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“The King of Pohlen looks much healthier than when I saw him a few days ago.”

“Perhaps I was too heartbroken, seeing as how some coward has been hiding behind his subordinates for so long, never showing his face on the battlefield.”

Muktuk’s lips twitched as Prigos calmly parried his barb.

Prigos ignored Muktuk and surveyed the ranks arrayed behind him.

Muktuk abandoned all pretense of courtesy and growled, “You’re awfully bold, considering the situation, Prigos. If you admit defeat, I’ll let you enjoy wealth and status under me, if not as much as you have now.”

“How could a lion submit to a dog? You lack the dignity to stand above anyone. Have you seen the soldiers who follow you? They’re no better than stray dogs, just like their leader. I’d rather die a lion than live like a stray dog.”

“A dying dog… dares to be insolent.”

“More than that, I have a question. No matter how I look at it, there’s no reason for those monsters to follow a minnow like you. Did you promise to feed them your wives and children as payment?”

“…Even in this situation, your tongue is as sharp as ever. When I cut off your head, I’ll pluck out your tongue and mix it into my horse’s feed. It’ll make my horse run even faster.”

“I assure you, those monsters are more than you can handle. It’s not too late to sever your ties with them.”

“How pathetic, Prigos. Are you resorting to womanly tactics of sowing discord because you think you’re going to lose?”

“Perhaps. But knowing what I do about that monster, even if you win against me with its help, can you truly become the master of this land?”

“Don’t worry. The one who leads those monsters isn’t interested in this land. We can work together because we want different things.”

“Purpose?”

“Algul’s goal isn’t this land, but some kind of stone from the East. I don’t know why he’s so obsessed with such a trivial thing, but it’s all the better for me. Too bad for you, though.”

Prigos listened calmly.

He had expected as much.

He had also heard about the history of the Eastern Continent from Ara, and he knew that Algul had joined hands with Gadiak to obtain the power of Ul-Kanadiel.

He didn’t know how Algul had learned about it or crossed the sea, but it wasn’t difficult to guess his purpose in coming here.

Fortunately, he knew that it had already become the central core of Pohlen’s Grand Barrier, so even if he died in this battle, Algul would never achieve his goal.

If that happened, Muktuk might achieve his goal of expanding his territory to the north, but Algul would gain nothing.

Could their relationship last?

A relationship where only one side benefits can never last long.

It would be good if he could instigate a mutual slaughter afterward.

How much could he infer about their relationship?

After sorting out his thoughts, Prigos slowly opened his mouth.

“They seem rather uncooperative for partners, don’t they? Besides, I don’t see Algul or his close aides.”

He had been quiet since the first battle, but now he spoke, looking at the Orcs interspersed among the troops.

“…But they are following me now.”

“Because you were too slow, even with my precious limbs being lost to help you. In the end, I had to step in again.”

“…! I told you not to step in until the time was right! Sage Algul!”

“I have no reason to listen to the likes of you, human. I have been patient enough as it is, so do not test my patience any further.”

“…You!”

“Besides, it seems they have similar thoughts on the other side.”

A giant figure rose from the shadows.

An iron staff.

A robe with an attached hood that was all one piece.

And a face covered by the hood, its contours difficult to discern no matter which way you looked, shrouded in shadow.

The monster exhaled, filling the air with the stench of blood and death.

“…Algul.”

“Indeed. King of the northern humans. If Muktuk were as capable as you, I wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.”

“Are you going to switch sides now?”

“I have read the great animosity emanating from your soul. A man like you will resist and rebel until death, rather than accept injustice and live.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“You took that as a compliment? There is nothing more pathetic and foolish than a weakling who cannot accept his own fate. Meaningless struggles only add more painful shackles to an already short life.”

“I’ve been winning until now, though. The fruit has been too sweet.”

“Then I shall be your end today.”

“Algul!!!”

Muktuk, who had been watching the two of them talking, ignoring him, shouted at Algul in anger.

As Prigos had expected, there wasn’t much trust between the two.

It was a fragile relationship that could break at any moment, given the right opportunity.

“Is there any need to waste time on trivial matters? Do what I desire, and take what you desire!”

“Foolishness to seek only the fruit and not the struggle.”

“What was that?”

“However, in the current situation, you are not wrong. Succubus bitch. Show yourself.”

As Algul finished speaking, Lamiya appeared from Prigos’s shadow, startling Muktuk.

Lamiya directed murderous intent, beyond mere hostility, toward Algul.

“The ill-fated relationship from the Eastern Continent should end soon. Because of me, the succubi will be the first of the remnants of the previous era to disappear.”

“Bullshit.”

Lamiya placed her hand on the hilt of her sword, ready to draw it and unleash her techniques at any moment.

“Heh heh. It seems the conversation is over. In any case, I leave the battle to you. Let your mouth announce the beginning of the final war.”

Algul took a step back and said to Muktuk.

Muktuk looked somewhat dissatisfied, but he didn’t express any further complaints to Algul, who had ultimately handed over command to him.

Then, his face transformed into that of a plunderer, and he raised one hand.

If that hand went down, and Muktuk’s command was given, the battle would begin.

‘…The assassination was difficult.’

He had planned to get as close as possible and use Lamiya’s hand to cut off the head of the commander, Muktuk, to break their momentum, but the opponent seemed to have had similar thoughts, as Algul had hidden in Muktuk’s shadow, making assassination difficult.

And if the battle started and the soldiers behind joined in, the chance to cut off Muktuk’s head would be even smaller.

“All troops! Fo-”

“Soldiers of Pohlen! Burn your last embers for those who will follow us!”

Prigos interrupted Muktuk’s shout and quickly yelled.

Calmly, even though their quality was lower, the numerical disadvantage was too great, and even Muktuk’s Batarr soldiers were burdensome enough.

When they were at full strength, a fivefold difference in power wouldn’t have been a problem, but now they were at their limit.

But if the Orcs and witches led by Algul joined in, it would be impossible to escape with their current forces.

They would soon be caught and slaughtered.

Even if reinforcements arrived, the situation would be hopeless.

Prigos decided that if that was the case, it was better to take as many enemies with them as possible before they died, while they still had some strength left, rather than hoping that a few would survive through a meaningless escape.

“Lamiya.”

“What are you thinking? We should run in this situation-”

“Just for a moment, can you hold off Algul?”

“I can, but what are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to kill Muktuk here.”

“…Even if it’s not a long distance, if you go ahead that far, it won’t be easy to escape then.”

“Even if I escape from here, unlike you, I am human. I have no wings, and I can’t move through shadows. It won’t be easy to escape from Algul.”

“…Are you planning to die?”

“I’m just doing what I have to do as someone who is responsible for everyone.”

“…”

After a moment of silence, Lamiya drew her sword and said, “That pig bastard is a degenerate and an unredeemable son of a bitch, but honestly, it’s going to be tough for me to hold out for long with my strength alone.”

“Thank you.”

“…Bullshit.”

“When I cut down Muktuk, you and your sisters retreat to Pohlen as quickly as possible. You are an irreplaceable force.”

“…Even if you don’t say that, I have no intention of dying for humans or anything.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Lamiya wore a complicated expression, but Prigos was no longer looking at Lamiya’s face, only at Muktuk.

Perhaps because his order to advance had been interrupted, or perhaps because he saw the determination in Prigos’s eyes, Muktuk’s face was frozen.

“I’m going.”

With those words, Prigos’s horse charged toward Muktuk.

He dashed toward the onrushing Batarr and Orc soldiers.

As Prigos emitted an unusual aura and charged forward, Muktuk drew his sword and shouted in alarm, “Algul!”

“…What a troublesome fellow.”

Algul, who had been retreating, stepped forward to stop Prigos, when a pure white flash burst out from behind Prigos and flew toward Algul.

“Where do you think you’re going, you pig bastard!”

Lamiya’s sword drew a trajectory and began to extend toward Algul.

The moment Algul’s iron staff was about to collide with Lamiya’s sword, the tip of the sword wavered, creating a myriad of transformations.

Immigration Church Twenty-Four Hand Harmony Sword Method

枣花爛漫 (Harmony Blossoms)

Each time the sword wavered, a fresh, pure white flower bloomed.

Like the jujube palm flower, which overcomes the harsh environment of the arid sandy land and blooms in full, praising life.

Born from evil, the life-filled swordplay of expelling evil and revealing the righteous, which denies evil, shone dazzlingly and pressed in on the plunderer from the East.

As the sword brushed Algul’s face, the shadow covering Algul’s face flickered for a moment.

“The more I see it, the more amazing it is. I don’t know what means you succubi used to obtain such methods.”

“You don’t need to know for the rest of your life. How about just dying?”

“But the user is still terribly unskilled. I commend you for not giving up even in this situation, but in the end, powerless will is futile. Arctic.”

With Algul’s murmur, an Orc as large as Algul rose from Algul’s shadow.

One of the three generals, Algul’s close aides, who had made a name for himself even in the Eastern Continent. It was Arctic the Tyrant.

Having received a share of Algul’s power and lived for over a hundred years, which was long for an Orc, Arctic was a being of a higher caliber than Lamiya.

Arctic swung a steel sword, which seemed to have been looted from a Pohlen soldier, at Lamiya with terrifying force.

“Kugh!”

There was no particular technique.

But an honest and powerful strike without any frills.

The epithet “Tyrant” was given because of the mountain of corpses of those who had been tragically split in two by that simple and powerful strike.

The ever-changing Harmony Sword Method, which deceived the eyes, could not properly block that intense strike.

Yin subdues yang, change subdues yin, and strength subdues change.

The opponent was too advantageous in terms of compatibility.

“You will watch the last hope die there, Ara.”

“…What! Wait a minute!”

Algul’s body disappeared suddenly, not even hearing Lamiya’s cry.

‘Shadow Shift!’

In that instant, Algul moved to the shadow of Prigos, who was rushing toward Muktuk, and rose up behind Prigos.

“Prigos!”

Along with Lamiya’s desperate cry, Prigos also felt the presence of a huge shadow behind him.

‘I’m going to die.’

His intuition, honed by years of fighting on the battlefield, taking countless lives, and studying under perhaps the greatest master in the world, warned him.

He was about to die.

His head would be crushed by the monster’s swinging iron club.

‘So be it.’

Prigos didn’t stop, even with death imminent.

Death was nothing. He had always been prepared for it.

How many lives had he taken?

Considering his sins, he didn’t even dream of living out his natural lifespan and dying peacefully.

But precisely because of that, his death, a death bought with the lives of others, couldn’t be meaningless.

Even a single blow would suffice.

Ignoring the Algul stalking him from behind, Prigos lunged at Muktuk with his sword, driven by a desperate resolve.

Was it because the Algul knew that leaving him be would mean Muktuk’s death, even if it meant Prigos would die?

The Algul’s iron club deflected Prigos’s outstretched sword.

Paradoxically, by abandoning his life, he managed to prolong it, even if only for a moment.

Prigos looked at the Algul, who had landed in front of Muktuk, then glanced behind him.

Lamiya was struggling against the massive orcs.

Before him stood the Algul, blocking his path to Muktuk.

‘…Is this the end?’

Prigos sensed his demise.

And so, he raised his chipped sword, battered by the iron club, and with trembling hands, aimed the blade at the Algul.

“Come on, monster.”

“…Truly a pity. A contradiction that a superior being cannot survive. The great natural selection is still difficult to understand.”

Algul lamented sincerely as he raised his iron club.

Prigos didn’t wait.

He refused to passively await death.

The sword of the human king, the weakest intelligent being on this earth, was swung at the monster who had devoured even his own father.

Clang!

The sword shattered, exploding into fragments.

The shards of the broken sword tore at Prigos’s skin.

“Truly unfortunate. But as with my father, even that is fate.”

The Algul’s iron club swung down.

Prigos didn’t flinch, but watched the death approaching his head.

『Your struggle. It was magnificent. Your spirit, never averting your eyes until the very end. My choice was not wrong.』

A thought echoed in his mind.

Implant.

『From now on, I will take care of this one. You, look upon your rightful nemesis.』

The voice ceased.

The iron club, poised to crush his head, also stopped.

The world Prigos saw, everything, had frozen.

In this frozen world, only a golden, wave-like gale remained.

It was as if he had met the eye of the gale in this stopped world.

The eye of the gale looked upon him with benevolence, and then vanished.

“Ah.”

The frozen world resumed its motion, and when he regained his senses, the Algul, who had been swinging his iron club at him, was nowhere to be seen. Only soldiers charging towards him from both sides, shouting, and a bewildered Muktuk remained.