Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: 27. Ants (3)
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Yuri's jaw dropped.
Moyong Chan swung his sword once, and the dozens of orcs surrounding him burst into bloody chunks that splattered across the ground.
The shocked expressions of the Allied Forces facing off in the distance were clearly visible.
This was the power of one of the Ten Supremes.
Even the orc horde clashing against him staggered back in terror.
It was absolute might.
"Mo-hanya."
Moyong Chan whipped around and shoved Yuri's back.
"No time to gawk. Get to your damn job."
Yuri stumbled forward, gripping Guilty. The remaining orcs recoiled in surprise.
They were still reeling from Moyong Chan's power.
"Yes, sir."
Trusting in Moyong Chan, Yuri strode ahead with newfound confidence. The orc pack fell back again.
Yuri advanced once more.
And charged.
The orcs snapped out of it and turned to face him.
Normally, this would've been a fight Yuri couldn't win easily.
But Moyong Chan's single strike had wiped out half the orcs. That unexpected aid shifted the odds in Yuri's favor.
"Support the prince!"
"Kill the orcs!"
With the frontline gone, the rest of the Allied Forces joined Yuri in assaulting the halved orc pack.
This was a result Moyong Chan hadn't anticipated.
"...Theory be damned."
Yuri plunged into the orcs, rampaging wildly. The remaining knights and soldiers mingled with him, turning it into a slaughter.
It wasn't long before every orc lay dead.
Yuri sheathed his bloodied sword.
"Good work."
"Not yet. I'm heading back in to fight."
"Go on."
The battle was far from over.
Orcs were crawling up from the ground like swarms of ants.
Moyong Chan nodded.
"Knights of Brioll!"
Yuri raised his sword and shouted.
Brioll's scattered knights began rallying to him from all directions.
"You tired?"
"No, sir!"
"Want a break?"
"No, sir!"
"Then do you want to kill orcs?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Not afraid of death?"
"No, sir!"
"Only those who just answered 'yes'—follow me!"
"Yes, sir!"
Yuri moved out at once. The knights thundered after him in a mass.
Moyong Chan watched, stroking his chin.
[Fate, huh...]
He muttered in the tongue of the East.
High above, the baleful star still blazed, casting its darkness over the world.
With each passing day, the heavenly order warped further, and chaos crept upon the mortal realm.
He had no idea how to fix it.
But he'd left the Eastern Continent blindly, determined to clash against it somehow, and ended up here.
And unexpectedly, he'd encountered another star.
"Guess there really is such a thing."
Tiny and insignificant compared to that black star extending its tentacles toward the world.
But it undeniably held light.
And in ways no one knew, its radiance grew brighter by the day.
"The heavenly qi hasn't snapped yet."
Having left the East for the Western reaches, he'd unexpectedly met a descendant of the Heaven-Destroying Sword Wanderer.
And that kid was a once-in-a-generation prodigy.
Not just talented with the blade—his character and actions drew people to him.
One like this doesn't stand alone.
He leads others and alters the course of the world.
So what role was he meant to play?
Moyong Chan looked up at the sky again.
The sun hadn't set yet, so no stars were visible. But he could feel that dark gaze flickering beyond the firmament.
Would slaying Okua make that star fall?
Impossible to say.
Perhaps something even more terrifying lurked behind it.
But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. A path lay before him, so he'd take it one stride at a time.
As he lost himself in thought, someone approached.
"M-Mr. Moyong Chan!"
"Hm?"
Cory stood there.
Half-orcs were beings that should be culled by nature. Yet strangely, Moyong Chan sensed something closer to good than evil in this one—more so than any malevolent aura.
Maybe that's why his disciple had taken this half-orc under his wing.
"Uh..."
Cory stammered nervously before speaking up.
"There's a place that needs help..."
"Help."
Moyong Chan looked down at him.
In the West, they called him one of the Ten Supremes. After wandering and fighting since leaving the East, the title had stuck at some point.
It carried great weight here, so everyone feared him.
This little half-orc was no exception.
But he'd braved that fear to approach.
How much courage that took was plain from his trembling, fidgeting hands.
Moyong Chan replied.
"Lead on."
"Pardon?"
Cory looked up.
His hood slipped, revealing a glimpse of his grotesque face.
But Moyong Chan paid it no mind.
He'd hunted fiends of the demonic path for years. He'd seen devils hidden in beautiful shells and virtue blooming from hideous visages.
Moyong Chan patted Cory's head once, then started walking.
"Ara-thunni-kkan ann-neha-ra-ge."
"Y-Yes, sir!"
Up until now, their clashes with the orcs had been head-on slugfests of brute force. But today's fight was pure guerrilla warfare—no telling where the next ambush would spring from.
"How many tunnels?"
This wasn't orcs anymore. It was ants.
In mid-march, Yuri felt the ground rumble and halted.
Sand sprayed as an orc burst up through the earth.
"Akaku kaka!"
Bad matchup for it.
Yuri didn't flinch or dodge. He channeled sword qi into Guilty and cleaved it clean in half.
The orc split open, spilling blood and guts.
Its upper body thrashed in disbelief before going limp.
Yuri gripped Guilty tighter and scanned his surroundings.
"How the hell are orcs tunneling underground?"
He circulated his Mana Circulation Method, extending his senses.
The frantic movements of orcs scurrying below felt as tangible as if he could grab them.
A staggering number raced through the depths.
"That way."
Yuri pointed out the next attack point. Sir Jared, at his side, asked,
"How do you sense it, Your Highness?"
"From the vibrations."
"Pardon?"
Jared's face twisted oddly.
Enhancing senses with mana was standard technique.
But pinpointing faint tremors to track underground orcs in detail? That was another realm entirely.
Like a dog distinguishing foes by scent.
"You a mole or something?"
"Shut it."
Yuri broke into a run. The knights followed.
"Teach me too."
"You think I'd get anywhere teaching you?"
"Might."
"Not you. No talent."
"Ouch..."
Yuri knew his perception far exceeded the ordinary.
This level of mastery came from the Heart-Soul Severing Mana Circulation Method, the hunter's memories, and above all, his innate gifts.
It hit him anew how much he'd squandered in his past life.
To shake off the regret, Yuri squeezed Guilty harder.
"Jared."
"Yes?"
"Regrets are always too late, no matter how quick you have them."
"Out of nowhere, what..."
"Means treat me right!"
With that, Yuri leaped ahead.
"Your Highness!"
Jared called after him.
"That the spot?"
"Yep!"
Yuri led the knights away from the active battlefield, weaving through empty tents.
Far off, orcs and soldiers clashed in bloody melee, yet here Yuri pressed on into vacancy.
"What's even over there..."
Then the ground bubbled.
"Whoa...!"
The Brioll knights raised their swords in alarm.
Unlike the small holes orcs had popped from before, this time the earth rippled like liquid, splitting wide left and right.
Yuri muttered,
"Not orcs."
Something had felt off.
Orcs couldn't dig this many tunnels so fast.
"Something's there."
The ground yawned open.
A massive hole formed. Through it, dirt-caked tentacles flickered into view before vanishing.
Beyond the dust cloud, ranks of waiting orcs came into sight.
They leaped out in groups.
"Kill 'em now!"
The Brioll knights, holding the entrance, hacked them down.
Orcs tumbled back below as fast as they climbed.
The piling corpses sowed chaos underneath.
"Use the terrain!"
As the knights massacred them, the orc forces abandoned the mouth and fled deeper into the tunnel.
"Simon! Guinness! Dyke!"
Yuri called the young knight trio.
Battle had forged them into proper knights.
"Take soldiers and hold here."
"Yes, sir!"
"Brioll style on anything that comes up."
"Got it!"
"What's 'Brioll style'?"
Guinness and Dyke faltered. Quick-witted Simon shouted,
"Smash whatever shows!"
"That's it."
There was no such thing as "Brioll style." Simon had just improvised.
That was the real Brioll way.
"Rest of you, with me!"
Vibrations hit again.
Yuri recalled the mystery tentacles. Whatever it was kept digging from below.
"Raymond, Rolang."
"Yes."
"You sense it?"
They were the sharpest among his knights.
Raymond said,
"I feel the quakes continuing."
Rolang nodded too.
"Same here."
"Something's boring tunnels nonstop underground."
"Something...?"
"Not orcs. Another creature."
"Like a sandworm? But those live in deserts..."
"Close enough."
Yuri picked up the pace.
This led straight to a raging battlefield.
A blind orc shaman thrust his staff high.
"Akaraka che! Akaraka chu!"
At his cry, the orc horde abandoned the soldiers and charged Yuri's position.
Brioll knights slammed into them. Screams and clashing steel rang out.
The orcs guarding the shaman were elite.
All near Orc Warrior class.
"Thought Orc Warriors were rare. Damn it..."
Every visible one was Orc Warrior caliber.
Suddenly, Yuri sensed a razor-sharp strike incoming and leaned aside.
An Orc Warrior wielding a massive scimitar targeted him.
"Tch!"
As Yuri recovered, the Orc Warrior pack crashed into the knights.
The surprise assault pushed the Brioll lines back.
Melee chaos erupted.
"Watch it there!"
A knight at the edge crumpled.
Blood pooled thick on the ground.
Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.
He hadn't assumed everyone would survive fighting orcs.
On the battlefield, death loomed for all.
But he had to stand one step ahead of the rest.
That was his duty.
The Orc Warrior leveled its scimitar at Yuri.
It grinned, wagging a finger mockingly before his throat.
"Akuakka-i? Akme kataro kumbe, okudoku!"
Yuri ignored the taunt. Instead, he honed his senses razor-sharp.
In Erich Brioll's dungeon, he'd spent ages sparring dummies.
There, Erich had demonstrated the myriad wonders he'd achieved in life.
Back then, Yuri's realm was too low; he'd only shuddered at the Heart-Soul Severing's miracles.
No longer.
Yuri looked up.
He felt allies collapsing beside him, bleeding out.
Endless orc reinforcements claimed Allied lives.
Yet he didn't avert his gaze. Didn't rush to save them.
Acting on emotion? He'd done that to death in his past life.
Suppressing impulse, Yuri coldly assessed what he must do.
"Akuakka-i!"
The Orc Warrior swung its scimitar.
Fierce centrifugal force whipped up wind that sliced Yuri's throat. A bit deeper, and it'd have torn it out.
Yuri counterattacked with Guilty.
The Orc Warrior retreated leisurely, thumbs-downing him with a sneer.
Distance opened between them.
In that instant, Yuri kicked off the ground and soared skyward.
The Orc Warrior gaped up dumbly.
Yuri shot higher.
The battlefield panorama flashed into view.
His knights fought desperately.
He tore his eyes away.
Yuri raised Guilty high and poured Heart-Soul Severing mana into it.
Guilty thrummed.
Pure white haze boiled up.
His target: beyond the frontline, the rippling ground's center.
At the apex, gravity yanked his body down.
Yuri reversed his grip on the sword and plunged it earthward with the fall.
The moment Guilty met ground, it erupted mana explosively.
Kwaaaaang!
The undulating earth tore open.
From the sundered depths, crimson blood gushed like an underground spring.