The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

“I know the identities of all the Public Security Bureau’s security officers. I didn’t know there would be a talent who could find us without being a security officer.”

The one who stepped forward from the group was an old man with deep wrinkles on his face.

The identities of the Public Security Bureau’s security officers were a known fact to those in the know.

Since they were the public face of the Public Security Bureau, whose very existence broke the enemy’s morale, no effort was made to hide their information.

They were the antithesis of the city government’s agents, whose every aspect was shrouded in a veil.

“Moreover, I was confident that the spell would work even against them. Your innate magical aptitude doesn’t seem to be great, so what trick did you use?”

Indeed, his experience was not to be ignored, as his gaze was grave, unlike the others.

“Is that really important at this point?”

“Of course, it’s important. We might have to add another variable to our grand plan.”

“Then let’s just exchange questions one by one.”

I also had things I needed to hear from them.

“What is your purpose?”

“Wouldn’t a terrorist organization usually be like this? We desire the chaos of the city.”

“Why?”

“That’s two questions, but I’ll answer them specially.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“This city is wrong.”

The old man began with a provocative phrase.

“The ruling class is only focused on their own safety and power, and only oppresses the lower class at the bottom of society. Capital does not flow from top to bottom, but merely stagnates. We will correct this. Through uncontrollable chaos.”

His voice was calm, but the strange heat mixed in it was more intense than a loud shout.

‘He has a talent that would have succeeded if he had become a public speaker.’

Since he had joined a terrorist organization, I suppose he had found a job that utilized his talents.

To justify antisocial behavior and persuade others, such a person was necessary.

However, I let it go in one ear and out the other.

“It seems to be a pre-prepared propaganda slogan. The way you’re talking as if you were waiting for it is quite natural.”

“Of course. The more people who join our cause, the stronger we will be.”

I scoffed at the word he used.

“You talk about a great cause while using innocent people as scapegoats?”

“It is the sacrifice of the few for the many. Through it, we have revealed the truth that the city government does not care for the public, so they must have been fulfilled as they died.”

“You’re just talking to suit yourself. Who in this city doesn’t know about the contradictions of the city government?”

They take exploitation for granted for the sake of development and only value the intentions of the successful.

This was a fact that could be known just by living in this city for a few days, without even needing to read the game’s setting book.

The people of this world were just uncivilized, not stupid.

Did they really carry out terrorism just to inform the public of that?

“You might as well say you failed while targeting a city government official. Wouldn’t there be at least some room for consideration then?”

“……You!”

As if I had hit a nerve, the old man’s face instantly turned red.

Unable to overcome his anger, the rhythm of him pounding his staff was irregular, as if expressing his fiery temper.

‘Terrorist organizations are all so predictable.’

They profess a great cause, but in the end, they are selfish people focused on their own greed.

I had been swayed by their persuasion once or twice.

While working as a security officer for the Public Security Bureau, I had heard their sweet talk until my ears bled.

The conclusion I had reached through experience was that there was not a single thing worth listening to.

‘I’m starting to get a grasp of it.’

Their identity, their purpose, and their future actions.

There was a faint memory that came to mind.

“……Now it is my turn to ask a question.”

“Go ahead.”

The old man, who had barely swallowed his anger, said.

“How did you escape the influence of the barrier?”

“You’re quite curious.”

“Answer me.”

His obsession was intense.

I focused on the staves they held and their scholarly disposition, which was unbecoming of terrorists.

Should I try to provoke them?

“It’s my constitution.”

“Constitution…?”

The old man had a look of disbelief.

「The World Tree is proud.」

I hadn’t said anything wrong.

Since it was the resistance of the World Tree, it was fine to call it my constitution.

“Are you saying that my trump card, which made a fool of the Public Security Bureau, was neutralized by such a ridiculous prank…”

“If it was neutralized by such a prank, then your talent must be just that.”

“……!”

The old man, unable to endure my continuous provocations, finally lost his temper and took action.

Woooong!

With a strange vibrating sound, I felt a heavy pressure weighing down on my shoulders.

It was a surprise attack.

The old man grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth.

Having felt the impact, he must be expecting me to collapse helplessly.

But if I hadn’t been prepared, I wouldn’t have shown myself so confidently.

Ting!

It was a sound that probably only I and the old man heard.

Then, I felt a piece of wood from my pocket break and get absorbed into my skin.

The Totem of Protection.

It was a measure I had arranged to neutralize an enemy’s surprise attack, a move I believed in.

“Ahem.”

The old man pursed his lips to erase his smile, as if trying to feign ignorance.

I pretended not to notice either.

Thanks to that, I had found out important information.

‘As expected, he was a mage.’

The crushing of the empty air that had momentarily pressed down on my body was clearly a physical-type magic.

All of them were mages.

Perhaps they were in a master-disciple relationship.

The succession of magic was not the exclusive property of mages belonging to the Mage Tower.

Of course, the strictness of the relationship would be even greater than that of the Mage Tower.

If he truly cared for his disciples, he wouldn’t have recommended they work for a terrorist organization.

‘Mages have strong pride.’

Appearing leisurely after breaking through the barrier he had put his heart and soul into and provoking him must have hurt his pride.

The more we talked, the more I realized they were a group of people far from any great cause, so I couldn’t even laugh.

“I guess your trick to buy time is over now?”

“……What nonsense is that.”

“It would be stupid not to notice that you’re dragging out the conversation, going along with my intention to exchange questions.”

Kindness should only be shown to those who deserve it.

He was only curious about my method of breaking through his barrier, and he would have dragged out the time just the same no matter what question I asked.

“It seems my appearance was quite a surprise. The way you’re fidgeting and hastily preparing your magic is so obvious it’s almost embarrassing to pretend not to notice.” Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on novel·fıre·net

“……You bastards!”

The old man hastily looked at his disciples’ faces and let out an angry voice.

No matter how much he acted composed with his experience, his inexperienced disciples could not reach the same level.

Their profuse sweating and tense complexions made their intentions plain to see.

The reason I had been pretending not to see this was because I also had a plan.

Tatatat!

Rapid fire.

The moment I drew my gun from its holster and aimed by feel, the M2 Maximum took care of the correction.

Five bullets pierced their foreheads in the blink of an eye.

“Keuk, you’re not a security officer of the Public Security Bureau, are you?”

The old man, like me, had a means to block a surprise attack.

The bullet stopped in front of the old man’s forehead, as if buried in a soft barrier, and floated there.

It was probably a defensive magic that applied a physical-type force field.

“But if this is all you believe in, then this is the end.”

The old man’s disciples were also using the same magic.

The bullets could not penetrate their skulls.

“Is that so?”

I asked a meaningful question to the eerily smiling old man.

Unlike their master, the old man, the disciples could not defend perfectly.

The bullets pierced the force field and stuck to their foreheads.

It meant that their means of protecting their bodies had disappeared.

Kwa-deuk!

“Kraaaaaaah!”

“Wh-what is this!”

“Aaaah!”

Rapid growth through spirits.

The plants that had germinated after crushing the bullet casings grew as if time had been fast-forwarded and bound their entire bodies.

The carnivorous plants, which had become even stronger with Nature Affinity, ate people instead of insects.

When the trapping leaves that grew at the end of the slender stems tore their entire bodies apart, they screamed and collapsed.

“One person to talk will be enough.”

It was a cell system anyway.

The information that the small fry would have shared was scarce.

On the other hand, a high-level resource like a mage was more than qualified to know the core of the organization.

It was more convenient to get rid of the small fry other than the old man first.

“I look forward to hearing many stories.”

If I just relied on the inspections and the security officers, I would just be dragged along by their intentions.

A lot depended on capturing the old man alive.

***

The old man did not make the rookie mistake of being shocked and losing his mind at the annihilation of his disciples.

Although anger spread across his face, his gaze was sharper than a well-honed blade.

Puk!

I took out a cartridge from my pocket and jabbed it into my thigh.

The concentrate quickly circulated through my veins, and a great vitality filled my entire muscles.

「Synchronization in progress!」

On top of that, I didn’t let my guard down and even activated the Guardian Hawk’s ability.

The moment I kicked off the ground hard with the soles of my feet, my body retreated to a distant building.

Kugugugung!

And along that path, the road was crushed in a straight line, as if a giant’s fist had struck down.

The fragments of the road, finely broken, flew in all directions.

In that scene, I witnessed an artificial distortion, as if a heat haze was rising.

‘The force field that blocked the bullet, and this… is he a mage specializing in the physical type?’

Unlike black mages, ordinary mages are weak in combat.

This was especially true for mages outside the Mage Tower who had learned magic by rule of thumb.

However, the old man’s magic was swift and powerful.

So much so that I had to dope with medicine and activate synchronization to safely evade it.

‘He’s using an expensive staff.’

For a street mage, a staff is a useful tool that reduces the inevitable gap with a mage belonging to the Mage Tower.

If you threw enough money at it, you could even display a performance several levels above your own.

“Are you trying to run away! It’s useless!”

Thump!

When the old man struck the ground with his staff, a wave of blue mana rippled and dug into the ground.

The mana, which drew a circle around the old man and the five fallen disciples, formed a shape of overlapping complex figures.

It was the trump card they had prepared while buying time.

However, considering its scale, it was not a magic circle that the old man could activate alone.

The old man borrowed the power of a tool again.

“Hmph!”

The old man took out a cartridge, put the mouthpiece to his lips, and sucked in hard.

The vaporized smoke billowed out, covering the old man’s face.

In an instant, the amount of mana emitted from the old man exploded.

‘Doping?’

“Kh-heh-heh.”

Blood spurted from the skin of the old man’s face, unable to handle the enlarged flow of mana.

If there were such side effects immediately after doping, how much would there be after the doping ended?

However, the effect was worth enduring the side effects, as the magic activated immediately.

Woooong!

It felt like gravity had increased several times.

My knees felt heavy, and my shoulders were stiff.

This was with my physical abilities enhanced through doping and synchronization.

An ordinary person would have been crushed to the floor like a squashed frog.

“This was originally a magic to bring down a skyscraper, but it can’t be helped. Killing you here will be a bigger blow to the Public Security Bureau!”

The surrounding buildings caught in the range of the force field screamed with a creaking sound.

It was the noise of steel frames twisting.

The buildings, which had begun to be compressed from the rooftop to the floor, slowly collapsed, creating a scene of the end of the world.

“You’re mistaken about one thing. I’m not a member of the Public Security Bureau.”

If I died, it would only be my loss.

The Public Security Bureau would not even mourn and would pass by indifferently.

So, it was solely my responsibility to overcome this situation.

The Trap Totem.

Jureureuk!

The totem I had planted in the ground seeped into the interior as if melting, turning the floor into a mire.

“Ugh!”

The old man lost his balance on the changing ground and tilted precariously.

It was the effect of a totem based on mangroves, not thorn bushes.

Since a mage was not a profession that fought by moving their body directly, it was not a trick just to break his balance.

“Damn it!”

The shape of the magic circle distorted along with the crumbling floor.

Since the old man’s capabilities were not low, it was a level that could be fixed quickly, but in a battle where even a single breath could be fatal, there was no time for that.

I kicked off the mire and ran.

The giant roots that intermittently surfaced were the breathing roots of the mangroves led by the World Tree.

Its roots had enough mass to support a person.

On the other hand, the old man, who could not control it, could not right himself and hastily fired magic randomly.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The roots were crushed, splattering sap, and a heavy noise deafened my ears.

Even though it was magic unleashed in a hurry, its power was outstanding.

However, for physical-type magic, a precise target point was important.

The old man’s gaze could not follow my movements, and his calculations could not control the changed environment.

The moment the distance was closed, the mage’s capabilities plummeted.

As if sensing the end, the old man’s complexion turned deathly pale.

(End of Chapter)