Through victories over the past few years, some of the Northern Plains region had been recovered, but the Hetao area where Guisui was located was still the northern nomads' world. The reason Li Zi-song had come to Datong as Northern Great Commander was also to reclaim Guisui. However, he hadn't come by his own power.
Which mouse would bell the cat?
After dragging on for several years, this agenda finally sparked a political struggle, and Li Zi-song was designated as the executor. Not only the opposing faction, but even Li Zi-song's patrons turned their backs on him.
Throughout history, pushing others' backs to survive has been a virtue of the court and a basic principle of politics. Though unlikely, if by any chance Li Zi-song succeeded, that would be good, and if not, it would be Li Zi-song who fell from grace, not them.
Having been completely pushed out in the power struggle at the imperial palace, Li Zi-song was ultimately assigned the mission to recapture Guisui. It was virtually impossible, and Li Zi-song knew this fact well.
But as anyone would be, since he didn't want to die either, he had to succeed in the Guisui expedition by any means necessary. However, while throwing him the difficult question of recapturing Guisui, the support the court bestowed upon him was merely twenty thousand hastily conscripted farmer-soldiers.
If not for a few consolations, Li Zi-song would have run away hundreds of times already.
The fact that the soldiers stationed in Datong were elite among elites who had fought countless battles. The mercenaries hired by depleting his private wealth were difficult to control, but in some ways their military strength was considerable enough to surpass even elite soldiers.
And.
Above all, the one called Ear Ghost whom he had placed as mercenary captain.
Ear Ghost was quite an unusual person. No, he was outstanding enough to be difficult to describe as merely unusual, and... frightening.
After commencing the Guisui expedition, Li Zi-song had assigned him the role of vanguard, clearing the path.
Fengqian, Xin'an Manor, Tiancheng Village... He had brought down all such villages and cities with merely fifteen hundred mercenaries. Thanks to that, the fifty thousand elite soldiers suffered no losses at all.
This was proof that Li Zi-song's final gamble, its first button, had been properly fastened.
***
"Commander, sir. The mercenaries have occupied Tianchi ."
Adjutant Dang entered the command tent, bringing news of Ear Ghost's victory that was no longer surprising.
"Just call me General. What's with 'sir.' But you said Ear Ghost occupied Tianchi?"
"Yes, General."
Tianchi was a lake on the way from Datong to Guisui, a place abundant in fishing resources.
In common parlance, half water half fish.
Though it was positioned midway between Guisui and Datong, if supplies were cut off by enemy rear harassment, food could be procured directly from Tianchi, so it was one of the places that absolutely had to be occupied before attacking Guisui. But precisely because of that, this place was one of the northern nomads' major strongholds.
Li Zi-song had entrusted the attack on such an important place not to the main force, but to Ear Ghost and the mercenaries. He thought they would succeed, but this time he expected them to face some difficulty...
To be honest, with about fifteen hundred troops, just playing the role of dispersing the enemy's attention would be commendable... but they occupied Tianchi in just two days after starting the attack.
When issuing that order, Li Zi-song and the main force had bypassed Tianchi to attack Liangcheng. That the fifteen hundred mercenary force broke through enemy lines faster than the fifty thousand expedition main force had great implications. Even considering that Liangcheng was surrounded by walls while Tianchi was open ground with several clustered villages, it was truly a tremendous achievement.
Tianchi was an area wide enough to be called Daihai, as vast as the sea. Even riding a horse at full speed would take half a day to circle it once, yet they completed the occupation battle in two days?
'Ear Ghost is the real deal.'
There was no longer room for doubt. The corners of Li Zi-song's mouth involuntarily split slightly.
Perhaps, perhaps...
Li Zi-song repeated mumbling with his mouth in a low voice, then looked at Adjutant Dang and spoke.
"Send five thousand troops to support Tianchi to install palisades, and tell Ear Ghost to head immediately to Manhan Mountain."
Manhan Mountain. The base of the Northern Nomad Bandit Group.
Breaking down the term Northern Nomad Bandit Group literally meant a bandit group composed of northern barbarians. The Northern Nomad Bandit Group was the name Central Plains people called them, and they weren't actually bandits. In reality, they even had a proper name called Northern Ghost Group, an unorthodox Martial World sect. However, to Central Plains expedition forces or merchant groups, they were no different from bandit hordes.
During several past expeditions, they had been paid by Northern Plains forces to attack the expedition forces' rear multiple times. Because of that, there were times when expedition forces returned without even properly attacking once.
Though few in number, being Martial World people, they were no pushovers. Especially the longer the expedition lasted, the more holes inevitably appeared in the expedition force's route. Stopping them as they struck and withdrew through those holes was no easy task.
To stop them, one had to either completely overwhelm them with military force or appease them with money.
But the latter was impossible. Because Li Zi-song didn't have such money. Even the money to pay mercenaries as ear value after the war ended might only be affordable if Guisui was occupied. In such circumstances, where would there be money to pay bandits and the like in advance?
He had only two paths—either go himself or send Ear Ghost—and the choice was already made.
"Yes, General. However, they are people even the Eastern Depot found difficult. Whether the mercenaries alone can handle them..."
To the adjutant who unsuitably fumbled his words, Li Zi-song chuckled once.
"Didn't Adjutant Dang just say so himself?"
"Pardon?"
"That the mercenaries occupied Tianchi."
"..."
"Do you think even if the main force had gone, we could have occupied Tianchi in two days?"
"Ah..."
"Go. Go and tell Ear Ghost to completely wipe out the bandits of Manhan Mountain within three days."
"Attention!"
Adjutant Dang saluted and left the tent. Even he could no longer object. Though hard to believe, everything Li Zi-song said was true.
"Ear Ghost versus Northern Ghost... I wonder which ghost will win... Interesting."
Li Zi-song muttered lowly while not forgetting to smack his lips intermittently.
***
"Hahaha! Captain! Look at this. Ears, money scattered all over!"
"Aaaaahhh!"
"S-spare me!"
"Who said anyone's killing you? Just hand over your right ear. You've got two ear flaps anyway. Right?"
The victors plunder the defeated. Cruel, but it's the law of the jungle that strictly applies in the animal world.
Whoosh—
White breath mixed with the scent of blood, losing its original taste.
Dong Bong-su stood quietly at the village entrance.
The mercenaries were all absorbed in cutting off villagers' ears, and the village residents were too busy running here and there to avoid them.
Dong Bong-su alone was idle at the entrance. He couldn't help it, since killing them wouldn't gain experience points or raise proficiency. To him, plundering in such a 'low-level hunting ground' held no meaning.
He was simply lost in thought.
Can skills be canceled? What would happen if someone killed me right before leveling up? Would my death also convert to experience points? Could I put it in the Inventory if a living organism was completely sealed? Could I take out a box larger than my body from the Inventory and wrap my body with it?
What exactly is the system's standard for recognizing a living organism? (Bacteria and microbes seem to be excluded.) Then where is the line for insects being living organisms?
When taking objects out of the Inventory, could partial manifestation be made possible? Also, how strongly must things be bound to be viewed as one object? Would two objects weakly connected with something like grains of rice be considered one object? Is it really impossible to put a moving object into the Inventory the moment it touches my body? Is there truly no way to open a settings window or system window? And so on...
Countless questions were cluttering his mind. Though he had resolved many questions, numerous doubts still remained, drifting through Dong Bong-su's mind. Also, sometimes newly arising questions would join that repertoire.
When exactly could he solve all these questions?
Even Dong Bong-su didn't know well. However, what was certain was that as his understanding of the system increased, he had grown stronger, and of course that would continue.
If you can't change it, make the most use of it.
This too was Dong Bong-su's instinct. Whether it became a person, a system, whatever it became, it was the same. If something couldn't be fixed and used, it had to be completely understood and utilized as much as possible.
He was currently training a technique derived from understanding the system.
Five Object Entry and Exit.
What previously could only handle two things simultaneously could now freely put in and take out five objects at once. He repeated taking out and putting in small objects using the space created by folds in his clothes. After training for a long period like this, eventually Six Object Entry and Exit, Seven Object Entry and Exit... would also become possible.
How much time had passed like that?
Crunch crunch crunch!
A somewhat off-kilter sound of horseshoes stepping on sand came from behind. At this, Dong Bong-su stopped thinking and turned his body. In the distance, a single horse with a yellow flag approached.
'A messenger.'
Perhaps someone Li Zi-song had sent to assign the next mission. Dong Bong-su stood still, waiting for the messenger to approach.
Neigh neigh neighhh.
The messenger rode up right in front of Dong Bong-su and stopped his horse. His eyes naturally saw the tragic scene unfolding inside Daihai Village from earlier, but he deliberately pretended not to notice. From the moment Li Zi-song ordered the mercenaries to strike this place, their fate had been decided to become like that.
He looked down and spoke while looking at Dong Bong-su.
"Are you the mercenary captain Kang Dal-hui?"
"That's right."
Dong Bong-su answered.
From that indifferent appearance, the messenger felt a chill. Rather than the mercenaries creating the carnage, this sight of him guarding the village entrance and watching felt even more inhumane.
The messenger shook his head once, then took out a rolled-up dispatch from his bosom and held it out to Dong Bong-su.
"If you can't read, I can instead..."
The messenger was trying to add another word with a deliberately calm appearance.
Snatch.
Dong Bong-su answered with action instead. Disregarding the flinching messenger, he read Li Zi-song's orders. The content was extremely brief.
Eliminate Manhan Mountain within three days.
As brief as it was, its meaning was also clear.
Dong Bong-su rolled up the dispatch again and handed it to the messenger.
"Tell him I understand."
With those words, Dong Bong-su turned away from the messenger. Since new work had arisen, he had to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"Aaaaahh!"
"M-Mom!"
"Ahhh! St-stop!"
The plunder was nearly over. But the villagers' nightmare had not yet ended.
Period of Entertainment.
The mercenaries called this time so, and some liked this time even more than when plundering.
"Hehehe. Stay still. When else will you guys get to taste southern gentlemen's goods? Such opportunities aren't common."
All too naturally, the objects of entertainment were children and women. Some women were being violated with their ears cut off, while others bit their tongues to end themselves.
For some, entertainment; for others, nightmares. In any case, it was chaos.
Dong Bong-su walked slowly toward the village center.
"B-bark! Bark, you bitch! Why are you keeping your trap shut? Huh!? Huff huff."
"..."
A bearded man, not even noticing his buttocks turning bright red from the cold, had his rear exposed and was vigorously moving his hips.
What was being shaken like duckweed while having her hair grabbed from behind by him was a village woman who appeared to be about thirty.
They were blocking Dong Bong-su's path. At this, Dong Bong-su stopped walking and spoke.
"We're leaving for Manhan Mountain. Right now, immediately gather all the other bastards in front of the village."
Dong Bong-su's voice was flat, but it wasn't small. However, since he had nearly reached climax, the bearded man merely pretended to hear while roughly pushing his hips.
"Huff! Co-coming...!"
The dirty buttocks of the bearded man who reached climax trembled.
Thunk.
Simultaneously, his head also rolled and fell.
"Huk! Ahhh!"
The woman who had been quiet even while being raped screamed and collapsed to the ground. Because a liquid far more disgusting than the liquid shot inside her body had splattered on her back.
And the round object that fell afterward. The woman knew well what it was without looking.
Thud thud thud.
Dong Bong-su stepped over the woman's back and continued forward.
A silence already hung over the scene, and all eyes were focused on Dong Bong-su. As if time had stopped...
A moment later, Dong Bong-su, who had arrived at the village center, stopped walking.
"I'm giving you half an hour. Within that time, everyone line up in front of the village."
Still a flat voice. But not a small voice.
Time flowed again.
Having finished speaking, Dong Bong-su slowly returned to the village entrance. The messenger still hadn't left and was staring blankly at Dong Bong-su until then. Looking at him, Dong Bong-su spoke.
"The commander will be waiting."
"Ah, yes, yess! Atten..."
The messenger almost saluted Dong Bong-su. That's how much the appearance Dong Bong-su had shown for a brief moment was somehow overwhelming the messenger.
Half an hour later.
The messenger returned to Liangcheng where Li Zi-song was, and about a thousand mercenaries gathered in front of Daihai Village.
Fengqian, Xin'an Manor, Tiancheng Village, and in the process of occupying this place, about five hundred had died, and one more died half an hour ago. So now the total remaining mercenaries were barely a thousand. However, the fierce aura they emitted was by no means light.
The mercenaries' formation looked disorderly at a glance, but in fact it wasn't. They were thoroughly lined up according to rank, and at the very front stood Dong Bong-su.
Dong Bong-su, who had become mercenary captain, was not the Ear Ghost they had known. Originally Ear Ghost was a frightening person, but Ear Ghost who became mercenary captain was a perfect commander and general. He never retreated, and fought like a Mad Tiger at the very front, leading them to victory. Though it looked extremely crude, it was also most mercenary-like and Wanderer-like. At that sight, over the past few days the mercenaries had either been overwhelmed by Dong Bong-su or completely captivated.
"From now we go to Manhan Mountain."
"..."
"Those who don't want to die at Manhan Mountain, come out now."
Of course, there was no one. They already knew. That if they stepped forward now, they would die. Those words of Dong Bong-su weren't saying to drop out if you don't want to die.
It meant: Those who don't want to die at Manhan Mountain, right now! Here! I'll kill you.
"If there's anyone who doesn't like me or wants to go home right now, kill me. Then you can become mercenary captain or return home safely."
"..."
"Don't hesitate. Abandon mercy. Toward me, toward the enemy, and toward yourselves."
Having said that much, Dong Bong-su turned his body northwest. On the plains, a fairly high mountain rose up, blocking the setting sun.
It was Manhan Mountain.
Dong Bong-su headed that way while speaking.
"Any bastard who's confident can stick a sword in my back anytime. But only draw your sword when you're truly confident. Otherwise you'll regret it."
When he was a groom, Dong Bong-su had been an excellent groom.
For the past year, Dong Bong-su had been a flawless mercenary.
And now Dong Bong-su was a mercenary captain.
Perfectly, of course.
Dong Bong-su departed for Manhan Mountain, and a thousand mercenaries followed behind him.
***
Boom—
As Dong Bong-su headed to Manhan Mountain, in Guisui the sound of drums announcing soldiers' departure was resounding.
A massive force reaching as many as twenty thousand was arranged in units of ten thousand in front of Guisui's outer walls. However, despite so many people lined up on horses, except for the occasional sound of horses neighing, no other sound was made.
They were traditional nomadic cavalry, armed mainly with light armor, bows, and swords or sabers instead of heavy iron armor. Though mainly a unit good for hit-and-run tactics in the vast grassland regions, the northern nomads' cavalry were skilled in close combat even wearing only light armor. They weren't called the calamity of the grasslands for nothing.
On the outer walls, all of Guisui's key figures had come out.
The castle lord, defense commander, and various generals.
Among them, at the very front, in the center, an old man with snow-white hair.
From everyone's eyes watching only his mouth, one could easily tell he was the person in the highest position among them.
In contrast to his white hair, his physique seemed to have been bypassed by the passage of time—his frame was so large it reached eight feet, and his back was utterly straight.
Moreover, the hegemon-like aura emanating from him easily surpassed and exceeded that emitted by the twenty thousand troops arrayed before the castle.
The old man—there are many terms referring to him.
Hegemon of the North, God of the Grasslands, Northern Plains Otter-Wren.
And.
Timur Khan.
In the distant past, there had been a Great Khan who unified the north and looked beyond the Central Plains to the western skies, all the way to their end, and the last descendant of that Great Khan was Timur Khan. However, he did not become the ruler of the Northern Plains by the mere fact of being the Great Khan's descendant alone. Northern nomad society was not so lenient that one's entire life was determined simply by bloodline.
Timur Khan was someone who had risen to this position by suppressing all competitors with his own overwhelming military force, political power, and extraordinary judgment. Originally, before he ascended to the Khan's position, there had been many other descendants of the Great Khan besides him. And they all had higher rank than Timur.
However,
In the end, the one who survived the bloody political struggles and wars was Timur, and he alone survived to become the Great Khan's final heir.
Timur Khan's eyes were so thinly slitted that his pupils were barely visible. However, even with those barely visible eyes, Timur Khan was watching the cavalry's appearance without missing a single thing.
The cavalry all knew well what a frightening person he was. No one could breathe loudly or cough loudly once. Even the horses were the same.
As if the world had stopped? How much time had passed like that?
"March out!"
At some moment, Timur Khan shouted vigorously.
His lion's roar filled with internal power stuck clearly in each cavalryman's ears.
Timur Khan's departure ceremony was always like this. What need for long words at departure?
Go out, and fight. Only these two words were needed.
And...
Waaahhh!
The soldiers' battle cry was enough.
The cavalry shouted at the top of their lungs and turned their horses' heads one by one in order. Then they began galloping toward the vast Hetao Plain spread out there.
-x-X-x-
Thud thud thud thud!
The clamor created by twenty thousand horseshoes shook the earth's axis, and the breath and snorts exhaled by horses and soldiers rose like fog.
Was he smiling?
Timur Khan's wren eyes, watching the scene of troops departing, were trembling finely.
There was a giant watching him from right beside. The giant's height was more than a head taller than even Timur Khan, seeming to be at least nine feet at a conservative estimate.
A moment later, when the cavalry completely disappeared beyond the horizon after crossing the plains, the giant looked at Timur Khan and opened his mouth.
"Brother. Can they alone rescue Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain?"
The giant called Timur Khan brother. Though the great grasslands and great desert were so vast their ends couldn't be known, there was only one person on this land who could call Timur Khan so.
War Giant, Mamorota.
He was a general who, as Timur Khan's Tiger Fang, had roamed the north for the past decades beheading thousands upon thousands. In fact, until recently he had been fiercely fighting the Uyghurs who had infiltrated from the northwest. Right after that battle, he had rushed here after receiving Timur Khan's urgent message.
Timur Khan showed no movement whatsoever at Mamorota's question, then at some moment spoke quietly.
"They didn't go to Liangcheng or Manhan Mountain."
"...What did you just say?"
In fact, Timur Khan was currently in the crisis of a lifetime. Multiple forces were simultaneously pressing in on him from all four directions—east, west, south, and north. The Uyghurs, who had accumulated enormous wealth through intermediary trade between the west and Central Plains, were constantly invading from the west, and in the north the great chieftain of the Tatars, Zayarka, had raised a rebellion.
Above all, the biggest problem was the fact that the Central Plains forces were gradually extending their reach northward just like now.
At this point in time, a single moment of misjudgment could become grounds for losing everything. One could say it wasn't much different from a situation where one wrong step would send you plummeting down a very tall steep cliff.
In such a situation, thanks to Mamorota's exploits, they had barely repelled the Uyghurs' massive invasion.
Even so, rebel forces were still running rampant throughout the northern great grasslands even now, and this Hetao Plain region was facing a great crisis from Central Plains forces' invasion. Also, the Uyghurs might reorganize their soldiers and raid the border again at any time.
So Mamorota thought Timur Khan would first extinguish the fire on this side, then go north to execute Zayarka. He thought that was both natural order and the best strategy. To do that, they first had to rescue Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain.
Those two places were right under Guisui's nose. Naturally, if those two strategic points were taken, it would be like allowing the enemy into the front yard. If by any chance Guisui ended up surrounded, this place would become completely isolated, and in the worst case, they might not be able to lift a finger while the Tatars swept through the north.
If the Tatar great chieftain Zayarka seized control of the Northern Plains, no further reinforcements could be expected, and all too naturally Timur Khan would lose all his foundation.
So for Mamorota, it was difficult to understand the answer Timur Khan had just given.
If he planned to abandon Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain and make a life-or-death stand at Guisui, he shouldn't have sent out twenty thousand elite cavalry. Whether it became porridge or rice, they had to settle it on this Hetao Plain—that's what Mamorota thought.
Timur Khan, as if already knowing all of Mamorota's thoughts, looked at him expressionlessly before slowly opening his mouth again.
"Salacat will pretend to go to Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain, then detour to cross the Great Wall. After that, he strikes Datong."
Salacat.
The commander of ten thousand and general commander of one of the cavalry units that had just departed.
For him to lead cavalry across the Great Wall? And at this point in time?
For Mamorota, it was military deployment and orders he simply couldn't understand. What they would gain by striking south of the Great Wall now was only Guisui's isolation.
"...I must be getting hard of hearing as I age. Would you say that once more?"
"You didn't hear wrong. Follow me."
Timur Khan left the bewildered Mamorota and jumped straight down from the wall. But no one around was surprised. If the Khan of the Northern Plains didn't have this level of martial arts skill, he already wouldn't be qualified to be called Khan.
Though questions still remained on Mamorota's face, he trusted Timur Khan's judgment. He had no choice. Though they had experienced countless crises, ultimately the victor was Timur Khan, and Mamorota had faithfully followed behind to reach this point. There had been no exceptions. Timur Khan was a born gambler who found a way to survive in crises. This time would be no different.
Without a moment's hesitation, Mamorota jumped down from the wall and followed behind Timur Khan.
Timur Khan took Mamorota out of Guisui to the outskirts. Guards tried to keep following behind them, but Timur Khan dismissed them all and went out to the Hetao Plain alone with Mamorota.
Timur Khan and Mamorota ran using Lightness Arts. Despite their large builds, not even the slightest disturbance occurred to the grass stepped on by their feet. Their Lightness Arts must be so advanced that Walking on Grass unfolded naturally.
How far had they run?
When Timur arrived at a certain place on the plains, he stopped.
Whoooosh—
A desolate land where only cold wind brushed grass and sand. It was just a barren grassland, and looking around in all directions, there was nothing special to find—just an empty field.
Except for one thing.
The only unusual thing was a single large pit dug into the field, as if someone had dug it.
Without a word, Mamorota walked past Timur Khan toward there. It seemed the reason he brought him here was likely there.
Thud.
Mamorota approached right up to the pit, crouched down, and looked inside the hole. The pit's depth was much deeper than expected, appearing to be easily fifteen to seventeen meters. And at the bottom...
"...!"
There were things piled haphazardly, and as they decayed, a terrible stench was coming out of the pit. Very familiar things and a familiar smell. They were things Mamorota had created countless times in his life thus far and would continue creating.
He sniffed slightly, then spoke with a grimace.
"Aren't those corpses? What about them? Well, they do seem to smell a bit worse than others."
Swish.
Without him noticing when he'd approached, Timur Khan placed his hand on Mamorota's shoulder while looking down into the pit. His thin eye corners trembled finely upon seeing the corpses. His mouth corners also rose slightly—he was clearly smiling, albeit faintly.
"Do those look like just corpses to your eyes?"
"Well, they're just corpses. Are they monsters or something?"
At Mamorota's mention of monsters, Timur Khan's finely trembling eyes opened wide. Then his eyes, hidden by eyelids, were revealed in broad daylight.
Odd Eyes. His eyes were heterochromatic. One side blue, the other black.
In the Central Plains they called this cursed eyes, but here in the north it was different. Those born with Odd Eyes were said to be born with the destiny to encompass the world. According to what was passed down, the Great Khan was also born with Odd Eyes.
"Monster? Monster..."
Mamorota turned his head to look up at the muttering Timur Khan's face. It had been truly a long time. Since he'd seen Timur Khan's Blue Eye.
"Yes, you're right. Those are monsters. And monsters that won't die or disappear easily—black monsters."
"What are you saying? I have no idea what you're talking about, Brother. Speak so I can understand."
"Duv Tuag."
Timur Khan's Blue Eye gleamed eerily as he uttered two words in a low voice.
"Duv Tuag...?"
Mamorota asked back. To this, Timur Khan added some explanation.
"That monster accomplished what the Great Khan's hundreds of thousands of cavalry couldn't."
"You said a monster accomplished what the Great Khan's hundreds of thousands of cavalry couldn't...? No way!? No way? That? Are you really talking about that right now?"
Instead of answering, Timur Khan nodded.
Finally realizing what Timur Khan was talking about, Mamorota hurriedly retreated backward from the pit. Disregarding him, Timur Khan still stood in place, looking down into the pit while speaking.
"One of them came from Liangcheng. And I killed everyone who had even the slightest contact with that thing."
"..."
"Another one of them came from Manhan Mountain. So again! I killed everyone who touched that thing even slightly."
"..."
"And finally, the bastards who dug this pit are all rotting here too."
Timur's Blue Eye was still flashing with eerie madness as he spoke calmly. Mamorota looked at Timur's eyes from the side and spoke.
"...Then Salacat is really..."
"Right now Datong is being defended by twenty thousand untrained greenhorns. Though Salacat's soldiers are cavalry, if they directly assemble catapults at Datong to attack, they can take Datong without difficulty."
"Brother. But if the enemies who occupied Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain return to Datong..."
"Do you think they'll be fine during their return march? Most of the enemies are foot soldiers. By the time the enemies arrive at Datong, they'll already be in a state of having their entire bodies gnawed by monsters."
"But then Salacat and our brothers remaining at Datong might also be in trouble."
"Yes. If things go wrong, our brothers might also be swept up by the monster along with the enemies. But with their sacrifice, we'll gain another opportunity to dominate this north. And while we resubdue the Northern Plains, that fertile Central Plains will fall prey to the black monster."
"..."
Wind blew strongly, sweeping away the stench rising from the pit, but soon a worse stench rose to stimulate Timur Khan and Mamorota's noses.
"Mamorota."
"Speak."
"Now there's nowhere on these grasslands to avoid that monster. If that's the case, we must thoroughly use it at least. Just as the monster has no eyes, we too must sometimes close our eyes and swing our swords."
"..."
"And the monster has already devoured Liangcheng and Manhan Mountain. What we must do now is abandon those two places. That's all. That will lead us to victory."
Timur Khan's eyes looking down into the pit were still wide open, and his Blue Eye still emitted a bizarre radiance. Mamorota just silently watched that sight...
-x-X-x-
In front of Manhan Mountain where grass grew sparsely. A barren field stretched endlessly. As everywhere on the grasslands including Guisui, strong winds were blowing here too.
On the opposite side of the mountain.
Facing the wind, about a thousand mercenaries stood in a line.
"Looks like about five hundred."
A mercenary standing beside Dong Bong-su spoke. Though the mercenary's voice scattered easily due to the strong wind, it wasn't to the extent that Dong Bong-su couldn't hear.
"Four hundred and seventy-seven."
Dong Bong-su immediately corrected the mercenary's words.
500 or 477.
Right ahead, that was the number of Northern Ghosts who had come out to greet them. Dong Bong-su had already finished confirming the Northern Ghosts' number with his eyes before the mercenary spoke.
He had led the mercenaries here after just one day's march. Having crossed the open plains, there was no way the Northern Ghosts wouldn't know of their approach.
Eventually, the Northern Ghosts had come out in such a group to meet them. They must not want to allow the mercenaries' approach any further. In fact, an envoy had come from the Northern Ghost side a moment ago.
The envoy said: Put down everything you have and pass, or quietly turn back the way you came.
Dong Bong-su's answer was to put down the envoy's neck forever.
The immediate objective was to annihilate Manhan Mountain.
Negotiations were meaningless anyway. He had no intention of giving money, and he had never even thought about turning back. Right now he was simply leading the mercenaries as Li Zi-song had ordered.
Whoosh—
Since it was the steppe region, once the sun began to set dimly, the temperature dropped so much that breath puffed out with each exhale. Perhaps, no, certainly it had dropped below freezing.
Dong Bong-su exhaled a deeply drawn breath once more while counting the enemies' number with his eyes again.
...475, 476, 477.
Still 477 people. It was far fewer than originally expected. As he knew, the Northern Ghost Group's personnel numbered at minimum 700, at maximum about 1000. Yet the number that appeared here was only 477.
Should he be happy they were few?
Absolutely not. Differing from expectations always carried danger. It meant roughly 220 or about 520 swords outside his calculations were hiding somewhere.
A danger signal.
Where?
Even while coming here, Dong Bong-su had sent mercenaries far in all directions to scout and steadily observe the terrain.
First, ambush was impossible with this terrain. Not only was there nowhere to ambush anywhere on this barren grassland, but he also hadn't discovered any artificially dug ambush sites.
Then where the remaining Northern Ghosts were...
Dong Bong-su slightly raised his head. Following that, his gaze naturally shifted to the clay-colored mountain rising imposingly behind the Northern Ghosts. It was precisely Manhan Mountain.
'Are you saying the remaining personnel stayed there? Why? Why on earth didn't they move together?'
Dong Bong-su couldn't understand.
They came out to face the opponent head-on on the grasslands, yet about half their full strength remained at the main base?
It was a bit excessive to consider them forces to guard the mountain stronghold. Frankly speaking, if they could sortie with all personnel without guarding the stronghold and completely wipe out the mercenaries, there would be no need to guard their stronghold.
This battle was neither a siege nor a defense. Though it was part of a border dispute, strictly speaking it was a fight between Martial World people. Forcibly consuming forces to guard something like a stronghold was what idiots did.
Dong Bong-su knew well that the Northern Ghosts were no idiots. Surviving so long in this barren land was impossible with just superior military force alone.
'But why?'
Dong Bong-su watched the enemies for a while longer, observing their movements.
But there was no movement from the enemies at all.
Eventually, he sent several more mercenaries to scout toward the rear. It was to prepare for a possible rear attack. He expanded the scouting area that currently covered about ten meters to thirty meters.
Then he arranged the mercenaries in ten horizontal rows centered on himself, Dong Bong-su. Since the mercenaries' number was almost double that of the Northern Ghosts, a situation was created where they faced off 1 to 1 in confrontation. However, this side's 1 was precisely 2 people overlapped front and back.
It was a confrontation situation with many uncomfortable points, but since they had faced the enemy like this anyway, they had to fight. There was no reason to avoid it, and there was nowhere to avoid it on this grassland. From the start, it was impossible for the mercenaries to match the Northern Ghosts' mobility. It meant escape was fundamentally impossible.
From any perspective, this side's strength was clearly below the other. What this side led in was only head count at best. Though the other side was missing nearly half their total forces, they were still far superior in strength compared to the mercenaries.
Dong Bong-su had experience facing Northern Ghosts several times during previous Harvests. They were fast and strong. Incomparable to the lower-rank Wanderer mercenaries. Three per person, perhaps even four or five rushing in might barely defeat one Northern Ghost? The mercenaries knew this fact well too. No matter how much they liked money, it wasn't worth more than their own lives. If the mercenary captain weren't Dong Bong-su, perhaps several would have already fled.
Dong Bong-su swept his indifferent gaze over such mercenaries. Then he quietly opened his mouth.
[Don't be afraid.]
Dong Bong-su's voice was strange. No, strictly speaking it wasn't a voice. His voice was just oddly embedding itself in all the mercenaries' heads. That's right. How else could it be explained? The voice was directly carved into their brains. Yet the voice pattern was definitely Ear Ghost's, Dong Bong-su's.
Thousand-Mile Sound Transmission? Six Harmonies Voice Projection? Or perhaps Wisdom Light Mind Speech?
The mercenaries stirred for a moment. But the noisy situation didn't last long. Because they all could see Dong Bong-su walking forward alone step by step.
[Everyone close your eyes.]
A strange command following strange behavior. But the mercenaries all followed his words. The appearance Dong Bong-su had shown until now made them do so.
Just why such a master was doing mercenary work was a matter for later. What mattered to them was the fact that the peak or pinnacle master called Ear Ghost was their captain.
Now they wouldn't be greatly surprised no matter what Dong Bong-su did, and would willingly follow his orders.
[Even if the enemies charge, absolutely don't open your eyes. The signal for you to open your eyes is light. When bright light shoots through and penetrates your closed eyes, then open your eyes. And...]
Dong Bong-su continued walking alone toward the enemy. And his strange language 'area chat' also continued to be activated.
Over the past year, Dong Bong-su hadn't merely grown physically stronger. He had endlessly researched the system, discovered many things, and become able to use them. This area chat was also one of them.
Dong Bong-su knew well how the mercenaries were receiving this. It was a tremendous technique, and also something that shouldn't be casually revealed. But Dong Bong-su had already made his decision and put it into action.
And...
That decision didn't contain only the area chat function.
[Begin the massacre.]
When Dong Bong-su had said this far, the enemies finally began moving.
Originally the distance between the Northern Ghosts and mercenaries had been roughly one hundred meters. When Dong Bong-su walked forward alone about ten meters, one person also slowly stepped forward from the enemy camp.
A vicious-looking person with the northern nomads' characteristic and various rings on his nose, ears, tongue, etc. This person's body and face had various scars as numerous as the rings, proving how many battlefields he had roamed.
Dong Bong-su and the Northern Ghost finally faced each other in the middle of both camps.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Though quite a distance away, the Northern Ghosts' killing shouts could be heard. At this, the Northern Ghost struck together the crescent moon blades worn like knuckles on both hands, making a loud noise.
On the other hand, Dong Bong-su stood quietly with both hands hanging loosely. Because of this, the Wanderer's Sword gripped in his right hand appeared as if planted in the ground.
"Kekeke."
The Northern Ghost growled lowly while looking at Dong Bong-su's appearance. It wasn't contempt. Just a low roar like carnivores such as tigers or lions send when suppressing prey's morale.
But such things couldn't work on Dong Bong-su. Because Dong Bong-su was a predator on a different trajectory from felines like lions or tigers.
Swish!
Perhaps disliking how Dong Bong-su indifferently deflected his killing intent, the Northern Ghost initiated a preemptive attack at an early stage.
Fast. Befitting the vanguard, his body movements were extraordinary.
The distance where Dong Bong-su and the Northern Ghost faced each other was about ten steps, but when the Northern Ghost stomped once and leaped, he was falling down above Dong Bong-su's head in an instant.
Compared to that, Dong Bong-su was slow.
Half a step.
The moment the Northern Ghost jumped, he moved only half a step sideways. But that alone was sufficient. Greater movement had no meaning for Dong Bong-su.
Move only as much as needed when needed.
If he could avoid an attack with just a wriggling motion, Dong Bong-su's movement would have ended at merely wriggling. No excess beyond that was necessary for him.
Having avoided the Northern Ghost's crescent moon blade with half a step's movement, Dong Bong-su lifted his shoulder upward. Crescent moon blades were weapons used by gripping crescent-shaped blade frames on the fists. Therefore, the moment the attack missed, the Northern Ghost's fist and wrist area were passing over Dong Bong-su's shoulder.
Dong Bong-su's shoulder struck the Northern Ghost's wrist. An extremely light motion. However, the result was not light at all.
Crack.
"Kuk!"
Dong Bong-su's shoulder had given a momentary shock to the Daling Point, a vital point on the wrist area. Then paralysis symptoms came over the Northern Ghost's entire body for an instant. Though he had been thinking of swinging the crescent moon blade worn on his opposite fist the moment Dong Bong-su dodged, that plan had already become useless.
That brief moment. That short time was enough to determine victory.
Swish.
Dong Bong-su's other arm that had been lowered rose upward. Following it, the hand gripping the Wanderer's Sword rose.
Thwack!
One arm of the Northern Ghost was cleanly severed from the shoulder blade.
-x-X-x-
Thud thud thud.
The sound of muscle fibers and capillaries being cut was cheerful. Following that, blood poured out along the artery and splattered onto the Wanderer's Sword. The dark red Wanderer's Sword became even blacker and even redder.
"Kuaahhh!"
The Northern Ghost screamed. His confident appearance from earlier could no longer be found.
Swish.
Dong Bong-su's right arm moved again. This time, the Northern Ghost's remaining arm fell to the ground. The Northern Ghost screamed again.
Now if he just struck the neck, it would be over. But Dong Bong-su didn't kill the Northern Ghost. He simply grabbed the hair of the Northern Ghost rolling on the ground and crying, then dragged him while advancing rapidly toward the enemy camp.
At that sight, the murmuring of the Northern Ghosts who had been noisy until just moments ago ceased. Instead, the killing intent emanating from them grew thicker.
The malicious energy of 476 people, intense enough to be difficult for any ordinary martial artist to endure. Dong Bong-su bore it insignificantly and continued running forward.
He approached until he was about twenty meters away from the enemies.
Then he cut off the Northern Ghost's ear. A clear act of provocation.
With one hand still gripping the Northern Ghost's hair, Dong Bong-su raised the Northern Ghost's ear held in his other hand high above his head.
"That bastard!"
"Kill that son of a bitch!"
At this, the Northern Ghosts went mad and rushed forward without exception.
Their leader standing among them had no time to stop them. No, he had no intention of stopping them at all, as he flew toward Dong Bong-su at the very front.
But Dong Bong-su had never intended to face them all alone from the start.
Swoosh!
He began running backward, dragging the Northern Ghost. His speed running while activating the skill [Lightness Arts] to its maximum was tremendous. Though the Northern Ghosts' movement techniques, especially their leader's, had reached a considerable level, they had difficulty properly following Dong Bong-su.
Nevertheless, the Northern Ghosts didn't stop and continued pursuing Dong Bong-su. A 1 versus 476 chase on the grassland that had grown quite dark with dusk descending.
Waaahhh!
"Kill that son of a bitch!"
"Charge!"
"Tear them all apart!"
The enemies' furious battle cries poured out as if to overturn the entire grassland. Along with that, the killing intent they poured out gradually expanded in range, soon reaching even the mercenaries. At this, several mercenaries forgot Dong Bong-su's order and opened their eyes.
In their eyes appeared Dong Bong-su running toward them dragging a single bloody lump of flesh.
Naturally, the frenzied Northern Ghosts following behind also caught their attention.
"Th-that...!"
"D-damn...!"
Among the mercenaries who opened their eyes, some cursed and retreated backward while others pissed themselves and collapsed to the ground. The Northern Ghosts' killing intent and momentum were that frightening.
However, most still trusted Dong Bong-su and kept their eyes closed, and even the mercenaries who had opened their eyes mostly prepared to charge with swords gripped, without retreating or collapsing.
Because they had seen Dong Bong-su's eyes. The 'empty' gaze from which one absolutely couldn't tell what he was thinking. In this situation, nothing was more worthy of 'unlimited' trust than that.
One hundred steps... fifty steps... thirty steps...
The distance between Dong Bong-su and the mercenaries rapidly decreased. Correspondingly, the distance between the Northern Ghosts and mercenaries was also closing at high speed.
Then at one moment.
Once more, the voice that might be Ear Ghost's 'Six Harmonies Voice Projection' or 'Wisdom Light Mind Speech' burrowed into the mercenaries' heads.
[Close your eyes.]
The moment that voice embedded itself in their minds!
Dong Bong-su thrust his sword down toward what was presumed to be the head of the lump of flesh held in his hand.
Fwaaash!
Around Dong Bong-su's body, light rays indescribable in words burst out in all directions. It was the flash announcing Lv. 30.
Since it had already become evening with the sun completely set, its power was dozens or hundreds of times that of an ordinary flashbang. The level-up flash immediately extended at the speed of light to every corner of the barren wilderness.
"Urk! Wh-what!?"
"Ahhh!"
The flash granted momentary blindness to everyone with their eyes open, especially the Northern Ghosts burning with war madness...
[Begin the massacre.]
"Kill them!"
"Let's grind up those filthy Northern Ghost bastards!"
"Attack!"
For the mercenaries with closed eyes, it became the signal to attack.
Waaahhh!
Now the mercenaries charged forward with a tremendous battle cry.
Thwack! Splat splat!
"Kuaaahhh!"
"All of you die! You bastards!"
"U-uahhh!"
Since the place where Dong Bong-su leveled up was located almost exactly in the middle of the Northern Ghosts and mercenaries, the Northern Ghosts' damage was even greater. Most of the Northern Ghosts couldn't avoid the light rays that spread out like fan ribs.
Rather, because all the Northern Ghosts had been focused on him due to Dong Bong-su's provocation, the vast majority were now covering their eyes with their hands while swinging weapons haphazardly.
The plan had completely succeeded. Dong Bong-su had already expected earlier that killing just one more Northern Ghost would make him level up. His level gauge had already been nearly at saturation. Despite killing hundreds more regular soldiers in this Harvest, he hadn't leveled up. But the Northern Ghosts were different. They were Martial World people. He didn't need many. That just one would be enough was already within expectations. Even if one didn't trigger the level-up, it was fine. If not, two or three, and if still not, just kill more.
Swish. Thud. Slice. Thud.
Dong Bong-su began moving again. Now instead of fleeing, he dove into the Northern Ghosts' midst.
Each time the black-red Wanderer's Sword moved soundlessly, neckless corpses increased one by one.
[...7, 8, 9, 10...]
[The player has succeeded in a 10-consecutive slash and all stats have increased by 10%.]
The skill [Consecutive Slash Lv.2] didn't take long to activate.
300, 299... 300, 299... 300...
The Consecutive Slash's duration of five minutes was also repeatedly renewed with the enemies' deaths. At this rate, the effect of Consecutive Slash probably wouldn't disappear until the battle ended.
A while later, when the light quantity subsided and the enemies could finally open their eyes and regain their senses, the Northern Ghosts' number had already been reduced by half. It was because they were Northern Ghosts that even this many could survive. If they had been ordinary soldiers, they would have been completely slaughtered in these mere seconds. But ultimately their fate would also become the same as the nomadic soldiers sacrificed in previous battles.
Because Dong Bong-su's Consecutive Slash clock still pointed to 300 seconds.
Swish swish. Thud thud.
A blood storm arose and flesh fragments flew about.
Dong Bong-su was feeling alive within it.
He realized his identity once again.
Was he enjoying it? The corners of his mouth were twisted up bizarrely.
His sword endlessly wove between the enemies. Then at one moment.
Clang!
Someone blocked his sword. It was the first time in this Harvest.
Dong Bong-su's lips split in a straight line and pure white teeth shone in the darkness.
Finally, a proper carnivore!
"Uaaahhh!"
"Die! Die! You bastards!"
"Aaaahhh!"
Clash! Slice! Stab!
The sounds and images of the battlefield mixed with various shouts and noises disappeared from Dong Bong-su's ears and vision.
Though his pupils had dilated as night fell, his eyes were looking at only one thing.
The man who had blocked his [Mount Tai Pressing Down]. He too, like other Northern Ghosts, had no front or top hair, only the back hair braided long. However, the distinguishing point from others was that he was emitting killing intent as fierce as all the other Northern Ghosts' killing intent combined.
Dong Bong-su's Wanderer's Sword and the man's saber remained stopped, clashing in midair. Dong Bong-su's sword was in a downward striking posture, the man's saber raised perpendicular to it. In a word, they were crossed in a cross shape.
Dong Bong-su's emotionless eyes and the man's eyes bloodshot red from killing intent met roughly between the crossed sword and saber.
"Are you the Ear Ghost?"
The man, Northern Ghost Group Leader Paitan, spoke. At this, Dong Bong-su applied elasticity to his hand to push Paitan backward while speaking.
"That's what they call me."
Dong Bong-su used the elasticity from pushing Paitan to fly backward while swinging his sword, cleanly severing the neck of a Northern Ghost who had been rushing at him.
Swish.
He shook off the blood on the sword vigorously, then moved his steps toward Paitan again. Paitan watched him while speaking.
"What on earth was that martial art you used earlier?"
"Does it matter?"
"Kekeke... Well, what's so important about such things when we're all about to die anyway."
Swoosh.
Paitan launched his body toward the approaching Dong Bong-su. His momentum was quite tremendous, enough to create powerful wind pressure around him. Dong Bong-su, receiving all that momentum from right in front, felt as if a typhoon was rushing to crush him from all sides.
'Unity of Body and Blade!?'
Though it was the first level he had encountered, he could tell. Anyone other than Dong Bong-su could easily notice—Paitan's momentum was tremendous and completely unified with his blade.
Dong Bong-su immediately activated the skill [Circulating Energy]. Instantly, intense energy burst from Dong Bong-su's body and his attack power and defense power each increased by 90%.
In that state, he charged forward to meet Paitan.
Kakang!
Their blades clashed in midair and a considerable explosive sound rang throughout the scene.
Perhaps Dong Bong-su's strength was slightly lacking—he was bounced back a full meter.
"Kuk, kekeke."
Was he suffering? Or was he laughing?
A strange sound leaked from Dong Bong-su's mouth.
From the earlier collision, the hand gripping the sword had torn a bit, and as if he had suffered light internal injuries, thin blood was seeping along the corners of his mouth. From this, he felt burning pain in his chest and hand.
And so.
Dong Bong-su smiled.
Why? Because it was worth fighting. No, because it was worth killing!
"Kekeke."
Paitan smiled back and flew toward Dong Bong-su again.
-x-X-x-
Bang!
In this collision, the one bounced away was not Dong Bong-su but Paitan. Moreover, he was bounced much farther than when Dong Bong-su had been pushed back.
"Urp! Kuak!"
Paitan rolled several times in the air before landing on the ground.
However, perhaps the shock still remained—he couldn't stand properly. Black blood poured out in clumps through his mouth. He had suffered no light internal injury.
"Sword Energy...?"
He muttered while using his saber as a staff to steady his posture. But he soon shook his head. Because something like an indistinct haze was rising sharply from Dong Bong-su's blade.
The Sword Energy Paitan knew didn't materialize like that. For Sword Energy to substantiate enough to be visible to the naked eye in that way, one had to reach at least the level of Sword Ring.
But...
That wasn't a Sword Ring. If it were a Sword Ring, there should be that characteristic ring where bundles of Sword Energy gathered, but it wasn't visible.
"What on earth is it...?"
Sizzle.
Instead of answering, Dong Bong-su grabbed and tore his sleeve to wrap his hand, torn even longer from the recent shock, with cloth.
When that was done, Dong Bong-su approached Paitan again while speaking.
"Sword Energy."
"...!?"
Paitan couldn't believe it. The ordinary Sword Energy he knew couldn't be like that.
However, it was definitely Sword Energy. Just not the kind of 'ordinary' Sword Energy he knew, but a different [Sword Energy].
[Sword Energy Lv.3 Proficiency: 1.68%]
A technique that overlays energy onto the sword to increase destructive power. It dramatically increases attack power, but maintaining Sword Energy requires significant internal power.
—The emission effect of Sword Energy slightly increases range.
Attack Power Bonus: 150%
Range Bonus: 3%
Energy Consumption per Second: 50 JP
In fact, though Dong Bong-su had learned the skill [Sword Energy], there had been almost no times when he needed this technique. Because until now he hadn't met an opponent who could properly receive this skill. This time, Paitan would become the first stage where he could freely experiment with Sword Energy's power.
Swoosh.
Dong Bong-su charged at Paitan again.
At this, Paitan urgently raised his blade to block Dong Bong-su's Sword Energy. Blade energy had already been overlaid on his saber. However, unlike Dong Bong-su's Sword Energy, his blade energy showed no outward sign at all.
The collision of skill [Sword Energy] and martial art blade energy.
Bang!
The force energy generated by Dong Bong-su and Paitan collided with each other, causing an explosion.
Twice, three times, four times...
As Sword Energy ran rampant, explosions continued.
In that time, the Northern Ghosts had already been completely slaughtered, and the mercenaries were watching their duel from afar, surrounding them. It was a duel between masters difficult to experience in mercenary life. They watched the two fight with even more concentration than when fighting the Northern Ghosts.
Bang! Clang! Kakang!
Dong Bong-su was swinging the Wanderer's Sword madly regardless of whether Paitan blocked or not. He deliberately didn't use irregular tactics utilizing the Inventory. Not because the mercenaries were watching. He just wanted to know how much his own pure strength amounted to.
And he could soon be certain.
That it seemed okay to go out into the Martial World now.
Thud-thud!
Paitan was continuously being pushed backward by Dong Bong-su's attacks. Though there was the reason that Dong Bong-su's Sword Energy was strong, the more fundamental problem was that strange power occasionally burst from Dong Bong-su's sword to push him backward.
"What is it? What the hell is this again!"
"Consecutive Strike."
Dong Bong-su kindly told him while swinging the Wanderer's Sword once more.
[Consecutive Strike (Passive) Lv.1 Proficiency: 17.74%]
A Wanderer's sword strikes, learned only through real combat without formal techniques, are crude but frightening because they're unpredictable. Above all, even if the enemy is not struck by their sword, a Wanderer never gives up and persistently clings on. If they cannot slash in one strike, then twice, three times, even over a hundred times they will swing to surely kill the enemy.
—Causes special status ailments to enemies who receive the player's attacks consecutively.
—On 2-consecutive strike success, causes 'bleeding' to the enemy
—On 2-consecutive strike failure, pushes the enemy backward. (Lv.1 activated)
※ For successive attacks to be recognized as consecutive strikes, the attack and next attack must occur within 1 second. The effects of status abnormalities that occur differ according to level.
"Kuk!"
Paitan was knocked back again due to the second effect of Consecutive Strike. What was fortunate for him was that this peculiar technique only pushed him backward without inflicting special damage.
However, Dong Bong-su had already grasped all the advantages and characteristics of this technique, and had learned one technique that matched very well with it. A combination technique he couldn't experiment with until now because enemies all died before seeing Consecutive Strike's effects—Dong Bong-su was about to execute it now.
Thud! Clang!
The Wanderer's Sword and Paitan's saber clashed twice again, and accordingly [2-consecutive strike failure] activated.
[2-consecutive strike failure. Player strongly pushes the enemy backward.]
As the familiar mechanical sound rang in Dong Bong-su's head, Paitan was pushed backward with a slide.
Simultaneously, Dong Bong-su disappeared from Paitan's view.
"Wh-what...!"
Stab.
He couldn't spit out the word 'is this.' Because there was no one in this world who could speak with their uvula and tongue cut vertically from the root.
Without him knowing when he'd gone behind, Dong Bong-su was standing behind him.
Squelch.
Dong Bong-su pulled the Wanderer's Sword from the nape of Paitan's neck.
Blood poured like a fountain from Paitan's mouth and throat as he fell backward. His eyes were asking a final question even in that situation.
'What is this!?'
Dong Bong-su kindly provides an answer this time too.
"Footwork."
[Footwork Lv.4 Proficiency: 15.77%]
A mysterious gait devised to efficiently avoid the opponent's attacks.
—Upon activation, teleports once in one of the four directions: front, back, left, or right.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
Current Applied Level: Lv.4 (The player can adjust this skill's level range.)
Movement Distance: 4m
Energy Consumption per Use: 1000 JP
Dong Bong-su had teleported behind him after pushing Paitan backward with Consecutive Strike's knockback effect. The desperate evasion technique had combined with Consecutive Strike to evolve into an excellent combination.
***
Slice.
Dong Bong-su cut off the dead Paitan's ear. It was the signal announcing the battle's end.
Waaahhh!
The mercenaries shouted in jubilation. And an all-too-familiar festival began.
The outlaws called mercenaries began cutting off the Northern Ghosts' ears without exception.
They laugh with joy even while covered in blood all over their bodies. It's fine if blood flies into their mouths, and it doesn't matter if messy flesh and blood splatters into their eyes or ears. How could such things be important? When the most precious things in the world are scattered everywhere within arm's reach.
"Kahahaha!"
"Ears, ears! Money, it's money! Money is everywhere!"
Who said modern society was a gold supremacist society? No. Anywhere in the world, anywhere in the universe, gold has the highest value. In the past, in the present, and in the future. No matter which era you go to, the animal called human is an animal that laughs and cries over money.
Dong Bong-su knew that well. Though it was difficult for him to understand, humans were such animals. Sometimes there were humans who weren't, but it wasn't his concern anyway. Such herbivores weren't objects of Dong Bong-su's interest.
The more humans are stained with desire and engulfed in madness, the more wicked and passionate they become, and above all... the stronger they are. And Dong Bong-su was a hunter who hunted such people.
Whoosh—
He watched the mercenaries engulfed in madness, then quietly raised his head. The moon that had risen at some point was dimly illuminating here and there on the grassland.
The moon...
Luna in ancient Greek. Derived from that, the word lunatic was created in English. However, by now that meaning wasn't 'moon-like' or 'like the moon.' That original form had all disappeared and it had become synonymous with madman or psycho.
The moon and madman.
Yes. What a fitting combination.
Dong Bong-su faintly twitched his cheeks.
Whoosh—
On this mad night, toward the twitching moon, he quietly exhales his breath.
***
After about half an hour passed, all the festival ended.
Dong Bong-su first had the mercenaries set up military tents. The grassland's night was cold, no less than a desert night. They had to set up tents and avoid the wind before it became completely dark. If they didn't, those who died without even properly using the money they'd earned would appear in succession.
Next, what he did was organize a fifty-man reconnaissance force to send up to Manhan Mountain. Though they had annihilated the main force including the Northern Ghost Group's leader, several hundred Northern Ghosts still remained. There was a need to confirm why they remained at Manhan Mountain. Or if they weren't there, investigate why not. Absolutely.
Lastly, Dong Bong-su sent a victory messenger to Li Zi-song. From here, Liangcheng that Li Zi-song was attacking was half a day's distance in the southwest direction. Probably by tomorrow morning, the messenger he sent would arrive at Li Zi-song's camp at Liangcheng. Then Li Zi-song, receiving this news, would send a new messenger here. Dong Bong-su could take the next action according to the contents of that order then.
Now the matters at Manhan Mountain were settled for the time being. More precisely, it would end when the remaining Northern Ghosts were killed, but that too would be resolved before long.
However...
Something felt somehow unsettling. Like these sticky bloodstains dried stickily all over his face and entire body.
-x-X-x-
"Captain. The military tents have been completed."
A mercenary approached to inform him that the tent installation was finished. Like Dong Bong-su, his entire body was covered in bright red blood. And even at this moment, it was becoming redder. Because blood continued flowing from the ear pouch slung over his shoulder, soaking his shoulder and back.
Probably all the other mercenaries were in the same state. It was something he could know without looking.
"Tell all mercenaries to wipe off the blood on their bodies well and go to sleep."
"Yes, Captain."
It's not only humans who like blood. Among insects, especially bacteria and viruses invisible to the eye, there are those that like blood very much. Such things are as vicious as humans. If you catch them wrong, no one can survive. Though the humans here wouldn't know at all.
Dong Bong-su passed the mercenary and headed to his tent.
His command tent to stay in was erected in the middle of the mercenaries' tents, as always. Though it was a bit larger and cleaner than the other things distantly surrounding it, it wasn't particularly special.
Click—
The first thing Dong Bong-su did upon entering the tent wasn't lying down, nor washing or eating.
It was opening the Stat window and Skill window. Because he had become Lv.30 in the earlier battle. As a result of checking, there was an increase in stats equivalent to 1 level rise, but no new skills were created, nor did any unusual events or different quests occur.
'The second class change isn't yet, it seems.'
He had wondered if class changes might happen at level 20 intervals, but apparently that wasn't the case. The next level where he could expect a class change was 40. Until then, there would be no need to pay much attention to class changes. Perhaps a second class change quest might suddenly appear at level 35, but that too wasn't something to worry about now at all.
Beep—
Dong Bong-su looked at the windows a bit longer before closing them. As expected, there seemed to be no significantly different changes from ordinary level-ups.
He simply washed off the blood on his body and laid down on the bed covered with tiger skin.
But was it because the tiger skin laid on the bed hadn't been washed for a long time? It was teeming with fleas. Noticing that prey had come of its own accord, the fleas climbed onto Dong Bong-su's body one by one, boasting their greed for blood.
Nevertheless, Dong Bong-su disregarded them and closed his eyes to sleep. Sleeping was, for him who had no recovery items, the only recovery technique besides cutting enemies to activate [Lifesteal]. Dong Bong-su wasn't one to give up such a thing over a few fleas.
Anyway, he couldn't hope for a cleaner bed on the battlefield.
Dong Bong-su, lying on the bed briefly retracing the day, gradually fell asleep. The squeaking of rats briefly disturbed his sleep, but soon he fell into oblivion.
Night deepened, and so another day passed.
***
Morning dawned.
Was he waiting for the scouts sent last night? Dong Bong-su stood at the foot of Manhan Mountain facing the bitter wind. Though it had taken some time because they infiltrated taking advantage of the darkness, they would have already completed reconnaissance to some degree. If early, they would be returning about now.
As if his thought was correct, before long the scouts began appearing one by one. Was it because they had suffered from the cold all night? Their faces were uniformly discolored to a bluish tint.
Even in that state, they ran swiftly up to Dong Bong-su and bowed their heads.
"Captain. This is serious! We should leave this place quickly."
The mercenary who had lived the Wanderer life longest among the scouts reported to Dong Bong-su in an urgent voice.
At this, Dong Bong-su tilted his head sideways crookedly. The bangs that had grown even longer during this Harvest period lay down with his head, revealing Dong Bong-su's colorless transparent eyes. A gray luminescence that might or might not be there circled in his eyes.
"Speak step by step."
At Dong Bong-su's low but powerful voice, the veteran mercenary straightened his back and spoke again.
"As a result of reconnaissance, all of Manhan Mountain is already dead."
"Manhan Mountain is dead? What does that mean?"
"Epidemic, an epidemic had spread. Not only in the Northern Ghost Group's stronghold, but the epidemic had also spread to the northern nomads' village on the mountainside, with groans ceaselessly throughout the entire village."
Epidemic.
A short word meaning infectious disease. But a word that succinctly determines the current situation just as much.
"...!"
Dong Bong-su finally realized what the identity of yesterday's unsettling feeling was. Why the Northern Ghosts' number had been so few. Also the reason why they abandoned the terrain advantage and met the mercenaries at the mountain's base.
The enemies had mobilized all available forces yesterday!
The enemies weren't scheming anything at all. No, more precisely, the Northern Ghosts couldn't have done so from the start.
'Was an infectious disease spread throughout all of Manhan Mountain?'
Martial World people weren't non-human. Martial World people were just a bit faster and a bit stronger than others, but still merely people. Even they had no way to block the invisible enemy called bacteria.
'Even so...'
If they were Martial World people, their basic immune system should be stronger than ordinary people's, yet an infectious disease could drive such people to death...
Several names of infectious diseases came to mind in Dong Bong-su's head.
'No way...!?'
Among them, a memory of the worst infectious disease sprang out from deep in his mind where it had been hiding. Simultaneously, he also clearly recalled its symptoms.
Those symptoms were...
"The corpses' bodies had many black spots. Especially the fingernails, toenails, and nose tips were discolored jet black, and the smell of rot was very terrible. Also, among those whose disease was progressing, there were those with boils all over their bodies."
Accurate. The worst infectious disease in that world's history that Dong Bong-su knew, and its symptoms were no different at all.
Click—
Despite the mercenaries watching, Dong Bong-su opened the status window with a light hand gesture. Anyway, this hologram wasn't visible to them, nor could they hear its sound effects. Only the hand gesture looked peculiar.
"...!"
It was slightly different from the Status window he had seen last night. The moment he opened the Status window, a peculiar message window he had never seen before appeared.
[Player has been poisoned. The poison's name is ??? and its effect is ???.]
He had opened it with a 'just in case' feeling, and the system notified Dong Bong-su of [poisoning].
Dong Bong-su was the host of Ten Thousand Poison Gu, so he doesn't get poisoned. Nevertheless, the system told Dong Bong-su he had been poisoned. That meant either he had been poisoned with a poison the Ten Thousand Poison Gu couldn't detoxify, or the system was 'mistaking' some 'other thing' as poison.
"Among the living too, there were many suffering from high fever and vomiting, and they looked like they would all die before long. And..."
The scout paused briefly, then took out a rolled oil paper from his bosom. He immediately unfolded the oil paper and dropped the object inside onto the ground—it was someone's hand with fingernails turned jet black.
"Just in case, I cut off and brought one hand from among the dead."
"..."
Dong Bong-su lowered his head to examine the hand closely. It looked no different from the hand of some patient he had once seen in a science magazine.
There was no need to hear more of the report. New Murim Online's system must have judged catching an epidemic as being poisoned.
Having figured that out, the rat sounds that had circled his ears until he fell asleep last night replayed in Dong Bong-su's mind. Along with that, he felt in detail the presence of fleas even now roaming all over his body.
'The host was rat fleas. Definitely.'
And.
What Paitan had said during yesterday's battle overlaid on the squeaking rat sounds.
[Kekeke... Well, what's so important about such things when we're all about to die anyway.]
Was that what it meant? That we're all dying?
Paitan had surely brought out all combat personnel who could move. Among them, many carriers would have been included...
'They were just still in the incubation period.'
Dong Bong-su hadn't anticipated it. That he would unexpectedly utter this word aloud at a completely unexpected place and time.
"I never thought I would catch the disease."
"...Pardon?"
To the mercenary asking what he meant, Dong Bong-su didn't answer. There was no reason to. And Dong Bong-su was already deeply sunk in thought and couldn't anyway.
Black Death.
Another name for the disease. Perhaps here too there might be another name related to this, but historically in the Chinese cultural sphere, no special different names were given to epidemics. An epidemic was just an epidemic. Anyway, it couldn't be cured.
Just highly contagious epidemics, weakly contagious epidemics. Only that existed. If one didn't know about the existence of bacteria or viruses, treatment was difficult so there was no need for names and such.
However, Dong Bong-su was different. He knew roughly about all this, and knew well there was no way to cure it here. Even on the Earth where he had lived, in the 19th century when medicine had developed to some degree, when this disease spread in China, millions died.
Penicillin? Antibiotics? Vaccines? There was no way such things existed in this world now. From the start, such words couldn't have been created yet.
-x-X-x-
Catching the disease didn't mean unconditional death.
Bubonic epidemic, septicemic epidemic, pneumonic epidemic, and so on.
There were various types of disease with different fatality rates. Since Dong Bong-su wasn't a medical student, he didn't know about such things in detail. He only knew a bit roughly.
Perhaps.
'I might survive.'
But thinking differently, perhaps he could also die. There were records that starved, unhealthy people with weakened immune systems died first, but that was merely a record. Those who didn't live in that era couldn't know all of what it was actually like. Now was the actual situation, and he was already contaminated with the disease bacteria.
In other words, some probability of death had arisen. No, was that probability really small? No one knows. Dong Bong-su was human too. Any human could suddenly die at any moment.
Perhaps he had caught the most serious disease, and the possibility of survival was already slim.
However, he excluded that possibility for now. In such a case, he could only leave his life to luck, so it had no value to consider now.
After excluding that case, survive by doing his best. That was still his supreme task.
Then what should he do to survive unconditionally?
'It's simple. I must cure the disease. Then how?'
In Dong Bong-su's head, one certain method flashed by. In this uncertain world, there was no treatment as certain as that.
It was...
'Level up!'
Though the system couldn't detect the existence of bacteria, it recognized it as poison. Then that meant it could remove it. If he achieved a level-up to 31, he would recover from status abnormalities at the same time.
Whether the cause of [poisoning] was disease or another bacteria, or truly an unknown poison, wouldn't matter to the system. The moment he leveled up, the system would simply eliminate what became the source of status abnormalities in Dong Bong-su's body, or if that was impossible, it would eliminate the disease bacteria even by reconstructing his entire body anew.
The solution emerged. More precisely, only the solution emerged, and various problems still remained.
Dong Bong-su continued thinking while retracing knowledge he had piled up beyond that memory.
The incubation period of disease was as short as a few days, as long as two weeks to a month. He had to level up unconditionally during this time.
Then what methods could level him up?
Dong Bong-su raised his head to look at the mercenaries. His eyes were hidden even deeper by bangs grown long, so the mercenaries couldn't read his expression at all. If they could have seen those eyes, the mercenaries wouldn't have dared look straight into them. Because those were the eyes of a predator determining whether or not its belly would be full if it ate these things.
Dong Bong-su scanned the surrounding mercenaries one by one.
'About a thousand such mercenaries, then...'
"It would be difficult."
"...?"
The mercenaries couldn't understand what he was saying. Much less that their lives had been saved by that single statement.
Dong Bong-su judged that leveling up would be nearly difficult even killing such mercenaries now. He intuitively knew that even killing everyone here wouldn't amount to much experience.
He had to find stronger enemies that gave more experience. And such enemies in a nearby place.
He had already come very deep into the grasslands. If he returned to Datong at this point, the disease might break out and kill him in the meantime. Moreover, there were almost no strong people in Datong who could help Dong Bong-su level up. At best, only the blacksmith of Eight Directions Armory. Dong Bong-su couldn't guarantee whether he could kill him or not. In the worst case, the blacksmith might be far stronger than him. Then returning to Datong wasn't a very good option.
If he couldn't return to Datong...
'I must find another place densely packed with enemies having large experience in the near future.'
Before long, Dong Bong-su could think of one place.
That place was...
Crunch crunch.
Then he heard in his ears the somewhat off-kilter sound of horseshoes stepping on sand. The mercenaries don't move around on horses. And that sound was one he had heard once before. Considering that the sound pattern wasn't much different from what he heard then, it was likely the same horse and same person.
'Li Zi-song's messenger.'
Certainly, as Dong Bong-su thought, the one who appeared then was that messenger he had seen at Tianchi Village. This time, unlike last time, he came to a place slightly away from Dong Bong-su and dismounted.
Then he walked up to Dong Bong-su.
The messenger slightly bowed his head, took out a letter from his bosom, and held it out to Dong Bong-su.
"A message from the Commander."
Dong Bong-su immediately received and unfolded the letter. The letter contained writing as short and concise as the order given when attacking this place.
Come to Guisui.
Dong Bong-su rolled up the letter again and handed it to the messenger while speaking.
"What became of Liangcheng?"
"It fell yesterday."
The messenger's tone was respectful as if to a superior. Not only because the mercenary captain called Ear Ghost before him had achieved merits far exceeding ordinary generals. It was because of Dong Bong-su's unique emotionless atmosphere that unknowingly made people shrink.
Hearing the messenger's answer, Dong Bong-su turned his body toward where the military tents were while speaking.
"Go and tell him. Since I've eliminated Manhan Mountain, I'll go to Guisui immediately."
Strictly speaking, a few Northern Ghosts still remained at Manhan Mountain, but there was no need to deal with them. Anyway, they had already fallen prey to the disease.
"Understood. I will convey it to the Commander."
The messenger put the letter back in his bosom and mounted his horse.
Then Dong Bong-su's level voice reached him again.
"Did soldiers enter Liangcheng?"
At Dong Bong-su's question, the messenger paused and answered.
"...Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing."
With those words, Dong Bong-su headed to the military tent where the mercenaries were gathered. He thought again while walking.
Apparently Li Zi-song's large force had entered Liangcheng, which had probably been rife with disease from long ago. That meant Li Zi-song's army was already finished. At this point, what Li Zi-song could choose was either retreat or attack Guisui even amid the epidemic's rage.
And Li Zi-song seemed to have already chosen the latter. This case too could be divided in various ways, but it was meaningless to Dong Bong-su.
What mattered to him now was heading to Guisui. If Li Zi-song had chosen the former...
Dong Bong-su would have killed all the mercenaries here and headed to Guisui alone. Because that was the side with even a thread's worth of higher possibility of survival.
Already nowhere on this grassland was there a place to avoid the shadow of the Black Death. Then what should he do?
Isn't it obvious?
Dong Bong-su would walk that shadow himself. To do so, he headed to Guisui.
In his head, a passage from a book he had read before was automatically replaying.
「Day and night, hundreds of people died. ...Before long the entire land will be covered with graveyards. I, Agnolo di Tura, also buried five children with my own hands. ...Witnessing these countless deaths, people believed the end of the world had come.」
The book's title was The Epidemic of the End Times.
2
***
"Fire!"
Following the officers' orders, all Whirlwind Artillery Gunners pulled the trailing ropes (the rope that serves as the cannon's switch) with all their strength. Then the upper part of the wooden beam (the pillar that launches projectiles from the cannon) rose and rocks were fired.
Boom! Kaboom!
The rocks flew vigorously and mercilessly pounded Guisui's walls and gates.
Crumble...
Traces of slight cracks formed on part of the wall and stone dust scattered. But it was only a very small amount. Looking at the whole, Guisui Castle still stood firmly in place like a thousand-year boulder without budging.
The gates needed no further mention. The Guisui gates made of steel plates over three inches thick were intact from any perspective. Perhaps because Guisui Castle itself was a semi-mountain castle slightly perched on a hill, the catapult stones didn't reach well, which made it more so.
"Commander! At this rate, we don't know when we can break the gates."
"Keep firing! No matter how much of an iron lump it is, it will break someday."
"However, Commander! An epidemic is already rampantly spreading in the camp. Even now if you retreat..."
"Retreat? Did you just say retreat? Where to? Exactly where are we retreating to?"
"..."
Adjutant Dang's answer broke off.
Li Zi-song's words were right. They had already lost the place to return to.
A few days ago when attacking Liangcheng, about 20,000 cavalry had appeared close to the rear of Li Zi-song's main force. At first, Li Zi-song thought they were reinforcements coming to save Liangcheng. So he temporarily lifted the siege of Liangcheng and reorganized the formation for facing the cavalry.
But the moment Li Zi-song's troops finished battle preparations, the cavalry suddenly turned southeast and disappeared.
That direction was, needless to say, the path Li Zi-song and his 50,000 troops had walked until now.
At the end of that path?
Of course, without question or further mention, Datong was there. In other words, the enemies had gone to Datong Military Command.
Seeing this, several officers thought supply and rear support would be cut off, and ultimately Datong might fall. Therefore, some generals even petitioned Li Zi-song that they should retreat immediately.
However, Li Zi-song had dismissed that opinion outright. Though only farmer-soldiers remained at the command defending the castle, Datong was the north's greatest fortress and not an easily collapsible place. In addition, retreating now would be admitting his failure, so he could even less do so.
The opportunity given to him was only this one time. Retreat was like throwing away that opportunity, which meant returning to Datong was an action and decision no different from holding a blade to his own neck.
Therefore, Li Zi-song proceeded with the attack on Liangcheng and finally succeeded in occupying it.
But...
That was now strangling the entire expedition force's necks.
Upon occupying Liangcheng, they found a serious epidemic had spread there, and before they could do anything, the epidemic transferred to the occupying forces...
The jet-black epidemic.
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