Chapter 223
Chapter 223
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 223
Chapter Title: 88. God of Another World (2)
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Yuri's group cut down every orc in sight.
Orcs weren't normally this easy to hunt. But with Yuri crushing them at the front, the rest lost their will to fight and fled without putting up much resistance.
It took almost no time at all to completely raze the settlement.
Yuri gathered the dead orcs in one spot and burned them. Acrid smoke rose as their bodies charred.
He did a quick sweep of the settlement, just in case there were any captives or anything else lurking about.
But there was nothing noteworthy in the orcs' huts. Just the occasional skull rolling around, its owner unknown.
There was a pile of meat, too—the kind they always found in orc settlements. The chunks varied in type, but to Yuri's eye, human flesh made up the bulk of it.
He burned it without a word.
Then, out of nowhere, Yuri spotted something on the ground.
It was a wooden figurine, crudely carved. Even so, he could vaguely make out what it was meant to be.
A grotesque creature covered in tentacles.
Yuri had seen something like this before. He pondered for a moment, then it hit him.
It was the monster statue Sibylla had been trying to make.
The materials and craftsmanship were different, rougher, but there was no mistaking it.
Yuri tossed the wooden figurine into the flames.
Jared approached.
"Finished searching, Your Highness?"
"Yeah."
Yuri stared at the burning settlement, lost in thought.
He couldn't tell if the statue's form was coincidence or if orcs across the land knew of such a being. Either way, it left a bad taste in his mouth.
Scrapping his plan to call it a day, Yuri decided to hit one more orc nest.
"Let's do one more."
"Will we have time?"
"We can wrap it up before sunset. Plenty of time."
"Understood."
They'd spent the whole day hunting orcs, and everyone was exhausted. But when Yuri said let's go again, they all got up without complaint.
After all those battles, Yuri had become an absolute authority to the group.
Yuri's party mounted up and rode out once more.
Yuri checked the map. There was another orc settlement nearby.
"They might be ready for us."
"Yes."
They'd moved fast to keep word of the purge from spreading, but midway through, the orcs had somehow gotten the message and started preparing defenses.
"There it is."
The target came into view. Yuri gripped Guilty and glared at the distant orc settlement.
Weapons were mounted on the palisade, and orcs that looked like guards patrolled it.
"They're definitely on alert."
"Straight in?"
"Yeah."
The settlement was larger than expected, packed with orcs. Under normal circumstances, a sudden assault would've been suicide.
But now that it had come to this, Yuri decided to handle it personally.
He urged his horse forward a bit more.
"I'll take point. Follow me."
The moment he advanced, the orcs spotted the intruder. Alarms blared as they scrambled into battle formation.
Yuri lowered his stance.
His companions, who'd seen him charge solo and shatter defenses countless times, followed without hesitation.
Yuri channeled the energy of Heart-Soul Severing. Then he summoned the power of chaos and wove it onto Guilty.
The sword of the rotating vortex whirled to life, whipping up a maelstrom. He could wield it now as freely as an extension of his body.
Eyeing the orc ranks blocking his path, Yuri grinned.
Then he swung the vortex wide.
A deafening boom erupted as the orcs in his way exploded into chunks, their remains scattering in the wind.
Blood sprayed in fountains.
The overwhelming gap in power filled the orcs with terror. With the first line broken, those behind lost heart. Some turned to flee.
But it was too late.
The vortex of sword energy swallowed the next wave whole.
"Akuaktar!"
As corpses tore apart in gruesome fashion, the cry echoed.
Yuri smirked. He liked that the orcs called him the Black Devil. Far better than Black Dog.
He had become an unstoppable force to them. And he intended to live up to the title.
Dismounting, Yuri charged the orcs. Several big brutes stepped up to block him. They were strong, but compared to the orc warriors from the last war, they were average at best.
Yuri swung Guilty in a wide arc.
The orcs backpedaled to dodge. It was a casual swing, leaving gaps here and there.
They lunged with axes, exploiting those openings. But Yuri had baited them.
His speed surged, closing every feint in an instant. What looked like gaps turned into traps.
Yuri locked eyes on the incoming axe blades. In a moment that could shred him, he slipped between them without a hint of fear, threading the needle with razor precision.
Close enough to feel the hairsbreadth gap, Yuri wove past the axes unscathed.
In that split second, all strikes whistled through empty air.
That left him an eternity.
Long enough to carve out the hearts of every orc encircling him.
Blood spurted from all sides.
It happened so fast that to onlookers, the orcs simply crumpled mid-attack, spraying blood as if struck by an invisible force.
"Impressive."
Francesco, trailing quietly behind, murmured to himself.
That kid was definitely beyond the Ten Strong.
No—he'd soared far past even that threshold.
Even if Francesco regained his full power, he doubted he could match that skill.
"Lord Francesco."
One of Balshard's knights, who'd grown chatty amid the orc fights, asked cautiously.
"Does His Highness of Brioll possess strength on the level of the Ten Strong?"
Francesco watched Yuri's back for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes. And upper-mid tier among them, at that."
"Whoa..."
By then, Yuri had pushed far ahead. A brief chat, and he'd already advanced solo way out front.
Screams rang out from every direction.
"Akuaktar! Ammani arukta!"
"Ilai akuaktar!"
His moniker, the "Black Devil," echoed everywhere.
Francesco chuckled dryly. As they said, he was a devil to orcs. Impossible to stop, showing no mercy.
And they'd razed more than one or two settlements.
Yuri had slaughtered every orc in them, torching the villages to ash. This massacre repeated mechanically for two straight days.
The stench of orc blood clung to them relentlessly.
Francesco remarked,
"Hard to keep up."
Yuri kept killing every orc he saw. At some point, none dared approach him.
This was one of the largest settlements he'd encountered, yet not a single orc worth his caution appeared.
Then he spotted a massive building.
Crude by orc standards, but impressively large. Yuri sensed hordes of orcs inside.
"A trap, huh."
Muttering to himself, he headed straight for it.
He could've skirted it, but instead, he chose to smash through head-on.
This time was no different. Yuri kicked the door wide open.
"Hm...?"
What he saw inside was unexpected.
These orcs weren't gearing up to fight him.
They were all bowing toward something.
Yuri looked up.
There stood a larger version of that bizarre statue from before. Crudely carved, tentacles and all, grotesque as ever.
The gathered orcs ignored Yuri entirely, prostrating themselves over and over. He caught snippets mentioning him amid their chants.
"Je jevar jugr akuakkai..."
"Je jevar jugr..."
"Irmatep akuaktar jugr..."
It carried the weight of a curse.
They were praying to the mystery statue to stop him.
To be sure, Yuri slipped into the realm of Heart-Soul and scanned around. No trace of black magic.
They weren't enchanted—they'd chosen this faith willingly.
"Spread from Okua, huh."
The parchment shared the grimoire's accumulated history on demons.
While Okua lived, info on this entity had leaked, quietly taking root among orcs.
Too bad Coria wasn't here; she'd know more.
Yuri raised Guilty.
"I'll send you off nicely."
Without hesitation, he cleaved the nearest orc. Blood splattered.
Unease rippled through them, but the prayers didn't stop.
If anything, they bowed deeper, muttering.
They'd lost all will to fight.
"Akuaktar..."
From the constant chant, it seemed the tentacle monster was their god, and Yuri played the demon in their worldview.
Suited him fine. No resistance made slaughtering them a breeze.
Hacking down praying orcs, he almost looked the villain, them the pitiable victims.
But Yuri wasn't fooled.
Every orc nest they'd hit had human skulls scattered about. Their larders always hung with neatly butchered human meat.
Early in the purge, Balshard's knights had vomited at the sight.
"Akuaktar!"
As Yuri kept cutting them down, one orc in front shot to its feet and bellowed. Others tried to restrain it, but it shouted on, heedless.
Then it prostrated before Yuri.
"Akuaktar..."
Yuri paused, dumbfounded. He wanted to know what the hell it was saying.
But that wasn't the end. Other orcs rose one by one, bowing to him. Their numbers swelled.
As if worship had shifted from the tentacle beast to Yuri.
"Akuaktar..."
"Akutaktar..."
They were even chanting his name.
A few orcs yelled at the worshipers, but they held firm, bowing only to Yuri.
"Good grief..."
He didn't know what delusion gripped them, but Yuri had seen enough. He summoned the sword of the rotating vortex on a grand scale.
And mowed them all down.
The fractal gears of the repeating vortex gnashed through orc flesh, shredding and spitting out chunks. Those caught inside tore apart into bloody pulp.
The site of their worship became a slaughterhouse.
Yuri smashed the tentacle statue enshrined at the center, too.
"Much better."
The air reeked of blood.
Confirming no live orcs remained, Yuri stepped outside.
And froze.
Orcs had surrounded the building.
"What the...?"
But they all bowed to him in unison.
His companions, equally stunned, stood frozen, watching the orcs prostrate before Yuri instead of fighting.
"No way..."
The orcs bowed again.
"Akuaktar..."
Yuri realized.
To orcs, he was the slayer of their hero Okua, the enemy who razed settlements—Akuaktar.
Terror had crossed into worship.
He was no longer human to them.
He'd become an inscrutable calamity they couldn't hope to defy.
The Black Devil.
Yuri shivered.
These orcs, who'd plundered and tormented humans for ages—to the hatred of all—he'd subjugated them, broken their minds.
To them, he truly was a devil.
A devil beyond their power.
His legend would spread by word of mouth among them.
Until their kind went extinct, they'd whisper of the Black Devil, trembling at the thought of his return.
Yuri spread his arms wide.
And murmured,
"I am a legend."