Without a single mont of rest, Adrias continued his duel, as if pushing himself to his limits each ti.
And each ti, the Endeavor camp erupted in cheers.
"What kind of swordsmanship is that? It's a mix of middle, swift, and gleaming sword techniques."
"Why hasn't soone with such skill gained fa yet? Does anyone know him?"
Ignoring the murmurs around him, Phillion focused intently on the duel unfolding before him.
Already on the fifth battle.
Adrias skillfully avoided the grasp of the fearso orc chief, leaving wounds on his hand in the process.
For so inexplicable reason, as soon as Adrias' blade left a cut on the orc chief's hand, the orcs began to tremble in fear.
'Could that sword be a relic?'
Phllion couldn't understand the reason, but what was clear was that Adrias' composure was in no way inferior to that of the orc chief's. His unpredictable swordsmanship was dominating the fight.
Though his movents seed more instinctual than those of a seasoned knight, the glimpses of technique he showed hinted at a mastery of swordsmanship.
Finally defeating his fifth opponent, Adrias wiped the blood from his blade and declared, "Next."
"Whoa!"
His unexpected performance.
The soldiers erupted in cheers at his sight.
For soldiers who had mostly faced defeat against the orcs, this duel had struck them with newfound excitent.
Especially since it was an orc chief.
The leader of a tribe, a position akin to that of a knight commander in human terms.
Of course, it was impossible to say whether a knight commander was stronger or an orc chief was, but at the very least, it was certain that even with dozens of soldiers gathered, they couldn't defeat such an existence.
As the cheers subsided, Al-Ghurad's expression twisted slightly, before he burst into loud laughter.
-Kahaha!
His wild laughter overwheld the cheers from the fortress walls.
Adrias, standing right in front of him, felt a shiver run down his spine from the mana imbued in that laughter.
Al-Ghurad's laughter drowned out the cheers.
After a prolonged bout of laughter, he stopped and pointed his mace at Adrias.
-Barry Sanders! You are truly an amazing warrior! Apologies for underestimating you. I pay my respects. Your movents are as remarkable as any of our orc warriors.
Whether it was praise or flattery from a human perspective, Al-Ghurde's words carried a serious tone.
-A warrior who knows honor, I can see that you won't be easy to defeat for the remaining four battles.
Thunk!
He slamd his mace to the ground and glanced at the sky before turning his gaze to Adrias. The action was a behavior that orcs only displayed when they recognized soone else's worth, and Adrias recognized it with a slight raise of his eyebrows.
-We will continue the duels. However, since you've faced five opponents in a row, let us give you a brief rest.
As Al-Ghurad's words ended, as if they all understood, the other orcs also demonstrated gestures of reverence towards Adrias.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud!
Witnessing this, the Endeavor side felt a strange emotion.
Although they were enemies, seeing even the enemy acknowledge them ward their hearts.
Quietly observing this, Adrias found himself chuckling involuntarily.
In his experience, beings who were either characters from gas or powerful individuals he had t were rarely sane.
However, this orc lord, even though he was a master of aura, appeared more reasonable than such humans.
"I appreciate the sentint, but I'll pass."
Adrias turned his head and looked at Endeavor Fortress.
There, Luna was standing as if she could rush down at any mont, her excitent evident.
"We should finish this quickly."
"Fine. As long as you're okay with it, I'm fine as well. The duel will continue."
The duel resud, and the people on the fortress walls now watched Adrias without any worries. They had already sent requests for reinforcents to the other fortresses, confident of victory.
"The world is vast, and there are many strong individuals."
"That's why we always need to be cautious."
Hearing Phillion and Dawson's words, those around them nodded in agreent.
No one here had expected that the man they knew simply as a friend of Luna Pendragon would be this strong.
-Kruheuh.
Thump.
Finally, when Adrias defeated the last remaining orc chief and wiped the blood from his blade, cheers erupted from the Endeavor Fortress side.
"Barry Sanders!"
"Barry! Barry! Barry!"
Cheers resounded once again.
The fervor spreading among the crowd made it feel far from the late dawn it actually was.
Hearing the cheers, Adrias montarily wondered what the noise was about until he realized it was his alias being chanted. He couldn't help but smile wryly at that realization.
Seeing the fallen chieftains around him, Al-Ghurad wore a satisfied smile.
-Everyone must have gone to the eternal battlefield with joy. Honorable warrior, I wish to express my gratitude to you.
"You're not quite sane either."
-We don't expect you to understand our customs. I'm simply conveying my true feelings.
Al-Ghurad said this, then lifted his mace onto one shoulder, preparing to leave.
-Young warrior, if you survive this war, you will beco a warrior on par with . Humans truly are impressive. With such a physique, you can beco a great warrior like .
Hearing that, Adrias rely gazed at Al-Ghurad quietly.
The human's black pupils intensely locked onto the orc's red eyes.
For a mont, they quietly t each other's gaze, and then Adrias and Al-Ghurad both smiled without needing to say anything.
Al-Ghurad lifted his mace, filled with admiration for the fearless human warrior, and carried it over his shoulder.
-Young human warrior, I hope to et you on the battlefield one day.
"Sorry, but you're not my opponent. You have soone else to face."
-Is that so? I'll be looking forward to it.
With that final exchange, Adrias turned away, whether Al-Ghurad was behind him or not, and headed back towards the fortress.
As he retraced his steps, the people from the various fortresses welcod him with cheers.
"Open the gates!"
"But the orc lord is right ahead..."
"It's okay. He would have attacked us already if he intended to. Do you think a wall would stop an aura master?"
Dawson shouted again to his son.
"Open the gates! Welco the hero!"
"Barry Sanders! Our hero!"
"Barry! Barry! Barry!"
Endeavor Fortress was brimming with an energy that made it hard to believe it was the early hours of dawn. As Adrias predicted, the recent battle had greatly lifted their morale.
As he entered the fortress through the gate, not only the soldiers but also the citizens ca out to welco him.
'He doesn't look very old, but his monstrous strength matches his reputation.'
Philion couldn't properly verify due to the mask, but seeing Adrias, who appeared younger than himself, defeat the orc chieftain was a huge shock. If Adrias survived, it seed very likely that, as Al-Ghurad had said, he would beco an Aura Master.
'A new divine figure on the continent.'
The night was filled with various emotions.
.
.
.
.
As promised, Al-Ghurad gave them a day's respite.
Although the reinforcents they had contacted earlier arrived, there was one thing Endeavor Fortress hadn't predicted.
"An all out assault..."
While the main orc forces gathered before Endeavor Fortress, it didn't an the other fortresses were safe from attack.
In the end, the arriving reinforcents weren't that nurous. Furthermore, the limited ti available for them to arrive created deep furrows on Dawson's forehead.
"First, let's determine the deploynt. I'll handle the South Gate like last ti. Philion, you take the North Gate, and the other two gates..."
Dodson's gaze paused for a mont as he looked at and Luna.
"Barry Sanders, can you handle the East Gate? I'm not asking you to command, just if you can hold off the orcs there."
"As long as the reward is guaranteed."
"I can vouch for the reward. You've already taken down nine chieftains."
Finally turning his gaze to Luna, Dawson, after showing a hesitant expression, spoke.
"Luna Pendragon, go wild as you wish. If the Orc Lord appears, send a ssenger imdiately to let us know of its position."
"Sure, I was getting a little bored anyway. Right, buddy?"
In response to Luna's question, I smiled wryly.
You don't know how much she pestered yesterday, saying I was the only one enjoying it.
Still, I was grateful that she had stayed quiet back then.
'I felt like she would rush in even if the Orc Lord had appeared right away.'
She didn't seem to show much interest in the soul of the Orc Lord.
She just seed like she wanted to have a go at the Orc Lord. When she heard about the Orc Lord's soul, she was delighted as if it were a personal matter, saying that she would imprint on its soul.
'Well, I'm thankful. It's not every day you get an Aura Master.'
Although being an orc was a bit distasteful, I could tolerate it well enough. Once I engrave the soul of an Aura Master, that won't be a problem at all.
Soul engraving was exactly what it sounded like - a magic spell that imprinted the soul. It was like a permanent version of enchantnt magic. Of course, since it had a permanent effect, it was less powerful than enchantnt magic.
You could only imprint one soul per person, as far as I knew. I knew that Luna had engraved the soul of her mother, Eve Millennium.
'Thanks to that, she inherited the souls commanded by Eve Millennium.'
Despite being around my age, she was famous for that reason. It was akin to inheriting the power of the legendary witch, Eve Millennium.
To be honest, I didn't know how powerful Eve Millennium's power was. While her na was occasionally ntioned in the ga, I could only feel a vague sense of how strong she might have been as soone who was no longer part of this world.
'This isn't the ti for these thoughts. If she can't defeat Al-Ghurad, it won't matter about soul engraving or entering the Great Forest.'
When I first arrived in Grandis Kingdom, I never thought things would get this complicated.
However, if I could overco this situation, I would beco much stronger.
'I shouldn't underestimate Al-Ghurad's Aura tricks. I shouldn't assu Luna will win easily.'
At first, I didn't take being an orc Aura Master that seriously.
But facing him directly, I realized he wasn't an easy opponent at all.
He could make tremble just by laughing; there was no other monster like him.
Of course, I could endure, but if I were an ordinary person, I would've vomited blood.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
"It's ti. Let's go out for now."
The urgent bell rang again, just like before, shaking the fortress. And as we all stepped outside and onto the fortress walls...
"Ahh..."
Soone's sigh echoed in my ears.
But no one said anything.
A green wave surged forward like a tide, heading towards the Enclave Fortress.
It created an illusion as if the Great Forest itself was rising up and approaching.
Amid the battlefield littered with corpses...
The orc's song echoed, and as I looked at the multitude of orcs, one thought surfaced in my mind.
This is a battlefield ant for .
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