The soil was burning in purple, and the sky was dyed crimson. Pieces of shattered rocks filled the air and the excreted magic power resulted in electric sparks everywhere. The contamination of the atmosphere was so severe that even breathing could be lethal.
This was what Africa looked like after Orden’s magic power explosion.
“…These spears will penetrate your body—!”
Above the devastated field, the fight continued on. Hundreds of spears created from Aileen’s Spirit Speech flew towards Orden. Yoo Jinwoong’s electricity clung to Orden’s entire body.
But Orden dispelled all attacks with a swing of a fist wrapped in magic power. However…
“Turn into a vacuum—!”
Aileen used Spirit Speech again.
She attempted to disrupt Orden’s breathing, flip over the ground he was standing on, and even created a tiny ‘black hole’. The black hole succeeded in sucking in Orden’s cloak but that was about all it did.
Meanwhile, Chae Joochul drew in the nearby natural energy and created an avatar for himself. It was about 3m tall just like Orden and wore a white martial arts uniform like an immortal.
Orden attacked the avatar. To assist Chae Joochul, Yoo Sihyuk swung his sword and the blade rushed towards Orden like wolves. From a distance, Jin Seyeon continued to shoot crystal arrows.
However, Orden’s response was plain and simple. The ‘chaos’ attribute could easily neutralize human magic power. All he needed was to gather up his magic power and emit it all at once.
Clang—!
The chaos that Orden emitted disrupted the Heroes’ magic power.
“——!”
And then Orden gave a roar of rage towards the direction of the most troublesome enemy, the archer who kept shooting arrows at him from a hidden spot.
“Uk!”
The supersonic sound waves paralyzed Jin Seyeon’s entire body.
His next target was Aileen. Orden dashed towards Aileen. One step was all he need to reach the dwarf who was not even 150cm tall.
“Stop—”
Orden resisted the Spirit Speech as he swung his claw.
His claw was harder than any metal.
It should’ve ripped Aileen into pieces.
Clang—!
At that moment, a sword blocked Orden’s claw. On the outside the sword looked like nothing special when in fact, it was was the ‘Steel Spirit Sword’ that embodied Heynckes’s noble determination.
“Move along, little one.”
“…Thanks.”
Though it was humiliating to be called ‘little one’, Aileen moved to shelter with the skill [Blink].
Kiiiik—
Orden’s claw and Heynckes’s sword crashed into each other and a disturbing sound rang out.
Orden kept his right arm up and smashed Heynckes on the side with his left arm. Heynckes blocked the punch with a new steel sword.
Clang—!
The clash of steel and the claw continued on.
Heynckes was inferior to Orden in all aspects except for combat experience. The Steel Spirit utilized his experience, skills, and techniques he had accumulated over the years to the fullest. He stirred his sword in between the gaps of Orden’s fingers and left a scar on the Monster King’s chest. He moved swiftly and efficiently, disrupting Orden’s balance.
But he knew he couldn’t maintain this stalemate for long.
‘…He grows as he battles.’
Orden was about to surpass all the skills that Heynckes had accumulated over a span of 60 years in a mere 6 minutes.
Heynckes had to admit— Orden was a real monster.
“You’ve grown old.”
At that moment, Heynckes heard a nonchalant voice. He glanced at the owner of the voice with a smile. Chae Joochul approached Orden with an expressionless look and smacked Orden’s forehead with his folding fan.
Chwaak—!
The sound was loud but physically it only did a little damage.
Little did Orden know that everything before this attack was just a pretext and that this was the attack the two men had been preparing for all along.
“You’re the one who’s grown old, Joochul. It took you too long.”
Chae Joochul’s folding fan was the core of his strength. It served as a medium for the control of all parts of nature.
Thus, when Chae Joochul’s fan touched Orden’s forehead, all of Immortal’s magic power traveled through the fan and flowed into Orden.
“…!”
Orden buried his head in his hands. Currently, the particles of nature were colliding against each other in his head.
“It should hurt a lot. I’ve experienced it before briefly.”
The cold-blooded Chae Joochul had developed this technique for the sole purpose of ‘annihilation of existence’. It was the worst possible kind of pain. Heynckes, too, had experienced it in the past.
“KUAAAAA—!”
Orden roared in agony. The cry ripped through the Heroes’ ears and disrupted their qi reinforcement. But Heroes weren’t the only ones who responded to Orden’s cry.
Tudududu….
A huge vibration shook the earth and a fierce whirlwind filled the sky.
The Monster King’s loyal servants had returned from the front lines to the palace to protect their king.
No good could come out of a prolonged battle.
The heroes all rushed towards Orden. Orden, however, blocked them all by emitting a torrent of magic power.
“Y-You b-bastards—!”
“Hurorororo—! Get away from the king!”
But they were overlooking one fact. That Heroes also had reinforcements.
“Hiya—!”
Suddenly a sword appeared that was so big that it almost seemed to touch the sky.
With full confidence, Chae Nayun wielded a giant sword of magic power. The sword gleamed with bright light as it knocked out all of the monsters and humanoid monsters in one big swoop.
And then there was the tornado of the black spear. Shin Jonghak’s ‘black flames’ and ‘Xiang Yu’s Conqueror Spear’ displayed overwhelming synergy.
Yi Yongha’s hellfire devoured the earth, Cheok Jungyeong hailed blows on the humanoid monsters, Nicholas showed off his skill with daggers, and Droon’s Mimyo chomped on the enemies.
…And then.
“Orden—!”
A flash of light raced forward as it emitted golden magic power in all directions.
Kim Suho ran, cutting down every single humanoid monster in his course. His speed far exceeded the maximum capability of a human. He was unstoppable.
“…You!”
Orden emitted magic power from the palms of his hands. The magic power soared like a pillar but Kim Suho easily sliced it in half. Not only Kim Suho, but Heynckes was also pressing the attack on Orden.
Kim Suho’s sword was only seconds away from Orden’s heart.
It was at that moment Orden realized Kim Suho’s weakness.
Kim Suho could only slice magic power that had been emitted externally.
Therefore, all Orden had to do was to contain his magic power inside and directly pour it into Kim Suho.
Just like what Chae Joochul had done to himself…!
Orden refined his magic power and waited for Kim Suho to arrive. A look of firm resolution flashed across Kim Suho’s face.
It appeared he did not have the slightest idea that he was running into the arms of death.
Orden reached out for Kim Suho as the Sword Saint jumped into his arms.
No, he tried to reach out.
Orden was feeling a thousandth of a second.
In the midst of an inflated sense of time, his gaze traveled to the side.
Above the crumbled throne room was the daughter of Park Hanho.
She held in her arms the doll her father had made for her and was looking at Orden with big, round eyes.
Orden knew that the child couldn’t be here, that he had already evacuated her to somewhere safe. This had to be a trap.
…However, despite knowing so, Orden still couldn’t help but hesitate.
Kim Suho and Heynckes did not miss the opportunity.
Crack.
Two swords pierced Orden.
The Sword Saint’s magic power and the Steel Spirit’s aura.
The two giant forces mingled with each other as they penetrated Orden’s heart.
Orden felt an unbearable pain.
At the same time, a question arose in his mind.
‘…Why did I hesitate?’
Orden slowly lowered his head and looked at Kim Suho. His blade was full of unstoppable conviction and determination.
Then he looked at Heynckes. His blade was sharp and cold.
Lastly, he turned his gaze to the child who made him hesitate.
But of course, the child was nowhere to be found.
Was it an illusion or a trap?
Orden couldn’t tell.
Crack—
It wasn’t long before Orden felt the Sword Saint’s magic power thrust into his heart.
The magic power destroyed his heart, and the chaos condensed inside it exploded.
Chwaaaaa.
The wave of chaos escaped Orden’s body… and spread to the rest of the world.
**
“…!”
Kim Suho opened his eyes in the middle of the destruction.
Buildings had crumbled down and concrete debris was everywhere.
At the center of it all was Orden.
He was covered in wounds but still alive. He wasn’t even close to fainting. Orden’s eyes were looking straight at Kim Suho.
“…Are you awake, human child?”
Orden’s voice was slow but clear.
Kim Suho nodded in silence. He couldn't even afford to speak out right now. But he had to raise his sword. His fight was not over yet….
“Rest assured, my heart has already been destroyed. I don’t have much time left to live.”
Saying so, Orden began to cure Kim Suho’s wounds. The burning pain enveloping his body quickly dissipated.
Still, Kim Suho looked at Orden with eyes full of distrust. But the look in Orden’s eyes was unwaveringly honest.
“I wanted to find an answer, so I brought you here.”
“…You brought me here?”
It was then a giant insect appeared from behind Orden.
‘Kururu, Kururu….’ He made strange sounds.
It was ‘Kurukuru’.
Orden announced, “I can tell that you are not from this world.”
Immediately, Kim Suho’s heart began to race.
Orden’s eyes were looking directly at the root of Kim Suho’s existence.
“How did you know?”
Orden gave a small smile.
“I tried to devour you to prolong my life, but you destroyed my heart to an irrecoverable state. I couldn’t heal my injuries, but I was able to look into your ‘mirror of memories’. I'm sure of one thing now that I've read your memory.”
“…”
“You are not a human of this world, and you have died once before.”
Kim Suho neither confirmed nor denied Orden’s claim.
What Orden had said was both true and false at the same time.
Kim Suho had never once considered himself a stranger to this world.
“Which made me wonder. You and I are similar. The only difference between us is that I’m a humanoid monster and you’re a human.”
They were both beings essentially different from everyone else on Earth.
Orden gained intelligence but lost everything else; Kim Suho lost everything but gained a new life.
The two of them were both ‘alone’ at one point in their lives but afterwards diverged onto different paths.
‘Is it because I’m a monster and you’re a human? Is that really the only difference between us?’
Orden needed to know.
“What made you want to live in this world?”
This could be Orden’s last question on Earth.
Feeling the weight of Orden’s curiosity, Kim Suho closed his eyes. He began to ponder in all earnestness the reason he became so attached to this world called ‘Earth’.
The reason Kim Suho was able to betray his country and the king who had taken him in was….
“If I had to say, it’s because of my family at first.”
In Akatrina, Kim Suho had no family.
He was born an orphan and the sword was his only friend.
That was why he was obsessed with sword training.
He found his value in the king and not in himself. His only goal in life was to become a knight to protect the king.
However, things were different here on Earth.
Kim Suho had friends and family who loved and believed in him.
“…Family?”
“Yeah. I have a family as well.”
Orden looked at Kim Suho in a daze.
‘What a silly reason,’ he thought.
“…Ha.”
As Orden gave a wry smile, he recalled the face of a certain child.
The child was ‘Park Yeonhee’, Park Hanho’s daughter whom Orden had brought back to life.
‘Why did I see her illusion at the most important moment, and why was I so foolishly shaken…?’
At that moment, Orden felt as if his crushed heart had beat.
“That is… such a foolish reason.”
Orden gave a deep sigh.
He realized only now why he felt the emotions he felt, and what he wanted and longed for when he looked at Park Hanho and his daughter and the ways that other humans lived.
The answer was surprisingly simple.
He really didn’t need to stray this far to find it.
“At least for me, that was it.”
Kim Suho shrugged his shoulders in mild embarrassment.
“…I see.”
The king smiled.
“They say there isn’t a right answer to life, but if what you’re saying is correct…”
Orden gave a sad yet relieved smile.
He accepted his defeat.
“In the end, all was inevitable.”
“…What?”
‘All was inevitable.’
It was a very irresponsible thing for a murderer of millions of people to say.
Enraged, Kim Suho grabbed Misteltein… but soon put it back down with a sigh.
“What was inevitable?”
Instead, he chose to ask Orden for the ‘answer’ Orden said he found.
Orden muttered in a low voice, “Don’t you know that humanoid monsters cannot make families?”
“Uh…. Kuhum.”
Kim Suho sunk into silence.
And now, Orden knew that death was his only option.
It made sense to him.
He was the first monster ever to obtain intelligence.
He called himself a ‘humanoid monster’ out of admiration for humans. He combined humans and monsters to create artificial beings. However, an individual was not capable of preserving an entire species.
It was now clear to him that the only way to escape from this pain was death.
“Kururu, Kururu.”
Perhaps Kurukuru realized what the king was thinking.
The servant extended his hand to the king.
It was his front leg full of scars.
“…Kurukuru.”
The king called Kurukuru’s name.
He knew exactly the condition he was in.
His heart had been destroyed, his blood stopped circulating, and the stagnant blood was decaying as his organs shut down one after the other.
Death was just around the corner.
“Kururu….”
Kurukuru flapped his wings. It was his way of expressing disapproval for whatever the king was about to say.
But the king wasn’t worried.
He knew that, given the insect’s loyalty, Kurukuru would never defy his orders.
“Kurukuru, a mantis cannot stop a wagon.”
Orden had read about the story behind this proverb in a book when he first created Kurukuru.
The story was about a foolish and reckless mantis who tried to stop a moving wagon.
Still, Orden was impressed with its boundless courage and hoped his servant would be as loyal and as brave as the mantis from the story.
“Live on.”
“….”
This was the king’s last order.
Kurukuru understood even as he trembled in sorrow.
“I have no regrets.”
The king slowly closed his eyes.
Kim Suho slowly raised himself.
The servant stared at the king’s lifeless body for a long time. Still there were no tears, simply because insects did not possess the ability to do so physically.
Kurukuru kneeled in front of the king.
And then, he kowtowed.
The tale of the lonely king had finally come to an end.
**
[Africa]
After the colossal explosion that swept the land subsided, Boss deactivated Shadow Armor. She could see the blue sky and the vast grasslands of Africa just beyond the horizon. Orden’s palace had completely been destroyed by none other than Orden himself.
“Boss~”
A childlike voice called Boss from behind. Boss turned around, her long hair fluttering in the wind.
Jain, who was disguised as Park Hanho’s daughter, was waving her hand at Boss.
“What’s this? Everything’s over, right~?”
“It seems so. Did your way work?”
“It did, surprisingly~”
Two weeks ago, Jain had secretly met up with Rumi who informed her that ‘Orden admires humans’.
Jain couldn’t understand what she meant. So she disguised herself as a humanoid monster and infiltrated into the palace. Only after seeing Orden in person was Jain finally able to draw a conclusion.
“I think he’s into small and cute humans~”
…Unfortunately, her assumption was far from the truth.
“Small and cute humans?”
Boss frowned. She disapproved the implication.
“Yeah~ But Boss, more importantly, how’s Hajin~?”
“He’s in the bunker, so he should be fine.”
“Yeah? Then let’s go find Orden’s body~”
The Chameleon Troupe was fundamentally a group of thieves.
Their goal was, of course, Orden’s body.
“Yes, let’s go.”
The two walked down the street, tracking Orden’s scent.
It was then.
Whish—
The blowing wind carried a particular scent.
“…?”
Having noticed the scent, Boss froze in place. Her legs wouldn’t move all of a sudden. The same thing happened to Jain.
Boss and Jain exchanged glances with each other, then turned their gaze to the direction that the scent was coming from.
