The Hero Becomes the Duke’s Eldest Son

Chapter 146

At the Undead Lord’s words, Aden asked,

“Do you know about the World Tree’s fruit?”

-How could I not, human who harbors all the masters of darkness?

At the Undead Lord’s reply, Aden slightly squinted his eyes.

‘As expected, it seems he already knew.’

An Elder Troll, a disaster-level monster.

In terms of humans, it would be equivalent to a high-level Sword Master or greater.

In other words, a being approaching the transcendence stage.

It would be stranger if such a creature didn’t know about the existence of Curse within Aden’s body.

The Undead Lord spoke.

-The fruit is essentially the beginning of all our tribe’s sins.

The expression on the Undead Lord’s face was filled with deep regret as he said this.

“The beginning of sin? What do you mean?”

-Dragonslayer King.

The one who answered was not the Undead Lord, but Curse.

-Trolls were originally part of the Fairy Tribe that served the World Tree but were corrupted by its curse.

‘What?’

Aden momentarily froze upon hearing Curse’s explanation.

So, the troll, which looked like nothing but a grotesque monster in front of him, was once part of the Fairy Tribe?

-To put it precisely, they were cursed and no longer considered part of the Fairy Tribe, Dragonslayer King.

‘Hmm…’

Aden’s expression became quite complicated.

It was hard to believe, but it did explain why the Undead Lord knew about the World Tree’s fruit.

The Undead Lord continued.

-The dwarves of the earth, the ents of the forest, the elves of nature, and the fairies of the air… Along with them, we lived under the World Tree’s shadow. We were a tribe that loved water and earth.

The fifth fairy tribe, trolls, who enjoyed the damp earth and the quiet of the night.

The former king of this fifth tribe spoke.

-However, we were ignored and oppressed by the other tribes. We did not possess the beauty of the elves, the craftsmanship of the dwarves, nor the intelligence, and we were physically weak. Thus, we were ridiculed and despised by the other four tribes.

The king could not tolerate the scorned status of his tribe. Thus, he began to resent and envy the other fairy tribes.

This resentment and inferiority were emotions that the entire troll tribe held against the other fairies.

They wanted to trample on all the tribes that had mocked them.

-So, I committed an unforgivable sin. I coveted the fruit of the World Tree.

The World Tree, a pillar holding up the world that all fairy tribes revered as sacred.

The fruit contained the miracle capable of twisting and rising all causality in the world.

The troll king, the Undead Lord, coveted the power of that fruit, and with his tribe, climbed the great World Tree and ate the fruits hanging from its branches, fruits that had not yet ripened and fallen.

They hoped to become a tribe superior and more excellent than any other.

-And the World Tree, our god, was furious.

Just as they wished, they gained a body and strength stronger than any other tribe, along with immense regenerative power.

The troll king attained eternal immortality and indestructibility.

However, the World Tree also cursed them with endless hunger, seething rage, and hatred.

Unable to control their hunger, the trolls even cannibalized among themselves and trampled and destroyed the other fairy tribes that had looked down on them.

This was the origin of the Undying Lord and the Undead Legion of trolls.

The troll army, led by the Undead Lord, nearly devoured and ruled the entire world.

-But I was defeated, by humans and a woman.

The founder and first saintess of the Slaughter Cult.

She defeated the troll army and the Undead Lord, imprisoning him in the underground labyrinth of the Slaughter Tower.

At that time, humans were considered an inferior race, even weaker than the fairies.

A race that had been considered weak was defeated by what was seen as the weakest of all.

After that, the trolls were trapped in this barren Wasteland of Death, suffering endless torment for hundreds of years.

The Undead Lord looked up at the sky, recalling ancient, worn-out memories, and then bowed his head towards Aden.

-I regret my choice deeply, seeing my tribe fall into further despair and suffering. If I had remained imprisoned, I would have succumbed to the madness of the curse. I am sincerely grateful.

‘Not “if,” but certainly, in the future, he did go mad.’

Then, he rampaged, killing indiscriminately whether they were trolls or humans.

“Well. If you’re grateful, give me something in return.”

-Got it.

Aden had spoken thoughtlessly, not expecting much, but the Undead Lord took it seriously.

Swoosh!

The creature raised its sharp claws and stabbed them directly into its chest.

Then, it dug into its own body with its fingers as if kneading clay. Dark blue blood gushed out like a fountain.

Squelch!

The Undead Lord forcibly tore something out from within its chest—a pulsating, dark blue mass of flesh. It throbbed violently in the Undead Lord’s hand.

The creature controlled the blood gushing from its chest with telekinesis and extended it towards Aden.

-This is my heart. It should be useful in many ways. Here, take it.

Hmm.

“Oh, uh… thanks.”

Aden accepted the heart with a very reluctant expression, feeling its slimy texture in his hand.

Freshly plucked from the body, the warm heart, with the troll’s highly toxic blood, drenched Aden’s body, but it had no effect on him due to his immunity to all poisons.

The troll’s heart was a valuable magical ingredient, used in alchemy and other practices.

Especially the heart of an Elder Troll, its value was beyond imagination.

‘It’s certainly a good gift, so why do I feel so dirty?’

-Holding a pulsating heart in your hand and pondering such things might suggest there’s something wrong, Dragonslayer King.

Aden carefully placed the Undead Lord’s heart into the subspace pouch and asked the creature.

“What do you plan to do next?”

For now, he had released the creature as directed by the Slaughter God’s revelation and had concluded the war.

But the creature was dangerous.

Although its numbers had been reduced somewhat, it was still a disaster-level troll commanding thousands of trolls and high trolls.

No matter how communicative the creature was, it couldn’t be taken lightly.

At the Undead Lord’s words, Aden asked,

“Are you going to lead your tribe back for now?”

-Yes, and then I will release all the World Tree’s mana within me, spreading it across this wasteland.

“…”

-The infinite life force of the World Tree, which grants me immortality, is still within me. I will make this barren land a better place for my tribe to live.

Aden immediately understood the implication behind the Undead Lord’s words. So he asked,

“Are you planning to die?”

What the Undead Lord intended to do meant only one thing.

‘Dungeonization.’

The powerful aura emitted by a very strong monster could alter the surrounding terrain and mana, causing dungeonization.

But what the Undead Lord was about to do was slightly different.

‘He intends to cause dungeonization by exchanging his own existence.’

The source of the Undead Lord’s immortality was the power of the corrupted World Tree’s fruit, which meant the mana of the World Tree confined within the Undead Lord’s body.

To release all that life force was tantamount to suicide.

The Undead Lord shook his head.

-It is not death. My body has already fused with the power of the corrupted World Tree’s fruit. I am the mana of the World Tree, so I will merely fall into an eternal sleep from which I cannot awaken. My body will become one with this land.

“Well, it doesn’t seem much different from dying to me.”

-It is merely fulfilling my final responsibility as the king of my tribe. And…

The Undead Lord grinned, revealing his menacing fangs.

-Becoming a true guardian god of my tribe isn’t so bad either.

If he insisted on it that much, there was nothing for Aden to interfere with.

The Troll King looked up at the sky and spoke quietly.

-Although my body was confined in the dark underground, my eyes watched over everything in this world. The era of the fairies ended long ago, and now it is the era of humans. We will live quietly in this barren land that has become another home for us.

* * *

The Undead Lord led his entire troll army back to the grey land.

“My tribe will never leave this land again, so don’t worry, human who harbors darkness.”

The Undead Lord left only those words before disappearing.

After watching his departing figure, Aden went to where the body of the Usurper Saintess Spica and Merida were.

‘Spica Lunious.’

Aden approached the corpse of Spica. If not for the sword wound piercing her chest, she would have looked merely asleep.

In the future, she had dedicated herself to reviving the Slaughter Cult, which had been half-destroyed by the mad Undead Lord’s emergence.

She was destined to become a revered saintess, the Iron-Blooded Saintess, known for her ruthlessness and ferocity.

However, she lay here as a cold corpse, known as the ‘Usurper Saintess,’ the worst saintess in history who sought to bring down the cult.

In the end, it was her complete downfall, just as Aden had wanted.

But as he looked at Spica’s body, Aden’s expression did not soften.

He clenched his fist tightly.

‘Why do I feel this way?’

He had already achieved his first revenge by killing the Knight King Sylbeta.

The emotion he felt then was a thin sense of achievement and a bit of emptiness.

But the feeling now was different.

‘This isn’t right…’

This was not right.

The thought kept echoing in Aden’s mind and heart.

He didn’t know exactly what was ‘not right,’ but it felt that way.

‘Is it because I didn’t take her life directly?’

No.

He had resurrected the former saintess with the World Tree’s fruit, released the Undead Lord from the labyrinth, stopped the war, and set the stage for this outcome.

It was essentially the same as if he had killed her himself.

‘Then, do I feel sympathy for Spica?’

No.

He had heard parts of the conversation between Merida and Spica and knew the general circumstances.

But Aden knew well that he was not swayed by such things.

There were already plenty of unfortunate or wronged people in the world, and a mercenary could not survive if they were swayed by such things.

If it were a matter of circumstances, even those he had killed in his past life and current life would have had their own reasons.

While Aden continued to question himself, Saintess Merida knelt beside Spica’s cooling body.

She silently mourned the death of her disciple.

‘The current saintess of the Slaughter Cult, Merida Lunious.’

They say the eyes are the window to the soul.

But Merida, being blind, covered her eyes with a white bandage.

Thus, Aden couldn’t tell what she was thinking as she looked at the body of her disciple, whom she had killed and tried to kill again.

Whether she was angry, sad, or resentful, Aden did not know.

But he thought,

‘She resembles the Iron-Blooded Saintess.’

The feeling, the atmosphere, it was like seeing the Iron-Blooded Saintess of the future.

Spica must have been influenced by her teacher, Merida.

It was a silence that felt very familiar and similar to Aden.

“Aden Remes.”

Then she spoke.

“My disciple, Spica, truly did not intend to erase the cult.”

She said,

“If she had really wanted the Slaughter Cult to disappear, she wouldn’t have spared Lunia.”