A forest came into view. However, it wasn't a lush green forest, but one that was dying and turning black.
The trees were charred as if swept by a firestorm, and the undergrowth had been reduced to ashes, scattering in the wind without leaving a single stem.
Instead of leaves, the ground was adorned with the corpses of thousands, no, tens of thousands of monsters.
At the center of this eerie land, which could be called a graveyard rather than a forest, stood the king of the black orcs alone.
Like the orc helmet Sia had worn, two horns protruded from his forehead, and his eyes, as large as a human fist, flashed with a blood-red glow. His black body, as if coated in ink, was more massive than an ogre's and appeared harder than steel.
Finally, the massive stone sword he held in his hand was heavy enough to bring down a castle wall in a single blow.
'Is that the king's soul?'
Raon frowned as he looked at the Green King, the master of this mental world.
'I expected him to be strong enough to transcend his species, but...'
To this extent. Even at his highest estimate, he thought the Green King would be mid-level Grandmaster at most, but the Green King he saw in person was wrapped in an aura that wouldn't lose even to himself. A fighting spirit that made his flesh tremble. He was a monster who truly deserved the name of Orc Lord and Green King.
'Hmm...'
As Raon was scanning the Green King, he turned his eyes.
'The presence of another soul?'
Just a moment ago, he had felt the presence of a soul other than the Green King somewhere in this world. It was clearly his sister, Sia.
'She was alive! But...'
Where is she? I can sense her presence, but I can't see her. He could clearly feel the stirring of a soul somewhere in the mental world, but he couldn't pinpoint its exact location. All he could see were corpses, the burned forest, and the Green King.
'Do I have to fight after all?'
Raon sighed and approached the Green King.
"..."
The Green King, seemingly aware of his presence, slowly flashed his red eyes.
"You are..."
Just as Raon was about to place his hand on the hilt of the Heavenly Drive, ready to draw it at any moment, the Green King opened his mouth.
"The human who stopped me outside."
The Green King spoke in the common language of the continent, his gaze lowered. Though the words and pronunciation were archaic, they weren't difficult to understand.
"You can speak?"
Raon lowered his hand that was about to grasp the Heavenly Drive and looked into the Green King's eyes.
'Come to think of it...'
His eyes are clear. Unlike the fierce glow inside the helmet he had seen in reality, the Green King's eyes now revealed a calm and intellectual gaze. It felt like looking at a sage who had accumulated wisdom and soul, rather than an orc.
"I've been learning human language. Fighting so much, I picked it up naturally."
The Green King nodded, his pronunciation a bit strange but not problematic for understanding.
"How much time has passed since my death?"
He looked around the ash-scattering forest and let out a low breath.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know either."
Raon shook his head with a sigh.
"Until recently, I didn't even know of your existence."
"I see."
The Green King muttered that it seemed so and lowered his hand.
"Judging by your pronunciation and fragmentary scenes, it seems at least several hundred years have passed."
He looked back at the ashen forest with eyes filled with futility and anger.
"Yet the greed of humans seems to remain the same. No, it's gotten worse."
The Green King curled his lips in a sneer, as if mocking humans through Raon.
"To the extent of trying to resurrect and use me after I'm dead."
"Did you die fighting against humans?"
Raon frowned as he looked at the corpses piled behind the Green King. As he had felt when he first saw them, this forest, the monsters, and the Green King seemed to have died at the hands of humans.
"Yes, war. An unwanted war at that."
The Green King nodded heavily, as if thinking about his past life.
"Due to human greed, we lost our forest, our kin, and everything. We had no choice but to wage war to survive."
He bit his lip until it bled as he looked at the blackened corpses.
"But humans framed us, claiming we attacked their villages first, then called for troops from across the continent. In the end, my kin and I sank into the flames along with this forest."
The Green King closed the eyes of a small orc corpse that looked like a child, then exhaled a trembling breath.
"So you joined hands with Eden for revenge?"
Raon swallowed dryly as he looked at the Green King. Based on his story, it seemed he had resurrected to take revenge on humans.
"I did not choose."
But the Green King shook his head firmly.
"What? If you didn't choose, you shouldn't have been able to resurrect?"
As far as he knew, to create a monster's helmet or mask, one had to contact the soul and obtain consent. It was hard to believe that he had resurrected without agreeing.
"There was someone who spoke to me, but I was already tired and refused. However..."
The Green King frowned as if he didn't understand.
"When I opened my eyes, I found myself in this body."
He shook his head, saying he had no choice but to be trapped here, unable to control his own soul.
"Ah!"
Raon clapped his hands lightly.
'So that's why?'
It seemed that because the actual soul of the Green King didn't follow Eden, the external Green King showed a beast-like appearance and was controlled by the Twin-Headed Demon.
'The Fallen...'
Just how far are you going? To extinguish the souls of living people and even toy with the souls of pitifully dead monsters, he could be called a demon on par with Derus. Raon regretted not beating him more.
'But in this state, we might be able to talk a bit.'
He didn't feel goodwill from the Green King, but he didn't sense hostility either. Though he was clearly on guard, it seemed like he might be able to hear information about Sia.
"There's something I want to ask."
Raon took a step closer to the Green King and raised a finger.
"Where is the soul that was in this body?"
"I cannot say that."
The Green King shook his head with a guarded look, unlike before.
"Why not?"
"..."
He remained silent, not answering at all.
"Are you refusing to speak?"
Raon narrowed his eyes, his hand on the hilt of the Heavenly Drive.
"Then I'll have to ask roughly, won't I?"
"Even so, I cannot say."
The Green King pulled out the stone sword stuck in the ground, his eyes filled with conviction. The sword exuded a ferocity that seemed capable of crushing this space with a single swing.
"It's your choice, so deal with it."
Raon rushed towards the Green King, drawing the Heavenly Drive. The Flash-sword Technique. The blade imbued with Glacier's cold energy extended towards the Green King's heart. The Green King twisted his stone sword upwards to block the trajectory of the rapidly striking Heavenly Drive. Their blades clashed with a thunderous sound.
Blue sparks flew as the frost imbued in the Heavenly Drive collided head-on with the fighting spirit condensed in the stone sword.
'It's heavy.'
Raon bit his lip as he pushed back against the Green King's stone sword that was pressing down with its weight.
'His mental strength must be enormous.'
This mental world is a place where victory is determined not by actual physical strength, but by mental power. Feeling the Green King's aura directly, it seemed he possessed mental strength that transcended even a Grandmaster.
'But the same goes for me.'
Confident that his mental strength was second to none, he resonated the Ring of Fire and struck away the Green King's stone sword.
"Hmm..."
The Green King widened his eyes as if he couldn't believe he had been overpowered. Not wanting to lose in momentum, he raised an even denser fighting spirit and swung his stone sword horizontally. Their blades met with a piercing sound.
Raon drew the Crimson Slash with the will to cut through the stone sword. The blade burning with flames overwhelmed the stone sword and carved a single sword wound across the Green King's chest.
The Green King, as if ignoring the injury, swung his stone sword down towards Raon's head without even looking at the wound. Raon raised a shield of flames over the blade of the Heavenly Drive. It was the Fire Wall, a defensive technique of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Their weapons collided with a thunderous clash.
As soon as the Fire Wall and stone sword collided, a curse escaped from within.
'Damn...'
It was a heavy sword strike that deeply gouged the Fire Wall and bent the blade of the Heavenly Drive. The Green King's mental strength seemed to be even more formidable than he had predicted.
"Humans killed me, but my soul remained unbroken to the end."
The Green King pressed down with his stone sword, raising his chin.
"Do not underestimate me."
"I never underestimated you."
Raon employed the Heavy Sky Cannon technique over the blade of the Heavenly Drive. Instead of a sword strike, a wave of heavy sword energy shot towards the Green King. The Green King drove his stone sword into the ground. It was a good judgment to protect his vital points while not being pushed back.
However, bright red blood spurted from his arms and legs, which the stone sword couldn't protect.
"Have you developed some inclination to talk now?"
Raon lowered the Heavenly Drive, looking at the bleeding Green King.
"..."
The Green King raised his stone sword again, as if he had no intention of talking.
"I thought as much."
Raon nodded, as it would have been more ridiculous for a being with such mental strength to succumb to mere wounds.
"I'm sorry, but I'm in a hurry too."
Raon exhaled a turbid breath. He didn't want to see Sylvia's tears anymore and wanted to unite his family, so he couldn't back down either. He stomped his left foot at a right angle and brought down the Fangs of Insanity imbued with the Heavy Sky Cannon technique. A heavy slash that seemed capable of crushing bones and flesh poured down.
Despite the crushing blow, the Green King blocked the attack head-on without uttering a single groan.
Raon clicked his tongue and moved behind the Green King. The Green King, as if he had been waiting, brought down his greatsword in the direction Raon was charging. For a moment, an enormous pressure crushed his entire body, making it difficult to move.
'Was he holding back his strength?'
Raon lightly stepped forward with his right foot, employing the Gale Wind Style. He unleashed the Frost Snap, dissipating the pressure raised by the Green King with the blue wind rising from beneath his feet. A series of silver and blue sword strikes flowed like waves, shooting towards the Green King's chest and waist.
The Green King didn't dodge but struck his greatsword down towards the ground.
He blocked the Frost Snap with the earth crust that surged up from the impact of his greatsword, then thrust the greatsword towards his own head. Raon raised the Flame Dragon Strike against the Green King's heavily thrusting stone sword. The flames imbued in the sword technique took the form of a dragon and swept over the king of black orcs.
After the fiery power that could burn even the mental world passed, the Green King's figure was revealed. This time too, he had endured the Flame Dragon Strike without retreating, standing in the same place.
'Could it be... he can't move from that spot?'
The sight of the Green King fighting only from his position, without moving, was too strange.
'No, that's not important right now.'
Having entered this world immediately after the war without rest, his mental strength was reaching its limit. If he couldn't quickly overwhelm the Green King, he would be the one to fall first. Raon took a deep breath and readjusted his grip on the Heavenly Drive.
'I'll end this as quickly as possible.'
He pointed the flame-imbued Heavenly Drive towards the sky. A thousand petals bloomed atop the red tree that had taken root in the blade. The fragments of flame dancing in the autumn wind became a fiery storm that engulfed the Green King.
"Argh!"
The Green King violently swung down his stone sword to extinguish the flames engulfing him. He seemed to dislike being enveloped in flames, perhaps due to memories from his past life.
'Then I'll use that to my advantage.'
Raon advanced across the ashen ground and raised the Heavenly Drive he had tilted. Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Flame and Ice Unification. He drew back the flames that were dying down due to the Green King's stone sword, raising a wave of fire that seemed to touch the sky. The fighting spirit raised by the Green King was mercilessly shrunk by the flames of the Flame and Ice Unification.
"Ugh..."
Even the Green King, who hadn't uttered a single groan despite being cut by the sword and having his flesh torn, contorted his face and let out a low scream, unable to withstand the flames.
"Where is the soul of this body?"
"...I cannot say."
The Green King did not back down, as if he couldn't speak even in death.
"Why on earth..."
As Raon furrowed his brow, a black hole appeared in the air, and something like a blue cloud began to ripple within it.
'Is it Wrath?'
It seemed Wrath had caught up belatedly, just like when he wore the helmet of the Dragonian Rokta. It would be best to end this quickly before that fellow did something unnecessary. Raon gripped the Heavenly Drive with both hands, grinding his molars.
The Green King raised his fighting spirit to its limit, holding his greatsword above his head as if he would never die.
The fighting spirit blazing above his head burned like a red sun.
"Argh!"
The Green King, with a desperate will, swung his great sword down. The massive wave of fighting spirit made the world seem momentarily dark. Whir! Raon did not retreat but instead took a step forward and raised the Heavenly Drive Sword. Sword Domain, Heaven's Rift. Exhausted, his spirit grew even stronger and bloomed.
A sword strike burning with golden light erased the red fighting spirit and raised a grand radiance in the mental world. The Green King's greatsword broke in half, and a large hole was pierced in his chest.
However, the Green King did not fall, enduring in that spot even as he spat black blood from his chest and mouth.
"This is the last time. Speak."
"..."
The Green King shook his head, holding up the broken greatsword. He seemed to have no intention of speaking even in death.
'I don't have time anymore.'
His vision was blurring, and his head was throbbing. He had to settle this here somehow.
"Don't resent me..."
Just as Raon was about to raise the Heavenly Drive to behead the Green King, a sound like a blocked hole being unplugged rang out, and a giant cotton candy popped out of the hole that had opened in the air.
"You must not kill him! *cough*"
Wrath frowned as he looked down at them.
"The soul of a human is contained within this orc's soul!"