Chapter 38: Nightwatchman, Awaiting the Taboo

As Li Yela come decapitated King Zhelan, the King's banner crashed to the ground.

All the prairie cavalry scattered throughout the upper district withered simultaneously at that moment, turning into flying ash.

Meanwhile, in a hidden room within Border City No. 3.

An ordinary-looking middle-aged man in a suit held a riding whip.

He opened his eyes in a daze. *King Zhelan is dead?*

This was not actually surprising; after all, the Zhelan Iron Cavalry was facing Handlers and Iron Guards. Being killed was normal.

But why... was there a feedback of extreme terror?

"What did King Zhelan encounter? Did the opponent kill him with some terrifying taboo object?"

The man in the suit frowned in thought, but ultimately gave up on exploring.

This mission had been accepted by several Ark Elects; his task was merely to trigger the God's Whip, causing the royal banners suppressed in various branches to summon cavalry armies, thereby stalling the strength and attention of the various branches.

Anything else was outside his plan.

"Though King Zhelan is dead, he completed the task I gave him by releasing enough taboo objects. The rest is no longer within my control." The man in the suit slightly pulled back the closed curtains of the room, peering at the chaos outside.

With the singing of the Fantasy Band, it wasn't just the concert venue that resembled hell.

Even the broadcasted songs carried, to varying degrees, weakened powers from the Void Realm.

A small portion of the listeners' psionic potential would be forcibly stimulated.

And this "small portion," given the population base of a Megacity, was a massive number.

As a result, the outside world was already in chaos. The Guard Bureau, the City Defense Force, and Handlers from all major branches had mobilized almost entirely.

But because the number of affected people was too large, they could only suppress them gradually.

And the madness and loss of control exhibited by the people were quietly gathering psionic energy.

Once the gathered psionic energy exceeded a certain threshold, a powerful Void Realm creature would descend upon Border City No. 3.

That would be the final movement of the Song of Extinction!

Under such circumstances, if the Mad King were still able to move, he would not stand idly by.

Of course, there was another way to stop this action: killing the crowds currently providing the psionic energy.

But the Handlers didn't seem to have such intentions. Truly, a woman's misplaced compassion!

Did they really want to face that Void Realm creature?

The man in the suit pulled the curtains shut and said gloomily, "Could it be... are you truly too old to fight? That would be a great regret. Even as an Ark Elect, people worship your power. The twilight of a hero..."

On the other side, Li Yela grabbed the Zhelan King's banner and felt his speed increase slightly.

This was the effect of the Zhelan King's banner—it was somewhat mediocre, to put it bluntly.

After all, the banner was not small and its weight was not light.

Carrying such a thing to gain a bit of speed didn't seem to have much utility.

Li Yela rolled up the banner, preparing to hand it over to the approaching Cheese and Sand.

After the recent battle, Li Yela was truly exhausted.

First, he had used the Overlord Mask to tear through the cavalry formation, only to be kited by the Zhelan Iron Cavalry's horse archery.

Then, he activated the Champion Marquis Mask to punch through the military formation and launched a pursuit against King Zhelan.

Although he possessed the Heart of Slaughter, which seemed to grant him endless strength, his psionic energy was nearly depleted after this bout of combat.

A deep, soul-piercing fatigue made him want to collapse into sleep.

"Wait!" Li Yela suddenly looked down at his bare upper body; the Heart of Slaughter was still beating.

"How long have I been wearing this?"

Only now did Li Yela become worried. He seemed to have worn it for quite a while. Had he been influenced by the desire for slaughter?

Cheese, running up to him, spoke hurriedly: "It's been over an hour and a half! Quick, take it off—"

As her voice fell, Cheese's expression changed. She seemed to see something eerie on Li Yela's body and shouted directly: "Word Spirit: Exploding Flame!"

*Holy crap, attacking me directly? Don't! I can still be saved!*

No, wait—there was something behind him!

Li Yela reacted with lightning speed, grabbing Cheese's arm and shouting almost simultaneously.

"Mountain!"

In an instant, an armored soldier emerged to raise a shield wall, sheltering Li Yela and Cheese within.

Simultaneously, an explosion rang out, followed by three heavy thuds.

The former was Cheese's Word Spirit attack; she had directly detonated the attacker behind Li Yela.

The latter three thuds were the three teammates who had rushed to reinforce Li Yela.

They had slammed headlong into the suddenly appearing shield wall.

They immediately began wailing in pain.

"Shadow Army? Kid, how do you have Nether abilities too?"

"Ah, my nose!"

"Night General, you're being unfair! Let me in!"

Li Yela's mouth twitched; this was truly collateral damage to his teammates.

Thus, he immediately opened a gap in the shield wall to let Sand and the other two scramble inside.

Only then did Li Yela have the chance to look back.

He discovered that the attacker, blown several meters away by Cheese, was actually the Black Gargoyle that had been scared off by the Doll's hair earlier.

At this moment, the gargoyle rose quickly, its shattered body rapidly reassembling.

It launched another attack toward the shield wall.

Without even a moment to mourn the death of King Zhelan, the Black Gargoyle had arrived on the battlefield!

It slammed a fist against the shield wall, causing it to tremble violently and leaving visible cracks.

Cheese could only swallow a piece of saccharin and use her Word Spirit again to blast the gargoyle away.

"How did this thing get here?" Li Yela was stunned. He had seen this thing from a distance while chasing King Zhelan; had it caught up already?

With so many Handlers and taboo objects on the road, why was it targeting him?

"Don't you understand yet?" At this moment, the Nuo mask on Sand's face spoke: "This is your curse: to inevitably encounter powerful enemies! After King Zhelan dies, powerful enemies will be sent to you again and again! That's why I said staying by his side would eventually lead to trouble!"

Li Yela frowned; this was his first time learning about such a curse.

Was this a form of misfortune?

If this ghost in the Nuo mask was right, then his luck wasn't just bad—it was as if fate itself was arranging enemies for him. Was fate trying to kill him faster?

No, this must be Mr. Shadow's scheme!

He wanted to force Li Yela into a deal, so he summoned powerful enemies one after another to plunge him into danger!

Li Yela suspected this in his heart.

But... if that were the case, why would he give him the masks?

If there were no second mask, Li Yela would have no choice but to deal with him.

Was this... playing hard to get?

No, he had to deal with this Black Gargoyle first, but his psionic energy was low.

Just then, someone laughed loudly: "Oh? Inevitably encounter powerful enemies? What a great thing! Comrades, assemble! We'll wait by the tree for the rabbit to arrive right next to Night General!"

The one-armed Ye Bu Shou, Bai Yang, laughed as he charged out of the corridor.

Swinging a large saber, a flash of blade light streaked through the air. Bai Yang was a psionicist of the Fourth Awakening True Martial Path, and this blade light was his fourth ability: Sharp Blade Light!

In the next second, the Black Gargoyle was decapitated.

The decapitated gargoyle's body rose again, seemingly trying to grab its own head.

However, several heavy footsteps sounded, and several Iron Guards lunged at the gargoyle's body simultaneously.

Tens of tons of weight pressed the gargoyle down, preventing it from making any attempt to escape.

At the same time, other Iron Guards grabbed the gargoyle's head, preventing it from returning to its body.

After a while, the gargoyle lost its vitality and turned back into a statue.

The Black Gargoyle had been suppressed!

Meanwhile, more and more Handlers and Iron Guards arrived, and even clerical staff arrived with pistols to provide support.

Earlier, Li Yela's pursuit of King Zhelan's main force had alerted almost everyone.

One man chasing and hacking through a thousand cavalrymen—it was too thrilling!

Some were concerned about the Heart of Slaughter on Li Yela's chest, while others thought he would suffer by chasing such a large group of cavalry.

Thus, they all came to assist.

As a result, over twenty Handlers and thirty Iron Guards arrived at the scene.

Following closely behind, without even a moment to mourn the suppression of the Black Gargoyle, was the Tree Spirit!

It seemed to have been fighting other Handlers in the upper district; for some reason, it had smashed through the ceiling and skillfully dropped down in front of Li Yela and the others.

Consequently, the crowd immediately stepped forward with joy to beat the Tree Spirit.

They embraced this sudden windfall!

After learning that Li Yela had the ability to "aggro" monsters, the Ye Bu Shou members immediately made a decision.

They told Li Yela to rest on the side and continue attracting monsters.

They would wait in readiness to suppress any living taboo objects that jumped into their faces.

"I have never fought such a prosperous battle!"

"I hereby unilaterally declare that Night 'Mob-Spawner' General is the hero of this suppression event!"

"Good! Inevitably encounter powerful enemies? What a wonderful encounter!"

The Handlers smiled; fighting many against few made suppressing taboo objects quite easy.

As for being the "tree" that waited for the "rabbit," Li Yela had no objections.

He had been carrying the Heart of Slaughter for too long—nearly two hours. This far exceeded the safety limit.

He had to remove the Heart of Slaughter immediately. With these teammates protecting him, his safety could be guaranteed.

Thus, he deactivated the Feng Lang Ju Xu mask and leaned against a corner.

He watched as Cheese slowly cut the vessels of the Heart of Slaughter to remove it from his chest.

Or rather, the Heart of Slaughter autonomously severed its own vessels, detaching from Li Yela quite cooperatively.

Was even the Heart of Slaughter afraid of Li Yela's luck?

Or had the Heart of Slaughter glimpsed something?

Li Yela had no time for doubts. As the Heart of Slaughter was removed, it felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained.

The fatigue accumulated from the previous battle surged all at once.

He quickly closed his eyes and fell asleep against the wall.

Cheese glanced at him, placed him gently on the ground, and continued to treat his wounds.

The Handlers continued to beat and suppress the living taboo objects attracted by certain "coincidences."

No one mentioned the second mask Li Yela had displayed.

Similarly, no one knew what disaster was unfolding on the ground; every person was currently doing their utmost to fulfill their duties.

On the other side, on the ground of Border City No. 3.

As the psionic energy gathered, a rift appeared out of thin air in the sky above the concert venue.

The rift expanded rapidly within seconds, spreading to a width of hundreds of meters.

Looking at that rift, the faces of all the Handlers turned pale.

From that rift, they felt a familiar power—the power of the Void Realm!

The power of the Void Realm had actually appeared directly in the physical world!

This meant that a calamity was descending upon Border City No. 3!

"How can this be? What are they trying to do? What are they doing?!"

Starfire, who had returned to the battlefield after settling his sister, nearly collapsed upon seeing this.

He didn't understand why anyone would do this.

What had the people living in the Megacity done wrong? Why must they suffer this?

Watching those once-ordinary people struggle in pain, Starfire felt as if his heart were being sliced by a knife.

Yet he was helpless, able only to follow the Handlers in continuing to suppress the chaos and rescue the people.

When the rift expanded to three hundred meters, a pair of massive, scaled hands reached out from the rift and gripped the edges, pulling them apart.

It seemed they intended to widen the rift to step through.

Seeing this, even the most elite Ye Bu Shou felt their bodies stiffen.

It was a crushing superiority in terms of life level—a powerful existence they could not resist.

But they still mustered their courage and roared, preparing for battle.

Border City must not fall!

Even if that existence truly descended into the physical world, they would fight to drive the monster back at all costs!

Watching this, the man in the suit hiding in his room let out a low, eerie laugh.

"What a breathtaking scene. When calamity descends, humanity stands ready, fighting to the death without retreating. It displays the final glory of mankind." The man in the suit mused, "A pity that all of this will become the final brilliance of Border City."

"The old Mad King ultimately did not act. Either he is too old, so old that he can no longer fight. Or, he has already died of old age."

"Since there is no Mad King in Border City No. 3, Black Source City and the Doomsday Forest will likely continue to press forward, and the Heavenly Realm probably won't remain indifferent either."

"The three great forbidden zones will all undergo changes. I wonder if the other Megacities can withstand the pressure." The man in the suit whispered his analysis, then stood up to leave the room and leave Border City.

His mission was complete; he could now go to the "Ark" to claim his reward with peace of mind.

Compared to Qin Zhi, who used the Song of Extinction in public, his mission was merely to quietly use the God's Whip within the Megacity. Even Qin Zhi did not know his identity.

It was, quite literally, the safest seat in the house.

Now that the performance was nearing its end, it was time for him to leave.

However, when he turned around, his entire body froze, and the God's Whip in his hand trembled slightly.

Because an old man—a very old man—was standing right outside his door.

The old man's hair was snow-white, and his wrinkles were deep enough to trap a fly, as coarse as old pine bark.

His body was withered beyond recognition, his back hunched, and his height was less than five feet.

Yet, he held a three-pointed, double-edged lance.

He stood silently at the doorway.

The man in the suit was paralyzed with fear, unable to move.

The old man slowly took a step into the room.

With the first step, his skin began to glow, and his wrinkles began to stretch and fade.

With the second step, his height began to increase, and his withered muscles and bones began to fill out.

With the third step, his hair turned from white to black, the signs of age vanishing.

With the fourth step, his blood and energy surged like an ancient behemoth.

With the fifth step, he stood before the man in the suit, having become a robust man over two meters tall. Beneath his messy long hair, his golden pupils flashed!

"Mad King," the man in the suit cried out in a voice like a death knell.

But the man ignored him, throwing the three-pointed lance directly!

Like a meteor streaking across the sky, it slammed directly into the rift.

A roar of extreme shock and fury erupted from within the rift, but more hands appearing on the rift's edge vanished along with it. The rift began to heal rapidly.

One strike... one strike forced that mysterious existence back!

The man in the suit was filled with terror, but he was suppressed by a terrifying pressure, unable to make even the slightest movement.

Then, what he saw was the Mad King's hand gradually approaching him.

"Ark, this isn't over."