The Overlord of Blood and Iron

Chapter 285





Meanwhile, in the Chamonix Mountains’ Itaracia Fortress . . .


“A blitz tactic… advancing our army rapidly is the only solution . ”


Lee Ji-Tae arrived at the best conclusion he could at the moment .


“Signaller!”


“Yes, commander-in-chief!”


“Send an order to the main force to head east . ”


“Yes, sir!”


Lee Ji-Tae had yet to conquer Zolushka completely, but he had no intention to dilly-dally . Time was precious . Atal Ramanujan’s soldiers were poorly trained, and supplies were running low . He couldn’t afford to drag the war on any further .


Zolushka, Iota, Gothika, and Shen… if we conquer these four territories and claim their farming land and mines, we will still be able to sustain the military expenses, albeit not by much .


However, he also didn’t want to cut off more than he could chew . If he could conquer Shen, which possessed fertile lands along the Khartoum river, Atal Ramanujan’s financial outlook would be much better . In addition, Lee Ji-Tae could form a ‘super defense’ across the triangle connecting the borders of Iota, Gothika and Shen .


I have to be careful . Both Valhalla and Gullveig are fighting for supremacy . They want a 1v1 situation, not an emergence of a third superpower .


Lee Ji-Tae had a sharp intuition . He knew how to see the big picture .


Silently… let’s conquer the Shen territory and then stay low . We have to increase our strength .


A perfect strategy . Well, almost perfect at least . Lee Ji-Tae had failed to take into account a huge variable called Kang Chul-In . His strategies were bound to go amiss .


Why was that? It was because the deal between Kang Chul-In and Lily Sephardi was something that even a genius like Lee Ji-Tae couldn’t possibly predict .


***


“Lord Lily Sephardi, you protect the Lord’s hall . ”


Kang Chul-In spoke .


“Don’t step a single step out of this land . ”


“Yes, oppa!”


At that moment, Rooibos suddenly interrupted .


“H-However, Your Majesty! Her Majesty Lily has already lost all her soldiers . The two of us can’t defend the hall alone . . . ”


“It’s not just the two of you . ”


“What? Are the reinforcements…?”


“Not yet . ”


“I can’t comprehend Your Majesty’s intentions at all . ”


In the end, Roobios gave up trying to understand Kang Chul-In . That man surpassed everything that Roobios had expected, leaving the latter dumbfounded at every step .


“Come forth, specters!”


Kang Chul-In roared .


Sssssss!


The spectre knights revealed themselves through a curtain of black mist . Riding on the backs of their phantom steeds, they were known as the spectre cavalry .


“Wow… t-these high-class undead monsters!”


“They will protect you two . Now, Atal Ramanujan’s weak soldiers will never penetrate the Lord’s hall . ”


“T-That’s right!”


“Well then, focus on protecting your master . ”


“Yes, Supreme King of the West!”


Rooibos bowed .


“Also . ”


Kang Chul-In turned around to face Lily .


“Just to reiterate, don’t ever leave the Lord’s hall . ”


“Okay!”


“You know what I mean?”


“If a Lord… abandons the Lord’s hall… he or she doesn’t deserve to be one . . . ”


“Ok, as long as you understand that . ”


Kang Chul-In nodded . A Lord must never leave the heart of the territory . Whoever did had to suffer the wrath of his or her people, not to mention the loss of authority . A classic example could be found in Korea’s history books, in which a nation’s king fled to another country during a barbarian invasion . He was then criticized for generations and more to come .


“Well then, see you later . ”


Kang Chul-In turned his back .


“A-Are you going alone?”


“Certainly not . ”


“W-Who else?”


“Two more people . ”


“ . . . ”


“That’s more than enough . ”


He was right . Kang Chul-In had brought Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee along just in case .


Let’s hope there are many potions in my inventory .


Of course, he still had to rely on some drugs to reduce the potential strain on his body .


***


“Nilus!”


“Yes, Your Majesty?”


“Reinforce this building’s durability!”


“Certainly, Your Majesty!”


Nilus chanted a spell which caused Zolushka’s inner castle to radiate a brilliant silver light .


“How’s the durability now?”


Kang Chul-In asked .


“With this spell, this infrastructure could even withstand Hecate’s bombardment!”


Nilus promised with confidence .


“Excellent . ”


“Haha! I’m flattered, Your Majesty! It was only possible due to the small range!”


“Still, this should be enough to last until the reinforcements arrive . ”


“As long as you are happy, Your Majesty!”


Nilus didn’t like being in charge of the bombarding . Thus, he appeared extremely delighted to be summoned by Kang Chul-In .


“Kim Sung-Hee!”


“Yes, Your Majesty?”


Once known as a chaebol family’s tomboy – no, crazy bitch – Kim Sung-Hee kneeled in front of Kang Chul-In with respect .


“Show me what you are capable of . ”


“I will do you proud, Your Majesty!”


“Yes, take this opportunity to upsize your troops too . ”


“Certainly!”


Kim Sung-Hee always complained about having too few soldiers .


Although she had upsized her army significantly during the battle at Deathwin, it was still not powerful enough .


“Nilus, the Royal chief magician, and Kim Sung-Hee, the commander of the first unit of the Imhotep Immortal army . Here are my orders . ”


Kang Chul-In commanded .


“Yes, Your Majesty!” “Yes, Your Majesty!”


Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee kneeled down .


“I will handle this arch-shaped passage myself . You two deal with any enemy that infiltrates from the rear . ”


It was a crazy plan . The passage was wide and led straight to the inner castle . How could one defend this alone? However, Nilus and Kim Sung-Hee left without any objection . Why? Because the King could do no wrong .


Tap tap tap!


All of a sudden, Kang Chul-In could hear the footsteps of the enemy soldiers .


“Game, start . ”


Crack! Kang Chul-In cracked his neck left and right .


***


“How’s the situation in Zolushka?”


Lee Ji-Tae inquired .


“The outer castle has already fallen, but there’s still some resistance from the inner castle . ”


“Resistance? Hasn’t it been more than 10 hours since the frontlines infiltrated the inner castle? Are you telling me that the inner castle is still standing?”


“Yes, sir . ”


“Who is the enemy commander?”


Lee Ji-Tae realized the issue immediately . In fact, it was a simple deduction . Zolushka had more or less perished . But for the inner castle to still stand, it could only mean that there was an extremely strong general blocking the path .


Just like Zhang Fei, who single-handedly stopped Cao Cao’s army at a narrow bridge .


“That is . . . ”


The signaller hesitated, with the report in his hand .


“Commander-in-chief . . . ”


“Hand that over . ”


Lee Ji-Tae took the report from the signaller’s hand .


It read as follows:


Enemy cannot be identified .


Impossible to pass through .


Enemy’s strength, immeasurable .


Many of our soldiers’ corpses are piled up .


Attacks commenced, but to no avail .


The message indicated that nobody who entered the arch-shaped passage survived .


A monster… no, this man shouldn’t be as powerful as ‘that’ man .


‘That’ man obviously referred to Kang Chul-In . Truthfully speaking, Lee Ji-Tae was right . Assuming that the arch-shaped passage remained unscathed, any good general could fight against the poorly trained Shatyameba soldiers . Moreover, why on earth would Kang Chul-In be in Zolushka?


“Send more soldiers . ”


Lee Ji-Tae commanded .


“That man is bound to be defeated sooner or later . He is a human after all . Continue to attack the inner castle . ”


He had countless soldiers under his command, anyway . To begin with, Atal Ramanujan had too large a population to handle, which led to a severe scarcity of food and resources . A decrease in the number of soldiers wasn’t that big of a deal . In fact, it was to his benefit .


***


Meanwhile,


Gulp, gulp! Kang Chul-In leaned against the wall of the passage and gulped down his potions .


Roll .


Under his feet were countless scattered bottles that once contained top-class potions .


“Tastes awful . ”


Kang Chul-In muttered . Consumables like potions usually didn’t taste too great .


“When is that bastard coming?”


The ‘bastard’ obviously referred to Kwak Jung .


He needed the strong army that he had cultivated personally .


He couldn’t defend the arch-shaped passage for eternity, after all .


Tap tap tap!


Suddenly, Kang Chul-In could hear the footsteps of the enemy soldiers again .


“Aren’t they tired?”


He smirked . These bugs were truly relentless .


***


In the west of Pangaea, to the north of Ishtar . . .


Wiiing, wiiing!


Analyzing 89,112th video footage out of 291,234 damaged ones .


The needle of the compass-looking video player rotated continuously .


“Hmm . . . ”


Desdemona, who was beating up passing mountain bandits for fun, narrowed her eyes as she stared at the video player .


“When can I catch ‘that bastard’?”


Desdemona was talking about the sinner who had destroyed her lair . In other words, she was referring to Kang Chul-In, who had smashed the roof of her house with Laputa, the flying fortress .


Desdemona gritted her teeth .


“I will . . . ”


It was at that moment .


Analyzing 89,112th video footage out of 291,234 damaged ones .


Analysis complete!


Recovery complete!


One video footage available!


“ . . . !”


Ah, what good timing! Desdemona was extremely delighted to be able to catch a glimpse of the hit-and-run criminal . She was about to hit the roof .


“Now, shall we take a look at his face?”


Desdemona played the recovered footage .


Wiiing!


The video player began to project the footage on a wall .


Thump!


With an incredible sound . . .


Ooonng!


A castle could be seen smashing against her lair .


What’s going on!?


In the video, a disrespectful-looking bastard shouted . He was obviously the leader .


Nothing serious, Your Majesty! The lower part of the castle seemed to have scraped against a rock on the top of a mountain!


A soldier shouted back .


I see!


The leader replied .


I will raise the altitude, so make sure everyone stays indoors!


He paid no attention to the fact that he had destroyed Desdemona’s lair, and instead drove his castle away casually .


A clear hit-and-run case .


“Right… so you are the bastard . . . ”


Desdemona grinned cunningly, having identified her perpetrator .



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