The Time-Limited Leader Makes the Raid a Success - Chapter 465



Only Noblemtl

Episode 465

#465. You’re crawling in on your own two feet.

Dark synchronization.

It was a skill that could be called Hyun Jeong-geon’s signature skill.

This skill was one that no one knew about until the time when Jang Joong-sun, the mastermind of the Sinuiju Incident, was assassinated and before facing Garuda in the Daehongdan Army in the Tuman River basin.

It was because everyone who saw the skill died.

Even Kang Mu-hyuk, who was with me on Titan, didn’t know.

In the past, Kang Moo-hyuk didn’t want Hyun Jeong-geon to run around the scene anymore because he realized that he was an assassin.

Titan, or more precisely, the assassination organization that Matthew Soo-Boo Gil-Ma raised under the name of the guild, was dismantled directly by Kang Mu-Hyeok, who was promoted to the position of strategy team leader at the time, by moving Gil-Ma.

Although he brought up the practical issue of having to focus all of the guild’s human and material resources on raids, his real intention was that he wanted Titan to focus more on hunters who deal with monsters rather than hunters who deal with people.

There may be a time when a Hunter who can deal with people will be needed, but at the time, the Titan was not yet at the point where he could worry about that.

So when Kang Moo-hyuk noticed that an assassin from the disbanded organization had disguised himself as part of the strategy team, he decided that he would never let this person out into the field.

At least until the smell of blood subsides, I plan to limit myself to desk work.

He hoped that Hyun Jeong-geon would use his newfound opportunity for something more valuable.

Because of that, Kang Moo-hyuk knew little about Hyun Jeong-geon’s assassination skills. He could only guess at his skills based on the information on the discarded assassin list.

‘I made him pick up a sword once when he killed Jang Joong-sun. And also in the Daehongdan. That was the first time I learned the skill he used when fighting Garuda.’

At that time, Kang Mu-hyeok had collected post-battle data from the hunters present at the scene, including Hunter Noh Song-rin, and had confirmed Hyun Jeong-geon’s combat ability.

According to Noh Song-rin, it was a type of skill that was called a ‘double-edged sword’.

‘Hyun Jeong-geon’s Hunter’s skill is the type that transforms his body to gain powerful damage and evasion. That type of skill isn’t very good for a Hunter either.’

That’s the reason why Hyun Jeong-geon wasn’t sent out to the field after joining Iron Will.

Unlike the Titan days when he tried to prevent bloodshed by not being able to escape the shackles of assassination, he managed Hyun Jeong-geon in his own way.

Unless Hyun Jeong-geon provides accurate information about the skill, he must stay away from the scene at the discretion of the team leader.

Even more so if it’s a skill that harms the body as expected.

‘But now I’ve figured it out to some extent. It’s a decent skill as long as you don’t use it for too long.’

I had at least some basic skill information from the interviews prior to going to Italy.

Skill duration is 190 seconds.

If you maintain the skill for about 3 minutes and then return to your original form, you won’t take much damage.

When dealing with Garuda, I failed to properly follow this and suffered greater damage.

Kang Moo-hyeok reflected on his failure to understand Hyun Jeong-geon’s abilities more closely.

But asking a hunter about his characteristics and skills wasn’t an easy task.

‘Even if they are a guild member, it is an unwritten rule in the industry to ask about the skills they learned before joining. It hinders the adoption of tactics in many ways, but it is understandable in a world where you never know when they will turn against you.’

In addition, Dark Synchronization was a skill that was attributed to Hyun Jeong-geon’s characteristics. It was more difficult to ask about the innate characteristics that are acquired during awakening than the skills that are learned later in life.

Even Joo Se Ah didn’t reveal her special information even to Kang Mu Hyuk, whom she trusted the most.

It wasn’t because I didn’t trust Kang Mu-hyeok, but because there was no guarantee that information wouldn’t leak out if something happened to him.

‘That’s right. I won’t spit out information through torture, but if I use my skills, I might leak confidential information without knowing it.’

Kang Moo-hyuk looked at the car in front of the Humvee he was riding in. Black smoke was leaking out through the gap in the open car door.

Beep.

He started the timer app on his smartphone. The numbers quickly went up.

“190 seconds. Let’s finish it within that. Hyun Jeong-geon Hunter.”

* * *

Ah, this is it. I feel like I’ve been split into hundreds of pieces. Even if I kill one, it feels like I’ve killed hundreds.

‘Well, I got too carried away. The captain will be angry.’

Hyun Jeong-geon became dark and covered the enemy. His form was distorted and he was no longer human.

The enemy was flustered by the unexpected and strange attack. He swung his sword with mana, but the intangible darkness was no match for the bluff-filled attack.

When the darkness that had scattered to avoid the attack gathered again, blood sprayed in all directions like fog.

The enemy was reduced to a pitiful mass of flesh, as if a human had been ground in a blender.

‘It’s hard to keep this up. It’ll be less of a burden if you quit.’

Hyun Jeong-geon instantly returned to his original form. Another enemy who had noticed him fired a wide-ranging shockwave.

Hyun Jeong-geon scattered again. Darkness had come and dug into the enemy’s shadow. Under the bright moonlight, the hunter saw his shadow double and slammed his weapon into the ground in shock.

The shadow flinched. The enemy thought he had landed a proper hit, but he was mistaken. The shadow was merely reflected in the Humvee’s headlights.

The shadow that emerged from behind the enemy’s back became a blanket of darkness and fell upon him, tearing him to pieces in an instant and losing his life.

The horrific scene was enough to make even the mercenaries who had seen all sorts of atrocities in Africa tremble. Not only the enemy, but even the friendly Eagles mercenaries frowned.

Because of that, the Eagles mercenary unit missed their chance to strike.

“Are you just looking for something?! I’m going crazy because I want to die!”

The mercenaries, who had come to their senses at the stinging blow of the Eagles, rushed out to the enemy. Fortunately, the enemy had also loosened their grip on their attacks.

Kang Moo-hyuk realized that his plan had gone wrong from the beginning.

‘What should I do?’

In fact, he didn’t have to worry, because he already had a card he could use separately.

Two of them, too.

“Why are you looking at me? I’m not going out. If something happens, there was an order from Gilma to protect the captain first.”

Mr. Joe responded, looking around cautiously.

One of the losses is because of Joo Seah.

Well, what about the other one?

‘Thomas is the best card, but it’s better to save it for now. Other missions take priority.’

Finding the leader of these enemies.

Even if we wiped them out here and now, if we didn’t catch the mastermind behind it, we would continue to be held back.

‘Besides, Thomas is already doing his best despite his poor condition. Considering this, there is no need to waste energy here.’

I didn’t want to force them into a situation where I didn’t know what dangers lay ahead, such as Medusa’s head, the Moroccan Royal Guard, etc.

This was a decision made because the disease called mana addiction has so few cases.

‘In particular, in the case of the Mana Addiction Hunter, there is no data at all except for Thomas. We don’t know what the limits are. It seems that the aftereffects of preventing the gate explosion before the full recovery were significant.’

So instead of combat, they were only given detection missions.

I didn’t want to add to the burden after already having put in the effort to stop the bomb and save people.

“There’s nothing we can do. We have no choice but to actively use the Federation Strike Team.”

Kang Moo-hyuk quickly figured out the situation and decided to change the order.

I have already figured out the Federation’s strike team tactics from the materials I reviewed as a commander.

He changed the radio frequency to the channel connected to Alex.

“This is Eagle One. New orders for Greece. Change formation to tail-catching tactics. I’ll leave the judgment to the field. That’s it.”

* * *

Alex, who received the order, was surprised in two ways.

One is that Kang Moo-hyuk knows the batting team’s tactics, and the other is that he uses a tail-catching formation at this point.

“Tail chasing here?”

To be honest, it was an order I didn’t understand.

‘Tail-catching is basically a tactic to chase and kill enemies who are based inside buildings or in complex urban terrain. This place is a maze of complex paths, but right now, they are surrounding you and attacking you from all sides. It doesn’t suit you here.’

Of course, Alex had mostly only fought in monster raids or individual battles, so he had never personally experienced the strike team’s field response manual.

However, since it was the commander’s order, he felt the need to relay the order to the field commander.

Hawk, the leader of the Greek team who received Kang Moo-hyuk’s order from Alex, opened his eyes wide and said.

“I think I know how it works. It’s not like it’s a situation that never existed before in the real world.”

He pushed back the attacking hunters and fell into the rear ranks. Alex, who had been at the front delivering orders, also fell back. Instead, Raven filled their empty spot.

Raven, who had transformed into a beast-like figure, or more precisely, a giant bear-like creature, struck down the Hunter who had tried to sneak in during the gap in the shift.

A thick bear paw slammed into Hunter’s shoulder. Hunter’s shoulder dangled as the joint was dislocated. It seemed that not only the bone was out of alignment, but also the flesh had been torn off.

The Hunter dropped his weapon because of that. Then the bear paw came down again. The Hunter blocked it with the shield on his other arm, but his forearm bone broke. The broken bone tore through the skin, but he did not scream and kicked.

The tip of his foot pierced Raven’s abdomen, but it didn’t cause much of a shock. Raven let out a ferocious gasp and this time extended his hidden claws and swung with all his might.

Boom!

Alex glanced at the enemy whose head was split into three pieces, then turned his attention away from Raven and asked Hawk.

“So you’re saying it’s possible?”

“Yes. It’s a method of creating a crack at one end and then destroying the enemy lines that surround them. You can go clockwise or counterclockwise. Of course, you have to hold out from the rear so that your tail doesn’t get caught.”

At Hawk’s words, Alex looked at Raven again.

A hunter with the rare druid trait among hunters.

Raven was one of the rare powers that could fill both the tank and damage dealer roles.

‘The Commander’s operation included Raven as well.’

The strike team didn’t really have any hunters that could be called tanks. Since most operations required speed, the party was made up of mainly dealers.

However, the order to use a strategy that would require holding out from the rear could only be seen as having Raven in mind.

‘You’ve already seen my profile, so you’ve probably already seen Raven’s profile and all the related materials.’

It hasn’t been that long since I became a commander, and I’ve already spent more time on Ironwill Guild work than on alliance work.

It was a great feat to have already checked and memorized all the relevant materials.

Alex said.

“Raven and I will take care of the rear. Team Leader Hawk, please prepare the strike team.”

* * *

Amidst shouts and screams from all directions.

Thomas was sitting cross-legged in his car, searching through the ruins.

There was no need to worry about the outside. The enemy and the allies’ powers were already known. The allies’ superiority was clear. In addition, with Kang Moo-hyeok’s appropriate response, the advantage was growing as time went by.

‘This may not be all.’

If the raid ends here, the enemy will be fools.

It’s like you’re rushing in without even knowing the power of this side.

But from what we’ve seen during roadside attacks, there were more enemies than there are now.

There will definitely be an attack from somewhere.

At that moment, something caught in Thomas’s field of vision, like a foreign object in his eye.

“Found it.”

At the same time, changes occurred outside the vehicle.

“They’re running away!”

The enemies who had surprised us were scattering in all directions.

Thomas found their retreat awkward.

On the surface, it seemed like the Federation’s tail-catching operation had succeeded and the battle situation had turned against them, but as he sensed a new enemy, he began to suspect that this was a deception operation.

Fortunately, the friendly hunters did not fall for it.

Kang Mu-hyeok’s order came through the walkie-talkie, and the hunters stopped their pursuit.

Only then could Thomas move without worry. He opened the car door, stepped outside, and looked down the road they had just driven.

“You’re crawling in on your own two feet.”

Not knowing if this is a place to die.

A murderous glint flashed in Thomas’ eyes.