Chapter 8
Chapter 8
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 8
"......."
"Ah... General."
The man who had been holding the massive axe was now sprawled on the ground, apparently unconscious. Jin-cheon's brows were furrowed into a deep valley when a soldier hesitantly approached him from the side.
"......Speak."
As if emboldened by Jin-cheon's command, the soldier slowly opened his mouth.
"It appears General Buru is nowhere to be seen. However, given that only this man is here, it seems it was a case of mistaken identity."
"An understandable misunderstanding."
"I am sorry."
Without even glancing at the soldier repeatedly bowing his head, Jin-cheon turned and shouted.
"We return."
"Yessir!"
Just as when they had first ridden out, Jin-cheon spurred his horse forward, his soldiers following hard behind him. As he rode, Jin-cheon glanced at the unconscious man draped over his adjutant's saddle and quietly muttered to himself.
"Could that bastard Buru have a cousin or something...?"
In the hand of the five-cheok (150cm) man being carried away unconscious was a massive axe, the same kind of weapon Buru used. His build, too, with its broad slabs of muscle armor, was reminiscent of Buru. He was a true dwarf.
"It's that bastard!"
"Huh?"
Buru, who had been riding at the head of the column, suddenly dug at his ear and yelled. The translator, Gye Ung-sam, riding beside him, flinched in alarm.
"Gurajaengi, was it you?"
"What do you mean...?"
"My ear itching means you cursed me, didn't you!"
"Huh? No, I...."
Pinned as the 'Gurajaengi,' the translator Ung-sam was at a loss for words, and Buru had caught himself an innocent man that evening.
"......."
"Uh...."
Before Jin-cheon's eyes now lay three short, stocky men. Judging by their builds alone, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it looked like a whole pile of Burus or Urus lying there. After the one Jin-cheon had rescued, Hwi-garam had also 'procured' (?) two more.
After glancing once at Hwi-garam, who had spoken cautiously, Jin-cheon let out a slight smile and said,
"We've rescued them, so tend to them until they wake. It is quite an endearing sight, is it not?"
"Yes, General."
As Jin-cheon's deeply creased brow mysteriously smoothed out, he headed toward the lakeshore. At Jin-cheon's words, Hwi-garam couldn't help but let out a chuckle. The three dwarves had been rescued like that, thanks to their similar builds.
"Gurajaengi!"
"Yessir, General!"
When Eulji Uru, who had been in the rear, called out to him, Gye Ung-sam quickly spurred his horse forward.
"Ask that one over there. How much farther is it."
"Yessir!"
Ung-sam, who had been maintaining strict military discipline, answered with as much precision as he could muster and rode toward the front.
"Beron, uwaen! (Beron, you!)"
"Ah, Ung-sam."
"Uh, so, let's see... Uwaen maun ollaenaen? (Your village, how much farther?)"
When Ung-sam, having gotten this far, held up two fingers and mimed walking, Beron seemed to understand and nodded with a smile.
"Inen da wanedu. (We are almost there now.)"
"Ah, Buru. (Ah, thank you.)"
Thwack!
"Keurgh!"
The moment Ung-sam said his thanks, something flew into the back of his head and detonated, the impact nearly throwing him from his horse. As Ung-sam collected himself and looked, he saw Buru, who had been leading the column, glaring at him as if he wanted to devour him.
"You doing that on purpose?"
"Excuse me?"
"Hey, do you think I'm your buddy?"
"Buru, actually...."
Smack!
Hee-hee-heeng~!
Thud.
Ung-sam's next words—'Buru actually means thank you.'—were ruthlessly suppressed by the flat of the incoming great axe, and he eventually flew from his horse like a kite with its string cut.
"Little bastard, talking to me like we're equals again."
"Buru, stop it. You'll kill the boy. Look, you're scaring Sara here."
At Uru's words, Buru finally noticed Sara looking at him uneasily from the side. And Beron was making a mental note beside them.
'So saying thank you gets a person killed here. I'll have to warn everyone about that first thing when we get to the village.'
The procession paused momentarily, and while Buru was placating Sara with an unconvincing smile, Uru, who had been draping Ung-sam over a horse, suddenly froze.
"Look. You smell burning?"
"Huh? Now that you mention it, I smell blood, too!"
Uru's words were immediately picked up by Buru, and both looked toward the front. As the two men's gazes fixed ahead and the soldiers each adjusted their grip on their spears, Beron finally felt it too. The ominous scent emanating from the front. A worried exclamation burst from Beron's lips.
"Ma, maunni! (Th-the village!)"
"Uru! Follow behind and protect the people. Ten riders of the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry, follow me quickly! Hiya!"
Neeeeigh!
"Ha!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
Buru adjusted his grip on his great axe, spurred his horse, and launched himself toward the front, ten riders of the Ghost Cavalry dashing close behind him.
"It'll be fine. Gurajaengi, hurry up and look after Sara."
"Yes, sir!"
Uru soothed Beron and Sara's unease and then galloped off after Buru.
"Kuhahaha!"
"Round them all up! Don't injure the women, and don't cripple the men!"
"Kyaaak!"
The already ramshackle village was engulfed in flames, and women's screams echoed through the air.
Survival of the fittest.
As if to prove it, old men who had tried to protect their sons and daughters with farming tools were toyed with, their limbs hacked off while they were kept alive, as their daughters-in-law and daughters were raped before their eyes. Blood poured from severed limbs, while bloody tears ran from their eyes.......
Man's greatest enemy was man himself. And the animal best suited to the phrase "survival of the fittest" was also man. At least beasts do not hunt when their bellies are full, but the belly of the creature called man is never easily filled; instead, it craves more and more prey. That is why animals have instinct and humans have norms and laws. But here, in this place, there were no laws or norms.
"Get off the women and finish rounding everyone up! I'll let you enjoy yourselves at your leisure tonight!"
"Kraaagh!"
"You worthless... who was hit?!"
Myuren, who had been directing the soldiers, turned around with an annoyed shout when a harsh scream rang out. To be killed by slash-and-burn farmers armed with nothing more than pitchforks and old spears was nothing short of a disgrace.
Slash!
"Hmph!"
Hot blood sprayed into the air.
"Kill every last bastard with his ass out rutting like an animal, and every bastard holding a weapon! Don't leave any of them alive!"
Clang!
The moment he passed the collapsed palisade, Buru's axe blew away the torso of a man who had his ass bare and was assaulting a woman. Buru pronounced their death sentence, and the Ghost Cavalry riders behind him answered by striking their spears against their breastplates.
"Besame muchudde! (It's soldiers from the subjugation force!)"
"Shut your mouth!"
Whoosh!
"Kreugh!"
Craaack!
The soldier who had shouted and raised his shield was split apart along with it by Buru's axe-stroke and sent flying. Only then did the mercenaries, finally noticing this intrusion, begin to gather.
"Hri-yaa!"
"Ha-yaa!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
The mercenaries gathered, but the sheer momentum radiating from Buru and the ten-odd horsemen charging with him was not something they could possibly handle.
"Ba, Badek! (G-get out of the way!)"
CRASH! CLANG!
"Uwaaak!"
THWACK!
"Na, nawaen beroni.... (M-my stomach....)"
Before they could even assemble, Buru and the Ghost Cavalry charged in with fierce howls. Shields were split, bodies cleaved, and the pierced screams of mercenaries whose stomachs were punched clean out by spears erupted before they could flee or resist.
"How in the hell did the subjugation force get all the way here?!"
"Chief, we have to run! We're no match for them. Hell, I've never even seen a knight order like that!"
The mercenary leader, who had been snapping irritably at his terrified subordinate, now shouted even more heatedly.
"Shut up! We outnumber them!"
WHOOSH!
"Huh?"
There was a sound like wind passing by, and then the body of the man speaking in front of the mercenary leader suddenly flew backwards as if yanked away.
"What the?!"
The mercenary leader, momentarily gripped by panic, drew back in confusion.
Twua-hahk, Teo-eong!
"Kulleok."
"Hek!"
Again, the sound of something piercing through was heard, and another mercenary beside him was flung away. The reason was soon revealed. Everyone could see the small arrow that had passed through the soldier's body, burying itself up to its tail in a tree beside him with a heavy thud.
"A qu- quarrel?"
* * *
Beron was not conscious of how wide his eyes had opened. He couldn't comprehend the sight of Uru firing arrows even before they had reached the village.
However, he could only feel something flying from a bow smaller than his own, completely unable to trace its trajectory; he could only see that a group far ahead, outside the village, visible as enemies, had fallen into chaos.
And only after the third arrow did he see a man flung backwards in the distance.
"Wa, wanage! (H-how!)"
WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ!
Not even giving Beron time to be surprised, all the soldiers following behind released their bowstrings. And he watched the forms that appeared as dots begin to topple, one after another.
"Where in the hell are these arrows coming from?!"
THWACK!
"Kreugh!"
While they were still in confusion, another mercenary's body was blown away. It was a first. The power required to pierce straight through a human body was incomprehensible. Only one thought hammered through his mind: he had to flee this place to survive.
"Everyone, from here...."
"C-chief, over there!"
"What?!"
Just as the mercenary leader was about to order a retreat, he turned his head at a mercenary's cry. About five riders were charging over, mimicking shooting with bows. The distance was considerable, so the mercenary leader burst out in anger.
"That's impossible! Mounted archers, at that! And for arrows to fly all the way here—even a quarrel can't do that!"
"B-but!"
"We retreat for now! Forget the slaves!"
Neeeeigh!
The moment the mounted mercenary leader's voice rang out, a horse's neigh erupted from the rear.
"You're even more pathetic than Tang soldiers! Shut your mouth and fight me!"
"Dayade. Heuk! Deuwopeu-ga dolu taide! (The rear. Heuk! The dwarf is riding a horse!)"
"Jjaltung daide. Dura kasereu! (It's just one. Kill him!)"
The one who had circled around to the rear was Buru, and he was alone. From his great axe to the breastplate over his chest, there was not a single spot unstained with red blood, but the fact that he was alone, along with the ridiculous sight of a dwarf riding a horse, gave the mercenary leader confidence. However, Buru's face was already flushed red.
"You called me a shorty! Die, you bastard!"
In truth, Buru was not particularly short, but because of his overly broad frame, he had often heard the word 'shorty' since childhood.
"Durareu! (Die!)"
Kee-hee-heeng!
Crack!
"Out of the way!"
The mercenary who had boldly moved to block on horseback didn't even get to swing his sword once. He and his horse both flew away from the kick of Buru's horse. Buru's horse then leaped forward, crashing back to the ground and crushing two nearby mercenaries beneath it with a savage cry.
And without stopping, Buru's form immediately launched from the horse's back, soaring into the air.
"Jjaltungh-daero duraru! (Kill the enemy!)"
"Kee-noo-oomph!"
At the word 'shorty,' Buru's thunderous battle cry erupted once more in the air.
"Her, deuwopeu-ga narunde! (The dwarf flies!)"
Cheo-eo-eo-eok!
"Gueuaaaaagh!"
Slash!
Buru's face had transformed into that of a demon. Roaring in fury, he dropped to the ground after cleaving straight from the mercenary leader's shoulder through the horse's waist. He tore through the spilling entrails and hot blood, rampaging among the stunned mercenaries.
"Kueaaa!"
"Where do you think you're going?!"
WHOOSH!
Cheok, kwajijik.
"K-kuu...."
In an instant, four mercenaries were cleaved apart. One man, who had been standing further away, screamed in terror and fled, but Buru's great axe did not let him go.
Spinning through the air like a windmill blade, the great axe lodged itself into the mercenary's torso and flew with him, slamming into a nearby wooden pillar with a crack. Even then, the convulsing, groaning mercenary, still somehow alive, resembled a cockroach pinned in a display case.
"Huff, huff."
Buru's gaze, breathing heavily with excitement, turned toward the single remaining mercenary. To that last mercenary, Buru no longer appeared as a curious dwarf, but as a demon.
As a mercenary who had wandered battlefields, he had seen plenty of people hacked to pieces, but this was the first time he had witnessed someone tear people apart as if rending cloth with an axe the size of a human torso, then split every last man in two in the span of a moment. This was hell.
Clang.
"Je, jebada saorilro. (P-please, spare me.)"
THWACK! Thud.
But before the single plea for his life, dropped along with his sword, had even finished, Uru's arrow flew in and passed through his head. The mercenary's body was tossed to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
Hee-hee-heeng. Puru-reu.
"Rojan! Mr. Mawin!"
Acrid smoke billowed. The village, after the massacre, was a wasteland. Sara was kept outside while Beron ran around shouting the survivors' names. The villagers had been saved, but the eyes looking upon the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry held only terror. The resistance they had occasionally mustered against the mercenaries was unthinkable against these men.
Having swept away over eighty mercenaries like they were crushing ants, their figures were death incarnate. And the sight of these elite soldiers clad in iron armor was more than enough to be mistaken for a subjugation force.
But the terror of the villagers began to subside slowly once Beron stepped forward to calm them. Soon, it was replaced by the emptiness of the living, collapsed before the corpses of their families, and the sobbing of women who had been violated.