The Imperial Hunter

Two days had passed, and it was the third day at the mountain lodge located at an altitude of 2,700 meters.

Last night, one of the security guards had visited the lodge for an investigation. Since there was a saying that “the culprit will definitely return to the scene,” even we, who arrived just yesterday, were not excluded from suspicion.

We cooperated diligently with the security guard’s random investigation. Even if it was a forged license, it was properly registered in the database, and our movements could prove our innocence. Our official reason for the visit was a company team-building event.

After chatting with the security guard and exchanging information, it turned out that the county law enforcement authorities hadn’t even figured out if this was a simple disappearance case or not. Security guards in this rural area, with a population density of only four people per square kilometer, could only be so competent. They were elected officials chosen by votes to begin with.

The tired-looking security guard mentioned that they were expecting support from higher law enforcement authorities soon for the search. The county police would probably arrive within a few days, followed by the federal police.

We had breakfast, which consisted of grilled trout aged overnight in the refrigerator with mayonnaise sauce, fish mayo, salad, coffee, and egg sandwiches we had purchased in advance at the restaurant.

There was enough grilled trout for each person. We had spent the whole day yesterday investigating, and Kyung-tae had managed to receive one package of trout each time we went out.

In any case, Kyung-tae’s sociability helped.

“Shall we summarize?”

After finishing the meal and gathering around, I sat at the head of the table and made eye contact with my subordinates.

“The minimum number of confirmed missing persons is over thirty. We don’t know where they disappeared to, but at the moment, the forest and the lake are the most likely destinations.”

The existence of the frozen lake was another reason why the search was difficult, along with the thick fog in the forest. If you set up a fishing tent, used it to sink the bodies by poking holes in the ice, and waited for the ice to freeze again before taking down the tent, it would be a perfect crime.

Yesterday evening, I saw dozens of tents on the lake. They belonged to anglers who spent the night fishing.

Furthermore, the Poplar Cluster wasn’t the only forest in this area. With the fog and the proximity of the camping grounds and lodging facilities, it was just one of the most prominent places.

“Let’s assume that some kind of human hunting is going on here.”

I raised my index finger.

“First, as of now, there is no commonality among the victims. These are lives that wouldn’t be of any use to Round Table nobles. It’s also difficult to see this as a trap to lure me in. Why would hunters want to provoke the vigilance of their prey? …Tsk. Even though it’s disgusting, I’m still in the position of the hunted.”

I felt uncomfortable, but I was still the prey.

The fact that there was no commonality among the victims was confirmed not only through two days of investigation but also by tapping into the security guards’ radio communications. Different origins, ages, genders, relationships, and classes. Those nobles wouldn’t be able to come up with a reason to murder an entire family, including a six-year-old child on a family trip.

In the first place, trapping me, who possessed the “Eye of the Golden Age,” would be an almost impossible task. Unless they accurately predicted the state of the forest, there was no point in wasting effort on an empty possibility.

I extended another finger.

“The second point. considering the estimated timeline of each disappearance case and the results of our investigation, the unidentified group of murderers doesn’t seem to be that large. Even if we assume a conservative estimate, it’s likely less than half of our group and at most double our size.”

So, they didn’t pose a significant threat to me and my team, especially within this foggy forest.

“The third point is that the victims come from various states. This means that there’s a high probability that this case will eventually fall under federal police jurisdiction. If we delay, it will become troublesome.”

Until the search was officially closed, we probably wouldn’t be allowed to move around freely due to the need for crime scene preservation. It might be different if the vast forest were easy to control, but it was not.

“The fourth point is, as I mentioned before, this forest is one of the obstacles I have to overcome in collecting the fragments and clues of the new magic spell—let’s call it the “Code.” How many of those do you think who possess the Code will willingly reveal their secrets?”

Unless I saw it with my own eyes, there was no way for me to avoid this danger.

I folded my fingers.

“It will take at most one or two days. I need to understand the magic of this forest.”

And by laying the foundation of the circuits now, I could attempt further exploration when the forest’s abilities became stronger and more complex in the future. Having the key to the analysis, the magical potential of a single organism weighing 6,600 tons was incomparable to an ordinary forest.

‘It will probably become one of the best and worst labyrinths in the world in the future. In terms of scale, it will probably still lag behind places like the Amazon.’

Therefore, I was convinced that the knowledge I gained at this time would generate a snowball effect in the future.

“Any objections?”

No one among my subordinates spoke up in response to my question.

“Then we depart at 09:00.”

Except for the one team that would accompany me, the rest of the personnel were stationed on the outskirts of the forest. I had decided to place them there not only to avoid

wasting

them recklessly but also to call for reinforcements in case the situation became dire. It was a placement that considered securing an exit in case of a similar situation.

And at 09:30,

I crossed the fence and took the first step into the forest, where faint snowflakes were falling. I arranged the formation in a zigzag pattern with me in the center.

“Maintain this distance as much as possible, and even if you fall due to an irresistible force, return as quickly as possible. This is my advice to all of you.”

Even though they already knew this information, the four, including Kyung-tae, took my advice very seriously. Accepting the possibility of death was not something to be taken lightly, especially when facing death. Furthermore, if that end was one of the worst diseases, it was even more so.

Once we entered the fog, we no longer needed to hide our weapons. The subordinates dressed in alpine camouflage retrieved their guns from their bags and silently and swiftly assembled them. They were using Russian-made low-noise rifles called “Vikhr,” short and lightweight for easy carrying and concealment. The length, including the silencer, was similar to the Korean K-2 rifle. The only downside was that the ammunition was a bit scarce.

“Hyungim.”

“Yeah.”

I received the gun Kyung-tae handed me, pulled the trigger slowly, and then pushed it forward. I didn’t forget to push it one more time for a final check to ensure the chambered round was securely in place.

‘It’s warmer than outside.’

It seems the mist in the Poplar forest also served to retain warmth. It was similar to how the water inside a lake in the dead of winter was warmer than the outside. If the sole purpose was to retain moisture, a different form of magic would have manifested, as dense fog interfered with photosynthesis.

I had completed my preparation for exploration by wearing body armor and a ballistic helmet.

“Let’s move.”

I didn’t need to personally determine the basic exploration route. Using the satellite map of the forest, I had already set reference points by marking GPS coordinates. Connecting these points would create a path spiraling toward the center from the outside. These reference points would also be helpful in regrouping if we got scattered.

I only needed to speak up when a stop was necessary. Sometimes, I stopped to sketch circuit diagrams, memorize the flow of magic, and mentally draw an outline of the massive circuit, almost as if committing it to memory. This wasn’t as simple as copying and pasting code; it was far more complicated unless the magic was in a usable form. Currently, about 99.9% of the forest’s circuits were cluttered, which made it even more challenging.

Within the dense fog, my visibility was reduced to around 30 meters. Regardless of my eye’s capabilities, my brain couldn’t handle the flood of visual information.

Occasionally, I would change direction, wondering how much further we had to go. At the edge of that 30-meter visibility range, a very unpleasant symbol appeared.

“Stop.”

At my quiet command, the formation halted. I took a few steps forward and carefully examined the area around the symbol for any threatening elements, such as magical ambushes or traps. This might be possible only for Round Table’s elites, but there was no harm in being cautious.

Only after confirming safety two or three times did I speak up.

“Follow me.”

While deviating from the planned route for a moment, I took the lead. Here, the formation would be rearranged according to our pre-agreed-upon plan: two to the left rear and two to the right rear.

Kyung-tae discovered a hand sticking out of the snowfield and stared at it with a stiff expression.

“This is…”

“One of the missing persons, I assume.”

The corpse was not in normal condition. I walked around the circular symbol, using my boot to clear away the hard-packed snow around it, ensuring that my subordinates could see the rest of the corpse.

Inside a circle created by tearing apart a human body to make it elongated, there was a star drawn with blood. The star had an inverted shape, and outside the circle were seventy-two Latin characters resembling a star, written with blood. It was a symbol of devil worshipers who drew dark power from the Acausal Realm. Their belief itself was nonsense, but the problem was that the star inside the circle was not the seven-pointed star but the seven-star.

‘If it’s the seven-star, it’s the lineage of the British.’

Traditional devil worshipers used the inverted pentagram as their symbol because its shape resembled the head of a goat. However, followers of Satan rooted in England uniquely used the seven-star. This change occurred when the real mage, Grace, joined them, stealing the wisdom of the Round Table. Her followers were known as the Order of 7 Angles (O7A) because of this.

“Heh.”

Kyung-tae, who was at the perimeter, glanced at the dirty symbol. His amazed reaction was due to occasional education about potential hostile forces.

“Do you think those Satanists from the island came all the way here?”

“No.”

I shook my head.

“It’s too sloppy to think that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“The order of the characters is wrong.”

I referred to the 72 characters of Kabbalah (magnum nomen Domini Semenphoras licterarum), which express the name of God that I couldn’t dare to utter. Devil worshipers, who turn crosses and stars upside down, also write these characters in reverse order, as if it were obvious.

Would the real mages from the Witch Council make such a mistake?

That was impossible.

“It might be the work of the Yankee faction that received orders from their homeland.”

Despite the persistent tracking, hunting, and suppression efforts by the Round Table Cabinet, the new stream of devil worship created by Indian witches spread rapidly worldwide. However, such underground church-like expansion inevitably came with the loss and distortion of doctrine.

The symbol itself had no magical effect.

Kyung-tae glanced at it once more and furrowed his brow.

“The state of the body is quite… unusual.”

Indeed, the corpse wasn’t just torn apart; it was “unfolding” like plant roots. If blood vessels and capillaries penetrated the skin and branched out in all directions, it might look similar.

I said,

“It’s not a corpse.”

“What?”

“From a plant’s perspective, there might just be a nutrient clump here.”

“….”

Those torn apart might be due to human activity, while the pulling could be the forest’s doing. When pulling in moisture, other substances might have come along, and perhaps the root tips in the cold sensed their taste. Or maybe they caught a scent floating in the air

As evidence, the direction in which the remains were spreading and moving was tilted towards where surface and underground roots and stems were closer and more abundant.

Kyung-tae, who had been lost in thought for a moment, suddenly understood my point and grinned.

“So, it’s an environment where you can kill people without worrying about the body being discovered?”

“To some extent.”

“Sounds good, doesn’t it?”

What he meant by “good” was not only about the current moment but also the satisfaction of knowing that this environment could potentially kill people without concerns of bodies being discovered. Even if I were a skilled forensic scientist, it would be difficult to gather detailed information from a corpse damaged in this way.

However…

“No, it’s not all good.”

Kyung-tae, correcting my words, suddenly smiled and wore an ambiguous expression.

That’s right. Could it really be considered good?

In an environment where any action wouldn’t easily become known – or could be easily covered up – how many lunatics would emerge once real political and economic interests began to intertwine in this maze? Just given anonymity, Satan could possess anyone, whether they were humans or not.

Creatures in the green maze would reveal their true nature without shame, not even realizing they were at the bottom. Those people around me were more likely to be a hindrance than help.

Disclaimer:

This novel is a work of fiction! While it may incorporate elements inspired by our "real" historical world, including historical events, settings, and cultures, it is important to note that the story and characters are entirely products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real persons, living or deceased, or actual events is purely coincidental. This work should be enjoyed and interpreted as a work of fiction and not as a representation of historical facts or reality.

Also, if you find some error in translation please do let me know by tagging me (@_dawn24) in our Discord server. Since this series is kinda hard to translate. But I'll try my best to make it at least readable :)

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