Chapter 8: Overpower (Part Two)

TL: A_Passing_Wanderer

ED: Chrissy

This young man discarded his old name and chose to take on a new one after falling for the steel sword's charms. Now called Unbreakable Steel Blade, he was only seventeen years old this year – never mind young, he was basically still a child.

But he was also one of the warriors boasting the highest level of proficiency in the swordsmanship Kim Gi-Wu taught in the entire tribe. Simply put, he was a genius in swordsmanship. As such, his appearance was markedly different from the other Creek warriors maintaining the battle formation.

Steel armor enveloped his whole body to the point where he looked like a proper heavy knight. Meanwhile, A large steel sword was mounted on his hips.

He was one of ten such warriors in the tribe's army, trained in swordsmanship specifically for the purpose of weakening the enemy's morale.

When Unbreakable Steel Blade suddenly began approaching their camp, the enemy combatants began murmuring to each other in uncertainty.

"I am a warrior of the Creek tribe, Unbreakable Steel Blade!"

But their murmuring didn't last for long. It died down when the young warrior announced his name.

They had finally understood what this warrior kitted out in bizarre grey 'something' wanted after approaching their battle line.

"I'm the War Chief of Choctaw tribe, Sharp Spear! Are you the representative of your tribe's warriors?"

"Unfortunately, our representative is someone else, oh the War Chief of Choctaw."

"Hah! In that case, a kid like you should go back home and call the real warrior out here!"

"The sour smell of your mother's teats are wafting all the way out here, kid. Hahaha!"

"Right, go home and drink some more milk, little child!"

That caused all sorts of laughter and degrading remarks to explode forth from the enemy camp. However, Unbreakable Steel Blade simply stood there, his expression not even changing a little.

These idiots had no idea, and that's why they were all behaving this way. They simply didn't understand the power of the incredible weapons and defensive armaments born from the Spirit Chief's hard work.

Behold, their foolish ways. Just because of their superior number, they dare to look down on us!

Unbreakable Steel Blade didn't care about getting insulted hundreds, thousands of times by these pitiful idiots.

"It seems that your tribes only know how to fight by flapping your gums. With this, I can already tell how weak you are."

"What did you say?!"

"How dare a little punk...!"

"If you are displeased about what I said, stop yapping behind your friends and step forward like a man. I, Unbreakable Steel blade, shall make you pay for flapping your gums so carelessly."

His words were very effective in distorting the expressions of all the Choctaw warriors. Soon afterwards, several warriors tried to step forward, but Sharp Spear stopped them, forcing them to go back into the ranks.

"I shall personally step forward and determine if you have the necessary qualifications to run your mouth, kid." Sharp Spear stood in front of Unbreakable Steel Blade while wielding a clearly well-polished stone spear.

They glared at each other, silently getting ready to fight.

"Haaa-ahp!"

The battle started off with Sharp Spear's thrust. As befitting his name, his spear thrust was at the pinnacle of perfection. The stone speartip instantly closed the distance to Unbreakable Steel Blade's chest.

Claaang!

However, Unbreakable Steel Blade didn't even bother to defend or evade. He simply tilted his torso slightly to the side.

Sure enough, the enemy's attack couldn't break through his armor, just as he had predicted. The stone spear simply kept sliding forward in the direction of the deflection, causing a bit of spark to dance off the armor's surface.

"Heoph!"

Sharp Spear gasped out in surprise at this sight. He was definitely the one attacking, yet his stone spear got destroyed instead.

Without a doubt, Unbreakable Steel Blade could have easily dodged or blocked with his own weapon. But he chose to do neither - so that he could drill home the truth about the insurmountable gap in their equipment into the heads of every enemy here.

The climax of this lesson arrived swiftly soon after.

"Hu-aahp!"

Whoosh!

The young warrior's steel sword swung down rapidly at the wooden spear shaft. And then...

Shatter!

Accompanied by the sounds of firewood splitting apart, the spear shaft got chopped apart in half. Even then, the steel sword's blade perfectly maintained its sharpness.

Unbreakable Steel Blade didn't stop there, however.

Splaaaash!

His steel sword beheaded Sharp Spear in the blink of an eye.

Land, plop!

Sharp Spear's head separated from his torso, both pieces tumbling to the ground lifeless. Blood gushed out from the neck, staining the ground red.

"Heo-urkh?!"

"W-War Chief!"

"How can this be?!"

It all happened in the literal blink of an eye.

All the warriors in the alliance of tribes clamped their mouths shut simultaneously.

Right after that, however...!

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Creek tribe's warriors began roaring out their war cry like a group of madmen. Their controlled roaring dealt yet another mental blow to the Choctaw tribe's warriors.

Unbreakable Steel Blade took a swipe at the empty air with his sword to rid the blade of the dead man's blood. He then arrogantly scanned the warriors of the allied tribes before opening his mouth once more. "Is there any other warrior willing to teach me, a little wet-behind-the-ears kid, in combat? If so, be a man and step forward, right now!"

"...Kuh-heuk!"

They had witnessed a shocking defeat just now. Of course, no warrior was willing to step forward that quickly.

"Hahaha! What a bunch of cowards! But it's too late now for you to regret your decisions. Since all of you dared to step onto the sacred land of the Creek tribe, I swear that none of you will escape unscathed today!"

The moment Unbreakable Steel Blade roared that out...!

"All troops, advance!"

...Strong Archer announced his new order.

Step, step, step!

With the shield soldiers walking in front of the formation, the warriors of the Creek tribe began marching steadily towards their enemy. Even their steps were perfectly controlled to be in unison with each other.

Stagger, stumble...

The overwhelming fighting spirit oozing from the Creek warriors began forcing the allied tribes' warriors to stumble back little by little without them even realizing it.

"W-wait! All of you, stop backing away! Their number is far smaller than us! I'm telling you to stop disrespecting your own warrior's honor!"

"That's right! Face up to the enemy and fight!"

Various Chiefs from the allied tribes managed to stop their warriors from backing off even further.

Although the situation was heading in a strange direction that they hadn't previously considered, they still held an overwhelming numerical advantage right now.

"H-he's right! There are more of us, right?"

"And those punks are just some Creek weaklings, too!"

"T-that's right!"

The warriors roared loudly, trying to get rid of the mental shock from earlier. Too bad, doing that wasn't enough to fully restore the already weakened morale of the troops.

That's because they had already recognized how powerful those grey armaments reflecting the sunlight were by now.

"Fire!"

Pshoo, pshoo, pshooo!

Even so, they were still warriors. As soon as their enemies approached, they heeded the commands of their Chiefs and began firing their arrows.

Clang, claaang!

Unfortunately for them, most of their stone arrows were deflected and blocked off by the massive shields covering the front of the Creek warriors.

And then...

"Crossbow warriors, to the front!"

"To the front!"

When the enemy's volley of arrows went into a temporary lull, the gaps opened up between the shields, many crossbows peeking out from there.

"Fire!"

Pshoo, pshoo, pshoo!

The sounds of air splitting apart were similar. However...

Stab, stab, stab, stab!

"Keo-urkh!"

"Kkuwaaahk!"

The end result was completely different. The crossbow bolts, its tips made out of steel, easily penetrated the bodies of the hapless enemies. Just one barrage from the crossbows and countless enemy warriors perished or were gravely injured.

The allied tribes hurriedly fired another volley of their arrows towards the Creek warriors but by then, the crossbow soldiers had already retreated behind the safety of the shields to begin reloading the next shot.

The flow of the battle was starkly demonstrating the advantage of the crossbows. One simply had to quickly fire the loaded bolt and hide behind the shields again, after all.

Volleys of arrows and bolts were exchanged a few more times afterwards. And over time, the conditions in both camps began to differ quite drastically.

The allied tribes' warriors finally realized that fighting like this would get them nowhere. Unless you were a complete idiot, it was only a matter of time before realizing this, anyway.

"Dammit! Everyone, charge at the enemies!"

"Chaaarge!"

And that's why they had no choice but to rush towards the Creek warriors using shields to protect their front. Insisting on fighting like this would only prolong their suffering, after all.

"They are doing something reckless, aren't they? Quietly surrendering would have minimized their losses in the end, though."

"But, War Chief. A person can only learn the truth after experiencing it by themselves, isn't it?"

Strong Archer nodded at what his close aide said and replied. "In that case, it'll be up to us to teach them. Let us show them how reckless they have acted by coming here!"

His lips began distorting in an ominous grin.

< 8. Overpower (Part One and Two) > Fin.