Yuri was certain he had struck the mysterious creature that had been tunneling underground.
The earth trembled violently before collapsing entirely beneath him.
Through the crumbling dirt, he caught sight of the monster’s flesh and blood splattering about.
Thin, tentacle-like protrusions writhed in broken segments.
This creature would no longer be able to carve tunnels for the orcs to pass through.
“Ugh…”
His body twisted painfully.
Releasing mana outward like that was a rarely used technique. It packed a powerful punch but drained his mana and stamina to the point where continuing the fight was impossible.
Clutching his sword, Guilty, tightly, Yuri scanned his surroundings.
He had charged straight into the orcs’ midst and caused chaos—now more orcs would surely swarm in.
It was the same situation as before.
“Where are you, Master…?”
This time, Moyongchan did not appear.
Yuri lifted his gaze.
First, an orc wielding a curved blade stepped forward.
His face was twisted in a grimace, no longer wearing the calm composure he had before—it was oddly reassuring.
“Okudoku-da.”
Yuri raised his middle finger.
The orc bellowed and charged.
Soon, orcs appeared from all directions, closing in on Yuri.
He was trapped like an ant caught in a swarm.
“Wow…”
Yuri let out a bitter laugh and gripped Guilty.
Though he had the sword raised, he had no strength left to fight.
Could he take down two at most?
Then—
Someone fell from the sky.
“Your Highness.”
The figure who leapt in to assist was unexpected.
“Sir Graham.”
Graham gave Yuri a brief nod before taking a stance.
“Thank you for your efforts. From now on, I will protect you.”
“Appreciate it, but aren’t there too many enemies?”
“One more will come.”
“Even two seems like too many. I can’t fight anymore.”
“You may rest.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than another knight landed before Yuri.
Though he couldn’t walk on air like Moyongchan, the sheer distance of his leap was proof of exceptional skill.
He was a knight of the Empire clad in black armor.
There was something familiar about his presence.
No one emitting such an intimidating aura could be forgotten.
“The Commander of the Knights?”
He was the leader of the Empire’s knight order.
“The Third Knight Commander,” he answered in a deep voice.
He seemed to have a straightforward, no-nonsense personality.
Yuri grumbled.
“The Empire sure is boring, naming people by numbers…”
Regardless, he had survived once again.
Yuri exhaled in relief.
These two knights were the Empire’s finest warriors in the current Allied Army.
Such luxury was reserved only for someone like Ragna.
“I’m out of strength now…”
Saying that, Yuri sank to the ground and watched the battle unfold.
“Whoa…”
As Graham said, two were enough.
Their skill left Yuri spellbound.
Graham’s swordsmanship was practical and efficient. He coated his blade with just enough mana, striking vital points with the minimum force needed to kill.
At this rate, he could fight all day.
Watching alone was a lesson in itself.
Then Yuri turned his attention to the Third Knight Commander.
He was a completely different type.
“Not using Lion’s Heart Technique, it seems…”
Most Empire knights mastered the Lion’s Heart Technique—a mana method honed over years, flawless and specialized for war.
But the Third Knight Commander was rougher, more brutal.
If Graham struck with just enough force, this man crushed his opponents outright. Each swing shredded orc flesh mercilessly.
The orcs, intimidated by his power, dared not attack and retreated.
He was single-handedly slaughtering entire squads.
Yuri hadn’t seen the Third Knight Commander in his past life. Had he died? Or been stationed elsewhere?
Knowing such a formidable warrior was now an enemy was unsettling.
“I should get on good terms with him…”
He didn’t seem the type to be swayed by sentiment, but building rapport might open the door to negotiation if they ever met as foes.
Yuri silently cheered him on.
“The Third Knight Commander is strong. So cool.”
Graham looked at Yuri as if he’d lost his mind, but the Third Knight Commander showed no reaction.
Though perhaps his lips twitched beneath his helmet.
“The Third Knight Commander is the best. The man I want. The Empire’s top catch.”
Yuri raised his voice.
“The Third Knight Commander is handsome! If he took off that helmet, he’d rival Yuri Briol in looks…”
Finally, the Third Knight Commander lowered his sword and glared at Yuri.
His eyes behind the helmet were fierce.
“You’re distracting me.”
“Got it!”
Yuri immediately shut his mouth.
The battle was nearing its end.
No more orcs appeared.
Thanks to Yuri killing that monster, no new tunnels had opened, and the Allied Army had sealed off the existing ones.
Protected by these two, Yuri had been able to recover.
As Shin Honcham soothed his damaged meridians, his strength gradually returned.
“Phew…”
Yuri slung Guilty over his shoulder and took a deep breath.
The fresh air of the plains cleansed his lungs.
Though tinged with the scent of blood, it served as a fitting stimulant.
He stepped out of their protective zone.
An orc wielding a curved blade approached—one who had been waiting behind.
It was the same orc from before, the one Yuri hadn’t finished off.
“Your Highness, it’s dangerous.”
“I’m fine.”
Yuri shook Guilty.
“That one’s my responsibility.”
No matter how exhausted he was, he couldn’t let an enemy he’d locked eyes with walk away.
He smiled at his opponent.
The orc wrinkled his nose and swung his curved blade wide.
“Akuaakkai! Summa Kum Rauku! Babeku!”
“I don’t speak Orcish. Why do you keep talking to me?”
“Aku Bakuma Ulruriaku Ollorometum!”
“Okudoku-da.”
Yuri gripped Guilty with both hands, resting it against the back of his neck as he lowered his stance.
He wasn’t in good shape. If he was going to take this orc down, it had to be quick.
And the orc felt the same.
With the tide turning, it wanted to kill its target and flee.
Their intentions aligned, so now only the clash remained.
After a brief breath, they both lunged forward.
Just before colliding, each sidestepped, their paths narrowly missing.
Yuri laughed.
“Coward!”
He had tried to fake a strike to the side, but the orc had the same idea.
They closed the distance again, measuring each other.
Despite being an orc, this one fought with a sword and a cautious style.
Meanwhile, Graham and the Third Knight Commander continued slaughtering orcs relentlessly.
As the representative of the Briol family, Yuri couldn’t afford to be held back by a single orc.
He braced his core and summoned a surge of energy from Shin Honcham.
His whole body strained, but he ignored it and unleashed a burst of mana.
“Phew…”
This was something he often did as a mercenary.
With no fear of death, he frequently used self-destructive techniques.
“What the—?”
But the sensation was nothing like he expected.
His mana flooded his meridians without piercing them. Once unleashed, it flowed more solemnly and slowly.
This was possible because his mana method was Shin Honcham.
Yuri raised Guilty.
Though surprised by the difference, it was a welcome change.
Sensing something was off, the orc charged desperately, trying to keep Yuri from gaining any advantage.
But it was too late.
Yuri layered mana over the blade.
The sword expanded.
Not just a thin coating of mana—the blade itself grew larger.
Even Yuri could hardly believe the sword’s form reflected in his eyes. He hadn’t reached this level before.
But this was definitely a sword aura.
Since it wasn’t consciously maintained, it could vanish at any moment.
Facing the charging orc, Yuri swung.
No fancy moves.
The moment their weapons clashed, the orc’s curved blade snapped in two.
Guilty continued its path, cleaving the orc in half.
The orc staggered back.
It couldn’t fully dodge, and its face was split down the middle.
“Kraaaagh!”
Blood poured over the orc’s face.
A large scar ran from its eye to its jaw.
Yuri smiled at the orc clutching its face in agony.
“Weak.”
But Yuri’s condition wasn’t good either. After using the sword aura, his mana, which had been surging, rapidly drained.
“Akuaakkai! Akuma!”
The orc screamed in pain, contorting its face.
It looked ready to charge barehanded.
Yuri feigned calm and flicked his hand.
“Come on in.”
Then—
The ground trembled.
Yuri’s weakened knees buckled, and he sank to the ground.
It was the same as before.
The earth cracked open again.
A mound of dirt shot up, revealing a grotesque monster.
Its body above ground resembled a giant earthworm, with sunken eyes glowing black.
Tentacles radiated and writhed around its mouth.
One of the tentacles wrapped around the orc’s curved blade.
The orc didn’t panic.
Wiping the blood from its face, it shouted loudly at Yuri.
Then the monster gathered a few more orcs and crawled back underground.
The ground shook violently with the noise.
That was the true identity of the creature.
“Damn it…”
Yuri spat.
He’d never known orcs to command such a beast. Not even rumors in his past life.
Anyway, his part was done. The remaining orcs would be handled by the Allied Army.
Yuri collapsed onto the ground.
As the tension eased, the mana that had been flowing through his veins suddenly gathered into his core and shrank down.
“Ah…”
Yuri was overwhelmed by a crushing wave of exhaustion.
He didn’t even have the strength to sit up anymore.
He just collapsed where he was.
He thought he could faintly hear the sounds of Graham and the Third Knight Commander fighting nearby.
If an orc sneaked up and swung an axe at him now, he wouldn’t be able to resist at all.
At times like this, the best thing to do was to play dead.
There was no other choice.
After all, there was nothing he could do.
Yuri closed his eyes.
Ragna furrowed his brow.
“What did you say?”
His aide was crouched down, checking on Yuri, who had collapsed on the ground.
He touched Yuri a few more times before speaking.
“He seems to be asleep…”
“I’ve never seen anyone sleep in the middle of a battle.”
“It looks like he’s completely drained his mana. Even so, his nerves are thick.”
“Crazy, that one.”
Ragna had been watching Yuri fight.
At first, Yuri had killed a shaman and was surrounded, barely surviving thanks to the help of a stranger.
Then he gathered the knights and ran somewhere, suddenly leapt into the air, plunged his sword into the bare ground, and caused an explosion.
Ragna thought he’d lost his mind.
He had thrown himself right into the heart of the enemy, burning through all his mana.
This time, Moyongchan wasn’t there.
So Ragna had sent Graham and the Third Knight Commander. They had successfully protected Yuri.
He thought the madness would end there.
But then, the one who should have been lying still suddenly staggered to his feet and resumed fighting the orc horde he’d faced earlier.
What followed was even more absurd.
The guy who had drained all his mana suddenly started wielding a sword again, then a monster appeared and took the orc horde away, and then he collapsed right in the middle of the battlefield and just lay there.
Nothing about him made any sense.
“This bastard really…”
Ragna let out a bitter laugh.
“But thanks to him, the damage was reduced. We also learned the orcs’ tactics.”
“What the hell was that monster?”
“Aizen sent word to the imperial palace. If there’s any information, they’ll send it back.”
“A monster that digs tunnels? Ridiculous. So the orcs have been moving through those tunnels?”
“Yes. Like an army of ants.”
“It was unsettling, but it doesn’t matter.”
Ragna looked through his telescope at the distant horizon.
Every now and then, orc banners fluttered in the wind.
“If we strike their main base, they won’t be able to pull any tricks like that.”
Slowly but steadily, they were advancing.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they met Okua.
“Your Highness.”
An imperial knight bowed before him.
“Orc cavalry are circling around us.”
“Again?”
“What should we do?”
The orcs kept harassing the allied forces. They had just fought a major battle, yet the orcs showed no sign of tiring and came back again.
Their numbers were now suspicious.
It felt like there were several times more than expected.
“At this point, it’s one of two things. Either the orcs are more numerous than we thought, or when we reach their main base, Okua will be the only one left.”
“I hope it’s the latter.”
“Take them out.”
He ordered their annihilation.
“This time, we’ll handle it. Send in the imperial knights.”
“You mean…”
“It’s about time we got serious.”
“Understood.”
Ragna smiled grimly.
“Let’s show them that we’ve been hiding monsters too.”