Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: 22. Mad Dog (1)
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The orc forces beyond the wooden barricade weren't particularly numerous. Most of their troops had been concentrated on the front lines to hold off the Allied Forces' main army.
Yuri charged straight ahead and slashed at one of the orcs guarding the rear.
But the orc blocked it.
As their weapons clashed several times, more orc soldiers began swarming toward them.
"Rolang!"
"Yes, sir!"
Understanding his intent, Rolang rushed over to assist Yuri. Their coordinated strikes left the orc unable to defend properly, exposing an opening.
The orc collapsed, bleeding profusely.
Yuri immediately stomped on its head, crushing the skull.
"Push forward!"
The main army was locked in fierce close-quarters combat with the orcs.
To help them, they needed to disrupt the enemy rear as much as possible.
"Hey, Hose!"
Yuri shouted.
"Why are you moving so sluggishly? Is that all Bursen has got?!"
Hose burst into laughter at that, then suddenly surged forward.
Hose was evenly matched in size with the orcs. With a single swing of his sword, he bisected the orc blocking his path at the waist.
Covered in blood, he bellowed.
"Show Brioll's prince what Bursen is truly made of!"
The Bursen Knights roared in response and charged.
Human and orc armies clashed head-on.
Blood and flesh sprayed through the air, and the orc unit gradually began falling back. The Bursen forces pressed relentlessly onward.
Then, in a most uncharacteristic outburst, Rolang bellowed.
"For Brioll!"
It was a ferocious charge unlike anything they'd seen from him before.
Rolang leaped high into the air and brought his sword crashing down. The orc raised its axe to block, but Rolang was faster.
The orc's head split open, spilling its contents.
Rolang shook the blood from his blade and shouted once more.
"And for Prince Yuri!"
Yuri, who had been stabbing an orc in the gut, heard his name and let out a loud cough.
"How embarrassing."
The two knight orders charged at the orcs as if in competition.
While the Bursen Knights pulverized them like a grinder with Hose at the center, Brioll pierced the orc lines with fluid, organic tactics.
Yuri climbed atop an orc tent to survey the overall situation.
A brutal melee raged at the forefront, while inside the camp, orc hordes scurried about like swarming ants.
Amid it all, he spotted a stationary mass.
Dozens of flags fluttered.
"Orc Warriors..."
Yuri identified the group.
Dozens of Orc Warriors stood waiting, each bearing a flag on their backs.
And the orc at the center was obvious.
Kurui.
Yuri glared at the orc standing in the middle.
Its size was no different from an ordinary orc, but the scars covering its exposed skin hinted at countless battles fought.
Their eyes met suddenly.
Kurui grinned.
The beast bellowed something and gestured. About half the Orc Warriors turned toward them.
"Damn..."
He'd unintentionally drawn their attention.
Yuri shouted.
"Orc Warriors incoming! Everyone, brace yourselves!"
Dozens of flags shook as they approached from beyond.
The Orc Warriors joined the fray in an instant.
Mid-battle with regular orc soldiers, suddenly these superhumanly strong brutes appeared. If allies got in their way, they'd cleave through them with axes to reach the knights.
"Damn..."
Even Jared, who prided himself on his reflexes, momentarily lost track of his opponent.
As the axe blade loomed before him, he realized something was wrong.
A flash of white light deflected the attack.
"Get your head in the game?"
A black-haired boy intervened, blocking the Orc Warrior.
"Your Highness!"
The Orc Warrior twisted its face and hacked wildly with its axe.
Jared thought no human strength could withstand such merciless assault.
But Yuri parried the enemy's strikes impossibly.
The Orc Warrior was pushed back instead.
Jared's eyes widened.
"That's how it's done."
Jared watched the exchange intently.
At a glance, it looked like simple counters, but Yuri was redirecting the enemy's momentum to his advantage, subtly adjusting angles to amplify his own power like a lever.
That's why the Orc Warrior was being forced back.
It was a technique hard to believe even while watching.
"Got it?"
Between clashes, Yuri exploited his specialty—speed—to create attack opportunities.
Wounds accumulated on the Orc Warrior.
Its axe swings slowed.
Panting like a wounded beast, the Orc Warrior halted in place.
Defeat crept into its eyes.
"Your Highness."
Jared murmured unconsciously.
"Where'd you get private lessons?"
He knew Yuri had innate combat sense, but this was beyond exceptional.
How could an eighteen-year-old toy with an Orc Warrior like a child?
This boy was growing stronger with every battle.
"Cut the nonsense and focus."
Yuri stepped aside.
A signal to finish the wounded Orc Warrior himself.
"Yes, sir."
Jared gritted his teeth and lunged again.
As Jared charged, the Orc Warrior's eyes changed. Power returned to its swings. A clear shift in demeanor.
Jared grimaced.
He'd never considered himself a genius, but he'd thought he was at least in the running.
Now he was being treated like a fool.
"I'll do it too, you bastard!"
Imitating Yuri, Jared deflected the Orc Warrior's attack. The axe flew high into the sky.
Confusion spread across the Orc Warrior's face.
"Yeah, that's the expression."
Jared thrust his sword into the Orc Warrior's throat. It spewed bloody foam from its mouth and collapsed.
Jared withdrew his blade and looked up.
The knights had been pushed back with the Orc Warriors' arrival. But with those two as anchors, the tide was turning.
"I am Hose of Bursen!"
Hose wasn't just brute strength.
The mana pressure emanating from him prickled the skin. Each sword swing sent Orc Warriors tumbling, unable to withstand the impact.
Three Orc Warriors were on him, yet Hose overwhelmed them all.
Their aggrieved expressions told the tale of their plight.
"A monster."
And another monster, Yuri, fought differently.
Weaving between enemies and allies, he ambushed Orc Warriors cunningly.
If too many swarmed him, he'd slip back into the knights' ranks to scatter their focus.
To some, it was efficient killing; to others, sneaky backstabbing.
Yuri stabbed an Orc Warrior in the back and laughed.
Seeing that face, Jared averted his eyes, pretending not to notice.
"Not very heroic..."
What was clear was that their exploits were restoring balance to the faltering field.
Jared gripped his sword tightly.
It'd be a lie to say he wasn't scared.
But long ago, he'd decided to follow Yuri.
He would stay by the boy's side to see how far he went.
Falling behind here would leave him too ashamed to face Yuri afterward.
"Hoo..."
One Orc Warrior approached him.
He relaxed his shoulders. Focused his mind. His senses sharpened acutely.
It was an uncanny sensation.
As it stepped forward, swung its arms, raised its halberd.
Its center of gravity shifted from here to there—clear as day where to strike to topple it.
Knights of a certain caliber grew only through real combat, they'd said. Without Yuri, would he have volunteered for the battlefield?
It was a vista the old him never would have seen.
Jared strode forward.
Watching Jared fight valiantly, Yuri smirked. The knight he'd chosen was keeping up admirably.
Still lacking, but with grooming, he'd become useful.
Not Sword Saint level, but maybe top hundred.
Yuri scanned the battlefield.
The Allied Forces' main army battled fiercely at the front, while in the rear, alongside Brioll and Bursen, the Holy Kingdom and Empire knights rampaged.
Victory was tilting their way.
Given the Allies' scale, it was expected.
"Too easy..."
But in his previous life, similar forces had lost. They needed to prepare for unexpected moves.
Then it happened.
Yuri felt a chilling presence.
A scream erupted right beside him.
Not an orc's—a human's.
He turned to see a scarred orc tearing a knight apart.
"Kurui!"
As observed earlier, Kurui wasn't particularly large. But its intimidation was overwhelming.
No openings whatsoever.
Kurui grabbed the knight's head and hurled it away with a low growl, like a beast's snarl.
"Damn it..."
The dead knight was Lake, a baron with a small fief. Married to his childhood sweetheart from a neighboring estate, father to two young children.
Kurui crushed his head underfoot.
"You bastard!"
An enraged Brioll knight charged.
Kurui dodged while retreating, then exploded forward with an axe swing. Devastating.
The knight's waist snapped.
Blood soaked the ground.
Yuri clenched and unclenched Guilty repeatedly.
His heart raced. His teeth ground.
"Your Highness."
Rolang reached out to restrain him.
"Out of my way."
"No."
Kurui was undoubtedly strong. Even with Yuri's talent, he couldn't win now.
"We'll gang up on it."
Rolang was right. Yuri couldn't die here. Other knights should risk it.
Meanwhile, Kurui charged.
This time, a Bursen knight was cleaved by the axe. The Orc Warriors' momentum surged.
"Fall back, Your Highness. If things go south, retreat..."
"Fine."
"I'm glad you understand."
But Rolang had overlooked something.
Yuri wasn't to be judged by ordinary standards.
As he backed away, Yuri suddenly grabbed Rolang's shoulder and tripped him.
"Whoa, Your Highness!"
In the gap, Yuri bolted forward.
Jared tried to grab him but dodged aside and leaped ahead.
He swung Guilty at Kurui's back. Heart-Soul Severing erupted with unprecedented ferocity in response to his will.
But he tumbled instead.
Kurui had whipped around impossibly fast, striking with its axe. Even Yuri struggled to track it visually.
Worthy of an orc chieftain.
"Protect the prince!"
"Your Highness!"
Brioll knights panicked as Yuri advanced. They rushed forward, tangling their own lines.
Yuri yelled.
"All of you, stop!"
He stood.
"You're in the way."
Saying that, he faced forward again.
By then, a massive knight stood before Kurui.
Bursen's knight, Hose.
"Your Highness, fall back."
"What?"
"A commander can't be in danger."
"Ridiculous."
Yuri shook his head.
"Sir Hose."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Look me in the eyes."
"Pardon?"
"What do you see?"
Hose stared incredulously, then burst out laughing.
The sound echoed thunderously.
"Really..."
He laughed heartily before stopping abruptly, as if by magic.
"I've never seen royalty like you, Prince Yuri."
"Right?"
"Yes. I've seen eyes like yours before, though..."
"The founding king's portrait?"
"No."
Hose raised his sword.
Kurui mirrored with its axe, wary of his aura.
"A mad dog roaming the docks as a kid looked just like you."
"What?"
"It's a compliment."
Hose recalled his childhood.
There was a mad dog.
It feared no foe, no matter how large. It bit anything that touched it until satisfied.
At first, he thought it truly insane.
But later he learned: its den hid several puppies.
It had erased fear to protect its young.
Sometimes, greater reasons eclipsed terror.
In the end, mauled to death by other dogs, Hose buried the mad dog in sunlight and raised the pups himself.
His estate now housed their descendants.
Mischievous black-furred ones, inheriting the mad dog's coat—like Brioll's sly third prince.
"Your Highness. After the Allies are done, visit Bursen. I'll treat you to a full course."
"What's a full course?"
"Come and find out."
Mana surged wildly from Hose, crashing like Bursen's waves.
"Kurui!"
Hose called the enemy's name and advanced. Yuri echoed him.
The two knights charged at Kurui together.