Defying Fate: The Bloody Battle of Yishuse (1)
Seo Jun turned his head and looked at Po Cheol. “Cheol~”
“Yes, Hyung-nim!”
Po Cheol, who had been standing quietly to the side while they discussed crafting items, stepped right up beside Seo Jun and answered.
“I have a request. Could you deliver this prosthetic leg to Mun Won at Daeseong Fortress in my place? The reason I made this prosthetic was for his mother to use, so it would be best if Mun Won presents it to her himself as a gift.”
Po Cheol had met Zhang Liao once while following Seo Jun, so they had exchanged greetings and were acquainted with each other.
The reason Seo Jun was making this request of Po Cheol now was not only for the reason he had stated, but because he knew that if Po Cheol learned he was heading to Yishuse, the younger man would insist on following despite knowing his life would be at risk.
If Po Cheol came along, Seo Jun would have to be cautious about using his hidden abilities, which would likely impose many restrictions on his movements.
“That’s right. Jun’s heart must be in turmoil, so it would be good for you to do as he asks, Cheol.”
Po Han, unaware of Seo Jun’s true feelings, worried for his nephew whose heart must be heavy over the matter of Seo Jeong and Seo Pyeong, and urged Po Cheol to handle the task instead.
“I’m counting on you, Cheol.”
“Hyung-nim, I’ll deliver it properly, so please take good care of your own heart.”
Po Cheol lacked a way with words and could not say much, but he briefly conveyed his concern for Seo Jun.
“I’ll take the armor just as it is. Thank you for making it so well.”
“Hyung-nim, I will definitely deliver the prosthetic leg to Mun Won tomorrow, so don’t worry.”
After exchanging farewells with Po Han’s family, Seo Jun left the smithy. Po Han followed him outside.
“Don’t do anything reckless. Knowing your personality as I do, my worries refuse to settle. You must stay quietly at home!!”
Although Seo Jun’s personality had changed somewhat of late, when Po Han thought of the nephew he had always known, he feared the young man might set out in search of even a corpse, and so tried once more to soothe his heart.
“Uncle, don’t worry.”
Seo Jun gave Po Han a smile and turned his steps toward home. He never once said he would not go. He left only the words not to worry.
Upon reaching home, Seo Jun maintained his weapons and prepared for departure.
Let’s slip away quietly at dawn tomorrow.
It was a distance that would take a full day of nonstop running. Arriving after such a forced march would only make it harder to carry out his plans with an exhausted body.
He intended to reach the vicinity of the fortress as quickly as possible, then observe the surroundings while taking a full day’s rest before entering.
“Huuu~”
He drew a deep breath and once again calmed the emotions that kept boiling up inside him.
They say a good man who snaps is terrifying. This one has snapped once, and it’s no joke at all.
Though he often acted on impulse without long deliberation, maintaining cold reason was the ability he had learned fastest during his mercenary days, the one that had played the greatest role in keeping him alive until now.
Even for Seo Jun, controlling the fury boiling within him was proving difficult.
The next day at dawn, Seo Jun finished his preparations and mounted Black Wind.
He looked back at the house once. It was a place he had to return to alive.
While Seo Jun stood outside, taking in the sight of his home, Seol Ryeon stood quietly inside the dark window, watching him depart with tears streaming down her face.
She had known he would leave like this. Her heart was full of the desire to stop him. Yet she also knew that the Seo Jun she knew would go there no matter what she said, so she could not show any sign of restraint. Instead, she chose to send him off with a light heart. That was why it hurt so much.
Please return safely without getting hurt. My husband.
On a hill overlooking Yishuse. Seo Jun woke from where he had hidden his body among the rocks and slept during the predawn hours when everyone else was still asleep.
There were still about two hours until daybreak—a time when the soldiers standing guard at the fortress would also be at their most relaxed.
Seo Jun used the darkness spread all around him to approach Yishuse little by little.
His plan was to infiltrate the fortress as stealthily as possible and quietly reduce the number of sleeping troops to the greatest extent he could.
He held no illusion that he could eliminate every soldier in the fortress this way, but it was a strategy designed to thin the enemy ranks as much as possible before the fighting began.
It was an idea drawn from the infiltration tactics of modern special forces.
As he drew near the fortress, he saw that the sentries atop the walls were not standing proper guard. Some leaned against the parapet, others squatted, all of them dozing.
When he reached the very base of the wall, the stench of rotting corpses slammed into his nose with shocking force.
Though the weather was still quite hot, the region was extremely dry. The corpses were desiccating as they rotted, which was likely the only reason the Qiang warriors could endure staying inside the fortress.
Seo Jun scanned the wall for a suitable climbing point.
The wall bore witness to how fierce the battle here had been. Blackened bloodstains covered its surface, and broken arrows still jutted from many spots. Large sections had crumbled, leaving the interior visible and the structure looking dangerously unstable.
Shashak shashak~
Stealth (F)
Huh?!
An unexpected skill had appeared. The activities he had accumulated through his righteous bandit operations must have reached a threshold and activated here.
After the message, his footsteps definitely felt lighter and the sound of his movement decreased.
He located a broken section of the wall that offered good handholds and footholds.
Shashak!
Seo Jun climbed onto the wall in silence and drew a dagger from his subspace.
His first targets were the two men standing watch in the nearby tower.
Once the stealth skill began to take effect, his movements grew even more silent and undetectable.
“Ugh~”
Thud!
Approaching the sentry, Seo Jun clamped a hand over the man’s mouth and drove the dagger straight into the gap between his neck and collarbone.
He dispatched the dozing soldier beside him in the exact same manner.
Having cleared one watchtower, Seo Jun gazed into the fortress interior and paused to consider his next move.
Five watchtowers remained. Four buildings appeared to house sleeping troops. In the open ground, where sleeping space must have run short, roughly twenty tents had been pitched.
Finally, corpses dressed in Han army uniforms were stacked in neat, mountainous piles across the open space.
Khuk!
Seo Jun barely suppressed the rage surging violently inside him.
Just endure a little longer. The time to unleash his fury without limit was almost here.
He formed his plan.
First, eliminate every watchtower. Attack only the tents in areas with weak vigilance. Block the building entrances with logs so the soldiers cannot easily emerge, then set them ablaze.
After that would come a desperate battle against whatever forces remained.
Seo Jun, one with the darkness, moved toward the next watchtower that held sentries.
Not a single Qiang warrior had yet detected his presence.
He cleared every watchtower, eliminated the five tents positioned outside the sentries’ lines of sight, and blocked the entrances of the buildings with logs so the occupants could not easily escape.
The basic preparations were complete.
Thinking he might need it, he had stored oil in his subspace. He now sprinkled it liberally around the buildings and tents.
Moments later, he seized one of the torches that had been lit to illuminate the fortress.
From his subspace he withdrew unlit torches one by one, transferred the flame, and hurled them toward the oil-soaked structures and tents.
Fwoooosh~
With all preparations finished, Seo Jun walked to the place where the Han soldiers’ corpses lay, drew his spear, and sat down on one of the logs.
“Fire!!!”
“There’s a fire!!! Everyone wake up, now!!!”
Chaos erupted inside the fortress.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Hey! This door won’t open!! Open it, quick!!!”
“The smoke is terrible!! Hurry and open it!!”
Smoke and flames had begun spreading inside the buildings as well. Urgent, desperate voices poured from the soldiers who had been sleeping within.
“It’s the enemy!!! Enemy attack!!”
“Check it immediately!”
Seo Jun rose from his seat and shouted to sow further confusion.
The fortress soldiers looked around in panic.
Tap tap tap!
“Hahap!!”
Swoosh!
Seo Jun cut down a soldier who was running toward the flames with a water jar in his hands.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Seo Jun’s spear began to flash in every direction, slicing through the light of the roaring flames.
Each time its tip touched a soldier’s body, one more life vanished.
The soldiers who had fallen into confusion at his first shout gradually realized there were not many enemies. They began to assess their surroundings.
A little more time passed. They finally understood that the only foe was Seo Jun himself and concentrated every attack on him.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang-clang!
The fires that had consumed the fortress were now extinguished. Only smoke rose into the air.
Through that smoke the sun climbed in the east, dyeing the fortress in shades of yellow.
The instant the darkness lifted and Seo Jun’s full appearance was revealed, the heated air inside the fortress turned ice-cold.
Seo Jun’s entire body was drenched in blood. Merely looking at him caused the thick, metallic stench of gore to assault the senses and threaten to overwhelm the mind.