Chapter 1343: Chapter 903: Heading Northward

When Duanmu Huai returned to the fortress, the first thing he saw was Algard’s face, bearing a hint of helplessness.

“What’s wrong?”

“The Royal Sister left.”

“Left?”

Duanmu Huai cocked his head, while Yuriya beside him spoke in a low voice.

“Her Highness Enisphia is worried about His Majesty the King and the Queen Consort who are in the Royal City… so she slipped away without us noticing just now…”

“Well, if she left, she left.”

Duanmu Huai didn’t seem to care at all. No one knows what’s happening in the Royal City now. It’s fine if Enisphia wants to scout ahead. Of course, if she’s unlucky and stumbles into the set of “Demon O’s Append” or “Beast O” or if she gets ambushed by “O Beast” or meets “General Ji of the Phantasmal O” or gets entangled with “O’s Captive Princess” or “The Dark-Colored Princess O”, well, that’s not really his problem, is it?

Not to mention, Enisphia’s figure is quite fitted to be the heroine in those sets–she would definitely be wildly popular.

“Forget it, let’s not worry about her for now.”

Duanmu Huai waved his hand and turned to Algard.

“What outcome have you guys come up with?”

“I’ve discussed it with General Gaius, and it seems our only option at this point is to evacuate the Northern Fortress.”

Algard’s brow was also deeply furrowed.

“If Lumiere’s information is accurate, the situation inside the Royal City is probably even more severe. We must return to the Royal City as fast as possible.”

“You say that, but do you have any good ways to deal with the contamination of the Magic Elf?”

“This… to our shame, we really don’t have any good methods.”

“If that’s the case, then I do have a solution.”

As he spoke, Duanmu Huai pulled out the Rose Rosary from his pocket.

“Judge Sir? Isn’t that…”

“You’ve used it before, so you should know how it works. Actually, there’s another method–go back to the Royal City, find the place with the densest Magic Elf aura, and use it there, and you’ll be able to completely dispel the Magic Elves from the whole Royal City. Of course, the item will break after that, and it can only be used this one time.”

“Only once…?”

“What can I do? I only brought one.”

Duanmu Huai opened his hands helplessly. If he had known about this situation, he would have brought ten or eight, but the problem was that Duanmu Huai usually only carried one, and currently cut off from the outside world, he couldn’t possibly ask Ann to send him another boxful.

So there was only this one, once used, that would be it.

“Judge Sir, aren’t you coming back with us?”

“I am continuing on towards the Demon King Palace.”

Duanmu Huai shook his head; he came here to clear the level, and now that he had gotten through the Barrier, it was naturally time to head to the Demon King Palace. What was the point in going back? He wasn’t the Guardian God of Paretia, was he supposed to stay in Paretia all the time?

Besides, the Demon Clan members who came here were just small fry; to truly deal with the threat, he needed to defeat the BOSS. What’s the point in farming minions all day?

It’s not like gamers play to guard the fountain all day long, right?

Moreover, it was possible that the barrier in the Royal City had also disappeared by now. If the Demon Clan were to come in the next three to five days, would that mean he would have nothing else to do?

How could that be acceptable?

Hearing that Duanmu Huai and the others were planning to continue forward, Prince Algard felt a bit of regret. After all, he had just received the information that Duanmu Huai and Miss Zhenjiling had each taken down a powerful member of the Demon Clan, especially Duanmu Huai, who had eliminated one of the Seven Breakers under the Demon King, the Executioner Aulaura. If he could get his help, the chances of reclaiming the Royal City would be greater.

But it’s a shame that Duanmu Huai had made up his mind, so Algard could only nod in agreement–besides, it looked like he didn’t really have a choice.

Afterwards, Prince Algard led the remnant Kingdom Army and adventurers out of the encirclement and started heading back towards the direction of the Royal City, while Duanmu Huai, along with Ogis and Miss Zhenjiling, continued to move forward towards the Demon King Palace.

“Prince Algard and the others, will everything go smoothly for them after they return?”

Miss Zhenjiling, having left the fortress, looked back with some concern. Although Algard and his group had left the fortress a day earlier, Miss Zhenjiling knew that the real trouble lay ahead.

“That’s their problem now.”

Contrarily, Duanmu Huai didn’t even glance back.

“Don’t forget, our main goal now is to take down the Demon King and then figure out a way to break the planet’s seal… I really didn’t expect this Demon King to be such a hassle.”

Recalling what he saw from Aulaura’s soul, Duanmu Huai frowned. Although he wasn’t sure exactly who Aulaura was, it was clear she was a high-ranking member of the Demon Clan, so she knew a bit about the Demon King. After killing Aulaura and destroying her soul, Duanmu Huai naturally acquired these memories.

Of course, what intrigued him the most was the true form of the Demon King.

Unfortunately, although Aulaura played a role similar to the Four Heavenly Kings, all she knew was some rumors. However, for Duanmu Huai, these rumors were enough.

According to the memories obtained from Aulaura, the Demon Clan was originally a non-existent race; they were merely one species of Demon Beasts in this world, luring humans with imitated human voices and then preying on them–a race of such nature.

It was later that the Demon King appeared and transformed this species of Demon Beast into the Demon Clan, and thus the Demon Clan was born.

As per the Demon Clan’s legend, the Demon King was originally a Great Sage born of the Humans, like all humans, he desired to acquire the power of immortality. Eventually, the Great Sage obtained this power, and then transformed into the Demon King. After becoming the Demon King, the Great Sage felt too lonely, so he altered the Demon Beasts, creating the Demon Clan with similarly long lifespans as himself.

Furthermore, the Demon King truly regarded these created Demon Clan descendants as his own children and even imparted them with all sorts of knowledge, guiding them to accept this world.

However, regrettably, members of the Demon Clan are inherently individualistic, they do not even understand the concept of kin. Every member of the Demon Clan is abandoned at birth and grows up alone. Therefore, they cannot comprehend human emotions and thoughts, and only through overwhelming martial force and fear are they driven to gather together.

In fact, even among the so-called “Seven Kings,” not every member is loyal to the Demon King. Generally speaking, most of them would ignore the orders from the Demon King–of course, if threatened with “do it or die,” then these Demon Clan members would still take action.

At this point, Duanmu Huai could almost conclusively determine that the Demon King must be a devotee of Cunning Deception, and might even have formed a pact with the Great Demon of Cunning Deception. Although he did not yet know what the Demon King wanted to do, everything he did matched the characteristics of Cunning Deception: wisdom, knowledge, and endless versatility.

After all, if there’s one group within the Chaos Evil God’s followers lacking in organizational discipline, it is the devotees of Cunning Deception. Brutal Wrath issues absolute commands, anyone who dares to disobey is cut down directly, Corrupted Foil jokingly regards everyone as family, while Obsessive Sin is merely an embodiment of desire.

Only the devotees of Cunning Deception would whimsically say–I have a plan.

Note, it is “I”, not “we”.

So it’s quite clear, the creator of the Demon Clan must be the power of Cunning Deception.

After all, these Demon Clan members look too pure–they are certainly not offspring of a loving father.

Too fond of using Magic–it is absolutely a desecration of brutality.

Completely unable to perceive emotions and desires–Obsessive Sin would be disappointed.

Fond of magic and likes to cause trouble–ah, the progeny of the Two-Headed Bird, no doubt.

The reason why Duanmu Huai was certain that the troubles they encountered were the Demon King’s doing was also learned from Aulaura’s memories. According to Aulaura’s memory, when the Demon King summoned the “Seven Sages” he had mentioned that the planet was currently too fragile to withstand attacks from extraterrestrial worlds. Thus, the Demon King created a Barrier to completely isolate the planet from the outside world, waiting until his plan was complete, then it would be time for them to step out of this planet and into the broader world.

Just for this reason alone, Duanmu Huai had a thousand reasons to kill him.

Moreover, the fact that this Demon King even knew that this world was a planet–well, that was most likely knowledge obtained from Cunning Deception. It was all too common. Even if Aulaura had only heard rumors, Duanmu Huai could guess the truth by combining his own similar experiences from the past.

Most likely, this Great Sage, who feared death and longed for the knowledge of everlasting life, caught the attention of Cunning Deception and signed a heartless shady contract with it, then became mentally disturbed under the honeyed words of the Two-Headed Bird and created the Demon Clan… sigh, hence the saying goes, the more knowledge in the wrong direction, the more reactionary.

This Demon King is a classic example.

What’s the use of being knowledgeable? With such a low level of enlightenment, he’s even worse off than the illiterate.

Previously, in the United Army, Duanmu Huai had seen several Adventurers who were sons of farming families. They abandoned their hoes and picked up weapons to join the Northern Army, fighting against the Demon Clan for their passionate ideals.

They were completely illiterate, yet their hearts were much stronger than yours, oh Demon King.

Ah, as the saying goes, acts of righteousness often lead to the killing of dogs, heartbreak is commonly found in scholars.

You’ve studied enough to betray humanity; you might as well be dead.

Or as Duanmu Huai would put it, he’d recommend studying philosophy, after all, he remembers from his university days that in a philosophy department, of thirty people, twenty would jump off buildings, and ten attempted but failed.

That’s quite good, isn’t it? Better to harm oneself than to harm others, right?

“Forget it, it’s no use talking about this now, based on the intelligence I’ve gathered, the Demon King Palace is still far away–not at the extreme yet, but it’s already reaching the Arctic Circle.”

While saying this, Duanmu Huai silently lifted his head, looking at the sky in front of him, and hummed a song.

“All the way north, away from the season with you, you said you’re too tired and can’t fall in love with anyone anymore…”

“Master.”

“Hmm? What is it, Ogis?”

“I think, Master, your singing isn’t as pleasant as Miss Zhenjiling’s, better listen to her instead.”

“………..”

Can’t I even hum a few lines casually?

Is singing off-key a crime?

Is there guilt in singing off-key?

Facing Ogis’s suggestion, Duanmu Huai silently sighed.

“You go ahead, Zhenjiling.”