Chapter 39
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: The White Orc's Legacy
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As the Orc Lich completely vanished, a pitch-black coin-like object dropped from beneath it.
Clink.
Life Vessel. The orb containing the lich's life force.
"Huh, to think such a lowly creature harbored something so wicked..."
Ruyan clicked his tongue in astonishment as he carefully picked up the Life Vessel.
Hummm.
The Life Vessel thrummed desperately, straining to restore the Orc Lich's body.
But that was only possible for moderate injuries.
With its body dissolved into nothing but scattered powder, resurrection was out of the question.
'A thing whose very existence is a sin.'
Ruyan eyed the orb with unease, then subtly tightened his fingers around it.
Crack.
The essence of the Orc Lich!
The legacy of a 6th Circle Archmage!
Unbeknownst to Ruyan, a treasure of astronomical value shattered and scattered into nothingness.
Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn't have hesitated for a moment.
About a kilometer from the campsite where the Alize Mercenary Corps had set up.
Incongruous with the rugged wild mountains, a group sat on a lavish carpet rug.
"Hmm, we should've gotten word by now."
Among them, a woman seated primely with her legs crossed pursed her lips in mild distress.
She was a middle-aged woman with fiery red hair cascading to her waist.
"My apologies, Master. It seems the training..."
"It's fine. They're not idiots who would botch something this simple."
The middle-aged woman, Julr, smiled gracefully and spoke with poise, but her words bristled with sharp thorns.
"If they truly are idiots... well, someone will have to take responsibility."
The seven men, barely seated on the carpet's edge in discomfort, sensed the ominous air and scrambled to their feet.
Julr was not one for empty threats.
How much time passed in that suffocating tension, where even breathing felt labored?
Julr clapped her hands, turning to her subordinates and breaking the silence.
"Alright, no word yet means trouble's afoot for sure. So, what now?"
A fleeting glint of murderous intent flickered across Julr's heavily rouged red lips.
A beautiful yet lethal thorn.
No one could stand against it.
Only the sound of dry gulps echoed.
"Come on, why so grave? It's not a total failure yet."
Was this the art of dealing a blow then offering balm?
As Julr flashed a bright smile, the men slumped their shoulders and sighed in relief.
Yet they kept stealing glances, revealing just how deeply they feared her.
"I thought our disguise was decent enough. Looks like the Alize Mercenary Corps' reputation is no fluke."
Julr nodded, genuinely impressed.
By her reckoning, Alize was the finest mercenary outfit around.
Wasn't that why she'd entrusted them with this job?
"Gotta hand it to them. What a woman."
But contrary to her words, Julr merely smiled with leisurely ease.
"Master, shall we check?"
"No. If Alize outperforms expectations, no need to poke the bear needlessly."
As she'd said before, it wasn't a complete failure yet.
For now, they needed to stay hidden and observe.
Julr idly toyed with the rings adorning all ten fingers.
Magic items that concealed mana and presence!
Even at a kilometer's distance, Ruyan should have detected them under normal circumstances.
The reason he hadn't was right here.
They were decked out in pricey magic items, each worth dozens of gold.
"Let's wait a little longer."
Another ten minutes or so passed in silence when, at last, a change occurred.
Beep.
A faint noise emanated from Julr's feet, accompanied by a burst of light.
To be precise, it came from the magic device beneath her.
"Master, fusion mana detected."
"So the box is finally open."
"You anticipated this?"
"Whether those idiots live or die, the outcome's the same."
Julr shrugged nonchalantly, but her eyes gleamed with serpentine sharpness.
Beep.
Meanwhile, the light from the magic device grew ever clearer.
Meaning the mana was spreading more definitively.
"This should be enough, right?"
Julr was certain. No way he could miss this.
Fizzle.
In that instant, the device blazed blindingly before exploding.
The mana had exceeded measurable limits and gone haywire.
"My, quick on the draw. Must be pretty pissed."
Only one being could trigger such a phenomenon.
The Orc Lich!
Everyone present knew it well.
The men, who had been holding their breath, lifted their staves with grim resolve.
They might have seemed green under Julr's pressure, but all were capable mages of the school.
As the school's mages readied for battle, Julr smirked and waved dismissively.
"Why the premature jitters? Not yet."
Julr was biding her time.
Waiting for the mercenaries to drain the Orc Lich's mana.
That was the extent of power she ascribed to the Alize Mercenary Corps.
Orcs cannot wield mana by nature.
Their brute muscles are their sole weapon.
Yet even among orc kind, a mutant emerges once every decade.
An orc that handles mana!
A mutant blessed with both orcish might and mana naturally becomes the tribe's king.
That is the Orc Lord.
Uniting the race and building forces, Orc Lords often posed grave threats to humanity.
A true headache, no doubt.
But astonishingly, the limits of orcish potential didn't end there.
Mutants among mutants.
An orc not just wielding mana, but possessing intelligence.
One that even unlocked magic.
The Orc Mage!
They were the true freaks born once per era.
And ten years ago, in some nameless wild mountain, that legendary mutant was born.
But was it fate's cruel jest?
Harshly, the mutant chieftain was too primitive.
Born with white skin, dubbed the "White Orc," it was cast out by the tribe.
An abandoned Orc Mage.
Ironically, the one who recognized its potential was human.
And that human... was Julr, a black mage obsessed with chimera research.
'An Orc Mage! This is a gift from the gods!'
A special existence wielding mana despite its cursed form.
Undoubtedly a precious test subject holding the unsolved secrets of mana.
'If every creature could wield mana like this one...'
A new breed of chimera, never before seen, would be born.
And that monumental feat would surely elevate Julr—and the Reverse School—to the empire's pinnacle.
'With this one, it's possible!'
Julr kidnapped the White Orc and promptly imprisoned it in her lab, teaching it language and magic.
Of course, she didn't teach magic kindly. It was a test subject, after all.
Under the guise of sample collection, she tore flesh, yanked teeth, pried nails.
"Chiiik! It hurts! Hurts!"
"Shut it! You're special! Don't whine over this!"
"Special... chiik! Special being."
"Right. So you absolutely can't die. You must live forever."
Julr had no intention of ever releasing her precious subject.
Not even when the orc's natural lifespan ended after a decade.
'Can't die yet! More research needed.'
Julr's greed even defied the laws of nature.
The forbidden black magic that sealed life, rendering eternal undeath!
Thus, the Orc Lich was born.
'Better this way. Now it's mine forever.'
Human greed knows no bounds.
Julr's vile ambition birthed a monster, and at its end awaited an outcome even she hadn't foreseen.
"Chiik! I am special!"
The White Orc's evolution didn't stop at mere lichdom. Empowered by black magic, it became something new.
Previously stalled at early 5th Circle, lichdom shattered its walls.
It had breached into—albeit imperfect—6th Circle.
An Archmage!
Not fully realized, with limited spells, yet astonishing enough.
No mere orc could reach 6th Circle.
"Won't die! Kill!"
Coincidentally, the incident erupted while Julr was briefly away.
The Orc Lich unleashed a decade of rage, demolishing the lab.
Over thirty Reverse School mages were torn apart, not even leaving intact corpses.
Having slaughtered every mage in the lab, the Orc Lich vanished via Blink magic.
The moment humanity's avarice unleashed its monster upon the world as calamity.
Julr stared quietly over the mountain ridge, then lightly curled the corner of her lips.
'Even if the test subject takes a beating, it's fine. With the Life Vessel, I can revive it anytime.'
Her crimson lips gleamed ominously.
To Julr, the Orc Lich was merely a test subject.
The suffering it endured meant nothing to her.
Nor did she care how many lives her creation claimed.
Julr had but one goal.
Unravel how orcs wielded magic and graft it onto chimeras.
Reverse!
The school's name, laden with double meaning: defying heaven, and rebirth.
Should Julr's experiments succeed, the world would indeed be turned upside down, as the name foretold.
"How long will our little darlings hold out?"
Julr elegantly recrossed her legs and raised a single finger.
"Water."
A stream from her fingertip gently filled a teacup.
"Ignite."
Followed by ignition magic, the water boiled in an instant.
Julr plucked a tea leaf from her bag, dunked it in, and savored the aroma leisurely.
"Mmm, delightful. Should hold for at least five minutes."
An ordinary mercenary group would be annihilated the moment they faced the Orc Lich.
But the Alize Mercenary Corps?
Her calculation: time enough to finish a cup of tea.
"Nothing beats tea outdoors."
Like a picnicker, she hummed idly until the cup was empty, then rose lightly.
'If they drain even thirty percent—no, half its mana, that'd be ideal.'
Julr was a 6th Circle Archmage too, but clashing head-on with the Orc Lich was a burden.
Archmage duels could end in death over the tiniest mistake.
Though her perfect 6th Circle gave the edge, no need for needless risk.
'If the mercs manage that much, suppressing it will be a breeze.'
She never expected some ragtag mercenaries to do more.
"What are you all standing around stupidly for? Time to retrieve the test subject."
Julr's plan was flawless.
Right up to this point.