Chapter 373: “This Power Doesn’t Belong to Any God.”

His gaze moved toward Luke’s face, which was covered by the plain looking but flawless helmet of his knight armor, before gradually shifting across the rest of his golden-white armored body.

And then he noticed something that made his expression freeze.

’Not a single scratch?’

Despite unleashing everything he had, including the strength of his ancestral phantom, Yarvokh hadn’t managed to leave even the slightest scratch on Luke’s armor.

Realizing this, he let out another bitter laugh, mocking himself for believing that he had actually been fighting on equal footing with this monster.

’Heh... Was that even a fight for him?’

While Yarvokh was still drowning in his thoughts, Luke finally finished speaking.

"But this power doesn’t belong to any god."

He offered no further explanation and simply raised his hand, causing cosmic energy to gather above his palm before taking the shape of a long, sharp spear.

Seeing the weapon forming, Yarvokh immediately understood that his end had arrived, although there was surprisingly no fear left in his bloodied eyes.

Instead, he stared at Luke with the last remnants of his hatred and declared, "You will die for th-!"

PUCHI!

Unfortunately, Luke had no interest in listening to his baseless threats and directly thrust the cosmic spear through Yarvokh’s throat, piercing it completely and cutting off whatever else the Orc might have wanted to say.

After all, from what Yarvokh had revealed earlier, even the gods residing within the Endless Forest apparently couldn’t freely descend upon the surface, so Luke saw little reason to fear them merely because he had killed an Orc Captain.

’Well, unless those gods have some other method of attacking me, like placing a curse.’

That possibility briefly crossed his mind, although Luke soon dismissed it, since worrying about what some distant gods might or might not do wasn’t going to help him right now.

Instead, his attention returned to Yarvokh’s body, which had already begun undergoing the familiar transformation brought about by "The Eternal Origin Zero".

The remaining blood flowed back into the corpse as the body gradually dissolved, and within a short time, a crimson Blood Essence Pill appeared before Luke.

Compared to the D-Rank pills he had previously obtained, this one was slightly larger, while the alluring sensation it released was also noticeably stronger.

Interestingly, despite being able to sense that attraction, Luke himself didn’t feel any desire to consume it, unlike the Orcs who had previously been drawn toward these blood pills.

FWOOOSH!

The next instant, the crimson pill dissolved into a stream of blood-colored energy before entering his body, where it was immediately absorbed by his cultivation technique.

"Good." Luke nodded with satisfaction before turning his attention toward the surrounding battlefield, intending to eliminate the remaining C-Rank Orcs and collect their Blood Essence as well.

However, after sweeping his gaze across the broken walls, shattered ground, and ruined surroundings, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Huh? Where are they?"

Luke looked around again, only to discover that every C-Rank Orc who had previously been present in the outpost had disappeared.

"Sigh... Bad luck."

He shook his head regretfully, feeling rather unfortunate that so many valuable cultivation resources had managed to escape while he was occupied with Yarvokh.

Moreover, those surviving Orcs would undoubtedly inform the rest of their tribe about him, although what Luke didn’t know was that his assumption was already becoming reality.

"Run faster!"

Some distance away from the destroyed outpost, Elgrun was hurriedly making his way through the forest, pushing aside bushes and avoiding fallen branches while the remaining C-Rank Orcs followed closely behind him.

"That monster! We have to bring this information back to our tribe!" Elgrun muttered anxiously, occasionally glancing behind him to ensure that the terrifying giant hadn’t decided to pursue them.

"One of the puppets of those traitorous gods has appeared here, right at the edge of the Dragon Continent!"

His expression remained ugly as he recalled the battle he had witnessed, especially how Yarvokh’s ancestral phantom had been completely overwhelmed despite possessing the strength of a Peak Early B-Rank existence.

Meanwhile, one of the C-Rank Orcs running behind him suddenly spoke.

"Elgrun, isn’t running away from battle an act of cowardice? Our warriors have always considered retreating from an enemy dishonorable."

Hearing those words, Elgrun’s mouth twitched violently.

’Battle? That was a freaking massacre!’

He nearly shouted those words aloud, although he managed to restrain himself, since explaining the difference between courage and stupidity to these muscle-headed warriors would probably take longer than escaping the forest itself.

After all, Elgrun had always believed that Orc Shamans like himself, who spent their lives studying magic and ancient knowledge, possessed considerably more intelligence than ordinary Orc warriors, whose first solution to almost every problem was to rely on their physical strength.

Even after witnessing their Captain getting thoroughly beaten, these fools were somehow still concerned about whether escaping would damage their honor.

Still, Elgrun knew exactly how to handle them.

"No, we aren’t running away from battle," he explained with a perfectly serious expression while continuing to push through the forest. "We are carrying important information back to our tribe, and once our leaders learn about the appearance of this enemy, our actions will bring us great honor."

The C-Rank Orcs exchanged surprised looks, although Elgrun wasn’t finished yet.

"Besides, Captain Yarvokh wanted us to do this, which is why he personally stayed behind to hold that monster back while we escaped with the information."

Naturally, Elgrun was lying through his teeth, but his confident explanation immediately convinced the other Orcs, who had never imagined that Yarvokh had been thinking so far ahead.

"Oh! So Captain Yarvokh planned this?"

"Of course! Otherwise, why would he fight that monster alone while allowing us to leave?" Elgrun replied without the slightest hesitation, although inwardly he was already cursing these fools for making him waste precious time.

Hearing his explanation, the C-Rank Orcs finally nodded in understanding, and their earlier concerns about dishonor quickly disappeared.

"Then we must hurry! We cannot let Captain Yarvokh’s sacrifice go to waste!"

"Yes, we have to deliver his message!"

Elgrun nodded approvingly before increasing his pace, and the other Orcs immediately followed him through the dense forest, determined to reach their main tribe as quickly as possible.

Their destination was the main territory of their tribe, where the three A-Rank Orcs resided, and Elgrun was already preparing himself to explain how a single Hero of Light had destroyed their entire forward outpost.