YM778.TV Chapter 69: Million-Strong Army (2)
Chapter 69: Million-Strong Army (2)
How did it come to this...
General Hong Giyoung was at a loss for words at the sight before him.
How on earth should one respond to something like that?
"Aaaaargh!"
"Be careful!"
"Wh-What is that?!"
"Just run away for now!!"
Pshew- Pshew-Pshew- Pshew-
"Shield bearers, move forward!"
"Th-The shields are useless!"
"Keuk!"
"Where are the archers! Get the archers ready! Form a fire net with volleys and drive them back! Even if they can fly, they must have limits!!"
The sight of Demonic Cult members flying through the sky on flat metal pieces.
Was this what the Heavenly Army descending from the sky would look like?
"Adjutant... What on earth is that?"
"Th-That... I also..."
Those who had proudly attended the departure ceremony, shouting slogans to eradicate the Demonic Cult, now faced an unimaginable sight.
Flying... Demonic Cult members!
"Their numbers are few! Don\'t be afraid, everyone! Archers! Protect the archers!"
"Hundred-man unit! Preemptively occupy the places where they might land!"
"That one wearing the strange helmet on their head must be the commander! Shoot them down!"
If there was any consolation, perhaps it was that their numbers weren\'t that great?
If their numbers had been large as well, they might not have been able to do anything.
As such...
General Hong Giyoung gathered his wits and issued orders.
"Their only goal is to slow down our advance."
Although they were gradually eating away at our forces from the outskirts, they aren’t boldly coming forward. As if they are trying to tie us down.
If you thought that you would succeed in that, you\'re mistaken, Demonic Cult bastards.
This wasn’t the main force.
It was just the left wing of the vanguard.
They were carrying out sporadic surprise attacks to slow down the unit\'s advance, but it wasn\'t enough to make us pull back our troops and retreat.
"It\'s unacceptable for twenty thousand soldiers to be tied down by just twenty men."
General Hong\'s eyes flashed.
It was humiliating.
The sight of twenty thousand troops being tied down and floundering because of barely a hundred men.
"Focus on minimizing casualties and creating a fire net with arrows and cannons! They are not invincible either!"
That\'s right. Even those riding on metal pieces and wearing metal weren\'t invincible.
Two of them who were directly hit by cannon fire had already exited the battlefield.
Although they couldn\'t say they had killed them, they still discovered that they weren\'t invincible.
"Don\'t be afraid! We have a million-strong army behind us!!"
"Eradicate the Demonic Cult!! Let\'s sweep away those Demonic Cult bastards!"
At General Hong\'s thunderous voice, each camp began to show signs of vigor.
Waaaah-
Boom- Boom-
Along with the sound of war drums, the great army stomped their feet.
Boom- Boom-
It was as if an earthquake was occurring.
"Don\'t be afraid! We are the sword and spear of His Majesty, the great Emperor!"
That\'s right. It\'s unacceptable for morale to drop because of just twenty men!
Meanwhile, on the Demonic Cult side, which had fielded twenty men against the army of forty thousand.
"Ouch! That hurts."
"Kukuk. You should be more careful."
"Haha. Still, it\'s lucky that you can talk like that after taking a direct hit from a cannon."
"Aiyo. I\'m dying here."
The armor had an extremely small scratch.
Although there would be no problem sending the wounded(?) soldier with a white cloth tied around his arm back to the battlefield...
"Haha. You\'re out? You\'re going to get scolded by the Vice Cult Leader, aren\'t you?"
"Damn it! Of all times, it had to come flying when my vision was blocked!"
That\'s right.
If the armor received a certain level of impact, you were considered "out" and had to leave the battlefield.
"The Cult Leader is of course great and mighty, but... why did she create this elimination rule..."
"Kukuk. Maybe it\'s so that people like you don\'t fight without using your head?"
"And there\'s even a limit on the number of bullets..."
"Anyway, I\'m out. I have to stay at the main hall for at least three days."
"Tsk tsk. That\'s why you should have been more careful."
"Haha. Well then, let\'s start the next operation as per the Vice Cult Leader\'s orders."
"Right. After all, we just need to slow down their advance."
It was a conversation among the Demonic Cult members that was hard to believe was taking place during a war.
"What on earth is this report?!"
"Th-That..."
"Governor! Are you telling me that the report I\'m looking at is true?!"
The Governor lowered his head at the roaring voice of Left Commander Huang Wuji.
"How, how am I supposed to report this to His Majesty?!"
"..."
The left wing of the vanguard had been annihilated.
At first, it seemed like their advance was just slowing down, but at some point, they fell into a fire trap and were completely wiped out.
Moreover, their right wing was currently being chased by an unimaginable unit and was half-destroyed.
"Governor! If you have something to say, say it with your mouth!!"
Bang Bang-
Even at the sound of the wooden table being struck as if it would split, the Governor couldn\'t raise his head.
"Hoo. Release those bastards from the main force."
"Huh? But those are..."
Thud-
"Ugh!"
"Can\'t you get your head on straight? Whether we use a knife for killing cows to kill chickens, or find another way, we need to resolve this somehow!"
"Yes, Elder Commander\'s words are correct."
"Release the Punishment Unit composed of heinous criminals towards the Demonic Cult. And increase the advance speed of the main force as well. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Yes, I will convey your orders."
"Hoo..."
But was Left Commander Huang Wuji\'s concern perhaps too late?
Reports of defeat began to arrive from all units one after another.
Starting with the annihilation of the Punishment Unit...
It was total annihilation or half destruction.
Complete defeat or retreat.
There was not a single piece of news about victory in any of the reports.
But the misfortune of the Imperial Army did not end there.
"T-That’s insane!"
"How are we supposed to deal with something like that!"
"Run!!"
"Aaaaargh!"
Flash-
Boom-
A metal sphere that occasionally appeared.
Dozens of supply wagons burst into flames from the beam of light shot from it.
Some martial artists used their Qinggong to quickly chase after it, but by the time they arrived, the giant metal object had already disappeared.
Ah... The supplies!
"Thousand-Man Commander! Fortunately, it seems there were no troop casualties! This is truly a blessing!"
No, you shouldn\'t be happy about just that.
The Thousand-Man Commander in charge of supplies clutched his head.
The biggest factor in sustaining a large army was, no matter what anyone said, supplies. A large army without supplies? It was no different from a rabble.
In the first place, supplies were absolutely essential to maintain a large army.
"Thousand-Man Commander! What should we do!"
"S-Send messengers to other supply units-"
"Thousand-Man Commander! A messenger has arrived from the 23rd Supply Unit!"
"What?! That\'s great! Quickly, bring them here-"
"...It seems they are in the same situation as us."
"What?!"
The Thousand-Man Commander felt like the sky was turning yellow.
This kind of incident wasn\'t happening in just one place.
Those Demonic Cult bastards using unheard-of strange objects to employ all sorts of military tactics, before leaving leisurely.
Total Enemy Strategy, Great Achievement Strategy, Adaptive Strategy, Deception Strategy, Attack and Defense Strategy, Enemy Movement Strategy, Surprise Strategy, Extraordinary and Orthodox Strategy, Division and Specialization Strategy, Indirect and Direct Strategy, Don\'t Exhaust Strategy...
There were too many to count. As if they were testing out military tactics.
It was enough to drive one crazy.
If it were just military tactics, they might be able to break through somehow. However...
-Th-They\'re flying through the sky?
-What? Arrows that can\'t be seen with the eyes?
-It-It wasn\'t an Illusion Formation? Then what on earth did we see?
-A Stealth Technique that even the Great Assassination Unit couldn\'t detect...?
-Th-The supplies!!
-The entire unit suddenly fell unconscious?
-A huge hole has opened up on our advance route and we can\'t pass through...?
-We suddenly lost our sight when a flash of light exploded!
-The 3rd and 4th Corps have been annihilated...?
-General! You must escape!
How were they supposed to stop these bastards using such ridiculous strange objects?
All sorts of bad news flew to the upper echelons.
They hadn\'t even reached the vicinity of the Demonic Cult\'s main mountain, but the situation was steadily worsening.
The direction all of this was heading towards was... Total annihilation or defeat.
If there was just one hope left...!
"We\'ll have to rely on those Absolute Martial Unit bastards."
"There\'s even a laughable saying that they could change the Imperial Dynasty if we just gather them together."
"Watch your mouth."
"Haha. It\'s just a joke. Anyway, isn\'t this enough?"
"Ugh, but still..."
"A special operations unit of ten thousand martial artists has arrived at Shiwan Mountain (One Hundred Thousand Great Mountains) while avoiding the enemy\'s eyes. Isn\'t it as good as over? Hahaha."
"I hope the operation succeeds safely."
"Haha. You worry too much."
The strongest unit, a martial artist corps created to counter Murim.
The infiltration of the Absolute Martial Unit was imminent.
Virdel was lost in thought on her own.
Should I reduce the troops even more?
Should I restrict the firearms more?
Virdel was having thoughts that would make Zhuge Hyun jump up in shock if he heard them.
Well, it can\'t be helped. If I use full force, there wouldn\'t even be a war in the first place.
War was only possible between similar opponents.
However, the current gap was even greater than a fight between an infant and an adult.
So, to experience and observe war while studying, restrictions on our side were rather necessary.
"He must be considering an unimaginably huge war that I can\'t even imagine."
As always, she was just trying her best. She didn\'t care at all how it might look to others.
"The Galactic Divine Cult, was it..."
He had shown interest in the Murim people.
n n
[A message has arrived from the Administrator.]
-Enhanced physical specs, aggressive, and agile to boot? Hmm. They might not be bad to use as mercenaries, huh?
nnAt this, Virdel realized.
Mercenaries? Troops?
Then...?
It was not about creating any regular grand army.
Instead, they were just a mercenary guerrilla unit that can be used like chess pieces when needed?
Considering the \'Dimensional Door\' ability she had just obtained, it wouldn\'t be impossible.
"Hmm."
Upon thinking that way, she realized she herself had too many shortcomings.
War wasn’t something done alone.
She had experience destroying an empire alone, but she had no experience fighting a war of many against many.
So she intended to observe as much as possible during this opportunity.
"After this is over, it might be good to raise a proper unit."
The support funds she had received from Him still had plenty left.
As she was observing how the war was unfolding, realizing it wasn\'t as helpful as she had thought...
"Cult Leader!!"
"Vice Cult Leader?"
"Huff huff! About ten thousand martial artists have attacked the Formation and are currently approaching the main hall!"
"Hmm?"
It seemed they hadn\'t noticed because she had prohibited the use of reconnaissance communication devices for the sake of a smooth(?) war.
"Ten thousand?"
"What should we do about this?"
Zhuge Hyun, who had only been in charge of administration from behind a desk, had only always been smiling after witnessing the Divine Cult\'s activities in this war with his own eyes.
"Huff, huff."
It seemed he had rushed over in a hurry, perhaps feeling burdened even for him by ten thousand martial artists.
"Well... If they\'ve come all this way, we might as well sweep them awa..."
Then she arrived at a certain thought.
Ten thousand martial artists?
....
Hmm. Perhaps?
After all, isn\'t it up to the captor to decide how to use prisoners?
The corners of Virdel\'s mouth curved /genesisforsaken