The 3rd Prince of the Fallen Kingdom Returns

27. Ants (3)

Yuri’s jaw dropped.

With a single swing, Moyongchan turned the dozens of surrounding orcs into a shower of blood and flesh, scattering them across the ground.

Even the Allied Forces in the distance looked astonished.

So this was the power of the Ten Strongest.

Even the orcs facing him were terrified and backed away.

It was an absolute display of power.

“What are you doing?”

Moyongchan abruptly turned and shoved Yuri forward.

“There’s no time for admiration. Do your job properly.”

Yuri awkwardly stepped forward, gripping Guilty. The remaining orcs, startled, retreated.

Still reeling from Moyongchan’s overwhelming display, the orcs hesitated and retreated.

“Yes.”

Trusting Moyongchan, Yuri strode forward confidently, causing the orcs to retreat further.

Yuri stepped forward again.

And then he charged.

The orcs, snapping out of their fear, responded to Yuri’s charge.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a fight Yuri had little chance of winning.

But Moyongchan’s attack had wiped out half of the orcs. Thanks to that, unexpected support came to Yuri.

“Help the prince!”

“Kill the orcs!”

With the barrier gone, Yuri and the remaining Allied Forces launched an attack on the half-destroyed orc group.

This was a result that even Moyongchan hadn’t anticipated.

“Unbelievable…”

Yuri leaped into the midst of the orcs, rampaging like a madman. The other knights and soldiers joined him, turning the battlefield into a scene of carnage.

It wasn’t long before all the orcs were dead.

Yuri slid his bloodstained sword back into its sheath.

“Good work.”

“Not yet. I’m going to fight more.”

“Go ahead.”

The battle was far from over.

Orcs were crawling out of the ground like ants.

Moyongchan nodded.

“Knights of Briol!”

Yuri shouted, raising his sword.

The scattered Briol knights began regrouping around Yuri.

“Are you tired?”

“No!”

“Do you wish to rest?”

“No, Sir!”

“Then, do you want to kill the orcs?”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Are you not afraid of death?”

“Yes!”

“Only those who answered just now, follow me!”

“Yes!”

Yuri moved at once, with the knights swarming to follow him.

Moyongchan observed them while stroking his chin thoughtfully.

[Fate…]

He muttered in the language of the East.

The ominous star continued to shine brightly in the sky, spreading its shadowy darkness.

With each passing day, celestial energy grew more disturbed, signaling the approach of chaos in the mortal realm.

He had no idea how to stop it.

Yet, he had left the Eastern continent blindly, driven to confront it somehow.

And he unexpectedly encountered another star.

“It seems there is such a thing.”

Compared to the black star stretching its tendrils across the world, this one seemed small and insignificant.

Yet, it undeniably held a glimmer of light.

And, in a manner unknown to all, its radiance grew stronger with each passing day.

“The celestial energy has not been completely severed.”

After leaving the East for the West, he unexpectedly encountered the descendant of the Heavenly Swordmaster.

That boy was a prodigy.

He was not only exceptionally skilled in martial arts but also inspired others through his character and actions.

Such a person never stands alone.

They lead others and alter the course of the world.

So, what was his role?

Moyongchan looked up at the sky again.

The stars were not yet visible, as the sun had not set. Yet, he could feel the dark gaze glimmering beyond the sky.

Would that star fall if they managed to kill Okuah?

It was uncertain.

Or perhaps something even more terrifying lay hidden behind it.

As the saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The path lay before him, and he resolved to take it one step at a time.

Lost in thought, he became aware of someone approaching him.

“M-Mr. Moyongchan!”

“What?”

It was Kori.

Half-orcs were creatures to be eliminated, yet Moyongchan sensed something closer to good than evil in Kori’s presence.

Perhaps that was why his disciple had chosen to take in this half-orc.

“Th-that…”

Kori mumbled, seemingly frightened, before speaking up.

“There’s somewhere… that needs help…”

“Help?”

Moyongchan looked down at Kori.

In the West, he was known as one of the Ten Strongest. He earned this title while wandering and battling after leaving the East.

Everyone feared him, as it was a title of great significance in this land.

This small half-orc was no exception.

Yet, despite the fear, this creature had come to him.

The tremble in Kori’s hands showed just how much courage it had taken.

Moyongchan replied,

“Lead the way.”

“Huh?”

Kori looked up.

The grotesque face hidden beneath the hood briefly revealed itself.

But Moyongchan didn’t mind.

He had long hunted beings from the demonic realm. He had seen demons disguised as beautiful beings and witnessed goodness flourishing in grotesque faces.

Moyongchan patted Kori’s head once before starting to walk.

“Lead the way, since you know the way.”

“Yes, yes!”

* * *

If the battles against the orcs so far had been head-on clashes of strength, the fight that erupted today was a guerrilla war, where the next attack could come from anywhere.

“How many tunnels are there?”

These weren’t orcs—they were like ants.

As they moved, Yuri felt the ground tremble and stopped in his tracks.

The sand kicked up, and an orc leaped from the ground.

“Akakukaka!”

But it had chosen the wrong opponent to attack.

Yuri was neither surprised nor did he dodge the orc’s attack.

He channeled his mana and swung his sword, cleaving the orc in two with ease.

As the orc split, blood and entrails spilled out.

The upper half of the orc flailed in disbelief before going limp on the ground.

Yuri gripped his sword, Guilty, tightly and scanned his surroundings.

“How are the orcs moving underground?”

As Yuri activated his Mana Method, his senses sharpened.

He could almost sense the busy movements of the orcs below ground.

A massive number of them rushed through the underground.

“That way.”

Yuri pointed toward the next attack point. Jared, following beside him, asked,

“How can you sense them?”

“I can feel the vibrations. Can’t you?”

“What?”

Jared’s expression grew puzzled.

Sharpening one’s senses with mana was a common technique.

But sensing such subtle vibrations and discerning the movements of orcs underground was an entirely different skill.

It was like a dog identifying individuals by their scent.

“What are you, a mole?”

“Shut up.”

Yuri started running. The knights followed.

“Teach me too.”

“Do you think you can learn it just by being taught?”

“Maybe I can.”

“You can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You lack the talent.”

“Wow…”

Yuri was keenly aware that his abilities surpassed those of ordinary individuals.

His ability to perform such feats stemmed from the Mana Method ‘Heart and Soul Slash’, the hunter’s memories, and most importantly, his innate talent.

He keenly felt how much he had squandered in his past life.

Yuri gripped Guilty tighter, trying to erase his regrets.

“Jared.”

“Yes?”

“Regret always comes too late, no matter how quickly it arrives.”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“It means you’d better treat me well!”

With that, Yuri leaped forward.

“Your Highness!”

Jared called after him.

“Is that the right way?!”

“It is!”

Yuri was running in the opposite direction of the battle.

While a bloody battle with the orcs raged in the distance, Yuri led the knights through deserted tents.

“What could possibly be over there…?”

At that moment, the ground started to bubble.

“Ah…!”

The Briol knights were startled and drew their swords.

Unlike the small holes the orcs had jumped out of, this time the ground rippled and split apart, as if it had turned to liquid.

Yuri muttered,

“That’s no orc.”

Something felt off.

There was no way the orcs could have dug so many tunnels in such a short time.

“There’s something there.”

Soon, the ground split open.

A massive hole appeared. Through it, something resembling a dirt-covered tentacle briefly emerged, only to disappear again.

Beyond the dust cloud, Yuri could see orcs lined up, waiting.

Several of them leaped out at once.

“Kill them at once!”

The Briol knights, having secured the entrance, struck down the orcs.

The orcs tumbled back into the hole as soon as they emerged.

As the corpses fell, chaos erupted below.

“Use the terrain to your advantage!”

As the knights slaughtered the orcs, the remaining orc troops abandoned the entrance and retreated into the tunnel.

“Simon! Guiness! Dyke!”

Yuri called the three young knights.

Through the battles they had fought, these three had become respectable knights.

“Take some soldiers and hold this position.”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Deal with any orcs that come up, Briol-style.”

“Understood!”

“What’s Briol-style?”

For a moment, Guiness and Dyke hesitated awkwardly. Simon, quick on his feet, shouted,

“Kill them all on sight!”

“That’s it.”

In truth, there was no such thing as “Briol-style.” Simon had simply shouted the first thing that came to mind.

This was the true Briol-style.

“The rest of you, follow me!”

He felt the tremors once more.

Yuri recalled the unidentified tentacle he had seen earlier, continuously burrowing tunnels underground.

“Raymond, Laurent.”

“Yes.”

“Can you sense it?”

They were among the most skilled knights in his command.

Raymond answered,

“I can feel the tremors continuing.”

Laurent nodded in agreement.

“I feel the same.”

“Something is continuously tunneling underground.”

“Something? What do you mean by that?”

“It seems there’s a creature besides the orcs down there.”

“Like a sandworm? But those creatures live in the desert….”

“Something similar, perhaps.”

Yuri quickened his pace.

Before long, they reached the heart of the battlefield, where a fierce battle was already underway.

He spotted a blind orc shaman, raising a staff high into the air.

“Akaraka Che! Akaraka Chu!”

At his command, the orc horde abandoned their current opponents and charged directly toward Yuri.

The Briol knights clashed head-on with the orcs. Screams mingled with the clash of weapons.

The orcs surrounding the shaman were particularly powerful.

They were all close to Orkbal in strength.

“I heard Orkbal were rare, but damn it…”

Everything he saw was on par with an Orkbal.

Suddenly, Yuri sensed a sharp attack aimed at him and instinctively dodged.

An Orkbal wielding a large scimitar was aiming for him.

“Urgh!”

As Yuri tried to regain his footing, the Orkbal clashed with the knights.

The sudden assault forced the Briol knights to retreat.

A chaotic melee ensued.

“Look out!”

A knight standing at the edge of the battle fell.

Blood pooled on the ground.

Yuri squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.

He hadn’t expected everyone to survive while fighting orcs.

Once you stand on the front lines, death is always close at hand.

However, he had to stay a step ahead of the others.

That was his duty.

The Orkbal pointed its scimitar at Yuri.

It grinned and waved its finger before his neck.

“Akuakkai? Akhme Katarl Koombe, Okudoku!”

Yuri wasn’t fazed by its taunts. Instead, he focused his senses.

In the dungeon crafted by Erich Briol, he had spent a long time sparring with the dummy.

There, Erich Briol personally demonstrated the countless feats he had mastered in his lifetime.

Back then, Yuri lacked the skill to do anything but witness the marvelous effects of Heart and Soul Slash and tremble in awe.

But not anymore.

Yuri looked up.

He sensed his allies falling and bleeding beside him.

The relentless stream of orcs was claiming the lives of the Allied Forces.

Despite that, he kept his gaze steady. He didn’t rush to save them.

Impulsive actions driven by emotions—he had repeated those enough to be sick of them in his past life.

Suppressing his impulses, Yuri focused with a coldly rational mind on what he had to do.

“Akuakkai!”

The Orkbal swung its scimitar toward him.

The fierce centrifugal force created a gust of wind, leaving a shallow cut on Yuri’s neck. If it had been deeper, his throat would have been slit.

Yuri countered with Guilty, his sword cutting through the air.

The Orkbal retreated with ease, then mockingly pointed its thumb down at Yuri.

The distance between them grew.

At that moment, Yuri pushed off the ground and leaped into the air.

The Orkbal looked up, stunned.

Yuri soared high into the air.

For a fleeting moment, the battlefield spread out beneath him in a panoramic view.

The knights were engaged in a desperate battle.

He forced himself to look away.

Yuri raised his sword high, pouring the mana of Heart and Soul Slash into it.

Guilty shuddered.

A pure-white heat haze began to form.

His target lay beyond the front lines, at the center of the rippling ground.

His body, reaching its peak, began its descent, pulled by gravity.

Yuri reversed his grip on the sword and thrust it downward, matching his fall.

The moment his feet hit the ground, Guilty unleashed an explosive burst of mana.

BOOOOM!

The rippling ground was torn open.

From the fractured earth, dark crimson fluid gushed forth like an underground spring.