Yuri’s mouth fell open.
With a single swing of his sword, Mo Yong-chan turned the dozens of orcs surrounding him into nothing but bloody chunks scattered across the ground.
From the other side, the bewildered expressions of the allied forces facing them were clearly visible.
So this was the power of the Ten Strong.
Even the orc group confronting him had been so terrified they began to retreat.
It was absolute force.
“What are you doing?”
Mo Yong-chan spun around sharply and shoved Yuri forward.
“There’s no time to admire. Just do your job properly.”
Clutching his sword tightly, Yuri stepped forward hesitantly. The remaining orcs recoiled in surprise.
They were completely thrown off by Mo Yong-chan’s overwhelming strength.
“Yes, sir.”
Trusting Mo Yong-chan, Yuri advanced boldly. The orc group retreated once more.
Yuri stepped forward again.
And then charged.
The orcs snapped out of their daze and fought back.
Under normal circumstances, this was a battle Yuri couldn’t have won so easily.
But thanks to Mo Yong-chan’s strike that had wiped out half the orcs, unexpected support came to Yuri’s aid.
“Assist the prince!”
“Kill the orcs!”
With the defensive line broken, the allied forces joined Yuri in attacking the now halved orc group.
This was a result Mo Yong-chan had never anticipated.
“Strategy…”
Yuri plunged into the orcs, wildly swinging his sword. The other knights and soldiers joined him, turning the fight into a massacre.
Before long, all the orcs were dead.
Yuri sheathed his bloodied sword.
“Good work.”
“Not yet. I’m going back to fight.”
“Alright.”
The battle was far from over.
Orcs were crawling up from the ground like a swarm of ants.
Mo Yong-chan nodded.
“Knights of Briol!”
Yuri raised his sword and shouted.
At once, the scattered knights of Briol began gathering around him.
“Tired?”
“No!”
“Want to rest?”
“No!”
“Then do you want to kill orcs?”
“Yes!”
“Not afraid of death?”
“Yes!”
“Only those who answered ‘yes’ follow me!”
“Yes!”
Without hesitation, Yuri moved forward. The knights surged after him.
Watching this, Mo Yong-chan stroked his chin thoughtfully.
[Fate, huh…]
He muttered in the language of the East.
Above, the wicked star still shone brightly, casting darkness.
Day by day, the celestial order was unraveling, and chaos was creeping into the world.
There was no way to stop it.
But to face it head-on, he had left the Eastern continent and come here blindly.
And unexpectedly, he had encountered another star.
“So such a thing does exist.”
Compared to that black star reaching out to the world, this one was small and faint.
But it definitely held light.
And in a way no one understood, it was growing brighter every day.
“The celestial order hasn’t been broken.”
Having left the East and come to the West, he had unexpectedly met a descendant of the Paecheon swordsmen.
That young man was a prodigy.
Not just talented in martial arts, but his character and actions inspired others.
Such a person does not stand alone.
He leads people and changes the course of the world.
Then what role was assigned to Mo Yong-chan?
He looked up at the sky again.
The sun hadn’t set yet, so no stars were visible. But beyond the vast sky, he could feel a dark, piercing gaze.
If he killed Okua, would that star fall?
He didn’t know.
Perhaps something even more terrifying lurked behind it.
But as the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
So he would keep moving forward, one step at a time.
Lost in thought, someone approached him.
“Mo… Mo Yong-chan-nim!”
“Hmm?”
It was Kori.
Half-orcs were supposed to be eliminated. Yet strangely, Mo Yong-chan sensed something closer to good than evil in Kori.
Maybe that was why his disciple had taken in this half-orc.
“Um…”
Kori stammered nervously.
“There’s a place that needs help…”
“Help?”
Mo Yong-chan looked down at him.
In the West, he was called the Ten Strong. After wandering and fighting since leaving the East, he had earned that title.
It was a position of great significance here, and everyone feared him.
This little half-orc was no different.
But he had overcome his fear to come to Mo Yong-chan.
The trembling of his fidgeting hands showed just how much courage that took.
Mo Yong-chan answered.
“Go.”
“Huh?”
Kori looked up.
His grotesque face, hidden beneath a hood, was briefly revealed.
But Mo Yong-chan didn’t care.
He had hunted those belonging to Sama for a long time. He had seen demons hidden behind beautiful faces, and goodness blooming in ugly ones.
After patting Kori’s head, he moved on.
“Don’t get in the way.”
“Yes, yes!”
If the battles with orcs so far had been full-on clashes of strength, today’s fight was a guerrilla war where skirmishes could break out anywhere.
“How many tunnels are there?”
These weren’t orcs—they were ants.
While moving, Yuri felt the ground shake and stopped.
Sand scattered as an orc burst through the earth.
“Akakukaka!”
But the opponent was unlucky.
Yuri neither flinched nor dodged.
He channeled his sword energy and swung, slicing the orc in half.
Blood and entrails spilled as the orc split.
The upper half flailed on the ground in disbelief before collapsing.
Yuri clenched his sword tightly and scanned the area.
“How are orcs moving underground?”
He activated his mana method, extending his energy sense.
He could almost feel the frantic movements of orcs beneath the surface.
A massive number were running underground.
“There.”
Yuri pointed to the next attack point. Jared, walking beside him, asked,
“How do you sense it?”
“By the vibrations.”
“Huh?”
Jared’s expression twisted.
Using mana to enhance senses was common.
But detecting such subtle vibrations to track underground orc movements was a whole different level.
It was like a dog distinguishing scents.
“A mole, huh?”
“Shut up.”
Yuri started running. The knights followed.
“Teach me too.”
“Think I’d teach you?”
“Maybe I could learn.”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“No talent.”
“Wow…”
Yuri was well aware that his skill level was far beyond ordinary.
This ability came from the mana method called Simhoncham, the hunter’s memories, and above all, his innate talent.
He suddenly realized how much of his past life he had wasted.
Clenching his sword tighter to erase regret, he said,
“Jared.”
“Yes?”
“No matter how fast you regret, it’s always too late.”
“What are you—”
“Just treat me well!”
With that, Yuri leapt forward.
“Your Highness!”
Jared called after him.
“Is this the right way?”
“Yes!”
Yuri ran in the opposite direction from where the battle was raging.
While others fought orcs far away, Yuri led the knights through empty tents.
“What could possibly be there…”
Suddenly, the ground began to bubble.
“Uh…!”
The knights of Briol raised their swords in surprise.
Unlike the small holes orcs had jumped from before, this time the earth rippled like liquid and split apart.
Yuri muttered,
“Not orcs.”
Something felt off.
Orcs couldn’t have dug so many tunnels in such a short time.
“There’s something there.”
The ground opened wide.
A huge hole appeared. A muddy, tentacle-like appendage briefly emerged, then vanished.
Beyond the dust, a line of orcs waited in formation.
They leapt out in groups.
“Kill them immediately!”
The knights of Briol, holding the entrance, cut down the orcs.
Every orc that surfaced was knocked back down.
As bodies fell, chaos erupted below.
“Use the terrain!”
As the knights slaughtered the orcs, the orc forces gave up the entrance and fled deeper into the tunnels.
“Simon! Guinness! Dyke!”
He called the three young knights.
They had grown into capable warriors through the battles.
“Take soldiers and hold this spot.”
“Yes!”
“Deal with any orcs coming up Briol-style.”
“Understood!”
“What’s Briol-style?”
Guinness and Dyke hesitated. Simon quickly shouted,
“If you see them, stab them on sight!”
“That’s it.”
In truth, no one had ever mentioned “Briol-style.” Simon just shouted whatever came to mind.
That was the real Briol-style.
“The rest, follow me!”
The vibrations returned.
Yuri recalled the mysterious tentacle he had seen earlier. It was still tunneling underground.
“Raymond, Laurent.”
“Yes.”
“Can you feel it?”
They were among the best knights under his command.
Raymond said,
“I can tell the tremors continue.”
Laurent nodded.
“Same here.”
“Something is constantly digging beneath the ground.”
“Something other than orcs?”
“Seems like it.”
“Like a sandworm? But those live in deserts…”
“Whatever it is, it’s similar.”
Yuri quickened his pace.
This time, he headed straight into the heart of the battlefield where the fierce fighting was already underway.
A blind orc shaman raised his staff high.
“Akaraka Che! Akaraka Chu!”
At his shout, the orc horde charged toward the spot where Yuri stood, right in front of the soldiers.
The Briol Knights collided head-on with the orc horde. Screams and the clash of weapons filled the air.
The orcs surrounding the shaman were fierce fighters.
They were all close to the level of Orcval.
“Orcvals are supposed to be rare, damn it…”
Everything Yuri saw was Orcval-grade.
Suddenly, Yuri sensed a sharp attack flying straight at him and instinctively dodged.
An Orcval wielding a massive curved blade was targeting him.
“Ugh!”
Just as Yuri regained his footing, the Orcval group crashed into the knights.
The sudden assault pushed the Briol Knights backward.
A chaotic melee erupted.
“Watch out there!”
One of the knights standing at the edge fell.
Blood pooled thickly on the ground.
Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
He didn’t expect everyone to survive fighting the orcs.
On a battlefield, everyone stands before death.
But he had to stay one step ahead of the rest.
That was his duty.
The Orcval aimed its curved blade at Yuri.
Grinning, it waved its fingers mockingly in front of its throat.
“Akuaakkai? Akme Kataro Kumbe, Okudoku!”
Yuri wasn’t shaken by the taunt. Instead, he sharpened his senses.
In the dungeon created by Erich Briol, he had spent long hours sparring with dummies.
There, Erich Briol had demonstrated countless wonders that Yuri could only dream of.
Back then, lacking mastery, Yuri could only watch in awe as the Soul Slash produced miraculous effects.
But not anymore.
Yuri lifted his gaze.
He felt an ally bleeding and collapsing beside him.
The relentless waves of orcs kept claiming the lives of the allied forces.
Still, he didn’t look away. He didn’t rush to save them.
He had exhausted impulsive, emotional reactions in his past life.
Suppressing his urges, Yuri calmly faced what he had to do.
“Akuaakkai!”
The Orcval swung its curved blade.
The fierce centrifugal force shattered the air, slicing a wound across Yuri’s neck. Had it been any deeper, it would have torn his throat open.
Yuri countered with Guilty.
The Orcval stepped back leisurely, then gave a mocking thumbs-down.
The distance between them grew.
At that moment, Yuri pushed off the ground and leapt high into the sky.
The Orcval stared up, dumbfounded.
Yuri’s body soared upward.
In an instant, the battlefield below came into full view.
The knights were locked in a desperate fight.
He forced his gaze away.
Raising his sword high, Yuri infused it with the mana of the Soul Slash.
Guilty vibrated.
A white heat shimmer boiled up.
His target was beyond the front lines, at the center of the trembling earth.
At the peak of his ascent, his body was pulled down by gravity.
Yuri switched his grip to reverse and plunged the sword down in sync with his fall.
The moment he struck the ground, Guilty unleashed an explosive burst of mana.
KRAAAASH!
The quaking earth was torn apart.
From the cracked ground, blood-red water gushed out like underground springs.