Analysis
A trebuchet was never meant to move. To hurl a projectile of crushing weight, it had to stay rooted to the ground — that much was essential. It hadn't been classified as a siege weapon requiring lengthy setup for nothing.
And yet the thing the Fishermen had hauled onto the battlefield, though shaped like a trebuchet, was operating as a close-combat weapon.
Seven meters at the shoulder, with the hulking mass to match. It came with the drawback that several Fishermen had to remain clinging to it at all times, but the threat it delivered more than made up for that weakness.
KWAAANG!
It hit hard enough to stagger even an ogre in a single blow. The attack itself was remarkably simple: it surged forward, swinging a massive stone orb in multiple directions — as though some enormous invisible thing were maneuvering the trebuchet, the orb swept about with uncanny, natural fluidity.
CRACK!
The first swing whiffed, but the second caught a sub-adult ogre square in the skull. With a dull, wet crunch, the ogre's head caved in and it collapsed face-first onto the ground.
One hit. You could have justifiably called the thing an ogre-killer.
"That thing's damage is insane. There are Gifts like that out there?"
"Mine exists, so why wouldn't that one?"
"Isn't that a bit overpowered? Looks way too good. An ogre in one hit..."
"It's not overpowered. Look at the crew hanging off it. You think they're just clinging there for fun?"
"...?"
"What do you mean by that part?"
"There are conditions to pulling it out and operating it. Gifts like that exist. Or it could be a Milestone Trait acquired through the Gift. Either way, yeah, it's got devastating power — but it's awkward to use."
"Well, I suppose you couldn't exactly use it against other survivors."
Jeon Hye-ji's remark.
"Hye-ji's right. Run into a survivor out on the Field someday — who's going to stand around waiting while you deploy that thing?"
"So it's useless unless you're a Fisherman?"
"Plus, it looks like it lands those hits easy, but the veterans up front are making the shots for them. That's the real trick of it."
No matter how devastating a single blow, it meant nothing if it never connected. And the Fishermen putting on this show knew exactly how to make it land.
"Hye-ji."
"...?"
Won-goo called to her in an uncharacteristically quiet voice. His voice was never soft — on a battlefield it usually rang out like a war drum. Suddenly speaking in a hush could only mean he had something to say to her alone.
"Run another check on those Fishermen later."
"Yes, sir. I'll find out who's holding that Gift."
"Good."
Hye-ji had no ability to identify Gifts. As the owner of an information-type Gift, she could only gauge danger and trustworthiness. The reason he'd asked her to look anyway was that her observational skills had grown remarkably sharp. Her Gift made watching people an absolute necessity, and along the way she'd developed a knack for reading a target's habits and tells.
Won-goo then shot Lee Hyun-sung a hand signal. It meant: the others move in now. They were outnumbered against the monster horde, so a piecemeal deployment was inevitable. Committing troops gradually while numerically inferior was normally a recipe for being picked off one by one — but everyone gathered here was an Enhanced Survivor. They were leagues beyond the monsters assembled over there, which was exactly why they could afford to feed themselves into the fight in waves.
The survivors poured in at blistering speed and flattened the trash mobs. By the time they'd swept through, the Fishermen had already put down another sub-adult ogre.
Even if the ogre's head wasn't its strongest point, in this situation anyone could figure out where a trebuchet needed to hit. The adult ogre kept trying to attack it — and kept failing, because the Fishermen were deftly splitting its attention. Kettle's performance in particular was spectacular. Tightrope-walking at the edge of its reach, he baited its aggro flawlessly.
"It's out!"
At the mouth of the cave where the ogres had first emerged, something ominous stirred — a creature as large as an ogre, but shaped like nothing of the kind.
"Jin-seon! It's out — analyze it, fast."
Info brokers were usually deployed before a raid began, but on rare occasions they joined the assault itself, and this was precisely such a case. When pre-gathered intelligence left the analysis incomplete, meeting the target face-to-face was the only way forward. Up close, an info broker could learn far more.
The moment the Arctic Giant appeared, the Yang sisters and the other brokers zeroed in on it. Vincent especially scrambled to sketch the thing onto paper, line by racing line. Meanwhile Won-goo slipped on A-One's Tinted Glasses and tracked the Arctic Giant's every movement.
The creature radiated overwhelming presence as it directed its minions. Then it stretched out an open palm. Clearly about to cast something.
Right on cue, the glasses' vision showed a blizzard suddenly whipping up around it — a howling whiteout dense enough to swallow the entire field of view.
But Won-goo didn't so much as flinch. Survivors weren't fools; in this world, the slow-witted didn't survive. No one who'd clawed their way to survival would charge into an Arctic Giant's domain without anticipating its abilities. Even if the sizable contingent of info brokers had failed to identify the power in advance, they'd prepared for it regardless. An ice-type ability — a blizzard fell squarely within the predicted range. Which was why Won-goo, the de facto control tower, reacted with remarkable speed.
"Pass the signal, now! Blizzard incoming!"
"Yes, Hyeong-nim!"
The crew receiving the signal moved fast. Flash! A wide-area barrier unfolded across the battlefield, exactly as the prearranged signal dictated.
As a rule, the wider a barrier stretched, the weaker it became — which was why broad deployments were rare. Even with this many survivors mobilized, the battlefield's expanse was far beyond ordinary. Covering everyone was no small feat; spread too thin, the barrier would shatter at a touch, unable to do its job at all.
But this barrier hadn't been raised to block the enemy's attacks. It existed to cut off the blizzard now swallowing the field — nothing more. The prediction landed true, and the storm of staggering force slammed to a halt precisely along the barrier's boundary line, unable to blind the allies' sight.
That alone was enough. The Arctic Giant's opening move had been blunted. And the second solution chained straight off it: the moment the barrier went up, the casters among the survivors sprinted forward to its leading edge, ready to patch or restore the wide-area barrier the instant it cracked. Not all of them had drilled with Won-goo before, but they moved swiftly, exactly as scripted.
"Director!"
In the meantime, Yang Jin-seon scrambled up onto The Trailer, a small notebook crammed with scribbles in hand.
"Analysis done?"
"Yes. It's an Arctic Giant, but with demon blood mixed in. So your call was right, Director."
"That doesn't matter. The strategy — give it to me."
"Its position is summoner. Being a Giant, it'll have the base specs of one, but it won't be all that strong personally."
"So we take its head before it summons more or gets a spell off. That it?"
"Yes. Long story short, that's exactly it."
"Anything else? Anything to watch for?"
"We have to hit it fast. Its real strength lies in the minions it summons. It'll probably be trying to call something above ogre-class next."
"Right. That's why it broke out the blizzard — to buy time."
"Most likely."
"Okay, got it. Radio in the moment anything else important comes up. Understood?"
"Be careful. It hasn't even finished a proper summon yet."
"Doesn't matter. We go in. Got a better option? You never give a summoner or a mage time to work. That's just common sense."
Even as he spoke, Won-goo was signaling the crew. All of them were already aboard The Trailer — Hye-ji on the roof included. Jin-seon leapt down, and The Trailer surged forward. Won-goo climbed down inside.
"First good intel we've had in a while. That thing's a summoner — so no, it's not the worst-case scenario we dreaded. But no getting careless. Base specs say Giant. Summoner or not, a Giant is a Giant — one clean hit and it goes down for good. So don't overshoot. Run the plan."
"Director Won-goo. And me? Should I put on the mask? Or at least get a patch?"
"You stay in that wheelchair for now. That scythe you were carrying earlier worked well enough."
Oblivious to the ferocious struggle unfolding around it, The Trailer drove dead straight across the field. The other crew, held in reserve, moved as well, though not as fast. These were survivors who kept every conceivable means of transport stowed — but generally never deployed them mid-battle. They'd shatter too easily, and they couldn't weave through a proper battlefield anyway. Measured against that, The Trailer's mobility bordered on outright cheating.
KREEEEAGH!
The Trailer tore a straight line through the battlefield in one breathless sprint, and the moment it closed on the Fishermen's engagement zone, the adult ogre shrieked. It didn't crumple in one hit like its sub-adult kin — but it dropped to its knees all the same. And knees on the ground meant an opening, plain as day, to the hyena-like Fishermen. Veterans never let an opening slip. They swarmed as one and tore the ogre apart. The instant The Trailer streaked past the trebuchet, the ogre's massive bulk pitched forward.
FWWEEEING!
Then The Trailer slammed into overdrive, punching past the toppling ogre a heartbeat before it hit the ground with a bone-rattling WHUMP.
"That timing was perfect."
"They held up their end, so we'll have to pay out a bonus."
"They only did what was owed. Is that the part where a bonus is required?"
"Again! Again! How many times do I have to tell you not to be such a cheapskate? Us old-timers get bonuses for work we never even do!"
Mu Beob-sa's face flushed crimson at once.
"Is this the part where you claim I skipped my duties?!"
"Honestly. Is that the part where you have no shame?"
"About the promi—"
Mu Beob-sa drew breath to roar again, but the crew was already moving faster. Won-goo had given the signal. We're here. And the sounds rolling off the battlefield were building toward a crescendo.
Naturally. The deal was that while Won-goo's crew went for the Arctic Giant's throat, everyone else did whatever it took to lighten the load. If the others were pawns sacrificing themselves to carve an opening, Won-goo's crew was the rook charging to take the king's head.
The path had opened, and they'd arrived in one breath. At that very instant, the Arctic Giant finished its incantation.
SHHRRAAAK!
Ice golems erupted from the ground in the blink of an eye. At roughly two meters tall, they were no particularly dangerous tier of ice golem. But their sheer numbers made them a threat regardless — though even this fell within the expected range.
The crew responded instantly. POW! POW! A golem's strength was its monstrous durability. Its raw power was considerable too, but not enough to threaten survivors with coin enhancements behind them. Ice golems were simply rated a tier below stone golems or iron golems — their durability, by definition, came up short against their kin. And golems scaled with size, while these stood barely two meters. Golems that size could never stop Won-goo's crew. If anything, they were the perfect meal for Rafael.
"Cheol-soo!"
"Yes, Director!"
"That thing's starting its next summon — pull out Dulla and charge. While we clear the golems, make absolutely sure nothing interrupts that summon except us. Understand?"
"Understood!"
Having issued the order, Won-goo turned to Hye-ji next.
"Hye-ji. Don't hesitate — pull. It'll have contingencies ready."
Barely had the words left his mouth before Jeon Hye-ji squeezed the trigger. The two-meter ice golems couldn't hope to screen the towering Arctic Giant behind them — and with a target that enormous, it was a sniper's dream. Hye-ji held her breath, aiming for the brow of the chanting creature.
TA-ANG!
The bullet buried itself in the Arctic Giant's skull without a hair of deviation. Its eyes went wide as saucers — and locked with Hye-ji's. A strange, crushing pressure washed over her. Then, as though time itself had frozen, the ice golems stopped mid-motion.
"What? It didn't even bother laying down one of the standard barriers?"
"Looks like it's going down? Is that it? Done in one shot?"
The Arctic Giant's movements died, and it seemed to slough away, sliding toward the ground. But just as its knees came halfway to the earth, the bullet wound in its brow sealed itself over. It rose again and squared its stance.
And the ice golems began to move once more.