Disciple of The Three Kings [EN]: Chapter 371

Following orcs and goblins, they were the most basic monster category in this world.

Green skin, slightly taller than humans, explosive power from their bulky muscles.

However.

“Chwi-reuk?”

Their intelligence is low, and they can’t use magic, so their level isn’t considered high, but they are still at a level that can be called true monsters, starting with these orcs.

Of course, not all orcs are treated as the lowest-grade monsters.

Special ones among the orcs.

Like the black orcs in the demon realm, or…

-Red Orcs.

In the case of Red Orcs, a special evolution, each one could be considered a top-tier monster.

But the dozens of orcs here now.

“…This.”

Fortunately, they were ordinary orcs.

“Is this it?”

Lee San-hoo said with a tearful face.

His level was in the late thirties.

In terms of martial arts, he was about third-rate.

He was skilled enough to hunt one or two orcs without much difficulty.

Moreover, most players spend their lives only catching goblins or orcs.

Lee San-hoo was very knowledgeable about orcs.

“Is this really it!”

The current situation was different.

As mentioned, Lee San-hoo was surrounded by dozens of orcs.

No…

-Chwi-reureureuk!

There were nearly a hundred of them.

Brought in by Yi Rown’s gaze, the orcs surrounded Lee San-hoo as ordered.

“I don’t know.”

At Yi Rown’s answer, Lee San-hoo’s face turned pale.

Whatever he said, he had once been a strategist for Eunha [a powerful organization or faction].

And such a strategist for Eunha…

“To think I might die to orcs…”

How ironic.

Lee San-hoo gripped his sword and said to Yi Rown.

“Did you call me here to assassinate me? To give me the worst, most miserable death?”

“……”

“Was I that wrong?”

Lee San-hoo looked tearful.

“If I were trying to kill you miserably…”

Listening to Yi Rown’s words that followed.

“……”

Lee San-hoo’s face contorted even more, and he lost his words.

The miserable death Yi Rown had just mentioned was far beyond what an ordinary human could imagine.

Just reciting it made him feel like he had to spill out everything he knew.

Yi Rown clearly knew what true fear and horror were.

“You cruel bastard.”

“So, you should know that I’m not trying to kill you.”

“That’s…”

Squeeze.

Lee San-hoo gripped his sword tightly and took a stance.

“I know that too!”

That was the signal flare.

“Chwiik!”

The orcs, snorting, began to rush towards Lee San-hoo with crazed eyes.

What Yi Rown was aiming for.

It was the extreme state.

‘Surely, there’s the power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity in his body.’

And it was the power of an Unknown-level player.

Such a thing wouldn’t easily disappear.

Somewhere he couldn’t find, there was definitely a fragment of that power left.

If so.

“It’ll burst right before death.”

When life is urgent, instinct moves, and Yi Rown was waiting for that power to explode.

The problem was.

“Damn it.”

Lee San-hoo also knew that fact.

The extreme state was something that only appeared when one was truly close to death.

‘I have no power, I have none.’

Knowing that what Yi Rown wanted was the power dormant within him.

“I don’t have it!”

A shred of expectation and relief would prevent him from reaching that extreme state.

Chwiik!

The orc’s glaive grazed Lee San-hoo’s shoulder.

“Kuh!”

* * *

Rags.

A word used to describe old, worn-out clothes.

And it was also a word that accurately described Lee San-hoo’s current state.

“Huff… Huff…”

If you were asked what the word ‘rags’ meant, you could point to Lee San-hoo, who was collapsed and panting.

Lee San-hoo was torn and battered by the orcs’ glaives and fists.

“Huff… Huff!”

It was a wonder that he was still breathing.

Fortunately, nearly half of the many orcs had disappeared.

It meant that Lee San-hoo had done it all by himself.

It was almost impossible for a third-rate martial artist to hunt over thirty orcs.

Lee San-hoo had done it, so one might think that his latent power had exploded, but…

“A failure.”

Yi Rown flatly admitted that the plan had failed.

“Huff…”

The reason Lee San-hoo was able to hunt the orcs was thanks to his extraordinary mind and innate combat sense.

He didn’t feel any special movement of power or a surge in stats.

He simply calculated the orcs’ movements, moved accordingly, and accurately targeted the gaps, hunting the orcs with one strike at a time.

That was all there was to it.

“Potion.”

He had brought dozens of potions when he entered the gate.

Lee San-hoo had used nearly half of them in this fight.

If it weren’t for them, he would have been a corpse, not rags.

“Shit…”

Lee San-hoo, regaining his senses as his wounds healed due to the potion, looked at Yi Rown with bleary eyes and said.

“You son of a bitch…”

He really felt like he was going to die.

No, he thought he had died.

That was Lee San-hoo’s honest feeling.

“Is this not enough?”

“……”

“I guess this is when they say, ‘Being too smart is a problem.'”

“What?”

Lee San-hoo, who had barely sat up, glared at Yi Rown.

“Because you know you won’t die, you can’t enter the extreme state.”

At Yi Rown’s words, Lee San-hoo closed his mouth.

“Your ability to figure out my intention to awaken something within you, and your instinct and mind to find a way to survive even in a crisis.”

Yi Rown’s explanation continued.

“The relief that I won’t let you die.”

Lee San-hoo, who had figured out all his intentions because he was smart.

“Your instinctively moving mind is blocking your state.”

“…Well, that’s not wrong.”

Lee San-hoo finally admitted it.

He had consciously thought about it, but it wasn’t something that could be easily done.

“I need to change the method.”

“What, is there another method?”

Lee San-hoo’s face twitched slightly.

‘What is he going to do again?’

The problem was.

“Haa.”

For some reason, he could imagine what Yi Rown was going to do.

“This time, imagining it won’t help.”

Yi Rown reached out and used his blood energy to lift Lee San-hoo.

“Try to guess with that smart head of yours.”

Goo-ooo.

Something about the atmosphere had changed.

“Shit… Damn it.”

Lee San-hoo could tell what Yi Rown was about to do.

“Whether I’ll really kill you, or save you.”

At that moment.

Sreuk.

Yi Rown’s figure disappeared as if it had been turned off.

Just as Lee San-hoo was about to move his eyes to follow Yi Rown.

“How is it?”

A feeling like something was grabbing the back of his head.

And.

Kwaang!

Lee San-hoo’s head was slammed into the floor.

* * *

The worst.

It was the worst.

“Keok!”

Orcs were better.

Because of their stupid heads, their next actions were easily predictable, and he could prepare for how to block them.

If he prepared and mitigated the impact, the mental shock would be less.

Kwaang!

But Yi Rown was unpredictable.

Kwaang!

Lee San-hoo was flying around, feeling intense pain all over his body.

“I’d rather…”

It would have been better if it was a disaster-level monster.

Because then, his whole body would have been scattered into dust without him even blinking.

‘If that were the case…’

Looking at Yi Rown approaching, Lee San-hoo thought.

‘It wouldn’t have hurt this much.’

And.

Squeeze!

Yi Rown’s hand gripped his face.

Kung!

Yi Rown pushed Lee San-hoo further into the wall.

“Keok!”

Blood pooled in his mouth, and Lee San-hoo finally spat it out.

Intense pain, as if his whole body was breaking, continued.

Yi Rown, that bastard.

“You son of a…”

He was a terribly cruel and amazing guy.

He knew well how a human would feel pain that felt like death, and how they would feel the fear of death.

Also.

“Kki…”

At the same time, it was as if he knew clearly and accurately how to not die.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense.

That his consciousness, which should have been severed several times already, was still there.

Kwaang!

That his body, which should have been broken long ago, was still holding on.

Maybe…

“No.”

Yi Rown’s voice was heard.

“The power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity hasn’t even appeared yet.”

He had thought that the power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity might have already appeared, but Yi Rown cut off even that hope.

“I guess I need to try a little more.”

“S…top…”

“If it doesn’t work.”

Yi Rown’s eyes flickered red.

“I might have to kill you.”

“……!”

Yi Rown said.

-Guess, with your smart head.

-Whether I’ll kill you.

That was the problem.

“Or rather, like the body of the Soul-Spirit Divinity, maybe if I kill you completely, the seal on that power might be released.”

This bastard might really kill him.

“Resurrection? If so, then I need to preserve the body as much as possible and only kill the consciousness.”

Has he ever imagined an absolute being saying such things in front of him?

If he had imagined it.

‘Don’t.’

He hoped he wouldn’t even imagine such a thing.

Because reality would be more cruel and terrifying than imagination.

Shudder.

He had already lost the will to resist.

Yi Rown was, in a literal sense, an unavoidable death.

Lee San-hoo closed his eyes.

Woo-oong.

The flow of resonating energy and the sound of Yi Rown’s hand moving were heard in front of him.

‘The end.’

This would be the end.

This crazy bastard would really kill him and hope that the power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity would awaken.

And if it didn’t awaken…

‘Tsk.’

That would be the end.

“Stop it-!”

Lee San-hoo shouted as he opened his eyes.

But it was already too late.

Yi Rown’s hand covered his face.

Kwaang!

An explosion erupted in his head.

* * *

“……”

At first, he thought it was just a dream.

Lee San-hoo carefully opened his eyes.

Sreuk.

And as he looked around.

Trickle.

Tears flowed from his eyes.

“It was a dream…”

The clear light and environment that settled in his eyes told him that all of this was a dream.

If it wasn’t a dream, he would already be…

“Damn it.”

Lee San-hoo closed his eyes tightly.

His moving eyes…

“Chwiik?”

Because he saw the orc next to him.

In the end, this was inside the gate, and…

Swish!

What he had experienced was all real.

“I thought you’d feel something if you saw an orc as soon as you woke up, but this is a failure too.”

Yi Rown’s voice was heard as he cut down the orc that was tilting its head.

“Crazy… bastard…”

Lee San-hoo said in a quiet voice with his eyes closed.

Still, there was a glimmer of hope.

“I’m alive, right?”

“A soul-spirit can’t utter words like that.”

“Then…”

Sreuk.

Lee San-hoo quietly opened his eyes again.

“Did it succeed?”

In the last moment, Lee San-hoo felt that Yi Rown was definitely trying to kill him.

Even so, the fact that he was alive, could it be that the power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity had awakened?

“No.”

But the answer he heard was too despairing.

Even after doing that…

“That was an attack that would have killed you even if the power of the Soul-Spirit Divinity had awakened.”

It hadn’t awakened.

“I thought something would change if I tried to annihilate the Soul-Spirit Divinity itself, but it’s a failure.”

“……”

Did he have to repeat this again?

“The shortcut is a failure.”

But Yi Rown said as if he was rather refreshed.

“I guess I have to go the orthodox way.”