Chapter 72. Manhan Mountain
Probably, the one sent was from Lee Ja-song to deliver the next mission. Dong Bong-su stood still and waited for the messenger to approach.
Hihihiin.
The messenger rode right up to Dong Bong-su and reined in his horse. In his eyes, the horrific scene unfolding inside Dai Lake Village naturally came into view, but he pretended not to notice. From the moment Lee Ja-song ordered the mercenaries to strike this place, their fate had already been decided like that.
He lowered his head and looked at Dong Bong-su as he spoke.
"Are you the mercenary captain Kang Dal-hee?"
"That's right."
Dong Bong-su answered.
At his indifferent appearance, the messenger felt a chill. Compared to the mercenaries who were causing the massacre, this figure who was just standing at the village entrance watching felt even more inhuman.
The messenger shook his head once, then took out a tightly rolled letter from his chest and handed it to Dong Bong-su.
"If you can't read, I can read it for you instead..."
He added one more line, trying to look calm.
Chwak.
Dong Bong-su answered with actions instead. Ignoring the flinching messenger, he read Lee Ja-song's order. The contents were extremely short.
[三天之内 殲蠻漢山]
Eliminate Manhan Mountain within three days.
As short as it was, its meaning was also clear.
Dong Bong-su rolled the letter back up and handed it to the messenger.
"Tell him I understand."
With that, Dong Bong-su turned his body away from the messenger. Since a new task had arisen, he had to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"Kyaa, kyaak!"
"Uh, mom!"
"Aaaah! S-stop it!"
The plundering was almost over. But the villagers' nightmare was not yet finished.
Between games.
The mercenaries called this time that, and some of them liked this time even more than the plundering itself.
"Hehehe. Stay still. When else would you ever get to taste the goods of the southern elders? This kind of chance doesn't come often."
As was only natural, the playthings were children and women. Some women were being violated with their ears cut off, and others bit their tongues and killed themselves.
For some, it was play; for others, it was a nightmare. In any case, it was utter chaos.
Dong Bong-su slowly walked toward the center of the village.
"Come on, bark! Bark, you bitch! Why are you keeping your mouth shut? Huh!? Huh, huh!"
"......."
A bearded man, not even noticing that his body was red and swollen from the cold, had his butt stuck out and was vigorously moving his waist.
What was being shaken like drifting duckweed while held by the back of the head was a village woman who looked to be around thirty.
They were blocking Dong Bong-su's path. Dong Bong-su stopped and said,
"We're leaving for Manhan Mountain. Gather all the others in front of the village immediately."
Dong Bong-su's voice was flat, but not quiet. However, since the bearded man was already near his climax, he pretended not to hear and only shoved his waist harder.
"Huhh! I-I'm...!"
The filthy buttocks of the bearded man at his climax trembled.
Thud.
At the same time, his head rolled away on the ground.
"Eeek! Aaaah!"
Even in the middle of being raped, the woman who had been silent screamed and collapsed to the ground. It was because something far more unpleasant than the liquid shot inside her body had been splattered across her back.
And then, the round object that fell right after. She knew what it was without even needing to look.
Tap, tap.
Dong Bong-su stepped over her back and continued forward.
A heavy silence had already settled over the scene, and all eyes were focused on Dong Bong-su. As if time itself had stopped.
After a while, Dong Bong-su stopped when he reached the center of the village.
"I'll give you half a shichen. Within that time, line up in front of the village."
Still a flat voice. But not a quiet one.
Time began to move again.
After speaking, Dong Bong-su slowly returned to the village entrance. The messenger had still not left and was standing there blankly staring at Dong Bong-su. Seeing him, Dong Bong-su said,
"The General will be waiting."
"Ah, y-yes! I'll be going...!"
The messenger almost saluted Dong Bong-su by mistake. That was how overwhelming Dong Bong-su's 모습 during that brief moment had been.
Half a shichen later.
The messenger returned to Fengqian where Lee Ja-song was, and about a thousand mercenaries gathered in front of Dai Lake Village.
In the process of occupying Fengqian, Xin'an Manor, Tiancheng Village, and this place, about five hundred had died, and one more had died half a shichen ago. So now, the total number of remaining mercenaries was barely a thousand. But the vicious aura they emitted was by no means light.
At a glance, the formation of the mercenaries looked disorderly, but it was not. They were lined up strictly according to rank, and at the very front stood Dong Bong-su.
Dong Bong-su, who had become the mercenary captain, was no longer the Ear Ghost they had known. Originally, Ear Ghost was a frightening man, but Ear Ghost as a mercenary captain was a perfect commander and a general. He never retreated and always fought at the very front like a mad tiger, leading them to victory. It looked extremely rough, but it was also the most mercenary-like and wanderer-like. Over the past few days, the mercenaries had been either overwhelmed by Dong Bong-su or completely captivated by him.
"From now on, we go to Manhan Mountain."
"......."
"If you don't want to die at Manhan Mountain, step out now."
Of course, no one did. They already knew. If they stepped forward now, they would die.
Dong Bong-su's words did not mean "leave if you don't want to die."
It meant: if you don't want to die at Manhan Mountain, I'll kill you right here, right now.
"If there's anyone who doesn't like me or wants to go home right now, kill me. Then you can become the mercenary captain or safely return home."
"........"
"Don't hesitate. Abandon mercy. To me, to the enemy, and to yourselves."
After saying that, Dong Bong-su turned his body toward the northwest. On the plain, a fairly tall mountain was rising and blocking the setting sun.
It was Manhan Mountain.
As he headed that way, Dong Bong-su said,
"If you're confident, stab your sword into my back anytime. But only draw your sword when you're truly confident. Otherwise, you'll regret it."
Dong Bong-su when he was a Horse Stable Hireling was an excellent Horse Stable Hireling.
For the past year, Dong Bong-su had been a flawless mercenary.
And now, Dong Bong-su was a mercenary captain.
Of course, a perfect one.
Dong Bong-su set out for Manhan Mountain, and about a thousand mercenaries followed behind him.
***
Boom, boom, boom—.
At the time Dong Bong-su was heading for Manhan Mountain, in Guisui, the sound of war drums announcing the departure of the soldiers was echoing. A massive force of twenty thousand had lined up in units of ten thousand in front of the outer wall of Guisui Fortress. Yet, despite so many men being lined up on horseback, aside from the occasional snorting of horses, not a single sound could be heard.
They were traditional nomadic cavalry, armed mainly with light armor, bows, swords or blades instead of heavy iron armor. They were a troop type well-suited for hit-and-run tactics on wide grasslands, but the northern nomadic cavalry were skilled even in close combat wearing only light armor. It was not for nothing that they were called the calamity of the grasslands.
On the outer wall of the fortress, all of Guisui's key figures had come out.
The lord of the fortress, the defense commander, and many generals.
Among them, at the very front and center, stood an old man with white hair.
That everyone's eyes were focused only on his mouth made it easy to see that he was the one with the highest position among them.
Contrary to his white hair, his physique seemed untouched by the passage of time; his frame was so large it reached about eight cheok, and his waist was perfectly straight.
Moreover, the domineering aura emanating from him easily surpassed that of the twenty thousand soldiers lined up before the fortress.
There were many ways to refer to this old man.
The tyrant of the north, the god of the grasslands.
And
Timur Khan.
In the distant past, there had been a Great Khan who unified the north, crossed the Central Plains, and even eyed the far western skies, and Timur Khan was the last descendant of that Great Khan. However, it was not simply because he was a descendant of the Great Khan that he became the ruler of the Northern Plains. The society of the northern tribes was not so easygoing that a person's entire life would be decided by bloodline alone.
Timur Khan was a man who climbed to this position by crushing all his rivals with his own overwhelming martial power, political ability, and extraordinary judgment. Originally, before he ascended to the position of Khan, there were many other descendants of the Great Khan besides him. And all of them had higher status than Timur.
But.
In the end, after the blood-soaked political struggles and wars, the one who survived was Timur, and he alone survived to become the last successor of the Great Khan.
Timur Khan's eyes were so thinly slit that his pupils were almost invisible. However, even with those barely visible eyes, Timur Khan did not miss a single one of the cavalrymen and was watching them all.
The cavalry all knew well how terrifying he was. No one could even breathe loudly or cough. Even the horses were the same.
It was as if the world had stopped.
How much time passed like that?
"Advance!"
At some point, Timur Khan shouted loudly.
His roar, filled with internal energy, was driven clearly into the ears of each and every cavalryman.
Timur Khan's departure ceremony was always like this. What need is there for long speeches before setting out?
Go, and fight. Only these two words are needed.
And...
Uwaaaaah!
The soldiers' roar was enough.
The cavalry let out loud shouts with all their strength and turned their horses' heads one by one.
Then, they began to gallop toward the vast Hetao Plain spread out before them.
[Read more chapters on my website: https://revengernovel.com/ or https://ko-fi.com/reaper87 ]