The Record of Orc Civilization - Chapter 427: The Biological Time Bomb

Hey everyone! Are you ready for next month? 🔥

The conflict in TROC is reaching a boiling point, and I know many of you are dying to see what happens next. To keep the momentum going, I’ll be opening up a massive Privilege access of up to 30 Chapters next month!

Privilege will be opened starting on May 1, at 18:05 GMT +8

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If this ability originated purely from the absorption of environmental mana, then Nevare would have to immediately order all monsters to retreat. Because if Artur’s regeneration was powered by the infinite mana of the world, he had become immortal. He would be an undying monster that was impossible to kill.

However, Nevare knew that mana did not possess the same properties as Dragon Prana; it could not convert energy into solid matter like flesh and bone. Mana could only be transformed into other forms of energy—heat, light, or kinetic force.

The answer came to Nevare as she watched the steam rising from the pores of Artur’s reddened skin. It was a conclusion far more horrific than death itself.

Extreme Autophagy.

Or in simple term, eating his own body.

That was the truth behind Artur’s power. To regenerate a severed arm or a deep gash, Artur’s body forcibly burned and relocated matter from other areas. His cells liquefied fat reserves, shrank the muscle mass of organs irrelevant to combat—such as the digestive system—and ground the calcium from his own bones to instantaneously build tissue at the site of the wound.

Nevare realized that Artur was not an immortal entity, but a time bomb with a very short fuse. It was impossible to kill Artur with a conventional fatal blow because he would simply recover. However, every time Nevare managed to wound him, she was actually forcing Artur to expend the “biological fuel” within his own frame. Once that physical matter was sacrificed to its limit, Artur would collapse and crumble into a horrific, hollow husk. He would die because he had run out of himself.

“Fufufufu… so that’s how it is!” Nevare stopped in her tracks.

She no longer evaded. Nevare deactivated all mana-consuming detection spells. At Artur’s current speed, even detection spells wouldn’t help her dodge in time. She also dispelled her magical barriers; against Artur’s raw power, those shields were nothing more than thin layers of paper.

Nevare extinguished the lightning flowing through her body. Their location was far enough from the Wilwatikta forces currently purging the last of the resistance in Heles. With Artur’s consciousness increasingly eroded, her brother was now nothing more than a beast with a single instinct. Artur would no longer think of destroying the monster army; the only target in his brain was Nevare.

Nevare focused her remaining energy into three lightning rings—the absolute limit of her capability. She also prepared an automatic counterattack that would detonate upon the approach of any object. Her primary focus shifted entirely to Elementalization. Though it was mana-heavy, by cutting off her other magics, she could still manage two or three more lightning-form shifts.

’I can only hope this is enough to wound him until he’s spent,’ Nevare thought.

Artur lunged again. This time, Nevare couldn’t see anything before her body began to be shredded. The three lightning rings activated instantly, and the counter-spell exploded violently. The sound of destruction boomed around Nevare while her body was bombarded by claws. She held onto her elemental form with everything she had while spitting out lightning rings one after another. Artur appeared and vanished like a flickering shadow of death.

In an instant, Nevare had exhausted her second Elementalization. Her mana was depleting drastically. She gritted her teeth, enduring the pain and exhaustion to maintain her automatic spells.

In a brief flash, she saw Artur’s scorched body, covered in burns so severe his internal organs were visible. But a second later, Artur appeared whole and healthy once again.

Doubt began to creep into Nevare’s heart. What if her hypothesis was wrong? What if the scholars of R-18 had misjudged the limits of mana? If Artur truly could regenerate without limit, then this was the end for her. The fear of death surged in her chest—not because she feared dying, but because she feared leaving the people she loved: her children, Nash, Kuja, Acel, and her husband, Moku.

But Nevare brushed the doubt aside. The die was cast. There was no turning back. If death truly awaited her here, she only hoped that the heaven and the Creator the monsters worshipped truly existed, so she could meet her family again in the next life.

Artur’s next attack arrived without warning. Her final Elementalization had just flickered out. Nevare panicked. Suddenly, she saw her own right hand flying through the air. Her body slammed into the ground with a violent thud. Blood sprayed from the shoulder that was now missing. The agonizing pain made it difficult for her even to breathe.

Is this the end?

However, before she could lament, a figure appeared before her in a state far more wretched.

Artur stood on legs that were nothing but bone wrapped in thin, shriveled skin, exactly like a mummy forcibly awakened. His clothes appeared oversized on a body that had suddenly shrunk and withered. His skin was as thin as fragile, ancient parchment, stretched tight over his skeleton. Beneath that transparent surface, dark blue veins bulged clearly, forming a horrific pattern like the roots of a dead tree.

His cheeks were sunken deep into a protruding jaw. His eyes, which had once burned with rage, were now sunken deep into their sockets, leaving behind cloudy grey eyeballs that rolled upward, devoid of consciousness. His lips were cracked, revealing rows of teeth that looked too large for a face that had diminished so much.

His ribs protruded sharply. Because his abdominal and chest muscles had been entirely consumed for regeneration, his stomach area appeared hollow, as if his internal organs had vanished.

On the parts of his body hit by the last lightning explosion, the flesh looked “different.” Those areas appeared smooth and reddish, like the skin of a newborn baby, but they looked incredibly fragile and unnatural—as if the flesh could tear at the slightest touch because it wasn’t supported by a healthy biological structure.

Artur collapsed into a kneeling position. His body slowly went limp like a puppet with its strings cut. His breath sounded like a long, weak, wet hiss, before the body finally grew cold in the form of a pathetic husk.

Nevare knew she had won the gamble. With her remaining strength, she stood up. Though she knew Artur would die on his own if left alone, Nevare didn’t want to take the risk. She wanted to close the Chapter of her past completely.

The remaining mana in Nevare’s body hummed. Her one remaining hand condensed energy into a blade of lightning. Tottering, she approached what was left of her little brother. With one certain swing, Nevare beheaded Artur.

In that final second, Nevare saw a flicker of relief on Artur’s face, as if her brother was finally released from an extraordinary torture.

As soon as the owner died, the space around them suddenly shattered. Various objects spewed out from the empty void—the contents of Artur’s dimensional pocket, which was no longer functional. Amidst the pile of artifacts and war gear, Nevare stared at a single white, round pill that rolled and stopped exactly at the tip of her foot.

Her eyes narrowed sharply.

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