Chapter 338
Chapter 338
Iron Emperor — Chapter 338
The gaps between the obstacles were filling with corpses in the blink of an eye. With that, even their momentary advantage began to waver.
"Waaaaah!"
THUNK-THUNK-THUNK!
The shieldbearers, who had been holding their battered shields in scattered formation to block the enemy's resistance, now offered their own bodies in place of their breaking shields. When five or six spears drove into their flesh, far from crying out in agony, they hunched forward and held fast, keeping the enemy's weapons trapped in their bodies so they could not be pulled free. From behind them, using their comrades' sacrifice as a foothold, Gauri soldiers struck down with blows of fury.
Thus each death became fertilizer for those who followed. When a soldier fighting the enemy ran out of strength, he too became, like the shieldbearers before him, the foundation for those still behind.
They became human shields.
The moment of agony looked almost like joy. This was a situation where they ought to be pushed back by the surging enemy, yet the Gauri soldiers, using their comrades' sacrifice as their footing, began, little by little, to push the enemy who had pressed in back out again.
On a battlefield, it is not easy for one man to kill three or four of the enemy.
But if, from the very start, you drag them in with you, resolved to die, it becomes possible. That result was unfolding now.
Death called forth death.
One life traded for three or four others.
At the head of that desperate ferocity, the most beautiful slaughter in all of war began to unfold.
ROOOAR!
A titanic roar shook the battlefield.
From Eulji Buru's mouth burst a cry like the bellow of a great tiger, and the bodies of the Holy Empire soldiers seized up.
He hewed down.
CRACK!
"Aaaagh!"
The enemy soldier, split from shoulder to groin, let out a shriek of tearing flesh as his body fell apart to either side.
WHOOSH!
He swung the great axe that had come crashing down straight into a sweeping arc.
The enemies surrounding him all became shorter at once. They clutched their shortened legs and howled.
Wielding a single great axe, tracing dozens of circles as he whirled forward and back, left and right, butchering the enemy — the sight was like a dance.
Blood could not cling to the blade of the great axe as it swung at speed; it sprayed in every direction. The harsh rays of the beating sun met the ceaselessly whirling great axe and produced a beautiful radiance utterly out of place on a battlefield. Where that beautiful radiance passed, red rainbows rose and subsided, over and over.
How much time passed like that?
No one would charge at Buru's position anymore. The battle had thinned around him, and Buru's martial prowess was now seared as terror into the minds of the Holy Empire soldiers who had been surrounding this place.
The blood-soaked earth.
And Buru, standing tall in the midst of it.
Where he stood was a war sanctuary for the Gauri army. A place none might violate....
Upon that crimson earth, he roared:
"There is no retreat on the battlefield! Charge! Forwaaaard!"
"Waaaaah!"
The fierce battle cry of the Gauri army driving back the Holy Empire forces satisfied him. Listening to that roar, Buru bared his blood-soaked red teeth and smiled.
"Aye. Isn't this sight beautiful?"
Paradoxical as it was, the desperate Gauri army looked like a beautiful martial dance painted across a single canvas.
The terrain was unfavorable to their side, yet this was not a situation that justified being pushed back like this. An enemy force of barely fifteen hundred was driving back a force more than ten times its size. No matter how exhausted they were from the long fighting, the current situation made no sense.
The enemy had rested even less, had fought more fiercely, and labored under far worse conditions. To say "our troops are exhausted" was nothing but an excuse.
"Hmm."
Marquis Luchia should have been furious at what he was seeing, yet a low murmur close to admiration escaped him. He looked at Earl Pelloman, who was also staring fixedly at the front with his eyes wide.
Marquis Luchia abruptly realized that his own hand had been clenched tight for some time now. Slowly he lifted it and opened it; his palm was wet with sweat.
It was cold sweat. Only then did he feel the cold sweat running not just across his palm but over his entire body.
It was a shudder.
Grrrk.
In that instant, fury surged through Marquis Luchia.
Not only had a battle he had thought was certainly won dragged on this long — he had squandered magical power, felt a measure of respect for the enemy's wounded, and now he was breaking into a cold sweat and shuddering at the enemy commander?
"Enough!"
The short shout shook the air around him. Only then did Earl Pelloman and the staff officers realize how they had been reacting and hastily compose themselves.
Yet even they, without knowing it, kept turning their heads to glance toward the front lines.
"Pelloman!"
"Yes, Your Excellency."
At Marquis Luchia's shout, Earl Pelloman answered, his face reddening like a man caught in a shameful moment.
"Lead the Knight Order in personally. Subdue the enemy command, starting with that man. That is the fastest way to end this battle."
"Understood."
Would a desperate fight by fifteen hundred men overturn this battle?
And however much Buru might flaunt his martial prowess, overturning this battle would be difficult. Yet Marquis Luchia was ordering an even swifter conclusion.
The reason was simple.
The Holy Empire troops, fighting so ferociously, still had battle ahead of them. But if not only the difficult battlefield conditions thus far but also such martial splendor impressed itself as terror upon the soldiers' minds...
As a commander, that was an outcome he truly did not wish to contemplate.
One life, bearing away several lives as gifts.
The Gauri soldiers' struggle, beautiful to behold, was now also slowly hurtling toward its end. As fiercely as they fought, the strength remaining to them was rapidly draining away.
Those who no longer fought for the will to live did not fear death. No — they became ever more swiftly exposed to death. The objective was never merely to reduce the enemy's numbers as much as possible. What mattered was surviving for as long as possible and holding the line.
The fighting of those who had drifted from that purpose met death, sorrowfully, with terrible speed.
Of course, part of the reason was that the Knight Order personally led by Earl Pelloman had entered the fight.
"Die!"
No one praised the courage of the Gauri soldier who charged in swinging the broken half of a spear shaft.
They simply gave him death. Once the leaders who had kept the soldiers fighting together were isolated by the Holy Empire knights, the remaining soldiers fought like wild beasts.
That was the limit.
"Khk... Ge-General!"
"Kreuugh."
Clang!
The soldier who had been fighting beside Geom Muhyul let out a cry full of regret.
But Muhyul could not even spare him a look of mourning; he could only parry the silver sword-blade flying at him.
The owners of the silver armor surrounding them...
Clang, clang!
Fending off the renewed assault, Muhyul looked around with eyes full of despair and remorse. Gauri soldiers who had burned the last embers of their lives lay strewn across the ground.
Finding Gauri soldiers was not difficult. At the center of every place the Holy Empire soldiers surrounded like a cloud, Gauri soldiers were always there.
But now it was growing hard to find even that much.
Already some of the enemy troops were moving through the fallen, finishing off Gauri soldiers who lay gasping their last breaths. Gritting his teeth, Muhyul let out a great shout toward Buru.
"Great Generaaal!"
Through the harrowing screams of the soldiers, Muhyul's cry reached him, and Buru turned his head briefly and smiled.
Then he nodded — just slightly. Muhyul tore his gaze from Buru and bellowed with all his might.
"Everyone — pull back from the rear wall!"
Even as he shouted, he immediately drew a bundle of paper from his chest.
He meant to bring down the remaining section of wall by the rear gate. He feared that, should Dae Mu-deok's forces come fighting their way up, the wall itself would remain an obstacle to them.
Though Muhyul had shouted the order, the soldiers with their backs to the wall could not easily pull free of the fight. They merely smiled at Muhyul — a forlorn, resigned smile.
Receiving those smiles that presaged their final end, Muhyul bit his lip hard and tore the scroll.
"Cancellation!"
FWOOSH!
The torn paper scattered into the empty air.
A bright light briefly illuminated all directions. And what remained...
Only crushing disappointment remained.
The wall did not collapse.
"Kuaaaah!"
Muhyul's bestial howl shook the battlefield.
The commander of the Magic Corps lowered both hands and let out a breath as if in relief.
"Fortunately, it was a scroll made by a low-Circle wizard, so it was easy to neutralize."
"It seems things are finally drawing to a close."
At the Magic Corps commander's words, Marquis Luchia surveyed the nearly settled battlefield and nodded. Avoiding the enemy's final trap was a major advantage for their side, and a crushing blow to the few Gauri soldiers still resisting.
In truth, this trap had been predictable enough.
Only the timing of the magic's activation had mattered. Muhyul, relatively unfamiliar with magic, had hesitated for a moment, and that had been his mistake.
"Wha— what in the world!"
The Magic Corps commander's startled voice reached Marquis Luchia as he watched the battlefield. Luchia turned toward the commander's gaze, and his eyes widened.
KABOOM!
"St-stop them!"
As a thunderous roar sounded from the base of the wall, urgent cries burst from the mouths of the Holy Empire soldiers. As if in answer, a shout full of desperate strength erupted.
"Uwaaaaah!"
KABOOM!
When the magic scroll had proved futile, the soldiers had been stupefied. The psychological blow had been severe.
But in that moment, Nel, who had dashed to the base of the wall, swung his Hwandudaedo at the support beams.
Grasping what he was doing, Gauri soldiers swarmed around Nel and held off the Holy Empire soldiers, though it was certain they themselves would die if the wall collapsed.
CRRRRREAK.
The support beams bearing the colossal stones screamed and twisted. At that, the Holy Empire soldiers who had been rushing to stop him now began backpedaling instead.
"Huaaaah!"
KABOOM!
RRRRUMBLE!
When one support beam snapped completely, even the remaining beams beside it began to shriek. A smile spread across Nel's lips, smeared with blood and sweat. Beside Nel, one of the soldiers holding the enemy at bay grinned brightly.
"That's it, just one more..."
THWIP!
A single arrow, flying like a bolt of lightning, cut off the soldier's last words. At his comrade's death, Nel unconsciously turned his head back.
WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ!
The sound of arrows slicing the wind as they flew.
Thwock! Th-th-thwock!
"......!"
The sound of death hammering as if beating against his entire body.
Very slowly, the forms of Nel's comrades collapsed before his eyes. Every one of them sank onto the cold ground with arrows bristling from their bodies.
Images as if time itself had stopped. With a dazed expression, Nel looked down at his own body. Just like his falling comrades, long arrows were embedded in his flesh.
'It... doesn't hurt.'
He felt no pain from the arrows driven through his flesh. As if it were all a lie.