A Medieval Knight in a Martial Arts Novel – Chapter 19

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shrine
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“Ships! Ships are coming! The bastards have arrived!”

On a dark night with only moonlight illuminating the land, a large ship was caught in the gaze of a martial artist looking out to sea beyond the wooden barricades.

The sentry shouted at the top of his lungs and relentlessly beat the drum to alert of the enemy’s attack. Soon after, the beacon was lit.

“Light all the arrows on fire!”

What is the best way to sink a ship sailing the sea from a distance?

The best method would be to fire cannons and sink it, but unless you’re the military, you can’t use cannons. So the next best option that can be chosen is…

“Prepare the fire arrows!”

At the shout of Lee Doo-seung, the elder of the Haenam Sword Sect in charge of the northern port, the villagers who had volunteered for the war against the demon cult and the martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect picked up their bows.

“Shoot the arrows, but when the enemies approach, the villagers should hide in the shelters we informed you of in advance!”

“Don’t worry. We’ll show you the strength of the muscles tempered by life at sea!”

The village chief, who had volunteered for the mission, shouted with gusto and was the first to pull the bowstring.

As the oldest man in the village took up arms instead of running away, how could the able-bodied men of the village not step forward?

Even if they lacked talent in martial arts, they could at least pull a bowstring with the strength built up from a long life of fishing. Even if they couldn’t guarantee accuracy, they could somehow make up for it with numbers.

Thus, dozens of able-bodied men picked up their bows.

‘Is it a headwind? But the wind isn’t strong…’

Elder Lee felt the wind pushing his body and hardened his expression.

What is needed for a ship to move forward? It was the wind. No ship could easily advance against a headwind. But now was the time of a tailwind.

In other words, the arrows would not go far and would be broken by the wind.

The wooden barricades surrounding the port were soaked with seawater, so they wouldn’t catch fire, but the possibility of the barricades catching fire couldn’t be ignored either.

‘Do we have to take the risk?’

The village chief stared beyond the barricades without opening his mouth.

Just a little more.

Closer…

A bit more…

The distance is decreasing.

As the ship, which had looked like a dot, began to appear as big as a thumb, tension gripped people’s faces.

At that moment, Elder Lee shouted.

“Release the bowstrings the moment it looks as big as your palm!”

No one answered verbally, but everyone understood those words and held their breath.

Their arms are trembling.

But no one released the bowstring.

Because the fate of Haenam rested on each pull of their bowstrings.

Eventually, the time for the decisive battle arrived.

“Release the bowstrings!”

As soon as Elder Lee Doo-seung’s words fell, a rain of flames began to fall from the sky. Most of them fell into the sea and fizzled out, but some flew towards the ship.

At this rate, the ship would burn down before even arriving.

But the decoy unit wasn’t one to not anticipate such a situation.

“Deflect them all!”

“If you can’t, block them with your body!”

They had to somehow ram the ship into the port. For the Lightning Bomb to be properly effective, they had to somehow bring the ship to Haenam Island. The swords of the decoy unit frantically deflected the rain of fire that chaotically covered the sky.

“Damn it… Ugh…”

“Eight!”

“Don’t get distracted and block! Above all else, we must defend the mast!”

It’s okay if the ship burns. As long as they arrive somehow, that’s all that matters.

But if the sails burn… their final adventure would end in vain. The decoy unit gritted their teeth and struggled to save even one sail.

Was it heavenly fortune or just a blessing before going to hell?

After one round of arrow rain ended, the decoy unit sighed in relief. Because the sails hadn’t caught fire.

However, the deck was on fire.

“Sixteen, any way to put out the fire?”

“There’s no such way… Just ram the ship in even if it is like this.”

The speed of the ship did not decrease.

And that fact was not a good sign for the martial artists defending the northern port.

“The enemy is trying to ram the ship into the port! Martial artists of the Haenam Sword Sect! Draw your swords!”

Unfortunately, the wind was not on their side.

The speed showed no signs of slowing down, so that burning ship would soon collide with the pier.

Lee Doo-seung drew his sword from the sheath at his waist and began to draw out his internal energy from his dantian.

The internal energy that left the dantian and raced through the meridians and eventually transformed into a blue energy riding on the sword.

Sword energy.

‘I don’t know what their motive is, but…’

Is it simply to draw attention, or are they aiming for something greater?

Elder Lee eventually watched the ship shatter as it collided with the pier.

And the eight warriors jumped out of the ship as well.

“When the Heavenly Demon descends! Ten Thousand Demons Bow Down!”

As soon as he jumped onto the pier, Sixteen’s arm drew a circle. A typical throwing posture. Elder Lee’s gaze met Sixteen’s for a moment, and he also jumped in at the same time.

Because his instinct as an experienced martial artist warned him that the object was dangerous.

‘I don’t know what that is… but I must block it!’

Elder Lee’s left-hand sword, imbued with his fierce internal power, was swung without hesitation toward the sphere flying with its fuse lit. Eventually, the Lightning Bomb, cut by the 1-foot-long sword energy, engulfed the northern port in light with a blast.

“Elder!”

“I think we took out a high-ranking one…”

” So what? We’re all about to die anyway.”

“Should we try swimming at least?”

“With this body?”

Thirty-two chuckled and shook his arrow-pierced arm. Thanks to the alcohol he had drunk earlier, the pain was faint.

‘No, is it because I’m dying that I feel that way?’

His eyes, after having lost a lot of blood, became blurry.

‘Damn life, I spent my whole life just training…’

a sharp pain was felt in his neck and dizziness in his head.

Thirty-two’s head flew into the air.

—

An explosion?

I imagined an ominous possibility after the explosion that occurred at the northern port.

They couldn’t possibly have Lightning Bombs, could they?

The Lightning Bombs that appeared from the mid-to-late parts of the original work?

“There was an explosion in the north…!”

Mu-guang’s perplexed voice was heard from behind. But there was no room to pay attention to that.

An explosion that seemed to be from a Lightning Bomb had occurred.

Now that we knew the enemy had a card that could turn the tables despite our overwhelming advantage, there was a need to reconsider the tactics we had planned.

Even if we were overwhelmingly winning, a single Lightning Bomb could sweep away our forces.

We might not be annihilated, but we would suffer damage that couldn’t be ignored.

“Sect Leader, if possible, we need to finish them off with poisoned arrows before they approach.”

“…I understand.”

The Sect Leader also nodded with a serious face, as if something had clicked with the explosion just now.

“Uncle…”

“Hye-ryeong.”

“Hye-ryeong, I don’t think I can go easy on you right now, so go back and wait.”

“Yes…”

Hye-ryeong answered in a trembling voice and went back inside. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, she obediently followed my words.

As the surroundings quieted down, I immediately asked the Sect Leader.

“The explosion just now, it seems to be an artificially caused explosion.”

“…I felt the same way. It reminds me of something from decades ago… Lightning Bombs. Have they returned…?”

The Sect Leader’s sigh mixed with the night air and dispersed.

No wonder his face hardened as soon as he saw the explosion. He must have seen Lightning Bombs before.

That was fortunate news, at least.

Because there’s a big difference between knowing and not knowing the danger of Lightning Bombs.

It was fortunate that there was no need to explain, as it would be strange for me, a foreigner, to know about Lightning Bombs.

“If they dive underwater and enter, they won’t be able to use Lightning Bombs or whatever. But there’s also a possibility that they might bring them in well-sealed boxes, so we can’t let our guard down.”

If they brought them in well-sealed boxes, they wouldn’t get completely wet just by being in the water for a short time.

“How do you know that?”

“There are similar things in the Western Regions too.”

I glossed over the Sect Leader’s question mixed with puzzlement. It was a question difficult to answer.

And… that wasn’t what was important right now.

“Sect Leader. Could you have the third-grade disciples fetch water and climb the trees? And have them bring a gourd bottle filled with water.”

In the original work, it was said that Lightning Bombs were rare items, so they probably wouldn’t bring many.

Even in the final battle of the original work, there were only about ten Lightning Bombs used.

At most, about 3.

If we assume one exploded in the north…

“About two times.”

At worst, we just need to somehow block it twice.

“Uncle! I brought water here!”

Did Hye-ryeong personally fetch the water? I received the water-filled gourd bottle from Hye-ryeong. The damp and cold gourd bottle.

This much water should be enough.

“Hye-ryeong, don’t forget. You must not come forward.”

“…Yes!”

Perhaps because I warned her in a heavy voice, Hye-ryeong answered in a crisp voice like a newly enlisted soldier. I took my gaze off her and said casually.

“Don’t get hurt.”

“You too, Uncle. And Sect Leader… no, Big Uncle, you mustn’t get hurt either.”

“Hoho, don’t worry. Do you think I’ll lose to those skinny bastards?”

The Sect Leader laughed confidently as if telling her not to worry and stroked Hye-ryeong’s head. With the affectionate gesture, Hye-ryeong’s worried gaze swept past the Sect Leader and reached me.

“Don’t worry. I’ve even defeated an army of 10,000 with just 200 men before.”

Thinking back to that time, this isn’t such a big crisis.

“Sect Leader! A beacon is burning in the south!”

…Repeating that to myself, I looked down at the south from the mountain.

Is it starting now?

I tried hard to calm my heart that began to race with excitement, pulled out the polearm stuck in the ground, and rested it on my shoulder.

“Well then, let’s meet each other again alive.”

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