Chapter 65: Blood, sweat and tears (1)

The battle continued.

They had fought for so long that it was impossible to tell how much time had passed.

Corpses littered the ground, with no distinction between allies and enemies. After confirming that the situation with Joachim had stabilized, Yuri offered help wherever it was needed, then returned to Briol.

The Alliance had held firm. Despite being outnumbered, they did not break. Many lives were lost, but even more orcs were slain.

Everyone was exhausted, regardless of side. It was an endless war of attrition. The orcs kept attacking, and the Alliance resisted until the very end.

“It should be mealtime by now…”

Yuri grumbled. Every so often, an orc managed to slip through the Alliance lines.

But even the orcs no longer had enough strength to mount a real offensive.

Those isolated in enemy territory ended up impaled on Alliance spears, dying like porcupines.

The blood had dried on the earth. Yuri looked up.

In the distance, Okua remained motionless. And in front of him, at the center of the Alliance, atop his tent, Moyongchan stood, staring intently at the orc king.

It was as if the two were locked in a staring duel.

“Whoever blinks first loses, or what?”

Yuri muttered with disdain as he trudged forward.

The Alliance lines were more scattered than before. So were the orcs’. Little by little, the territories of both sides began to intermingle.

If there were enemies, they fought. If there were allies, they helped. That cycle repeated endlessly.

While fighting an orc, Yuri spotted a knight in the distance who had been impaled through the abdomen by a halberd, coughing up blood.

Yuri finished off his opponent and rushed over to him. But it was too late. There was no turning back.

He approached the fallen knight and tore off the family emblem hanging from his neck.

“I’ll bear witness to your bravery before your family.”

“I-I…”

Blood bubbled from his mouth and he couldn’t finish. Yuri whispered again.

“I’ll avenge your death.”

It was the only promise he could make.

The knight looked at him with clouded eyes and weakly nodded before dying with his eyes open. Yuri closed his eyelids.

As he stood up, an orc wielding a halberd was there.

“Grrr…”

The orc was gnawing on a human arm whose owner was unknown.

Their eyes met. The orc threw the arm.

Just as Yuri dodged it, the orc charged, swinging his halberd. Suddenly, blood dripping from the arm splashed into Yuri’s eyes. The heat of it on his cornea was sharp.

Yuri didn’t blink. Through vision stained red, he saw the orc’s twisted face.

His body was exhausted. His mana nearly drained. But the senses etched into his body through long battles remained sharp.

There was not a drop of unnecessary strength in Yuri’s body. He deflected the halberd with ease and, with just enough power to pierce the enemy’s skin, slashed the orc’s throat.

Another orc fell.

Taking a life was that simple.

“With precision. With efficiency.”

The senses of the former orc hunter, gained in the ruins, had become fully fused with him. Killing orcs had become a mechanical act. And he was a master of the craft.

The longer the battle dragged on, and the more everyone else wore out, the more efficient Yuri became. No matter his state, he could keep killing.

As the difficulty decreased, his performance soared. With minimal strength, he cut down orcs one after another.

And so, he ran into Jared.

“Are you alright?”

His face was covered in blood. Upon seeing Yuri, Jared wiped his cheek and smiled faintly.

“Still alive, Your Highness.”

“Good.”

“Many have died.”

Did he mean the orcs or the humans? Probably both.

Yuri just nodded.

“I know.”

“Yes, sir.”

Without wasting time talking, several orcs rushed at them. They were no longer as fierce as before. Though the madness unleashed by Okua drove them from behind, their bodies couldn’t keep up.

One tripped and fell in front of Yuri.

Pathetic, but Yuri ran him through with Guilty as if he’d been waiting.

Blood splashed his waist.

“Kuaaaaah…!”

They couldn’t even scream properly anymore. Only groan, driven by madness.

“Be careful, Your Highness.”

Jared whispered like a sigh. He didn’t have Yuri’s senses and was at his limit, just like the orcs.

“Damn bastards…”

The staggering orc hurled his weapon, and Jared ducked clumsily to avoid it, then raised his sword. He nearly split the orc’s jaw in half.

“Gweeeeh!”

The orc attacked again. Jared rolled on the ground and managed to get back up.

“Your Highness, are you—?”

He froze mid-sentence, mouth agape. While he had been dealing with one, all the other orcs lay dead on the ground.

Yuri, panting, rested Guilty on his shoulder.

“I’m fine.”

Then, like a programmed machine, he walked toward the orc Jared had been fighting.

“That one’s mine…”

“Leave it.”

Yuri ignored him and kept going. With staggering steps, he entered the orc’s striking range. Just barely dodging the blow, he buried Guilty.

The orc collapsed.

It looked like he had thrown his sword weakly and the enemy had simply impaled himself. But Jared could see the control in Yuri’s movements. As if he could predict or manipulate the enemy’s intentions.

His style bordered on the superhuman.

“He’s evolving mid-battle…?”

“So, you can talk.”

“Gonna fight with your mouth?”

“If my arms fail, I’ll hold the sword with my teeth.”

“In that case, I’ll learn the Three-Sword Style.”

Joking, they resumed their search for enemies. The fighting continued in all directions.

Yuri saw a knight who stood out amidst the chaos and called his name.

“Laurent!”

“Your Highness!”

While helping a nearby soldier, Yuri asked him:

“Tired?”

“Not at all!”

When Yuri’s voice rang out across the battlefield, morale began to rise again on Briol’s side.

“Think of the comrades who went ahead!”

In a situation where everyone was exhausted, it was willpower that made the difference. Yuri, still mechanically cutting down orcs, raised his voice even more.

“Don’t die! Wealth and glory await you! Don’t worry about those who went ahead! I’ll take care of them! Briol never forgets!”

Just as Yuri was shouting, an orc lunged at him. As if expecting it, Yuri dodged backward and counterattacked.

The orc’s body was split in two. With just two movements—dodge and slash—Yuri took him down.

It was a level he couldn’t have reached before.

“For Briol!”

Yuri raised Guilty and shouted. Then, the exhausted soldiers responded. The flame that was about to flicker out reignited. From Briol, the fervor spread across the entire Alliance.

They were winning—that was certain.

And then, the unthinkable happened. A strange sound echoed across the field. It sounded like a wail or a beast’s howl.

The orcs began to turn around.

“What…?”

They were retreating!

The orcs, who had seemed unwilling to ever back down, were fleeing.

Even though Okua, their king, was still present at the rear, they no longer showed the will to fight.

“Is it over…?”

“Did we win…?”

The Alliance troops lowered their weapons. Some even plunged their swords into the ground to lean on them, vomiting from exhaustion.

But Yuri summoned his mana.

“Don’t let them escape!”

His roar echoed across the front. Even though the fire of battle had already died down, Yuri alone demanded pursuit.

“Remember what they did to us! Chase them down and stab them in the back!!”

And with that, he charged forward with Guilty in hand. He stabbed an orc in the neck, used his body as a springboard, leapt, and sliced another across the waist.

When it didn’t fall, he went for the legs again. After the orc collapsed from losing its ankles, Yuri crushed its head and moved on.

“What are you all doing?!”

Yuri knew.

This wasn’t over. Until Okua was dead, the war would not end. That’s why this was the best time to reduce their numbers.

If they let them go now, the orcs would regroup and come back to kill more allies. Killing one now meant saving a comrade later.

“This isn’t over yet!”

For once, Yuri shouted in anger as he urged his troops. As soon as he moved, Laurent and Jared followed to attack the orcs from behind.

Then, the knights of Briol began to shout in hoarse voices and joined the pursuit.

“Follow the prince!”

“Kill the orcs!”

“Don’t let them escape!”

The stragglers began to fall. The rest of the orcs kept running without looking back.

“To the pursuit!”

After eliminating another orc, Yuri suddenly looked up. Their eyes met.

In the distance, Okua’s blood-red eyes were fixed on him. Just feeling that gaze sent a dizzying wave through Yuri’s body.

His breathing grew heavy. A sharp ringing surged from deep within his senses.

“Briol!”

Yuri shouted and simultaneously swung Guilty through the air toward Okua. The pressure seemed to ease slightly.

“Attack from the rear!”

With Briol’s offensive underway, the rest of the Alliance began to move. One by one, the soldiers who had been paralyzed by exhaustion joined in.

They instinctively knew that now was the time to reduce the enemy. The problem wasn’t willpower—it was that their bodies could no longer respond.

But seeing Briol’s desperate charge, they summoned the last drop of energy they had left. Slowly, orc casualties began to pile up.

And then, Okua roared like thunder.

“……!”

It didn’t sound like the voice of a living being, but like a crash generated by nature itself. Lower-ranked soldiers covered their ears, unable to withstand it.

Yuri shouted loudly.

“Regain your senses!”

And just then, a red mist began to rise from among the retreating orcs.

Those who had been fleeing suddenly stopped and began attacking like crazed beasts, throwing the Alliance into chaos.

The orcs possessed by madness no longer appeared exhausted.

“That’s…”

Yuri gritted his teeth as he watched the fleeing orcs pull away.

This too was Okua’s doing. When the Alliance tried to exterminate them, Okua triggered a frenzy among the stragglers to block their advance.

An inexplicable energy drove them mad, as if fire burned at their backs.

They charged like a stampede of wild bulls.

“Haa…”

Yuri turned around.

In the distance, Moyongchan was still locked in a stare-down with Okua. Shouldn’t he be doing something now that Okua was pulling tricks like this? Even if he was holding him back, the situation wasn’t good.

But Moyongchan, his face unflinching, never looked away from Okua.

“Damn…”

The orcs possessed by madness crashed into the rear of the Alliance. The pursuing forces stopped and began fighting them on the spot.

Meanwhile, the rest of the orcs kept retreating. Yuri fixed his gaze on Okua.

“Damn you…”

Then, as if waiting for that moment, Okua returned the gaze and turned away. The moment those blood-red eyes averted, the air seemed to lighten.

Okua began walking with that usual, staggering gait. And the orcs around him followed. Those who hadn’t moved the entire battle.

That confirmed it. Okua used the orcs as extensions of his own body. And seeing how he manipulated the stragglers, he might even have mental control over them.

By the time they finished off the charging orcs, the main army was already too far ahead. The Alliance could no longer pursue. Their advance came to a halt.

“Ahh…”

Regardless, the Alliance had won. The soldiers raised their weapons and cheered. The entire army erupted in celebration.

“Okua has fled!”

“We’ve won!”

“Long live the Alliance!”

It looked like the war was nearing its end. Yuri, eyes fixed on the retreating orc backs, murmured.

“We need to strike immediately.”

He had a bad feeling. Now that the enemy was retreating, they had to press their advantage. If they delayed, they would lose momentum.

Okua.

As long as that monstrous being lived, they couldn’t let their guard down.