Clyde successfully carried out a surprise attack and killed the Insect Monster King in a single move, shifting the ruling party of the imperial palace for the first time in several centuries. After that, Clyde summoned a large number of abyss devourers to kill all the insectmen monster guards in the palace.
The words of that Insect Monster King were not credible. It had claimed to be connected to a behind-the-scenes master, but after Clyde had killed it, no one had knocked on his door. He had summoned a large number of abyss devourers in vain. Although he had occupied the capital of the West Goth Empire, he was somewhat regretful. According to the abyss devourers, the entire imperial palace didn’t have a single valuable treasure.
The Insect Monster King had muddled along for several hundred years without gaining any treasure. That golden crown and golden scepter Clyde had given Valkyrie Cynthia to prove to the Divine Realm the status of the Insect Monster King had been its only valuable treasures. The insectmen monsters were not as rich as the underground ratmen. Although both sides were humanoid monsters, the underground ratmen were better.
The strategic goals of those underground ratmen were different from those of the insectmen monsters who followed their natural instincts. The insectmen monster simply massacred others, no different from thugs. The underground ratmen, however, plundered, more like robbers or bandits. Even though Insect Monster King had an intelligence on par with humans, it couldn’t change this fact.
After the abyss devourers killed the insectmen monster guards, the imperial palace of the West Goth Empire fell into Clyde’s hands. After Valkyrie Cynthia left, Clyde walked to the throne, which was covered in dust. Although the Insect Monster King had worn a crown and held a golden scepter, it was still a humanoid monster, a cockroach. It hadn’t used the throne of the human emperor. The quality of this throne was truly up to par. After more than a thousand years, there were no signs of damage. After wiping off the dust, it looked brand new.
The white lambs imprisoned in the palace by the insectmen monsters finally left the iron cages. They looked at the abyss devourers with terrified eyes. Although their shackles and other wicked restraining items had already been undone, no one dared to run away. After being imprisoned for a long period of time, they were unusually weak, so they basically couldn’t run. The abyss devourers turned into humanoid slimes and stood at one side to observe these female prisoners.
“Lord… Lord Devil, how do you plan to deal with us!”
“Aren’t you all members of the low-level adventurer and mercenary groups hired by Marquis Charles? Since you all have been missing for so long, the Adventurer and Mercenary Guilds have definitely already registered you all as personnel who died in action. I will help you all settle somewhere new. As long as you all cooperate, you will not become sacrificial offerings.”
Although the devil’s words couldn’t be trusted, these white lambs didn’t have any other choices. At least, this devil was a handsome young man. Compared to that Insect Monster King, he was much better looking. This eased their hearts, so they let the abyss devourers take them away after being wrapped in black slime. Then, they were transferred to Ian Village via a dark teleportation magic array. Before their transfer, the white lambs were made to wear red leather collars to express their complete submission and allow the abyss devourers to take them away via the iron chain attached to each collar.
Meanwhile, other abyss devourers searched the entire imperial palace to assure that no insectmen monster guard escaped unpunished. After the Insect Monster King had been devoured, the other insectmen monsters’ resistance had quickly collapsed because of the loss of their commander. Unless a new Insect Monster King was born, it was impossible to gather them together to disrupt the Human Race aboveground.
After eliminating the Insect Monster King, Clyde repeated his old tactics. Under the cover of shadow magic, he secretly left the imperial palace of the West Goth Empire and went towards the Moon God Shrine where the Moon God Clan had been enshrined and worshipped. According to the Insect Monster King’s information, the leader of the insectoid monsters, that behind-the-scenes supporter, was hiding in the Mood God Shrine.
After Clyde arrived at the shrine, he discovered that there were no insectmen monsters guarding here. The mage tower next door was also similarly without insectmen monster guards. These two places emitted very strong sealing auras, which caused discomfort to any humanoid monsters entering these places, so it was unlikely for the insectmen monsters to take the initiative and approach these places. However, it had no effect on Clyde. After signing a special contract with Valkyrie Cynthia, he could disguise himself as a member of the Heavenly God Clan and emit an energy aura similar to that of the God Race. Since the sealing magic didn’t repel the God Race, he could successfully muddle through, cheating the screening mechanism of the seal. This saved him the trouble of wasting energy to destroy the barrier.
The style of this shrine was different from those of Light Church. They worshipped different branches of the God Race, so their religious buildings were also different. In the shrine, scattered bones emitting glittering and translucent magical lusters, indicating that they had once been inside high ranked mages, covered the floor. At that time, the West Goth Empire and the invading insectoid monsters had fought fiercely everywhere, but the fighting had been the most intense in this shrine and the nearby mage tower. On the other hand, the battle in the imperial palace had not been so intense.
In actuality, that insectoid monster leader hadn’t broken the seal. According to the written records of the Moon God Clan translated by Valkyrie Cynthia, in order to seal Insect Emperor Huxley, that insectoid monster leader that could infinitely resurrect, the Mood God Clan had gone all out and blown up its corporeal body. Then, before its corporeal body could heal, they had sealed Huxley’s soul and energy in different places, preventing its resurrection.
Insect Emperor Huxley’s soul was sealed in the shrine, and its energy was sealed in the mage tower. After the sealing of Insect Emperor Huxley, the insectoid monsters had lost their leader, and the insect kings had openly fought against each other to become the new leader. They had had no time to care about the next human continent, Ximengsi Continent.
Clyde arrived at the center of the shrine and finally saw the true features of the behind-the-scenes instigator. It was very different from his prior imagination. Instead of a vile-looking insect emperor, a woman was imprisoned in a cage on the moonstone at the shrine’s center. Although her dress seemed worn out from centuries of imprisonment, and her beautiful silver hair was somewhat frayed and wild, her fair skin remained. The status of this beauty was clearly noble, and her maintenance was comparatively better. Merely, her loose silver hair covered her eyes, and on the ground of the cage was a shattered silver crown similar to the crowns worn by the princesses of Ximengsi Continent’s human empires. It must have been the exclusive crown for the princess of the Sigranians.
Thinking a little, Clyde removed his shadow magic and disguised himself. Then, under the guise of a normal human adventurer, he walked towards the cage with a righteous look. That imprisoned beauty, however, didn’t raise her head even after hearing his footsteps as if she had already known of his arrival.
“Save me, Lord Hero… I’m being imprisoned here by demons!”
“Princess? The cage was locked from the inside. Plus, your acting is too poor. Huxley, you have made no progress even after a thousand years!”
“What Huxley? Lord Hero, please don’t joke. I don’t know what you are saying!”
“Then, I’ll ask you this: every month…”
“This…”
Clyde mischievously asked a few private questions about girls like their menstrual periods and so on… From the start, this fake princess failed to answer correctly. Although this body was that of a princess, the soul had already been dominated by Insect Emperor Huxley. At that time, in order to seal the insectoid monster leader, the princess of the West Goth Empire had used her body as a vessel to seal its soul, but because the gap in their soul strengths was huge, the Insect Emperor’s soul had gained dominance over this body.
“Damn it, are you a hero? Actually asking such obscene questions!”
“You are a pervert who occupied a girl’s body. You have no qualifications to say this! Oh, that’s righ;, the Insect Monster King is already dead. That fellow was too weak.”
“That fellow was truly useless. I taught it for over two hundred years, but it still couldn’t defeat those underground ratmen.”
After seeing it was unable to deceive Clyde, Insect Emperor Huxley gave up its third-rate acting, and reverted to its terrifying, devilish voice. It had awakened over two hundred years ago, but by being sealed in the weak body of a princess, its activities were limited. It could only orally instruct those insectmen monsters to advance them from ordinary multiple-legged insect monsters to the humanoid cockroach stage. In truth, this had not been Huxley’s intentions but rather rather because its energy sealed in the mage tower. After a long period of time, the seal had grown unstable and allowed its dark energy to seep out, infecting those multiple-legged insect monsters and evolving them.
“I don’t care who you are. The seal of mage tower is going to break; no one can prevent the resurrection of this emperor. If you are sensible and open the cage now, I will give you an important position. When I conquer this continent, I will let you choose your territory!”
“It sounds good, but I refuse. As long as I swallow your energy, your soul will be nothing more than a wisp of smoke.”
“In those years, even the Moon God Clan was unable to do anything. With just you… Wait, we can discuss…”
Before Insect Emperor Huxley could finish speaking, Clyde released a part of his own unfathomable, pitch-black energy. Insect Emperor Huxley cut off his arrogant words; the other party was clearly a stronger dark existence than itself. Clyde could absorb its energy without any problems.
“We can cooperate to conquer this continent…”
Clyde ignored Huxley’s begging. Who knew whether this fellow was intentionally stalling for time to break the seal? He had to snatch its energy in the mage tower before the seal was broken; otherwise, if such a strong fellow fled, it would create great troubles.
