With Ezekiel dead and them being outnumbered, it was already bad enough—but to top it all off, they still had that commander to deal with.

Talmir had an especially hard time now. He had to protect Teclos on his back while dodging the lightly injured Ba’hraka, who wore a wide grin on his face, as if he had just eaten a delicacy and was about to enjoy another.

Talmir had to move constantly, dodging left and right. Spikes formed where he would have landed had he not altered his course just at the right time. The spear whizzed past his head as the orc closed in on him, spikes flew toward him, pitfalls formed all around him.

It was a mental battle—staying ahead of the orc’s tricks and traps. And of course, he had to do it cleanly, because his son was literally strapped to him, and he couldn’t afford even the smallest mistake.

Meanwhile, Toby blocked most of the attacks aimed at his comrades. Some of them were so badly injured that it was a miracle they were still alive, yet they still fought back—even in that condition.

He picked up a mace and rushed toward one of his friends, just in time to block a downward slash from an orc. His broken arm screamed in pain, dangling almost lifelessly at his side. Every movement, every block—hell, even the use of mana—sent waves of agony through his body.

Dodging a diagonal slash by ducking, he pivoted his body and extended his arm with the mace.

The strike connected with the orc’s knee and shattered it. As the orc screamed in pain, Toby followed through with an upward motion.

The mace crushed the orc’s lower jaw and shattered its skull. Teeth flew outof its mouth, and blood splattered everywhere, the orc just collapsed.

The rest of the escorts who were only lightly injured fought valiantly as well—but unlike Toby, who had taken a potion, they were running on reserves and exhaustion.

One hunter slashed upward with his blade, meeting an orc’s axe head-on. His blade splintered, and the axe buried itself into his shoulder. The orc grabbed him by the head and slammed him into the rocks, breaking his skull and killing him instantly.

Another hunter launched earth spikes at three orcs charging him. They simply raised a rock wall in front of them, blocking the attack, and continued forward. Panic overtook him, and he raised a defensive wall around himself, cutting off his vision and isolating himself. It did him no good—within seconds, the orcs broke through and hacked him to pieces. He died screaming in fear.

It was looking grim, and the situation was worsening by the second.

Talmir tried to support the others by sending slashes toward the attacking orcs, but he was constantly interrupted by the commander behind him.

He sent out one wind blade, helping Toby by decapitating an orc from behind—but the next second he had to duck as a spear sliced past his head, striking the wall and splintering the rock, it sent dust and debris flying everywhere.

He blocked the debris with a sphere of wind wrapped around himself and then rushed forward along the wall, just as another slab of rock slammed down where he had been a moment earlier.

’Goddammit, that bastard is persistent!’

Ba’hraka stayed close on his heels. The only saving grace for now was that Talmir was just slightly faster.

But Ba’hraka was slowly growing annoyed.

His prey refused to fight back.

It only ran.

And sure enough, he suddenly stopped.

His expression twisted with fury as he slowly stretched both arms outward. Then, after a second, he brought them down together.

With that motion—

The entire tunnel began to collapse.

Stone and packed earth groaned above them, cracks spreading violently through the walls as the ceiling started to give way.

Ba’hraka knew Talmir would have nowhere to run once he was buried.

And after that...

He could hunt down the rest of the weaklings at his leisure.

Talmir noticed what he was doing and was forced to make a decision.

Either run toward the survivors and try to outrun the collapsing tunnel—

Or make a stand here.

Just as he turned to call out to Toby—

A figure appeared behind Ba’hraka.

Axel.

He thrust his knife toward the orc’s skull, certain he had him.

But Ba’hraka leaned forward at the last second.

The blade missed its mark and sank into his shoulder instead, the assassination attempt barely failing.

Axel clicked his tongue.

"Tch... well, shit."

"Ooooaaarrghhh!"

Cold sweat broke across Ba’hraka’s forehead.

With a furious roar, the orc swung his spear around with terrifying speed, fast enough that even Axel was forced to defend.

A tiny knife met a massive spear.

And as expected—

The knife lost.

But Axel was not sent flying. He only skidded back a few meters, boots carving shallow lines through the dirt before he came to a stop.

Axel’s lip curled as he looked at the orc.

"I guess you don’t like being stabbed, orc?"

He said the word orc with such disgust that Ba’hraka understood the intent, even without knowing the language.

But instead of reacting with blind rage, the orc held back and properly took a stance—spear raised above his head, one leg bent back, the other stretched forward.

It came as a surprise to Axel.

"Hoh! And here I thought you were just a dumb beast, haha!"

Though Axel looked relaxed, a frontal fight wasn’t his forte unless the opponent was weaker. He wouldn’t die here—but depending on how things went, he might have to abandon the kid.

Ba’hraka, however, felt something entirely different.

The murderous aura radiating from that human... it reminded him of a massive predator of the desert—a two-hundred-meter-long king snake, coiled and waiting to strike.

And for the first time—

He hesitated to make a move.

Seeing that, Talmir immediately unstrapped Teclos from his back and rushed toward Toby.

"I’ll hold them and protect everyone here as best as I can. Bring my son to the people... to Saldia, please."

He spoke with a serious expression—almost begging, though his voice remained firm. Toby, however, shook his head.

"It won’t be me that brings him back. There are plenty more injured people here who can’t fight anymore, but carrying a boy to safety won’t be a problem. I’m needed here."

Talmir was initially shocked at the refusal, but after hearing the reasoning, he nodded. There was no time to argue... but first, they had to save the few hunters that were still alive.

"Alright. You defend them—I’ll attack the orcs."

This time Toby nodded, and they rushed into action, trusting that Axel would keep the commander occupied.

—

Outside, Pella and Gunvald were in a miserable state. They were being battered by bad matchups on all sides.

Gunvald had lost almost every man on his flank.

U’rtak had burned everything—hunters, walls, even his own soldiers. Charred bodies lay fused into the stone, blackened and twisted beyond recognition. The air stank of cooked flesh and smoke, and now that nothing living remained around him, the orc moved freely through the ruin he had made, his mind drowned in rage and madness.

Gunvald stared at the remains of his comrades.

Something inside him snapped.

Fury swallowed reason.

With a roar, he charged at U’rtak, abandoning defense completely.

—

Meanwhile, Pella was being battered by both commanders.

Even with his massive reserves, if the battle continued at this pace, he would lose.

The female orc kept him at bay with terrifying precision, each arrow forcing him into worse and worse positions. The male orc, Gor’kes, was an awful matchup for his healing abilities—fast, relentless, scorching him with lightning and striking with the force of a battering ram.

More than once, Pella had no choice but to take the hit.

While his flank looked vastly better, with hunters and priests holding back the horde, he himself was far more exhausted than Gunvald—and if he fell, the rest would follow shortly.

’Oh, Aurelion, mighty sun god... show me the way to protect my people from these wretched heathens.’

The prayer did little, but it steadied his heart atleast.

He swung his battle axe again, meeting Gor’kes head-on.

The impact erupted in a violent burst of mana, sparks scattering as a deafening shockwave tore across the wall.

Both humans and orcs were thrown from the battlements, their bodies tumbling into the chaos below.

Not even a second later—

An arrow screamed toward Pella’s skull.

But he couldn’t step back.

Gor’kes was already mid-swing, his greatsword descending with crushing force. Retreat meant death.

So Pella didn’t retreat.

No.

Like a madman—and a veteran of countless battlefields—he stepped forward instead.

Mana surged into his forehead as he drove his head straight into Gor’kes’s face.

"Wraaahg?!"

The crack was sickening.

Bone shattered under the impact.

Gor’kes’s nose caved in, cartilage crunching as blood burst outward and sprayed across Pella’s face. The orc recoiled, his vision blurring as blood flooded his eyes.

Even Kui’ri flinched at the hit from above.

But she fired anyway.

The arrow sliced between them, forcing Pella to abandon any follow-up.

"Tch... ganging up on an old man isn’t very nice. Where are your MANNERS!"

With a grunt, he hurled his battle axe with full force.

If he couldn’t advance—his weapon would.

Mana flared violently around the spinning axe as it tore through the air. Gor’kes barely managed to raise his greatsword in time. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The impact detonated.

A violent mana storm erupted as steel met steel. And Gor’kes was flung backward, his boots tearing into the soil, while Pella’s axe was deflected and buried itself deep into the ground.

Pella moved to retrieve it—

—but another arrow slammed down in front of him, stopping him cold.

"Holy shi—... I shouldn’t swear, khm!"

He glanced up at Kui’ri, narrowing his eyes.

’Maybe it’s time I switch targets.’

If not for the lives hanging in the balance, the old man might have even enjoyed fighting such strong opponents.

—

Back on Gunvald’s side of the battlefield, everything had been reduced to ash.

The wall was scorched black. The air shimmered with heat. The ground below was littered with half-burned corpses—some still twitching, others fused into molten shapes.

Gunvald pressed the orc relentlessly.

His sword moved in unpredictable, chaotic patterns, forcing the fight into a stalemate. But getting close to U’rtak was nearly impossible.

You would think fire had the weakest defense.

Not here.

Not with that monster.

U’rtak blocked with his axes when needed, but more often he simply unleashed waves of searing heat the moment Gunvald approached. The air itself burned, skin blistering before contact was even made.

It didn’t matter how Gunvald attacked.

He burned.

Again.

And again.

And again.

It was like trying to strike the sun itself.

His skin was literally melting from his muscles. Flesh peeled away in strips, revealing raw, blackened tissue beneath.

One eye had already been destroyed, melted into uselessness.

And still—

That thing just laughed.

After it burned everything. Even Its own soldiers.

It was a monster.

And Gunvald refused to accept letting it live.

Lightning cracked violently around his fingers, arcs snapping and dancing as he condensed them into a dense sphere. He compressed it further and further until the air screamed under the pressure.

This time U’rtak frowned.

The power radiating from that sphere was immense.

The orc extended one arm. At the tip of his battle axe, a sphere of flames formed—small, but violently concentrated.

Gunvald scoffed internally.

That wouldn’t stop his judgment lightning.

Thinking the orc had made a mistake, he released his attack.

A continuous beam of lightning erupted from him, tearing through the battlefield.

It reached U’rtak in an instant.

Before it hit him though, the orc released his flame sphere—

—and it was obliterated immediately.

But U’rtak suddenly vanished.

Gunvald’s remaining eye widened as his instincts flared at the danger.

He reacted too late.

The orc reappeared directly beneath him, so close there was no room to dodge, no space to reposition, and no time to raise a proper defense.

A heartbeat later, a massive firestorm erupted upward.

"AARRRGGHHH!"

Gunvald screamed as the flames consumed him. His flesh burned, split, and blackened instantly, the heat searing deep into his bones.

With a desperate burst of lightning mana, Gunvald barely escaped, launching himself away from the firestorm and crashing into the wall with brutal force.

When the flames finally cleared, he was barely recognizable.

His body was charred black, smoke curling from his burned skin, and from the knees down, there was nothing left.

His legs had been burned away completely.