The Immortal Hero (6)
The Japanese warship shattered in a single blow. I stood there, completely stunned. ‘Was the Jija Cannon always this powerful?’
It couldn’t be. I didn’t know much about cannons, but I knew a fifteenth-century weapon shouldn’t fire like a modern self-propelled howitzer. The other Joseon warships firing alongside me proved that—their shots weren’t even reaching the enemy vessels, just splashing uselessly into the sea.
‘It must be because of Napoleon’s Rifle.’
Grape-Shot General Napoleon
French Revolutionary hero Napoleon dominated battlefields with his cannons.
No one on the battlefield could match Napoleon when it came to artillery.
Firepower: 500
Accuracy: +60%
Artifacts are deeply tied to the lives of those who once wielded them. The relics of war heroes unlock their power on the battlefield, while those connected to the sea reveal their strength upon the waves. Napoleon had been a conqueror obsessed with war and artillery above all else. And the Battle of Myeongnyang was most certainly a war. The Jija Cannon in my hands was, without question, a cannon.
In other words, the moment I picked up a cannon on the battlefield, it became an artifact.
Boooom—!
The Japanese warship I struck crumbled like a biscuit and sank beneath the waves.
‘Whoa. That’s insane.’
Saying it out loud might make me sound like a psychopath, but there was a strange, addictive thrill to it. The ferocious dragon-roar of the Jija Cannon with every shot, the sight of enemy ships plunging into the sea—it was an incredible rush.
‘Get a grip, Choi Seojun. You can’t start enjoying this kind of thing.’
This was a battlefield. A place where people died. I hypnotized myself, desperately trying to rein in my slipping sanity.
That was when it happened.
“Kisamaaaaa—!”
A samurai with a topknot, dressed in Sengoku-era armor, leapt from a sinking Japanese warship and flew straight toward me. His gleaming blue katana was aimed directly at my throat.
“Whoa there!”
Startled, I reflexively swung the cannon toward him and fired.
Boooom—!
“Graaagh!”
The airborne samurai took the cannonball head-on and plummeted into the sea.
“Jeez, that scared me.”
Kamikaze? Was suicidal charging some kind of ancient Japanese tradition?
I clutched my chest, trying to calm my pounding heart, when a nearby general suddenly cried out.
“Huk! S-Shiro Masakage…!”
The general who had shoved the cannon into my hands earlier was staring at the fallen samurai in pure shock.
“Is he someone famous?” I asked.
“He is a samurai of daimyo rank!”
“So… pretty high up, then?”
“Not pretty high—he’s extremely high-ranking!”
We both stammered in mutual panic. I wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed I had just taken out a very important samurai.
‘Right. He was an Awakened, not a regular person.’
He hadn’t died—he was swimming on the surface—but he was definitely out of the fight.
“Should I keep firing?”
“Yes! Please continue! I will bring you as many shells as you need!”
The general’s tone had shifted from casual to utterly respectful. Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard any other cannon fire for a while. The soldiers operating the guns were now standing in a neat line behind me, each holding a cannonball.
‘Hmm. Might as well practice a bit.’
Boooom—!
I began unloading cannon fire at the Japanese warships to my heart’s content.
*
Even hearing the number—one hundred and thirty-three warships—sounded threatening. But seeing them with your own eyes was enough to make even the bravest general shrink back. The ten-to-one numerical disadvantage left the Joseon fleet hesitating. Not a single ship dared to take the lead.
Yet someone had to guide them forward. Yi Sun-sin knew this better than anyone.
Just as the resolute admiral was about to order the charge, a thunderous roar split the air.
Boooom—!
A Japanese warship sank instantly. Then another. And another.
Booom! Boooom!
The barrage didn’t stop. With every shot, another enemy vessel plunged beneath the waves.
—S-Sankai Shiro!
The startled Japanese ships began scattering to avoid the incoming fire. When Yi Sun-sin turned toward the source of the cannonade, he saw me firing the Jija Cannon without pause.
“As expected…!”
It was astonishing. Could an ordinary Jija Cannon transform into a divine weapon simply by being held by the right person?
‘Choi Seon-in’s abilities truly know no bounds.’
Opening doors that led to a general store from anywhere, tracking the movements of monsters in the darkness, and now this dawn assault. Choi Seojun was like a bottomless well—every time you thought you’d reached the end, more water came pouring out. It was as if the heavens themselves had sent him.
“Advance!”
The panokseon carrying Yi Sun-sin surged forward, charging straight into the heart of the scattering Japanese fleet.
Boooom—!
*
‘I need to be careful with my shots.’
As I continued firing the Jija Cannon, I realized this wasn’t something I could spam recklessly.
Every shot drained an enormous amount of mana from the Seolhwaseok. Napoleon’s cannon was a mana-guzzling monster that consumed a staggering 500 points per shot. That meant I only had two more rounds left. After that, I’d have to wait for the stone to replenish its mana.
‘I should focus on the kamikazes.’
Kamikaze. That was the nickname I’d given the Japanese samurai. The Awakened among them were throwing themselves at me without regard for their own lives. It was the same reckless spirit that had led them to charge with swords instead of guns during World War II.
While I scanned the Japanese fleet with tense eyes, watching for any incoming samurai, a soldier suddenly shouted from the mast.
“W-warships are swarming! Thirty! No—eighty!”
The reported number kept climbing.
And the final confirmed count was…
“T-two hundred ships!”
“!”
The atmosphere inside the ship froze at the mention of two hundred vessels.
“Are you certain you counted correctly?!” a general demanded.
The soldier looked out at the sea again and shouted, “It’s certain! There are over two hundred warships!”
…
The Joseon navy had initially confirmed one hundred and thirty-three Japanese ships. Now over two hundred more had appeared. Even after subtracting the six we had already sunk, that left a massive force of three hundred and twenty-seven ships. And the mana radiating from several of those vessels was far from ordinary.
‘They must be Awakened.’
Unlike Joseon, which looked down on supernatural powers, in Japan such abilities were considered proof of destiny and success. I had heard that many famous Japanese generals of the past had all been Awakened. It seemed that was true.
In contrast, most of the generals commanding the Joseon navy were ordinary humans. And now it was thirteen ships against three hundred and twenty-seven. The difference in both quantity and quality was overwhelming.
A cold silence hung over the ship in the face of such despair.
“Advance! Raise the command flag!”
At Yi Sun-sin’s order, the command flag used to rally the fleet rose above the flagship. Yet even after it was raised, not a single one of the twelve other Joseon ships followed.
An Wi hesitated. The vice admiral ignored the signal. Some commanders even began pulling their ships back to observe from a distance. Faced with a thirty-to-one numerical disadvantage, no one wanted to step forward.
That was when Yi Sun-sin’s thunderous voice rang out.
His lion-like roar, infused with tremendous inner energy, shook the entire Myeongnyang Strait. Immediately afterward, An Wi’s hesitant warship began moving toward the flagship.
The Japanese armada was riding the tide, closing in. In that moment of absolute crisis, Yi Sun-sin suddenly began walking.
Step. Step.
His footsteps echoed across the deck until they stopped right in front of me.
“What is it, General?”
“I know you are not a man of this world.”
“……”
Yi Sun-sin looked up at the sky and smiled faintly.
“The heavens sent you to me for this very day. I understand now.”
“General…”
“Please take my sword.”
Yi Sun-sin unfastened the Twin Dragon Sword from his waist and held it out to me.
“Why are you giving it to me…”
“It is a blade meant for slaying monsters. Now that I have retired from the position of Chakyo Gapsa, I no longer need it.”
As he spoke, he pointed to his own waist.
“These two swords are enough for me.”
There hung another pair of beloved blades—Yi Sun-sin’s other cherished weapons. The famous pair of long swords into which he had personally carved his own poetry.
With a three-span blade I swear to heaven, the mountains and rivers tremble.
With one sweep I clear all before me, blood dyes the mountains and rivers red.
“Though I am but an ordinary man who has never walked the path of immortality, I can still sense that the divine energy within that stone has been exhausted,” Yi Sun-sin said, pointing at the Seolhwaseok in my inner pocket.
“At best, you have two shots remaining.”
“……”
Yi Sun-sin had seen through everything—exactly how much mana I had consumed while firing the cannon, and that I could only fire two more times.
“Kim Man-ho, escort Choi Seon-in to the reconnaissance ship.”
“Yes! Choi Seon-in, please come this way.”
My feet refused to move. I called out to Yi Sun-sin.
“Together…”
“Your battlefield is not here,” Yi Sun-sin said, shaking his head. “This is mine.”
With those words, he stared toward a point in the distance.
At that exact moment—
“Yi Sun-siiiiiiin—!”
A deafening lion roar tore through the air as a samurai in full Sengoku armor flew straight toward Yi Sun-sin. The man radiated mana on par with an A-rank Hunter—an Awakened of terrifying power.
Yi Sun-sin’s twin blades flashed toward the charging samurai.
Clang! Claaang!
Blue sword energy clashed with red. For a brief moment they intertwined—then the blue began to overwhelm the red.
—M-monster…!
Graaaagh!
I watched the battle from aboard the reconnaissance ship. A single warship carrying only one supernatural being charged straight into the heart of enemy territory filled with countless Awakened. A miracle that cut through an armada of two hundred and thirty-three ships.
That day, out of over three hundred Japanese warships, thirty sank beneath Yi Sun-sin’s blades, and more than two hundred were left half-destroyed.
Maritime War God.
It was the moment the legend of Myeongnyang was written.
*
“Mmm…”
I opened my eyes behind the counter. My chest felt strangely heavy. When I looked down, I saw a terrifyingly long sword—easily three meters in length—resting in my arms.
◈ The sword used by Joseon’s renowned general Yi Sun-sin to slay monsters.
◈ Attack Power: 3200 ~ ???
It was Yi Sun-sin’s beloved blade—the Twin Dragon Sword.
“Kya, these stats are killer.”
I first set the massive sword aside. Having gone through something similar with Napoleon, I wasn’t as confused as the first time. Still, the lingering emotions ran deep.
‘It really was incredible.’
Yi Sun-sin single-handedly overwhelming so many Japanese Awakened was one thing, but the sight of the Joseon fleet closing in and encircling the Japanese warships afterward had been spectacular. I never imagined I would witness the crane wing formation with my own eyes. It was a shame I couldn’t record it.
Anyway.
“How am I supposed to use this thing?”
I clicked my tongue at the absurd weight of the Twin Dragon Sword. Yi Sun-sin had swung it as lightly as a cotton swab, but in my hands it felt like I was lifting a steel beam.
“Maybe I should get a gym membership.”
I smiled at the ridiculous thought and tried lifting the sword with both hands.
“Ugh, it’s heavy.”
Looked like I wouldn’t need the gym after all. Just holding the Twin Dragon Sword was a full-body strength workout.
“I should rest for now.”
Firing the cannon so recklessly had left my entire body sore. Technically the mana had come from the Seolhwaseok, but I had still been standing for a long time. I stored the Twin Dragon Sword and went into my room to rest.
And a few days later, a strange man dragging a massive sword behind him began appearing at the Seoul Gate.