Chapter 211 |
Sun Warrior Adka gathered his soldiers and formed his own pursuit unit.
'Dammit, the commander is knocked out and he can’t even snap out of it.'
Commander Alfnan was unconscious and could not come to. To make things worse, the traitors had also abducted Harvald, creating chaos within the Sun Warriors’ camp.
‘Chasing down Urich is more important than retrieving Harvald.'
Adka set his priorities.
'Urich, the plunderer from the west.'
He was the infamous plunderer from the west, and he wasn’t just a member—he was a commander-level target. Capturing him would certainly bring tremendous rewards.
Adka acted on his own without orders, motivated by the reward. He led his soldiers in pursuit.
'My foolish brothers, do you really think you can fight against the empire and win? Really?'
'Their intentions are noble, but can we really survive after rejecting the empire's protection?'
This rebellion could possibly worsen the discrimination against the northern people. Even the position of the Sun Warriors, which had barely managed to gain recognition from the empire, could be in jeopardy.
'If I capture Urich, I could turn this misfortune into a great opportunity.'
Adka urged his soldiers forward.
"The first to arrive will get ten gold coins!"
"Ooooooh!"
The soldiers’ steps quickened. They too were chasing after the promise of a reward.
Thwip!
An arrow flew from the darkness and pierced a soldier's head.
"Shields!"
"Get down!"
The soldiers shouted. They tried looking into the darkness, but whoever shot the arrow was nowhere to be seen.
Arrows kept flying, hitting soldiers one by one. The amount of time in between each shot suggested it was a single shooter.
"Put out the torch lights! That’s what’s exposing us to the attack!"
The soldiers extinguished the torches and waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.
The extinguished torches still emitted faint wisps of smoke. Urich flared his nostrils, catching the scent. He drew his bowstring and scanned the darkness. As the soldiers moved, he could spot them by the slight shift in the shadows.
Thwip!
Another arrow from Urich pierced a soldier.
'How can he see in a condition like this?'
Lagerik watched Urich with his jaw dropped in astonishment. Urich calmly took aim and hit his targets with arrows one by one. Each arrow strike was lethal as the hastily gathered soldiers were only lightly armored.
"They're getting closer, Urich. Let's pull back."
Despite the arrow barrage, the soldiers still drew nearer. Lagerik urged retreat, but Urich didn't move.
"Georg! Send the signal." Urich shouted. Georg grabbed the horn hanging at his waist and blew.
Buuuuuuuup!
Georg blew the horn repeatedly until his face turned red.
"We got you now, you bastards!"
The first soldier to arrive jumped into Urich. The soldier, grinning at the thought of collecting the gold coin reward, lowered his shield and lunged in with his spear.
"You got us? Are you sure about that?"
Urich caught the incoming spear under his armpit and yanked the soldier toward him. With a quick crossing of his hands, the soldier's head twisted backward.
"Surround them! Do not rush in!"
Sun Warrior Adka shouted as he arrived later. The number of soldiers under his command started with about forty, but they had already lost ten to Urich during their pursuit.
'There are only three of them. Just three!'
The soldiers maintained their distance, surrounding Urich's party.
Urich spun the spear he'd just taken and eyed the soldiers circling them.
"That must be their leader."
Urich spotted Sun Warrior Adka standing behind the soldiers and lightly swung his arm.
Swish!
The spear Urich was holding flew toward Adka. Despite not being a throwing spear, it was flying directly toward his head.
Clang!
Adka narrowly raised his shield to block Urich's spear. He winced and rubbed his wrist.
'My arm is tingling. That wasn’t even a throwing spear, and he threw it that lightly from such a distance...'
Urich clicked his tongue after seeing Adka block the spear.
"As expected from a Sun Warrior. You won’t go down that easily, huh?"
Urich muttered as he gripped an axe and a sword in each hand. As the encirclement was formed, the soldiers slowly closed down on Urich’s party.
"Georg, are you sure you did your job properly? If you didn’t, we're all dead," Urich grumbled as Georg turned pale, looking at the circle closing in.
Lagerik frowned as he held his sword and shield. He prayed as he watched the approaching soldiers.
Thwip!
Suddenly, arrows flew through the air. Soldiers forming the encirclement began to fall one by one.
"From behind! Behind!"
The soldiers turned their shields backward.
"Hiiioooooooh!"
A strange scream emerged from the darkness. Western warriors wrapped in furs emerged with bows and axes.
The western warriors shot arrows as they ran. As they got closer to the soldiers, they drew their axes and engaged in close combat. The surprise attack in the darkness caused the soldiers to panic and huddle together.
Well-trained soldiers instinctively formed a defensive formation when they were put in disadvantageous situations. The encirclement around Urich naturally began to unravel.
"They're here! They're here!" Georg shouted, almost in tears.
Crack!
Sun Warrior Adka, frowned as he saw the western tribal warriors appear beside him.
'Are these the infamous plunderers?'
Neither Adka nor the soldiers here had encountered anyone from the west before. They felt an unfamiliar fear seeing these barbarians for the first time in their lives.
"Do not retreat! We have the advantage in numb—Kugh!"
Adka, who was commanding frantically, groaned as he looked at his chest. An axe was embedded in it.
'When...'
It was a hand axe that Urich had thrown from a distance. Urich lightly shook his hands and looked at Adka as he slid his thumb across his throat.
The pursuit unit that lost its leader was busy scattering in retreat. The warriors relentlessly pursued them and ruthlessly decapitated them. Only about a dozen soldiers escaped alive.
Lagerik put away his weapon and approached the fallen Adka.
"Adka..."
Lagerik looked at Adka, who was coughing up blood. He was going to die from blood loss the moment the axe was removed from his chest.
"Traitor Lagerik, are you happy now...? Did you have to go as far as shedding a brother's blood?"
Adka panted.
"If we don't rise now, there will never be a kingdom for the people of the north."
"A kingdom for the northerners? It sounds like that thing means a hell of a lot to you, Lagerik."
Adka grimaced.
"If Lou loves both northerners and civilized people without discrimination just as the sunlight shines on the entire world... then he will grant us a kingdom. It is only fair that way."
Lagerik's eyes were calm. Adka laughed at his foolish brother.
"Kek, kek. May Lou’s blessings be with you, my foolish brother!"
Adka pulled out the axe from his chest on his own. As the restrained blood gushed out, his pupils dilated. Adka's struggle and panting for air grew fainter.
"Your son returns to you, Lou. Please oversee the world with fairness," Lagerik prayed softly as he stood up.
'Lagerik thinks Lou will grant the northerners a kingdom. Since Ulgaro failed to do it for them...'
Urich looked at Lagerik, then turned his head toward the warriors. The warriors, who had tasted blood, awaited Urich's orders.
* * *
"Ha, hahaha!"
Upon hearing Carnius' report, Emperor Yanchinus laughed like a madman, secluded in the Palace of White Night. The women serving him stayed silent and kept their distance from Yanchinus.
"He really played me like that? A barbarian like him? Played me?"
He understood the reason why the western expansion had faltered.
"You’ve humiliated me, Urich."
Yanchinus violently chucked a glass against the wall. As the glass shattered, naked women hurried to collect the fragments.
"Very interesting. Very."
Urich had not acted according to Yanchinus' plans. Instead, he had used Yanchinus to save his own homeland.
'The loss of the Western Legion all makes sense now. Urich must have crossed over faster to prepare for the invasion. Since he’s a clever one, he would have assembled an army to counter the imperial army in a short period of time.'
Yanchinus gestured toward a notable woman as he watched. The woman leaned against the wall, exposing her back.
Yanchinus unbuckled his belt and whipped it like a lash.
Snap!
A red mark swelled on the woman's back. Yanchinus whipped his belt mercilessly as if he were taking his anger out. The lashing only stopped when the woman's back split open and revealed raw flesh.
The women of the Palace of White Night helped the injured woman away as if they were accustomed to such scenes.
Sweating, Yanchinus threw his belt down and collapsed backward. The women approached to deliver water to his mouth.
'How much did he laugh at me in his head while I went on and on about my desire for an achievement?'
Yanchinus had proudly spoken of the Sky Mountains in front of Urich. He had said all that to a man who had already crossed them. The embarrassment he was feeling was so immense that he wanted to rip the skin off his own face.
"A barbarian! A barbarian laughed at me, the ruler of the world! How absurd is this!"
Never before had his pride been so crushed. Yanchinus was always the one to manipulate others and reign from above them. He was a man who was promised the throne from birth. Though Lou might be the ruler of the skies, the emperor ruled the earth.
The women of the Palace of White Night trembled. They were well aware of Yanchinus' volatile temper, but even they had never seen the young emperor so enraged. He was known to have a cruel nature, but he was always calm and collected and was rarely aggravated.
"Noya, you left me alone too soon," Yanchinus murmured, leaning his head back. The Sword Demon Ferzen was the only person he could truly confide in.
"Everyone around me is just waiting for a chance to lead their armies here and swallow me up."
He had no one reliable to command his armies either. Experienced generals had strong opposing feelings toward the emperor, and young knights lacked command experience.
'I botched it from the start. Urich completely ruined my plans.'
Yanchinus' scheme had gone terribly awry—almost too much. He had intended to conquer the west by using just the Western Legion and start a new slavery business there, as the number of slaves the empire could extract from the north and south had reached its limits after the conquests.
But instead of being able to start a profitable slave business, an entire legion had evaporated, and even Carnius' forces had failed to exterminate the barbarians. To make matters even worse, a vassal state was ravaged, spreading unease throughout the entire civilized world.
'I must quickly subdue the north. Alfnan will deal with it just fine. He's eager to please me. Sometimes a barbarian with no ties to the civilized world can be more trustworthy than a cunning noble.'
As soon as the empire showed a sliver of weakness, the northerners rose up. With no time or leisure to reorganize his legions, Yanchinus planned to crush the northern rebellion at its roots by sending the Sun Warriors.
Yanchinus spent the night in the Palace of White Night, taking out his accumulated anger on the women. Throughout the night, the palace officials and the royal doctors moved in and out of the palace.
"…I am the ruler of the world. It would be hard for me to claim to be an emperor if I'm flustered by mere barbarians, wouldn’t it?"
"Indeed, Your Majesty,"
A bruised woman replied as she poured wine for the emperor. Her finger was dangling from being broken, yet she showed no sign of pain as she served the drink.
Yanchinus' gaze was chillingly cold and calm. The negative emotions that were clouding his judgment had drained away with the violent outbursts.
