Ch.154Chapter 154: Eastern Decisive Battle (22)

At the sound of “senior,” Grace chuckles.

“What do you mean ‘senior’? Anyway, I thought you’d stay over there. How did you manage to come back?”

“That position was just too uncomfortable for me. Hmm? Where did he go?”

Valt looked around for his older brother, Luktan.

Sure enough, Luktan was striding toward them from the distance, his body covered in dried blood splatters.

The orc blood had dried all over his body, but his gleaming white teeth stood out in stark contrast as he grinned, causing people nearby to subtly step aside to make way for him.

“Hahaha! Brother! You’re here! Let me tell you how magnificently I performed today!!”

“My ears are about to fall off, brother. Just looking at your appearance, I can tell how many orcs met their end.”

“Kuhehehehe! That’s right! These bastards were quite something! Good muscles, decent strength—it was enjoyable to fight them!”

It seemed Luktan was feeling the same thing Valt had sensed.

“By the way, where is Lord Rient?”

“Ah, mother-in-law? She’s tending to the soldiers. She didn’t participate in the battle.”

“I see.”

As Valt and Luktan were conversing, Grace interjected.

“Yes, if His Majesty had deployed too, our unit would have been considered deserting the battlefield. That’s why only Luktan and I went out.”

“For that reason, everyone seemed to charge at the orcs with incredible momentum.”

“Well… apparently as long as the main force doesn’t move, it’s not considered desertion. Anyway, it was you who blocked that tremendous attack, right Valt?”

“Yes, it wasn’t easy, but I managed to block it somehow.”

At Valt’s words, Luktan laughed heartily.

“Hahaha, that’s my brother! Because of that damned spear, we couldn’t use our mages and had to divert everything to defense, causing significant casualties among our infantry.”

“Was it that bad?”

“Yes, it’s fortunate I was there, otherwise the casualties would have been much worse.”

“Oh? You, brother?”

Luktan suddenly took a deep breath and let out a battle cry.

“UOOOOOOOOH!!”

Luktan’s roar wasn’t as rough as before.

It spread widely, like the howl of a giant wolf.

The atmosphere around them immediately became more spirited.

“Today is victory!! Eat!! The victorious have earned the right to feast!!”

“Yeah!! You were amazing today!!”

Everyone congratulated each other on the victory, their morale rising once again.

“You’ve modified it, I see.”

Previously, Valt and Luktan had transformed the Gerung’s specialty war cry into something almost magical.

“Yes, hahaha. All thanks to you. It changes depending on how you adjust the aura around your throat. It’s fascinating—worth researching further.”

“Did you strengthen the soldiers with this roar?”

Grace answered Valt’s question.

“It might seem insignificant now, but it’s different in actual combat. Luktan’s roar was tremendously helpful. War ultimately comes down to whether you can take that one step forward or not.”

Infantry soldiers suffer the highest casualty and injury rates.

They are indispensable in warfare.

They open paths for the strong and stand against enemies. No matter how skilled one might be, without infantry, war cannot even exist.

And what increases their survival probability is nothing else.

As Grace said, it’s that one step forward with a clear mind that increases infantry survival rates.

“When that cursed spear attack came, I really thought we were done for. Of course, I knew you’d handle it somehow, hahaha. After that, everything went smoothly! Once word spread that the enemy’s spear attack had been repelled, I built on that momentum to raise our troops’ morale.”

While Valt was blocking the artifact in mid-air, there was one unit particularly focused on protecting allies.

That was Grace and Luktan’s force.

Since they weren’t at the very front, they chose to deflect attacks rather than annihilate enemies, which became the foundation for saving countless allies.

“Well done. By the way, I’d like to hear about the enemy.”

“Let’s head to the tent. I’m starving to death. Let’s talk while eating something, brother.”

Nodding, Valt turned to Arias with a request.

“Arias, sorry to ask, but could you clean up my brother and Senior Grace?”

Arias, who had been waiting quietly behind them, smiled lightly.

“That’s not difficult at all.”

*Swoosh*

As Arias elegantly extended her hand, an undine leaped in and instantly cleaned Luktan and Grace.

“W-wow! Y-you, what kind of kid are you?! T-this is amazing!”

Valt thought Luktan was referring to Arias, but he wasn’t.

Luktan was addressing the undine bouncing on his head and shoulders with an astonished expression.

“Hmm? Brother? Can you see the spirit clearly?”

“Y-yes! Is this a spirit? Before, I could vaguely sense something, but this is… no different from the Gerung youngsters! Oof! Okay… I won’t say anything! *gulp*”

‘Huh? I only taught brother about aura. But he developed both war cry magic and spirit affinity? And at such a high level?’

Valt knew from a previous quest that the Gerung’s relationship with earth spirits was good enough to be called friendship.

Because of this, he knew the entire race’s spirit affinity had increased, but seeing his own brother perceive spirits so clearly gave Valt a thrilling sensation.

‘Like Delphon’s frustration earlier, spirit users aren’t common. But what if it’s the Gerung…?’

An electrifying thought pierced his mind.

It was a moment when he became certain that the Gerung would someday become the center of the entire continent, though he didn’t fully understand it yet.

***

A little later.

The Kingdom of Oscar also released food to everyone, including soldiers, to celebrate the great victory.

Many dishes were piled in front of Luktan, who had been the greatest contributor to today’s battle.

“Hahaha, the Central Continent is truly different. To be able to eat so heartily even during wartime! This would be unimaginable in the South! Isn’t that right, brother!”

The South had been at war for a long time due to Kwan’s conquest.

The already barren South meant that as wars dragged on, it was common to fight for three days and nights, or even a week, without eating.

The current situation was nothing short of paradise for Luktan.

Powerful enemies and food to fill his stomach.

Luktan couldn’t think of better conditions for growing stronger.

“Kuhehe, if possible, I’d like to stay here for months, beating those bastards.”

“Don’t say such terrible things, Luktan. The entire East would fall into panic. Wars need to end quickly.”

“Well, at this rate, the war will end soon. This won’t do—I need to catch at least one Orc Lord. Regular orcs aren’t even worth mentioning. Hey, brother, isn’t your unit planning to infiltrate enemy lines?”

Valt answered Luktan’s question while chewing his food.

“There’s no movement yet. However…”

“However?”

“I think they’ll begin action soon.”

Valt’s prediction was accurate. In fact, Zerdin had summoned the leaders of each country’s units instead of attending the banquet.

While the pretext was to celebrate the great victory, Zerdin’s true intention was to use the other kingdoms to end this war quickly.

Zerdin had two scenarios in mind for his troops to capture the Orc King.

The first was to gradually attack the orcs over time, creating openings.

Due to the nature of the allied forces, the units gathered from various kingdoms were clearly eager to achieve merit, but they also showed movements to minimize casualties while doing so.

Therefore, Zerdin thought this war with the orcs would last at least a few weeks.

But the situation had changed.

With Valt’s existence alone, Zerdin could now implement his second scenario.

That was to annihilate the enemy in one swift strike while morale was exploding after a great initial victory, like now.

This method required many prerequisites. The most important was that the kingdoms in the alliance needed to perceive the orcs as relatively weak.

The preliminary battle had already annihilated tens of thousands of orcs. There was a possibility that if the entire allied force concentrated all their power, they could annihilate the enemy in a short period.

Zerdin didn’t miss this opportunity.

There was nothing good about prolonging the war with the orcs. Fertile land is only useful when cultivated, and if they missed the farming season due to war with the orcs, that would be a considerable loss.

“Hmm, really? What do you think? Does it look promising?”

“Well, it depends on what they’re hiding, but it won’t be an easy victory.”

Considering just the artifact alone, Valt anticipated a difficult battle, and facing numerous Orc Lords and Orc Generals would be challenging with just Zerdin’s troops.

However, how the hidden variable Zerdin mentioned would play out was the big question.

“King Zerdin seems to be hiding something, but I don’t know what it is. Anyway, how did you find the orcs? From my perspective, they seemed weaker than the special forces.”

Chewing on meat, Luktan answered Valt’s question.

“Honestly, yes. There was no curse, and it was quite straightforward. If it weren’t for that spear, we could have crushed them even more thoroughly.”

“That’s strange… right? Are they hiding their strength, or no… I feel like they’re waiting for something.”

The one who spoke was Lisa, who had just joined them after handling various tasks. Lisa was incorporated into the Oscar Kingdom’s army, helping King Rient with various staff duties.

Lisa’s work efficiency was so impressive that even King Rient coveted her services.

“Waiting? Why do you think so?”