The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

“W-what the hell?!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Magic! Watch out!”

The spell smashed into Malay, and chaos erupted.

It was no faint trick—the force was raw and visible even to the naked eye.

Some rushed to check on Malay’s condition, others scanned the surroundings… until all eyes turned on the proxy’s party.

“You bastards dare pull tricks on us?!”

“Calm yourselves. Why in the world would we start something?”

“Kill them!”

Just as I’d expected—they turned on each other.

The proxy’s people staggered, unprepared, as the Brotherhood thugs lunged.

Dududududu!

“Gaaahk!”

“Guhhhk!”

Gunfire ripped the air, dropping the first to rush in like chopped firewood.

“You’re shooting?! You bastards really fired?!”

“You misunderstand. This is self-defense. We told you—it wasn’t us.”

The soldiers roared, but the proxy was already regaining his composure. Clearly not his first time in a mess like this.

He ducked among his guards, speaking coldly:

“Their headcount is exactly what you see. That was magic—so it wasn’t us. It was someone else.”

His chin tipped up, scanning the rafters.

‘…Did he see us?’

The sunglasses hid his eyes, but it felt like his gaze brushed our perch.

A beat later, he turned back, smooth as ever.

“We’ll be leaving. The deal’s already done. You’re the ones being targeted—no reason for us to stick around.”

Their retreat was crisp, not sloppy. Guns never lowered from the Brotherhood until they were safely back in their cars and driving away.

「You’re just letting them go?」

“…No sense making more enemies.”

「Tch. Still feels dirty.」

“This is enough.”

Sharp, disciplined, and heavily armed. The chaos I’d counted on got stamped out quickly. Better to let them go than bleed for nothing.

“Eyes on the target. He might not be dead yet.”

Malay had taken the full brunt, but there wasn’t a drop of blood.

If he was only unconscious, this was our one chance to finish it.

“Still not done?!”

“Shit, what the hell were the sentries doing?! Sleeping up there?!”

“When this is over, you’re all corpses!”

The guards stayed clustered around him, unaware all their lookouts were already down. They were too fixated on protecting their boss.

「Hey—he’s still twitching!」

Malay’s fingers spasmed.

“Then stop talking and finish it.”

I pulled my pistol.

If he’d shrugged off a force spell, he was tougher than any normal man. Even Collad’s strike might fail. We had to end it here.

‘He can’t live through a bullet to the head.’

I lined up the sights, years of sheriff’s training bringing the trajectory into crystal clarity.

「Die, bastard!」

Shreeeeek!

Collad’s roar split the comms just as a gleaming harpoon fired like a rocket, slamming down toward Malay.

「Yes! Got hi—ugh!」

His cheer curdled into horror.

The harpoon never struck flesh.

It rammed straight through a guard—pulled in front like a shield.

Not loyalty. Malay himself had yanked him into place.

Even impaled, the man’s body was caught in Malay’s grip, the projectile’s power snuffed out like a candle.

His reflexes were monstrous—inhuman.

“…”

Bang!

I squeezed the trigger.

Ears rang from the blast, hand jarred by the recoil.

By sheer luck, no dud this time—the bullet tracked clean and true, burying itself in Malay’s temple.

Shuk!

His head snapped sideways, limbs jerking like a puppet.

Beside me, Lailla gasped.

“D-did we… did we get him?”

“….”

I lowered the gun.

Between Collad’s shot and my bullet, we’d made enough noise to expose our nest. Another round would be pointless.

Now was the time to flee—yet instead I stood, loosening my shoulders.

“…Crazy bastard.”

“Huh?”

The World Tree tensed, leaves standing sharp.

“He’s still alive.”

Grrrk.

Malay’s head twisted back, mechanical and broken.

Skin peeled away, revealing the gleam of metal beneath.

“Wh-what do we do now?!”

「Well, we’re screwed.」

「Assassination failed. I recommend immediate withdrawal.」

Their voices overlapped in my ear, loud and frantic.

“Quiet. All of you.”

「…」

“We knew failure was possible. That just means we switch to open combat.”

We couldn’t cut and run. Not now.

If assassination failed, then we’d kill him the old-fashioned way.

‘Even his skull’s plated? Bastard’s gone completely insane.’

They called him Iron Hammer. His whole body really was iron.

No wonder a clean kill was near impossible.

Maybe we should’ve brought lightning magic instead. Too late now.

“You okay, boss?”

“What the hell are you standing around for?! After them!”

The guards had spotted us at last, fumbling into pursuit.

At least we’d thinned their numbers. They weren’t monsters like Malay, but sheer numbers still counted.

“Stop.”

They froze—not at our guns, but his voice.

‘…What the hell.’

Their faces blanched as they turned to him.

“B-boss?”

“Filthy little rats… You dare ruin the deal I’ve waited so long for?”

His voice rolled low, deathly cold.

He slung an arm over the shoulders of the two men nearest him.

“Who the hell sent you rats?”

“W-we’ll find out right away, boss.”

“No. That’s not the right answer.”

“Eh?”

Crack!

Their stupid little question became their last words.

His grip crushed their skulls like melons, spraying blood and brain matter as his face twisted into a wrinkled mask of rage.

“I told you—not a single rat was to slip through. I gave you all that time, and on the very day of the deal, you let an ambush happen and don’t even know who did it? Useless bastards!”

His roar shook the factory walls, sending his men stumbling back in terror.

‘So the rumors were true. He kills his own when he’s mad.’

Criminals with rotten tempers were nothing new, but this was beyond belief.

For me, though, it made things easier. In the end, Malay himself was all I had to face.

「…I disagree with this course of action. This unit will disengage immediately.」

But division struck us, too.

I frowned at 21’s transmission.

“What the hell are you saying now?”

「This unit lacks combat ability. To die pointlessly would be inefficient.」

「Same for me.」

Even Collad, who’d been silent until now, spoke up.

「We can’t win against that monster. You realize what it means, right? Even his face is machine now. He’s closer to a killer robot than a man.」

“So he scares you, but I don’t?”

「At least you won’t die instantly.」

“Factor in Hatigg’s revenge, and your calculations change.”

「Then I’ll just have one more gang chasing me. Better than dying like a dog here.」

“Hey—HEY!”

Static drowned out the line. They’d cut comms.

Separate positions meant I couldn’t chase them down to argue.

「The World Tree condemns the betrayal with indignation.」

The fury was pointless now; they were already gone.

‘Pathetic cowards.’

Obedient when things went smooth, bolting the instant it soured.

It wasn’t even a formal Brotherhood job—just Hatigg’s private request. With no one holding them accountable, they put survival first.

That was why mercenaries paid big cuts to intermediaries—to prevent exactly this.

‘I should’ve expected it.’

From the start, we were a mess. My gut said I’d be better off alone—and it was right.

Even with the worst-case unfolding, I kept my calm.

I crushed the dead comms in my hand. Lailla looked up at me, her eyes wide with fear.

“Wh-what about me?”

“Can you still use magic?”

“I, uh… I spent everything on that last spell.”

“….”

A sigh escaped me. Hopeless.

“Then go.”

“I—I could at least try to help—”

“If you can’t cast, you’re dead weight.”

That was the nature of magi. Without mana, they were sacks of sand. Only battle-mages earned respect—they could fight and cast both.

“Th-then… please, be careful. Come back alive. I’ll be waiting.”

Timid, but at least she kept her decency as a human being.

She clenched a tiny fist, wishing me luck, then hurried off.

No help, no sudden surge of strength—but at least it didn’t anger me.

“Worthless trash. I’ll hire real ones when I get back.”

By then, the Brotherhood’s chaos had burned itself out.

Malay stood alone in the center of the factory.

“Looks like you’re alone too. Why didn’t you run when your friends did?”

Wiping blood from his face, he grinned up at me.

“Well, not that it matters. I’ll chase them to hell itself and tear them apart.”

“You’re not awake yet.”

“What the hell are you babbling?”

I spun the revolver’s cylinder.

“You’ll die here. How will you chase anyone like that?”

“…Kehahahaha!”

Malay burst out laughing.

“To think I’d meet someone crazier than me. Did you swap your own head for a machine, too?”

“No. I’ve no taste for hacking apart a sound body just to bolt junk on.”

“You poor fool. Machines outstrip flesh in every way. Stronger, freer. Why wouldn’t you replace it?”

“A machine-worshipper, huh. Figures.”

There were lunatics like that—driven past augmentation, chasing the dream of becoming machines themselves.

To replace even the skull meant he was far gone indeed.

The cost alone was immense. The pain of swapping out bone and muscle? Ordinary men couldn’t endure it.

“You’ll agree with me soon enough.”

Vrrrm!

Alien mechanical whines hummed from his limbs.

“When you’re a breath from death, you regret all the things you never tried.”

Thoom!

He kicked off the floor, shooting upward.

Synthetic muscles launched him high—two stories in a single bound.

Clang!

“Tch.”

I fired, right at his landing point.

But the bullet only nicked skin, skittering off the metal beneath.

“Kuhuh. Told you. Doesn’t work. Now tell me—who sent you?”

“You think I’d answer?”

My scorn earned a sickening crack as his fists clenched tight.

If those were machine, each swing was a sledgehammer. His nickname, Iron Hammer, fit perfectly.

“I’ll break you piece by piece till you talk.”

His punch tore down.

I dropped from the railing, hitting the ground floor just as his fist smashed through the catwalk.

Rrrrumble!

The floor collapsed, rubble crashing around me like a warning: this will be you.

“Fast as a rat, I’ll give you that. But how long can you keep running? Huh?”

His mocking laughter echoed above.

Infuriatingly smug—and with reason.

My bullets couldn’t pierce him, while even a single hit from him would be fatal.

He’d even culled his own men, staking everything on his belief he alone was enough.

Not many 80-series bosses could match such power.

‘Every dime he made went into his body.’

This was the nightmare I’d feared with Collad—overwhelming hardware stacked on weak flesh.

He’d poured the Brotherhood’s drug profits into his body until he was both fanatic and pragmatist.

“Everyone I meet lately just won’t shut up.”

But I wasn’t afraid. If I had no chance, I wouldn’t be here.

“You won’t even run.”

My will stirred the World Tree.

“Because before you try, you’ll already be caught.”

Its vines lashed down from the railings toward his body.

(End of Chapter)