Chapter 25
Chapter 25
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: The Battle of Mount Emei (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning.
“This isn’t working!”
I gathered the officers and roared.
The moment I arrived on Mount Emei, my fate had become intertwined with theirs.
Now, whether I lived or died, defending this mountain was my only path to survival.
To do that, the current defensive strategy wouldn't cut it.
We needed a more efficient and safer plan to protect this place.
*Flutter.*
Crudely drawn pictures and text filled the sheets of paper I had pasted together.
It was a presentation I’d stayed up all night making.
Seemingly intrigued by the new method, one of the officers, an eyepatch covering one eye, asked.
“What is that?”
“It’s a visual aid to help explain our strategy and tactics.”
“The map and explanations together make it easy to follow.”
“Thank you.”
“But tell me.”
The officer who had asked the question spoke again.
The distrust filling his one good eye reminded me of that paranoid king from the old tales, hunting for demons.
“Just who in the world are you to be commanding us?”
He was right.
This was the barbaric world of the martial arts.
To gain the right to command, one needed either adequate strength or status.
There was no way they would listen to a mere squad leader from the Outer Hall.
Especially not when the warriors before me belonged to the main fortress's Eight Halls, who were treated like royalty within the Nine Dragons Fortress.
However, I was no longer the Jin Mujeon of the past.
I was the rising star of the Nine Dragons Fortress, the man they called the Fighting Dragon.
“Hmph. If you’re curious about my identity, it’s only right that I introduce myself.”
“We don’t have time, so just give us your name.”
Good grief, what a buzzkill.
“I am Jin Mujeon, Leader of the Seventeenth Squad of the Outer Hall. It’s a bit embarrassing, but my comrades in the martial world have taken to calling me the Fighting Dragon.”
“The Fighting Dragon? I’ve never heard of you. How dare a nameless squad leader from the Outer Hall presume to speak of command?”
As one man scoffed, the surrounding officers began to complain.
“What? I heard he broke through the siege and thought he was someone important.”
“Hmph, I could have been sleeping this whole time.”
Seeing as they were unaware of my fame, which echoed throughout the main fortress, it seemed the news hadn't reached this far yet.
‘This isn’t how it was supposed to go…’
But in this frustrating situation, a savior appeared.
“Everyone, let’s hear him out. He is one of the few talents I acknowledge.”
It was Wi Ji-pung.
With his single sentence, the officers’ opinions did a complete one-eighty.
“Hah, a talent acknowledged by the great Black Dragon Sword… Why is such a person in the Outer Hall?”
“If the Black Dragon Sword says so, there must be a reason.”
“Indeed, indeed. Let’s hear what he has to say.”
Their behavior stung my pride, but what could I do? I just had to get through this presentation.
I made a mental note to focus on viral marketing in the future and began.
“This is the current defensive line of the Mount Emei branch. As you can see, there is only one staircase leading up to the branch, and you are defending it in shifts. At a glance, it seems efficient, but at this rate, there’s a high chance we won’t be able to hold out until the vanguard arrives.”
My sharp critique silenced the officers.
They knew it too, more or less.
They knew this method would only delay the inevitable, that they would eventually be pushed back.
The proof was that the defensive line had already been driven back thirty *jang*.
“So, this is the strategy I’ve devised.”
*Flutter.*
I turned to the next page and spoke.
“Sparta. It’s called the Sparta strategy.”
I was inspired by the movie *300*.
***
*Waaaaah!*
They swarmed up the staircase, which was over ten feet wide.
And just like every other time, arrows rained down from the enemy’s rear.
“Everyone, prepare for arrows!”
At the defending officer’s shout, the entire defensive unit raised large wooden shields toward the sky.
Incidentally, this officer was the same one-eyed man who had challenged me yesterday. He had been assigned to the most dangerous position.
Of course, I wasn't the one who assigned him.
It was just the dark, corrupted Mujeon somewhere inside me that put him there.
*Thwack. Thud.*
These were shields made from nearly all the doors in the branch the night before.
Since we had chosen only the sturdiest doors, none of the enemy’s arrows managed to pierce through.
“Charge!”
Once the arrows were blocked, the enemy began their charge.
“Brace for impact! Everyone, shout!”
The one-eyed officer yelled, and the defenders roared as they reformed their ranks.
“Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!”
*Thump. Thump. Thump.*
The first rank of defenders planted their large shields in front of them.
The second rank held their shields toward the sky, preparing for another potential volley of arrows.
They left small gaps between the shields, creating enough room to brandish their weapons at any moment.
And then came the clash.
*Crack. Crash.*
The enemies swung their weapons with abandon, but they were not trained in martial arts.
No matter how hard they swung, they couldn't break the shields.
The officer of the defensive unit did not miss this opening.
“Thrust!”
*Stab! Stab! Stab!*
“Gah.”
“Kugh!”
Through the gaps in the shields, spears, sabers, and swords stabbed out, tearing through the enemy’s bodies.
The road, the site of the battle, was instantly filled with blood and screams.
“Keep holding!”
“Awoo!”
And so the melee began.
The enemy continued to swing their weapons, and the defenders blocked them with their shields.
It might not have seemed much different from the previous day, but there was, in fact, a massive difference.
‘They can conserve their stamina and internal energy.’
All martial artists fundamentally used internal energy to enhance their physical abilities.
It was this fact that had inspired my suggestion of using shields.
By using shields to block the enemy's attacks, the defenders could conserve their internal energy and fight more efficiently.
The same went for their attacks.
They merely jabbed at the enemy through the gaps, not actively engaging, which saved a great deal of stamina.
It took longer to deal with the enemies, but there was a solution for that too.
“Now!”
At my shout, five elite warriors who had been on standby started running.
Maintaining their speed, they leaped off the shields held by the second rank and landed right in the middle of the enemy formation.
*Slash!*
And so the slaughter began.
With the sudden assault from elite warriors they’d been saving, the enemy panicked and began to fall.
As the situation turned against them, arrows once again flew from the enemy's rear.
It seemed they intended to sacrifice their own men to reduce our numbers, just like yesterday.
But we weren't foolish enough to fall for the same strategy twice.
I had already told the assault team to pull back immediately after their first strike.
Thanks to that, the arrows missed the assault team by a hair's breadth, sacrificing only their own allies in vain.
“Brother Wi!”
“Right!”
If the pattern was the same as yesterday, it wouldn't end here.
It was time for the warriors of the Southern Heaven Palace to make their move.
Sure enough.
“Kill them all!”
Uniquely dressed warriors wielding all sorts of weapons rushed forward, throwing and swinging them at our defenders.
Their attacks had enough power to shatter our makeshift wooden shields in an instant.
But watching them, I couldn't help but smirk.
The defenders holding the shields were also warriors of the Nine Dragons Fortress.
If they unleashed their true martial prowess, they could easily block such attacks.
That was why they had been conserving their stamina and internal energy.
Instantly dropping their shields, the defenders parried the attacks from the Southern Heaven Palace.
*Crash. Clang.*
Just as the sounds of clashing weapons and impacts filled the air.
*Thud. Thud.*
Wi Ji-pung and I charged into the enemy ranks.
“Hello.”
One of the enemies, who seemed to recognize my face, panicked and threw his weapon at me.
“Careful now.”
But my hand reached his chest first.
*Pow!*
“Gaaack.”
Struck by my punch, he spat blood and staggered back.
It was a straight punch I’d learned in Taekwondo back in my past life.
To think that the Taekwondo I learned in the army, just to get a vacation pass, would be useful even now. Learning truly is a wonderful thing.
Wi Ji-pung was with me as well.
*Swish!*
Wi Ji-pung’s sword moved at a dizzying speed, cutting down the enemies.
Watching him execute his impossibly sharp sword forms, I had a thought.
If I'm coffee, he's a double shot of espresso.
In an instant, the enemies at the front were reduced to bloody messes and collapsed.
“Kill them!”
Was his name Jin U-ryang?
I heard the voice of the man from yesterday.
Weapons rained down from all directions.
That wasn't all.
Having learned from yesterday's failure, hidden weapons flew from the rear, aimed at us.
We could have blocked them, but since we were already prepared to retreat, we quickly escaped the enemy's attack range.
Our goal was simply to buy time.
Looking back, I saw that the defenders had already retreated a good distance away.
And then.
*Rumble! Crash!*
Hundreds of boulders, each the size of a man’s torso, began to roll down.
“Brother Wi!”
“I know!”
The moment we saw them, Wi Ji-pung and I grabbed the thick ropes we had prepared and leaped off the cliff. They were sturdy ropes we had secured to stakes hammered into the side of the staircase earlier.
A thunderous noise erupted above our heads, followed by horrific sounds.
“R-Run…!”
*Splat. Crunch.*
“Aaaargh!”
I could see enemies who had lost their footing while dodging the boulders plummeting into the thousand-foot chasm below.
A moment later, when we climbed back up the stairs, a gruesome scene awaited us.
Bodies presumed to be enemies lay bleeding everywhere, and most of the survivors were too severely injured to move.
The same went for that Jin U-ryang fellow from the first day.
“Kugh… uh…”
He was so covered in blood it was impossible to tell where he was injured as he let out a groan.
I picked up a masterless sword from the ground and plunged it into his neck.
I would have preferred to take him prisoner, but with injuries that severe, not even the best doctors in the world could have saved him.
*Waaaaah!*
A cheer erupted from the direction of the branch.
They must have been celebrating the victory.
“Great Primordial Lord…”
Wi Ji-pung murmured a Taoist prayer as he took in the gruesome sight.
Looking up at the sky, I saw that a blood-red sunset was already setting in.
***
The next day, the enemy's attack began again.
Each time, we brought boulders and rocks, using the terrain to our advantage, and rained them down on the enemy.
With the branch located at the mountain's peak, there was no shortage of things to use.
The reason the defenders hadn't utilized these things until now was due to their rigid way of thinking.
If they had any military experience, things might have been different, but these were martial artists who had only honed their skills their entire lives.
They were the type to charge in headfirst, relying only on their weapons and techniques, so they had never even considered such tactics.
All I did was show them a few examples to help them establish an efficient defensive system.
After several days of our relentless defense, the enemy's assaults began to wane.
To be precise, they were still attacking, but the Southern Heaven Palace had stopped dispatching their elite warriors.
Thanks to this, the defenders were able to fend off the enemy with much greater ease, and with the number of casualties decreasing, the atmosphere in the branch brightened considerably.
However, despite this favorable turn of events, I felt a sense of unease.
‘They won’t retreat like this.’
This battle for Mount Emei wasn't a simple territorial dispute.
From the Southern Heaven Palace's perspective, they needed to capture this place quickly so they wouldn't have to worry about their rear while facing the main forces of the Nine Dragons Fortress.
By now, the Nine Dragons Fortress vanguard should be about three days away.
If I were the lord of the Southern Heaven Palace, I would pour all my forces into this place and finish it, no matter the cost.
By any means necessary.
‘We can’t stop them.’
No matter how much Spartan spirit we mustered, the defenders were still human. If the enemy decided to launch an all-out, relentless assault, our lines would break.
‘In that case.’
As soon as I organized my thoughts, I immediately summoned the officers of the defensive unit.
The officer from the Red Dragon Hall with the eyepatch asked a question.
Unlike before, his eye was now filled with deep trust.
“Haha, what brings our master strategist to summon us?”
At his words, the other three officers all laughed in agreement.
“Hahaha, indeed. I was wondering if you’ve come up with a plan to wipe out the enemies at the foot of the mountain in one fell swoop.”
“Well, from anyone else it might be hard to believe, but if it’s Squad Leader Jin’s idea, I’d trust him even if he said he could make fine cuisine out of dung.”
“Indeed, indeed. On that note, I’ve decided to introduce my daughter to Squad Leader Jin when I get back. She’s a great beauty, takes right after me.”
For the record, the officer offering to introduce his daughter boasted a face as fearsome and demonic as Bukgung Baek’s.
“There is something far more important than that.”
“We are all ready to listen, so speak your mind.”
“We have to abandon this place.”