The Supreme Who Rules the Boundless Sky - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Spear Heaven Martial Emperor Episode 27

A dark night where only moonlight illuminated the ground.

The Annihilation Squad’s solo operation had begun.

“Everyone, advance.”

Following the Myeolsadae Commander’s order, about a hundred Annihilation Squad members climbed the mountain.

They advanced swiftly under cover of darkness.

As expected of elite forces, their movement speed seemed hardly different from moving in daylight.

‘Our goal is to destroy Jeokyeomchae’s wooden palisade and send a signal. Hehe. Easy. The enemies will be asleep at this hour too.’

Namgung Hwan thought this as he climbed the dark mountain path with his squad members.

How much time had passed like this?

“Huh!?”

A sound that shouldn’t be heard reached their ears.

Thud!

“Aaaaaargh!”

Soon after, a heart-rending scream echoed through the night sky.

The Annihilation Squad members looked toward where the sound came from in confusion.

One of their comrades had fallen into a pit trap and his thigh was pierced through by something like a wooden stake.

“Damn! Watch out for traps!”

The Myeolsadae Commander shouted urgently.

Come to think of it, it was a dark night when even martial artists couldn’t easily see ahead.

So even if there were traps, they would be difficult to avoid.

And that couldn’t be the only trap from the start.

But it was already too late.

“Over there!”

A deep voice echoed from a distance.

It was a sound coming from the mountain stronghold.

The bandits who heard the scream had grasped the Annihilation Squad’s approximate location.

“Shoot! Even if you can’t see where they are, just shoot anyway!”

Whiiiiiish!

Following the deep-voiced bandit’s command, arrows poured down like rain from the darkness.

Most of them went to wrong places or stuck in trees, but among them were several that hit their targets.

“Urgh!”

“Grrk!”

Several Annihilation Squad members grabbed the parts where arrows hit them and screamed.

The Myeolsadae Commander bit his lips.

Who would have thought their position would be exposed by falling into a trap?

It was a completely unexpected blunder.

He couldn’t help but consider retreating.

“Charge! Show those bandits what we’re made of!”

But making his concerns meaningless, such a voice came from behind.

It was Namgung Hwan. When arrows came flying, he had shrewdly retreated to the back while giving the order to charge.

“No, Young Master! We must retreat here! Since the enemies have discovered our position, the effectiveness of a surprise attack is over!”

“Commander. You’re not suggesting we retreat after only taking losses, are you? If we retreat here, our reputation will be ruined!”

“I cannot put our members in danger just to save face! Besides, if we leave now, we can end this with minimal losses…”

Whiiiiiish!

His words couldn’t continue.

It was because a second volley of arrows poured down. The Myeolsadae Commander gritted his teeth and slashed away an arrow flying toward him before assessing the battle situation.

“Gah!”

“Kek!”

This time too, without fail, three or four allies were hit.

Including those caught in the trap, nearly ten casualties had already occurred.

Fortunately, no one seemed to have died, but it was obvious what would happen if damage continued to accumulate like this.

Finally, the Myeolsadae Commander had to make a choice.

“Everyone retreat! Take care of the wounded comrades and go down the mountain!”

“Hahaha! You cowards!”

At that moment, a booming voice came from the distance.

It was a voice coming from the mountain stronghold.

“Come on and try attacking us! We’re right here!”

At the same time, torches revealed themselves, showing that about dozens of people had emerged from the mountain stronghold.

They were probably those who came out to intercept the Annihilation Squad.

There was no guarantee they would lose if they fought…

Since the advantage of surprise was lost, engaging in a frontal confrontation would only result in losses.

The Myeolsadae Commander ignored the enemies and shouted loudly to go down.

‘Such incompetence…!’

Seeing this, Namgung Hwan ground his teeth.

The plan to magnificently capture the enemy’s wooden palisade under cover of night had been ruined from the very beginning.

All that remained was the label of being defeated by falling into traps.

But there wasn’t much he could do in this situation. In the end, he abandoned the Annihilation Squad members and was the first to descend the mountain.

Thus, the first operation ended in failure.

* * *

“…”

The atmosphere in the military camp was heavy.

Do Gyeom, the military officer in overall charge of the government forces, frowned as he looked at the Myeolsadae Commander.

His expression was filled with obvious disappointment.

‘I had expectations since they were called the elite of the Namgung Family, but what kind of mess is this.’

Honestly, he had been uneasy from the moment he first heard the plan.

They had refused even the help of allies and went into solo action, as if trying to monopolize the achievement.

They didn’t even carry torches, saying they would utilize the advantage of surprise, and as a result, they fell into traps in the dark mountains and shamefully exposed their position.

The result was naturally an unsightly retreat.

Even including the lightly wounded, twenty percent of their available forces had been injured.

Considering they inflicted no damage on the enemies, it was truly a foolish act.

“Sigh. It would be better not to conduct operations at night anymore.”

But Do Gyeom only said that much and didn’t pursue the matter further.

After all, he didn’t want to make relations with the Namgung Family any worse.

Even though if his subordinate had done such a thing, it would have been stupid enough to deserve a kick to the shins…

As a government official, he couldn’t do such a thing.

In the end, he only gave a verbal warning and focused on planning the next strategy.

‘Damn it!’

But such a reaction made the Myeolsadae Commander and Namgung Hwan feel even more miserable.

It would have felt better if he had at least cursed them out refreshingly.

But the fact that he didn’t made their insides boil.

‘How much must that bastard Namgung Hyeok be laughing…’

Namgung Hwan thought this as he glared at Namgung Hyeok, who was lost in thought while looking at a map showing the mountain’s general geography.

He too, like Do Gyeom, wasn’t saying much, but he was surely looking down on them inwardly.

This fact cracked Namgung Hwan’s pride.

‘Since it’s come to this, I can only hope that bastard also suffers an ugly failure.’

Namgung Hwan desperately hoped that would be the case.

What mattered to him wasn’t the success or failure of the operation itself, but how much merit he could achieve in this operation.

Soon, Namgung Hyeok, who had been keeping his mouth shut, spoke.

“Tomorrow, we’ll take the lead.”

“Are you also planning to launch a surprise attack under cover of night?”

Do Gyeom spoke with a slightly sarcastic tone, but Namgung Hyeok calmly shook his head.

“We can’t use a method that’s already failed once. Besides, they’ve set up traps all along the paths leading to the mountain stronghold. It’s dangerous even in broad daylight, so moving at night would cause heavy casualties.”

“That’s obvious. So what will you do?”

“We’ll have to go with a frontal assault. We’ll form formations and move slowly up the mountain to occupy their high ground. We’ll draw their attention while the government forces secretly attack them from another direction.”

“Hmm.”

Do Gyeom pondered for a moment.

Having already witnessed one failure, he didn’t find Namgung Hyeok’s words trustworthy.

“Understood.”

However, he soon accepted Namgung Hyeok’s proposal.

Since they would be in charge of drawing attention, there was nothing to lose…

From their perspective, they could simply retreat if things went wrong.

“How do you plan to draw their attention? If you go in broad daylight, you might avoid the traps but you won’t be able to avoid the arrow barrage…”

“That’s why we brought shields. If we don’t rush, we should be able to block the arrow attacks sufficiently while moving.”

“Oh.”

“Besides, we have a secret weapon. The enemies will have no choice but to focus their attention on us.”

“A secret weapon?”

Namgung Hyeok smiled faintly.

“You’ll find out tomorrow.”

* * *

The next day arrived.

From morning, members of the three third-class battle units gathered in formation.

They all held large shields in one hand, and judging by their thickness, they seemed unlikely to be pierced by ordinary arrows.

“You’ve already heard the explanation, but I’ll say it once more. Our goal is to draw their attention until the government forces reach the enemy camp.”

Namgung Hyeok, who was also holding a shield, stepped forward as the representative and spoke.

He looked at the unit members, totaling just under a hundred, and said.

“Since attacking the mountain stronghold directly is the government forces’ job, you don’t need to worry too much about it. However, for that to happen, we need to take on some risk.”

But there wasn’t even the slightest murmur. Everyone was focused on Namgung Hyeok’s words.

“Therefore, our army’s top priority will be individual safety. Everyone maintain formation as you’ve learned and use your shields to block the enemy’s ranged attacks. Speed doesn’t matter. Just by approaching without taking damage, we’ll put great pressure on the enemy.”

The eyes of the unit members listening to the explanation sparkled.

To make individual safety the top priority.

This was completely different from the Death Extermination Unit, which tried to achieve merit by force even at the cost of casualties.

They all looked at Namgung Hyeok with moved expressions.

“Then let’s begin the operation. All troops form ranks and advance, but be careful of traps underfoot.”

Following the order, the three military combat units including the Pungwoon Unit began moving slowly.

After about an hour had passed, the enemy’s mountain stronghold became visible in the distance.

The enemy also seemed to have spotted the approaching Wind Cloud Unit members and immediately began responding.

Swish!

A barrage of countless arrows flying through the air.

“Everyone raise your shields.”

“Raise shields!”

But thanks to responding according to Namgung Hyeok’s command, there were no casualties.

Thud thud thud!

Some arrows stuck into the thick wooden shields, but they couldn’t penetrate the shields to harm anyone.

Seeing this, the allied forces’ morale rose and they began gradually approaching the mountain stronghold.

“Shoot! Shoot!”

Meanwhile, the mountain stronghold showed a panicked reaction, as if they hadn’t expected a unit heavily armed with shields to appear.

Perhaps in desperation, arrows poured down indiscriminately.

But each time, under Namgung Hyeok’s direction, the hundred or so warriors calmly blocked the attacks.

The distance to the mountain stronghold had considerably narrowed, yet not a single person was injured.

“This should be enough by now.”

“The government forces are probably climbing the mountain diligently from behind. Combat will start on that side soon too.”

“What about the Death Extermination Unit?”

“They made a fuss about wanting to participate too, but they couldn’t come out. Commander Do said they couldn’t leave the base undefended and assigned them to defense.”

“They must have really lost his trust. Well, that’s good for us.”

Namgung Hyeok chuckled and looked at So Yeon.

“So Yeon. Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready for a long time.”

She was holding a bow as large as her torso.

She stroked it as if enchanted, then nocked an arrow and drew the bowstring.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since I returned to my main profession. Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Lord.”

“It would be a waste to let your archery skills rust. Since you’re the secret weapon of this operation, make sure to pull off something spectacular.”

“Of course.”

Creak!

Strength entered her hands as she drew the bowstring.

So Yeon’s eyes flashed, and she released the bowstring. The arrow flew with tremendous force and embedded itself in the enemy’s wooden palisade.

Then.

BOOM!

The wooden palisade shattered into pieces, with fragments flying in all directions.

“…!”

The mouths of those watching the scene dropped wide open.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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