Okua was huge.
His head stood far higher than any other orc, and his shoulders were twice as broad. His arms weren't especially thick, but they were long enough to reach down to his knees.
It was a physique that didn't seem possible within the traits of the orc race.
Could he be of another race?
But the severed-looking nose and protruding tusks were classic orc features.
"That's Okua…"
A visceral sense of revulsion rose up.
A strong premonition blared in his head, warning him not to approach.
"That's a total monster. Are we sure that's an orc?"
Jared spoke in a shaken voice, and Yuri agreed.
"No kidding. That thing's more like an ogre out of legend."
Yuri raised his telescope to observe Okua more closely.
Okua stood still, lips closed, his darkly gleaming eyes staring forward.
Suddenly, his crimson pupils locked onto Yuri.
Was it just an illusion that their eyes met? Or had Okua actually sensed the gaze and turned to glare?
Yuri lowered the telescope.
"Creepy."
"Sorry?"
"Never mind."
Yuri turned his body. The forces of Briol were lined up behind him.
As soon as Okua appeared, the entire Allied Army grew unsettled.
"Don't be afraid! None of you will have to fight Okua!"
Yuri shouted, but the soldiers' eyes remained fixed on Okua.
They were afraid, but unable to look away.
Okua moved with a slow, swaying gait.
Then suddenly, an orc soldier tripped over his leg.
Okua extended his long arm, grabbed the orc's head in one hand, and lifted it. The orc struggled.
When Okua applied pressure, the skull shattered far too easily. Blood splattered, and the contents spilled onto the ground.
Like a deflating balloon, the orc's head was crushed in his grip.
"Holy shit…"
Okua threw the corpse aside.
His blood-smeared eyes glowed an even deeper red.
Then, stomping heavily, he raised his head to the sky and opened his mouth. A thunderous roar shook the plains.
It was a roar no living creature should be able to make.
Each time Okua howled, a violent energy stirred in the eyes of the orc army charging toward the Allied forces.
"What the hell?"
"Is that magic?"
The Allied Army, preparing for the clash, was thrown into confusion.
Jared asked Yuri,
"Is that magic?"
"It's not magic."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know. But it's definitely not magic."
Yuri shook his head.
He wasn't a mage, but he was sensitive to the flow of mana. He felt no artificial movement.
It wasn't magic.
Like how a competent commander could raise the morale of their troops, Okua amplified the orcs' madness with nothing but his roar.
It was more like a natural trait given to Okua and the orcs by birth.
As if he was born to lead orcs.
"Huu…"
Yuri let out a long breath.
"Focus."
In any case, Okua was still far away.
First, they had to deal with the orc horde charging toward the Allied Army.
A mixed horde of normal orcs and Orcbals charged without any sense of tactics.
They were already in a frenzied state.
Madness gleamed in their eyes.
"All units, prepare for impact!"
From the direction of Ragna, the sound of a horn rang out. The beat of drums thumped like the Allied Army's heartbeat.
The Allied soldiers planted their feet and lowered their stances.
Countless orcs were charging madly toward the barricade. If one fell, others trampled over the body without hesitation.
Finally, the two armies collided.
Like a herd of bulls charging at a wall, the orcs crashed into both the barricade and the phalanx without distinction.
Axes and spears clashed.
Explosions of sound erupted from every direction.
Metal against metal, or flesh against something else—every kind of clash echoed in the ears.
Who died first in that initial contact—an orc or a human?
Yuri wondered as he cut down an orc's neck.
It was probably simultaneous.
At the moment of collision, both orc and human soldiers fell.
Enemy heads were skewered, allied bodies collapsed.
A brutal war had begun.
"Briol!"
Yuri shouted and charged forward. Instantly, several orcs targeted him.
But Yuri accepted the risk. It lightened the burden on his allies.
"Fight!"
Occasionally, arrows rained down from the sky. But they couldn't afford to go after the wyverns now.
The beasts struck randomly, like natural disasters, touching down on the Allied forces with no rhyme or reason. One could only hope luck was on their side and focus on the orc in front of them.
"Keep your head straight! Watch your surroundings!"
Yuri continued shouting to awaken the knights' senses.
"You there!"
He pointed at a knight nearby.
An arrow was falling straight toward the knight's head. But too absorbed in fighting, he didn't notice.
Lose focus on the battlefield, and death is the price.
The arrow struck squarely into his head. A short spurt of blood.
The knight sat down with a stunned look, unable to believe it.
A gap opened in the formation.
An orc burst through immediately. The knight behind was also unable to react in time and took an axe to the face.
His skull split, blood and brains sprayed into the air.
Over it, an orc's roar overlapped.
"Akumometun! Aku gutada!"
One of the Orcbals pushed through the Allied lines and stormed into the breach.
The Briol formation began to collapse.
The Orcbal did not miss that brief crack.
Yuri's face twisted.
His core began to accelerate. The energy of heart-soul slash within him surged with rage.
"You!"
He slaughtered the four orcs in front of him, turned, and cleaved the Orcbal's neck.
Yuri made up his mind.
In response, the heart-soul slash stirred.
Mana rotated around his core like an axis.
Yuri kept drawing in power. The condensed energy swirled, containing its destructive force.
The four orcs raised their axes at the same time and rushed toward the briefly paused Yuri.
The blades reflected the prairie sun.
Not yet.
Yuri waited.
The orcs, muscles bulging as if to burst, slammed their weapons down. The axes began to fall.
Yuri blinked.
Still not yet.
He kept accelerating the spinning force swelling within.
Yuri's eyes widened.
The four axe blades reflected in his black pupils.
As they grew larger, approaching the moment where reality and image would meet—
Everything vanished.
A single droplet of blood splattered on his eyelid.
Then, on his now-clear pupils, four heads flying skyward reappeared.
The aftermath burst forth.
With a single sword strike, Yuri tore the four orcs to pieces, gravely injuring those behind them as well.
An orc with its stomach split open tried to gather its guts, but was trampled to death by the next wave.
"Jared. I leave it to you."
"Yes!"
Yuri kicked off the ground and leapt. He stomped on the head of a charging orc and changed direction.
The orc's head snapped as its neck bones shattered.
"Don't back down!"
Yuri dove straight into the breach. The Orcbal was rampaging, widening the gap.
More orcs were flooding through it.
Yuri brought down Guilty with force.
The curved blade deflected the attack.
"Hey, Okudoku!"
He was the Orcbal that had been swallowed and taken away by the Ancient Wyrm before.
The Orcbal wielding the curved blade burst into loud laughter at the sight of Yuri.
"Akuakkai!"
He had lost one eye because of Yuri. A black eye patch was tied over the spot.
"Looks good on you."
Amid the melee, so close they could feel each other's breaths, Yuri and the Orcbal twisted their bodies like acrobats, exchanging attacks and defenses.
Though the Orcbal had lost an eye, he hadn't weakened at all.
"Hoo…"
Yuri stabbed any orc that tried to interrupt.
The Orcbal didn't seem to care about his allies' sacrifices.
"Akuakkai, gurutu budusu giome muka!"
"I don't understand a damn word, you Okudoku bastard!"
The two blades clashed. A jolt ran through Yuri's hands.
"Piss off."
Yuri suddenly dashed in.
After several exchanges, Yuri spun and landed a kick to the Orcbal's abdomen.
"Gah!"
As the Orcbal staggered back, Guilty came crashing down on his head.
The Orcbal narrowly avoided it.
Yuri stepped forward and stood shoulder to shoulder with another knight.
"Finally pushed him out."
While fighting the Orcbal, Yuri had intentionally guided him out of Briol's formation.
The crack caused by a wyvern's arrow had now been sealed by Yuri.
"Stay sharp. Even if your comrade dies, hold your position."
"Yes, sir!"
"Don't let them in, no matter what."
The Orcbal, realizing Yuri's intent, scowled.
"Akua kutu bomero!"
"Shut it."
Yuri dodged the curved blade-wielding orc and left that spot. He could still hear the orc's roar, but he ignored it.
Briol's formation solidified again.
As the aftermath of the first clash faded, the well-structured phalanx began to show its effect.
The orc forces were ramming into them with brute force, but Briol didn't crumble easily.
The war was only beginning.
Countless orcs were still swarming in like ants, and Okua, standing in the distance, was silently watching the battlefield.
They had to hold.
"Ernando!"
Yuri shouted with the back of his hand to his mouth. A voice responded.
[Yes.]
Though magic was sealed on the battlefield through Dispel, short-range communication was still possible using artifacts.
An artifact that Yuri had pushed Ernando to make was embedded in his gauntlet.
"What about the other countries?"
Yuri spoke while deflecting an axe flying toward him.
"Are they holding?"
[They're holding up well around Briol. The rear is a little shaky though.]
"Master's there, right?"
[Yes. Sir Moyong is fine.]
Ernando and Moyong Chan called each other great swordsman. Yuri clicked his tongue and asked again.
"Tell him he must not move. He has to save his strength for when Okua steps in."
[Of course.]
Moyong Chan was the Allied Army's joker.
He was their most important card to stop Okua when he finally moved. They couldn't let him exhaust himself now.
"If it looks like any spot's about to break, let me know."
[Understood.]
"Thanks."
Yuri lowered his gauntlet and gripped Guilty again.
The orc forces kept pouring in endlessly.
"Above!"
The wyvern flock circling the skies once again rained arrows down on Briol's formation.
Several soldiers were struck and fell, but reinforcements quickly filled the gaps.
The wyvern swarm didn't fly off—they hovered directly above the Briol line and kept shooting, clearly targeting them.
"Alright…"
Yuri pulled something from his coat.
"Figured it was time to use this."
One of the four daggers he had purchased at an Imperial auction—Wind Ring Blade.
Yuri imbued it with mana. A faint glow emerged from the dagger.
Just then, a wyvern descended. Taking advantage of the chaos, it swooped lower and attempted to aim.
Yuri threw the Wind Ring Blade.
As if riding the wind, it soared upward and pierced the neck of the orc riding the wyvern.
"Guuaagh…"
The orc clutched his throat and writhed. As his body leaned, it collapsed against the wyvern's wing.
The wyvern flailed, but its balance was off and it began to crash. It barely recovered just before hitting the ground, but had flown far too low.
"Laurent, I'm counting on you here!"
"Yes!"
Yuri kicked off the ground and leapt toward the wyvern.
With his body lightened by mana, he barely managed to grab the wyvern's leg.
"Kyaaaaah!"
The wyvern thrashed and tried to climb.
The ground grew distant.
Yuri rose into the sky, clinging to the wyvern.
He could see the entire battlefield below.
"What the hell is Yoheim doing?"
Though the Allied Army was still holding overall, as Ernando had said, the rear looked shaky.
But the wyvern was the urgent issue now.
Yuri began climbing the wyvern's leg.
It kept twisting and kicking, but Yuri refused to let go.
"You little…"
He stretched his hand and grabbed its tail. Once his position stabilized, he sprang toward its back.
"Uaaaagh!"
He barely caught the saddle.
The orc's body was strapped tightly to the saddle. The one with Wind Ring Blade in his throat was already dead.
Yuri retrieved the Wind Ring Blade, cut the rope, and dropped the orc's corpse. The wyvern regained balance.
"Hey, wyvern."
Just like the orc had done, Yuri climbed into the saddle and pulled the reins. But the wyvern didn't listen.
Suddenly, the sound of wings flapping approached.
Other wyvern riders who had spotted Yuri were closing in, drawing their bows.
"Akuakkai! Arukumetum!"
At the call, Yuri chuckled.
"So they recognize me now? Guess I'm a celebrity."
Arrows flew immediately.
They weren't just aiming for Yuri, but also at the wyvern he rode. Their intent to bring him down was clear.
The wyvern startled and twisted its body. The arrows barely missed.
It was skilled at flying.
More arrows pursued them.
"Hey!"
Yuri smacked the wyvern's head.
"You just gonna take that? Huh? Gonna die like a chump?"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"You don't like that, right? Then let's fight back!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"What the hell…"
Ragna, watching from behind, looked up.
Even the soldiers fighting on the battlefield stopped for a moment and stared at the sky in awe.
It was an unreal scene.
"That guy, that guy…"
Ragna held his forehead.
"How the hell did he even get up there?"
Somehow, the Third Prince of Briol had stolen a wyvern and was now fighting other wyverns.
Dodging a rain of arrows, Yuri's wyvern dived straight at an enemy. At the last moment, it twisted upside down mid-flight.
The two riders met inverted, face-to-face.
The two wyverns crossed paths.
Yuri's sword flashed and cleaved both orc and wyvern in one stroke.
The orc-ridden wyvern plummeted.
Yuri's wyvern flipped and regained balance.
It was a beautiful aerial maneuver.
Yuri raised his sword. Man and wyvern roared as one.
"Yaaahhhh!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
The letter he sent before the war felt completely pointless now.
Ragna muttered in a hollow voice.
"That lunatic…"
[T/L: Read more chapters on Ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]