Yuri had fought through countless wars in his past lives, but he had never witnessed a scene as horrific as this.
The dead were fighting the dead.
Such a thing should never happen in the mortal realm.
The reanimated corpses didn’t stop even when their bodies were torn apart; they swung their weapons until there was nothing left to move.
Watching two soldiers, both missing their arms, biting and clawing at each other, Yuri spat out a curse.
“This damn world.”
Rage surged within him.
So the moment he spotted the dark sorcerer hiding in the Imperial army’s rear lines, he charged without hesitation.
He tore through everything in his way.
His fury was fiercer than ever.
Nameless abominations created by the Empire lined up to block him. They were human, but instead of arms, thick tentacles sprouted from their bodies.
At the tips of those tentacles were sharp barbs, striking at Yuri like scorpion tails.
He didn’t even have time to feel disgust.
He cut them all down.
After plunging his blade into an enemy’s face and flicking it upward, the split-open brain matter scattered into the air. He crushed the corpse beneath his feet, spun around, and unleashed an endless whirlwind of slashes.
Enemies caught in the vortex were shredded into pieces.
Within Yuri’s radius, nothing retained its original form.
The dozens of concentrated sword slashes tore every chunk into tiny fragments, leaving no corpse behind to rise again.
Wherever Yuri advanced, massive craters formed.
“Don’t stand in my way.”
Realizing he had become the target, the dark sorcerer turned his back and fled.
Yuri’s pace quickened.
He decapitated a knight blocking his path, then trampled over a headless corpse standing dazed, leapt upward—
Soaring high, the battlefield stretched out beneath him.
The humans fighting desperately looked like a swarm of ants.
But they were not ants. They were humans like Yuri—unique beings, each with their own story.
He didn’t know how high Cedric was observing this world from, but Yuri, living among these people at their level, would never agree with Cedric’s absurd ideals.
His joys and sorrows were shared with these humans.
So, just like the dark sorcerer fleeing before him, Cedric would ultimately die by Yuri’s hand.
He would stake his life on it.
“If I can’t do it, then I’ll gladly die trying.”
Muttering softly, Yuri shifted direction downward like a hawk diving on its prey.
The chaotic power he had mastered twisted the laws of the world, producing the outcome he desired.
Yuri’s body plummeted toward the fleeing dark sorcerer. Some inexplicable force, beyond gravity, propelled him like a cannonball through the air.
He was too fast for the enemy to react.
“Gak!”
With a sickening sound, the dark sorcerer was pierced through the back.
Yuri pulled out his blade, then stabbed it back in again. After roughly five such strikes, the sorcerer collapsed, coughing up blood. As one tainted by dark magic, he didn’t die immediately despite multiple wounds.
“W-wait. Wait—”
The sorcerer tried to speak.
But Yuri had no intention of listening.
He crushed the sorcerer’s head beneath his foot, smashing the scattered skull fragments into dust, then spat.
Raising his eyes, he found himself now in the heart of the Imperial army’s camp.
Countless eyes fixed on him.
Dozens of Imperial knights clad in black armor approached. Behind them, monstrous creatures five times the size of humans dragged their tentacles. Beyond them, more knights with swords, and further back, soldiers gripping spears and blades advanced toward Yuri.
There were hundreds—likely numbering in the thousands.
It was only natural, having leapt such a distance to kill the dark sorcerer.
The Empire’s core forces waiting in the rear had all identified Yuri as their target and were closing in.
Though products of soulless dark magic, their murderous intent was unmistakable.
Yuri let out a laugh.
“Haha…”
A shiver ran through him.
To be hated by the enemy he despised with equal intensity was a strange kind of honor.
He had made them lose as much as he had lost.
But he wouldn’t stop here.
In the end, he would take everything, leaving nothing behind—not even misery—returning them to the earth as if they had never existed.
The thrill of vengeance surged along his blade. Guilty hummed as it drew out a long, concentrated slash.
He didn’t consciously think about manipulating mana methods or summoning soul slashes from his core.
Everything moved on its own.
He felt capable of anything.
No, that wasn’t quite right.
Smiling softly as he gripped Guilty, Yuri realized his omnipotence was limited solely to the act of slaughter. It wasn’t that he could do anything—he felt he could kill anyone.
He wished Cedric were here now.
“Cedric!”
Yuri shouted his name loudly.
Whether he heard it or not didn’t matter. The world itself was listening to his roar. Since Cedric had dabbled in dark magic, the heavens and earth were Yuri’s allies.
The only thing he had to fear was himself.
Yuri exhaled deeply.
“I will kill you. No matter what.”
The clouds parted.
The ground trembled.
Blades sliced through enemies.
Yuri cut down every foe that approached.
Heads tilted, bodies split open. Red blood splattered across his vision, but he didn’t blink. There was too much to do.
He counted the enemies in sight, calculated the fastest path, and drove his blade through them, eliminating any unnecessary moves.
He held his breath.
One.
Two.
Three, four, five.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.
Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.
His muscles screamed at their limit. His eyes bloodshot. His vision blurred, his body twisted—but Yuri didn’t stop.
His consciousness faded.
His body became a killing machine, piercing enemy weak points again and again.
Like an ancient hunter mechanically slaughtering orcs, Yuri became a living weapon, eradicating all life around him.
At some point, his awareness shut down.
When he finally opened his eyes again, he realized his mouth was moving.
“Two hundred twenty-two, two hundred twenty-three, two hundred twenty-four…”
How much time had passed?
Recognizing his exhausted state, Yuri restarted his lungs.
As air filled his body, it temporarily shut down. Steam rose like vapor.
Standing still, Yuri muttered,
“Two hundred twenty-four.”
Not bad for such a short time. Now the enemies dared not approach within a certain radius. Had they not been so terrified, the number would have been much higher.
Clicking his tongue, Yuri soothed the prey retreating behind him.
“Don’t be so scared. It’ll be over soon. Stay where you are.”
It didn’t take long for his body to recover. The soul slash had become part of him, and the chaotic power flowed through his veins like blood.
With every step Yuri took, the laws of the world bent.
“Alright, be good.”
He resumed counting from where he left off.
The last number was two hundred twenty-four.
So now…
“Two hundred fifty-four.”
The furious whirlwind Yuri unleashed shredded thirty enemies in an instant.
He was no longer just a man.
He was a disaster.
“Crazy.”
Amid the ongoing massacre, a heavy voice spoke.
Turning around, Yuri saw a familiar face.
The man spoke.
“What happened to you?”
He was a knight clad in black armor. Though all Imperial soldiers looked similar, the eyes visible through his helmet were unmistakably familiar.
Yuri recalled his name.
“Two hundred fifty-five?”
“What?”
“Ah, my mistake. Long time no see, Wayne.”
In a way, they had been comrades fighting together in the Allied forces. Wayne was the third captain of the Empire’s knights, known for his destructive swordsmanship.
This was the first time Yuri had seen him since the Allied forces disbanded.
Seeing Wayne’s face brought back memories of Ragna and Graham, both long gone.
Wayne said, bewildered,
“What could have happened to make you like this…?”
“Like this?”
“Have you become a monster?”
“A monster?”
Yuri laughed.
“Hey, don’t call me a monster. You’re the last person who should say that.”
Though Wayne called him a monster, his own charred skin and the multiple tentacles sprouting from his back made him look less human.
“That may be, but the circumstances are different.”
“How so?”
“I…”
Among the Empire’s knights Yuri had seen, Wayne was one of the few who still retained some sanity, and they could talk.
“I got this way with the help of dark magic. But what about you? How did you get so strong? What did you do? You’re the real monster…”
“Foolish.”
As Yuri approached, Wayne stepped back.
Meanwhile, several Imperial soldiers rushed at Yuri. They never got close before being caught in his sword slashes and killed.
Wiping the blood off Guilty, Yuri said,
“Wayne, do you like hunting?”
“What?”
“Or, do you know anything about ecosystems?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Imagine wild boars suddenly multiplying in the mountains. Someone releases them and feeds them a ton of food, so their numbers explode. But eventually, the food runs out, and they start coming down to villages, tearing up fields and wrecking everything around.”
“What are you saying?”
“What happens next? Does it just end with the boars taking over, leaving the mountains and fields barren?”
Yuri stopped walking and gauged the distance between herself and Wayne.
At this range, she figured two swings of her sword would be enough to kill him.
She said, “No.”
And then his figure blurred.
One strike.
Then a second.
Yuri sliced through Wayne’s waist. His upper and lower halves spun in opposite directions, twisting through the air.
He looked utterly stunned.
“Then predators that hunt the boars will increase too. When there are more boars, it means good times for the tigers that prey on them. There’s plenty of food, right?”
“That’s ridiculous…”
“You’re like those boars.”
Wayne didn’t die. Tentacle-like appendages sprouted from the severed parts, crawling along the ground to reattach his body.
It was a disgusting sight.
Yuri charged again and struck.
This time, she cut him into four pieces.
A torso with one arm and one leg each tumbled across the floor.
Kicking his body, she said, “Because of black magic, disgusting monsters like you are born. So monsters like me, who survive by eating monsters, come into being. Do you understand now why I’ve become like this?”
Still, Wayne refused to die.
Meanwhile, several knights with tentacles sprouting from their backs appeared, all looking similar to Wayne.
“What? Are those your friends?”
Wayne’s four-part body stood upright. Tentacles burst from the severed edges, merging with the other knights.
Several knights were fusing into one.
It was like watching Okua’s final desperate struggle on the plains.
“Hoo…”
After that horrific process, a grotesque creature in human form was born.
Yuri looked up at it and muttered, “These really are good times.”
Irein took a deep breath.
“Phew…”
She looked up at the sign that read ‘Moorim Alliance.’ Below it, a long staircase climbed the mountain, stretching beyond the clouds as if reaching the sky itself.
Cheongun, standing beside her, said, “Shall we go?”
“Do we really have to?”
“There’s no choice.”