Kargalgan

What truly sets Kargalgan apart from his kind is the lacework of luminous teal markings inked over his face, his hands, and his wrists. The underlying features still read as high orc. Hair the color of ash crowns crimson skin, while his eyes burn a fierce red. He wraps himself in a tattered hood of brown cloth, paired with a grayish-white mask that conceals everything except his lower jaw and his gaze. Human skulls form the necklace at his throat, and plated red guards shield each shoulder.

To Kargalgan, humans rank as nothing more than vermin unworthy of notice. Cruelty pleases him openly, a trait on display when he lures Son Kihoon and the strike team into his castle so his troops can be amused during the wait for the dungeon break. Beneath that arrogance lies a fragile nerve. The instant Jinwoo reveals his real power, the shaman loses every shred of composure, dread setting in as he begins to suspect the man before him is a Monarch.

Long before his death, Kargalgan marched with the Monarchs against the Rulers. Defeat saw him and his high orcs taken prisoner, brainwashed, and held in waiting until the moment they spilled into the human world. Commanding a top-tier dungeon, he matched a typical S-Rank in strength and seemed able to cast endlessly. High orc blood gave him formidable muscle; empowered by Hymn of Giants, he gouged craters from the ground with naked fists and held his own against shadow high orcs until sheer numbers buried him.

The spell list runs deep. Barrier magic threw up energy walls a whole squad of A-Rank mages could not break, and gravitation magic hoisted foes aloft to whip them around until they came apart. By projecting raw fear he locked hunters in place, a dread that reached even Woo Jinchul beyond the gate, and he conversed in human tongues. Among his hymns: Agony for searing pain, plus Blindness, Combustion, Frenzy to soften defenses, Giants for sudden growth, Lethargy to freeze a body, Protection for a guarding shield, Rage, Slumber to sap stamina, Strengthening to bolster an ally, Blazing Fire for fireball volleys, and Fire Dragon, twisting his hood into a draconic maw that loosed a vast beam of flame. Through Possession he could inhabit his minions and voice his will through them.

When the Hunters Guild Gate Arc opens, he detects the raid party and dispatches troops to intercept, seizing a soldier's mind to speak and lay a grim choice before his prisoners. After torturing Son Kihoon with spell upon spell, he orders the slaughter of every hunter, only for Jinwoo to intervene and launch one elite guard clear into the cavern roof. The shaman's shock curdles into terror once he grasps that a Monarch may stand before him. His last-ditch fight ends in defeat, and Jinwoo extracts him as a shadow soldier given the name Tusk.