The orc-bulls’ assault was fierce.
Yuri dodged their attacks and plunged Gilty into one of them.
Mana surged through his fist—and then recoiled.
“Tch.”
He ducked low to evade a blow and glanced around.
Everyone was fighting in their own way.
Even though only the most skilled from the Alliance army had been gathered, they still couldn’t cut down the enemy immediately.
That meant the elite orc-bull squad blocking their path was truly formidable.
“Khahaha! Is that all you’ve got?”
Bursen’s Jose cleaved the skull of an orc-bull with his massive sword. But immediately, several more orc-bulls swarmed him.
He faced them all in rapid succession.
He was undoubtedly destined to become one of the Ten Strong.
The Empire’s knights moved silently but effectively. Graham and the Third Knight Commander had already slain several orc-bulls and were steadily advancing.
They couldn’t afford to fall back.
Yuri refocused on the orc-bull directly ahead.
“Akuaakkai!”
“You recognize me too, huh?”
“Akummetum che kua!”
Yuri dodged the orc-bull’s attacks and kept chipping away at it.
It was a drawn-out fight, but not one he couldn’t win.
“Ugh.”
The orc-bull swung its axe. Yuri dodged, but a flurry of strikes followed.
The enemy didn’t rely on brute strength alone; it used its weapon skillfully, delivering precise, high-level attacks.
“Not bad.”
But Yuri had grown through his battles with the Alliance forces.
He watched for the gaps between the orc-bull’s attacks.
At first, the openings were too shallow to exploit. So he baited the enemy to commit more deeply.
Feigning a misstep, he staggered slightly—just enough to unsettle his stance without affecting the flow of battle.
Because of that, Yuri’s counterattack posture wavered.
The orc-bull stepped forward to strike again. Its thigh bulged as it planted its foot firmly.
At that moment, Yuri saw it.
A small gap opened between the orc-bull’s ribs and lower abdomen. The opening began to close as the beast hunched over.
A fleeting chance, shorter than a blink.
“Die!”
Yuri shouted and drove Gilty in.
At first, it seemed reckless. But Gilty was drawn into that barely visible slit.
The orc-bull’s mocking expression froze stiff.
Thick leather was pierced.
Gilty sank deeper.
“Graaah!”
Yuri’s acrobatic strike left him off-balance and bent low.
The orc-bull roared and swung its axe down—but then, a strange sound whispered in Yuri’s ear.
At first, it was like the wind. Then, as he listened, it sounded like a spinning top. Something rapidly rotating, grinding against something else.
Heat surged from the orc-bull’s belly.
By the time Yuri realized what it was, it was too late.
The orc-bull dropped its axe and collapsed.
“Graaahhh!”
Mana swirled within Gilty.
Like a millstone crushing, the orc-bull’s insides were torn apart. The rotation intensified, carving a massive hole in its abdomen.
“This is an application of the spinning vortex sword technique—Small Rotation.”
A simplified version of the vortex technique Yuri had developed earlier. Even the smallest opening could be fatal.
He stomped on the fallen orc-bull and pressed forward.
Beyond, Okua stood, gradually coming into clearer view.
Its eyes remained fixed on some distant point—probably glaring at Moyongchan.
The two were locked in a battle Yuri couldn’t understand, a fight only between them.
“How long are they going to keep staring each other down?”
Yuri also gauged his enemies and played unseen mind games. But Okua and Moyongchan had long surpassed such levels.
As he was distracted, another orc-bull lunged at him.
Fighting on, Yuri suddenly felt something strange. The orc-bulls were weaker than before.
Something was off.
A chill ran down his spine.
He couldn’t say exactly what, but the war was going badly.
Behind, the Alliance forces were breaking under the monsters’ onslaught. Ahead, the elite orc-bulls blocked any advance.
And at the center of it all, Okua had yet to properly join the front lines.
Yuri kicked an orc-bull in the chest, knocking it down, and looked at Okua.
It had grown.
Yuri’s eyes widened.
It was bigger than when he first saw it. Already tall, but now its body had visibly swollen.
Black energy, like shimmering heat haze, rose from its form.
Suddenly, the shape of a blind shaman flickered beside it—and vanished.
“No.”
Yuri’s eyes went wide.
“I’ve been deceived.”
He realized something was terribly wrong.
Yuri summoned the Soul Slash.
Shaking off the energy, he swung Gilty, cutting down the orc-bulls clinging to Okua. The Soul Slash’s aura swirled around him.
He focused his gaze.
[Have you realized?]
The voice of the black shaman he’d seen earlier in the barracks.
[But it’s already too late.]
To let Okua and Moyongchan fight one-on-one, the elite orc-bulls had to be eliminated.
Yuri pushed that thought aside.
He charged straight at Okua.
“Yuri!”
“Your Highness!”
Voices called from behind.
But Yuri ignored them all and pressed on.
A couple of orc-bulls tried to block him, but he brushed them off.
He surged forward at high speed toward Okua.
Only then did Okua lower its gaze and look at Yuri.
“Okua!”
As he approached, Yuri noticed something he hadn’t before.
Okua was guarding a pit.
Dark energy rippled from within.
The black energy rising from the pit flowed continuously into Okua. Over time, its power grew.
“That…”
Okua swung its long arms.
Though it wielded no weapon, Yuri instinctively felt danger. He positioned Gilty vertically, placing his hand on its center.
Klang!
Gilty shook violently, and Yuri’s body slammed into the ground.
Blood welled up inside him.
But he couldn’t stay down.
He pushed himself up.
This had been wrong from the start.
Why had Okua only watched? Why had Moyongchan insisted on waiting until they could fight one-on-one?
It was because Okua’s dark magic grew stronger with time.
Yuri muttered.
“Black magic…”
Ordinary magic could be dispelled.
But black magic was different.
From the moment Okua appeared, it had clouded people’s eyes with black magic.
Because Yuri relied on Moyongchan, he hadn’t suspected a thing.
The image of the black shaman appeared before Yuri.
[Become a sacrifice and die.]
The shaman laughed—and at the same time, Okua’s lips curled into a smile.
Yuri lashed out at the shaman with Gilty in a fit of rage. The shaman’s body split in two, then reformed.
Its face twisted.
[That strange sword…]
The shaman waved its hand—and Okua began to advance.
The ground trembled.
Yuri shouted toward Moyongchan in the distance.
“How long are you going to stay there?!”
But he didn’t come.
Yuri gritted his teeth and raised Gilty.
He understood what he had to do.
No one else could cut what he could.
To call Moyongchan, he had to sever that first.
He drew on the Soul Slash’s energy.
He ignored the limits of his body. He forgot the side effects that might come from overheating his mana method.
His eyes bloodshot.
He saw what he needed to see.
His vision shifted.
Colors faded like bleach, leaving only shades of black and white.
Within that world, Yuri saw black lines stretching out like tentacles.
He realized what was inside the black pit Okua guarded.
A human sacrifice.
He now understood why black magic couldn’t be dispelled.
It wasn’t mana—it was energy drawn from the sacrifice.
“Disgusting.”
He felt sick.
Orcs were disgusting.
And this black magic was even worse.
His heart screamed. Gilty vibrated as if caught in an earthquake.
But Yuri didn’t stop.
Veins bulged in his eyes. His vision flared white-hot.
Everything vanished.
He saw a massive, tangled black mass.
Faces emerged from it, wailing in agony.
“Save me…”
“It hurts so much…”
“Let me out…”
A mournful scream echoed.
The cries reverberated.
That was the energy powering the black magic.
The souls of the dead.
Suppressing his nausea, Yuri gripped Gilty.
That black mass was beyond his ability to handle.
But the black tentacles flowing out from the pit, spreading in all directions—he could cut those.
Among the web of tentacles, one thick, large stem stood out.
He raised Gilty.
In this world, the Gilty in his hand looked different than before—a wedge-shaped beam of light with no fixed form.
Yuri leapt toward the black tentacles.
A pale mass surged at him, but he paid it no mind.
Suddenly, the lion’s voice echoed in his mind.
‘It means the time has come to use that power.’
Yes.
He vaguely understood the will of Erich Briole, the creator of this mana method.
To cut away that cursed power, a fitting tool was needed.
“Soul Slash.”
Yuri swung the beam of light.
And with that, he severed the black magic.
Moyongchan watched the battlefield with a grim expression.
The allied forces fought fiercely against the orcs. Among them, Yuri Briole—his prodigious disciple—shone brilliantly. The kid showed real promise.
He, too, wanted nothing more than to slaughter the orcs himself.
But he had to conserve his strength until the moment he faced Okuah.
He waited patiently, biding his time until he could confront that cursed being in full battle.
“Okuah…”
Just as it seemed the alliance was gaining the upper hand, monstrous creatures tamed by dark sorcery suddenly appeared, throwing the battlefield into chaos.
He saw comrades falling, dying.
Moyongchan clenched his fists tightly.
To kill Okuah, sacrifices had to be endured.
At last, Yuri and the elite warriors Moyongchan had gathered launched their final charge. They clashed with the elite orc horde guarding Okuah.
Just a little longer.
If they could wipe out the orc forces, then the one-on-one battle with Okuah could begin.
Then, without warning, Yuri broke through the orc lines and charged straight at Okuah.
Why was he doing this all of a sudden?
Facing Okuah alone meant certain death.
Only he could stop that monster, and to do so, the rest of the orc horde had to be cleared away first, creating a one-on-one situation.
“Foolish…”
Should he intervene?
But he couldn’t let sentiment cloud his judgment and jeopardize the greater cause.
Moyongchan clenched his fists.
Stopping a disaster like Okuah always came with a price.
He steeled his resolve.
Then, in an instant, Yuri’s sword glowed white, transforming into a blade of pure light.
It sliced through something.
Though Moyongchan couldn’t see clearly, he heard a heavy, dull sound—like something large and tough being cut—carrying even to where he stood far away.
It was a strange, shattering noise, as if the world itself was breaking apart.
But immediately after, Yuri was struck by Okuah’s attack and collapsed.
He coughed up blood.
“Ah.”
Watching this, Moyongchan blinked.
A buried awareness stirred within him.
“Ahhh…”
Why had he been standing there so still?
Yes, conserving strength to defeat Okuah was necessary. But was it right to stand idly by while the battle dragged on like this?
With every passing moment, Okuah’s dark sorcery only grew stronger.
Why had he hesitated?
Moyongchan shouted out in a sudden burst of rage.
“Move!”
The remaining black energy clinging to his body vanished completely.
The haze lifted.
He realized the truth.
When he first faced Okuah, he had unknowingly fallen under the spell of that dark sorcery.
The evil energy had invaded his mind, twisting his thoughts and binding him to false beliefs.
Anger surged through Moyongchan.
The last master of the Cheongseong faction had been toyed with by vile sorcery. He had stood by silently even as his disciple bled.
Filled with fury, Moyongchan roared.
His lion’s roar shook the plains.
Before the echo even faded, he was already in the thick of battle, blocking Okuah’s arm as it swung toward Yuri.
From the fallen disciple came a grumble.
“Cough… Why so slow…?”