Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: 30. Variant (1)
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Okua was enormous.
Towering far taller than any ordinary orc, its shoulders were twice as broad. Its arms weren't particularly thick, but they dangled down to its knees.
It was a physique that seemed impossible for an orc.
Could it be some other race?
But the stubby nose and protruding tusks were unmistakably orcish features.
"That's Okua..."
An instinctive revulsion welled up.
A powerful premonition screamed in his head that he absolutely shouldn't get close.
"It's a total monster. Is that really an orc?"
Jared muttered in a dazed voice, and Yuri nodded in agreement.
"Tell me about it. Isn't that an ogre from the legends?"
Yuri raised his spyglass for a closer look at Okua.
Okua stood with its mouth shut, staring straight ahead with eyes that gleamed darkly.
Suddenly, its crimson-black pupils fixed on Yuri.
Was it just an illusion that their eyes had met, or was Okua actually sensing his gaze and glaring back?
Yuri lowered the spyglass.
"Chicken shit."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing."
Yuri turned around. Brioll's forces were arrayed behind him.
The moment Okua appeared, the entire allied army had been thrown into turmoil.
"Don't be afraid, everyone! You won't have to fight Okua!"
Even as Yuri shouted that, the soldiers' eyes remained locked on Okua.
Terrifying, yet impossible to look away from.
Okua slithered forward.
Then, abruptly, one orc soldier tripped over its leg.
Okua extended its long arm, grabbing the orc's head in one hand and hoisting it up. The orc flailed desperately.
With a squeeze, the skull shattered all too easily. Blood sprayed, and its contents spilled to the ground.
Like a deflated balloon, the orc's head crumpled in Okua's grip.
"Holy shit..."
Okua tossed the corpse aside.
Its eyes, now splattered with blood, burned an even deeper red.
It stomped the ground hard and threw its head back, mouth agape toward the sky. A thunderous roar shook the plains.
The inhuman bellow echoed relentlessly.
With each roar from Okua, a savage frenzy rippled through the eyes of the orc horde charging toward the allied forces.
"What the hell?"
"Magic?"
The allied army, braced for impact, faltered in confusion.
Jared turned to Yuri.
"Is that magic?"
"Not magic."
"Then what?"
"No idea. But definitely not magic."
Yuri shook his head.
He wasn't a mage, but he was sensitive to mana flows. There was no artificial manipulation here.
It wasn't magic.
Just as a skilled commander could boost morale with a shout, Okua amplified the orcs' madness with its roars alone.
It felt more like an innate racial trait shared between Okua and the orcs.
A being born to lead orcs.
"Hoo..."
Yuri took a long, deep breath.
"Focus."
Either way, Okua was still far off.
First, they had to deal with the orc horde barreling toward the allied forces.
The mass of regular orcs and Orc Warriors charged without any tactics, purely on instinct.
They weren't in their right minds to begin with.
Madness gleamed in their eyes.
"Brace for impact!"
A horn blared from Ragnar's direction. War drums pounded at the allied army's hearts.
The soldiers planted their feet firmly and lowered their stances.
Hordes of orcs madly assaulted the barricades. If one fell midway, the others trampled it without hesitation.
At last, the two armies clashed.
Like a stampede of cattle against a wall, the orcs smashed into barricades and formations indiscriminately.
Axes and spears clashed.
Explosions of sound erupted everywhere.
The cacophony of metal on metal, flesh on steel, and more assaulted the ears.
In that first clash, who died first—the orcs or the humans?
Yuri pondered this as he severed an orc's neck.
Probably simultaneous.
The instant the armies collided, orcs died, and human soldiers fell too.
Enemy heads were impaled; allied bodies crumpled.
The brutal war had begun.
"Brioll!"
Yuri shouted as he charged ahead first. Instantly, multiple orcs targeted him.
But he accepted the risk. It eased the burden on his allies.
"Fight!"
Occasionally, arrows rained from the sky. But they couldn't target the wyverns yet.
The beasts struck the allied forces randomly, like an unavoidable natural disaster. Soldiers could only pray for luck and focus on the orcs before them.
"Keep your wits about you and watch your surroundings!"
Yuri bellowed to snap the knights to attention.
"You there!"
Yuri pointed at a nearby knight.
An arrow was plummeting toward the top of his head. But lost in combat with the enemy, he hadn't noticed.
Losing focus on the battlefield meant death.
The arrow pierced his skull. Blood spurted briefly.
The knight collapsed, eyes wide in disbelief.
A gap opened in the line.
An orc lunged immediately. Even the knight behind couldn't react in time, and an axe buried into his face.
His skull split, spraying blood and brains into the air.
Orcish shouts overlapped the chaos.
"Akuometun! Aku Gutada!"
An Orc Warrior broke through the allied ranks and exploited the breach.
Brioll's formation began to crumble.
The Orc Warrior didn't miss that fleeting crack.
Yuri's face twisted.
His core began to accelerate. The energy of Heart-Soul Severing dwelling within him rippled with rage.
"You!"
He slew the four orcs blocking his path, then wheeled to behead that Orc Warrior.
Yuri's will surged.
Heart-Soul Severing responded.
Mana spun around his core as the axis.
Yuri drew in more energy. The condensed power swirled, gathering destructive force.
The four orcs raised their axes toward the momentarily still Yuri.
The axe blades gleamed under the plains' sun.
Not yet.
Yuri waited.
The orcs swung down with bulging muscles. The axes began their descent.
Yuri blinked.
Still not.
He accelerated the rotational force building inside him.
Yuri's eyes snapped wide.
Four axe blades reflected in his pitch-black pupils.
They grew larger, nearing the moment image and reality would merge.
Then—gone.
A drop of blood splattered on his eyelid.
And in his now-clear pupils, four severed heads soared skyward.
The aftermath erupted.
Yuri's single swing tore through the four orcs and gravely wounded those behind them.
An orc with its guts spilling out tried to stuff them back in, only to be trampled and crushed by the oncoming wave.
"Jared. Cover me."
"Yes, sir!"
Yuri kicked off the ground and leaped. He stomped the head of a fresh orc charging at him, shattering its neck as he pivoted.
"Don't fall back!"
Yuri plunged straight into the breach. The Orc Warrior rampaged, widening the gap.
More orcs poured in.
Yuri slammed Guilty down.
The Orc Warrior parried with its scimitar.
"Hey, Okudoku!"
It was the same Orc Warrior that the Ancient Worm had swallowed earlier.
The scimitar-wielding Orc Warrior grinned widely at Yuri.
"Akuakkai!"
It had lost one eye to Yuri before. A black eyepatch covered the socket.
"Suits you."
In the close-quarters melee where breaths mingled, Yuri and the Orc Warrior twisted like acrobats, exchanging blows and parries.
Despite the missing eye, it showed no weakness.
"Hoo..."
Yuri stabbed any intervening orcs.
The Orc Warrior seemed indifferent to its allies' sacrifices.
"Akuakkai, Gurutu Budusu Gearmae Muka!"
"Can't understand you, you Okudoku bastard!"
Their blades clashed. Numbness shot through Yuri's arms.
"Get lost."
Yuri suddenly closed in.
After a flurry of exchanges, he spun a roundhouse kick into the Orc Warrior's gut.
"Grak!"
As it staggered, Guilty plunged toward its head.
The Orc Warrior barely dodged.
Yuri strode forward, aligning shoulders with another knight.
"Finally flushed it out."
He'd lured the Orc Warrior outside Brioll's front line during their duel.
Yuri had sealed the gap accidentally created by wyvern arrows.
"Stay sharp, everyone. Hold your positions even if comrades fall."
"Yes, sir!"
"Don't let them through."
The Orc Warrior's face twisted as it grasped Yuri's intent.
"Aqua Kutubomeru!"
"Shut up."
Yuri dodged the scimitar-wielding orc and pulled away from the spot. He ignored its bellowing roars.
Brioll's line solidified once more.
As the initial clash subsided, the tightly woven formation proved its worth.
The orcs threw themselves against it, but Brioll held firm.
The war was just beginning.
Countless orcs still swarmed like ants, and far off, Okua merely watched the battlefield.
They had to endure.
"Hernando!"
Yuri cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted. A voice replied.
[Yes.]
Magic was sealed by dispel on the battlefield, but artifacts allowed short-range communication.
The artifact Hernando had rushed to make was embedded in Yuri's gauntlet.
"The other nations?"
Yuri deflected a flying axe as he spoke.
"Holding?"
[Brioll's flanks are solid. The rear's shaky, though.]
"Master's there, right?"
[Yes. Great Hero Moyong is fine.]
Hernando and Moyong Chan called each other "Great Hero." Yuri clicked his tongue before asking again.
"Tell Master not to step up. He needs to fight Okua."
[Of course.]
Moyong Chan was the allied army's joker.
The key card to contain Okua when it moved. They couldn't waste his strength now.
"Alert me if any section looks like breaking."
[Understood.]
"Thanks."
Yuri lowered his gauntlet and raised Guilty.
The orc horde pressed endlessly.
"Above!"
The circling wyvern pack fired arrows at Brioll's formation again.
Some soldiers fell, but reinforcements filled in immediately.
The wyverns didn't stray, persistently targeting Brioll from overhead. It felt deliberate.
"Right..."
Yuri drew something from his bosom.
"Figured it was about time."
One of the four daggers bought at the imperial auction: Wind Ring Sword.
Yuri infused it with mana. A faint glow emanated from the blade.
A wyvern was swooping low. Seizing the chaos, it dove boldly for a clear shot.
Yuri hurled the Wind Ring Sword.
It flew like it rode the wind, stabbing the orc atop the wyvern in the neck.
"Kuak..."
The orc clutched its throat and thrashed. As its body tilted, it slumped onto the wyvern's wing.
The wyvern banked sharply, but its balance failed, and it began plummeting. It barely recovered just before hitting the ground—but too low now.
"Rolang, hold here!"
"Yes, sir!"
Yuri kicked off and leaped toward the wyvern.
Lightened by mana, he barely grabbed its leg.
"Kiyaaaaah!"
The wyvern flailed and climbed.
The ground fell away.
Yuri dangled from the wyvern, rising into the sky.
The scene below was crystal clear.
"What the hell is Yoheim doing?"
The allied army was holding overall, but as Hernando said, the rear looked vulnerable.
But the wyverns were the priority now.
Yuri climbed the wyvern's leg.
It twisted and kicked, but he held fast.
"You bastard..."
He reached for the tail. Once positioned, he dashed for its back.
"Uwaaaaaah!"
He barely seized the saddle.
The orc's body was strapped to the saddle. With the Wind Ring Sword in its neck, it was already dead.
Yuri retrieved the dagger, cut the ropes, and dumped the corpse. The wyvern steadied.
"Hey, wyvern."
He mounted like the orc, gripping the reins. But it ignored him.
Suddenly, wingbeats approached.
Other wyvern riders had spotted him and closed in, bows drawn.
"Akuakkai! Arukumetum!"
Yuri smirked at their calls.
"They all recognize me? Guess I'm famous now."
Arrows flew.
Aimed at both him and the wyvern. They meant to bring it down no matter what.
His wyvern twisted in surprise, dodging by a hair.
It was skilled in flight.
Arrows chased relentlessly.
"Hey!"
Yuri smacked the wyvern's head.
"You gonna let those bastards have it easy? Huh? Die like a punk?"
"Kiyaaaaah!"
"Didn't think so? Then fight!"
"Kiyaaaah!"
"What the hell is that?"
Ragnar, watching from the rear, looked up.
Even the soldiers locked in combat lost themselves, staring skyward.
An unreal scene unfolded.
"That, that..."
Ragnar rubbed his forehead.
"How the hell did that guy get up there?"
Inexplicably, Brioll's third prince had hijacked a wyvern and was battling others midair.
His wyvern, evading arrow volleys and charging head-on, flipped upside down just before collision.
The two riders met inverted.
The wyverns crossed paths.
Yuri's sword flashed, cleaving orc and wyvern alike.
The enemy wyvern plummeted.
Yuri's recovered with a loop, balancing perfectly.
Beautiful aerial maneuvering.
Yuri raised his sword. Man and wyvern roared together.
"Iyaaaaaaaah!"
"Kiyaaaaaaaah!"
The pre-war letter seemed laughable now.
Ragnar muttered in exasperation.
"Crazy bastard..."