34. Mages (2)
The enormous form of Okuah, made up of a cluster of corpses, became a massive target.
Moyongchan, facing him, gave no room for escape.
[Unbelievable.]
Okuah’s voice echoed through the air.
And then the sun plunged down on him.
A blinding flash exploded.
Yuri, watching the scene, shielded his eyes with his hand.
Amidst the blinding, burning white light, Okuah’s struggling form flickered faintly.
“It was worth pushing him this far…”
Yuri muttered.
Ever since witnessing Marirose’s fireball sweep across the battlefield, Yuri had pleaded relentlessly with Hernando to use magic every day.
He knew magic was impossible due to the dispel, but he persisted.
It was all for this moment.
Hernando channeled all his pent-up frustration into creating a phenomenal offensive spell. Okuah must have been thoroughly incinerated.
Soon, the blinding light receded, followed by a shockwave.
Yuri was caught in the shockwave and rolled backward. Having expended the last of his mana, he was completely drained.
“Ugh…”
He rolled on the ground before coming to a stop.
He looked up and saw Okuah, scorched black, standing dazedly amidst the black smoke.
He wasn’t dead. However, the blow seemed severe enough that he couldn’t move.
Moyongchan and the knights, who had been knocked down, charged towards Okuah.
Yuri was certain of victory.
But his joy didn’t last long.
“Akuakkai?”
A strange voice came from above his head. When Yuri cautiously turned to look, an Orkbal was standing there.
Its eyes narrowed.
“Uk Akuma Kuku…”
Its axe was raised high in the air.
“No, you bastard…”
Yuri fumbled for Guilty, but that was all he could manage.
He couldn’t even stand up.
The grotesque face of the Orkbal was reflected in his eyes.
Just as the axe was about to fall,
Someone ran in and tackled the Orkbal, knocking it to the ground.
“Are you alright?”
“You are…”
Yuri’s eyes widened.
“Sver Gain?”
“Yes, Sver—no, Sven Gain.”
It was Sven Gain, someone Yuri had become acquainted with through behind-the-scenes chatter.
Sven, holding his sword, cautiously kept an eye on the Orkbal as he spoke.
“Get to safety. I’ll handle this one.”
Yuri slowly got to his feet.
“Thanks, Sven.”
Without looking at Yuri, Sven said,
Sven didn’t even look at Yuri as he spoke.
“With this, I’ve repaid my debt.”
He was trying to act cool.
But Yuri didn’t bother to tease him. Trying to act cool while risking your life was truly cool.
“With this, I’ll forget about your badmouthing of Joachim.”
“Pardon?”
“But there’s still plenty of gossip about you. Briol, Brusin, the Holy Kingdom, the Empire, the Klein Duchy, and…”
“Wait, what…”
Meanwhile, the Orkbal had gotten back on its feet.
Sven let out a weary laugh and took his stance.
“Regardless, I’ll take care of this.”
“Can you handle it?”
“Even if I can’t, I have to.”
Yuri couldn’t help but smile.
The immature boy had grown considerably. At this point, Wolf Gain should be bowing to him in gratitude.
“I trust you.”
He stood up.
But as several orcs noticed Yuri’s weakened state, they began to approach him.
“Your Highness!”
Just then, Briol’s soldiers rushed over, surrounding Yuri as if to protect him.
“You all…”
Every face was familiar. These were people he had shared meals or played cards with.
“We’ll protect you.”
“Your Highness, please step back.”
“Trust us.”
For ordinary soldiers, orcs were already formidable opponents. Facing an Orkbal was even more daunting.
Yet, they didn’t back down, raising their weapons at the Orkbals.
Yuri said,
“It’s dangerous. They’re not opponents you can handle.”
“It’s all right.”
He was the same soldier Yuri had often played cards with, hailing from Yujes, where Gennad was the lord. Yuri always teased him about being Gennad’s lackey.
“Your Highness always stood at the front. Today, please stay back.”
A lump formed in Yuri’s throat.
“I can’t believe you were Gennad’s lackey…”
“I told you, I’m not!”
Orcs, with ferocious expressions, approached, Orkbals mixed among them.
No matter how strong their wills were, the soldiers couldn’t hold out against those creatures for long.
Yuri raised Guilty with all his strength.
“Your Highness!”
At that moment, a few knights staggered over to join Yuri. They weren’t just from Briol but also from other nations.
Each one had, at some point, been helped by Yuri, and now they were returning the favor.
“We’ll take on the Orkbal.”
And then, they clashed.
A desperate battle unfolded.
A strange feeling settled over Yuri.
In his past life, there were those who fought and died for him, but it was never for Yuri as a person.
It had only been because he was a prince.
This time, however, it was different.
Because of that, Yuri found himself wishing even harder for their survival.
And someone answered his wish.
“Your Highness.”
Someone appeared beside Yuri, startling him.
“Asana. I told you not to stay here.”
“Shall I leave then?”
“No…”
It was Asana.
Before the battle with Okuah, Yuri had ordered her to return. Yet, she had stayed by his side instead of leaving.
“You want them to survive, don’t you?”
“Can you handle it?”
Asana was skilled in assassination—not in direct combat like this.
“Of course.”
She nodded lightly, as always, then disappeared into the shadows.
She reappeared behind the orcs, swiftly slashing an Orkbal’s neck.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the Orkbal clutched at its neck in a daze, its severed artery pouring blood relentlessly.
The Orkbal staggered and collapsed.
“Haha…”
Yuri laughed.
“I haven’t lived in vain…”
In his past life, he had wasted so much of it.
Yuri brushed back his sweat-drenched hair and looked around.
Surprisingly, even after such devastating magic, Okuah wasn’t completely dead.
But his form was gradually crumbling.
The body, once composed of human corpses, melted in the flames, merging into a single mass of flesh..
It was an unbelievable display of power.
How many people in the world could unleash sword energy in such rapid succession? Truly, he was one of the Ten Strongest.
How monstrous was Okuah, who was still enduring these relentless attacks?
Staggering backward, Okuah suddenly swung a massive fist.
As Moyongchan focused on the attack, he was thrown far away. With him being thrown away, the remaining knights were no match for Okuah.
Once again, knights’ bodies were flung through the air.
Okuah was still holding on.
But now, his energy was spent. The dark haze rising from his body had faded, a clear sign of his weakening.
Yuri instinctively looked to the sky.
Once again, magic was being cast.
This time, it wasn’t a fireball, but a massive, spiked spear—perfect for hunting a beast of Okuah’s size.
[Kraaaaaa…]
Swatting away knights in desperation, Okuah raised his eyes.
The spear flew toward him.
Sensing his fate, Okuah suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The spear pierced through the center of his chest.
Okuah staggered to his knees.
[This is not… the end.]
With those final words, Okuah collapsed completely.
The corpses, fused together by dark magic, scattered in every direction. The burning parts, fused together by the flames, created an even more gruesome sight as they dangled and swayed.
As Okuah collapsed, the remaining Orc forces lost all will to continue the fight.
Perhaps they had been under the influence of dark magic from the start, which made them unable to resist properly, leading to their defeat at the hands of the Allied Forces.
Yuri collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.
“Hahahahahahaha…”
He burst into laughter.
He had done it.
He had saved the Allied Forces from annihilation, avenged Moyongchan, and slain Okuah, the tyrant who had reigned over the grasslands and terrorized the continent.
He had saved countless lives.
He had changed the course of fate.
“Waaaaaaaaa…!”
Realizing their victory, the entire Allied Forces erupted in cheers.
Joy filled the grasslands, once steeped in sorrow.
“Your Highness!”
“We’ve won!”
“Long live the prince!”
Briol’s soldiers rushed toward Yuri, collapsing on top of him as they reached him.
“Ugh!”
More soldiers piled on, one after the other.
They crushed Yuri beneath them, chanting his name. This was the ‘hamburger’—an ancient celebratory tradition, akin to a human pyramid.
Yuri struggled, but the pile of soldiers grew higher, their chants louder.
“Yuri! Yuri! Yuri!”
“S-stop…!”
“Yuri! Yuri!”
One soldier, noticing Yuri’s pale face, shoved the others aside.
“Hey! Hey! The prince is going to die!”
The “hamburger” collapsed.
The soldiers quickly regrouped and lifted Yuri once more.
This time, it was a celebratory tossing.
Yuri was hoisted into the air repeatedly, only to be dropped back down again.
On any normal day, he would have escaped quickly, but after the prolonged battles and draining all his mana, Yuri couldn’t resist—his body flailing like a puppet.
Without mana, he was nothing more than an eighteen-year-old boy.
“Yuri! Yuri! Yuri!”
As Briol’s forces reveled in their victory, soldiers from other nations joined in the celebration, each nation honoring the Allied Forces’ triumph in their own unique way.
* * *
Just before Okuah fell, Hernando stood quietly, observing the battle.
The magic contained within the fireball he had created was powerful enough to annihilate an entire city.
Aizen, who had felt the overwhelming force of the fireball up close, visibly changed his attitude.
“That was incredible. You really are a Master Wizard.”
“Did you doubt me?”
“No, no, I didn’t.”
Hernando kept his eyes on the battlefield.
Even after withstanding such an attack, Okuah hadn’t died. He had weakened significantly, but he was still alive.
A monstrous existence.
“I’ll need to create one more.”
“One more?”
Aizen’s eyes widened.
“Can you really make another one?”
“No.”
Hernando, too, had expended much of his mana.
“Let’s combine our powers using a Mana Link to create the spell.”
“Even that…”
Mana Link was a technique that allowed multiple mages to combine their magic into one powerful spell.
The mage at the center had to possess advanced mana manipulation abilities to handle various types of mana simultaneously.
The mages, having witnessed Hernando’s abilities firsthand, readily followed his instructions.
Hernando drew a magic circle, positioned the mages in their respective places, and then stood in the center.
Before creating the spell, Hernando called out to his disciple.
“Kori.”
“Yes!”
Kori, watching from a distance, responded quickly.
“If we fall, make sure no one touches us.”
“Yes, Master.”
Mages who had exhausted their mental energy were vulnerable to collapsing. Even the slightest external shock could be fatal.
After Kori nodded, Hernando gave him a reassuring smile and began chanting the spell.
A resonant sound, foreign and incomprehensible, echoed across the battlefield.
The other mages, as if in unison with him, chanted the spell a moment later.
The magic circle glowed.
It was a wondrous sight.
A massive magical spear, created by Hernando, materialized in the air. The strain of the spell caused a few mages to collapse from exhaustion.
But Hernando didn’t stop.
Finally, the spear struck Okuah.
Their enemy had finally fallen.
As the magic circle faded, those within it collapsed from exhaustion.
“Master Hernando! Master Aizen!”
Kori called out, but neither Hernando nor Aizen regained consciousness. Reflexively, a few guards moved to approach, but Kori blocked their path.
“Master Hernando said not to touch them!”
Kori guarded the magic circle and looked at the battlefield.
With Okuah gone, the Allied Forces were overwhelming the orcs.
It seemed the war was finally coming to an end.
He could hear the cheers of victory.
Kori smiled in relief.
“We won.”
Then, suddenly, Kori froze and took a step back in alarm
Something was approaching.
“Uh…?”
A black, shadowy serpent slithered toward them, its form indistinct, like smoke in the air. It seemed far away at first, but in the blink of an eye, it was right before them.
Their eyes met.
An overwhelming sense of fear gripped him.
The serpent flicked its tongue, uninterested in Kori, and continued to crawl forward.
“Th-That snake…”
The guards ignored Kori’s words, unaware of the serpent’s presence.
The serpent slithered past the fading magic circle and stopped before Hernando.
“No, no…”
Hernando had asked for no one to touch him, for no one to interfere.
But now, the black serpent had its jaws wide open, fangs bared toward Hernando.
Kori clenched his fists.
Something deep inside him stirred, a surge of resolve pushing him to overcome his fear.
‘Yes. Magic is about making wishes come true, about shaping fate.’
Hernando had said that.
In that instant, Kori’s heart was filled with a single wish:
That the serpent would spare Hernando, and not bring harm to him.
Just as Kori braced himself to step forward and block with his body, something in his grasp suddenly began to glow.
“Uh…?”
The serpent’s head jerked around sharply.
It was as if the light from Kori’s hand had struck the serpent, making it recoil in sudden surprise.
Kori’s instincts screamed that this was his only chance.
Before the serpent could react, Kori stretched out both hands, desperate to act.
A burst of light shot toward the serpent.
It was a whirlwind of swirling colors, an indescribable blend of hues that seemed to shift and pulse.
The light engulfed the serpent in an instant, its form dissolving into the brilliance.
Like the first light of dawn banishing the night, the serpent’s form vanished without a trace.
The serpent let out a screech of terror.
[This is impossible…]
Those were its final words before it disappeared without a trace.
Kori, breathless, collapsed to the ground.
He couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
At that moment, Hernando rose to his feet.
“Kori…?”
“Master Hernando!”
“Kori quickly lifted his head, his hood slipping off, but he didn’t mind. Instead, he smiled brightly, a weight lifting from his shoulders.
“We won!”