BSW 255

At that, Byeonguk signaled a nearby soldier, who dashed off in a flash. Not long after.

Bwooooo—

The sound of a conch horn echoed.

Bwooooo—

Following that, a longer blast of the conch horn rang out.

Then, thump, thump, thump, thump, drums began to beat.

Rumble, rumble, the ground—no, the mountain—began to shake. Leaves trembled, and soil and small pebbles rolled down. It was a vibration different from an explosion. The shaking was so intense that several soldiers standing nearby lost their balance and staggered.

Then, plumes of dusty earth rose from both flanks of the mountain. It looked as if a fire had broken out behind the peak. And then, a thunderous roar of cheers drifted in from far away.

“Advance! Advance!”

“Hyah! Hyah!”

“Aaaaah!”

The sight of soldiers on horseback charging down both sides of the mountain entered their field of vision.

Horses. In other words, cavalry. They were one of the most important ‘weapons’ of this operation.

The Devouring Ghouls had eliminated all other weapons, but they couldn’t touch the horses. This was because the horses kept getting spooked by the sound of the cannons, so they had been moved behind the mountain. Just as Ho-eun had said, it was nothing short of a stroke of luck. They hadn’t known they would use them this way, but since they were doing so.

The cavalry charged down from the mountainside at incredible speed. The sight of ten thousand soldiers riding ten thousand horses was a magnificent spectacle.

Kieeee!

Kak, kareuk, karururu!

As the soldiers poured down like an avalanche, the Devouring Ghouls began to cluster together. As if building stolen [visit our site]aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read on Read BL Novelscontenta levee, they pressed their helmet bones against one another, stacking themselves sideways and upward to form a wall. The wall grew so high so quickly that it cast a shadow over the cavalry, yet the soldiers did not hesitate for a single moment.

And just before the cavalry and the Devouring Ghouls collided.

“Now.”

Tae-muk commanded again. At that, the second blast of the conch horn, Bwooooo—, resonated.

At that signal, archers who had been hiding behind trees or rocks at the front of the mountain revealed themselves. They drew their bowstrings to the limit and released their arrows simultaneously with the signal.

A sound like a torrential downpour, shwaaaaa—, erupted. Half of the arrows flew toward the ghouls on the left, and the other half toward those on the right.

“…”

“…”

Swish, swish, shishish—as the arrows soared through the sky, every soldier nearby, including Byeonguk, watched with tense faces. In that moment, everyone held their breath, making the surroundings feel eerily silent.

Soon, the arrows that had [unauthorized copy]stolen content-->been flying forward began to drop, reaching the heads of the Devouring Ghouls.

Puguk, puk, puk!

Pudeok, pajak!

They pierced through the crowns of their heads. The sound of breaking shells echoed with a strangely cheerful ring.

Kieeee…

Kieeee…

Those with one or two arrows stuck in their heads like horns collapsed haphazardly with lifeless groans.

Tae-muk let out a short laugh.

“…It’s true.”

Their skulls really had become thinner. The arrows fired were thinner and shorter than those typically used by the Crimson Rain Brigade. Furthermore, due to the lack of time, [Read on Read BL Novels]the tips hadn’t even been visit our sitesharpened. Despite that, they had pierced through the ghouls’ heads one after another.

“Captain! At this rate…”

Byeonguk looked at Tae-muk, his face flushed in a way that was unlike him.

“Yes. At this rate.”

Tae-muk replied. And in that instant.

Hiiiiing!

The neighing of horses rang out loudly, and the cavalry and Devouring Ghouls collided violently on both sides of the battlefield. The ghouls had built a levee, but since half of those forming the wall had been killed by arrows, pushing through was not difficult.

The cavalry advanced rapidly. They simply advanced. It was as if they were in a competition to see who could ride their horse faster.

It was a strategy. A crude strategy of simply crushing them.

If their skulls were so weak that a single small step from Ho-eun could shatter -->visit our sitethem, then simply trampling them with horses would suffice.

And indeed, the Devouring Ghouls were crushed to death, struck by horses and trampled by hooves. From above, it looked like a brown wave pushing back a black wave.

Arrows continued to be fired incessantly. When the ghoul front line retreated slightly, the soldiers who had descended the mountain also fired their guns. Horses pushed from the front, while arrows and bullets rained from above. Hundreds of Devouring Ghouls died in a matter of moments.

“…”

Tae-muk observed the scene keenly. He couldn’t give them an opening. He didn’t know what other tricks those clever creatures might pull, so he intended to deal with them before that happened.

“Let’s go too.”

He walked with heavy strides toward the edge of the cliff. Byeonguk, Dong-ja, and a few soldiers followed behind him.

However, Dong-ja walked with particular vigor, keeping pace with Tae-muk. With her shoulders and hips swaying, she looked as if she were in high spirits. Judging by her gait, one might think she was going for a stroll rather than heading into a battlefield.

“Dong-ja. Keep your wits about you. Don’t get hurt. Understand?”

Tae-muk spoke worriedly. Looking at her made him feel as if he had gained a younger sister he never had. A clumsy, tomboyish sister who constantly stolen contentcaused trouble and turned the house upside stolen contentdown. He was quite worried about what kind of accident she might cause today.

But she, carrying a large bundle, spread her five fingers wide and spoke very confidently.

“Don’t worry. I ate five bowls of rice!”

At those words, Tae-muk chuckled. Byeonguk and the other soldiers burst into laughter as well. Dong-ja was likely the only person in the world who would respond to a warning to stay alert by stating how much she had eaten.

“Good job.”

At Tae-muk’s praise, Dong-ja shrugged her shoulders high with an expression that said she expected as much.

Soon, the group approached the edge of the cliff. With only a few steps remaining, Tae-muk ran lightly as if taking a running start and threw himself straight down the cliff.

The wind hitting his face felt refreshingly crisp.

Tae-muk crossed through the Devouring Ghouls at a very high speed. Without dodging or detouring, he moved only in a straight line.

Kaaaaak!

Kieeeeek!

Kak, karururu!

The Devouring Ghouls reacted violently, lunging at Tae-muk, but they couldn’t reach him. This was because Byeonguk and Dong-ja, guarding his flanks, simply shoved them aside with their shoulders. The creatures flew backward as if they had been hit by oxen.

Thanks to that, Tae-muk only had to deal with the ones in front of him. He sliced their heads horizontally or vertically with his sword, or simply stepped on their skulls as if they were stepping stones.

Puguk, pak, pajak, pasak.

The feeling of his feet sinking as their helmet bones shattered was unpleasant, but not unbearable. It was far better than being covered in brain matter, so he could endure this much.

However, there were so many of them that it took a long time just to cross in a straight line. Occasionally, he encountered creatures with great strength and hard bones—perhaps because they had tasted human blood—which blocked his path.

Since it was difficult to distinguish between the starving ones and those who weren’t with the naked eye, his forearms were torn by teeth and his thighs were gouged. A few soldiers following him were dragged away by the ghouls and vanished without a trace.

Yet Tae-muk, Byeonguk, and Dong-ja continued to run without stopping. Read on Read BL Novelsstyle="position:absolute;left:-9999px;font-size:0;">[unauthorized copy]There was something they absolutely had to do. It was a task that could be considered the most important part of this operation.

It was just as Tae-muk kicked the jaw of a creature lunging at him with its teeth.

“Captain! Ahead! It’s ahead!”

Byeonguk shouted. Tae-muk glanced forward. There lay the mass the creatures cherished so much—the egg containing their offspring. He had only seen it when it fell into a pit, but seeing it from below, its sheer size felt unfamiliar and repulsive.

Kieeee!

Tae-muk swung his sword, slicing the sides of the heads of the creatures rushing him, and recalled the conversation he had with Ho-eun a few hours ago. While planning this operation, Ho-eun had seemed restless and had cautiously voiced his concern.

‘But what if they just pass us by without fighting?’

‘Without fighting?’

‘Yes. Previously, they had no choice but to face us because they had to cross the river, but now they’ve already crossed it. If they head straight for Hanyang or nearby towns, they’ll suffer no damage and find food easily, so they might just bypass us.’

Tae-muk had pondered for a moment before answering.

‘Then we just stop them from leaving.’

They just had to seize something the creatures couldn’t leave behind. Just as a Bondmate is a weakness more precious than life to a God of War, the ghouls had something similar.

Their offspring.

He knew how infuriated and enraged they had been when their offspring were dealt with previously. That meant they were that precious. They were the perfect bait to keep the creatures pinned down.

Tae-muk leaped upward, stepping on the Devouring Ghouls with his long legs. It took only a moment to reach the mass that formed a sphere.

Tae-muk climbed toward the top of the egg like he was climbing a ladder, digging his fingers firmly into the crowns of the creatures who were packed tightly together with their helmet bones.

Kaak, kak, karururu!

Kieeee!

The Devouring Ghouls shrieked at Tae-muk. They went absolutely wild, shaking their heads, twisting their bodies, and snapping their jaws. A [[visit our site]class="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]massive number of ghouls swarmed him. So many flocked to him that they piled up two or three layers deep, tangling and clumping together.

Regardless, Tae-muk pressed forward, looking only upward. Because Byeonguk and Dong-ja were below. It wouldn’t be easy to hold them back, but he trusted their strength and experience.

But he had to move faster, more nimbly.

He would not lose any more of his soldiers.

Tae-muk gritted his teeth and climbed the mass, almost hopping upward.