Ch.124Chapter 124. The End of Those Who Defied the Natural Order

The Undead Legion, and the Demon Lord’s army.

News of the two forces colliding had already reached the human side, and the leadership was even making plans to use this opportunity to wipe out both forces at once.

While recovering the dragon’s bones to increase their power was important, if they used this opportunity well, they could significantly weaken the two forces threatening humanity.

“It’s ironic that the soldiers they sent for that purpose are now with us. Heh heh.”

Inside the garrison area that had been used by the human side until just a few days ago.

Gorgon Zola looked at the soldiers who had originally occupied this place, now lined up as corpses, and smiled ironically as he gazed at them.

Despite planning for an ambush, the impulsive actions of self-absorbed Heroes and the foolish choices of officers who, rather than abandoning them, forced an attack thinking it was an opportunity for achievement…

As a result, the human side suffered near-total casualties and was forced to retreat, allowing the Undead Legion to gain an advantageous position in this war.

For the Undead Legion, war was actually a means of replenishing their forces, and direct conflict with humans presented an opportunity to receive more troops than initially expected.

Having seized such a perfect opportunity and succeeded in bringing down one of the Four Heavenly Kings, wouldn’t it be truly regrettable to abandon all these achievements and retreat?

“Yes, you’re a bit late, Your Majesty, four-year-old king.”

“…You arrived first.”

As if to show that he shared the same awareness, Briton IV, the Azure Knight of Death, joined the main force and spoke with bitterness.

In response, Gorgon merely displayed his usual playful smile.

“Kekeke, I am your fellow servant to her, so how could I ignore her orders and act on my own?”

What was regrettable wasn’t the war, but the fact that their lord’s condition was still clearly felt.

For those who served her, the emotional turmoil being transmitted despite the absence of clear instructions was something that could not be overlooked.

“Well, there’s no point in us dawdling here. Let’s go to her right away.”

“Wait a moment…”

Briton IV called out to Gorgon as he was about to leave.

Then his gaze shifted to the head clutched in Gorgon’s dangling hand.

“…What’s that in your hand?”

“Ah, this? It’s the head of one of the Four Heavenly Kings I dealt with. What was his name again? Glotny… Globalle?”

A head that looked like a mixture of a pig and a locust.

Though he was a demon strong enough to reach the position of one of the Four Heavenly Kings, now his skin and bones were tightly stuck together, all nutrients having been sucked out by Gorgon Zola.

No matter how strong he was, wasn’t this the expected outcome when he couldn’t handle the combined forces that included the human army?

“Anyway, that was his name, and he called himself the ‘Demon of Gluttony.’ His innate power seemed to match well with mine, so I sucked him dry down to the marrow. I was thinking of offering it to our lord as a trophy to commemorate this victory. What do you think? Would she be pleased?”

“…I’m sorry, but coincidentally, I lack sensitivity in such matters, so I don’t think I can give good advice about gifts.”

“Tsk, you stiff four-year-old. At times like this, you should just go along with it.”

Gorgon grumbled at Briton IV’s response.

Then, after irritably tossing away the head in his hand and taking the lead, he muttered in a bitter voice:

“How sad that there will no longer be anyone to exchange jokes with like this.”

Yes, what concerned them now was why she had suddenly experienced such a great emotional change.

Both of them, vaguely connected under her guidance, had their suspicions about the reason.

*****

The place where the Undead Legion had currently settled was once a human garrison.

Various buildings made from prefabricated parts were arranged throughout, and their monarch resided in a temple-like place with statues and crosses.

For someone who had been revered as a saint of the order in life, there could be no more familiar place.

“Ah, Annabelle. Annabelle…”

But rather than praying for victory in war, she was collapsed in the prayer room, wailing sorrowfully.

Just by seeing this, the two knights could guess.

That she, who led all the dead and dreamed of the world’s destruction, had somehow completely collapsed emotionally.

“Oh, great monarch. Why do you grieve so…”

“Gwen.”

Yes, right now she had fallen to the state of a woman named “Gwen Hwibar” rather than the king of the dead.

Realizing this, Briton IV quickly moved away from Gorgon’s side and began to approach as a companion rather than a vassal.

“Gwen, look at me. Gwen!”

“…My king.”

“Did the two fail?”

He immediately guessed the reason.

In life, she had been recognized for her kind nature, a symbol of the order.

For such a person who had risen from death and resolved to kill all the living for the greater cause, there was only one thing that could break her resolve.

She was feeling overwhelmed by “personal lingering attachment” that had become more prominent in this second life, even more than the greater cause she had prioritized.

“Annabelle…”

As if confirming this prediction, sorrowful cries began to escape from Gwen’s lips.

“I haven’t even had the chance to bestow love upon you, and yet before I could awaken it, you’ve left my side just as you did when I was alive.”

“…Gwen.”

“I wanted to receive love from you. I wanted to teach you love. But if you leave now, how can I fulfill my lingering desire to be with you… How could you leave this mother alone in this world and depart by yourself?”

“Pull yourself together, Gwen.”

Briton IV grabbed her shoulders and shook her, trying to bring her back to her senses.

Only then did Gwen’s gaze turn to him, but what was drawn on her face was a deep despair he had never seen before.

“…My king. Are you not sad?”

No, he had definitely seen it before.

When she lost her daughter in the usurpation war that threatened the nation’s existence, she was overwhelmed by the same sorrow for a while.

That feeling seemed to resolve when she reunited with her daughter, but even that opportunity was ultimately lost when their country was destroyed by the plague.

“The fruit of our union, the chance to fulfill that connection even now, has finally disappeared. Are you truly not saddened by this?”

-Flinch.

Briton IV felt his body tremble at her words.

He had actually noticed that she was his daughter, but unlike Gwen, he hadn’t been able to directly give his heart to that child.

He too felt affection for his blood relation, but that was based only on memories from when he was alive.

Unlike the person before him, he couldn’t prioritize that fact over the greater cause.

‘Can I… exclude even my old connections for the purpose of the legion?’

To not feel empathy for his companion grieving over their daughter’s death.

Was the person he had been when alive truly so selfish that he valued his mission as king more than protecting his family?

“King of the dead. Could you extend your hand to me for a moment?”

Amidst his confusion, a quiet voice came from beside him.

Looking to the side, Briton IV saw Gorgon approaching Gwen.

“…Gorgon.”

“Despite my lowly status, I have words I wish to convey out of concern for you. If you would accept this feeling, please take this old and worthless hand.”

A withered hand casually extended before her.

As Gwen stared at it, she soon seemed to be entranced and reached out to grasp Gorgon’s hand.

A cold and hard grip, but one with will behind it.

“…Gwen Hwibar. Companion to the wisest king, and a saint of the most upright character in life.”

Feeling that sensation, Gorgon Zola began to recite his inner thoughts, recalling when he first awakened.

“When I opened my eyes, you were comforting the dead. I respect and honor you for that. For us dead who should prioritize our lingering attachments, placing that attachment in altruism is not an easy thing for a human to do.”

As his bitter words continued, the hand holding hers gradually tightened.

Was this just because his emotions were welling up with his current words?

Though there was some other chilling feeling, Gwen did not shake off Gorgon’s hand.

If she did not refuse, all one could do was watch whatever happened next.

Whatever might happen afterward.

“But your heart is too delicate to carry this out. To be so fixated on relationships from your past life that you become broken enough to derail your original purpose…”

Right after that, with a lowered voice, a “crunch!” sound echoed.

As Gwen’s right arm withered under his innate power of famine, Briton IV placed his hand on his sword hilt in alarm.

“Gorgon! What are you doing…!!!”

“Lord Briton.”

Nevertheless, Gorgon Zola still held the Lord of Corpses’ hand.

Disregarding his dismay, he continued his explanation in a calm voice.

“As you know, I was a mere farmer. I lived in a place so remote that I was beyond the reach of your eyes, which sought to look after all your subjects.”

The king and queen, the heir who belonged to the royal bloodline though not the royal family itself, and the scholar who loyally served them…

Unlike the authorities leading the legion who had been born into high positions when alive, Gorgon Zola’s birth had been utterly insignificant.

“But even such a life was fine. Born as a country farmer, working each day to earn my daily bread… I thought that was my life—living without questioning such an existence and departing without regrets when the time came.”

Yes, generally speaking, he should have become no different from the countless common dead.

Awakening self-awareness as a dead person requires having lingering attachments beyond the will to survive, and it’s not easy to awaken such things in the life of an old farmer who was content with being a tenant farmer.

“Do you know why someone like me, who lived such an insignificant and empty life, awakened self-awareness even after death… How I came to be on equal footing with you even after death?”

“That’s…”

“It was a single book. An illiterate farmer, out of curiosity, took a book brought by a merchant and began to learn to read in order to understand its contents.”

A person who sustained his days through plowing and harvesting, taking pride only in serving the country by paying taxes.

For such a person, a book encountered by chance approached as a small curiosity, and the process of learning to read in order to understand it gave him a sense of achievement completely different from when he was plowing fields.

He even vaguely set a goal to finish reading that book before he died.

“But I never got to finish reading that book. When the plague reached our village, people who couldn’t even afford firewood threw that book into the bonfire.”

When borders were closed to prevent damage from the plague, all food and firewood in the village ran out.

It was natural that all kindling in the village was gathered to endure the cold.

Among them, the book he had been immersed in left only a moment’s warmth, and he still didn’t know the contents of the latter part of the book he wanted to understand.

“Hungry villagers began to eat each other. I was old and sick, so I was beyond their interest… But even so, I was only going to die alone in my room.”

As he continued speaking, Gorgon Zola still held Gwen’s hand, using his power of famine to drain her magical power.

That will was continuing very quietly and clearly.

Unlike the monarch who should maintain an absolute appearance but had collapsed because she couldn’t fulfill her family love from her previous life.

“But Your Majesty. Why did I recall not the desire to live at that time, but the firewood that was burned to endure the cold?”

“…Gorgon.”

“Your Majesty, I simply want to know. My only wish is to repeat the same sentiment I felt then. I, who awakened only to fulfill that one pure purpose even after death, have neither greater cause nor anything to lose, unlike you or our lord.”

An insignificant old farmer with no relationships to focus on, not even family or friends.

Even his purpose was simply to know something, so there were essentially no lingering attachments that would hinder that purpose.

“Nevertheless, I am grateful to the one who awakened me… If that person desires the destruction of this world, I will fulfill that purpose by projecting my pure desire onto it.”

To destroy humanity with their own hands before the world ends.

Such a task, which requires killing the human heart, is more suitable for an empty dead person like himself rather than someone full of affection like her.

“Using ‘the desire for endless gluttony’ that is now harmonizing with my body.”

Yes, Gorgon Zola was feeling the desire to pursue such a purpose at this moment.

When the power of the “Demon of Gluttony” he had faced before coming here harmonized with his body, he felt it awakening something as it merged with his lingering attachment of “hunger.”

“…My king.”

Even though she felt that malice targeting her, Gwen did not withdraw her arm that was gradually withering under that power.

Rather, as if persuaded by his words.

Realizing that the role of absolute monarch did not suit her, she quietly whispered to the “object of her last lingering attachment.”

“Please, be eternal…”

At that sorrowful voice, Briton IV could not muster the momentum to swing his sword.

As if taking advantage of that momentary gap, Gorgon Zola’s other hand began to swing toward Gwen’s head.

Merely sucking her power wasn’t enough to satisfy him, so he transformed that hand into a giant mouth to devour her whole body.

-Crunch!!!

As the sound of a body being crushed from within after being swallowed whole was heard, they gradually felt their connection to her disappearing in real time.

At the same time, they also felt her innate powerful strength becoming perpetuated in his existence.

“…Your Majesty, what will you do now?”

There is nothing binding them anymore.

Realizing this, Gorgon claimed a relationship derived from old memories, but what Briton IV actually felt toward him was an emotion that could be defined as fear.

“After she’s gone, the only thing controlling you is your own inherent lingering attachment… Will you join me for that attachment? Or will you, like her, be plagued by old affections and choose to oppose me?”

As if proving this was no illusion, Gorgon’s body began to slowly swell with sounds of cracking and crunching.

In the sight of flesh gradually growing on what had been an emaciated body, the “hunger” that symbolized him could no longer be found.

“Either way, I will simply move forward. Until the day I satisfy my endless hunger by learning everything in this world and devouring everything in it…”

At this moment, his will was not just the lingering attachment from his starving days, but also the added desire for gluttony.

The mouths that sprouted between the swollen flesh were the result of manifesting that desire externally.

“…This is.”

That was the empty end met by the king of the dead who longed for destruction.

And the birth of a calamity that surpassed him.

Witnessing such a scene, the Azure Knight of Death foresaw one fact at the point when his connection with his monarch was completely severed.

“Is this the karma that returns to those who try to defy the natural order?”

The secret wish of the dead who prepared for the end of the world after seeing their homeland destroyed.

It had given birth to the “Calamity of Gluttony” that would devour even that end.