Chapter 129
Chapter 129
Iron Emperor — Chapter 129
"Kri-yaaap!"
"Kihihihing!"
A battle cry erupted from Go Jin-cheon's lips as his arm muscles bulged, and the lance impaling the soldiers swept from left to right as though scything through grass.
CRASH-CRASH!
"Uwaaak!"
The armor worn by the North Roselin soldiers and the pikes bristling like porcupine quills were snapped, shattered, and sent flying.
It had been a single swing, yet the area around Jin-cheon lay swept clean, as if tidied up.
"Drag him down!"
The knight's shout rang out once more.
The soldiers armed with hook-spears, waiting directly behind the pikemen, were charging in — though terror gripped them, the fact that there was only a single horseman seemed to have emboldened them enough to press the attack.
"Heh heh."
Jin-cheon's white teeth emerged from between his lips.
A sneer.
WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH!
The human skewer Jin-cheon had been holding had been completely cleared away by the previous swing. Now he whirled it before the soldiers rushing in with hook-spears, scattering the clinging scraps of flesh and droplets of blood in every direction.
"Uwaaaaah!"
The soldiers began charging at Jin-cheon, screaming as he looked down at them, twirling the 5.4-mir-long spear like a toy. Sometimes a howl torn from the depths of the lungs can manufacture courage where none existed.
"Hwoop!"
Steadying his breathing, Jin-cheon slowly drew back the lance, keeping it leveled at the soldiers charging toward him.
"Kihihihing!"
Sensing Jin-cheon's intensity, Gangsoe reared up with a roar. And the moment its two front hooves struck the ground, Jin-cheon's arm snapped forward, hurling the drawn-back lance.
WHIZZ!
"Don't be afraid!"
The instant Jin-cheon's lance left his hand, a voice seething with desperation tore from the North Roselin knight's mouth. And at his cry, the soldiers answered.
"Keuaaak!"
KRA-BOOM!
The soldiers' answer was a scream.
The ground where the lance struck and embedded itself answered with a thunderous roar.
WHOOSH!
"My arm!"
"Huh-eok! Mother!"
"My leg is gone! My leeeg!"
The cloud of dust and the pieces of flesh that erupted the moment the lance buried itself called a whirlwind to mind. The result of throwing a single lance was far too gruesome.
"Euyaaaaah!"
Then Jin-cheon charged through the spraying blood and dust, straight at the soldiers.
"Charge them!"
The knight's voice rang out, raw with fury.
CRACK!
The sound of armor being cleaved rang across the field. Jin-cheon's drawn Hwandudaedo met no resistance as it separated a charging soldier's torso into upper and lower halves.
"Aim for the horse!"
"Kihihihing!"
CRUNCH!
The soldiers' weapons merely glanced off the horse armor as they passed, and a kick from Gangsoe — transformed into a wild beast — caved in a man's body and sent him crumpling to the ground.
"Aim for the horse's rear!"
A soldier's spear thrust toward Gangsoe's hindquarters, where the horse armor did not cover. But Gangsoe was another weapon even before being a horse.
"Hihing!"
Gangsoe sprang sideways like a rabbit, then lashed out with both hind legs together.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
"Aack!"
The soldier who saw another man's head burst apart under a hoof right before his eyes screamed even though he himself was not injured.
"Let's go!"
"Hihihing!"
Gangsoe answered Jin-cheon's deep voice by beginning to cleave through the soldiers.
The Hwandudaedo swung, and the hook-spears reaching to drag him down were snapped in two. The soldiers trying to drive blades into Jin-cheon's flanks had their faces riddled with holes by his hobnailed boots, spraying blood.
As though parting a field of reeds, Jin-cheon and Gangsoe split the North Roselin encampment in two. And behind them came the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, charging like a wedge driven into the gap.
"Split them wide open!"
Eulji Buru's booming voice, racing from the very front of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry following behind, flew into the hearts of the North Roselin soldiers like a dagger.
"Uwaaaaah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
Just as a tiny hole in a dam begets disaster, the formation already loosened by Jin-cheon began to collapse.
THUMP-THUMP-THUMP-THUMP!
THUD-THUD-THUD!
"Kraaagh!"
The drums shaking the battlefield and the sound of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry's lances piercing through North Roselin soldiers' armor blended together, redoubling the fervor. The screams of North Roselin troops echoing from every direction fed the Gauri army's surging morale, and the combined charge of the South Road Army and the Hawk Corps cavalry crashing in from the flanks brought despair to the enemy and hope to their allies.
"All troops, quick march!"
"Quick maaarch!"
The footsteps of the Gauri forces, which had been approaching slowly to the beat of the drums, began to quicken.
WHIZZ!
"Don't get hit by blind arrows!"
"Aack!"
One or two men tumbled at full running speed, struck by the occasional arrows flying in. Yet the Gauri army's pace only grew faster.
"Huff, huff, huff!"
Hailon, running at the very front, saw the enemy camp turned into utter chaos. Steadying his breath as he ran, Hailon readjusted his grip on his axe and quickened his steps.
The brave are passed over by death.
It was a truth Hailon had learned through battles great and small.
Those who fight bravely are rewarded.
It was the second truth Hailon had discovered as his rank, however lowly, began to rise.
"Euyahhhhh!"
Hailon's voice rang out loudly, spreading into the war cries of the former slash-and-burn farmers and the other Gauri soldiers following behind.
"All troops, charge forward!"
"Euyahhh!"
"Uwahhh!"
The infantry's strained battle cries thundered toward the North Roselin camp.
* * *
FWEEEE!
A whistle shrilled across the sky.
Peurureung.
A horse snorted, its ears twitching.
FWEEEE, FWEEEE!
Two more whistles sounded from the sky in quick succession.
Clang!
A sword that caught the sunlight and spilled blue radiance was drawn into the open air. Seated atop his horse and radiating a presence as solid as a mountain, Marquis Helios Baikal opened his mouth.
"We drive out the damn dogs of the Holy Empire!"
"Uwaaaaah!"
Even accompanied by a faint smile, those words were the absolute faith of the South Roselin soldiers.
"Advance!"
BWOOOO!
The horn sounded.
Fifteen thousand troops began to move swiftly.
Marquis Malain Ferguson, commander-in-chief of the North Roselin forces who had relocated his headquarters to escape the sudden rain of fire from the sky, was shouting at his staff officers, his face flushed red.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on!"
"It appears the Haian Kingdom's reinforcements have betrayed us. Moreover, judging by the presence of an unidentified army carrying a black bird with three legs on a red banner, something has gone terribly wrong."
Marquis Ferguson's fist flew at the chief of staff, who was explaining with cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Thwack!
"Keok!"
CRASH!
Count Shuen Bilstein, the chief of staff, went crashing down amid the wreckage of furniture while every other staff officer looked on. Marquis Ferguson's furious tirade followed.
"Who doesn't know something has gone wrong! War is something where nobody knows what will change or how! I stationed patrol posts at regular intervals precisely to prevent this sort of thing, so how in the hell did this happen!"
"Keuk, the magical surveillance showed no abnormalities, so..."
"Damn it."
At the chief of staff's excuse that was barely an excuse, Marquis Ferguson turned his head to look at the remaining commanders. Barely half of the sixty-odd commanders remained to fill the room, and that stung Marquis Ferguson's heart.
Pulleok.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
"What!"
A knight who had rushed into the temporary command post urgently dropped to his knee and cried out.
"The defensive line has been breached."
"What!"
Marquis Ferguson's tone was one of sheer incredulity. But the knight's mouth did not stop moving.
"Moreover, enemy infantry have overrun the first line, and it is only a matter of time before the second line collapses."
"What did you say! The battle has barely begun — how can you spout such absurd nonsense!"
"My apologies."
At Marquis Ferguson's roar, the knight dropped his head.
Uwaaaa!
"Hm?"
Sensing the sudden commotion outside, the staff officers and Marquis Ferguson turned their gazes beyond the command post.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
"What is it this time!"
Marquis Ferguson shouted first at the knight who came scrambling in.
"Marquis Baikal has personally led out the Eastern Army!"
"Keuk."
Marquis Ferguson pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a groan. It was his own blunder in believing the rear was secure. A staff officer, his face drained pale blue, asked the knight.
"Are you certain it is Marquis Baikal?"
"I confirmed the commander's banner."
"Mmmm."
There was no room for doubt.
The fact that the Eastern Army, which had never once ventured out from behind its defensive line, was now charging in meant there was practically some secret pact with the Haian Kingdom forces currently attacking the rear.
"The Eastern Army's numbers?"
"Estimated at around thirty thousand. Furthermore, judging by the unit banners, it appears the elite core of the Eastern Army has been committed in its entirety."
Marquis Ferguson's expression darkened further at the knight's report. He had likely anticipated as much the moment he heard that Marquis Baikal had personally led his forces.
Where the Eastern Army was mentioned, Marquis Baikal came to mind; where Baikal was mentioned, the elite Eastern Army followed.
"You will race to the front where the Haian Kingdom forces are attacking and buy as much time as possible at the second line. Deploy additional troops to the third line to ensure the main army's formation does not collapse."
"Understood!"
He was no fool to not know that a formation collapsing in war meant defeat.
The knight who had rushed in to report the rear situation turned on his heel and exited the command post. As the knight departed, Marquis Ferguson continued speaking.
"Everyone except the First Chief of Staff, get out and take command of your frontline units! If we are pushed back from here, all our suffering until now will be for nothing. Move, now!"
"Understood!"
The nobles scrambled out before Marquis Ferguson's words had even finished. Left alone with the chief of staff, Marquis Ferguson's face remained grim.
"We settle the rear first."
When Marquis Ferguson's voice rang out, the chief of staff opened his mouth with a slightly awkward expression.
"What do you intend to do about the front, where Marquis Baikal has personally taken the field?"
"You idiot... If we stabilize the rear, even Marquis Baikal can be held off. Whatever has happened, in this situation, we are defending, are we not!"
At Marquis Ferguson's words, the chief of staff hastily bowed his head.
Watching that, Marquis Ferguson let out a small sigh. The name War God of the East carried that much weight. Still, he judged that the front, with its palisades and defensive works meticulously constructed over the course of the battles to prepare for ambushes, would not be easily breached.
By contrast, the rear — now under sudden assault — had been deemed free of remnants, and with the news of reinforcements arriving, the defenses there had been somewhat lax.
The enemy had aimed for precisely that opening.
"In any case, however many there are, it's just the rabble of the Haian Kingdom. That means they will be far easier to deal with than the Eastern Army. I will personally go to the rear, settle the battlefield, and then take charge against Marquis Baikal's main force directly. That's simply fundamentals."
"My apologies."
Having delivered his rebuke in a somewhat softened tone, Marquis Ferguson picked up his sword and strode out of the command tent.
"The commander-in-chief will personally take the field to the rear. The escort guard, fall in behind him!"
The chief of staff's voice, as he emerged outside the command tent, was no longer cowed. At his resounding voice, some fifty escort knights clad in silver armor arrayed themselves to Marquis Ferguson's left and right.
"Let's go."
"We move out!"
At Marquis Ferguson's low command, the chief of staff's voice rang out loudly toward the knights.