Chapter 796 (1/2)

The Soulless behemoth bellowed its fury. The former High King of the Earth Golems just snorted. With a step, he had crossed the distance to the behemoth and slammed his palm into its torso. The bright yellow carapace cracked, pink juices oozing around the jagged cracks in the monster’s natural armor.

The thing staggered backward while yowling in pain. It had once been a tiny crustacean, grown to the size of a small building by feasting on the emerald essence that turned the lowest of the Seven Lands into a twisted dreamscape. Several Earth Golems that the High King had taken under his wing had thought very seriously about trying the stuff, but the High King forbade it.

Whatever it was, it was dangerous. So much death resulted from their constant struggles against the Soulless that were warped by its touch. There were too many volatile elements in their situation currently to introduce one more.

The low cave worked to the behemoth’s disadvantage; with its newfound size, it couldn’t squeeze out any of the side passageways to escape. After smashing its claws against the stone walls for a few seconds, it scuttled back toward the High King with its pincers raised. It had realized that there was no choice but to fight.

The second punch the High King threw was enough to completely crack the shell and reduce the flesh of its brain to mush. With a rumble, the thing collapsed. Curling his lip in distance, the High King approached to gather the flesh of the thing for food.

Him, reduced to making foraging runs. Truly, the Procession-

“Having fun?”

The High King spun around. This presence, this voice… Although he found himself faced with the Monster Prince’s smiling visage, this time, the High King was not fooled. Unlike the actual Monster Prince, the eyes of this face burned as emerald as the purest gemstone. This was an outsider, one who had confused him in the past.

It would not happen again.

“Meet me, foul spirit, and you will find yourself shattered,” The High King intoned. He took another step and crossed the cave to appear before the fake. The palm he threw at the interloper possessed an even more fearsome momentum than the previous two that had slain the Soulless Behemoth. With such a strike, he would easily shatter a Soulless Godbeast, let alone this-

Boooommmm.

Hissing, the High King was barely able to stabilize his body. His hand was largely so numb that he couldn’t move it. Most infuriatingly, the interloper’s hand was curled into a very familiar claw. One that the High King had seen only the Queen of Talons use. And to his eyes, it looked like the Queen of Talons was slightly inferior to this individual.

The sharpness it radiated… even now, the High King had a sense of foreboding as he looked at that hand.

“Who are you?” The High King asked. He massaged his hand, rapidly trying to restore the feeling in it.

The edge of the interloper’s mouth quirked up. Truly, the High King wondered how he had been fooled upon their first few meetings. This man had none of the inborn arrogance of the Monster Prince, and none of the malicious guile. But rather than making the High King more comfortable, the absence of such obvious defects actually filled the High King with a deep fear.

It wasn’t that this individual wasn’t arrogant.

It was just he was so sure of himself that he felt no need to posture. And that surety was so deep and strong that not even the High King could pierce through it. To this emerald-eyed individual, the High King was truly not a character worthy of notice.

Yet, if that were true, why does this specter continue to haunt me? The High King wondered.

“Honestly, I am feeling quite wronged. Would you believe me if I told you that this face was in fact mine originally mine? Your Monster Prince only inherited from me.” The interloper said with a smile.

The hairs on the back of the High King’s neck stood up straight. That would make this man… old Monster Royalty. Bad, viscous blood. He wasn’t overly familiar with the many Princes and Kings and Dukes that have killed each other over the past few generations in order to how sway over the Land of Bones, but it was enough to understand that being a leader amongst the Monsters was a bloody business.

The Earth Golems fought honorably to find a Path toward greatness. The Monsters fought in order to find out who bled the reddest blood.

“Perhaps. But that does not explain why you continue to appear before me. I am not your kind; speak to your Monster Prince if you wish to offer counsel.”

“It might be too late for counsel, especially for that one…” The interloper mumbled. Then his focus returned and he grinned at the High King. “He’s a tool. So I come here instead for understanding. On whose side will you stand, when Alta erects her great device?”

“...truly, even the dead gossip. It is none of your business. Now leave me in peace. If you are aware of as much of the goings on in the Procession as I suspect, there is nothing more for us to talk about.”