March Forth: Iron Blood Rescue
The morning at the Outpost began with cold, heavy dawn mist.
Normally a time of utter silence, today the training grounds inside the fortress burned with unprecedented heat.
Jinhyuk stood on the platform, his expression blank as he slowly surveyed the assembled men below.
There gathered the Heavenly Wolf Unit soldiers, clad in rough hides hunted from the brutal northern beasts, alongside the Survival Demons—those who had recognized the value of the Central Plains cuisine Jinhyuk had personally delivered just a day prior, and the miraculous soap that washed away their grime and stench. They had chosen unity.
These were seasoned veterans who had endured the north's harsh winds for at least a decade, sometimes even extending a helping hand to Jinhyuk and the Heavenly Wolf Unit.
Jinhyuk eyed their deeply etched wrinkles and callused hands before murmuring low in Korean.
"Hey, Beom Dal. These guys have what, decades of northern grit combined? Just looking at 'em, it's no joke. With that kind of experience, we gotta treat 'em like core members. By my system, they're straight-up Great Wall-grade."
Beom Dal, who had already embraced the title of 'Brigade Commander' for Jinhyuk and propagated his modern military structure, nodded at once.
Considering the Survival Demons' unfamiliarity with the term 'Brigade Commander,' he bellowed across the training grounds, infusing it with Jinhyuk's authority and intent.
"By the Brigade Commander's strict order! From this day, Heavenly Wolf soldiers shall treat these men not as mere additions, but as seniors and battle-hardened comrades to whom you entrust your lives! A single word from their seasoned wisdom is field-tested insight—any who treat them lightly shall face the Brigade Commander's iron discipline!"
The Heavenly Wolf soldiers' reactions and Beom Dal's translation weighed heavily in the Survival Demons' eyes.
They were moved—not just using them as tools, but truly acknowledging their pride as martial artists. Jinhyuk's attitude won them over heart and soul.
At Jinhyuk's follow-up hand signal, Beom Dal hauled out carts from the prepared warehouse.
They brimmed with roughly hewn wooden crates.
Drag, thud!
Dust billowed as the crates hit the training ground floor.
As the rough covers lifted, revealing their contents, two hundred sets of jet-black scale-hide armor pierced the mist, exuding overwhelming presence.
"Gear bestowed by the Brigade Commander! Open your eyes wide and inspect it!"
Lids flipped open, and through the dawn's blue fog, the two hundred black-dyed scale-hide armors revealed their might.
Masterworks forged primarily from beast byproducts.
"This... this is really leather?"
Hwang-yeonggam approached first, his weathered hand stroking the armor.
"Heh, steel-free yet this tough... Tendons woven for flexibility too. Brigade Commander, this armor you made will be their new backbone."
Cheonun, who had once emphasized Central Plains martial spirit and eyed the alliance warily, ran trembling fingers over his new armor's smooth surface.
Fifteen years of corpse rot and mold scent washed away by soap's fragrance—now replaced by the cold, solid feel of gear.
"Shed the beast's stench, gained a man's scent. Now we don this armor and fulfill our duty as warriors."
Blade Ghost, the unorthodox faction killer, grinned with his signature murderous edge as he swiftly donned his set.
He twisted lightly, unleashing an air-draw to test the armor's give, then cackled.
"Heh heh heh! This'll shrug off a few blade jabs like tickles! Tendons so tough, they don't budge! Brigade Commander, ain't this too good for slave soldiers?"
One-Eye from the Demonic Cult flashed his good eye, meticulously checking his armor.
He never did pointless things, but this time, satisfaction rumbled low.
"No profitless deeds... This armor demands results in kind."
Even the skeptical Nameless and Iron Spear nodded solemnly, admiring each other's imposing figures in black scale-hide.
Hwang-yeonggam, now the Heavenly Wolf Unit's elder statesman, tucked his pipe into his belt and chuckled warmly at the sight.
"Heh heh, two hundred ghost-like devils finally shining like men. Brigade Commander, this armor you made will be their new backbone."
"The Brigade Commander decrees! From today, you are the Heavenly Wolf Unit's core force! Don this black armor and fulfill your duties!"
Beom Dal translated Jinhyuk's order once more.
"The Brigade Commander decrees! From today, you are the Heavenly Wolf Unit's core force! Don this black armor and fulfill your duties!"
For men who had wandered as disposable slave soldiers their whole lives, this was the moment elite imperial gear—and official 'duties' as soldiers—were bestowed upon them.
As Heavenly Wolf soldiers shot envious glances and the Survival Demons swelled with satisfaction and rising morale, Beom Dal approached Jinhyuk and knelt reverently.
In his hands rested heavy objects wrapped in silk.
"Brigade Commander, the workshop artisans prepared this gift solely for you."
Shing.
Silk parted, and the training grounds' air heated like midsummer, thick with fierce energy.
It was custom scale-hide armor, helmet, gauntlets, and boots for Jinhyuk—lavishly crafted from the hide, bones, and tendons of the Great Snow Bear, the Black Forest's apex beast.
Jinhyuk's eyes narrowed.
The touch burned hot yet carried solid weight.
"...Great Snow Bear hide."
As Jinhyuk donned the armor and the bear-head helm, the beast's savage aura cloaked him entirely.
The weapon Beom Dal then offered was even more dominating.
The Heavenly Wolf Bow, redesigned by Jinhyuk with modern compound principles, fully reforged by the artisans into its ultimate form.
Jinhyuk gripped it, drawing the string—delicious resistance flowed through his fingers.
Creak!
The prod bent under immense tension, roaring like the Great Snow Bear itself.
A thick smile curled Jinhyuk's lips.
'Whoa, these guys nailed it. Tension's insane. Compound pulleys plus beast materials? Total game-changer.'
He released—the thwang! shook the grounds.
"Perfect. Love the upgrades. New name: Black Bear Bow. Lives up to it, yeah?"
As Jinhyuk raised the Black Bear Bow triumphantly, flaunting his might, urgent bells clanged from the Outpost walls.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
"Report! Jo Pil of the Iron Blood Unit at the north gate! Covered in blood and dust, begging audience with the Brigade Commander!"
Jinhyuk's brow furrowed sharply.
Jo Pil in that state meant dire trouble at the northern fortress.
Jinhyuk rushed to the north gate.
There crawled Jo Pil, gasping from his sprint, collapsed on the ground. Spotting Jinhyuk, he wailed.
"Commander Kang! Please... save our chief and the Iron Blood Unit!"
Jo Pil spilled the tale in a rush.
Jinhyuk asked in a sunken voice.
"What happened? Where's Wiji Gang?"
Jo Pil pointed a trembling hand at the northern horizon.
"The plains united! Ten thousand refugees from routed nomadic tribes flooding our fortress! Our low walls can't hold 'em five paces back! Our chief stayed alone to buy time and warn you—guarding the walls! Please... save Chief Wiji, who chose the jaws of death for soldier's honor and repayment, and our Iron Blood brothers!"
Thud, thud, thud.
Jo Pil's desperate pleas, forehead bloody from kowtowing, silenced even Beom Dal behind Jinhyuk and the wall-top Heavenly Wolf soldiers watching.
No sooner had he finished than massive dust clouds rose visibly on the northwest horizon, piercing the lingering dawn mist.
The earth trembled from ten thousand humans and livestock.
Jinhyuk pictured Wiji Gang—fallen to slave soldier, yet clinging to 'soldier's pride' to repay the enemy who showed grace, choosing death's embrace.
Jinhyuk slung the upgraded Black Bear Bow over his shoulder, eyes ice-cold as he commanded.
"Beom Dal, haul every finished scale-hide set from the warehouse. Arm everyone and muster here. Looks like we're deploying now."
Beom Dal roared toward the inner fortress.
"Brigade Commander's order! All arm up! We march to save the Iron Blood Unit, stranded for repayment! Full force, assemble in one gak—then deploy northwest!"
Jinhyuk's grip tightened unconsciously on the Black Bear Bow's prod.
'Fuck... time to kill people, huh...'
His tense mutter scattered on the morning wind, but regardless of his heart, the black wave surged into motion.