Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 124: Desolation Island

Nol wasn’t the only one surprised.

They were too close to the Demon King. The corruption was so intense that it nearly turned the air gelatinous. Anakin and Painter had to fully activate their purification magic just to avoid the condition of “language disorder”.

Even busy as she was, Anakin couldn’t help but say, “It… doesn’t seem hostile?”

It was simply sleeping, covering the sky and earth, with silhouettes of various sizes occasionally emerging from its head. They played and chased each other, running into the distance and gradually disappearing.

But no one dared to underestimate them—the entity that single-handedly defeated the Saints Guild elite team might just be something like this.

Nol preemptively strengthened his invisibility magic.

Fischer was unusually quiet. “We don’t have any records of the Demon King’s appearance on our side. According to the documents, its desire to attack is strong.”

“It’s similar at the Temple,” Painter whispered. “In the battle against the Demon King, it’s said to be a war between the Demon King and the two gods, with almost no witnesses. The Demon King’s corruption is indeed terrifying, but the Demon King looking like this…”

It was hard to associate this sleeping giant with “strong aggression”.

“It traveled all the way from Desolation Island, crossing the ocean, just to sleep here?” Teest pointed out bluntly.

“But it doesn’t seem in a hurry to move, I mean, as of now,” Anakin added, puzzled.

No one questioned its identity as the Demon King; its oppressive presence was too strong—even though it appeared as a dark mass, Nol couldn’t dare to look at it for too long. His instincts screamed non-stop, warning him “that is something from another level”.

He wanted to leave, not out of fear but more out of an instinctive desire to stay away from a poisonous spider. Just standing near it made Nol inexplicably anxious.

A small silhouette ran towards Nol, playing with a ball. It chased the invisible ball, happily skimming past Nol’s feet, leaving no trace in the fine white sand.

The Demon King’s will, the Demon King’s “army”—everything was so bizarre. How could one judge this?

“Let’s retreat.” It was getting late, and Nol made a cautious decision. “Now that we know where it is, it’s best to observe from a distance…”

As he spoke, he suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head, as if someone was staring at him intensely.

The small figure playing with the ball stopped two steps away from Nol.

It held its hands over its chest, firmly grasping the nonexistent ball. Its face, devoid of features, slightly lifted to look in their direction.

How could this be?

Teest’s hidden presence, his invisibility, plus some degree of protection from the A Midsummer Night’s Dream, along with the Pope-level holy protection magic. Across the entire continent of Tahe, it would be hard to find a scouting team with such strong defenses.

Yet, the figure looked at them through all the magic, undoubtedly scrutinizing them.

“Go!” Nol decided on the spot.

He didn’t dare to be overconfident and planned to immediately initiate a mid-range group teleportation. The magic’s brilliant light flickered, and the scroll turned to ash, but they remained in the same place. Unlike the anti-magic state in The Manor, his magic seemed like a program with a sudden bug, completely non-functional.

On the beach, more shadows playing stopped their activities. They slowly turned towards Nol’s direction, motionless, “watching”. Their actions awkwardly froze in the air, like frames extracted from a movie.

To anyone, this situation was spine-chilling.

Each of them was a seasoned warrior; the five people ran without a second thought. Fortunately, the shadows didn’t follow. They remained on the beach, stiffly looking around.

Nol remembered the way they came, and the group rushed through the dry branches toward the camp.

They had at least discovered the situation, and now it was time to quickly escape with the elite team. At worst, he would knock out the key people, transform back into a dragon, and carry a whole bundle of people to safety.

According to the distance calculations, the camp should be ahead. Nol quickened his pace and was about to signal the others when he suddenly stopped.

His stop was so abrupt that Teest almost collided with him.

He saw another figure.

A small child, holding a non-existent ball.

In the darkness, it stood at the junction of the forest and the beach, quietly watching the group. Behind it, they could faintly see the pale beach and the sleeping Demon King.

They had returned to the beach.

Nol always had a good memory. He remembered every clear marker on the way and was sure there was no deviation in their path… This was impossible. Since entering Brick Shadow, Nol hadn’t noticed any spatial anomalies.

Nol drew his staff in one swift motion—he had originally been cautious about the nearby corruption, not wanting to directly pierce through space. Now, being targeted by the Demon King, he couldn’t care less.

But this time, Kando’s blue flame was nowhere to be found. Unbeknownst to him, the black candle had completely extinguished, and the single eye had closed. If not for the occasional movement of the eyeball under the eyelid, Nol would have suspected it was dead.

Even space couldn’t be penetrated.

Nol’s back ripped open as a pair of dragon wings pierced through his long robe. He swiftly scooped up Teest, who was on high alert, and soared into the sky.

Nol was shorter than Teest, who never expected to be swept off his feet like this. Teest wrapped an arm around Nol’s neck. His long hair whipped in the wind while his succubus tail tightly coiled around Nol’s waist. “What are you doing—?”

“The stats bonus of the Betrayal Overture,” Nol replied as he ascended. “It’s dangerous for us to be apart right now.”

After the air grew significantly colder, Nol finally halted his ascent. He looked down, observing the terrain beneath them.

“Damn,” Teest hissed through clenched teeth.

Under the dark red sky of the night, they saw a small, round, solitary island. It was pale and mottled, just like the four moons in the sky.

The forest was still the same, but its surroundings had turned into white sand beaches, and beyond was an endless gray-black sea. The Demon King lay quietly to one side, with the Saints Guild camp and the Brick Mountains nowhere to be seen.

They were utterly trapped.

When exactly had they been exposed?

When they reached the beach? The moment they left the camp? Or even earlier, the instant they entered Brick Shadow?

“The Corrupt False God” mission they received from Hot Ash emphasized not to leave… Was it a command not to leave or advice to stay put so as not to be overwhelmed by this horrific reality?

That sensation of being stared at returned. Nol flapped his wings and abruptly turned around.

The figure holding the ball was just a dozen steps away from them.

It hovered in the air, at the same height as Nol and Teest. Not only that, it even tilted its head in confusion at Nol.

……

Saints Guild’s camp.

Abandon walked shakily, trembling with fear. Not even compared to world-class giants like Hot Ash and Eugene, his strength was inferior even to Solo’s. While the big shots tirelessly fortified the camp’s defenses, all he could do was patrol and collect resources within the camp.

It was too terrifying—utterly frightening. Abandon walked, screaming in his mind, vigorously rubbing the goosebumps on his skin.

He was used to seeing bloody, monstrous creatures, but what sin had he committed to experience such mental corruption up close?

With each step, he feared encountering a shadow that wanted to embrace him. Abandon’s eyes darted around, suddenly fixating on something.

He found a buddy who had entered the game with him!

Abandon had heard that his friend had joined the elite team but didn’t expect to see him again—sadly, his friend was now corrupted by the Demon King, playing chess with a non-existent opponent.

Unsure of the type of chess, Abandon bravely approached for some “desensitization therapy”.

His friend continued to spout nonsense, chatting face-to-face with his “chess partner”, hands moving constantly.

That was definitely not a chess game from Tahe, not like ludo or checkers. From the hand movements, it wasn’t go or backgammon either… International chess? No, that didn’t seem right…

As an enthusiast of board and card games, Abandon’s face turned pale.

He watched incredulously for a few minutes, then, with cold sweat on his forehead, staggered toward Hot Ash.

“Black shadow?” Seeing Abandon’s scared expression, Hot Ash drew his sword on the spot.

“Why—why…” Abandon swallowed hard. “Why would someone corrupted by the Demon King play Chinese chess…?”

“What are you talking about?”

Abandon’s words carried a sharp sense of suffocation. “One of my buddies is here. I just saw him playing chess—real chess! I’d bet on it.”

Hot Ash was silent for a few seconds, then responded in a dry voice, “He must have known how to play before he just went mad from the corruption, and he’s acting on memory.”

“No, that’s not right!” Abandon raised his voice. “Apart from online gaming, I’m also good at chess games. ‘Tahe’ invited me because of this. I talked to my friend about this before. He said he didn’t understand these games at all. He only knew how a horse moves in L-shape and an elephant in a field.”

“How could someone who doesn’t understand chess suddenly know how to play after being corrupted?”

“What are you suggesting? That the Demon King has something to do with us?” Hot Ash raised his hand, pointing to the chaotic camp. “Even after it did this?”

“I—I don’t know.” Abandon’s voice was bitter. “I just think everyone should know. It’s not just a simple final boss…”

Hot Ash sighed deeply, holding his helmet as if in pain.

“The existence of ‘Paradise’ is strange enough. I’d rather it be just a simple final boss.”

Abandon finally snapped out of his panic, suddenly feeling Hot Ash’s unease—Abandon himself was a decent amateur player, and he knew all too well that the current situation was drifting further and further from their familiar “game routines”.

…And before, they all firmly believed this was just a game.

“Forget it. Anyway, this is indeed a significant discovery.” Hot Ash shook his head, patting Abandon on the shoulder. “If we can get out of here, I’ll notify Hermitage.”

Abandon nodded complexly. “Right, you said ‘the Demon King is about to land’… Did you see the Demon King? What does it look like?”

“I didn’t see it. I deduced it from the corruption level.” Hot Ash gazed into the distance. “After the incident here, I tried to investigate, but as soon as I approached the Endless Sea, I felt…”

He paused with difficulty.

“Watched.” Hot Ash said, “A very terrifying gaze, piercing from the direction of the sea.”

……

Nol ignored the dark shadow in the sky, tightly embracing Teest as they plummeted towards the ground, falling faster than freefall.

The entire descent took less than a minute, but in those brief seconds, someone had disappeared from the ground below—

Anakin was no longer where they left her.

Only Fischer, kneeling on the ground, and Painter, barely holding himself up, remained. When Nol and Teest landed, it was like fish thrown back into water, suddenly revitalized.

“We’d barely left for a few seconds when several figures emerged from the ground.”  Painter explained quickly, catching his breath. “My purification magic couldn’t stop them. They, cough, grabbed Miss Anakin, and then she walked towards the beach on her own.”

Anakin was corrupted.

“Just now, I felt as if a god was watching me.”

Fischer was still kneeling, moving his knees slightly towards Teest. “It came from the direction of the Demon King… Ah, such a heavy gaze, like the sole of a boot crushing an ant… As soon as you returned, that deadly gaze disappeared, my God…”

Teest disdainfully stepped back, slipping behind Nol. [“God’s Forsaken” is in effect again?]

Not long ago, the system had hinted that this curse could block the gaze of “God”.

​​[It should be.] Nol’s thoughts were tinged with anger. [It seems that it also has a certain effect on the Demon King.]

But the effect was limited. They could only defend against the “direct gaze of the Demon King”. After all, their presence was still noticed by the Demon King.

[In the eyes of the system, the Demon King is also a kind of “god”, fooled by that old fox.] Teest expressed his surprise, ​​[ How come you weren’t affected?]

​​[Maybe because you and I are married. The established contract is absolute,] Nol replied dryly.

Ironically, here, Teest’s curse had become a high-quality buff, and Nol wondered if his [Physical Breakdown] could also make a difference.

But why Anakin? Despite Painter and Fischer being there, the figures hadn’t taken them.

The Demon King wouldn’t bother with gender-specific abductions. In terms of strength, Anakin might not match the former Pope and High Priest, but she belonged to the purification faction, which was the Demon King’s antithesis, and she held the Festival of New Green. For the Demon King, she was undoubtedly more troublesome than High Priest Fischer.

Right, Hot Ash had mentioned before. Ever since entering Brick Shadow, the corrupted monsters had been tracking them specifically. And in their group, aside from Nol himself, only Anakin was from Earth.

Could it be…

“Remarkable. The Demon King is particularly persistent with the Saints.” Teest folded his arms, voicing Nol’s guess. His gaze swept over Painter and Fischer. “Despite having two bitter enemies here, it chose to abduct an innocent lady.”

Painter chuckled dryly. “Maybe it’s because we’re both too fickle, the Demon King doesn’t care for us.”

Then he turned to Nol. “What are your plans?”

His emerald eyes were fixed on Nol’s.

Nol knew what Painter was asking—whether he planned to go back to save Anakin or just leave and look for a way to evacuate.

“What are your plans?” Nol firmly met his gaze. “You’re not just asking casually.”

“Ah, you caught me.” Painter raised his hands. “Regardless of your choice, I’m going to save her.”

Fischer’s face crumpled immediately. “Are you insane? You can’t possibly stand against the Demon King!”

“I understand that.” Painter adjusted his red hair, smiling. “But as the Mad Monk said, she’s an ‘innocent lady’. It’s not gentlemanly to let her die.”

“Coincidentally, I won’t leave her either,” Nol said.

She’s my compatriot, and a Demon King that specifically targets people from Earth…

[To my compatriots: Please kill me.]

The combined skill of [Corrupted False God]​​ and [Lost Last Wish] ​​ still lingered in his skill bar, disturbingly prominent.

Hearing Nol’s decision, Fischer’s face fell. Seeing Teest calmly standing behind Nol, Fischer begrudgingly suppressed his discontent.

“Fine words aside,” he muttered, “we can’t beat it, nor can we escape, so we must have a plan, right?”

Nol spread his wings again—this time not just his wings but also his immense dragon form. In Painter’s astonished gaze, the Dracolich spread its wings, one claw each grabbing Painter and Fischer.

Teest, taking advantage of his position, agilely leaped onto the dragon’s back, running up to the dragon’s forehead.

Nol’s wings whipped up a wild wind as he flew close to the ground, diving towards the direction Anakin had gone. The corrupted Anakin hadn’t gone far, and Nol adjusted his position. “Get ready. You watch and grab her!”

Surrounded by several figures, Anakin walked forward obliviously. She even held hands with one of the dark shadows, emitting a gentle yet unsettling laugh.

Nol slowed down, intending for the two in his claws to accurately grab Anakin and then swiftly retreat.

Teest picked up a golden thread, Painter clenched his magic wand, and thick dark ropes twined around Fischer’s fingers. Almost simultaneously, all three made their move.

Ding! Bang! Sizzle!

All three rescue attempts collided with a strange barrier—it was bright blue, with hexagonal honeycomb patterns, giving off a futuristic vibe.

Anakin continued forward, still completely oblivious to her surroundings. Beside her, one of the figures withdrew its hand.

Nol didn’t recognize the barrier, but he recognized the style and the power fluctuations. It was undoubtedly a relic from the “Near Future World”.

Nol shifted Fischer to his other claw and pressed the barrier with the tip of his claw. The honeycomb barrier flickered incessantly, emitting an unbearable squealing sound. In less than half a minute, ice-like cracks appeared in its center, exploding into light particles.

The elegant black dragon adjusted its posture, its claw reaching for Anakin. As soon as Nol’s claw tip touched Anakin’s hair, the ground churned, and a huge toy bear paw emerged from below, bouncing the dragon’s claw away.

At the same time, a new force appeared, transforming into vague, mottled wooden talismans, deeply embedding into the dragon’s claw. Penetrating the skin, they continued to burrow into the flesh, instantly blackening the claw with dense corruption.

Feeling the pain as if it were in his own fingers, Nol forcibly suppressed a cry of pain. He increased his altitude, his claw dripping with foul, black blood.

As he ascended, he inadvertently raised his head, glancing in the direction of the Demon King.

It was no longer in its original posture.

At that moment, the dark humanoid figure was half-lying by the sea, its lower half submerged in water. It propped up its upper body making its shape distinct.

From this distance, it looked clearer than from up close.

The creature’s body was deformed—its child-like frail body bloated and swollen, with two pairs of arms of varying sizes and thicknesses protruding haphazardly. It resembled a cluster of burnt corpses with their remains fused together.

Its head featured six varying-sized round light spots. They slowly moved, converging in Nol’s direction.

The Demon King had awakened.

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