Chapter 125
Chapter 125
Iron Emperor — Chapter 125
As a rain of fire poured down on the North Roselin camp, the Hwandudaedo rose skyward in Go Jin-cheon's hand as he led the charge, then slowly traced a half-circle downward to the left.
Fweeeee! Fweeee!
At Jin-cheon's signal, the light cavalry riding behind him loosed arrows into the air. Two Signal Arrows shrieked their noisy whistles as they climbed into the sky.
"Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, to the vanguard!"
Eulji Buru's drawn-out voice echoed across the battlefield. Over two hundred dark-hued iron scales surged into a single wave as they bolted out from the center and charged ahead.
Fweeeee! Fweeeeee! Fweeee!
Three more Signal Arrows flew up in succession.
Daesaja Revion Gowin, riding on Jin-cheon's right, spurred his horse forward to the vanguard.
"Rainman, let's go!"
At Baron Gowin's hearty shout, Sir Rainman, his face flushed with excitement, leveled his sword toward the front and yelled,
"Free Knight Order, full speed!"
With Baron Gowin in the lead, over a hundred riders veered slowly to the right and burst out. The Hawk who had returned to the battlefield with hope roared,
"Beskin, Ravin, Sunian! Follow me!"
The Beskin brothers, reunited again in the Hawk Corps, each adjusted their lances and spurred their mounts. To their left, the South Road Army cavalry came charging out.
"Mounted archers, keep up!"
Eulji Uru appeared, charging with his solid bow thrust high into the air.
Like a single bird spreading its wings, over four hundred heavy-armored cavalry and six hundred light cavalry stormed forward, raising a vast cloud of dust. Jin-cheon's roar thundered inside their heads.
"All troooooops! Charge! Forwaaaard!"
"Chaaarge!"
"Uwaaaaaa!"
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD!
The bellowing of the iron cavalry that shook the very earth flashed like a ray of light toward the burning North Roselin camp.
"Put out the fires!"
"Uwaaah!"
The rain of fire that poured from the sky had struck broadly, centered on the command post. Mixed with oil and detonating in the air as it fell, the fire rain spread flames to everything it touched, whether men or matériel.
In the sudden emergency, soldiers tried shoveling dirt, but the earth and sand they had stockpiled as a precaution against fire attacks had barely been a formality. Who could have imagined fire raining down from the sky?
That was not the end of the catastrophe.
BOOM!
At the thunderous detonation in the air, the soldiers who had been fighting fires instinctively raised their heads.
WHIZZ!
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
"Guhk!"
Beginning with a dull impact and a single wrenching gasp, another disaster followed. A rain of stones poured from the sky, shattered into fragments, and hammered down upon the soldiers.
This time, however, the shattered stone fell upon only a limited area; for the most part, entire boulders crashed down. And on the second salvo, no further mass casualties occurred. Only rocks the size of men's heads fell scattered here and there.
"Get a grip! Do you want your skulls split open?!"
"Wizards, extinguish the flames around the command staff!"
Whether because the Disruption Array had been destroyed or the spellcaster had halted the attack in the face of overwhelming damage, no more fire-rain or stone-rain followed.
"The Haian Kingdom's cavalry is closing in!"
"What nonsense is that?!"
The knight snapped back at the soldier who had come running, his whole body scorched by fire. At that moment, a bright light bloomed behind them and then vanished.
The knight who had glanced back unconsciously swore aloud.
"Damn!"
What remained after the light vanished were fully armed soldiers.
"Wizards are the top priority."
Yeon Hwi-garam's voice, laced with chill, rang out from the center of the North Roselin main camp.
Shrrring.
"All squads, execute operations!"
The long blade that slid out of Gye Ung-sam's sword sheath streamed blue ghostfire, thirsting for blood. The units consisting solely of swordsmen who had teleported in last began moving toward their respective objectives.
Hwi-garam, who had remained at the center, wore a cold smile and began walking leisurely, as though out for a stroll.
"Oum Sala Umtaa!"
"General, above you!"
A North Roselin battle wizard who had taken to the sky with Fly magic began chanting, and the Gauri swordsmen alerted Hwi-garam.
Flutter.
A slip of paper that had emerged from Hwi-garam's robe fluttered in midair.
"Extinction Fire Butterfly."
The moment he spoke those short words as a chant, flames kindled upon the paper as it fluttered in the air.
"Huk!"
A butterfly of fire soared upward toward the wizard who had been chanting his spell in the air. And before he could dodge, the butterfly alighted gently upon his body.
Fwooooosh!
"Gwaaaagh!"
Though a butterfly crafted of tiny sparks, the instant it settled on the wizard's body, it erupted into a colossal blaze.
In a fleeting moment, the wizard's body was annihilated, as if it had never existed in this world.
Starting with that, fiery butterflies imbued with the power of extinction soared up around Hwi-garam.
Heralding a great annihilation.......
* * *
"Throw the knights into the command post!"
There were only about fifty Gauri swordsmen, but the command post—believed to be the safest place—was descending into hell.
Even the wizards who had gathered there could not feel safe from their blades, and the few wizards who managed to take to the air were reduced to a handful of ash by the fiery butterflies.
"Those aren't reinforcements! The Haian Kingdom's cavalry is bearing down on us right now. Issue your orders!"
Unlike the command post, which had become utter chaos, the direction where the rank-and-file soldiers were had sustained little damage—but the problem was a crippling shortage of personnel to exercise command and control.
The nobles who had initially escaped the flames had managed to rally the soldiers and put out the fires, but then the Sword Ghosts' blades descended upon them, and the necks of soldiers who had laid down their weapons to fight the fire were lopped off, along with the nobles' own lives.
The North Roselin senior leadership, caught in this absurd situation, had barely managed to escape with their lives, but confusion in the chain of command was inevitable in a situation that diverged so completely from their operational doctrine. And to the charging Gauri cavalry, those North Roselin troops became ideal prey.
"The 3rd Knight Order and the 7th Cavalry are positioned in the rear!"
"Sortie them at once!"
"Pikemen, form ranks!"
On the outer perimeter, at least, the frontline commanders began maneuvering to block the oncoming Gauri army.
But the problem was that they were being attacked from the exact opposite direction of any battlefield they had fought on so far, so the movement of forces was unavoidable.
Their troops had been massed at the front in preparation for enemy attack or raid; the rear, since their recon pickets were there, held only a reserve force in case of emergency.
Yet a reserve was no more than a reserve.
With over a thousand cavalry bearing down, the reserve was useless.
Then a sound different from the pounding of hooves reached their ears.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
The war drums of the battlefield.
From behind the thousand-odd cavalry charging toward North Roselin, the rapid beat of drums thundered.
As the thousand riders galloped, Buyeo Gi-yul cried out:
"Raise the drums! Louder!"
The drumbeat announcing battle began to resound even more powerfully.
The beat, quickening in an instant and swelling across the field, throbbed like a heartbeat and redoubled the excitement of the soldiers who raced forward.
THUD-THUD-THUD!
Bwoooooo!
The advance drums, interwoven with the blast of horns, kindled fighting spirit among their allies while planting terror in the enemy.
"The archer units will use indirect fire to strike the enemy main camp the moment the cavalry makes contact. All of you—charge!"
"Uwaaaaa!"
Unlike the Gauri army's archers, the Hawk Corps' archers carried a shorter effective range; they staked everything on their bows and raced ahead. Not to be outdone, the shieldbearers who protected their lives charged forth too.
It was less a sequential tactical maneuver than an all-out shock-tactic assault.
A contest of pure strength against strength.
The vanguards were about to collide.
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!
"Kihihihing!"
Gangsoe's whinny resounded from the very tip of the charging iron cavalry.
"Hyah!"
Go Jin-cheon's agitated voice spurred Gangsoe onward.
In one hand he held the long sak—the Gauri cavalry spear, five-point-four meters—its sharp tip slowly aligning to the front.
Behind him, the saks of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry leveled toward the front, a single wave of spear points.
"Lances!"
"Po-o-o-olearms!"
At Revion Gowin's shout, their own shock lances—distinct from the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry's saks—were leveled.
The center formation of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry appeared comparatively fragile, almost slender-looking next to the lance charges on either flank of the charging cavalry. Even the size of their horses was smaller, so the North Roselin cavalry and assault troops rushing to meet them deployed their counter-response accordingly.
"Baron Byon, take the left! Baronet Haddin, take the right! Units—po-o-olearms!"
When Viscount Mike Owen of North Roselin, leading twelve hundred riders charging toward them, issued his command, the formation of the oncoming horsemen shifted.
Basic cavalry doctrine held that a heavy cavalry charge should strike the flank of comparatively weaker infantry. North Roselin was no exception.
If they collided head-on with a well-defended center, the momentum of the charge would weaken, and once cavalry became entangled with infantry, their lives were forfeit.
Faithful to fundamentals, the North Roselin cavalry reinforced their flanks toward the stronger-looking cavalry on both left and right, away from the smaller, weaker-looking cavalry bearing down the center.
"Let us show the might of North Roselin to these honorless, stupid traitors of the Haian Kingdom!"
"Yahaaaa!"
Viscount Owen bellowed in a bold voice, rallying the morale of the knight order and cavalry as he charged.
At a glance, of the thousand-odd approaching cavalry, only the four hundred in the center—including that central unit—wore heavy armor; the rest were light cavalry without even proper protection.
"Huh?"
In an instant, Viscount Owen's eye caught something strange.
The majority of the light cavalry racing behind the heavy cavalry carried no spears at all.
WHIZZ!
"Ah!"
Something whistled past his ear, and Viscount Owen exclaimed in surprise.
Thunk!
"Gwaaagh!"
"What?!"
WHIZZ!
What had grazed Viscount Owen was an arrow from the Gauri army. The arrow that had slipped past him embedded itself in the chest of a knight riding behind him, and that sound became the herald of a storm of whistling death.
"Shields to the sky!"
Hiding his astonishment, Viscount Owen raised his own shield toward the sky and began to defend against the falling arrows.
Th-thunk!
"Kuh! What is this?!"
When Viscount Owen saw the arrowhead that had punched through his shield, he was aghast. Was his shield not a masterpiece, even plated with mithril?
Behind Viscount Owen's shock, the heavy cavalry—who had relatively weaker defenses—shrieked as arrows punched through their shields.
"Kniiiiights! Chaaaarge in!"
From Viscount Owen's mouth, twisted with rage, a charge-order was bellowed toward the bizarrely shaped enemy cavalry that now loomed right before his eyes.
"Did you come to the battlefield riding ponies?!"
Viscount Owen hurled his mockery at the lead enemy cavalry surging toward him and leveled his lance. Even so, the enemy kept coming without so much as opening their mouths, carrying spears that looked slender compared to his own lance.
'Unsettling.'
The shape of the black cavalry filling his vision more and more was a shape entirely absent from Viscount Owen's experience.
Moreover, though their mounts were smaller than his own, which had made him underestimate them, the bodies of the enemy cavalry were densely covered in chainmail.
Just before impact, Viscount Owen discerned one more thing.
That the enemy cavalry charging toward him were different from the other cavalry in yet another way. Protruding from the armor of both horse and rider were five black horns.
Th-THWUUMP!
A shock that reverberated through his entire body!
His lance had not missed.
The instant he thought it had struck home, the horse... had bitten his lance and twisted it away.
"A... a horse did—!"
"Kihihiiing!"
CRASH!
With the final thought that he might have underestimated his foe and made a mistake, Viscount Owen watched the spear punch through his chest, and his breath left him.
The soldiers who had been watching the clash of knights looked on with dread-filled eyes, aghast.
The enemy cavalry, which should have suffered at least some damage upon impact, was practically still charging forward, shrouded in a menacing murderous intent. That most of the enemy were unharmed meant the damage to their own cavalry was devastating.
"What?!"
"How is that—!"
Swaying from the tip of the spear carried by the black horseman charging at the very forefront was something that looked like a ball. When the black-armored horseman who had stormed forward with horns bristling like a demon's swung his long spear, the ball that had been impaled on its tip flew through the air.
Thump!
"Guhk!"
A pikeman struck by the flying ball was sent tumbling, and one section of the line staggered. But that was not the problem.
"Viscount Owen has fallen!"
The flying ball was none other than the head of Viscount Owen, who had led the North Roselin knight order and cavalry.
One soldier's outcry sowed unease into the minds of the others.
"Kuh-hahahahaha!"
A great roar of laughter burst from the horned cavalryman who had hurled Viscount Owen's head. The soldiers felt the hair on their scalps stand on end at the echoing guffaw.
"Gulp."
From somewhere among the ranks came the sound of someone swallowing hard.
"Set pikes!"
"Uhhh-yaaaaaa!"
At their commander's voice, the soldiers braced the butts of their pikes firmly against the earth and hoisted them aloft as they had practiced. A forest of spear blades materialized, reminiscent of a bristling hedgehog.
SWISH!
"Gwaaagh!"
Clatter.
A soldier who had been fixing his pike against the ground tumbled with a scream. At the same moment, the pike slipped from his hand and rolled across the dirt.
"What?!"
"Wh-what the hell! Why are arrows flying here?!"
What appeared amid the soldiers' horror was a rain of arrows that covered the sky. As had the knights who had ridden out first, they had never imagined that more than half the thousand-odd cavalry were mounted archers who fired bows as they rode.
WHIZZ!
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
The arrows, flying in all at once, sent pikemen tumbling to the ground one after another. The error of having prepared only for a ground assault cost them their lives.
"We punch straight through as we are! Chaaaarge!"
Go Jin-cheon's war cry was the greatest possible encouragement to the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry.
Once, he had been a general of the army; now, he was their Yeolje. But Jin-cheon had not changed. Even now, in this very moment, the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry chased Jin-cheon's back, just as they had done before they arrived in this strange world.
The back of the great hero who led them.
To them, this man who never changed no matter what station he held was a hero—and more than a hero.
Clang!
"Chaaarge!"
As if answering Jin-cheon's call, the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry struck their breastplates once and shouted with full force.
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
"Uwaaaaaaaa!"
Into the crumbling forest of spear blades, over two hundred beasts of the battlefield came crashing—belting out a colossal battle cry as they did.......