The mace Reckless tried not to let go of no matter what was on the ground, his arms full of strength swung in the void, and the bodies of the two warriors were a handspan apart. Maintaining his cool in the face of the enemy's hasty actions, the Leader of the Nameless Ten hadn't hesitated to deliver the finishing blow the moment he found the opportunity.
It was no coincidence that after a week spent as a newborn orc, thanks to his success, he was taken from his tribe, brought to the Orc Military Academy, and put in charge of a special tactical squad, standing out among thousands of his compatriots.
Perhaps he had panicked and made a mess of things in his first real life-or-death situation in Hueso's cave, but even there, the bravery he showed for his team to escape was not to be underestimated. Against him, a human whose soul was crushed, character bent, and who had become someone's captive had no chance.
The orcs watching the outcome of the final battle continuing from the walls of the Balsici Castle undoubtedly thought so too, until they saw two hands trying to lie lifelessly on the dirt quickly reach for the Leader of the Nameless Ten's throat and grab his neck.
"Did you think I would die because you tore my flesh, you wretched orc? Now you've fallen into my hands, let's see where you will escape?"
Reckless managed to catch his opponent by doing exactly what was expected of him. When his panicked attacks yielded no result, he managed to reach the conclusion by sacrificing his flesh, his blood, and his life.
He didn't have his own weapon, even if his body said otherwise he had received a severe wound, but he too was managing to catch his opponent by disarming him. If the Leader of the Nameless Ten wanted to take his sword back, he needed space to pull it back, and Reckless's arms, supported by veins swollen to the point of bursting, wouldn't allow this.
"You were laughing showing your two big front teeth, come on, keep doing it!"
The orc warrior couldn't breathe comfortably because of his neck grabbed by claw-like hands, and every moment the amount of blood going to his brain was decreasing a little more. He was at a dead end; the superiority he gained by staying calm no longer meant anything. If he couldn't find a new method, not long, within thirty breaths at most, his dead body would mix into the soil of a foreign continent.
The amount of air circulating in his body had decreased, but despite this, taking a deep breath and blowing it into the enemy's face, the orc warrior fixed his gaze into Reckless's eyes.
"These are futile efforts; first I will kill you, then General Alina will kill everyone behind you one by one!"
Despite the blood flowing in streams, the strange human, whose strength increased moment by moment, aimed to break his psychological resistance by shouting and putting pressure on him. If he bent his soul as was once done to him, the victory was his.
"Who do you think you're talking to?"
Reckless might have sent hundreds, thousands of enemies to the cold deserts of death with this fighting style, but he hadn't known this orc, who placed his hands pulled from his sword onto his neck, before. The Leader of the Nameless Ten grabbed Reckless's thick neck with his bare hands, just like his enemy, and started squeezing with all his might.
"Very good, very good! Let's see which of us will die first!"
Reckless lost himself; walking on the thin line separating life and death, it was obvious he wasn't afraid to fall down into hell. He increased his pressure on the Leader of the Nameless Ten, his fingers sank into the green skin, and it was almost impossible for someone looking from the outside to see them. Despite this, the orc warrior resisted, and even though he didn't speak, the determined look in his eyes hadn't changed.
Thirty seconds had passed since the two warriors grabbed each other's necks. There was a minute and a half left before the deadline General Alina gave expired; aware of this, Reckless motivated himself by roaring and directed all his strength to his arms, but nothing changed. Even if he squeezed with all his might, the orc warrior's neck was in place, and time flowed like water.
"Die man, die! Why don't you die?"
Reckless started cursing; this was the last thing he could do against the enemy he couldn't bring to his knees with neither physical strength nor psychological pressure, but the Leader of the Nameless Ten would have an answer to these words.
"You might have broken delicate necks with these hands, but I am not like them!"
The subsequent sound of bone breaking and flesh tearing was heard only by the orc warrior. Everyone was watching Reckless falling to the ground after his neck bent shapelessly. They had seen the final scene very clearly, but they couldn't discern that the pupils of their warrior, the Leader of the Nameless Ten, slowly turned from red to brown.
The Orc Warrior had momentarily used an ability from among the Blood Techniques that would increase his strength, and managed to finish off the enemy without revealing his identity. Freeing himself from the captivity of the hands sliding along his body, he first looked at the enemy lines; seeing no sign of an attack, he observed the condition of the other two orc warriors, and after seeing everything was in place, he raised his right hand, clenched into a fist, into the air and greeted his compatriots on the walls.
The faces of the command echelon were smiling, their subordinates were shouting cries of victory. When the untimely struggle resulted in the absolute victory of the Balsici Castle forces, the human soldiers, who had been crushed under the siege all this time, didn't hesitate to join them.
"Return to the castle!"
Amidst all this noise, Bookworm made his voice heard to his three warriors standing in front of the walls; the others could celebrate, but he had to first think about the safety of the orcs he sent to the front. If General Alina didn't take action despite her three captives dying, it meant she either spoke emptily or was waiting for the deadline she gave to expire. While there was still a minute left, they had to open the castle gate and take them inside, otherwise it could be too late for everything.
The iron gate slowly rose, but this time it didn't open enough for even a human to comfortably pass through. The orc warriors could pass underneath it almost by kneeling, and right after, the heavy gate descended rapidly. When they entered, Michelangelo welcomed them; after pointing to the walls with his arms possessing the same color as the darkness of the night, he placed his hand into the recess designed exactly for it.
"Full lockdown!"
Each of the round metal pieces that came out of the holes in the walls and embedded themselves into the recesses on the inside of the iron gate was the size of a ten-year-old child. Extending as four pieces from both sides, and two from top and bottom, when the iron bars settled into their places in the round mechanism in the middle of the gate, a sound came out that could easily be heard even from kilometers away.
"Mr. Dimitri and my orc friends, my apprentice has sealed the castle gate! Our defense systems are active at full power, and our new generation attack weapons are ready to fire at any moment! Is there anything else you want us to do?"
Master Leonardo listed all preparations in a single breath thirty seconds before the given deadline expired. The old wolf was guessing what was to come and had fulfilled all the responsibilities that fell to him.
"As I said before, under normal circumstances, we have provisions for a year. We have power crystals that will provide the energy needed for the shields protecting the castle for days, even months. Even if a General comes, this castle, the last property of the Balsici Family, will resist her to the end!"
The two sides, who had already managed this for months, had said their final words. It was the turn of the orcs, who came as saviors and managed to reverse the wind since setting foot in the castle. Gazes turned to Alyon, but the imposing orc didn't speak; throwing his left hand onto his son's shoulder right beside him, he struck the stone floor with the handle of his axe that appeared in his right hand.
The message was clear; he was saying, you are the one who will manage this battle, and it falls to you to speak. Bookworm wasn't surprised, but he wasn't worried about his father like before either. Orc Chief Alyon wanted to fight, and how could Bookworm, who had wanted to see this for a long time, miss this opportunity?
"First we will wait, I want to feel the might of the enemy's greatest attack power!"