Chapter 139: Gathering the Scattered Central Army (2)
Chapter 139: Gathering the Scattered Central Army (2)
The officer frowned the moment he heard the word laboratory. It sounded extremely important so it bothered him completely. He decided that it was better to inform his brigade leader quickly as he ran straight to where Iron was.
Iron, who was watching his troops easily and leisurely organizing the Death Corps with the skills that they honed after countless battles with them, looked at the officer that was hurriedly running towards him.
“What’s the matter?”
“There’s a Central Army unit 40km south of here. From what they had said, it was an area where a laboratory is located.”
“A laboratory?”
Iron looked at the officer as he asked him with a cold and frosty voice.
“Th… That’s right.”
“Did they really say that it’s a laboratory?”
“Yes, sir!”
Iron personally moved to where the company commander was after seeing his officer nod strongly in answer.
“Is that him?”
When the officer answered in agreement, Iron quickly approached the man.
“Lo… loyalty!”
“I heard that you have asked for support but…”
“That’s right!”
“Tell me more about it.”
The company commander looked at the surroundings after hearing Iron’s question. The battle was not over yet but Iron had approached him, the company commander, as if he did not care about their surroundings at all.
“I heard that there’s a laboratory but… as far as I know there are no laboratories around this area. Is it in a village?”
Just like Iron had said, there were no laboratories marked in the official map.
There was just one village, right? And there’s also just one fortress built in case of emergencies.
The fortress was also used as a resting place and a docking area for passing airships and drake units.
“It… It’s a secret laboratory.”
“Hmm… Can you tell me more about it?”
“I don’t know much either. All we know is that it’s an important laboratory for the Empire and that we should defend it at all costs…”
“So… why are you here?”
Iron frowned.
It seemed like the company commander had fled from the place that they were tasked to defend at all cost. This was an action that warranted an immediate execution without any trial nor a decision from a court-martial.
The company commander bowed his head, it seemed like he knew it well too.
“I couldn’t drive my subordinates towards a meaningless death. You can take my life if you want. But my subordinates… please save them. Please… I’m begging you.”
Iron remained silent at the words of the tearful company commander.
“Tell me more. I will listen.”
The company commander immediately knelt down and explained after hearing Iron’s words.
While the two of them continued to talk, the battle with the Death Corps continued. And in just a blink of an eye, the battle was finished as the knights and the soldiers annihilated their enemies.
Seeing this happen, the company commander continued to explain the reason why he ran away and came all the way here with his men.
At first, his unit was tasked to defend the place since it was their base. But one day, some people came and started moving some things and supplies underground.
While they moved their supplies, they ordered the Central Army units that were guarding the base to protect the place while pushing them outside. Despite the continuous influx of the Death Corps, they chose to focus on moving their supplies rather than helping them. They sacrificed the Central Army for their own survival.
“All they said was it was for the sake of the Empire.”
“For the Empire…”
“I don’t know what it was. However, I couldn’t just blindly sacrifice my subordinates for something that vague. Among the people guarding the base, the commanding officers of the Central Army had followed them and the elites were sent to the underground laboratory.”
“And you?”
The company commander bowed his head further at Iron’s question.
“There’s a limit to the numbers that can be accommodated inside the laboratory. So…”
“Are you telling me that they abandoned the remaining troops?”
“…That’s right.”
Iron sighed at the company commander’s words.
The Imperial Family was trash but he once again confirmed that the Center was completely rotten. It was a completely trashy place where they gathered together through their personal connections and were left behind if they failed to grab onto their lines. That was the Center.
“Hoo… then, are the people who followed you the ones that were left behind?”
“…Yes.”
The company commander cried as he answered Iron’s question.
“If what you’re saying is true… Do I really need to help them?”
The others who were listening nearby nodded their heads in agreement after hearing Iron’s question.
Was there a need to risk their lives to save those who abandoned their subordinates?
The company commander answered meekly.
“There are some subordinates who have nothing to do with them.”
“And you want to save them?”
“…That’s right.”
Iron shut his mouth. He felt troubled by the company commander’s words. Seeing him, the company commander confessed his honest thoughts.
“I also… I also can’t say that the Central Army is clean. Compared to the Northeast and the other regions, it’s rotten to the core. It’s only natural that you look at us that way. But…”
The company commander couldn’t speak for a moment from the tears that blurred his vision and kept flowing on his face.
“But! There are many pure and naive soldiers that have been deployed in the Central Army. They aren’t guilty. It doesn’t matter if you abandon the officers, but please save the soldiers. I’m begging you.”
Iron finally opened his mouth after he saw and felt the sincerity in the company commander’s words.
“Hoo… I understand.”
Iron looked around as he said so.
The battlefield had already been cleaned up and all of his troops were looking at him awaiting his orders. Seeing them, Iron issued his orders.
“There are some allies nearby. I know that it’s hard and exhausting but get ready to move out immediately.”
“Yes, sir!”
They immediately moved the injured soldiers of the Central Army unit in the airship as they began their preparations to move.
The airships and drake unit swiftly rose to the sky and established their formation as they flew out.
They immediately bombarded the ground with their artillery fire the moment they arrived at their destination.
Iron’s attack against the Death Corps that burned the village and slaughtered the people while drilling through the entrance of the laboratory finally began. The beings of death screamed and perished the moment they got hit by the bombs and cannon shells that were coated and infused with holy power.
“It… it’s the support troops!”
“Support troops! The support troops came!”
“We’re saved!”
Everyone cheered at the appearance of the airship despite still being surrounded by the fierce battlefield.
The Death Corps did not have any shred of resistance against the cannonballs and magic bombs infused with holy power that rained down on them and let out light.
The assault unit descended and slaughtered the Death Corps the moment their battle line collapsed. While the knights, with the help of the drake unit, quickly swept the beings of death away as they entered the laboratory. These were the tactics that they continuously honed and developed through their countless battles against the Death Corps.
Seeing them fight easily made the soldiers who were fighting inside stare blankly at them.
― Kill the bastards inside the laboratory! Send one more to the side of death!
The commander of the Death Corps issued an order the moment it realized that they would be wiped out. The beings right next to the commander immediately bared their fangs as the unique bloody energy of the vampires spread out in the area.
The bloody energy, which was hidden by the death energy, swiftly spread in all directions and created unique and bloody clouds that slaughtered the people inside the laboratory.
“Me… Protect me!”
“Block the front!”
“What the hell are you doing!”
The officers inside the laboratory used the soldiers to block their front and ensure their survival before cutting them off and throwing them away the moment the beings of death attacked them.
“S… Stop them! Block the front!”
The officers shouted as they forced the soldiers to block their front.
Those who had turned into vampires couldn’t help but look at them in confusion when they used their soldiers as shields instead of using their strength to fight back despite being stronger than their men. After all, they felt like they were seeing parasites that lived off of these stronger people back when they were still humans. The parasites who had been busy offering bribes as they tried to be closer to those who were stronger than them while they harassed those weaker than them. And that image had overlapped with the officers in front of them.
― Trashy bastards. Kill them first.
When they heard the cold and frosty order of the Death Corps commander, the vampires began to aim for the officers first instead of the soldiers that were blocking them.
“Ugh… Aaaack! Get away from me!”
The officers unsheathed their swords the moment they saw the vampires covered in dark red fog approach them. However, for the Death Corps, who were already prepared to die, their swords covered in holy water was not something that they did not care about. They just endured the sword attacks as they pierced the back of the officers’ neck with their fangs.
Bite!
“Keuaaaaaack!”
“Sa… Save me!”
The officers cried out until they were hoarse but no one helped them. The officers died one after the other under the onslaught of the vampires’ attacks. And one of the officers who stretched his hand out and screamed at the top of his lungs until the very end was shocked as he witnessed an incredible sight in front of him.
Knights were standing and protecting the soldiers that they had pushed forward. There was also a figure that blocked the commander who led the Death Corps in front of him. It was a young commander with a star on his shoulder.
The hero that saved the North watched them die with a cold expression on his face.
“Wh…Why…”
He wanted to ask why he did not save them but his question was never finished since he took his dying breath.
The one to finish his question were the surviving beings of death as they looked at Iron.
― Why didn’t you save them? If you’re the North’s Saint then… you definitely have the ability to save them.
“Because I didn’t really want to save them. It’s a waste of my abilities to save those trash.”
The commander of the Death Corps smiled when Iron replied nonchalantly.
― You’re just like what the Apostle of Death said.
Iron frowned at him when he saw his smirk.
“You must have a lot of information about me then?”
― You’re a dangerous person who interferes with our plans time and again, of course we don’t have any choice but to know all of your details. I also know that you hate the Imperial Family.
“Hmm… I guess you know something.”
― It looks like you want to get your hands on me. Are you going to catch me just like what you did with the clans in the West?
Iron frowned when he saw the commander speaking as if he knew everything.
“If that’s the case, then what?”
― It’s going to be hard for you this time.
The commander tried to release and make its strength explode from his body as he said that.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Iron had already experienced it a lot of times so he immediately grabbed the commander’s body and injected his holy power in its body. However, instead of being delayed and stopped, the commander’s body began to disintegrate as it fought against his holy power.
― This method… doesn’t work.
“This…”
Iron’s expression hardened when he realized that the commander chose to disintegrate instead of self-destructing. He tried to press him by overwhelming it with his holy power but it took a long time for him to gather that much holy power and because of the huge power in the commander’s body its cores gradually began to collapse and disappear.
The Death Corps’ commander’s body slowly turned to dust and disappeared. Iron’s expression was distorted when he saw that the other vampires also pretended to self-destruct while disintegrating their bodies.
The commander smiled as if he had gained victory when it saw Iron’s expression and opened its mouth for the last time.
― Apostle, let me give you my last piece of advice.
“Advice?”
― Turn back now and protect the North. That way, the North can get out of this chaos.
Iron frowned.
― Fufu… If you want to rescue and save a place then you’d better find another place. Saving the center is already… too… l… ate…
After leaving those words, the commander’s body completely turned to dust.
Iron’s expression did not relax even after the commander had disappeared for a long time. After all, he left something that made him uneasy and uncomfortable. But that wasn’t the thing that was important right now.
Iron looked at the surviving officers after the Death Corps had disappeared.
“Do any of you know about this laboratory?”
The officers looked each other in the eye after hearing Iron’s question. Most of them looked like they did not know anything but there was one whose eyes were shifting while cold sweat poured down from his back at Iron’s cold expression. Even the other officers were glancing at this one officer.
Iron approached him and grabbed him by the collar.
“Are there other places like this?”
“Th… That…”
“Speak! Where are the other laboratories that the Death Corps are aiming at?!”
The officer’s cold sweat poured like buckets at Iron’s murderous and frosty eyes.
“If you’re not going to speak then just die.”
Iron pulled out his sword and placed it on the officer’s neck.
“Choose whether you want to die or not.”