Chapter 29
Chapter 29
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 29
Flash.
A sword blade at the gate reflected light twice. The moment the signal was given, a cluster of men and horses began slowly approaching. Whether because leather had been wrapped around the hooves, no distinctive footfalls could be heard.
Rumble.
The gate was opening cautiously, at a measured pace. After dragging it out for some time, the gate swung open, and Go Jin-cheon mounted his horse. As if that were the signal, a unit of soldiers took over the gate while Ung-sam and the swordsmen sprinted off to seize the other gates.
"We hit only Alvin's manor."
Jin-cheon had already been to this city once, so it was familiar to his eyes. Back then, he had already learned its key points through Beron.
"Each squad disperses and approaches its objective slowly. Five mounted archers are attached to every squad. Any patrol encountered is to be eliminated on sight, no exceptions."
"Yes."
"Once the Signal Arrow sounds at the objective, strike all at once. The main gate follows me."
"Yes!"
"Disperse!"
The moment Jin-cheon's order fell, horsemen spurred forward, scattering in every direction. Their pace was neither too swift nor too slow. As the soldiers melted into the darkness, Jin-cheon's lips parted.
"Advance."
Clop clop clop.
The low drumming of hooves echoed as one hundred thirty-odd cavalry, trailing the scent of death, passed through the streets.
* * *
FWEEEE!
"It's begun."
In the nearby forest where Risel had been anxiously waiting, the soldier standing guard informed him in a low voice that the battle had started. The long whistle splitting the sky had been the signal.
"Hmm."
Risel let out a groan, betraying his unease. Unlike him, the expressions of the twenty-odd soldiers who remained were far from stiff or anxious. Faith, most likely.
But then, a short cry escaped Risel's lips.
"Ha!"
"What is it?!"
"We must get to the fortress at once. Now!"
"What do you mean, all of a sudden?"
The soldiers' eyes went wide at the sudden urgency in Risel's voice, and they questioned him. But he was already mounting his horse and urging them on.
"It was my mistake. To think I never considered that a baron's domain — however far from the capital — would have a communication wizard dispatched out here!"
"Do not worry. We will cut off any beacon towers or couriers on our own."
"You don't understand. Magic! Communication Magic!"
"Huh?"
Risel grew frustrated as he urged on soldiers who did not even know what magic was. Sensing that something was seriously wrong, the soldiers mounted their horses in unison.
"Let's ride!"
"Hyah!"
Neeeeigh!
"Haah!"
Clatter! Clatter! Clatter!
Echoing through the darkness, twenty-odd riders led by Risel charged toward the fortress.
"Gwaaaagh!"
Kaboom!
A scream pierced the air just as a thunderous crash resounded.
"Ugh!"
"The manor gate has collapsed!"
"Hold them!"
The heavy iron gate that had guarded the lord's manor was ripped from its frame and toppled, and a wave of cavalry began pouring in. The shouts of someone yelling to stop them were transformed into wretched screams beneath the hooves, and the soldiers' feet unknowingly carried them backward.
"Where in blazes did cavalry like this come from?!"
A desperate voice rang out from somewhere.
At the head of those who had breached the main gate, Go Jin-cheon's eyes blazed as he drew his Hwandudaedo.
"Hwoop!"
Slash!
"Gwaaah!"
Jin-cheon's blade, tearing through the air, passed cleanly through a soldier's body, separating top from bottom without fail. Then his steel hobnailed boot came down on the head of a soldier hesitating behind.
Crunch!
With the momentum of his charge doubled, the skull crushed beneath Jin-cheon's foot produced a dull sound, scattering its contents into the air.
"Slaughter every last one who resists!"
"Whoa-yaaah!"
"Ha-yaaah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
As Jin-cheon's voice rang out in all directions, the roar of the cavalry followed. Streaming in through the opened gate, the tide of black horsemen bursting forth with battle cries, splitting to Jin-cheon's left and right as he issued his command, descended upon the outnumbered soldiers like despair itself.
"Hieek!"
"Let not a single one escape. Hyaat!"
Slice.
"Urrrgh!"
Jin-cheon's Hwandudaedo swept from a soldier's shoulder line down to his stomach, and the body split apart as hot blood gushed out.
The situation was already rushing toward its end.
"Secure the interior. Uru, take point!"
"Understood. Follow me!"
At Go Jin-cheon's order, Uru and thirty-odd cavalry dismounted and began entering the manor. Jin-cheon's eyes, scanning the surroundings thick with the smell of blood, were coldly composed.
"Drag 'em all out! If even one rat gets away, know that every last one of ya is dead!"
"Yes!"
The soldiers who had entered the manor paired off and scattered in every direction at Uru's command. Uru himself, leading two soldiers, began descending a passageway connected underground.
"Hmm."
Clank. Clank.
A damp smell tickled Uru's nostrils. As if sensing something in that instant, the tip of Uru's eyebrow twitched.
Thud. Thud.
Mindful of the noise, he had removed his hobnailed boots, and his steps were cautious. Descending the long passage, what unfolded before his eyes was a prison lined with bars. Silently peering into the darkness beyond, Uru wordlessly drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it to the string.
"Damn it! Why so much defiance."
"Mmph! Mmph!"
A voice from the far end of the prison, and a woman's voice, as if gagged. The fingers that had held the bowstring taut went slack, and the arrow flew, cutting through the darkness.
Thwip!
"Hurrk!"
Clatter. Thud.
A brief scream followed the bursting sound of flesh being pierced. As if flung by the arrow's force, a body crashed noisily against the iron bars.
Thud. Thud.
"Light. Light it up."
"Yes."
Judging by the faint breathing of the woman alone, with no further enemies present, Uru pulled a torch from the wall and handed it to the soldier behind him.
Whooosh.
"Hm."
As the flame pushed back the darkness and brightly illuminated the prison, Uru checked the direction in which he had shot his arrow. Most of the cells around them were empty, but in the direction he had fired, a woman hung suspended by chains.
"Huh."
Letting out a short gasp of admiration, Uru walked forward as if entranced.
"Nngh."
Clink.
The sound of the iron chains binding both her wrists echoed through the empty prison. From the gagged mouth of the hanging woman came strained, labored breaths.
Uru's pupils dilated sharply, and before he knew it, a word of awe escaped him.
"W-wow, she's pretty enough to make a man sick."
"Whoa."
As if agreeing with Uru's admiration, the soldier behind him let out his own gasp. There, looking exhausted but with firm, shapely limbs, skin as white as jade, and an appearance like a celestial maiden descended from the heavens, a woman hung pitifully suspended. That perfection, combined with ears that, unlike his own, were pointed — Uru felt certainty.
"Celestial Maiden!"
"Oh, my."
The moment certainty struck, the action Uru and the soldier simultaneously performed was a deep, groveling bow.
Meanwhile, Haidia of the High Elf tribe, watching this sight, felt thoroughly bewildered. When an arrow from nowhere had pierced through the head of the jailer who had been bringing his foul-smelling mouth close to her, she had thought her own kin had arrived. But what appeared was a tall Dwarf holding a bow.
A Dwarf of such stature was startling enough to Haidia, and that he was carrying a bow instead of an axe surprised her yet again. And now, seeing that proud member of the Earth Tribe groveling before her, she found herself wondering whether this situation was a dream or reality.
"Ce-Celestial Maiden."
"Oh, dear."
Thump.
The soldiers who had belatedly followed Uru acted no differently from him. The sight of five large men sprawled facedown on the ground was something to behold. But Haidia, watching their behavior, sighed and thought to herself,
'My wrists hurt.'
The elf Haidia, receiving their bows, was still suspended in midair.
The battle was ending with an almost absurd swiftness. It was not merely a matter of cutting down with blades and thrusting with spears — the brutal handiwork of Jin-cheon and his soldiers, hacking torsos to pieces and tearing bodies apart, had utterly shattered the enemy's will to fight.
"General! We killed everyone who appears to be part of Alvin's family."
A soldier approached Go Jin-cheon, dangling terror-stricken heads as if handling pieces of evidence.
"Gather the bodies."
"Yes."
At that sight, the faces of Baron Alvin's remaining private soldiers twisted in horror. Someone who would go so far as to mercilessly slaughter a noble's entire household could not be dismissed as a mere bandit.
Even amid the shredding screams and the slaughter that shook the predawn sky, not a single person came running out from the city. One might have expected someone to at least crack open a door, but everyone kept their doors shut and stayed as silent as the dead.
Go Jin-cheon's brow furrowed deeply, two lines creasing with what looked like irritation as he surveyed the surroundings. Then, from behind, the heavy hoofbeats of about twenty riders rushing toward them spread through the air.
"Hm?"
"Master!"
"Risel?"
Clatter! Clatter!
At the head of the twenty-odd riders, white beard streaming, Risel's figure calling out to Jin-cheon was vividly visible even in the darkness.
THUD-THUD-THUD!
"What is it? I haven't even sent the signal yet."
"Huff, huff. There may be a communication wizard here."
"What is that?"
Risel shook his head urgently at Jin-cheon's question and hastily spoke.
"I will explain later. Baron Alvin's family or retainers would know. Please, summon them quickly."
"......."
"It is urgent."
At Risel's agitated words, Jin-cheon stood silently for a moment, then slowly turned his head to the side. There stood the soldier, heads dangling in bunches from his grip. As if grasping the meaning of Jin-cheon's gaze, the soldier dipped his head slightly and gave a hopeless answer.
"Not a single one. Not a single creature got away."
"So he says."
"Oh, no."
Jin-cheon casually backed up the soldier's words. In the end, there was not a single person left to question. And there was no way ordinary soldiers would know such a thing. If they had managed to capture the wizard during the chaos, that would be fortunate, but if the wizard was hiding, it would be troublesome.
"Generaaal!"
"Hm?"
"Oh!"
Uru's voice, drawn out and long, shot forth from the manor entrance. On Uru's back as he ran hard was a woman, utterly spent, and the sight of it struck both Jin-cheon and Risel speechless with astonishment.
"I, I rescued a Celestial Maiden!"
"Celestial Maiden?"
"How can an elf be—!"
As Uru drew near and answered, Jin-cheon's and Risel's words burst out at the same time. Risel opened his mouth to correct Uru's ignorance.
"Uru, the person on your back is not a human."
"Right you are. How can ya compare a Celestial Maiden to a person!"
"No, that's...."
"Pretty. Hold a moment."
Risel's words could not continue, cut off by Jin-cheon. And it was the same for Uru as well.
"Ki is starting to gather."
"It's over yonder."
Jin-cheon's eyes fixed on the spire as he spoke. Only when Risel, too, looked at the spire Jin-cheon was staring at did he sense the flow of mana, and he spoke with urgency.
"No!"
"What is it? We can simply send soldiers."
"Communication Magic is about to manifest. So...."
"Communication Magic?"
Recalling that Jin-cheon had not understood earlier, Risel paused briefly before continuing in a rush.
"It is something like a beacon — it relays news of this place in an instant. But judging by the concentration of mana, even if we go to stop it now, it is too late!"
"Uru!"
"Yes!"
When Jin-cheon called Uru, he set Haidia down beside him and looked at the spire. The distance to the spire was about eight hundred mir, and its height some twenty-odd meters besides.
Uru, who had been eyeing the spire, slowly raised his bow. Watching this, Risel's voice burst out.
"It's impossible!"
"......."
Risel had shouted the word impossible.
At this distance, even an elf could not make the shot. Regardless of accuracy, it was a distance an arrow simply could not reach. And yet, the expressions of Jin-cheon and Uru did not change. Uru merely reached not for the arrows in the quiver on his back, but for a tube at his waist, fitting it into place.
"Hmm."
Click.
As the bowstring drew taut, Uru's eyes closed slightly. Then, in a fleeting instant, his eyes opened, and the string, pulled back past his ear, snapped forward as his fingers released it.
Twang. Fwish!
The fiercely loosed arrow left no trace of its tail in anyone's sight. That went for Risel, but even Haidia, a High Elf, could not track its path. Then, something like stone chipping off the spire caught their eyes.
"Hup!"
"Huh!"
Startled sounds escaped both Risel, who was watching the scene, and Haidia, who had been observing with questioning eyes.
"The mana... it's gone!"
Thwack!
Gwaaah!
The moment Risel's shocked voice rang out, the dull sound of an arrow striking home and a scream finally reached them. An arrow invisible to the eye and faster than sound. It was the Pyeonjeon. Uru, who had already fitted another tube, opened his closed eyes. He had taken the target down with a single shot.
"Got 'im."
"Well done. Now see to clearing the grounds."
"Yep."
At Jin-cheon's praise, Uru, thoroughly pleased, let out a short yelp.
"Oh! Celestial Maiden!"
"......."
The exhausted Haidia had been placed atop Gangsoe, Jin-cheon's beloved warhorse, who stood with his back turned.