Silent Crown

Chapter 258 May My King Protect Me

The dust-covered steel gate suddenly shook. The black aura around it danced, scraping past the musician’s face like a blade, causing sparks to fly.

Before the steel gate, a burly and unfamiliar man raised his hammer. The strange and muscular skeleton enlarged his body. As the strange music played, he expanded to more than three meters tall. The ragged red robe around him showed signs of battle. There was also the Eyes Within the Eye before his heart.

A distorted song came from his chest as if his internal organs were singing. His already-exaggerated muscles bulged once again amidst this song. His hammer swung down but there was no sound!

All the power had been poured into the single nail, forcing it through the thick steel gate bit by bit. The dark cloud around the gate weakened a bit with each inch the nail dug in. There had already been six nails hammered into the gate. This was the last one.

Enchantment-breaking nails. These were alchemy items used for unearthing ancient ruins. By pushing the nails made of alloy into the node of the enchantment, one could disrupt the flow of aether and force an entrance into the enchantment.

"Eziz, hurry up," said Aloise, the dark lord clad in a red robe behind him. He held an aether ball the size of a fist in his hand.

Silver spots shone on the ball, representing the surrounding aether waves. In the distance, a writhing ball of darkness approached quickly. The darkness changed but no matter how he tried to investigate it, he could not see what was truly under the darkness. An abyss was approaching quickly, choosing prey to swallow.

One must know that even a Round Table knight who had transformed into a dark knight after falling would be revealed on the aether ball. So what demonic thing was this?! To be honest, he did not want to know at all. He just wanted to finish his mission before this thing arrived and then use his powers to escape.

Narrowing his eyes, he recited the god’s name, pushing down the unsettled feeling. He had entered the Disturbance level long ago with Hyakume’s blessing, he still felt unsettled here—after all, Avalon’s Shadow was where the late King Arthur’s scepter was. And why did the Royal Musician Division turn the banquet hall into a fortress? What did they hide inside?

"The door’s almost open. Everyone, be careful," he ordered quietly.

The six dark musicians behind him emanated with an aura of destruction thick enough to be tangible. The black zone completely immersed with negativity was their paradise. Merely entering here had increased their power, practically allowing them to pass a whole level.

The steel gate vibrated lowly but the darkness around it scattered. The seal had been forced apart by the enchantment-breaking nails!

Pop! There was the sound of a bubble popping. The area surrounded by the seven enchantment-breaking nails shattered abruptly, flowing down as steel sand. A rotting odor thick enough to be liquid spewed out from behind the door!

At the very front, Eziz’s expression changed abruptly. He squatted and rolled, barely missing the attack. The gray air instantly moved through the hallway and disappeared. Eziz climbed up from the corner with difficulty. Seeing the grayness crawl up his skin, he quickly grabbed a bottle of medicine from his waist and poured it onto himself.

Sizzle! After the sounds of corrosion, the rusting scent disappeared but the muscular arm and half a chest had been corroded to the bone. Eziz’s face twisted. Gritting his teeth, he pulled his ragged red robe tightly, covering the bones that made up his body. He had been lucky and dodged the attack, but his companions were not as lucky.

Lord Aloise had been swallowed completely. Gray mist snaked around his entire body as if Avalon’s fog was wrapped around him, eating away his body bit by bit. His body changed dramatically under the grayness.

He transformed into a large werewolf instantly. After the werewolf was corroded by the grayness, the wolf quickly caved in and shriveled into a short and ugly dwarf. When the dwarf was corroded, he changed again, this time into something half-eagle and half-man.

This transformation survived longer but still could not fight the grayness off. Having already lost two bodies, he took off a bell from his waist with difficulty and shook strongly.

And so the sharp cry of an eagle sounded out of thin air. The apparition of a man with an eagle’s head and two wings appeared behind him. It waved, dissipating the rusting odor, murmured something, and disappeared.

Aloise knelt onto the ground and fervently recited a scripture. He did not look back until his god’s physical incarnation had been sent away. Of the six dark musicians behind him, only three and a half were still alive.

Two had been completely turned to stone after being shrouded in the gray mist. One had abandoned his body. In his last moment, his head had been yanked out of his neck, along with half a spine, with feet sprouting out like a centipede. Now he wandered aimlessly, still in shock.

"Let’s not waste any more time. We must grasp the timing." Aloise coughed hoarsely and held his aether ball. He crossed the crack after confirming that there were no more dangers inside.

The gentle light fell onto his face. His wizened face was covered in wounds and blood seeped out; it was a mournful sight. But when he saw the inside of the banquet hall, deep fear appeared on that face involuntarily. Who were the true dark musicians who worshipped Satan?

"What did you do exactly?" he muttered hoarsely.

-

The banquet hall finally had new guests after such a long time. It was still filled with light; the chandeliers hung above the room, untouched by dust. It was a glamorous sight with pure white walls, pillars covered in gold foil, finely embossed and luxurious tiles, and gentle music that still echoed.

The melody was gentle and beautiful. It wrapped around one’s ears, causing one to feel peaceful and serene. But here, it gave one the chills. This was not a melody that should appear at a banquet—this was Requiem No. 6 that Anglo musicians only played at funerals!

"With the aether above, the dead would not decay." Of course their bodies did not decay. The noble guests sat on either side of the only table in the room. Not a thread was out of place on their formal wear; their expressions were dignified and lifelike.

There was the leader of the thirteen orchestras of all Anglo musicians. He was a Distortion musician, second only to a saint. In the center was the commander of the Royal Musician Division. He wore a crystal crown and white clothing and sat elegantly in his seat. His expression was serious and awesome.

However, everyone was constrained to their metal chairs by heavy shackles. The shackles had been nailed into their bones and extended from their joints. They had become one with the heavy metal chair. How were they a group of musicians?

They had been treated like a group of rabid dogs, but their expressions were so solemn, demanding respect and awe. Time seemed to have stopped at the moment they raised their glasses to celebrate and drank the wine. The glasses were still in their hands but they never moved again.

Aloise looked at his companions. Someone went forward and cautiously stuck a finger into the glass. He dabbed a bit of the dried powder and tasted it. Crackles came from his throat instantly. He doubled over and began vomiting out fossilized flesh. The blood and flesh dropped onto the ground with echoes.

"Drug of Penglai," the man said with difficulty. "F*ck, where did they get so much of this? Many of the plants went extinct before the Dark Age ended!"

Most dark musicians studied the School of Choir to transform their bodies, so many were experts at drugs and medicines. Some had even contributed to the School of Choir and were pioneers in the forbidden field of mutations as well.

Hearing this, everyone’s expressions changed. According to legends, the drug of Penglai was the key to immortality, but everyone knew that that was bullsh*t. No one on this Earth could be immortal—no one.

In the beginning, alchemists and herbalists from the East had wanted to create a drug that could help one sense the Originator. They had succeeded and those that took the drug received the power to undergo sublimation in the Originator. The cost was that they would lose their body and life. Their flesh would turn into stone and never decay as if they were immortal.

For a moment, their minds were able to cross through the limitations of time and see the distant past and future, see the stars in the sky and the demons behind the stars, or see the fire underground and the sins hidden inside the fire. Perhaps they melded into the Originator at the end and reached all-knowing enlightenment. Perhaps they had merely died. Who knew?

No one knew…

No one knew why this group of musicians that made up Anglo had joined here at this time and chose to swallow this drug to commit suicide.

Expressionless, Aloise walked past the musicians on either side and stopped before the solemn leader. He reached out and picked up the thin piece of paper before him that had degraded through time.

The names of the thirteen men and their last words were written there: "Here, we sacrifice our life to the almighty and all-powerful king. May the gods protect the kingdom and may my king protect me."

A breeze blew past, crumbling the paper to powder and blowing it away.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The entire banquet hall suddenly shook. Cracks appeared on the walls. An enormous object seemed to be charging against the wall on the other side of the banquet.

It was a ball of burning of darkness.

It had come.

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