Chapter 42: The Winter Mountains’ Working Environment is Special (2)
Chapter 42: The Winter Mountains’ Working Environment is Special (2)
The giant snow rabbits started to get flustered as they tried to evade the bullets that were raining on them from all sides.
Iron took advantage of this gap. He quickly rushed forward to the 3rd guard post to check on his men. He felt relieved when he saw that there were no casualties among his men.
Perhaps this lucky outcome was because the battle had just started but he knew that the situation would have been dire if he was later by just a second. He saw that the giant snow rabbits were rushing in quickly and with the skills of his men, they would have definitely been overwhelmed by their numbers if he and the troops from above did not arrive in time.
Ppiiiiiiiiii―
Iron quickly stepped foot on the 3rd guard post. His gun never stopped firing amidst the continuous loud ringing of the emergency horn. He kept on firing to help the others who were desperately fighting against the snow rabbits.
However, their bullets and bullet reserves started to get exhausted. Even the bullets that Iron had with him were disappearing quickly.
“Everyone! Prepare for close combat!”
The corporals quickly wielded their swords and spears after hearing Iron’s shouts.
All of the weapons that they carried had been processed with mana so they were weapons that could kill the monsters a bit easier compared to just firing magic bullets. Although the magic bullets were useful in battle for their long range, they were not efficient in terms of killing monsters. Magic bullets did not have enough penetrative power to dig through the monsters’ thick skin and mana strengthened bodies. Because of this, they were harder to use during battles like this. The giant snow rabbits were a prime example of this. Despite being hit by countless magic bullets, they were still able to jump up and run around to cause havoc. Because of this, rifles were only often used to keep the monsters in check.
“Private first classes, keep the giant snow rabbits in check with your rifles and make sure that they don’t get too close!”
Iron shouted loudly over the chaotic sounds of battle. The private first classes and the corporals understood what he wanted to do. They cocked their rifles up and immediately fired to block the snow rabbits from coming too close to the guard post.
Iron nodded his head when he saw that the soldiers immediately created a defensive circle around the guard post. He smiled in satisfaction when he saw Sean fighting fiercely and preventing casualties among their ranks. Perhaps, it was because Sean had been working hard so there were no casualties in their ranks.
Seeing that his men were fighting well, Iron lifted his sword as he pumped mana into his legs.
Dash!
Iron lightly kicked the ground as he dashed in front of a giant snow rabbit. He swung his sword down as soon as he approached a target. When his blue mana tainted sword fell down, the giant snow rabbit’s neck fell down together with it.
When he saw the scene of the giant snow rabbit dying with just one blow from Iron, Sergeant Sean’s pupil couldn’t help but tremble wildly. However, he quickly gathered his senses together. He was still in the middle of a fight so he turned and fought against the giant snow rabbit in front of him.
―Kyuung!
Even if the giant snow rabbit’s combat effectiveness had been lowered from the raining magic bullets, it was impossible to kill such a huge monster with just a single blow. This could only be possible if the person who did this had enough skills.
The giant snow rabbits had realized this fact. So to deal with Iron, the biggest one among them, the one that looked like it was the leader of the herd, stepped forward. The giant snow rabbit leader gathered strength on its huge hind legs and jumped towards Iron with overwhelming momentum. Seeing this scene, Iron immediately concentrated the mana on his sword.
Bang!
Gravity’s pull on its tremendous body increased the downward momentum of the giant snow rabbits. Its sharp claws gleamed brightly under the light. However, Iron was still able to receive its attack. His sword and its claws collided loudly in the air.
Shock waves burst forth from the point of collision between the young boy and the giant snow rabbit that was several times larger than any ordinary human being.
Based on common sense, the young boy should already be bloody after receiving the impact and being thrown away from the shockwave. However, the result was the complete opposite. Iron’s sword, which was made up of his compressed mana, not only blocked the giant snow rabbit’s attack, it even cut off its sharp claws.
The giant snow rabbit leader tried to pull away from Iron but it was already too late. Iron continued to dig through its gaps. He did not let up as if he was telling everyone around him that he would not let go of his prey once he already had it in his grasp.
In fact, snow rabbits were clever monsters. The leader thought that Iron’s sword was just a regular sword that was infused with mana. It did not expect that the sword of the young boy that fought against it was stronger and sharper than any of the other swords that it fought against before. Seeing this, all the giant snow rabbit could do was to try and pull away from Iron’s ensnarement.
‘The steel sword is sturdy and firm but this is quite a big surprise.’
Simply put, the steel sword was actually just a sword that had mana compressed to the limit. Iron was able to create an extreme mana sword by continuing to compress his mana into his sword. However, if one had just seen his sword for the first time, they would probably mistake it for a regular mana infused sword. There would also be cases where his opponents would fail to see through his sword and just assume that it was a simple sword. Just like the case right now where his sword was mistaken as a simple mana sword.
―Kyu… kyukyuung!
The giant snow rabbit leader was flustered. It kept on swinging its huge front foot to attack Iron but Iron easily evaded all of its attacks. He was even able to aim for the rabbit’s injured foot.
The giant snow rabbit felt annoyed when it saw that Iron was moving around nimbly with his small body, easily evading his attacks and attacking its body with his sword. The snow rabbit thought that Iron was like a small mouse scampering around and biting its body.
However, Iron’s attacks weren’t as significant as a mouse’s small bites. It was only then that the giant snow rabbit leader had realized that Iron’s attacks were completely incomparable to the officers that it had dealt with before. Iron’s mana sword was real and tangible.
The giant snow rabbit was not a greenhorn in this area. It was a veteran that had lived and survived in the harsh Winter Mountains for quite a long time. It had even dealt with quite a few talented people during its stay here in the mountains. However, this was the first time that it had felt such a tremendous sense of death.
The very first human that it had fought against was just a beginner. The human had only barely grasped the use of mana when it fought against him. Ever since then, it has fought with quite a lot of talented people. And the most dangerous among them was a human who had perfectly created a bluish mana sword, just like the small being in front of it right now.
However, that human’s sword did not have the sharpness that Iron’s sword had. It tried to avoid the stinging sharp sword that dug into its skin and bones in every strike but Iron was not a magnanimous person. No matter what the snow rabbit did, Iron did not let up.
―Kyung!
The sly and clever rabbit pretended to be flustered as it stepped back. Then, it immediately launched an attack against Iron.
However, Iron’s jjambap did not go anywhere. He could easily deal with the giant snow rabbit’s surprise attack head on. Iron even took this chance to cut off the injured leg completely. With its injured leg cut off, the snow rabbit staggered. This pause gave Iron the chance to slash its neck off and remove its head from its body.
Thud!
After Iron cut off its head, the gigantic body of the snow rabbit fell down on the ground.
― You have successfully overthrown the Winter Mountain’s Human Hunter. The giant snow rabbits will show fear in front of you in the future. You will be able to exert 150% of your power against snow rabbits.
― You have acquired the Title: Winter Mountains’ Hunter.
― This is a growth type title. The more you hunt monsters in Winter Mountains the stronger your ability will become.
― The ability of the Winter Mountains’ Hunter grants you a cold attribute mana. Hunting monsters in the Winter Mountains will strengthen your cold attribute mana.
― You have received the Title: Youngest Named Hunter.
― This is a growth type title. Your mana will increase exponentially whenever you hunt a named being.
― Due to the ‘youngest title’ the mana that you will receive whenever you hunt a named being is doubled.
Cold energy started to seep into Iron’s sword as soon as the numerous transparent windows appeared in front of Iron.
Thanks to the title effects, the cold energy that was escaping the giant snow rabbit’s body also started to seep through Iron’s body and sword. It wasn’t that long before his sword started emitting the same cold energy.
“Hoo… Cold attribute mana…”
Iron mumbled to himself before staring at the giant snow rabbits that stared at him wide-eyed.
He smiled broadly at the snow rabbits. The snow rabbits, that were difficult enemies earlier, had now become easy prey.
The soldiers began to shake and tremble on their places when they saw Iron smiling broadly as he started his crazy slaughter. They had been shocked when they saw him deal with the giant snow rabbit earlier but now they were trembling as they fought against their opponents. The soldiers couldn’t help but feel fear as they watched Iron smile while slaughtering the monsters in front of him.
However, despite his frightening figure, the soldiers felt infinitely relieved that he was on their side. This meant that they would remain safe as long as they stayed on the same side as Iron. Despite his slight mental problem(?), his fearsome strength in battle meant that he was someone worth trusting and following.
Because of this, the morale of the soldiers started to rise. Ignoring the fact that their fear against their direct superior was increasing, just the fact that they were winning against their enemies had boosted the soldiers’ morale. They even valiantly rushed forward and fought against the remaining giant snow rabbits.
On the other hand, the giant snow rabbits had lost their leader and experienced a gradual collapse in morale. The remaining ones quickly ran away under the sacrifice of most of their colleagues.
“Hoo… That’s pretty good?”
Iron smiled widely when he saw that he had accumulated quite a bit of cold attribute mana from his one-sided slaughter. He felt pleased when he finally received a satisfactory title after a long time.
However, the soldiers couldn’t help but flinch when they saw Iron’s pleasant smile as he made his way to the 3rd guard post. Their bodies reacted automatically when Iron, who acted like a crazy man earlier, approached them.
“Everyone worked hard. Except for those who will stand on guard in the 3rd guard post, everyone can now retreat and return.
“Yes, sir!”
All of the troops that gathered in the 3rd guard post retreated after hearing Iron’s orders.
Iron led the troops back to the outpost with the injured being supported by their contemporaries.
As soon as they arrived at the outpost, they saw several non-commissioned officers descending from drakes with the company commander.
“Is the battle over?”
Captain Franco, his direct superior, asked Iron anxiously.
“Lieutenant Iron Carter. The battle has ended safely. There were no casualties except for a few minor injuries here and there.”
“The monster?”
“They were giant snow rabbits. We did not encounter any big problems. Except for one of the snow rabbits. It led the herd and was quite tricky to deal with.”
Hearing Iron’s words, Captain Franco asked him incredulously.
“By any chance… was there a scar around the rabbit monster’s eyes?”
“There was. Did you know the monster?”
“That…”
“The corpses are over there. You can check it out for yourself.”
Captain Franco nodded heavily at Iron’s words before heading with the officers to check the monster’s corpse.
“Crazy shit. This is really the Human Hunter.”
“Ho… He hunted a named at that age?”
“This is shocking. Is the new outpost leader the rumored top graduate? Amazing.”
“Most definitely… It makes sense if he’s the top graduate but… didn’t the rumors say that his talents are crazy?”
Captain Franco, the other outpost leaders and the non-commissioned officers looked at Iron after they had checked the corpses.
“Although there weren’t any significant damages, there were still quite a lot of injuries. You should take a break from the mission for a while. The 5th and 6th outpost should stand on alert for a few days. 5th and 6th outpost leaders?”
“We’ll do that.”
“I understand.”
Just like that, it seemed like the 4th outpost was given a small break. But at that moment, Iron said something that no one had seen coming.
“Then, we will continue with the repair works.”
“Repair works?”
The soldiers’ expressions started to crumple and deflate one by one when they heard Iron’s words.
It was already annoying that he was talking about repair works right after they had finished a battle. But despite their unwillingness, the soldiers couldn’t help but explode deep inside when they heard Iron go against the company commander’s words as he insisted on continuing with the repair works.
“Hmmm… Will it be alright? Your troops look a bit tired…”
“I think it’s enough for them to rest for today.”
Captain Franco nodded at Iron’s words.
“Good. Tell me if you need anything and I’ll support you in any way I can.”
“Thank you.”
“From what I heard, the outpost leader almost came too late. But there were no casualties?”
Hearing the company commander’s words, Iron glanced at Sergeant Sean unexpectedly.
“I think it’s thanks to Sergeant Sean’s good command. They laid out bombs and kept the monsters in check with their rifles. Thanks to his good tactics, they were able to buy time until I got there.”
“Ah! Is that so?”
The company commander smiled when he heard Iron’s explanation.
“It seems like he applied the tactics of a student that was active in the academy. He successfully applied the tactics detailed by the top numbered student in the academy that had been spread to all the units in the Northeast. And it seemed to have worked effectively.”
“Ah…”
When Captain Franco said this with a smile on his face, Iron just bowed awkwardly without giving him a proper answer. Captain Franco couldn’t help but laugh. He found Iron’s current appearance to be interesting and funny as he patted him on the shoulder.