Chapter 76
Chapter 76
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 76
Chapter 19: Descent! Yeolje, the Demon Emperor
"Let's have ourselves a little fun!"
As Jin-cheon charged in wearing an expression of pure delight, like a child absorbed in play, Eulji Buru and Uru also let broad smiles spread across their faces.
How long had it been?
Galloping along the narrow paths through the mountains had not been enough to satisfy them. Put a fish that lived in the sea into a well —
what would happen?
They were now racing across the continent they were meant to race across.
"What the hell is that!"
Startled by the sight of a soldier being hurled backward and a sudden roar whose source he couldn't identify, Sir Hamel stared toward one side with panicked eyes.
"E-Everyone, form up!"
A dust cloud was rising.
The agitated voice of Sir Hamel roused the soldiers who still had not regained their senses. Failing to sense hostility from a force of some two hundred riders, all of them clad entirely in black, would be the mark of a blind man or an idiot.
"Hurry, rally to me!"
Spurred by Sir Hamel's urgency, the soldiers began scrambling out in confusion. Some even bolted out with their trousers still halfway down. Sir Hamel's frantic voice stirred unease even in the baron.
"W-What's going on!"
"My lord, it's dangerous here, please—"
FSHHT!
"Huh...?"
"My lord!"
The baron's expression suggested he could not comprehend what had happened to him. His thinking stopped completely, his eyes etching into memory one last image: Sir Hamel shouting toward him with a look of horror. As if he hadn't even noticed the small hole that had opened in his forehead, he simply toppled sideways, his eyes still wide open.
"Th-This can't be!"
Astonishment clouded Hamel's face.
"Everyone, search the area! There's a wizard!"
Hamel shouted to the soldiers around him. When he saw the small hole piercing the baron's forehead, the only thing that came to mind was a magical sniper shot. The distance to the onrushing enemy riders was still some eight hundred mir. No weapon could produce only a hole in the forehead. Only magic was possible, and the implementation distance for anti-personnel magic was three hundred mir at best.
Even that required a high-circle wizard, so he judged the shot could not have been made from much more than two hundred mir. But it didn't take long for him to realize his judgment was wrong.
Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!
"Guk!"
"Urgk...!"
"Wh-What the hell!"
In an instant, soldiers' bodies began being flung backward. Earlier, with no time to think, they had been thrown into confusion, but this time one thing was unmistakable: the small arrow that punched through one soldier's body and lodged into the soldier behind him made it clear this was not magic.
But realizing that only plunged Hamel into despair.
"Damnation... arrows you can't even see. I can't believe it."
In the direction from which the arrows flew, there were no archers — only onrushing riders. Mounted archery was impractical. That was why no imperial units apart from a few minority tribes made use of horse-archers. And as far as Hamel knew, an arrow's maximum effective range was two hundred mir at most, and at that distance it would do no more than lightly lodge itself in flesh, much less penetrate armor.
Thunk!
"Khuuk!"
"Shields are useless! Take cover behind the houses!"
As arrows punched through shields, Hamel bellowed the order. But the Gauri army was already descending upon the village.
"Damn it. Everyone take cover among the houses and side streets — we'll turn this into a street battle!"
Since they had never anticipated a proper engagement in the first place, there was no possibility of forming a disciplined fighting force. Hamel judged that under these circumstances, building a formation capable of stopping a cavalry charge was impossible, and it would be better to strike after the momentum of the charge had dropped.
"Move faaaaaast!"
NEEEIGH!
One veteran soldier had been relaying Hamel's order at a corner where the alley bent when, before he could finish speaking, he grabbed his side and, shrieking, was lifted up into the air. A horse's whinny followed.
"Aaaaaugh! Please, just kill meeee! Kill me!"
Clop clop clop.
"Huk!"
The sight of the man clutching the spear shaft protruding through his side, thrashing and begging to be killed, kindled sheer terror in the other soldiers. Even as the sturdy soldier, impaled on the shaft, struggled in desperation, the spear itself never wavered. Steadily, the sound of hooves reached the frozen soldiers' ears.
"R-Ready for attack!"
Clop clop.
"Just kill me alreadyyy!"
As the long spear gradually came into view, the soldiers gripped their weapons amid fear and tension. Yet, with the sound of those calm hoofsteps, a horse's head finally emerged from the alleyway.
"Huk!"
It was only a horse.
But the soldiers' fighting spirit had already begun to plummet.
Three horns rose from the horse's headpiece.
Between the gaps of its steel horse armor, its eyes flashed with killing intent.
Black scale mail sheathed the horse's entire body. And atop that horse, a man gradually revealed himself, a spear braced under his arm.
His helmet, too, bore three horns.
"Aaaaagh!"
The spear shaft began to rise, lifting the impaled soldier still skewered upon it. As his innards scraped down the shaft, the soldier instinctively clung to it and thrashed, howling. The other soldiers, watching that sight, stood frozen, unable to say a word.
Fwooosh!
"Krrak!"
"Aaaahhhh!"
The spear shaft was swung toward the soldiers, and the impaled man was wrenched free from it with a swishing sound, sent flying.
Crash-bang!
"Kruk!"
"Urgh!"
Soldiers who collided with the blood-spraying veteran screamed in agony and became tangled together. They were utterly stupefied — and by a single mounted rider, no less.
"E-Everyone, atta—!"
"D-Demon Tribe!"
"Heeek!"
The rider did not attack the men who'd regained their wits; he merely looked down at them in silence. His head and armor seemed the very embodiment of deep darkness. And three horns jutted from his helm. Already, their will to fight had been stripped away.
"...Demon Tribe, you say."
"Let's smite them in God's name!"
He-heeng!
Thwack!
The shout of the soldier who had mustered his courage was answered by the heavy horse's kick. The man did not even get out a scream; he slumped against a wall, painting it red, and collapsed.
"If you're going to call me something, call me the Demon King—no, call me Yeolje, the Demon Emperor. Kuhahahaha!"
"The Demon King has descended!"
"Aaaagh!"
Screaming as if their very souls were fleeing their bodies, the soldiers turned their backs and began to run. But before they could even escape the alleyways, every last one of them was killed by hand axes and spears. And their final cries spread throughout the entire village — cries that the Demon King had descended.
"Damnation, everyone retreat!"
Hearing the soldiers' screams, Hamel realized further resistance was meaningless. So he ordered a retreat without hesitation, mounted his own horse, and emerged from the alleys. But what met his eyes was the stupefied faces of soldiers who had dropped their weapons to the ground, the very thought of running away forgotten.
"What's going on!"
"O-Over there."
"Hmm."
A well-ordered fighting force. What was blocking their rear was, quite literally, a well-ordered unit. Hamel was not the sort to miss the enemy's intent. Clearly, surrounding this town meant they intended either to capture all of them or to annihilate them. And one more thing — it was not hard to grasp that they did not want word of their existence getting out.
"Huuuhm."
Hamel let out a deep breath.
In the end, they had no choice. If they had killed even the baron early on, then even if he surrendered peacefully, the chances they would let him live were slim.
"All troops will break through the encirclement. The enemy encirclement isn't particularly deep — we punch through in one direction and retreat!"
"Yes..."
At their spiritless answer, Hamel swallowed his frustration and shouted once more. He had to make them see that they had no other path left.
In that moment, the image of the black-clad riders flashed through Hamel's mind. Some soldier — he didn't know which one — had screamed that they were the Demon Tribe. Someone else had even shouted "Demon King," but Hamel knew full well that couldn't be true. Why would a Demon King bother attacking a backwater border post like this? Especially while going so far as to encircle it for fear anyone might escape. Hamel turned his thoughts quickly.
"If we dither here, the Demon King will kill us! Don't you understand — even your souls will find no salvation! Now, follow me!"
"Th-That's right!"
"Is it really the Demon King?"
"Tchah! We've gotta punch through here to survive anyway."
Perhaps Hamel's persuasion had worked, for a fighting spirit flickered in the soldiers' eyes. It was less a fighting spirit than the ferocity of cornered rats.
"Hmm."
A low murmur escaped Mong Ryu-hwa's mouth as he sat astride his horse. There was something unsettling about the enemy's sudden intensity. On the other hand, the fresh recruits were coiled with tension. That stood to reason — the only real combat they had ever faced was against monsters. Mong Ryu-hwa considered it no different, but for the soldiers, it was something else entirely.
"Can't be helped."
Ryu-hwa clicked his tongue.
In any case, these men were going to have to experience war sooner or later. And the way this, their first battle, concluded would have an enormous impact on their future conduct.
Just as he was raising one arm to give the advance order, someone walked out in front of the tension-plagued recruits and stood at the head of the line.
"Damned fool."
It was Buyeo Gi-yul.
Giyul strode out plodding, his axe resting on his shoulder as though he were out for a stroll. Though Ryu-hwa cursed under his breath, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Plod. Plod. Plod.
In contrast to the tension-filled soldiers, Giyul's footfalls were so overflowing with composure that they drew every eye.
"Now, let's see..."
Even Giyul's voice, as he surveyed the enemy, was utterly serene. It wasn't especially loud, yet the recruits could hear his words clearly.
Pfft-heh.
"...?"
Giyul, who had been scanning the enemy formation, suddenly let out a peculiar laugh.
"Those sorry-looking bastards... they're nothing but routed troops. And that one there — what the hell was he up to that he threw away his tunic? Tsk, tsk."
"..."
The Gauri soldiers, who had been keeping silent, began studying the front. No — rather than just studying it, they began looking more closely. The Holy Empire soldiers were clearly rallying their spirits and forming up for a charge. Their numbers weren't small, either. But, just as Giyul said, soldiers who hadn't even managed to properly put on their gear were plainly visible among them.
"They're supposed to be about on par with the orcs we raise around here? If that's true, this fight won't even be a fight."
"...!"
The Gauri soldiers, one by one, began to feel their tension loosen at Giyul's words. Without missing his timing, Giyul added one more comment as they watched.
"Well then..., shall we slowly get to the fighting? I'll promise a special reward to whichever soldier reaches the enemy lines first and fights. Hmm, let's see! When it comes down to it, food's the best thing to have. A cartload of wheat!"
"Hut!"
If they were ordinary Gauri soldiers, their eyes would have glazed over at the mention of rice, but these new recruits' eyes lit up all too easily at the offer of a cartload of wheat. With the soldiers' tension dispelled and a reward now dangled, a subtle energy began to swirl. That was when an unexpected development occurred.
"That cartload of wheat is mine!"
"Oh! Lifetime soldier Hailon!"
Hailon — condemned to a lifetime of soldiering for beating a slave to death — took firm hold of his axe and stepped up beside Giyul.
"I've got a lot of mouths to feed, so I need to earn a lot of things, whether it's wheat or anything else."
"That's right. Come to think of it, you've got seven children now, haven't you?"
"Well, something like that."
For Hailon, who had been fretting over Go Jin-cheon's order to produce at least five children within five years, the orphans appearing from a small slash-and-burn village had been a stroke of luck. At first he hadn't grasped the meaning of "make five," but Jin-cheon's command had actually meant to take responsibility for the futures of at least five children.
In the end, once Hailon started taking in orphans, he found he could no longer walk past them without stopping, and spurred by Giyul's advice that he might as well seek glory since he was already serving for life, he had always fought at the very front line. With the rewards he received he could fill the children's bellies, and he had become a hero to the children he'd taken in. Among the new recruits, Hailon was surely the one with the greatest confidence in his own skill.
"Then I'm going first! Woo-yaaaaa!"
"Hey now! I'm coming too. Yiiihaaaaa!"
As the two men charged off like they were racing each other, not even bothering to form ranks, Nel, who had been off to the side, readjusted his grip on his shield and bolted forward.
"Mister Hailon, I'm coming too!"
"Ah, to hell with it!"
"Orcs or humans — it's all the same!"
"A cartload of wheeeeat!"
Spurred by the sight of young Nel chasing after the two of them, everyone began shouting their own battle cries and charging forward, eyes glittering.