The Prince from Another World Wants to Save the World

Chapter 9: Reputation Work (2)

Hell.

The scene below from the hilltop was nothing short of hell.

Technically, it wasn’t a fortress but a village hastily fortified with makeshift barricades. In his desperation to defend his territory from the Necro Army, Count Elston had converted most of the villages along the border into such impromptu fortifications.

But before the overwhelming onslaught of the enemy, all resistance was meaningless.

A massive flesh monstrosity, made from corpses stitched together, smashed through the barricade in one blow.

Boom!

Once inside, skeleton soldiers quickly overwhelmed the defense forces, followed by a relentless flood of thousands of zombies that began their massacre in earnest.

Aaaaaah!

The villagers screamed as they were devoured alive by the swarm of zombies, their cries echoing just before death.

Those who survived by sheer luck tried to flee toward the back of the fortress, but it was futile.

The enemy forces were too overwhelming, and the entire village was encircled. There was no escape.

It was like watching a giant slime slowly digesting its prey within its body.

I grimaced.

I arrived earlier than any of my previous regressions, which meant I was witnessing this carnage firsthand for the first time.

Usually, by the time I showed up, the Necro Army had already razed the village, and the battle began after that.

“Your Highness! Please fall back! The enemy is advancing toward us!”

Behind me, Durron, the commander, was racing toward me on his horse, shouting urgently.

“You’ve gone too far ahead! We will handle the battle, Your Highness! Please retreat to safety; we don’t have much time!”

Sure enough, a portion of the Necro Army had spotted us, and they were now surging toward us with terrifying speed—skeleton warriors, zombies, and grotesque undead monsters I didn’t even want to describe.

Any ordinary person seeing them would feel their heart pound in terror. But I was long past that point.

I’d faced far worse—at one point, I’d even commanded an undead army myself as a necromancer. Compared to the horrors of the Otherworld’s creatures, this was child’s play.

But what really quickened my pulse were the living people still inside the village.

I had to save them!

Every life would be crucial in the long fight against the invasions, especially when the fifth wave hit. I couldn’t afford to lose these people.

With that thought, I spurred my horse forward.

“Hyah!”

Durron’s voice rang out in panic as I charged ahead.

“No! Your Highness! Dammit! All units, charge! Protect the prince!”

But no one could catch up to me.

I was too light, and I wasn’t weighed down by heavy armor like the others.

* * *

“All units, charge! Protect the prince!”

Durron spurred his horse forward with all his might, trying to catch up to Prince Claude.

But no matter how hard he pushed his horse, he couldn’t close the distance. The horse carrying the prince galloped like the wind, as if it were unburdened.

‘What the hell is he thinking, charging ahead without armor!’

Durron had assumed the prince would retreat once he saw the enemy.

But instead of retreating, the prince did the opposite—he charged forward like a madman.

‘I thought he was more rational after talking to him these past days… but maybe he is the reckless fool everyone says he is?’

Even so, there was something stirring in Durron’s heart.

Sure, it might be youthful bravado or ignorance, but here was one of the highest-ranking members of the imperial family, charging headlong toward the enemy instead of running away.

How could a loyal servant of the empire not feel a surge of pride seeing that?

Still, Durron pressed forward with all his might, leading the knights to protect the prince from getting isolated in the enemy’s ranks.

Yet there was something unusual about the prince’s path.

‘He’s heading toward the fortress, avoiding direct engagement with the approaching enemy units. Why would he—?’

As a result, the initial clash with the undead forces was delayed, but if this continued, the prince would find himself trapped between the enemy’s main force and their vanguard.

‘Is he planning to break through the encirclement and enter the fortress? Does he think he’s a Knight Master?’

Not only was the prince far from being a Knight Master, but his frail body couldn’t even handle basic armor. There wasn’t even a suit of armor that fit his size.

Just then, Durron noticed a knight accelerating to catch up with the prince.

“Hey, you! Protect the prince at all costs! Buy us time until the main force arrives!”

The knight didn’t respond, simply continuing their pursuit of the prince. But before they could catch up, the prince was already about to collide with the main force of the Necro Army surrounding the village.

“Damn it!”

Meanwhile, the Imperial Guardian Knights were being delayed by a detachment of undead forces, forcing them to slow down.

‘Damn it all. This knight order is too weak. And I… I’m no better.’

Durron was torn. Should he lead the reserve force to protect the prince, or should he stay and command the knights to fight off the enemy detachment?

‘If I choose the prince, the knights will suffer heavy losses. But if I choose the knights, the prince will surely die. What should I—?’

But before Durron could make his decision, something incredible happened.

The prince, surrounded by the enemy, began to glow.

* * *

Turn Undead.

One of the most powerful spells of divine magic—a High-Holy Spell.

In terms of power and prestige, it was on a higher tier than even the Tempest spell of normal magic.

Tempest could be used by any Archmage as a prerequisite for reaching that rank, but Turn Undead was different. Even an Archpriest couldn’t wield this spell without extraordinary faith and dedication.

Turn Undead was said to require at least 60 years of devout training for a cleric to cast.

When I first came across this description in ancient temple records during my fourth regression, I made it my goal to revive this lost spell.

Sixty years was a daunting amount of time for most people—possibly their entire lives.

But for me, a man who could repeat his life endlessly, it was a challenge worth taking on.

To cast the High-Holy Spell, one had to have unwavering faith in the divine and be able to mentally connect with and visualize their deity clearly.

This was no problem for me. I had a personal rapport with Roa, the God of Time and Fate. I could feel and connect with him better than anyone.

So, with that confidence, I managed to perfect Turn Undead by the end of my ninth regression.

Though, unfortunately, the spell was useless against the forces of the Otherworld—since they weren’t undead—but it didn’t matter.

All my effort was for this very moment in my final regression.

Turn Undead.

As the spell activated, everything in front of me was bathed in radiant light.

The massive skeleton soldiers surrounding the village.

The zombies and ghouls, tearing apart human flesh, whether the person was alive or dead—it didn’t matter.

Everything that was undead, everything that defied the natural order of life and death, was consumed by the light.

The light negated their very existence.

Unable to resist the divine radiance, the undead simply crumbled, returning to the earth as if they had never been.

There was no explosion, no scream, no cries of agony.

In an instant, the battle was over.

I glanced around. The enemy forces that had clashed with the knights were also gone. In the distance, I saw Durron standing frozen, sword in hand, his face pale in shock.

This was why I had charged straight into the heart of the enemy.

Turn Undead was a death sentence for all undead, but its effect was limited by range. The closer I got to the enemy’s main force, the more effective it would be.

Ugh…

But now my legs were giving out, and I staggered as exhaustion hit me.

“Your Highness!”

Meredith, who had finally caught up, leaped off her horse and rushed toward me. I barely managed to steady myself as I urged my horse toward the heart of the village.

“Meredith! It’s dangerous! Stay back!”

“What just happened, Your Highness? Was that your doing?”

To my surprise, Meredith was keeping pace with me on foot, despite wearing armor for the first time. How was she even managing this?

“I… I don’t know.”

“That light… it came from you, didn’t it?”

“Yeah… I guess it did. But I’m not sure how.”

“What?”

Now comes the pre-prepared speech. I’d have to repeat this explanation a lot once we got back to the palace.

“When I saw the horror unfolding before me, something just… welled up inside me. And then, the light burst forth.”

I made sure to put on an expression of awe, like someone who had just witnessed a miracle.

Inside her helmet, Meredith blinked, but before she could respond, she suddenly pointed ahead.

“Your Highness! There are survivors!”

There were villagers scattered throughout the fortress, many of them barely clinging to life after being attacked by the zombie horde.

“Your Highness!”

Durron and the knights finally arrived, entering the village. I stopped my horse and shouted at him.

“There are still survivors in the village! We need to gather the wounded and treat them immediately before they die!”

“Yes, but… We were deployed in such haste that we don’t have any clerics in our

unit.”

“What?”

“We can provide basic first aid, but for the severely wounded…”

Damn it! I had forgotten. Our forces lacked clerics because that was part of Jess’ plan to make me fail.

What should I do now?

“…Then bring them to me!”

This wasn’t part of the original plan, but there was no other option. I jumped off my horse and rushed toward a man who had been severely injured, his arms gnawed by the undead.

“I can heal them! Bring all the critically injured to me!”

Raising my left hand, I summoned a translucent light and pressed it against the man’s wounds.

“Grk, aaagh!”

Healing. And Anti-Poison.

Immediately, the bleeding stopped, the torn flesh began to mend, and the undead toxin was cleansed from his body.

Durron, who had been watching in shock, snapped out of it and immediately straightened up, barking out orders.

“All units, listen up! Search the village for survivors and assess their injuries! Move the critically wounded here immediately! We must save as many villagers as possible! Go!”

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