Chapter 220

Kwagagagagak!

The wave of deathly sand surged forward, swallowing hundreds of orcs and pushing all the way to where the Orc High Chieftain stood.

Even as he watched the massive sand wave rushing in as if it would devour everything in the world, Orca didn’t so much as blink.

At last, just before the ten-meter-high wall of sand crashed down on him, he raised his right fist high into the sky.

“If you think this is enough to kill me, you’re mistaken.”

At that moment, Orca slammed his raised fist into the ground.

KWAANG!

With a thunderous roar, an enormous shockwave erupted.

The shockwave shattered the massive sand wave that had approached right up to Orca into pieces.

Puhwahak!

Grains of sand collided with the shockwave and scattered in all directions.

As the sand poured down like rain, Orca spoke.

“This isn’t enough. Human! Show me everything you have. I’ll crush it all to pieces.”

Orca was a born warrior.

He preferred direct confrontation over tricks or schemes.

A true warrior proves his worth through strength alone.

Zeon watched Orca for a moment.

With a single punch, he had erased the Sand Wave.

It wasn’t just a simple strike—it was clearly infused with fighting spirit.

Just as humans and elves sense and manipulate mana, orcs were said to wield fighting spirit.

Though he didn’t know the exact difference between mana and fighting spirit.

In any case, like humans, orcs could undergo awakening, and from that point on, they could use fighting spirit.

Orca had been able to wield it from the moment he was born.

He was a natural-born awakened being—and a warrior.

He handled fighting spirit as naturally as breathing, and with that power, he had risen to become the High Chieftain of the orc tribe.

From Orca’s entire body, fighting spirit boiled like molten lava.

The terrifying heat, as if it could melt the entire world, forced even the nearby priest to retreat far away.

Zeon muttered,

“Damn…”

It had been quite a while since he’d faced someone with such overwhelming fighting spirit.

Regardless of rank, this was the kind of opponent that made him genuinely want to fight.

Zeon descended from the air and began walking toward Orca.

Jang Yongbeom followed behind him.

Jang Yongbeom clenched his teeth.

Orca’s fighting spirit was crushing him.

It was terrifying.

Frightening.

And yet… exhilarating.

‘So there are this many strong people in the world… and I lived acting like I was something special without even knowing.’

After becoming an A-rank awakened, he had lost his goal.

He didn’t want to serve under anyone, but he also lacked the confidence to lead a large group.

So he settled for living in a small party.

Deep down, he had believed that there were only a few people in Neo Seoul who could defeat him.

He had comforted himself thinking his combat experience wouldn’t fall far behind even an S-rank.

‘It was all a delusion created by my pride. Like an idiot, I locked myself in a tiny room and convinced myself I was the best in there. Now… I’ll break every limit I made for myself.’

If he could, he wanted to face that Orc High Chieftain himself.

Just looking at him sent chills down his spine, as if his heart might stop.

He had never felt such pressure or presence before.

But frustratingly, that opponent wasn’t for him.

If he were S-rank, maybe—but at A-rank, he had no chance against the High Chieftain.

Jang Yongbeom accepted reality, and chose the priest as his target instead.

The priest also seemed dangerous—though not suffocating like Orca.

‘I’ll take you down… and climb higher.’

With that resolve, he followed behind Zeon.

The area swept by the Sand Wave was devastating.

Hundreds, thousands of tons of sand had buried everything in its path.

Hundreds of orcs lay buried beneath the sand Jang Yongbeom stepped on.

They had been buried alive.

Zeon walked calmly across the site of the tragedy he had created.

From his expression alone, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Only then did Jang Yongbeom realize—

‘This guy… he’s walked through countless battlefields of carnage. This must be nothing to him. What kind of life has he lived?’

The same shiver he felt from Orca, he now felt from Zeon.

Even standing right in front of him, it felt like he could never reach him.

There was an overwhelming gap between them.

By then, Zeon had arrived before Orca.

Orca bared his fangs.

“Human!”

“Orc!”

“I will kill you… and devour you. I will take your strength as my own.”

“Eating people doesn’t let you take their abilities.”

“I know. I speak of the strength of the soul. The soul of a warrior strengthens the one who consumes it.”

“Try it—if you can.”

Zeon smiled.

A bright, unshadowed smile.

The moment Orca saw it, his fighting spirit surged even more violently.

“KUWOOOOOO!”

Filled with overwhelming exhilaration, Orca let out a roar.

The roar of the High Chieftain who stood atop tens of thousands of orcs filled his kin with courage and vitality, while it crushed the morale of their enemies and stiffened their bodies.

Thump!

Orca kicked off the ground.

His massive body shot dozens of meters into the air, then came crashing down toward Zeon.

He needed no weapon.

His massive body itself was a weapon.

Like a falling meteor, he reached Zeon in an instant.

Zeon didn’t dodge.

Instead, he raised a wall.

A wall of sand.

It stood ten meters tall and over three meters thick.

Even though sand lacked cohesion, at this scale it became as solid as rock.

KWAANG!

But the sand wall was pierced far too easily.

With an explosion-like sound, the wall shattered and scattered in all directions, revealing Orca.

“Grrk?”

Orca tried to tear Zeon apart in one strike—but Zeon was no longer there.

In that instant, Orca’s eyes rapidly scanned his surroundings.

He instantly located Zeon’s position.

Swoosh!

Using his left leg as a pivot, he spun and launched a strike to the left.

The air exploded from the punch infused with fighting spirit, and the spot where Zeon was expected to be erupted.

Sand scattered in all directions.

Through the chaos, Zeon moved.

Even without his abilities as a sand mage, Zeon was strong—

Strong enough to surpass most martial-type awakened.

Deioden had trained him that way.

But in terms of pure physical ability, he couldn’t match Orca.

Raw strength, reaction speed, dynamic vision—Orca surpassed Zeon in all of them.

He wasn’t planning ahead or predicting movements. Instead, he reacted instantly to every situation, chasing and attacking Zeon on the spot.

Like a cat hunting a mouse.

KWAANG!

Orca’s fist barely missed Zeon and slammed into the ground.

A massive crater over three meters wide formed instantly.

The power was terrifying.

If that enormous fist connected, it wouldn’t just break bones or crush muscles—

One hit would mean instant death.

It had been a long time since Zeon felt this kind of tension.

So he smiled.

As he had already confirmed, Orca held the advantage in all physical aspects.

But there was one thing Zeon surpassed him in—

His ability to see the whole picture and strategize.

In his mind, a plan was steadily forming on how to bring down this monstrous opponent.

KWAANG!

Once again, Orca’s fist grazed past his side and smashed into the ground.

Even though it wasn’t a direct hit, Zeon’s side throbbed with pain.

If he hadn’t been wearing a robe made from Leviathan’s hide, his ribs would have shattered from that alone.

Zeon retreated using Sand Walk.

Orca immediately chased after him.

In an instant, Orca closed the distance.

Ten meters, twenty meters—distances like that meant nothing to him. He could cover them in a single leap.

Escaping from within his range was impossible.

‘You won’t dodge this time.’

Orca threw his fist with full power.

His target was Zeon’s head.

At that moment, Zeon vanished from his sight.

Using Sand Walk, he silently shifted to the left—

As if pulled by an invisible string.

As a result, Orca’s fist once again struck only the ground.

Enraged, Orca shouted,

“How long do you plan to run, cowardly human?!”

“Cowardly? I’m just working hard on my grand plan.”

“Silence!”

“Well then… shall I start getting serious?”

At that moment, the sand around Zeon began to move, and dozens of Sand Soldiers were summoned.

The summoned Sand Soldiers attacked Orca.

At their relentless assault, Orca let out a scoff.

“Sand puppets can’t do anything to me.”

Pabababack!

Orca took the attacks head-on with his entire body.

Though they couldn’t use special skills, the Sand Soldiers’ destructive power—combined with their terrifying speed and mass—was on par with high-level awakened.

Yet Orca endured it all without even flinching.

The Sand Soldiers clung to his body, grabbing onto him.

Each one weighed over a hundred kilograms, and with dozens of them, the total weight easily exceeded several tons.

Even while dragging all those Sand Soldiers hanging from him, Orca charged at Zeon.

Technically speaking, orcs were classified as small-type magical beasts.

Only creatures like ogres were considered medium-type.

But the power Orca displayed now far surpassed medium-class—approaching that of large-class beasts.

It was strength that defied both logic and the limits of his race.

Even Zeon was slightly surprised.

But he wasn’t shaken.

“I’ve got a rough idea of your strength… now let’s see how tough you are. Self-destruct.”

Kwakwakwaang!

At that moment, all the Sand Soldiers clinging to Orca exploded at once.

Each grain of sand might be insignificant, but when several tons detonated simultaneously, it was a different story.

The explosion had enough power to completely obliterate most targets.

But even within the blast, Orca remained unharmed.

Only the surface of his heavy armor was slightly damaged—his body didn’t have a single scratch.

It was durability beyond common sense.

Though uninjured, Orca’s anger reached its peak.

He didn’t like Zeon’s constant use of strange tricks.

“KRAAA!”

Orca once again released his fighting spirit with a roar.

The fighting spirit became a storm, sweeping across the area.

Even Zeon couldn’t avoid it.

“Ugh!”

His body was shaken by the impact of the storm.

Orca didn’t miss the opening and charged in.

Pabababack!

Zeon fired Viper and Sand Blaster, but that wasn’t enough to stop Orca.

However, Zeon had already prepared for this.

“Quick Sand.”

Thud!

Suddenly, Orca sank into the sand up to his knees.

“…?”

Orca showed a puzzled expression.

Sand was soft, but he had never sunk this deep before.

Then it happened.

The sand beneath him began to flow rapidly like a river.

Quick Sand.

A fast-moving river of sand—quicksand—had formed.

The quicksand swallowed Orca and dragged him endlessly downward, as if to bury him alive like the other orcs.

Orca struggled to escape, but it was useless.

In an instant, he disappeared beneath the sand.

“KRRRAAA!”

Even the High Chieftain’s roar was swallowed by the hellish quicksand.