Chapter 359: The Authority of the Strong (1)
“Father!”
“Did contact arrive?”
“Yes!”
A smile spread across Zhuge Wen-hu’s face as he received the letter from Zhuge Ah-yeon.
“As expected.”
He knew they would handle it properly. This letter was a victory report stating that the side of Yeon Ho-jeong, Tang Kwan, and Muk Bi had won.
Zhuge Wen-hu trusted them. However, no operation could have ten-tenths of certainty. Because variables always follow the works done by people.
But fortunately, the three definitely proved their abilities. Although there was the help of the Evil-Annihilating Army, holding out until the allies arrived was entirely their merit.
“They must have already gone up towards the enemies’ stronghold by now.”
It was then.
“Strategist! An urgent report has arrived from the intelligence advisor!”
“An urgent report?”
Zhuge Wen-hu’s eyes widened as he read the letter handed by the intelligence agent.
“Gunpowder…?!”
Zhuge Ah-yeon-yeon asked with a surprised expression.
“Gunpowder? Are you perhaps talking about the gunpowder I know?”
“Yes. It says they even mobilized gunpowder by requesting the Provincial Military Commander in order to sweep away the enemies’ stronghold.”
It was gunpowder, not fire bombs.
In a sense, gunpowder was more difficult to handle than fire bombs. Fire bombs could be protected by fastening safety devices or making the outer shell thick depending on the manufacturing method, but gunpowder would explode immediately once it caught fire.
Moreover, it was vulnerable to humidity. That was even more so for gunpowder with stronger power.
‘To hand over gunpowder, not even fire bombs… Considering the cost and difficulty of management, it means Lord Yeo’s side also risked their lives.’
No matter how much of a Provincial Military Commander he was, leaking that amount of gunpowder externally was bound to carry a huge burden. Furthermore, now that the Empire’s power had weakened, if he was caught on a technicality, he could even be stripped of his position.
‘No. Rather, gunpowder might be safer.’
When a fire bomb explodes, its remnants are bound to remain. On the other hand, when gunpowder explodes, that’s the end of it.
If he handed over gunpowder to avoid any possible technicalities, then Yeo Sang-do was truly an extraordinary person.
‘Whatever it is, since they even mobilized gunpowder, they will be able to grasp victory without major damage.’
The Demon Sweeping and Evil Destroying allied forces were troops who also had an expert knowledge of operating fire bombs. He heard they trained not just to use them but even the explosion’s damage radius and penetration routes.
What was left?
‘The allied Demon Sweeping and Evil Destroying forces will be able to handle the small fries. However, the expert lineup?’
Zhuge Wen-hu’s eyes deepened.
‘We don’t know how great of an expert might be hiding. Of course, I think the Eighteen Martial Generals level is everything, but…’
In the unlikely event that an expert beyond that came.
What if a strong person at the peak expert level or higher took their place there?
‘There’s no way that’s true. Even if it is, the combat power on our side is by no means lacking either.’
Zhuge Wen-hu did not know how strong the experts of the Saintly Heaven Thirteen Seats level were.
Naturally, the power in that realm would transcend common sense. Perhaps they might even be able to leisurely face the combat power of three or four clan head-level figures of the Six Clans.
However, if it was just retreating, that much combat power would be sufficient. He was confident of that at least.
‘I don’t know about others, but Commander Yeon and Clan Head Murong wouldn’t hang their necks on an unwinnable fight.’
Thinking that, he finally felt relieved.
It would be heartbreaking if anyone died as long as they were an ally, but especially those four must absolutely not die in this fight. Of course, it had to be that way in the future as well.
Zhuge Wen-hu looked out the window.
The time the evening sun was setting. By now, the battle must have already ended.
How did the last fight in Henan end?
“…Please, I hope everyone is safe.”
* * *
Kugugugung!
The advance of the Demon-Sweeping Army was completely different from the advance of the Evil-Annihilating Army.
Kwa-ang! Thwack!
“Keu-ak!”
“A-ah-ak!”
It didn’t simply end at cutting and stabbing.
It wasn’t only the soldiers who wore heavy armor. If the military horses of the Evil-Annihilating Army had good stamina and were agile, the military horses of the Demon-Sweeping Army were massive and overflowing with power.
Adding heavy armor on top of that and pushing in, that destructive power was not something even a peak expert could easily endure. When bodies were lacerated by all kinds of spears and swords, the horse hooves of the military horses trampled over their bodies.
Boom! Kwa-ang!
Even though they detonated all the gunpowder, explosion sounds still rang out here and there. It showed how incredibly ignorant the rushing power and the weight of the military horses of the Demon-Sweeping Army were.
Murong Yu shouted.
“Kill every single one surely! They are guys with tough lifelines!”
There were no words like cut off the neck or crush the head.
However, even without such explanations, the soldiers steadily carried out Murong Yu’s orders. While commanding an overflowing rushing power, their eyes were coldly sunken.
Yeo-guk unknowingly whistled.
“Amazing destructive power.”
Thwack!
Peng Man-ho, who blew away the neck of a Divine Fire Cult soldier, calmly said.
“Except for the matter with the Gray Wolf Squad, it’s the first time the entire army mobilized, yet the formation is perfect.”
“They must have completely ingrained training reminiscent of actual combat into their bodies. Otherwise, it’s impossible to show such movement and calmness at the same time.”
“Whatever it is, it finally looks like an independent mobile unit.”
“I know, right.”
Peo-eong!
Song Yeon-gyeong, who pierced through a Divine Fire Cult soldier’s neck with a merciless spear technique, shouted.
“This is not the time to evaluate our allies’ skills! Run!”
“Ah, of course.”
Pabababak!
The attack of the Evil-Annihilating Army was fast and sharp. The attack of the Demon-Sweeping Army was massive and overflowing with destructive power.
The combined attack of the Demon-Sweeping Army striking from the front and the Evil-Annihilating Army pouring in like crazy from the left and right was truly perfectly matched. They were extremely efficiently annihilating the enemies while not invading each other’s territory.
Of course, there was a reason for that.
“Keu-euk!”
The Sixth Martial General, Go Hyeok, staggered and retreated.
His left half was full of terrible wounds. Parts of his torso covered in blood scabs even had bones exposed.
Because he was hit by the gunpowder explosion while without any preparation. Perhaps it was fortunate that his flesh was not blown apart as it was despite it being gunpowder with strong explosive power. However, due to the terrible pain and crushed acupoints, it was a situation where it was hard to exert even three-tenths of his proper skills.
That wasn’t all. The Ninth Martial General, Ju Chang, was even worse. His lower half was completely crushed, making the implementation of martial arts itself impossible.
Go Hyeok shouted.
“Unfold the square formation! Don’t panic! Throw the oil barrels inside the headquarters and form a fire formation!”
Go Hyeok, who commanded the Divine Cult soldiers with a ringing voice, approached Ju Chang.
“Are you alright?!”
“Keu-eueuk!”
Ju Chang gritted his teeth.
It was a pain hard to describe with words. However, what was harder to endure than the pain was the fact that even if he survived and returned from here, he would have to live as a cripple for the rest of his life.
“Gather your strength! The Divine Maiden will somehow fix you!”
It was then.
“There’s a Holy Maiden and also a Divine Maiden? I didn’t know that.”
The one who revealed himself while clearing the dense smoke was Murong Jun.
Go Hyeok’s face distorted.
“Who the hell are you…!”
Boom!
Ju Chang’s head shattered into pieces.
It was truly a terribly gruesome death. Murong Jun, who killed Ju Chang with a single strike of Lightning Flash simultaneously with drawing his sword, spoke with a murderous voice.
“Lowly things from the outer regions dare to covet the Central Plains?”
“Y-you son of a bitch!”
Go Hyeok screamed bizarrely.
“I will kill you!”
Flash!
Even if he couldn’t exert his proper skills, Go Hyeok was also an expert who didn’t lack much compared to Murong Jun. The firepower of the Blazing Fire Divine Palm pulled from his right palm swallowed Murong Jun in an instant.
Rumble!
Go Hyeok’s power was surprising.
He commanded a hotter palm power than the Blazing Fire Divine Palm shown by other Martial Generals so far.
The experts within the top ten Martial Generals had almost no difference in skill. However, their specialties were just different.
Go Hyeok’s specialty was precisely firepower itself. Excluding the First and Second Martial Generals, he was called the best Martial General when it came to the operational power of fire qi.
Also, that was the reason he was able to survive the gunpowder explosion. Because the fire essence within his body offset nearly half of the explosive power that stormed in from the outside.
‘Is he dead?’
Tension cast over Go Hyeok’s face as he looked at the front covered in a firestorm and smoke.
‘If he took the Blazing Fire Divine Palm head-on, he wouldn’t be safe.’
He poured in his internal energy to the point his head spun for an instant. He must have suffered at least a severe internal injury.
Go Hyeok, who looked down at the corpse of Ju Chang whose head exploded, gritted his teeth and turned his body.
‘I’m sorry, Ju Chang. Your resentment will definitely be… later!’
At that time, a bizarre sound was heard.
Ji-i-i-ing!
A bizarre sound that couldn’t be heard in nature.
At the unspeakable eeriness, Go Hyeok quickly turned his body and took a defensive posture.
Thwack!
Go Hyeok’s face went blank.
A sword qi that flew in like lightning had blown off his entire right arm before he knew it.
“An attitude of fleeing without even checking the opponent’s condition… I am truly appalled. Were you trying to obtain this Central Plains with such a clumsy mindset?”
Puseuseuseu.
The smoke cleared, and Murong Jun’s figure was revealed.
Except for some dust on his clothes and disheveled hair, Murong Jun was completely fine. The lightning qi emitted from his entire body had perfectly blocked the fire qi of the Blazing Fire Divine Palm.
To learn the Divine Cult’s Heat Yang Arts, one had to extremely raise the body’s heat resistance.
And that was the same for Murong Jun as well. The Thunder Energy Arts was a supreme learning of ancient times, a paramount martial art that one couldn’t even enter without considerable talent.
As it dealt with lightning qi, it didn’t fall behind the experts of the Divine Cult in terms of heat resistance. No, perhaps he might even be superior to Martial General-level experts when it came to heat resistance.
“Lowly bug of the border, consider it an honor to die to this martial art.”
A deep blue lightning qi exploded from Murong Jun’s sword.
Flash! Chwa-ah-ah-ak!
A sound like lightning splitting water currents burst out.
At the same time, Go Hyeok’s body was cut into five or six pieces. It was a terrifying sword art that couldn’t be blocked or dodged.
It was the Intersecting Lightning Strike of the Heartless Heavenly Thunder Stance, the invincible sword technique Murong Jun was learning. The sword strike that visualized the movement of lightning was so fast and strong that it was hard to even react with human reflexes.
Murong Jun looking down at Go Hyeok’s corpse that became a lump of meat with cold eyes.
It was then.
Boom!
An ignorant explosion burst out from the center of the headquarters far away.
Murong Jun, surprised, looked at the place where the explosion occurred.
‘What is it?’
It wasn’t a simple explosion. The density of the shockwave felt from that explosion was truly immense.
Pa-ah-ah-ak!
In the eyes of Murong Jun, who threw his body to the origin of the explosion, the figures of a staggering Yeon Ho-jeong and a young man full of anger were seen.
Murong Jun’s eyes wavered.
‘Who is that guy again.’
Hwareureureureuk!
The flame rising from the young man’s body was dyed in a golden color.
It was a completely different color of flame from the Divine Fire soldiers and Martial Generals he had fought so far. Not simply the color was different, but the ferocity of its nature itself was on a different level.
“Very cute bastards.”
The young man’s voice was very clear and rang vividly throughout the noisy battlefield.
“Yeah, I thought the air was weird for the past few days, and it turned out bug bastards were aiming at this place. But how did you know? Ah! Did Yeo Sang-do, that old geezer who wouldn’t be satisfying even if chewed up, tell you?”
He was a terrifying young man. A fierce madness could be felt in his voice.
Murong Jun coldly asked.
“What are you?”
“That’s not something an attacker should say, right?”
The young man lowly growled.
“Well, it wouldn’t matter even if you don’t know. Because you guys are all going to die here.”