Vol 4. Chapter 97: The Past — Part One

Eight hundred years ago, the once-unrivaled Demon Race ultimately suffered a disastrous defeat beneath the assault of the allied armies of multiple races.

The Demon King died in battle, while the Four Heavenly Kings were either captured or killed.

After that war, the Demon Race completely declined, gradually deteriorating into a race that was almost completely ignored on the present-day continent and repeatedly subjected to persecution.

Meanwhile, the three great top-tier forces that defeated the Demon Race briefly became the new overlords of the Anqieka Continent.

Those three great powers were the Asumos Church, the Dragon Race, and the Magic Tower, which later split into three towers.

The Dragon Race dominated one region independently, and as the highest leader of the Dragon Race, Holy Dragon King Mebili naturally possessed unparalleled status across the continent.

Aside from his extraordinary status,

Holy Dragon King Mebili’s strength was equally terrifying and unfathomable.

He had once single-handedly repelled an army of hundreds of thousands from the Demon Race and directly inflicted severe injuries upon three of the Four Heavenly Kings, laying the foundation for the allied army’s eventual victory in a single stroke.

In the eyes of the people living on the Anqieka Continent at the time, there were only two people in the entire world capable of opposing Holy Dragon King Mebili:

Anze, the strongest Heavenly Apostle of the Asumos Church,

and Helitia, the supreme ruler of the Magic Tower.

Both were Peak Eighth-Tier powerhouses.

And the truth was indeed so.

Countless experts across the continent challenged the Holy Dragon King, yet all of them ultimately returned in defeat.

Under the Holy Dragon King’s overwhelming power, they were beaten into complete submission and ultimately bowed beneath his feet.

Fortunately,

although the Holy Dragon King possessed such tremendous power, he did not act lawlessly simply because he was strong, unlike the former Demon King.

Holy Dragon King Mebili was a noble powerhouse who never used his strength to bully the weak.

He even used his own power to maintain the balance between the major factions throughout the Anqieka Continent.

Punishing evil, eliminating villains, and preserving peace.

He had effectively become one of the continent’s guardians of order.

Mebili’s accomplishments were too numerous to count, and his reputation throughout the continent continued to rise.

Moreover, during the great war, it had been the Holy Dragon King who used his own body as a shield to block the Demon King’s Forbidden Spell, saving one-third of the continent.

Thus, unsurprisingly, Holy Dragon King Mebili became an object of faith for countless people, his status scarcely inferior to that of the Goddess worshipped by the Asumos Church.

Countless legends surrounding the Holy Dragon King, as well as the Holy Dragon Church that remained active in the east to this day, were born during that era.

Considering the Holy Dragon King’s overwhelming strength and the extraordinarily long lifespan of the Dragon Race, the people of the continent unanimously believed that the Holy Dragon King would remain with them forever.

That he would eternally serve as the continent’s guardian of order and protect the peace and tranquility of the world.

However,

just when everyone believed this,

eight hundred years ago, the terrible news of the Holy Dragon King’s death struck countless people like a bolt from the blue.

As for exactly how the Holy Dragon King died?

Opinions varied endlessly.

...

...

Even now, after eight hundred years of investigation, there was still no answer to the question of how this peerless powerhouse, who had once dominated an entire era, had actually died.

All people could do was speculate blindly.

Had Holy Dragon King Mebili died from backlash after failing a breakthrough?

Or had he fought the other two supreme powerhouses, resulting in mutual destruction?

After all, after the Holy Dragon King died, Brave Anze, who had likewise served as one of the continent’s guardians of order, and Helitia, the Supreme of Magic, also mysteriously disappeared...

Just like the question of where the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons had originally come from, this had already become one of the Seven Great Unsolved Mysteries of the continent.

The day when all three legendary powerhouses simultaneously vanished from the world became known among modern historians as the ‘Day of Divine Disappearance.’

On the present-day Anqieka Continent,

there was probably only one person who knew the answer.

The Holy Dragon King himself...

Although his soul had suffered catastrophic damage, the Holy Dragon King had not lost his memories because of it.

He remembered everything that had happened on the day of his downfall with perfect clarity.

He had merely buried those memories deep within himself out of fear and refused to touch them...

And when his believer, Vinarola-Entuze, mentioned ‘destroying the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons’ in front of him,

those long-sealed memories inevitably began replaying once more within the Holy Dragon King’s dragon eyes...

—

More than eight hundred years ago,

Holy Dragon King Mebili had climbed to the very peak of his draconic life.

Not only did he possess absolute authority within the Dragon Race, but he also enjoyed extraordinary prestige across the entire continent, even being revered by some as a Dragon God.

At that time, Mebili was truly riding high, full of confidence and ambition.

By then, only two major goals remained in his life.

The first was to continue cultivating, attempting to break through beyond the Peak Eighth Tier and step into that legendary realm, truly entering the domain of the gods.

The second was to become the guardian of order for the Anqieka Continent.

Having witnessed far too many tragedies, Mebili wanted to protect this hard-won peace.

After nearly a thousand years of internecine conflict among multiple races, followed by the massive expansion of the Demon Race, the continent had long since been left scarred and devastated.

Rest and recovery had become the foremost priority of the world.

Any existence that attempted to disrupt this peaceful atmosphere would be eliminated by Mebili.

“No matter who you are, if you try to disrupt order, I will destroy you. And if you overestimate yourself enough to try, I’ll graciously help you pass away!”

Those were words Mebili himself had once spoken.

They were exceedingly arrogant,

but Mebili possessed absolute confidence.

And the source of that confidence was his overwhelming strength, powerful enough to crush all living beings beneath him!

In his view, there was already no one left on the current Anqieka Continent capable of opposing him.

The evil capable of threatening the continent’s peace no longer existed.

Even if ‘evil’ attempted to rise once more, he, as an ally of justice and guardian of continental order, would simply crush it with ease.

That belief continued until that day...

That day

was the Dragon Race’s ancestral worship ceremony.

Anze, a Heavenly Apostle of the Asumos Church and one of Mebili’s former comrades-in-arms, arrived at Mebili’s palace carrying grave news.

After hearing Anze’s report, Mebili could not help freezing slightly, a solemn look appearing in his eyes.

“Anze, are you saying that you detected Shadow of Silence Power within the Great Winter Forest? That... legendary power said to belong to the Demon God?! Are you serious?”

Hearing this,

the middle-aged man clad in pure-white holy knight armor looked solemnly up at the enormous dragon before him.

“Would I have any reason to lie to you?”

“That’s true. So where exactly did this power come from?”

“At present, we believe it was caused by an experiment conducted by the Demon Race.”

“An experiment?”

“Mm. An experiment conducted by Demon King Enqibi in the Great Winter Forest before the decisive battle. They apparently tried to use ancient incantations to construct a ritual formation and seek the Demon God’s power, or perhaps summon a dependent of the Demon God to protect their Demon Race. After all, from their perspective, that legendary Demon God was the god belonging to their own race.”

“The Demon God? Wasn’t that thing supposed to be something from outside this world? What does it have to do with the Demon Race? What a bunch of idiots... Still, if you mean that experiment, didn’t Helitia blast the central region of the Great Winter Forest with a Forbidden Spell and completely destroy the experimental site? The demons we captured at the time also admitted that their experiment had failed. So how could Shadow of Silence Power suddenly appear?”

“The intelligence came from people in the Demon Capital. The Demon Capital is ridiculously far from the Great Winter Forest. Considering how fragmented the Demon Race’s intelligence-transmission network was at the time, their information may not have been accurate.”

“You mean... the Demon Race’s experiment might actually have succeeded?”

“Mm. Judging from the traces of Shadow of Silence Power we’ve detected inside the Great Winter Forest, that does seem possible. I suspect those demons ultimately did summon something resembling a dependent of the Demon God. However, because of the Forbidden Spell bombardment, they failed to control it and also failed to bring the Demon God’s dependent onto the decisive battlefield.”

“A dependent of the Demon God, huh... That bastard Demon King... Even after dying, he still leaves trouble behind for us. Truly disgusting.”

The Holy Dragon King narrowed his dragon eyes slightly, revealing a disdainful yet murderous expression.

After all,

the Demon God was a terrifying existence that had nearly destroyed the entire world in the past.

And a dependent of the Demon God, as a monster possessing the Demon God’s power, was undoubtedly an existence dangerous to the peace of the world.

In the Holy Dragon King’s view, such an existence had to be eliminated immediately.

Otherwise, the consequences might become unimaginable...

Thinking this, the Holy Dragon King glanced meaningfully toward the north.

“So, a Demon God’s dependent has appeared, and now you’ve come to find me. You want me to accompany you to the Great Winter Forest and eliminate that dependent, right?”

In response,

Anze gave a noncommittal nod.

“Yes. Since we don’t know exactly how strong the Demon God’s dependent is, I think it would be safer if we went together.”

“We? You mean...”

“Hm? You mean Helitia will go too?”

“Mm. The three of us will go together. That’ll be safer.”

“All three of us? Aren’t you being a little too cautious, Anze?”

“There’s nothing wrong with being cautious. We have no idea what level of monster a Demon God’s dependent might be. Naturally, we should go all out. Besides, His Holiness the Pope recommended the same thing. I’m just following his advice.”

“Even that old man said so? Enmm... In that case, should we mobilize the army?”

“That won’t be necessary. If it really turns into a battle on that level, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to interfere anyway. Bringing an army would only add burdens. Besides, only a small number of higher-ups within the Church know about the appearance of the Demon God’s dependent. We don’t plan to spread the news yet, so as not to cause panic. So don’t even think about mobilizing troops.”

“Mm, true. We can simply deal with it quietly. ...But the Great Winter Forest is enormous. How are you planning to find that dependent? The Great Winter Forest naturally interferes with detection fields, so perception domains are difficult to spread there.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. His Holiness the Pope gave me an object that was once used by the Demon God. Apparently... it can resonate with nearby Shadow of Silence Power. With this, we should be able to locate that dependent quickly.”

As he spoke, Anze slowly took out a gem radiating faint golden light from his spatial ring.

The Holy Dragon King did not doubt the words of his old comrade.

“Then... when do we leave?”

“There’s no time to waste. We depart now.”

“Fine. Then let’s save the world one more time!”

...

...

In Mebili’s heart, the safety of the continent was more important than anything else.

Thus, when Anze proposed going to eliminate the enormous hidden threat that was the Demon God’s dependent, the Holy Dragon King agreed without hesitation and immediately prepared to depart.

After meeting up with Helitia, Supreme of the Magic Tower, the three guardians of the present-day Anqieka Continent unleashed their full speed and charged toward the Great Winter Forest.

...

And then,

in that freezing northern land,

the Holy Dragon King saw the black-clad beautiful figure he would never forget for the rest of his life...

And those countless things that seemed like incarnations of death itself...

Blood-red butterflies.