C779
A forest appeared. However, it was not a lush green forest, but one that was dying and turning black. The trees were charred as if swept by a storm of fire, and the underbrush had been reduced to ashes, scattered by the wind without leaving a single stem. Instead of leaves, the ground was adorned with the corpses of thousands, no, tens of thousands of monsters.
In the center of this mysterious land, which could more aptly be called a graveyard than a forest, stood only the king of the black orcs.
Just like the orc helmet Sia had worn, two horns protruded from his forehead, and his eyes, as large as a human fist, glowed with a bloody red light. His body, black as if covered in ink, was more solid than that of an ogre and seemed harder than steel.
Finally, the enormous stone sword he held in his hand was heavy enough to bring down a castle wall with a single blow.
'Is that the soul of the king?'
Raon frowned as he looked at the Green King, the master of this mental world.
'I expected him to be strong enough to transcend his species, but...'
To that point. Even at his highest estimation, Raon thought the Green King would be a mid-level Grand Master at most, but the Green King he saw in person was enveloped in an aura that would not lose even to himself. A fighting spirit that made his flesh tremble. He was a monster that truly deserved the name Orc Lord and Green King.
'Mmm...'
As Raon examined the Green King, he turned his gaze.
'Is there the presence of another soul?'
Just a moment ago, he had sensed the presence of a soul distinct from the Green King's somewhere in this world. It was clearly his sister, Sia.
'She was alive! But...'
Where is she? I can feel her presence, but I can't see her. He could clearly feel the movement of a soul somewhere in the mental world, but he couldn't pinpoint its exact location. All he could see were corpses, the burned forest, and the Green King.
'Do I have to fight after all?'
Raon sighed and approached the Green King.
"..."
The Green King, seemingly aware of his presence, slowly revealed his red eyes.
"You are..."
Just as Raon was about to place his hand on the hilt of the Heavenly Drive, ready to draw it at any moment, the Green King opened his mouth.
"The human who stopped me outside."
The Green King spoke in the common tongue of the continent, looking down. Although the words and pronunciation were archaic, they were not difficult to understand.
"Can you speak?"
Raon lowered the hand that was about to grab the Heavenly Drive and looked into the eyes of the Green King.
'Now that I think about it...'
His eyes are clear. Unlike the fierce glow within the helmet he had seen in reality, the Green King's eyes now revealed a calm and intellectual gaze. It seemed as if he were looking at a sage who had accumulated wisdom and soul, rather than an orc.
"I have been learning the human language. After fighting so much, I learned it naturally."
The Green King nodded, his pronunciation a bit strange but not problematic for understanding.
"How long has it been since my death?"
He looked around at the ash-covered forest and let out a low sigh.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know either."
Raon shook his head and sighed.
"Until recently, I didn't even know of your existence."
"I see."
The Green King murmured that it seemed so and lowered his hand.
"Judging by your pronunciation and the fragmented scenes, it seems that at least several hundred years have passed."
He looked toward the ash forest with eyes full of futility and anger.
"However, human greed seems to remain the same. No, it has worsened."
The Green King curled his lips in a sneer, as if mocking humans through Raon.
"To the point of trying to resurrect me and use me after I'm dead."
"Did you die fighting humans?"
Raon frowned as he looked at the piled corpses behind the Green King. Just as he had felt when he first saw them, this forest, the monsters, and the Green King seemed to have died at the hands of humans.
"Yes, war. An unwanted war, moreover."
The Green King nodded heavily, as if thinking about his past life.
"Due to human greed, we lost our forest, our kin, and everything. We had no choice but to go to war to survive."
He bit his lip until it bled as he looked at the blackened corpses.
"But humans set a trap for us, claiming that we attacked their villages first and then summoned troops from across the continent. In the end, my kin and I burned in the flames along with this forest."
The Green King closed his eyes at a small orc corpse that looked like a child, then exhaled a trembling sigh.
—So did you join Eden to take revenge?
Raon swallowed hard as he looked at the Green King. According to his story, it seemed that he had been resurrected to take revenge on humans.
"I did not choose."
But the Green King shook his head firmly.
"What? If you didn't choose, shouldn't you have been able to resurrect?"
As far as he knew, to create a monster's helmet or mask, one had to contact the soul and obtain its consent. It was hard to believe he had been resurrected without his consent.
"There was someone who spoke to me, but I was already tired and refused. However..."
The Green King frowned as if he did not understand.
"When I opened my eyes, I found myself in this body."
He shook his head and said he had no other choice but to remain trapped there, unable to control his own soul.
"Ah!"
Raon clapped softly with his hands.
'Is that why?'
It seemed that because the real soul of the Green King did not follow Eden, the external Green King showed a bestial appearance and was controlled by the Two-Headed Demon.
'The Fallen...'
How far will you go? To extinguish the souls of living people and even play with the souls of sadly dead monsters, he could be called a demon on par with Derus. Raon regretted not having hit him harder.
«But in this state, maybe we can talk a little.»
He did not feel goodwill from the Green King, but also no hostility. Although he was clearly on guard, it seemed he could hear information about Sia.
"There is something I want to ask you."
Raon took a step closer to the Green King and raised a finger.
"Where is the soul that was in this body?"
"I cannot say that."
The Green King shook his head with a cautious look, unlike before.
"Why not?"
"..."
He remained silent, not responding at all.
"Do you refuse to speak?"
Raon narrowed his eyes, with his hand on the hilt of the Heavenly Drive.
—Then I’ll have to ask it roughly, won’t I?
"Even then, I cannot say."
The Green King drew the stone sword stuck in the ground, his eyes filled with conviction. The sword exuded a ferocity that seemed capable of crushing this space with a single blow.
"It is your choice, so accept it."
Raon rushed toward the Green King, unsheathing the Heavenly Drive. The lightning sword technique. The sword imbued with the cold energy of Glaciar extended toward the Green King's heart. The Green King turned his stone sword upward to block the trajectory of the rapidly attacking Heavenly Drive. Their swords clashed with a thunderous sound.
Blue sparks flew as the frost imbued in the Heavenly Drive clashed head-on with the fighting spirit condensed in the stone sword.
'It's heavy.'
Raon bit his lip as he pushed back the Green King's stone sword that pressed down with its weight.
«His mental strength must be enormous.»
This mental world is a place where victory is not determined by real physical strength, but by mental power. Feeling the aura of the Green King directly, it seemed he possessed a mental strength that transcended even a Grand Master.
"But the same goes for me."
Confident that his mental strength was unsurpassable, he resonated the Fire Ring and struck the Green King's stone sword.
"Mmm..."
The Green King opened his eyes as if he couldn't believe he had been beaten. Not wanting to lose momentum, he raised an even denser fighting spirit and swung his stone sword horizontally. Their swords clashed with a penetrating sound.
Raon drew the Crimson Cut with the will to cut the stone sword. The blade burning with flames overwhelmed the stone sword and carved a single sword wound on the Green King's chest.
The Green King, as if ignoring the wound, swung his stone sword toward Raon's head without even looking at the injury. Raon raised a wall of flames over the blade of the Heavenly Drive. It was the Fire Wall, a defensive technique from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Their weapons clashed with a thunderous roar.
As soon as the Fire Wall and the stone sword collided, a curse escaped from within.
'Curse...'
It was a strong sword strike that deeply pierced the Fire Wall and bent the blade of the Heavenly Drive. The Green King's mental strength seemed to be even more formidable than he had predicted.
"The humans killed me, but my soul remained intact until the end."
The Green King pressed down with his stone sword, lifting his chin.
"Do not underestimate me."
"I never underestimated you."
Raon employed the Heavy Sky Cannon technique on the blade of the Heavenly Drive. Instead of a sword strike, a wave of heavy sword energy shot toward the Green King. The Green King drove his stone sword into the ground. It was a good decision to protect his vital points without being pushed back.
However, bright red blood gushed from his arms and legs, which the stone sword could not protect.
"Have you developed any inclination to talk now?"
Raon lowered the Heavenly Drive, looking at the bleeding Green King.
"..."
The Green King raised his stone sword again, as if he had no intention of speaking.
"I thought so."
Raon nodded, as it would have been more ridiculous for a being with such mental strength to succumb to mere injuries.
"I'm sorry, but I also have to hurry."
Raon exhaled a murky sigh. He no longer wanted to see Sylvia's tears and wanted to unite his family, so he couldn't back down either. He stomped firmly with his left foot at a right angle and unleashed the Fangs of Madness imbued with the Heavy Sky Cannon technique. A strong slash that seemed capable of crushing bones and flesh spilled forth.
Despite the crushing blow, the Green King blocked the attack head-on without emitting a single groan.
Raon clicked his tongue and positioned himself behind the Green King. The Green King, as if he had been waiting, lowered his great sword in the direction Raon was attacking. For a moment, an enormous pressure crushed his entire body, making it difficult for him to move.
'Was he holding back his strength?'
Raon advanced slightly with his right foot, employing the Gale Wind Style. He unleashed the Frost Snap, dissipating the pressure exerted by the Green King with the blue wind rising from beneath his feet. A series of silver and blue sword strikes flowed like waves, shooting toward the Green King's chest and waist.
The Green King did not dodge but instead threw his great sword to the ground.
He blocked the Frost Snap with the crust of earth that emerged from the impact of his great sword, then pushed the great sword toward his own head. Raon raised the Flame Dragon Strike against the Green King's stone sword that was pushing with force. The flames imbued in the sword technique took the form of a dragon and swept toward the king of the black orcs.
After the burning power that could even scorch the mental world passed, the figure of the Green King was revealed. Once again, he had endured the Flame Dragon Strike without retreating, remaining in the same place.
'Could it be... that he cannot move from that spot?'
The sight of the Green King fighting only from his position, without moving, was too strange.
- No, that's not important right now.
Having entered this world immediately after the war without rest, his mental strength was reaching its limit. If he couldn't overwhelm the Green King quickly, he would be the first to fall. Raon took a deep breath and readjusted his grip on the Heavenly Drive.
'I will finish this as quickly as possible.'
He aimed the celestial sword imbued with flames toward the sky. A thousand petals bloomed over the red tree that had taken root in the sword. The fragments of flames dancing in the autumn wind transformed into a storm of fire that engulfed the Green King.
"Argh!"
The Green King violently swung his stone sword to extinguish the flames enveloping him. It seemed he did not like being wrapped in flames, perhaps due to memories of his past life.
- Then I will use that to my advantage.
Raon advanced across the ashy ground and lifted the Heavenly Drive that he had tilted. Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Unification of Fire and Ice. He withdrew the flames that were being extinguished due to the Green King's stone sword, raising a wave of fire that seemed to touch the sky. The fighting spirit raised by the Green King was mercilessly shrunk by the flames of the Unification of Fire and Ice.
"Puh..."
Even the Green King, who had not emitted a single groan despite being cut by the sword and having his flesh torn, contorted his face and let out a low scream, unable to withstand the flames.
"Where is the soul of this body?"
"...I cannot say."
The Green King did not back down, as if he could not speak even in death.
"What the hell…?"
As Raon frowned, a black hole appeared in the air, and something like a blue cloud began to ripple inside it.
'Is that Wrath?'
It seemed that Wrath had caught up too late, just like when he wore the helmet of the Dragonian Rokta. It would be better to finish this quickly before that guy did something unnecessary. Raon gripped the Heavenly Drive with both hands, grinding his teeth.
The Green King raised his fighting spirit to the limit, holding his great sword over his head as if he would never die.
The fighting spirit that blazed above his head burned like a red sun.
"Argh!"
The Green King, with a desperate will, swung his great sword downward. The enormous wave of fighting spirit made the world seem momentarily dark. Zing! Raon did not retreat but instead stepped forward and raised the Heavenly Drive. Sword Domain, Heaven Rift. Exhausted, his spirit became even stronger and bloomed.
A sword strike that burned with golden light erased the red fighting spirit and awakened a great radiance in the mental world. The Green King's great sword broke in half, and a large hole pierced his chest.
However, the Green King did not fall, remaining in that place even as he spat black blood from his chest and mouth.
"This is the last time. Speak."
"..."
The Green King shook his head and lifted the broken great sword. He seemed to have no intention of speaking even in death.
'I no longer have time.'
His vision was blurry, and his head hurt. He had to resolve this somehow.
"Do not hold a grudge against me..."
Just as Raon was about to raise the Heavenly Drive to behead the Green King, a sound like a blocked hole being uncovered echoed, and a giant cotton candy emerged from the hole that had opened in the air.
"You must not kill him! *cough*"
Wrath frowned as he looked at them.
"The soul of a human is contained within the soul of this orc!"
-
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