Chapter 210 – Chapter 44: Rendezvous
Around 500 years ago, the Demon King"s Palace ended the Era of Struggle and unified the kingdom.
In the Human World, 500 years was a long time, and they spanned dozens of generations. However, it was different in the Demon world. Like the other species of the Demon World, the demon kings had longevity, so there had only been six demon kings who ruled during the 500 years of history.
The invincible king, who ended the Era of Struggle, had ruled for the shortest period of time. He had established the Demon King"s Palace and left his position in the 12th year of his reign.
The first demon king was an old man by the time he set up the palace. It had taken him over 100 years to end the Era of Struggle, so he had led his army for over 100 years.
The demon king was obviously old, but the decisive reason for his retirement wasn"t age. When considering the lifespan of the sura, the demon king was only middle-aged when he retired and still far from death.
There was only one reason for the first demon king to step down. He had become weaker. The demon king of the second generation had surpa.s.sed his strength.
The second demon king had been the first demon king"s nephew. The first demon king had no children, so it seemed natural for his nephew to rise to his throne. For several species in the Demon World, it was natural for family members to succeed the throne.
However, the real reason why the second demon king inherited the throne wasn"t because he was the flesh and blood of the first demon king. It was for a much simpler and clearer reason. By the time the first demon king stepped down, the second demon king had become the strongest person in the Demon World.
The second demon king had reigned over the Demon World for over 100 years. The third demon king after him had been the strongest among his children. The third king had also ruled for a long time. In the fourth generation, the one who had inherited the t.i.tle of demon king was his much beloved third daughter.
However, she hadn"t been the strongest person in the Demon World, as all her predecessors had been. She hadn"t even been the strongest among the children of the demon king. She had been able to rise to the throne because the third demon king loved her very much. However, her siblings had then fought and killed each other.
The one who had ended up becoming the fourth demon king had been the strongest of the remaining siblings, both individually and with the forces behind him.
The fifth demon king had been the eldest son of the fourth king. He had been the strongest among the children of the demon king but not the strongest person in the Demon World. He then became obsessed with the bloodline of the ancient king and made a law that only the children of the queens could inherit the throne among the children of the demon king. The fifth demon king had many concubines, but his queen had been a sura who was his cousin and had been with him since childhood.
In the fifth generation, the king and queen only had one child. Therefore, the sixth demon king had been able to rise to the position without any compet.i.tion. However, ironically, the sixth demon king was the strongest person in the Demon World, unlike some of his predecessors.
He was the sura king, Mitra…
The current demon king.
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The demon king stayed alone in a room covered in darkness. More than 10 years had pa.s.sed since he left his bedroom in the Black Castle and moved to a place where only the sword duke knew how to approach.
Among the previous demon kings, Mitra had the largest number of queens and concubines as well as the largest number of children.
1st Prince Baikal Ragnaros, the eldest of the demon king"s children, was only in his late 20s. In the eyes of the various species in the Demon World, Baikal was still just a child.
All the children of the demon king were young. Based on the Demon World, the differences in their ages were extremely small. All the children had been born between 30 and 10 years ago.
That period had also been when the demon king began living with his illness. Decades had pa.s.sed by, and the demon king"s illness hadn"t improved. There had been a period of stagnation, but that was it.
Unlike his predecessors, the demon king had grown up in the Sanctuary. Therefore, he could understand why the second demon king had inherited the throne from the first demon king.
The demon king wasn"t the ruler of the Demon World; he was the Demon World"s protector.
The reason why the strongest person in the Demon World had to become the demon king wasn"t to press everyone else down. A clearer reason existed.
The demon king"s gaze moved away, and he got up in the darkness.
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Arch Lich Shutenberg wasn"t a fool.
It had been over 1,000 years since he became a lich. In the Era of Struggle, he had been referred to as the Half King. Shutenberg had lived a long life before becoming a lich. If he combined all the years he had lived, there were more than 1,000 years. This wasn"t a small number.
However, he wasn"t the oldest existence. There were those who had lived for much longer in the Demon World.
Arch Lich Shutenberg thought about one of them, the oldest being in the Demon World. Compared to him, even the elder dragons could be called new.
A bitter smile appeared on Shutenberg"s skeletal face as he recognized those who were heading towards his realm.
There was Sword Duke Ishgard, an elder of the sura and the one who had taught the demon king…
And 2nd Prince Zephyr Ragnaros, the strongest prince. The day he was born, the dragons had felt a tremor because of how gifted he was. There was also Warrior Locke, a miracle born among the hundreds of millions of humans. He was the Drakon Kechatulla raised by Guardian Queian. Along with Locke, there was the 9th Prince, Shutra Ignus, the Conquest Knight and the Demon World"s Drakon Kechatulla. He was more dangerous than Zephyr and Warrior Locke.
Lastly, there were the ones with them as well. All the children of the demon king had come, except for 3rd Prince Victor Nekrion.
Arch Lich Shutenberg sat back in his throne. They were all gathering in one place.
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As Indara had said, the cold and blizzard became weaker as they proceeded to the north. However, it was still comparable to the coldest region in the Demon World.
Moreover, as the blizzard and cold weather weakened, the attacks of various creatures increased. The undead created by Shutenberg attacked extensively, and they had to fight several times a day.
In-gong understood why the sword duke had prepared a small army of elites to advance through the north. Only the elites would be able to march through the north towards Shutenberg"s castle without collapsing of exhaustion.
They didn"t know when the attacks would come, so they couldn"t afford to make a hot spring like when they had first met Locke. All they could do was eat and sleep in the shelter which Felicia and Daphne kept on making.
In the midst of the snowstorm, Amita pounded their hammer. Their small racc.o.o.n hand was wielding a big hammer with force, but the sound of the wind was so loud that there was no need to worry about the sound leaking out of the shelter.
"What is it?"
Amita, who was repairing the weapons destroyed by repeated battles, looked next to them with a frown. Carack smiled and replied from the rock where he was watching Amita,
"No, you just look like a real craftsman this time. Are you a craftsman? I don"t see the same person who drank bath water until their stomach became sore."
"Kak!"
Amita growled angrily, and Carack just laughed. Despite everything else, Amita was genuinely skilled. Moreover, they had started listening to In-gong obediently thanks to the Heavenly Wine.
"Prince, you must keep this a secret."
Otherwise, it was clear that Amita would pounce on In-gong in order to get a taste.
Carack imagined Amita gnawing on In-gong"s fingers and laughed again. The most eye-catching area was the place where the princesses were gathered.
"Beatrice unni, tell me more stories about the Human World."
Beatrice was located between the princesses and their aides. Caitlin had befriended Beatrice over the last few days and now called her "unni". Beatrice wasn"t from the Demon World, so she claimed that the stiff t.i.tle was needed.
Anastasia sighed as she looked at Caitlin all over the Human World"s saintess. She liked Beatrice after spending a few days together, but the time was still too short. Anastasia was uneasy at the fact that Caitlin seemed to have forsaken all vigilance.
"Caitlin, don"t play around too much. Shouldn"t you give the Saintess a rest?"
Caitlin flinched at the reproach, however, Beatrice just smiled slowly.
"It is okay, Princess Anastasia. It isn"t anything hard to talk about."
Anastasia couldn"t say anything in response to that. As she backed away with a disgruntled expression, Caitlin smiled widely and hugged Beatrice.
“Bea unni, I like you a lot."
Beatrice smiled with a pleased expression, and Felicia"s lips distorted as she watched the two people. She felt somehow like she was being deprived of Caitlin.
Carack laughed at the sight of the princesses playing well and headed towards the entrance of the shelter. It wasn"t just the princesses. The mercenary king and warrior were also mixing well with the troops. Their stories of the strange Human World were welcomed by all.
After reaching the entrance of the shelter, Carack exited it while lightly greeting the soldier guarding it. It was a mysterious sight to see snowflakes in the sky of the Demon World, but it only caused curses for the last few days.
"Carack."
"Prince."
In-gong looked away from where he was staring at the sky and turned toward Carack, who moved toward In-gong in his winter clothes.
“It is night, so you should rest."
"Wait a minute."
After stopping Carack, In-gong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Instead of looking at In-gong, Carack looked up at the sky. There was a small green light shimmering in the distance.
In-gong was sharing Green Wind"s vision and looking around from a high place. The mini-map was heavily influenced by the user"s actual range of vision. Therefore, the range of the mini-map was widened dramatically when viewed from a high position.
Then In-gong opened his eyes. Carack recognized that White eagle had begun to descend rapidly from the sky and asked,
"We aren"t far away?"
“Yes, we should arrive no later than the day after tomorrow."
Arch Lich Shutenberg…
He wasn"t a big presence in Knight Saga. Shutenberg was powerful, but he was a type of hidden boss who didn"t have a big influence on the story. However, in this world, his existence was obviously different. The evidence was that not just In-gong"s involvement but that the sword duke and Zephyr were involved as well.
In-gong"s mind felt heavier. The children of the demon king were all together, but he still felt worried.
The Death Knight and War Knight…
How long would those two remain silent? They were also in the north, so they should be acting.
His head was cold, but his thoughts were becoming complicated. Carack raised his hand to In-gong"s shoulder.
"Prince."
Carack smiled as In-gong turned to him.
"Don"t overthink it too much."
In-gong couldn"t help smiling in response.
"Yes."
White Eagle returned, then In-gong looked towards the north.
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As Zephyr sat on the back of Quanta, he looked towards the west from the sky. Due to the snowstorm, it was impossible to see it with the naked eye, but he could tell.
Shutenberg"s castle wasn"t far. Depending on the enemy"s resistance, they could arrive as early as tomorrow.
Zephyr closed his eyes and focused his senses. The armour of the elder dragon on his body, Cruel Talia"s Armour, seemed to growl in response to something.
“Let’s go back.”
Zephyr gave a low order, and Quanta headed towards the ground. In the midst of the strong winds, Zephyr once again looked in the direction of Shutenberg"s castle.
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The War Knight spoke.
Arch Lich Shutenberg could feel it.
The Death Knight didn"t wait any longer and raised his body from the throne.