Loser System and Berserker Me

The nervous Samarkand governor clumsily ushered Shu Yichao and his ghost horsemen into his manor, paying no heed to the Abbasid soldiers, who had become fodder for the vultures and the crows.

I would have never thought.

He and his aides felt dazed.

They are heavenly soldiers, in the truest sense.

“Persian Military Commander Li Siguo pays respect to the Anxi Protectorate-General. Please ask anything of us. It’d be our honor to serve you,” the Samarkand governor respectfully greeted Shu Yichao.

“Li Siguo?” Shu Yichao stared at the Samarkand governor with raised eyebrows.

He’s a Persian, right? Why does he have a Han name?

The Samarkand governor noticed Shu Yichao’s confusion and answered without missing a beat, “Yes, milord. We have taken on Han names after being enlightened by past sages. We had to hide our real names in the past because of the Abbasid Caliphate’s tyranny…”

He was bullshitting.

The Persians had been oppressed by the Muslims since the downfall of the Sasanian Empire. Their cities were destroyed. Their artwork was melted. They were forbidden from speaking their native tongue or practicing their religion. (T/N: The Sasanian Empire was the last Persian Empire before Persia was dominated by the Muslim Caliphates.)

They were even divided by castes.

The Muslim Arabs towered at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the Mawalis. The subjugated Persians were third-tier citizens, placed in the same rank as slaves.

Those who dared to speak Persian were either exiled or beheaded.

A group of people claiming to be the Sasanian Empire’s royal family fled to Great Tang following the demise of their state, and the Emperor Gaozu of Tang did confer them with the ‘Li’ surname. (T/N: The descendants of Yazdegerd III, the last ruler of the Sasanian Empire, sought refuge in Great Tang.)

Li Siguo was unrelated to those people, but he didn’t think that was an issue.

The important thing is that we have indeed been conferred by Great Tang’s emperor, and that there is a ‘Persian Military Commandery’ on the Tang map.

We have always admired Great Tang, so isn’t it normal for us to follow our king and take on the ‘Li’ surname too?

And Li Siguo was right.

Shu Yichao couldn’t care less about whether Li Siguo was an impersonator or not. The only thing he was concerned about was how many lions the latter had.

Li Siguo ordered all nearby lions to be gathered and offered to Shu Yichao as tribute, be it male or female, young or old, but there still wasn’t enough to satisfy the latter.

Looks like I’ll have to continue my invasion.

Shu Yichao set his sights on the Persian Gulf and Sindhu.

I’ll be taking all the lions! You better not hide even a single strand of lion hair from me.

Hmm, I should also earn some maintenance fee while I’m at it, lest I am forced to dismiss my terracotta warriors.

…

Bukhara was an important Central Asia’s city located west of Samarkand.

Bukhara had received Tahir’s order for mobilization and was going to dispatch troops into Transoxania to fight the Tangs, but the soldiers themselves couldn’t help but wonder if it was a wise choice.

Located next to Transoxania, they had been hearing all kinds of rumors since last year.

As Tang army swept through Transoxania, many nomads and merchants began fleeing Transoxania, fearing that they would get caught in the ordeal and lose their lives. They spread rumors about the terror of the Tang army wherever they went.

Bukhara’s garrison troops were worried about confronting the Tangs, who had already eradicated two of Transoxania’s powerhouses. .

“I heard that we’ll be fighting with the Anxi army’s predecessors?” a soldier said bitterly.

“The Tang army… They won’t be pushovers. Can we win?”

“We stand a decent chance,” another soldier replied confidently, “General Tahir is a renowned general, and the soldiers under him are meritorious veterans. I heard the Tang army only has a thousand cavalrymen, and the rest are specters conjured by the Anxi Protectorate-General.

“A nomad who escaped from Transoxania said he single-handedly defeated ten specters! There’s nothing fearsome about the Tang army!”

“Why did he flee if he’s that formidable?” another soldier rolled his eyes.

“Have you forgotten that the Tang army was the one who defeated the high shaman and the Holywolf Warrior? Not to mention that countless cities and tribes have fallen to them.”

“Stop being so cowardly! You’re already trembling in fear when we aren’t on the battlefield yet. Aren’t you going to wet your pants in the Tang army’s presence at this rate?”

“YOU!!!”

“Cut the crap and get to work!” a military officer interjected upon sensing a brewing fight.

“Tsk!”

The soldiers glared at one another before scattering.

“Seriously!” the military officer scoffed. “They must be bored out to squabble over everything.”

“Caw caw—”

“ARE YOU MOCKING ME RIGHT NOW?!” the military officer turned around and roared at one of the departing soldiers.

“Huh?” The soldier turned around and looked at the military officer in bewilderment.

“Aren’t you the one who made that noise?” The military officer frowned.

“Caw caw—”

This time, the military officer clearly heard the source of the noise.

“The sky?”

He raised his head and squinted his eyes against the sun, wanting to see what was making those noises.

A huge flock of vultures and crows were swarming the sky.

This phenomenon also alarmed Bukhara’s citizens.

“What’s going on?”

The curious civilians stepped out of their houses to examine this peculiar sight.

Seconds later, their eyes narrowed.

The vultures and crows parted to open a path.

An army of lion-riding soldiers reminiscent of deities flew across the sky, flying past the city walls and descending upon the city.

Bam!

Shu Yichao leaped off the back of his white lion.

He drew his metal whip and, without any warning, lashed it out at the stunned Bukhara’s garrison troops.

Pah!

With a loud sonic boom, the metal whip unleashed a massive cloud of black metal bits reminiscent of a sandstorm. These black metal bits tore through the garrison troops as if they were sheets of paper. Holes punctured their bodies, and their blood and flesh splattered.

The garrison troops wanted to scream from the sheer pain, but they were unable to do so, not after their voice boxes had been smashed into bits.

And this was merely the start.

As he descended to the ground, Shu Yichao swung his metal whip again and again, ripping the enemy garrison troops into shreds.

“It’s the Tang army!”

“They can fly!”

Some of the garrison troops finally snapped out of their daze.

“The Tangs have invaded!!!”

Some tried to flee, but some also tried to maintain order within the army.

“Don’t run!”

“So what if they can fly? Can’t you see there are no more than fifty of them? There’s nothing to fear!”

“Where’s our ballistae? Shoot them down!”

It turned out there was no need for Bukhara’s garrison troops to drag their ballistae over, as the terracotta warriors followed Shu Yichao’s lead and leaped off their flying lions too. But this only brought greater despair to the garrison troops.

Gigantification, activate!

The ground shook with deafening rumbles. Huge clouds of dust jolted into the sky as if a mountain had collapsed.

To the horror of Bukhara’s garrison troops, the terracotta warriors had suddenly grown to over ten meters tall, towering over everyone else in the city like indomitable mountains.