Chapter 193
Chapter 193
Iron Emperor — Chapter 193
"How's that for axe-throwing skill!"
Eulji Buru looked back at the dwarves standing behind him with a satisfied smile.
'You don't call it throwing when you're hurling something the size of a man's torso!'
The outcry that had risen all the way to one dwarf's throat never made it past his lips. As Buru cackled and spun his arm in the direction where Gye Ung-sam stood, the forest that had been motionless began to move out. Then he turned toward the dwarves frozen at the rear and issued his command with a benevolent(?) smile.
"Any of you gets hurt, I'll just kill you off for good. So don't get hurt."
"Yep!"
At Buru's worry-laced(?) words, the dwarves answered in unison and charged out of the forest.
Viscount Alfonso, who had just watched the body of Sir Becker—a knight he was fond of—shatter so futilely, was in no position to keep worrying about him. That was because a dozen green monstrosities had burst from the brush on one side and were surging forward at terrifying speed.
"Protect His Excellency! What are the archers doing!"
As some twenty escort knights encircled Viscount Alfonso and roared at the archers, dozens of arrows flew toward Gye Ung-sam and the swordsmen under his command as they charged, leaving green afterimages in their wake.
"Hah!"
The archers gulped empty air, the thought of loosing another arrow impossible. Despite the short range, the incoming arrows had all been sliced in two as the trajectory of pale blue blades swept through, falling to the ground without force.
A few of them had nocked arrows to their strings again, but soon gave up and let their bows droop. The ten-odd monstrosities in grass camouflage had already begun mingling blades with the soldiers protecting Viscount Alfonso. And with the viscount and his escort knights' gazes fixed on that, another scream burst forth. Viscount Alfonso reflexively turned at the commotion behind him, and the words that escaped his mouth were of disbelief.
"D-Dwarves?"
The reason was that a black-haired dwarf far too large to be called a dwarf was leading dozens of dwarves as they forced their way in, each swinging a great axe. Every single swing was snuffing out a life before his eyes.
Five or six long spears flew at Gye Ung-sam in an instant. Ung-sam did not slow his speed even as the spearheads came at him as if to turn his torso into a pincushion. Instead he merely dropped his long blade low to the ground in a diagonal line, then reversed the slash upward to the opposite diagonal while spinning his body.
"Wha-what!"
"Gasp!"
Voices of disbelief burst from the mouths of the Roselin soldiers who had thrust their spears. Their hands gripping the shafts had felt nothing at all, yet the upper sections of the spears that Ung-sam's long blade had swept through were already dropping to the ground. And as Ung-sam came on, whirling up the remaining lower halves of the shafts and flashing past, the soldiers' heads shot skyward.
The swordsmen who had followed Ung-sam were likewise beyond the soldiers' ability to stop. At the very moment they believed the off-hand was swinging a sword, short daggers had already been driven into the soldiers' bodies, and thrust spear shafts became footholds for some swordsman. By the time a Gauri Swordsman rotated above the soldiers' heads and descended, all that remained behind were headless bodies.
"I'm taking the commander!"
The moment a voice thick with killing intent burst from Ung-sam's mouth, the swordsmen formed a wedge-shaped formation with Ung-sam at the head and charged forward.
"Stop them!"
When the soldiers collapsed without putting up any resistance, Viscount Alfonso's escort knights rushed to meet them, their eyes blazing with murderous intent. Their swords aimed for Ung-sam. Anyone watching could tell that of the ten-odd figures launching this sudden assault, Ung-sam was the leader.
"Die!"
As the shout of the central escort knight shot toward Ung-sam, four rays of light burst forth.
The escort knights' swords, laden with killing intent, fell upon Ung-sam's head, thrust toward his chest, and sliced in at both his flanks. Yet the surging wedge formation never wavered.
"Huh!"
The moment Ung-sam's form in front of them vanished in an instant, startled voices escaped the escort knights' mouths. But only for a moment—the escort knights were able to grasp right away where Ung-sam had disappeared to.
"Th-This can't be!"
Unlike the knights, Ung-sam—clad in light armament—had rolled across the ground past them, and at the same time blood fountained from the knights' legs. Behind him followed the swordsmen.
One knight's fierce, linked sword strikes rained down upon a Gauri Swordsman, but the Gauri Swordsman facing him pulled his body clear with an easy smile.
"Yeeargh!"
Whether that smile had gotten under his skin, the knight charged to swing his sword again—and heard his comrades' urgent warning at his ear.
"Rezail, danger!"
"C-Coward..."
But his comrade's warning did the knight named Rezail no good at all. That was because Ung-sam—who he had assumed had rolled past along the ground—had severed his waist from behind with his long blade.
"A fool who can't even watch his own back is an idiot."
He left the remark with an expression of incredulity as he watched Rezail topple, glaring at him with eyes full of reproach.
Crunch!
Where Gye Ung-sam's long blade passed, cleanly severed corpses were produced. Where Eulji Buru's great axe passed, smashed corpses were created. It was no exaggeration to say there was nothing that could stop the great axe Buru had recovered the instant he burst from the forest, now rampaging like a boar that had taken a bullet and flailing it about wildly.
Though his great axe was indisputably a heavy weapon, its speed outpaced that of the Roselin knights. His ceaselessly flowing movements grew accelerating heft from the weight of the great axe, and even as he cleaved through enemy soldiers and crushed them in passing, the speed never diminished.
You could almost say it was as though enemy soldiers were jamming themselves against him and dying as he danced lightly about, wielding a single great axe.
Buru's brutal yet beautiful motions were morale for his allies and hell unveiled for the enemy. Moreover, with the original Axemen all promoted to command positions and transferred out, the new Axemen unit was composed mainly of dwarves who had only recently joined.
The dwarves' muscles, built through their trades as smiths and miners, were suited to swinging axes, and their similar(?) appearance also suited Buru's taste. Of course the human soldiers occasionally mixed in did not wield great axes themselves, but their own hefty axe blows struck home more than well enough to annihilate enemy soldiers.
"It can't go on any longer. Your Excellency must get out of here at once!"
A knight who had dashed up with an arrow dangling from his forearm was shouting desperately at Viscount Alfonso with despair in his eyes.
"How dare you speak of fleeing with my body alone! Are you telling me two thousand escort troops cannot stop them!"
"The enemy forces that have revealed themselves number not even a hundred, but the strange arrows flying from the forest show no sign of abating. And judging by their direction of advance, they are clearly targeting Your Excellency!"
"What of Baron Vinsken, who has the rear guard?! And has this situation been reported?!"
"Baron Vinsken was killed in the opening exchange. And the communications wizard was also felled by an arrow the very moment he began transmitting news of the attack. You must decide swiftly!"
As the knight continued to plead amid the desperate urgency, Viscount Alfonso swallowed his fury with his head lowered.
"Grrr. Issue orders to the soldiers—abandon the supplies and retreat."
"Under—uaaaahh!"
The moment the knight raised a salute to answer Viscount Alfonso's order, his voice came out as if he had been possessed by something. At the same time Viscount Alfonso reflexively raised his head and looked at him.
"Gaaaaah!"
The knight felt at the center of his own head and face with eyes of disbelief. With a soft 'clunk,' the knight's split helmet dropped away to left and right, and a thin red line starting from the crown of his head was tracing down past his chin.
Riiip!
From the crown where the red line had passed, it split apart with an eerie sound. At this event that had unfolded before his eyes without the slightest omen, Viscount Alfonso felt a sudden chill race down his spine and let out a short scream.
"Gasp!"
When the knight who had been standing before him toppled, cloven in two left and right as his eyeballs rolled up white, what was revealed was the tip of a blood-caked long blade aimed straight at him, and Gye Ung-sam, bathed in the blood of the escort knights.
"The enemy commander has been taken! All of you, throw down your weapons and surrender!"
Ung-sam's fluent Continental language resounded loudly, cutting through the chaotic battlefield.
"H-His Excellency the Viscount has been taken!"
Gye Ung-sam's cry froze the bodies of the Roselin soldiers who up to that point had been doggedly resisting from their positions as if fighting for their lives. But the knights were different.
"Do not cease your attack!"
"Lord Herbi!"
In war, a commander could fall at any time. Moreover, while it was true that the commander of this supply train was Viscount Alfonso, he was only the officer responsible for the supply train—he did not hold a position equivalent to a supreme commander.
After making a swift assessment, Baron Herbi roared at the soldiers who were on the verge of breaking and kept the formation intact.
Piiing!
"Haap!"
Clang!
More arrows came flying at Baron Herbi—who had expertly batted away the first incoming arrow—sounding the prelude of death. But together with the knights around him he swatted them all down while continuing to exhort the soldiers.
"The fact that they took His Excellency the Viscount means the enemy's numbers are few! Do not fall back—resist!"
At the sight of Baron Herbi urging them on as he batted away every last one of the arrows that were like the terror of death itself, the soldiers seemed to draw strength, adjusting their grips on their weapons and steeling their will to resist. At that instant, a great axe hurtled through the air with a massive spin.
Crunch!
"Sir Kelion! Lord Herbi!"
The flying great axe had split through Baron Herbi and one knight standing in his defense before passing on.
"You son of a bitch, keep pushing your luck, I dare you!"
The Roselin soldiers saw the being bleeding murderous intent from every pore in the direction the great axe had come from. Even if they could not understand the words, they could guess the meaning. And so, as the knights and nobles of the supply column who had been rallying the remaining soldiers were killed off one by one, the weapons dropped from the soldiers' hands to the ground.
"Demons live in this place."
A soldier with a face drained of all spirit, as if his soul had fled, slumped down helplessly—with only the sound of the flute still ringing in the air for company—and muttered the words.