Chapter 369: The Surface Became Barren—So They Went Below?!

"Playtime is over."

Luke muttered those words before releasing the asteroids that had been rotating throughout his manifested Solar System, sending them raining toward every part of the battlefield.

The Orcs trapped beneath the gravitational pressure immediately widened their eyes, and whatever courage they had maintained until now finally collapsed when they saw the approaching celestial bodies.

"No!"

"Captain, save us!"

"CAPTAIN!"

Their terrified voices carried toward the inner section of the outpost, where Yarvokh had been sitting only moments earlier.

Inside the large tent, the captured serpent women also heard those desperate cries, and their faces turned pale when they sensed the numerous projectiles descending outside.

"What is this?"

Yarvokh abruptly rose from his seat and looked upward, confusion appearing across his face when he sensed the miniature Solar System hanging over the battlefield and the numerous objects now falling from it.

The moment he realized those projectiles were heading directly toward his army, his expression changed.

"Don’t you dare!"

BOOM—!

Yarvokh kicked against the ground and launched himself forward like a cannonball, while the force behind his movement tore apart the tent behind him and blasted everything nearby away.

Several of the captured serpent women were only F-Rank and E-Rank, and the shockwave struck them before they could protect themselves, shredding their bodies apart and killing them instantly.

A few prisoners positioned farther away were thrown across the ground instead, and when they saw their companions, friends, and loved ones—who had already suffered humiliation at the Orcs’ hands—suddenly torn apart by Yarvokh’s careless movement, their screams of grief and fury echoed through the ruined tent.

"AAAAH!"

Yarvokh didn’t even turn around.

He was already rushing toward the C-Rank section of the battlefield, because after judging the distance between himself and the Orc army outside, he knew there was no possibility of saving everyone.

By the time he reached the D-Ranks, the asteroids would already have landed.

So he chose the group he could still protect.

"HAAH!"

Yarvokh reached the C-Rank Orcs just as the first celestial projectiles descended and immediately unleashed a barrage of punches.

BANG! BOOM! BAM!

Every punch shattered an incoming asteroid before it could strike the wall, scattering burning fragments and broken pieces of cosmic matter through the air while the C-Rank Orcs beneath him finally felt a trace of relief.

"Captain!"

Several called toward him excitedly, while others remained unable to properly react because Luke’s gravitational pressure was still weighing heavily upon their bodies.

Yarvokh ignored their voices and turned toward the battlefield outside.

His expression immediately became ugly.

BOOM!

Another asteroid crashed into the Orc army.

BOOM—!

Then another.

Different elemental energies erupted wherever the celestial bodies landed, and groups of D-Rank Orcs vanished beneath the explosions while those still alive could do little more than press themselves against the ground and watch the next projectile descend toward them.

"AAAAH!"

"Save me!"

"Captain, please save us!"

They couldn’t even properly move beneath the gravity, so every bit of strength they had left was spent forcing those desperate cries from their mouths.

Unfortunately, Yarvokh was too far away.

BOOOOM—!

Another asteroid struck the battlefield and wiped out hundreds more Orcs at once.

Yarvokh clenched his fists hard enough for the muscles along his arms to bulge, then turned toward the distant figure responsible for everything.

Luke remained standing calmly beneath his manifested Solar System, his twenty-foot Titan body covered by Elythos while the golden-white armor reflected the light coming from the celestial bodies overhead.

"You aren’t a dragon."

Yarvokh finally spoke before taking one step forward.

Then another.

His B-Rank body crossed the distance rapidly, and within moments, he appeared directly in front of Luke.

By then, the remaining D-Rank Orcs had already been killed, while Luke had deliberately removed the gravitational pressure affecting the C-Rank Orcs, leaving the two strongest figures on the battlefield facing each other without interference.

Luke looked down slightly.

Yarvokh stood around twelve feet tall, which would have made him imposing compared with most humanoid races, yet beside Luke’s current twenty-foot Titan form, the Orc Captain was forced to raise his head.

"I am something far more dangerous than a dragon."

Luke answered calmly.

Yarvokh looked confused.

’More dangerous than a dragon?’

Although the Orc tribe still understood very little about the civilizations beyond the Endless Forest, everything they had learned since arriving here suggested that Dragons and Demons stood among the strongest races of the outside world.

He couldn’t understand what kind of species this young man believed himself to be.

After a few seconds, Yarvokh shook the thought away.

"Whatever you are, kid, since you’ve already come this far, I’ll give you two choices."

The anger that had covered his face only moments earlier disappeared, replaced by a broad smile that immediately made Luke suspicious.

"Join us..."

Yarvokh paused before his smile widened.

"...or die."

"..."

Luke stared at him.

Far in the distance, Emberlyn also became silent.

’Weren’t they trying to murder each other a moment ago?’

Luke genuinely couldn’t understand how Yarvokh had switched from wanting his head to offering him recruitment within such a short period.

Emberlyn’s reaction wasn’t much different, because she had just watched Luke slaughter thousands of Orcs, yet their captain was now casually asking the person responsible to join them.

Yarvokh didn’t care about his speechless reactions.

Once he realized Luke wasn’t a dragon, his thinking had immediately changed.

Dragons were notoriously proud and difficult to control, while this unknown race appeared capable of transforming into giants, wielding strange celestial powers, and allowing someone whose normal aura belonged to D-Rank to suddenly display B-Rank combat strength.

If Yarvokh could bring someone like that into the tribe instead of killing him, the reward could be far greater.

"Joining us will bring you tremendous benefits," Yarvokh continued confidently. "The force you’ve seen here, along with the other Orcs currently operating the edges of Dragon Continent, is nothing more than a scouting force."

The lie came from his mouth without even the slightest hesitation.

Luke blinked.

’A scouting force?’

From what Emberlyn had already told him, several million Orcs had entered Dragon territory, and among them were even A-Rank existences.

However, neither Emberlyn nor Rhaenyra had encountered anything at S-Rank or higher.

Noticing the change in Luke’s expression, Yarvokh immediately assumed his lie had worked.

"Our true forces are still within the Endless Forest, and among them are many powerful existences, including demi-gods..."

He paused deliberately before revealing his final claim.

"...and even gods."

"O_O"

Luke’s expression froze.

’Gods?’

For a moment, the information he had accumulated about Valtharion felt as though it had been thrown into complete disorder.

From everything Luke currently understood, the known civilized world of Valtharion was dominated by only several major intelligent races, excluding whatever unknown civilizations might exist deep within the Endless Forest or beyond the Endless Seas.

There were the Dragons of Kharenthyr, the Elves, the demi-human races belonging to the Beast Empire, the Marinthian sea races, the Vampires, the Humans, along with the Demons who occupied their own continent.

The Marinthians themselves only controlled regions near the safer portions of Valtharion’s seas, because travelling too far beyond those areas became dangerously unpredictable, and even demi-gods could become lost after crossing beyond the protected regions surrounding the known world.

The same mystery surrounded the Endless Forest.

Because the civilizations of these known races occupied only the safer and more explored territories of Valtharion, many people collectively referred to those connected lands as the Mainland, separating them from the unexplored regions extending far beyond established civilization.

Luke had always known that the Endless Forest could hide unknown species and powerful beings.

But gods?

That was something completely different.

As for Goblins, Luke hadn’t encountered any on the Mainland, although large portions of its wilderness were filled with beasts whose true origin remained unknown, with most races simply assuming that many of them had originally emerged from the Endless Forest.

That alone was enough for everyone to understand that the Endless Forest concealed far more than ordinary monsters, because forgotten races, hidden tribes, and countless other mysteries were believed to exist within its depths.

Decades ago, that belief had been proven in the worst possible way when a group of demi-gods ventured deep into the Endless Forest and later encountered the corpse of a true god, only for every one of them to die after that corpse awakened.

’Maybe they really were killed by a god... or perhaps there are other demi-gods living down there as well.’

For the first time since arriving in Valtharion, Luke genuinely felt as though everything he knew about this world barely scratched its surface, especially now that someone was claiming living gods might still exist somewhere beneath it.

Whether Yarvokh’s words were actually true was another matter.

Luke looked directly at him.

"Are there really gods among your race?"

"Of course there are."

Yarvokh answered without hesitation, then added, "We simply don’t know whether they are capable of coming up to the surface anymore."

He didn’t seem concerned about revealing that much, because anyone reckless enough to travel deep into the Endless Forest could eventually learn similar information for themselves.

"Our ancestors said the upper surface became barren long ago, which was why many of them entered the Endless Forest and developed their civilizations there."