Becoming a Shadow in the New World

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Zeta is different from most of the people in the Shadow Garden.

As the eldest daughter of her family's patriarch, and with a father who wasn't some scoundrel obsessed with power, believing in the survival of the fittest, prioritizing profit, and favoring sons over daughters, Zeta was undoubtedly happy.

Zeta's father is her real father.

Orcs are a race that believes in the survival of the fittest; in this race, strength is everything (excluding intelligent races like fox-people).

Compared to male orcs, female orcs, who are clearly at a disadvantage in strength, are undoubtedly discriminated against, and along with this discrimination comes prejudice.

Unlike human nobles, orcs, due to their simple-mindedness, make no attempt to conceal this prejudice. They view female orcs as either childbearing machines or symbols of power.

Because orcs follow the logic that the stronger the male, the more wives he has, it is normal for the strongest member of a tribe to have dozens of wives, and some tribe chiefs even have hundreds of wives and over a thousand offspring.

In this climate, the chieftain of the Golden Leopard Clan, who only married one wife, stood out conspicuously. Matching this conspicuousness was Zeta's father's intelligence, which was comparable to that of the Fox Clan.

Zeta was outstanding. Zeta's father recognized her excellence and, thinking that "it's better to keep her at home than to marry her off," he devoted himself to cultivating Zeta.

This is what makes Zeta different from other orcs. Most orc chieftains, even if their eldest daughter is outstanding, will subconsciously refuse to cultivate her due to prejudice. In human terms, orcs consider their daughters to be "money-losing goods".

And so, with the careful care of her family, Zeta stood out from the crowd. If things continued like this, Zeta might become the chieftain of her tribe.

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs." At the age of twelve, a mole changed Zeta's fate.

At first, Zeta didn't pay attention to the mole, treating it as normal physical development. It wasn't until the mole spread and her magic began to become disordered that Zeta realized something was wrong.

After her parents confirmed that the mole was the result of a demon's possession, Zeta cried and begged her father to burn her alive.

According to clan rules, demon possessors are to be released into the wild and killed by the clan chief himself, and she did not want her father to hold the blood of his own family in his hands.

Zeta's father refused, not only rejecting Zeta's opinion, but also refusing to deal with Zeta according to clan rules.

Zeta's father chose to keep it a secret, hiding Zeta in the house while he went out alone to find a way to cure the demon possession.

This is also a difference between Zeta and most people in the Shadow Garden. Most people in the Shadow Garden, after their families find out that they have been possessed by a demon, do not receive help, but are attacked.

No matter how well they pretend or how loving they appear, once they learn that their daughter has been possessed by a demon, they will choose to attack, wanting to kill their daughter to prevent the family's honor from being tarnished. If she escapes, they will be wanted. This applies to humans, elves, and beastmen alike.

After her father left, Zeta stayed at home, afraid to go out, waiting for her father to send back good news.

A month later, Zeta was woken up from her sleep. Just when she thought her father had returned with a method to cure demon possession, she saw her father tied up in the living room.

Behind her stood a priest and the second-in-command of her tribe.

This is a coup, a coup that I brought about.

Zeta's idea was shattered by her kneeling father, who revealed the truth about demon possession, forcing the priest to choose to kill the entire Golden Leopard Clan to silence them.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zeta's father stayed behind to hold off the enemy, allowing Zeta, her mother, and her brother to escape.

But they were quickly caught; it was a game of caged birds from the start.

After Zeta was captured, she was taken before the priest and watched as he killed her mother and brother. She was then taken away to be used as a test subject for the priest.

During the transport, Zeta remained in the car, knowing it might be a hallucination, yet still yearning for power from the demon in the void. She craved the power of revenge, and then…

"boom!"

In the purplish-blue explosion, Zeta encountered her god.

Returning to the present, Zeta raised his hand and used the golden wheel in his hand to slit the throat of an orc.

Living in the present and moving towards the future, that's truly worthy of the Lord.

Recalling Sid's words to her, Zeta chuckled inwardly—not to Sid, but to herself.

The golden wheel in his hand killed another orc, and finally he held it to the throat of an old orc lying on the ground, bloodstains visible where the sharp blade met the skin.

So wait for me, wait for me...

"explain……"

Once I kill him with my own hands, I will fulfill my mission; otherwise... I will be truly unwilling to accept it.

Where is Petes?

When Zeta mentioned the man who killed her entire family, her last words were filled with a deep-seated murderous intent.

Petes, the tenth seat of the Diablo Order.

Chapter 125 The Lion King Organization's Second Operation: Sid, You're So Gentle

The elderly orc "Christopher Jadesh" was no longer the relaxed and casual man he had been when trading with Asagi Aiba at the restaurant that afternoon.

Collapsed to the ground, Christopher stared in terror at the golden wheel that Zeta had placed around his neck, feeling the murderous intent in Zeta's voice. His heart pounded wildly, and he dared not breathe.

“Miss Zeta, calm down, we’re all from the Black Death Emperor faction…”

Before he could finish speaking, the golden wheel that Zeta was pressing against Christopher's throat moved forward half a centimeter, and blood flowed from the wound cut open by the golden wheel.

"All you need to tell me is where Petes is?"

With icy eyes, Zeta looked at Christopher and spoke without a trace of emotion.

"I...I...I don't know..."

"Um……"

Feeling the threat of death, Christopher was momentarily stunned, but seeing the indifference in Zeta's eyes, he immediately snapped out of it and hurriedly spoke.

"But I've already made an appointment with him to reappear when the plan succeeds. Even if something goes wrong in this transaction, he will definitely appear for the next one for their benefit."

Zeta listened to these words and analyzed them carefully. Her eyes were filled with uncertainty. The golden wheel in her hand was still held against Christopher's throat. Christopher did not dare to speak at this time to disturb Zeta's thinking. He could only wait for the choice of fate.

Not long after, Zeta put away the golden wheel, turned around and walked away. His subordinate pulled over a chair for Zeta to sit down.

After sitting down, Zeta looked down at Christopher.

"Tell me about your plan. You've been so focused on fishing that you haven't really looked into it properly."

I will decide whether or not to kill you based on your answer.

Zeta didn't know much about Christopher's plans. She was already preparing to ambush him when she learned that the person sent by the Diablo Order to cooperate with Christopher was the enemy who killed her entire family.

However, the assassination attempt failed because of the church duo, and Petes went into hiding and dared not show herself. According to intelligence, the only chance to force him to show himself was when the opportunity Christopher mentioned succeeded, so she had to find out.

Seeing the golden wheel that could have taken his life at any moment leave his throat, Christopher breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly realized that his life was still in someone else's hands, and cautiously asked.

“Miss Zeta, have you... heard of the Fourth Progenitor?”

Zeta raised an eyebrow and nodded.

“…I’ve heard of it.”

How could she not have heard of it? It is said that the Fourth Progenitor is even stronger than the three SSS vampire progenitors of World Two.

“That explains it. The thing I asked Miss Zeta to transport was the legendary god-slaying weapon ‘Narakville,’ and I wanted to use this weapon to control the legendary Fourth Progenitor.”

Zeta couldn't help but laugh out loud at this point, feeling like she'd heard a joke.

Christopher swallowed hard; he knew how ridiculous his words had been.

Two years ago, he might have indeed considered using this weapon to defeat the True Ancestor of Vampires, since the True Ancestor hadn't made a move for a long time, which had given many people strange ideas.

But after the worlds merged, and the three True Ancestors of World Two demonstrated their strength on the battlefield—enough to fight against the entire world (the specially made original World Two)—who would dare to harbor such a naive idea?

Today, everyone knows that the vampire progenitors of World Two are worlds apart in strength from the rest of World Two. It can be said that the reason World Two can form alliances with the other two worlds is because of these three progenitors.

The strength of these three SSS-level powerhouses is already comparable to that of the top pantheons of World One. If a single top pantheon of World One were to fight against these three True Ancestors, even if it could win, it would only result in mutual destruction.

It's impossible to join forces with other pantheons, as everyone is worried about being taken advantage of or stabbed in the back by other pantheons. Therefore, these three True Ancestors are the nuclear deterrent of World Two.

Incidentally, World Three is the weakest. Theoretically, even if the other two worlds don't send their top fifteen strongest warriors, they can easily defeat World Three. They are the kind of worlds that can fight and divide up the world battlefield without any pressure.

The reason why the war hasn't started is quite simple: everyone is worried that if the war breaks out, their main base or small world will be blown up by a magic bullet falling from the sky.

And it was under these circumstances that Christopher actually said he would use some nonsensical god-slaying weapon to control the legendary Fourth Ancestor, who was said to be even stronger than the three True Ancestors. There's a limit to joking around.

An invisible, chilling killing intent pressed down on Christopher once more, making his breathing heavier. Christopher knew that if he couldn't provide an explanation, his head would be rolling on the ground in the next second. Thinking of the intelligence he had obtained, he gritted his teeth.

"Don't worry, Miss Zeta. The Fourth Progenitor is weaker than you think. The current Fourth Progenitor can't even beat a Teacher Annihilation."

"Ok?"

His murderous intent lessened, and Christopher hurriedly offered an explanation.

"I was initially surprised when I received this news, but after investigation, I confirmed the authenticity of the information. The current Fourth Ancestor is really weak."

At this point, a flicker of fervor flashed in Christopher's eyes, which had lost their spirit due to old age.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The current Fourth Ancestor has magic power and familiars, but doesn't know how to use them. If we seize this opportunity, we can control the Fourth Ancestor."

Listening to Christopher's introduction, Zeta completely suppressed her murderous intent and put on an interested expression.

"Heh, an interesting plan, but how do you intend to use that weapon to control the Fourth Progenitor?"

"This is the content of my cooperation with the Diablo Order."

"Alright, alright, since it's technology from the Diablo Order, I won't ask anymore. Let me ask another question."

The ship carrying Narakville is still anchored in the waters around Itogami Island. You said you'd handle the island entry issue after we reached the designated location. How do you plan to bypass the inspection? This isn't like the stuff you asked me to bring before; something this big won't be easy to hide.”

"Ah, this problem has already been solved for me. They even came to me on their own initiative..."

"Interesting. Who is it?"