Chapter 204
Chapter 204
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 204
"Right in his fucking head!"
A near-cheer burst from Samdopyo's mouth.
"S-sir! I believe so!"
A knight who had just barely cut down an enemy soldier beside Dupyo answered in a dazed voice.
The South Roselin knights who had been demoted and transferred into the Assault Squad for lax perimeter discipline were struggling just to keep up with their monstrous assault commander.
Dupyo's reckless habit of charging exclusively at the most ostentatiously dressed nobles was the very reason the aristocrats and knights from the South Roselin Resistance—men who had believed in their own martial prowess—had been made to taste utter helplessness.
On the other hand, doggedly following him had also earned them the greatest tally of enemy commanders killed, which in turn drew the envy of other knights. Dupyo, having just swatted away a defiant enemy noble with his iron staff, let out a gleeful roar.
"That one's miiine!"
The moment those words ended, the knights watched Dupyo spur his saber-tooth tiger bounding downward and let out despairing battle cries as they scrambled down the wall after him.
"Charge!"
The word was "charge," but the pitiful sight of the Assault Squad half-tumbling down the wall was closer to a rout.
"Hold them!"
Count Krian's knights, seeing the saber-tooth tiger and Samdopyo bearing down on them as though hunting prey, raised their swords before their chests and formed a defensive line.
The warhorses, momentarily frozen with terror by the saber-tooth tiger's roar, regained a measure of steadiness through their riders' efforts and began moving on command. One knight, watching the ground-shaking approach of the saber-tooth tiger and Dupyo mounted atop it, shook his head and let out a hollow voice.
"Are we supposed to stop that saber-tooth tiger... or the bear of a man riding it?"
"......."
"Both, I expect."
The saber-tooth tiger alone would require four or five of the knights present to handle. When their thoughts reached the question of what kind of man could ride such a beast, the knights felt a chill run down their spines.
Kwaang!
"Huuaargh!"
Dupyo's roar erupted almost simultaneously with the tiger's, making onlookers feel as though two savage beasts were charging at once.
"Charge!"
The knights, raising shields and thrusting swords forward as they galloped to meet him, let out desperate voices. In that instant, the saber-tooth tiger reared up and lashed out with both forepaws.
SWISH-SWISH!
The twin forepaws swung in a blur.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
"Urk—!"
It happened in the blink of an eye. The horse's head was torn clean off, and even the shield was ripped apart like a sheet of paper.
"One!"
As Dupyo's voice rang out, the iron staff followed, shattering the knight's helm and skull together as it passed.
"Sir Rein!"
"Twoooo!"
Ignoring a fellow knight's anguished cry, the saber-tooth tiger plunged down, and Dupyo spoke again.
WHOOSH!
"Aargh!"
The iron staff, swung before anyone could even think to block, split the air with a shriek and descended onto the knight's head. The knight's two hands never reacted. Only his mouth, faithful to instinct, gave voice to his heart in a scream.
Crunch!
The iron staff, driven from high to low, hammered the knight's head, helm and all, down into his torso as if nailing it home.
And still it had force to spare. The knights' eyes, fixed on the black iron staff driven clear to the chest, began to fill with terror.
Thud.
"Heh heh heh. Nothing beats a club for that satisfying feel."
Dupyo smiled deeply at the knights arrayed before him, as though the corpse crumpled powerlessly to the ground no longer held the slightest interest.
Whirrr!
Dupyo shook the hair and brain matter from his staff in all directions, and behind him the Assault Squad, having finally caught up, fell into formation. In the same breath, Dupyo and the saber-tooth tiger began to move again.
"Kill them all!"
"Uwaaah!"
Watching Dupyo and the Assault Squad charge without hesitation, the knights ground their teeth and spurred their horses forward.
After the north wall, the west wall began to crumble. Gye Ung-sam, who had ascended the north wall, had taken a hundred troops and raced toward the western rampart. On the not-so-wide wall, the soldiers rushing at Gye Ung-sam numbered only three or four at a time, and those three or four could not hold him for even the span of a cup of tea.
"Hap!"
To be precise, there was not a single soldier who could block the flash of light that traced through the air with a single shout of exertion.
"Gwaaagh!"
"We can't stop him! He can't be stopped!"
Before Ung-sam's great blade, which cleaved through shields, spears, and swords alike, the soldiers could only stumble backward in retreat.
Slice!
"Aargh!"
But no commander would stand idly by and watch that happen. With the ghastly sound of flesh tearing, a North Roselin soldier who had turned his back to flee crumpled sideways, clutching his split-open chest.
"Anyone who retreats dies!"
"Hnk!"
Before the knight's ferocious glare and the blood-slicked sword, the fleeing soldiers had no choice but to halt their steps.
"Well, well."
Did that not sit well with him?
A look of pure disdain etched itself across Ung-sam's face. And it led straight to action.
TAP-TAP-TAP!
"You try blocking this!"
Ung-sam's shout as he exploded forward in a low crouch, leaving only an afterimage like the wind.
"Haaap!"
A great shout of exertion blended with the cry of the knight charging to meet Ung-sam. Ung-sam's great blade swept horizontally, and the knight, summoning every ounce of his strength, moved to block it.
HUMMMMM!
The knight's sword keened and leaked a blue light. At the same moment, Ung-sam's great blade, hurtling in like a beam of light, hammered against the blue-glowing sword.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!
White sparks flew.
Ung-sam's great blade advanced no farther against the knight's sword, and hope lit the faces of the North Roselin soldiers. But in that instant, Ung-sam's body, which had swept the great blade from left to right, rotated back the other way.
Slice!
When had he even turned? The head of the knight who had blocked Ung-sam's great blade soared into the sky. Yet Ung-sam's great blade did not stop.
"Kuaaat!"
A single stroke, descending from the heavens to the earth with a monstrous cry.
Before the knight's head, which had rocketed into the air, could even strike the ground, it was split cleanly in two.
Tutuk.
"Guaaaahhh!"
"Hiaaaak!"
The two halves of the head thudded to the ground, white brain matter steaming gently upward.
At that sight, not only the North Roselin troops but even the South Roselin soldiers behind Ung-sam ceased fighting and trembled in terror.
Hwiririk.
It was Ung-sam, too, who severed that fear.
With a flourish, spinning his blade this way and that, Ung-sam lowered his head slightly and spoke to the enemy, his expression dripping with killing intent.
"Run now, and I'll let you keep your lives."
The North Roselin soldiers hesitated at Ung-sam's words.
He was an opponent they could not hope to resist. Death aside, no one wanted to be the next victim in the gruesome scene unfolding before their eyes. Fear ruled reason. One soldier's eyes rolled back as he shrieked.
"Lies! He'll kill us all—we're all going to dieee!"
Foam flecked the soldier's lips as he screamed like a madman. In the eyes of the other North Roselin soldiers, hope guttered out.
SLASH!
"Kurgh—!"
Ung-sam's great blade split the waist of the soldier who had shouted "lies," and he bellowed at the wavering troops.
"Fuck! I hate lies more than anything!"
Ung-sam's heartfelt(?) scream echoed out, and only then did the North Roselin soldiers begin turning their backs one by one and fleeing.
Their steps toward the already-breached wall were remarkably nimble. The North Roselin troops who had been holding them back fell back a pace and continued their resistance, using a prepared position behind them as a shield.
Fwooosh.
"Magic! Take cover!"
"Uwaaah!"
Crimson fireballs, three or four at a time, came hurtling in clusters. With no way to block magic, the soldiers frantically ducked beneath the wall they had just been scaling, while those too slow to evade burned alive, torn screams mingling with the flames.
FWOOSH!
"Goddammit."
Blistering heat and the stench of roasting flesh spread and mingled. A curse escaped naturally from the lips of Buyeo Gi-yul as he urged the troops on.
"Our wizards—!"
"They're busy countering elsewhere, sir!"
"Are you insane? We're dying like dogs out here! What bullshit is that?! If we smash through the breach, the battle ends faster, doesn't it, goddammit!"
Giyul loaded his reply with curses and hurled it back, but the soldier who had brought the message could offer no answer.
"Goddamn magic, or whatever the hell it is, I'll never get used to it."
Giyul batted away an incoming arrow and lamented. With so many soldiers massing toward the breached wall, they were helplessly exposed to the enemy's magical assault. No—they were the prime target. And yet, knowing that, Gauri and South Roselin had no choice but to attack through here. It would cost fewer lives than breaching another intact section of wall.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
"Kuaagh!"
Flames erupted once more, hurling dozens of soldiers into the air before slamming them down in every direction.