The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 196 Scholar Juyul (19) - Layer upon Layer of Mountains "Having overcome one difficulty, another difficulty comes forth." *** The martial artists of Heaven-Breaking Alliance were burning with motivation. It was all too clear that their future ranks within the alliance would depend on their military achievements in this battle. Above all, in their minds, this was essentially a battle with predetermined victory, an extremely easy fight. The Hao Sect led by Chivalrous Man of the Five Masses? It was merely large in scale with many affiliated members, but the individual quality was close to rock bottom. The wandering warriors associated with Drunken Dreamer were said to have considerable skill, but in terms of numbers they were merely at the level of a small to medium sect. As for Lady of Trampling Fire, she was a lone general without even a proper force. In contrast, each of the Seven Hegemons on their side had led major sects, and the external forces that had gathered under the banner of Heaven-Breaking Alliance were also considerable in number. No matter how absolute the influence of individual masters in martial world battles, when the numerical difference of underlings was this vast, even the greatest masters could do nothing about it. Moreover, it wasn't as if only the enemy camp had masters - rather, their own side had even more masters. Victory was already a foregone conclusion, and all that remained was to cut down one more enemy before others could steal the credit. Slash! Stab!! Thud! "My arm, my arm!!" "Aaaaaaaagh!" "Damn it, those bastards escaped again!!" And what awaited those who entered the gray multi-story buildings with such shallow mindsets was a feast of traps that could truly be called nauseating. Things that looked like a mixture of wire, thorns, and blades combined together - what should be called barbed wire - blocked the entrances and spaces between stairs, obstructing passage. What appeared loose at first glance would become even more entangled in clothes and skin when forced through with strength, and wasn't easily cut by ordinary blade work. It would inevitably be cut by sword aura emitted by peak-level martial artists, but each such act endlessly wasted internal energy and Stamina. Above all, when they were blocked and clustered together in front of the barbed wire like this, all sorts of ranged attacks like stone throwing, spear throwing, arrows, and hidden weapons would pour down in volleys toward that spot. Skilled martial artists tried to dodge or deflect even these while advancing forward, but this too was no easy task. Apart from the openly visible barbed wire, ropes hidden in shadows obstructed passage, stairs were slathered with oil endangering balance, and caltrops were scattered on the floor turning fallen martial artists into skewers. "There! They went in there!" "These damn bastards!! How well they scurry away! This time I'll slaughter them all─ they're not here?" "Huh, how? They definitely went inside here!!" Several martial artists literally carved a bloody path and cornered the defensive personnel, but before they could rejoice, they were dumbfounded to see empty rooms. They did not know. That the numerous 'rooms' of this building, which seemed to have only one main entrance leading to a corridor, were actually intricately interconnected like a maze. Room 101 had a side door to room 102 hidden with lime coating on its surface, room 103's ceiling had a passage leading directly up to room 203, there were even paths through the exterior walls to move from places like 304 to 502, and even when they appeared to have the same structure, the locations of secret entrances and passages were often completely different. Of course, in urgent situations with frantic movement, the concealment of entrances wasn't always perfect and they were sometimes discovered by enemies, but unlike Juyul's martial artists who had memorized the structure through repeated training, Heaven-Breaking Alliance's martial artists had no choice but to lose their way repeatedly during pursuit. "Push through with numbers!! If we fill up every single room, it won't matter how much those bastards run away!!" Heaven-Breaking Alliance's response to this was a mass offensive. No matter how much it was hide-and-seek in a maze, since the size of the building itself was fixed, if they kept pushing people in, the physical space to hide would inevitably disappear. Those who drove Juyul's martial artists to the building rooftops like a hunting drive wore fierce smiles, but soon those smiles turned to faces like they had bitten into bugs. "You idiotic bastards!! We'll never fight you head-on even if we die!!" Between the rooftops of two buildings. A Hao Sect member who had crossed to the next building using a pre-prepared rope bridge infuriated them by retrieving the bridge. Heaven-Breaking Alliance's martial artists naturally ground their teeth and tried to chase the enemies, but the gap between rooftops was a burdensome distance to cross without a bridge, even for agile martial artists. Of course, being 'burdensome' also meant it was quite doable for skilled martial artists. "Stupid fools. What's this little distance!!" Martial artists skilled in movement techniques leaped across the void to the next building as if they had wings on their backs, and while some of them lost strength intercepting incoming sling stones and fell, others safely landed at their destination. "Now there's nowhere left to run!!" Thus, just as they were about to cut down those who had fled, one of the wandering warriors hidden among the group on the rooftop launched a fierce attack. "We're not running away, so it doesn't matter, you idiot." "Urgh!?" Clang!! On each building's rooftop were deployed those with exceptional skills even within the defense force, and they unhesitatingly intercepted the Heaven-Breaking Alliance martial artists who had recklessly crossed over to the rooftops. No matter how outstanding the martial artists were, being attacked the moment they set foot on the ground after flying a long distance with movement techniques was quite burdensome. Moreover, while Juyul's forces could have other allies join them at any time, the Heaven-Breaking Alliance martial artists who had crossed over alone, leaving most of their allies behind, had no choice but to be overwhelmed by superior numbers. While Heaven-Breaking Alliance had far more troops overall, at the actual moments of combat, situations were created where Juyul's side held numerical superiority. Some martial artists, as if bursting with rage at being played with according to the enemy's will, even tried to smash the buildings themselves, but though much cruder than what the Crown Prince remembered due to technical and time constraints, concrete was still concrete. Cutting and stabbing with ordinary weapons would only damage the weapon's edge, and even sword aura couldn't slice through thick concrete walls. To properly undertake demolition work would require at least force energy, but even for transcendent masters, continuously emitting enough Sword Force to demolish a building was absolutely no easy task. Above all, what was truly vicious was that even after consuming energy, time, and stamina to break it down, Juyul's martial artists could simply escape to the next building. "You filthy bastards!! Do you call yourselves martial artists acting like this!!" Nine Kill Sword's scream of rage was truly a milestone that accurately expressed this battle situation. After all, there was no greater praise on a battlefield than the enemy calling you dirty and despicable. *** Dark night. As Heaven-Breaking Alliance temporarily withdrew, the battlefield entered a lull. Hao Sect leader, Chivalrous Man of the Five Masses Oh Ga-myeong clicked his tongue as he recalled the fierce daytime battle. "...Astounding. I never imagined the effectiveness would be this severe." Though he had received explanations from Juyul as one of the command staff, a corner of his mind still harbored the question 'Will this really be that effective?' It wasn't particularly because Oh Ga-myeong was overly suspicious, but rather because the concept was quite different from the defensive tactics he originally knew, making it difficult to grasp easily. To put it bluntly, it was a completely useless worry. Concentrating firepower through restricting entrances and pathways. The rationality of focusing on ranged attacks instead of directly crossing blades, allowing allies to avoid bloodshed while only enemy blood flows. Rather than impregnable defenses themselves, a somewhat unique combat ideology of gradually yielding strongholds while extracting a price equivalent to that space. Obstacles like barbed wire demanded the consumption of allied forces in the process of destruction, and even after being broken, their debris obstructed the passage of those who came after. What surprised Oh Ga-myeong most of all was that even this vicious defense was merely 'incomplete.' 'He had said that to see the true effectiveness of this defensive formation, firearms being developed in a nation called the Republic in the Western Regions, or Western-style sorcerers skilled in something called magic, were needed.' Obstacles like barbed wire were effective means of preventing enemy intrusion, but they were also hindrances that prevented allies from wielding weapons. To truly utilize them properly, ranged weapons that could unilaterally strike from a distance would be perfect, rather than close-range cold weapons like swords. But this was not an easy matter, no matter how much connections and legwork the Hao Sect had. The Liu Empire had cannons that used gunpowder, but these weren't portable weapons for individuals, and even those were strictly managed by the court, making them impossible to easily obtain. They tried to make crossbows as an urgent measure, but this too required specialized skills and much time, and archery was a skill that needed long periods to become proficient. As for Western shamans, they had no idea how to even obtain them, so that was out of the question. In the end, all they could do was prepare whatever 'relatively easy-to-handle ranged weapons' they could get their hands on, whether stones or short-trimmed spears, yet even that alone had shown tremendous effectiveness. He couldn't help but wonder whether, if they had prepared this properly, they could have simply swept away all comers without any need for escaping to neighboring buildings. "Ha, what luxurious complaints. Against an enemy force easily exceeding five times our numbers, blocking their offensive without a single death is already miraculous." That was true. Truly remarkably, in this battle Juyul's side had not yet suffered a single casualty. There were plenty who had sustained injuries here and there, and among them some had suffered severe enough damage to lose fingers or an ear as permanent injuries, but in any case, none had met death. In contrast, Heaven-Breaking Alliance had suffered more casualties from just today's fighting than Juyul's entire force combined, so their leadership must surely have had their hearts turn cold. "At this point they should know whether it's shit or soybean paste, right? Please, let's stop here." From the beginning, he never thought they could collapse Heaven-Breaking Alliance or overwhelm them. He simply wanted to make them think 'That porcupine won't be worth bothering with any further, so let's leave it alone.' Heaven-Breaking Alliance's ultimate goal would be confrontation with the orthodox sects, so it would be beneficial in many ways to compromise appropriately rather than have heretical sects fight each other and let the orthodox sects reap the benefits. At least Oh Ga-myeong believed this without doubt. And the next day. Seeing the enemy forces reinforced by as many troops as their allies had felled, or rather several times more, Oh Ga-myeong's complexion darkened. The second offensive began.