Chapter 855: Lilith"s concerns: Toward theDungeon
The next day, at the back of the castle of the royal family of the Gales Kingdom.
A small number of people had gathered at the back of the mountain, their numbers barely exceeding ten. Apart from the people, the same number of air-type mutant beasts were waiting in a corner obediently with leather saddles for comfortable riding and reins; they resembled horses.
"Alright, is everyone ready?" King Philip looked at the group of people in front of him and asked, his expression was serious as he said in a clear voice, "We don"t know what will happen inside that portal nor do we know what we will run into as well so anyone who wants to back out now is not a bad time."
After the evolution of Eventide World to its third stage was completed yesterday afternoon and after the appearance of the huge black colored vortex, King Philip and some of the most important figures of the kingdom gathered in emergency in the throne room together with Zilug and Mei Lin who were a crucial part of the alliance whose meaning of existing was to obtain the born treasure.
After several hours of back and forth, it all came down to the fact that the Gales Kingdom would be partic.i.p.ating in this battle for the treasure that had just been sp.a.w.ned. Even if the odds were not absolute, the mere possibility of getting their hands on a Legend grade treasure was more than enough to push an entire kingdom forward even if the failure meant its demise.
Even with so many years of history, the Gales Kingdom and 98% of the human kingdoms around the world did not even possess a Legend grade treasure making its rarity and importance more than obvious. It was precisely treasures of this magnitude that allowed the parent kingdoms to become parent kingdoms and rise above the other kingdoms over the centuries.
"Your Majesty, I, Liam Anworth, was accepted by Gales and protected by its walls despite the blood that runs in my veins. I vowed that I would fight and die protecting this kingdom, and therefore that is what I will do." Lian said with a serious expression on his youthful handsome face.
Ellis nodded standing next to him, "Father, we are all citizens of Gales. Regardless of status, we all have an obligation to fight for the good of our home."
"Well... At least we can"t let another kingdom take the treasure, least of all if it"s from another race." Seraphina waved her staff several times as she said this looking as if she was ready for combat.
King Philip looked at his daughters with an extremely complicated expression on his face. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly as if he wanted to say something but those words were difficult to p.r.o.nounce.
As a father, Philip Di Gales hoped that his two daughters could stay in the castle where they were safe instead of going to an unknown place that no one knew how it worked or what they would be greeted with. Especially after losing his wife in the war against the demons, Philip"s affection and care for his family had completely exploded and all he wanted more than anything else was to protect and care for them no matter the consequences.
However, as King of Gales, King Philip knew that Ellis" defense and attacks, as well as Seraphina"s support, would certainly be of great help and would probably make the difference in a battle between high level soul evolvers.
Therefore, King Philip found himself fighting against himself. In the end, he sighed heavily and shook his head.
Knowing how stubborn and proud Ellis and Seraphina were, King Philip knew in his heart that neither of them would listen to him if he were to ask them to stay behind. At the end of the day, both princesses shared the stubbornness of their mother, the late Queen Helena, who pursued him for so many years until she finally succeeded in her goal of marrying him.
"You have two nice daughters, old Philip." Mei Lin said as if she knew the hards.h.i.+ps the King of Gales was going through. "Risks and rewards always come hand in hand. The stronger your girls become, the greater their chances of survival will be.... However, the only way to become stronger is through risking our lives."
King Philip smiled ironically at the snake queen"s words but eventually he nodded.
"Really... Ironies of life."
...
Two hours later, eleven flying beasts shot into the sky and powerfully flapped their great wings in a northerly direction.
Bai Zemin tightened his grip on the reins of the black bat he was riding and lowered his body posture a bit in fright. This was the first time he had ridden a flying creature after all. However, he quickly calmed down as he remembered that he was no longer that weak human who would die if he fell from this height. The current Bai Zemin had many ways to avoid turning into flesh pulp before he hit the ground if the diurnal bat he was riding on suddenly went berserk.
Behind him, Lilith sat on the giant bat"s back with her legs dangling sideways. The wind blew her long jet black hair and although there was a nice smile on her face the slight frown that highlighted her brows revealed that there was a lot of things going in her mind.
A few minutes after the flight, Bai Zemin looked back over his shoulder and noticed the expression on Lilith"s face, which made him frown slightly. He moved the reins slightly to the left and the giant bat immediately obeyed his command, moving slightly away from the other ten bats.
Although the others looked at him slightly confused, no one said anything about his appearingly sudden movement. They were all mentally preparing themselves for what they would face in a few hours after all.
After making sure that the distance was safe and that the winds would carry his voice away so that no one would hear him, Bai Zemin kept his eyes straight ahead and asked in a calm manner, "Lilith, is something wrong? You"ve been too very quiet since yesterday."
Lilith didn"t respond right away. She continued to stare into the distance for almost two whole minutes before opening her mouth gently.
"Say, Zemin... I know what I"ll say next is silly, I also know what your answer will be.... But even knowing all that I can"t help but want to say it."
The frown on the face of Bai Zemin grew. This was the first time he had heard Lilith so hesitant and above all so careful with her words.
He looked over his shoulder at her and said in a serious voice, "Is something wrong? If there"s something bothering you then don"t keep it to yourself, talk to me please."
"I..." Lilith sighed and finally turned her face to look at him, "Can you not go to the dungeon?"
"What?" Bai Zemin"s eyes widened and for an instant he doubted what he had just heard. "You want... You want me not to go to the dungeon...? But why?"
Lilith looked in the northeast direction and said with slight concern, "In this world, there is a really powerful soul evolver, he or she is probably the Demon Lord of this world.... Zemin, if the aura I am sensing is that of the Demon Lord, then there is a possibility that even with your Overlap Regeneration you won"t be able to be victorious."
Bai Zemin"s expression changed slightly when he heard this.
Lilith had seen how terrifying the second activation "Overlap Regeneration" was and how frightening this capacity was in the hands of a beast like Bai Zemin who possessed monstrously high stats for someone of his level and Order. However, she was still saying that in this world, there was someone who had the possibility of defeating him even if he used Overlap Regeneration in combat not to mention the fact that Overlap Regeneration had limits that could not be crossed or there would be consequences for Bai Zemin.
However, Bai Zemin soon calmed down. He had not yet had the chance to tell Lilith about the abilities of the skill Soul Manipulation after all. Besides...
"Lilith, I understand. I understand that there is someone powerful in this world, probably an enemy. I also understand your worries about me, at the end of the day I would be worried about you too if I knew that you will probably soon clash with a being capable of defeating and killing you." He said in a soft voice.
After a slight pause, his voice became serious and he said firmly, "However, there is no such thing as free bread in this world.... If a fisherman wants fish then they have to jump into the sea, there are no shortcuts. We are soul evolvers, we fight against fate itself to become strong enough to control our own destiny. Nothing is certain, even on Earth I"m sure there are unknown enemies capable of giving me headaches; a single nuclear bomb could easily take me out of the game and that"s not a reason for me to back down, is it?"
Lilith"s expression was extremely complicated. At times like this, she wished she could go back to being the old Lilith who was like an emotionless machine... because making decisions was much easier at such times. It was completely different seeing a stranger fighting to the death than seeing the person you loved fighting to the death, and Lilith was more than clear that this would be an extremely terrifying battle within the rank of Lower Existences.
"If you and this soul evolver meet, then you will have to end the battle quickly. He or she is still a Third Order existence, but the distance to the Fourth Order is not particularly big." Lilith said after a minute of silence.
Her beloved was right, turning around and retreating had never been a possibility. Turning back once for fear of dying would mean that it would surely happen again in the future, and the true soul evolvers were formed not only by bathing in the blood of their enemies but also in their own blood.
"Don"t worry," Bai Zemin said in a firm voice. He narrowed his eyes and a cold glint flashed in his pupils, "If the other party is not an enemy then that would be better, however, if he or she is my enemy then I will make sure it never stands up again. Nothing has really changed, I just have to keep doing what I have been doing so far and continue defeating."
Bai Zemin"s goals were so great that even Lilith no longer knew them in their entirety. In addition to surpa.s.sing the most powerful beings in the history of the universe, Bai Zemin was even aiming to become a being powerful enough that the enemies of The Golden Domain would never dare to return again!
If he turned around and backed down for a minor Demon Lord of Evendite World then Bai Zemin might as well aim to become the most powerful on Earth and never leave his world.
...
The group continued to fly in a straight line directly towards the portal for a total of 40 hours, almost two days, before the energy coming from deep inside enveloped them.
"We are close, be ready for all kinds of situations!"
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