novelzi Chapter 33: The Good Orc (4)
Chapter 33: The Good Orc (4)
Chapter 33: The Good Orc (4)
The results of slaughtering over 4,000 orcs were staggering.
The average D-rank Hunters easily killed dozens of Orcs that would normally be too much for them to handle one-on-one, and they scavenged for supplies.
“Wow... Mr. Gu, look at this. There are over five hundred axes in this camp alone.”
Team Leader Kim Do-han, who had been mining the resources inside the gate, and Team Leader Koo Dae-sung, who had only been a porter at the green gates, were mesmerized by the loot in front of them.
“This is amazing...”
With more than four thousand orcs, the supplies were enormous.
From weapons to alcohol to meat to orc boars, but as is often the case with orc gates, only weapons and certain items are useful.
“Elemental weapons! We need to find an elemental weapon!”
The orcs’ weapons were sometimes imbued with spirit beasts.
These were weapons that could only be imbued with the help of an orc shaman, and could only be wielded by at least a mid-level warrior.
Most of them use spirits to lighten their movements, such as the Wolf Spirit, or to harden their bodies, such as the Rock Spirit, so the drops couldn’t be better for low-rank hunters.
“But how do we recognize a spirit weapon? I’ve never been inside an orc gate!”
Team Leader Kim Do-han, who only mined, couldn’t tell the difference between spirit weapons but Koo Dae-sung said.
“The orcs put a tooth or a piece of the corresponding spirit on the spirit weapon as an ornament, you just have to look for something like that.”
“You know your stuff, Mr. Koo!”
Fifty hunters circled the field of death but the gate was so large that they had plenty of time before it closed.
“Hahahaha, Mr. Koo, look at this, twenty spirit weapons, twenty!”
“Seven Orc Shaman Staffs...Five Warrior Hearts.”
The Orc Shaman’s Staff was a favorite of Elementalists, and the Great Warrior’s Heart was used to make powerful Permanent Enhancers.
If a Rank D Hunter ingested an enhancer made from the Heart of the Warrior, it would instantly boost their physical abilities to rank C.
The effect was so powerful that it was the standard training route for all high-level Hunters to consume one.
‘Should I...steal one?’
He wasn’t that greedy but the enhancer was worth at least 400 million won.
When will I ever be able to get something like this when I’m just a porter at the Green Gates, let alone the Orc Gates?
“Hmph...”
Koo Dae-sung put the Heart of the Great Warrior down in the storage box. He wanted to be strong, but he also wanted a clear conscience.
“Kaaaak...!”
A piercing scream rang out, and all eyes turned towards it.
“What are you doing, you damn robot!”
There was a Hunter tussling with the Yakt Spinner.
* * * *
[Gokrok’s severed right arm]
The remnants of Gokrok’s dismembered body were still there but the question was what to do with it.
-Bam!
It was then that Yappy’s voice came from above Ha-ri’s head, drawing her attention.
“You have a message, Lord Spinner.”
-Message. Delivered. Heto.
It was Heto, the god of iron and blacksmithing, trying to deliver a message through his knight.
Yappy immediately brought up a holographic image of Heto in his likeness and delivered his words in real time.
[I sense a great deal of magic in the severed beast’s arm, Lionheart. If you absorb it through the Grail, we will channel it and give it to you to help you]
“Is that so?”
Leon said no more, and took out the Grail from his storage. He absorbed Gokrok’s arm into the Grail, just as he had done when he destroyed the Orb of Wisdom.
“Tch.”
Even though Gokrok’s arm was effectively absorbed, Leon kicked his tongue. In his mind, this was a power similar to holy power.
“The beasts’ worship must be quite sweet.”
Gokrok was the Orc Shaman God. Though he had to admit that he was a type of god, Leon had no intention of recognizing him as one.
The gods of demons and green beasts are not gods, they are absolute evil, unworthy of worship, that must be extinguished.
Therefore, Leon does not recognize them as gods, even if they are. The only gods he recognizes are those who show love to their subjects.
It was then that Leon heard Arianna’s voice in his ear.
[Lionheart, my knight]
“......Goddess. What is wrong with you?”
He hadn’t even performed the ritual, but the goddess herself had spoken to him. Leon reminded himself that he was not in the fullness of his holy power as he had been in the past.
[It’s okay, my knight, I’ve absorbed the magic of that foul beast, so this should be easy]
“Is that so?”
“Aaahhhhhhhhhh, my, my arm...!”
The Hunters’ attention was focused and all but Yappy had pale faces as Leon spoke calmly.
“I recognize that your laws and common sense are different from my own but you have entered the gates of the Lionhearted King, and that means you must obey my military laws, not yours.”
The thief got his wrists slit. That is the sovereign law of the Lionheart Kingdom, a military code where obedience to the knight is more important than life.
“This is the law of the land and the military code, and those who cannot obey it must die here and now!”
The Hunters hesitated at Leon’s declaration.
This powerful otherworldly survivor is out of their league and many of his laws and regulations were unacceptable to modern Earthlings but aside from that...
-All those buffs.......
They felt like they went from a D-class to a C-class Hunter...no, more than that.
-Wasn’t it wrong to steal the heart of an Orc Warrior in the first place?
-Damn, I don’t know. I’m going to die like this anyway.
The Hunters hesitated, but eventually decided to accept Leon’s reasoning.
Since the Cataclysm, this world had been the world of the top Hunters, and stealing from the Gate was often met with death.
How would anyone on Earth recognize a man who had stolen from the Gate anyway? In the Gate, where betrayal and thievery were commonplace, you could get away with anything.
In fact, they were even convinced, as Leon had said, that it might be better to have proper military law and discipline.
“...Your Majesty.”
Then, cautiously, a man stepped forward.
“State your name, soldier.”
Leon knew who he was, but he demanded a name. The point was to make a claim in front of everyone.
“I am Koo, Koo Dae-Sung.”
“Why have you stepped forward, Koo Dae-Sung?”
“Can’t you at least let me take the thief’s... arm?”
“Are you going to reattach it?”
“......Yes.”
Modern medicine has come a long way since the Cataclysm, especially to the point where severed limbs could be reattached with a little haste.
“But there is no point in doing so. Your words dwarf the Lionheart’s punishment.”
“Ah, I realize that. But.......”
Koo Dae-Sung looked at Hunter, whose wrists had been cut off, and made a bitter face.
He was an old D-rank Hunter like himself, and it was understandable why he would steal the heart of an Orc Warrior. Above all... he had a family to be responsible for.
“Your Majesty... we were raised differently than you, with different common sense. Your discipline was unknown to us, and now that you have made it known... we ask that you give us a chance.”
In short, he said, they couldn’t abide by a military code they didn’t understand, and the price for stealing was too high.
“You have a point.”
“I apologize.”
“By nature, a soldier cannot answer to a knight, but there are rules and laws on this planet.”
Leon conjured holy water and, holding the severed arm, spoke to the tearful thief.
“Be thankful that you have a man of reason among your comrades.”
He poured the holy water and then something amazing happened as an arm sprang up from the thief’s severed section and regenerated!
“It’s healed?”
“What the...!”
It was amazing to see a cut arm grow back.
Of course, there were healers in charge of recovery. But even they could only reattach a severed arm.
Even S-class hunters, the best healers in the country, could heal it quickly, but they couldn’t do rapid regeneration, where cells grow from nothing.
‘Crazy... That kind of power, and a recovery that surpasses that of an S-class healer?’
‘What the hell is that guy, is that the strength of a single person?’
The Hunters, and even the Hunter whose arm was cut off, were dumbfounded by this miracle. Instead, the Hunter who experienced the miracle firsthand fell to his knees and begged for forgiveness.
“I’m sorry, I was wrong, thank you, thank you!”
“Hmm. Out of respect for the laws of your world, I forgive you this time, but you have lost your right to enter the gates of this king.”
“Argh.......”
He regretted his momentary greed but Leon turned to the soldiers behind him and declared.
“Those who wish to enter this king’s gates shall remain, and those who do not, divide the spoils and leave.”
No one chose to leave. How could they, having witnessed his overwhelming strength and miracles throughout the battle?
Leon sensed the longing and expectation in their eyes and was satisfied.
One out of fifty, but that’s not bad.
“Good. Then we’ll get straight to training. I trust that you will not fail to survive even this training.
This was an opportunity and they would do it unconditionally but it would not be until three days later that the Hunters would tearfully regret their choice.