Published at 5th of August 2023 4:46 pm

Volume 13, Chapter 1 – King of Lies, Part 2

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The excitement never let up.

Her heart was racing like it’s going to jump out of her chest.

No wonder. She finally caught up with him.

She felt a presence behind her and was tempted to turn around but stopped herself.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and pointed the tip of her sword at the Faceless King, one of the Five Great Heavenly Kings.

“From now on, I am your opponent.”

Her confident voice trembled. It was not because she was afraid.

It was because she was excited to finally be able to help him, and her voice trembled with excitement.

Her red eyes shone with a wild fighting spirit, and her crimson hair danced in the air with flames as if to intimidate the enemies around her. Her beautiful appearance, like that of a war maiden, was not buried in the midst of the desolate battlefield, and her powerful presence only grew stronger.

The Great Grantz Empire was touted as the supreme power of the central continent.

The name of the next Empress of the Empire was――,

――Celia Estrella Elizabeth von Grantz.

She was born as the sixth princess of the Grantz Empire, and although she 2qs said to be the second coming of the first emperor, she 2qs estranged from the nobles as the person furthest from the throne.

However, after many twists and turns, no one could ignore her anymore.

“The Flame Emperor”… “Red Hair”… “Cursed Child, huh?”

Liz frowned at the words muttered by the Faceless King, but she kept her distance and swung the tip of her sword. The Faceless King’s expression did not change in response to this threatening action.

It seemed that he was not interested in the threat of Liz’s presence but only looked through her at Hiro, who was behind her.

“Even with an advantage, focusing only on the front leaves you vulnerable to lateral attacks.”

The Faceless King muttered as his eyes scanned the battlefield.

His subordinates, the “monsters,” had lost their ranks to the flanking fire of the Grantz cavalry and had gone from overwhelming superiority to being outnumbered.

Liz felt a chill.

It was not anger at his subordinates or pity at the sight of the scattered monsters. He simply commented on what he saw as if he were talking about something else without any emotion.

Then he turned his attention back to Liz, and his expression was less than amused.

“O cursed child. Give me the Black Dragon King, and I’ll let you go.”

“Do you understand the situation here…?”

“Little girl, do you understand that the Five Great Heavenly Kings are right in front of you――”

The Faceless King swung the Death Immortal, the tip of the blade slicing into the ground, dust scattering in the wind around it.

Turning to the sky, the tip of the blade swung down and pointed at Liz.

“Do you really think you can defeat me with your cursed body?”

Liz did not understand the meaning of the words. Unable to comprehend what the Faceless King was trying to say, Liz couldn’t help but look at him with a puzzled expression. The Faceless King finally revealed his feelings in response to Liz’s reaction. What appeared on his face was a disappointment.

“…..You don’t know anything, you don’t know the fate that has been thrust upon you, and you don’t even know why the man behind you is fighting so desperately… Is that it?”

“Yes, I don’t know. So can you tell me?”

Her heart was about to be shattered. But there’s no point in letting it fall apart right now. It might just be a play on words, an attempt to mislead her.

Liz tried to find out the true meaning with her “eye,” but it seemed to have no effect on the “Five Great Heavenly Kings,” and she could only see “nothing.

“Humans are overprotective. After a thousand years, they are still the same, unbelievably… overprotective, even to the point of sometimes destroying themselves.”

The words of the Faceless King trailed off. It was because a monster had jumped between him and Liz.

Perhaps startled by the Grantz cavalryman, the monster looked frightened and turned its eyes to the Faceless King as if to ask for help. But the monster was not saved. For the tip of the sword was buried between its eyebrows, piercing its head mercilessly.

“You must kill the obstacle. For the sake of the future.”

“I don’t think so.”

With a fierce spirit, Liz kicked the ground and jumped.

Although she rushed at the Faceless King with great force, she was easily sidestepped, and with a crash to the ground, a large amount of dust rose into the air.

Numerous sparks flew amidst the dust and sand.

The sound of blade clashing against blade shattered the air, and a tremendously deadly atmosphere filled the surroundings.

After more than ten rounds of blows, a wind finally began to blow, swirling the sand and escaping into the sky, revealing the two figures.

Liz, followed by her snake-like writhing flames, attackws the Faceless King with her skillful swordsmanship. However, he also turned his body with his small footwork and counterattacked Liz. Both of them were still without a single scratch, and their expressions showed that they had plenty of time to spare.

“It’s brilliant. As expected of you, you have overcome many trials to reach me.”

“No one became strong because of you.”

In a fit of anger, Liz’s outstretched arm grabbed the Faceless King’s chest.

At that moment――,

“Explode. That body is too good for you.”

With an explosive sound, the Faceless King was violently blown away.

His body, shrouded in smoke, rolled on the ground as if tossed by a giant wave.

Not content to watch, Liz slammed her fist down on the ground, sending a violent shockwave through the air.

The ground shook with such force that the body of the Faceless King jumped up. Liz, confirming that he was in the air, was no longer on the ground and flew far into the sky, holding the Flame Emperor upside down and swinging it violently. However, the Faceless King skillfully dodged in the air.

However, he was unable to dodge it completely, and his arm was pierced―but he ripped it open and escaped, and both of them hit the ground separately with tremendous force.

“How could you make such a decision on the spur of the moment?”

Liz took one look at the arm that had been pierced by the Flame Emperor’s blade, and it flared up violently and turned to dust.

Then she slowly approached the Faceless King, who was trying to get up. She looked like a lion stalking its prey, brave and courageous, like a seasoned warrior who never let her guard down or showed any signs of weakness.

“I see… There’s more to you than just being chosen by the Flame Emperor――”

The arm of the Faceless King began to regenerate as he squinted at the majestic figure of Liz.

But strangely, like rotting flesh, the regenerated arm was peeling off in places.

It was a sight that would make anyone think that the Faceless King was disadvantaged.

But the aloofness one felt towards him gave way to an unfathomable, eerie feeling of fear.

“――No, or should I say you are maturing as a vessel?”

The Faceless King said meaningfully, and Liz stopped in her tracks. Her expression became quizzical, but it still seemed to have given her enough of a shock to make her lose the killing spirit she had just displayed.

“I’m a vessel?”

“You didn’t even know that…?”

With some surprise, the Faceless King moved his feet back.

Judging it to be an escape stance, Liz closed the distance, but a step too late, the Faceless King fled into the sky, disappearing far behind the crowd of monsters. Liz closed the distance.

“This is still going to be fun―for now, I’m going to retire.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you escape.”

Liz immediately pointed her sword at the nearest commander and shouted an order.

The commander immediately understood the order and began to drive out the horde of monsters. The horde was easily dispersed by the rushing power of the Grantz cavalry, but there was no sign of the Faceless King.

Liz clicked her tongue but immediately turned and stopped to look at a boy.

The black-haired, black-eyed boy covered in scars―Hiro―had healed so well that not a single scratch remained. Liz felt a shiver run down her spine, even though he had been slashed from the wrists down and had a large hole in his abdomen. But she never let it show on her face, smiling wryly so that no one would notice.

“Hiro, you look good for a guy who’s been cornered.”

“I’m surprised you made it in time. I thought it would take another three days.”

Hiro approached Liz, brushing the dust from his clothes. The enemy attacked on the way, but with a wave of his hand, a lightning strike was generated, and the monster was blown away from the neck up. The power of the strike was tremendous, and Liz thought it was as powerful as the Flame Emperor―or rather, it was extraordinary that Hiro was able to control it in such a short time.

“I used the Great Highway of Schein. Aura had prepared it beforehand.”

The Great Highway of Schein, which encompassed the territory of Grantz, was one of the main roads of Grantz, connecting the five great territories. It was built in the early days of the Great Grantz Empire by the Schein family, the five great nobles of the time, and the road was named in their honor.

Structures called stations were built at regular intervals, and stagecoaches regularly traveled along them, but this time the road was used to its fullest extent.

Aura, the planner of the operation, had sent a letter to the nobles near the station to prepare horses, and Liz and her team had been riding tirelessly to this place, changing horses several times.

The reason for this was that the number of Grantz soldiers was obviously large. Some of them were heavily armed infantrymen who were attacking and defending themselves against the monsters.

“Ah… I see, so the soldiers you left behind in the Six Kingdoms came this way.”

“Yes, Aura originally sent most of the soldiers from the Six Kingdoms to the Imperial Capital.”

“I see. How could Aura have hidden such a large number of soldiers? I’d like to know more about that, but it looks like it won’t be the case.”

Hiro summoned the Dark Emperor. Seeing the black sword appear with hideous darkness, Liz looked at the person appearing behind him. When Hiro noticed the gesture and turned around, he fell to the ground.

With some surprise in his eyes, the fallen Hiro turned to look at a woman.

“That’s another ….. nostalgic person I met.”

“Ah, yes. I’d love to reminisce, but you’ve been too much at your leisure.”

The woman looks down at the reticent Hiro with a sharp look in her eyes.

Her name was Meteor.

She was the chief strategist who continued to support Hiro in his desperation after the loss of the first Princess Shrine Maiden a thousand years ago.

＊＊＊＊＊

The battle cry faded as dusk fell.

The blood- and mud-covered ground turned redder, and the pieces of flesh scattered throughout the area were buried in the shadows. The monsters, humans, and other creatures begin to retreat one by one, fearing the coming darkness.

The Faceless King watched this scene with narrowed eyes.

“Fear of the darkness is an instinct, but it was unmistakably the Black Dragon King who instilled this instinct.”

Retreating to a small hill far behind the front line, the Faceless King watched the battle between the humans and the black mass of monsters stirring in front of him.

But there was no emotion in his voice.

He simply took in the scene in front of him and continued to speak alone, thinking about the past. Behind him, the Twelve Demon Lords, Keryneia and Chimera, appear.

One of them, Keryneia, stepped forward.

“O King. I think it would be better to wait until your wounds heal.”

“Do not worry. Soon I will be able to leave this troublesome body.”

The deep hood prevented anyone from seeing the expression on Keryneia’s face.

The reason was that she was ashamed of her face.

A thousand years ago, the Twelve Demon Lords, who had set their sights on dominating the central continent, had their ambitions crushed by the “Black Dragon King,” Hiro.

They were captured by Hiro, and after being severely tortured, they were robbed of the “magic stone” and “both eyes,” the source of their power. The wounds from this incident still remained.

Extremely afraid that their defeated past would be revealed to the humans who despised them as an inferior species, they abandoned the name “Twelve Demon Lords” in the present day and now operated in the dark as “Black Death Village,” hiding their faces.

“However, the original “Vessel” was destroyed by the Black Dragon King a thousand years ago. If even Altius’ body is rejected, there is no ‘vessel’ suitable for the ‘King’ in this day and age.”

“Do not worry. I am just beginning to understand why it is so fragile.”

The Faceless King grabbed his left wrist with his right hand and pulled. The arm slipped out as easily as a toy. His arm was literally gone from the shoulder down. However, a new arm grew back immediately. Still, every part of his left arm could not withstand gravity, and pieces of flesh fell to the ground like stretched clay.

“Is this the work of the Black Dragon King?”

“No, we were thinking too much. It’s as simple as that.”

Turning his eyes to the plains, the Faceless King spread out his hands to cover the battlefield.

“Finally, everything is gathered here. No more tricks. From now on, the battle will be one in which only the strong will survive.”

The Faceless King clenched his hands into fists and smiled as if bursting with emotion.

“The Spirit King also came out. This situation can no longer go unnoticed.”

“…O King. How can you rejoice in this situation…?”

The voice filled with disbelief came from Chimera, who had been silent until then.

He did not hide his irritation, and his voice was raspy, but he was still shaking heavily as if trying to hold himself back.

“Currently, our forces are equal to those of the Grantz, and the reinforcements from the north have been cut off. The fact that the Princess of Grantz has also appeared here means that the Nameless has been defeated, which means that even Verona has lost.”

Chimera bit his lip in frustration and bled.

The grief over the loss of his compatriot was palpable in his voice, but even with his passion, it didn’t seem to touch the Faceless King’s heartstrings.

“What does it matter? They died because they were weak. There is no need to be filled with grief for such people. They would have died sooner or later.”

Chimera was momentarily silenced by the cold, unapproachable remark, but then, gathering his courage, he punched the ground and squeezed his voice from his throat.

“That is not all. We also failed to capture the Black Dragon King, and I think it’s too dangerous to let him go unchecked, but what do you think, O King?”

“Why don’t you understand?”

With the setting sun in the background, the Faceless King looked back at Chimera and the others in dismay.

“The Black Dragon King is already in my possession.”

With an eerie proclamation, the Faceless King’s deep smile faded into the shadows.

But the bruises on his arms glistened in the setting sun.

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