Chapter 67
Chapter 67
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: 32. Endgame (1)
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Yuri hurled his spear, skewering both an orc and a soldier at once. The struck group of orcs toppled over in a heap.
Yuri gripped Guilty and leaped down from his saddle.
"See you later."
The black warhorse that bore him seemed to understand, wheeling around and breaking away from the orc lines.
Yuri slashed through a nearby orc and lifted his gaze.
Brioll's knights were piercing the enemy's defensive formation one after another, pushing inward.
"Tear them all down!"
"Yes, sir!"
They fanned out left and right, striking at the orc forces arrayed in battle lines.
The breach Brioll had carved grew wider.
More and more troops were squeezing through the orcs' defenses.
The orcs began to fall back.
Yuri swung Guilty wildly, hacking indiscriminately. Chunks of orc flesh tore free from the blade's edge.
Now, it took several Orc Warriors just to hold him at bay.
Suddenly, a chilling gaze prickled his skin, and he snapped his eyes up.
"Okua."
Far off stood Okua.
Closer now than before, the orc's massive bulk and elongated arms filled Yuri's vision with stark realism.
Its pitch-black eyes, inhuman and wreathed in dark vapors, trailed upward like smoke.
Locking eyes with Okua, even Yuri froze for a split second under the pressure.
He gritted his teeth.
Being pinned down by enemy killing intent was a disgrace.
He erupted his mana, forcing his body to move.
"Get lost!"
Guilty, wrapped not in swordsmanship but hammer-like mana, smashed the foe apart.
He battered the swarming Orc Warriors to death. More lunged in immediately after.
Yuri parried an Orc Warrior's attack, then kicked it down.
"Is that all you've got?"
He should have been exhausted, but his energy surged instead.
It had been a long war. And victory now felt within grasp.
The grueling battle had weakened the orcs' forces. The Allied Forces had taken heavy losses too, but nothing compared to the orcs'.
He drove Guilty into an Orc Warrior's skull.
"Your Highness!"
Rolangs caught up as he retrieved his blade.
"What is it?"
"There's a shaman over there. What do you think?"
Where he nodded stood a line of Orc Warriors, with an orc shaman glaring out at the battlefield from their center.
As combat raged, Yuri could sense the chains of mana spanning the entire field.
The mages' and shamans' dispels bound each other tight.
But as Yuri had done before, eliminating the shamans one by one would unleash their mages.
"One won't be enough."
"Just keep killing every one we see until it works, right?"
"By then, the battle might be over anyway."
"Then nothing we can do about it."
"Yeah, nothing we can do."
Rolangs grinned. Yuri quirked his lips up.
It was a look he'd never seen from Rolangs in his past life.
He still had a touch of that lofty air, but his attitude was far more forthright now. And back then, he hadn't respected Yuri like this.
Quite the opposite.
"Rolangs."
"Yes."
"You confident?"
"Of course."
"Then let's go."
"I'll follow Your Highness anywhere."
Yuri charged ahead, Rolangs on his heels.
Without a word, Brioll's knights finished off the orcs in front and pursued them.
Yuri led the wedge formation, slamming into the wall of Orc Warriors.
Countless axes swung down at him.
But he ignored them.
He only needed to face the two or three right in front of him. His comrades would handle the rest.
"Over here!"
"Protect the prince!"
"Die!"
Brioll's knights collided.
Dozens of weapons erupted in a cacophony of clashes.
Flanked by Jared on his left and Rolangs on his right, Yuri shoved the Orc Warriors back through sheer force.
In the frenzy of kill-or-be-killed, Heart-Soul Severing thrashed like a living thing.
"Akuak kai!"
"Yeah, it's me."
That was the Orc Warrior's last word.
Guilty entered through its jaw and burst out the crown of its skull. Blood and brains streamed down its head. As he yanked the blade free, the body collapsed.
A small gap opened.
Yuri slipped through it.
Orc Warriors on either side twisted to grab him, while the shaman fled.
Yuri swept Guilty wide to shake them off and seized the target by the back.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Guilty pierced its spine.
The shaman shuddered.
Yuri twisted the blade to finish it off, then withdrew.
The Orc Warriors, bereft of their shaman, went berserk.
Brioll's knights responded with cool precision.
Yuri was already hunting the next foe.
Then it happened.
"Uh..."
He looked up to see a black wave sweeping through the orc lines.
Someone muttered the name.
"The Empire."
The Empire's knights engulfed the orcs like a tidal surge.
Their momentum was overwhelming, as if all prior force had been a feint.
Brioll and the Empire.
Two spears cracking the shield the orcs had raised.
The orcs were crumbling.
"Let's go!"
Their ultimate target was Okua, standing firm beyond.
Yuri kept breaching the orc hordes.
Okua stood tall, not joining the fray directly.
"Let's see how long you can hold out."
Yuri soon reached the final barrier.
The elite Orc Warriors guarding Okua.
They wore armor and wielded finely forged weapons. Unlike the frenzied chargers, they defended Okua's front with disciplined precision, like a trained knight order.
"Hoo..."
Yuri paused. The atmosphere was different.
"Don't rush in recklessly!"
Despite his warning, one knight, caught up in the heat, charged ahead.
"Raaagh!"
His head hit the ground.
"Idiot..."
No time to mourn.
Yuri raised Guilty, glaring at the Orc Warriors. He sensed refined mana flows. They'd mastered the Mana Circulation Method.
Black vapors rose from their bodies too—the mark of those dark shamans from before.
Did black magic resist dispels?
"Everyone, hold position."
The good news: the Orc Warrior squad wouldn't leave Okua's side.
Yuri decided.
"We'll deal with those bastards slowly. Switch targets for now."
If it wouldn't come out, kill all the other orcs and leave just them. Victory was already tilting their way—no need to rush.
A surer win was in sight.
Then it happened.
The ground shook.
"This is..."
The telltale sign of Ancient Worms emerging.
Yuri touched the earth, extending his senses. Heart-Soul Severing's tendrils detected the Ancient Worms' movements.
"Everyone..."
Yuri shouted.
"Watch the ground!"
Nearly ten Ancient Worms churned underground like a swarm of earthworms.
Screams filled the air from all directions.
Ancient Worms bursting up everywhere snapped their massive jaws, devouring Allied Forces soldiers.
The sudden reversal plunged the battlefield back into chaos.
Yuri turned to face the Ancient Worms.
Suddenly, black shadows flowed in a pack overhead.
"Look up!"
A wyvern flock circled the skies.
No orcs riding them this time, which made it more threatening. The wyverns were spreading wings for a dive.
The Allied Forces had come to exterminate orcs, not battle such monsters.
"Watch the skies!"
Yuri shouted, half in disbelief himself.
Below ground, and above.
How were they supposed to cover both?
Meanwhile, the orcs regained momentum, pressing the Allied Forces hard.
"Hey, you there!"
A wyvern plummeted toward a knight battling orcs.
Before Yuri's warning reached him, it snatched his head and soared up, dropping him from on high to his death.
"Damn it."
The monsters' appearance flipped the tide instantly.
Was this another ploy?
Yuri turned back to Okua.
It loomed high, gazing down with glowing crimson-black eyes.
Suddenly, a foul stench passed by.
Yuri knew what it was—the black magic aura from the dark shaman.
Standing before Okua, realization dawned.
The reason Okua commanded monsters.
"Black magic..."
Yuri murmured. A voice reached his ear.
[That's right.]
"What?"
Yuri's eyes widened. It was Moyong Chan's voice.
[This is a transmission technique. Sends words across distances.]
Moyong Chan's words continued.
[That bastard's using sorcery right now. Suppressing it is all I can manage.]
"What should we do?"
[Clear the orcs around it first.]
Moyong Chan breathed heavily with each word. As if locked in struggle with Okua.
"Clear those guys out?"
[Exactly.]
Moyong Chan's tone grew grave.
[I'll handle the rest after.]
Yuri eyed Okua and its elite Orc Warrior guards amid the chaos.
Not many in number, but each one was leagues above the rest.
Throwing ordinary forces at them would just mean pointless deaths, without inflicting damage—like that poor knight who'd lost his head earlier.
"Fine. I like those odds."
He had prepared for a moment like this.
Yuri sent one knight to Ragna.
Soon, a horn different from before blared across the field. Then, a new banner rose from Ragna's position.
The standard-bearer galloped urgently to Yuri.
"Just hand over the banner and go."
"Yes, sir!"
To clear elite Orc Warriors, gather those who could.
Before battle, they'd set signals to summon top experts from each nation.
Yuri hoisted the banner high and waved it.
Rolangs, Jared, and Raymond approached.
"Your Highness, is it finally time?"
"Ah, I'm not confident..."
"Guess I'll have to cut loose after so long."
A boisterous voice jumped in.
"Hahaha! Assembly call? This'll be fun!"
Hose of the Burssen knights. Proin and Jonathan followed. Then Sibylla and Pennec of the Holy Kingdom, with a few paladins. Wolf, commander of Liberda, brought his knights. Other nations' elite powerhouses strode up too.
All were knights who'd fought on the front lines throughout the Allied Forces campaign.
The Empire arrived last.
Graham at the fore with the 3rd Knight Order Captain, followed by over ten knights in black plate. Overwhelming force.
Yuri spoke.
"To end this fight, we kill Okua. That means taking out its guards first. My master, Moyong Chan, requested this personally."
The gathered knights turned to the Orc Warriors as one.
No one showed fear.
Yuri smirked, drawing Guilty.
"Let's kill them before casualties mount."
He strode forward first. The rest followed.
Against the backdrop of rampaging steppe monsters, they advanced on their target.
The elite Orc Warriors sensed the shift, faces hardening as they faced Yuri's group.
Killing intent radiated out.
Far from cowed, Yuri broke into a run.
The sharp enemy aura prickled his skin. But as his fellow knights raised their mana, the pressure rebounded.
That energy pushed at Yuri's back like a tailwind.
Their ranges touched.
Yuri swung Guilty wide.
The lead Orc Warrior met his strike axe-to-sword.
Claaang!
That first clash sparked the rest—the knights slamming into the elites.
Weapon clashes rang out in perfect rhythm, like a symphony.
Yuri laughed loudly.
Until now, he'd had to lead. But not this time. These were all top-tier fighters who knew their stuff.
Just battling shoulder-to-shoulder felt reassuring.
The Allied Forces' core strength merged with the enemy.