Chapter 257
Chapter 257
Iron Emperor — Chapter 257
The moment Buru absorbed the massive impact on his great axe and bounced backward, Ung-sam, who had brushed past him, rebounded and lunged for Jin-cheon's rear. Ung-sam's longsword, swinging once more, had become a streak of light.
Sssshkkt!
Even amid the fierce melee, the sound of fabric parting was clearly audible.
"Gahk!"
Whoosh.
Before the sound of something being cut had even died away, Jin-cheon's Hwandudaedo carved through the air behind him, slashing backward. But Ung-sam's head was already lowered.
Thwack!
"Keck!"
The Hwandudaedo sliced through only a few strands of hair as it passed. But the dull impact and the brief cry of pain that followed showed that Jin-cheon's attack had succeeded.
Only then did Ung-sam's body snap backward, his head whipping with it.
"Urrgh."
Ung-sam's face, as he barely steadied himself, was stained with blood. Jin-cheon was poised with his Hwandudaedo still extended from the swing, one knee raised. The stance resembled a posture from the Golden Rooster Stance, but the crimson blood staining his knee made it abundantly clear what had struck Ung-sam.
A moment of silence.
"B-blood...."
Belatedly, blood began seeping from Jin-cheon's flank. The sound of something being cut earlier had come from his waist.
"Raaaaagh!"
As if refusing to grant him even a moment's rest, Buru's great axe came hurtling down toward Jin-cheon's head while one of his feet was still raised. Jin-cheon's leg was already touching the ground, and at the same moment he angled his blade to deflect the descending great axe obliquely.
"Huff!"
As Jin-cheon steadied his breath and glared with wide eyes, Buru's great axe hammered against Jin-cheon's obliquely set Hwandudaedo. The force dispersed, and the great axe slid off, rebounding in a full circle guided by Buru's arm, swinging back toward Jin-cheon again. By then, Jin-cheon was already blocking Ung-sam's longsword as he dove back in.
Clang! Clang!
The metallic ring only echoed after these movements had already passed.
To the soldiers' eyes, likely only afterimages remained.
Buru's great axe, returning to cleave Jin-cheon in half at the waist, rent only empty air.
Jin-cheon had rolled forward to evade it. But Ung-sam's swift longsword had already raked across his back. In the instant both Ung-sam and Buru hesitated slightly from their mutual attacks, Jin-cheon's Hwandudaedo swung.
Whirrrrr-thwack!
The Hwandudaedo spun like a windmill blade, hurtling toward Ung-sam, while Jin-cheon's foot, following close behind, detonated against Buru's chin.
Crack!
"Huht!"
A short cry burst from Ung-sam's mouth as he failed to fully neutralize Jin-cheon's hurled Hwandudaedo. Simultaneously, Buru's head spun like a top, caught by Jin-cheon's kick.
Thud!
The moment Buru's body spun like a top and lifted into the air, Jin-cheon kicked off the ground and drove his body into Ung-sam's exposed chest.
Then came another impact.
Boom!
"Kuraaagh!"
Ung-sam's body flew backward from Jin-cheon's shoulder as though yanked away by an unseen hand. Buru and Ung-sam tumbled to the ground nearly at the same time, and Jin-cheon already held a spare Hwandudaedo in his hand.
"Hoooh, huff."
"Urrrrgh."
"Cough."
Along with Jin-cheon's ragged breathing, Buru and Ung-sam pushed off the ground and rose. They groaned in pain. Even so, their eyes glared at Jin-cheon as if they meant to devour him.
Three figures soaked in blood.
A mist of blood hung around the three, their bodies covered head to toe in blood and countless small wounds. The ground around them was already dyed red, but their forms resembled warriors locked in a life-or-death struggle, as if the fight would continue endlessly until someone died.
"Why...."
Someone spoke in a daze.
The soldiers could not understand. Their eyes said no one could understand why those men were fighting so ferociously.
"O-over there."
With a trembling voice, one soldier pointed toward a figure already drenched in blood, leaning against a tree trunk and pulling an arrow embedded in his thigh.
It was Yeon Hwi-garam.
His usual neat appearance was nowhere to be found, and his lustrous silver hair was now stained crimson. Beside him, a man limped over and handed him medicine. This time it was Eulji Uru. Burn marks from flames and sword wounds covered him, no different from the others.
"Huhk!"
Only then could the soldiers who had followed Mong Ryu-hwa and the others return to reality. Their eyes took in the surroundings: the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, the supreme martial force of Gauri clad in black lamellar armor, lay sprawled everywhere as if dead.
Their once-gleaming armor was shattered to pieces, dried red blood caked across it.
"Do you see."
Samdopyo's hard voice reached the stunned soldiers.
"I said, do you see. That sight."
The soldiers' shoulders trembled violently, and every head hung toward the ground. Dupyo continued, his voice thick with indignation.
"Do those look to you like the rotten nobles who strut and bluster at a war's end!"
Thud.
The knees of the soldiers still on their feet buckled powerlessly to the ground.
To the common people, Jin-cheon was a popular leader.
Those who had fought in the wars could not sing his praises enough, but the occasional glimpses of his broad-spirited magnanimity had long since torn down the wall between ruler and ruled. Yet no one had ever even imagined a scene like this.
"You'd probably tremble in fear of losing your one precious little life."
Giyul spoke to the stunned Avilrun in a mocking tone. Avilrun could not answer.
"But His Majesty worries about losing the lives of countless soldiers and every single person living on this land."
"I-I'm sor—"
Avilrun stammered.
Mong Ryu-hwa spoke calmly to the silent soldiers.
"Lift your heads and look."
At Ryu-hwa's words, the soldiers' heads rose as if pulled against their own will.
"He is our Yeolje."
The blood-soaked image of Jin-cheon was seared into the soldiers' eyes.
Boom. Thud.
The ground rang with successive impacts.
Gye Ung-sam's longsword, hurled as far as the trees, was broken in half. Buru strained with all his might, trying to use his great axe as a staff to rise, only to collapse again. Jin-cheon's head turned toward the soldiers.
The soldiers felt they ought to bow their heads, yet not one of them could move.
"Gahk, ptoo!"
Jin-cheon, watching them, turned his head slightly and spat out blood-tinged saliva. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
"Come."
Into the frozen soldiers' eyes came the sight of Mong Ryu-hwa and Samdopyo drawing their weapons and charging toward Jin-cheon, and Giyul soaring into the air with his Twin Axes.
"...So that... was the real thing?"
When Nel finished speaking, the soldiers' eyes were filled with disbelief. At one soldier's question, desperate for the truth, Nel quietly nodded.
"B-but if that's true, you shouldn't even be able to move! Fighting like that, your body wouldn't hold up at all!"
A retort thick with incredulity rang out.
The soldier who had burst into tears wiped his eyes and spoke.
"Hic, hic. Risel, Lord Risel used Healing magic...."
"Right. So they wouldn't die. But the sights I witnessed...."
Nel's voice took over from the sobbing soldier, spreading once more.
"Were so brutal that dying would have been more comfortable."
No one could bring themselves to ask another question.
* * *
"...."
"Urrrgh."
"Grrrk."
Risel maintained his silence as he gazed at the groaning patients scattered in every direction before his eyes. For a moment he turned his gaze to the empty air, then slowly bent at the waist and spoke.
"Healing. Cure."
Astonishingly, two spells were being cast simultaneously without any Pre-casting. A bright beam of light briefly manifested and seeped into the wounds. The face of the groaning man softened into comfort as the pain subsided.
Even while performing this miraculous feat, Risel stared at his own two hands and spoke in a voice of sheer disbelief.
"...The first spell I manage with Double Casting without spoken pre-incantations is Healing."
Risel had achieved a feat that would go down in the annals of magical history, yet he did not appear remotely pleased.
He merely compared the number of Black Armored Ghost Cavalry members sprawled around him awaiting their turn with the amount of mana he possessed.
Chapter 83 — War Bestows Sweet Fruit upon Those Who Prepare
Dae Mu-deok's expression, as he lifted the teacup to his lips, looked more at ease than it had in recent memory.
"How pleasant. Heh heh heh."
Unlike the days not so long ago when worry had permanently creased his brow, Mu-deok now showed enough composure to laugh. He sounded like an old man savoring a rare quiet moment.
"One less worry."
He had fretted over the soldiers' morale, thinking of the unending daily sparring matches between the commanders—including the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry—and Go Jin-cheon himself. But by coincidence, the soldiers' grievances had erupted at exactly that same moment.
In the end, Mong Ryu-hwa's trip there under Mu-deok's orders had produced an even greater effect.
Word travels fast.
Word of Jin-cheon's training spread through the soldiers and then through their families. The rumor raced across the country like wildfire, sweeping away the dark mood. At the same time, old legends of Jin-cheon's feats of arms resurfaced.
There were laughably exaggerated tales, too—tales of him beating a dragon into submission, of shattering a fortress wall with a single sword stroke during the assault on the North Roselin capital. But the overall result was what shaped the smile at Mu-deok's lips.
If the Holy Empire had its God, then Gauri had Go Jin-cheon.
The position of Yeolje was transforming—no longer an object of distant awe, but a symbol of protection. Something akin to deification.
Feeling the warm sunlight, Mu-deok brought his teacup to his lips again.
* * *
The intensity of training had increased, but the soldiers' movements had changed markedly from before. The difference in their hearts had driven the transformation.
If you cannot avoid it, enjoy it!
It was a saying every soldier knew, but almost none truly practiced. Yet now the Gauri soldiers, rather than avoiding, had begun throwing themselves into the training.
"Hey, did you hear?"
"What?"
It was training harsh enough that before, no one could have dared open their mouths. But the soldiers had now grown accustomed enough to exchange words while watching their surroundings warily.
"I'm talking about Avilrun. The one who disappeared the other day."
"Ah! That guy. I heard he got dragged off and then received a banishment order and was expelled?"
The reply came swiftly, as if catching on to the story immediately.
"Yeah, but there's a rumor going around that he hasn't actually been banished. He's still here."
"What?"
The soldier's eyes went wide at his comrade's words, and he shot back. His voice must have been a bit loud, because a bark of reprimand followed.