Chapter 8

Chapter 8 < Overwhelming. >

“Everything seems to be going according to the Chief Spirit’s plan.”

As they came out of the meeting hall, the upright tree said. Kim Ki-woo chuckled and replied.

“I didn’t think they would come out like that.”

“Didn’t you expect it? I thought it was obvious.”

“How could I predict everything? Well, it doesn’t matter as long as we get to Seoul.”

“Pardon?”

“As long as the outcome is good.”

As the upright tree said, Kim Ki-woo had made a lot of preparations since he decided to expand his tribe last spring.

It was, of course, a preparation for a conquest war.

‘I know a lot about ancient warfare.’

There was no cavalry here.

Even the walls were only made of wooden stakes. The weapons were mostly bows and spears made of sharpened stones.

Metal armor? No way.

‘If I lose to such an opponent, I should drown myself in a puddle.’

The enemy warriors might be more numerous, but it was a war that he couldn’t lose if he prepared well.

But Kim Ki-woo didn’t let his guard down. He had prepared excessively for the past year and a half. His industry had been in a de facto state of war for a long time.

Among them were steel shields and spears with steel tips, and…

Whooosh~ Bang!

“Good. Not bad. How many have been produced?”

“We have exceeded 200 today.”

Kim Ki-woo had fired a crossbow.

Unfortunately, there was not enough iron to mass-produce steel armor, greaves, or helmets. But square steel shields, spears, and crossbows were already enough to be overpowered.

“How do the warriors react?”

“The loading speed is slower, but overall not bad. Most importantly, they can aim and shoot.”

The War chief Strong Bow stroked his crossbow and answered.

“Haha. You seem satisfied with it too, War chief?”

“Well, there aren’t many warriors who can shoot a bow as well as me. But this crossbow can achieve decent skills with a little effort, right?”

“That’s right. They will surely suffer from this thing.”

Crossbows require more sophisticated craftsmanship than bows. But over the past few years, the craftsmen had experienced a remarkable improvement in skills and tools. 

Thanks to that, Kim Ki-woo was able to mass-produce crossbows of considerable quality.

“Now there’s not much time left until harvest. Surely the war will break out by then. War chief, please pay more attention to the training of the warriors.”

“Just trust us. We are getting used to the dense tactics that you devised.”

“Haha. Of course I trust you!”

Kim Ki-woo nodded with a smile.

The warriors were swift hunters who had trained in nature for a long time. They adapted quickly to the training.

The workload increased due to the training, but that was something he had to accept.

*

That fall.

The war that he had anticipated actually broke out.

Four large tribes of the Chokto tribe united and invaded the territory of the Creek tribe. Their number was as many as 15,000.

“Everyone stop!”

The War chief Strong Bow shouted loudly to the warriors following him.

“Stop!”

“All troops stop!”

Then the surrounding warriors shouted in unison and stopped marching in an orderly manner.

The training over the past time paid off. The core of the dense infantry tactics was formation and discipline. 

They had to keep their positions and strictly follow the tactics as one part of it in order to multiply the effect of the dense tactics.

“Won’t they just go back?”

“They won’t. They must have run out of food by now. They won’t go back quietly without plundering our tribe.”

“Damn. That’s true.”

They looked eighteen times more than the Creek warriors. There was no Creek warrior who thought that those many warriors would just go back.

‘The difference in numbers is overwhelming.’

It was a hopeless difference that he couldn’t win in a War under the same conditions.

But no one, including Strong Bow, thought that they would lose to them.

They had experienced the destructive power of the dense tactics devised by Kim Ki-woo while training.

‘It’s a scary tactic. Or is it all thanks to these powerful weapons?’

Either way, the Spirit Chief was truly amazing. The Creek tribe had started to develop since he came.

How far will the Creek tribe develop? Can they really become the rulers of the continent as the Spirit Chief said?

The more he thought about it, the hotter Strong Bow’s chest became.

Strong Bow shouted at the warriors with his emotions.

“They are the ones who have oppressed us countless times. And they have invaded our sacred land again without permission! Look, their numbers are much larger than ours! Surely there will be a War with them. Are you afraid of fighting? If anyone is afraid, speak up now!”

“No!”

“We are not afraid!”

The warriors were confident. Their morale was higher than ever.

“Trust the powerful weapons that the Chief Spirit invented himself! Remember the thick sweat drops we shed during this time! We will surely win! And we will make them realize the changed power of the Creek!”

“Woo! Woo! Woo!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

After a round of mental preparation, Strong Bow looked at the enemies again. The enemies were also shouting and boosting their morale.

Then he needed to break their momentum. This large-scale War was a fight of momentum.

“Solid Steel Sword.”

“Yes, War chief.”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s an honor!”

At Strong Bow’s call, Solid Steel Sword walked towards the enemies without a hint of hesitation.

He had abandoned his previous name and chose this name because he was fascinated by the steel sword. 

Solid Steel Sword was a young warrior who was only 17 years old.

But he was one of the most skilled warriors in swordsmanship that Kim Ki-woo had taught him. He was a genius of swordsmanship. 

As a result, his appearance was different from other warriors who formed the phalanx.

He was wrapped in steel all over his body, like a heavy-armored knight, and carried a solid steel sword on his waist.

There were ten such swordsmen in the unit for intimidation purposes.

As Solid Steel Sword approached them out of nowhere, the enemies started to buzz.

“I am a warrior of the Creek tribe, Solid Steel Sword!”

That was only for a moment. 

As Solid Steel Sword announced his name, the buzzing subsided. They understood why the warrior wearing that strange gray thing came to the front of the line.

“I am the War chief of the Chokto tribe, Sharp Spear! Are you the representative of the warriors?”

“Unfortunately, there is a separate representative, War chief of the Chokto tribe.”

“Ha! Then get out of here and call your representative!”

“You smell like mother’s milk from here. Hahaha!”

“Go drink some more milk, kid!”

Then laughter and mockery erupted from everywhere. But Solid Steel Sword didn’t change his facial expression at all.

They didn’t know because they didn’t know. The power of this tremendous weapon and armor that was born from the hands of the great Spirit Chief.

Look. They are looking down on us as enemies just because they have more numbers.

He didn’t care about their insults at all, even if he heard them a hundred or a thousand times.

“Does your tribe fight with words? You know your level.”

“What?”

“This brat!”

“If you’re unhappy, don’t whine behind and come forward. This solid steel sword will make you pay for your babbling.”

Then the expressions of the Chokto warriors began to crumple. Some warriors tried to step forward, but they had to back off by Sharp Spear’s restraint.

“I’ll personally judge whether you have enough skills to act so cocky.”

Sharp Spear, holding a well-made stone spear, came forward to Solid Steel Sword.

And they began to prepare for War while looking at each other.

“Hyaap!”

The start was Sharp Spear’s thrust. His thrust boasted a perfect skill as his name suggested. The spearhead reached Solid Steel Sword’s chest in an instant.

Clang!

But Solid Steel Sword didn’t dodge it. He just twisted his body slightly.

As expected, his armor wasn’t pierced. It just slid off in the direction it hit and sparked on his breastplate.

“Huh!”

Sharp Spear let out a scream at that sight. He was the one who stabbed the spear, but the weapon that broke was his stone spear.

Solid Steel Sword could have avoided or blocked it with his sword. But he didn’t. To imprint the overwhelming difference in equipment to everyone.

And the climax came right after.

“Huap!”

Swoosh!

His steel sword swung toward the wooden spear shaft.

And.

Crack!

The spear shaft snapped in half with a sound like firewood. And there was not a single dent on his steel sword.

Solid Steel Sword didn’t stop there.

Chop!

His steel sword cut off Sharp Spear’s neck in the blink of an eye.

Thud, thump!

Sharp Spear’s head and body separated and fell to the ground. Blood gushed out and stained the ground red.

“Gasp!”

“War chief!”

“How can this be!”

It happened in an instant.

The mouths of all the warriors in the allied tribe closed like clams.

Immediately after that. 

“Woo! Woo! Woo!”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The Creek warriors roared wildly. Their restrained shouts gave even more shock to the Chokto warriors.

Solid Steel Sword shook off the blood that stuck to his steel sword in the air, and looked at the countless allied tribe warriors arrogantly and opened his mouth again.

“Is there anyone left who wants to teach this milk drinker a lesson? If so, come forward bravely!”

“…Ugh!”

It was right after witnessing the shocking defeat. There was no warrior who easily stepped forward.

“Haha! There’s no coward like you! But it’s too late to regret it. As soon as you set foot on our Creek tribe’s sacred land, you will never be able to go back peacefully!”

The moment Solid Steel Sword’s shout ended.

“Troops, advance forward!”

Strong Bow’s command fell.

Click, click, click.

The Creek tribe began to advance, adjusting their steps equally and putting shield soldiers in front.

Shuffle, shuffle.

Then the allied tribe warriors were pushed back a little bit without knowing it by their fierce momentum.

“Don’t retreat, everyone! They are much less than us! Don’t disgrace the honor of the warriors!”

“Fight against the enemies!”

Thanks to the restraint of the allied tribe chiefs, they didn’t retreat any further.

Although the situation was unexpectedly turning weird, they had an overwhelming numerical advantage.

“Yeah! We have more, right?”

“Those guys are just the weak Creek tribe, right?”

“Ri, right!”

The warriors shouted loudly to shake off the shock. But their morale couldn’t be fully recovered.

They knew how powerful those gray weapons reflected in the sunlight were.

“Fire!”

Shoo shoo shoo!

They started to shoot arrows as soon as the enemy approached under the command of the chiefs.

Tat tat tang!

But most of the stone arrows that were shot were blocked by the large shields that almost covered the Creek warriors’ front.

And.

“Crossbow soldiers forward!”

“Forward!”

As the arrow attack subsided, a gap opened in the shield and a crossbow popped out.

“Fire!”

Shoo shoo shoo shoo!

The sound was similar.

But,

Puff puff puff puff!

“Ack!”

“Aaargh!”

The result was completely different. The arrows with iron tips easily pierced through the enemies’ bodies. 

Many warriors died or were injured in a single crossbow volley.

And again, the allied tribe’s arrows flew toward the Creek tribe, but by then the crossbow soldiers had already retreated and started reloading.

The advantage of the crossbow was clearly shown in this War situation. They just had to shoot the loaded arrows quickly and retreat.

As time passed, the damage situation was polarized.

The allied tribe warriors also realized that they couldn’t fight like this. They had to know it unless they were stupid.

“Damn! Everyone charge!”

“Charge!”

So they had no choice but to rush at the Creek tribe who blocked their front with shields. They wouldn’t get anything done if they fought like this.

“What a reckless thing to do. They would have suffered less if they had surrendered obediently.”

“People don’t know until they experience it, right?”

Strong Bow nodded at his lieutenant’s words.

“Then we have to make them realize. How reckless they were.”

His mouth twisted grimly.

< Overwhelming. > The end