The 5th and 6th corps of the Artrode army were dealt with by Yulian.
The 9th and 10th corps, moving separately, were destroyed by Tenant and Parniel, leading half of the Lutania Army.
And the 7th and 8th corps, which had launched an early attack on the allied forces, were—just as Count Bipenbelt had suspected—confronted by the remaining half of the Lutania army under Claude's command.
This freed Ghislain to move independently and ambush the Artrode 4th and 2nd corps.
The 7th and 8th corps, positioned in close proximity to one another, joined forces to battle the Lutania Army.
However, they struggled to prevail against the opposition.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Gillian's axe relentlessly battered the priests.
Two priests tried to engage him, but he didn't back down—not even an inch. Instead, he overpowered them.
"Oh, Goddess!"
Behind him, Piote poured out a steady stream of holy power.
Sizzle!
"Urgh!"
The priests were unable to harness their full strength due to the oppressive holy power suffusing the area.
Their energy waned, and their bodies burned under the relentless pressure of Piote's holy power.
Caught in this state, they couldn't avoid being overpowered by Gillian.
Besides Piote, there was another figure causing the priests trouble.
"Odd!"
Thwack!
"Even!"
Thunk! Thwack!
A figure stood at a distance, using magic to hurl stones at them. Stones emerged from his sleeves and flew with incredible speed.
Battling a superhuman opponent while holy power sapped their strength, the priests found the flying stones, while not overly powerful, incredibly distracting.
"You bastard!"
Eventually, one of the priests broke away, intending to deal with the mage. But his back was struck by Gillian's axe.
Crunch!
"Argh!"
The priests were driven to madness. Divided focus, coupled with bodies weakened by holy power, rendered them unable to fight effectively.
"Odd! Even! Odd! Odd!"
The stone-throwing figure was Alpoi. He'd realized just how effective his seemingly playful magic could be in battle.
Maintaining focus was critical when fighting superhuman opponents, and Alpoi's magic was the perfect distraction.
However, Alpoi couldn't match the speed of these superhumans. All he could do was launch stones at whoever was fighting nearby.
Unfortunately, his attacks didn't discriminate.
"Odd!"
Thwack!
Gillian, fully immersed in battle, suddenly took a stone to the head. Scowling, he turned to glare at Alpoi.
It wasn't a dangerous attack, but it was certainly irritating.
"…."
"S-Sorry."
Caught in an awkward silence, Alpoi quickly retreated to help someone else.
Meanwhile, the priests were already on their last legs.
The combined result of Gillian's technique, Piote's holy power, and Alpoi's relentless distractions left them utterly worn down.
Crunch!
"Urgh…."
In the end, the priests fell, their throats severed by Gillian's axe.
The two priests on the other flank fared no better.
There, they faced Belinda, who had inherited Annette's secret technique.
Whirl!
Dozens of daggers circled around Belinda, enclosing the priests in a deadly formation. Each dagger emanated an aura blade.
"What… What is this?"
The trapped priest blinked in disbelief.
Daggers floated mid-air, each radiating an aura blade.
How was one supposed to counter such an attack?
In truth, there was no need to counter it—the daggers acted on their own, mercilessly cutting down the priest.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
"Arghhh!"
The priest screamed, feeling as if dozens of knights were slashing him from all sides.
No matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape. Though strong, his lack of skill meant he had no way to counter Belinda's precise technique.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The daggers relentlessly pursued the priest, slicing him apart. Despite the priest's desperate attempts to unleash his power and repel them, the daggers wouldn't be shaken off.
Belinda's teacher, Annette, the Shadow Knight leader, had been the strongest figure in Lutania.
Her techniques, passed down to Belinda, were immensely powerful in their own right.
"Urgh…."
The priest, trapped in the cage of daggers, bled profusely, unable to escape. Eventually, he collapsed and died.
Belinda, having easily dealt with one priest, turned her gaze to another part of the battlefield.
There, Kaor and a group of knights were ganging up on a priest.
Watching the chaotic brawl, Belinda shook her head.
"I told them to leave it to me."
Kaor had insisted on taking down one priest himself, adamantly declaring that this time, he would surpass his limits.
Yet the man who vowed to surpass his limits looked more like a street thug leading a gang in a back-alley fight.
"You brutes!"
The priest, overwhelmed by the sheer number of knights, was flustered.
Their equipment was so durable that no matter how hard he struck, they wouldn't fall. He'd heard rumors of magic armor used by Fenris soldiers, but he hadn't expected it to be this tough.
Moreover, as soon as one knight was injured, another stepped in to take his place. At this rate, the priest feared he'd exhaust himself first.
In fact, Kaor and his knights had previously used this method to take down another priest.
Now more experienced and stronger than before, they pressed their attack.
At the forefront, Kaor bellowed, "Come on, push harder! Fall back when I say! Once he's tired, I'll go one-on-one! I'm breaking my limit today!"
Kaor hadn't forgotten the day he'd accidentally unleashed his aura blade. He believed that if he kept pummeling this superhuman opponent, it would somehow happen again.
Not that he was foolish enough to fight one-on-one from the start—he knew that could get him killed. Instead, he planned to wear down his opponent before stepping in for the final blow.
It was, essentially, a shortcut to surpassing his limits.
Belinda clicked her tongue as she watched.
"He's not breaking any limits today."
Kaor loved to fight, but he loved to play even more.
Coupled with his tendency to seek shortcuts, it was no wonder he consistently failed to achieve any lasting breakthrough.
"Charge!"
With the priests occupied, the remaining Artrode forces were left to face the relentless Lutania army.
Ping! Ting! Clang!
"Our weapons can't penetrate their armor!"
At the frontlines stood Fenris soldiers recently integrated into the army before the campaign. All of them were clad in Galbanium armor, just like the mobile army.
Given the inferior equipment of the allied kingdoms, it made sense to position the Fenris soldiers at the vanguard.
Their overwhelming defense allowed them to steadily push back the Artrode forces.
Only the Artrode mages managed to hold their ground, barely maintaining a stalemate with the Lutania army's magic division. The fact that Vanessa and other high-level mages were spread across multiple fronts was the only reason this was possible.
And among them was someone who had resolved to fight for the first time.
"I'm going to fight too!"
"Princess, it's dangerous. Besides, this is war—you'll have to kill people."
Princess Elena, holding a massive warhammer, tried to step forward, but the commander of her escort knights, Skovan, blocked her path.
So far, Elena had only fought against monsters, never against people.
While others had shielded her from such experiences, she had also chosen to avoid them.
However, through the course of this war, she had begun to understand something.
"I'm a princess! If I don't step forward and fight, who will follow me? Who will I protect?"
"Princess… Please."
Skovan groaned inwardly. Why didn't either of these siblings ever listen?
Ricardo, now a knight of honor and Skovan's adjutant, also looked distressed.
"If you get hurt, we'll all be in big trouble!"
This wasn't the same as fighting rifts or monsters. They were facing humans—intelligent beings who could exploit any weakness.
Elena might face a skilled knight aiming for her life or an assassin in the chaos. Skovan didn't want her anywhere near the battlefield.
"Can't you just observe from a safe distance?"
Traditionally, a princess's role was to serve as a beautiful figurehead, representing the royal family's grace.
But Elena, having grown up amidst the harsh winds of the north, had no intention of living such a life.
For the people of Perdium, battle was both their destiny and their way of life. Elena had inherited that spirit.
With fiery determination, Elena declared, "I've learned something from my father."
"…And what is that?"
"That to protect people, you must never avoid danger. So I'm going."
Elena hefted her warhammer and charged forward.
Rachel shot Skovan a wry smile before following after Elena.
Watching them leave, Skovan sighed deeply.
"Let's go after them."
"Ugh… Whether it's the brother or the sister…"
"Don't overthink it. Just consider it one more reckless person to manage."
With a deep sigh, Elena's escort knights moved swiftly to follow her.
"Whew, whew…"
Facing the enemy soldiers, Elena took deep breaths. The Lutania forces had already gained the upper hand, so the immediate danger was minimal.
But stepping into the battle herself was a different matter. Smashing people with a hammer was far from easy.
'I can do this. I can do this,' she told herself, raising her hammer high.
Yet even as an enemy soldier charged at her, she couldn't bring herself to swing it down.
"Die!"
The ferocity of the soldier's charge, radiating malicious intent, made her flinch instead.
This wasn't like fighting monsters. The chaotic frenzy of the battlefield was overwhelming, even for her.
Her body froze instinctively. Smashing a human into a pulp wasn't something she could easily bring herself to do.
Slash!
Rachel quickly approached from the side, cutting down the enemy soldier. Having already experienced the fear of death during her illness, she adapted quickly to such situations.
Skovan came up to Elena and spoke firmly.
"Princess, please withdraw. Leave this to us."
"Tsk…"
Elena clenched her teeth. Everyone else was fighting so fiercely, and here she was, paralyzed by fear.
Even Rachel moved so boldly.
"I can do this too!"
Determined not to be outdone, she clung stubbornly to her resolve.
Though the Lutania forces were overwhelming the enemy, there were still casualties. Soldiers from the kingdoms lacked the Galbanium armor worn by the Fenris troops.
'If I fight, I can protect at least one more person!'
Searching for a way to steel herself, Elena imagined the faces of her enemies turning into Ghislain's.
'That one's my oppa… No, wait, that's kind of weird.'
Thinking of her annoying brother made it a bit easier to swing, but killing even a mental image of him felt slightly wrong.
"Ugh, fine, just go for it!"
Shoving aside her thoughts, she closed her eyes and charged forward.
"Yaaaahhh!"
She leapt into a group of enemy soldiers and swung her hammer down with all her might.
BOOM!
"..."
For a moment, silence enveloped the battlefield.
A massive crater appeared where her hammer had struck, and enemy soldiers stumbled backward in shock.
That single swing had killed several of them outright.
"Huff! Huff!"
Elena panted heavily, her face flushed. Her heart felt like it was going to explode.
Seeing the flattened remains of her enemies, a wave of nausea hit her.
But she clenched her teeth and forced it down. At this point, there was no going back—she'd made her choice.
The first was hard, but the second wouldn't be.
Now, all that was left was to charge ahead.
"Yaaaahhh!"
With her eyes tightly shut, she charged forward again, swinging her hammer wildly. Rachel ran beside her, keeping pace and providing support.
Skovan and Ricardo hurriedly followed after her.
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
Elena charged like a raging bull, carving a path through the enemy lines.
"Aaahhh!"
"It's a monster! A monster has appeared!"
"Stop her! Stop her!"
The Artrode soldiers panicked and retreated.
The more skilled fighters were already occupied with others—or dead. Ordinary soldiers couldn't stand against Elena's brute strength.
As the path she cleared grew wider, the Lutania forces erupted into cheers.
"Waaaaahhh!"
"As expected of the Princess!"
"Princess of Destruction! Princess of Destruction!"
A princess fighting at the very frontlines, wielding overwhelming destructive power—it was an inspiring sight.
Already on the verge of victory, the morale of the Lutania forces surged to unprecedented heights.
"Follow the Princess! Crush the enemies!"
The soldiers rallied behind Elena, unified in purpose, as they surged forward.
Everyone was playing their part.
Kane, the debtor; Max, the troubleshooter; the Dougley squad, who joined by sheer coincidence; and others who had joined the Lutania forces for various reasons.
Each did their duty to the best of their ability, and as a result, the battle tilted decisively in their favor.
With overwhelming strength, they ultimately annihilated the Artrode forces. The enemy commanders were captured as prisoners of war.
Thus, the battle came to an end. Or so everyone thought.
Because there's always someone bound to cause trouble.
"Hey! Step aside! I'll take him one-on-one now."
The battle was over, and the Lutania forces had won. But one priest from the Artrode army was still alive.
Beaten and covered in wounds, the priest gasped for air.
No less exhausted, Kaor shouted for everyone to step back, forcing them to give him space.
Reluctantly, they obliged, leaving Kaor and the priest surrounded by the Lutania forces.
Kaor lifted his head and took a deep breath.
"Phew, so this is how the Lord must feel."
Ghislain had fought many one-on-one duels, always with a crowd watching.
Kaor found the experience deeply satisfying. He believed everyone was looking at him with awe and admiration.
In truth, they were gazing with barely concealed disdain, but Kaor didn't notice.
Pointing his sword at the wounded priest, Kaor smirked.
"Let's settle this between us. If you win, I'll let you go."
It was finally time to surpass his limits. The injured priest would be a perfect stepping stone.
Kaor grinned arrogantly, while those around him frowned at the needless proposition.
[T/L: I need your support, dear readers. I will give discount to all those who will buy the rest of the chapters all together, so please support me the reader on my webnovel platform and read ahead chapters on my ko-fi page "RevengerScans" : https://ko-fi.com/revengerscans ]