Why can't humans do it too?

"Ha, that's really unfair..."

With a long sigh of relief, Suer suddenly muttered to himself with a sense of relief.

The strength that had sustained him gradually returned to his body, and he could no longer feel even the most primal pressure on his life. He clenched his fists.

bass!

It still reflected a blinding cold light under the red glow in the sky. That was Su'er's last strength and his last hope, but the target it was aimed at was not the unshakable mountain in front of him—but himself.

Even just the belly would be fine.

Let it be cut open.

Please be sure to...

This is the only prayer I've offered since three years ago.

However, the mere distance between his hand hanging by his leg and his lower abdomen became an insurmountable chasm. Even a second before Su Er suddenly swung his hand, a hand as hard as an iron tower had already gripped his arm.

Not moving.

Just as this wolf-like orc claimed, he saw through all of Sul's plans and extinguished this final struggle before it even happened.

Not only that, this orc even threw away his longsword with his other hand, and gripped Sul's jawbone tightly with a pincer-like motion, stopping the jaw from biting down on his tongue.

It's all over.

All of Suer's struggles, all his plans, all his delusions.

By using the pain of having his abdomen slashed open and his tongue bitten off to confuse his mind, he completely thwarted his plan to prevent the orc in front of him from discovering the secrets hidden in his heart.

"Ughhhhhhh!!!"

It roared desperately, even though all that could be heard emanating from its constricted skull was a distorted wail, even though it still had one hand and one foot that could move... so what?

Bang!Bang!Bang!Bang!

With all his might, Suer furiously pounded on the orc's iron armor and exposed face, his fists, knees, and legs producing dull thuds. Even his arms were slashed by the spikes on the shoulder armor. Every punch hit its target, every knee struck the orc's body—but it didn't budge.

There wasn't even the slightest sway that would occur from a blow; the white-haired orc stood there as firm as an iron tower.

One second, two seconds, three seconds... Suer could feel his strength waning, but he showed no sign of stopping.

Are you angry? Are you furious? The rage that burns on your face from being hit in the face by a monkey you despise.

Bang!

Kohl, who works hard to maintain the livelihood of everyone in the settlement; Riku, who coldly forces himself to lead everyone forward; Nona, who smiles sweetly at him; the settlement where everyone lives together; Lennie, Credo, Ivan…

"Aaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

As if the power squeezed from the depths of every cell was gathering and surging along his already exhausted limbs, Suer roared and slammed his fist into the hateful wolf's face.

Bang!

Did you feel humiliated? Were you angry?

Bang!

Then hurry up and come!

Bang!

Come and kill me!

Bang! ! !

"..."

"..."

His arm fell limply to his side.

He remained silent, enduring Suer's seemingly ticklish attacks. The only sound in the air was his heavy, breathless breathing, as if he were being restrained.

"...You seem to have some interesting plans...monkey."

The sound was cruel, like a constant sawing of a throat. After a long silence, the white-haired orc finally opened his mouth once more.

Chapter Ten: Reignition

In the one-sided struggle just now, the hand that had been locking Sul's skull like five steel nails finally moved, turning Sul's face towards the orcs.

"Thinking about it carefully, monkey, I seem to recognize your face." Completely unaffected by Sul's plan, the white-haired orc calmly and slowly examined Sul's face, even deliberately waving his hands from side to side to see more clearly, as if he were manipulating a stiff puppet, holding nothing more than a broken toy.

The hood that had been covering his head had been thrown off during the violent movements, and Sul's platinum blonde hair was now loose, revealing the scar that ran from his brow bone to his forehead. This made the orcs even more certain of what was going on.

“As expected, there shouldn’t be any mistake,” the white-haired orc said with increasing certainty, sniffing his nose. “We should have met three years ago, right? I also have some recollection of this scent… and this scar on your head should be the one Xiaoyu left back then.”

"Ah, that child complained to me for a long time back then," the orc said in a relaxed tone, as if recalling something heartwarming, but the orc's words had no warming effect on Sul's ears.

The wound, which had long since healed, should not have caused any pain, but at this moment it ached faintly as if it were real, as if taking Suer back to that nightmarish time three years ago, and to the sharp claws that scraped away a piece of his skin amidst a piercing scream.

Suer suffered from high fever and coma, and for months he could only see darkness. He even thought he was going to lose that eye forever.

His already heavy breathing suddenly became rapid, and this abrupt change in Suer could not escape the keen senses of the orcs.

"Right? You remember now, don't you?" The white-haired orc pulled Sulti closer and said softly, "Although I don't know what you just said, and I don't understand monkey language, I've seen it... your desire to sacrifice yourself for your tribe... have you calmed down now?"

After the initial impulse subsided.

This is the second half of what the orcs didn't finish saying.

After the initial impulse of passion subsides, all that remains is lingering fear and an unresolved emptiness, much like how someone who has failed in a suicide attempt is unlikely to have the courage to attempt suicide again.

All the white-haired orcs knew this, and he deeply understood this feeling, just as he had experienced it firsthand.

"I 'see' every single change in your muscles, the contraction and contraction of your pupils, your heartbeat, even the flow of your blood," the wolf-like orc whispered in Sul's ear, as if two intimate people were talking to each other. "...So you've calmed down now, haven't you? Monkey, can you tell me now which race you're under orders from? And what are you trying to do, sneaking into the orc territory?"

After saying that, the white-haired orc even considerately loosened his grip a little, giving Suer's head a moment of freedom, completely unafraid that Suer would take the opportunity to bite off his own tongue—he was that confident, but in reality, Suer did give up on that idea.

Right after the orcs voiced their question.

He lost.

Thoroughly.

His plan to provoke the orc into killing him in a fit of rage and thus keep the secret was completely exposed, and he also seemed to have misunderstood something terrible... Hmm?

Doesn't he possess the ability to read minds?

If that's the case, why ask such a question in the first place? And why wait here for my answer?

Shouldn't they have 'heard' my answer the very next second after I asked the question, and then disposed of me after I've become useless?

Having overcome the panic and helplessness he felt when he first learned of the existence of mind-reading, an overpowered skill, and letting his fear lead him to unleash his excessive emotions, Suer keenly realized at this moment that the white-haired orc might be deceiving him.

The answer to this question was found in the next second, and the evidence was that even when the orc carrying him had some outrageous thoughts in his mind, he did not twist his head off.

In less than two seconds, Suer's mind raced and he came to this conclusion. Although his intelligence was not as great as that of a genius like Riku, it was sufficient for this situation.

He cannot die, and not only can he not die here, but he must also dispel the doubts of the orc in front of him, because the orc has already considered that this will have a devastating impact on the survival of humans in the surrounding area.

It was as if the rekindled flames were scorching Suer's already exhausted body.

Yes, no one would be so idle as to pour water into an anthill every day to drown the ants, but what if that ant possessed a tool that could threaten human survival?

Without a doubt, it will be a war of life and death, and the outcome is completely predictable—the destruction of the settlement where Sur lives.

Unless there is a food shortage, the orcs don't really care what humans, whom they see as monkeys, do every day. But if these monkeys start serving other races, such as relaying information, it's a different story. This means that they have transformed from harmless monkeys into enemies that need to be eliminated in advance.

This directly contradicts the creed that Liku proposed five years ago, a creed upheld by everyone in the entire settlement at a great cost—

Humans do not exist, cannot exist, and therefore cannot be perceived. Human resistance is not permitted at all, and humans are forced to become prey to be hunted. They cannot resist because they cannot pose a threat; even a slight counterattack and a minor victory would be meaningless.

The sacrifices already made must not be wasted.

Therefore,

This is a world that only Sull can save.

Our world.

"Ugh! Cough cough cough!" He tried to say something, but before he could even speak, he choked on his saliva and coughed violently. Looking at this orc who was being very patient, even waiting for him to finish coughing, Suer slightly curled the corners of his mouth. "Listen, cough, obey?"

A mocking smile appeared on Suer's lips; it was a genuine expression of his feelings, containing absolutely no lie.

"What race needs the service of beasts like us?"

Unconcerned about belittling himself, Suer looked up, only to see the eternally unchanging crimson moon in the sky, and the blood-red sky itself.

Chapter Eleven: Fragments of the Past

There was no answer; the orc's eyes flickered with uncertainty.

Although his senses told him that the monkey he was carrying, which had somehow learned the language of the orcs, was likely a slave kept by another race, his reason told him that what Sull said was true.

Elves are the elements that make the impossible possible. They are everywhere and exist within the bodies of every life and creature living on this planet. The number of elves that can be kept in a body and the neural aptitude connected to the Elf Corridor determine the rank of the race.

Orcs have extremely low aptitude, while humans have none at all and are unable to connect with the Elven Corridor. Because of this, and because humans do not possess the ability to create their own divine race, orcs are still given the suffix "[race]", while humans are simply humans... regarded as the lowest level of beasts. Even the name "human" is only used by themselves and has never been recognized by other races.

Unable to use magic or possess any supernatural powers, how can a beast that even elves cannot see gather information useful to races that can efficiently utilize elves?

For those superior races, it would probably only take a little effort to write a spell to gather information that the beasts could not gather no matter how hard they tried. It's just dealing with a low-ranking orc race, why would they need to use such a secretive method?

When you can kill an enemy with one punch, do you spend a lot of time preparing or charging up?

That is not the choice of the strong.

This is precisely what puzzled the white-haired orc.

But he was a vanguard, a scout, a tentacles that risked their lives to detect danger for the tribe. What this matter meant was beyond his ability to judge. All he had to do was pass the information back. However, given that his messenger partner had just sent back information about the Ork group that had appeared in the Ork's territory and had not yet returned, the matter of sending back the information had to be postponed for the time being.

Before that, he had to bring the monkey, which contained some secret, back safely—although he didn't know the answer to the question above, there was only one thing the white-haired orc was certain of.

The monkey in front of him did indeed possess an arrogance that came from the very marrow of its bones. Even the monkey itself was unaware of it. Only when observing subtle details such as the flow of blood in its muscles or the beating of its heart could he clearly sense this. It was as if he was not facing an ignorant and lowly beast, but rather a creature with a soul as noble as, or even more noble and powerful as, the beastmen. This gave him the illusion that he was looking down on the existence of the beastmen.

Did the monkeys see a world that the orcs had never seen before?

What kind of orc joke is this?

The white-haired orc felt this way, and he asked the same question about this mysterious feeling.

"...Look, you haven't given up even now, have you?" With boundless curiosity, the white-haired orc fiddled with Sul's bones. With just a gentle tug, the bone at the joint popped off with a crisp crack.