Chapter 67
Chapter 67
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 67
The apprentice knight's trembling voice never finished. The number of hobgoblins that appeared was not one but six. The situation was hurtling toward despair.
"Damn! Has the Demon King himself descended?"
A hollow murmur escaped Roman's lips. And for the soldiers who had heard his voice amid the tension, fear metastasized into despair and spread.
They knew all too well that they were not the heroes of some tale.
Wheeeeeee!
The hobgoblins opened their mouths all at once, as if shrieking. Of course, Roman could not understand their characteristic cries, but from the shape of their gaping mouths he could roughly piece together the situation.
"Everyone, stay sharp! Before the goblins begin their attack, we break through the encirclement first and force a breakout for everyone!"
"Yes!"
As if trying to forget their fear, the soldiers' answering shouts rang out loudly.
"All units, charge!"
"Kiiiiiiik!"
"Waaaaah!"
Had they been waiting for Roman's charge order? The goblins came rushing forward, shrieking their shrill cries, and the soldiers too let out battle cries and charged all at once, as if afraid their own voices would be drowned out.
BAM! CRUNCH!
"Kiiiek!"
"Yaaaaah!"
THWACK!
As the soldiers drove forward with their shields and swung their spears, the relatively lightweight goblins went flying. But only for a moment. Goblins used their own comrades skewered on spears as stepping-stones, clambering up the spear shafts and hanging on as they rushed in. These were no longer the weaklings of the Reganza Mountains.
"Don't let the ranks break!"
"Hieeeeek!"
"Kiiik!"
Goblins leaped into the formation, plunging daggers again and again. With bodies as small as children, they scrambled from soldier to soldier like monkeys through the trees, stabbing over and over. The sickening sounds and screams mingled together.
Shunk! Shunk! Shunk!
"Aaaagh!"
"Damn it all."
Watching the soldiers for whom neither orders nor control meant anything anymore, Roman seemed to steel himself with the resolve that he at least had to survive. Abandoning command, he swung his long sword to cut through the encirclement. The battle formation was already gone; only drowning castaways thrashing in a green sea remained.
"Well now, that's a hell of a thing."
"Sure is."
In a thicket off to one side, the culprits behind this affair were quietly observing. They were the Gauri soldiers who had kidnapped hobgoblins, secretly buried them leaving only their heads exposed, and then withdrawn.
Perhaps because it was someone else's problem, their faces showed no particular fear, but the sight of countless goblins rampaging and the screaming in every direction was nothing short of a spectacle—enough to make them click their tongues.
"Those little bastards all bunched up in one place—that's downright terrifying."
"Shouldn't we warn our own country, tell 'em to be careful when putting out pig slop?"
"Moo."
"Shut your mouth, you!"
Thwack!
"Moooh."
As if the minotaur's cries from the back were grating on his ears, the soldier yanked the reins and kicked it in the head. The minotaur, so ferocious before the goblins, now had no choice but to act meek.
"Honestly."
"I'll fall back and let 'em know."
"Yeah, good luck."
While the goblins' shrieks echoed, a soldier who had spotted a knight and a handful of troops breaking through one side of the encirclement and fleeing out of the encampment turned his back and dashed away.
A moment later, a sound unlike the goblins' cries pierced the night sky.
FWEEEE!
"All forces! Commence movement!"
The command fell from Gerard's lips as he listened to the Whistling Arrow (a Signal Arrow that produces a flute-like sound) ringing through the sky. In an instant, all the soldiers who had been crouching in wait rose from their positions, relaying the order.
"The Commander-in-Chief's orders!"
"Move out!"
"Hyaaah!"
Everywhere, soldiers' whips cracked through the air, orcs and minotaurs let out roars, and the boats began moving once more.
"We must clear out before the night is through."
"Yes!"
Urging the soldiers once more, Gerard spurred his horse and began riding hard toward the front.
"Escort detachment, follow me!"
"As commanded!"
"Fleet Commander Jang, I leave it to you!"
"Commander-in-Chief, take care!"
Roughly thirty riders of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, who had come along to escort the boats during transport, and fifty riders of the newly formed Light Armored Archer Cavalry sped out under Gerard's command.
"Heh heh, now this is more like it! Yah!"
"Hyah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD!
The sound of hooves crashing through the underbrush shook the heavens and the earth. At the very front, a broad smile hung on Gerard's face. He had lived a drifting life under the guise of freedom—and now he was commanding cavalry that followed at his back. How could that not feel good?
And not just any pretentious knights, but the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, every last one of them boasting fearsome skill. Gerard felt as though his heart were galloping across the sky itself.
'So this is why men become generals.'
An immature thought, perhaps, but in this moment, he truly could not stop his heart from pounding the way it had when he was a boy.
"Kiiiiik!"
WHAM!
"Break through!"
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD.
Nothing could stand before the cavalry as they plowed into the goblin horde. Under the stampeding hooves, goblin bodies were torn apart. Three or four at a time were skewered on thrusting spear shafts, or sent flying in every direction by sweeping blows.
"Kiik!"
"Keek!"
"Hyah!"
Swish!
Gerard's long sword arced and two goblins were cut down in an instant.
"Tch. Too short for mounted work. Not great."
While the other Ghost Cavalry riders sent five or six goblins flying with spear shafts exceeding five mir in length, he could only manage two at a time. He could cut down more if he unleashed his Aura Blade, of course, but he felt neither the reason nor the need.
"Easy enough, anyway."
Gerard clicked his tongue as he watched the goblin horde driven off like scattering clouds. When they had first charged in, the goblins' red eyes had flashed under the hobgoblins' control—but that had lasted only a moment. The sight of thousands of green bodies fleeing before just ten minotaurs that the soldiers had brought out was a spectacle to behold.
On the ground, red blood and green blood reflected the flickering firelight, conjuring a grotesque atmosphere.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
"Hm? What?"
"There appear to be survivors. Shall we bury them all?"
"..."
A Dark Armored Ghost Soldier clad head to toe in Mukbit Scale Armor approached Gerard to ask about the disposal of the survivors. Gerard, seeing that they were about to silence every last man who lay unconscious, clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What are they, fertilizer? Bury 'em in the ground!"
"In that case, shall we simply kill them?"
"..."
Once again, the remark closed Gerard's mouth.
"We cannot leave them alive."
The Ghost Soldier spoke again, his tone cold, almost pressing. Gerard looked around in all directions. Soldiers had already gathered and were piling the survivors off to one side.
"Hmm."
"Moooooooo!"
"Kweeek! Kwee-ik!"
To one side, the cries of minotaurs and orcs rang out, and the boats were being lowered.
"We're taking them."
"What do you mean?"
At Gerard's curt pronouncement, the Ghost Soldier asked again as if seeking confirmation. Gerard pointed at the scattered survivors with a finger and flashed a wicked grin.
"The boats are empty anyway. If we're going to the trouble, might as well let them live and put them to use. Right?"
"..."
"No matter how you dress it up with fine words and reasons, what we're doing is piracy. And isn't the essence of piracy slaving?"
For an instant, the Ghost Soldier felt Go Jin-cheon's figure overlapping with Gerard's.
"Come on, come on. Don't just stare blankly—load them onto the boats. And the rest of you, search the entire encampment and strip every weapon and all the food. The goblins would've taken it all anyway, so now we're taking it instead. Move fast. We don't have time!"
"As commanded!"
As Gerard gestured and urged them on, the soldiers scattered once more.
Total survivors: roughly 470. Among them, they put the severely wounded out of their misery and sorted out only the relatively lightly wounded—even so, over 420 remained. And although the gear was rusted and shoddy, with roughly 1,200 men having been here, they were able to seize a considerable quantity of weapons.
"A tidy profit."
Before he knew it, Gerard had stopped resisting his role and begun to enjoy it.
"Hmm. And pick up some of those goblin corpses over there, too."
"Pardon?"
"If we run into a Holy Empire patrol or some Haian Kingdom garrison, we can kill them and scatter the corpses around to muddy things up, can't we?"
Seeing Gerard's smiling face, the soldiers bent their backs and began loading corpses onto the carts. Gerard glanced once at the sky, where a blue tint was beginning to seep into the edges, then turned his head toward the sea.
Now, the distance to the sea was half a day away.
* * *
Chapter 18: Plundering a Burning House
FWEEEE, FWEEEEP!
"Hm?"
FWEEEEP!
"Are they already coming back?"
Two Whistling Arrows rang out in quick succession, and after a pause a third pierced the empty sky. The soldier keeping watch atop the castle wall looked toward the direction of the sound and muttered to himself.
THUD-THUD-THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD.
The heavy pounding of hooves could be felt even from the wall. The sentry struck the gong hanging beside him, announcing the return of the escort force.
GONG-GONG-GONG-GONG-GONG!
"The escort force is returning!"
The gong rang out clamorously, spreading word of the escort force's return. Moments later, after confirming the banner of the escort force emerging from the forest, the sentry completed the verification procedure and opened the gate.
Clop clop. Clop clop.
"Mm."
Led by the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry passing through the gate, a hundred-odd escort troops and light cavalry followed in behind.
Clank.
"Salute!"
The deputy commander dismounted, dropped to one knee before Mong Ryu-hwa, who had come out to meet them, paid his respects, and presented his report.
"Hm. For now, everyone return to your posts and shake off the travel fatigue."
"As commanded!"
Ryu-hwa turned and hurried off to deliver the report.
"Hey, Ryu-hwa!"
"Oh, Giyul."
Buyeo Gi-yul called out cheerfully to Ryu-hwa, who was rushing toward the Imperial Hall. Ryu-hwa slowed his steps for a moment, let out a short laugh, and tossed a jibe at Giyul.
"Still running around babysitting snot-nosed brats these days?"
"Heh. I hear the neighborhood widows are all talking about you."
For a moment, sparks flew between their eyes. As if they were strange rivals, the two radiated a charged atmosphere—but a moment later, the report in Ryu-hwa's hand reminded them they each had their own path to take.
"I'm off to report this."
"Guess I'll go run some drills~"
And so each took a step back, and the two dashed off to their respective duties.