Chapter 224: The God from Another World (3)

Yuri stood with his arms outstretched, intoxicated by the feeling of having become a living legend. Meanwhile, his group took care of killing the orcs.

“The Black Demon and his subordinates…”

That scene could very well one day be recorded in the orcs’ history books.

Yuri drew Guilty. Even though he ended up slaughtering the orcs who worshipped him, he didn’t feel a shred of remorse. As he’d said before, he wasn’t a god—he was a demon. And those who worship demons are just as evil.

“If I let one live, ten innocent people will die in the future.”

If he hesitated due to a fleeting emotion, he’d also be responsible for future victims.

Yuri raised Guilty again.

Since they were worshipping him as a demon, it was time to do something worthy of one.

His sword decapitated the orcs with absolute precision. The heads of orcs who no longer resisted flew through the air. The faces, arcing skyward, seemed to stare down at Yuri from above.

The orcs he couldn’t see well before, crouched low in prayer, now showed incredibly serene expressions.

It was unsettling.

As he stood amidst the strange scene, Yuri felt a faint sense of unease at becoming a killer cutting down kneeling orcs.

It didn’t feel real. But his hand kept diligently carrying out its bloody task.

Perhaps this dissonance was exactly what future battles would look like for him.

His enemies were no longer knights from other kingdoms or soldiers serving kings. They were monsters wandering the world, shaping cursed and inhuman lands.

The demonic grimoire.

Maybe even this scene had been part of a plan it had set into motion from the beginning.

After all, that creature summoned from another world hadn’t ended up on the orcs’ altar by chance.

As he decapitated another orc, Yuri looked up.

A crimson fountain of blood shot up, and within the spray, something briefly appeared.

Yuri smirked, raising one corner of his mouth. He knew—it hadn’t been his imagination. From the other side, that presence was watching him.

The tentacled creature Sybilla tried to create and the orcs worshipped—it was staring directly at him.

An existence forbidden in the real world.

But Yuri felt no fear. As soon as their eyes met, a profane, incomprehensible language emerged from the being, but Yuri was unmoved.

Because,

“I’m a demon too…”

He was no different from that tentacled being. He was also the Black Demon.

Yuri burst into laughter as he kept decapitating orcs. Then the creature’s form blurred into the mist and vanished.

“Running away?”

He muttered as he continued the slaughter. But this time, there was a response.

One of the orcs who had been prostrated stood up and blocked Yuri’s sword with his weapon.

That was the beginning. One by one, the orcs who had awaited death rose. They no longer accepted the fate of dying without a fight.

The battle began. Yuri felt a slight disappointment. Jared ran up to him.

“Your Highness, suddenly these guys are getting up!”

“It’s because it didn’t work.”

“Huh?”

“Seeing that their mental tricks didn’t work on me, now they’re trying brute force instead!”

Jared looked puzzled, but Yuri just shrugged.

There was no time for explanations now.

“I’ll explain later, just kill them all!”

“There’s too many!”

“Then kill a lot!”

The creature from another world, worshipped by the orcs as a god, had tried something on Yuri.

It was likely a mental attack.

Orcs worshipping a grotesque monster suddenly bowing to him. Yuri decapitating them like a machine, yet the dying showing an eerie peace.

This kind of situation distorted reality and could make a person doubt themselves.

And right at that moment of doubt, the silhouette of the tentacled monster would appear amid the scattered blood, whispering incomprehensible spells to seduce the soul.

Any ordinary human would’ve lost their mind. But Yuri wasn’t consumed by the madness.

“Ridiculous. Damn tentacles…”

Yuri was already imagining the kind of enemy he’d have to face in the future.

One that injected irresistible madness, shattered reason, and then devoured that broken mind as sustenance.

A horrid tentacled monster.

He’d likely have to destroy that creature before he could destroy the demonic grimoire.

Yuri channeled his rage into the orc blocking his path.

“Hey, orc, move!”

“Akuaaktar!”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

The orc said something unintelligible, and Yuri suddenly thought of Cory. He missed him.

Was he okay?

Probably getting scolded by Cruar.

“Hey, you orc bastard! Between that tentacle monster and this Black Demon, who do you choose? Pick one!”

“Ummetun akmetun!”

“Heretic bastard!”

“Akuaaktar!”

“Too late!”

Yuri became the demon punishing the unfaithful and massacred the orcs. On Guilty, whirlwinds surged again and again, shredding the orcs’ bodies.

The carnage was so intense that blood pooled on the ground, and chunks of flesh stuck to him, reeking.

And it wasn’t just Yuri.

“……”

The Valshard knights who had fought alongside him during the massacre stared at him in stunned silence.

Their bodies were just as drenched in blood as Yuri’s, and bits of meat hung from their swords.

Yuri walked up to them.

“Hey.”

“Ah…”

Their eyes were vacant. Yuri slapped the knight in front of him.

“Get a grip.”

“Ah…”

“Are you worn out just from killing too many orcs?”

“No, sir.”

“Think—each orc equals ten people.”

Yuri grabbed him by the collar and brought their faces close.

“If you hesitate during this justified massacre and let one escape, that one will kill ten humans. And they won’t die peacefully. Do you know what they do to prisoners?”

“……”

“You’re a knight.”

Yuri tapped his chest.

“And a knight has a duty. Bear the weight of the blood, and fulfill your duty.”

In the knight’s clouded eyes, determination lit up again. He looked at Yuri firmly and nodded.

“Understood.”

“Very well.”

The knights of Valshard began moving again.

Though their pace had slowed now that the orcs had resumed resistance, Yuri had already taken care of the most dangerous ones, so there were no major complications.

Eventually, the entire settlement was annihilated. Inside the palisade, the ground was littered with orc corpses.

“Phew…”

Yuri wiped the sweat from his brow. Killing that many wasn’t a small feat.

Following his orders, the knights lit fires efficiently. Soon the settlement was burning, along with the bodies of the orcs.

“Another one down.”

“Good work.”

“It was a rewarding task.”

“I think so.”

With his hands on his hips, Yuri spotted something on the ground, crouched down, and picked it up.

Jared frowned at the sight.

“That’s…”

“A tentacle monster.”

The statue of the tentacled monster the orcs worshipped.

It looked like it had been crafted by an orc with rather unusual skill, as despite its small size, the grotesque nature of the monster was rendered with surprising detail.

Yuri tossed the statue into the air while muttering.

“It’s well made. Though I doubt they’ve ever actually seen it.”

“The fact that the orcs made something like this—does that mean they’re still under the influence of the demonic grimoire?”

“Could be.”

Yuri gripped the statue tightly.

“After all, orcs were born through black magic. It’s possible that something like this creature is rooted deep in their subconscious. Either way, I get the feeling I’ll run into this ugly bastard eventually. Don’t you think?”

“Now that you mention it, yeah.”

“When that time comes, don’t you dare run from fear.”

“You think I’d run out of fear? I’d run because it’s disgusting.”

“Doesn’t matter how disgusting it is. We still have to fight.”

“Ugh…”

Jared recoiled in horror, and Yuri let out a small laugh before tossing the statue into the fire.

In an instant, it was consumed by the flames.

“It’s repulsive, yeah… but I’d love to see the real thing’s face. Will it cry if I stab it with my sword?”

***

While Yuri’s group was wiping out the remaining orc packs in the plains, various things were unfolding across the continent.

Luther, now king of the Holy Kingdom, signed a truce with the king of Brusen and met him in person to share a drink and restore their alliance.

Liberta, after expelling Donchich, reinforced the military strength of his knights under Moyongchan’s tutelage.

Joshua, king of Briol, used the solid royal authority inherited from previous generations to implement reforms—he renovated roads, boosted trade, and introduced a structured military training system.

The Empire, on the other hand, showed no signs of movement.

After invading Joachim and mobilizing its army toward Briol, it had seemed poised to launch a massive conquest campaign—but for now, it remained silent, recovering its strength.

“Hmm…”

Cory furrowed his brows as he read a newspaper summarizing these updates.

Then, he addressed Laurent, who was sitting across from him.

“What do you think, Laurent?”

“…”

The masked swordsman familiar to Cory was none other than Laurent. Just as he had suspected. Though his face had been disfigured by unknown means, he was still Laurent Flandre.

Laurent opened his mouth.

“Shut up. You’re annoying me.”

“Y-Yes…”

Cory recalled what had happened some time ago.

When he had been with a circus, they once offended a noble. As retaliation, the noble imposed a “condition”: if they could dodge an attack from Laurent’s sword, he would spare their lives.

The circus had no choice but to comply.

And Cory was among those who had to dodge Laurent.

Laurent attacked, and Cory, purely on instinct, managed to evade. He still had trouble believing he did.

The rest of the circus members used the chaos to flee. Everything turned to madness, and Cory escaped in the confusion.

Laurent pursued them.

But he was no longer the same. He had stopped being kind. He became cold—even mocking.

Cory had tried desperately to reason with him, but Laurent only replied with his sword.

So Cory ran for his life.

Then the other knights chasing the circus tried to kill Laurent too. They claimed it was because of his appearance—a classic knight’s excuse.

And so, Laurent also became a fugitive.

Since then, Cory had chosen to follow him.

Of course, Laurent showed him no kindness. Whatever had happened to him, he was no longer the same person.

“Prince Yuri… he’s a crown prince now. I should be calling him Your Highness…”

Especially whenever Yuri’s name was mentioned, Laurent completely changed.

“One more word and I’ll kill you.”

“Y-Yes…”

He used to follow Yuri with fervent loyalty, but now just hearing his name was enough to ignite fury.

Uncomfortable, Cory buried himself back in the newspaper and blew his nose.

“It’s cold…”

He remembered the old days, when they all traveled together. Even in hardship, he never felt alone.

He glanced sideways at Laurent.

“…”

They were camping outside a village while on the run. They had gathered branches and lit a weak fire that crackled softly.

The fire’s shadows danced across Laurent’s face.

He had once had a clean, noble face worthy of an aristocrat. Now he was something else entirely. His face was so grotesque that even Cory, a half-orc, could barely stand to look at it for long. When he had asked what happened, Laurent didn’t answer.

Cory lowered his gaze.

“Where are we going now?”

“Shut up.”

“Do we have a destination?”

Laurent gave no reply.

Frustrated by his cold attitude, Cory looked back up. Laurent’s deformed face etched itself into his mind.

And then Cory looked inward.

And he understood.

Upon seeing how monstrous Laurent’s face had become, he felt a deep sense of relief.