Yuri hurled his spear, piercing both an orc and a soldier at once. The struck orc group collapsed as they were.
Yuri leapt off his saddle, gripping Guilty.
"See you in a bit."
The black steed he'd ridden turned its body as if it understood and retreated from the orc camp.
Yuri cut down a nearby orc and lifted his gaze.
Briol's knight order was one by one piercing through the enemy formation and pushing inward.
"Crush them all!"
"Yes, sir!"
They scattered to the left and right, targeting the orc forces that had formed their frontlines.
The breach created by Briol widened.
Gradually, more allied forces broke through the orc defenses.
The orcs began to be pushed back.
Yuri swung Guilty wildly, chunks of orc flesh tearing from his blade.
Now, it took multiple orcbal just to stop him.
Suddenly, he felt a cold gaze and looked up sharply.
"Okua."
Okua stood at a distance.
Now that they were closer than before, Okua's massive frame and long arms appeared more tangible within Yuri's sight.
Its crimson eyes emitted a black haze, as if they did not belong to any living creature.
Meeting Okua's eyes, even Yuri found himself momentarily frozen by the pressure.
Yuri clenched his teeth.
To be paralyzed by the enemy's killing intent was a disgrace.
He burst his mana and forced his body to move.
"Get lost!"
Guilty wasn't a sword but a hammer wrapped in mana, smashing down the enemy.
He struck down the charging orcbal. Then, more orcbal clung to him.
Yuri parried their attacks and kicked one down.
"This is all you've got?"
He should have been exhausted, but instead, his strength was surging.
It had been a long war. And now, victory felt close enough to grasp.
The orc army had weakened from prolonged battles. Though the Allied Army had also suffered great losses, it was nothing compared to the orcs.
Yuri drove Guilty into an orcbal's head.
"Your Highness!"
As he retrieved his sword, Laurent caught up to him.
"What is it?"
"There's a shaman over there. What shall we do?"
Following his gaze, a line of orcbal had formed a formation, and at the center stood an orc shaman, glaring at the battlefield.
As battle began, he could feel the chains of mana spread across the battlefield.
Dispels cast by the mages and shamans entangled each other.
But just as Yuri had done before, if the shamans were taken down one by one, their own mages would be unleashed.
"One won't be enough."
"Then let's just keep killing whatever we see until it works."
"By the time that happens, the battle might be over."
"Well, then there's no helping it."
"Yeah, guess there's no helping it."
Laurent grinned. Yuri lifted the corners of his lips.
It was a side of Laurent he hadn't seen in his previous life.
Though traces of his former haughty demeanor lingered, his attitude was far more bold now. And back then, he hadn't respected Yuri like this.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
"Laurent."
"Yes."
"You're confident, right?"
"Of course."
"Then let's go."
"I'll follow Your Highness wherever you go."
Yuri charged forward, and Laurent followed close behind.
Without needing to say anything, the knights of Briol took down the orcs in front and followed them.
Yuri became the tip of the wedge, crashing into the orcbal wall.
Countless axes rained down, aiming for him.
But he didn't care.
At most, only one or two in front of him mattered. The rest would be deflected by his comrades.
"Where do you think you're going!"
"Protect His Highness!"
"Dieee!"
Briol's knight order collided.
Dozens of weapons rang out with explosive crashes.
With Jared guarding his left and Laurent on his right, Yuri pushed the orcbal back by sheer force.
Amid the bloodbath, the heart-soul slash raged like a living creature.
"Akuakkai!"
"Yes, it's me."
That was the orcbal's dying cry.
Guilty struck up through its jaw and burst out from the crown of its head. Blood and brain matter flowed down the orcbal's face. When Yuri pulled Guilty free, the body collapsed.
A small gap opened.
Yuri slipped into the opening.
Orcbal on either side turned to grab him, and the shaman tried to flee.
Yuri made a wide slash with Guilty to shake off the orcbal and grabbed the shaman's back.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Guilty pierced through its spine.
The shaman's body trembled.
Yuri twisted the blade, finishing him off. Then he pulled the sword free.
The orcbal, having lost their shaman, went berserk.
But the knights of Briol calmly responded.
Yuri was already searching for another enemy.
And then—
"…Oh."
When he looked up, a black wave was sweeping through the orc camp.
Someone spoke the name.
"The Empire."
The Imperial knight order crashed into the orcs like a tidal wave.
Their force was overwhelming, as if everything they'd shown so far had been just a disguise.
Briol and the Empire.
Two lances driving cracks into the shield the orcs had built.
The orcs were collapsing.
"Let's go!"
Their target was ultimately the one still standing beyond it all—Okua.
Yuri continued to break through the orc army.
Okua still stood tall, not joining the battle himself.
"Let's see how long you can just stand there."
Soon, Yuri arrived at the final barrier.
A squad of elite orcbal guarding Okua.
They were armored, wielding weapons of fine craftsmanship. Unlike the chaotic orcs that had rushed in recklessly, they guarded Okua with discipline, like a trained knight order.
"Huh..."
Yuri paused for a moment. The atmosphere was different.
"Don't approach recklessly!"
Yuri warned them, but one knight, carried away by the tension, charged straight in.
"Uaaaagh!"
And his head hit the ground.
"Stupid bastard…"
There was no time to mourn his death.
Yuri gripped Guilty and glared at the orcbal. He could feel the refined flow of mana. These were ones who had mastered the mana method.
On top of that, black haze was rising from their bodies. It was the same trace he had seen from the shamans before.
Could black magic be unaffected by dispel?
"All units, hold position."
Fortunately, the orcbal unit didn't leave Okua's side.
Yuri made his decision.
"We'll deal with those guys slowly. First, we change targets."
If they weren't going to come out till the end, then they just had to kill all the others until only they remained. With the tide already turned, there was no need to rush.
A more certain victory was in sight.
It was then.
The ground trembled.
"This is…"
A sign that the Ancient Wyrms were about to appear.
Yuri pressed a hand to the ground and spread his senses. The tendrils of the heart-soul slash detected the movements of the Ancient Wyrms.
"Everyone…"
Yuri shouted.
"Watch the ground!"
Nearly ten Ancient Wyrms began burrowing underground like a swarm of worms.
Screams erupted all around.
Ancient Wyrms burst out in various places, opening their massive jaws and devouring Allied Army soldiers.
The sudden reversal of the situation threw the battlefield into chaos again.
Yuri turned to face the Ancient Wyrms.
Then, suddenly, black shadows surged together.
"Look up!"
A swarm of wyverns circled the sky.
Unlike before, orcs weren't riding them, but that made them even more dangerous. The wyverns were spreading their wings, preparing to dive.
The Allied Army had come to subjugate orcs, not to fight such monsters.
"Watch the skies!"
Even as he shouted, Yuri couldn't help but be speechless.
Below ground, and above his head.
How could they watch both?
In the meantime, the orcs regained momentum and began pushing the Allied Army back.
"Hey, you there!"
A wyvern plummeted down toward a knight fighting an orc.
Before Yuri's warning even reached him, the wyvern grabbed the knight's head and flew upward. Then it dropped him from a high altitude, killing him.
"Damn it."
With the appearance of the monsters, the tides of battle turned instantly.
Was this also part of their scheme?
Yuri turned to look at Okua.
The monster stood on high, looking down at Yuri with those crimson eyes glowing.
Suddenly, a foul stench passed by him.
Yuri knew what it was. The energy of black magic, the same he had felt when he encountered the black shaman.
As he stood before Okua, he felt as though he finally understood something.
The reason Okua could command monsters.
"Black magic…"
Yuri muttered. Then a voice reached his ears.
[You're right.]
"What?"
Yuri's eyes widened. It was Moyong Chan's voice.
[It's a technique called 'Transmission of Inner Voice.' You can send words from far away.]
Moyong Chan's voice continued.
[That bastard's using sorcery. It's hard to suppress.]
"What should I do?"
[Try clearing out the orcs around him first.]
Moyong Chan's breathing was labored with each word. It felt as though he was already struggling against something from afar.
"So if I take them all out, that's enough?"
[That's right.]
Moyong Chan's voice grew more solemn.
[After that, I'll take care of him.]
***
In the midst of the chaos, Yuri focused on Okua and the elite orcbal guarding him.
There weren't many of them, but their individual strength was extremely high.
If they committed average forces, they would likely be wiped out without achieving anything—like that poor knight who lost his head earlier.
"All right, I like a challenge."
There was something Yuri had prepared for a moment like this.
He sent a knight to Ragna.
Soon, a horn unlike the ones used so far echoed across the battlefield. A new banner was raised from where Ragna stood.
The standard-bearer moved urgently, then rushed toward Yuri.
"Just give me the banner and go."
"Yes, sir!"
If he needed to take down the elite orcbal, then he had to gather those capable of doing so.
Before the battle began, a signal had been agreed upon to summon skilled warriors from each nation when needed.
Yuri raised the banner high and waved it.
Laurent, Jared, and Raymond approached him.
"Your Highness, is it finally starting?"
"Ah, I don't feel confident…"
"Looks like I'll have to exert myself for the first time in a while."
Then came a loud, laughing voice.
"Hahahahaha! A summons? This should be fun!"
It was Jose, the knight of Bursen. Behind him came Froin and Jonathan. Then appeared Sibylla and Fenek of the Holy Kingdom, along with several paladins. The commander of Liberda, Wolf, led his knights and approached.
Skilled fighters from the various nations marched forward.
They were all knights who had stood at the forefront of the Allied Army throughout the campaign.
And lastly, the Empire arrived.
At the lead stood Graham and the commander of the 3rd Knight Order, along with more than ten knights clad in black armor. Their force was overwhelming.
Yuri spoke.
"To end this battle, Okua must be killed. And to do that, we need to take down his guards first. This is a request directly from my teacher, Moyong Chan."
The gathered knights turned their eyes toward the orcbal.
Not one of them showed fear of the enemy.
Yuri lifted the corners of his lips and drew Guilty.
"Let's kill him before the damage spreads any further."
Then he strode forward without hesitation. The rest followed behind him.
They advanced toward the target, with the war-torn plains and rampaging monsters behind them.
Sensing something abnormal, the elite orcbal turned to Yuri's direction, their faces stiffening.
Killing intent burst forth.
But instead of shrinking back, Yuri began to run.
His body tingled under the sharp pressure of the enemy's aura. But when the knights with him drew up their mana, the orcbal's murderous aura was pushed back.
That strength felt as though it was pushing Yuri forward.
The two sides were now within each other's range.
Yuri swung Guilty wide.
The orcbal at the front also swung his axe to meet him.
KAANG!
With that first clash, the other knights collided with the elite orcbal as well.
The crashing sounds of weapons clashing rang out in perfect succession.
Yuri laughed heartily.
Up until now, he had always been in a position where he had to lead. But this time, it was different. These were all capable warriors who could handle things on their own.
Just standing shoulder to shoulder with them in battle was reassuring.
The core force of the Allied Army had clashed with the enemy.
[T/L: Read more chapters on Ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]