The Overlord of Blood and Iron

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 .