Chapter 53
Chapter 53
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 53
They had no trouble when they first began their escape after cutting down the Minotaur. But perhaps they had taken a wrong turn, because the path ahead had disappeared. And with monsters continuously emerging, their progress only slowed, and the knights began to tire as well.
"Rainman, are we going the right way?"
"Yes. The direction itself is correct. However, judging from the sharply reduced number of orcs, it seems we are almost out of monster territory."
At Baron Gowin's question, Rainman answered as he looked around. The remaining knights slowly surveyed their surroundings, then each took up a position as if to protect Baron Gowin. The dozen or so surviving soldiers collapsed to the ground on the spot, breathing sighs of relief.
"First, we rest here. Once we recover our stamina and fill our stomachs, we move out."
"Yes, my lord. Maintain vigilance, everyone, and fill your stomachs with the hardtack you carry."
"Yes."
At Baron Gowin's words, Rainman once again gave orders to the knights and soldiers before dropping his own backside onto the earth.
The emergency jerky the soldiers carried in their coats was even more unpleasant for being soaked in sweat, but having eaten nothing for half a day, they stuffed it whole into their mouths and chewed.
Only Baron Gowin frowned and returned his to his coat.
"......Huuu."
Someone's sigh broke the silence.
The rain had stopped, but water droplets gathered on the leaves kept falling around them.
Rustle.
"What's that!"
"Ah......."
When a rustling sound came from somewhere, one knight grabbed his sword in alarm. But from that direction, a single soldier stood up, holding his waistband with a slightly dazed expression. Everyone was so on edge that they stared at the soldier.
"I, I need to relieve myself......."
"Don't leave this spot. Just go nearby. This is still a dangerous area."
The knight relaxed his guard and advised the soldier in an irritated voice, but instead of answering, the soldier only opened his eyes wide.
"......Hk!"
"Hm?"
Crunch!
The knight looked at the soldier's behavior with questioning eyes, but that was only for a moment. Along with the sound of a watermelon splitting, the knight's body collapsed, and their rest was over.
"Gruooooooar!"
"Eeeek!"
"Aaaagh!"
"A T-T... Twinhead Ogre! What's it doing here?!"
Uncharacteristically for its size, the Twinhead Ogre had approached stealthily, and starting with the knight as its first victim, it began rampaging through their resting place. Baron Gowin and the knights, who had leapt up and drawn their swords, stared up at the king of land monsters, which boasted a stature of five mir.
"Damn....... Not just orcs, not even a single ant was visible. I should have known it was a Twinhead Ogre's territory."
"We'd be better off fighting two regular Ogres at once."
In the eyes of Rainman and his fellow knight who had stepped forward to protect Baron Gowin and drawn their swords, there was less indignation for the dead knight than a need to calculate the odds of getting out alive.
"Eeeek!"
"Guwooooargkh!"
Crunch!
Thud.
The soldiers had already fallen into a panic. The Twinhead Ogre hurled a rock at a soldier who turned to flee, and it smashed through his spine as it passed. The four eyes on its two heads missed none of the soldiers' escape attempts.
"My lord, we must slip away now."
"......We abandon the soldiers."
Even as he watched the soldiers fleeing with wretched screams, Baron Gowin chose flight over battle. Soldiers could always be raised again, but knights could not be made in just a few years of training.
Only the knight who had already been killed was a loss he regretted.
"Guwoooooargkh!"
"Aaaaaaagh!"
SWISH!
"Gah!"
But as if to block their escape, the Twinhead Ogre snatched up a soldier and hurled him at them. Seeing the soldier flying toward them screaming, the knights recoiled in horror. At the same moment, the cold-hearted baron's sword split the air.
Slice!
Splaaash!
"Kreeeeeegh!"
Flop. Boom!
"......."
As the flying soldier was bisected, blood splattered onto the knights. His upper body and lower body, now separated, flew screaming and slammed into the ground. Realizing that escape had already become difficult, Baron Gowin and the four knights re-gripped their swords.
"Rainman, you take the left. I'll take the front."
"Yes, my lord."
"Heiren, cover my rear. The rest, Beskin and Ravin, strike the left and rear respectively."
"Yes, my lord."
Perhaps thanks to their long years of fighting together, they quickly moved into position at Baron Gowin's orders.
Even so, anxiety flickered in their eyes. An ordinary Ogre was something Baron Gowin could manage, but a Twinhead Ogre was only a match for a Peak Sword Owner.
But Baron Gowin was still merely an Advanced Sword Owner. The difference between Advanced and Peak was like that between a child and an adult, and the knights, who understood this best, had heavy hearts.
"Now then......."
WHIZZ!
Thwack!
"Guwoooooooarrrkh!"
"What the—!"
An arrow flew in from somewhere and pierced one of the Twinhead Ogre's heads. A scream that sounded like it was being torn apart erupted from the remaining head, and the knights, with baffled expressions, scrambled away from the thrashing monster.
"Who goes there!"
"Guwooooong!"
Rainman kept his eyes on the Twinhead Ogre but raised his guard toward the direction the arrow had come from. Yet instead of an answer, what leaped out was a man launching himself like a flash of lightning straight at the Twinhead Ogre's front.
"Gwoogh!"
WHOOOSH!
SLASH!
The monster swung a club the size of a man's torso, but the man's body spun once like a top, slipping past as if riding over the club. And from his body, rays of light seemed to seep out and follow his movement.
"Guwo!"
"Huuuu!"
The Twinhead Ogre turned its head, letting out a baffled cry—but not only its head, its upper body turned along with it.
Of course, its lower body remained facing forward. The man, who was steadying his breath, slid his greatsword back into its sheath without so much as a glance back at the Twinhead Ogre collapsing behind him.
Click.
Kurrrr-rumble!
The moment the sword locked into its sheath, the heavy sound of the Twinhead Ogre's body hitting the ground shook the earth.
"Are you all right?"
"......."
Those were the first words he spoke to the frozen knights.
Baron Gowin and his knights tensed up as they watched the black-haired swordsman walk toward them.
And for good reason. Even if it had been a surprise attack, strength capable of subduing a Twinhead Ogre in a single exchange meant that this man could easily decide the fate of Baron Gowin and his knights depending on his mood. Yet Baron Gowin pushed back his knights, who were still on guard with blades leveled, and stepped forward.
"Thank you for the help. I am Baron Gowin. Who might you be?"
"So it's Baron Gowin. I am......."
The man, who had been answering with a smile, was Gye Ung-sam. The problem was, although he had prepared everything else, he suddenly couldn't think of a name.
"......?"
Baron Gowin stared at Ung-sam, who was smiling awkwardly, with questioning eyes.
The thought that the whole operation might go awry flashed through Ung-sam's mind, and right behind it came the mental image of Buru's—no, rather, Go Jin-cheon's retribution. Thanks to that, he opened his mouth before he even realized it.
"My name is Gerard of the Lightning Flash."
"Gerard!"
"No...... I meant Gerard's sworn brother. The name's Gerardan."
Ung-sam scratched the back of his head and re-introduced himself sheepishly to the startled baron and his party. Meanwhile, his five subordinates who had followed him out muttered inside.
'That man has truly mastered the art of lying.'
The battle between the orcs and the humans was nearing its end. Corpses were strewn across the ground, and no one remained to resist.
"Kku-ik."
"Kku-uuu, food! Kku-ik, let's eat!"
"Kkui-ii!"
The orcs, who had briefly taken cover to avoid the pack of Minotaurs that appeared belatedly, began to swarm toward the corpses one by one.
Among them, the orc Garu approached the human corpses to fill his starving stomach. All of his comrades who approached from everywhere to fill their empty bellies had sunken shadows under their eyes from days of hunger.
"Kku-ik! Flesh! Kku-ik, I think I've lost a pound!"
"Kku-ik, kku-ik, sniff! Don't talk while eating, kku-ik! Bad luck."
Just then, a chilling energy was detected behind them as they tore into the corpses.
"Kku......."
"Kkuek!"
They were that hungry. What reason could there be for the orc race, known as the most instinct-driven race, to scream and fling away their food......?
"Them pig bastards're eatin'."
"Kkui-iiiek!"
A low but familiar voice.
They couldn't understand the words, but orc instinct was screaming one command: Run.
"Them what put corpses in their mouths, beat 'em to death. Them what didn't, kill only half!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers holding iron clubs answered with vigor, and Eulji Buru smiled with satisfaction as he tightened his grip around the iron club in his own hand.
The command shook the air.
"Wreck 'em!"
"Uwaaaaaaa!"
"Kkui-ii-iiiek!"
"Kkui-ii!"
At Buru's command, the soldiers—emitting a ferocity more orc-like than the orcs themselves—rushed forward with iron clubs raised. The orcs, who had been beaten just short of death by these same humans over the past several days, denied meals and driven all the way here, screamed and scattered in every direction.
"Net!"
Swish-sh-sh-sh-sh!
The nets that fell from the air were already like rags, but they were sturdy enough to catch the orcs. These nets had once been written off as irreparable by the sailors after being recklessly deployed and discarded during the earlier orc-drive, but now they had been repurposed exclusively for orc-catching.
Of course, the result—Buru and his soldiers being drafted into making new nets and going hungry for a full day—was unavoidable.
In the end, the orc Garu, who had been caught in the nets, survived because he hadn't taken a single bite, but the iron clubs raining down on his body brought him down with wretched cries.
'I heard you don't even mess with a kobold when it's eating.......'
Through Garu's fading consciousness drifted the unwritten law of monsters.
On this day, the capture operation not only prevented the expected loss in orc numbers but actually increased them. Beyond orcs, they were also able to capture additional monsters drawn by the scent of blood. And unlike those returning to the city, Baron Gowin and Gye Ung-sam's party were departing in the opposite direction.
About a month passed after the incident with Baron Gowin, and the harvest season approached. Along with the high-rising sun came the season of high skies and plump horses. True to that season, Go Jin-cheon's beloved steed Gangsoe and the female Pukel mare Gangnyeo (剛女)—whom Jin-cheon had personally named, just like Gangsoe—were gaining satisfying plumpness in their flesh and bellies. Of course, unlike Gangsoe's simply fattening flesh, Gangnyeo's belly was growing with Gangsoe's second generation.
"Huff-huff-huff!"
"Run faster!"
"Kre-eeek!"
Around the basin where the war horses and the Pukel herd were released, the sight of recruits running in ragged clothes unfolded like a daily painting. Truly, it was a single scroll of exquisite hell.
"Bweeergh!"
"Who told you to puke while running! Anyone who threw up their breakfast gets no lunch!"
"Krrrk-hk!"
Buyeo Gi-yul's voice reached the recruits like a reaper of hell. In this place, Giyul was called a grim reaper, while in the village the young girls hailed him as their eternal oppa. He was truly a being of tremendous duality.
"Giyul oppa!"
"Oh! Serensia, you came!"
"Kyaaah! Oppa, me too!"
"Hello, Marina!"
"Oppa!"
Those sweet, salt-in-the-wound exchanges that reached the ears of the recruits hovering between life and death drained the strength from their legs even more. And as soon as they staggered, they could hear Giyul's voice, his smiling expression fixed in place.
"You'll run before I feed you to the orcs, right?"
"Hweeeegh!"
The softly spoken threat kindled a fighting spirit that burned their very lives, forcing the recruits to sprint forward. Naturally, Giyul did not forget to wave one more time to the girls.
Crack.
The sound of bones grinding in the soldiers' clenched fists seemed to eloquently tell of their fury.
"Abbwa!"
"......."
Go Jin-cheon, who had come out to observe the recruits' training from a distance, had his face frozen stiff at the unexpected scene. Behind him, Eulji called out as if to console him. Of course, the consolation was more of a dagger.
"Y-Your Majesty. Perhaps it is time to return to the Imperial Hall......."
"Kya-ha-ha-ha!"
Eulji's innocent laughter and Dae Mu-deok's cautious voice reached Jin-cheon's ears, but he stood without flinching. His stillness made the attending maids and the Imperial Guards uneasy.
"Mu-deok."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Assign that bastard exclusively to perimeter reconnaissance starting tomorrow."
"......Yes, Your Majesty."
Jin-cheon's gaze was fixed on Giyul, who was waving at the girls.
Returning to the Imperial Hall and sending Eulji off with her nurse, Go Jin-cheon was receiving a report from Yeon Hwi-garam.
"As you saw for yourself just now, the conscripts' training is proceeding without issue. The problem is that the gap in stamina and skill compared to our existing troops is too great, so we are gradually increasing the training intensity."
"How great is the gap?"
"Well, that is......."
At Jin-cheon's repeated question, Hwi-garam smiled awkwardly and trailed off.
"Twenty recruits were completely overwhelmed by a single man."
"......."
Two deep furrows formed between Jin-cheon's brows, his expression turning grim. At this, Hwi-garam hastily opened his mouth.
"However, you must remember that our soldiers were originally elite warriors in Gauri, each worth ten men. Moreover, we cannot ignore how their bodies became lighter after arriving on this side."
"One month."
"Pardon?"
The words, stripped of all context, dropped abruptly from Jin-cheon's mouth. Hwi-garam's questioning eyes turned toward him where he sat on the Throne of Yeolje, and a voice that seemed to burn the order into him followed.
"Within one month. So that five of them can face a single man."
"......Yes, Your Majesty."
The fate of the soldiers was decided simply with a single word from Jin-cheon, and Hwi-garam sighed inwardly at his resolute command.
'At least it's a relief I didn't tell him how they got pummeled by the archers too.'
The recruits still had a long way to go.