14: The Morning Star (4) Bang!
Bang!!
Each intermittent gunshot sent the enemy scrambling in confusion.
It wasn’t simply because they lacked training.
If anything, the more elite a unit was, the more inevitable this reaction became.
When ambushed, any competent officer would estimate the number of attackers based on the frequency of incoming fire.
“Judging by the intervals between shots, there can only be one enemy…
or at most a handful.” That conclusion was perfectly reasonable.
The problem was that, in this forest, the gunshots weren’t coming from just one direction.
A shot rang out in the east.
Bang!
By the time troops were redirected, nothing remained there except a few corpses.
As they hastily dispersed in confusion— Bang!
Another shot echoed from the west.
By now, the commanding officer’s thoughts were obvious.
“A small enemy force has split up to surround and funnel us.” A perfectly accurate assessment.
…If they weren’t facing the field commander of the Extermination Unit.
Click.
Feeling the forest air thick with tension, killing intent, and rage, Ivan slowly raised his pistol.
Ahead of him, three soldiers carrying torches scanned their surroundings.
Whether they were driven by fear or fury made little difference.
From a distance, the two looked exactly the same.
Ivan let out a slow breath.
Halfway.
He tightened his core and firmly locked his posture.
The front sight settled on his target.
He judged the distance and raised his aim by five graduations.
Everything flowed like water—a movement so practiced it had become instinct.
Three-tenths of a second.
His blue eyes remained wide open, rapidly scanning.
The spacing between the three soldiers.
Their differences in height.
The distance separating them.
When the calculations were complete, he centered the farthest man in his sights.
He fired.
Bang!
The instant the shot broke, he lowered the pistol and grabbed his axe.
There was no need to confirm the kill.
The enemy would do it for him.
“Damn it!
Inov’s down!” “Where are you?!
Show yourself, you bastard!!” Ivan sprinted across the treetops.
The torches they wildly swung around served as perfect target markers.
Lighting a fire inside a forest made one absurdly visible.
Of course, without torches the woods were so dark they could barely see anything at all.
But that wasn’t his problem.
They simply shouldn’t have chosen a night like this.
A nighttime assault was, fundamentally, incredibly difficult.
It demanded an exceptional commander and flawlessly trained troops.
Even such soldiers would hesitate before launching an operation in a foreign forest at night.
By the time the mission began, perhaps a third of them had already become separated.
Then their total force is around fifty.
Judging by how widely they’d dispersed and the size of each detached squad…
That sounded right.
Standing silently above a torch-bearing soldier, Ivan tightened his grip on the axe.
Then he brought it down.
CRAAASH!!
“AAAAAH!!” A coward.
The man struck by the axe hadn’t even managed to scream.
Still, they were well trained.
The instant Ivan appeared, another soldier raised his rifle.
Ivan lowered his body.
The man’s trembling finger tightened around the trigger.
There was no aiming process.
At this distance, it was meaningless.
Besides, the soldier wasn’t calm enough to aim anyway.
He had panicked.
He intended to fire first and think later.
Ivan couldn’t allow that.
“D-Die!!” Ignoring the shout, Ivan exploded forward.
Veins bulged across the soldier’s hand.
In that fleeting instant, Ivan had already reached him.
The axe swung.
His right shoulder and neck shattered simultaneously.
Literally shattered.
One devastating strike.
A twist of the body.
Another strike.
Then another.
Three swings of the axe landed within half a breath.
No one here would ever speak again.
“…Hoo.” Rolling his shoulders with a crack, Ivan sheathed the axe.
He picked up the rifle from the nameless soldier’s corpse.
Pointing it toward the sky, he tied a thin cord to the trigger and hooked it onto the tree beside it.
After placing the rifle securely back into the corpse’s arms, his work was finished.
Someone would come once they heard the gunshot.
The moment they touched the body, the loaded rifle would discharge.
Their headquarters would misjudge Ivan’s location.
The delay in battlefield reports reaching command.
The limited visibility of the dark forest.
The fear brought on by unfamiliar terrain.
Conflicting information.
The steadily shrinking number of allies.
The more capable the enemy…
The easier they were to deceive.
Running effortlessly through the treetops, Ivan frowned.
Because something about this was wrong.
Far too wrong.
The enemy was far too competent for what was supposed to be a tutorial.
Dian August was supposed to be an NPC who simply helped Isabelle through her tutorial before disappearing.
Ivan narrowed his eyes.
Without him…
Could Isabelle have escaped this forest alive?
Considering the enemy possessed ample firearms, highly trained troops, and competent leadership…
This was no longer a danger level that a girl barely twenty years old could overcome.
Why…?
Could it be that eliminating the enemy isn’t actually the tutorial’s clear condition?
Some games were like that.
Instead of defeating an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, the player learned the controls by fleeing.
But how?
And where?
Considering the remaining distance to Prizhenkaya, the odds of an inexperienced girl who couldn’t even navigate finding her way safely out of this forest were practically zero.
Even amid his confusion, Ivan never slowed.
There would be time to think after everything was over.
*** “Boss, we’ve lost another squad.
All three were hacked apart with an axe.” “…Good grief.” The man stroked his chin with a groan.
It felt like hunting a tiger.
The predator systematically strangled the group by picking off the weakest one at a time.
The solution was simple.
Concentrate the troops.
But he couldn’t.
His objective was the Hero’s daughter.
“Shouldn’t we gather everyone now…?” “Idiot.
Isn’t that exactly what the bastard out there wants?” The enemy was few in number.
Obviously.
If they had superior numbers, they wouldn’t bother with such troublesome tactics.
Suppose a tiny but highly elite strike team had scattered itself throughout the forest.
Bang!
Another shot.
This time from the west.
Then— Bang!
Another from the north.
The gunfire was steadily drawing closer to headquarters.
“He already knows where we are.” “…Sir?” “He already knows this is headquarters!
You fool!
Can’t you see that?” “Y-Yes…
I suppose…
but then why doesn’t he attack us directly?” Wouldn’t it be much easier to destroy headquarters first…and then hunt the confused soldiers afterward?
Why go through all this trouble?
Then— Bang!
Bang!
Two shots echoed from different directions.
A sudden realization flashed through the man’s mind.
“Give me your rifle.” “Sir?
Ah…
yes!” Snatching the rifle, he fired into the air.
Bang!
He stood frozen for a moment.
Then growled.
“Only one.” “But Boss, the directions of the shots—” “Damn that crafty bastard!!” CRACK!
He crushed the rifle in his hand.
“Those were our rifles!
He killed our men, then timed the shots himself!
It’s a trick even a child could pull off, and we overlooked it!” Throwing the broken rifle aside, he drew his sword.
“He fired the first shot just to observe our reaction.
To find out whether we possessed Line-of-Fire Detection.
We reacted too quickly.
Damn it!” Ordinary soldiers would instinctively dive for cover upon hearing gunfire.
Headquarters didn’t.
Their commander possessed Line-of-Fire Detection.
The moment the first shot rang out, he pinpointed its direction and dispatched pursuit squads.
That had been his fatal mistake.
“Why didn’t he attack headquarters immediately?
Because he either couldn’t beat me…
or he couldn’t afford to waste time.
Why else would men trained like that hesitate?” “B-Because…
he’s alone…” “Exactly!
Damn it all!
The gunshots were bait from the very beginning!
Gather everyone!
Damn…
I really didn’t want to face that Hero’s brat myself…” The scar across the man’s face twisted.
The Hero’s daughter.
Even if she’d inherited only half of the Hero’s strength…
The child of a monster was still a monster.
He remembered the Hero.
He remembered that absurd incarnation of overwhelming power.
No matter how young she was…
He couldn’t let his guard down.
Back then, the Hero himself had only been around thirty.
Rolling his shoulders, the man stepped forward.
“I’ll deal with the girl personally.
Gather the men and bring me the bastard hiding in the forest.” “Yes, Boss!” *** “So…
you’re the Hero’s daughter?” Standing beneath the moonlight, Isabelle stared directly at the man who emerged from the forest.
Behind her sat a group of frightened people huddled together.
Gathered around the campfire.
Shivering from the cold.
Watching her.
Isabelle slowly shook her head.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.
Forcing her heavy sword into a firmer grip.
“No.” She opened her eyes.
Moonlight dimly illuminated the clearing.
The man’s silhouette became clearer.
This was her first time fighting with her life on the line.
Her first time carrying the lives of others on her shoulders.
But that was all right.
Because this was right.
“I am the daughter of Maximilian and Marie.” Not the Hero’s daughter.
Simply the daughter of two people.
That was the meaning behind her words.
The man before her smiled broadly.
Horns rising from his head stretched toward the heavens.
A Vampire.
Isabelle swallowed.
This was her first time facing one.
“Excellent.” The man nodded and readjusted his sword.
“I am Eiphellos, formerly a Centurion of the 6th Seven Dragon Generals’ Imperial Guard Infantry Division.” “Isabelle.
Affiliated with Thyles.
A knight.” The night wind blew.
The conifer forest rustled.
Far away— Bang.
A distant gunshot echoed through the darkness.
The two charged toward each other.