Duke Pendragon

Kuwaahh!

In a blink of an eye, the orc warriors jumped over the shoulders and the heads of the trolls before swinging and crushing down with their steel mace.

Thud!

The attacks contained an enormous force that was several times stronger than that of human soldiers. The muscles of the trolls were crushed, and blood and flesh splattered in all directions.

Kuwooooh!!!

The trolls struggled with a painful scream.

But the Ancona warriors were persistent.

They held onto the torn, ragged leather armor of the trolls with one hand, and attacked over and over with a red glimmer in their eyes.

“You stupid orc bastards!”

At that time, someone jumped up high into the air while bellowing at the top of his lungs. It was Karuta, the Red God of War. He scattered Orc Fear from his entire body.

Karuta jumped into the air with incredible flexibility unbefitting of his large body, which was about eight feet tall, then struck a troll on the head with a steel mace. The troll already had a completely crushed shoulder.

Thud!

A sound resounded – a sound that made everyone’s hair stand on end. Along with it, the skull of the troll, which was renowned for its rigidity, shattered into countless pieces and brain juice scattered into the air.

Boom!

The troll slowly fell backwards after having its head crushed, and Karuta jumped back to the ground after killing a troll with a single blow. He turned and shouted towards his comrades.

“You stupid orcs! Break the heads! Their heads!”

After lashing out at his comrades in a loud voice, Karuta slowly moved towards another troll that was attacking the human soldiers.

“Ptooey! Damned orc bastards! Today, we play to our heart’s content!”

“Orrccccc!”

The roars of the bloodthirsty, battle-craving orcs rang out throughout the area.

***

Woosh! Woosh!

“Kiek!”

“Kuaghh!”

After being pierced with quarrels, the lizardmen fell down on the riverbank, and the river turned red in an instant. However, just like human soldiers, they were equipped with shields and leather armors. Only a few of them were fatally wounded or killed by the quarrels.

Above all, the scouting party had to divide in order to deal with the trolls at the same time, so it was difficult for two squadrons from the 7th regiment to deal with five, six hundred lizardmen with their crossbows alone.

Besides, that was not the only problem.

“Dammit!”

Raven widened his eyes.

Another group of lizardmen was showing up on the other side of the river.

They numbered in the hundreds. With their addition, the number of lizardmen alone exceeded 1,000.

Shing! Shing!

The new group of lizardmen used their bows to shoot arrows across the river. The bows were a crude, earlier form of the longbow, but the lizardmen were more physically fit than humans. The soldiers of the 7th regiment and the slave squadron fell like autumn leaves as the rain of arrows hailed down.

“Raise your shields!”

Raven’s urgent cry caused the shield-bearing soldiers to lift up their shields in unison to protect the troops.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“Keuk!”

“Gaah!”

Most of the arrows had been blocked, but several dozens pierced through the shields or dug between the gaps. A few soldiers collapsed or suffered injuries.

However, Raven was already familiar with the battlefield, and he proceeded to give the next command without hesitation.

“Spears! They are coming!”

The shields were collectively lowered after protecting the soldiers from the overhead strikes, and hundreds of spears appeared through the gaps of the shields and from above the shields.

“Humaaaanssss! Die!”

Physiological differences existed between the lizardmen and humans, including the vocal cords, but the lizardmen shouted in the human language as they charged towards the frontal force.

Bang! Booom!

Hundreds of lizardmen collided with the human troops.

“Kieeek!”

“Kuagh!”

Along with a huge shock wave, chaos quickly ensued. Spears and shields flew into the air, and blood and body parts were scattering everywhere. The leading lizardmen fell to the ground like straw while spraying blood, their bodies penetrated by the spears.

A single clash resulted in dozens of dead lizardmen.

On the other hand, the soldiers of the 7th regiment and the slave squadron suffered less damage under Raven’s direct command.

“Five steps back! Second row of spears!”

“Huak!”

The soldiers moved according to Raven’s orders. The spearmen were quickly replaced by a second row of spearmen waiting behind them.

After suffering casualties from their first charge, the lizardmen retreated a few steps.

The first to third rows were mainly composed of the 7th regiment troops, and the soldiers of the 7th regiment were experienced veterans. This contributed to the efficacy of the formation.

“Advance slowly!”

The soldiers of the 7th regiment moved forward in one, unified motion. They had trained for such situations.

“Kieh…”

The lizardmen were taken back by the spirit of the soldiers. Solid determination and will were contained in their eyes.

But their hesitation only lasted for a minute, and the lizardmen charged towards the human once more, driven by their hostility towards humans and their warlike nature.

“Diiieeee!”

The lizardmen surged like turbulent waves at the cry of a leading lizardman, who appeared to be their commander.

Boom! Clang!

“Kieeeek!”

“Keugh!”

Screams of humans and lizardmen mixed in with the sound of pounding shields, clashing swords, and the cutting and piercing of flesh.

Kiyaaaah!

On one side, griffons were tangled with the trolls, and on the other side, human soldiers and orc warriors teamed up to continue their fight against the monsters that were several times larger than themselves.

It was a battlefield full of anger, screams, blood and death.

A true battlefield unfolded in this place – the same type of battlefield that Raven had suffered through countless times in the past.

***

“Hmph!”

Letting out a sharp shout from between his teeth, Raven continued to slash and cut with the Widow’s Cry and the newly bladed scimitar.

The line of the shields had already collapsed, and a chaotic battle between lizardmen and humans was ongoing.

The soldiers of the 7th regiment were fighting well.

Even without any commands, they teamed up in groups of five or six to assist each other, toppling the enemies with their short swords.

Contrastingly, the slave soldiers were literally being slaughtered.

All of the soldiers of the southern nobility and the landlords were rather unskilled at collective warfare. The training sessions in the garrison had been related to defense and combat formations.

In such a chaotic situation, the individuals’ experience, abilities, and hand-to-hand coordination were the most important factors, and as such, the slave soldiers were unable to exert any power.

Unfortunately, the lizardmen noticed the fact.

They began to target the slave soldiers near the rear of the humans and focused their attacks towards them.

“Ahh! Aghhhh… Hmpp!”

A human head, full of tears and snot, disappeared into the mouth of a large lizard, and the soldier’s screams were silenced.

Crraaack!

A lizardman ripped off the soldier’s head, then turned around while chewing.

“Hieek!”

The slave soldiers fell backwards after witnessing the lizardman grotesquely killing their comrade.

“Gulp! Kiee…”

The lizardman stretched out his neck before swallowing the head whole, then looked towards the other soldiers while flicking its tongue.

“Huah….”

Faced with the bright, yellow eyes with constricted pupils, the soldiers began to crawl backwards while facing the lizardmen.

Shiing!

“Kiek!”

The lizardman's head flew away along with its death throes.

Thud.

Blood gushed from the fallen corpse and the severed neck. The human head, which had yet to reach the lizardman’s stomach, regurgitated with blood.

“Bwweegh!”

At the terrible sight, some of the backpedaling soldiers threw up.

Fwoosh!

The soldiers felt an intense sensation, something more intense than the fear that was delivered to them by the horrifying scene in front of them.

“Fight! What you see is the fate of those who do not fight! If you want to live, lift up your swords!”

A voice penetrated the soldiers’ ears. It was as cold as ice, but fiery at the same time.

They looked up to see the man who slit the lizardman’s neck. The once-dazzling armor was stained with blood and flesh.

However, the blue eyes still shone coldly from inside the man’s helm.

A phrase escaped between a slave soldier’s trembling lips.

“Y, Your Excellency Pendragon…”

“You will be able to survive if you fight, but you will die if you run away! Fight! Stand up and fight!”

Raven uttered a cry infused with the Spirit of the White Dragon, then continued to battle, wielding his two swords at the lizardmen who rushed towards him.

Two fell in an instant.

“Uhhh…”

The slave soldiers tightened the grasp on their weapons even though they were trembling in intense fear. Before they had joined the coalition, the nobles and the landlords they served always remained at the rear when a battle broke out.

It was always up to the foot soldiers to battle and die.

But now, a noble duke of the empire was fighting beside them without regard for his own life.

If that person fell down, they would die as well.

“Gaaaaah!”

The slave soldiers rushed towards the lizardmen with tear-soaked, snotty faces.

***

Shiing!

“Kiek!”

Two attacks severed both arms of a lizardman, and the creature fell down while sprouting blood.

But Raven did not stop.

He continued to attack the surrounding lizardmen with attacks infused with spirit.

“Hoo! Hoo!”

After knocking down two more lizardmen with consecutive attacks, Raven was breathing heavily. Lizardmen were not as strong as orc warriors, but they possessed a strong body nonetheless. He had to continuously utilize the Spirit of the White Dragon in order to deal with them, which fatigued him much quicker.

Raven quickly scanned his surroundings while catching his breath.

The river bank was full of corpses.

Many belonged to lizardmen, but many human soldiers from the scouting party were mixed in as well.

He estimated that around 30 percent of the scouting party had been killed.

Kuwwwoooh!

Four of the trolls had been killed already, but the two remaining monsters were crazily swinging their heavy log clubs.

With each swing, five or six soldiers were crushed to death like tomatoes thrown against a wall.

Kiyaah!

Five griffons let off threatening shrieks as they circled around a troll. However, the griffons had also suffered serious injuries, so none of them retained the ability to fly.

Only the griffon that was ridden by Isla could still fly.

“You fucking earthless lizard bastards!”

Booom!

As expected, Karuta was Karuta.

Even after sustaining several injuries, his frenzied Orc Fear was still exudating at full power. Like a wild wolf jumping into a flock of sheep, he wielded his steel mace and slaughtered the lizardmen.

But with him as the exception, the rest of the orc warriors were struggling. Around half of them were dead, and the rest had suffered critical injuries.

With the orc warriors in such conditions, there was no need to even speak of the human soldiers. Soldiers from the 7th and the 11th regiment appeared exhausted, though they fought valiantly in the beginning of the battle.

More than half of the troops from the slave squadron and the United Southern Army squadrons were killed or injured. They had been virtually annihilated.

Of course, the conditions of the lizardmen were similar. If the battle continued on, it would result in a horrible loss for both sides.

“Hoo!”

Raven panted through his clenched teeth, then tightened his grip on the two swords.

The situation was desperate.

More than anything, Raven was shocked that his predictions had been off. Something happened which was completely beyond his expectations.

‘Trolls and the lizardmen army came this way at this time?’

It did not make sense when he thought back to the past he knew. Right now, a monster army of this size would never be able to come to this area.

However, it was no use denying what had already happened.

Raven made a cold judgement.

‘This is different from the past that I know of. And that means…’

As he pondered gravely,

Boooooooohhhh!

The heavy sound of a horn trumpet sounded from downriver.

“…..!”

Raven narrowed his eyes after turning towards the sound.

Thousands of troops filled the downriver like ants, and they were advancing towards him at a rapid pace. A flag was flying high from their midst, and it was adorned with a symbol of a devil holding a knife in its mouth, and a snake.

It was the demonic army.

“There’s no way…”

An ominous feeling descended upon Raven.