A Dog at the End of a Hunt (2)

“Truly… Truly, you were going to try it in such condition?”

“I was.”

I was looking at the bastard who looked a bit confused.  The initial nervousness from being dragged out here was short lived as he began to nod and bombard with many words when he heard that we needed his advice on how to go about capturing the beast of the east.  Perhaps, he has been very anxious during the time that he has been neglected as he has passionately participated in the meeting.  Nonetheless, I was desperately restraining myself from wanting to crush the bastard’s head.

“Per…Perhaps, all would have perished, I think.  Even though I do not have a lot of experience, I do have exposure to many types of raids.  It may not seem obvious to you, but at one time, I was a member of the strategic beast hunting support team.”

“That’s welcoming.”

“Especially, I have always wanted to participate in attacking the beast of the east, but I never realized that I can be of any support in an indirect manner like this.”

As he was certainly an intelligent and underhanded person, it was also believable to hear that he had been with such a strategic support team, in the past.  Thinking over many things as I looked at him, he once again nodded his head and spoke.

“First of all, I think the organization seems to be alright, but… to be honest, it is only at the good enough level of hunting a midsized beast.  It wasn’t the command which is the problem, but… I think the concept is not being clearly understood…”

‘Son of a bitch.’

As he was pouring salt on the open wound like this, the urge to wanting to crush his head was growing even stronger.  On the outside, he was using the words like awesome, incredible as he became more enthusiastic, but these words that were often used caused my temper to stir up.

“It is not possible to hunt the beast of the east by using such an ordinary method.  By the way, do you realize how big that bastard is?”

“We know of it roughly.”

“Knowing it roughly is not good enough.  It is not an exaggeration to say that hunting the great beast is a numbers game.  The distance between the remote attackers and the bastard is critical.  It is important to maintain a distance, but never more than the necessary distance.  The priests must always maintain this nebulous distance in order to save the close proximity warriors.”

“The angle of the bastard is also important.  It was said that a skilled raid team can succeed the hunt even if they were inside the beast’s range.”

I truly must have learned the raid from the books.  He was much more professional than I thought.  It was as if I was studying.  It was a continuous simulation by analyzing the bastard’s size, attack range and angle, and other various types of information.  I have never realized that a large clan or guild would consume so much mental power in order to hunt a large beast.

As I nodded, he blabbered on with even more passion as if he was being encouraged.  I thought this guy was just unbelievable.

“It isn’t the bad commanding.  However, pre-synchronized movements are more important.  Every action must be prearranged.  A manual for when close proximity warriors are attacked, a manual for when the main force takes hit, a manual for when something goes awry, etc.  For the most part, the members of the guild who are participating in this raid adhere to these manuals.  If the close proximity warriors close the distance, the main force will maintain the maximum distance.  If the close proximity warriors create a separation, the main force will close the distance.  It is simple.”

Besides that, the bastard began to spew out many stories.  I nodded my head, and Jung Hayeon, who was called to be there separately, kept relaying the stories to Hakajin and Ragia by interpreting what was being said to the Green Skin language.

“You can never take the hunting of the great beast lightly.  Hunting the great beast is a science.”

Although I didn’t want to agree with what he was saying, he was correct.  The way in which the humans hunted has certainly been advanced.  The attack strategies that I’ve read so far have all seemed to have been useless, and were like jelly doughnuts without the jelly.  Although there were plausible descriptions and explanations, such stories were never found in the written materials.

What guild would want to reveal their knowhow, yet having diligently read the attack strategies, I couldn’t help but feel betrayed.  Furthermore, as there were other guilds who were selling papers on the attack strategies, the feeling of betrayal was growing bigger.  Lee Wan Yong’s explanation continued even after that.  Perhaps, it was because he wanted to be accepted this time around, it was incredible to see him explain things with so much passion, from revisiting the escape route to training.

It even made me think of designating him as one of the main founders, should we come to setting up a village at the end of the east.  That was how the evening had passed.

The training continued from the next day.  Instead of participating in the training, I, along with Lee Wan Yong and Hakajin, looked upon the green skins, in a distance, who were confronting the roots.    It didn’t appear too bad.  Certainly, accurate figures based on data were helpful.  Of course, there were differences between the roots and the beast of the east, and Lee Wan Yong’s position that it was easier to analyze the movements of the beast, because it was a beast, surely made sense.

In other words, Jung Hayeon’s roots did not have any prearranged movements.  On the contrary, the beast of the east did have prearranged movements.  It would turn its body when it was about to strike with its tail.   After turning the lower back, it would balance its body on one leg, followed by precisely turning its body before striking.

The case was also true when firing breaths.  It would take in a big breath after pulling its body backwards.  Chest ballooning up indicated the pattern for using breath, and as long as it did not turn its head, the breath attack would be directed forward in a straight line.  And as a matter of fact, breath was much easier to dodge than the tail whip which came in a circular pattern.