Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

The Great War of Humans and Demons (9)

Even after crossing two treacherous valleys, no terrain suitable for a massive cave had appeared.

The delay was partly due to the young guide named Pungneung, who was supporting an injured person.

Time had already reached midnight.

Isaac, who was walking ahead, turned back and asked.

“Are we going the right way?”

“Of course! Absolutely. We’re almost there. So, it should be somewhere around here…”

A middle-aged man approached, limping and staggering. To anyone’s eyes, he looked like a patient with a severely injured leg.

Swish—

The middle-aged man who had been pretending to be injured suddenly lunged at Isaac from behind. He was even holding a sharp needle that had appeared out of nowhere.

Clang.

What seemed to be a poison needle was blocked by hardening.

Grin.

Ridiculously, as if certain his trick had worked, the face of the middle-aged man who had been acting like a frightened deer twisted maliciously.

By now, even the young man with the innocent impression had drawn a sword from his bosom and was pointing it this way.

The ungrateful old man shouted.

“You’ve just been poisoned by the Black Death Fluid! If you want to live, you’d better obey my words. If you follow orders well, you might get the antidote!”

Black Death Fluid. The name alone exuded an extremely dangerous nuance. The middle-aged man, whom they thought was a missing person, had unexpectedly launched a murderous plot.

Isaac’s already dull eyes grew even duller.

“Why go to such lengths?”

“Shut up and start walking! Don’t you want the antidote?!”

The middle-aged man shouted desperately.

The opponent had long since crossed the line. He was someone who deserved to die right then and there without regret.

‘First, I’ll assess the situation.’

However, Isaac just nodded vaguely and started walking. He wanted to at least find out why they had set this trap.

“Hold still for a moment.”

The guide, whose attitude had suddenly changed, skillfully tied Isaac’s arms with a rope. Not content with just that, he even pressed a dagger against his back as if to stab him.

“Don’t try anything funny. I won’t hesitate to draw blood.”

If it was confusing, it certainly was.

As Isaac practiced his techniques, he had naturally and concretely conceptualized a hero’s justice and freedom, the world he should protect, and his contemplations on cosmic beings.

On a macroscopic level, understanding the diverse human panorama he had not yet encountered would contribute, even if only a little, to the maturation of his mind.

‘Are they subordinates of an evil spirit or something?’

While he had met Jang Oh-seok along the way, the guide was someone Isaac had personally chosen from among the villagers.

If that was the case, there was a high probability that the entire Mokpung-ri was a force obeying someone’s orders.

Zzing—

Not far ahead, an alien energy wave was detected. The space that had looked like ordinary bushes a few meters ahead was rippling.

At the same time, he felt a gaze looking down on him from somewhere.

‘It’s quite a high-level technique.’

One should never let their guard down, anytime, anywhere.

Even though Euncheon Forest had a smaller population than Earth, it was a mysterious land where even fantastical creatures like the White-faced Dragon appeared. There might be deadly monster species lurking that he hadn’t even imagined.

Zing.

An entrance appeared in the rippling barrier. Inside, an ecosystem completely different from the forest unfolded.

Sturdy, thick walls reaching 8 meters in height stood firmly, and inside the gates, a village about 10 times the size of Mokpung-ri had formed.

Most of the buildings resembled traditional shrines or temples that could be seen in Asia.

‘A stench?’

As soon as they entered the village, a foul smell of blood and decay permeated the air. The guide and the middle-aged man, already accustomed to the stench, led Isaac to a magnificent temple in the northern part of the village.

Among the people on the streets were ordinary civilians, monstrous creatures with burly builds and green skin, and even champion-level magic cavalry roaming about.

‘What kind of combination is this?’

It was an incomprehensible place.

One thing was clear, though: this was not a place where benevolent ethereals resided. The smell of blood and decaying corpses was almost overwhelming.

To put it bluntly, this village was a human slaughterhouse.

Creeeeak.

As they entered the palace-like shrine, a large, stocky old man wrapped in a yellow robe was waiting.

The middle-aged man who had tried to stab Isaac with the poison needle spoke with a voice full of satisfaction.

“Master! We’ve subdued the warrior.”

“To not recognize an honored guest. You’re not worth keeping alive.”

“What? Ah, no. That’s not what I…”

The yellow-robed old man frowned.

Splat!

Splat!

Suddenly, the faces of the middle-aged man and the young man on either side exploded.

Isaac used shadows to prevent his clothes from being soiled by blood.

【Information Window】
▶ Name: Overlord Mordu
▶ Level: 98
▶ Classification: Monster
▶ Mutations: [Superior Strength Lv.10][Slaughterer Lv.5][Indomitable Will Lv.5][Abundant Vitality Lv.3]
▶ Skill: [Close Combat]

The yellow-robed old man’s level was 98. He was an Emperor-class monster with developed intelligence. A year ago, Isaac might have trembled before such an opponent, but now things were quite different.

Isaac’s expression remained indifferent, and so did his heart.

After all, the demon lords he had beaten and chased away had similar levels.

“I inadvertently committed a discourtesy. These uneducated fools, I hope you’ll understand.”

“It doesn’t matter. I was going to kill them anyway.”

“Then I should apologize for taking matters into my own hands. I am Mordu of the Greenkin race. Where are you from?”

“I’d rather not say.”

The Greenkin were the dominant species ruling over the ‘Western Wastelands’ in the western lands of the small world.

They were cousins to orcs, the quintessential monsters of fantasy worlds. I recall that the heroes of the vast Greenkin colonies were described as consistently spewing harsh insults and profanities, and the race as a whole was generally portrayed as boastful.

In that regard, it was highly suspicious for a Greenkin Emperor to be acting so kindly.

“You seem to be wary of me because I’m a monster. I understand. Then at least tell me your name. Surely you can share that much?”

“It’s Lee Geon-ha.”

In the Silver Spring Forest, Isaac revealed his real name rather than his hero name, concerned about potential future consequences.

At this, Mordu’s eyes widened slightly.

“Lee Geon-ha! So you’re the 5-star supreme warrior that White-faced Dragon spoke of.”

White-faced Dragon was the teaching dragon that had flown in to have a discussion with Isaac while he was cultivating his spiritual power on Mount Yun Eun.

It seemed that both White-faced Dragon and Mordu here were among the few absolute beings residing in the Silver Spring Forest, so they were well-informed about each other’s circumstances.

With a genial smile on his face, he guided Isaac to a palatial guest house and offered a lavish meal and drinks.

Isaac, who didn’t have much of an appetite, just downed a few glasses of the colorful liquor and nibbled on the food as appetizers.

Mordu inquired about the factions and the war situation in the small world, and Isaac responded casually to the extent of his knowledge.

From the start, he had no desire to have a genuine conversation with a monster. The monster before his eyes was likely the troublemaker of Silver Spring Forest who had slaughtered at least tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of humans.

“Is Mokpung-ri outside the village under your control?”

“That’s right. The slaves there are tasked with guiding sacrifices to this place. Ah! Have you heard if anything has happened in Yangpyeong Province? My disciple is an influential figure there, but I’ve suddenly lost contact with him.”

“Is he a famous human? I only briefly stopped by Silver Spring Forest.”

“He’s called the Supreme Sword . The leader of a sect called Yongmu Sect. Have you heard of him?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Isaac shook his head.

Thinking back, there were similarities in the aura between the yellow-robed old man before him and Supreme Sword Hwang-gyu.

A human being the disciple of a monster like the Greenkin? It was a laughable story.

Isaac could roughly understand that Overlord Mordu was the original culprit who had raised the human monster known as Supreme Sword .

It was unlikely that Supreme Sword had invented the demonic martial arts technique of absorbing people’s souls to build inner strength on his own.

‘Even if this isn’t Earth…’

The noble hero spirit remained an incomprehensible realm. Isaac still couldn’t understand the mental state of true heroes like Yeomje or God Hand, who would sacrifice their lives to save their comrades and citizens.

Animals are inherently designed to live for their own survival.

Perhaps the chivalry of risking danger to protect others was a mental armor that only mutants could possess.

And Isaac was a very ordinary human who valued his own life more than anyone else’s.

He too wouldn’t have dared to fight against the demon army if he didn’t have the Final Finish and 5-star spiritual power.

‘I can’t just ignore this situation.’

But facing a monster that took countless lives for its own benefit made him feel like vomiting.

Now that he knew, he couldn’t let a monster running a human slaughterhouse live.

A strange glint flashed in Isaac’s indifferent eyes.

====

***

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Overlord Mordu.

He was once a war hero who ruled over seven tribes of the Greenkin race.

In his prime, even the Ligno Giants, the strongest race in the small world, were wary of his military might and spirit.

However, the story of a hero born in turbulent times aiming for world unification only to decline and perish was a common history found in any race.

After a long war against the allied tribes ended in defeat, he barely managed to preserve his life by hiding in the Silver Spring Forest, a region below the Western Wastelands cut off from the outside world, evading his pursuers.

The wounded Mordu spent 20 years recovering in the dense mountains, thoroughly understanding the ecosystem of Silver Spring Forest, and even learning the culture and language of humans, the dominant species of Silver Spring Forest.

However, the fall of his tribe did not mean the loss of his overlord qualities.

He dreamed of a comeback with the attitude of enduring hardships for revenge.

Yulim was a terrain densely covered in vegetation, making it easy to hide even if a large army invaded.

After completing his recovery, Mordu built a hideout deep in Yulim and sought to regain his prime strength by taking people’s spiritual energy.

His first target was Yangpyeong Province, the humans’ great city. Having tasted bitter defeat against the strategically united tribes, Mordu deeply realized the importance of sowing discord.

Hiding in Yulim, he designed a 50-year plan, raising Supreme Sword Hwang-gyu, who was born with the same overlord qualities as himself, as his disciple and creating the formidable large sect called Yongmu Sect.

And through him, he built a distribution structure to obtain more spiritual energy, constantly strengthening his mutations.

In the process, although 100,000 humans lost their lives, as a result, Overlord Mordu not only regained his prime strength in just 15 years but was able to surpass his previous limits.

Soon, Yangpyeong Province would completely fall into his grasp.

“The stench of rotting corpses is overwhelming. Isn’t your greed excessive?”

“Don’t view it so negatively. It’s a perfectly natural cause and effect for monsters to kill ethereals and gain spiritual energy.”

It was a natural response for Overlord Mordu to dismiss the supreme master’s questioning so lightly. He was prepared to do anything for world unification.

Ethereals and monsters, each dealing with positive and negative energy respectively, were sworn enemies who clashed and killed each other on a racial scale at every turn.

However, it was the way of the world to willingly join hands with yesterday’s enemy if it was for mutual benefit.

‘What can you do even if you’re angry, you bastard.’

The opponent was a 5-star ethereal, and he was an Emperor-class monster. Not only was there a difference in their class, but this was also Overlord Mordu’s stronghold where his forces were concentrated.

If he wasn’t in a disadvantageous position, he would have long since killed a mere 5-star ethereal and taken their spiritual energy.