Cthulhu Gonfalon

As the days went by, the number of Isis members that Sui Xiong had killed grew ever more.

One morning, he pulled out the list of names again and was just thinking to himself that he should capture and kill them in order of rank. Suddenly, he realized that the highest-ranking one on the list was no more than a viscount.

A viscount was still nobility, of course, nobility with very high status and rank. But as far as the enormous Orc Empire or the Isis members were concerned, that rank wasn’t worth much respect.

This viscount was the head of a region belonging to Isis, but if one were to lower their standards, a viscount would still count as a big fish. But as far as Sui Xiong—who’d killed the organization’s leader—was concerned, they really didn’t amount to anything.

He inwardly let out a sigh and moved on down the list of names.

If he kept on killing for another two days, there’d be pretty much nothing but commoners left to kill.

Of course, a good chunk of the civilian members of Isis was full of evil as well, so not sparing them wouldn’t cause any indignation. But to run all the way out to the capital of the Orc Empire and occupy a big public square downtown, just to kill a bunch of common criminals…

Sui Xiong felt that was somewhat undignified.

Maybe I should consider changing locations, like a big open space on the outskirts of town for example, and then get back to killing them slowly…

He didn’t stop his actions as he thought. In any case, he could still kill for another two days and then consider it again.

Time passed quickly; two days passed in the blink of an eye.

Once Sui Xiong had confirmed there were, in fact, no nobles left for him to kill, he took his troops with him and left the Golden Tent. All they left behind was a patch of blood-soaked earth and a thickly coagulated, bloody “pond.”

This time, he’d killed for half a month. That was much more than usual.

After they left the Golden Tent, Sui Xiong didn’t follow his original idea of picking a random place to start killing but instead continued heading east with his troops.

He’d changed plans.

Since he’d already passed through half the Orc Empire, why not pass through the other half and cross straight through the country?

Plus, the people of the eastern Orc Empire should get a chance to see the Guillotine Blade he’d put so much effort into making. They should also get an up-close look at that group of elite executioners who’d perfected their art through chopping thousands of heads!

Yes, due to the good fortune of having to kill all those Isis members these past few days, the executioners Sui Xiong had brought out this time had raised their skill level by leaps and bounds. If one were to evaluate them based on the “job level” system that Sui Xiong had originally created, this would be the result: When they left the Republic, the highest-level executioner hadn’t been more than level 3 or 4, but now, the lowest was at least level 19.

Actually, these executioners were all level 19, all of them stuck at the threshold between the advanced level and the advanced legendary peak.

To cross this threshold, you needed to find your own legendary path. But could they find a demonic legendary path? One that would make them into the most outstanding executioners who could kill off all the villains on this earth?

In fact, an executioner really had been planning to walk a path like that, but Sui Xiong had dissuaded him.

This might have looked like a nice path to take, but the truth was it was full of problems. All else aside, just the problem of “what to do when faced with evil” would have been enough of a headache.

Every god had Sacred Warriors among their troops, and among the Sacred Warriors of some kind-hearted gods were those determined to stand against evil, unwilling to compromise as long as there were still battles to be fought. This wasn’t a bad goal to have, but as long as a Sacred Warrior held this as their life’s dream, the possibility of their being able to reach the Legendary Realm was incredibly low.

As for why, it was because good and evil were naturally a part of this world, so to strongly reject one side would cause the standards of this world to deviate.

As the saying went, he who is too critical has few friends. If you were to actually be that narrow-minded, once you were ready to take that step towards the Legendary Realm, it would be very difficult to hold back your feelings in the test to cross over the realm of the ordinary.

All else aside, who could guarantee that everyone they ever killed in their lives was entirely full of evil?

So Sui Xiong recommended that these executioners not to be in a rush and to pick a path they personally felt they were able to take.

He didn’t expect these people to become particularly powerful members of the Legendary Realm, considering that their growth up to this point had honestly relied on chance encounters. An opportunity like this, for example, was one they’d likely never see again.

But whatever he might say about it, legendary was still legendary. Even if it was the lowest level, a “false legendary” gained through relying on civil and martial duties, at the very least, you’d be able to gain a very long lifespan.

A talented person who could live a few thousand years or more would be useless regardless of where you put them.

What’s more, these executioners actually had a pretty good aptitude for their jobs; when Sui Xiong was picking them out, he’d specially chosen ones with high basic attributes. It was entirely possible they could become genuine Legendary Masters—maybe not advanced legendary, but the mid-legendary level at least. Their hopes of becoming part of the central level of legendary figures were honestly pretty high.

This was why he’d repeatedly warned the executioners: “You must not rush. The legendary path is a major event; you need to think hard on it.

By comparison, Steele had no such problems. As a variety of the Holy Spirit, she’d been a legendary creature to begin with. In the past ten years, she’d single-mindedly devoted herself to medical work, accumulating a deep understanding of the profession; Perfect wishing spells were things she’d accumulated a good number of by now.

She’d gained some fantastical objects through using this Perfect wishing magic, and she had greatly promoted her own abilities. She normally never showed her true strength, always giving off the appearance of someone harmless to all living creatures. But the truth was that she was amazingly powerful; even if you were to put her in a one-on-one match with Leon, she’d be able to hold out for a good while.

Leon had long since reached the legendary peak. He was a top champion feeling his way towards becoming a demigod!

Compared to him, people at the false legendary level or even at the average starting-rank legendary level—like Clito and his wife, for example—would likely get knocked out in one blow.

The fact that Steele was capable of exchanging blows with Leon already made her impossibly strong.

Not only that, but if Sui Xiong could capture the evil god, King of Lust, and extract his divinity to give to her, she’d even be able to use it to replace him, becoming a new evil god.

The clergy might have some bias on that front, of course—after all, the current Steele was already no longer the simple, superficial woman she’d been before. Over the course of the past few years, she’d gained formidable power and the wisdom of maturity.

Honestly, Sui Xiong was seriously considering capturing that evil god. He hadn’t told anyone about this though. He was secretly working on it himself, preparing for that perfect moment when he could put things in motion and finish the whole affair in an instant.

Of course, the stronger his subordinates were, the better. And besides, that guy had wanted to murder Steele first, and according to the xianxia stories back on Earth, he still owed her an enormous karmic debt.

The party kept traveling east, stopping at each major city they reached to set up a guillotine in the city’s central square. They then carried out death penalties in bulk.

This went on for two months or more.

By the time they finally reached the easternmost end of the Orc Empire, right at the border between the Empire and the Country of Light, the Isis still had about twenty thousand people left that had yet to be killed.

It wasn’t that Sui Xiong had compassionately spared them, but that this organization really had way too many members.

Despite him deliberately extending their “working” hours in the last few cities, there was still a large quantity left in the end.