The soldiers under Chief General Buzazeos’s command were fighting on a nightmare of a battlefield.

“BUHIIIIH!” a n.o.ble Orc screamed as he thrust the tip of his spear forward, piercing the skull of an enemy whose organs were hanging out of his b.l.o.o.d.y abdomen.

Seeing his spear enter the enemy’s cheek and emerge from the back of his head, the n.o.ble Orc breathed a sigh of relief at his victory.

But despite having a crucial part of his brain pierced, the enemy soldier let out a groan and grasped the handle of the spear that had pierced him.

“BUHIH?!”

“Gobeh…”

The n.o.ble Orc let out a stiff-sounding noise as he tried to take back his spear, but perhaps because he had lost his presence of mind, he didn’t have his usual strength.

And as he stopped moving to try to take his weapon back, other enemy soldiers closed in on him.

“Gobeh…”

“Kill…!”

“Recognition… achievements…!”

“Buhiiiih… Buhiiiih…”

Orc Zombies and n.o.ble Orc Zombies with their bloodstained entrails spilling from their bodies, the look of longing unique to those who had no future in their wide-open, hollow eyes, swung and thrust their weapons.

“B-BUGYAAAAAH!”

Surrounded and unable to move, the n.o.ble Orc soldier let out a dying scream as he was buried among the swarm of Undead.

Such h.e.l.lish scenes were unfolding all over the battlefield.

“How many times do I need to tell you not to step out before you understand?! Don’t break your formations! Heavy troops, raise your shields and act as a wall to stop the Undead! Spearmen, thrust your spears between the shields! Leave it to the archers and mages to finish them off!” Chief General Buzazeos bellowed.

Each time he gave orders, a messenger turned pale as he ran out to relay these orders to the soldiers.

“Buguh!” Buzazeos groaned.

What’s the meaning of this? Before, the soldiers would have obeyed my orders faithfully. I trained and selected the soldiers so that I could raise them to be able to do that. So why now, of all times? Buzazeos couldn’t help but ask himself this.

At first, he had felt shocked upon hearing that an army of the n.o.ble Orc empire led by three generals had begun a rebellion. But upon learning that they were a group of Undead soldiers that had become far weaker than they were while alive, he had felt disappointed.

Normally, even a swarm of Undead would have almost no coordination or proper distribution of roles. They were just a disorderly gathering that had no intents other than attacking the living.

So, the n.o.ble Orc empire’s soldiers couldn’t be blamed for thinking that they could win this battle. However, looking back on it now, it had been careless to think this.

The rebelling army, which had raised Prince Budarion’s flag and another unfamiliar flag, had attacked with such bloodcurdling expressions that it was difficult to believe that they were Undead. And even though arrows and spells poured down on them from the gate like rain, they had closed in on the gate without faltering and destroyed it.

Buzazeos had come running and taken command, managing to push the enemies back outside the gate, but… perhaps overly restless or overconfident in their own strength, soldiers had broken formation to charge in, one by one. These soldiers had been helplessly surrounded and crushed to death by the Undead, while the remaining soldiers hastily filled the gaps left by the ones that had broken the formation to hold the line, and this cycle was repeating over and over.

They were at the advantage overall; a third of the Undead army, including Gargya and Bugyap, had already been turned back into corpses. They would likely be able to defeat the Undead army within another hour.

But Buzazeos’s irritation would not subside.

How many times have I given the same orders?! When did my soldiers become such bird-brains?! Even though they can see the reckless idiots being killed they keep going out and acting on their own if I take my eyes off them!

The High Kobold, and High Goblin and Kobold troops offered and dispatched by Gargya and Gido were proving useful, but Buzazeos needed to speak human words to give them orders. Perhaps this was adding to his irritation as well.

Now that things have come to this, I must step onto the frontline myself… what did I think just now?!

Buzazeos came back to his senses, startled. Before he knew it, his legs were carrying him towards the frontline of the battlefield, and he stopped himself as he realized this.

“Don’t be so hasty, Buzazeos-dono,” said a voice, calling out to Buzazeos in a flippant tone.

It was Gerazorg. He was a slender, playboy-looking individual with two twisted horns on his head, blue skin, a goatee on his chin and piercings in his ears, nose and the triangular tip of the tail extending from his waist.

“My Demons will exterminate the Undead soon,” he said.

It seemed that he hadn’t noticed the fact that Buzazeos has frozen in astonishment. He couldn’t reach Buzazeos’s shoulder due to the difference in their heights, so he gave him an overly-friendly pat on the side and stepped towards the frontline, taking his tamed Demons with him.

“Wait, Gerazorg-dono. It is too early for you to make your appearance,” Buzazeos said, hastily stopping Gerazorg.

Gerazorg had always been nothing but a piece of sc.u.m, even before Buzazeos met him, but now, even though he was a fool beyond help, he was a piece of sc.u.m that could fight.

Though he had been dispatched to the Majin nation to stage a coup d’état by his master Bugitas, he had failed to gain supporters and fled shamelessly, crying and clinging to Bugitas and begging for one more chance. He was thoroughly useless as a spy.

But as expected of a member of the Majin race, he possessed exceptional fighting ability.

Despite his playboy-like appearance, he could use martial skills and multiple attributes of magic with considerable skill. Most importantly, he possessed the Demon Tamer Job, leading a pack of more than ten Demons of various kinds.

And like Gargya and Gido, Ravovifard had taken a liking to him for some reason and given him his divine protection.

Thus, with many leaders now gone and no top leaders other than Buzazeos, Gerazorg was the third-ranking individual among Bugitas’s subordinates after Chief General Buzazeos and General b.u.mogan, who had left the empire to fight the allied army formed by the smaller nations.

“Huh? Why are you stopping me? Could it be that you don’t want me to build achievements for myself, since I already possess Ravovifard’s divine protection?” said Gerazorg, borrowing not a tiger’s, but an evil G.o.d’s strength*.

For a moment, Buzazeos considered letting him go, but he mustered his perseverance and stopped him. “There is something strange about the enemy. They’re supposed to be the ones attacking, but they’re coming at us as if their backs are against the wall. And we still don’t know why they turned into Undead in the first place,” he said. “It’s difficult to imagine that this many of them turned into Undead naturally. Something is yet to happen during this battle. Even if you step out after we make sure what this is, you won’t be too late.”

“Hmm… Indeed, now that I think about it, the Zombies are behaving strangely,” Gerazorg agreed. “They don’t give off any rotten smell; by looking at them, you would think that they were alive until just minutes ago. I thought that by the time corpses turn into Undead naturally, they’ve already started giving off a nose-wrinkling stink, but…”

It seems I’ve managed to divert his attention, Buzazeos thought, relieved.

But what he had said to Gerazorg were his true thoughts.

His intuition that had been honed over many years were ringing alarm bells, warning him that things would be dangerous if the mystery behind this large number of fresh Undead was not urgently investigated, but due to his foolish subordinates that were disobeying orders and stepping out to die on their own one by one, he had no time for that.

I suppose we’ll have to defeat these Undead first. But how should we investigate this? I wonder if we’ll be able to learn something if we send out the Mages? … What is that?!

“BUGAH!” Buzazeos shouted in the Orc language immediately.

He was looking at a storm of arrows that had been fired from behind the Undead army.

The arrows rained down upon the heavy troops and spearmen holding down the frontline, along with the Undead they were holding back. n.o.ble Orcs screamed and fell back, while Orcs and High Goblins fell, pierced by a countless number of arrows.

With this opportunity, the Undead army pushed further in.

And on the other side of the army, the enemy army revealed itself, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Those are the flags of Za.n.a.lpadna as well as the Ghouls, High Goblin and High Kobold nations! And the flags of the Centaurs and Harpies, and beside the flag that I’ve never seen before… isn’t that the Majin nation’s flag?!”

“Ngh, that d.a.m.ned b.u.mogan! He couldn’t even hold out?!”

At the sight of the enemy army that had pierced through the meat shield, Gerazorg turned pale, while Buzazeos felt a strange sense of exhilaration.

But Buzazeos suppressed that exhilaration and shouted his orders. “Hold the line! Don’t break your formations! Don’t get restless, you fools!”

It was possible that his own soldiers, who had nothing but morale and would quickly forget their orders, were more of a problem to him than the enemy army that was closing in.

The thunderous noise of the gate being destroyed and the sounds of battle made by the army led by Chief General Buzazeos could be heard from the plaza in front of the castle.

Though Bugitas could guess that his disappointing subordinates were fighting a difficult battle, at first, he was acting in a leisurely manner.

He simply thought that he just needed to defeat the two enemies in front of him and then head out onto the frontline himself.

One of the enemies was a monster who possessed multiple fragments of the Demon King. The other was his own older brother, Prince Budarion.

Both were formidable foes, but Bugitas had no doubt that he would be victorious. The G.o.d he worshipped, Ravovifard, had provided him with power and a plan that would lead to certain victory against the monster, and Budarion was an opponent that he had already defeated once before.

It’s true that I had quite a hard time when I fought Budarion. But my Level has increased since that time as well, and I have become able to summon an even more powerful Familiar Spirit. Compared to that, only his appearance and his magic sword has changed, nothing else.

Budarion had lost an eye and an arm to Bugitas. His enormous scythe was a Magic Item given to him by Ravovifard, possessing a curse that reduced the healing abilities and the effects of any healing magic cast on any targets that it wounded, but it seemed that the curse had somehow been broken.

It had likely been the doing of that monster; Bugitas was willing to admit that he was quite skilled. But that was the exact reason why Bugitas was under the impression that he would be able to defeat Budarion as he had done before.

Budarion and this monster had likely only met each other recently. Though Budarion had regained his eye and arm, he should have had almost no time to improve his abilities.

Even Ravovifard’s Divine Message hadn’t mentioned Budarion at all. In other words, he wasn’t as much of a threat as the monster. The different-colored eye and arm were likely some kind of bluff.

With that being the case, even though Budarion was a Rank 10 n.o.ble Orc High King, even though he possessed the Swordsmanship Skill at Level 10, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Bugitas, a Rank 11 Plunder King who possessed an awakened superior Skill.

That was what Bugitas had concluded.

“BUOOH!”

“BUGUGAH!”

The super-heavy magic sword and the great scythe clashed. Each time they collided, Bugitas’s leisurely att.i.tude disappeared, little by little.

“What’s the matter? Your movements are dull! Has the comfort of the throne you stole from me made you lazy?” said Budarion.

The way he handled his sword had become more skillful, his blows faster and, most importantly, heavier.

“Say what you like!” Bugitas shouted back in the Orc language, thrusting the end of his scythe’s handle at Bugitas’s solar plexus.

Budarion stopped Bugitas’s attack with the body of his magic sword’s blade.

“… Flowing Willow, Pierce.”

With a natural movement, like the leaves of a willow tree swaying in the wind, he parried the attack. At the same time, he released a thrust, as if the blade of his sword was crawling up the scythe’s handle.

In contrast to his quiet voice, Budarion’s movements were heavy, planting his foot into the ground with so much force that the stone paving beneath it was broken, the tip of his sword closing in on his enemy.

“BUGIIIH! BUGIGYAGYAGYAGYAGYAH!”

Bugitas avoided it with Flowing Water, a martial skill of an advanced Skill, and then swung his scythe multiple times, releasing Hundred Consecutive Beast Blade Flying Slashes at Budarion.

“… An unsightly way to fight. Flowing Water.”

Handling his magic sword with movements that resembled the flowing of water, Budarion cut through only the attacks that had been sent his way. But some of the chaotic attacks that Bugitas had released wouldn’t have hit Budarion to begin with.

These attacks would cut through the buildings behind Budarion and would likely keep going straight through the buildings without stopping.

“Demon King’s blood, activate, Stone Wall, Stone Wall, Ice Blood Stiff Wall.”

But Vandalieu, the monster who appeared to be standing completely still behind Budarion, made his move. The Demon King’s blood spurted from the wrists that he had cut himself, hardening and forming a wall, and Vandalieu activated martial skills from behind the wall that acted as his shield.

But the Hundred Consecutive Beast Blade Flying Slashes cut through the first two walls. But as they hit the third wall, the wall of ice created by Dead Spirit Magic that made use of Orbia, they were completely stopped, scattering into the air.

“As expected of a martial technique of a superior Skill, released from a magic scythe, an Artifact no less. I panicked a little,” said Vandalieu.

“Vandalieu-kun, wouldn’t it have been better to use the Demon King’s carapace instead of his blood?” said Orbia.

“Orbia, the carapace covers my body as it activates; it would have taken time for it to turn into a shape where it could protect the faraway places behind us.”

“I see. But that Bugitas enemy, isn’t he quite amazing?”

“Yes, he’s quite the formidable foe.”

As Bugitas glared at Budarion and listened to this conversation, he felt such humiliation and anger that he felt like the blood vessels in his head would burst.

Are they being sarcastic?! Don’t mess with me!

Bugitas’s initial expectation was that Budarion would have been severely wounded, unable to completely stop the Hundred Consecutive Beast Blade Flying Slashes. No, he should have been heavily wounded before that, and the last attack should have cut him into pieces.

And then he had intended to easily defeat Vandalieu, the remaining enemy, by using the plan that would bring certain victory. He would have offered the fragments of the Demon King to Ravovifard, and headed towards the gate, holding the heads of his two enemies in one hand.

But in reality, Budarion was unharmed, having easily stopped a secret attack of Bugitas’s awaked superior Skill, War-boar Scythe Technique.

And the attacks that Budarion hadn’t stopped had been stopped by Vandalieu, only making him “panic a little.”

In fact, Bugitas was the one who was in the corner.

He hadn’t been heavily wounded, but he had received several light wounds. Because he had released several martial skills consecutively within a short period of time, he was out of breath, had expended a large amount of Mana and his head had begun hurting.

He was already using Transcend Limits, Surpa.s.s Limits: Magic Scythe and Familiar Spirit Descent. Budarion was using Familiar Spirit Descent and other Skills to strengthen himself as well, but rather than being even, Bugitas was at the disadvantage and unable to keep up.

“BUGOOOOH! BUGUGAH! BUGIIIIH!” Bugitas shouted, his face twisting in an unsightly manner as he cursed Budarion.

“Just when did I become this strong, you ask? Indeed, before, I was defeated by you and disgraced myself, forcing the people of the empire that I was supposed to protect through hard times,” said Budarion, deliberately translating Bugitas’s question and answering with human words. “But I am being guided.”

“BUHIH?!” Bugitas opened his eyes wide in astonishment at the fact that there could be another with a False Guidance Skill. He hadn’t even considered the possibility before.

“Don’t misunderstand. Unlike the fake that you possess, it is true Guidance,” Budarion continued. “I have received the Guidance of the Demon Path from Vandalieu, the Holy Son, and have gained power as a result. It is similar to the blessings given to us by our Mububujenge, our guardian G.o.ddess, and I have succeeded in increasing my Rank and awakening a superior Skill within a short period of time. Bugitas, I am not the defeated prince you once knew. I am now Rank 11 like you, a n.o.ble Orc Abyss King.”

Impossible, Bugitas thought, speechless at the response given by Budarion.

Guidance and False Guidance Skills were Skills that gave blessings not onto the Skill owner, but to others. Thus, Bugitas was not strengthened by his own False Guidance: Beast Path.

But Guidance: Demon Path increased Budarion’s Attribute Values and raised him to be a greater being.

And from the Experience Points he had gained from defeating Budirud and Bufudin, his Rank had increased and he had awakened a superior Skill.

Impossible, that’s impossible! Budarion has reached the same heights as I have?! Then there is no way that I can win, is there!

Bugitas was someone who had originally been completely aware in the difference in talent between him and his brother; he had intended to suppress his complex and devote himself to supporting his older brother in the future. He hadn’t believed that he would be able to defeat Budarion in the arena.

“Danna, could it be that this Bugitas is even stronger than Gubamon?” Kimberley asked.

“When he threw the Demon King’s carapace, you blocked it with a single-layered wall of the Demon King’s blood, after all,” said Princess Levia. “Then does that mean that he is stronger than a Pure-breed Vampire?”

“At the very least, I think that Bugitas is stronger than Gubamon when it comes to ability in martial skills,” said Vandalieu.

“Eh, are you serious, Vandalieu-kun?” said Orbia.

“I’m serious,” Vandalieu replied. “Gubamon was higher in Rank, but his Throwing Skill wasn’t a superior Skill, and the Demon King’s Carapace as he used it back then wouldn’t have been any better for using martial skills than that large scythe. Well, it seems that Bugitas’s skill in magic is disappointing, so Gubamon might be stronger overall. Still, Bugitas is very impressive.”

“… I would rather ask, are you serious when you say that you defeated a Pure-breed Vampire?” said Gizania.

“Rather, it seems that you are naturally looking down on both of them,” said Myuze.

“Well, to Vandalieu, that’s all they were,” said Vigaro.

“Leaving that aside… Darling, you’re wonderful! You look amazing!” said Princess Kurnelia.

As the spectating gallery suddenly grew, the ensuing conversation told Bugitas that he was in a hopeless situation.

It’s not a matter of whether I can defeat Budarion or not; if that monster had joined forces with Budarion and come at me two-on-one from the start, I would already be dead!

Also, Vandalieu hadn’t been directly targeted, but he possessed the ability to block Bugitas’s secret attack. Despite that, he had only used the Demon King’s carapace for defense, not only for himself, but to protect the surrounding buildings and the civilians that might be on the other side of them.

If Vandalieu started backing Budarion up seriously, how would Bugitas hold out when he was already inferior as things were now?

So why was Vandalieu leaving Bugitas’s disposal to Budarion? Bugitas had guessed the answer to that.

A performance for the citizens and the other nations!

This war had caused the n.o.ble Orc empire’s dignity to plummet into the ground. Bugitas, the one who had usurped the throne, was responsible for staging coup d’états in multiple nations, wounding and killing ma.s.ses of people and trampling over their dignity, but there was no doubt that the people’s trust in the empire itself had fallen.

Even if Bugitas’s head was taken and every single one of his subordinates was executed, the empire would not be able to return to its previous position. In fact, it would have to atone for its actions for a long time to come.

For the empire to regain as much of its position as possible, it was necessary for Budarion to defeat Bugitas with his own hands, and for this act to be witnessed by members of each nation.

Vandalieu focusing on preventing damage to the surrounding areas without providing a.s.sistance to Budarion, and the presence of the spectating gallery, were for that purpose.

Princess Kurnelia, Gizania and Myuze from Za.n.a.lpadna. Princess Lulu from the High Kobold nation and Prince Zorgo from the High Goblin nation. n.o.body had come from the Ghoul nation, but as Vigaro had emerged victorious in the brawl that had occurred there, he had become idolized as “Aniki!” by the Ghoul nation’s king, so he was here as their representative.

All of them were like relatives to one another, but even the nations that weren’t here to witness it couldn’t ignore such an event.

Incidentally, the reason Budarion was speaking the human language instead of the Orc language was out of consideration for this gallery of spectators.

Bugitas let out a low laugh. “… So, you’re already treating me like a loser.”

“What’s the matter, Bugitas? If you wish to give up and surrender, then I will show mercy. I swear that I will give you the most painless death,” said Budarion.

“Surrender? I, the one who has been recognized as the agent of Ravovifard’s divine will in this world, surrender to a monster and my own ani-ue who has stooped low enough to become this monster’s hound…”

At this rate, a comeback was impossible. Knowing this, Bugitas decided to begin the plan for certain victory that had been given to him by Ravovifard.

Originally, it had been a plan to be used on Vandalieu. Bugitas had been warned to never use it other than for that purpose, but he had no choice left now.

“BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Ani-ue, I shall surpa.s.s you here once more! Monster, what is about to happen is all because you drove me into this corner!” Bugitas kicked the ground, taking a large step backwards, his eyes containing the dangerous look characteristic of someone who has been cornered.

Budarion instinctively chased after him, but he couldn’t make it in time. “Bugitas, what are you doing?!”

“BUHAHAHA! Demon King’s fragment, activate!”

Bugitas’s body glowed with a bluish-white light, an ominous atmosphere surrounding him that felt like the air had grown heavier.

“Buh, what is this light?!” Budarion fell back, blinded by the light.

“No way, Bugitas had a fragment of the Demon King?!” Princess Kurnelia exclaimed in astonishment. “If you use something like that, the only thing waiting for you is your destr… you might not be destroyed, but you can’t use it for bad things!” she said, correcting herself.

“Fragment? Prince, please fall back and everyone else, get away from me as well,” said Vandalieu. “Also, Princess Kurnelia, thank you for correcting yourself out of consideration.”

With those words, Vandalieu solidified his defense. He had originally thought it highly likely that Ravovifard would do something, so even though he was certain that Bugitas would be defeated, he hadn’t come unprepared.

He was constantly within range to protect everyone in the spectating gallery, too.

For now, he put up barriers and built walls using the Demon King’s blood and carapace. But he couldn’t control them well.

Vandalieu coughed. “This is…?”

A large amount of the Demon King’s blood broke through Vandalieu’s skin; ink from the Demon King’s ink sacs poured from his mouth; the Demon King’s horns, carapace and suction cups were appearing haphazardly all over his body.

“Release us! Release us! Release us!”

The fragments were making noise for the first time in a long time. All of the blood in Vandalieu’s body was boiling; his bones ached and his heart trembled.

“Vandalieu! What is… GUOOOH?!”

“AAAAAHHH?!”

Vigaro and Princess Levia, who had begun rushing over towards Vandalieu, began writhing in agony, as did Budarion and the other n.o.ble Orcs who had been watching events unfold in the plaza from afar.

But they weren’t simply suffering.

“GUOOOOOOOGAAAAAAH!”

Budarion had maintained his ability to reason even in the middle of battle, but now, his eyes became bloodshot and his mouth foamed as he let out a roar. He gnashed his fangs together numerous times and swung his magic sword about.

The other n.o.ble Orcs that were Bugitas’s subordinates, as well as Princess Levia and the other Ghosts, had expressions on their faces resembling rampaging beasts, completely different from their normal selves.

“What is this… their instincts as monsters have been forcibly amplified?! He can do this even to those who are not under the effects of his False Guidance?!” Zadiris shouted.

Though she was a member of one of Vida’s races that had monster roots, she was not a pure monster, so she had retained her ability to reason.

“It is likely that Ravovifard’s power is being amplified by Bugitas’s Demon King fragment!” said Gizania. “And that’s why he can do something like that… Kuh, Vandalieu.”

“Kuh, Van! VAAAAN!” Basdia shouted.

Vandalieu could hear Gizania and Basdia’s voices, but he couldn’t reply. His hands were full with trying to control the Demon King’s fragments.

“JUOOOOOOOOH!”

“GICHICHICHICHIIH!”

On top of everything else, Bone Man and Pete had come out of Vandalieu’s body on their own. This wasn’t a situation where he could relax and say, “I’m alright.”

Bugitas let out a loud laugh as he watched this disastrous scene unfold. “BUHAHAHAHAHAHA! It seems that even Ani-ue has no choice but to become the kind of beast that he hates so much before the Demon King’s scent glands and luminescent organs!”

No matter how intelligent the monsters created by the Demon King Guduranis and his subordinates were, to the Demon King that had created them, they were nothing more than livestock that he could create in large quant.i.ties, p.a.w.ns that he used to fight.

But if they were intelligent, they would think about unnecessary things, and even if that weren’t the case, they would often rebel against the Demon King and his subordinate G.o.ds or act on their own once they became reasonably strong.

That was why monsters had been made to instinctively obey the Demon King and his evil G.o.ds. Even now, a hundred thousand years after the Demon King’s defeat, that hadn’t changed.

Bugitas had used the Demon King’s scent glands and luminescent organs that had been given to him by Ravovifard, the evil G.o.d of release, in order to utilize that instinct.

By secreting a special pheromone from the scent glands and releasing a hypnotic light from the luminescent organs, he had made the monsters, including Budarion, go berserk.

This had originally been a plan to make the Demon King fragments in Vandalieu’s possession to go wild and destroy him, but even Bugitas hadn’t expected it to be this effective.

“If this was how it was going to turn out, I should have done this from the begin… GUBUGIH?!” Bugitas was initially intoxicated by the certainty of his victory, but he got gooseb.u.mps as he experienced a harsh headache and heard an announcer’s voice in his head, warning him of a dangerous fact. “Demon King Encroachment Degree is already Level 7?! Th-that’s too fast!”

The Demon King Encroachment Degree was increasing with terrifying speed. As it did, the power of the Demon King’s scent glands and luminescent organs grew proportionally greater, but Bugitas’s mind was encroached upon.

What is the meaning of this?! I never heard that the encroachment degree will increase this fast! Isn’t there some kind of miscalculation…?

“No, everything has gone according to plan, Bugitas, my most exceptional monster… or rather, my most exceptional p.a.w.n,” said the voice of Ravovifard, echoing inside Bugitas’s now-chaotic mind.

The voice was coming from the familiar spirit that still resided inside Bugitas… or rather, the spirit clone that Ravovifard had created with a part of his own personality, its power deliberately suppressed to disguise it as a familiar spirit.

“Ravovifard! This is…?!”

“It seems that the scent glands and luminescent organs have affected your own mind as well. It seems that you have forgotten that you are nothing more than a monster yourself. Now then, I will take over from here, my p.a.w.n!”

As Bugitas felt Ravovifard’s power expand explosively inside him and his internal being slowly vanish, he screamed in fear and anger at his betrayal at the hands of the G.o.d that he worshipped.

“… Fufufu, HAHAHAHA! I have finally gained a body that I can move on the world’s surface! I had originally planned to grow him up a little more, but this is enough for now! Once this battle is over, I shall choose a powerful female, impregnate her and create the body I will possess for the next generation!” said Ravovifard, elated after having gained Bugitas’s body. He turned his gaze to Budarion and Vandalieu, whose body was covered in carapace and horns. “Now then, my new subordinates! Kill that monster and offer those fragments to me!”

At those words, the n.o.ble Orcs that had been Bugitas’s subordinates, Budarion as well as Borkus and their others raised their faces.

“No, you can’t do that, Darling!” Princess Kurnelia shouted in grief.

But they took no notice of her and began to move.

“BUGAAAAAAH!”

With roars so bloodthirsty that blood could almost be smelled from it, the n.o.ble Orcs charged towards Vandalieu.

“YOU’RE IN THE WAAAAAY!”

“JYUOOOOOH!”

“UOOOOOOH!”

Budarion, Bone Man and Borkus broke into a run with enough force to smash the stone paving beneath them and cut down the n.o.ble Orcs in a single slash.

“WHAT?!” Ravovifard shouted in astonishment. “You are lowly monsters; why are you disobey – GUOOOOH?!”

As the three of them sent n.o.ble Orc body parts tumbling through the air, they closed in on Ravovifard. Unable to completely stop all three of their swords, Ravovifard was sent flying backwards.

Skill explanation:

【False Guidance: Beast Path】

A Skill bestowed by Ravovifard, the evil G.o.d of release, with similar effects to a Guidance Skill, granting the ability to rule monsters and release their instincts.

Those guided by this Skill have increased Attribute Values with the exception of Intelligence, and are stimulated to increase their Ranks. In addition, their fighting instincts and desires are stimulated.

However, their Intelligence declines and the effects of martial skills and Magic-related skills in particular are reduced.

Those influenced by this Skill gradually become unable to suppress their instincts as monsters, returning to the way they were when they were loyal frontline soldiers for the Demon King’s army.

Also, this Skill generally targets monsters and Vida’s races that originated from monsters, though the effects are halved on the latter. However, humans who ordinarily possess fighting instincts and desires that they struggle to suppress with reasoning, as well as young children whose personalities have not been well-established yet, can also become targets for this Skill.

Monster explanation:

【n.o.ble Orc Abyss King】

A being that the n.o.ble Orc High King Budarion has become after having his lost arm and eye replaced by Vandalieu’s surgery and death-attribute magic, gaining Experience Points from defeating Budirud and Bufudin on the battlefield and increasing his Rank.

His right arm and left eye have become stained black from the influence of death-attribute Mana, but they do not have any special powers over his non-black arm and eye.

By increasing his Rank, he has acquired the Magic Resistance, Status Effect Resistance and Mana Enlargement Skills.

Also, as he is under the effects of Guidance: Demon Path, he gains bonuses to his Attribute Values and Skills, and it is expected that he will become even more powerful once he increases his Level.

Of course, Budarion is the first in history to become a n.o.ble Orc Abyss King, so his existence has not been recorded by any organizations, including the Adventurers’ Guild.

However, there is no mistake that he is a monster that receives the maximum effect of a Guidance Skill; such monsters are rare if one excludes the monsters tamed by the champion Nineroad.