The monsters within the area of the crater had evaporated without leaving a trace, and those around it, with most of their bodies destroyed, barely clung to breath and let out screams of agony.
More than half of the enemy forces had been eliminated in a single strike.
That was Meteor.
It was the magic of the great archmage Inariel.
However, the fortress of Zveta still stood without a single scratch.
It was as if the inside and the outside were in separate worlds, divided by the walls.
“What is this…?”
Jared, who had regained consciousness after receiving a kick from Yuri, staggered to his feet.
“This… this is even possible?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Huh?”
Yuri thought he understood the reason.
Not even Inariel could use such an absurd magic without paying a price, even if he was the master of the Immutable Mana Formula.
Surely, he had paid it.
Yuri looked away.
From the crater formed by Meteor, small bluish sparks rose into the sky, drifting here and there like fireflies.
Inariel had probably lost his exclusive magic, the Immutable Mana Formula.
And not only that, perhaps also a great portion of his own mana.
Yuri murmured.
“Inariel has done all this… We can’t afford to lose.”
Yuri took Guilty and pointed it toward Zveta.
That was where his target was.
There was still a long way to go.
“Cedric must be surprised too.”
No matter how brilliant Cedric was, he couldn’t foresee everything. How could he imagine that such an out-of-scale magic as Meteor would fall, or that there existed a mage capable of using it?
A large portion of the enemy army had vanished in an instant.
Although there were still troops beyond Meteor’s range, the momentum was already on their side.
“Let’s kill all those and then enter Zveta.”
“Let’s do it.”
The Anti-Imperial Alliance let out a war cry and charged at the remaining monsters.
Even the monsters dominated by black magic seemed dazed by Meteor’s impact, and no longer moved like before. The Anti-Imperial Alliance troops advanced mercilessly.
The giants fell, hybrid monsters were pierced like hedgehogs and collapsed, and the creatures further away were hunted like wild animals.
But the enemy resistance did not cease completely.
Human and monstrous flesh flew through the air, and tentacles and spears clashed, scattering blood.
The battlefield once again became a hell of slaughter, where life and death crossed paths without rest.
Yuri dove back into the battle.
He recognized a familiar face wandering aimlessly.
“Hey, Tirbo. What are you doing?”
“Fighting a monster! Hehehe…”
“It just looks like you’re getting cornered.”
“I’d appreciate some help!”
“You’re disqualified as my standard-bearer.”
“Understood! Then I’ll pass the flag to someone else!”
“This idiot…”
Yuri helped Tirbo against the monster. Though Tirbo had talent, he still had a long way to go.
The monster Tirbo could barely hold back was split in an instant, and Yuri hurried to assist other allies.
Everywhere he appeared, monsters exploded into pieces.
“Thanks!”
“Don’t stop!”
“Yes!”
With all his senses at their peak, Yuri was experiencing a different time flow than the others.
The enemies, and even the world, moved in infinite slowness. He felt he could do anything just by deciding to.
For example—
Saving a soldier just before a monster ripped his neck out.
“Your Highness…!”
Stepping on the monster’s body to slam it into the ground and, using the momentum, leaping to the other side to stab another attacking a knight in the head.
“Thanks!”
Cutting several charging monsters in two in the blink of an eye.
“H-Help!”
And clearing the shadow of a monster looming over a crawling soldier who had lost a leg.
“Y-Your Highness?”
“Go to the rear. The mages will heal you.”
“Yes.”
“You can go on your own, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
It might seem cruel, but there was no alternative. He couldn’t fight carrying the wounded; if they wanted to live, they had to move themselves.
Yuri opened his eyes wide.
In his field of vision, countless events occurred at the same time. Thousands, tens of thousands of lives were struggling to kill each other. Yuri identified what he could do and executed it in fractions of a second.
His mind and body accelerated to the limit.
In an instant, he saved many allies and killed numerous enemies. A storm rose on the battlefield.
Where he passed, the monsters’ bodies were torn apart.
Yuri was, quite literally, leading the battle alone.
“Aren’t you overdoing it?”
Fighting without pause, he reached the Holy Kingdom’s formation. Francesco, who had just slain a monster, smiled.
“Or is this nothing for you?”
“More or less.”
“Good. But save your strength, there’s still…”
Francesco pointed with his chin toward Zveta.
“That still remains.”
Although Meteor had wiped out much of the enemy forces, the fortress was still intact. At times, parts of the wall opened like the mouth of a beast, releasing more monsters.
“I suppose so.”
“It’s not worth wasting time talking to me. Good luck.”
“Same to you, Francesco.”
After a brief exchange, Yuri moved again.
Then, he felt a persistent gaze and looked up. Someone was there.
It was a humanoid monster holding a curved sword.
“Oh…”
As expected, they wouldn’t let him move freely for long.
The new enemy had a bipedal body like that of a human, but entirely black and with abnormally developed muscles. His slanted triangular eyes gleamed like those of a reptile.
“He’s not a mass-produced monster…” murmured Yuri.
The monsters sent by the Empire were almost identical to each other. However, from time to time, unique specimens appeared with their own distinct forms.
Like Katrina.
Those who had been exceptional in life retained unique abilities even as monsters.
This one seemed to be another of Cedric’s toys, created to face him.
“Hey… are you someone I know?”
Although his body, fused with black magic, had lost all human shape, Yuri had a strange sense of familiarity.
The monster didn’t respond, advancing with his curved sword dragging along the ground. His long arms suggested he had great reach.
Yuri examined his weapon while raising Guilty.
“You… I think I know who you are. Quite arrogant, aren’t you?”
“Hasan? Weren’t you dead? Or maybe… you were just imprisoned.”
“…”
“Hey.”
“…”
“You’re not going to answer?”
Hasan had attacked the royal palace of Briol and was subdued by Bernard. Yuri didn’t understand how he had ended up turned into a monster.
Even if he had escaped from the palace, the timing didn’t add up.
“Could it be that the person doesn’t even have to be present to create a monster…?” murmured Yuri.
If Cedric had Hasan’s biological information, perhaps he could create him without the actual person being there.
On top of denying human dignity, Cedric was dabbling in cloning. That only increased Yuri’s rage.
Gripping Guilty, he thought with contempt:
“To be the brother of that bastard… Father, what were you thinking?”
Hasan approached, stroked the edge of his sword as if savoring it, and grinned widely, the corners of his mouth opening farther than humanly possible.
“Well now… did Hasan have these hobbies?”
Before a fight began, Yuri had seen types trying to intimidate with strange actions, but he didn’t expect that from Hasan.
Yuri, having learned a new detail about him, nodded.
“The Empire… the more I learn about it, the more I want to kill all those bastards.”
Yuri was the first to move.
His sword aura shot toward Hasan’s waist, intending to cleave him in two.
Then, on Hasan’s grotesque face—so deformed it was unrecognizable—appeared something like a smile.
At the same time, several figures emerged from the ground.
“Huh?”
Four monsters identical to Hasan, each wielding curved swords, lunged at Yuri. The trajectories of their weapons were so strange that it was hard to predict them.
Yuri bent his waist as if performing acrobatics and retreated, but another Hasan tried to cut him from behind.
He rolled once on the ground and, upon getting up, swung Guilty in an ascending slash that split the enemy from bottom to top.
“Damn…!”
One fell, cut in two. He wanted to destroy it completely, but the other four attacked immediately, forcing him to defend.
While Yuri exchanged blows with them, tentacles sprouted from the bisected Hasan’s wound, beginning to stitch his body back together.
The coordinated offensive of the five was so precise that Yuri had trouble reacting.
It was as if they had all trained together to fight as a single opponent.
Just how far did Cedric’s black magic go?
One alone wouldn’t be a problem, but with five trying to attack him from behind, it was hard to ignore them.
Moreover, they showed no intent to protect one another; rather, they seemed to expect the death of one to exploit any opening from Yuri.
Turning in place, Yuri made sure to get a good look at the faces of the five Hasans.
They were identical.
The energy they radiated was also the same.
If Cedric could produce dozens or hundreds of creatures as strong as these—
“I hope not…”
That couldn’t be the case. No matter how much power Cedric had gained, if it reached that level, the war would turn far too grim.
“Yuri Briol!”
Without him noticing, Laurent had arrived. One of the Hasans lunged at him.
“Well done, Laurent!” shouted Yuri.
With five reduced to four, the pressure eased.
Yuri smiled.
“Even if you complain in words, in action you’re still the same as before…”
Seeing him appear out of nowhere to help, just as he used to, felt almost endearing—so long as he kept his mouth shut.
“Y-Your Highness… haa… haa…”
Jared also arrived a bit late. Another Hasan fell dead.
“Why don’t you praise me?” protested Jared when Yuri said nothing.
“Oh, you’re here already?”
“…”
Five had been reduced to three. It was a huge difference.
The encirclement around him now had too many gaps—so many that Yuri hesitated how to finish them off.
He moved toward one, provoking the other two to rush at his back, just as he had expected.
He planted his right foot as a pivot and stepped forward with his left, as if about to deliver a great slash.
The two enemies behind reacted, but at that instant he shifted his center of gravity, turned his left foot into the pivot, and spun sharply, reversing front and rear.
With Guilty, which he kept pulled back, he stabbed the first.
“Ghhk!”
At his side was another Hasan. Yuri took advantage of the momentum and traced a lateral cut, first tearing through the stabbed one’s body and then slicing the second as well.
The last Hasan, who was in a defensive stance, tried to rush forward, but it was too late—two of his own were already dead.
Yuri dodged his attack by twisting his body and beheaded the third and last.
The shattered bodies tried to reassemble, but Yuri concentrated “The Cut of the soul and the heart” into his aura and reduced them to dust.
They would not rise again.
“Hasan, rest in peace…” he murmured, turning his gaze.
Laurent and Jared were easily handling their opponents in one-on-one duels.
Leaving them to it, Yuri glanced sidelong toward Zveta.
Atop the empty wall stood someone.
A familiar face.
Yuri clenched his teeth.
“Cedric…”
His enemy had appeared, wearing a relaxed expression.
And suddenly, a small, limping figure stepped up beside him.
“Cory…”
Yuri whispered with regret.
Cory was there, beside Cedric, looking over the battlefield with a triumphant expression.
____
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