Ch.178Chapter 178: Orc King (9).

# Chapter 178: Orc King (9)

In the aftermath of the massive energy collision, the Grasein Plains were momentarily engulfed in pitch-black and golden light.

The Death Knight’s “Roar of the Dead” had unleashed a black beam of destruction that collided head-on with Valt’s puppet armor.

BWAAAAAAH—!

The deafening sound that tore through the air swallowed even the screams of the soldiers. Valt’s golden eyes blazed with intense light.

“KRAAAAAAAH!!”

His battle cry once again shook the battlefield. The puppet armor burned brilliantly with golden and crimson light as it directly absorbed the onrushing black beam.

KWAAAAAAAAANG—!!

The violent shockwave sent nearby soldiers flying like autumn leaves, and the remaining light pillars of the Seventeen Star Formation trembled weakly before beginning to fade.

“Prince Valt!!”

Delfon Haines screamed. His hand gripping the sword trembled like an aspen leaf.

“Damn it… damn it all…!! No!”

But making Delfon’s concern look foolish, Valt’s puppet armor finally blocked the black beam.

DRRRRRRRRK—!

The sound of grinding metal pierced their ears as the golden armor, deeply corroded by demonic energy, turned black and cracked in several places.

But Valt, and his puppet armor, refused to back down until the end.

Delfon sighed with relief at the sight.

“Ha, hahaha… That’s more like it!”

After blocking the attack, Valt shouted desperately.

“Did you think someone like you, who isn’t even a warrior, could break me?!”

Valt roared through gritted teeth.

Remnants of demonic energy tried to reach Valt through the cracks in the puppet armor, but the Lupedium bracelet glowing on his wrist deployed a red barrier, deflecting the malicious energy.

Valt’s entire body was already soaked with sweat and blood, but he had ultimately succeeded in blocking that terrifying attack.

Chiiiiik—

As the violent collision ended, an eerie silence descended upon the battlefield.

Valt had once again blocked the enemy’s ultimate technique that seemed capable of destroying the world.

But this time, even Valt paid a heavy price.

‘Kugh, so this is how troublesome demonic energy can be.’

It wasn’t simply a matter of raw power. The devil’s power that invaded and corrupted the minds of living beings—that was the essence of demonic energy.

If not for the barbarian race’s uniquely strong mental fortitude, Valt himself, exposed to the demonic energy, might have lost his reason and attacked his allies.

His mind was becoming hazy.

If he let his guard down even slightly, Valt knew what he might do, so he endured with desperate mental strength.

‘Damn this…!’

That’s when it happened.

[Valt! Valt!]

The desperate voice of Lilith, a being connected to his soul, echoed directly in his mind.

[Valt, hueeeng… Thank goodness… Valt! Are you okay? Valt!]

Lilith was wailing.

She had watched the entire process with bated breath.

His desperate steps to protect his comrades, his massive back as he stood against everything.

Lilith was sobbing with an aching heart as she watched Valt.

[Stop it, Valt! Please stop now! Hueeuk, Valt… you don’t have to go this far!]

Amidst the demonic energy creeping into his mind, Valt’s consciousness snapped back at Lilith’s voice.

‘There are people… who care about me. I… cannot fall here. I am Valt of Gerungtu!’

[Don’t worry, Lilith. I’m fine.]

For some reason, Valt felt strongly convinced that just hearing Lilith’s voice would help him shake off the demonic corruption.

He couldn’t die. For the sake of those who believed in him, he couldn’t kneel like this.

“KRAAAAAAAH!!”

As Valt’s roar once again cut through the battlefield, the remnants of demonic energy trying to bind his body fell away powerlessly.

“Is that all you’ve got! You devil’s minion!!”

[Kruk…?]

The Death Knight, once the Orc King, couldn’t understand.

His master, one of the absolute rulers of the demon realm, Geolbrug.

Despite using a fragment of that power, how could a mere mortal barbarian withstand it and even shake off the mental corruption of demonic energy?

It was unbelievable, but it was the undeniable reality.

Though he had shaken off the demonic corruption, Valt still needed time to recover.

Geolbrug’s power was that dangerous and powerful.

‘Damn, I need time.’

That’s when it happened!

TUHWAAAK—

KWAAAANG—!

A powerful sword energy flew in from somewhere and struck the Death Knight’s flank, exploding on impact.

A sword energy of absurdly pure and powerful force. There was only one person on this battlefield who could unleash such an attack.

“I owe you one, Barbarian Prince. I’ll take it from here.”

Zerdin, having finally completed his recovery, had returned to the battlefield.

“Hmph, you’re a bit late.”

Zerdin’s brow furrowed slightly at Valt’s words.

“Damn it, I’m sorry. I underestimated him too much. But there will be no more carelessness.”

The presence of the returned Grand Master was truly reassuring.

A realm beyond human limits. The refined and powerful aura he emitted was clearly felt even by Valt.

‘I can leave it to him for a while.’

“Then I’ll leave it to you for a moment. He clearly regenerates, but he can’t do it indefinitely. I’ll recover my strength and look for a way to finish him.”

Zerdin laughed heartily at those words.

“Kuhahaha! A barbarian using his head? I like it. I’ll buy you time.”

For him, a Grand Master, to merely play the role of buying time—it would have been unthinkable under normal circumstances.

But in this moment, Zerdin instinctively realized that the key to ending this war was not himself, but that mysterious barbarian prince.

“It might not be me, but my friend who will be needed when the time comes. I’m counting on you, Commander.”

“Don’t worry. There will be no more mistakes.”

With those words, Zerdin rushed forward and shouted:

“Maintain the Seventeen Star Formation! I, Zerdin, have returned! I will take the center of the formation!”

BUOOOOO—!

As Zerdin took the center of the Seventeen Star Formation, its power began to amplify several times over.

The sacred formation with a Grand Master at its center was now like a massive net tightening around the Death Knight.

Indeed, as soon as Zerdin and the allied knights entered the battle, they began to overwhelm the Death Knight.

It seemed that “Roar of the Dead” was a technique that couldn’t be used consecutively.

Valt rummaged through his spatial pouch. He had only one health recovery potion left. There would be no more after this.

Gulp—

Without hesitation, Valt swallowed the last potion and quickly began analyzing the battlefield.

[Lilith, if you’ve finished tending to the wounded, come here.]

[Yes! Valt!]

Soon Lilith arrived, and Valt asked her for life force recovery.

Contractors could share life energy with each other.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that. If you die, I die too.”

It was almost like a confession, but Valt had no time to dwell on such things now.

Instead, he asked the most important question.

“I can’t see a way to kill him. He keeps regenerating. Do you know anything? A way to completely annihilate a Death Knight.”

Though Lilith appeared to be a young girl, she was an inheritor of ancient magical knowledge who had lived for hundreds of years.

Through her high-level education as a member of the Brasov royal family, she possessed vast knowledge about demons and undead.

“We need to… eliminate the medium.”

“The medium?”

Lilith nodded with a grim expression at Valt’s question.

“Power gained through contracts with demons, especially regenerative abilities close to immortality, always comes with a price. They can’t regenerate infinitely. There must be a medium, or sacrifice, supplying that power. I don’t know what it is, but if we find and destroy or neutralize it, we can prevent the Death Knight’s regeneration.”

“I see.”

While focusing on recovery, Valt scanned the entire battlefield with sharp eyes.

Suddenly, he noticed a strange sight.

‘What’s this? Why are orcs who aren’t even fighting just collapsing?’

Valt’s excellent vision detected something unusual.

It was the bizarre sight of seemingly healthy orc soldiers falling lifelessly every time Zerdin and the knights landed an effective hit on the Death Knight and he regenerated his wounds.

“Lilith, is it possible to use members of the same race… as sacrifices for regeneration?”

Lilith was horrified by Valt’s question and shuddered.

“N-no way… such a terrible thing…”

“Is it possible or not? I’m asking if it can be done.”

Lilith answered with difficulty, as if she hated to even speak of it.

“Theoretically… it’s possible…. Among necromancy or forbidden black magic… I’ve heard such techniques exist. But… only if the beings to be sacrificed voluntarily agreed to the contract….”

With Lilith’s affirmative answer, Valt felt all the puzzle pieces falling into place.

“Look carefully, Lilith. Every time the Death Knight regenerates, those orcs standing far away and watching are collapsing.”

With Lilith’s eyesight, it wasn’t clear at first.

But as she concentrated, she saw that Valt was right.

“I-impossible…! R-really…?”

Lilith too confirmed the horrific truth Valt had witnessed and was left speechless.

“Let me make a hypothesis. In exchange for borrowing demonic power to regenerate the body, they sacrifice the lives of their own kind. Those who became sacrifices… had already agreed to this before participating in this war. Is that possible?”

Lilith shuddered at Valt’s cruel deduction. But she couldn’t deny it.

“It’s… possible…. If the sacrifices… voluntarily agreed… the contract could be established….”

“I see.”

Valt was certain.

The secret behind this impossible regenerative ability was the lives of the hundreds of thousands of orc soldiers participating in this war.

The reason why Zerdin couldn’t end the battle despite overwhelming the Death Knight after joining the fight.

It was because every time the Death Knight was wounded, orcs somewhere were dying in his place, supplying their life force.

Earlier, when Zerdin’s sword strike had severed the Death Knight’s waist, two Orc Lords fighting alongside him had died without resistance—this was why.

Indeed, these were not mere soldiers.

They were sacrifices who willingly offered their lives to their king, who had now become a Death Knight.

“Devils… truly are evil to the core.”

Lilith, having finally realized the whole truth, trembled with a pale face.

“This can’t be…! No matter how desperate they were for racial survival, how could they use the lives of their own kind as collateral…!”

Valt let out a cold, derisive snort.

“That’s why they’re devils.”

It was an unforgivable act.

Whoever the devil was that contracted with the Orc King, they had deceived the souls of hundreds of thousands of orc soldiers in exchange for giving power to the Orc King.

And though it was supposedly voluntary, the madness and despair of the Orc King that drove his entire race to make such a choice was also horrifying.

Zerdin’s sword strike once again deeply cut the Death Knight’s shoulder.

The Death Knight let out a painful cry, but his wound began to heal rapidly again, at the cost of the lives of orc soldiers far away.

Watching the scene, Valt muttered coldly:

“Madmen. If dying like that is your wish… then I’ll personally grant that wish.”

His golden eyes began to emit a determined light.