Chapter 174: The King’s Court Hunter

Chapter 174: The King’s Court Hunter

The deep-blue sea, gently surging, boundless, seeming to contain endless life, appeared before the eyes of the City of Silver exploration team. It was no longer merely a record in ancient documents, nor a combination of words spoken by an outsider.

Although it remained distant, it seemed that reaching it might now be possible.

Antilna, with her burgundy hair, gazed at it in fascination. She opened her mouth as if wishing to express something, but in the end, only one word emerged:

“The sea…”

No sooner had she spoken than a silver-white crack suddenly appeared on her forehead.

The crack raced upward and downward at frightening speed, instantly dividing Antilna into left and right halves. Warm, bright-red blood sprayed out, splattering Derrick from head to toe.

Silently, even more silver-white light burst outward from Antilna’s body, slicing her into countless small pieces of flesh and blood.

Her face, still filled with hope and rapture, scattered like a puzzle dropped onto the floor, piece after piece flying apart.

Only then did Demon Hunter Colin react. The two straight swords in his hands slashed out, one horizontally and the other diagonally, as if he were attacking an invisible enemy.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Silver light flashed. Amid the reverberating sound of metal collisions, the dawn light around Colin Iliad shattered and scattered chaotically.

At that moment, the silver-white phantom behind Shepherd Lovia had already stepped forward, driving its blurred greatsword into the ground.

Clang clang clang clang clang! Around the people of the City of Silver, silver, razor-like flashes appeared in different places, desperately cutting at the invisible barrier around them like insects trapped within amber.

Clang clang clang!

The silver radiance, sometimes thin and dense, sometimes broad and heavy, continued appearing without pause. The protective power enveloping the exploration team tottered, threatening to shatter at any moment. Yet whether it was Demon Hunter Colin, Shepherd Lovia, Derrick, or the others, none could find any trace of the enemy.

Above the gray fog, The Fool Klein was just about to give a certain warning when the Chief of the six-member council seemed to think of something. He crossed his two straight swords before himself.

Clang!

A massive silver radiance struck the two straight swords, driving Demon Hunter Colin’s feet down into the solid stone slabs.

Grasping this opportunity, he abruptly roared, “Unshadowed Domain!”

Upon hearing the Chief’s reminder, Derrick did not hesitate. He stabbed one finger hard against the thorn spike of the Unshadowed Crucifix.

As his blood welled out, clear, bright, pure, and blazing light suddenly erupted, enveloping the entire area between the two buildings.

Within this area, not a trace of shadow could exist. Nothing could hide. Light became the sovereign of this place.

An enormous figure swiftly appeared beside the Giant King’s palace.

It wore silver full-body armor and stood nearly five meters tall. Behind the faceplate flickered not a deep-red or orange-yellow glow, but a real vertical single eye.

This was a giant—a living giant.

He would not wait for enemies to enter his warning range before attacking. He possessed sufficient intelligence.

Unlike the other silver-armored knights, this giant’s arm guards bore distinct patterns. One was on the right side, blood-red in color, encircling his arm. The other lay in the same position on the left side, dotted with black patches.

The giant knight raised the broadsword in his hand, pointed it at the people of the City of Silver, and spoke in a thunderous voice:

“You dare trespass upon the King’s Court and disturb Lord Sasrir’s slumber!”

Sasrir? Dark Angel Sasrir? Above the gray fog, The Fool Klein felt a chill and unconsciously straightened in his seat.

The former Left Hand of God, the Deputy of Heaven, the leader of the Kings of Angels, one of the two leaders of Rose of Redemption—He had not disappeared into the river of history? He slept deep within the Giant King’s Court, inside the Giant King’s residence? Why had He chosen to sleep? Thought after thought flashed through Klein’s mind, and instinctively, he shifted his gaze toward the palace guarded by the giant knight.

It was the tallest and most magnificent building in the Giant King’s Court. The radiance of twilight seemed to have solidified, covering its surface, dyeing it with an obvious sense of decline and giving the impression that twilight had reached its end and eternal night was about to descend.

On one side of the palace was a pointed tower; on the other, a round tower. Its main entrance was a pair of gray-blue double doors whose height far surpassed ten meters. They were covered in symmetrical symbols, markings, and patterns, both solemn and mysterious.

About three or four meters above the ground, on the left side of the seam between the doors, was a pitch-black hole roughly the size of an adult’s fist.

Seeing this, Klein abruptly remembered a Dream Divination he had once performed. Back then, he had seen an identical scene, and the medium used for the divination had been the giant key he had obtained from Vice Admiral Iceberg.

Is that the key to the Giant King’s residence? As Klein reached out to summon it, he also tried to use True Vision to penetrate the obstruction of the building and see the situation inside the palace.

Unfortunately, he did not succeed. The black iron key, the size of a seven-stringed harp, landed before him.

At that moment, Demon Hunter Colin had already spoken before the giant knight could launch another attack.

“You are a King’s Court Hunter?”

The broadsword in the giant knight’s hand did not come down. He paused for one second, then said in a low voice, “After such long ages, someone still remembers the King’s Court Hunters.

“I am the leader of all hunters, Light-Slayer Milgongen. I later followed Lord Sasrir.

“I once hunted mighty dragons, elves, demons, demon wolves, and phoenixes. Today, to die beneath my sword is an honor for you.”

This Light-Slayer showed no softened attitude. His body leaned forward slightly, both hands gripping his sword. Like a meteor flying horizontally, he charged toward the people of the City of Silver with tremendous weight and speed.

Because the Unshadowed Domain existed, he could no longer conceal his figure as he had before.

Just as Colin Iliad, Lovia, and the others judged that Milgongen’s attack would arrive in another second, the giant knight suddenly swung his silver-white broadsword halfway through his charge.

Demon Hunter Colin, outside the protective circle of Lovia’s evil spirit, suddenly felt a violent premonition of danger. Without hesitation, he threw himself to the side.

Bang!

Where he had originally stood, a silver radiance abruptly erupted, destroying everything from the inside outward.

The attack had come in such a strange fashion, as if that patch of void had generated it on its own from within.

At the same time, Colin Iliad, who had thrown himself to the ground, also changed. His clothing was torn apart into scraps and strips by rapidly swelling muscles.

In the blink of an eye, this Demon Hunter had become a four-meter-tall giant with dark-green, knotted muscles, gray-blue skin as a base, and a pitch-black crack on his forehead. Every inch of him contained majestic strength, boundless mystery, and a strange mental influence.

If a Beyonder below Sequence 4 saw this scene, they would inevitably suffer a severe shock. Their brains might be struck by an unbearable, reason-shattering pain, and their spirituality would be contaminated. If they could not endure such influence, madness, loss of control, and even sudden death would all become possible outcomes.

This was the incomplete mythical creature form of a demigod.

Originally, Colin Iliad had not dared release this state inside the Giant King’s Court because of the influence of twilight. But now he discovered that inside the Unshadowed Domain, the sense of decline and withering had been greatly weakened.

He immediately lifted his two straight swords, now enormous and covered in dawn light, and engaged Light-Slayer Milgongen in a fierce battle within this domain ruled by light and devoid of shadows.

Clang clang clang!

The three swords of the two “giants” sometimes clashed and sometimes separated. Although Colin Iliad was at a disadvantage, he still forcefully held off the leader of the King’s Court Hunters.

Every so often, an intense intuition of danger surged within him, and he would throw himself away from his original position without warning—sometimes rolling, sometimes springing—to shift in another direction.

At those moments, the place where he had previously stood would always erupt with silver radiance from the inside outward.

Derrick had already closed his eyes. Ignoring the loss of blood, he worked hard to maintain the Unshadowed Domain. Haim and the other Dawn Paladin likewise did not dare open their eyes. They assisted Shepherd Elder Lovia, allowing the team to move slowly, without leaving the protective force, back toward the palace from which they had emerged.

If not for the help of the silver-armored knight evil spirit, they would already have been sliced into chunks of flesh and blood by the Storm of Light sweeping across the area, the silver flashes appearing everywhere, and the violent shaking of the ground.

Light-Slayer Milgongen, by his power alone, had pressed the City of Silver exploration team into an extremely precarious state, leaving them no opportunity to counterattack.

As expected of the leader of the King’s Court Hunters. He should belong to the first tier below subordinate gods—that is, below angels… Compared with a Demon Hunter, a Silver Knight possesses several additional terrifying Beyonder powers… Above the gray fog, The Fool Klein held the Sea God Scepter and carefully observed the battle.

He quickly figured out where Light-Slayer Milgongen’s power lay.

“First, his protective power has materialized into silver full-body armor. Second, he can hide in light and conceal malice. Third, the Sword of Dawn he condenses is no longer limited to a short duration. It can be used as a standard weapon—sharp enough, and good at purification. Fourth, he can create a kind of silver-white thin sword. It possesses Teleportation and can bypass most barriers to attack the target directly, even erupting from within the target’s body. And the condensation of this silver-white thin sword is almost without warning, making it very difficult to predict in advance…

“This is a saint exceedingly skilled at frontal combat. If not for the City of Silver Chief’s rich experience, powerful intuition, and ability to fight in a mythical creature form, he would long ago have fallen into a crisis because of comprehensive suppression by a higher Sequence of the same pathway… If it were me, I might already have been killed. Of course, I would never fight the leader of the King’s Court Hunters head-on in the first place…

“From the current situation, because that evil spirit must protect its Shepherd and cannot directly join the battle, the City of Silver exploration team has almost no chance of victory. Mm, they are already retreating little by little. Very rational… If things truly become impossible, I can only have Mr. Fool send down divine lightning… But the True Creator should still be watching here… My Lightning Storm may not be able to quickly deal with Milgongen…”

As Klein’s thoughts raced, he suddenly thought of a question.

How could Light-Slayer Milgongen, who was not an angel, have lived from the end of the Second Epoch until now? He was neither a witch, nor a vampire, nor an Undying!

And judging by his rationality and the abilities he displayed in battle, he should not have mixed Beyonder characteristics from other pathways.