The Overlord of Blood and Iron (WN)

Chapter 286: Kang Chul-In, the One-Man Army! (3)

Translator: Leyy3

In the land of Zolushka inside the arch-shaped passage at the entrance of the inner castle...

Gulp gulp!

Kang Chul-In drank his ninth potion.

“Don’t these things ever get tired?”

Heh.

Kang Chul-In had a smirk on his face.

There were no better small fries than these Shatyameba soldiers. How many did he slay so far? A mountain of corpses had already piled up, but the Shatyameba soldiers continued to swarm in.

“You go first...”

“N-No, you go first...!”

“Eeek...!”

The Shatyameba soldiers were getting tired as well. Or rather, they were more scared than they were fatigued.

“Eek... how do we even enter that passage!?”

“There’s a murderer there...”

“That’s a straight road to hell... everyone’s dead... n-now’s our turn!”

Before they were sent into the arch-shaped passage, the Shatyameba soldiers backed away like cows in a slaughterhouse.

“Get your asses in there!”

A Shatyameba officer coerced his men.

“You are soldiers! You have to fight your opponent with your lives at stake! How can you fear the enemy and still call yourselves soldiers! Now, charge! Bring your family honor and victory!”

Utter bullshit. Theoretically, he was right. A sacrifice for the greater good! “It was a soldier’s duty to sacrifice himself for their nation,” as An Jung-Guen [1], a famous Korean activist, once said.

Tsk tsk...

However, the officer’s true thoughts were far from ideal.

Poor bastards... sucks to be you all... literally human shields... tsk tsk...

He was encouraging the soldiers with euphemistic terms, but even he himself agreed that charging into the passage was an act of suicide. They were mere expendables to him.

This was a totally contrasting view from Kang Chul-In’s, who treated every soldier as his family.

“Go!”

The officer bellowed in a threatening tone.

Creeeek!

The archers began to pull the triggers of their magic-engineered propelling devices, which amplified the kinetic energy of their arrows, and aimed at the backs of their fellow soldiers.

“W-What the fuck...!?”

“Hey... boys... aren’t we on the same side... huh?”

“Lieutenant colonel Jayce ... p-please... we are all going to die...”

“M-Mercy...!”

The soldiers pleaded.

“Hurry!”

The officer roared. As a result,

“Argh, fuck!”

“Are you telling us to die?”

“Hey, you fuckers! Might as well tell us to commit suicide!”

“Fucking bastards... just because you aren’t the ones fighting...”

His words provoked an uproar from the soldiers.

“Argh, since we are going to die anyway...”

“So you wanna do this...”

“C-Come at us!”

“Rather than going in to die for naught...”

The soldiers turned around to face the officer.

“Y-You bastards...!”

The officer was caught off-guard.

“Are you disobeying my order...?”

At that instant, a soldier cut him off.

“Hey, you fucker!”

His name was Dopinde, a man who worked as a rickshaw driver in Shatyameba’s capital, ‘Apu city.’ He was dragged into the battlefield via the conscription policy.

“Are you telling us to go in there? Even though it’s guaranteed death?”

Dopinder snarled.

“D-Did you just call me fucker...?”

“That’s right, fucker.”

“...!”

“Fuck, you don’t even treat us as humans, do you?”

Dopinder was overwhelmed with rage.

“You fuckers... don’t we even look like humans to you? To you upper-rank officers, we may appear as mere human shields... but we too... we too are humans! Why the fuck do you keep driving us into the corner...? At least pair us up with some strong knights... at least make the fight a little bit more even...”

It was almost a cry of despair, coming from a man who had his rights completely trampled on.

“Alright... kill us... just kill all of us...! Our nation? That’s right, just kill my family living in this shitty nation...! Why do we even live? We are going to starve to death anyway...! Come on, kill us... kill...!”

“You fucker... you must have gone insane... A mere soldier...”

“Yeah... I’m insane... but still...”

Flash! Dopinder’s eyes gleamed with rage and sadness.

“Let me take your head first...”

It was a clear declaration of rebellion.

It was already a cardinal sin for a soldier to curse at his commander. But to threaten to kill him was an instant call for a death sentence.

“Right, since we are going to die anyway...”

“Motherfuckers...”

“Let’s all die together...”

However, Dopinder and his fellow soldiers didn’t care about military law anymore. They were destined to die, anyway. Instead of dying a meaningless death in the passage, it was better for the soldiers to get the pent-up rage off their chests before death.

“You bastards...”

The officer gritted his teeth.

“Shoot them all, all of them!”

In the end, the commander ordered an immediate disposal.

Pang!

Pang, paaang!

The archers pulled the bowstrings.

“Arghhhhh!”

“You fuckers!”

“Kill us, kill us!”

Dopinder and his comrades charged towards the officer regardless of the incoming rain of arrows.

Hmm?

Kang Chul-In was quietly watching this situation unravel from inside the passage.

It’s good that they are fighting with each other, but...

Somehow, he didn’t want Dopinder and his comrades to die. He was a commander himself. In fact, he was a great general who commanded over 100,000 soldiers. Even from his point of view, the Shatyameba officer’s decision was just too brutal.

A war of attrition could be a strategic move, but this Shatyameba officer's decision appeared to be nothing more than ‘population reduction.’ As Dopinder mentioned, the fight had to be somewhat even for attrition to even occur.

I shall take them under my wing.

Kang Chul-In decided.

Whoooosh!

A vortex whirled, forming a barrier of wind.

Ting!

The arrows bounced off helplessly.

“W-What the?”

“What is this!”

“What just happened?”

The soldiers of Shatyameba and also the rebellion crew comprising Dorian and his comrades... Both parties were stunned.

Thump, thump! Kang Chul-In made his appearance.

“Whoever wants to live and become my subordinate, stand behind me.”

Kang Chul-In declared.

“K-Kang Chul-In?”

“T-The Supreme King of the West?”

“Is it really that Kang Chul-In?”

Everyone was surprised.

“Let me reiterate.”

Kang Chul-In did not falter.

“I’m not entertaining any questions. Whoever wants to live and become my subordinate, stand behind me.”

A one-way announcement. That was indeed Kang Chul-In’s style.

“Argh, fuck it!”

Dopinder was the first one to move.

“M-Me too!”

“Let me survive first!”

“Let’s follow the correct leader!”

Dopinder’s comrades also queued up immediately behind Kang Chul-In.

“Oi.”

Kang Chul-In walked towards the officer.

“Y-Yes?”

“You seem to treat human lives like dirt, huh?”

“T-That’s not it... these mere soldiers... kuhuk!”

The officer was split in half vertically.

Pssssst! A tremendous amount of blood spurted out.

Thump! The corpse, now in two pieces, collapsed onto the floor.

“To me, you are a mere officer, too. It’s fair now, so just die.”

Kang Chul-In lashed out coldly at the dead officer. From a different perspective, the officer was one of the expendables as well.

“And you bastards...”

Kang Chul-In growled at his opponents.

“If you want to die...”

Immediately,

“W-We surrender!”

“M-Mercy!”

“I’ve looked up to you since before!”

“We wish to be your soldiers, your Majesty!”

Thump!

Thump, thump, thump!

One by one, the Shatyameba soldiers began to kneel down in front of Kang Chul-In.

W-What the hell?!

Kang Chul-In was astonished for a moment. There were too many soldiers. Over 2,000 Shatyameba soldiers had surrendered. That was practically everyone who had reached the inner castle.

“Your Majesty! We wish to be people of the Valhalla Kingdom!”

“Please accept us!”

“We pledge our loyalty to you!”

“I love you!”

“Long live the Supreme King of the West!”

“Long live the Valhalla Kingdom!”

It was a weird sight to behold during a war.

What even...

Kang Chul-In was flabbergasted, but there was a reason for this phenomenon. The Shatyameba people were neither blind nor deaf. Which country had the best welfare system in Pangaea? Which country treated its soldiers the best in Pangaea? Which country was the strongest in Pangaea? Which country did the people of Pangaea wish to live in the most?

There was only one answer. The Valhalla Kingdom!

Kang Chul-In might be notorious as a devilish conqueror, but everyone in Pangaea knew that the quality of life in Valhalla was extremely high. Thus, the Shatyameba soldiers were taking this opportunity to surrender and improve their lives, rather than dying a dog’s death!

“Hmm!”

Kang Chul-In stroked his chin once.

“Alright! I will take you all in!”

He accepted their submission. Why not? Even the ignorant Kang Chul-In knew that a larger population led to greater national power. There was no reason for him to reject them.

“We pledge loyalty to you, your Majesty!”

Dopinder swiftly stepped forward.

“Now, everyone, let’s salute His Majesty Kang Chul-In! Salute!”

Almost immediately, the Shatyameba soldiers, who were now Valhalla soldiers, released a thundering roar.

“Salute!”

It was a wise move. Kang Chul-In, the Supreme King of the West... the devilish tyrant who had once brought blood and fear into Pangaea, was now winning his enemy over with his virtue!

***

“Commander-in-chief!”

The signaller was anxious. He had to relay this information quickly. Why? The opponent at the arch-shaped passage was none other than ‘that’ man!

“Emergency!”

“Calm down first before you report.”

Lee Ji-Tae was composed.

He was not a man to be startled by any situation...

“The opponent... it turned out to be the Supreme King of the West!”

“W-What?!”

...Or not. How could he not be shocked, knowing that the opponent was Kang Chul-In?

Bang! Lee Ji-Tae slammed his fist down on the table.

Crack crack!

The metal table shattered into tiny pieces.

“Kang Chul-In... that Kang Chul-In?”

“Yes, commander-in-chief!”

The signaller replied.

“Moreover...”

“...”

“2000 soldiers surrendered immediately after knowing his identity...”

“...”

“On top of that, they even pledged loyalty on the spot!”

Brrrrr!

Lee Ji-Tae’s body trembled.

Kang Chul-In... you bastard... why are you here... in this rural area...? Why!?

Lee Ji-Tae was about to hit the roof. He who had already lost Rothschild could not even bear to hear the ‘k” of Kang Chul-In. That wasn’t all. He went to bed every day with the delightful thought of mutilating Kang Chul-In. In other words, his hatred for Kang Chul-In was absolutely phenomenal!

“Alright, Kang Chul-In...”

Lee Ji-Tae grinned with murderous intent.

“Let me make this place your grave... I shall hold a party for you. Ke, kekeke!”

Lee Ji-Tae cackled as if he was demented. He then shouted across the room.

“Signaller!”

“Yes, commander-in-chief!”

“Make a call to the Gullveig Alliance, immediately!”

It was a wise move. If he couldn’t combat Kang Chul-In alone, why wouldn’t he gather other people to do so? Moreover, this prey called Kang Chul-In just so happened to be a troublemaker who had many enemies.

All Lee Ji-Tae had to do was slip a note that Kang Chul-In was here, and then wait for the others to hunt him down!

[1] Read more about him here!