No. 471 Daeeung Escort Mission (4)
Tweeeet—!
A sharp whistle split the air. In the same instant the black-clad men broke off their assault and withdrew, and before long they had drained out of the camp like an ebbing tide.
"Hahh……"
"Damn it all……"
One after another, everyone sank to the ground wherever they stood, heaving heavy sighs — sighs of relief that a respite had been granted, and sighs of despair in the knowledge that it would not last long.
Jwidori flicked the blood from his twin short swords and spoke.
"I've lost count of how many times this makes."
A life-or-death battle would rage for a good long stretch, and the moment Go Hyeon-woo cut down one of the squad-leader-grade attackers, the fighting would end. Then, just when it seemed we could finally catch our breath, it would begin all over again. That cycle had repeated itself more times than anyone could count.
The assaults that had begun beneath the midday sun had carried on through dusk, through the dead of night, and into the present, as the sky paled toward dawn. Having fought on without proper food or sleep, every last one of them was in a state too wretched for words.
"Time to put something in my stomach, even now."
Eoguri stuffed a strip of dried meat into his mouth and began chewing it with martial ferocity. Then he grumbled, his face as aggrieved as ever.
"Seriously, don't those bastards ever sleep?"
"They sleep, all right. But they're of the demonic cult, no?"
The Yeomwang Squad was, in name at least, the demonic cult's fighting force. They would have been drilled without mercy to endure every hardship imaginable — a few days without sleep or food would hardly count as suffering. The ronins, on the other hand, had lived free and unattached all their lives, doing as the mood took them. Under identical hardships, the toll on our side was bound to be far heavier.
There was something else I deliberately left unmentioned, since it would do nothing but sink morale further.
We were being bled dry by their rotation tactics.
Our defenses were holding up more solidly than the enemy had anticipated — we had Go Hyeon-woo, a master far beyond anything the Yeomwang Squad had bargained for, and not one of the ronins was a pushover either. That was thanks to my having handpicked only the strongest from the Daeeung Escort Bureau.
So after clashing with us a number of times, the Yeomwang Squad had evidently concluded that a brute offensive of sheer numbers offered no path to victory, and had shifted to having unit after unit take turns harrying the caravan — rotation warfare, in a word. That was the present situation: small losses piling up the way a drizzle soaks a coat through.
A ronin watching the rear spat out a remark along with a sigh.
"They're coming again……"
His voice was so faint that he seemed to lack even the strength to shout anymore. Everyone felt much the same, no doubt — but no one could afford to simply hand over their life. Staggering, they each clutched their weapon regardless.
And once more, the Yeomwang Squad came crashing down upon us.
"Guaaah!"
Someone's agonized scream rang out. Turning toward its source, I saw a ronin clutching his own arm, his forearm skewered clean through by a Yeomwang Squad member's blade.
So the wounded are starting to appear.
The back-to-back rotation battles had indeed left everyone with small accumulating wounds, but those had been no more than scraped skin seeping a little blood. This ronin was the first to be hurt badly enough to put him all but out of the fight.
"Aaagh!"
In the next assault, a long sword gash was carved across another ronin's thigh. It didn't stop him from swinging his sword, but from then on he could only limp along.
As the attacks kept coming, the wounded ronins grew in number — three, five, seven…… swelling like a snowball rolling downhill. Everyone's stamina was already scraping bottom, and with even the number of fighters shrinking, the damage could only snowball further. And the wounded would only keep multiplying from here on.
Then there was another, bigger problem.
Our feet were tied.
Tending to the wounded had slowed the caravan's marching pace along with it. Everyone had come to realize this — and the wounded themselves most of all.
Before long, the injured gathered in a corner among themselves, put their heads together, and began discussing something. Their faces grew graver by the minute, but at last they seemed to reach some point of agreement. One of them stepped forward as their spokesman and addressed Escort Leader Kang.
"Escort Leader Kang."
"What is it?"
"I reckon this is as far as we go. You go on ahead."
Escort Leader Kang's face stiffened.
"What manner of talk is that?"
"We'll stay behind and buy you whatever time we can. With us off the road, the caravan can make better speed."
"I cannot allow it. How could you speak of leaving wounded men behind like this?"
Kang tried to dissuade him, but the wounded ronin seemed to have already hardened his heart.
"It's not as though our lives mean nothing to us. But going on like this, we die all the same. Shouldn't those who can live, live?"
……
"I'm told the destination lies not far ahead. For the sake of the caravan, I ask you to make the wise choice."
He was right — the destination was close at hand. Of the three passes the caravan had to cross, two already lay behind them, and they were more than halfway over the third. All that remained was to give up the wounded and push the pace a little harder.
Meanwhile, I was thinking: This is about the right moment to step in.
The mood seemed ripe enough, so I abruptly raised my hand.
"I'll stay as well."
!?
……?
Startled, everyone fixed their attention on me. I had been little more than a folding screen throughout this entire escort mission, so it was only natural they would find it startling that I would suddenly volunteer to stay behind with the wounded.
This time, it was the wounded ronins who in turn moved to dissuade me.
"Out of nowhere — what are you saying?"
"Why would you throw your life away for nothing?"
But there was a definite reason I had raised my hand. I explained in a calm tone.
"Your willingness to sacrifice yourselves for the caravan is admirable. But think it through. How much time could a handful of men like you actually buy?"
These were wounded men who could scarcely manage even a single man's share in battle anymore. Even if they fought to their last breath, could they buy more time than it takes to drink a cup of water? Far more likely, they would simply die like dogs for nothing. If time was to be bought, more people would have to stay behind.
……
……
As that truth sank in, everyone in the camp busied themselves glancing around at one another. Staying meant near-certain death — who could step forward readily under those terms?
And yet some raised their hands without a moment's hesitation.
"Good. We're staying too."
"Our Kim A-woo is staying — we can hardly just walk off and save our own skins, can we?"
It was my two dependable big brothers, Jwidori and Eoguri. Several more ronins raised their hands after them — the mantis-faced one among their number — though they remained few.
Then an unexpected figure lifted a hand.
"I shall stay as well."
Escort Leader Jo.
At that, Escort Leader Kang — who had already been struggling to keep pace with the situation — grew visibly more flustered.
"Man, do you mean that in earnest?"
Jo heaved a deep sigh, his face gone dark.
"The fault is mine. When the client warned us, I should have turned far aside and taken another road from the very start…… My stubbornness has brought us to this."
"That was no fault of yours."
"It was. Allow me to take responsibility."
Jo pressed his case so firmly that Kang could dissuade him no longer.
In the end, those settled to remain were the wounded and myself, a handful of ronins including Jwidori and Eoguri, and Escort Leader Jo together with the escort guards at his back. All told, it came to a scant twenty-odd souls.
Escort Leader Kang bowed to us with grave formality.
"I will never forget your sacrifice."
His footsteps looked heavier than anyone's as he turned and led the caravan away.
……
……
In silence, we all watched the wagons recede into the distance. And when the caravan had dwindled to a mere speck, we turned to face the road ahead.
Unlike every assault before it, the black-clad men were advancing like an army on the march. And as if to confirm that all the previous battles had indeed been mere rotation tactics, their numbers were several times greater than any force that had appeared in a single attack.
They closed in with steady, mechanical precision, then halted at a set distance from us — and one middle-aged man in black stepped out ahead of the rest. From the aura he carried alone, he was plainly a different breed from the squad-leader-grade men they had been discarding at us as expendables.
The Yeomwang Squad Vice-Commander.
He regarded us for a long moment, and a glint of intrigue colored his gaze.
"I see barely a handful of wounded, and yet this many more chose to remain? Your courage is commendable."
……
"In tribute to that courage, I shall bestow upon you a painless death."
The Vice-Commander's order fell.
"Cut them all down."
Ssssssshh……
A sound like a serpent sliding across the ground filled the camp from edge to edge. The black-clad men began picking up speed, narrowing the distance.
Just as everyone stood at the peak of tension, bracing for the clash — I suddenly whipped around and shouted.
"BEHIND!!"
!?
Everyone whirled around on reflex. And what they saw was Escort Leader Jo and his escort guards — the men who had held the rear — swords already swinging in.
CLAAAANG—!
Jwidori desperately crossed his twin blades to turn aside Jo's sword.
"What is the meaning of this……"
But looked at from any angle, the situation was starkly black-and-white. If you were caught trying to ambush someone from behind, there was only one conclusion to draw.
"A betrayal!"
"Betrayal? No."
A venomous smile curled across Escort Leader Jo's lips, and a sinister energy began to writhe across his entire body.
"I was a man of the demonic cult from the very beginning. I merely served the role I was given."
……!
"Heh heh. A pity, truly. If not for that fellow, you'd have marched to your deaths without ever knowing how you died."
"Ghhk……"
Jwidori was too hard-pressed just blocking Jo's relentless follow-up attacks to do anything else. Their combined strength would have been barely enough as it was — and now Jo and his guards proved to be spies of the demonic cult. Worse still, even as they fended off that assault, the Yeomwang Squad was closing in with every passing heartbeat.
Call it coincidence — in the midst of that desperate melee, the eyes of Jwidori and Eoguri turned toward me at the same instant. And at the same instant, puzzlement surfaced on their faces, no doubt because I looked far too composed for the situation at hand.
I bowed deeply to the two of them.
"Thank you for trusting me and following me this far, my brothers."
"Kim A-woo?"
"From here on, leave it to this A-woo of yours."
I turned my back on them and strolled unhurriedly toward the advancing Yeomwang Squad. Then I leveled Root and pointed it straight ahead.
Using Amplification.
Twister rank has increased. (C+ → A+)
Whoooooo—!
Wind laden with raw physical force converged upon a single point, swelling into a colossal whirlwind.
……!
……!
The black-clad men flung themselves desperately at escaping the vortex, but against the gale that hammered without pause, they could only be dragged helplessly inward. Little by little, they were packed together into a single mass.
Facing that mass, I clenched my other hand into a tight fist — and dark crimson flames bloomed aloft. A moment later, I drew my burning fist back like an archer pulling a bowstring, then thrust it forward with everything I had.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!
The surging firestorm swallowed whole the black-clad men trapped within the vortex. A short while later, when the flames died away, all that remained was a deep trench gouged along their path — and the fire still roaring inside it.
"Wh-what in the world……?"
"How."
Everyone stood stricken, staring blankly at the carnage before their eyes. And if I had to name the most stunned of them all, it would likely be the Yeomwang Squad Vice-Commander. He had barely clawed his way out of the vortex with his life, and at the sight of my feat, someone seemed to have surfaced in his mind.
"……The Flame Tyrant!"
I gave the ember lingering on my fingertip a sharp puff of breath and snuffed it out. Then I shrugged.
"I'm not that kind of person."
[155] The Support Ate It All