Chapter 38

The first race of imps created by Ul Kanadiel.

Gadiak was the first Einherjar created for various attempts for bets, and therefore, this race was significantly flawed in terms of completeness.

While their intellect was highly developed, making them smart and cunning, they were incredibly diminutive because, in their initial attempt, they did not utilize much power and hence received the least amount of strength.

Instead, through various schemes, they acted as advisors to Ul Kanadiel and sufficiently compensated for their weaknesses.

However, their developed intellect and brain did not only develop positively; they became envious of their siblings, who were born having received more of the great father’s power, Ul Kanadiel.

Using their cunning, the only comfort they had was a lowly sense of superiority from a safe place while watching their siblings and their race move.

And when the endless war continued and everyone grew weary, Gadiak planned a battle.

The Einherjar from Bruwon Krishaka were already scattered and fending for themselves, and among them, they devised a plan to gather all their forces to wipe out the Suwon tribe (Beast Ape Tribe).

Everyone was out for battle, and the only ones left where Ul Kanadiel was located were the brainy imps and the succubus Einherjar, Alia, who was recuperating from the ongoing battle, along with a few injured.

During that time of troop shortage, a group led by Orcus’s Einherjar, Algul, ambushed them.

Despite the death of Bruwon Krishaka and the end of the oath, Ul Kanadiel personally began to fight during that moment.

While fighting, Algul absorbed part of the power of Ul Kanadiel and Bruwon Krishaka, and as they did, a powerful energy pierced through the back of Ul Kanadiel.

The one who shot that energy was Gadiak.

In fact, from the beginning, he had conspired with Algul targeting the power of the great father, Ul Kanadiel, drawing the troops outside and then aiming for Ul Kanadiel.

The imps also began to stab into the backs of other clans’ members who were resisting despite being injured.

The barely maintained defense turned into a scene full of cries of massacre in an instant.

“Gadiak… why…”

“Hahhahaha— my lovely and hated father. Why did you give birth to me, the firstborn, worthless compared to your other children? Hahha— I am sick of war and this damned family. I will devour you and become complete.”

“Do not forget the promise, Gadiak. Half of it is mine.”

“Hmph!”

Algul also charged at Ul Kanadiel, and Ul Kanadiel’s body was torn apart.

“No!”

Alia screamed as she watched her father being torn apart while she fought against Gadiak and Algul, suffering injuries.

“You! Gadiak! You vile snake! How could you do this to Father?!”

“Hahhaha— my lewd and foolish sibling. This world is ultimately meant for the strong. You—”

“Something is odd, Gadiak!”

The torn flesh of Ul Kanadiel floated in the air instead of falling to the ground.

And a strange energy began to coalesce.

“What—!”

“Everyone, dodge!”

As Ul Kanadiel’s flesh burst forth, the black energies he released quickly blackened the sky, as if night had fallen.

The emotions Ul Kanadiel held before his death— despair, anger, resentment— intermixed, turned into a curse that spread across the continent.

Particularly, perhaps due to Ul Kanadiel’s rage, the curse had a significant effect on the imps.

Their bones decayed, making their already small bodies shrink even further, and their skin rotted, transforming grotesquely.

Even an Einherjar like Gadiak could not escape that curse.

“Ah… aaah!!!!”

And at the spot where Ul Kanadiel’s corpse exploded and vanished, a black stone that absorbed all light fell.

Alia intuited that this was what Ul Kanadiel had left behind as she leapt towards it.

“Everyone, flee!”

Ignoring the screams and agony of the imps and the slowly regaining Orcus, she shouted to the injured.

“There! Over there!”

Gadiak, gripping his melting skin in pain, could only stare blankly as Alia took something imbued with Ul Kanadiel’s energy and fled.

He then awaited the return of his siblings after finishing the battle with the Suwon tribe.

When he saw the evil energy descending over the entire continent during the war with the Suwon tribe, his siblings returned in astonishment, and both Gadiak and Alia prayed at the same time.

Gadiak started to wag his treacherous tongue, trying to place all the blame on Alia.

However, it wasn’t hard for them to see who was telling the truth in Gadiak’s state.

The Einherjar tore Gadiak apart and made the imps slaves to all races.

To the clan derived from Ul Kanadiel, the imps became a vile, godless, lowly race that had committed sacrilege.

And Gadiak held the power he possessed, along with the mysterious stone imbued with Ul Kanadiel’s energy.

Alia stated that they needed to serve their father’s body and unite without any traitors.

However, the other Einherjar saw the body, which could elevate them to a higher existence, and ignited the flames of desire.

Seeing that, Alia fell into despair.

Except for the Roas with individualistic tendencies on the continent, Ul Kanadiel’s faction was the only one that had any rationality.

But now, like the Einherjar of Bruwon Krishaka, they too would end up fighting among themselves.

Desperate, Alia led her clan in an attempt to escape the continent.

They only believed in the existence of the western continent, which was said to have been divided by Bruwon Krishaka when their wings and the first Roas were born.

While escaping, they faced numerous ambushes.

Siblings and the Einherjar of Bruwon Krishaka.

Among the Roas, the greedy and warlike ones did not get the corpse of Bruwon Krishaka, but attacked seeking to obtain Ul Kanadiel’s body to elevate their existence.

Countless succubi were killed, and when they reached the sea, fewer than forty remained of the five thousand succubi that had been at their peak.

And flying over the sea, believing in the potential existence of the continent, the succubi took to the skies.

Through the stormy dark sea, amidst the rough skies and endless ocean.

And the hearts abandoning their homeland ate away at their mental state before their physical strength.

Moreover, perhaps enchanted by Ul Kanadiel’s energy, the Roas of the sea also surged forward.

The giant, bizarre fish with ten legs was enough to make one shiver even now.

Thus, after a long time of flying over the sea and overcoming the rough winds, when they finally reached the western continent, the number of succubi remaining could only be counted on fingers.

“That was five years ago when we reached the western continent.”

“Five years…”

In truth, it had been about four years since they began to feel the energies flying in from the east.

Then what was the identity of the burning and wicked energy that had flown in on the wind from afar…

“Yes, as you guessed, the energy from the east that Lady Iriya is seeking is the lingering curse left by my great father Ul Kanadiel.”

Alia let out a bittersweet laugh and spoke with a face full of regret.

“Honestly, I was truly surprised when I arrived on the western continent.”

When Alia was first born and stood before the Roas, following her father Ul Kanadiel.

Though there were parts of the eastern continent that had been damaged by nature, it was full of life.

The western continent they arrived on was a land even more full of life than the eastern continent at that time.

It seemed to say that if nature developed through harmony and cooperation, it would end up like this instead of waging constant war and consuming nature.

“Actually, the more surprising thing was the humans.”

Beings that were seen as unusually clever monkeys capable of using tools on the eastern continent.

Two elder Roas had used them as materials to create their clans, but during the nearly 500 years of clan warfare, they had come close to extinction and had already become hard to find in the wild.

The beings that wielded fire, molded clay to create homes, forged solid, shiny stones into various goods, used written language, and created clay tablets to pass knowledge to the future.

Though they had no sharp claws or fur, many of the products they made were harder and sharper than beast fangs, and they made clothing from fibers pulled from plants, as well as utilizing animal fur or leather.

Although it seemed that they could not manipulate the energies of nature like the Roas and clans, despite being thought weak and useless aside from being somewhat skillful with their hands, they were advancing to a realm vastly superior to the boastful Roas and Einherjar of the eastern continent.

Alia watched as the stars revolved around the sun during the time of her own clan and sister succubi.

And she became fascinated by humans.

Though still weak and insignificant, if one day they were to inscribe a great achievement upon this star, it would not be the great elder Roas, nor the indifferent Roas of the world, nor the powerful Einherjar.

Alia believed that it would be the humans that would become the most magnificent.

Humans were found living in somewhat large groups across the western continent, advancing in various ways.

There were large groups as well as small ones.

There were also formidable beasts and monsters in the western continent treated akin to Roas, and many groups vanished as a result of their attacks.

But as many disappeared, new groups continually formed.

What was astonishing was the symbiotic relationship that used Roas.

Though different from the relationship between the elder Roas and the Einherjar, some Roas of this place demanded tributes in exchange for protecting human groups.

The tributes varied at all times and everywhere.

They were sometimes food made by humans, other times goods, and at times even the humans themselves.

“And Anakthus, the ancient land deity of Pohelrn, was a Roas that accepted humans as tributes.”

But he was a powerful Roas who surely protected Pohelrn, and moreover, the lands passed through by Anakthus would be turned upside down at times, becoming fertile land.

It was not uncommon for human sacrifices to occur, and under Anakthus’s protection, Pohelrn grew larger than other human groups.

This symbiotic relationship had been well maintained up until the time of the chieftain Pretaras in Pohelrn.

“It has now been a year since I started wandering the western continent with my sisters, and I met a man who always appeared full of discontent and annoyance.”