This Isn’t Exactly A Good Choice Either. (3)

“U-uwaaaah!”

“Get out of the way! Move!”

Faced with a bewildering sight none of them had ever seen in their lives, the Red Banner Army let out screams wholly unbecoming of their reputation.

They had not so much as blinked at cavalry charging toward them like a cloud, nor at the bitter winds that seemed capable of slicing flesh from bone. But having full-grown trees come crashing down over their heads was an entirely different kind of crisis from anything they had faced before.

The Red Banner Army’s soldiers threw themselves aside with all their might. The great trees toppled with a lurch and slammed into the ground, making the earth tremble.

Kuuuuuuung!

Kuuuuuuuuung!

The Red Banner Army troops who had barely escaped the falling trees stared with dazed faces at the trees still swaying in front of them.

“W-what is this…….”

“Ugh……. Urgh. Help me……!”

The Red Banner Army troops who had barely dodged the falling trees sprang to their feet in alarm when they heard screams from nearby.

The trunks of the trees crashing down were certainly extremely dangerous, but they fell too slowly to crush the well-trained Red Banner Army troops.

But the dense branches growing at the tops of the trees were another matter. Some had thrown themselves aside and avoided the trunks, only to be struck by the broad-spreading branches. They lay on the ground, groaning.

Their injuries would not cost them their lives, but they were severe enough to keep them from immediately returning to the battlefield. The flustered Red Banner Army troops rushed over and dragged out their groaning comrades trapped beneath the trees.

“There! Grab that side and lift!”

“B-but it’s too heavy.”

“Damn it! Can’t you do it properly?”

A complete mess. What other words could possibly describe this situation?

But Seo Yeon-Shin, watching the scene, felt relief rather than bewilderment.

‘Was this what he meant when he said it was a shame they hadn’t come on warhorses……?’

Because they were not on horseback, they had at least been able to throw themselves aside and save their lives. The thought of how much greater the casualties would have been if everyone headed here had been mounted made him shudder.

“T-this…….”

“See? Your imagination is just too impoverished.”

Seo Yeon-Shin turned toward Chung Myung with a blank look on his face.

Even through his mask, his laughter was unmistakable. Chung Myung snickered at Seo Yeon-Shin and shrugged.

“But still……. You don’t need to blame yourself that much. It’s just because I’m such an expert at things like this.”

“…….”

Seo Yeon-Shin’s face turned bright red.

An expert? What was this wet-behind-the-ears brat saying in front of a man who had spent his entire life fighting enemies on battlefields?

“You little……. bastard!”

Seo Yeon-Shin shouted at the top of his lungs.

“What are you waiting for! Seize that fool at once!”

“G-General. Wait!”

“Quiet! If we cannot even properly punish one pest darting around in front of us, how can we call ourselves the Red Banner Army? Move!”

“Yes, sir!”

Seo Yeon-Shin knew it himself as he issued the order.

This might not be the right response. Now that he knew they attacked in ways beyond his imagination, withdrawing the army would have been the best course of action.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be in danger. People often mistake this saying to mean that one can win by knowing the enemy well, but was its true meaning not that one should never recklessly fight an opponent one did not understand?

But Seo Yeon-Shin had no other choice.

‘Withdraw? Over a trick like this?’

He could not do that. If they had not charged in to begin with, that would be one thing, but turning back an army that had already advanced was far too great a burden.

The idea that one should turn back and reorganize after a single failure was nothing more than the sort of thing deskbound intellectuals who knew nothing of the hearts of those on a battlefield spouted.

Even an unavoidable retreat before a vast army could not prevent their own troops’ morale from falling. What if they retreated because they could not handle fewer than ten opponents? It would be no exaggeration to say that capturing the imperial capital would become impossible from that moment onward.

“Fight even if it costs you your lives! Kill every last one of them!”

“Yes, sir!”

They understood each other without words. It might not have been a phrase suited to this situation, but his subordinates, who had been with him their entire lives, clearly understood his decision.

Those who had briefly been stunned by the bewildering situation instantly regained their original bearing and charged forward. A veteran is not necessarily someone who fights better or is stronger than others.

It refers to those who, having experienced countless battlefields, can quickly regain their composure no matter what happens. And now, the Red Banner Army’s elites were proving through their actions what it meant to be a veteran.

“Whoooooa!”

The soldiers gripped their long spears in one hand, leaped over the fallen trees, and charged toward Chung Myung.

Chung Myung watched them calmly and snorted.

“This is why even the greatest army is helpless if its commander is an idiot.”

Thud.

Chung Myung kicked off the ground from his seated position and sprang backward.

“Stop, you bastard!”

The soldiers were momentarily flustered when Chung Myung leaped an incredible distance, but soon roared and increased their speed.

“You really shouldn’t do that.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers again.

Crack-crack-crack!

Then, accompanied by the same dull cracking sound as before, the trees on either side of the charging soldiers began to fall toward them simultaneously.

“What?”

Seo Yeon-Shin’s eyes flew wide open.

“W-what is this!”

“Again?”

The soldiers stared in horror at the trees toppling toward them. Even seeing it a second time, the sight of more than a dozen great trees falling and covering the sky above them was overwhelming enough that they could not grow accustomed to it.

The sunlight streaming between the trees was blocked by the falling trunks, and the forest before them was instantly dyed in darkness. It was as though this place had transformed into hell.

“Damn it! Get out of the wayyyyy!”

The charging soldiers desperately threw themselves aside. But unlike before, avoiding the trees tangling and twisting together was by no means easy.

Kuuuuuuuuung!

Kuuuuung!

The fallen trees struck the Red Banner Army one after another. Faced with the horrific sight, Seo Yeon-Shin could do nothing but tremble.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Chung Myung clicked his tongue as he watched.

“That is why you should have thought it through. Why wouldn’t something you could do once work a second time?”

Of course, there were some circumstances that could be taken into consideration.

From their perspective, they could only assume that their opponent had made thorough preparations here to trap them. Naturally, they must have thought the giant trees that fell earlier had also been prepared in advance.

And since that trap had failed to inflict serious damage, it was not an entirely wrong judgment to think that they might have a chance if they pressed forward all at once.

They simply had not anticipated that the Mount Hua disciples here were capable of running at the same speed as them while casually cutting down giant trees with a single sword stroke.

In other words, this was less a matter of ability than the limitation of people who had never encountered martial artists from the Central Plains.

But there was no need to explain any of that to them now.

“You protected the northern frontier with a brain like that? Come to think of it, maybe all that talk about the northern frontier being the most dangerous front was just nonsense.”

Well, all he had to do was needle him just the right amount…….

“How dare this dog of a bastard!”

See? That’s what happened.

Chung Myung kept snickering.

The Mount Hua disciples watching the scene from the forest also stared at Seo Yeon-Shin with incredulous expressions.

“Wait……. Hold on, sasuk. That man is a general of the Red Banner Army, the Kang Army.”

“That’s right.”

“Then how does he get riled up so easily?”

“The one doing the needling is Chung Myung.”

“……Of course, it is true that the bastard has a broomlike tongue that scrapes people raw every time he says something. But he isn’t even doing that much right now. It feels like the man gets riled up on his own before Chung Myung can properly say anything.”

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Yes.”

“Well…….”

Baek Cheon continued in a dubious tone.

“When he says he has fought in the north his whole life, doesn’t that…… mean that he has only ever faced enemies who spoke a different language from the Central Plains?”

“……What?”

“So he probably hasn’t really been provoked before, right? He has probably never been showered with insults in a language he could understand.”

Jo Gul stared blankly at Baek Cheon.

“How does that make any…….”

Wait, it kind of did make sense? Hold on, how could this possibly make sense…….

Jo Gul tore at his hair. He did not know. At this point, he did not even want to know. What mattered was that the man looked ready to charge at Chung Myung at any moment.

“But surely he couldn’t be that stupid.”

One could be fooled twice. But after falling for it three times, calling someone stupid would no longer be enough. If the one leading the Red Banner Army was that stupid, shouldn’t they start reconsidering the fate of this country?

But Baek Cheon seemed to have a different opinion.

“Judging by his personality, he doesn’t seem like the type who can hold back.”

“No way.”

“Huh? Look over there.”

Indeed, Seo Yeon-Shin was not as stupid as Jo Gul thought. If he had been a reckless man who sent his soldiers charging in even after being fooled twice, he could never have occupied the important position of Hwang Bo-Ung’s adjutant.

But Baek Cheon’s assessment was not entirely wrong, either.

Blinded by rage, Seo Yeon-Shin had managed to find the perfect solution that satisfied both his responsibility as a general and his anger as a man.

“I’ll cut off your head and shove it into a horse manure bucket!”

Seo Yeon-Shin drew his spear and charged alone at Chung Myung. Seeing this, the Mount Hua disciples applauded Seo Yeon-Shin one after another.

“Wow.”

“……What a man.”

“I never thought there was another man like sasuk.”

“Why am I being dragged into this?”

Regardless of what the Mount Hua disciples thought, Seo Yeon-Shin had not the slightest hesitation about his choice.

The problem he faced was that those blocking their path were more formidable masters than expected, and if he split up his forces to capture them, his already insufficient soldiers would be lured into that forest.

That damned bastard in front of him would obviously be aiming for exactly that if he had any sense.

So he simply had to do the opposite.

‘How long can you lot hold out there?’

He did not understand it, but even at a glance, it was clear that the young man standing in front was directing the situation. That meant if he struck this one down, the others hiding in the forest would have no choice but to come rushing out.

Once that happened, he would no longer need to worry about those damned trees. He could simply call his soldiers back at once and wipe out everyone who revealed themselves.

Seo Yeon-Shin was fully confident. He, too, had become a military officer at a young age and trained in martial arts all his life. He could easily split a fresh-faced brat like this in two.

“Whooooooa!”

Seo Yeon-Shin’s spear came crashing down, as if it would cleave Chung Myung in half in a single blow.

His plan was not particularly wrong. No, it was actually an extremely reasonable judgment.

There was just one thing he had gotten wrong…….

Kaaaang!

The spear Seo Yeon-Shin brought down was stopped with ease by the crude sword Chung Myung had raised.

“Well, well.”

The corners of Chung Myung’s mouth twitched again.

“Looks like you underestimated me a little too much.”

“…….”

It was simply that he had thought too little of Chung Myung.