Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight.

Chapter 137 Purpose

Dasha's stomach clenched violently again as he recalled how he had wolfed down his food.

Dasha bent over and started vomiting again.

But there was nothing left in his stomach, and he could only dry heave, stomach acid rising from his throat and burning his esophagus.

The mother watched all this from the side, her eyes already dry of tears.

She reached out, wanting to touch Dasha's back to offer him some comfort, but her hand remained suspended in mid-air, unable to fall.

She didn't know what to say; she was afraid of hurting Dasha even more.

Gehrman cut a piece of meat off the grill, skewered it with a spatula, and walked to the sand.

"Don't spit it out, it's a waste." He held the piece of meat to the sand's mouth. "Keep eating."

Dasha turned her head away, her lips tightly pressed together.

"Not eating?" Gehrman raised an eyebrow, speaking with the enthusiasm of someone welcoming an old friend. "That won't do. I've put so much effort into preparing these ingredients; if you don't eat them, you're being ungrateful."

He pushed the piece of meat forward again, almost touching Dasha's lips.

Dasha gritted her teeth and refused to speak no matter what.

Gehrman's smile faded slightly.

He turned and walked toward Dasha's mother.

Gehrman drew his sword from his waist and gently placed the blade against his mother's neck.

The cold metallic touch penetrated her skin, causing her tiger-like eyes to narrow and her body to stiffen instinctively.

But she didn't beg for mercy; she just closed her eyes.

"Eat." Gehrman's voice came from behind Dasha, like a knife piercing his heart precisely. "Otherwise, the next ingredient will be her."

Dasha turned his head abruptly.

He saw his mother kneeling on the ground, with the long sword at her neck.

The mother's eyes were closed, her eyelashes trembled slightly, and her lips moved as she silently murmured something.

Dasha read those words aloud.

"Don't eat it."

But Dasha still turned her head away.

He took the piece of meat from Gehrman and put it in his mouth.

The meat melted on his tongue, still with that familiar rich and delicious flavor.

Dasha took a bite, but couldn't help spitting it out.

Chunks of meat and stomach acid gushed from his throat and fell to the ground.

He wiped his mouth, took another bite, and then spat it out.

The mother knelt on the ground, watching Dasha's pained expression.

Her fingers dug into the soil, her nails broke, and blood seeped from her fingertips.

She lunged forward, trying to let the sword slice through her throat.

But Gehrman was faster, pulling the blade back just before it pierced the skin.

"Want to die?" Gehrman's voice came from above, laced with undisguised mockery. "No way, I'm a kind-hearted man, I can't bear to see death."

The mother's body went limp on the ground; she couldn't even cry anymore, she just stared in the direction of Dasha with her eyes open.

Dasha is still eating and still vomiting.

His body was trembling, and with each bite he swallowed, it felt as if a piece of his soul was shattering.

Finally, the piece of meat was finished.

Gehrman nodded in satisfaction.

He stood up, facing all the orcs in the circle, his voice heavy and suffocating.

"Remember this taste; this is the human flesh you love to eat."

His gaze swept over the faces of the orcs who were still vomiting, crying, and trembling.

"Remember your anger. The rage of the humans you have devoured will only intensify. Savor this pain."

He paused for a moment, then a cruel smile spread across his face.

"If you still want to eat human flesh, just tell me, and I'll let you eat your fill."

The orcs looked at the corpses of their companions on the grill, then glanced at their own greasy fingers.

They finally understood.

Those humans who are kept in captivity, treated as food, are no different from livestock.

They felt the same anger and despair when they were being eaten.

Gehrman didn't say anything more. He turned around and walked out of the circle.

Silence reigned in the crowd.

And that lingering smell of meat.

A secluded corner on the edge of the village, far from populated areas.

More than a dozen corpses lay scattered on the ground, blood gushing from their wounds and soaking the dry soil.

Rune stood amidst the corpses, blood still dripping from the longsword in his hand.

The bloodstains on the blade slid down the tip of the sword and hit the ground with a soft sound.

Rune's breathing was steady. He had killed so many orcs over the years that he was no longer disturbed by such a scene.

He closed his eyes and carefully felt the changes in his body.

Business as usual.

The warrior's power within him showed no signs of increasing. The level of that hidden class remained unchanged.

"It still doesn't work."

Rune opened his eyes, his brows furrowing slightly.

The practice of separating orcs with negative justice values ​​was an attempt by Rune to raise the level of hidden high-level special professions in YGGDRASIL.

In the game, obtaining a hidden high-level special class often requires extremely strict prerequisites.

For example, Ainz's [Eclipse].

The race level must include "0verlord" Lv.5.

You need to invest a lot of skill points into magic classes that specialize in necromancy, such as "Necromancer".

And reach a certain level.

Therefore, to become an "Eclipse", one must specialize in the necromancer path.

Additionally, the character's total level must reach Lv.95 for this class to be unlocked.

However, humans in this other world do not need to strictly adhere to prerequisites to obtain high-level jobs.

Rune speculated that perhaps as long as an individual's experience meets or satisfies one of several conditions, the human in the other world has a chance of successfully obtaining a job.

Rune's job is a hidden class that has a special attack against beings with negative justice values.

[The Degenerate Purger]

Rune remembered that to become this hidden class in the game, you needed to be a max-level Paladin or a max-level Evil Slayer.

At the same time, the character's total level must reach Lv.95, and a large number of evil creatures with negative justice values ​​must be killed.

Unfortunately, although Rune successfully obtained the job, leveling up became the real challenge.

The only option is to keep killing orcs with negative justice values ​​in an attempt to raise the hidden class level to the maximum level, Lv.5.

Rune is still unsure whether he was able to take up the post because he killed enough enemies with negative justice values, or for some other reason.

He recalled the legendary background of this profession in YGGDRASIL.

Is indiscriminate slaughter for the sake of power truly justice? Is it killing to protect, or killing for the sake of killing?

Rune flicked the blood off his sword.

Or perhaps—

He asked himself this question in his heart.

"Was I able to take office because I intended to use these—unjust—means to deal with Ainz's evil?" He had no answer to that question.