novelraw Chapter 176 : Chapter 176
Chapter 176 : Chapter 176
Chapter 176 - Hardeon (8)
CLANK-
As the last carriage and cart were connected, all preparations for the transport of the supplies were complete.
All the soldiers were lined up, waiting for the signal to depart.
The tension was evident on their faces.
This was inevitable because the supply unit's workload had been overloaded recently, causing several delays in the schedule, and the supply unit had to take all the responsibility.
I heard they got a huge earful from the legion commander yesterday as well.
“Company, attention!”
Thanks to that, today's transport duty was to be directly commanded by the company commander from the front.
He was meticulously inspecting the supplies, looking over the entire convoy.
‘Certainly…’
Perhaps because it was the supply unit, even the company commander's mana level was not very high.
If so, the key was the level of the combat soldiers on the front lines.
This was information that was not in the quest report written by the Gwangun Sword Family.
“Is everyone ready!”
“Yes!!”
The soldiers’ voices echoed resoundingly.
The company commander smiled with satisfaction at their spirited appearance.
“Good! Then we will depart in exactly five minutes! Everyone, do your final checks!”
“Yes!”
Just as all the preparations were proceeding smoothly, at one moment, all my nerves went on edge.
It was both sudden and unexpected.
‘A zombie?’
The source of this unpleasant energy was very close.
At that moment, a horse began to go mad.
“You beast! What’s wrong with you!”
The flustered driver was trying to control the horse by pulling on the reins.
But in the horse's eyes, a chilling aura of death could be felt.
It was clearly a zombie.
As I had expected, the place where the zombies had appeared was right here in Hardeon, and it was the moment a piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“Huh? Uh, uh, uh, uh!!”
With the horse rampaging ferociously, the driver lost his grip on the reins.
CRACK!
CRAAACK!
In the end, the front joint of the carriage broke, and one horse became free.
“N-no!!!”
The scene instantly turned into a pandemonium.
The horse, which had unleashed monstrous strength, began to run wild, threatening the soldiers.
“Is that damn horse crazy!!”
The sound of swords being drawn spread throughout the convoy, and the sharp blades were aimed at where the horse was.
It seemed as though this commotion would be suppressed at any moment, but.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!!
They were helpless against the horse's charge.
The soldiers scattered in terror, dumbfounded.
ROOOAAAR!!!
Eventually, the horse let out a monstrous cry and bared its vicious teeth.
This sight was like that of a beast in front of its prey.
“Wh-what is this!”
The soldiers’ faces were filled with fear at this bizarre sight they had never seen before.
But this was not the end.
THUMP THUMP THUMP!
The horse began to charge again.
ROOOAAAR!!!
In the end, it bit the neck of another horse tied to a carriage.
At this sight that overturned common sense, the soldiers' faces turned deathly pale, and their mouths hung open.
The horse that was bitten on the neck struggled wildly, but it soon let out a weak groan and collapsed.
A sense of fear swept through the convoy.
The arms of the few soldiers who had raised their swords were trembling.
‘This is strange.’
Until this commotion occurred, there had been no warning signs.
Until just before that zombie horse went berserk, all the preparations for this convoy had been proceeding smoothly.
A trigger that had suddenly turned an ordinary horse into a zombie horse.
‘What could it be.’
If it had not been set up in advance, this situation was inexplicable.
It could not have escaped my notice.
Several other questions followed, but for now, suppressing this commotion was the priority.
WHOOSH!!
The Bastian I shot spun and flew towards the zombie horse.
There were two ways to kill a zombie for sure in one go.
Either pierce its heart or cut off its head.
SLICE!
This time, it was the latter.
The blade spun rapidly, and the zombie horse's head was cut off in one blow.
The two separated pieces twitched individually, then all movement stopped, and they collapsed.
Sighs of relief erupted from all over.
The soldiers murmured among themselves, each expressing their astonishment.
No one had any recognition of zombies.
They just thought the horse had gone mad.
That was why they could be so off-guard right now.
‘It’s not over yet.’
At that moment, the eyes of the horse that had collapsed after being bitten on the neck by the zombie horse flashed open.
The return of the mad horse.
The new zombie horse shot up to its feet and let out a monstrous cry.
ROOOAAAR!!
It was only natural that the soldiers were once again dumbfounded.
I retrieved the Holy Sword Bastian and walked towards the zombie horse.
The moment our eyes met, the fiend’s charge began.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!
The characteristic of the zombie that I grasped then was that it knew no fear.
The zombie horse that charged towards me like a moth to a flame had its head neatly sliced off.
Black blood shot up into the air.
A disgusting smell once again vibrated all around.
The zombie commotion was finally over.
But this time, no one opened their mouths.
They just held their breath, watching the other horses, wondering if they too might go mad.
“It seems to be all over now.”
As I declared to the soldiers with a relaxed gaze, all the breaths they had been holding were finally released at once.
***
Two zombie horses had run wild, but fortunately, there was no damage to the supplies.
With two new horses being brought in, the preparations for the transport were complete again.
The way the soldiers looked at the horses had changed.
The drivers were even more so.
They could not help but be anxious, wondering when the horses might go mad again.
‘There’s definitely something.’
It was clear that there was someone within this supply unit who had set up this commotion.
For now, after scanning with my Mana Eyes, it seemed that there were no suspicious individuals among the current transport troops.
I wanted to check all the soldiers in the supply unit right away, but the transport duty was the priority now.
“It was thanks to you, sir! If it weren't for you, not only could there have been casualties, but there would have been a major disruption to today's transport as well. After this duty is completed, there will be a special reward for you.”
The company commander praised my contribution in suppressing this commotion.
“Thank you, Company Commander.”
“Have you ever handled a sword before enlisting?”
“I just learned by watching others and can only imitate it to a certain extent.”
“For that, the skill with which you cut off the horse’s head was quite impressive.”
To say that the swordsmanship of a Sword Master was ‘quite impressive.’
Perhaps because he was not a combat soldier, his eye for swords was just pathetic.
Anyway, Shin Ah-yeon and I ended up riding in the same lead carriage as the company commander for this transport duty.
Rather than transporting supplies, we were essentially tasked with guarding the company commander.
‘What if I hadn't been here today?’
There was a high probability that the zombie horse commotion would have gotten out of control.
It was fortunate that I suppressed it quickly, but if it had been delayed a little longer, the rapid spread of the zombies would have been too much for the supply unit to handle.
There was a significant possibility that this unit, which had no proper gladiators, would have been annihilated.
In a war, having the supply line cut means defeat.
I did not know who did it, but the answer to the question 'why?' was easy to find.
‘Someone has infiltrated the supply unit.’
I did not know if it was someone in collusion with the Barbarians we were currently at war with or another force, but there was someone nearby who wished for the Hardeon Empire to be defeated.
And perhaps he would start to watch me.
Because the plan that was on the verge of completion had been thwarted by me.
I would have to find out who it was.
Because it would be connected to the purpose for which I came to Hardeon.
***
One good thing about riding in the lead carriage.
It was that the space was wide and comfortable.
It was because only the three of us, the company commander, me, and Shin Ah-yeon, were in this large carriage.
“You can just call me S.”
“I understand.”
Just as the warrior from the Gwangun Sword Family had called himself K in Hardeon, I also introduced myself as S without much thought.
“Now, I remember who you are. The rookie who volunteered even though it wasn't his turn for transport duty. I think the name was something like this.”
“That's right, Company Commander.”
I looked at him and my lips curled up slightly.
“What's the reason?”
“Because I wanted to quickly feel the atmosphere of the front lines.”
“That sounds like you want to switch to being a combat soldier.”
I had thought about that at first.
The supply unit I belonged to was too far physically from the legion commander, the target of the assassination.
But now, I thought it was rather a good thing.
First, even supply soldiers could access the front lines as much as they wanted through transport duties.
Also, if I had been assigned as a combat soldier, my face would have become known there, and my actions would have been restricted, but with my current identity as a supply soldier, there was the advantage that I could leave the scene after assassinating the legion commander without attracting much attention.
“I have no thoughts of switching. Isn't supply just as important as combat?”
“Right. That's right! In war, supply can be said to be life itself!”
I wondered who the squad leader had been influenced by, and the person responsible was right here.
He looked very pleased with my words.
“That’s a relief. If you had wanted to switch, I would have had no choice but to grant it.”
“It’s because I want to grow here!”
“I like it! I’ll nurture you!”
Winning the company commander's favor like this was very important.
Because it would remove the restrictions on my actions.
“On that note, may I continue to be in charge of transport duties in the future?”
“Of course! S, I’ll make a special mention of you.”
“Thank you.”
The carriage moved quickly.
There was about thirty minutes left until the front lines.
Seeing the strong wind blowing from outside, it seemed that the border was getting closer.
And at some point, I could feel the energy of a group approaching us from a distance.
“Is it common for messengers to come from the front lines?”
“Not really. Why do you suddenly ask that?”
“There are people approaching from the direction of the front lines. Not many. Only two.”
“You say that without even looking. You’re quite the joker.”
“We’ll encounter them in about a minute.”
Of course, there was no way the company commander would believe my words.
If he were a gladiator, his reaction might have been a little different, but this person barely knew how to operate mana.
It was a short while later that the driver shouted.
“Company Commander! There are soldiers on horseback approaching us.”
“What?”
He looked at me with surprised eyes.
“Stop them and find out what’s going on. They might not be messengers.”
“Not messengers? Then?”
“I just have a feeling.”
My intuition was quite accurate.
The energy I felt from them from a distance was unusual.
Because the level of mana they contained was too high for them to be ordinary messengers.