Chapter 156
Chapter 156
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 156
Chapter Title: Orb of Demonic Energy
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“Um, sorry about that. I just got so angry earlier.”
The Mad Blood Witch Yuka cautiously apologized to Kang Hyun-soo.
There was one reason.
Not long ago, Kang Hyun-soo had asked the Mad Blood Witch Yuka not to kill people recklessly.
From Kang Hyun-soo's perspective, who remembered the massacre she had committed before his regression,
it was a perfectly reasonable request.
However, upon hearing that request, the Mad Blood Witch Yuka had jumped in shock, insisting she wasn’t that kind of person.
And yet.
‘Because of that vermin.’
She had gone and shown Kang Hyun-soo herself beating someone to a pulp.
In truth, if not for Kang Hyun-soo’s request,
she would have snapped his neck the moment they met.
‘It would be a problem if he thinks I’m violent.’
The Mad Blood Witch Yuka looked at Kang Hyun-soo with an anxious expression.
“It’s understandable. That guy deserved to die anyway. I’m actually grateful you honored my request.”
“Oh, no! I’d do anything if it’s a request from you, Hyun-soo!”
When Kang Hyun-soo didn’t scold her, the Mad Blood Witch Yuka’s face lit up.
“Living in the Atlantis dimension means you can’t avoid killing entirely.”
“That’s true!”
“Still, try to hold back as much as possible. There might be times when you have to kill a true villain, but even then, ask me first. Can you do that?”
“Yes! I will!”
At the Mad Blood Witch Yuka’s enthusiastic response,
Kang Hyun-soo gave a faint smile.
‘It might be a bit excessive.’
But there was no helping it.
Kang Hyun-soo had steadily conversed with the Mad Blood Witch Yuka over time.
From their growing familiarity—to the point where Yuka asked him to speak casually—he had assessed her.
‘Yuka sees everyone except me as pests.’
If he gave her too much leeway,
she might decide to exterminate pests and unleash a massacre.
Even if it wasn’t a full massacre,
‘People don’t hesitate or agonize when swatting away buzzing mosquitoes or flies right next to them.’
From the Mad Blood Witch Yuka’s perspective,
intentionally or not,
subconsciously,
without any hesitation,
she might kill people as casually as swinging a flyswatter.
To prevent such accidents in advance?
‘Keeping a tight leash is the best option.’
* * *
Kang Hyun-soo’s group continued power-leveling by hunting orcs.
‘What cockroaches are these?’
No matter how many they killed, orcs kept pouring out endlessly.
‘But where the hell is the Orc Great Chieftain hiding?’
Kang Hyun-soo’s group had now reached the heart of the Frank Kingdom.
‘Something feels off.’
The ratio of Orc Great Warriors and Orc Chieftains within the orc horde was drastically decreasing.
At first, Orc Chieftains and Orc Great Warriors had appeared frequently.
‘Now, even officer-level ones like Orc Great Warriors and Chieftains are as rare as beans in a drought. It’s just swarms of regular orc soldiers.’
This was definitely not normal.
In the worst case,
‘The Orc Great Chieftains, Orc Chieftains, and Orc Great Warriors might all band together and charge at once.’
They might have to consider retreating.
If multiple Orc Great Chieftains appeared at once?
‘Battalion Commander-level summons and Company Commander-level summons might not be enough.’
Kang Hyun-soo calmly hunted orcs while advancing.
He didn’t neglect aerial reconnaissance with flying summons to guard against ambushes.
That’s when.
‘Found it.’
One of the flying summons finally spotted an Orc Great Chieftain with a massively larger build than regular orcs.
‘Just one.’
There were quite a few Orc Chieftains and Orc Great Warriors gathered nearby,
but
‘That’s nothing we can’t handle.’
To Kang Hyun-soo’s group, they were just nutritious fodder.
Orc Chieftains and Orc Great Warriors provided
plenty of experience points,
high-rank items,
and were practically special meals for upgrading summons and golems.
“We’ve spotted the Orc Great Chieftain.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, the group’s faces brightened.
“Really? Let’s go take it down!”
“It hid pretty deep, but it fell for it in the end!”
“Let’s hurry and get it!”
Song Hana, the Fist Emperor, and Yuka’s faces lit up.
In particular.
“An Orc Great Chieftain will make for some really good materials.”
Yuka seemed extremely pleased.
‘Only orc warriors have been showing up lately, so golem upgrades have been slow.’
To reinforce golems quickly?
Nothing beat strong monsters for materials.
Plus,
‘Even if used for golem materials, it doesn’t mean we can’t make a summon out of it.’
The Orc Great Chieftain’s appearance was great news for both Kang Hyun-soo and Yuka.
“Let’s go.”
With Kang Hyun-soo’s words, the group swiftly annihilated orc packs as they advanced.
And shortly after,
they spotted the Orc Great Chieftain.
He had worried it might flee,
but
“Kuuuuk! So you’re the human who’s been ruining our plans all this time.”
Thud! Thud!
The Orc Great Chieftain rose and charged toward Kang Hyun-soo instead.
‘It’s pretty big.’
Its height was nearly six meters—a massive giant.
-Surround it.
At Kang Hyun-soo’s command, the summons formed an encirclement.
“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time, and now it’s finally here.”
Kang Hyun-soo’s expression hardened at the Orc Great Chieftain’s words.
“You wanted to meet me?”
“That’s right.”
“Then why didn’t you show up sooner? I’ve been searching for you too.”
“I needed some preparation.”
“And now you’re prepared?”
“Of course.”
Taak!
Finishing its words, the Orc Great Chieftain charged at Kang Hyun-soo.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Kang Hyun-soo also gripped his sword wrapped in blood-red aura and charged at the Orc Great Chieftain.
Kwaaaang!
With the clash of powerful magic and demonic energy,
“Urk!”
Kang Hyun-soo was pushed back.
‘What?’
Kang Hyun-soo’s face filled with bewilderment.
He had steadily raised his stats and skill ranks,
and on top of that, he had the divine stat—super effective against demons—and the Goddess’s Tear.
Yet,
‘The efficiency of Vampiric Aura and the Goddess’s Tear is too low.’
That meant the Orc Great Chieftain’s demonic energy was incredibly potent and dense.
“Kuaaaaa!”
Then the Orc Great Chieftain let out a mighty roar.
[You have been hit by the mental attack skill Orc Lord’s Roar.]
[You have perfectly resisted the Orc Lord’s Roar skill.]
‘Orc Lord?’
Kang Hyun-soo’s expression turned grim.
He had thought it was just a bit large for an Orc Great Chieftain.
But it was an Orc Lord.
The Orc Lord was the leader of all orcs,
a higher species than Orc Great Chieftain.
‘Before regression, no Orc Lord ever appeared.’
Things had gone wrong.
If it wasn’t an Orc Great Chieftain but an Orc Lord?
‘It’s definitely Demon Realm noble-class.’
At best, Baron-class with good luck.
At worst?
‘Viscount-class.’
Even among low-rank Demon Realm nobles,
the gap between Baron and Viscount was significant.
-Full assault.
Kang Hyun-soo ordered a full assault from his summons.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Humanoid summons formed ranks and surrounded the orc horde in attack.
That wasn’t all.
Song Hana unleashed pitch-black lightning that blanketed the sky,
the Fist Emperor became a streak of golden cannonball and charged the orc horde,
and Yuka marched her 200 golems toward the orcs.
However,
Kwaaaang!
The orc horde led by the Orc Lord
didn’t collapse as helplessly as the previous orcs.
“Kuaak!”
Kwaang! Kwaang!
A fierce battle unfolded.
This was partly because the orc horde’s overall level had risen,
but
‘It’s because of the Orc Lord’s Roar.’
The Orc Lord’s Roar
inflicted debuffs on enemies
but granted buffs to allies.
‘As expected, I need to take that thing down as fast as possible.’
However,
“Kuaaaak!”
The Orc Lord, wielding its double-handed axe and rampaging madly, possessed power
that even the elite-only Battalion and Company Commander summons struggled to handle.
‘Objectively, its combat power surpasses Demon Dragon Karas or Doppelganger King Talisman.’
Definitely Viscount-class.
Orcs were treated as low-grade monsters,
but the fully evolved Orc Lord’s battle prowess was
‘terrifying.’
Fortunately, Song Hana, the Fist Emperor, Yuka, and the summons were holding off the other orcs well.
Otherwise?
Kang Hyun-soo himself would have been overwhelmed.
But,
‘If we take it down, we can make a summon stronger than Demon Dragon Karas or Doppelganger King Talisman.’
And that wasn’t all.
With the Mad Blood Witch Yuka’s skills, she could craft an incredibly powerful golem from the excellent Orc Lord material.
However, the situation wasn’t good.
Puuung!
The Fist Emperor’s fist shattered,
Kwa-jik!
Martial Sovereign’s leg exploded,
“Kuaaaang!”
Muran the Half-Beast Guardian’s roar fell weakly as it tumbled across the ground,
and
Slice! Puk!
Dao King’s limbs, engulfed in lightning storm, were severed in an instant.
Even four Battalion Commander-level summons were being pushed back badly,
a testament to the Orc Lord’s overwhelming combat power.
“Did you think you could beat me with these pathetic things?”
The Orc Lord glared at Kang Hyun-soo with triumphant eyes as it spoke.
“How did you cross through the dimensional gate?”
Kang Hyun-soo asked with puzzled eyes.
The stronger the demon, the harder it was to breach Gaia’s system defenses.
So how had such a powerful being safely entered Atlantis?
“Why should I tell you?”
“You said you were waiting for me earlier. Was the reason you didn’t come right away to build power through upgrades?”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s question,
“Not bad.”
The Orc Lord readily admitted his guess.
“You sacrificed the people living in the Frank Kingdom and your orc subordinates to grow your power.”
But doubts remained.
Even so,
“How could you grow this strong alone?”
The Orc Lord hadn’t been on every battlefield.
And it wasn’t just the Orc Lord that was a demon.
Orc Warriors, Orc Great Warriors, Orc Chieftains—all were demons.
Naturally,
‘They can upgrade too.’
So how could it monopolize negative emotions like despair and fear,
absorb blood and flesh from distant deaths, and grow its demonic energy alone?
“As if I’d tell you!”
With those words, the Orc Lord attacked Kang Hyun-soo.
“Ice Shield.”
Kang Hyun-soo activated the Ice King’s Necklace option to block the Orc Lord’s attack.
“Yeah, you will tell me. Very politely, too.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, the Orc Lord’s eyebrow twitched.
Demons weren’t fools.
That’s why they had gathered considerable intel on the Dark Knight organization that kept foiling their invasion plans.
They had changed invasion targets,
and even slightly altered the invasion objectives.
“Foolish delusions! I’ll kill you!”
The Orc Lord charged at Kang Hyun-soo.
Originally an Orc Great Chieftain, it had become an Orc Lord
to lure and eliminate the Dark Knight leader, the Blood God Slayer.
Mobilizing nearly 10,000 troops in the Saclant Empire—outside the main force zone—was unexpected,
but even so,
no one could stop it after monopolizing all the upgrade experience points that tens of millions of orcs would share, evolving into an Orc Lord.
That’s when.
“Legion Summon.”
With Kang Hyun-soo’s single command,
-Kuaaaa!
Demon Dragon Karas appeared,
followed by Dark King Cecilia, Benevolent Army King Shin Chang-hu, Sword King Jang Seok-won, Crimson Flame Emperor Dorfchoff, and Demon-Slaying Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong.
“Karas the Baron?”
The Orc Lord was quite startled by Demon Dragon Karas’s appearance but
“It’s a fake, not the real thing! You think toys like that can beat me!”
quickly regained composure and swung its double-handed axe at Demon Dragon Karas.
Whoosh!
Demon Dragon Karas dodged into the air,
then
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
spewed its breath.
Kwaaaang!
The Orc Lord used its axe as a shield to block the breath.
But it couldn’t avoid sustaining large and small wounds.
“I’ll tear you to shreds!”
The injured Orc Lord emanated killing intent as it charged at Kang Hyun-soo.
‘It’s incredibly tough.’
It took damage from Demon Dragon Karas’s breath,
but not fatally.
“Do we look like scarecrows to you!”
Then, led by Crimson Flame Emperor Dorfchoff, Benevolent Army King Shin Chang-hu, Sword King Jang Seok-won, Demon-Slaying Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong, and Dark King Cecilia charged at the Orc Lord.
“Pathetic humans!”
The enraged Orc Lord spewed pitch-black demonic energy and attacked Crimson Flame Emperor Dorfchoff, but
Kwaaaang!
As a top-tier named player with an Emperor title from the start, now even stronger with Kang Hyun-soo’s buffs, Crimson Flame Emperor Dorfchoff splendidly blocked the Orc Lord’s attack.
“This time, I won’t miss my chance!”
Here, Demon-Slaying Spear King Jin Gu-pyeong, who had soloed SS-Rank last time, threw himself in without holding back,
“I’ll show you the power of the humans you look down on!”
“This time, I’m contribution rank one!”
Though their titles were King, with Kang Hyun-soo’s buffs and their efforts, Benevolent Army King Shin Chang-hu and Sword King Jang Seok-won now wielded power rivaling Emperors, Sovereigns, Saints, and Lords, unleashing fierce assaults.
With the situation like this,
small wounds began accumulating one by one on the once-confident Orc Lord’s body.