silence, Jinwoo's mind was sorting through the noisy memories of the past few days one last time.
'That was one hell of a grind.'
The brutal bloodbath in Blackwater.
The cheers and tears of the townsfolk.
And the voice of the old sheriff calling him a hero.
All of it felt distant now, like a fading dream.
'Thanks to every eye in the West being glued to that little stage called Blackwater, the real stars of the show are marching down an empty road without a single suspicion.'
The Trade Federation was massive and arrogant, but far from stupid.
They were prepared for any potential variables.
Jinwoo pulled a crumpled directive from his pocket and reviewed its contents once more.
The faint additional codes and coordinates lingering in the corner of the paper.
Though singed and encrypted, Jinwoo knew what they meant.
'Normally, there'd be a mid-quest to find the cipher key and decode it just to get here...'
But Jinwoo, who knew the entire story, had no need for that.
'The truth is simple.'
There were several real transport units carrying the precious new weapons.
To guard against any possible ambushes, the Federation had divided the cargo into multiple small detachments, sending them along different times and routes to various destinations—a meticulous strategy.
And now, the procession appearing before his eyes was the first true one.
'As expected, dispersed deployment.'
The corner of his mouth twisted into a smirk.
'Smart, but still right in the palm of my hand.'
Their caution actually gave Jinwoo the perfect opportunity for a flawless hunt.
No need to take on everything at once; he could just pick off these scattered targets one by one.
A far more efficient and safe approach.
'Idiots! Should've just bunched up and sent them together.'
Of course, the Trade Federation hadn't fully conquered the Eldorado Continent either.
They were wary of militias and other anti-Federation gangs.
Jinwoo chuckled lightly.
Whatever the reason, it had created this prime hunting ground.
Finally, the lead carriage began easing into the first trap zone Jinwoo had set.
The canyon path bent sharply, blocking all line of sight—the corner of death.
Soon, the opening salvo signaling the hunt's curtain would fire.
The two riders at the head of the transport unit finally rounded the problematic corner.
They noticed nothing amiss.
"Damn, this place gives me the creeps..."
"What, you think something's gonna happen?"
They merely thought the terrain here was unusually rugged, the shadows eerily thick.
It was right then.
Jinwoo pulled a small lever from his pocket.
A dynamite detonator used in the mines.
The wire stretched long, leading off somewhere below.
'Had a hell of a time wiring that up!'
Now was the time to see the payoff.
Gripping it tight with both hands and leaning in, the signal shot to the end of the fuse he'd planted at the cliff base.
BOOOOM!
A massive roar shook the entire canyon.
The cliff's midsection collapsed wholesale, pouring down countless rocks and dirt.
"Argh! What the—!"
"Watch out!"
The paths were instantly blocked by rubble and debris.
The lead riders and their horses were crushed under the falling rocks before they could even scream, bones and flesh pulverized.
"Ambush! Enemy attack!"
"Damn it! Where are they?!"
Chaos erupted in an instant. The surviving escorts panicked, firing wildly into the air or instinctively ducking behind the carriages.
Their confusion was only just beginning.
Jinwoo's eyes gleamed coldly.
Phsssh!
The first gunshot rang out before the explosion's echo had even faded.
A single flash from atop the highest point of the cliff!
The head of the officer trying to regain his wits first and rally the soldiers exploded outright.
Phsssh! Phsssh!
The following shots struck their next targets with the precision of the reaper's scythe.
The narrow gap between a soldier's shoulder and shield as he huddled behind a carriage.
The forehead of another using a comrade as cover to aim his gun.
The throat of a rider struggling to keep balance on his bucking horse amid the panic!
No emotion, no hesitation in the shooting.
Like a machine hitting targets in predetermined order,
The bullets flew and embedded themselves in sequence to most efficiently cripple the enemy's command structure and combat power.
"Shit! Up there! On the cliff!"
"Hide! Get behind the rocks!"
A few finally grasped the situation and began return fire, but Jinwoo's position was just barely out of range of their crude rifles.
"No way! What gun has that kind of range?!"
"It's an arcane magic rifle!"
The Federation mercenaries' bullets futilely sparked off the rocks.
Terror spread like a plague.
An invisible sniper.
Death from which there was no escape.
"W-We gotta run!"
"We need to retreat!"
Right then, an impossible sight unfolded before the survivors' eyes.
"SKREEEEEE!"
A bloodcurdling shriek tore through the sky as a massive shadow leaped vertically from the cliff above.
"Th-That's...!"
"A pellicon!"
It was Falcon.
He kicked off the cliff with his enormous talons, gliding down in a slide.
Maneuverability no horse could dream of.
'Good, Falcon's following orders perfectly on his solo run.'
Falcon slammed straight into the formation's most vulnerable flank.
"Shoot! Blast that bird bastard!"
Thud!
"Gahk!"
Soldiers struck by his monstrous leg strength went flying with the sound of shattering bones.
His razor-sharp talons mercilessly raked and tore the backs of those fleeing in terror.
Terror reached its peak.
Death rained from the sky in bullets, while a monster rampaged on the ground.
Falcon's charge shredded the transport unit's formation to pieces.
"Don't run! This is valuable cargo, I said... urk!"
"Mommy! Mommy!"
The survivors dropped their weapons, clawing at rocks with trembling hands or simply collapsing in fear, wailing.
No more resistance worth calling it such.
Jinwoo gave a short whistle.
At the signal, Falcon finished pecking apart one last soldier's head amid the blood and slaughter, then flapped lightly.
"Skree!"
He kicked off the cliff once more and soared back to his master's side in an instant.
His feathers and beak bore the traces of humans alive just moments ago.
Jinwoo inwardly clicked his tongue at the brutality.
"Lucky it's our birdbrain doing this."
Now, time to wrap it up.
Phsssh!
The first shot embedded in the forehead of a soldier trembling behind a rock.
Pheew!
The second pierced the heart of a man huddled under a shattered carriage wheel.
Pheew-phsssh!
No need for Red Eye.
The muzzle swept the canyon floor, erasing every last twitching movement in turn.
Screams were brief, death instantaneous.
The gunshots echoing through the desolate canyon soon fell silent.
It was all over.
The smell of gunpowder mixed with the acrid tang of fresh blood in the hot air.
Jinwoo slung the sniper rifle on his back and descended the cliff leisurely into the canyon floor strewn with corpses and wreckage.
Falcon shadowed him like a ghost.
His boots stepped indifferently through the blood-soaked dirt.
Weaving between the sprawled bodies, he headed for the carriage still in the best shape.
Slicing open the thick, tough waterproof tarp with his dagger revealed a cold metallic gleam within.
"Found it."
Inside the crate, exquisitely crafted rifles made of a special alloy with a bluish tint were secured without a wobble.
Complex, alien patterns were engraved on the barrels, and small mana crystals were embedded in the stocks.
'Arcane magic rifles.'
Jinwoo drew one out.
A hefty weight and perfect balance that fit his hand like a glove!
Definitely no ordinary gear.
On this Eldorado Continent, these were repeater rifles capable of thirty magic-powered shots without reloading.
'Modern assault rifles in a Western flick-level civ? Total cheat item.'
He considered using one for fun but soon shook his head.
They required loading both mana stones for power and bullets—too much hassle for supply.
'Not for me.'
Compared to his infinite ammo gun, it was inefficient in every way.
He tossed the rifle back into the crate.
'But... what about Kellogg or the others?'
Faces of comrades he hadn't met yet flashed by.
For rebels whose best was shotguns or single-shot relics, these would be a tremendous boost.
He closed the crate lid and approached what looked like the unit commander's corpse.
Rifling through his pockets yielded a blood-soaked second directive, as expected.
Unfolding the paper revealed coordinates for the next transport unit's destination and the cipher for linking up with them.
First target secured.
"Let's go, Falcon!"
Jinwoo pocketed the directive and mounted Falcon's back.
"SKREEEEEE!"
Falcon cried out, thrilled by the taste of blood.