The entrance of the tunnel collapsed, and flames spread. Even though there was no proper catalyst to burn, the magical fire scorched the ground and burned the orcs.
The orc forces that had charged in with momentum were now isolated in the middle of the fortifications.
"Akuakkai! Ko Ometun!"
An Orcbal, with a flag slung on his back, shouted something. At that, all the orc soldiers turned their gaze toward Yuri, who stood among them.
At this point, it seemed they were determined to kill Yuri, even if he had leapt right into the center of their formation.
"Hey, cut me some slack..."
Yuri's muttering didn't reach anyone.
The orc horde rushed in at once. Even the orcs who had been forming a front line outside turned their backs and returned.
Briol's soldiers, realizing the situation, shouted,
"Protect the prince!"
But the Orcbal had forgotten something.
Until now, they hadn't been able to use magic due to mutual dispels, but in a battlefield where magic could function, anything could happen.
The flames that had collapsed the tunnel crawled along the ground toward Yuri and surrounded him.
A few orcs were trapped in the wall of fire with him, but it was no big deal. After stabbing them with his sword and tossing them out, they flailed, engulfed in flames.
"Whew, I'm alive."
This was the power of a high-level mage.
He usually only dispelled magic, but in situations where he could use it, he was reassuring.
Yuri remained protected by the flames, waiting while the Allied Army hunted the orcs.
But then, suddenly, a wind rose.
Yuri turned around.
Within the flames, an Orcbal stood. He had leapt over the wall of fire.
"Akuakkai."
Calling Yuri by his alias, the Orcbal took the flag from his back and threw it.
It was engulfed in flames and disintegrated.
"Okumma Kurutu Akamaiku."
He didn't understand what it meant, but it was probably something like, "You're dead to me."
"Okudoku."
Yuri spat an orcish curse he had learned from Cory and raised Guilty.
The Orcbal grinned and loosely swung his halberd.
He was calm, for an orc. It was the first time Yuri had met one who didn't visibly react to being insulted with Okudoku.
"Come to think of it, what does that even mean?"
All curses have an origin.
Yuri resolved to ask Cory in detail about its meaning and stared at the orc.
The spear and axe on the end of the halberd moved back and forth, alternately aiming at Yuri.
It was a difficult weapon to wield.
To take such a weapon into battle, he must have reached a high level of mastery.
Yuri activated his mana method to lighten his whole body and channeled mana into Guilty.
A faint layer of mana coated the blade.
Yuri had grown continuously during his time battling the Allied Army.
Who would believe that an eighteen-year-old had reached such a level?
"Come on."
The Orcbal, upon seeing Yuri's sword, bared his fangs again and laughed.
His muscles swelled.
Yuri could feel the mana coursing through the Orcbal's body.
This Orcbal was also a mana user.
They were already a physically powerful race. Adding mana only doubled their might.
"Kwaaah!"
With a roar, the orc charged. And the moment the distance closed, he swung his halberd.
It was a straightforward strike, but the force behind it was something Yuri couldn't take head-on.
He blocked it with Guilty, diverting the direction of the force.
The Orcbal's stance was briefly disturbed but quickly recovered.
"Keuhuhuhu..."
Unlike other orcs, his laughter was almost humanlike.
Yuri glanced around.
Trapped in the flames, the space was narrow. It was a disadvantageous spot to face an enemy with such overwhelming strength.
But asking for the fire to be put out was pointless—he was surrounded by orcs.
"At a time like this..."
Yuri narrowed his eyes as he raised his sword.
He synced his senses with the memories of an ancient orc hunter passed down at the ruins.
The seemingly hopeless battle began to shift.
Yuri understood what he had to do.
"Phew..."
He stepped toward the Orcbal.
The orc drew back his halberd. His muscles visibly contracted.
Yuri stepped in further.
At the moment the halberd was about to swing,
Just before it reached full momentum, Yuri struck it first.
Meeting the weapon at a favorable point, the Orcbal was pushed back instead.
"Kraaagh!"
The Orcbal swung again. Yuri once more struck first, before it gained full speed.
The same exchanges continued.
The Orcbal stumbled back repeatedly.
It looked easy, but it was a high-level technique requiring the boldness to approach an opponent with overwhelming strength, keen dynamic vision, and animal-like reflexes.
Yuri taunted him.
"That all you got? Pfft, Okudoku, bastard."
After overpowering him and mocking him, the Orcbal's face contorted. His brute strength must have been his pride.
Yuri stared into his eyes as he closed the distance again.
Measuring the size of the rage reflected in the orc's pupils, Yuri read all of his movements.
The Orcbal bent his knees and began turning his whole body again.
An excited Orcbal couldn't hide his target. He was only thinking of splitting Yuri's head open.
He raised his halberd and swung it down.
Yuri dodged to the side, and as if waiting for that, the Orcbal reached out to grab his neck.
Yuri thrust Guilty into his abdomen.
The blade sliced the skin and dug in.
He thought he'd won.
But the Orcbal didn't care and reached out again.
Yuri blocked with his arm, but the orc's huge hand grasped both his neck and forearm in one grip.
"Khk..."
The grip strength was overwhelming.
The Orcbal shook Yuri violently while holding him.
Guilty was yanked out.
Because of the size difference, it was hard to find a good posture to stab again.
He was suffocating.
Yuri grit his teeth and endured. He couldn't let his mind fade.
He swung Guilty to slice the orc's wrist.
But suspended in the air, he lacked the leverage, and the force was weak.
No matter how many times he slashed down, he couldn't cut through the orc's thick hide. It seemed the orc knew how to harden his skin with mana.
"Dammit..."
Yuri recalled one of the butchering techniques the hunter had used.
If slicing didn't work, then he'd just saw it off.
He placed the blade of Guilty on the Orcbal's wrist.
While enduring with the arm trapped alongside his neck, he began sawing the blade up and down.
At first, there was no reaction, but as the mana-coated blade rubbed back and forth, it began cutting into the Orcbal's wrist.
The orc's eyes became bloodshot.
"Kuoooo!"
Instead of letting go, the Orcbal squeezed harder around Yuri's neck.
Yuri gritted his teeth and kept sawing with Guilty.
A tense standoff continued.
"Kraaaagh…!"
Yuri was the winner.
With a scream, the Orcbal hurled Yuri away.
Then, he tried to retrieve the hand caught on Guilty.
But Yuri wouldn't let go.
He grabbed the Orcbal's retreating hand and landed on the ground. Then, he raised Guilty high and brought it down.
He targeted the very spot he had sawed earlier.
Without the slightest error, the blade of Guilty sank into the exact same point.
The Orcbal's wrist was severed.
"Graaaaaaagh!"
Orcbal clutched the severed stump of his wrist and collapsed backward.
Yuri waved the severed hand. In his haste to grab it, their fingers had interlocked.
"Holding hands with an orc… disgusting."
Still, thanks to that, he'd been able to hold on more securely.
Yuri grinned and threw the hand at the orc's face.
Orcbal thrashed violently.
It was as if he were spitting out a curse.
"Akuakkai! Akumetu! Yukkakama...!"
Guilty pierced Orcbal's brow.
Orcbal, who had lost his will to fight, didn't even attempt to dodge. His pupils trembled, then went limp.
"Okudoku."
Yuri pulled the sword from the limp orc.
"Phew..."
He hadn't escaped unscathed.
His neck and arm, where he'd been grabbed, were badly bruised. It was hard to move properly.
Kneeling and lowering himself, Yuri peered through the flames to check the situation outside.
"What the...?"
But the situation hadn't improved at all. It was still swarming with orcs.
Then suddenly, the flames surrounding him vanished.
"Huh?"
As if it were a lie, the curtain of fire lifted, exposing him once more to the orc horde.
Dozens of eyes turned toward Yuri all at once.
It was chilling.
"Damn it..."
Yuri realized.
It wasn't that Ernando had dispelled the fire—another shaman had appeared.
That meant the tunnel wasn't the only one.
Orcs were continuously pouring out of the Allied Army's fortifications like a swarm of ants.
Yuri raised Guilty and swept his gaze around.
A mixed mass of Orcbals and orcs was closing in.
It was hard to find a clear path to break through.
Having seen how agile Yuri was, the orcs had layered their encirclement tightly.
Even if he broke through one gap, another formation would close in on him.
"Huu..."
Yuri took a deep breath.
Coming here to kill the shaman had been a misjudgment.
There wasn't just one tunnel.
He had underestimated the orcs.
Even though he had returned to the past and gained strength, it seemed he'd grown complacent.
Just like the Orcbal who had been pierced through the brow by Yuri for becoming overconfident and not doubting defeat, Yuri too had not doubted himself.
He would have to pay the price.
Yuri tightened his lips and watched the orcs.
It was a body that had already died once.
He now knew what was more painful than death.
"Yuri Briol. Even if I die today, I won't die in disgrace."
Yuri muttered.
As he activated Heart-Soul Slash, mana surged more fiercely than usual.
Then he shouted,
"Come, you worms. For Briol!"
At that moment, someone answered him.
"A fine resolve."
Yuri's eyes widened.
"They say, 'Do your best and leave the rest to fate.' If you're determined to die, you will live. If you try to live, you will die."
"Ooh...!"
The heavy determination that had filled Yuri's chest deflated in an instant.
Moyong Chan was walking through the air with his hands behind his back.
He looked like a celestial being strolling through the sky.
Yuri muttered,
"As expected. There's no way I'd die so easily."
The venom in his eyes vanished, and his lips loosened into a smirk. He naturally shifted his weight to one leg.
He was back to being the relaxed Yuri Briol everyone knew.
"You've arrived just in time. Hahaha..."
"You brat..."
At Yuri's sudden change, Moyong Chan gave him a disappointed look.
"Your heart melts away in an instant. You're hopeless, really..."
"Hahaha, I knew you'd come to save me, Master."
"That confidence of yours needs to go."
"What are you saying, sir? Don't we need to purge evil together? Let's slaughter these evil-tainted bastards! Hahahaha!"
"Tsk, tsk..."
Clicking his tongue, Moyong Chan fluttered over and stood beside Yuri.
Yuri grinned, unfazed.
Just not being alone was reassuring—but it wasn't just anyone, it was Moyong Chan.
"Half."
Moyong Chan said.
"Exactly half. I won't help any more than that. Got it?"
"Yes, of course."
Either way, the two now stood back to back, ready to face the orcs.
Fighting dozens of orcs at once wasn't an easy task. But Yuri had the memories of the old hunter.
The hunter had once lured orcs with a red gem and slaughtered them in an instant.
Recalling that scene, Yuri activated his mana method.
Sensation returned to his palms.
Heart-Soul Slash was both a mana method and a sword technique.
That meant Yuri's swordsmanship had no fixed forms. Therefore, it could shift into any shape.
He overlaid the old hunter's sword technique onto Heart-Soul Slash.
Yuri felt his sword path transform into something entirely different.
Faster, and more cunning, it guided him.
"Hooh..."
Moyong Chan, watching Yuri move, tilted his head.
He had already known that the boy's mana method was unique, but to change the spirit of his sword so suddenly?
It felt like watching someone other than Yuri.
Seasoned and practical.
It was strange.
The form of his movements—just a glimpse—held the air of one who had already mastered their path.
Something had definitely happened.
There was no way he could have grown this much otherwise.
"Hmph..."
Moyong Chan cleared his throat and averted his gaze.
His disciple had returned having learned a mysterious, unheard-of sword. And yet, it was impressive.
He didn't like it.
"Today, I'll show you the sword of Qingcheng myself."
Moyong Chan drew his sword and activated his internal energy.
The pure internal flow of the Serene Heart Method coursed once through his entire body.
A pale blue aura began to rise on his rugged blade.
"Watch carefully!"
He swung his sword in a perfect half-moon arc.
Azure Cloud Scarlet Mist Sword Technique.
Half-Moon Stance.
Centered on Moyong Chan, a dusk-colored wave spread out.
Blood splattered across it.