The Last King Of Darkness
Chapter 780 - 434: The Corpse of the King (Second Update)

Chapter 780: Chapter 434: The Corpse of the King (Second Update)

The black dust plummeted from the sky, and the once-strong Soul Devouring Demon was now merely a few piles of ash.

Soron scooped through the ashes and took out a condensed monster ash, placing it into the ash pouch he carried.

"Four pieces of Strong Level Super Rank monster ash."

Soron’s eyes were squeezed shut from his wide smile.

"Now I can make a large batch of potions or boil a few hundred pots of ash soup."

Jessica reinserted the six giant swords into her back, calmly stating, "I don’t feel any danger at the moment."

Rod glanced back at the Dream Realm.

In Star Square, a digit, Divinity +12, still floated behind the mist.

Clearly, the task of cleansing the Scar of Death wasn’t finished. When the battle in Starry Sky City commenced, this place would still experience disturbances, with the awakened creatures attacking humans from behind, causing chaos and loss.

The Book of Knowledge reminded him of the odd behavior of the Soul Devouring Demons and the enhancement they had received.

Rod also recalled what Asa had told him when entering the Scar of Death, knowing that a powerful creature still lurked here, likely an Undead.

He immediately returned to his body and said, "Don’t celebrate too early; our mission isn’t completed yet."

Soron’s smile faded as he spoke gravely, "Right, the surge in Spiritual Energy might have awakened new creatures. The Soul Devouring Demons underwent a bizarre transformation, and we still need to investigate the cause of the Scar of Death."

Jessica asked in confusion, "Why would the Soul Devouring Demons charge one after another? Did they sense my intrusion?"

Soron spoke gravely, "Perhaps the first Soul Devouring Demon you killed alarmed the others. Regardless, let’s start investigating the Scar of Death; maybe we can find their answers."

The proposal was unanimously agreed upon by the trio.

Jessica deactivated her Awakened State, and with a burst of intense light, she transformed from the mighty Six-Armed Snake Demon into a beautiful young girl again.

Rod was quite disappointed to find her clothes completely intact; he had hoped for some transformation perks.

Jessica noticed Rod’s gaze and smirked, "Little Rod, my clothing is specially made soul equipment. We are the magic spirit daughters who battle year-round, gaining promotions and growth through life-and-death combat; you don’t think we’d foolishly burst through our clothes, do you?"

Rod retorted, "Monsters have no will, they aren’t humans. What’s wrong with showing a little for us to appreciate? It would cheer us up and enhance our combat efficiency. Isn’t that a good thing?"

Clang!

Soron smacked Rod on the head, scolding him,

"Kid, what are you talking about? You want our Royal City’s most beautiful and charming young ladies to battle on the battlefield naked?"

Rod shrugged, "I didn’t say that; I was talking about clothes bursting during transformation. Running around naked is too primitive; bursting clothes are the art and romance of humanity."

Soron was so infuriated that veins throbbed on his forehead, but he didn’t want to argue these bizarre ideas with Rod anymore. He had already secretly decided that once the battle was over, he must report Rod’s peculiar remarks back to the King. This fellow was already a Guardian, and only the King’s control was most effective.

But he missed that Jessica’s eyes flickered with divine light, as if she was pondering something.

The trio began exploring along the canyon.

Although Death’s Trace Canyon was said to be a canyon, it was also a thousand yards wide. Beneath their feet lay rotting mud, above their heads stretched a bottomless darkness, and surrounding them was a dense Black Fog, as though they were at the bottom of the Abyss.

Soron was an experienced old warrior who had explored many relics and was very skilled in exploration.

"This place is a sediment terrain. After it rains, the water perennially seeps into the canyon. With the canyon being so deep, little water evaporates, gradually forming this swampy state."

"Be cautious, this sludge is mixed with a lot of pollution, having strong corrosive properties. Make sure you perform a thorough purification on your legs once we return."

"There are no traces of other monsters’ activities here; the Soul Devouring Demon lords over this area."

"Look, this pit is where the Soul Devouring Demon has lain dormant for years, emitting strong corrosion. Let’s quickly search around and not linger too long."

From this pit, the three of them found some decayed and damaged armor, but nothing notable.

At that moment, rain fell from the sky. It was Rod’s first real encounter with rain. The raindrops were large and black like ink, hitting the ground with a pattering sound.

The black rain quickly intensified, turning into a downpour that drowned out the sound of the world around them.

The three set up their Spiritual Protection, swapped to Red Tear Stones, and consumed Purification Potions, continuing their exploration in the rain.

The ground was awash with black water. It was unclear whether it was due to the heavy rain, but some mudflakes were washed away, revealing the hard rocky ground underneath.

They consequently found some broken swords and large shields, and even a tarnished and blackened flag.

Faintly visible on the flag was the distinctive Star emblem of the Starry Kingdom, with a blurred pattern below, seemingly related to sword and shield.

Soron said gravely, "This is the flag of the Fighting Star Knight Order, one of the strongest in the Starry Kingdom, known as the Kingdom’s Shield. We’ve never been able to trace it, but it seems it perished here."

Jessica murmured, "I’ve heard that each knight order in the Starry Kingdom possesses either a Divine Artifact or a Demi Divine Artifact. If the Fighting Star Knight Order perished here, could their Divine Artifact also be here?"

This thought abruptly stirred Soron. Jessica’s suggestion was highly plausible. Divine Artifacts were incredibly powerful. Currently, Trolian only possessed one real Divine Artifact, and that was the White Tower.

The Resonance Plate could be considered a man-made Divine Artifact, the King Artifact that held the Holy Fire was also a Divine Artifact, and the Heart of Resonance used to construct the World Clock Tower could also be considered one.

Beyond that, all that everyone possessed were actually Demi Divine Artifacts, or simply pseudo Divine Artifacts.

If they could find that lost Divine Artifact, Trolian’s strength would surely increase substantially, boosting their chances of attacking Starry Sky City.

"Let’s search carefully," Soron said gravely. "Don’t miss any clue."

The three continued forward, soon finding more armor and broken swords. On some pieces of armor, they saw the blurred Star insignia and the badge of the Fighting Star Knight Order.

The likelihood that this was the site where the Fighting Star Knight Order met its demise greatly increased.

However, for some reason, they did not find the corpses of the knights.

"Could they have decomposed?" Rod asked.

Soron shook his head: "Impossible. Under the cover of the Black Fog, there are only two possibilities for corpses: either they turn into mummified fossils or they twist and mutate into monsters, with the majority being the latter."

Jessica raised an eyebrow, "Maybe those monsters were eaten by the Soul Devouring Demon."

"That’s possible, but I don’t think it’s likely," said Soron. "We’ll split up to search, but don’t stray too far. Contact each other immediately if anything happens."

The three of them immediately split up, and Rod had recovered a bit, so walking wasn’t a problem.

The Death’s Trace Canyon was vast and long, and the terrain sloped slightly forward, with Black Water forming countless tributaries on the ground, flowing forward.

Treading through the mud, Rod carefully searched every inch of the land and soon found more traces, scattered in the mud, mostly fragments of armor and weapons, but still no corpses or monsters.

He tried asking the Book of Knowledge.

The Book of Knowledge answered helplessly, "Master, even by the most lenient standards, this cannot be considered knowledge, it’s just something that happened."

At this moment, Rod thought of Asa, but his soul had not yet recovered, with the other shattered half slowly gathering towards this location.

But Rod no longer had the patience, and he forcefully extracted Asa’s residual soul.

A wisp of gray mist flew in, and Asa was resurrected on the Soul Altar.

"What are you doing?" Asa said angrily, "Don’t you know being extracted like that is painful? I wasn’t escaping; I was reviving in the Dream Realm."

Rod said impatiently, "Alright, I have something to ask you, do you know where the corpses of the Knight Order went?"

Asa angrily said, "How would I know? I’m not an all-knowing god."

Rod said sternly, "Asa, you better cooperate a bit, I am the master here."

Asa scoffed, "So what? I won’t tell you that you can find what you want by following the direction of the water flow."

Rod nodded, and immediately left the Dream Realm.

Opening his eyes, in the darkness, a torrential downpour obscured the figures of the three of them, and even the Eye of the Soul couldn’t see far.

The black water flowed wantonly on the ground, branching out countless offshoots.

But faintly, they seemed to all point in the same direction.

Follow the water.

Remembering Asa’s words, Rod quickly followed the direction of the water flow.

The black curtain of rain rushed at him face-on, and the Black Fog rolled more densely in the heavy rain.

After quite some time, Rod suddenly found that the Black Water flowed towards the side of a cliff, and a bottomless cave appeared before him.

This must be it!

Rod immediately sent a Spiritual Communication using the flame symbol, and Soron and Jessica quickly arrived.

"What did you find?" Soron asked first.

His eyes sparkled, clearly knowing that Rod wouldn’t have acted without cause.

Rod pointed to the cave, "There seems to be something down there."

"Alright."

After a moment, Soron carefully made his way down.

Rod and Jessica followed closely behind.

All the way down, Soron was very nervous, but he didn’t touch any traps nor did anything unexpected happen.

The three of them smoothly reached the bottom of the cave and were surprised to find Black Water pooled there, yet it wasn’t flooded.

A corpse lay in the water, Black Water flowing along its arm and into its body.

Soron exclaimed, "Be careful!"

But neither Rod nor Jessica reacted, the corpse was bizarre, yet they neither saw nor felt any threat.

Rod carefully approached it, examining it closely.

The armor on the corpse had decayed beyond repair, becoming mere fragments hanging on its body, and the sword was so eroded that only the hilt remained.

The corpse was dried up and blackened, yet inexplicably, it had not turned into a monster.

Rod faintly felt that some force was suppressing it.

Soron shouted, "Be careful, Rod, let’s get out of here."

"No!"

Rod’s eyes slightly lit up, the corpse’s arm was bowed, its body slightly tilted, as if it was protecting something.

He stepped forward a few steps and saw two lines of text beneath its arm.

— The Starry Kingdom’s Fighting Star Knight Order perished here.

— We couldn’t be saved, darkness is invincible, all efforts, sacrifices, valor, struggle, all in vain, why?

It was carved into the stone, and even after so long, it was still clearly visible.

Rod was startled, only then noticing that a stone pillar had pierced through the knight’s chest, the once mighty knight had long since perished.

"This is the Knight Captain of the Fighting Star Knight Order."

Soron said, noticing the emptiness beneath his arm at a glance.

Clearly, the Divine Artifact of the Fighting Star Knight Order had long since disappeared.

"Why was he able to hold out so long in the Black Fog?" Rod asked.

"I don’t know."

After searching for a moment and finding nothing secretive, Soron temporarily gave up.

"Let’s get out, there’s nothing more here."

But just then, the corpse suddenly moved a bit.

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