Chapter 123 - Chapter 21: Barbarians #2 (1/2)

Chapter 123 – Chapter 21: Barbarians #2

Vandal had been born on the battlefield.

He didn’t know whether his mother had been a soldier of the army or a mercenary. Maybe she had just been a pitiful civilian. Anyway, she would have been an ogre.

Vandal was an orphan. He didn’t know who his father or mother was.

From the beginning, his father had belonged to the army of the demon king. He belonged to a group that could be called either mercenaries or warlords. Vandal’s memories of his childhood were faint, so he didn’t know anything more. Still, it was clear that it hadn’t been a regular army.

His life had been saved due to the mercy of the mercenary leader, and he had grown up under the care of all the mercenaries as their mascot.

Vandal survived due to the distinctive tough vitality of an ogre and their short childhood. Among the ogres, he was a particularly strong variant. Although an ogre’s childhood was short, he had almost no suckling days.

Vandal had been born and raised on the battlefield, so his life was filled with numerous battles. There had been favourable battles and unfavourable ones. There had been overwhelming battles in which massacres had occurred and battles in which there had been a stalemate on both sides. Of course, Vandal had experience as both the slaughterer and the victim.

Numerous battles, numerous defeats and victories… He had hundreds or maybe even thousands of those experiences, and some of those remained unforgettable in his memories.

It was the same for the battle several days ago.

It was a total failure. Among the many battles he had experienced as a general of the demon king’s palace, it was difficult to find a larger defeat.

Approximately 9,000… That was the number of soldiers Vandal had led. He didn’t know how many of them lived or died. That fact alone explained how terribly he had been defeated.

The number of troops that Vandal was currently leading amounted roughly to 2,000 or so. Collecting the scattered soldiers would allow him to build a large unit, but the enemy didn’t allow it.

Thousands of enemies were chasing after him. However, they weren’t the barbarian king’s main army. They were only a part of the great army that the barbarian king had raised.

Vandal’s soldiers were exhausted. As usual, many dropouts occurred during the night. There were also some who were injured and some who died. Those who thought there was no chance of winning escaped as well.

Vandal, who was at the very front of his troops, moved to the rear of the procession. However, it wasn’t to monitor those who wanted to run away.

Vandal stopped in place and looked behind him. A dust cloud could be seen from far away. It was the desperate pursuit of the barbarian king’s troops after there had already been a few conflicts over the past few days. As expected, the scale of the pursuers was much larger than Vandal’s forces. He had lost strength due to the constant harassment over the past two days.

Vandal stretched and sighed, raising his head to the sky.

Despite having been defeated in the battle against the barbarian king, Vandal attached great importance to his survival. If the army commander lost their life, the army would be lost. In order to defeat the barbarians properly, he needed to survive and lead the troops.

However, it was different now. Vandal decided to be a commander on the front lines.

‘No, it isn’t even that.’

He was an arrow that had served the military since childhood—a meat shield sent out to die.

He had to prevent the enemy’s advance, raise chaos and make the situation a slightly more favourable for the soldiers fighting. The rewards for the barbarians would vary depending on the merits, and the best prize, General Vandal’s head, was right in front of them.

The dust cloud became a little bit bigger. The sound of horseshoes hitting the ground could be heard.

Vandal’s ogre guards stood beside him. Among them, the orc who was Vandal’s deputy, Zico, was absent as he had died in the battle against the barbarian king.

Vandal took a deep breath and poured strength into his two hands which were holding a weapon. Due to the catastrophic battle against the barbarian king, his left arm wasn’t working properly. Its aura circulation wasn’t natural either, and there was pain in his right leg every time he moved.

How could he fight against the enemy in this state? However, this was the way Vandal had chosen to live his entire life.

Vandal was reminded of the mercenary leader who had been his idol in his childhood. The mercenary leader had been an orc, and he had used to say the same thing in battle,

‘It’s a good day to die.’

Vandal laughed. It was bullshit. Was this that day?

“They’re coming.”

Vandal said. There was a vacancy, so the now 23 members of his guards grabbed their weapons and prepared for battle.

There was more dust. The enemy’s shouting could now be heard as well. The screams and sounds of cavalry were indeed amazing.

Vandal roared as he faced the enemies. The roaring seemed to shake the heavens and earth as the cavalry rode on. Some horses panicked and dropped their riders.

Vandal laughed, and his aura rose up like flames.

“Go.”

The situation was like this, and Vandal, his ogre guards and his soldiers rushed forward wildly.

&

Yakuzan was the chief of the Red Lightning tribe.

He held his weapon in his last fight, instead of running away. He had challenged Vandal, who was sweeping through the orcs.

“Kuhang!”

Vandal roared and wielded a large hammer. Before Vandal’s power, Body Hardening was useless. The barbarians hit by the battle hammer exploded and died.

Vandal felt the battlefield with his entire body. He wielded his battle hammer towards the barbarians on both sides and found himself alone. He felt satisfied as his charge had disrupted the barbarians’ formation.

Dozens of spears flew toward him. The ogre guards were nowhere in sight, but Vandal picked up a barbarian at his feet to use as a shield. However, there were too many spears, and the large spears mangled Vandal’s shoulders, arms and thighs.

As he threw himself at the barbarians, Vandal only protected his head. He moved through the barbarians with a pained roar and blended in with the enemies in order to interfere with the spear attacks.

However, the barbarians didn’t care about any damages to their allies. Among the barbarians, those with a particularly strong red aura around them threw spears.

This time, Vandal scattered aura from his hammer into the air instead of picking up another barbarian, and Vandal’s aura exploded into the sky, destroying the spears or twisting their trajectory.

“Ararararai!”

Vandal gave his ogre battle cry and rushed towards the barbarians with red energy. It was an unimaginable pace for a person with critical wounds all over his body.

The barbarians were trampled on by Vandal, and they died. The barbarians with red energy at the front couldn’t avoid or stop Vandal’s hammer. Like the other barbarian warriors, their bodies exploded and they died.

Vandal’s eyes shone, and the blue aura radiating from him was running wild.

However, a spear then pierced Vandal’s back. Vandal swallowed the pain and swung his battle hammer. He was about to hit the enemy who damaged him, but that was it. The barbarians with the red aura rushed in at once. They were many times stronger than the common barbarians, but they still couldn’t withstand Vandal’s strikes. Every movement made the spears which were already embedded in his body hurt even more.

Vandal put down the battle hammer and used his fists. Some of the barbarians lost their lives to his fists, but it was only for a short time. No matter how much vitality an ogre had, he was still a living being. He had lost too much blood. His life force was scattered, and Vandal’s movements became slower. He wasn’t able to exert his strength properly.

A few spears were sticking out of his chest, and Vandal coughed up blood. A barbarian before him paused for a moment, and Vandal swung a fist with all his strength. He crushed the face of the man and looked up at the sky.

“Ararararai!”

His last roar.