Super Righteous Player
Chapter 679 - 220: The First and Last Betrayal_1

Chapter 679: Chapter 220: The First and Last Betrayal_1

Without warning, the ground began to tremble and surge.

The batch of people who had just disembarked from the treasure ship "Silver" instantly turned serious.

"...Is this place about to collapse?"

Ofelia caressed the harp strings uneasily.

He looked at the centaur female Lucia: "Can you check, Lulu?"

"I’ll try..."

Lucia paced nervously on her four hooves, extending her white and slender hands forward—her fingernails were sharp, pale, and bright, like pieces of jade.

As she combed through something in the void, her expression grew increasingly grave.

"It’s okay, it’s not collapsing."

She took a deep breath, "But everyone still needs to be careful..."

At that moment, the second wave of shock swept through.

It was like an invisible roar—the ground didn’t move, and the surrounding ancient low stone buildings were unharmed. But they staggered backward... as if something had pushed them hard, their bodies instantly immersed in a bone-chilling coldness.

It was power filled with hatred.

Elle’s complexion changed.

"Sorry!"

She quickly exclaimed.

Selicia frowned slightly, just about to reach out to grab her, but it was a step too late—

Four rainbow-colored ribbons suddenly burst out behind Elle—resembling oddly shaped wings, tentacles, or even the indescribable tentacles of some entity.

At the moment the ribbons emerged, her body was covered by colorful streams of light, transforming her into a huge, illusory humanoid figure.

A strong curse aura erupted from her, forming a visible, variegated halo. The halo covered her body, forming a twisted humanoid figure in the Kolaki style—as if she were a witch inside a barrier.

Merely gazing at her caused Selicia’s head to reel as if struck by a heavy blow, leaning back sharply. Ofelia, in turn, felt a less intense dizziness.

For Lucia, whose perception was extremely sharp, the effect was even more apparent.

She let out a mournful cry, stumbling backward, with blood seeping from her nose and mouth, and blood instantly soaked through her fingernails.

The next moment, the curse-formed rainbow tempest raged chaotically, pushing them away in an instant.

The giant figure in the Kolaki style, like a fragile origami piece, vanished quickly before their eyes.

Like the trail left by a jet plane, many rainbow-colored ribbons still remained in the air at twisted angles, lighting up the dark, lightless Underworld.

"That is..."

Ofelia looked at the direction where Elle had disappeared in shock: "A deity?"

It was as shocking as a fluffy stuffed toy beside him suddenly turning into a huge lion...

"...I saw it, it was the God of Betrayal ’Skeleton Duke’s’ half-body."

When Elle revealed her true form, the lines of her destiny became abruptly clear.

The horsewoman Lucia said with a complex expression, "Do you remember the story she told before she came here?"

According to the rules of Silver Brigade, anyone who wishes to use the "Silver" to reach their destination must tell their own story—that is, why they want to go there. If the story sounds interesting enough, they would be willing to give the person a lift.

And the story Elle told... was about how her father had abandoned her without any warning, and that Elle intended to catch up to him to get an explanation. Recently, she had learned that her father was preparing to go to the Gon Song Duchy, which had been destroyed—

Why would such a lovely girl be abandoned?

And why is her father insistent on going to the Gon Song Duchy, a place people are nearly forgetting?

This did indeed spark some interest in Selicia.

The condition she put forth was "to witness the entire event, until the end," to ensure she was not deceived. As compensation, they could offer some help to Elle to a certain extent.

...Looking back now.

Elle’s father, might just be that Skeleton Duke...

—The Skeleton Duke going to the Gon Song Duchy, that’s only too logical.

Isn’t it normal for someone to visit their homeland?

"...So what do we do now?"

"Lily," wearing a mask, couldn’t help but ask: "Do we really want to go see?"

The crowd looked at each other.

On the other side.

As the skeleton lord destroyed the statue of the bone burial lady and the tomb behind her,

terrifying tremors began to occur around them—as if some giant beast underground had awakened, or as if The Machine had roared into life, everything around them shook with a thunderous vibration.

The skeleton lord, who had just attacked the statue of the bone burial lady, gazed up silently at the sky.

Or to be precise, at the rock strata... and the city above the strata.

"People called my country ’Dirge’, or The Country of Giants. But how many people still remember its real name?"

The ancient and deep voice of the skeleton lord sounded, "To forget... is to betray."

The booming around him grew more intense, even starting to drown out the skeleton lord’s voice. It also included a huge screeching sound—like the noise of a massive truck failing to brake in time, drifting and scraping along the ground.

But the skeleton lord’s voice still calmly came through the loud noises.

"Its true name is the Eternal Principality. But this doesn’t mean that its citizens possess everlasting life... rather, the ruler of the principality is known as the ’Eternal Duke’, much like the ancestors of the Winter duke, known as ’Frost Speech’.

"As I have said, giants are a race indifferent to ’life and death.’ And this open-mindedness stems from the preparations they make to reach the ’inevitable death’... this ’inevitable death’ is the end point in the philosophy of giants.

"But here lies a problem... Ordinary giants can indeed prepare themselves for a more peaceful, complete, and purer death in advance. Cutting off all karma, forgetting past affections, to die unknown and nameless in a tranquil corner, forgotten by all.

"—But I cannot do that."

The skeleton lord’s voice was almost drowned out by the noise.

Nothing had visibly changed around him—the ground hadn’t collapsed, the tombs hadn’t cracked, and the ceiling remained intact. Yet the noise was increasing by the moment... one could even hear falling and breaking sounds.

Like the sound of massive metal and wooden crates falling from above, cracking or shattering upon impact with the ground.

At this moment, the skeleton lord’s voice began to grow louder.

"Why are we called the Eternal Dukes? Because we, the rulers, are imprisoned within this pure white heavy armor from generation to generation—we only have one name. That is the ’Eternal Duke’.

"No one knows which generation of Eternal Duke I am, nor do they know when the previous Eternal Duke died or where he was buried. People don’t care about these things...

"They pretend their duke is eternal, and everyone plays along—even though they well know there is no such thing as eternal life, and that mortals cannot live forever. Because of this, they don’t have to worry about succession, the continuation of mandates, or the extension and forgetting of friendships. All that needs to be remembered can be entrusted to the ’Eternal Duke’.

"All deaths worth remembering are commemorated by their duke, while they can easily forget everything and welcome death freely and without burden."

The so-called ’Eternal Duke’ is the living gravestone of the Eternal Principality.

Recording the karma of all, documenting the relationships of all... the only existence not allowed to die, not allowed to let go. Not a person, but merely an existence, a sort of symbol,

The skeleton lord calmly said, "But my kin, even unto their deaths, do not know one thing... Of course, they may not care about it either.

"That is... the succession of the ’Eternal Duke’ has long ended.

"I have reigned for over four hundred years, while the lifespan of a giant is one hundred and fifty years. That is because... in the twenty-fourth year of my reign, I had already transformed myself into an undead. That was the original betrayal."

The voice of the skeleton lord gradually became distant and vague: "The so-called dirge, for whom does it toll?

"—Yes, the dirge tolls for me."

Finally, the space began to shatter.

Not as glass does when broken... but like a seed sprouting or a chick hatching.

Something indescribable leaked out.

From afar came the iridescent, Twisted "Angel", which, without hesitation, launched an attack on the skeleton lord.

A rainbow stream of light originated from the tips of its "four wings", focusing like a probing laser beam onto the skeleton lord.

"—Stop, Father!"

Elle’s voice, laden with echoes, rang out, a sharp and vague baby’s cry and a pleasing girl’s voice resounded simultaneously in the air.

But the laser beam couldn’t approach the skeleton lord, as it was blocked by some transparent, ripple-like thing outside his body.

And in the moment Elle came into contact with the skeleton lord, the surrounding space immediately boiled.

The Twisted radiance on Elle’s body instantly spread into the air around her.

The tomb turned into a house full of life, the dim and lightless Underworld became like the glow of sunset. The dust on the ground turned into grass, and among the empty tombs, the figures of giants appeared.

Yet all of this seemed painted—fragmented and broken.

"Although you’ve noticed, it’s already too late. You’ve been deceived."

The skeleton lord said calmly, "Your very existence is meant to be betrayed once again...

"This is your last betrayal, Elle."