Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: The Descent of Kartul
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052
Thud!
That single step made the ground quake.
Compared to other black orcs, its body wasn't particularly massive, but the sheer density was on another level.
Steel of the same volume? Tungsten? Something like that might come close.
"Oooooh!"
The orcs cried out in worship at his appearance.
Thump. Thump.
The apostles felt their hearts pounding like never before.
The strongest foe the apostles had ever faced...
'Pride.'
Pride, the youngest among the apostles.
Joo In-kyung's Pride.
She was more complete than any apostle Go Yohan had ever taken in.
Though a fragment of an archdemon, it was a massive tumor compared to Kim Se-hyun's, and horns numbering six protruded from her.
Thud!
Just like Kartul now.
"...Estimated level."
Ever the player, Lee Jae-kyung voiced Kartul's power in numerical terms.
"900."
An overwhelmingly dominant number.
The air was being crushed, emitting eerie noises.
The formidable opponent that had forced even Go Yohan to seclude himself for three years nursing his wounds after facing Pride.
[Ograk's avatar, Kartul, descends.]
[The Hexagon Demon, Kartul, manifests.]
[Black Land activates.]
Shwaaaaa!
In an instant, the entire ground began to turn black.
Upon it, the black orcs' skin grew even darker, while the red orcs started to take on a black hue.
"Ograk! Ograk!"
That madness and power made even the apostles flinch.
"......"
Thus, Kartul revealed himself.
Fwhoosh!
The moment he thrust his fist skyward, the thick clouds blanketing the heavens scattered.
"Ograk! Ograk!"
As the orcs shouted even more fervently.
"Shut your traps."
Kartul's voice finally echoed out for the first time.
The hand that had reached toward the sky, and the greatsword gripped in it, rotated.
"...?"
Bewildered expressions.
Fwhoossh!
Then a storm of purple blood swept through.
Shwaaaaa!
Accompanied by a gale that could tear flesh from bone.
Go Yohan, the apostles, and countless orcs around them were left with only their lower bodies.
Even those toppled like trees severed at the base by the rushing storm.
"You idiots... you idiots!"
Kartul bellowed.
It was in Travania Orcish, but a Hexagon Demon conveyed its meaning perfectly.
"How can you be so utterly stupid...?"
Kartul's face, visible through the cracked helmet, was filled with sorrow.
"Great Chieftain! We...!"
Even amid the chaos, the surviving grand high priest shouted. One of his arms seemed to have been swept away just moments ago, but still.
"Once more for the glory of the orcs! And for the Great Chieftain...!"
"Shut your trap."
The grand high priest's head flew off as well.
"What the hell is going on?"
Lee Jae-kyung said, sounding flustered.
"Well, I did think it was odd."
Heh.
Go Yohan curled the corner of his mouth in a smirk.
"That idiot orc might be dumb, but among orcs, he's one of the wiser ones."
"...So it has come to this."
Kartul spoke as if echoing Go Yohan from long ago.
"My foolish kin corrupted me and my god."
Kartul's sorrow was plain to see.
"...No."
From the moment of his arrival, Kartul had eyes only for one place.
"Now I have no choice but to admit it."
Go Yohan.
"Long time no see, Knight of Illusion."
"Kartul."
Kartul, who had shown only rage toward the orcs, smiled at Go Yohan.
Go Yohan did the same.
To someone unaware of their history, the scene might have looked like old friends reuniting.
*
*
*
"Never thought I'd see you again."
Kartul said.
"Same here."
Go Yohan replied.
Their appearances had changed greatly since the past.
But those who had reached their realm could clearly see what lay within each other.
"You've changed a lot."
"You too."
They walked toward each other.
The apostles watched the scene with concern.
"...Great Chieftain."
The orcs grumbled, taking a few steps forward.
And then.
Fwhoossh!
Kartul's greatsword moved once more.
"Idiots. Vermin."
Every orc that had stirred lost its upper body.
"Forgive their rudeness, Knight of Illusion?"
"It's fine."
Another step.
"My state is pitiful. Last time, I could stand proudly before you, but now...?"
With the greatsword in one hand.
Clang!
Kartul struck his own horns.
Yet those symbols of a demon, unshattered even by his power.
"Look at this wretched form."
As if insisting it wasn't his own will.
"I did find it strange. The you I knew was respectable, even among the most idiotic orcs."
Kartul, the great chieftain who had risen with ten million orcs.
He was.
-A holy war. All on the continent, in Ograk's name, I shall punish your depravity and enforce the god's will.
A holy knight.
Even if the god he served was different, even if tainted by evil, a holy knight.
"What happened?"
Everyone around could only watch as the two drew slowly closer.
"...In the end, you were right."
In the Travania Orc Great War, Go Yohan had confronted Kartul.
And declared.
-Servants of the evil god!
That the god they served, Ograk, was an evil god.
"By your blade, I came to know. The soul I offered to the god would never find freedom."
Step. Thud.
"That my god was not what my kin and I believed."
Step.
"In the darkness, Ograk spoke. That I had fulfilled my mission and to await the next."
Kartul's face twisted.
"The warriors' holy war the orcs awaited never existed. It was all..."
"The demons' scheme."
Nod.
Before they knew it, the two had stopped, less than three meters apart.
"And I realized something else."
Smirk.
A thick smile spread across Kartul's lips, flames flickering in his eyes.
"That I cannot escape this fate."
"Seung-a, Uncle, Si-on."
"Orcs!"
"From this moment."
Kartul and Go Yohan's voices rang out almost simultaneously.
"Awaken your instincts."
"Kill them all."
And then.
Roooar!
The battle began with Yoon Seung-a's chantless magic.
Red orcs charged at the apostles, and Kim Si-on was already clashing with two black orcs.
Lee Jae-kyung glanced once at Go Yohan's back.
"Hoo."
He sighed and swung his sword.
As waves of blood unfurled.
Whooom.
Kartul's sword began to move.
In that instant, time seemed to stop.
Only those who had reached the realm could sense the flow within.
"And Knight of Illusion, you too cannot escape fate."
Kwaaaaang!
Ograk's greatsword came crashing down on Go Yohan.
*
*
*
Everything except Go Yohan and Kartul moved in slow motion.
Even amid it, the black orcs, apostles, and Lee Jae-kyung moved swiftly.
But at speeds incomparable.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Kartul and Go Yohan clashed.
"Seeing my god's true form, I knew. Your fate is no different."
"Nonsense."
Go Yohan, widening the distance, tore at space with his hand.
[Space Slash]
But.
Puk!
Kartul's sword plunged into the rent space, forcibly holding the severing rift.
In that gap, his other hand swung the greatsword from below upward.
Kwaaaa!
The earth upheaved, fragments scattering.
But more threatening than that was the sword aura shot from the greatsword.
Once called the continent's greatest mercenary, he had exchanged over thirty blows with Kartul before being bisected.
The kingdom's top knight, a sword master, had dueled Kartul for twenty exchanges before being bisected.
"Do not blaspheme the Goddess, Kartul. She is no being to compare with the evil god you serve."
Ggrrrrind!
Go Yohan extended his hand, twisting space to deflect the sword aura.
"Did you know? Though steeped in evil, Ograk is a god beyond reproach."
Kartul's smile.
Kuwang!
The sword aura Go Yohan thought deflected behind him returned, targeting his back.
As he twisted aside to dodge.
"Through His gaze, I saw those called gods."
Kartul's twin greatswords were already there, compressing air as they fell toward Go Yohan.
In that inescapable spot, Go Yohan had to yield something.
"There."
Fwhoosh!
Blood sprayed from Go Yohan's back.
"No 'goddess' was among them."
"Shut up!"
Kwang!
Go Yohan's arms, blocking the twin greatswords, trembled.
Go Yohan's level: 700.
Kartul's estimated level: 900.
The gap was.
Puk!
Just like when he had taken in Joo In-kyung, a vast chasm.
"You've weakened."
"And you've grown stronger."
"Pointless power. Since it's not truly mine."
"As I've said before."
Fwhoosh!
Blood burst from Go Yohan's arm between the embedded greatsword.
Kwaa!
Pushed back by the sweeping greatsword, Go Yohan slid away, his arms dropping.
Drip. Drip.
Kartul had grown incomparably stronger than before.
"There is no goddess. Thus, you are the Knight of Illusion."
"Bullshit."
"And you've changed much."
Kartul swung his greatsword, his tone regretful.
Within that swing.
Whumm.
The tattoos dominating half his body began emitting red light.
Whiiiiiing!
Mana surged into the greatsword.
The greatsword was heavy and unwieldy by nature.
Its strikes held devastating destructive power, but pure speed could evade them.
Kartul's twin greatswords defied such logic.
Even for one at the realm, they should have been slow.
Whiiiiiing!
But when each strike overturned the earth and rent the sky, no speed could evade.
"What binds you so? The you I knew was the freest of all."
Tuk.
From the edges of the twin greatswords, something like teeth protruded.
And without hesitation, Kartul.
Kwaduduk!
Plunged them into the ground.
Rumble... Kwaaaang!
An earthquake struck, fissures opening.
In the slowed time, most orcs unaware of the change plummeted into the cracks.
Yoon Seung-a, sensing it late, teleported the apostles with magic.
Go Yohan.
Thud.
Crossed his arms, blocking it all.
"I'm not talking about your looks. You seem utterly different from the one I knew. No trace of the warrior I respected remains."
Yet Kartul's face showed disappointment.
Drip. Drip.
His mangled arms and upper body.
Go Yohan moved his guarding arms, revealing his face.
Only then.
Smirk.
Kartul smiled.
"Yes, now you look like the you I knew."
A strange smile spread across Go Yohan's face.