Monochrome Sovereign [EN]: Chapter 1122

The Shin Hwa Cult’s vanguard surged forward, a staggering five thousand strong.

That number alone surpassed the Imperial Palace troops under Yeon-wi’s command. Numerically, it seemed a full-scale battle would be a close contest.

Yet, Yeon-wi remained composed.

Though he’d never led thousands into battle, he had commanded his family’s forces in numerous skirmishes. Moreover, his recent conversation with Hong-un had filled his mind with tactics rivaling those of seasoned strategists.

Of course, theoretical knowledge and practical application were vastly different.

And it was in this very aspect that Yeon-wi held a significant advantage over Hong-un.

Yeon-wi was a man of real combat, with extensive experience fighting martial artists.

Furthermore, though he couldn’t use the Mind Sword again, his exceptionally developed upper dantian [an energy center in the body] allowed him to observe the entire battlefield with cold detachment, as if from above.

‘They’re still holding back.’

King Chal Geuk-pyeong and Ohwa King Cheol Heum-gi were advancing slowly with the center and rear guards.

Yeon-wi’s mind’s eye traversed the distance in an instant, reaching the rear guard led by Cheol Heum-gi.

The rear guard numbered five thousand, all surprisingly women.

‘So, it’s them.’

Yeon-wi detected blue seeds embedded within the bodies of Cheol Heum-gi and the women. This foreign element was absent in the vanguard and center guard.

‘That must be the seed of the Four Sucking Ghostly Demonic Art.’

He didn’t know its exact form or power, but it was clear the Shin Hwa Cult considered them their trump card.

‘If that’s the case…’

They were likely planning to drag out the fight, given their numerical advantage.

‘That calmness will be your undoing.’

They needed to occupy the Imperial Palace, so they couldn’t afford unnecessary casualties against the four thousand Imperial Palace troops.

In other words, victory would come from inflicting more damage than necessary on the enemy.

Yeon-wi raised his general’s sword.

Immediately, Hong-un shouted,

“First line, fire!”

Pipipipiping!

The Imperial Palace’s special composite bows had an unbelievable range.

The first line’s thousand arrows rained down on the vanguard’s center.

Puhbuhbuhbuhk!

Hundreds of troops fell, struck by the arrows.

Few died from the arrows themselves.

The problem was the allied troops rushing in from the rear of the vanguard. They struggled to avoid stepping on their fallen comrades.

Puhbuhbuhbuhk!

They tried their best, but there were too many. Less than half of those who fell managed to get back up.

And then.

Another thousand arrows flew.

Pa-ba-ba-ba-ba-bak! Jjeo-jeo-jeong!

Some cultists deflected the arrows.

However, this attack targeted the disorganized rear of the vanguard’s center, and those rushing in were riddled with arrows again.

With just two attacks, by changing the firing points, over a thousand cultists from the Shin Hwa Cult’s vanguard had perished.

Fleeting, futile deaths. In war, human life was easily lost and devalued.

The moment life’s value was measured by the word ‘worthless.’

Several volleys of arrows followed, and several bursts of blood.

Just by rushing forward, the Shin Hwa army had lost over two thousand troops.

But Yeon-wi could see, could feel it.

Neither King Chal Geuk-pyeong nor Ohwa King Cheol Heum-gi, nor any of the cultists marching while singing incomprehensible hymns, seemed to regret or mourn it.

‘They’re fanatics.’

Yeon-wi was not mistaken.

Most of those who died in the vanguard were low-level Hwajeong [a type of martial arts] practitioners. They easily fell to arrows and the trampling of their own allies.

However, the center guard would be different, and the rear guard trained in the Four Sucking Ghostly Demonic Art would certainly be difficult to deal with.

Woo-woong.

Blue energy surged from Yeon-wi’s general’s sword.

The cultists at the very front of the vanguard entered within a hundred paces.

“General Hong.”

It was a whisper, but his voice traveled on the wind and reached Hong-un’s ears clearly.

Hong-un shouted,

“Reverse formation!”

At that moment, the artillerymen behind the two thousand Martial Alliance troops simultaneously turned their mid-heaven cannons to the rear.

Firing as they were would send cannonballs into the Imperial Palace troops.

The thousand Imperial Palace troops moved behind the artillerymen, closer to the enemy.

The artillerymen were completely hidden by the Martial Alliance troops, the thousand Imperial Palace troops, and the five hundred archers firing arrows between them.

When the Shin Hwa army’s vanguard approached within thirty paces, the five hundred Imperial Palace archers stopped firing and retreated to the sides of the five hundred artillerymen who had already split to the left and right.

Flash!

Yeon-wi’s eyes blazed.

Though he’d killed over two thousand enemies with arrows, the true start of the full-scale battle was signaled by a single general’s sword.

Weeeeing! Swish!

The general’s sword, swung powerfully horizontally, unleashed a massive wave of sword energy.

About thirty cultists were cut in half and fell with that swift, powerful strike.

The formation collapsed again, but with nearly three thousand troops remaining in the vanguard, countless cultists rushed at Yeon-wi from his left and right.

Yeon-wi briefly moved his lips.

“Now.”

The highest commander of the Martial Alliance troops, the Crescent Moon Blade, Maeng Gwak, who had been silent until now, shouted,

“Scatter!”

The two thousand Martial Alliance troops who had formed the artillery formation instantly spread to the left and right.

Surprisingly, the central space they had widened was empty. The Imperial Palace’s artillerymen, archers, and infantry had all retreated to the left and right, making the center incredibly wide.

It was a space large enough for more than half of the vanguard to enter. The cultists of the Shin Hwa army’s vanguard were momentarily bewildered.

At that moment, Yeon-wi’s dance began.

Fuhwaaak! Puheo-eok!

It was a clean movement, as expected of Yeon-wi. However, it was an unusually savage sword strike, not like Yeon-wi.

His swordsmanship, which mercilessly cut down enemies with minimal internal energy, had no fixed form. He simply cut and cut again with the general’s sword he held.

In that short time, over a hundred cultists lost their lives. The difference in martial arts was excessively large, but Yeon-wi’s movement and sword speed after dismounting were also too fast.

As he advanced, cutting through the center, he was like Zhang Fei of Changban Slope [a famous general known for his bravery]. The cultists screamed and attacked Yeon-wi, but their martial arts couldn’t even touch a hair on his body.

Cut and cut again, kill and kill again.

In this short time, Yeon-wi killed nearly half the number of evil doers he had killed in his entire life.

His whole body was covered in blood, and the general’s sword, which had been burning with energy, was now stained with killing intent.

This was nothing short of a one-sided massacre. It was an attack that did not suit Yeon-wi, who had always been respected for his innate talent.

However, there was not the slightest wavering in Yeon-wi’s eyes. Naturally, there was not even a hint of mercy in the general’s sword he was wielding.

Unlike his heart.

‘I know.’

The power being emitted was creating the flow of the sword on its own.

It was a swordsmanship without a distinct form, but the essence of the Yeon Family Sword Art was embedded in the patterns the sword drew.

Even though he was killing enemies using almost no internal energy, only his enlightenment and trained body, the bodies of the enemies fell like autumn leaves.

‘I know, you don’t want to die either.’

Beyond Yeon-wi’s coldly hardened face, his heart was shedding tears of blood.

They were people he had never seen before. He was pointing his sword at them, calling them the Three Cults that needed to be eradicated, but in reality, Yeon-wi had never met any of the cultists who were dying so miserably.

They too would be happy when they ate something delicious, know love, and be someone’s father or child.

Some of them might have been pushed into the war, not because of their faith.

‘But I also have something to protect.’

Yeon-wi advanced and advanced again.

The Shin Hwa army’s vanguard realized they could never kill this monstrous swordsman. They ran in terror, still singing hymns, and rushed towards the Martial Alliance troops, avoiding Yeon-wi.

‘A fight where we kill and are killed, regardless of the apologies I feel for you, if our land falls into your hands, the people of my homeland will cry out in despair, and they will not be able to live a human life.’

Fire ignited in Yeon-wi’s eyes.

‘Since it is such a fight, I too will become such a being and treat you with cold severity.’

Flash!

The general’s sword drew a circle.

The bodies of all the cultists around Yeon-wi were cut horizontally.

It was like watching a dragon going against a pouring waterfall. The water was constantly pouring down, but the dragon easily cut through the water and ascended.

On the other hand, the water that did not collide with the dragon poured down and collided with the Martial Alliance troops.

Kwa-kwang! Puh-buh-buh-buhk!

A storm of blood erupted in the air.

The moment they encountered the enemies, the Martial Alliance troops, divided to the left and right, surrounded the enemy troops widely, leaving the central passage empty.

It was an artillery formation. A formation that surrounded the water.

The left and right wings of the Martial Alliance, which had transformed into a solid formation, densely intertwined as if not to miss a single drop of water, indiscriminately cut down the cultists.

Clear fear began to form on the faces of the cultists.

The red mist that erupted contained countless pieces of flesh and limbs. Most of them belonged to the cultists.

They had rushed forward, singing hymns for their god, but this rush was a path towards death.

Of course, they would be embraced by their god if they died. But to think of their god, the existence of Yeon-wi, who was wildly swinging his sword in front of them, and the solidity of the Martial Alliance troops, who were blowing away their allies with their ironclad formation, were too monstrous.

“Uwaaaaaa!”

“Break through! Break through!”

“Oh, Fire God!”

Finally, even from their mouths, which had been chanting hymns, cries similar to those of ordinary soldiers burst out.

It was then.

Pa-a-a-a-ang!

When more than half of the vanguard had passed Yeon-wi, Yeon-wi immediately turned his back and pursued the troops that had passed him.

Hwa-a-a-a-ak!

Unlike before, Yeon-wi’s presence, rushing forward with immense killing intent, was like a whole army descending.

“Uwaaaaaaak!”

“R-run away!”

In the end, the cultists, terrified, frantically ran towards the central passage created by the Imperial Palace troops.

They were running away as if fleeing, not fighting the enemy. One person called two, two called four, and four called eight, and soon the number of cultists fleeing towards the passage exceeded a thousand.

The Imperial Palace guards, divided to the left and right, and the Martial Alliance troops simply watched them.

And when they passed the artillerymen and started running towards the Imperial Palace.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!!

The artillerymen, who had been targeting the rear, fired their mid-heaven cannons.

Most of the fleeing cultists were blown to pieces by the indiscriminate shelling. The surviving remnants, unable to regain their senses, staggered and became easy prey for the Imperial Palace archers.

In this short battle, the enemy’s forces had dropped below a thousand.

Only then did the Martial Alliance troops rush forward, following Yeon-wi, and push the vanguard. The cultists, whose morale had plummeted, lost their lives with chilling screams.

Thus, the first engagement ended in a resounding victory for the Imperial Palace side.

But it was not the time to rejoice. As the Shin Hwa army’s vanguard vanished, the center guard led by King Chal Geuk-pyeong began to rush forward.

Yeon-wi shouted,

“Back to the artillery formation!”