Chapter 1330: Great Shen Empire: the man known as Green King

"Huff... Huff... Huff..."

Green King knew he wouldn’t last much longer after taking so much damage, and he was certain Gerxuzs was in the same condition.

Gerxuzs had to be exhausted as well. The intensity of their battle had reached an entirely different level.

"I have to finish him."

Green King muttered to himself.

He took a deep breath.

Then, Gerxuzs suddenly vanished from his vision.

Green King’s eyes widened as a chill ran down his spine.

The same thing happened again!

Gerxuzs bypassed his perception.

Green King turned to the side.

A massive club was already swinging toward his face.

Green King quickly ducked beneath the blow and charged forward, both hands clad in crackling lightning.

A deafening explosion erupted behind him as he slipped past the attack.

He reached Gerxuzs and grabbed his left foot, clinging tightly to his leg as he pulled one hand back.

Lightning surged through his arm.

He concentrated a tremendous amount of energy into his fist.

[Archetype: Mind Breaking Lightning Array]!

[Sixth Form: Bolt of Mind Lightning]!

A razor-sharp bolt of lightning erupted from his hand and pierced straight through Gerxuzs’ leg.

Gerxuzs reached down, attempting to grab him, but Green King had already released his hold and leaped into the air.

Gerxuzs raised his head.

His crimson eyes met a terrifying sight.

A massive storm of lightning had gathered above him.

It descended.

BOOM!!

The ground shook violently as the lightning storm crashed down, while the air itself seemed to boil beneath its overwhelming power.

Green King staggered backward, but a massive club suddenly burst through the storm of energy and slammed into his stomach.

Ugh!

His body bent backward from the impact.

He tried to stabilize himself, but a massive hand immediately seized his head.

Before he could react, his vision spun violently.

BOOM!!

His body was smashed into the ground.

Again.

BOOM!!

And again.

BOOM!!

Pain coursed through every inch of his battered body, yet somewhere beneath that pain, an old memory surfaced.

He had known this feeling before.

The feeling of being helpless.

The feeling of being unable to do anything but endure.

Green King had joined the Army of Gluttony when he was only nine years old.

Back then, he was nothing more than an orphan who had been taken by an unknown organization. They injected all sorts of unidentified substances into his body, treating him as nothing more than a test subject for their experiments.

He remembered lying on that cold table, his tiny body trembling as the substances coursed through his veins.

He thought he was going to die.

And perhaps he would have, if the Army of Gluttony hadn’t arrived.

By some miracle, officers from the army discovered the organization and brought it down. They found Green King barely breathing among the remnants of the facility and took him with them.

They didn’t abandon him.

They let him recover.

That was the beginning of his life in the Army of Gluttony.

From then on, he followed the officers into countless battles, helping them tear down one underground organization after another. With every battle, his strength grew. With every mission, his rank rose.

Years passed.

The helpless child who had once been unable to resist the experiments gradually disappeared.

Before he even realized it, Green King had become a high-ranking officer, standing at the forefront of an army numbering tens of thousands.

He became the man known as Green King.

As for the name given to him by his parents, he didn’t even know it.

From the moment he joined the Army of Gluttony, Green King devoted his life to the words of the Ruler of Gluttony. He would follow his Lord even if it meant walking straight into death.

He wanted to see his Lord achieve his goal.

That was all he had ever wanted.

His entire life had been spent following the path his Lord had laid before him.

They had been so close.

But then, someone must have betrayed his Lord.

Otherwise, how could the Holy Lands have known what his Lord was planning?

How could they have prepared such a perfect trap?!

BANG!!

Green King was violently snapped out of his thoughts as a massive foot slammed down onto him.

His body was driven into the ground, his flesh sinking into the rocks and soil beneath him.

He struggled to move his eyes.

Gerxuzs stood above him with his mouth opened wide.

A terrifying concentration of energy swirled inside it, growing denser with every passing moment. The surrounding air trembled under the pressure.

Green King stared at the enormous figure looming over him.

Then, he slowly closed his eyes.

’Ah... this is it.’

’I’m going to follow you, my Lord.’

For the first time in his life, Green King accepted that he was about to die.

With his current strength, he wasn’t ignorant of reincarnation. He knew that death wasn’t necessarily the end.

But there was one thing that made countless people fear reincarnation.

The loss of their memories.

Even if they were reborn into another life, they would no longer remember who they had been, what they had experienced, or the people they had loved and followed.

’I wonder what’s on the other side.’

A faint smile appeared on his face.

’I’ve sent so many people there...’

’So I guess it’s finally my turn to cross over.’

BOOOMMM!!

A blinding light erupted across the battlefield, illuminating the dark sky.

The ground and air vibrated as a deafening roar reverberated throughout the entire area.

A fearsome shockwave swept outward, demolishing everything in its path.

Flames and frost erupted in every direction, transforming the landscape into something so otherworldly that ordinary people could never have imagined witnessing it in their lifetime. The enormous energy continued to shake the surroundings, and everyone nearby could feel its terrifying presence.

Ohm!!

Several minutes later, a humanoid figure stepped out of the fading explosion.

It was Gerxuzs.

He cracked his neck before glancing left and right.

The ruins of Yunze City were nowhere to be seen.

It seemed their battle had carried them far from the city.

Gerxuzs realized he was now near the border of the western region.

"What a worthy hunt."

Gerxuzs muttered as his body gradually returned to normal.

He glanced at his hands, calculating how much energy he still had left.

Was it enough for another hunt?

Hunting Green King had been worthwhile. It had satisfied his craving and, more importantly, reminded him that there were still plenty of worthy prey waiting for him within the Army of Gluttony.

"Hmm...?"

Gerxuzs suddenly turned his head, sensing an immense beast feram erupting in the distance.

The sheer pressure of it seemed to force his body toward the ground, as though an invisible hand was demanding that he kneel.

It was coming from the central region.

The central region was hundreds of kilometers away from the western border, yet Gerxuzs could still clearly feel the immense energy fluctuations surging from that direction.

There was only one existence whose presence alone could force him to kneel.

And that was...

The Monster Lord.

...

In the devastated ruins of Yunze City, Vashno, Doranjan, Isabella, Poisonous Vine, and the others abruptly halted their battles.

One after another, they turned their heads toward the same direction.

An enormous piece of land floated silently in the distant sky.

At first glance, it looked like a fragment of the earth that had somehow been torn from the ground.

But the longer they stared at it, the more unnatural it seemed.

Its edges were jagged and uneven, with enormous chunks of earth hanging beneath it like broken bones. Rivers of soil and shattered stone continuously fell from its underside, yet the debris never reached the ground.

It simply disappeared into the darkness below.

No wind moved across the floating land.

No birds flew around it.

Even the clouds seemed to avoid its presence, leaving a vast, empty space surrounding the enormous mass.

The moment they felt the energy burst, their bodies reacted before their minds could.

Isabella’s breathing stopped.

Poisonous Vine’s body stiffened, and the vines surrounding her instinctively recoiled.

Vashno’s muscles tightened as his hairs stood on end.

Their hearts pounded violently against their chests.

The enormous piece of land wasn’t simply floating. It felt as though something beneath it was holding it aloft. The deeper they looked, the more they felt that the darkness beneath the floating land wasn’t empty. There were vague shapes moving within it. As though countless things were waiting beneath the surface.

A strange pressure descended upon the battlefield.

It felt as if an ancient predator had opened its eyes.

And everyone there had suddenly become prey.

Thud!!

Doranjan collapsed to the ground.

His knees struck the earth as he gasped desperately for breath. Sweat poured down his face and soaked his clothes, while his arms trembled uncontrollably.

"Doranjan, what happened?!"

Vashno immediately moved forward and caught the humanoid dragon before he could collapse completely.

"T-This..."

Doranjan’s pupils contracted as he stared at the floating land.

His entire body shook.

"I can feel it..."

His voice came out strained.

"The suppression of a Higher Being..."

His throat tightened as another wave of pressure swept across the battlefield.

"This pressure... there’s no doubt..."

In Doranjan’s vision, the floating land changed.

Countless black tentacles slowly emerged from beneath it, rising into the sky like the limbs of some colossal creature hidden beyond their sight.

Mouths covered their surfaces.

They opened one after another, whispering words in an unknown language.

Doranjan’s blood ran cold.

"It belongs to a Monster Lord!!"

"A Monster Lord?!"

Vashno’s eyes widened.

He stared at the floating land, his fists tightening as his instincts screamed at him to retreat.

He had already suspected something was wrong.

But hearing it directly from Doranjan confirmed his worst suspicion.

A Higher Being had descended upon the central region.