Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: 30. Variant (2)
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The wyvern possessed dazzling flight skills. All Yuri did was swing his sword in response to its movements.
"Why is this bastard so smart?"
"Kyaaah!"
The wyvern rider who had been chasing them while firing arrows was now fleeing alone, the last one remaining.
With their positions reversed, the wyvern carrying Yuri began hunting the enemy in earnest.
It soared high into the sky, then dove toward the opposing wyvern like an eagle snatching prey, seizing the rider.
And then it ascended again.
At first, the wyvern dragged the enemy along due to the tether.
But even an orc's sturdy body couldn't withstand the weight of a wyvern.
The orc's torso tore clean in half.
Blood and entrails scattered through the air.
"This guy..."
Yuri stroked the back of the wyvern's head.
This creature had maneuvered to kill only the rider without harming its fellow wyvern as much as possible.
When it was the enemy, he'd thought it was just a rude wyvern brat. But now as an ally, he realized it was a warm-hearted wyvern that cherished its kin.
"How'd you end up caught by an orc..."
"Kyaaah!"
The wyvern flew toward the last remaining orc rider. Once again, Yuri cleanly severed the orc rider's neck.
The wyverns that lost their riders all suddenly shook their heads as if regaining their senses and flew off into the distance.
Heading toward freedom, perhaps.
Yuri sensed their farewell.
"Wyvern."
"Kyaaah!"
"It was short, but nice meeting you."
He half-rose in the saddle and looked down at the ground.
Humans and orcs clashing looked like swarms of ants battling.
It seemed utterly trivial.
But those fighting below were surely locked in desperate, life-or-death struggles.
And that was where Yuri belonged too.
"There."
Yuri pointed to a spot.
"Can you drop me there?"
"Kyaaah!"
The wyvern roared once more and banked toward it.
The destination was the rear of the Brioll forces, the section sandwiched between Joachim and the Klein Duchy.
Weaker small nations had banded together to form a defensive line, but a gap was forming there.
They couldn't be allowed to collapse.
If the rear broke under the orc onslaught, the entire allied forces could crumble. It would be like a single hole dooming a dam.
The wyvern spread its wings wide and dove like an arrow.
The target area drew closer.
"Wyvern, be happy."
"Kyaaaaah!"
Yuri understood the wyvern's speed, so he jumped early.
Carried by the momentum of high-speed flight, he hurtled forward in the same direction.
A massive, plump orc happened to stand right at that spot.
Yuri pierced its chest, using the body as a cushion to slam into the ground. The orc's corpse slid, knocking other orcs aside.
A long furrow traced his landing path.
"Hoo..."
Yuri stood, arriving like a meteor.
Human and orc eyes alike focused on him.
He didn't miss the brief silence rippling across the battlefield.
Raising Guilty, he shouted.
"For Brioll—no, for Joachim!"
Then he charged straight at the orcs.
Combat resumed immediately.
He was an ally, after all. Joachim's troops cheered and pushed back the orcs once more.
Yuri stood guard where the line had been faltering, driving off orcs.
"Thank you for the aid. But how did you end up riding a wyvern all the way here..."
A knight from Joachim asked while fighting beside Yuri, pushing back orcs.
"I looked down while catching the wyvern and thought this spot needed help."
"Embarrassing as it is, that's the truth."
He appeared middle-aged, with a long mustache. His movements showed the polish of a veteran.
He handled orcs like daily routine.
"Our forces have weakened. Joachim isn't what it used to be."
"Is that so."
"Yes. The young ones these days are so feeble..."
As far as Yuri knew, Joachim had never been particularly strong. There was some truth to Sven trash-talking them as a band of bandits.
But Yuri nodded in agreement.
"You're right. This isn't the mighty Joachim."
"Even the prince understands."
"Then let's you and I—true knights—drive these orcs back."
"Hahaha, excellent!"
"Your name?"
"Baron Gonte Marchin of Pebaine."
"Let's go, Sir Gonte."
"An honor."
The two advanced together toward the orcs.
Joachim's faltering line began restoring its formation in moments.
Yuri shouted.
"Is this all Joachim has?!"
He rushed forward.
To Joachim's soldiers unfamiliar with Yuri, it was an alien sight.
The prince seemed about to fall to an orc axe any second.
But the opposite happened.
He led, butchering orcs.
Each sword swing carved massive wounds, blood pouring down.
Enemies fell like scarecrows, shredded relentlessly.
It looked easy, but every motion toed the line between life and death. And he always chose correctly.
Gonte nodded at Yuri.
"The rumors are all true. Brioll still harbors the knightly spirit. That's the movement of one tempered by countless battles. Nothing like our greenhouse flowers."
Awe colored his stimulated voice.
"I can't lag behind."
His sword grew sharper.
"We are Joachim!"
His roar echoed.
Where humans and orcs had traded deaths, the tide now slowly turned toward the allies.
At least around here, humans were killing more orcs.
Yuri smirked.
Moments ago, Joachim's front had teetered. That's why he'd come. Now, they mustered strength to repel orcs.
A change he'd wrought.
Winning this battle might prevent the tragedies to come.
He was proving his reason for returning to the past.
"Don't fall back!"
Suddenly, an attack targeted his neck from his blind side.
Yuri swung Guilty to deflect it.
A gently curved scimitar arced through the air.
"What?"
The Orcbal he'd fought from Brioll's lines had pursued him.
Yuri stared in disbelief. The Orcbal glared furiously, sword tip aimed at him.
"Ready to end this?"
Yuri raised Guilty.
He wanted no more entanglements with this persistent foe.
Here, he'd finish it cleanly.
Yuri dodged each incoming scimitar thrust, slipping through gaps to stab the Orcbal's chest.
The Orcbal twisted aside, but a long gash opened on its chest.
The orc's face twisted.
"Thought it'd end with one eye?"
Yuri glanced at the Orcbal's missing eye—severed by his own hand—then pointed to his own eye and grinned.
Provoked, the Orcbal bellowed.
"Akuak kai!"
That much, he understood.
"Arku ma kre mo!"
"Shut up."
His notoriety had perhaps elevated Yuri to arch-nemesis in the Orcbal's eyes.
But to Yuri, it was just one of countless orcs.
A fleeting life doomed to fall under his blade on the battlefield.
"You're unusual among orcs."
Few orcs chased rivals so obsessively to settle scores. Unlike most, it fought with skill over brute force.
But it meant nothing.
War was like that. No matter how unique, only victors endured.
Like Brioll's fall, the empire's flag fluttering over ruins.
To avoid vanishing into history, crush the enemy.
"Hoo..."
Mana permeating the world transformed via Heart-Soul Severing into Yuri's energy.
Countless possibilities flashed through his mind.
What he could do, what he couldn't.
He extended his sword toward that boundary.
Heart-Soul Severing swirled around Yuri's body.
A fractal vortex pattern emerged on Guilty's blade, repeating infinitely.
The Orcbal slashed down at him.
Yuri retreated, channeling more mana into Guilty. The surface pattern lifted, hovering over the blade.
He stepped aside from the next slash.
He comprehended the surging mana in his body and every process within.
"Akuak kai!"
An unavoidable scimitar angle closed in.
Yuri swung back at the Orcbal.
Countless whirlwinds roared around Guilty. They merged into larger rotations, those into even greater ones.
The scimitar shredded from the smallest fragments.
Like sand caught in a vortex, pieces spun, tearing into everything nearby.
The Orcbal's sole eye widened.
Yuri glared.
Two lives wagered survival.
One dies, one lives.
Such clashes would continue.
Clashes form battles, battles wars, wars grander constructs.
To see the end, kill the enemy.
The Orcbal's body began shredding in the vortex.
Watching, Yuri spoke.
"Yuri Brioll."
Sensing death?
The Orcbal stared clearly with its remaining eye and replied.
"Duote."
Its name, perhaps.
It matched a infamous orc swordsman who'd slain countless knights in his past life.
And that became its final word.
Its body disintegrated in the vortex.
Heart-Soul Severing devoured it, birthing a blood-red whirlwind that sprayed gore skyward before settling.
Only shapeless remains lingered.
The rotation circled Guilty once more, then faded.
"Ooh..."
The awe-inspiring feat halted human-orc combat.
Joachim's troops gazed in reverence, orcs in fear.
Gonte asked in a trembling voice.
"Wh-what was that technique just now...?"
Yuri looked at Guilty.
No formal name.
A strike born from sudden insight.
His lips moved.
"This is..."
A name crossed his mind.
"Yuri-style First Form."
"First Form...?"
"The Sword of the Rotating Vortex."
"Sword of the Rotating Vortex...!"
Having named his new technique, Yuri raised his sword.
"Everyone see that? That's me, Yuri Brioll!"
As always, he bellowed to boost ally morale.
"Now it's your turn! Don't disappoint me! Show me what a Joachim knight truly is!"
But the response differed from expected.
No one cheered.
Joachim's knights swung swords with heads bowed.
"Brioll really is different."
"What can countries like ours do..."
"Let's just hold out. He'll handle it."
"Came to the allied forces for nothing..."
Far from ignited by his prowess, they grew more passive.
Gonte closed his eyes in shame.
"How embarrassing..."
Yuri's eyes widened.
He'd thought Gonte old-fashioned at first. But Joachim's knights truly lacked resolve.
Even in relatively merit-based Brioll, such limp knight orders faced their commander's wrath.
The empire would have stomped faces with boots.
"Sir Gonte. After this war, invite Joachim's knights to Brioll. I'd like to offer a training camp."
"Really? It would greatly aid relations between our nations."