568.The Cheon'gi Unit's천기대千騎隊 lance charge tore through two layers of the enemy line.
The Cheon'gi Unit's천기대千騎隊 lance charge tore through two layers of the enemy line.
One final surge of force was needed to drive the battle through to its end—
and that force spread outward like a wave from the tip of Park Seong-jin's blade.
Where the lances had passed, naginata shafts lay scattered across the ground, mixed with severed arms and heads of ashigaru.
The samurai who had been shouting orders from the rear clenched their teeth and drove the retreating ashigaru forward.
"Advance!!"
"Hold the line!!!"
"Block them! Hold them back!"
Dust and fragments of armor clouded the ashigaru's vision.
Comrades impaled by lances collapsed together, screaming as they fell, and that sight shook the heart of the formation.
The weight of the cavalry pushed from the front.
The reach of the lances established dominance.
Martial skill shattered defenses and tore open gaps—
and through those gaps, the lancer cavalry forced their way in.
Park Seong-jin shouted,
"Fire behind the front line!"
The signal whistles of the mounted archers rang out in rapid succession.
—Piiiiii!
—Piiiiii!
The mounted archers loosed volleys into the rear of the melee.
It was blind fire—
training that focused arrows onto a single killing zone where precise aim was impossible.
From behind the left and right cavalry lines, another rain of arrows poured down.
Most of the Wa troops carried no shields.
Armor deflected some arrows, but gaps were exposed—
armpits, shoulders, faces, hips, joints of the arms.
Arrows buried themselves there.
"Screeeagh!!"
"Aaaagh!!"
Even samurai lost their balance under the arrow storm, staggering backward.
Both wings had already collapsed.
There were no archers left to return fire.
Moments later, the center stood isolated.
Park Seong-jin charged straight toward the heart of the formation with only his sword in hand.
His movement flowed like a breaking wave.
He guided his horse with pressure from his feet, subtle shifts of balance turning its course.
Pressing into the stirrups opened space to swing his blade.
Two—three—five samurai rushed him with naginata and swords.
His blade passed, leaving only the sound of air being cut.
The next instant, three heads rose into the air.
A pale aura flared along the sword's edge.
Blood burst like a fountain, splashing deep into the rear ranks.
The samurai grasped the difference in force with cold clarity, as if solving an equation.
Fear spread through the line.
From that moment, the formation collapsed as a whole.
The second wave of cavalry surged into the center.
"Encircle them—press in!!"
As the cavalry drove deep, the central formation split cleanly left and right, as though cut by a blade.
Like seaweed torn apart by surf, the line split into two masses.
Into the opening, the lances of the Cheon'gi Unit poured in like a storm.
The left formation collapsed first, completely.
Ashigaru scattered in all directions.
On the right, samurai tried to hold the core together,
but fleeing soldiers surged from the rear, entangling their feet.
"Stand and fight! Close ranks! Clo—!!"
The command broke off mid-cry as a mounted lance pierced the samurai's torso.
His body fell backward, snapping the balance point of the line.
A void opened.
The Cheon'gi cavalry flooded through that opening.
The Wa army's center was swept away like debris in a raging current.
"Fall back!! Back—fall back!!!"
One samurai was crushed beneath a horse's hooves as he retreated.
Bones shattered with a dull sound against the earth.
Cavalry plunged through fleeing ashigaru, trampling them underfoot.
A massive wave rolled across the battlefield.
The center was empty.
Only the hooves of Goryeo cavalry passed through the wreckage of the broken line.
The Wa command structure collapsed with the formation.
Resistance broke, and the battle tilted decisively to one side.
The Wa Command's Last Stand — A Charge of Desperation
At the moment the central line collapsed, a thunderous roar erupted from where forest met rocky hill at the far edge of the battlefield.
"Uooooo—!!"
Samurai wearing short, curved greaves burst forth.
Two or three elite warriors in black armor with long swords led the charge, followed by dozens of guards.
They surged forward like a pack of beasts tearing out of the woods—
the core command that had held the battlefield from the rear until now.
As defeat loomed, a commander bellowed,
"To lose formation is disgrace!"
"Will you die smearing our lord's name with shame?!"
The eyes of the remaining samurai rolled back.
The fate of deserters was clear.
They charged, staking death itself as their price—
to die here, dragging everyone down with them.
The command's charge struck like a final storm.
Two Wa commanders led the front, both wearing full face masks.
Where human faces should have been, a demonic aura flickered.
As swords were drawn, killing intent burst forth—
utterly different from the morale of ordinary soldiers.
Even allied troops flinched.
"Elite samurai!"
"Careful—these ones are dangerous!"
The left assault line of the Cheon'gi Unit buckled for an instant.
The command unit cut in coldly, blades flashing.
Each strike was razor-sharp, every ounce of strength poured into the edge.
Six samurai leapt simultaneously, cutting through cavalry lances.
—Chaang!
—Clang!
—Crack!
One cavalryman's head was nearly severed as he fell from his horse.
Others were dragged down by blades that pierced armor.
When swords stuck fast, they were abandoned—new blades drawn.
The command unit's final burst was ferocious, their seasoned movements carving through like a whirlwind.
Sword arcs outpaced human reaction.
One warrior slipped low, aiming for a horse's legs.
Another stabbed deep into a rider's flank.
A third feinted retreat and seized initiative.
The last went for a rider's throat.
As those four lines moved together, the cavalry formation reeled.
The samurai poured everything into this final exchange, and for a moment, the tide wavered.
Then Park Seong-jin intervened.
He leapt.
—Wooooom—
A long, resonant pressure scraped across the battlefield.
He abandoned his horse, crossed open air, and descended behind them.
"Fall back."
As the words landed, his body surged upward like a shadow.
The command samurai looked up together.
In that brief hesitation, the air froze.
"…A leap?"
"From that height? Impossible!"
Park Seong-jin hung in midair, then brought his blade down in a massive arc.
—KWAAANG!!!
Six attack flows were severed at once.
The impact cratered the ground like a thunderbolt.
Two samurai were blasted away, skulls smashing against stone.
The remaining three raised their swords, eyes wide.
"Come then! Goryeo general!!"
Park Seong-jin moved.
—Whik.
—Slash.
—Slash.
—Slash.
The sound of the blade was thin.
The result appeared first.
Three samurai collapsed to their knees and toppled forward.
Their heads rolled across the ground.
The last remaining commander staggered back.
"…This… is not a man…"
His sword slipped from his hand.
Metal struck earth with a short, hollow ring.
That sound broke the battlefield's motion.
Those peering from the forest froze.
Fleeing routed soldiers halted mid-step.
The sight of their strongest warriors breaking before a single man rippled through the lines.
Strength drained away like air escaping a punctured skin.
Weapons slipped from hands across the field.
As Park Seong-jin turned his head, several enemy banners could be seen sagging and collapsing onto the ground.