Chapter 370: Yarvokh Freezes After Hearing Luke’s Title!

What Yarvokh conveniently chose not to mention was that his own group belonged to only one ordinary Orc tribe, one that wasn’t even considered particularly noble among their race and had eventually been defeated by stronger tribes before fleeing toward the Dragon Continent.

Still, he wasn’t lying about everything.

The Orc race truly did possess gods somewhere within the Endless Forest, even if those gods had nothing to do with Yarvokh’s personal ancestry.

High above the battlefield, Emberlyn had been listening to their conversation from the tree branch, and Yarvokh’s claim left her visibly stunned.

’Gods are still living inside Valtharion?’

Another possibility quickly entered her mind.

’Or are they refugees from the Twilight Era?’

According to what her grandfather had taught her, the great conflict among the gods had ended with Valtharion removing them from the world so that it could recover from the damage caused during that era.

Yet Yarvokh’s claim that the upper surface had once become barren made Emberlyn consider another possibility.

’Maybe Valtharion didn’t expel every one of them.’

She remained silent while thinking through the possibility.

’Maybe some gods left by themselves because there was nothing left here for them after the war.’

That explanation wasn’t impossible.

If Valtharion had truly been devastated during the Twilight Era and much of its resources had been exhausted, then perhaps some gods had simply abandoned the world in search of richer places rather than being personally forced out.

It even raised another uncomfortable possibility.

’Was that shortage of resources part of the reason the gods started fighting in the first place?’

Emberlyn couldn’t be certain, and the more she thought about it, the more questions appeared.

’If some of them really went outside, then why haven’t they returned back to the Valatharion?’

That question reminded her of another strange detail from the current Hero Era.

No genuine god had been born on Valtharion during this era.

Powerful beings had reached the demi-god stage, yet all of them appeared to stop there regardless of how long they cultivated.

’Is Valtharion preventing them from becoming gods, or does reaching godhood require something that this world no longer possesses?’

Emberlyn finally shook her head and forced herself to stop thinking about it, because the disappearance of the gods and the true history of the previous eras clearly contained far more mysteries than what had been passed down through ordinary records.

Below her, Luke had reached a similar problem from a much more practical perspective.

Even if everything the orc captain said was true, those gods apparently couldn’t freely come to the surface, which meant attacking these Orcs wouldn’t immediately bring a god crashing down upon his head.

Still, if Luke eventually entered the Endless Forest himself, slaughtering part of their race now could easily make those hidden powers his enemies later.

’A god is still way too much for me right now.’

Luke sighed inwardly.

He now had two realistic choices.

Kill them.

Or spare them.

Joining them wasn’t even worth considering.

’Heh, I also have a goddess behind me.’

A faint sense of pride appeared in Luke’s thoughts, although he immediately remembered that the Goddess of Light still hadn’t actually given him the blessing he was supposed to receive.

Instead, most of what he had gotten from her involvement so far consisted of troublesome trials, dangerous situations, and the Origin Fragments that nearly killed him several times.

’Well... I guess those still count as gifts in their own way.’

Joining an Orc tribe after becoming the Hero of Light probably wasn’t the brightest idea either, especially if the Saintess eventually heard about it and decided to personally come after him.

At that moment, a familiar System screen appeared before his eyes.

[Luke, think about the present.]

[You currently need those kills if you want to reach C-Rank. If you keep hesitating over enemies who may or may not become a problem in the distant future, you won’t even be able to compete with the other Heroes.]

The System paused before adding another line.

[And you can forget about conquering that dragon wife of yours as well.]

Luke’s expression immediately changed.

’...You really know where to hit.’

Still, he couldn’t deny the logic.

Even if killing these Orcs made enemies for him later, the gods he mentioned apparently couldn’t come to the surface freely, while any demi-gods attempting to invade the Mainland would still have to deal with the established demi-gods already protecting the different races.

A foreign demi-god couldn’t simply walk into another race’s territory without provoking retaliation.

Luke gave a small nod.

’You’re right. Getting stronger matters more right now.’

Once his decision was made, he looked back toward Yarvokh and smiled.

"Sorry, dude, but I already have a goddess behind me."

Yarvokh’s expression immediately changed.

’A goddess... on the surface?’

Before he could ask anything, Luke casually added the next sentence.

"I’m the Hero of Light."

Yarvokh froze.

For several seconds, he simply stared at Luke as though the figure standing before him had suddenly transformed into something far more dangerous than the giant he had already witnessed.

’A Hero... one of their puppets!’

Ancient warnings immediately surfaced in his mind.

The prophecies weren’t known only among Orcs, because many races living deep within the Endless Forest had preserved similar stories across generations.

’History will repeat itself when the puppets of those beings descend upon Valtharion again.’

’The outsiders who don’t belong to this world.’

Those stories had never described the Heroes as saviors.

To many of the races living within the Endless Forest, their previous arrival had marked the beginning of disasters that eventually claimed countless lives, including the deaths of gods.

Yarvokh’s expression turned increasingly ugly as he finally understood what Luke’s presence meant.

’So they’ve already started bringing them back.’

His earlier thoughts about recruitment disappeared completely.

’No wonder the royal Orc tribes never bothered conquering the surface and instead kept strengthening themselves below.’

For the first time, Yarvokh began wondering whether those higher-ranking Orcs had known this moment was coming long before his own tribe ever reached the Dragon Continent.

Perhaps they hadn’t ignored the surface because they were afraid of Dragons.

Perhaps they were simply waiting.

’The countdown has already begun.’

Killing intent gradually filled Yarvokh’s gaze as he looked toward Luke.

If Luke truly served one of the divine beings outside Valtharion, then he wasn’t merely an outsider anymore.

He belonged to the enemy.

Yarvokh remembered the teachings passed down from his ancestors, according to which the gods who remained within the Endless Forest were the ones who had stayed behind to protect Valtharion, while those who abandoned the world and fled beyond it were remembered as traitors.

’Those traitors...’

Luke noticed the abrupt change in Yarvokh’s expression and became confused.

’Is this because I mentioned the Goddess?’

He had unknowingly guessed correctly, although he had no way of understanding the deeper reason yet.

"So..."

Luke tilted his head slightly.

"No more recruitment?"

Yarvokh didn’t answer immediately.

The crimson tattoos covering his body suddenly ignited with brilliant red light, spreading across his skin as his aura surged upward and the ground beneath his feet began cracking under the pressure.

When he finally spoke, his voice carried none of the friendliness from moments earlier.

"YOU WILL DIE HERE!"

The surrounding air trembled as Yarvokh raised his head and roared directly at Luke.

"AND I, YARVOKH, THE ORC CAPTAIN OF THIS OUTPOST, WILL BE THE ONE WHO SLAUGHTERS THE TRAITOR’S PUPPET!"