Orc Subjugation (1)
The entrance to the forward base. Dry leaves from the western plains scattered in the wind. Over them, the heavy clash of steel and leather rang out continuously. A flag embroidered with a white-silver hawk against a deep navy background fluttered in the breeze. The silver feathers gleamed with an unusually cold light under the morning sun.
It was the flag of our unit. The symbol of the 9th Defense Division.
For a moment, I thought it resembled the color of Arisha’s hair. At the same time, I could feel the atmosphere among the soldiers about to march out. In the eyes of those staring at the flag, both fear and resolve were reflected in equal measure.
Is that only natural?
The subjugation of a mid-tier monster horde that had reappeared after two years. The weight of this orc subjugation operation was that heavy. The number of troops organized for the operation easily reached between fifty and sixty. Excluding the minimal force left behind to guard the base, it was every available soldier. That it was five times the usual squad size meant the enemy they had to face was correspondingly powerful.
Naturally, not only the success of the operation but even their own survival could not be guaranteed. It was no different from throwing themselves into a massive pit of fire. Yet even so, what thoughts must they be having about their own situation, where they had no choice but to go?
What happened to that man?
Suddenly, the image of the deserter from the Second Subjugation Force during the previous reconnaissance mission flashed through my mind. He had imagined his own powerless and miserable death, and unable to overcome the terror, he had fled the battlefield. I had heard that Arisha, upon receiving the report, had punished him according to military law, but I never learned exactly what punishment he received.
Many soldiers who heard about the deserter criticized him, but I didn’t feel any particular way about it. There were plenty of people who couldn’t overcome fear. He was simply a soldier whose vessel was only that large. The problem was that his actions had a significant impact on the morale of the other soldiers.
In reality, the atmosphere of the newly formed subjugation force was far from good. The appearance of orcs—mid-tier monsters—was that great a threat and an approaching terror.
[March. Begin.]
The voice rang out. It was Arisha’s voice. It was a spell she had devised to spread her voice using magic. I had experienced it back when I was learning magic. It was one of the spells that only she could use within the 9th Defense Division. It was truly a magic perfectly suited for command.
As her voice echoed, the soldiers’ footsteps moved in unison, shaking the ground. The role of vanguard scouts was naturally taken by the soldiers of the search unit. A total of five squads had been organized. Among them, our squad and the First Search Squad each contributed three members to form the vanguard. I was one of them.
“Hey, maknae. Your girlfriend worried a lot?”
As expected, one of the seniors in the vanguard grinned and spoke to me. I answered the same way I had several times before.
“…We’re not like that.”
“Yeah, sure you’re not.”
“Of course. Of course.”
The two seniors in the vanguard reacted as if they had expected it. One made a mischievous face, while the other answered half-heartedly, as if he had already lost interest in a topic that had grown stale.
“Hey, hey. We’re not alone here. Keep the jokes in check.”
Kalant’s voice immediately came from behind, cautioning us. The seniors quickly apologized and shut their mouths. Given the situation, he must have known the joke was meant to lighten the heavy atmosphere. Normally, Kalant would have joined in teasing me alongside the seniors, but too many people were watching and listening right now. Even the soldiers from the First Search Squad sharing the vanguard were already giving us strange looks.
“Don’t you guys have any sense of tension?”
He gave them a half-hearted scolding. The seniors, now at a loss for words, awkwardly looked away. I avoided their gaze by deliberately expanding my senses to scan the surroundings.
Even so, thanks to the seniors’ teasing, Seo Hayun’s face floated up in my mind.
She’ll do well.
She was competent. Setting aside the fact that she was the only support priestess, her judgment and actions on the battlefield were always sharp. She had even earnestly told me to come straight to her if I got even slightly injured. In her heart, she had wanted to stand in the vanguard with us, but she knew how important her position and role were in an operation of this scale, so she didn’t insist.
Thanks to that, I didn’t have to worry about Seo Hayun, who had fallen back to the rear.
A column of roughly sixty people stretched out in a long line as they moved. The tension of not knowing when or where monsters might appear pressed heavily on the air. At the very front of the column, I silently regulated my breathing. I focused my sharpened senses on detecting where the monsters were.
When the column left the base and entered the rough forest at the western entrance, the flow of the wind changed.
“Halt.”
Sensing a presence, I raised my hand and stopped the march.
“Thirteen goblins. And… eight hounds. They’re coming this way.”
When I accurately stated the identity, direction, and number of the monsters ahead, the soldiers sharing the vanguard looked at me with bewildered expressions.
“What?”
“Yeah.”
The seniors grabbed their weapons without hesitation and entered combat readiness. The ones who were flustered were the soldiers from the First Search Squad. To them, not only had the march been suddenly halted, but the direction, type, and exact numbers had been called out correctly, and the seniors showed no doubt whatsoever toward my words.
“Hey. What the hell is…”
Just as the still-unconvinced soldiers were about to press for an explanation, they too noticed it belatedly.
“T-they’re coming!”
I thought it was for the best. Rather than explaining, seeing it with their own eyes would convince them faster.
Arisha doubted her eyes for a moment. It was because of the astonishing ability Han Jungwoo had just displayed. He had suddenly halted the column and instantly pinpointed the direction, distance, type, and exact number of monsters.
It wasn’t impossible. Veteran soldiers with plenty of experience could fully demonstrate such ability using the senses they had honed over time. But that was the crystallization of long years spent working in search units. It was not something a search unit rookie who had only just become an adult could possibly do.
In fact, his detection ability had located the monsters before any of the other soldiers in the vanguard. While the First Search Squad soldiers looked at each other in confusion, Han Jungwoo and the soldiers from his unit drew their weapons without even blinking.
Soon after, the sound of twigs snapping echoed from within the forest. Just as Han Jungwoo had said, a group of goblins and hounds appeared.
Kirik!
The goblins’ thin, scraping voices. The battle began abruptly after that sudden warning.
Arisha quickly shook off her bewilderment and regained her composure. Once battle had begun, she was the commander who had to lead the soldiers to victory without suffering any losses.
[Shield bearers. Support the immediate front.]
[Vanguard, immediately rotate with shield bearers. Magic riflemen, prepare suppressive fire.]
The clear and decisive orders struck their ears. The soldiers’ movements changed like ripples spreading across still water. The search unit soldiers who had been striking the charging goblins and hounds all retreated at once. Shield-bearing soldiers stepped forward in rotation, blocking the monsters’ attacks.
While the monsters hesitated, blocked by the suddenly erected iron wall, glowing bullets fired from rifle barrels poured through the gaps between the shields. Even though they weren’t spells cast by a mage, the ‘Gale Pistol’ rounds fired from Mana Rifles embedded with magic possessed enough power to easily tear through the hides of low-tier monsters.
Kiririk!
A goblin whose entire left shoulder had been blown off screamed as it collapsed. However, while the shield bearers at the front were as solid as a wall, from the rear perspective they also acted as cover that restricted shooting targets. It meant there was a limit to what gunfire alone could achieve.
Arisha was about to issue the next order to compensate for that.
[Shield bearers, immediately…]
Before her command could finish, Han Jungwoo moved. He circled around to the far left end and revealed himself from the flank.
“That’s…”
Arisha recognized it immediately. Ordinary soldiers probably wouldn’t have. It was because she was a mage, and because she had seen the magic Han Jungwoo had created after she taught him the concepts of magic.
She instantly understood what the mana flowing from his entire body meant.
Leaving behind the bewildered gazes of the shield bearers, Han Jungwoo mercilessly swept away the goblins and hounds. He sliced through torsos with his sword, kicked them, and even swung his fists. It wasn’t simply swordsmanship; it was a fighting style that treated his own body like a solid lump of iron. It was a combat method that could never be used without reinforcing one’s own flesh to a strength close to steel.
It was bizarre, shocking, and grotesque all at once.
“He really is an incredible guy.”
Garan, who had been standing beside her, spoke while she had forgotten to give orders and was staring blankly.
“It’s not just a fighting style that relies on swords or weapons.”
Although he held and swung a sword, that was merely one of the weapons and means he possessed. His arms and legs, his fists, his very body itself were no different from weapons.
“It looks like he’s learned something new recently. He was doing something in the training grounds until right before deployment.”
The goblin and hound pack was undoubtedly insignificant in power compared to the scale of this subjugation force. But if one asked whether any of these fifty to sixty soldiers could display such overwhelming individual force alone, who could raise their hand?
Not Garan, who had spent many years on the battlefield, nor any of the other squad leaders in charge of their own units. None of them could.
Arisha, seeing Han Jungwoo fight for the first time, thought to herself.
…Ridiculous.
The doubts and hesitation she had felt in her heart were gradually solidifying into a single decision. That she, and her unit, needed Han Jungwoo far too much.