Chapter 27
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Steel Hounds' Counterattack (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The victory in Wind Sound Canyon had only been achieved after completely erasing all traces.
Jinwoo spent a full half-day meticulously wiping away every sign of his presence.
"My poor self..."
The corpses the crawlers hadn't devoured were buried in deep pits.
Rocks and dirt were piled on top, blending seamlessly with the original terrain.
"Falcon! Go!"
"Kiek! Kiek!"
The battle-scarred ground was trampled by Falcon's massive talons, disguised to look like a herd of large beasts had passed through.
Everything unfolded exactly as he'd envisioned.
The third transport unit's route, their estimated forces, and the new stage awaiting them.
Finally, he scanned the surrounding terrain one last time before approaching Falcon, hidden in a crevice.
Three days had passed since he'd erased the traces and set off.
Jinwoo's movements halted abruptly.
"...What is that?"
He tilted his head, focusing every nerve toward the direction the wind carried from.
At first, he thought it was just the wind.
But amid the noise was something faint yet impossible to ignore—a discordant element.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It sounded like drums of hide being struck in steady rhythm.
Not the chaotic footsteps of ragtag bandits.
Nor the disciplined march of Trade Federation regulars.
'This is...'
A suspicion forming, Jinwoo immediately mounted Falcon.
"Let's go. To the summit."
Sensing his master's urgency, Falcon bounded to the top of the tallest nearby rock spire in just a few leaps.
Jinwoo crouched low behind the rocks, drawing Hawk Eye.
The metallic body chilled his palm.
He pressed the scope to his eye, focusing on the distant horizon where the sound originated.
The blurry landscape sharpened through the lens.
And the sight that filled his vision was enough to send a chill down his spine.
A cavalry of about three dozen riders advanced slowly.
A trailing cloud of dust behind them looked like a small army.
"Pursuit squad? No way?"
Riders clad head to toe in pitch-black combat gear rode jet-black horses, maintaining perfect intervals as they traversed the wasteland.
Their movements were precise and seamless, like a single organism.
Click-click-click!
At a hand signal from who seemed to be the leader, the formation tightened, then spread wide on another signal.
What truly caught Jinwoo's eye was their riding gait.
The horses moved not in the typical bounding trot, but with an eerily smooth, level pace.
'That's pace gait, isn't it?'
Jinwoo recalled a documentary from Earth, before crossing into the Rising West world.
A gait developed by Mongolian nomads to minimize rider fatigue on long, high-speed journeys.
These were experts honed for pursuits across the wilds.
Even their horseshoes were wrapped thickly in cloth.
A measure to muffle sounds and minimize tracks.
'Their gear isn't standard issue either.'
The weapons in their hands were anything but ordinary.
Lever-action repeaters were baseline.
Over two-thirds wielded cutting-edge arcane magitech rifles with blue mana crystals embedded in the barrels.
'Those are the exact ones I seized recently?'
Secret weapons issued only to the Federation's elite.
As the pieces fell into place, one name flashed in Jinwoo's mind.
'Steel Hounds?'
The Trade Federation's vaunted elite pursuit unit.
Iron hounds said to chase targets to the ends of the earth and rip out their throats.
A cold puzzlement crossed Jinwoo's face.
'Already? That's too fast.'
According to his intel, deploying the Steel Hounds required far graver conditions.
Attacks on key Federation strongholds or assassinations of high colonial officials.
They were the trump card for threats that truly rattled the Federation.
'Wiping out Blackwater's gangs and two full transport units shouldn't be enough...'
He paused in thought.
Maybe it wasn't the severity of individual incidents.
All had happened in such a short span.
So flawlessly.
The Federation brass might have sensed a massive unknown threat from the pattern and opted for an overreaction beyond expectations.
'The butterfly effect from my actions.'
Irritation surged in Jinwoo.
His perfect plan had backfired, introducing an unaccounted variable.
'The village defense last time too—difficulty's ramping up early.'
The board was turning far more dangerous than anticipated.
No more complacent play-by-guide.
He quietly stowed Hawk Eye.
The hounds had surely caught his scent.
And with their tracking skills, they'd long read the echoes of the canyon battle.
An unexpected thought struck Jinwoo.
'Elite, sure. For a first playthrough.'
But he had cheat weapons now.
'Yeah, hounds without a leash are still just dogs. No match for me.'
He gripped Hawk Eye again.
The pursuit column drew nearer.
He sighted the leader at the fore.
Held his breath.
Time slowed; only his heartbeat thrummed in his ears.
Perfect timing.
Phwing!
The blue bullet flew true toward the leader's heart.
But no collapse followed.
Crackle-sizzle!
"!"
Just before impact, a faint blue membrane rippled like water, absorbing the bullet's kinetic force.
"Ngh!"
The leader staggered slightly from the shock—far from fatal.
A flash erupted from the worn bracelet on his left arm.
'Atlas relic? Barrier bracelet?'
Jinwoo's eyes widened faintly.
'They're deploying with that already?'
In-game, it was named boss gear. Steel Hounds got it late-game.
The surprises didn't end there.
The instant the shot rang out, the Steel Hounds' leader signaled without hesitation.
"Scatter! Take cover!"
At his shout, over ten riders moved as one.
Some leaped from their mounts to duck behind rocks; others accelerated into erratic paths.
They unfurled black cloaks from their garb, blending hazily with the surroundings.
"Shadow cloaks too? Another relic. Level scaling kicked in?"
Cold sweat beaded on Jinwoo's brow.
This was endgame Steel Hounds.
They'd sent them fully kitted to hunt an unknown threat like him.
Boom! Rat-tat-tat!
Before he could process, fierce counterfire erupted.
Blue mana rounds poured from their arcane magitech rifles.
"Damn it!"
The rock sheltering Jinwoo shredded like paper, shards flying everywhere.
Their marksmanship was astonishingly precise.
A few bullets grazed perilously close to his cheek.
'Hell, their shooting's no joke either!'
Jinwoo rolled instinctively to evade the barrage.
This body was baseline human.
Even a graze could be lethal!
He raised Hawk Eye for counterfire.
This time targeting the leader's head, barrier bracelet be damned.
Pew-pew-pew!
Three shots cracked; the barrier finally shattered, blood bursting from the leader's shoulder.
'It breaks. But...'
Concentrated fire on one meant the rest would hive him down.
Dozens strong.
Armed with magitech rifles—their raw firepower matched his.
Even infinite ammo couldn't handle a straight fight against that number!
The longer it dragged, the worse for him.
Decision swift.
"Falcon! Let's bounce!"
No need for a head-on clash anyway.
He wheeled, remounting Falcon.
"Go, Falcon! Full speed!"
"Kreeeek!"
Falcon roared, sensing urgency, and hurled itself off the cliff.
A height that would've snapped a horse's legs—but Falcon absorbed the impact on sturdy limbs and bolted madly.
"Target's fleeing! Pursue! Don't let it escape!"
The Steel Hounds' leader bellowed, clutching his shoulder.
The iron hounds remounted and tore across the wasteland after their wounded prey.
Thus began the relentless dance between the hunter dragged from his perch and the hounds baying for his throat.
The wasteland stretched endlessly.
The breathless game of cat-and-mouse between pursuer and pursued dragged on for a full day and a half.
Jinwoo maximized Falcon's superior mobility.
Scaling sheer canyon walls or navigating tangled dry riverbeds to pull away.
But the Steel Hounds clung like shadows.
'Damn! Not a game anymore—they're sticking till the end.'
They anticipated his harshest paths, detouring to close gaps.
Jinwoo sniped back amid the chase.
Bang!
A leg shot unhorsed one rider.
But he mounted a comrade's steed; the column's pace never faltered.
Another snipe blocked by a barrier bracelet.
In that split-second re-aim, dozens of mana rounds answered.
'Hell, no end to them.'
Cold sweat trickled down his jaw.
Ammo infinite.
Stamina finite.
'Terrain's too open. Plains? They'll encircle me.'
Jinwoo shut his eyes briefly, unfolding the world's map etched in his mind.
Every road, shortcut.
Every hidden cave.
'Wait—near here. That marker. That rock!'
Familiar terrain sparked a name.
'Abandoned Atlas Ruins!'
No ties to main scenarios, meager rewards—only multi-run players bothered.
'Swarming with high-difficulty traps and monsters!'
His lips parched.
Hellish difficulty spot.
But the only place to render those trained hounds' tactics useless.
A cynical smirk curled Jinwoo's lips.
'Yeah, ordinary traps won't catch clever dogs like them.'
He tightened his grip on the reins.
"Falcon!"
Falcon twisted as if reading his will.
Toward ancient ruins buried in the wasteland's heart.
"Target's veering! East!"
"That's...a dead end?"
"He's cornered at last! Full throttle, all! We'll offer his head to the Federation today!"
The Steel Hounds' leader judged his prey desperate, heading to self-destruction.
The iron hounds unleashed their final reserves in all-out assault.
"Come on then, follow me!"
Jinwoo fired backward while fleeing hell-for-leather.