“THIS ALL YOU GOT, SYSTEM WORM?!” he bellowed, bracing himself as he took a thunderous step forward.

The decay energy responded, surging against him, crashing into him with the weight of a mountain.

It wrapped around his skin, digging in like claws, gnawing at his muscles and bones.

Volk’s thick veins pulsed, his face twisting in pain as the energy bit deeper, but he threw his head back and laughed—a deep, guttural sound that reverberated through the mist.

“VOLK NOT SCARED OF STINKY POWER!” His voice boomed as he took another step, his massive frame pushing against the decaying energy. “VOLK SMASH ALL WHO THINKS THEY STRONG!”

The barrier fought back with brutal force, each wave of decay stronger than the last, pressing into him like a living wall.

His skin blistered under its touch, patches sloughing away as the corrosive magic dug deeper.

His muscles tensed, trembling with the strain as he forced himself forward, step by agonizing step.

Pain crackled through him, raw and unrelenting, yet Volk’s fury drowned it out. He roared, his eyes blazing, pushing onward.

“YOU…CAN’T…STOP VOLK!”

His steps were slow, his breath ragged, but he moved forward, inch by inch, relentless, never stopping, and getting angrier and angrier every second.

His hands reached out, his thick fingers curling as he pressed against the deadly energy, muscles bulging under the strain.

The decay magic clawed back, a storm of red, gray, and green wrapping around his arms, pulling at his skin, gnawing at his bones. But Volk gritted his teeth, straining forward.

“STINKY MAGIC WEAK!” His growl was low, but his voice held a mocking edge. “VOLK TOO STRONG FOR THIS! YOU WEAK, SYSTEM WORM!”

The decay fought back harder, swirling violently as if alive, trying to consume him entirely. But Volk’s determination was like steel, unbreakable.

With each step, he tore through the thick fog, his laughter a mocking echo in the midst of the dark magic.

His fingers inched closer, stretching toward Song Woo-Ji’s form, his every muscle straining, his veins bulging with effort. His breath came in sharp, painful gasps, but he refused to be stopped.

His fingers finally brushed the edge of Song Woo-Ji’s aura—a contact that should have shattered lesser beings. But Volk grinned, defying it, his fierce gaze locked on the figure within.

“VOLK WILL SMASH ALL!” His hand surged forward, reaching out to crush his prey.

Then, from the depths of the decaying energy, a pulse of raw power exploded out, hitting him with a force unlike anything he’d ever felt.

“BANG!”

The impact shot through him like a bolt of lightning, a shockwave so intense that it ripped him off his feet, sending him hurtling back.

He felt his massive body break through the decaying fog, flying far across the battlefield as his limbs went limp, the world spinning around him.

“KABAM!”

His body struck the ground, leaving a massive crater in the earth, and a cloud of dust and debris billowed out as Volk lay still, the world momentarily silent around him.

Meanwhile, from the swirling cloud of decaying mist at the battlefield’s heart, something dark and grotesque began to take form.

The decayed fog gathered, thickening, churning into shapes both nightmarish and surreal.

The mists receded, and a creature stood, hunched and monstrous, its body covered in flesh that looked as if it had been flayed, revealing raw, demon-like red muscles that pulsed and oozed with decay.

Skull-like, with jagged teeth and hollow eyes that glowed faintly, the beast had a resemblance to Song Woo-Ji—a corrupted, twisted version, as though the man had been reborn from the darkest pits of suffering and madness.

It tilted its head up toward the sky, as if savoring the open air, taking in the vastness it hadn’t seen in countless eons.

A low chuckle rumbled from deep within its chest, growing louder until it exploded into a maniacal, ear-splitting laugh:

“KRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAARH!!!”

The sound was haunting, piercing through the chaos, sending chills down the spine of anything that could hear it.

The creature took a long breath, savoring each inhale as though every scent carried meaning.

“So long…” it whispered, its voice guttural and twisted, each word heavy with bitterness.

“So… long… trapped in that prison. Bound, confined, sealed away like a rabid beast, my power shackled, my soul bound in cursed chains! Forced to rot… to simmer… to FEAST on my own rage in that eternal darkness!”

It snarled, the rows of sharp teeth grinding together, slick with drool.

“Centuries passed. No, millennia. Eons of nothing but emptiness!”

The creature seemed to be salivating as it recalled the memory, its tongue licking across its sharp, cracked lips.

It let out a shuddering sigh, as if shaking off a lifetime’s worth of agony, and leaned forward, muscles twitching with anticipation.

“But now… NOW, I am FREE! This world lies before me—soft flesh, warm blood, endless mortals ripe for the taking!”

The creature clenched its clawed hands, feeling the raw strength at its command, and its mouth watered.

“WOMEN, CHILDREN… ALL THOSE PATHETIC WEAK HUMANS—I CAN’T WAIT TO GET MY HANDS ON YOU!”

It let out another laugh, trembling with anticipation, the ravenous light in its eyes growing darker and more frenzied.

However, then, as it scanned the battlefield for helpless prey, it caught sight of something unexpected.

It blinked, confused, its maniacal smile fading as it looked around.

Standing in front of him were no screaming, fleeing humans. Instead, lines of Orcs and Ogres glared at him with fiery, menacing eyes.

Their bodies were tense, their faces twisted in raw hatred. Swords, axes, and clubs were gripped tightly in their hands as they prepared to face down the creature in defiance.

The monstrous being tilted its head, brows knitting in disappointment and confusion as it surveyed the battlefield.

“Huh?” it grunted, scanning the lines of bristling warriors.

“What are these creatures called? What are you doing here?”

It sneered, the disappointment in its voice clear as it scratched at its neck.

“I come into this world after millennia, and THIS is my welcoming committee?”

The creature’s twisted face contorted with disdain as it looked over the sea of Orcs and Ogres who dared to face him down. He shook his head slowly, as if dispelling some unpleasant thought, his sharp teeth grinding in irritation.

“No… This can’t be.” He murmured, glancing at his own claws, still slick with the viscous blood of his reborn body.

“I will not stain my rebirth with the blood of such… creatures.”

He knelt, pressing his taloned fingers against the cracked ground beneath him, and his face contorted into a wide, malicious grin.

“BOOOOOOONE…”

His voice rumbled, building in volume, an ominous echo that reverberated across the battlefield.

The ground pulsed with dark energy, and the deathly mist around him began swirling faster, thickening, as though the very air had grown heavier, fouler.

A pulse of death energy exploded outwards in every direction, cascading over the battlefield, latching onto the soil and stones.

“KAAAAAAAAAAII!”

He bellowed, his voice reverberating like a thunderclap that cracked open the very fabric of space.

Beneath his hands, the ground split, forming blackened crevices that seemed to pierce through reality itself.

Dark, twisting rifts appeared in the earth, vast and jagged like the jaws of a monstrous creature, devouring all light around them.

They expanded, casting an unnatural, flickering darkness over the battlefield.

Slowly, from these shadowed rifts, figures began to emerge.

They rose in silence at first, their gauntleted hands clawing their way from the depths, dragging themselves up with an eerie, purposeful grace.

A glint of darkened steel shone in the dim light, revealing armor tarnished with age and scarred by countless battles.

Their eyes were hollow, empty voids of darkness, yet a sickly green light flickered from within, casting an unholy glow that seeped through the cracks in their armor.

Each movement was precise, cold, the embodiment of death and relentless will.

One by one, they pulled themselves fully from the rifts, standing in perfect lines, as if in response to some ancient call to arms.

They were towering figures clad in plate mail blackened by rot and corrosion, their weapons battered yet deadly sharp, infused with the foul energy of their master.

Helmets concealed their skeletal faces, but beneath their visors, a spectral glow pulsed with unnatural life, illuminating the lifeless sockets of their eyes. Experience more tales on empire

With each creature that emerged, the deathly chill in the air intensified, spreading dread through the ranks of the Orcs and Ogres.

The creature straightened, watching his army rise from the depths, and his thin, cruel smile widened with satisfaction.

He brought his hands together, clasping them with a decisive, echoing snap. Turning back toward the Orcs and Ogres, he surveyed them with disdainful amusement.

“I don’t know what pathetic dimension you came from, but none of you hold the essence of real Orcs and Ogres,” he sneered, his voice filled with scorn as his gaze raked over their bristling ranks.

“In you, I sense only shadows, mere imitations. You are flawed… incomplete. And I have no patience for such disappointments.”

He raised his hand, pointing it at them, his eyes flaring with a dark, malevolent energy.

“So, my warriors,” he intoned with a darkly satisfied smile, “ERASE THESE PATHETIC PARASITIC EXISTENCE!”

The armored beings stiffened in unison, their heads turning toward the Orcs and Ogres in perfect synchronization.

Without a sound, they began their advance, their armored boots striking the ground in a slow, unyielding rhythm, like the relentless beat of a funeral march.

Their eyes were full of red blood desire to murder and their bodies were leaving decaying auras that seemed to dissolve all the living beings on their paths.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep