Immediately after satisfying his hunger, Gióng set out for the battlefield at the border.

His armour and horse were fully prepared. Gióng donned his armour, strapped his mighty sword to his side, and mounted his horse. With a mighty roar, the horse galloped off towards the enemy lines.

****

Near the northern border region, the invading forces of the Hoa kingdom had occupied the border area and were pouring into nearby villages. Smoke billowed up, darkening the sky. The air was filled with the stench of death, mingling with the pungent odour of blood. Everywhere, there were corpses of humans and animals scattered around, painting a grim and sombre picture.

Somewhere in a desolate village engulfed in smoke and flames.

* Captain, we're about to lose this place. We can't hold this village any longer.

One soldier reported.

The captain furrowed his brow as he withdrew his sword from an enemy's head.

* Spread the word to all troops: we're retreating. Pull back to the capital; they'll likely try to attack there. That will be our last line of defence.

* Understood!

The soldiers, upon receiving the order, immediately began to withdraw. However, the enemy forces were numerous and aggressive, determined to pursue and engage them. They swiftly surrounded the remnants of the border defence force, blocking their retreat route.

The sky had dawned at that moment, and the gentle sunlight stretched far to the horizon. The border guards squinted their eyes, weary from the long night, towards the sunrise one last time. For them, the morning light was now truly beautiful and warm. While it may seem ordinary on any other day, amidst the chilling battlefield and death looming, each breath now seemed more precious than gold, and those warm rays of sunlight were priceless.

They all seemed prepared to face the tragic outcome. The enemy's cold, sharp blades felt like they were about to snatch away the lives of the brave soldiers.

Clang

Swish

The flanks of the encirclement were suddenly flattened as if the enemy forces had vanished into thin air. The pursuing troops from behind halted abruptly. Those blocking the front were frozen in shock at what had just happened. Out of nowhere, two spears flew in, piercing through the flanks of the encirclement. Bodies impaled on the spears like skewered pieces of meat. The invading men, terrified, slowly turned back only to witness the chaotic scene, as if heaven and earth had turned upside down. It was because their bodies had been severed in half at some point without them realizing it.

Moments ago, the border guards were awaiting their demise, but suddenly, they witnessed the enemy ranks decapitated, bodies strewn about, and limbs scattered everywhere. What unfolded afterward was a scene perhaps they had never witnessed before. The sight of a man, a horse galloping fiercely across the battlefield, slaughtering the invading forces like an unstoppable force.

Wherever Giong charges into, enemies get swiped to dust.

However, on the side of the invading army, skilled individuals are indeed on the battlefield. The commander-in-chief of the Hoa army saw reports indicating that someone of unknown origin was thwarting the invasion. He immediately rode his horse straight ahead to find the disruptor of the battle formation.

He was a formidable general with exceptional martial skills, so when he saw Gióng effortlessly decimating his troops, he immediately sensed the dire situation. The general spurred his horse forward with determination, brandishing his mighty glaive high before striking fiercely towards Gióng. The mighty sword Gióng wielded to slay the enemy had been somewhat damaged, so when he raised it to block the enemy general's thunderous blow, the sword instantly broke into two pieces. Gióng immediately realized that the attacks of this adversary couldn't be easily thwarted. With agility, he swiftly jumped backward just in time for the mighty blow to split his warhorse in half.

Without hesitation for even a second, as soon as his feet touched the ground, Gióng seized the sword lying beneath his feet and swiftly severed the enemy horse's leg. However, the general was equally skilled. He agilely leaped into the air, somersaulted, and spun mid-air, swinging his mighty glaive horizontally towards Gióng's neck. He raised his sword to block the blow, but once again, the sword broke. Gióng swiftly jumped back to evade the strike in the nick of time. They stood there, observing each other's moves in a tense silence. They both exuded an eerie aura, making the air on the battlefield even more suffocating.

While Gióng swiftly grabbed another sword from beneath his feet, the enemy general lunged forward, his glaive aimed at Gióng's face, and he charged at Gióng like a raging storm. He thrust his glaive forward, aiming for his opponent's heart. Gióng agilely dodged the onslaught of attacks like a whirlwind. He leaped to the right, escaping the glaive's range, then seized a shield from the ground and charged towards his opponent. The enemy general swiftly swung his glaive horizontally, effortlessly slicing through the iron shield and splitting his opponent. However, to his dismay, Gióng was not behind the shield; it was just a feint. Gióng had set a trap for his opponent, enticing him to attack and expose a fatal vulnerability. He had already leaped into the air before the opponent struck. Gióng exerted all his strength into his arms, thrusting the sword straight towards the opponent's head. The general quickly drew the sword from his side to block Gióng's strike. The shockwave from the clash reverberated across the battlefield, causing the enemy general's legs to sink several inches into the ground, sending dirt flying everywhere. With one hand blocking the strike and the other pulling back the glaive, the general exerted all his strength to thrust straight toward Gióng while still suspended in mid-air.

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*Thud*

The glaive pierced a hole in Gióng's chest, but it didn't faze him. Gióng tensed his muscles, holding the glaive tightly in his chest, preventing it from being pulled out. With both hands, he continued to exert all his strength, driving the sword into the enemy general. Weakened by only using one hand to block, the enemy general began to falter. Realizing he couldn't withdraw the glaive and hold on much longer, he let go of it and wielded his sword with both hands, knocking Gióng away. He was preparing to lunge forward to strike Gióng in half, then suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He didn't know when a spear had been driven deep into his calf, penetrating the ground beneath him and rendering him immobile. At that moment, he realized it was his glaive.

*Thud*

As he was knocked away, Gióng snapped the spear lodged in his chest in half. He thrust the pointed end down towards the enemy's leg while pulling the remaining part out of his body, then swiftly pierced it through the enemy's chest. It all happened in a mere two seconds. Gióng landed on the ground, blood gushing from the wound, yet he stood tall. This wound couldn't deter his stride. Gióng glanced at the enemy general, who was now faltering, and the general returned his gaze with a look of agony and indignation. Without wasting more time, Gióng lunged forward to decapitate the head of his first opponent.

Seeing their general fall seemed only to fuel the enemy's determination. They noticed Gióng's injuries and regrouped, charging forward to kill him. Their sole objective now was to eliminate Gióng. They surged towards him in overwhelming numbers, but despite his wounds, Gióng fought with unwavering determination, akin to a god of war. Witnessing this, the remnants of the border army rallied together to fight alongside Gióng. Their battle unfolded relentlessly, without pause, and under observation.

Indeed, as Gióng marched forward, Hùng Vương had dispatched his emissaries to follow and observe the situation. They meticulously observed every development on the battlefield from a distance, and each of them couldn't help but be amazed. They endeavoured to record everything they witnessed using various methods at their disposal.

Gióng fought continuously for more than a day despite the bleeding wound. When night fell, he and his comrades rested briefly by a stream in the dense bamboo forest. The invading army, although still numerous, had mainly been demoralized after a long day of pursuing and battling Gióng's forces. They gathered together and decided that tonight, they would muster all their strength to besiege the one who had changed the course of their invasion.

While Gióng and his comrades were resting, the enemy slowly encircled the bamboo forest and advanced towards the campfire. However, Gióng and his comrades had set up a few traps around the forest. Gióng himself launched a surprise attack from above the bamboo trees. He clung to two trees with his hands, hovering directly above the enemy. When the enemy fell into disarray, Gióng uprooted the two bamboo trees and thrust them repeatedly onto the enemy's heads. The terrified soldiers thought the bamboo forest was haunted, and they panicked, trampling over each other as they fled.

A commander of the enemy forces saw Gióng perched atop the bamboo, so he promptly cut off one of the bamboo poles that Gióng was using to stab. Caught off guard, Gióng had to descend to the ground, but he still continually thrust relentlessly toward the enemy. The soldiers, no longer bewildered by any notion of the forest being haunted, regained their composure and resolved to charge forward and kill Gióng. However, resolve alone was perhaps never enough when facing before them a superwarrior. Gióng wielded the two bamboo poles with incredible speed, striking in all directions and sending the enemy flying everywhere. He kept smashing until both poles in his hands were shattered, then he uprooted two more bamboo poles and continued the onslaught without pause.

Seeing their numbers dwindling without being able to defeat Gióng, the invading forces panicked and began to flee. Gióng pursued them relentlessly until not a single enemy soldier remained on Vietnamese soil. The battle concluded after two days and one restless night.

The image ingrained itself deeply into the hearts of the king's emissaries. Gióng stood at the border between the two nations under the dazzling golden light of the autumn evening. His hands gripped two shattered bamboo poles, stained red with the blood of countless enemies, bearing witness to the many times they were wielded to kill. His robust and scarred body stood proudly, surveying the land until no shadow of the enemy remained in sight. Then, he raised one bamboo pole straight up into the sky to signal that the invasion had been repelled. It was accompanied by the jubilant cheers of the border guards echoing throughout the hills and mountains.

Gióng returned to the capital amidst the cheers and praises of the people. Accompanying him were his comrades, the border guards who had fought shoulder to shoulder with him, defending and protecting him. Gióng's name was inscribed with a glorious victory in the annals of history. He was bestowed with the title of national hero by Hùng Vương himself and was appointed the grand general, commanding the border defence forces.