SS1 1.2 – Infil

Like any other post town in the border to monster danger zone, Karmen was being built to stop monster flood that took place once every few years. This fortress town had population about eight thousand people. More than half of this number was border guards along with a few hundreds of monster hunter. That’s the general information I got from my tablet.

Then, as our Humvee approached the west gate Matt gave me another piece of information. “Every time we leave or enter the gate, the guard will register it.”

“All you have to do is letting them scan your face using their tablet,” Tim who sat in the back seat added.

“Roger,” I replied while my hands stayed on the wheel.

Then, as soon as our Humvee arrived in the gate, a pair of guard approached us from both side.

“Newcomer huh,” The guard who approach the Humvee from our left said as he looked at me.

“Yes,” I replied the guard with friendly tone. “A newcomer here.”

After a slight nod the guard used his tablet to scan my face, and then he tilted his head as he checked the result.

“E-rank Hunter Shimon Bergensen,” The guard said before turning his gaze to Matt. “For the last two years, Pukin’ Dogs never took new member. But now, you guys bring newcomer who have just arrived into a hunt. Why?”

“Well, it’s because he is cute,” Matt casually replied. “Like me.”

“That’s funny. Ha.Ha.Ha.Ha…” The guard then shook his head a few times before turning his gaze to Tim in the back seat. “So?”

“Berg has the potential and skill we need,” Tim calmly said. “We want to check it.”

“I see, and good luck with the hunt.”

“Yeah,” Tim lightly nodded while the guard stepped back.

Wasting no time I took the Humvee to pass the gate and entered a huge and wide plain. The road was unpaved, but it was dry, hard, and flat so the Humvee could traverse it with ease. Our formation was two roll-cage Humvees without windshield, three men each.

Each Humvee had two machine guns. M2HB mounted in the skeletal roof, and M249 mounted in front of passenger seat. I was in the lead Humvee with Matt and Tim, and because I had no access to use machine gun I took initiative to take the wheel. Meanwhile, Mike and the rest were in the second Humvee.

The RV for the mission was outskirt of Sherem Forest. It was about 8 km from the west gate of Karmen. And so, we arrived in no time. After climbing over a gentle slope, a grey Land Cruiser entered my field of view. It stood silently not far from the tree lines.

“That’s Leg Breaker. Verona in the right, Ceres in the middle, and Mikaela in the left,” Matt said as his gaze was fixed on three women who leaned their back on the grey Land Cruiser. “Do you still remember what Mike said in the briefing about those hunters?”

“They are B-rank hunters who easily got offended,” I calmly said. “Humble approach is vital when working with them.”

“Yeah. Let’s always maintain low profile.”

“Roger, but won’t they get offended because we are late?”

“No worry,” Tim casually said. “They call us on short notice because the team who should assist them can’t come in the last minute. It’s not our fault that they have to wait for us.”

“I see.”

Wasting no time I took the Humvee to approach the Land Cruiser. A moment later, the sight of female hunters we would work with became clearer. They wore khaki combat boots and tactical pants, along with ranger green combat T-shirt under a compact grey plate carrier. They had long sword on their back and short sword in their waist.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Most of all, even from distance I could see they were beautiful and overflowing with gracefulness. However, I tried my best to not get infatuated by their charming appearance.

Mike had warned me earlier. Those three loved to punish anyone who pissed them off by breaking their leg. So far, 14 hunters already became their victims. Therefore, as soon as we arrived before them and got off from our Humvee, I gladly maintain a position in the rear and tried my best to avoid attention.

“Hunter Ceres, Hunter Verona, and Hunter Mikaela,” Mike said while putting amicable smile in his face. “You look beautiful as ever.”

“Cut the chit chat,” The female hunter in the center, Ceres, said in flat tone. “The Minotaur pack is spotted making nest in the base of Arden ridge.”

“How many?”

“Four at the least, six at the most,” Ceres casually added. “If we manage to reach the nest, your team will use repeated short-burst to the head to kill the first two, or at least heavily wounded them. My team will do the rest.”

“Understood,” Mike firmly replied.

“Let’s get it done then.”

Wasting no time, we put our cars into Inventory and started our infil through Sherem Forest. It was steep hike through the woods. The formation was McKay and Sanchez in the lead. Mike stayed with Leg Breaker in the center. While I, Matt, and Tim secured the rear.

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The trees in Sherem Forest were not big, but they were very high and had lot of long branches with lush leaves. Therefore, sunlight couldn’t reach the forest floor. In a sense it’s a good thing. Without sunlight the forest floor became free of weed or scrub vegetation and easy to traverse. Other than the tree, I saw only dark green moss that grew on some rocks.

However, the dried leaves and twigs made it very hard for us to walk in silence. The combo of thick canopy and tons of dried leaves also made the forest humidity became very high. Sweats drenched me like a flood in no time.

Also, as everyone walked without speaking while vigilantly scanning their vector, and the birds on the tree branches were also just quietly perching, the eerie feeling I got from the dark forest only became stronger as time went on.

Worst of all, this was the first time I did a real operation inside a dense forest like this one. As the result, after only an hour since we started the hike I already became very jumpy. I even almost screamed when a black squirrel suddenly popped up from under a pile of dried leaves, and then climbed into a tree and caught the slowest bird among the flock.

Fortunately, before I lost my cool and did something stupid, we already arrived at our first stop. While everyone silently kneeled, Mike took me to crawl to an edge of a cliff.

“See that cave,” Mike whispered as he pointed his finger at a cave mouth in the base of ridgeline about 130 meters in front of us.

“Yeah,” I replied as I looked at the cave mouth and two goblins that guarded it.

“That’s the minotaur nest. From here, we have two routes we can use to approach it. One is a gentle slope about 200 meters in our left. It’s easy to traverse, but it doesn’t have enough cover for us to sneak in. Goblins that guard it will see us coming from far away.

The other one is steep slope through the woods about 50 meters in our right.” After a short pause Mike asked me, “Which routes do you think we should use?”

“The steep slope through the woods,” I calmly replied.

“I will choose the steep slope too.” After a short paused Mike added, “We will eliminate the sentry silently, and we definitely can’t let Ceres and her team participates in the fight.”

“Why we can’t let Ceres and her team participates in the sentry killing?” I curiously asked.

“Magic creates magic ripple,” Mike casually said. “When someone uses magic, mid-level monsters will notice it from a few kilometers away and they will flood us right away because magic user is their favorite food. If such even occur, we have to retreat right away.”

“What about the fight with the minotaur?” I curiously asked. “Don’t Ceres and her team have to use magic to fight them?”

“After reaching the cave, we can put magic barrier on its entrance. Then, Ceres and her team can fight using magic as much as they want.”

“Are you saying the cave wall can contain magic ripple?”

“Monster’s nest is not ordinary cave. It can contain magic ripple or explosion. It won’t even collapse from simultaneous detonation of hundred Mk.84 GP.”

“I see.” I took a deep breath before continuing, “In summary, we have to take Ceres and her team to reach the cave without letting them using their magic.”

Mike nodded. “Correct, and you will stay here with Tim to provide machine gun cover in case we have hot exfil.”

“Can I come all the way to the cave?”

“You can, but I can’t guarantee you will survive the fight,” Mike said in a drop dead serious tone. “And actually, you already show what we want to know from you. No need to take further risk.”

“Well,” I casually said. “If I die, then I die. I already avoid it once. It’s more than enough.”

“Understood.”

Mike then signaled Tim and Matt to set up their machine gun lookout while we provided security cover. The two did it swiftly and also planted Claymores to protect their rear and right flank. It was easy to tell they had done such task countless times. A moment later, Matt and Tim already settled themselves behind an M2HB while the rest of the team continued the approach.

*****