C780
"What did you just say?"
Raon’s eyes widened as he looked at Wrath, who had suddenly appeared from the sky.
"Is Sia's soul inside this thing?"
"I don't know about Sia, but there is definitely a human soul embedded in the spirit of that orc."
Wrath nodded firmly, moving his thick chin.
"If you kill that orc, the human soul will perish along with him!"
He frowned, insisting that no harm should come to the creature.
"Is that true?"
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Green King.
"..."
The Green King remained silent once more, raising his broken stone sword. His eyes, filled with determination, shone with a bright red fighting spirit, indicating his resolve to fight until the end.
"Haha..."
Raon gritted his teeth, and his hand trembled as he gripped the Heavenly Drive. He couldn’t continue fighting, knowing that Wrath wouldn’t lie about something like this.
"What are you thinking?"
"...I'm just trying to protect myself."
The Green King shook his head and said that was all.
"In the end..."
Raon’s jaw trembled as he looked into the noble eyes of the Green King.
'Wait a minute.'
Is this even possible? Normally, when one uses the Eden helmet, the mental image of the monster overlaps with that of the body’s owner, resulting in a battle of wills. He had fought against Rokta in the mental world and absorbed his soul.
But the fact that Sia's soul remains within the Green King means that the absorption was not completed. He needed to investigate further.
"What is your name?"
Raon lowered the Heavenly Drive to the ground while looking at the Green King.
"Murcia."
Unlike his silence about Sia, the Green King provided his own name without hesitation.
"Murkada?"
"In human language, it means 'a tree with deep roots.'"
"I thought a king wouldn't need a name. This is unexpected."
Raon shrugged slightly with a faint smile.
"..."
The Green King remained vigilant, wrapping his stone sword with a red fighting spirit.
"My name is Raon Zieghart. I am the younger brother of the human you currently inhabit."
Raon closed his eyes briefly before opening them, revealing information about himself.
"Can you tell me what happened now?"
"I refuse."
Murkada tightened his grip on the broken stone sword and once again refused to answer.
"I don't trust humans."
He showed his sharp teeth as he looked at the burned corpses of the orcs.
"Mmm..."
Raon exhaled softly as he observed Murkada's growing anger.
"This won't be easy."
Murkada had said that he and his kind were killed after being deceived by humans, and then were forced to inhabit this body against their will after death. It was understandable that he could not trust humans. Murkada raised his intense fighting spirit again, apparently thinking that Raon would resume the fight as his expression hardened.
However, Raon lowered both hands after completely sheathing the Heavenly Drive.
"I've been through something similar, but I suppose I can't truly understand how you feel."
In his past life, he had lived a hellish existence under Derus's control, but after reincarnation, he learned the value of relationships. The magnitude of the pain was different from Murkada's, who was being manipulated by Eden even after death.
"Please. Until recently, I didn't even know my sister was alive. I don't want to cause more pain to the family I've fought to reunite with."
Raon bowed his head to Murkada, revealing his sincere feelings.
"..."
Murkada’s hand trembled briefly, but he did not lower his stone sword, seemingly unchanged in his thoughts.
"Hey! Orc."
Wrath twisted his lips as he looked at the Green King.
"This king is talking to you! Answer him! *cough*"
He frowned, apparently frustrated with himself.
"If you don't open your mouth right now, I'll turn you into an ice cube..."
"Stop."
Raon shook his head while holding Wrath's arms.
"If you get angry, how are we going to...? Ugh."
As he tried to restrain Wrath, who was resisting, he suddenly lost strength in his entire body and collapsed to the ground. No, in this case, it felt as if his soul was losing strength.
"Are you alright?"
Wrath quickly moved behind him, supporting his back like a sofa. It was softer than a bed, true to his cotton candy appearance.
"You’re not in your right mind now! *cough*"
"Judging by your cough, you're not in very good shape either, are you?"
Raon gently touched Wrath's forehead.
"Don't joke! If you exert yourself more, you'll die or suffer serious damage to your mental image."
He shook his head and gestured for Raon to stop.
"Is it that bad?"
"Even though those strange rings helped you resist, you were still containing the energy of this king! Your soul must have cracked!"
Wrath waved his hand up and down, insisting that Raon should stop and rest.
"We should also try the new pearl ice cream flavor! *cough*"
"So that was your goal."
Raon chuckled and let out a long sigh.
"I feel quite dizzy. Even during the fight, my vision was unstable."
"The fact that you couldn't feel the human soul inside that orc was problematic from the start. *cough*"
Wrath shook his head, saying that Raon must have been in an abnormal state since he entered this mental world.
"I see..."
It seemed that forcing himself to resist and fight had not been a good option from the beginning, as Wrath had said. Now he felt too dizzy to endure it any longer.
"Murkada, I will return, and when I do, I hope we can have an appropriate conversation."
Raon gestured with his hand toward Murkada, who was still staring at him sternly, and then closed his eyes. Both his soul and body felt exhausted, and he fell asleep without being able to open his eyes again.
"..."
Wrath left Raon, who was disappearing from the mental world, and floated in the air. A blue chill rose like a rippling lake, and Wrath, who had been a giant cotton candy, transformed into the lord of the Devildom with frost-colored hair cascading down.
"You..."
Murkada swallowed hard as he looked at Wrath, who had transformed.
"You are not human."
"To think you still believed this king was human even after seeing the blue cloud form earlier, you truly are a prejudiced orc."
Wrath curved his lips upward, seemingly astonished.
"You. Humans have done you much harm. Your soul is filled with malice and rage. However, it is remarkable that you do not show it."
The anger that Wrath felt from Murkada was intense enough to reach him. However, Murkada was suppressing his anger without revealing it. It was something that even human saints or wise men could not achieve.
"Because no human can be trusted."
Murkada gritted his teeth and said that even showing anger towards humans was a waste.
"This king does not know your past, but there is one thing I do know."
Wrath raised his slender index finger.
"That young human who simply disappeared after acting arrogantly. I know very well who he is."
"..."
"He pretends to be strong but is weak, acts coldly but is warm. He is different from the humans who kill you, revive you, and then mock you."
The Green King slowly lowered his stone sword without responding.
"I am not saying you must accept it right away. If you experience it, you will understand for yourself."
Wrath nodded slightly, indicating that he should observe.
"Oh, what a pity. Now that that damned guy has disappeared, this king must also leave soon... *cough*"
As he coughed, blood splattered from his mouth. It was a wound to the soul that had formed from the excessive effort he had made to help Raon.
"For a demon king, wounds are simply medals."
Wrath chuckled as he wiped the blood flowing from his mouth.
"Orc. We will meet again."
After waving his hand lightly, he closed his eyes.
"It would be nice if you also liked pearl ice cream."
With those last words, Wrath disappeared from the mental world.
"Haha..."
Murkada lowered his stone sword only after Wrath had vanished. He let out a sigh of relief as he looked at his feet, which had not moved a single step from their original position.
* * *
I had a dream. It was neither mine nor that of the Zieghart ancestor. Instead of the dead forest I had seen in the mental image of Murkada as the Green King, a vast forest full of green vitality appeared before me. It seems I had this dream because I had spent too much time in Murkada's mental world.
In my vision as Murkada, I saw a young human child. Judging by his attire and appearance, he seemed to be of noble lineage.
It was rare for lost humans to find their way to the heart of the forest, but it was the first time a child appeared alone. The tattered clothes stained with the blood of another human suggested that he had been attacked during his journey and had fled there.
[It's alright. I won't harm you.]
Murkada made silly gestures with his hands and feet to reassure the child. Although he should have sent him away immediately, he decided to take him to the tribe first, fearing that the attackers might reach him.
[AAAAAAH!]
The child screamed in fear, as expected, but soon realized Murkada's intentions and followed him. The child, named Essian, seemed pure, unlike someone born into nobility. He played with the orc children, ate with them, and slept alongside them.
The other orcs were initially worried, but after seeing him happily playing with the children, they accepted Essian as a guest.
Now that I looked closely, not only Murkada's eyes but also those of the other orcs were clear. They seemed a different species from the orcs I had known until now. About a month passed. Knights and magicians began to appear in the forest, searching. Unlike the attackers, they seemed desperate to find the child.
Realizing they had come for the child, Murkada asked Essian not to speak of this place and sent him back.
[Thank you! I will definitely repay your kindness, sir.]
Essian thanked Murkada and the orcs many times before departing for the human world. As I watched this touching scene with an involuntary smile, the scene suddenly changed.
[Your Majesty. Humans are destroying the forest.]
An orc shaman with a long white beard knelt before Murkada.
[It’s different from before! They are not just cutting down trees or gathering herbs and fruits; they are trying to destroy the entire forest.]
The shaman raised his fist and said they had to fight before the humans ruined the forest.
[Let's observe a bit more.]
Murkada shook his head calmly. He reassured the orcs, recalling the pure humans like Essian. Time passed once again. The humans destroyed trees and vegetation, massacred animals, and altered the balance of the forest even more than the shaman had warned.
[Your Majesty!]
[Your Majesty!]
The orcs knelt before Murkada, shouting that they had to fight.
[I will go to talk to them directly.]
Murkada went to meet the leader of the humans who were destroying the forest, trying to avoid war. Confident in his mastery of the human language, he waited behind the largest tent when a familiar golden-haired young man caught his attention.
As he smelled the aroma of the young man, he remembered the child who had visited the forest twenty years ago.
[Essian?]
[Is it you, Lord Murkada?]
Essian's surprise was evident, but he bowed his head with an awkward smile.
[Why are you here...?]
[...Ah, I am here to stop this development.]
Essian explained that he was the illegitimate son of a high-ranking noble and that he had been attacked while traveling to become the successor. He said he had come here to stop the royal family’s order to develop this forest.
[I see. Thank you.]
Murkada nodded as he looked at Essian. He felt relieved not to have started a war, as the connection from the past had led to this moment.
[Um, I would like to see my old friends. Is that alright?]
[Of course. Everyone will remember you.]
He took Essian to the tribe. Essian seemed to return to his childhood, enjoying time with the orcs, eating and sleeping with them before leaving.
[Don't worry. I will definitely stop the development.]
His last words were so trustworthy that Murkada couldn't help but believe him. Whether Essian really would do well or not, human camps disappeared, and not even a shadow of a person was seen for two months. Just when Murkada was about to tell the orcs to return to their normal lives, thinking everything was fine...
Flames erupted throughout the forest, and the sound of hundreds of horse hooves resonated along the paths only known to the orcs.
It was the humans. They had set fire to the forest and sent knights along routes that only the orcs could traverse.
[Kill these filthy orcs that speak human language!]
At the forefront of the extermination force sent to massacre the orcs was Essian, in whom Murkada had trusted. He decapitated the orcs with eyes filled with disgust, replacing the pure gaze of his youth. As Murkada would later discover, Essian needed an accomplishment to become the successor of his family, and his goal was to achieve this by developing the forest and exterminating the orcs.
The child who once transcended the boundary between humans and monsters, accepting the goodwill of souls, had become a true monster obsessed with power and money.
[Let’s protect the children!]
[Defend the king!]
The attack was so sudden that the orcs died while protecting their children, trying to stop the flames, and safeguarding their incompetent king.
[Aaaaargh!]
Murkada charged at the knights, unsheathing the stone sword he had never wielded before. After the red blood clouded his vision, all he could see were the intertwined corpses of humans and orcs. Murkada's tribe possessed special powers and wisdom, which allowed them to repel the attack and push the humans back to the village outside the forest.
However, there was no time to relax.
Rumors spread that it was not humans attacking the orcs, but orcs attacking human villages, and eventually, the strongest warriors of the continent arrived in the forest. For every ten humans that died, a hundred orcs perished. For every hundred humans that fell, a thousand orcs were slaughtered.
The forest, which had once been green and lush, was now covered in death.
Murkada sent the young orcs who had not yet awakened their wisdom down the last hidden path and then remained in the forest with his warriors. They followed this foolish and ignorant king.
The human heroes broke through the barriers of the forest and attacked, not even giving him time to express his sorrow to his subordinates.
[Raaaargh!]
Murkada roared at the humans and this world as he wielded his cracked stone sword.
[My name is Murkada! The dumbest king in this world!]
After that, his vision turned red.
* * *
"Ha!"
Raon raised his torso and opened his eyes. A cold sweat was dripping down his forehead from the vivid dream that felt as if he had lived it himself.
- So that's what happened...
He understood why Murkada said he could not trust humans. Humans had reciprocated his warm consideration with a sword. If it were him... No, if it had been him, he would have annihilated all the humans on the continent.
"This won't be easy."
After seeing Murkada's past, it seemed that pulling his heart out would be extremely difficult. But for the sake of Sylvia and Rector, he could not give up.
- Are you finally awake? *cough*...
Wrath climbed onto the bracelet, coughing dryly.
- This king is hungry, so get up quickly and eat!
He shook his head and said that his stomach was about to stick to his back.
'Hmm, you still look plump?'
Raon tilted his head as he stretched Wrath's chubby cheeks.
- Shut up! This king is a noble monarch, so I don't show it! *cough*
He frowned, urging Raon to get up quickly.
- Alright, I should get up.
Just as Raon was about to rise with a faint smile, suddenly...
[You have extracted the true power of <Wrath>.]
[You have achieved victory against an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.]
[You have accomplished an impossible feat.]
[All skills...]
[Traits...]
Messages about enhanced skills and traits appeared, seemingly calculating everything that had happened.
- This damn...!
Wrath trembled at the sight of the messages.
- I was already hungry, and now my stomach is starting to hurt! *cough*
He waved his chubby hands up and down, insisting that it was too much.
- You are truly tormenting this king!
Raon dismissed the growth messages and got up from the bed.
'There is something I need to do first.'
-
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