Chapter 325
Chapter 325
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 325
"Ah, they're friendly forces! Roughly two thousand friendly troops—they're charging toward our fortress!"
"What in the world is going on!"
A frustrated question escaped Muhyul's lips, but no one could give him an answer.
It was a magnificent sight.
Watching tens of thousands of soldiers milling back and forth, Cheon Yuhwa burst out laughing.
"Pfft, hahaha! Look at that! We actually pulled it off!"
"Ahahaha! Idiots!"
Yuhwa and the seven hundred-odd soldiers arrayed defiantly atop the hill all broke into laughter. As if in response to their appearance, the Holy Empire forces began a retreat, and Eulji Buru's troops bursting from the forest toward Gaemun Mountain Fortress came into clear view.
Behind them, spread out in a long laughing line, the captured horses galloped every which way, dragging branches and kicking up dust. That was how they had deceived the enemy.
Yuhwa, laughter still on his face, looked around. Every one of them was battered, yet they were laughing as though they had something to celebrate...
"Bunch of dead men walking and you're grinning like idiots. Heh heh heh."
"And you're any different, Deputy Commander?"
"Bwa-hahaha!"
Even as they watched the Holy Empire forces slowly push toward them, they tossed jokes back and forth. As though none of it had anything to do with them.
Right now, their morale was higher than it had ever been.
Shing.
Cheon Yuhwa's Hwandudaedo slid from its sheath. Maybe because he was left-handed, he looked thoroughly uncomfortable using his right.
"Comrades!"
Yuhwa turned and shouted.
Every single one of them was laughing with joy.
"Let's move! You goddamn bastards!"
"Waaaaah!"
The moment those words ended, Yuhwa's horse leaped forward, and the cavalry and carts spread in a single line all broke into a charge at once. Behind them came the horses dragging branches. Amid the soldiers racing ahead with roaring cheers, Yuhwa shouted as if making sure Eulji Buru could hear:
"General! Did you see that?! We're not dead weight after all! Uh-hahahaha!"
"Yeah. Guess you ain't dead weight."
Whether he had heard Yuhwa's distant voice or was simply talking to himself, an indistinct mutter slipped from Eulji Buru's lips.
The soldiers following behind him all ran with their teeth clenched. Mercilessly cutting down the belatedly retreating Holy Empire soldiers, they charged and charged toward the ruined Gaemun Mountain Fortress.
"Shit! Get out of my way!"
Buru roared as he cut down an enemy soldier obstructing his path.
"I said, don't block our path!"
It was a cry wrenched from bitter grief.
"This road we're running right now—!"
It was a vow to himself.
"This road was made with the blood of those moths!"
As Buru charged forward, a path opened like a sea parting before him. Faced with their frenzied charge, the Holy Empire soldiers could only flee frantically in every direction.
"When I meet you in the heavens, I'll deal with you under military law!"
Buru's shout rode the wind far into the distance.
"Heh heh heh. General, I'll take my punishment later."
Around the time Yuhwa's laughter died away, a rain of arrows poured down from the Holy Empire formation.
Thunk-thunk-thunk!
"Gyaaack!"
Four or five arrows embedded themselves in the soldier running beside Yuhwa, and he tumbled away. The screams continued behind him...
"Don't stop—keep running!"
Their charge pierced through the cascading arrows without hesitation. Some soldiers lost their balance and fell, missing a leg; others were flung aside when their carts overturned against roadside boulders.
The ones who crawled out of the carts limped onward toward the enemy lines on their crippled legs, and the comrades coming up behind them pulled them onto their own horses and advanced together.
"Time to raise hell one last time."
The line of anti-cavalry spears rose into the view of Yuhwa, running at the vanguard. He slowed his speed for a moment, and the other soldiers' horses also decelerated as if on cue. The empty carts and the branch-dragging horses dashed out through the gaps between them.
"Set them on fire!"
At Yuhwa's shout, the soldiers who had brought the horses and carts flung the torches in their hands. As if they had been doused with oil beforehand, flames instantly spread over the carts loaded with the Holy Empire's supplies and provisions. The fire also caught onto the branches the horses were dragging.
"NEEEIGH!"
The horses, startled by the violently blazing flames, charged forward without stopping, even with the sharp spear-blades right in front of them. And they collided.
"G-get out of the way!"
Someone's desperate scream rang out, only to be buried beneath hundreds of hooves. The burning carts ricocheted off soldiers and flipped over, creating still more victims.
"Aaaagh!"
The anguished cries of horses skewered like meat on the spears mingled with the screams of the Holy Empire soldiers, and amid it all, the unit of wounded men swept past.
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD!
After passing through the forest of spear blades, what blocked their way was a row of piled-up carts. Hastily assembled, it was nonetheless an effectively stacked barrier.
"Hyah!"
Spotting the obstacle ahead, Yuhwa drove his horse even faster and shouted.
"Please—jump over it!"
This was a charge that nothing seemed able to stop.
"Pleeeease!"
A charge that had seemed unstoppable by anyone.
CRAAASH!
For those who had pushed beyond their limits, there was no more running.
As Yuhwa was flung into the sky, the screaming of the horse that had run for him until the end and a jumble of dull, muffled sounds rang in his ears. The shouts and screams of soldiers hurling themselves ceaselessly toward the obstacle.
'Idiots.'
Drifting through the sky, Yuhwa found them unbearably absurd.
Even though no one would have cursed them for turning back, the faces of the soldiers who had stubbornly insisted on following him to the very end passed before his eyes one by one.
'What’s so damn great about a road to death, you idiots.'
Their laughter, bursting out as though they'd already won the moment the ruse succeeded, still rang in his ears.
BOOM!
"Cough!"
A mouthful of blood spilled from Yuhwa's lips as he was slammed into the ground. When he forced his head up, his ears buzzed as if a swarm of bees were flying around him. Before his eyes, a soldier who had been following behind him was lying face-up, staring at the sky.
The way his neck was broken at an unnatural angle—he must have gone without much pain.
'What the hell’s there to be happy about.'
The soldier with the broken neck was smiling.
Several spearheads flew at Yuhwa as he used his Hwandudaedo like a cane to rise. But the one who blocked them was a soldier whose remaining arm had already been broken.
'What difference does living a little longer even make.'
The soldier took countless spear thrusts into his own body, then jerked his head as if telling Yuhwa to go on. As Yuhwa slowly straightened, Gauri soldiers limped up on either side of him, raised their weapons, and threw themselves at the Holy Empire troops.
'What’s it matter if you die a little quicker.'
Blood poured from the holes pierced all over the soldier's body. He looked back at Yuhwa and forced a grin through a mouth spilling blood.
'If it hurts, just say it hurts.'
Blood ran from both of Yuhwa's ears, perhaps shattered by the impact. Around him, Gauri soldiers collapsed while crying out in sounds impossible to distinguish as screams or laughter.
'Why are you laughing, you morons.'
And yet Yuhwa himself was laughing before he knew it. Soldiers of the Holy Empire rushed at him. Even as they swarmed forward with murder blazing in their eyes, Yuhwa looked around.
Every face wore a broad smile.
Smiles already gone cold were turned toward Yuhwa.
Using an incoming spear-shaft as a brace, Yuhwa's body pivoted.
'You fools. Let me send you some company for the road so you won’t be bored.'
As he swept past, a Holy Empire soldier's head tumbled from its body.
'That’s one.'
This time, two spears rushed toward him.
'Too slow.'
His Hwandudaedo slashed once toward the ground, then rose back up from the ground toward the sky. Both spear-shafts were severed mid-length, and two soldiers' bodies were driven into the dirt.
'Two, three.'
Cheon Yuhwa danced among the Holy Empire soldiers surrounding and lunging at him. Worried his comrades who had gone ahead might be bored, he danced with all his might.
'Thirty-three.'
Torso split open, yet another empire soldier dropped to his knees. No more enemies were rushing at him.
'Already tired? We’re still a long way off. That’s only thirty-three. No need to go overboard—just let seven hundred twelve more die by my hand.'
He had to at least match the number of comrades who had died. When Yuhwa's foot took one step forward, the Holy Empire soldiers' feet retreated one step.
How many steps had he taken?
Before his eyes, figures clad in silver-shining armor appeared in swarms.
'Deputy Commander! Those guys look like jackpot material!'
Yuhwa, who'd been staring at the wave of silver arrayed before him, turned his head to look back.
'Of course. Cheon Yuhwa himself has stepped up—you think they could just sit back and bear it?'
The seven hundred fifty comrades who had followed him were now clustered behind him, sitting and cheering him on.
'Deputy Commander! Show them what you’ve got!'
'Keep running your mouth like that, and you might just get a knife in the ribs!'
They were laughing and joking among themselves.
Yuhwa's head turned back, and his Hwandudaedo swung. A silver-armored figure—when had he charged in?—had brought his sword cleaving down.
He blocked the sword and, with his body turned, drove his Hwandudaedo through the gap between his own waist and elbow.
'You bastard! Get your damn head on straight!'
Somehow, Eulji Buru had shown up too and was chewing him out.
'Tch! Don’t you worry.'
Behind his back, an Imperial knight slowly crumpled. Another knight burst out in succession and sliced across Yuhwa's waist as he passed.
'You idiot. If you lose here, I’ll make you carry a horse and run—just so you know.'
His Majesty...
Go Jin-cheon stood with a deep furrow between his brows and his arms crossed.
'You worthless fool!'
Yuhwa parried the sword of the knight who'd gashed his waist and simultaneously shoved the man's chest with his foot. He finished venting his frustration by driving his Hwandudaedo down into the chest of the knight who toppled backward.
'Damn it—His Majesty’s watching!'
He vented his anger on the knight whose breath was leaving him in shudders. Then a man unlike the others, radiating an intimidating fighting spirit, slowly stepped into Yuhwa's path. Every knight around him lowered his head. This one was clearly someone important.
A man who emanated icy coldness.
'If I beat this guy, will you forgive my mistake?!'
At his childish words, Jin-cheon and Buru nodded. Having secured that promise, Yuhwa steadied his breathing and brought his Hwandudaedo crashing down upon him.
A lightning-swift strike.
'As expected!'
The blow was easily blocked—he was a stronger opponent than Yuhwa had imagined.
Twice. Three times. Four times...
For Yuhwa, there was no fifth attack.
'It’s hot.'
The sword of the cold-looking man felt hot by contrast. Blood gushed endlessly around the blade that had split Yuhwa's heart.
"Cough!"
As Cheon Yuhwa's body crumpled, Marquis Luchia, who had driven in the final sword, wiped the blood from his blade with an impassive face.
"What a tenacious bastard!"
One knight spat in disgust.
"You...."
When Yuhwa, on his knees, forced his head up and spoke informally, the enraged knights moved to lunge at him.
Marquis Luchia restrained them.
With his eyes shaking, Yuhwa addressed Marquis Luchia in a voice that was slurred yet relatively clear.
"I... I mean...."
"......."
Yuhwa, having started speaking with great effort, smiled. It was different from the grins he'd worn until now.
An unmistakable sneer.
A mocking smile was curled on his lips.
"I'm originally left-handed. You stupid bastard."
With those final words, Yuhwa's head slowly dropped.
One afternoon, as the blazing sun gradually sank westward...
Cheon Yuhwa and seven hundred fifty others found eternal rest.