Chapter 0 - Prologue: That Moonless Night on which the Strongest Demon King Passed Away (1/2)
Prologue: That Moonless Night on which the Strongest Demon King Passed Away
In the southern part of the Ximengsi Continent, in the depths of Death Valley, there was a black castle named Morpheus. This stronghold was the center of Demon King Garfield’s territory. Demon King Garfield was the strongest of all the Demon Kings and had invaded Ximengsi Continent almost a century ago. The black castle Morpheus that he had built had stood erect in the depths of Death Valley for several decades despite the armies and heroes of the Human Race who had failed to capture this place throughout all those long years. Many people had entered the eternal sleep on this territory.
On a moonless night, a relatively small-framed phantom dashed into Death Valley. Constantly turning her head to glance back, she seemed to be escaping from several pursuers. Although her movement speed was fast, a group of shadows managed to follow her every movement.
iDeath Valley usually appeared incomparably terrifying at night, but tonight, for an unknown reason, it was uncharacteristically quiet. Not a single demonic creature, dozens of which would usually roam about in the middle of the night, could be seen. There was a kind of indescribable oppression in the midst of this quietness. As if the castle were waiting…
“What’s going on? I can’t find a single demonic creature! I was hoping to stall for time using them. Ya, so hateful… if it were not for—”
In a moment of slight carelessness, that relatively small-framed phantom was hit by a golden light beam from behind. It was an arrow forged out of gold. However, this was actually the Light Church’s sacred item “Golden Holy Arrow.” In the entire Light Church, there were only a little more than one hundred such arrows. Extraordinarily, in order to arrest this relatively small-framed fugitive, the people chasing her were already throwing out hard-earned capital. After all, the cost of a single “Golden Holy Arrow” was enough to purchase a small town.
The Lolita who had been hit by the “Golden Holy Arrow” didn’t even slow down. Gritting her teeth, she endured the severe pain and continued to escape with the “Golden Holy Arrow” stuck in her back. Although she knew that this arrow had a Tracking Magic Array that would reveal her whereabouts to her pursuers, she didn’t have a choice since she lacked the time to pull it out. Those pursuers behind her were already too close. Grimly racing after that thin figure, they didn’t give the Lolita any time to hide and ponder how to escape.
The Lolita could only gamble by seeing whether she could flee into Demon King Garfield’s black castle Morpheus before another “Golden Holy Arrow” hit her and, once there, put herself under the Demon King’s protection. Shortly after she left the valley entrance, a squad of well-equipped heroes arrived. Seeing several strange dark-red blood marks on the ground, they easily determined that they had hit their target.
“Captain, those Golden Holy Arrows were meant to be used against Demon King Garfield. Isn’t this a waste?”
“Waste? No no, that girl is truly of the Blood Race! She was hit by three Golden Holy Arrows and was still able to escape!”
As one of the Light Church’s trump cards, even a normal Demon King wouldn’t dare to take a single “Golden Holy Arrow” head-on, let alone taking three in a row. The Lolita had already been hit by two of them before, but she had still been able to run away from them as if nothing had happened. Even after such a long chase, she gave no obvious signs of being in an abnormal state. Had this not been a request specifically asked upon them by the Light Church, this hero squad specialized for dealing with Demon Kings wouldn’t have chased the Lolita. After all, they had to save their resources for their battle against great Demon King Garfield.
“Death Valley is strange tonight. In the past, during our scouting, there would definitely be demonic creatures wandering around at night. How come we can’t see a single one tonight?”
“It’s currently unknown. A few days ago, I heard a priest speaking about a change in the celestial phenomena over here. No one knows what is going on here—even the research of that old man produced zero results.”
“Everyone, be a bit more careful. Let’s hunt down that fleeing bloodkin first. Also, be wary of any of Demon King Garfield’s schemes.”
Black Castle Morpheus
The fleeing bloodkin Lolita stood outside the wide-open castle gate in a daze. Walking into the castle, she was immediately confronted by a very foul bloody smell. This bloody smell belonged solely to demonic creatures. Her stomach churning, she then saw various kinds of demonic creatures that had died violent deaths strewn about the black castle. Their death states looked very miserable. From a cursory inspection, their corpses didn’t seem to be the work of the Human Race’s warriors. Not even the torture techniques of the Human Race had such a gruesome effect.
The bloodkin Lolita hesitated, nervously swiveling her head toward every sound. Finally, she gathered her courage and stepped into the Demon King’s Hall, only to find that it too was in a mess. Various high-leveled demonic creatures could be found, their expressions contorted in agony. The floor was dyed black with the dark blood of demonic creatures. The Lolita walked forward, gingerly stepping over puddles of black blood. After passing many unrecognizable demonic creatures, she discovered a tragic scene on the Demon King’s throne.
The thing the Lolita had been most unwilling to see had happened: Demon King Garfield was dead. He had died a miserable death, leaving behind only a few pieces of scattered body parts as if to prove that the terrifying Demonic King had once existed. Demon King Garfield, who had shrouded the entire Ximengsi Continent with his terrifying shadow for nearly a hundred years, had unexpectedly died a quiet, miserable death. From the lack of marks surrounding him, it seemed that he had been killed in a flash without even the chance to counterattack.
On top of the magnificent Demon King Throne of Demon King Garfield, a person clad in black robe sat. However, the bloodkin Lolita was unable to confirm what kind of existence this fellow was since the only recognizable marking on the black robe was a mysterious insignia she couldn’t understand. When she had entered, that black-robed person had merely continued staring at his hand, which was bound by a white bandage, as if he had not noticed the intruder.
“Who am I? This body…”
“Please help me, I…”
“I still haven’t completely repaid my loan. Wait, is there no need to repay the loan? If I had known that earlier, I would have spent freely.”
“Can you hear me? You, this person…”