Chapter 96
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: Orc Lord Hargon (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hargon and the two generals standing at his side heaved ragged breaths.
After a brief rest, the three orcs stepped into the land of death known as the "Silent Plains."
"Hooook—!"
Their already heavy bodies felt even more burdensome after days of running without proper sleep.
Not a single blade of grass in sight, not a whisper of wind—the earth lay utterly lifeless.
But this was no mere natural phenomenon.
It was the work of a single being.
Hargon and his two generals knew this all too well.
"Is that it?"
"Yes."
They had arrived at the entrance to a massive cave leading underground.
It resembled the gaping maw of some colossal entity.
"My lord."
"What is it?"
"Can you devour it?"
The monster they were about to face had pitiful combat abilities in itself.
It was the kind that hid away by nature.
But its soul was grotesquely immense.
One misstep, and...
...Hargon himself might be devoured instead.
"Dakuda."
When Bandal rebuked him from the side, Hargon raised his arm to halt him.
"Nothing can stop me. Not even if it's an outer god. I will raise our perished world once more."
"......A needless question."
"It's fine."
A true king does not cast aside a vassal who raises an objection.
Though fallen this far, he had once been the Conqueror King who led an army of a hundred thousand.
"Let us go. To raise our crumbled world."
However, by the time they reached the end of the cave...
Hargon realized he had overlooked one crucial detail on the battlefield.
The identity of the mysterious shaman who had persistently obstructed his path.
The shaman of nature who summoned pits of fire and called down lightning.
The reason he was absent from the battlefield.
Because...
"Well, well, if it isn't the comeback heroes themselves."
...he was already waiting for them beside the "Black Whale."
"......How?"
Jun grinned at Hargon's question.
"Absorbing souls is dangerous in all sorts of ways. And absorbing one far larger than your own? Even more so."
Having already lost three mediums, its vessel shrunken to the limit, it surely wouldn't have targeted the Black Whale—the one with the greatest soul—from the start.
The Black Whale.
According to legend, a monster known as the "World-Devouring Whale."
Yet despite the grand title, it was treated less like a monster and more like an "object."
Enveloped in a spherical membrane, motionless within, its only ability was to absorb mana from the surrounding area.
It didn't even resist when damaged.
But the soul it harbored was the largest of any named monster in the field.
'Too much to swallow in one go.'
The easiest to hunt, but the hardest to absorb.
It was inevitable as the final target.
"And the stage is perfect."
A vast underground cavern reminiscent of a giant cradle.
Jun glanced at his comrades.
"Hoo."
Aiden took a light breath and calmly drew his Radiant Edge.
"This tiresome mission is finally nearing its end."
Maya, with a lingering edge to her words.
"Yeah. Shouldn't have tagged along?"
Even Eleanor, the high priestess, spat out a gruff remark.
"Let's have some fun."
With those words, Jun channeled his mana.
The Black Whale was a mana-absorbing monster.
Jun interpreted its principle as akin to a magic circle.
Circles too drew in external mana and imprinted it with one's own essence.
The difference? The Black Whale simply devoured mana, while Jun commanded it.
'Come.'
Jun had already unlocked 25% of his [Demon God Body] through its incantation.
Like a black hole, some of the mana being sucked toward the Black Whale gathered around Jun instead.
"Eleanor."
"Got it."
The only one who could freely wield power in this space was Eleanor, the holy power user.
She raised her staff and invoked holy magic.
[Block of Light]
A massive barrier isolates the party from the outside world, radiating brilliant golden light.
She followed up by buffing the party with holy magic, while Jun invoked enchant spells.
Fire attribute weapon enchant for Maya, wind attribute reinforcement for Aiden.
By then, Hargon made his move.
"Devour."
Kaduduk—!
What they pulled from their pouches were monster cores produced upon a monster's death.
They chewed and absorbed the mana into their bodies.
Meanwhile, Jun spoke to Aiden and Maya.
"I'm using 'that,' so buy me some time."
"Mind if we just kill them outright?"
Jun smirked at Aiden's question, directed squarely at him.
"If you can."
"Understood!"
Aiden and Maya met the charging orcs head-on.
"For Orcutas!"
The first to move was Bandal, the Orc Lord's first medium and general.
His massive greatsword traced a crescent arc, pressuring the two.
Both Aiden and Maya judged blocking it head-on impossible and stepped back.
A golden spear radiating holy light pierced toward Bandal's heart from above his head.
Eleanor's magic.
"Where?!"
Dakuda blocked Bandal's front.
Seizing the opening from the golden spear's distraction, Aiden swung his sword with full wind power.
[Bash]
This wasn't an enemy to probe.
Aiden's aura-charged sword from the start clashed with Dakuda's shield the instant they met.
Kwagagagagak—!
A ferocious sound erupted with sparks, pushing Dakuda back.
"Kurruk......!"
Behind his shield, Dakuda felt unmistakable bewilderment.
This puny foe with its inferior build surpassed him in raw destructive power.
"You bastard!"
Bandal thrust his greatsword from beside the shield.
Aiden, sword still unrecovered, was exposed—but Maya wasn't just watching.
Blending seamlessly with the surroundings, she slipped into Bandal's guard and swung her twin blades at his arm.
"When......?!"
Unlike Gorta, Bandal momentarily lost track of Maya.
The price was excessively steep.
The twin blades sliced through Bandal's tough arm muscles.
Aiden seized the gap to bat away the greatsword.
"Bandal!"
Dakuda split his massive shield in two.
Designed that way from the start, it morphed into tonfa-like guards around both arms.
Outmatched in pure power.
Acknowledging this, Dakuda covered Bandal while shoving Aiden back.
"You alright?"
"Fine."
The blood from his arm began to staunch. He'd forcibly stopped the bleeding by bulging his muscles.
"I have no face."
"Cut the weak talk. Use the time to offer their souls to the lord."
"Obviously."
The first clash revealed a clear disparity in skill.
This stemmed partly from Aiden and Maya's brilliantly honed teamwork, but the environment played a big role too.
Orcs fundamentally absorbed mana through breathing to empower their muscles, but here they substituted with cores.
Their instantaneous power output couldn't match before.
The two orcs readjusted their stances and chewed more cores.
"For Orcutas."
"For Hargon."
'First time using this since emerging outside.'
Deep in concentration, Jun was experiencing something novel.
The surroundings vanished, all thoughts erased.
In their place, he viewed himself from a third-person perspective in a black void.
This was the result of assimilating with the area's mana.
He was observing the space from mana's viewpoint, not human eyes.
[Demon God Body].
The moment he'd felt the need to comprehend this skill was during the battle with Qi, Hyeong, No, and Pa in the aptitude test.
[Demon God Body] granted power beyond human limits, but it was equally inhuman.
Literally meaning "a body of mana," it placed all the world's mana under his dominion.
It bestowed an overwhelming sense of omnipotence.
Dangerously so, enough to trap him forever.
—It was an exquisitely perilous temptation.
If swayed, he'd lose his very self amid the tidal wave of mana's wills.
Afterward, even in the Ariklotos cult's sanctuary, Jun poured all his effort into understanding [Demon God Body], reaching one conclusion.
This power was uncontrollable.
At least without acquiring superior mental barrier skills or evolving his current two via [Growth Ring].
'But I've gained plenty besides.'
[Demon God Body] was too much for a human body.
—So endure it with something inhuman?
The hint ironically came from Qi, Hyeong, No, and Pa's shamanism.
One of the superhuman arts invoked via sacrifice.
With his sorcery comprehension at a sufficient level, Jun decided to apply it to [Demon God Body].
[Summon]
An earthen golem materializes in the black void.
In the black space, an earthen golem took form.
Jun also drew something from his bosom.
An item he'd seen once before.
The difference: far more intricate engravings than before.
The golem's core, or nucleus.
Crafted far more precisely than the one from the Black Forest golem Jun had felled, obtained via Cloi's materials.
The golem pounded its fists together at the sight of the regular polyhedron core.
Per its will, the core burrowed into the golem's chest.
Threads of black light connected the golem's will, sealed in [Tayya's Tear], to the core.
He granted the golem a fire attribute and linked it to his own circle.
His crimson circle spun vigorously for the first time in ages.
The dormant mana erupted in brilliant flames.
"Rampage."
With preparations complete...
...the ongoing battle saw a sudden shift.
"Wha, t......!"
"Har......gon!"
Hargon first sensed the anomaly after slaying the Arachne in the Ugly Canyon and devouring its core.
"Krrrer......"
Power transcending flesh seeped into his muscles, tightening his grip on the glaive.
The sensation of crushing the Arachne felt vividly fresh.
Simultaneously, a past memory surfaced unconsciously.
It was from when he had just undergone the warrior's trial.
Not yet fully of age. The feel of smashing a troll's head larger than his own.
A memory unfolding as if orchestrated.
Hargon didn't dislike the phenomenon.
"My lord. Are you alright?"
"Yes, quite. I feel alive, Bandal."
"......"
"We once began everything on this plain."
"Just as our end was here, so shall we begin anew."
"End...... Yes. You're right."
His gaze, briefly turned to the past, returned to the present.
Back to the present.
Hargon was reflecting on his past once more.
It began the moment Bandal was wounded.
—My lord! The outer gods' forces press endlessly!
—The front lines have collapsed!
—Decide quickly!
It was burning.
Just like those he had always conquered.
But this time, his own legion burned.
The orc army of a hundred thousand engulfed in flames.
It all started the moment he realized the outer gods' existence.
His army crumbling.
Countless fires visible.
Generals falling one by one.
What was his choice, left alone in the end?
"Barbatta."
"My lord."
"Are they all warriors now?"
"They were valiant."
Valiant?
No. It was foolhardiness.
Their deaths stemmed from Hargon's own foolhardiness.
The price of defying the outer gods.
"But it is not over."
"What do you mean?"
"Reap our souls, my lord."
"Your souls?"
"The body is finite, but the soul infinite. Take the souls of our hundred thousand and hide them in this plain."
"And what changes?"
"The day my lord returns to this world, the hundred thousand shall return to your side."
The words of his master, the greatest shaman, were sweet.
Hargon, tainted by defeat for the first time in life, nodded—perhaps mere mental escape.
"But remember this: a soul exceeding the vessel will surely betray you. Resist. Do not forget yourself."
Barbatta's final words lingered in his ear.
"If you see past memories, it means your soul senses crisis."
Hargon still lived in the past.
Heat pulsed hotly in his hands.
And they throbbed vigorously.
Instinctively grasping the sensation, Hargon opened his eyes.
"Wha, t......!"
"Har......gon!"
There, impaled through the chest in his own hands, were his two generals.
"What......"
Regaining his senses at last, Barbatta's words flashed through Hargon's mind.
"Me, right now......"
Crisis.
Yes.
By absorbing field named monsters, Hargon had clearly coveted power beyond his vessel.
As a result, the forcibly absorbed souls began resisting his own, prompting him unconsciously to cling to the past to preserve himself.
"So that's it."
"Why......"
"To us......"
He met the eyes of his two generals staring resentfully.
"Bandal. Dakuda."
In this unbelievable situation, the two generals looked to their king.
"I've been trembling in fear."
"......!"
Hargon admitted it.
What he'd done was, unconsciously, craft the best scenario possible against the worst case.
The worst: losing even these last two mediums to the humans.
The best: personally ending the mediums' lives to absorb their souls.
"Fear not. I am your king."
"......"
"Soon, I shall raise you once more."
If there was shamanism.
His master's shamanism.
In this bizarre world.
The souls of the dead could be called back.
For now, absorb the mediums' power from his two generals.
"Hoooooo......"
Calm the seething souls with a fully restored vessel first.
Absorb the generals' souls.
Refine the power within the mediums, forcibly suppressing the rampaging souls.
A sense of comfort washed over him.
Like fleeing a raging storm into a serene cave.
The souls, ever ready to depart, found rest.
The Orc Lord opened his eyes again and faced his enemy.
Just then.
The black-haired man who had kept his eyes closed met his gaze.
"Submit. Yield. And—despair."
"Bullshit."
Simultaneously, mana began to swirl around Jun.
[Incantation: Lazy Pilgrim's Odyssey influence reduced by 25%.]
Mana swirled around Jun.
Yet his mind remained serene as a still pond.
His appearance had changed too.
Half his black hair had turned white.
"Aiden, Maya. Assist."
His two mercenaries promptly widened the distance from Hargon.
They'd sensed a shift in his aura since that bizarre act.
'The two of us alone...'
'...can't handle him.'
It was anticipated.
Orc Lord Hargon.
Even unable to wield his full might, a great warrior chillingly strong.
At minimum, someone on Leon or Schneider's level was needed to block head-on.
Then, he moved.
The instant they registered it, he was already smashing Eleanor's barrier with his glaive.
Kagang—!
A single blow.
The full-force glaive shattered the barrier like glass.
Eleanor invoked holy magic next.
[Life Shield of Light]
The barrier that once saved Aiden from Bern spreads over three at once.
"Don't rely on it too much! That guy's no joke!"
Aiden and Maya assumed positions, heeding Eleanor's warning.
Jun channeled mana.
The opener: a blood-red fireball.
[Fire Ball]
A crimson orb spews dripping red embers like falling blood droplets toward its prey.
"Krr—!"
With a beastly roar, Hargon swung his glaive.
His glaive was now sheathed in a blue membrane.
The power that despaired mages.
Aura.
Far more refined and condensed than Aiden's, it reduced the reckless fireball to nothing in one strike.
But.
Tick—!
Jun snapped his fingers, and the scattered flames reignited.
[Multi-Chant]
[Fire Ball]
Magic manifests without a second's delay. Eight ravenous flames engulf from all directions.
Eight fireballs ballooned instantly, swarming Hargon from every angle.
The crescent glaive erased six in one sweep, and a mana wave from its blade destroyed the remaining two.
"Huuup—!"
Hargon lowered his stance. Aiden and Maya moved simultaneously.
Aiden reached first via [Charge], but...
"Kuhuk!"
Hargon backhanded him with a massive hand.
Aiden countered by slashing with an aura-infused sword, but the orc's muscles withstood even that.
Sliced somewhat, but insufficient to block the fist.
Aiden's body rocketed like an arrow into the wall.
Without Eleanor's barrier, his innards would have burst.
[Soul Rush]
Maya followed, thrusting Akandus's Fang.
"Bastard—!"
Infusing his shout with soul weight stiffened Maya's body.
[Intimidating Shout], used by the half-ogre Gorta.
Hargon naturally whipped his glaive tip into her waist.
Eleanor's barrier saved her life once more.
"Kahak!"
Like Aiden, she slammed into the wall.
"Kuhuk—! S-Senpai!"
Hargon's gaze fixed on Jun.
Nothing stood between them now.
Power coiled in Hargon's feet—
[Leap]
Kwaaaaang—!
His body launched like a cannonball.
Cleaving the air, Hargon arrived before Jun and spoke.
"Die."
The arm holding the trailing glaive swelled instantly.
Shoulder motion barely registered before the glaive reached Jun's head—
Hargon's vision shifted to the past again.
Ah, glorious era.
Wait.
The Conqueror King returns to claim you—
The past advanced through eras toward the future. The hundred thousand orc army marched toward destiny.
—It must be so.
"Gotcha."
If not for his glaive being halted in the grip of that gloved hand.
Jjjuwaaaaaap——!!
Being a Mage in the Hero Party 97