Chapter 322
Chapter 322
Iron Emperor — Chapter 322
"Th-these bastards are insane!"
"Run for it!"
Mob psychology is a terrifying thing.
When one man turned and ran, a few followed, and then a dozen more sprinted after them. As the number of Holy Empire soldiers fleeing into the forest swelled, the faces of the knights who'd been rallying the troops twisted with rage. Even the soldiers they'd gathered were starting to slip away one by one, glancing around before bolting.
"Don't you dare retreat! Fleeing into that forest won't save you! Have you forgotten the vicious monster attacks we suffered?"
The soldiers looked conflicted at the sight before them.
"The enemy is few! Stand and fight them!"
"Damn it!"
The moment they abandoned the thought of running, killing intent blazed in the Holy Empire soldiers' eyes. Gripping their weapons, soldiers from all directions began charging at the Gauri troops who were rampaging through the camp.
"There's another commander over there!"
A Gauri soldier's shout rang out from somewhere nearby. Unfortunately for the Holy Empire knight, the man who heard it was Buru.
"Damn it, there were still bastards alive!"
The exasperated roar burst from the forest, and the imperial knight tensed, staring toward the source of the voice.
CRUNCH!
"Wh-what?"
Along with the sound of something being smashed apart came a growing noise like the spinning of a windmill, drawing closer and closer. It didn't take long to realize what it was.
"Good god, what kind of monster—!"
A massive axe was whirling savagely, shattering every tree in its path as it hurtled toward him. With no time left to dodge, the knight frantically raised his shield to block it.
KABOOM!
"Gaaah!"
The great axe, laden with Buru's monstrous strength, pulverized shield and knight alike, blasting through his torso and claiming the lives of five more Holy Empire soldiers behind him before it finally embedded itself in the earth with a deafening crash.
"Waaaaah!"
A scream-like wail tore from a soldier who'd just watched his comrade's body reduced to a smear of gore. His eyes were already red-rimmed, drool streaming from the corner of his mouth.
He'd gone berserk.
"Eheheh! Kill them!"
He charged the Gauri line, swinging his weapon wildly, and before long that soldier too collapsed, riddled with holes from the thrusting spears.
The screaming did not stop until dawn, and the flames did not die out.
* * *
Sunlight lifted its head over the horizon to announce a new day. It was the hour when sleeping mountains and fields would normally stir awake, but Gaemun Mountain Fortress was filled instead with those who would sleep forever.
"Dammit, we're still a long way off...."
The morning sun shone over the fortress, which had become a hideous sight. Sections of the wall that had stood intact through the previous day's assault were now collapsed here and there, every piece uniformly charred black. And on the ramparts where soldiers should have been standing their ground lay the corpse of some unidentified soul, flattened against the stone.
"I never imagined they'd attack in the middle of the night as well."
At Munseol's grim mutter, Geom Muhyul shook his head.
"No. We should have foreseen it. After they shattered our common-sense assumption that they'd rest upon arrival and struck us immediately—a follow-up night assault was only to be expected. But still...."
Muhyul couldn't finish the thought. How could a commander possibly say that knowing beforehand would have made no difference to the losses?
Dark shadows pooled beneath the eyes of the soldiers who'd been up all night, laboring to patch the crumbling walls. They'd fought for barely a single day and a single night, yet every step they took looked weighed down by a thousand pounds. Perhaps that was only natural. The Holy Empire's forces had slammed into them while they were hauling supplies without a single day's rest in preparation for war.
Already exhausted in both mind and body, they had been hit by a magical offensive in the middle of the night, leaving them no time at all to rest their worn-out bodies and minds.
"But there was definitely a report of firelight sighted in the forest, correct?"
A thread of hope crossed Muhyul's face as he addressed his deputy. During the struggle to repel last night's offensive, a sentry stationed at the mountain summit had reported seeing firelight far in the distance, from the direction of the Reganza forest.
"That's right. It must be Taedaesaja Eulji."
"Yes."
A single ray of hope had kindled for these exhausted men.
Inside the command tent where the Holy Empire's banner fluttered, a wizard entered, his face rigid with tension.
"There is still no contact?"
"None."
Despite the early hour, Marquis Luchia was impeccably dressed, but a cold aura seeped from him. Contact with the follow-up force had been cut off.
"Something appears to have happened to them."
When Earl Pelloman, who always shadowed him like a reflection, spoke with a troubled expression, Marquis Luchia gave a minute nod.
"I believe sending a reconnaissance unit is the first priority."
"Do so."
As Earl Pelloman ventured his counsel once more, Marquis Luchia granted permission. Still, the chill radiating from him kept the other nobles in the command tent on edge.
Earl Pelloman relayed the Marquis's order, and one noble clad in gleaming silver plate armor hurried off at a run. Only then did Marquis Luchia part his lips, which had been sealed as tight as ice.
"Launch a general assault. Take Gaemun Mountain Fortress before the day is out."
"Understood."
"Battle commences immediately after the morning meal. Viscount Kau will take the vanguard."
"We should be eating lunch inside Gaemun Mountain Fortress today."
Viscount Kau stepped forward at Marquis Luchia's call, proclaiming it with bravado. His words were equal parts gratitude toward Marquis Luchia for granting him the vanguard role—the chance to earn great distinction—and raw confidence. The fortress was already riddled with cracks from the night of fighting.
It had also been confirmed after the previous night's assault that Gauri had no magical combat strength left to draw on. Breaching the walls was now only a matter of time. And when the sun that had peeked over the horizon finally showed itself in full, the blare of a horn announcing bloodshed rang out.
Bwoooooo!
"The enemy's offensive—it looks like it's starting again!"
The deputy shouted urgently as he raced up, but the horn's blast had already reached Geom Muhyul's ears.
"All troops return to your positions!"
"Move fast!"
When Muhyul bellowed, the commanders who'd been devising countermeasures against the enemy offensive scattered in every direction and sprinted off. Emerging from the command tent, Muhyul watched the soldiers hurrying past. Without even waiting for their officers' orders, they were already scrambling up the walls the moment the horn sounded.
"Hold them for just one more day, and Great General Eulji Buru will be here!"
"Waaaaaaaaah!"
When Muhyul shouted with all his might to those soldiers, they answered with a roar. Hoarse, cracking voices, but to Muhyul they unmistakably said, Don't worry about us.
A bright smile spread across Muhyul's face.
Perhaps because they saw his smile?
Smiles bloomed too on the faces of the soldiers that his gaze brushed past.
One old man—no soldier at all—had scavenged up a punctured suit of armor to wear, gripped a spear tight, and grinned back at him through a mouthful of missing teeth.
A boy soldier who kept pushing his oversized helmet back up from where it slipped over his eyes saw Muhyul and gave him a sheepish smile.
A soldier missing one arm, wrapped in layer after layer of bandages, raised a notched Hwandudaedo in his remaining hand and answered with a cheer in a cracked voice.
A young woman who should have fled with the other families, disguised as a man, gathered stones and beamed at them.
Watching their smiles, Muhyul's steps felt light as he ran. He vaulted onto the battlements in a single bound, ripped his Hwandudaedo from its sheath, and thundered:
"Even if we drop dead this very instant, we will remain free people—never slaves!"
"Waaaaah!"
The toothless old man answered his fierce cry.
"As long as we stand here, our families and our neighbors shall live with their heads held high for generations to come!"
"Let's fight!"
The young boy shoved his helmet up and blazed with fighting spirit.
"And I, Geom Muhyul—even if I live but a single day more, I shall live that day as a citizen of the great Gauri!"
"YEAAAAAH!"
The woman disguised as a man, a basket of stones tucked against her side, raised one hand and cheered. A streak of fierce joy ran from the corner of Muhyul's eye.
"Come on!"
Muhyul's lion's roar erupted toward the Holy Empire soldiers swarming in like spiderlings. And the will of Gaemun Mountain Fortress shook heaven and earth.
* * *
Eulji Buru's hand rose as he galloped. The column following behind him halted all at once at his signal. In an instant, the escort plunged into silence and tension. Hands tightened around weapons, ears straining to catch every sound around them.
"Huh?"
"Hey, quiet."
Someone's eyes flew wide and he let out a short sound; his comrades shushed him. But he wasn't the only one. One by one, the soldiers who'd been listening intently had caught it on the wind—a battle cry.
"This—!"
"Everyone hears it?"
At the head of the column, Buru grinned through a face caked in charcoal soot. Maybe because of that blackened face, every one of his yellow teeth stood out with vivid clarity.
"Knew it."
Faint on the wind, yet unmistakable—a familiar battle roar.
The sound carried on the breeze was unquestionably the war cry of the soldiers defending Gaemun Mountain Fortress. They were shouting for Gauri.
"They're callin' us."
At Buru's low murmur, the soldiers clenched their teeth and widened their eyes. Men who looked ready to collapse as if dead the moment they dropped suddenly blazed with renewed vigor.
"Let's move. To wherever that shout is comin' from."
Buru kicked his horse into motion again, and the soldiers began driving their wagons forward once more. Had that fleeting moment of rest lent them strength?
The column's pace quickened. And trailing behind them came strings of horses and carts captured from the Holy Empire.
* * *
RUMMMMMBLE!
With an earth-shaking roar like an earthquake, the precarious walls of Gaemun Mountain Fortress collapsed. Amid the tumbling stone, the Gauri defenders who'd resisted to the very end were buried together.
"The wall's come down!"
Was that a voice of exultation? Or a voice steeped in madness...?
Holy Empire soldiers began surging through the half-collapsed breach like a flood. A handful of Gauri troops threw themselves forward to stem the tide in the gap left by the broken defenses, but they never even got off a proper spear thrust before they were shoved down, trampled to death beneath the crush of boots.
"Throw the rocks!"
On the still-intact sections of the wall, soldiers regained their senses and hurled boulders down at the breach.
But the Holy Empire troops weren't aiming solely at that point. Before long, Gauri soldiers were cut down by enemies who exploited the thinned defensive line to scale the wall.
"We have to seal that gap!"
Geom Muhyul—long since drenched in blood—poured out bristling killing intent as he leapt down.
"Slaughter every one of them!"
"Die, you barbarians!"
Riding their momentum, knights shouted cockily as soldiers streamed forward on both sides of them. Fortunately, the tumbled stone slowed the attackers' advance into the fortress just enough for a hasty defensive line to form inside.
"Munso, take men up onto the wall with oil and straw and set fire to the breach!"
"Understood!"
"Archers, fire at will—don't wait for a command!"
At Muhyul's command, arrows rained down on the surging Holy Empire troops.
Pressed forward by the ceaseless shove of their comrades at the rear, the soldiers at the front couldn't even raise their shields properly; they simply became pincushions, then were crushed under the feet of the allies pushing in from behind. At that moment, fierce combat erupted once more around the rubble of the collapsed wall where the imperial forces had gained their foothold.
Under the martial prowess of Gauri commander Munso, who rampaged through them in black Chalgap armor, Holy Empire soldiers fell screaming to their deaths. The soldiers following him weren’t carrying weapons at all—they sprinted forward clutching jars nearly as large as their own torsos.
"Don't stop—keep running!"
As Munso cut down enemy soldiers and urged them on, the men's pace quickened further. At that instant, a knight directing the troop advance through one side of the ruined wall must have guessed what the desperately onrushing Gauri soldiers were carrying; he shouted a loud warning.