The Author's POV
chapter-786

"You coward!"

As a surge of anger rose within him, Brutus spat out the words.

He knew he was in trouble.

As the other orcs were busy fighting their own battles, he was left to defend himself against the onslaught of demons coming at him from all sides.

Prince Kuzma chuckled while maintaining a firm grip on the axe. Brutus was rendered helpless as a dark hue emanated from the Prince's body, securing the axe and preventing it from moving.

"You're just trying to cover up your own stupidity by calling me a coward, so stop it."

Prince Kuzma retorted while clenching his teeth and making a fierce effort to keep the axe under control.

"Arghhhhhhhh!"

Brutus put forth every effort he could muster in an effort to pry the Prince's grip off of the axe, but it was too late. Over a dozen demonic creatures materialized in an instant next to him and began to pounce on him from all directions.

Even though Brutus was a seasoned warrior and knew how to handle himself in battle, the sheer number of demons that were attacking him was too much for him to handle alone.

Swooosh―!

After letting go of the axe, he swung his massive fist with all of his strength, attempting to ward off the demons, but they continued to advance toward him.

Bang―! Bang―!

Brutus was knocked off balance in the air and was unable to regain his footing after being struck by demons coming from all directions.

"Argh!!!"

He felt nothing but frustration at the situation as he wildly swung his fist in the air, only to suddenly receive several blows on his body, sending him staggering back.

Bang―!

"Huak!"

Brutus let out a groan as he felt the impact of the demon's attack on his body.

'This can't go on.'

He understood that he needed to devise a different strategy, and he needed to do so quickly.

Looking around, Brutus's expression fell.

There were simply far too many demons for him to face, and he knew he had to think fast.

"Argghhhh!"

He let out a rage-filled roar as his entire body charged toward the closest demon to him.

In spite of his size and the fact that he wasn't particularly skilled at plotting, he was a quick thinker when it came to fighting.

Without giving it much thought, he made the snap decision to concentrate his efforts on eliminating the larger, more powerful demons first, with the expectation that this would weaken the others and provide him with an opportunity to fight back.

Brutus ignored the smaller demons that were following close behind him and charged straight for the largest demon that he could see.

So long as he caught them off-guard, he'd be able to kill them in one shot.

Swoosh―!

He swung his fist with all of his strength, and the air whistled around his fist as it aimed at the demon.

Unfortunately, the demon was too quick for him and managed to avoid his attack.

Brutus stumbled, and the other demons took advantage of the opening to attack him once again. He felt their claws ripping at his flesh and their teeth biting into his skin.

"Akhhhhh."

Despite the pain, Brutus refused to give up.

He refused to let the pain stop him from continuing to fight, and he continued to swing his fists wildly through the air, trying to hit anything he could.

He was well aware that, in order to win this fight, he would need to employ some strategic thinking.

Bang―!

"Argh! Damn, it!!"

As he fought, he noticed something peculiar.

As his movements slowed down and he became more passive, a sudden sharpness appeared in his forest-green eyes.

"Attack! He's almost out of gas!"

"Attack!"

Bang―! Bang―! The demon's assaults became even more relentless, and more wounds began to appear on his body as a result. In spite of this, his gaze never wavered, and he continued to look in all directions.

'The way they're attacking...'

When he looked at the demons, he noticed that they appeared to be working together in some sort of coordinated manner.

At first glance, they seemed to be attacking him from all sorts of angles in an effort to wear him out.

However, when he examined their behavior in great detail, he noticed that each of their steps followed a particular routine.

And that's when it clicked.

'This is it.'

He had finally found a vulnerability that he could take advantage of.

Brutus withdrew a step and watched the demons' movements more carefully as he shielded his body with his arms.

'Now!'

He recognized a window of opportunity and pounced on it, dispatching one demon after another with surgical precision and unrelenting ferocity.

Bang―! Bang―!

"Arrgghhhh!"

"Watch out!"

Brutus' abrupt change in strategy caught the demons off guard. They didn't expect him to be so quick on his feet and so nimble in his movements and were understandably starting to get pushed back.

They tried to regain their composure and formation, but…

They reacted a fraction of a second too late, and Brutus was already standing in the gap that had been created.

When he saw the terrified expression on the demons' faces, a bright light flashed in his eyes, and just as his fist was about to land on him, a soft voice began to whisper in his mind.

"You fell for it again."

"Huh?"

BOOOOM―!

Brutus felt a powerful force land in the middle of his abdomen, and at the same time, he heard a cracking sound and felt his body propelled into the distance, eventually crashing against the hard ground with a powerful force.

The force of the impact was so strong that he didn't even get the chance to groan as the air was quickly sucked out of him.

The cracking sound he previously heard… probably came from the several bones he shattered during the attack.

"Ugh."

When he finally groaned, Brutus was so weak that he could hardly move his body.

He felt incredibly heavy, and everything hurt, but he didn't give up.

That wasn't nearly enough to make him surrender.

Closing his eyes, a dark green hue sprouted out from his body, and his injuries started to recover.

If there was one thing that set orcs apart from every other race, it was the fact that they were able to manipulate aura.

It was a source of power that was unlike any other, providing them with a great deal of energy and allowing them to recover from their injuries in a short amount of time.

Because of this, people tended to view them as a race that was always ready for battle.

And they weren't wrong as he prepared to stand up.

"Oh? It looks like you're still alive… As expected of your orcs. You're quite sturdy."

Unfortunately, it was impossible for Prince Kuzma to give Brutus the time he needed to fully recover.

Suddenly materializing right next to him, the Prince stretched out his slender hand and attempted to grab Brutus by the face.

"Khhh…"

Brutus clenched his teeth in anticipation of the hand that was coming closer. He was on the verge of doing something when, all of a sudden, a voice resounded somewhere close to where they were.

"I've been watching for quite a while now, and I think it's about time that I make my move."

Shortly after, a figure materialized right in front of Brutus, and Prince Kuzma's figure blurred, retreating into the air.

"Who are you?!"

His eyes warily swept over the newcomer.

He was a human with short black hair and deep blue eyes. A formidable aura concealed itself within his body, causing the Prince to be even warier.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance."

He started with an apology.

It looked sincere in the Prince's eyes, and yet, for some reason, he felt as though he was being looked down upon.

There was something unsettling about his gaze, but the Prince couldn't quite explain what it was that he found so unsettling about it.

"Answer my question; what are you doing here?"

The Prince asked again, but he was once again ignored. He was just about to explode when he suddenly recalled something, and his eyes opened widely.

'Blue eyes, human, black hair…'

"I,impossible!"

He muttered, stuttering.

"How are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in Plintus? What's going on? Why…"

He stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, and his eyes shook.

"It... It can't be."

"Oh, yes, it can."

Ren smiled, shifting his attention away from the Prince and looking at Brutus, whose condition was stabilizing.

He sighed in relief when he saw that.

In all honesty, he had been surveying the entirety of the battlefield for a considerable amount of time.

On numerous occasions, he had the opportunity to intervene, but he chose not to.

The reason for this was that he needed to get a few things set up, but after seeing how Brutus was doing, he had no choice but to go and help him out of his predicament.

'…Just when I was about to finish.'

Ren silently clicked his tongue while extending his hand toward Brutus.

"Can you get up?"

"…"

Brutus's gaze fell on his hand before falling onto him. He looked around and soon frowned.

"I don't feel any other presence here… Are the reinforcements still coming? Did you come by yourself?"

"Reinforcements?"

Ren looked taken aback before he had a look of understanding.

He pointed at himself.

"Ah, that… Well, you can say that I did come by myself. I left the others back in Plintus, considering the urgency of the situation. But rest a―"

As his words fell, the expressions of everyone present froze, most noticeably that of Brutus, whose face became extremely gloomy, almost to the point of collapsing.

"You what?"

He cut off Ren before he could finish his sentence.

"Wa―"

"You came by yourself?"

All of a sudden, Prince Kuzma's voice echoed, and Ren saw several figures appear around them. With a look that seemed filled with relief, Prince Kuzma glared at Ren.

"...and here I was under the impression that you were supposed to be more intelligent than the orcs. It seems that I have greatly exaggerated my expectations of your capabilities. It's obvious that your power got the better of you."

A formidable force erupted from within his body. The same was true for the demons that were standing next to him, and the air began to twist.

WOOOOM―!

"Since you didn't bring reinforcements, all send you off with that orc."

"Wait a second."

Ren spoke up out of the blue while maintaining an odd expression. After taking in his surroundings, he turned to face Prince Kuzma.

"Who said I didn't bring reinforcements?"

Ren glanced at Brutus with the side of his eyes.

"…I was just about to say that I did have them before I was interrupted." "

Rumble―! Rumble―! Rumble―!

All of a sudden, the land shook.