"Miraculous Kid, do you think you can fight me? Behind you, I don't see a single soldier!" King Lionheart laughed heartily.

"Even if not now, there will be later," Rody said calmly with a smile. "Your Majesty King Lionheart, behind you, I only see a group of soldiers about to burst from excessive frenzy. Do you really think you can fight me?"

"Faced with a vast defeated army, even a fool knows to pursue the victory," King Lionheart said, looking down at Rody from a high position.

"Faced with soldiers about to reignite their fighting spirit, a wise man knows what to do... Soldiers, if you don't want the orcs to tear your bodies apart, kill your parents, or devour your wives and children, then quickly pick up your weapons and stand behind me," Rody's voice once again thundered, stirring some soldiers of the Sanctum Alliance, but the sight of King Lionheart and the thousands of frenzied, savage orcs scared them into inaction, with none daring to step forward.

"Yes, Marshal," responded only the red-haired Sael and the Ice Demon Gao, supporting Rody.

"Ha ha ha ha..." King Lionheart laughed endlessly, saying, "Very good, I like this situation. Miraculous Kid, tell me, with just three people, how do you plan to protect hundreds of thousands of cowards? Ha ha ha!"

"With our three lives!" Rody's voice remained calm, but everyone could sense the hidden sorrow.

He never abandoned anyone. Even when the Sanctum Alliance declared him an unwelcome person, he still came. He was absent from the victory feast, but in this moment of human defeat, he came alone, calling everyone to take up arms and fight bravely. Yet no one listened to him, no one... He would never abandon the soldiers, but they abandoned him, for their selfish lives, for a fleeting existence in this world. Hundreds of thousands of Alliance soldiers left him standing alone before thousands of frenzied orcs.

Only the red-haired Sael, who captured the fifth orc marshal Colincha, and the Ice Demon Gao, two young men from Rody's city, resolutely stood behind him.

Under the attack of King Lionheart and thousands of frenzied orcs, these three young men, though the proudest elites of humanity, likely wouldn't survive.

Were hundreds of thousands of soldiers expecting these three young men to shield them from the orcs, only to shamelessly flee for their lives?

King Lionheart's incessant laughter pierced people's hearts like a sharp knife.

Many felt their faces burn, as if invisible hands had slapped them repeatedly, the pain reaching deep into their souls. They seemed to see their hearts bleeding, not from others' wounds, but from the sword of shame they had inflicted upon themselves.

"Damn it, all these soldiers should be killed!" King Norn, like an angry old lion, cursed inwardly.

"The Sanctum Fortress is close to collapsing..." Emperor Adrugsith sat on his throne in the palace, holding a cup of grape wine, sighing to himself. Beside him sat the beautiful queen, smiling, a hidden Fear Demoness among humans. Seeing the scene, she turned to ask Emperor Adrugsith, "All the human soldiers are trembling. Do you think anyone will respond to the Miraculous Kid?"

"I don't know about the Miraculous Kid; he has too much leadership charisma, a natural commander!" Emperor Adrugsith pondered and shook his head gently, "If it were me standing there, certainly no one would support, but with the Miraculous Kid, it's hard to say. However, even if some respond to his call, it's useless. The courage of human soldiers has been completely shattered by the orcs."

"The real war is about to begin, and I quite like this prologue," said the beautiful queen, nodding and elegantly picking up her wine glass to drink with her husband.

Below the Sanctum Fortress, hundreds of thousands of defeated soldiers trembled in fear.

Not a single one dared to respond to Rody's call and follow him to fight the orcs.

Even in their retreat, a few continued to flee, seizing the moment of confusion to desperately run towards the gates of the Sanctum Fortress. These were mostly soldiers from the Temple's army and those of Gare, their retreat causing even more panic, with more and more people uncontrollably fleeing backwards.

In the midst of King Lionheart's laughter, the frenzied orc army steadily advanced. There were few soldiers who could stop their feet from running away. A long line of routed troops formed, with the air force and cavalry fleeing the fastest, followed by mages and nimble archers, while the heavily armored infantry began to discard their shields and strip off their armor in a disheveled escape. Those who remained at the rear were slave legions armed with wooden spears and rusty swords. Although they too yearned to flee, their low status forced them to stay behind, as obstructing the knights' escape route would mean certain death upon return.

The closest to Rody and his companions were the war correspondents from various countries, capturing these desolate scenes with tears in their eyes.

"Miraculous Kid, where are your soldiers?" King Lionheart approached Rody, grabbed him by the shirt, and demanded, "A human commander without a single soldier, what will you use to fight me?"

"They will come, I believe in them," Rody's voice was soft, but amplified by magic, it was heard by everyone.

Even until this moment, he was willing to believe in his soldiers.

King Lionheart was about to kill him, but Rody remained steadfast in his belief in the soldiers who had already abandoned him.

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"Let go of our Marshal, Your Majesty King Lionheart. He still has us, we are his soldiers!" Red-haired Sael and Ice Demon Gao stepped forward together, glaring at the towering King Lionheart and shouted with suppressed anger.

"Just you two?" King Lionheart, the Orc Axe Saint, roared and with a casual strike, was about to send them flying.

King Lionheart's giant fist shook the earth. In front of the invincible Saint-level powerhouse, red-haired Sael and Ice Demon Gao were injured with one blow, thrown dozens of meters away, but they struggled up from the mud and steadfastly returned to Rody's side. King Lionheart raised his fist, intending to throw another punch to kill Sael and Gao.

A seemingly delicate hand gently stopped King Lionheart's giant fist.

"Your Majesty King Lionheart, your opponent is me." Rody's hand touched King Lionheart's giant fist, and his whole body shook. A massive shockwave spread rapidly behind him, tearing the ground like a spider's web, extending hundreds of meters to the fleeing soldiers. Rody took a punch, his complexion turned even paler, his lips lost all color, but his eyes remained as bright as the stars.

"How many punches can you take from me? With just you and two soldiers, can you stop my thousands of orcs?" King Lionheart roared, and dozens of orc Axe Kings and Barbarian Witch Kings lined up. With a combined strike from these powerful beings, Sael and Gao would be reduced to dust.

"He has more than two soldiers... he has me." Chris descended from the sky, his body covered in blood, a stark contrast to his usual cleanliness.

"And us too!" Silver-haired Tommy and his elite squad arrived, each of them severely wounded, clearly having arrived after a fierce battle. It was hard to imagine what kind of battle had left these invincible human elites in such a state. Many who understood the situation knew it must have been the demons' doing.

If Rody had come to rescue Sanctum, then Chris must have been defending Rody's city. The demons would certainly take advantage of the orcs' victory over humans to launch a fierce attack. Without the demons' powerful assault, the elite squad would not have been so grievously injured.

"Foolish! With just over a hundred people against thousands of orcs, they shouldn't have come. Rody shouldn't have brought them to save those damned soldiers; let the orcs eat them! I don't care, but these are the most outstanding and excellent young people of humanity. If King Lionheart kills them, it's an irreplaceable loss for mankind, and it infuriates me! King Lionheart, you bastard, I'm going to fight you to the death!" King Norn wished he could immediately rush to Sanctum Fortress, but the teleportation portal was jammed with generals and knights fleeing from various countries, making it impossible to connect and receive transports.

"The demons and centaur legions that tried to intercept were defeated by the elite squad? Rody's subordinates are truly formidable!" the beautiful queen exclaimed in admiration.

"Without half a million demons, it would be impossible to take down Rody's city. However, with just two hundred thousand, we can force them to stay on the defensive. We don't need to take down Rody's city, nor do we need to kill the Miraculous Kid Rody. We just need a little bit of time. Ha, the centaur army sent by the angels really did us a huge favor," Emperor Adrugsith said with a nod and a smile.

Beneath the Sanctum Fortress, most of the human soldiers had already fled inside the fortress. Those who hadn't escaped were either the slave legions or the lowest-ranking infantry. They desperately retreated but occasionally scattered to dodge the trampling of the heavy cavalry. The ground was covered in a thick layer of bloody mud, composed of the bodies of soldiers trampled to death.

After the last of the heavy cavalry entered the city, the generals on the city walls, indifferent to the nearly one hundred thousand slave legions, infantry, and logistics troops below, ruthlessly ordered the city gates to be closed and the drawbridge raised to prevent the orcs from entering and capturing the Sanctum Fortress. The despairing human soldiers cried out in agony. Some clung desperately to the gates and the edges of the drawbridge, only to be mercilessly shot down by archers on the walls.

Countless people slipped into the moat from the drawbridge, screaming for help. Many more cried out in pain, begging for the drawbridge to be lowered and the gates opened, but as soon as they approached, they were met with a barrage of arrows.

The ugliness, selfishness, and ruthlessness of humanity were laid bare in this moment.

"Ha ha ha, Miraculous Kid, is this the result you wanted? Are these the soldiers you believed in? Ha ha ha, why don't you turn around and look? Why don't you listen with your ears? What are they doing? Killing each other! This is the humanity you've always protected! You humans think you are civilized, especially the noble knights, acting polite and graceful as if it’s the only way to express their hypocrisy. Look! Miraculous Kid Rody, look at everything behind you, this is the behavior of noble knights! You sacrifice your life to protect them, but they, in turn, survive to continue killing others!" King Lionheart's words pierced like needles into the hearts of all the onlookers in the rear, causing them to involuntarily shed painful tears.

These tears were shed for one person – Rody.

Everything he did was to protect others, but those he protected abandoned him and used his protection to commit acts that shamed and pained all of humanity. The proudest Miraculous Kid of humanity, mocked mercilessly by the orc emperor, left people crying without tears...

If the enemy's shameful actions weren't facts, people could ignore them, could be angry.

But the enemy's mockery was based on naked, bloody facts. How could people not be heartbroken, how could they not cry out in pain for the Miraculous Kid Rody?

"Some of them are like that, but not all. I believe there are humans worth protecting. I believe in them!" Rody said firmly.

Even at this moment, he still held on, still didn't give up, still willing to believe in those human soldiers who abandoned him.

For a time, the onlookers in the rear were so moved they knelt down. Mothers opened their arms, wanting to embrace this son of humanity. Men clenched their fists, wishing to rush into the screen to support him, to let him know that not everyone has forsaken him, that not all of humanity has abandoned him... Kings angrily smashed everything in their palaces, women shrieked sharply, and students waved their fists excitedly.

"Sanctum Alliance bastards, pick up your weapons, go support Rody!"

"Go, go support the Miraculous Kid right now!"

"Damn these parasites, I'm going to kill them!"

A wave of anger swept across the continent, but it was to no avail. Their voices couldn't reach the front lines, couldn't reach the Sanctum Fortress.

King Lionheart laughed heartily, his laughter striking every human's face like a slap. In contrast, the Miraculous Kid Rody, standing unyielding in front of him, appeared so lonely and helpless... Not that no one supported him, but compared to King Lionheart with his thousands of frenzied orc army, Rody only had a little over a hundred in his elite squad. He had always had only that tiny group of supporters, only them!

"Me too!" A war correspondent threw away his magic filming device, trembling hands picking up a long sword from the ground, howling like a wounded beast. He charged out from the rear of the retreating troops, tears streaming down his face, rushing to the back of the elite squad, shouting, "I'm not a soldier, I can't fight, but I'm signing up now, I want to join you!"

"Welcome, you fool!" Silver-haired Tommy laughed heartily, pointing at the thousands of frenzied orcs ahead, "Dare you stand at the very front with me?"

"I'm a fool, what's there to fear!" The young war correspondent, trembling like a chick in a storm, followed closely behind Tommy, reaching the frontline, almost parallel with Rody, close enough to smell the stench from the orcs' breaths.

"Any more fools like this?" Tommy asked, supporting the young correspondent's trembling waist, looking back.

"Yes!" Another middle-aged correspondent threw away his magic device, not even bothering to pick up a weapon, charging forward barehanded.

"And me, and me!"

"I'm sick of living anyway. Rather than being looked down upon by you orcs, I'd rather fight you!"

"Dying alongside the Miraculous Kid is my honor!"

"I'm not a soldier, but I am a man!"

"I'm scared of dying, but I'm more scared of the world pointing at my spine and calling me a coward! I'm coming! Damn orcs, come on, come tear my chest apart!" Many war correspondents who had been to Rody's city were moved to action. Their blood boiling, they rushed out one after another, screaming towards the elite squad.

"Brothers, we can't survive anyway, might as well follow the Miraculous Kid!" Some leaders of the slave troops also responded.

"If you want to live, follow the Miraculous Kid, he can definitely defeat the orcs!" Some still had faith in Rody, though mostly to encourage themselves.

One by one, then dozens, then hundreds...

Inspired by others and Rody's unwavering stance, the war correspondents and slave legions willingly chose to die fighting with the Miraculous Kid rather than under the arrows at Sanctum Fortress. Suppressing their fear, they roared and charged towards the elite squad. This boiling blood tide of people stirred more and more soldiers to join.

Infantry, shield bearers, and logistics troops, all excitedly ran towards the Miraculous Kid Rody.

He was their hope. With him there, everyone believed they could survive.

Because he would never abandon them, always believed in them, always protected them... A large group of soldiers, crying tears, reignited their morale. Encouraged by their comrades, influenced by the elite squad resolutely fighting the orcs, and supported by that glimmer of hope in their hearts, they gritted their teeth, overcame their psychological barriers, and returned to the battlefield.

"Now, Your Majesty King Lionheart, I have a hundred thousand soldiers. Soldiers, let out a roar for the orcs to hear, let them hear the supreme fighting spirit of humanity, our powerful earth-shaking shout!" Rody raised his right hand high and swung it down.

"Kill..." A hundred thousand tearful soldiers let out a roar they had never emitted in their lifetimes, like thunder on a plain.