First Battle [2]

'No. No no no. Mom! Dad! Sister! No! Come back! Come back to me! Don't leave me! Please... don't leave me...'

Waking up with cold sweats from the nightmare, a mentally exhausted Sunyoung opened his eyes and saw a clear blue sky.

'I'm not dead.'

Sitting up, he looked around and first noticed that he was surrounded by thick trees and a large mountain with a snowy cap.

The second thing he noticed was that he had been lying on a cloth with a blanket on top of him.

Third but most importantly, to his left was a stranger, a man who was sitting in front of a fire, humming a slow melody to himself while mixing his pot of soup with a wooden stick.

'Is that who rescued me?' Sunyoung wondered.

"Good morning," the man who had long black hair that reached past his shoulders greeted him despite not turning his head and having his back turned to Sunyoung.

"Wh-where am I?" a cautious Sunyoung, who still vividly had the images of blood pouring from the members of his clan running through his mind, asked as he stood up.

Looking down at his body, he recalled that he had been beaten and battered by the current of the river as well as the contents inside the water, and yet — there wasn't a single bruise on his body.

Not even a scratch.

If anything, he looked healthier than ever before although his mental health was the complete opposite.

"You are somewhere safe. Away from that city of ashes. A couple of hundred kilometers away from your home, as a matter of fact," the man answered his question.

'!'

Sunyoung's initial assumption was that his body had washed along the river and this man had picked him up, saving his life.

But based on the words that just came out of his mouth, his being rescued wasn't a mere coincidence. 

This stranger knew about the state of the city and most likely, the massacre that had occurred within it.

"Who are you!?" the terrified Sunyoung asked. His eyes darted around his surroundings and he found what he was searching for in the form of a straight wooden pole.

It was placed conveniently next to him almost as if his actions of picking it up to threaten the man had been predicted.

But in the moment of fear and slight anger because Sunyoung was wondering if the man was a member of those responsible for what happened, he hadn't noticed the convenience.

"Who am I?" the man muttered, repeating the question that was asked of him back to himself. He stroked the facial hair on his chin as if pondering the answer to that question. "Hmm... that's a good question. Who am I? I am nothing more than your average person."

In the blink of an eye, before Sunyoung could even process what was happening, the man had vanished from where he was sitting, appeared before him with a smile on his face, snatched the pole out of his hands, and then just as swiftly as he disappeared, he reappeared back to where he had been sitting.

"Sit down. Let's eat some soup to fill up our stomachs," he told Sunyoung while picking up two wooden bowls. "Wait..."

Sunyoung nervously gulped as he realized how powerless he was in front of this man.

What realization did he come to? Was he going to kill him for pointing a weapon at him? 

"Do you eat soup or drink soup?"

"..."

"Whatever. Hurry up and sit before it gets cold."

* * *

What's the most important thing a soldier must possess?

Is it their skills that they can use to overpower their enemies and keep their subordinates in check?

Is it their potential to become someone powerful in the future and lead thousands of soldiers onto the battlefield?

Is their leadership, battle smart, and their capability of keeping their men's morale up?

Or is their loyalty to the army itself? Being willing to put their life on the line to succeed in their task?

All of these were important aspects but none were the correct answer.

It's much simpler than that.

What's the purpose of a soldier?

To kill their enemies.

The most important part of being a soldier is the willingness to kill another human being. Once that part is achieved, only then do the other aspects matter.

It sounds like a simple task, something expected of a soldier who's on the battlefield where they're putting their life on the line.

After all, that's what they signed up for.

But for first-timers who've never taken a life before, the task of killing the enemy before them was a coin flip that would determine whether they were fit to be a soldier — or whether they were a living corpse whose grave was already dug out.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

With every strike the bald barbarian in front of him threw at him, Sunyoung was meeting it with his sword.

Due to his tiny stature, his opponent had a natural high ground even though they were standing on the same level.

The high ground allowed the barbarian to generate a lot of power because he was swinging downwards with each attack.

Ting!

Sunyoung was without a doubt one of the least skilled soldiers fighting at the moment.

That was to be expected because he was also one of the youngest. Other than the short basic training he was put through as well as the few spars that he had with his squad mates, he didn't possess much swordsmanship skills.

He only knew the very basics such as how to block, how to attack, and how to hold his weapon which he had learned through the light spars and the brief lessons that an instructor had given him and the other rookies.

In theory, it should've been an easy task for the bald barbarian who had red tattoos on his face to finish him off with a few exchanges.

That was indeed the case initially.

Yet, as their swords continued to clash, it felt like each attack he threw at the child was being met with more resistance.

'Is he... is he learning how to properly wield the sword right this very moment!?' the barbarian panicked internally.

Sunyoung was not only adapting to the style of how the barbarian was swinging his sword but was also learning how to counter the attacks in real time.

Soon, the one with the advantage in the exchanges would be swapped.

'This can get dangerous for me! I need to end it now!' the barbarian concluded. Using his muscles, he exerted more power into his swing than normal which pushed Sunyoung back a little back when the two blades clashed.

Then he immediately followed that gap in Sunyoung's defense with a chop of maximum strength and velocity.

'Dodge!' Sunyoung thought, understanding that if he attempted to block it, the likely outcome would be the sword in his hands flying off into the distance, leaving him weaponless and vulnerable to his opponent's sword.

As the chop from the bald barbarian's sword wasn't completely vertical but rather angled toward his left side, Sunyoung tossed his weapon forward and proceeded to roll his body towards the right.

"Hnn!?" the shocked barbarian uttered and twisted his body.

Stab! 

In the same motion as the roll, Sunyoung picked up his tossed sword from the floor and used the momentum of standing up to penetrate the tip of his sword into his enemy's chest.

Splash. Splash.

Blood splattered from the cut he made into the barbarian's body. He closed his eyes as some of it was directed at his face.

Opening his eyes, he pulled his sword out and the bald barbarian dropped dead to the ground.

Thud!

"I... I did it..." Sunyoung muttered, his voice trembling as he stared at the victim of his weapon.

The body only died mere seconds ago and yet, he felt like he could see it turning cold.

That was his first time taking the life of another human.

A strange sensation akin to eating rotten food grew inside his stomach.

His brain started to ache and his vision turned blurry.

'Is this how it'll be every time I take a life?' he asked as he purposely allowed the content in his stomach to travel up his body and out his mouth.

It would be foolish to fight back against the feeling of wanting to vomit especially in a place like this where death could be awaiting him any second now.

It was better to embrace the feeling so that he could move forward.

[No. This is a temporary sensation that must humans feel. But the more you do it, you will eventually grow numb to the sensation and killing other humans will become almost second nature.]

'That doesn't sound pleasant either,' Sunyoung thought while wiping the vomit off his mouth. 

Hearing rapid footsteps behind him, Sunyoung leaped sideways. Turning around, he saw a burly one-eyed barbarian; he was wielding a large two-handed axe that had just chopped into the dirt at the spot where he had been standing a second ago.

'That was a close one.' 

If it wasn't for his honed instincts to danger as well as his trained five senses, he would've died there.

"Come then," he taunted the burly barbarian, who was multiple heads taller than most adult men on the battlefield, by gesturing with his offhand for the man to head in his direction.

The one-eyed barbarian acknowledged the taunt by lifting his axe off the ground and heading in his direction.

But before the two could meet, an imperial foot soldier who had just won his battle against a barbarian decided to take on the challenge of the large man.

"I shall get a promotion by claiming your head," the imperial soldier announced.

In two exchanges, the imperial soldier's body collapsed to the ground — headless.

Kicking away the head that was rolling around on the ground, the burly barbarian had a smile on his face as he enjoyed what he was doing.

He liked the feeling of killing others. Being on the battlefield against the imperial army was just an excuse for him to legally kill others without getting punished by the law.

Although he preferred killing men his size and plundering their wives, he also didn't have an issue with murdering kids.

After all, his first kill ever was his deceased wife's little brother.

Licking his lips, the burly barbarian charged at Sunyoung with the axe raised above his head. "Arrrrgh!"

Swift like a cat, Sunyoung dodged the downwards strike of the axe.

About to counter as his opponent's weapon would take a moment to prepare for another attack, he had to stop because the barbarian had already recovered.

'He's fast!' 

Despite the large frame and muscles that looked like tree trunks, the one-eyed barbarian wasn't slow like most men his size.

Raising his sword to block the axe, Sunyoung was aware that he was powerless against it and wouldn't be able to meet it directly like he did with the previous enemy he had battled.

As soon as the axe struck his sword, instincts took over his body and he not only turned the blade in the direction of the attack but also rotated his body with it, reducing the force of the axe.

'I'm alive!' 

Sunyoung successfully saved his neck but not without sacrifice as he was unable to keep a firm grasp on his sword's handle despite the reduced power of the swing thus dropping the weapon.

Smirking as he saw the child was helpless, the burly barbarian wanted to savor the moment a little more and instead of killing him, he chose to kick the child with his leg which was the same size as the child.

Sunyoung was sent flying into the air.

BAM!

He clashed with the back of a fellow member of the imperial army.

"Hey! Watch it!" the imperial soldier screamed as he saw that the person who had clashed into him was an ally rather than an enemy.

About to scold Sunyoung, the soldier had to swallow his words as he saw the burly one-eyed barbarian charging at them with his axe.

"Oh shit!" the soldier yelped.

Raising his shield to protect himself from the slice, he successfully blocked the first attack of the axe.

SWING! 

The second attack shattered his circular shield into shards of wood.

"Fuck!"

Stabbing his spear he was wielding on the other hand at the barbarian's chest, his attack was avoided and before he could let out another curse word, his body had been split into two halves with a clean swipe.

Splatter! Splatter!

His blood poured into the air like fireworks.