CHAPTER 654: CHAPTER 438: SAIN SHARES THE FLAME PRINCESS DRAGON WITH YOU

"Fingerley, what exactly is happening here...?"

Seeing Fingerley freeze upon glancing at the Transmission Device, Matilda also leaned in for a look.

That glance was remarkable; the last time she saw something similar to a cultist performing evil experiments was last time, and it oddly reminded her of the Deep Church.

But what was most unexpected was why would it be that Eliphas doing such things?

The Light Eagle Group Captain, who never seemed like someone capable of these actions!

In the image, under the icy moonlight, Eliphas extracted blood from a Beastification Man and injected it into the body of an unconscious ordinary person, then forcibly stuffed a Fallen Demon Egg into the person’s mouth, using eyes glowing red to exert some indescribable power over them.

Thus, a freshly minted Beastification Man was born.

The Beastification Man first transformed into the image of King Ainz III, and after being influenced by Eliphas, displayed characteristics of various beasts, retaining only a few seemingly favorable mutations, with the King-sent Beastification Man as the foundation.

Moreover, when he opened his eyes, what filled them was the transparency of reason!

Looking at the brand new Beastification Man, Eliphas couldn’t help but laugh heartily.

"Crack—"

The sound of something breaking, Matilda looked down and found that Fingerley had crushed the steel dagger in his hand.

And his expression was indescribably ferocious now.

"!"

Matilda was startled, suddenly realizing something.

Eliphas had the ability to transform people into Monsters, and the appearance of these Monsters bore a significant resemblance to the people from Fingerley’s hometown, whom she had summoned through Hell’s March!

She thought of a terrifying possibility, as did Fingerley.

Could it be that the destruction of Fingerley’s hometown was actually Eliphas’s doing?

Seeing how he was so enthusiastic about experimenting on Beastification Men, he must have conducted various experiments many years ago, if he indeed was the one responsible.

Then, when Fingerley had joined him to give "rest" to his hometown people, later treating him as a good friend... no matter how you looked at it, it matched Hell’s March’s taste perfectly!

Saving grace turning out to be a colossal enemy, how coincidental such a thing could occur.

And one more thing!

Since Eliphas’s current actions could be transmitted through the Transmission Device, it meant Princess Selene was on the scene and the image was steady without any shakes, indicating that she was maintaining a still posture; hopefully constrained, but possibly...

Princess Selene is too far away; it’s time to prioritize taking care of the captain’s mental state!

She was about to speak, but Fingerley instead grabbed her hand, patting the back of it, as if reassuring her not to worry.

"Eh?"

In such a situation, could Fingerley still remain calm?

However, when she met his gaze, she understood; her captain hadn’t truly calmed down at all.

"Don’t worry, Eliphas could never do anything harmful to Selene. He needs the princess alive unless he plans to utterly betray humanity, but that’s impossible."

Saying all this without a single pause, can he even be considered calm!

"Perhaps what Eliphas is doing now differs from what we think, maybe he discovered some issues with the King, so he’s—"

"Fingerley!"

Matilda couldn’t stand it anymore and interrupted Fingerley with a loud shout.

She could tell that this fellow’s brain had just crashed into a halt.

"..."

Fingerley paused for a moment, his expression showing signs of life again. He sighed and said:

"I’m okay now, Matilda."

"Then what do you plan to do, with this piece of footage... do you want to make it public?"

Fingerley lowered his head for another look at the Transmission Device. In the image, Eliphas was performing new human experiments with a smile, completely ignoring the fact that he was within the Royal Palace, flaunting his reliance to the extreme, perhaps high on this latest discovery.

When he saw Eliphas using the red glowing eyes to manipulate people’s minds, Fingerley spoke up.

"When we first met, didn’t I tell you? If I ever find out who the original culprit was, I would definitely act irrationally."

Matilda and Aleya stood by his side; they had been friends for many years of cooperation, so how could they not know what he was thinking?

Whatever he truly wanted to do, they would absolutely support.

"Then."

Fingerley clenched his fist.

"Are you willing to join me, even if it means being wanted by the Kingdom for life?"

————————————————

[To my dear brother Gedwin]

[I heard from Grandpa Red Teeth that you’re looking for a suitable dungeon within the Warrior Country, right? Well, how about joining me and Panson in the Giant Stone Dungeon?]

[Since you’re already here, it’s best to find a suitable dungeon from the start, isn’t it? Unfortunately, our City Lords here are quite strong, and we’ve almost cleared out all the non-human City Lord dungeons within the border, leaving you no suitable dungeons to find, only those that are either remote or unvisited.]

[Given that, why not join me? There’s an abandoned dungeon near me that you can use, and you won’t have to worry about stealing my spiritual power. I’m currently satisfied with maintaining the status quo and don’t have any expenses, so if you could come over, we’d meet and drink every day — wouldn’t that be great!]

[Let me quietly tell you something; a lot of people wanted that dungeon once, but I felt they weren’t enough of a force and rejected them all. Only you give me that special feeling, so come on, I’ll take good care of you!]

[And quietly, Grandpa Red Teeth sneaked in to discuss this with me, asking me not to tell you, but of course, I didn’t listen to him. He’s a truly loyal senior; having someone to care for is really fortunate, although it seems he’s still thinking about your dragon...]

[One more thing, although that abandoned dungeon is very close to me, it’s actually separated by two human cities. Feel free to come; don’t worry about my issues.]

[Come quickly, brother, come! Waiting for you!]

Sain Dungeon, City Lord’s room.

Looking at this letter overflowing with enthusiasm, Gong Qiying felt like he was encountering a social terrorist for a moment, unsure of how to respond.

After a moment, he chuckled silently, carefully put away the letter, and then took out a blank sheet to send a note to Red Teeth, with a simple message.

[Are you there?]

Red Teeth replied almost instantly, quickly sending back a reply.

[Here, what made you think of writing to me? Is there anything you need help with?]

The handwriting on the note felt both serious and rushed, seemingly written quickly for a swift reply. Thinking back, nearly every time he wrote to Red Teeth, the response was instantaneous.

It somewhat felt like a lonely old man eager to connect with others...

Imagining the huge dragon of Red Teeth clenching a pen to fervently write on the paper gave Gong Qiying a sense of amusement.

Without wasting time, he operated a few controls on the City Lord Panel, and Red Teeth immediately received this message.

[You’ve received the Monster—Flame Princess Dragon from Sain Dungeon’s share]

This time, Red Teeth’s response took a full five minutes to come through.

The content seemed lengthy but could be summarized with a few punctuation marks.

[!!!, ???, !?!?!?]

[You’ve received the item shared from Red Teeth Dungeon]

[You’ve received the Monster shared from Red Teeth Dungeon]

[You’ve received from...]

Gong Qiying closed the City Lord Panel, momentarily ignoring the long list of notifications, feeling like he had done a good deed.

He turned his attention to the letter sent by Panson, the City Lord of Giant Stone Dungeon, sensing the enthusiasm from the handwriting alone.

"Since he’s extended such an invitation, it would be rude to refuse."

Initially, the reason Gong Qiying hadn’t moved into the Warrior Country was due to a lack of suitable dungeons, thinking he might as well take that remote unwanted dungeon, planning to turn decay into magic with his own strength. But it seems fate didn’t want him to venture into the wilderness.

Then it’s decided, he’ll take over the abandoned dungeon that’s two cities away from Giant Stone Dungeon!

But before taking over, he needs to finish the DLC updates for these dungeons within the Kingdom.

For example, Onion Knight Jack Baldor, who has been dozing off in Cold Valley’s Yilushier for a long time now, it’s about time he got moving.

Then there are some other minor updates and complements, and once all those have been implemented, the dungeons in this part of the Kingdom can run completely self-sufficient and autonomously, requiring little daily supervision.

Oh, and that little girl in Cangyin Dungeon still needs some care, but there shouldn’t be any big issues.

Gong Qiying’s thoughts drifted outside as he left the hotel where he was temporarily staying in Royal City, looking up at the sky.

The day was just breaking, morning sunlight pierced through the clouds to illuminate the ground, people gradually got up, left their homes to start their activities — a vibrant new day was beginning.

Royal City, or rather, this country gave him a feeling of gradually stabilizing recently, though the turmoil from the Warrior Country’s attack made Royal City fluctuate, it hardly affected his subjective feelings.

After all, external battles hardly impact already scaled Sain significantly.

But it’s still best to avoid war, peace forever.

"Keeping this country as it is would be great, so I can confidently explore new territories."

He muttered to himself, and this statement came from the heart.

"Da-da-da—"

Urgent hoofbeats echoed on the street, with someone who seemed like a court guard shouting something, causing Gong Qiying to make an odd face.

What does it mean that the King suddenly is critically ill and won’t last long?