Chapter 23 – No Retreat in Battle

The third day of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Around dawn, on the flank route side.

Rustle.

“What was that sound?”

The Phocian army detected the Persian army through the sound of oak leaves rustling.

……!!

Both sides, having discovered each other’s presence, were startled.

‘The Spartan army is here already?!’

‘The Immortals! A Persian ambush!’

The Phocian army moved first.

“Retreat! Retreat to the hill and reorganize the formation!”

But even seeing that, the Immortals could not move recklessly.

The current Immortals were formed by reinforcing the survivors of the Immortals, who had suffered near-annihilation on the first day of battle, to a strength of 20,000.

Fear of the Spartan army was pervasive.

Seeing the Immortals hesitate, the traitor who guided the way, Ephialtes, stepped forward.

Not the hunchbacked Ephialtes whom Lee Hanseong kept by his side under surveillance, but the Thracian Ephialtes of the same name.

[《Nightmare: Ephialtes》 reproduces the history of betrayal.]

As the betrayal at Thermopylae was etched into history, the name Ephialtes itself came to mean nightmare.

Since the hunchbacked Ephialtes, the traitor of the original history, was in a state where he could not betray, another Ephialtes betrayed, bringing about the same result as the original history.

“They are not the Spartan army. They are merely the Phocian army, so let’s just ignore them.”

“Is that so.”

If the opponent was not the Spartan army, then the Immortals had no reason to fear.

“No need to waste time here. We’ll pass by while suppressing them with arrows.”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The Immortals showered the Phocian army, who had taken a position on the hill, with arrows and passed right by.

“They’re just passing by! Shouldn’t we stop them?”

“We should stop them… but how?”

If they were holding out from atop the hill, that was one thing, but if they went down to block them directly, it was as clear as day that the Phocian army would be annihilated.

“There’s no choice. We have no option but to quickly deliver this news to the main force.”

The only thing they could do was to send a messenger with the news that the flank route had been breached.

* * *

Upon hearing the news of the flank route via messenger, King Leonidas hurriedly summoned his advisors.

“Quickly convene a council of war.”

It was still close to dawn, but given the nature of the matter, there was no time to delay.

=All advisors, assemble!

After waking the sleeping advisors with Six Harmonies Communication and gathering them, the meeting began swiftly.

“If the flank route is breached, we must retreat. If we stay like this, we will be attacked from both front and rear.”

“No.”

While some advisors argued for retreat, King Leonidas had no intention of withdrawing.

“If we retreat like this, it’s only a matter of time before we are caught in the open ground beyond Thermopylae.”

“So even if we retreat, someone must hold the enemy here and buy time.”

The Greek army advisors who grasped King Leonidas’s meaning averted their gazes.

It seemed they were trying to avoid becoming the sacrificial lamb who would stay behind.

King Leonidas, sensing their inner thoughts, did not get angry.

“You may leave if you wish. We Spartans will hold this place to the end.”

“Truly? We will never forget the Spartan sacrifice.”

“As expected. They said Spartans never retreat. It was true!”

Once King Leonidas’s permission was given, a considerable number of the Greek allied forces retreated.

The troops remaining at Thermopylae numbered a mere 2,000.

As if timing it with the arrival of the Immortals, the Persian army was only preparing for battle and had not yet moved.

“Spartan warriors! Have a hearty last meal in this world. We will dine in the Underworld tonight!”

Meanwhile, the remaining Spartan army distributed the remaining provisions, finished their meals in a warlike manner, and burned whatever was left.

With their bellies full, they waited, and the Persian vanguard also began to advance slowly.

“The enemy approaches.”

“We go down as well!”

King Leonidas led the remaining troops down to the wide open ground to kill more enemies.

“We will fight until we die. Let’s go.”

“Wahoo! Wahoo! Wahoo!”

Thus, at the moment the battle of the third day, which would be the final battle of Thermopylae, began.

Pheidippides was also by King Leonidas’s side, together.

“Why did you not flee? With your abilities, you could have escaped easily.”

“Did I not say I would stay with you? I will not flee until the last man falls.”

King Leonidas, sensing Lee Hanseong’s resolve, chuckled heartily.

“Haha. You are truly a warrior. I acknowledge you as an honorary Spartan.”

“Wahoo!”

He answered the king’s acknowledgment with a warrior’s cry.

Starting with him, other warriors also began to roar their cries, and soon the entire allied forces erupted in cries.

Wahoo!! Wahoo!! Wahoo!!

[<War Cry: War Cry> boosts allied morale and lowers enemy morale.]

With the power boiling from the war cries pouring forth, the Spartan line and the Persian line clashed.

Clang! Clang! Thud! Thud! Slash! Slash!

The enemy vanguard numbered roughly 10,000.

They were clearly outnumbered, but the Spartans and the remaining Greek allied forces fought tenaciously.

[<Chain> links <Persuasive Speech>, <Command>, 《Six Harmonies Communication》, and 《Transcendence》.]

[Commands through Command are etched into the allies’ subconscious.]

When engaging in battle, there is no retreat; thus, No Retreat in Battle.

[The command of No Retreat in Battle suppresses allied flight.]

[Due to the influence of Transcendence, the physical limits of allies are removed.]

They were in a state where allied combat power was amplified using the Chain skill.

It wasn’t to the extent where everyone Transcended and was Promoted by one stage each like during Colonization, but at least it was enough to release the brain’s limits and exhibit Monstrous Strength.

Boom-! Zzzzeng-! Kwaang-!

Allied attacks that shattered the enemy’s weapons and crushed their bodies.

In proportion, allied equipment and bodies were also damaged, but the warriors paid no heed.

They fought until every spear became useless, then switched to swords.

If even swords were gone, they fought with fists; if the arm swinging the fist was severed, they fought by biting with their teeth.

The formation had already collapsed, making it a situation no different from a melee.

Among them, the hunchbacked Ephialtes was also fighting to his heart’s content as he had wished, wearing a bizarre smile.

Not only that, but most allies wore faint smiles under the influence of endorphins flooding their brains.

“Just die already!”

“Madmen! Why do you fight so desperately!”

Rather, the Persian troops facing them showed signs of being unnerved by the sight of them charging while smiling, no matter how wounded they were.

But even if one warrior exhibited martial prowess against a hundred, the overwhelming difference in numbers could not be overturned.

Thwack!

Then, an arrow shot by a Persian archer struck King Leonidas.

It was when they had annihilated the enemy vanguard of 10,000 and had killed nearly another 10,000 from the main force.

“Leonidas!”

Perhaps the location of the hit was bad; it was instant death.

“Leonidas is dead! Secure his corpse!”

The Persian soldiers, emboldened, tried to take Leonidas’s corpse.

An action stemming from the judgment that with King Leonidas’s command severed, Spartan morale would drop.

‘What would Leonidas do now?’

But allied morale was still being maintained.

Because Lee Hanseong was carrying King Leonidas’s corpse on his back and, using Six Harmonies Communication, was imitating his command to continue the command.

The narrowed vision and dulled mind from battle caused the warriors, even if they saw the king fall from an arrow and heard the Persian side’s shouts that they had killed the king, to be under the illusion that the king was alive as long as the command continued through Six Harmonies Communication.

In other words, Pheidippides was handling the core of the allied forces.

The Persian side could not have failed to notice this.

“Kill that bastard!!”

Arrows concentrated on Pheidippides.

Moreover, as the effect of Transcendence ended, allied strength was also weakening.

It was a situation where dying at any moment would not be strange, but Lee Hanseong did not flee.

As he had told King Leonidas, he had no intention of fleeing until the last man fell.

Swish! Ssswish!

Arrows that narrowly grazed his skin, leaving scratches.

He focused on evasion and command using <High-Speed Dash>.

While surveying the allies spread out in all directions through command and issuing appropriate orders, he also had to avoid the arrows and spears targeting him in this dire situation; his thinking was evolving in real time.

Whoosh-!

The noise of battle grew distant, and his consciousness seemed to float.

The warriors and Pheidippides’s figure, felt like limbs due to command, were perceived clearly as if viewing the battlefield situation from a third-person aerial perspective.

[Conditions met. Rare Skill <Aerial View> Blooms.]

[3-Star Spirit ‘Pheidippides’ is Promoted to 4-Star (★★☆☆).]

Through the vastly expanded field of view of Aerial View, he could see the Immortals, who had come via the flank route, approaching from behind.

And beyond that, he also saw that the Greek allied forces who had retreated earlier had gained sufficient distance.

‘Leonidas. Thanks to your sacrifice, they have survived.’

On the Persian main force side, perhaps sensing the arrival of the Immortals, their offensive against the allies eased, and they focused on forming an encirclement.

Clang… clang… thud!

As the allies and nearby Persian troops all fell, and the troops behind no longer approached but kept their distance, a brief lull arrived.

The allies gathering around Pheidippides.

The enemy bows aimed at them.

‘They intend to finish us off with arrows like this.’

As the excitement of battle subsided, only then did the captain of the guard, finally realizing King Leonidas’s death, approach Pheidippides and pat his shoulder.

“This is enough. You should leave from here.”

“I…”

“If you’re uncomfortable leaving alone, please take the king’s remains with you. Those arrogant Persians are the type to insult the king’s remains. It would be for His Highness’s sake to send him off in your hands.”

Indeed, Xerxes later beheaded King Leonidas’s remains and crucified them.

Considering that, the captain of the guard’s words were also right.

“We are not defeated. Even if we lost this battle, the remaining Greek allied forces will surely defeat the Persians. Please, on behalf of those who died here, personally confirm the defeat of those bastards.”

“…I understand.”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Almost as soon as he finished speaking with the captain of the guard, arrows were shot from the Persian side.

Gazing at the arrows pouring down like rain, obscuring the sun in the sky, he activated Shrinking Earth along with King Leonidas’s corpse on his back.

Fwoosh!

While his body moved a step ahead, the perspective of Aerial View remained at Thermopylae for a moment after he left, watching the warriors’ final moments.

Until all the standing warriors fell, under the unceasing shower of arrows, the moment the captain of the guard and all the warriors lost their lives.

[Feat ‘Last Stand of Thermopylae’ achieved.]

[The Sun Constellation records your Feat and the Altered history.]

[Third awakening skill 《No Retreat in Battle》 Blooms.]

[Pheidippides’s Three-star promotion is completed.]

The Three-star promotion was also completed, and then the cat meowed.

-Meow.

As when the Two-star promotion was completed, time within the Historical Alteration stopped.

It was ironic that No Retreat in Battle manifested in him, who left the battlefield at the end.

But as the captain of the guard’s last words implied, to not let the Last Stand of Thermopylae be in vain, he must personally witness the victory of the Battle of Salamis with his own eyes.

[To complete Pheidippides’s Four-star promotion, the Historical Alteration continues.]

[The flow of history accelerates to the next Branch Point.]

[Remaining achievements are consumed for acceleration. Current number of remaining achievements held: 2]

Falalalak!

The ‘Sudden Rift Closer’ achievement was consumed, Branch Point movement proceeded, and a new landscape greeted him.

* * *

The place where Lee Hanseong awoke was a tent.

It seemed Pheidippides, before he was Possessed, had been sleeping, as he was lying on a cot.

His entire body was wrapped in bandages.

“Ugh.”

The wounds sustained at Thermopylae were not yet fully healed.

“You seem to be awake.”

Themistocles, confirming he was awake, approached.

“Why are you here?”

“Because this is my tent.”

Not understanding the situation, he examined Pheidippides’s memories with <Overmind>, but still no answer came.

Pheidippides’s memories ended after escaping Thermopylae and joining the retreating navy at Artemisium.

“His Highness Leonidas’s remains…?”

Suddenly feeling the emptiness on his back, he asked about the corpse’s whereabouts. Instead of answering, Themistocles drew aside the cloth covering the tent entrance.

Faint singing and the scent of incense drifted in.

“Currently, preparations for cremation are underway along with the memorial service. After dealing with the Persian naval forces in this battle and when the war ends, the cremated remains are planned to be sent back to Sparta in an urn along with the coffin.”

Outside, a memorial service honoring King Leonidas and the warriors who died at Thermopylae was in full swing.

“Where is… this place?”

“Salamis Island. Here, we will end this war.

And through that Feat, I too may reach Seven Star.

“

For a moment, a being other than Themistocles spoke.

It was Admiral Yi Sunsin, Possessing Themistocles.

-Meow.

As if answering him, the cat meowed.

It seemed he had arrived at the point right before the Battle of Salamis properly began.

“

You’ve come well this far. Thanks to you continuing Pheidippides’s history to this point, I have finally entered the stage where I can be active. Leave the rest to me.

“

Goooooo!

A Grade of a different dimension compared to the Themistocles seen at the Marathon plain or the Isthmus was felt from him.

The Grade of a Six-Star Spirit was revealed without concealment.

It seemed that in this Historical Alteration, Chungmugong would be able to exert his full power.

Chungmugong facing a naval battle.

He had absolutely no confidence he could win.