Chapter 1279: Crimson Flames Tyrant
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The festivities continued into the evening, and the clouds in the sky were all gilded with a golden hue at sunset. Everything seemed to be proceeding very smoothly. However, Lin Li, who was standing on the observation platform, felt that the atmosphere around him didn’t seem to feel very festive anymore. Many people, including Bradlor, no longer seemed as gleeful as before. Instead, they were somewhat worried.
That made Lin Li a little puzzled. Isn’t this the most important day for the Gilded Kingdom? Why do Bradlor and the others seem so worried and dismayed? Are they not satisfied with this celebration?
At this moment, Lin Li saw Grand Duke Vidi, who was standing near them. He kept his volume down, and called Grand Duke Vidi over. “Grand Duke Vidi, why does it seem that you guys aren’t quite happy? If it’s because you guys don’t want to celebrate the founding of the kingdom, you can just choose not to. It’s not like someone will force you to do it, right?”
The Gilded Kingdom had gone to such great lengths to hold a founding celebration for the kingdom, and even invited the bigwigs of various forces to attend it. Now that they were already halfway into the celebration, the people of the Gilded Kingdom were displeased instead. Thus, Lin Li felt that it would be pointless to hold the celebration if it made them upset..
“President Felic, please don’t get the wrong idea.” Upon hearing Lin Li’s words, Grand Duke Vidi also sensed that his reaction wasn’t quite appropriate. Thus, he had no choice but to say with a bitter smile, “Actually, we don’t know if we should be worried about this matter, either. After all, it’s a legend that has been pa.s.sed on for countless years.”
“What legend is it?” Lin Li couldn’t help but be curious as he wondered, Just what kind of legend is it? It actually made the people of the Gilded Kingdom so worried that they can’t even celebrate such an important and joyous occasion.
Grand Duke Vidi shook his head, and rather awkwardly said, “I’m not too sure about the details, but the legend has it that the ancestors once predicted that a great disaster would strike during the founding celebration this year. However, there was no way for us to prove it, so all we can do is keep our guard up and stay alert.”
As the celebration progressed, Lin Li seemed to have vaguely smelled the odor of sulfur in the air, seemingly because he had heard Grand Duke Vidi’s explanation. If it was nighttime now, and the celebratory fireworks had been set off, so there would definitely be a sulfuric odor, but the thing was that there wasn’t any fireworks display at the moment.
Where is the smell of sulfur coming from? Lin Li felt that the smell of sulfur was gradually getting more and more intense, and at this point, he was already certain that he wasn’t imagining it. As far as he knew, only a certain type of wyrm or Abyssal Demon would emit a strong sulfuric odor as they appeared. However, there were no wyrms or Abyssal Demons here!
Soon, the people on the observatory platform also seemed to have smelled the sulfuric odor, and the faces of the people of the Gilded Kingdom became more and more sullen too. At this moment, Bradlor said a few words to the people next to him, after which the performance in the square came to a halt before it was finished.
Under the arrangement of the military, the people from various places quickly left the square, which soon became empty. The military squads that partic.i.p.ated in the event also dropped their ceremonial props, and got into a battle formation in the square, all ready to fight at any time.
Those who did not know the truth were unaware of what was going on, and merely thought that it was part of the celebration. It was common for the Gilded Kingdom to showcase their military power in front of the guests of the founding celebrations in the past. It wasn’t surprising that the Gilded Kingdom’s army would get into a battle formation now.
“Connoris, do you feel it?” Lin Li turned his head and looked to the side. Given Connoris’ ident.i.ty, he had to be extremely familiar with the Abyssal Demons. Lin Li wondered if the sulfuric odor came from a wyrm or Abyssal Demon.
At this point, Connoris’ expression became rather grave too. Hesitating somewhat, he said, “There seems to be the smell of the abyss in this aura. It does seem familiar to me.”
At this juncture, the ground suddenly began trembling violently, and cracks began to appear in the lazurite ground due to the compression and distortion. Something large protruded from the ground in the center of the square, and started heaving up and down like it was alive.
The sudden change made the scene suddenly become extremely chaotic. The military squads that were on standby could barely maintain their balance amidst the violent tremors. Fortunately, the civilian teams had long retreated to the periphery of the square. Otherwise, the scene would have been even more chaotic.
With the appearance of the strange situation in Hopra Square, the sulfuric odor became increasingly strong. At the same time, countless thick, dark clouds gathered in the sky in the blink of an eye. They were piling up, and seemed to be about to crush their heads. Countless sanguine rays of lightning bounced about in the gray clouds with the sounds of thunder mixed with howling that resembled that of ghosts, making the s.p.a.ce feel like h.e.l.l.
The large protrusion in the middle of the square was arching up like a small hill, causing the lazurite on the ground that was worth tens of thousands of gold coins to shatter. Afterwards, it collapsed again as if it had lost all its power. The force generated by the movement began to spread outwards in all directions like ripples, as if the ground under the square had turned into the surface of the sea.
Finally, the protrusion in the middle suddenly erupted, seemingly having acc.u.mulated enough power. An opening seemed to have formed at the top; immediately afterwards, hot lava spurted into the sky in large amounts. All of a sudden, the ground and sky were both red because of the lava. The thick fumes of smoke also shrouded the s.p.a.ce.
The lava spurted high into the sky and scattered in all directions, just like a meteor shower. At this moment, the Gilded Kingdom’s army couldn’t be of any help at all. Instead, they were thrown into jeopardy by the fire rain. There were humans who were afire all over the ground, wailing and rolling around in pain. Some were also running in all directions, and countless warriors had died in the fire rain.
A tall and burly figure slowly stood up in the emerging volcano amidst the fire and fog, seemingly unaffected by the lava. His body was wrapped in blazing flames that seemed to make even the lava dim in comparison.
With the appearance of this figure, a ma.s.sive aura that would make one’s soul tremble immediately filled the s.p.a.ce. Faced with the terrifying aura, people no longer felt a single trace of courage, and were running away from the square with all their might, wishing they had an extra pair of legs.
Seeing such a scene, the crowd on the observation platform became sullen. The nationals of the Gilded Kingdom were naturally upset because of the disaster, while the representatives of other forces were somewhat dissatisfied with the Gilded Kingdom’s approach. In their opinion, it seemed that the Gilded Kingdom had already expected the calamity, and had invited them over with the intention of having the guests tiding the hosts over the ordeal.
“It’s true, the prophecy is true!” Bradlor muttered with trembling lips as he looked at the center of the square, his face as pale as a sheet.
Bradlor was surrounded by the important members of the royal family and ministers, who all looked extremely fl.u.s.tered and hopeless. Clearly, they had more or less heard of the so-called prophecy revolving around the situation now.
“Your Majesty, what exactly do you mean by prophecy?” asked a sullen and displeased Hegel, the Great Monarch of the Octopus Clan. They already felt like they were being used for coping with the ordeal in the first place. After hearing Bradlor mention the prophecy, that feeling intensified.
Bradlor came back to his senses, and he could tell from the facial expressions of the representatives of those forces that they had probably misunderstood something. Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn’t considered a misunderstanding, because the Gilded Kingdom indeed had invited them with the intention of getting their help in case the disaster really struck.
However, he clearly couldn’t be honest about everything. If Bradlor were to reveal that he really had such intentions, those forces would probably turn around and leave immediately. In that case, it would really be uncertain if the Gilded Kingdom could survive the predicted disaster with their own power alone.
Hence, Bradlor had no choice but to perk up, and say to the representatives of the various forces, “I’m really sorry, but we actually didn’t quite believe in this old prophecy, either. Otherwise, we would have rather changed the date of the founding celebration than let all of you go through this disaster with us.”
Regardless of whether it was true, Bradlor’s explanation was more or less effective in dispelling the suspicions of the crowd a little. After all, they had attended the Gilded Kingdom’s founding celebration more than once, and it wasn’t that different from the previous ones this time.
Although they could tell that the Gilded Kingdom had made some preparations for the celebration, it was barely of any use in the disaster. Instead, it caused the Gilded Kingdom to suffer greater losses. The warriors were all elites of the Gilded Kingdom. Although they seemed to be helpless in the face of the disaster, they were an incredibly powerful force on the battlefield.
After Bradlor explained to the crowd, and saw that their expressions were less sullen than before, he frantically said to Great Monarch Hegel, “Great Monarch Hegel, did you bring Master Felic’s magic scroll with you? Please help our kingdom overcome this crisis!”
The Octopus Clan had bought Lin Li’s Mount Tai magic scroll at a record-high price during the auction. Later on, the magic scroll’s incredible power that was comparable to that of a G.o.d was displayed during the fight against Wild Whale Rabu. Hence, Bradlor immediately thought of the magic scroll like he had found a straw to clutch at, and hoped that Hegel would help.
However, after hearing Bradlor’s request, Hegel shook his head with a bitter smile, and regretfully said, “Your Majesty, if you had informed us about this matter beforehand, I might have brought it here, but apart from you guys, who could have known that such a thing would happen at the celebration? I’ve already handed that scroll to the elders of the clan for research when I returned two days ago.”
Hegel was telling the truth. Due to the fact that the magic scroll Mount Tai had cost the Octopus Clan hundreds of millions of gold coins, Hegel didn’t dare to carry it around, even though he was the Great Monarch of the Octopus Clan. Besides, the importance of the magic scroll Mount Tai was extremely high because of its research value. No one would bring it around for no reason.
Hearing Hegel’s answer, Bradlor and the senior members of the Gilded Kingdom turned as pale as a sheet. Well, they had themselves to blame for being doubtful of the prophecy and failing to make sufficient preparations beforehand. Otherwise, he could have borrowed the mageweath from Hegel and avoided this.
Seeing the expressions on the faces of Bradlor and the others, Hegel felt somewhat sympathetic, even though he was displeased with the fact that they had hidden the matter from them. Hence, he reminded, “Your Majesty, although I do not have the magic scroll Mount Tai with me, don’t forget that the creator of the mageweath is here!”
Bradlor and the others, who were in a panic, and had become somewhat fl.u.s.tered because of the prophecy, forgot for a while that Lin Li, the creator of the Mount Tai magic scroll, was on the observatory deck too. After getting the reminder, Bradlor hurriedly led the crowd towards Lin Li without even thanking Hegel.
At this moment, Lin Li and Connoris were standing on the observatory deck, and watching the developments in the middle of the square. As a tall figure emerged from the crater, the terrifying aura swept in all directions, and Connoris’ face suddenly turned ashen. Even his body had begun trembling slightly.
Sensing the physical changes in Connoris, Lin Li couldn’t help but frown slightly, and asked, “Seems like this guy is no stranger to you, Connoris?”
Connoris also came back to his senses at this point, and he looked at the middle of the square with lingering fear. He bitterly said, “Felic, it seems that the Gilded Kingdom is in big trouble this time, we’d better leave this place as soon as possible.”
Since Connoris had obtained his perfect body, he had never been timid or felt the slightest trace of fear in the face of Sanctuary powerhouses. However, at this point, the first thing that came to his mind was to flee. Clearly, the man that emerged from the crater had a significant background.
“Who exactly is that?” Lin Li asked curiously.
“The Crimson Flames Tyrant, Mosari, the monarch of the 99th level of the abyss and a true ancient demon deity. He’s also the creator of the Endless Abyss, and the origin of all demons!” Connoris exclaimed in a trembling voice. As he revealed the ident.i.ty of the figure, his eyes were filled with fear that he couldn’t hide.
Legend had it that the Endless Abyss was a world of demons created by 81 ancient demon deities several thousands of years ago. Connoris was one of them, and he mastered conspiracy and deceit. Another demon deity was the Tyrant Balak, who was killed by Highlord Osric for his magical crystal, which was used in the core of the Eternal Furnace.
However, although Connoris and the others were said to be ancient demon deities, they hadn’t really ascended to G.o.dhood, and were, strictly speaking, only considered ancient demons. The only one who genuinely possessed strength at the level of G.o.ds was the leader of the 81 demon deities—Mosari the Crimson Flames Tyrant, who was known as the son of the ancestral demon.