Borzak's hammer crashed down on Eric.
The prince, struggling to rise, caught the hammer with one hand, his other hand still pressed against the ground.
CRACK.
The ground fractured under the pressure, cracks spreading like spiderwebs.
Borzak pushed harder, aiming to crush the prince.
His muscles bulged. His veins throbbed.
Die, human!
But nothing happened.
The prince didn't budge an inch.
Seeing his efforts fail, Borzak hurled his hammer into the air with a sharp motion.
Quickly, he drew a whip and lashed it at the prince, binding him from head to toe.
SWISH. SWISH. SWISH.
The whip coiled tightly, constricting the prince's body.
Gus leaped at the orc to stop him.
"LET HIM GO!"
But Borzak spun and delivered a spinning kick.
SMASH.
Gus was thrown backward, tumbling across the ground before barely catching himself.
Damn, he's fast.
Borzak exclaimed with a wide grin:
"YOU'RE WEAK! I EXPECTED MORE OF A CHALLENGE!"
He tightened the whip around the prince, taunting him:
"Does it hurt? Huh? Tell me it hurts!"
But the prince showed no emotion.
His face remained impassive, his eyes locked on Borzak.
This unnerved the orc.
Why isn't he reacting?
Borzak caught his falling hammer, snatching it mid-air.
Ready to strike again.
Then Eric chuckled.
"Keh."
One moment, he was bound. Tightly, securely bound.
The next, he was free.
The long whip no longer held anyone.
It hung limply, severed into multiple pieces.
Borzak instinctively stepped back and looked down.
He saw Eric crouched low, his sword still faintly smoking.
When did he—
In the blink of an eye, Eric was in front of the orc.
"Now die."
Meanwhile, Sacha ensured no orcs got near Cassian.
He killed a few from time to time with a well-placed sword strike.
SLASH.
"Another one down."
He commented on the battle for a moment:
"The prince really has the upper hand. Borzak is impressive, but not enough to—"
Then, turning to ask Cassian's opinion, he saw no one.
His heart skipped a beat.
"CASSIAN?!"
He frantically scanned the surroundings.
Then he spotted Cassian in the distance, charging toward an orc standing apart.
Damn it!
He ran toward Cassian.
Two seconds should be enough.
But before he could even start moving, a concentrated jet of flames as large as a house engulfed the orc Cassian had targeted.
FWOOOOOOOOSH.
Along with other orcs in its path.
The culprit: the Second Prince.
Borzak narrowly dodged, rolling to the side.
Parts of his clothing caught fire.
"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"
He frantically patted his clothes to extinguish the flames.
I didn't expect this human to be so dangerous.
The Second Prince had unleashed a powerful jet of fire fueled by a fierce wind.
Knights and prisoners had nearly been caught in the flames.
"WATCH OUT!"
"WHAT IS HE DOING?!"
"IS HE INSANE?!"
Eric hadn't given any warning.
Borzak had dodged that point-blank attack through sheer luck and exceptional reflexes.
Thank my well-trained body.
Eric glanced at Sacha, then moved toward the ogre.
Borzak hesitated to stop him.
Should I…
In the end, he let it go and leaped at Gus.
"YOU! WE'RE NOT DONE!"
The chimera surged across the ground at lightning speed, its wings tucked to slice through the air like an arrow.
It sank its talons into an orc's chest, lifting him off the ground with a roar that shook the air.
"AAAAAAH!"
Then it tore him in half with a crosswise motion.
RIIIIIP.
Sprays of scalding blood splattered the ground and nearby orcs.
"WHAT IS THAT THING?!"
"WE CAN'T FIGHT IT!"
Its wings beat with a force that lifted dust and corpses.
In a brutal dive, it seized an orc in its lion-like jaws, rose several meters into the air…
Then flipped mid-air before crashing to the ground, using the orc's body as a cushion.
BOOM.
The impact shattered the ground and pushed back other enemies in a gust of dust and blood.
The chimera opened its maw wide. Its throat glowed a vivid red.
A torrent of molten lava erupted, fluid and bubbling, sweeping through the orcs in ranks.
SZZZZZZZZZZ.
Those hit didn't burn immediately. Their armor melted first, their flesh liquefied, and the ground became a field of smoldering embers.
The lava formed glowing rivulets, and the remaining orcs retreated, blinded by the heat.
"FALL BACK! FALL BACK!"
"WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING!"
The ogre fought the chimera with his remaining troops.
The chimera had drastically reduced their numbers.
I need to find an opening.
Without warning, a jet of lava from the chimera and a jet of fire from the prince came from both sides.
SHIT!
In a panic, Thomas ordered:
"YOU! HUMAN SHIELDS! NOW!"
The nearby orcs obeyed the command as if it were absolute, without question.
They threw themselves in front of their leader.
From both sides, they took the hits, screaming in agony.
"AAAAAAAH!"
"CHIEF, SAVE US!"
But Thomas ignored them, leaping into the air and landing several meters away.
His mana helped him jump despite his weight.
That was close.
No time to catch his breath.
The prince and the chimera rushed at him.
The prince was determined to take down the ogre. It had to be him, not the chimera.
He's MINE.
Thomas raised both hands.
An invisible blade of compressed wind shot forward.
SWISH.
The prince and the chimera had to dodge, breaking their momentum.
The wind blade sliced through a structure in the distance.
CRACK.
A wall collapsed.
Most wouldn't have seen the wind blade, as wind was invisible to the naked eye. You could only feel it or see its effects on the world.
Eric was surprised the ogre could manipulate wind like that.
*Wind magic still holds many secrets for me.*
Good thing he'd learned wind could be used this way.
Treacherous magic.
Sacha had managed to grab Cassian.
Cassian was disappointed that the orc he'd targeted was dead.
He raised his hand as if signaling he'd been caught.
"Sorry, Sacha. I saw an orc all alone and thought I could take him."
Sacha sighed.
I'll have to be more vigilant in the future.
"Cassian, you can't just… run off like that."
"But he was all alone!"
"Exactly."