CHAPTER 207: STRANGE PHENOMENON

The king was slowly coming toward him, but before he could even reach—

Thud!

He looked beside him. Seraphine was standing there with a satisfied smile on her face.

"Good job," he said softly, his voice carrying unusual softness compared to how he had been until now. His cold face finally crumbled, as if it had never existed.

Seeing this scene, nobles on their seats were startled. The man who had been like a devil, who never showed mercy and was always ruthless, was now showing this side of him.

But none of them fell for it or let down their guard, as the devastation he had caused was too much. It had left a deep mark on them, one they could never forget.

The strongest kingdom in the Lower Domain was over just like that. Their strongest pillars were destroyed.

——

While Leon was having a quiet chat with Seraphine, the King of Shampain was walking dramatically slowly toward him, and even his facial expression was blank.

Anesthesia, on the other hand, was in emotional turmoil of her own.

Her son, Alric, whom she had never paid much attention to and only saw as the thing she had to do as a queen—giving birth to an heir—she didn’t even know much about his life.

Yet now he was gone. Looking at the ice statue of Alric, who was now dead, she felt hollow inside. She never had any sympathy or love toward the king or her son—one she had married to get what she wanted, and the other was just her duty.

But why do I feel so sad right now?

She didn’t want to feel this way, yet she was. It was not something she could control. Before Leon was about to kill him, she told herself she didn’t care if Alric lived or died—and she believed it too.

Yet here she was.

The gap she felt in her heart had become even bigger than before.

Her hand touched her face. She felt the wetness of her own tears, which she never knew she was capable of since surviving the Zoblin camps.

She quickly wiped them away aggressively, just as they appeared. She didn’t like weakness. She felt repulsed. Everything would be fine once she ruled over the Lower Domain—or reached even higher.

These emotions were nothing but obstacles in her path.

—

Leon could see the King of Shampain standing in front of him. His blue eyes looked lost, his facial expression unreadable. He felt weirded out by this—it felt too strange.

He even looked around to see if others who knew the king better than him felt the same, or if this was just normal.

The confusion, mixed with their other emotions, told him this was not normal for anyone.

He was about to start the conversation, as the man with blue eyes, slight wrinkles on his face, slightly shorter than him, just stood there in silence, half a meter away.

"How do you plan to—"

"SKREEEEECCCHHHHHH!!!!"

The man opened his mouth impossibly wide, and a loud screech was released from it. The sound was deafening.

To Leon, it felt like nothing. However, he heard a grunt beside him.

"Urgh!" His eyes noticed a bit of blood coming out of Seraphine’s ear. He knew this scream was not normal.

Without wasting any time, he quickly used his mana. A sword made of ice formed in his hand. Holding it, he struck down the King of Shampain.

His head was decapitated in a single slash. However, before Leon’s icy sword had dismembered his neck from his body, he had noticed strange black liquid coming out of the king’s eyes, ears, and nose.

It was a gruesome sight.

What was that... I’ve never seen anything like this.

Just when he thought everything was over, as the screech had stopped, he quickly healed the slight damage Seraphine had taken with just a thought.

But both of their focus turned to the corpse of the King of Shampain. The blood flowing out of his body was black.

Something neither of them was aware of. Leon thought Seraphine might know something. He looked at her, but seeing her cluelessly wave her hands off, he knew she was just as confused as he was.

Until now, she knew almost everything. However, this was the first time they had encountered something so strange.

Leon felt a bit strange, knowing that in the future, both of them could be clueless.

"Huh! What is happening?" Leon said, a bit shocked. Yet there was not a hint of fear in his tone.

The black blood gushing out of the king’s dead body didn’t seem to stop. A human body couldn’t possibly contain the pool of blood he was seeing—ignoring the fact it was black, thick, and gooey, unlike regular red blood, which was supposed to be much thinner.

He didn’t even have time to think of anything. Like a strong gust of wind, Liora’s mother arrived in front of him.

Seraphine was shocked, alarmed. An unknown woman had appeared in front of Leon, and she couldn’t even detect how she had gotten there. She quickly drew her weapon.

But Leon’s hand stopped her. Seeing his signal, she quickly sheathed her weapon.

Leon didn’t even have time to ask anything. Suddenly, a feminine, soothing voice was heard.

"Quickly, both of you—get as far away from here right now! Take the rest of the people with you." Her voice carried both urgency and fear.

Leon and Seraphine couldn’t even question her. Another woman appeared in front of them out of nowhere, as if a streak of light had landed beside them.

He could keep up with the speed, but Leon was still surprised. The speed of the strange woman from before—she was much faster than he had imagined.

"Holy Son, quickly depart from here along with your lover. This place is too dangerous!" Aurelia said hurriedly.

This wasn’t about strength anymore. She couldn’t let him die—or be corrupted—like this, here.

She had already ordered Liroiel to get away from here. The girl hadn’t protested, knowing how serious the situation was.

The most shocked was Seraphine. She could sense people much, much stronger than her to her left and right. She was truly humbled. Standing next to these women, her instincts were screaming at her about how much danger she was in currently.

Holy Son... What?!

Leon couldn’t understand what was happening or why this strange woman from before was calling him Holy Son—but more than anything, why were they telling him to run?

They were far too serious.

He didn’t understand the intention of the other woman, but Leon knew Liora’s mother meant no harm to him.

Seeing the body of the dead king turning into a black, wriggling pulp, which now seemed to be forming a disgusting black ball that squirmed like maggots crawling around it—

Leon, despite knowing how strong he was, many times stronger than these women, didn’t ignore them or stubbornly try to stay.

I don’t understand what’s going on... I should just listen to them and get out of here...

The energy inside the disgusting ball was rising, and its size kept getting bigger and bigger. He knew something was truly wrong here.

"Let’s get out of here, Seraphine," Leon said to her, and both of them quickly started to leave.