Chapter 76

CHAPTER 76: PRIDE OF THE KING Status

RaceGoblinLevel24ClassLord; Horde ChiefPossessed SkillsRuler of the Horde; Insurgent Will; Overpowering Howl; Swordsmanship B+; Insatiable Desire; King’s Soul; Ruler’s Wisdom I; Eyes of the Blue Snake; Dance at Death’s Border; Red Snake’s Eye; Magic Manipulation; Soul of a Crazed Warrior; Third Impact (The Third Chant); Instinct; Ruler’s Wisdom II;Divine ProtectionGoddess of the UnderworldAttributesDarkness; DeathSuboridnate BeastsHigh Kobold Hasu; (Lv1) Gastra (Lv20) Cynthia (Lv20) Orc King Bui; (Lv36)

“King!”

It was the druid, Gi Za, who called out to the king .

Kuzan was wide-eyed as the ogre lord tore apart the king’s body, and sent it flying to a wall .

“Tch… Save the king!” Gi Ga yelled in a desperate voice, waking the rest of the goblins out of their stupor .

The chiefs of the four tribes and the goblins of the eastern village ran up to the ogre lord, while Kuzan and Gi Za rushed to the king’s side . It was a cruel and horrible sight .

His guts spilled out from his wounds, and from all the blood he bled, he was no doubt a dead man . In fact, his heart had already stopped beating .

The king had died .

That king who was to carry the goblins on his back, who was to save the tribe of Gordob, who was to cut open a path to the Lord of Decay – that very king was dying right before Kuzan’s eyes .

Kuzan was speechless . Gi Za stood up .

“…No . ”

He flopped about, unable to stand straight, as his face went so pale it turned into a swarthy hue .

“…Bas-ta-rd…”

What left his lips was a voice that seemed to curse everything . Each word brimmed with so much hate it felt like it could turn the dead of hell into wandering ghosts . Without a care for anything else, he ran for the ogre lord .

It was a reckless charge with no regard for his life . The boulder-like axe descended, and it was the adherent of the Sword God, Gi Go Amatsuki, who covered him .

“How is the king!?” Gi Go asked to the now kneeling Gi Za, but he couldn’t say anything .

Gi Go understood, and he grudgingly said, “Enemy of the king, you will pay!”

That voice spread throughout the entire battlefield, and everyone froze upon hearing it .

“Ga Ga Ga… So, that was the king?” The ogre lord laughed . “That guy ran around pathetically, you know? He begged me for his life . ”

Indignation filled the goblins .

“For the sin of humiliating our king, pay with your life!” Aluhaliha’s Naga Lance crackled with violet lightning .

“No matter what, I will pay back the savior of my village . ” Gilmi and Narsa nocked their bows .

“Return to me… my defeat!” The Vidol Amulet sunk into Rashka’s skin . Rage filled him, and his muscles swelled . “…I should’ve been the one to defeat him!”

A crazed light gleamed from Gi Go Amatsuki’s eyes . There was a madness that came with the sword god’s blessing, and the only thing that kept him from it was his gratitude to the king . That madness connected with his past defeat, and it ate into his mind .

“I will––“ He unsheathed his blade . “Cut the king’s enemy…”

“Vengeance shall be paid . ” The beast warrior Gi Gi, the stealthy Gi Ji . They knew they were powerless before the ogre lord, but still they pointed their blades at him .

“I won’t forgive . I absolutely won’t forgive you!” Gi Za cursed in a voice so full of hate it seemed it would awake the denizens of hell . He took a stone out from his chest, and crushed it .

Tornadoes sprouted up around him, and they took on the form of rampaging dragons .

“…You will pay!!!”

That signaled the start of the battle .

◇◆◇

Kuzan still couldn’t believe her eyes .

The ogre lord was strong . She knew that, yet it seemed that she had still looked down on it .

Gi Za’s dragon tempest was swept away with a swing . Raska’s black light and Aluhaliha’s spear couldn’t even scratch the ogre lord’s craggy flesh .

“Ga Ga Ga!”

The ogre lord only laughed at their attempts .

As if to say that they were too weak .

As if to say that the strong was always strong, and the weak always weak .

The ogre lord mocked them .

It was vexing .

She held the death crystal in her hands . If she uses it, then they might still have a chance at winning .

But the price for that is her life .

And if she dies, she will never again meet the Lord of Decay . She will never again hear his voice . That voice she loved so much to the point of madness . She will lose it forever .

But at this rate, everyone will die .

She looked at Yellow, her father .

His skin was white, and as a member of Gordob, he carried with him the sin of allowing the ogres to invade . Because the Gordob was weak, no one would listen to them . None of the four tribes would, and their prophecies only fell on deaf ears .

Because they’re weak, they can only walk toward death .

Her mother, her older sister… Everyone was born white; none was exempted . And eventually, they all died, leaving behind only Kuzan .

She wanted to run . Surely, the three tribes could hold out long enough . Long enough for her to run .

She stepped back .

“Master Kuzan?”

When she heard Yellow, she wanted to break down into tears .

She was “Kuzan” .

The head of the Gordob tribe . That name shackled her . If she were to run now, all of her brethren would surely die . Her older brothers and sisters who had given her food when she was young, and even her yet to be born siblings… None of them would be spared .

–––I’ll do it .

A look of surprise appeared on Yellow’s face . He knew full well what would happen if she were to use the treasure .

“Are you sure?”

She nodded to him as she filled the death crystal with her strength .

◇◆◇

My body is heavy . It’s as if I’m trudging through a pool of mud .

My eyes are heavy, and there’s a savage hunger gripping my guts . I can barely bear the pain .

“A a aAaA …”

Sounds that couldn’t be called words anymore left my lips .

I want to sleep .

If I sleep, then everything will cease .

I thought that to myself as I bore the pain that was strong enough to extinguish even my soul .

The dry wind of autumn that would ever scatter the dried leaves in its spell left through my hoarse throat .

“A a aAaAA…”

When I opened my eyes, a lake of fire appeared before me .

“A aaAa Aa . ”

It was right under me .

–––What is… this?

Then when I looked up, I saw that the sky was red . It was literally a world wherein the land scorched hot and the sky burnt in anger .

–––Why are you showing me this?

Is this hell?

Then I began to fall . The erupting flames swirled into maelstorms, erecting pillars of fire, and I fell toward it .

Then just before I fell into the lake, darkness covered the whole world, and I fell into a world of darkness . It was dark like a cave . And in that darkness, I saw a sword buried into a rotten corpse .

A one-eyed snake was wrapped around that sword . That snake looked at me, and when our gazes met, images flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern playing .

“Ah–––”

–––I’m going to save the king! I’m going to save him!

Whose voice is that?

“–––Ah . ”

–––It’s fine . Take all of me .

Who is this?

“ah–––”

–––But, you must fight! Fight with me, goblin king!!

“AhhH”

–––Ruler of the East, please save our village .

–––Fine . I’ll be under you… for now .

–––Paradua will raise its spear for you .

–––We have no karma, but I beg of you, please save us .

“Aahh––”

–––Kill me . If you don’t, then one day, you will die by my hands .

“A, GAAaAAa!”

There is a woman crying . Why is she crying?

Memories of her overlapped with her mourns . It was a woman whose name I’d already forgotten .

I have to save her .

I want to wipe away her tears, and cut down the source of her sorrow . There’s no reason why . It’s just something I have to do as a man .

“Re, zhia…”

What did I tell her again when she asked me to kill her?

Fight . I told her to fight with her own will, didn’t I?

“Re, shia…”

So, what am I doing losing heart?

Standing before her and me is the will of a god .

But, even if… Even if I’m just a monster, isn’t there something I can do to save her!?

“Reshia!”

Out of my parched throat, I uttered her name, a name I’d forgotten, then before I knew it, I was standing before the sword around which the snake was coiled .

I stretched out my hand in the darkness, and I pulled out the sword .

◇◆◇

“GA, AaaA aAGAAaaA!”

As the death crystal emitted a faint light, the king’s body started convulsing . The king that should’ve died cried out in pain, and the pain seemed to be beyond anything any man could imagine .

His crushed right arm, his emboweled body, his creaking legs, sounds resounded from them as his body began to fix itself .

Yet the king continued to convulse even as his wounds finished healing .

His convulsing right arm reached out to the sky .

“GAaaUuuGAaAaA a . ”

Drool flowed out of his mouth, and the pain that shook his body was so intense his eyes couldn’t focus . Then like a puppet pulled on string, his body stood up .

“GU, uRUuuAaGAaA . ”

His eyes were like those of the dead . Tormented by pain, he was someone who was forcefully brought back from the land of the dead . There was no way he would come back with his sanity intact .

“GURUuuUaAaAA!”

The heavens and the earth trembled at his cry .

That was the wailing cry of the dead .

Kuzan knew what she had to do . The death crystal could resurrect the dead, but the resurrected would lose his sanity . It is only when the caster gives up his own life that the resurrected could walk a sane man again .

An unquenchable hunger torments the dead . They must feed off the life of a living lest they wish to find themselves dead once more .

Which is why they must eat the flesh of the one that resurrected them .

This spell has been passed down for generations . But, amongst the many generations of Kuzan, the first one to use it is the founder, and the second is the current Kuzan .

The now insane goblin that was resurrected was horrifying . Though that might actually be the true nature of goblins, but it was not the king that Kuzan knew .

She reached out her hands to convey her thoughts to the king .

“Take my soul and overcome death . ”

Like a beast, the king bared his fangs at her .

“…O king of goblins . ”

“GU, RUuuAGAa… I…”

The king was about to consume her flesh, but when she called out to him, he stopped .

“Who, am I…”

She couldn’t believe her eyes . Pangs of savage hunger tormented him, an unimaginable pain coursed through him, and yet, he was actually able to speak .

“…You are the king . The one who shall save us and rule the land . Now, come . Take my flesh and leave the land of the dead . ”

“I am the king…? Tch!?”

As his body convulsed, he fell down on his knees . He forcefully stopped his body from trying to eat Kuzan .

“…If you hold it back, you will lose your sanity . Please give in to your desire . ”

If he forces himself not to eat, he will lose his mind . That was the case when the founder used the spell .

“Do you, understand… What will, happen to you?

The price for using the death crystal is death . She used that knowing full well the consequences .

“You are the king . You are our king . ”

“…If I, am the king, then I shouldn’t have to yield over something like this!!”

The small Kuzan was proud enough to sacrifice herself to save him .

And yet, he, the king, would actually try to eat her to escape death?

The pride of the king won’t forgive something like that .

“I am the king! I yield to no one! I am he who will rule the world! Yielding to something like this (pain), that’s unforgivable!!!”

The king howled . And as if to wring every bit of strength from his body, black flames spurted out of the snake coiled around his right arm .

“NUUuoOAOAAAaOOO!”

He forcefully pulled out ether from Verid .

“No way… Are you alright?”

“You should know, you resurrected me, right? I won’t sway anymore . I’ll show you just what sort of man your king is!”

The king was able to grasp the skill and ether that should’ve been sealed by the fortress .

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Level has risen

24 -> 72

[Skill] > to > .

–––Mental attacks greatly mitigated .

–––Damage and defense against higher races is greatly increased .

–––Can steal the power of the god you represent .

[Skill] > and > will become > .

–––You can read the status of people with classes lower than yours .

–––If the number on your side is greater than the enemy’s, then the enemy’s weakness will be revealed .

[Skill] > For having stolen the power of Verid, you will gain the power of the Household of the Gods .

–––Mental resistance against gods other than the goddess of the underworld will increase .

–––Resistance to the goddess of the underworld’s charm will decrease .

–––Charm toward members of the same race will greatly increase .