Inside the royal tombs.
Candlelight cast flickering shadows on the walls, like ghosts dancing in silence.
Countless thick chains wrapped around the coffin, the pitch-black runes carved upon them already dull and lusterless.
The sound of fingernails scratching rose from within the coffin, making anyone who heard it shudder.
The King stood before the stone sarcophagus, his breathing shallow and heavy. He slowly approached the coffin and saw a massive golden scale embedded in the lid.
“Take the Holy Dragon's scale and release him. I will grant you eternal rule. Do you not wish to keep your throne?”
The demon's whispers echoed in his ears, slithering into his mind like a venomous snake, eroding his sanity.
The King's heart hammered wildly. His eyes, bloodshot, strained as he pulled the golden scale out with all his might.
The black runes on the chains vanished one by one, and the chains began to loosen. A low, scraping sound echoed from inside the coffin, like bones clashing against the wood.
The coffin lid slowly slid open. A bone-chilling aura of death seeped from within, as if the temperature of the entire tomb had plummeted to freezing in an instant.
The King's throat tightened, as if an invisible hand were choking him. His eyes remained locked on the coffin, cold sweat trickling down his forehead, leaving him with nothing but endless terror.
The moment the lid slid fully open, a pale skeletal hand reached out from the coffin. Its fingers were long and sharp, the bones covered in a thin layer of decaying flesh that looked ready to peel off at any moment.
The hand rested on the edge of the coffin, its fingers curling slightly as if testing the air. Immediately after, another hand reached out.
With both skeletal hands pushing down together, a tall skeleton slowly sat up from the stone sarcophagus.
Its bones were a translucent white, with black mist swirling around its joints, exuding a cold, decaying aura.
The skeleton's skull turned slowly. Two points of ghostly green fire ignited within its hollow eye sockets, staring straight at the King.
The King could bear it no longer. Letting out a piercing scream, he spun around and bolted toward the tomb's exit.
The skeleton propped its bony hands on the edge of the coffin, slowly dragging its body out of the stone sarcophagus.
His movements were slow and stiff, the sound of bones grinding together exceptionally grating in the quiet tomb.
Finally, he stood completely upright.
The two points of ghostly green fire remained fixed in the direction the King had fled.
The King ran for his life, terrified of being caught by the monster behind him.
After running for a long time, there was still no sound from behind. He leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
Just as he let out a sigh of relief, a skeleton appeared silently before him, its eye sockets filled with ghostly green fire, staring straight at him.
The skeleton rasped, “You little brat, what are you running for?”
The candlelight flickered behind the skeleton, casting a massive shadow that made him look like a demon god crawling out of Hell.
The King's knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, his teeth chattering. “Em-Emperor Leo... No, no, no, An-Ancestor... I am your... your de-descendant.”
“I don't have a descendant like you!” Leo's tone was filled with disgust, instantly disowning him.
Then, Leo grabbed him by the collar and asked through gritted teeth, “Where is Louis?”
The King replied tremulously, “General Louis... he disappeared ten thousand years ago. Surely... surely he is long dead.”
“Bullshit!” Leo instantly blew his top. “I only woke up because I sensed his aura! You're telling me he's dead? Do you take me for a fool?”
The King wanted to cry but had no tears. “I really don't know!”
The good news was that the ancestor could communicate normally.
The bad news was that the ancestor had a terrible temper.
“Forget it, it's pointless asking you,” Leo said. “The Undead Realm will be sending people soon. First, tell me about the current state of the Empire.”
Meanwhile, in the Undead Realm.
An undead knight riding a skeletal horse slowly raised his hand, pointing into the void. His deep voice echoed throughout the Undead Realm:
“The aura of the soul core has reappeared. Find him, and retrieve the soul core.”
Countless undead skeletons crawled out from the earth, ghostly green fire igniting in their eye sockets.
Their footsteps rumbled like thunder, and the sound of bones grinding together was hair-raising.
The army of white bones surged like a tide toward the border of the human world.
On the other side.
“What did you say? The King is gone?” Ning Busan asked. “Wasn't he placed under house arrest? Could someone have broken him out?”
“I don't know,” Novalia said, a look of gravity flashing in her eyes. “But in his bedchamber, I sensed the aura of the Demon King of Greed.”
“What's going on?” Ning Busan's brow furrowed. “Why would he come to the Empire?”
Ning Busan suddenly remembered the magic array that had prevented him from using magic. He had wondered if the King had some powerful backing, but it turned out to be Mammon.
So Mammon was helping the King deal with him?
But Mammon never acted without profit. If he really was the one who saved the King, he must be planning to use the King for something.
What could it be?
“I've got it!” Ning Busan spun around and left. “Something might have happened in the crypt. I'll go check it out first.”
Meanwhile, inside the crypt.
The King spoke at length, summarizing the current state of the Empire in extremely concise terms.
Of course, he only mentioned the good parts and completely omitted the bad.
Along the way, he also played the victim, explaining how he was currently being kept under house arrest.
And then...
And then he was beaten.
Leo was furious. “A mere Divine Envoy managed to force your abdication? Useless! Couldn't you have just hacked him to pieces?”
What a coincidence.
These words were overheard by Ning Busan, who had just rushed in.
The King, sharp-eyed, spotted Ning Busan. Clinging to Leo's leg bone, he eagerly complained:
“Ancestor, it's him! It's him! He is Ning Busan! He's the Divine Envoy who forced me to abdicate!”
The King was filled with joy, expecting his ancestor to avenge him. Instead, Leo glanced at Ning Busan and kicked the King squarely in the chest.
“If he wanted you to abdicate, you should have just abdicated! Why all the nonsense?”
The King never expected him to say such a thing. His eyes filled with utter disbelief. “Ancestor, that's not what you said just now!”
“Quiet!” Leo slapped him unconscious with a single blow.
Ning Busan stared at the skeleton before him, finding it hard to connect this figure with the Leo of his memories.
Ning Busan desperately wanted to know what exactly Leo had gone through to end up like this.
“Shall we chat?”
“Chat? Screw that!”
Leo's right arm bone suddenly detached and shot forward like a pale meteor, aiming straight between Ning Busan's brows.
The moment Ning Busan tilted his head to dodge, Leo's shinbone swept toward his temple.
Ning Busan summoned the Jinge Sword, blocking Leo's aggressive attack.
Leo hooked his knuckles into the raised fleur-de-lis pattern on the sword's guard, his leg bone locking around Ning Busan's right wrist.
Ning Busan released his right hand and caught the sword with his left, the back of the greatsword halting right against Leo's third rib.
At the same time, three pale white skeletal fingers pressed against Ning Busan's Adam's apple.
Leo said in a low voice, “If you really want to chat, first explain why you suddenly left without saying goodbye ten thousand years ago?”
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