Chapter 35
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Normalization of Corrupt Forces (4)
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Jinwoo lay prone between the rocks and cacti.
Hiding his body in the darkest shadow, he stared intently at the approaching cloud of dust.
Like a spider that had spun its web and was waiting patiently for prey to stumble in, Jinwoo waited.
'Quite a number. They brought a lot.'
A moment later, silhouettes began emerging one by one from the dust cloud.
The main force of the Cobra Gang, rushing over after spotting the signal flare.
Even at a rough estimate, there were easily over fifty of them.
All mounted on horses, they charged furiously before halting in the clearing littered with the bounty hunters' corpses.
"Damn it! We got played!"
"Search the area! They couldn't have gone far!"
The man who appeared to be the gang's leader bellowed.
'I killed Jackal, and it wasn't Barrett. Third-in-command, maybe?'
Jinwoo sized up the enemies while various thoughts ran through his mind.
Perhaps because he'd already dealt with the Steel Hounds first.
They didn't seem like much of a threat.
The only tricky part was the dwarf gatling gun at the rear.
"It even has a gun shield?"
He'd faced an enemy with a gatling before.
But unlike that time, this one was bigger, and it had a shield attached.
'Tough to take it out from range.'
Jinwoo quickly devised a strategy in his head.
In the meantime, the Cobra Gang members scoured the surroundings sharply.
"Find them! They couldn't have gone far!"
"Watch for snipers! If you hear bullets incoming, hose them down with the gatling!"
These self-proclaimed security officers believed Jinwoo was still nearby.
The gang spread out without dropping their guard, tracking any signs.
But the ground they stepped onto was none other than...
The entrance to the perfect hunting ground Jinwoo had prepared for them.
Jinwoo confirmed that his targets had entered the ideal hunting range just before they scattered.
'Now.'
He leaped onto Falcon's back.
"Let's go!"
"Kieeeek-!"
Falcon roared and launched itself into the air from the edge of the hill.
The moment the gang members below looked up in shock.
Jinwoo's vision was dyed blood-red.
Red Eye
Time slows. Crosshairs lock onto heads and hearts.
Time slowed to a crawl.
In that fleeting moment suspended in the red-tinted air.
Crosshairs appeared over the heads and hearts of every gang member below.
A perfect high-ground vantage.
To his eyes, they were nothing but dozens of scattered targets.
'Perfect. I'll send you all off in one go.'
The infinite ammo pistol in his hand began spewing fire.
Pssshwing!
The suppressed gunshots rang out in rapid succession, like the ominous buzzing of insects.
The bullets scattered from mid-air poured down on the gang members below like a rain of death.
"Argh!"
"Up there! In the sky!"
"No way!"
The gang members crumpled to the ground with bullets in their heads and chests before they could even comprehend what was happening.
In the mere few seconds it took Falcon to land.
Nearly twenty gang members had fallen, spraying blood.
"Half... half of them are down!"
"This can't be real!"
The instant Falcon touched down, Jinwoo leaped from the saddle and took cover behind a rock.
The survivors finally snapped to their senses and unleashed a frenzy of bullets toward the rock where Jinwoo had vanished.
'Good, take it easy. I'll wait until Red Eye's cooldown and stamina recover...'
Some who hadn't yet entered the canyon watched the nightmarish scene from afar, mouths agape.
"Impossible! How do you beat something like that?"
The first ambush was over.
Now it was time to clean up the remaining snakes.
Then the Cobra Gang's counterattack began.
"Get it together, you idiots! It's just one guy!"
The surviving leader roared in fury.
Jinwoo turned his gaze, sensing the boiling rage in his voice.
"Get the gatling out! Grind that rock to dust!"
No sooner had the order been given than several gang members hurriedly detached the gun case from their horse.
It was the dwarf gatling Jinwoo had noted earlier.
Its bundle of barrels gleamed wickedly under the sunlight.
A weapon bought with the villagers' hard-earned blood money and crystals!
One of the main sources of power for the gang ruling Twin Rocks.
'Doesn't matter. Red Eye will sweep them all...'
At the same time, the gang deployed their second countermeasure.
"Get that thing we brought out!"
"Yes, sir!"
Gang members pulled something from their pockets.
'Dynamite? No, that's...'
They were long but thicker and shorter sticks.
Striking matches to light them sent up plumes of white smoke.
Pssshwoooosh!
"Everyone, hide in the smoke!"
Jinwoo, tucked behind the rock, clicked his tongue.
'They're not idiots. Why can't it be easy for once?'
The gatling's gun shield was impervious even to Hawk Eye.
Jinwoo's ammo was infinite.
But facing off head-on against that heavy weapon—even one as tricky as this in Rising West—was folly.
'Sweeping the grunts first and then the gun case would be tough too.'
"Reload complete!"
"Spin it up!"
As the gang members cranked the handle, the barrels began spinning faster and faster.
A popping roar like frying beans erupted.
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
The gatling spat fire.
The massive rock shielding Jinwoo was shredded like it had been fed into a grinder.
Rock fragments flew everywhere, and dust clouded the view.
"Keep firing! Don't let him poke his head out!"
The leader had Jinwoo completely pinned with firepower.
Next came the encirclement.
"Close in before the smoke clears! Use more if needed!"
The remaining underlings flanked left and right without fear.
Silhouettes darted through the thick smoke, drawing closer.
'Using tactics, huh.'
The dense smoke prevented Red Eye from locking on.
Jinwoo abandoned his original plan without hesitation.
Smoke grenades and the gatling had blocked his usual tactics.
A sudden idea flashed in Jinwoo's mind.
'High risk, but I'll have to use that method!'
He needed to exploit the smoke's strengths—and its weaknesses.
'Time to move.'
After hosing everything down like that, they'd soon need to reload.
Seizing the momentary lull in the gatling's fire, Jinwoo burst from behind the rock.
He mounted Falcon, who had been crouched beside him, and spurred him forward.
"Go!"
Falcon kicked off the ground once more.
What happened next was unbelievable to the gang members' eyes.
"Th-that guy's charging straight at us!"
"Fire!"
The gang members swung their guns forward in alarm.
Falcon and Jinwoo plunged into the smoke like they were being sucked in.
"Kill him!"
"Where'd he go? I can't see!"
But it was too late by the time they pulled their triggers.
Jinwoo and Falcon had already vanished into the smoke.
Bang! Bang!
While they wasted bullets into the air, Jinwoo and Falcon tore through the smoke at full speed.
One target.
"The gatling!"
A cluster of gleaming barrels suddenly emerged from the haze.
Jinwoo's eyes met the shaky gazes of the gang members frantically reloading behind the gun shield.
He flashed them a brazen grin.
"Shoot! Blast him!"
Jinwoo drew his lasso instead of his pistol.
'Gotta use this!'
Red Eye
Crosshair locks onto optimal lasso target.
Over Jinwoo's blood-red gaze.
A crosshair pinned itself to the gun shield of the nearest gatling.
The perfect bumpy spot for hooking a lasso.
"Reload done!"
"Fire away!"
The lasso hurtled into the gunners' view as they yelled.
Whip!
The gunners felt utter bewilderment.
Jinwoo swiftly tied the lasso to his saddle and wheeled Falcon around the other side.
'What the hell is he planning with that?'
That was when, as one reflexively cranked the handle...
Something went wrong.
"Wha-what! It's being dragged!"
Kakakakang!
The gatling mount lurched violently, spinning off in a random direction.
The culprit: Jinwoo's Falcon!
The lassoed gatling was being yanked by Falcon's powerful legs.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
It fired wildly, spinning a full circle in place.
Of course, the bullets veered toward their own allies.
"Aaaagh!"
"St-stop firing! Cease fire!"
By the time the gunner released the handle in panic, it had completed a full 360.
"Hand it over, you bastard!"
Pssshing!
Jinwoo vaulted over the shield and shot the gunners.
He seized the handle for himself.
The smoke was beginning to clear.
As it dissipated, the gang members—flattened in terror by the gatling—came into view.
"Alright, let's have some fun with this."
Jinwoo half-straddled the mount.
One hand gripped the handle.
"Falcon! One more spin!"
"Kiek!"
His other hand raised the infinite ammo pistol.
Despair filled the gang members' eyes.
"Y-you demon!"
"Nooooo!"
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Pssshwing!
The gatling mount whirled around once more.
The pistol fired too.
Bullets sprayed in all directions!
What one might call a gatling tornado.
'This is a fight!'
Jinwoo reveled in the thrill, firing and firing again.
Clack! Clack!
By the time the dwarf gatling's chambers ran dry, emitting empty metallic clicks.
No one was left around Jinwoo.
A few stragglers limped away in retreat.
"Sp-spare me..."
"We have to report this..."
"Kiek...!"
Excited, Falcon flapped his short wings and lunged after them.
"Whoa, no."
"Kiik?"
Jinwoo yanked the reins.
'Gotta leave some survivors.'
Twin Rocks needed heralds to spread the terror.
And those stragglers were perfect for the job.
He silently watched their backs as they scattered like rats.
Three things remained in the canyon.
The dying gang members' pained groans.
The whinnies of riderless horses.
And the acrid stench rising from the corpses.
'Brutal. Even though I did it.'
Jinwoo rode Falcon down into the canyon.
'When those stragglers arrive, the security force will be in chaos.'
And they'd try to hide the defeat from the residents as much as possible.
Jinwoo selected the least battered horse.
He then bound the gang leader's corpse—whom he'd dealt with earlier—like luggage across the saddle with rope.
Just like he'd done with Jackal.
He didn't forget to pin a note with a dagger.
'Separate from the stragglers, I need a more public message. So other residents see it too.'
He slapped the horse's hindquarters hard.
"Hiiing!"
The startled horse instinctively bolted back toward Twin Rocks.
"Tell Barrett."
Jinwoo muttered after the receding horse.
"Next up is your head."
The board was perfectly set.
Barrett would see over half his main force wiped out—and his subordinate's corpse returned.
Terror would paralyze him, leaving him unable to make rational choices.
'Now just the head snake left to hunt.'
Satisfied that his plan was proceeding smoothly, Jinwoo mounted Falcon again.
The remaining key to this main quest was one.
'Inside the crystal mine's tunnels!'