Chapter 53

Monstrous humanoids. Monsters. They went by many names indeed.

Goblins, the vile dwarfs. Orcs, the savage hunters. Ogres, the brutal giants.

A world of carnage where all manner of sinister monsters fought for supremacy. That was the world of monstrous humanoids, which had existed since time immemorial.

And at the very bottom of that world were the goblins. The weakest of the weak, they had to wage a desperate struggle simply to survive at the lowest tier of the ecological pyramid, in its filthy, gutter-like depths.

The birth of a King of Monstrous Humanoids from among those feeble goblins began with the smallest whim. The Crocors were cruel crocodilian humanoids. Ammut, a Crocor who reigned at the very top of their ecosystem, happened upon a young goblin one day and took an interest.

“Well, look at this little fellow. I like the look in your eyes.”

“Krrrk!”

The young goblin had been born weak. But that very weakness had made it more vicious than any other, surviving by biting out the eyes and ears of its own kind. Even bloodied and struggling desperately to stay alive, it refused to be cowed before a Crocor, the strongest of all monstrous humanoids. No—although its body was already trembling under the crushing weight of terror, its eyes glared at Ammut as though it meant to devour him.

That look stirred a small whim in Ammut's heart. The smallest, weakest goblin, a survivor of that savage slaughterhouse. What would happen if he taught this wretched little thing himself? Just how strong could it become?

'... This could be entertaining.'

In the end, Ammut decided to take the young goblin in rather than kill it.

“From now on, I shall call you Tarnak.”

“Krrrk?”

“Heh heh. I'll train that pitiful body of yours until it's like a Crocor's. Let's see if you can endure it.”

Having even given it a name, Ammut scooped up the trembling little humanoid in one hand and carried it to his lair. And from that day on...

“Krrrk...!”

Raised by Ammut, the young goblin Tarnak underwent training to grow stronger. The training was extraordinarily harsh, and he nearly died countless times. But Ammut had no intention of ever letting his new toy go.

'If he dies, he dies.'

This was an experiment born of a passing whim in the first place. Ammut had never begun it expecting success, so he pushed Tarnak without mercy.

How much time passed that way? Forced to undergo experiments masquerading as training without understanding why, Tarnak grew stronger little by little. And at last...

“Krrrk!”

For the first time, he—a creature born a goblin—succeeded in defeating a superior creature, an orc, all by himself. That day, Tarnak asked Ammut for the first time what this power he was learning actually was.

“What is it, you ask? Hmm.”

That was also the first time Ammut considered what to call it. A name for a technique that strengthened a goblin's pitiful body until it was like a Crocor's...

“Iron Body Arts.”

With his characteristic cruel smile, Ammut settled on the name on the spot.

“What you're learning is the Iron Body Arts.”

Iron Body Arts...! Tarnak repeated the name in his heart.

The torture called “Iron Body Arts” continued to be inflicted on Tarnak. Steadily, he grew stronger, until he could eventually defeat orcs, trolls, and even ogres single-handedly.

And after even more time had passed, when Tarnak had finally become stronger than his own master, Ammut, the Monarch who then ruled as King of Monstrous Humanoids met his end. Tarnak was chosen as the vessel for the new King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Monarch of the Iron Body, and primordial darkness took up residence within him—for the war against the Rulers, the primordial light, that had raged for eons.

* * *

“... But in the end, a goblin was only a goblin. He met someone stronger and died. No matter how hard he struggled, Tarnak was just another ordinary monstrous humanoid after all. Heh heh.”

Ammut clicked his tongue self-mockingly as he recalled the disciple who had died before him. At the same time, he looked at Suho, who had listened to his dull story all this time. Suho had shrunk to the size of a goblin at some point. Just like Tarnak when Ammut first found him.

A grin spread across Ammut's face. His lips suddenly stretched wide, exposing gleaming, pointed teeth.

“And that was when 'he' appeared before me.”

“He?”

“Grand Shaman Kandiaru.”

Ammut recalled their first meeting. Around the time word of Tarnak's death in the war between the Monarchs reached him in his seclusion, a shaman of the Illusion race appeared before him with an interesting proposal.

[“Ammut, teacher of Tarnak. Would you care to research the Iron Body Arts further with me?”]

[“Oh? How?”]

[“With my sorcery, I'll create the ideal place to train in the Iron Body Arts. Then I'll keep supplying you with suitable test subjects. What do you say?”]

Kandiaru's offer was quite enticing to Ammut. Confident after having created the Monarch of the Iron Body with his own hands, he had captured other goblins afterward and tried training them. But every attempt had ended in failure. Unlike Tarnak, the other goblins could not endure the intense training and quickly died. It had been a great disappointment to Ammut.

That would mean Tarnak alone had been special, and that there was nothing remarkable about the Iron Body Arts Ammut had developed. It was a tremendous blow to his pride. And that was precisely where Kandiaru pressed.

[“Don't you want to prove it? Whether your Iron Body Arts are special, or whether Tarnak was the special one?”]

[“There's no need to deliberately provoke me. I like your proposal too. But even if I want to accept, the time I have left is running out.”]

Ammut had been dying then. Of old age. Even a Crocor, the strongest of monstrous humanoids, could do nothing about the limits of its allotted lifespan.

But Kandiaru smiled sinisterly, as though that were no obstacle at all.

[“I'll solve that for you as well.”]

Grand Shaman Kandiaru's sinister smile treated something like a lifespan as a trivial concern.

[“As it happens, I'm researching eternal life.”]

In the end, Ammut joined hands with Kandiaru. Before long, he came to regret that decision.

CRUNCH!

Ammut's eyes suddenly turned red with fury.

“After that, Kandiaru sealed me inside this damned tomb. Eternal life? Heh heh heh. That swindling bastard!”

Ammut's terrifying bloodlust shook the pyramid. Of course, Kandiaru had not lied. In accordance with their contract, Ammut could no longer die. He could live forever, beyond his natural lifespan. But only inside this pyramid.

[“It seems this crocodile has ended up in the same predicament as the mummies here.”] Beru whispered into Suho's ear.

At those words, Ammut's anger subsided, and he abruptly began to cackle.

“Hahaha! That's right. This pyramid itself is my equivalent of the bandages wrapped around those rotting corpses!”

[“Is this crocodile insane?”]

“Exactly right! I'm no longer in my right mind! I've lived so far past my time to die that I've gone senile!”

[“Is that something to brag about?”]

“But I remember the duty given to me perfectly well! Under my contract with Kandiaru, I'm trapped here to research the Iron Body Arts forever! Using the challengers who come to learn them from me! Hahaha!”

[“Young Monarch.”] Beru offered Suho some earnest counsel. [“Do you truly intend to train under that senile crocodile?”]

“What else can I do? It's a quest.”

Suho finally understood the meaning of the words Kandiaru had inscribed in this pyramid.

'May light shine upon the challenger's future.'

—Grand Shaman Kandiaru

'So by challenger, he meant anyone willing to try learning the Iron Body Arts.'

Interesting. With a faint smile, Suho looked at the message before his eyes.

[You have received 'Daily Quest: Iron Body Arts Training'.] (Unread)

If it had openly generated a quest like this, it surely couldn't be harmful to him.

'Besides, it's a daily quest. That must mean I'll get rewards every day I train.'

No matter how he looked at it, he stood only to gain.

“All right. I'll learn these Iron Body Arts.”

At Suho's answer, Ammut stretched his enormous mouth into a broad grin.

“A very wise decision. I was going to kill you if you refused, but you've saved me the trouble!”

“...”

HIC!

It was Esil, standing beside Suho, who reacted to that remark. As a demon noble, she sensed Ammut's aura even more keenly than Suho did. Senile though he might be, the mighty aura pouring from Ammut, the strongest of monstrous humanoids, was genuine. If he took a murderous turn on a whim, they could end up just like the Scavenger Guild members whose mutilated remains lay strewn around them at any moment.

Ammut sprang to his feet and bellowed at Suho.

“Hahaha! Good! Then let's begin training immediately! From now on, your name is Tartar!”

“No, my name is Sung Suho...”

“Now, Tartar! Let's start training!”

“No, I said it's Sung Suho...”

“Tartar, my second disciple! Starting now, I shall strengthen that pitiful body of yours until it's like a Crocor's!”

Ammut roared thunderously, ignoring Suho's replies entirely. He seemed delighted to have found a promising talent for the first time in ages.

“Heh heh heh. You'd better steel yourself for what's ahead. My training is terribly harsh and dangerous. Countless monstrous humanoids have died, unable to endure it.”

Suho, too, swallowed hard at that.

[The King of Beasts, the Monarch of Fangs, listens closely to Ammut's words.]

Even Rakan, the Monarch of Fangs, was interested. After all, the Iron Body Arts were such remarkable training that they had raised a feeble young goblin into the King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Monarch of the Iron Body.

“Tartart, every day you will...!”

“Open.”

Just then, Suho opened the message, and at the same time, Ammut explained the grueling training.

“One hundred push-ups! One hundred sit-ups! One hundred squats! A ten-kilometer run! You'll do all of that every day!”

“... Hmm?”

DING!

At that moment, the details of the daily quest unfurled before Suho's eyes.

[Daily Quest: Iron Body Arts Training]

100 push-ups: Incomplete (0/100)

100 sit-ups: Incomplete (0/100)

100 squats: Incomplete (0/100)

10 km run: Incomplete (0/10)

※Must be performed with Ammut on your back.

“But! With me on your back. Hahaha!”

“...!”

Suho's eyes widened at the absurd requirement.

“Then let's begin at once! Let's see if you can endure it!”

WHOOSH!

At that moment, Ammut's enormous body grew increasingly transparent and floated into the air.

“Spirit form?!”

Esil's jaw dropped as she recognized what he was doing. At that instant, Ammut's spirit form settled on top of Suho's head.

RUMBLE...!

“Urgh?!”

An immense gravitational field bore down on Suho's entire body. He had to summon every ounce of strength just to keep from being crushed beneath that dreadful weight.

[“Hahaha! Not bad! I can increase the weight a little more, then!”]

WHOOOOSH!

“Gaaaagh...!”

Ammut grew heavier. At last, muscle fibers began tearing throughout Suho's body, and tiny blood vessels burst one after another.

“S-Suho!”

[“Young Monarch...!”]

Esil and Beru quickly retreated from the gravitational field and watched Suho in distress.

[“Hahaha! What are you doing? If you struggle just to stand, how will you ever do push-ups?”]

Gritting his teeth at Ammut's taunts, Suho barely managed to lower himself into position.

RUMBLE...!

Now that he was face down, he felt as if the immense gravitational field would flatten him completely.

“Nnngh! R-Ruler's Authority!”