There weren't many orcs beyond the palisade. Most of the enemy's forces had concentrated on blocking the main Allied Army.
Yuri charged straight ahead and slashed at an orc guarding the rear.
But the orc blocked the blow.
As their weapons clashed several times, orc reinforcements began to gather.
"Laurent!"
"Yes!"
Understanding his intent, Laurent rushed in to help Yuri. As the two of them attacked in unison, the orc could no longer hold its defense and left an opening.
The orc collapsed, bleeding.
Yuri immediately stomped on its head and crushed the skull.
"Keep pushing in!"
The main force was engaged in a fierce melee with the orcs.
To support them, they needed to cause as much disruption in the rear as possible.
"Hey, Jose!"
Yuri shouted.
"What's with the slow pace? Is that all Bursen's got?"
At that, Jose burst into laughter and suddenly lunged forward.
Jose was just as large as an orc. With a single swing of his sword, he sliced an orc's waist clean in half.
Covered in blood, he roared.
"Show the Prince of Briol exactly what kind of nation Bursen is!"
The knights of Bursen let out a battle cry and charged.
Human and orc forces collided.
Blood and flesh scattered, and the orc lines began to retreat. Bursen pressed forward without hesitation.
Then, unexpectedly, Laurent shouted.
"For Briol!"
It was a reckless side of him Yuri hadn't seen before.
Laurent leapt high and brought his sword down from above. An orc raised its axe to block, but Laurent was faster.
The orc's head split open, and its insides spilled out.
Shaking off the blood from his sword, Laurent shouted once more.
"And for Prince Yuri!"
Yuri, who was stabbing into an orc's belly, heard his name and cleared his throat loudly.
"That's embarrassing."
The two knight orders charged at the orcs as if competing with each other.
If Bursen, with Jose at the center, ground the orcs like a massive crusher, Briol pierced through the orc formation with coordinated tactics.
Yuri climbed atop an orc tent to assess the situation.
At the frontline, a bloody melee raged, while inside the camp, the orcs were moving about like swarming ants.
And in the midst of it all, he spotted a mass that remained completely still.
Dozens of flags were fluttering.
"Orcbal…"
Yuri recognized who they were.
Orcbal, bearing flags on their backs, had gathered in groups of dozens and were standing by.
If so, the orc standing at the center was obvious.
Kurui.
Yuri stared at the orc standing in the center.
Its size was no different from any other orc, but its exposed skin was covered in scars, telling of countless battles.
Suddenly, their eyes met.
Kurui grinned.
It shouted something and gestured, and half of the Orcbal turned around.
"Damn…"
He had unintentionally drawn their attention.
Yuri shouted.
"The Orcbal are coming. Prepare for combat!"
Dozens of flags swayed as they advanced from beyond.
The Orcbal joined the battle in an instant.
While fighting ordinary orcs, suddenly individuals with monstrous strength appeared. They attacked the knights, even striking down their own allies with axes if they got in the way.
"Shit…"
Even Jared, who prided himself on his reflexes, momentarily lost track of his opponent.
He realized something was wrong the moment an axe blade came flying at him.
A flash of white knocked the attack aside.
"Are you spacing out?"
A black-haired boy intervened and blocked the Orcbal.
"Prince!"
The Orcbal twisted its face and swung its axe wildly.
Jared thought no human strength could possibly block such a savage assault.
But Yuri, as if defying common sense, countered the blow.
The Orcbal was the one pushed back.
Jared's eyes widened.
"This is how it's done."
He watched the clash unfold before him.
At a glance, it looked like Yuri was simply blocking the attacks, but in truth, he was guiding the enemy's momentum to a favorable angle, and subtly adjusting the strike's direction to amplify his own strength like a lever.
That's why the Orcbal was being pushed back.
It was a technique hard to believe even while witnessing it.
"Got it?"
In the midst of the exchange, Yuri used his specialty—speed—to create brief openings for counterattacks.
Wounds accumulated on the Orcbal's body.
Its axe swings grew slower.
The Orcbal, panting like a wounded beast, came to a halt.
Defeat began to show in its eyes.
"Prince…"
Jared muttered unconsciously.
"Where did you get your tutoring?"
He already knew Yuri's combat sense was innate, but this was beyond belief.
How could an eighteen-year-old boy toy with an Orcbal like a child?
This boy was growing stronger with every battle he fought.
"Cut the nonsense and focus."
Yuri stepped aside.
It was a sign for Jared to finish off the wounded Orcbal himself.
"Yes."
Gritting his teeth, Jared charged once more.
As Jared rushed in, the Orcbal's expression changed. Its axe regained power. Its attitude was clearly different.
Jared grimaced.
He never thought of himself as a genius, but believed he was close.
Yet now he was being treated like a complete pushover.
"I said I can do it too, you bastard!"
Jared mimicked Yuri, deflecting the Orcbal's attack. The axe was thrown high into the air.
A look of panic crossed the Orcbal's face.
"Yeah, that's the look I wanted to see."
Jared stabbed his sword into the Orcbal's neck. The creature coughed up blood and collapsed.
Pulling out his sword, Jared looked up.
With the arrival of the Orcbal, the knights had begun to fall back. But thanks to those two, the tide of battle was turning.
"I'm Jose of Bursen!"
Jose wasn't just brute strength.
The pressure of his mana could be felt on the skin. With each swing of his sword, the Orcbal couldn't withstand the shock and collapsed.
There were three Orcbal on him, but Jose overwhelmed them all.
From the frustrated looks on the three Orcbal, it was easy to imagine how they felt.
"A monster."
And another monster, Yuri, fought in a completely different style.
Yuri weaved between allies and enemies, skillfully ambushing the Orcbal.
When enemies swarmed him, he'd slip back into the ranks, diverting their attention.
In a way, it was an efficient way to kill the enemy. In another, it was a sneaky way to attack from behind.
Yuri stabbed an Orcbal in the back and laughed.
Seeing that face, Jared turned his eyes away, pretending not to notice.
"Not exactly cool-looking…"
One thing was clear—thanks to those two, the balance that had been tipping was once again even.
Jared gripped his sword.
It would be a lie to say he wasn't scared.
But he had long ago decided to follow Yuri.
He would stay by this boy's side to see just how far he would go.
So if he fell behind now, he'd have no face to show Yuri later.
"Hoo…"
An Orcbal was walking toward him.
He relaxed his shoulders. He focused his mind. His senses became acutely sharp.
It was a strange sensation.
When the orc stepped forward, when it swung its arms, and when it raised its halberd—
He could vividly see how its center of gravity shifted, and exactly where to strike to bring it down.
They said a knight who had reached a certain level could only grow through real combat. Would he have ever thrown himself onto a battlefield if it weren't for Yuri?
It was a scene he could never have seen in his former self.
Jared stepped forward.
***
Watching Jared fighting fiercely, Yuri smirked. As expected of the knight he had chosen, he was keeping up quite well.
Still lacking for now, but if nurtured properly, he would become someone useful.
He might not reach the level of the Ten Strongest, but perhaps at least the Hundred Strongest.
Yuri lifted his gaze and checked the situation.
At the frontline, the main Allied Army was locked in a hard-fought battle, and in the rear, knights from Briol and Bursen, as well as from the Holy Kingdom and the Empire, were rampaging.
Victory was gradually tilting in their favor.
Given the scale of the Allied Army, it might have been an expected outcome.
"This is too easy…"
However, in his past life, the Allied Army had lost despite having similar forces. He had to prepare for the possibility of an unexpected move.
And that's when it happened.
Yuri felt a chill in the air.
A scream rang out right beside him.
It wasn't from an orc, but a human.
He turned his head—and saw a scarred orc ripping a knight apart.
"Kurui!"
As he had seen earlier, Kurui wasn't particularly large. But the pressure it exuded was overwhelming.
There wasn't the slightest opening.
Kurui hurled the knight's head and let out a low laugh. It sounded like a beast growling.
"Damn it…"
The dead knight's name was Lake, a baron who ruled a small territory. He had married his childhood friend from a neighboring land and had two young children.
Kurui stepped on the fallen head and crushed it.
"You bastard!"
A furious knight of Briol rushed at him.
Kurui evaded the attack while retreating, then suddenly leapt forward and swung his axe. It was an explosive strike.
The knight's waist was severed.
Blood soaked the ground.
Yuri clenched and unclenched his hand around Guilty.
His heart was pounding. His teeth ground together.
"Your Highness."
Laurent reached out to stop Yuri.
"Move."
"I cannot."
Kurui was undoubtedly strong. Even with Yuri's exceptional talent, this wasn't an opponent he could defeat right now.
"We'll take him down together."
Laurent was right. Yuri was someone who must not die here. It was the knights' duty to risk their lives to face Kurui instead.
In that moment, Kurui charged forward.
This time, a knight of Bursen was struck and killed by the axe. The Orcbal's morale surged.
"Please fall back. If necessary, you must retreat…"
"Fine."
"I'm glad you understand."
But Laurent had forgotten something.
You couldn't judge Yuri by ordinary standards.
Just as he was retreating, Yuri suddenly grabbed Laurent's shoulder and swept his leg.
"Y-Your Highness!"
As Laurent toppled, Yuri immediately sprang forward.
Jared tried to grab him, but Yuri dodged to the side and leapt ahead.
He swung Guilty at Kurui's back. Reacting to his will, Heart-Soul Slash erupted with a ferocity it had never shown before.
But he was knocked away instead.
Kurui had spun around and struck him with his axe in an instant. Even Yuri could barely follow the speed with his eyes.
Truly the martial might befitting the orc chieftain.
"Protect the prince!"
"Your Highness!"
Yuri's sudden charge threw the Briol knights into confusion. As they all rushed forward, their formations overlapped and tangled.
Yuri shouted.
"Everyone, stop!"
Then rose to his feet.
"You're in my way."
With those words, Yuri looked straight ahead once more.
And before Kurui now stood a massive knight.
It was Bursen's knight, Jose.
"Your Highness, please fall back."
"What?"
"The commander must not be endangered."
"Don't be ridiculous."
Yuri shook his head.
"Sir Jose."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Look into my eyes."
"…Pardon?"
"What do you see?"
Jose looked at Yuri, bewildered. Then he burst out laughing.
The sound echoed all around them.
"Truly…"
He laughed heartily for a moment, then stopped as if flipping a switch.
"I've never seen a royal like you, Prince Yuri."
"Right?"
"Yes. I've seen eyes like yours once before…"
"A portrait of the founding king?"
"No."
Jose raised his sword.
And Kurui, in response, lifted his axe. The orc was clearly wary of the aura emanating from Jose.
"There was a mad dog wandering the docks when I was a kid. It looked just like Your Highness."
"…What?"
"It's a compliment."
Jose recalled his childhood.
There had been a mad dog.
No matter how big the opponent, it never backed down. If someone provoked it, it wouldn't rest until it bit them.
At first, he thought it was truly insane.
But later, he discovered the mad dog had a hidden den with several puppies.
To protect its young, it had erased its fear.
There are reasons in the world greater than fear.
In the end, the mad dog had been killed by another, larger dog. Jose had buried it in a sunny spot and taken in the puppies himself.
In his territory, the descendants of those pups now grew.
Just like that impudent third prince of Briol, they had inherited the mad dog's jet-black fur.
"Your Highness. Once this Allied Army campaign is over, come visit Bursen. I'll treat you to a full course."
"Full course, huh?"
"You'll understand when you come."
Mana surged violently from Jose's body and swept outward like Bursen's crashing waves.
"Kurui!"
Jose shouted the enemy's name and stepped forward. Yuri followed in kind.
The two knights charged toward Kurui at the same time.