Chapter 163 - The Roaring Lions of the North (2)

"I get that it was an insult since it left a strangely bad aftertaste, but it didn't seem like something to go that crazy over."

That Eli guy asked if that was considered a massive insult among Orcs.

I shook my head.

To the majority of Orcs who hadn't even seen the shadow of a Fire Dragon, my words were nothing more than unrelatable nonsense.

If it was an Orc who had fought a Fire Dragon and survived, they would actually consider it a point of pride.

For Orcs, fighting a formidable enemy was something to be proud of, even if they lost.

But the Overlord was furious.

As if he had received a grave insult.

If he had truly fought a Fire Dragon and survived by sheer luck, there was no reason for him to throw such a fit.

That was how I figured it out.

How the Overlord of the Orcs who fought the Fire Dragon had managed to survive.

He had clearly been struck with fear in front of the Fire Dragon and ran away. And that was an act that the deeply proud dark green clan must never commit.

Even more so for a leader who commanded a horde.

"I was still a little worried, though."

Ophelia asked me why it was so important how the Overlord survived.

She was right.

The most important thing right now was driving out the invaders who had encroached on my territory.

Even so, I couldn't just completely ignore it.

If the Overlord had some special ability I didn't know about that allowed him to survive a battle with a Fire Dragon, I absolutely had to know about it.

But it was a needless worry.

The Overlord didn't survive because he was special. He simply fought further back than the others and was quick to run away.

His wild reaction to my words, and his half-melted, hideous body were the proof.

If he had taken a direct hit from the Fire Dragon's breath—which melted even the Giant Legion Commanders down to nothing—he wouldn't have even been left in such a state.

With my concerns dispelled, I was finally able to focus on the battle.

"This war."

Looking at the knights surrounding me,

"We end it by taking down the leader."

I declared quietly.

That Eli guy raised an objection to my declaration.

He asked how on earth we were supposed to take down the leader when there were that many monsters gathered on the snowfield.

I let out a soft chuckle at those words.

"If there is one Master, they can hold off an advancing legion. If there are two Masters, they can go beyond holding them off and break through the enemy lines. Add one more, and they can annihilate a legion."

And here, there were not three, but five Masters.

Because their numbers were so vast, total annihilation would be impossible, but breaking through the monsters' ranks wouldn't be that difficult.

I looked at the knights.

Arwen, unwavering and resolute.

Adelia, fidgeting with her sword as if ready to leap out at any moment.

That Eli guy, filled with excitement.

And the old knight, who for some unknown reason had been highly elated for a while now.

With them, defeating the Overlord was not impossible.

But there was a problem.

After taking the concentrated fire of the iron cannons and crossbows, the Overlord had hidden himself away. His distinct Fighting Spirit and presence could no longer be felt.

I had given him an unbearable insult and even lit a fire to provoke him, but it seemed he still had no intention of showing his face.

At this point, it was safe to say he was intentionally hiding.

"He survived a battle with a Fire Dragon, so I suppose he did have a knack for this."

An Orc hiding his presence behind his subordinates—it was downright absurd.

"For now, we just have to wait."

We had to thin out the number of monsters filling the snowfield to some extent anyway.

That way, the Masters and I could reach him with our stamina preserved.

If we exhausted ourselves just breaking through the massive army to reach him, it would be no different from offering ourselves up to be slaughtered.

I decided to wait for now.

One day passed, and then two more days went by.

Winter Castle's forces were holding off the monsters incredibly well.

The Overlord still did not show himself on the front lines.

Another two days passed.

The monsters were endless.

Even after killing them all night, monsters crawling out of the mountain range quickly filled the empty spots.

The corpses of monsters crushed by the iron cannons were scattered across the snowfield. Bodies torn apart by arrows, magic, and crossbows littered the surroundings.

The corpses of monsters that had met their end against the swords and shields of the knights formed mountains beneath the wall.

Now, the monsters were easily climbing the wall by stepping on those mountains of corpses.

The Masters scattered in all directions to hold off the monsters' increasingly fierce offensive. The knights took turns supporting them from behind.

Winter Castle was truly an impregnable fortress.

It looked like it could easily fend them off even if twice the amount of 50,000 monsters came swarming in.

Nevertheless, the battle did not end.

When hungry, the monsters tore into the corpses of their own kind scattered across the snowfield, and when the time came, they retreated and sprawled out on the snowfield to sleep.

Even during that time, monsters crawling out from the mountain range charged toward the wall.

It was a truly ridiculous number.

It was as if not only the monsters of the Blade Mountains but also all the monsters of Mount Frost had swarmed to this place.

At a rough estimate, it was a massive army approaching at least 100,000.

Then again, considering the number of the Furious Flame Legion that the Overlord had mobilized during the era of the Great War, this could be considered a drop in the bucket.

Because back then, the elite combat legions alone numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

However, this was not the era of the Great War.

The Overlord had only just revealed himself to the world, and the dark green wave that once swept the world no longer existed.

The once-prosperous Greenskin kingdom was now a thing of the past.

The problem was that the same was true for our side.

Winter Castle's military strength was currently sufficient to be called its highest peak in history, but it still fell short when compared to the elite fortresses of the ancient humans.

With time, it would reclaim its past glory, but for now, we needed time.

But the Overlord didn't seem to have any intention of waiting for humans to regain their strength.

Perhaps that was why the cunning Overlord had revealed himself to the world so hastily, even before his legion could recover its ancient might.

A guy like him would have already seen through it.

The fact that the heroes who once blocked the path of the glorious combat legions were no longer left in this world.

So he must have thought he could easily trample us.

That was an obvious misjudgment, and an incredibly massive delusion.

This place was crawling with knights and soldiers who had grown seasoned from battling monsters.

Except perhaps for the elite fortresses that guarded the front lines, it wouldn't have been easy to find such experienced troops even during the era of the Great War.

Any shortcomings could simply be filled by me.

I could guarantee that my existence was not factored into his calculations.

His first stroke of bad luck was that, of all times, I arrived at this castle on the very first day he revealed himself.

His second stroke of bad luck was that, out of all the human lands, he chose to invade mine.

I bided my time for an opportunity.

I waited only for the moment to slit the cunning Overlord's throat.

But even as time passed, he did not show himself.

He merely moved his legion to batter Winter Castle day and night.

Winter Castle's forces were slowly growing exhausted.

Their fighting spirit and will to fight remained unchanged, but physical limitations could not be helped.

The monsters were tenacious.

They did not distinguish between day and night, nor did they reorganize their ranks.

The exhausted ones pulled back, and the fresh ones that had just descended from the mountain range clung to the wall, shrieking and fighting tooth and nail.

Right now, even at this very moment, the mountain range was relentlessly spewing out monsters.

More corpses piled up.

Ogres and Trolls began to pile up the corpses of the monsters scattered across the snowfield in front of the wall.

The Rangers fired their arrows all at once to interfere, but the large monsters paid them no mind.

The mountain of corpses that had risen to nearly half the height of the wall was now on the verge of overtaking the wall itself.

CRASH!

The combat mages hurled fireballs to demolish and burn the mountain of corpses.

But corpses were everywhere, so the demolished mountain of corpses was quickly piled back up.

I grew anxious.

I wanted to draw my sword this instant and dive into the horde of monsters.

I suppressed and held back all those urges.

The moment I draw my sword will be the moment the Overlord reveals himself.

"That's not like you, Your Highness."

While I was watching the endless battle, Vincent approached me and spoke.

"What isn't?"

"Having the leeway to think about other things during a battle. If it were the past, you would have already roamed the entire wall and yelled at me to open the gates."

It was something I couldn't deny.

"Neither Your Highness nor I can go back to how we used to be, I suppose."

Vincent gave a bitter smile as he held out his command baton in front of me.

"Now that you have ascended to the position of Crown Prince, it is only natural that you preserve yourself. If you recklessly charge into the front lines like you used to, it only makes it harder for your subordinates."

Before I could even reply to those words, Vincent continued.

"Trust in your subordinates."

Saying that, he pointed atop the wall.

The Rangers firing arrows without rest, the knights clinging to the wall to push the monsters back.

Their faces may have looked fatigued, but they were full of fighting spirit; fear could not be seen anywhere.

"Thank you."

Only then did my mind settle.

Winter Castle will never be breached.

The moment conviction took root in my heart, my impatience vanished like a lie.

My narrowed field of vision opened up entirely.

My gaze, which had been confined to the wall, reached all the way to the snowfield and the mountain range.

Only then did I realize.

The relentlessly pouring monsters no longer existed.

It seemed that finally, the monsters in the mountain range that the Overlord could mobilize had come to an end.

The battle continued.

Orcs surged forward, stepping on the mountain of corpses built right in front of the wall.

An incomparably larger number of monsters than before climbed up the wall.

The Rangers grabbed swords and spears instead of bows. The knights swung their swords in every direction to hold off the monsters.

Right then, the old knight knelt before me.

"Your Highness! Please permit the deployment of the Central Army's forces and the Royal Knights!"

There was no reason to hesitate.

As I gave a nod, the old knight sprang to his feet and ordered the Royal Knight behind him.

"Push the enemy back with the Central Army."

"Sir!"

The Royal Knight offered a brief military salute and immediately went down the wall.

And not long after, he reappeared on the wall along with the infantry of the Central Army.

They were the royal heavy infantry, entirely clad in the iron armor that Winter Castle's forces avoided because the chilled metal would freeze their bodies in the harsh cold, and draped in red cloaks.

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP.

Disciplined footsteps, entirely unfitting for the chaotic situation atop the wall, echoed across the entire wall.

The heavy infantry lined up in a single file smoothly behind the Rangers.

Curses and shouts echoed out front, and blood was splattering everywhere, yet the heavy infantry did not budge an inch.

They merely gripped their shields and breathed heavily.

"Your Highness. You once resented His Majesty, believing he had only helplessly had everything taken from him, did you not?"

The old knight, who had issued commands to the Royal Knights and was now guarding my side, suddenly spoke to me.

"But His Majesty did not merely let things be taken."

Before I even had the chance to reply to the old knight's out-of-place words, the Central Army began to move.

"Raise your shieeeeelds!"

"Sir!"

From the cramped rear edge of the wall, two thousand soldiers of the Central Army raised their shields in unison.

THUD!

A massive footstep, fundamentally different from those of the light-footed Rangers.

"Advance!"

"Sir!"

With their shields held out in front, the heavy infantry stomped forward.

"Wedge in!"

At the command of one of the Royal Knights, the heavy infantry turned their shields to the side and grabbed the Rangers by their collars.

YANK!

"Gah!"

"You crazy bastards!"

Spitting out curses, the Rangers tumbled to the rear.

"Close the line!"

In that time, the heavy infantry who had pushed forward thrust their shields out to the front once more.

CLACK.

Two thousand shields moved, but there was only a single sound.

It was a rare spectacle.

The monsters roared fiercely and charged at the shields.

THUD.

Slamming their shields into the ground, the heavy infantry lowered their stances in unison.

Over them, the ferocious strikes of the monsters crashed down in succession.

CRASH!

The formation of the heavy infantry staggered.

However, not a single spot was breached. It was a firmness on a completely different level from the Central Army's heavy infantry I had seen at the defense line in the Central region before.

"Thrust!"

The heavy infantry twisted their shields at an angle. Through the gaps exposed by that motion, their swords darted out in unison.

GRAAAAGH!

The monsters struck by the swords let out shrieks.

But that was all.

It was not easy to pierce through the tough and sturdy hides of the monsters and inflict a fatal wound in a single strike. The number of monsters that fell backward was not that high.

The surviving monsters thrashed about even more ferociously due to their wounds.

Right then, a deafening roar rang out.

That was also when the monsters standing beyond the wall of shields were all blown away simultaneously.

"They are the true reason why His Majesty so desperately desired a friendship with the Dwarves, and..."

The old knight's voice rang in my deafened ears.

"...the unbroken blade among the treasured swords kept securely hidden by the Royal Family."

The sight of the heavy infantry resting pitch-black, hooked cylinders on top of their shields came into my view.

Hazy smoke flowed out from the ends of the cylinders.

The acrid scent of gunpowder pierced the tip of my nose.

"They are the Royal Heavy Armored Musketeers."