Ainz Ooal Gown: Noble Knight

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 "Overlord" Lv.5.

You need to invest a lot of skill points into magic classes that focus on the necromancy system, 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.

'I was able to take this position because I intend to use these...unjust means to deal with Ainz's evil?'

He had no answer to that question.

Chapter 60 How many floors does a bag of rice have to be carried up?

Rune stood there, the bloodstains on his longsword already half-dried.

He looked down at the dozen or so orc corpses at his feet and remained silent for a long time.

'【The Purgers of Depravity】...'

He silently repeated the name of the profession in his mind.

In YGGDRASIL, this is considered a rather useless hidden high-level special class.

When engaging in PVP against players with negative justice values, it can boost all attributes; the lower the opponent's justice value, the stronger the boost in combat power.

In reality, this means I become stronger when facing bad guys.

However, the game designers seem to have intentionally imposed a rather harsh restriction on the authenticity of the "justice" in the background description of this profession.

When facing a player with a positive justice value, the class owner will actually be countered by the opponent.

This highly targeted yet equally vulnerable hidden class is almost entirely ignored by players seeking a balance between offense and defense.

But what Rune was interested in were not those attribute bonuses.

What he was interested in was the core skills that could be unlocked when the class reached its maximum level.

[The final judgment].

Enemies targeted by this skill cannot evade it, and their HP will decrease proportionally to the caster's if their Justice value is below -300.

More importantly, during PVP, the HP loss is irreversible until death and resurrection.

It's like a gamble where blood is exchanged for blood.

Faced with those beings in the Ainz Ooal Gown Guild with extremely low justice values, as long as Rune is willing to reduce his HP to zero in one go, the opponent will die instantly before he even has time to cast a resurrection spell.

Furthermore, since this skill requires a maximum level to activate in YGGDRASIL, there is no level restriction imposed on the locked target in the game.

This gave him the opportunity to achieve great things with a small investment.

however……

Rune closed his eyes and sensed the power within his body. The level of that hidden class still showed no signs of improvement; he still couldn't use [Final Judgment].

"It still doesn't work," he murmured.

'Lv.5... is it ultimately unattainable?'

Footsteps came from behind.

Gehrman strode closer, a morbid satisfaction now gracing his scarred face.

His boots were still stained with mud and blood, and there were several dark splatter marks on his clothes.

“My lord.” Gehrman stopped behind Rune, bowed slightly, his expression filled with barely suppressed excitement, “We have taught those beasts a good lesson.”

Rune turned around and looked at Gehrman's smug face.

"You ate it all?"

“They ate.” Gehrman chuckled. “Especially that little brat who started the trouble, he ate the most.”

He gestured as if describing a wonderful performance.

"At first, some of the females and cubs were defiant and refused to eat. But seeing others enjoying their food and feeling hungry themselves, they soon started eating as well. Then they discovered what they were eating..."

Gehrman grinned, revealing two rows of slightly yellow teeth.

"They vomited terribly. Some of them collapsed on the ground, unable to even cry."

Rune listened without saying a word.

There was no hint of pleasure on his face.

“And that brat’s mother,” Gehrman continued, “tried to run into my sword and kill herself, but I dodged her. Now she’s worse off alive than dead, and that’s the best punishment for that beast.”

Rune nodded slightly.

"Well done."

"Thank you for your kind words, sir." Gehrman bowed. "Then, the next village?"

“Continue.” Rune sheathed his longsword, the sound of the blade sliding into the scabbard being particularly clear in the silent air. “Proceed in the same way.”

“Yes, sir!” Gehrman responded loudly, turning and walking towards the group.

Rune stood still, his gaze passing over the orc corpses lying on the ground, looking towards the gray horizon in the distance.

It's getting late.

He raised his hand and gestured to his adjutant in the distance.

The adjutant immediately understood and began to instruct the soldiers to regroup and prepare to depart for the next village.

Rune mounted his horse, gave the reins a gentle tug, and the warhorse snorted and trotted off towards the front of the column.

The horses' hooves left marks of varying depths on the blood-soaked soil.

Rune's thoughts drifted in another direction.

The relationship between subhumans and humans.

After he came into this world, he spent a lot of time studying this problem.

Not all subhumans view humans as food.

The Casanash City-State Union in the eastern part of the Bahars Empire, and the Argrand Council in the northern part of the Kingdom, are both exemplary models of peaceful coexistence between humans and demi-humans.

Among the subhuman races in those countries, some do not actually eat humans, but there are also many subhuman races that are born with a cannibalistic instinct.

They were taught from birth to coexist peacefully with humans, and this was revised generation after generation, eventually suppressing their cannibalistic desires.

The reason why Silk stopped the Sunlight Scripture from massacring the demi-human villages is probably because of this.

Rune knows his sister too well.

She firmly believes that with enough goodwill and patience, understanding can be achieved between any race.

If this were a world of shonen manga, Rune felt he would probably be convinced by her.

Try to influence the other person with love, or persuade them with words.

But that's not it.

Rune looked at the winding road stretching ahead.

He chose a more direct approach.