It wasn't a hallucination.
Several of the nearby generals must have seen it too. Their heads had also definitely turned upward toward the sky, if only briefly. However, there was no way to confirm what it really was right now. All the horses had already gained momentum and couldn't be stopped. If they carelessly loosened the reins here, they would be trampled to death by the hooves of the horses following behind, leaving not even an intact body.
"Hyaaaah!"
Salacat rather whipped even more fiercely.
Whatever that thing that flew behind them was, it was alone. What could one individual do?
That was his first mistake.
BOOM!
Salacat's vanguard finally collided with the cavalry at the rear of the expeditionary force.
Thud! Slam-slam!
Heads flew and limbs separated, flailing. They consecutively fell to the ground, were trampled, and burst. Death formed a chain.
"What are you doing? You bastards! Fill the positions immediately! Want to all die? Huh?"
At Salacat's curse-mixed shout, the nomadic cavalry endlessly filled the empty spaces appearing at the front positions.
The battle was fierce, but since both sides were elite soldiers, neither could easily subdue the other.
Especially since archers were positioned in large numbers deep within the Northern Expeditionary Force's formation, it was difficult for Salacat to easily lead the cavalry out to the sides.
Was that all?
Occasionally among the infantry emerging from behind were those holding leg hooks. Whenever the leg hooks—large sickles with blades curved backward—swept below once, the horses' ankles were mercilessly severed. Subsequently, the riders mounted on the ankle-severed horses fell to the ground, and soon their necks also had to fall.
Certainly, the Northern Expeditionary Force's composition was organized to face the grassland cavalry rather than siege warfare.
However, Salacat's cavalry Ten-thousand-man force was by no means easy either. Though not as much as the Gray Wolf War Squad, they were still combat soldiers whose reputation was quite renowned in the north.
Salacat's subordinate soldiers didn't fall back and continued to pressure Li Zi-song's force. Probably on the opposite side, Timur Khan's main force must be madly slaughtering the expeditionary soldiers.
If someone were watching the fierce exchange between both sides from the sky, they would judge Timur Khan and Salacat to be at an advantage. At least until now.
'Right. If we keep pushing like this, we win! Though their numbers are many, they're surrounded on both sides! If we just endure, the Khan will surely annihilate all the enemies!'
The second mistake.
Aaargh! Kyaaagh!
Various screams disturbed the front lines as countless died. Naturally, the thickness and length of the front lines also gradually became thinner and shorter.
However, what was strange was the fact that screams could be heard from places other than the front lines. Clearly, the battle should only be occurring at that front area where Salacat stood, but the sounds...
'What is it? From behind?'
Salacat threw a short sword into the crown of a leg hook soldier coming to cut his beloved horse's ankle, then turned his head back. Something was definitely wrong. A considerable number of cavalry groups that should have been quickly entering the flanks of the opposing infantry using mobility were still tied up at the rear.
"Go to the rear and find out what's happening."
"Yes!"
He sent one of his generals who was fiercely fighting right beside him to the rear. Since it had become close combat and the front lines were spread wide, having one horse pull out to the rear wasn't a particularly difficult situation.
'Could it be that thing from earlier? But the tide of war has already tilted this way.'
Salacat's third mistake.
He vigorously swung his blade again after briefly stopping.
Was that the signal?
Suddenly, the soldiers defending the enemy's center rapidly pulled back.
Salacat and a considerable number of the Ten-thousand-man force pursued them, penetrating deep into the enemy formation. He judged there was no danger of encirclement anyway and thought they could pull the forces back if necessary.
That was his fourth mistake and decided the fate of the twenty-thousand cavalry.
Aaaaahhh!
At some point when Salacat and the Ten-thousand-man force were rapidly penetrating inside the opposing formation, the Northern Expeditionary Force's formation suddenly reversed.
The forces that had been lagging at the rear of the expeditionary force quickly jutted out to the sides and began to encircle Salacat's cavalry in a circle. Since Li Zi-song's force was overwhelmingly more numerous from the start, unless the nomadic cavalry retreated, they couldn't change the formation that felt like being wrapped in a cushion. When that happened, a crescent formation was formed that was absolutely advantageous to the Northern Expeditionary Force, with one-on-one becoming two-on-three or three-on-four.
Gaaah!Aaahh!
In an instant, Salacat's entire Ten-thousand-man force shrank. Salacat belatedly tried to retreat to reorganize the battle formation. However, it was already difficult to control the excited nomadic soldiers.
"Damn! We've fallen into a trap!"
Eventually, Salacat tried to escape to the rear alone, but it was already difficult to even find footing due to corpses and horse carcasses.
Ba-bam.
He stood up on his horse's saddle and then kicked hard off the horse's back, soaring straight over the encirclement to the rear.
Naturally, his blocked vision also became completely clear. Then Salacat could clearly see what was happening at the rear of the Ten-thousand-man force.
"...!"
Someone was there.
Someone sweeping through the gaps between allies like a storm, their long bangs fluttering like a blade. And someone riding what appeared to be Kaiji, a Gray Wolf.
No one could stop him. The centurion he had sent seemed to have died long ago. That person was even specifically seeking out and killing only general-level figures.
Tap.
Salacat set foot again at the rear of the battlefield. Now he could know and feel that person's presence even just standing there. He was in a hell-like place where blood was thrown and sprayed like sand.
Thud-thud-thud! Grrrrrr!
The point where the Ten-thousand-man force needed to escape. Right at that location, cavalry corpses were levitating constantly without pause.
"Were we the ones surrounded...?"
By just one person in two units, the entire rear of the twenty-thousand cavalry and the Ten-thousand-man force was being disrupted. He had definitely appeared to be injured here and there, but absolutely didn't feel like he would die.
"I was mistaken..."
He understood how the situation was unfolding, but it was already too late.
The enemy was indeed one, but alone was sufficient to block the rear of twenty thousand. The side that was surrounded wasn't that side but this side.
The tide of war was also rapidly tilting to that side.
Now they had come too deep into the enemy formation to escape easily. Because the enemies were gradually widening the encirclement using their numerical superiority.
If alone, he could somehow escape, but what would he gain by doing so?
Clang!
Salacat drew the twin blades crossed in an 'X' on his back. Since it had come to this, he would at least catch one enemy who looked most dangerous before dying. Wouldn't that be the way to somewhat repay the grace received from Timur Khan?
He ran following that blood storm visible in the distance. Because the cavalry were too densely packed to run through, he mercilessly cut his own allies' necks if necessary.
"Come out! Come out, you bastards!"
The man, Dong Bong-su, was now dyed red all over his body to the point where his original appearance couldn't be recognized.
The nomadic cavalry were already reluctant to approach his monstrous appearance.
Clang.
Salacat approached near Dong Bong-su and clashed his twin blades to draw attention.
Slash.
Dong Bong-su killed one more person again.
Then he turned Kaiji's reins and looked at Salacat. Like Dong Bong-su's entire body, Kaiji's silvery glossy fur was already soaked with blood and gleaming.
Scrrrring—
Salacat brought together the blades held in both hands, scraped the blade edges against each other, and slowly lowered them below both shins. His unique mounted combat style.
Dong Bong-su also slowly raised the Wanderer's Sword straight forward. Then after staring at Salacat a bit more, he dismounted from Kaiji's back.
"Too valuable to take with 60%."
Then he immediately launched his body toward Salacat.
***
Thud.
He didn't know how many thousands of lives had already disappeared. One more again. Soon one more...
There was no end.
The combat noise from that distant rear where Salacat was attacking also seemed to be gradually decreasing. It wasn't decreasing because they were winning. If so, the enemy's forces would have been seen concentrating that way. The Northern Expeditionary Force's troops kept converging only toward Guisui. The last forces he had brought outside the fortress now seemed to remain only in units of several thousand.
'Did we lose?'
Though he hadn't thought even for a moment that they would lose... even Timur Khan had to acknowledge it now.
They lost. They failed.
It was his complete defeat.
For a very brief moment, the words flight and rally crossed his mind.
But he soon erased them.
There was nowhere left to go, no more forces to gather, no remaining generals. Mamorota was dead, and Salacat might have already died as well. Other excellent generals besides them were also fighting while bleeding down there now. It wouldn't take long for all of them to return to nature.
Timur Khan had rather returned to Guisui and climbed the walls when the tide of victory shifted.
A strong wind blew and painfully stabbed his blue eyes, but they didn't return to those wren eyes from before. They couldn't.
He looked down at the battlefield for a while longer, then turned his head to look inside the fortress. Though not the great grasslands, his land. Guisui. This fortress had protected all of the Northern Plains for the past decades.
'This place is ending now too.'
Perhaps because all males from fifteen to sixty years old had been mobilized, the interior of the fortress was very quiet. At most, livestock like cows, pigs, and sheep that had lost their owners wandered around bleating. The remaining people were hiding somewhere holding their breath or couldn't be seen at all.
He bit his lips hard and raised his head to look up at the sky. The wind still fiercely struck his eyes and back mercilessly. Nevertheless, he stood silently with his hands clasped behind his back.
The sky was clear and the clouds plump. Like the livestock below.
"Is it a good day?"
To die...
How much more time had passed? The front lines had almost moved to the entrance of Guisui.
Whoooo—
With a strong wind, a pair of man-wolf flew very quickly toward the walls from afar. Timur Khan didn't look but knew. Nevertheless, Timur Khan didn't turn his head that way. His gaze was still fixed on the sky.
Tap.
The large wolf could easily land on the walls without any interference. That position was about ten meters away from Timur Khan.
"Have you come?"
Timur Khan spoke without lowering his gaze. As if he had been waiting for a long time. Depending on how one heard it, it even felt friendly, like a greeting given to an old friend.
Dong Bong-su rode Kaiji and approached him from behind.