Chapter 365: Emberlyn’s Goodwill Toward Luke Suddenly Drops!

Above the battlefield, the four Titan spirits had also become silent.

Nyx stared at the crimson sphere while Caelith’s earlier smile disappeared, and even Myrkhal stopped moving around as Sevaroth focused completely upon what "The Eternal Origin Zero" had just created.

They understood far more than the Orcs below.

That sphere wasn’t simply condensed blood.

The technique had taken everything useful belonging to the dead Orc—his bloodline, vitality, soul, spirit, mind, karma, destiny, and the other aspects connected to his existence—before refining all of it into a form suitable for Luke’s evolution.

"This really is an EX-Rank technique..."

Nyx’s voice carried genuine disbelief.

They had once stood among Eternal beings themselves, and as Forbidden Titans, each of them had been extraordinarily powerful even among existences of that realm.

Yet they had never stood above the universe itself.

What they were witnessing now felt fundamentally different, because something that should have belonged only to the authority of the universe was being reproduced before them through a cultivation technique.

Emberlyn’s reaction was completely different.

The calm expression she usually carried had disappeared as she stared at the crimson sphere floating above the battlefield, while an uncomfortable suspicion slowly entered her mind.

’A demonic ritual...?’

Her expression darkened.

’Or some kind of forbidden witchcraft?’

She looked toward Luke, who was still standing among the Orc army with Paragon resting casually in his hand.

’Where did Luke learn something like this?’

Another thought immediately followed, and this one bothered her even more.

’Was this how he became stronger so quickly?’

Emberlyn’s gaze remained fixed on him.

’Has he used this on innocent beings before?’

Many questions immediately surfaced in Emberlyn’s mind, because after learning that she had originally been intended to marry this supposedly talentless Hero, she had naturally investigated Luke and followed some of his recent accomplishments.

She remembered clearly how news of him reaching E-Rank had spread throughout the human territories like wildfire, yet the Luke standing before her now had already reached D-Rank despite barely any time having passed.

That difference made her suspicion deepen.

’Was he really forced to use some kind of dark method because of his lack of talent?’

Emberlyn couldn’t think of many other explanations, especially since the Church itself had been the one, who announce to everyone, that Luke possessed almost no cultivation talent.

"Could this really be true...?"

She muttered under her breath, and the small amount of goodwill she had gradually developed toward Luke weakened considerably.

Emberlyn wasn’t some saint who treasured every mortal life equally, nor would she hesitate to kill enemies when necessary, but that didn’t mean she approved of indiscriminate slaughter or cultivation methods built upon sacrificing others.

More importantly, methods like these were dangerous even for the cultivator.

The more someone relied upon blood, souls, and slaughter to advance, the easier it became for that person’s mind and spirit to deteriorate until killing stopped being a means to grow and instead became something they craved.

The Demon Whisperer cults were infamous for exactly that kind of practice, sacrificing living beings to increase their realms at unnatural speeds, although whatever Luke had just used appeared considerably more refined than those crude rituals.

That only made Emberlyn more uneasy.

Meanwhile, below the tree, silence had spread across the battlefield as thousands of Orcs stared greedily at the thumb-sized crimson sphere floating in the air, momentarily forgetting about the person responsible for creating it.

Luke himself was also staring at it with curiosity.

’So this is what the System meant when it explained how the technique would absorb them?’

He was certain the Orc had died.

His sword had completely severed the creature’s neck, yet instead of the head falling away normally, it had somehow remained connected long enough for the strange transformation to begin.

Even more strangely, Paragon’s Judgment hadn’t absorbed anything from the body despite being the weapon Luke had used to kill it.

Before Luke could think further, the surrounding Orcs finally recovered from their trance.

"That thing is mine! Don’t any of you dare touch it!"

One Orc roared before launching himself toward the crimson pill.

Nobody listened.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Several more Orcs instantly leaped after him with speed far beyond what ordinary D-Rank warriors should have possessed, and Luke immediately noticed the crimson tattoos covering their bodies beginning to glow.

’So those tattoos aren’t just decoration.’

The sudden increase in their speed made the answer obvious.

"Mine!"

One Orc stretched his hand toward the floating pill, his fingertips almost touching it, when the sphere abruptly shifted several feet through the air.

"Wha—?!"

His expression changed in disbelief, while the Orcs behind him immediately grinned upon seeing his failure and rushed forward to claim it themselves.

Before any of them could succeed, however, the blood pill suddenly accelerated toward Luke.

It slipped past every reaching hand with ease before striking his chest and disappearing directly into his body as though it had never existed.

"..."

For several seconds, nobody moved.

The Orcs stared at Luke while trying to understand what they had just witnessed, and even Emberlyn watched more carefully from above.

Luke glanced down at his chest before breaking the silence himself.

"Ahh, looks like the heavenly elixir chose me instead. How lucky."

He casually patted his chest before looking toward the surrounding Orcs with a mocking smile.

"It really feels good having the Goddess of Luck backing you."

"..."

"..."

"..."

[...]

This time, the silence wasn’t caused by fear or greed.

Everyone simply looked at him speechlessly.

They had all seen the crimson sphere return to Luke by itself, making it obvious that the object had some connection to him, so none of them understood why a Goddess had suddenly become involved.

Several Orcs’ mouths twitched.

Then their confusion turned into anger.

"Kill him! The blood pill is still inside his body!"

The same Orc who had first tried to claim it shouted loudly, and the rest immediately snapped out of their stunned state.

"Yes! Kill him!"

"We wants to see blood!"

Luke’s smile widened slightly.

"Then you will."

He raised Paragon’s Judgment just as the surrounding Orcs rushed toward him again.

SLASH—!

Luke’s sword swept through the first group, and more than five Orc heads were sent spinning through the air before their bodies had even finished moving forward.

He immediately shifted his footing and thrust Paragon straight ahead.

PUCHI—!

The blade pierced through one Orc before driving into another behind him, and with Luke’s Early C-Rank physical strength behind the attack, even their reinforced bodies couldn’t stop the sword.

The Orcs continued coming from every direction, yet their numbers did little to slow him down.

Whenever Luke swung, several bodies fell.

Whenever he thrust, multiple Orcs were pierced in a single line.

Even after the crimson tattoos covering their bodies activated, the increase still wasn’t enough to close the gap between them.

’About twice their normal strength.’

Luke quickly estimated the effect while continuing through the crowd.

The tattoos appeared capable of roughly doubling the physical ability of these D-Rank Orcs, which was impressive, but still far below what was needed to threaten his current body.

Then something strange happened behind him.

One of the severed Orc heads suddenly stopped rolling.

Luke sensed movement and glanced back just in time to see the head rise from the ground before shooting toward its original body.

The severed neck connected perfectly.

"...What?"

Several nearby Orcs froze.