Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix
Chapter 1194 - 1194: Time trap

"You certainly have a weird talent… you can sing well, and you can also sign to the point that I want to rip out my nonexistent ears," Elisabetha said when Rain stopped singing. "I would like to ask you to throw me away from your domain if you do that again."

"You were lucky that the skill was something I learned just now, and it was at a low level," Rain said, and then he approached the king in the shadows.

The king in the shadows was completely passed out on the ground. The first song of the cursed bard path targeted his mana and stamina, so he passed out when his stamina ended. Right now, he was foaming from his mouth, and his eyes were white… Rain wanted to believe that his singing talent wasn't the reason for that, but…

"Are you going to tell your grandkids the grand tale of when you heroically defeated the king in the shadows with your voice?" Elisabetha asked.

"You truly change your persona when the others aren't around…" Rain said while furrowing his eyebrows and checking the body of the enemy. "He doesn't have anything with him… but his appearance…"

As far as Rain knew, the king had been the same for hundreds of years… few people actually defeated him, and no one could tell when he was defeated or when he just killed those who had challenged him… regardless, the king looked like a teenager.

Aside from a humanoid body, he was quite hairy… but instead of real hair, what left his pores were shadows… his figure was also weird since his skin was stripped with red and purple…

"... What are you planning to do with him?" Elisabetha asked. "The portal didn't appear, so you will have to kill him to open the portal."

"How many times do I have to say that? We are here to gather intel," Rain said. "So, we are going to gather intel. He will wake up soon since his stamina is being restored while he is unconscious, so I will do something that will force him to cooperate."

It didn't take long for the king in the shadows to wake up, and as soon as he opened his eyes and his vision became more clear, he suddenly felt something around him. Initially, he experienced an intense sensation of thirst, he felt dryness in his mouth and mucous membranes. This dryness extended to the skin, resulting in a parched and flaky texture.

The king felt fatigue and weakness. Dizziness and lightheadedness overtook his body. Headaches also emerged. He also felt worse because of his rapid heartbeat and increased respiratory rate… those were some weird symptoms as his vision got clouded again.

All in all, he was experiencing dehydration… Rain used his water magic to take as much water from the enemy's body as possible, while he also healing him to avoid making him fall unconscious. Decreasing the target's health was the easiest way to win, but there were other options like that as well, as much as roundabout as they were.

"Ughhh…" The king in the shadows groaned in agony.

"Now we wait until his spirit breaks," Rain said. "This shouldn't take long. When you are willing to tell everything you know, you can say: please kill me."

"Wow, this is definitely a heroic tale you would want to tell your grandkids," Elisabetha said.

"Shut it," Rain said. "Since we have time, and you look pretty bored, I guess I will level up the cursed bard path. That should speed things up."

Elisabetha regretted her words… Rain could sing well when he wanted, but he could sing really badly when he wanted even more… it was almost like a living nightmare. The worst thing was the fact that he seemed to be enjoying himself in that situation.

In the end, the king in the shadows vomited a bunch of times, and with every passing moment, he got worse… it looked like he was becoming a living mummy. That method of torture wasn't violent, but it was still pretty nasty.

As Rain continued his unconventional method of interrogation, the king in the shadows began to tell the secrets of his past. Through agonized groans and long pauses, the truth was revealed. The king was no ordinary adversary; he was someone who, ages ago, had once stood against the very same enemies that now confronted Rain and his companions.

In a tragic turn of events, his civilization had been exterminated, leaving him as the lone survivor.

Survival, however, came at a high cost. Despite the decimation of his people, the king endured, fighting a solitary battle against the relentless forces that had wiped out his kind. In a twist of fate, he was spared from total annihilation and granted a peculiar role within the zone, more like forced, actually.

The remnants of his civilization became the backdrop for a new chapter in his life as he was anointed the king of that zone.

His survival was not arbitrary; it came with conditions. The king was given a chance to grow stronger within the confines of his appointed zone, but the price was obedience to the enigmatic rules governing that zone. As the king reluctantly unraveled his past, it became clear that he had endured unimaginable hardship, compelled to eke out an existence under the shadow of his past defeat.

The slow deterioration of his physical state mirrored the unraveling of his tale, and it was evident that the once-mighty ruler had become a mere shadow of his former self.

"The power to steal weapons from others it is his reward as a form ruler who still wants to defeat the enemies that destroyed his civilization," Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It pains me to say this, but this explains why he is so much stronger than me."

"Considering that this town is a time trap, he will never become stronger than the enemy, and he knew that from the beginning…" Elisabetha said.

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