Chapter 190
Chapter 190
Iron Emperor — Chapter 190
"Looks like it's started."
Eulji Buru, his great axe strapped across his back, muttered quietly to himself at the distant sound of battle cries.
"Are you worried?"
"No."
At Risel's gentle voice, Buru shook his head with an awkward smile. Thanks to Risel and the commanders from South Roselin, they had already completed their tactical study of the enemy, but real combat and theory were never the same. That gnawed at him, but he had no time to dwell on it—the task assigned to him was too critical a variable in this war.
"Continue the advance."
In a low voice, Buru waved his hand through the air, and the five hundred troops who had been following in silence began to move forward. Notably, behind Buru marched a hundred Dwarves, each with a great axe strapped to their back just like him, making it look as if the Dwarf tribe itself had marched out to war.
They were passing through monster territory, yet none of the monsters bared their teeth at them. That was only natural—the path they took ran through the nesting grounds of small monsters.
Monsters and animals alike are governed by powerful instinct.
For hunting monsters, the sense of smell is critical. Sight may matter, but in mountain ranges blocked by forest like this, catching the scent of distant prey matters far more, and as a result, their noses are exceptionally developed.
But every person in this force wore armor crafted from the hides of Ogres, Trolls, or Minotaurs. What's more, after the armor had been made, it had been left to steep in large monster cages so that it was saturated with their scent. The smaller monsters could do nothing but scramble to get out of their way.
The occasional large monster that did venture out to hunt was swiftly dealt with by Gye Ung-sam and the dozen or so swordsmen drawn from his command, so the anticipated worry never materialized.
"Gurajaengi, fall back a little farther."
"......Yes."
As Buru ran quietly through the forest, he frowned toward Ung-sam and whispered. Ung-sam, looking like a guilty man, fell well back from the main body.
In truth, there was a reason some of the large monsters kept approaching the group. Ogres especially charged at them repeatedly, and the biggest reason was the odor coming from Ung-sam's leather armor.
Large monsters do not form packs. Of course, on rare occasions, if they encounter a large concentration of prey, the large monsters in an area will gather by tacit instinct to hunt together, but that is extremely uncommon. Just as two tigers cannot share one mountain, the same implicit instinct exists among monsters. But Ung-sam's case was peculiar.
"Damn it... thought I was some female in heat or something."
Even running at a distance, Ung-sam kept grumbling.
Mating season.
Mating season exists in the monster world too. As it happened, Ung-sam's armor had been kept near an Ogre that was beginning to emit a distinctive scent because of its heat cycle, so the odor had soaked into it especially deeply. Though Ung-sam didn't know it, that female Ogre had even urinated on it—a disgraceful act. To humans, it was an almost indistinguishable scent, but the sticky odor of an Ogre's lovemaking was more than enough to provoke the male Ogres around him.
Ung-sam just had a talent for things going sideways.
* * *
The power of the Yudonno was devastating.
Constructed with the sinews of large monsters among other materials, its dramatically extended range alone marked it as outstanding among all existing siege weapons.
BOOM!
"Aaargh!"
A thunderous explosion, and the catapult being pushed forward—along with the soldiers operating it—went flying into the air with screams. The logs loosed in a single volley from the sky homed in on the catapults without exception, and the Roselin camp began to tremble in terror at the Gauri siege weapon that defied all common sense.
No matter how superior a force, it is almost unheard of for siege weapons to be shattered one after another the moment they are brought forward.
"Get inside their range and return fire immediately!"
The veins on Baron Aliman's neck stood out red as he led the vanguard. Despite his exhortations and urging, the soldiers' advance felt maddeningly slow.
"My lord, the damage is greater than anticipated!"
"Are you telling me to retreat from this?!"
All around, the sound of catapults being smashed echoed, and a knight who had been urging on the catapult crews rode up to Baron Aliman with a troubled expression to report. But all that came back was Baron Aliman's shouting. The knight, looking at a loss, turned his eyes toward the catapults being destroyed before speaking again.
"We must pull them back for now. Half are already wrecked!"
"We haven't even managed a proper attack yet—what nonsense is that?!"
"But the enemy's fire is so precise that if we continue like this, we may have no catapults left when we truly need them."
At the knight's words, Baron Aliman's face fell into a grim expression.
The plan had been for the infantry to charge all at once once the catapults drew close enough, so casualties so far had been light. But if they retreated now without any gain on this first approach, not only would the army's overall morale plummet, but it was clear Baron Aliman would never again have a chance to earn merit.
"Advance the wizards and have them cast Shield on the catapults!"
Baron Aliman shouted at last, as if reaching a decision, and the knight's eyes went wide with alarm as he opened his mouth.
"To block the enemy's attacks, the wizards will have to layer at least two or more overlapping Shields. If they do that, the wizards will suffer mana exhaustion and be unable to provide supporting fire once the battle is actually joined!"
"Then if we retreat now, what happens next time?!"
"That's......"
Whether because the baron's point held weight, the knight who had been trying to stop him could only hesitate, unable to speak. Baron Aliman drove the point home.
"Half our siege weapons were wrecked even as we pressed forward. So what do we do on the next attack?! Judging by the size of the enemy fortress, it can't hold more than five thousand anyway! If we just break through, this battle is over! If you've got nothing else to say, get the wizards moving right now!"
"Understood."
At Baron Aliman's raised voice, the knight wore a look of resignation and galloped back toward the wizards in the rear.
Every time a Roselin catapult collapsed, a cheer burst from the observing soldier.
"Another hit!"
"Whoa!"
The soldiers who heard the report erupted in cheers as well, and Hailon was no different from them. Carried away, Hailon swung his Hwandudaedo and urged the soldiers on.
"Keep firing!"
"Squeee! Squee!"
The ones paying for Hailon's urging were the young Orcs. Before the whips of the soldiers operating the Yudonno could even crack, the young Orcs had already cranked the windlass and loaded another round, which was soon sent soaring into the sky.
In truth, no matter how well-designed the Yudonno was, it could not have routed the enemy so easily under normal circumstances. But if you already knew the route the enemy would use to bring up their siege weapons, the story changed entirely.
"Just as expected!"
"Indeed."
As Hailon spoke forcefully, unable to suppress a grin, Geom Mudal nodded in agreement. He too had not predicted this outcome. It had all begun when, while clearing all the approaches so the enemy would have no cover, Hailon had tilted his head and said something.
'Obviously, the enemy will bring siege weapons too, won't they?'
'That's correct.'
'Hmm. Then the roads will need to be good to haul those.'
He had made that offhand remark, then ordered some routes to be carefully cleared while others were only roughly cut so that wagons and carts could not pass. Then he had each Yudonno pre-aimed at those routes they had so carefully cleared.
Because they had pre-aimed, the accuracy rate soared dramatically. Hailon had only shared his notion out of an abundance of caution, but unexpectedly, the enemy had indeed brought their catapults along the well-cleared roads. It was a victory earned by exploiting unconscious human instinct. Thanks to that, more than half the enemy's siege weapons were already destroyed.
"Loose!"
THWUMM!
As the soldier operating the Yudonno shouted, another massive log flew into the sky. More than ten logs followed in its wake.
THWUMM!
"Huh!"
"No—!"
The sound that followed was different from before. They thought they had smashed another catapult, but just before impact, a translucent barrier shimmered for an instant and the log was deflected away.
"Shield!"
Hailon, who had been tilting his head, realized it a beat late and let out a startled voice. One of the wizards standing by to protect Hailon nodded and spoke.
"You're correct. The enemy is casting Shield over the catapults!"
"Damn it!"
Hailon was momentarily thrown into confusion, while the enemy camp began to cheer at having blocked an attack for the first time. Even so, the Gauri soldiers continued to reload the Yudonno, and another volley of logs flew out. But the result was the same. And as they drew closer, at last, with a great roar, the Roselin infantrymen who had been advancing cautiously from behind began to charge forward, screaming.
"All Yudonno switch loads to arrow canisters!"
Hailon gave the order without hesitation. If the logs weren't getting through anyway, his judgment was that killing the charging enemy infantry would be the better course.
As the order fell, the soldiers hurriedly began loading canisters packed with hundreds of arrows. Once loosed, each canister would scatter over two hundred arrows at a time.
"Some must keep targeting the enemy catapults!"
"What?"
The wizard suddenly cut into Hailon's command. Ignoring Hailon and Geom Mudal's bewildered stares, the wizard continued his explanation.
"If they intend to operate the catapults, they'll have to drop the Shield eventually! Magical attacks can pass out through the Shield from inside, but physical objects cannot leave the interior of a Shield!"
"I-Is that so?"
No matter how much Hailon and Geom Mudal had been drilled on tactics involving magic, in an unexpected situation like this, mistakes were inevitable. It was an error born of unfamiliarity.
"Could you possibly make that distance?"
With a grave expression, Hailon abruptly threw the question at Mudal. Mudal caught his meaning at once—Hailon's eyes were directed at the Maekgung hanging from his shoulder. Mudal measured the distance to the catapults with his eyes briefly, then spoke in a voice lacking confidence.
"It's impossible for me. But several of the commanders who served under General Uru could manage it. At that range, you'd have to use Pyeonjeon."
"Then I must ask it of you. The moment the enemy opens fire is a perfect opportunity to snipe their wizards!"
Mudal nodded and sent one of his subordinates to where the archer unit was stationed. Under the old Gauri army in Go Jin-cheon's direct command, this would have been no problem, but those men had long since been scattered, each taking command of their own troops as commanders.
Their personal martial prowess aside, their experience across countless battles carried absolute weight in war. Even here at Gaemun Mountain Fortress, there were barely a dozen Gauri commanders, each in charge of a different section of the wall.
Once the Yudonno's fire no longer smashed their catapults, the Roselin soldiers threw every ounce of strength they had into pushing forward. And this time, the relatively well-cleared ground helped them advance rapidly.
"Halt!"
"Halt, halt!"
When a knight gave the halt signal to the soldiers pushing the catapults forward, they all shouted the command back and came to a stop. Then, without anyone needing to order it, they began unloading boulders from the wagons they had pulled up behind the catapults and drawing back the catapult arms.
"Wizard!"
"Drop the Shield and fire at once!"
At the wizard's command, the soldiers stood ready to launch at Gaemun Mountain Fortress. As soon as one volley of logs pounded against the Shield, they dropped it.
"Launch!"
THWUMM!
At the senior soldier's shout, the catapults swung in great semicircles and hurled the boulders into the air.
"Oum Sala di Kreee... guhuk!"
The wizard who had begun to chant his spell to recast the Shield never finished. A tremendous pain that shot through his shoulder stopped the words from coming out.
"Huk! How—!"
"Protect the wizard!"
Eyes wide with shock, soldiers snatched up large shields and rushed in to protect him. But their luck ended there. As it happened, another massive log came crashing down on them.