The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 461



Only Noblemtl

Episode 461

#461. Do I have to complain to write this?

Thomas, who was riding in the lead vehicle, instinctively put up a shield around the entire vehicle as soon as he felt something creepy under his feet.

The car flew into the air with a loud noise. The moment the car flipped over, gravity was manipulated to return it to its original state.

The moment the car hit the ground, the Eagles mercenary hunters riding in the car were thrown around on the seats and the floor because they weren’t wearing seat belts. The hunters in the backseat hit their heads on the ceiling and windows, and the hunter who was holding the steering wheel pulled out of the steering wheel in a daze.

Fortunately, the hunter’s head was unharmed, but the glass window was broken instead.

The occupants of the vehicle, which had spun 360 degrees in an instant, were left bewildered as to what had just happened.

Only Thomas remained calm and spoke calmly.

“enemy.”

At those words, the hunters grabbed their weapons and quickly kicked open the door, rushing out.

Thomas warned Hunter as he got out of the driver’s seat, using the steering wheel as a weapon.

“Be careful down there.”

“huh?”

Boom!

The hunter rose into the air once again and crashed to the ground.

“It’s going to explode.”

Thomas belatedly reported the results, unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the passenger door, and got out.

Several nearby vehicles were overturned and spewing smoke. Hunters were crawling out through broken windows.

The convoy came to a complete halt as the leader blocked the road.

Amid the acrid smoke, the hunters in the following vehicles got out and stood guard.

“My feet are tied. Isn’t this dangerous?”

As soon as Thomas finished his soliloquy, a series of ‘bang’ and ‘pop’ sounds were heard from afar, and soon something flew overhead, cutting through the wind.

“It’s a mortar!”

Thomas also raised his head and looked up at the sky along with someone’s shout.

“This is not the Hunter’s way.”

Thomas raises his hand. He draws a line from left to right.

The hunter next to him tried to grab him in a hurry, seeing him playing so leisurely.

“There will be a follow-up attack! First, prepare for defense… … .”

The hunter closed his mouth before he could finish his words. No, he couldn’t close his open mouth.

For a moment, his gaze was drawn to the sky.

The sky was splitting open. No, the sky was still the same, but the incoming shells were exploding in the air, spewing out flames that covered the sunset.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of shells set off fireworks.

The hunters were stunned by the spectacle. One of them muttered.

“Magic? Is this it?”

Magic that is activated without any warning.

I couldn’t even feel the flow of mana… … .

“What should we do, Captain?”

Thomas looked around. His eyes met with Kang Mu-hyeok’s, who was just getting out of the car. He waited for instructions.

Kang Mu-hyeok asked.

“Where is the enemy position?”

“3km out… Huh? Are you retreating now? Should I chase after you and catch you?”

“No. Thomas Hunter, stay where you are. We must also consider a diversionary operation.”

“You can just cut the bud.”

“Winning or losing is not the issue. If the sprout is the guard, it could become a big problem. For now, there is no major damage, so let’s handle it and retreat.”

As soon as Kang Mu-hyeok finished speaking, the Eagles shouted at the mercenaries.

“Hey, you heard me?! Turn the overturned car back the way it was and throw away the wrecked one! There’s a lot of space for rain, so split it up and ride! Move quickly!”

Alex, who was behind him, looked at Team Leader Hawk and said.

“Please be on guard.”

“Yes. 2nd party leader, send a search in the enemy direction. Don’t go far. 3rd party leader, be on guard on the opposite side.”

The hunters cleared out disabled vehicles and distributed supplies to the remaining vehicles.

While they were cleaning up the area, Alex approached Kang Moo-hyuk and said.

“Could it be the guards?”

“No, that’s not the way the guards work.”

The Eagles answered instead. Alex asked.

“Then can you guess where it is?”

“This is a mercenary tactic.”

“Are you a mercenary? A hunter? Or a regular combat soldier?”

Kang Moo-hyuk asked back. The Eagles pointed to the former.

“This is the Hunter Mercenary Corps.”

“Do Hunter mercenaries lay mines and fire mortars?”

“Yes. In Africa.”

Then Thomas walked over and showed interest.

“Aha, so that’s why you didn’t notice it? It’s an inanimate object with no traces of mana and no life signs, so it’s obvious you wouldn’t notice it unless you blatantly scanned it.”

“That’s right. As Thomas Hunter said, the Hunter’s basic detection skill is set to react to living things and mana. The mortar’s range exceeding 3km was probably an attack aimed from outside the detection skill range.”

According to the Eagles’ subsequent statement, in Africa, even if the opponent is a hunter, there are often cases of surprise attacks with gunpowder weapons.

Even if it didn’t deal much damage to the Hunter, the smoke and noise from the explosion caused confusion.

“The mine from earlier was one that produced more smoke than explosion. The mortar shells were probably ones that produced more smoke and noise. They were all special items made against hunters. It was clear that they were attacking us by surprise, hoping to shake us up.”

Kang Moo-hyuk was suspicious.

“Even so, I don’t think a hunter would be flustered by a gunpowder weapon, right?”

“Well, in my experience, it’s a more effective tactic than you might think. In Africa, attacks without mana are actually scarier.”

Kang Moo-hyuk immediately understood what the Eagles said.

“Bomb beetle.”

“And there are countless others, like Quadra Mantis and Flamethrower Cats.”

Most insect-type monsters, except for some evolved monsters, were difficult to sense mana.

Although mana does move when attacking, if the attack method has nothing to do with mana, it is difficult to detect even that.

Africa was a paradise for these insectoid monsters, and the mercenaries there were sensitive to surprise attacks that could not sense mana.

In particular, monsters like the bomb beetle and flamethrower centipede mentioned earlier can often be confused with gunpowder attacks because they can produce powerful firepower like a bomb with the liquid they produce inside their bodies.

“The monsters here have some peculiar characteristics.”

“I understand. So you’re not a guard.”

“Yes. Didn’t you see it in Meknes? They’re still pretty polite.”

Kang Moo-hyuk didn’t know if blockading a city was polite in some way, but he thought it was definitely more gentlemanly than enemies blatantly using bombs.

Thomas said with regret after hearing the Eagles’ explanation.

“I should have caught you since you weren’t a guard.”

“Thomas Hunter, can you still sense it? How far down is it?”

“It’s quite far. I could chase after it, but I’d have to get quite far away from here.”

Thomas, who had said so, approached carefully and whispered in Kang Mu-hyeok’s ear.

“There are a considerable number. I can catch them all, but when I think of Medusa’s head, I can’t do it with my current physical condition.”

Then he opened his shirt pocket and showed me what was inside.

Inside the pocket was a used laser syringe.

Kang Moo-hyuk noticed that it was an injection that suppressed mana addiction.

‘It’s probably not time to administer the injection yet… … .’

Thomas, who had been receiving treatment for a long time, had to take a long time on inhibitors. Kang Moo-hyuk managed his medication cycle.

At first, the injections were given daily, but as the condition improved, they were reduced to once a week.

This was adjusted to once every three days due to the aftereffects of preventing the gate explosion.

Kang Moo-hyuk knew that Thomas had last taken his medication at the Italian airport.

‘But in just one day?!’

He controlled his expression and apologized to Eagles and Alex.

“Just a moment, I have something to talk about.”

Kang Moo-hyuk took Thomas aside and asked.

“Since when?”

“There’s no need to say when. I didn’t feel good when I used magic a little while ago. I suppressed the boiling mana.”

“What do you think? Should I consider returning to Korea?”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Medusa’s head, but I can’t get out of it.”

“No. Regardless of the power, tell me. What is the situation?”

“If you have medicine, you can endure it. I have already reported it, but it is not something to be worried about.”

Thomas answered calmly.

Kang Moo-hyuk didn’t believe him. It was common for a hunter to say that he was fine and would continue with the mission.

Kang Moo-hyuk, who likes certain things, tried to read Thomas’ expression.

However, it was difficult for Kang Moo-hyuk to know his true intentions, perhaps due to the effects of mana addiction that made him insensitive to emotions.

Her hair, which was shiny despite being white, flowed smoothly.

Thomas placed a hand on Kang Moo-hyuk’s shoulder and nodded.

“it’s okay.”

Kang Moo-hyuk didn’t believe in the Hunter’s determination. So he had no choice but to make a rational judgment.

‘As Thomas Hunter said, the departure of the S-rank Hunters now brings about many variables. It is difficult to distinguish even the few, and it is impossible to guess what is in Medusa’s head.’

Ultimately, strategic judgment had to determine the attack force’s course of action.

“I’m sorry.”

“What is it?”

“It was my mistake. I should have considered Thomas Hunter’s condition. I must have unconsciously assumed that an S-rank was an iron man. Even though his mana addiction had not been completely cured.”

“When you’re so close to Master Joo Se-ah Gilma, you can’t help but think that way. Sometimes I feel that way when I’m training, but honestly, isn’t that person far from being human?”

“That’s true, but if I had paid more attention to detail, this mission would have been… … .”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. You weren’t planning on putting it off anyway. Time is of the essence.”

“… … .”

Thomas continued.

“Even if I felt strange in Italy, I would have followed this mission. The longer I delay in this, the more people will die. If I were to take care of myself first here, I wouldn’t be a Hunter. Like you, Commander.”

Thomas knew it too.

Although he didn’t show it on the outside, Kang Mu-hyeok wasn’t all that bad.

He had to take his medicine quite frequently because he had been out in the field several times where high concentrations of mana were swirling around.

In addition, the concentration of the injection has increased.

He would go out alone in places where no one was around to secretly inject himself and come back, but Thomas, who was always marking Kang Mu-hyeok with magic and guarding him, knew about this fact.

‘The Grand Duke praised this person as a Hunter, but in reality, he is an ordinary person. We must not overlook that. If an ordinary person takes a strong dose of mana addiction medicine, the pain will be considerable. Even ordinary people don’t die, so why should I, a Hunter, cry out in pain?’

Thomas gently tapped Kang Moo-hyuk on the shoulder again.

“You know. Even Master Ju Se-ah Gilma couldn’t catch me during training. Don’t worry. Even if the opponent is an S-rank or a Red Gate boss, they won’t be able to do anything to me.”