Super Righteous Player
Chapter 708 - 249 Giving Up Dignity_1

Chapter 708: Chapter 249 Giving Up Dignity_1

The Skeleton Duke, perhaps, detested the undead more than anyone else in this world.

He always wore the gold mask that was proof of his position as the "Eternal Duke."

But his platinum heavy boots, white metal gloves, and the thick armor he only put back on when he entered the Dirge Singer Principality were all remnants of his past life as a holy knight.

Yes.

He had been a holy knight—battling to eradicate every undead creature in this world, striving with all his might, fighting until his last breath. That’s why no one ever suspected that the Eternal Duke was actually one of the undead.

And for that very reason.

The Eternal Duke felt sorrow for himself.

Duke Midas detested the undead so much, yet he had turned himself into a pile of bones... His only purpose was to hope that the painful curse passed down through his bloodline would end with his generation.

He didn’t want to pass the curse on any further.

And indeed, he didn’t.

Until... the great barrier shattered, the Mist invaded, and the giants met their death with contentment.

To the people of other nations, it was a legendary tale—of a death as gallant and majestic as an epic.

But only the Eternal Duke agonized and lamented over it.

Because he realized... that everything the Eternal family had sacrificed was meaningless. The giants did not care for their own life or death, nor for the lineage of their family or the continuity of their nation.

From the very beginning, the concept of the "Eternal Duke" was nothing but a wishful game of house.

He should probably be thanking the giants for giving him face, for playing along with their tacit game...

If he were just the Eternal Duke, that would be fine—he implied that they were finally set free. He could finally rest in peace.

...But, Midas had turned himself into an undead.

He couldn’t even die.

Up to now, the curse that had barely been eradicated by sacrificing everything and transforming into the most detested form of undead... was actually a joke that no one cared about. After the giants of the Eternal Principality died, the existence of the "Eternal Duke," or even the lack thereof, became even more meaningless.

—A monument ridiculously inscribed.

"To bury is to forget, to forget is to betray; a tombstone is but a memorial to ’death’.

"His goal was very simple."

Annan mused, "To discard the truth of the Skeleton and regain a body of flesh and blood... in other words, he wanted to erase his old self that served as a ’tombstone.’ This was a priority even over obtaining the complete truth of betrayal."

He could probably guess it now.

This plan wasn’t supposed to be like this from the start...

If back then, in the gallery, Annan had chosen the most "correct" way to end the nightmare—by shooting Angelo with the Dirty Blood Bullet imbued with ’Curse Binding’—then "Angelo" as the Betraying Angel would have been confined to Frostwater Harbor.

This meant that the Pope, as Angelo, had joined the frenzy of "betraying Angelo"... thus perfecting the definition of "betrayed by everyone." Coupled with the other half from the Skeleton Duke, the true God of Betrayal could be born in a "nightmare" beyond anyone’s interference.

In this case, the Skeleton Duke just needed to descend directly into Angelo’s body... And He could directly replace His own truth of the Skeleton with the complete "betrayal" truth.

That’s why back then "Angelo," despite being an infant girl, had let out the Skeleton Duke’s deep and elderly voice from her mouth.

If Annan had truly pulled the trigger—then this scene would have prematurely played out at Frostwater Harbor.

At that time, no one would have been able to stop Him.

Because the "Angelo" of that time had not even been born yet, and naturally wouldn’t resist the Skeleton Duke as the "Angelo" who thought she was Elle does now.

All that was happening before his eyes was merely a continuation of that ceremony.

The Skeleton Duke was an unsurpassed Ritualist.

He surely knew that the skeletons he left in the catacombs of the Dirge Singer Principality were a significant risk... Since the unfinished ceremony needed to be completed, he might as well eliminate all the potential threats at once.

"Think about it again, Elle... why did the Gourmet Sea Goose know that child was the Skeleton Duke that time?"

Annan calmly said, "It was the beginning of the third loop. He knew the child was the Skeleton Duke, but didn’t know what He would do... What does that imply?"

[Does it mean... he realized it at the end of the previous cycle?]

Elle pondered for a long time before responding in the depths of Annan’s heart.

"Exactly. To be more precise... he may have seen the Skeleton Duke during the day in the first loop, but only confirmed the Duke’s existence and purpose in the second loop—so in the third loop, he could capture him one step ahead, yet not know what he was planning."

"Elle" muttered softly, leaving the basement where the ritual was half-finished.

She walked out slowly and looked up at the moonless black night.

There was not a soul on the streets.

And there she was, walking alone towards Elle’s home.

"So the answer goes without saying—the boy who was the ’Skeleton Lord’ would only appear at the end. And when he did appear, he had evidence enough to prove his identity as the Skeleton Lord... but before he could do anything, the world was reset."

"Now you can guess what Midas did in front of the last surviving Delicious Wind Goose...right?"

[He... killed him]

"That’s correct."

"Elle" nodded.

As she moved along the road, time passed at an abnormally fast pace... this was the effect of the ritual.

After Annan had explained this to Elle, he had a moment of distraction and suddenly found himself outside the city... and the night had grown deeper.

It was about ten o’clock now.

——Even if not a single person had died, the night was deepening all the same.

That was precisely the process of the sky gradually reverting to "night".

And Annan just looked up at the sky, then continued speaking in a low voice:

"Who made us believe that this world was just a fragment, where only the power of the Bone Crone existed? If you think about it carefully... all these words were spoken by ’Midas’.

"He said there was no such concept as ’outside the city’; he said that everyone in the city had never left it... but colleagues from Longjing Tea have Dennisiowa accents; Selicia’s teacher speaks the Winter dialect; and Amos says your mother is on a world tour, and he has to go away on a business trip. How could there not be a concept of ’outside the city’?

"So, why did we believe Midas at that time?"

[Because he... faced with the Delicious Wind Goose’s beating, didn’t fight back... oh right, he also told us his name directly!]

Elle replied immediately.

[So Uncle Delicious Wind Goose said that Midas must be a part of the nightmare, is...the something... "non-player character". Yes... that’s what he said...]

"So Delicious Wind Goose overlooked one thing."

"Annan" said calmly, "He was also... a [Purifier] who entered the nightmare with us at the same time.

He said this, took a step forward, and entered the dense forest.

It must be around eleven o’clock here.

"That’s correct—"

From the very beginning, the Skeleton Lord was feigning ignorance.

Defu, who had accidentally killed someone in the dense forest, Delicious Wind Goose, who failed at his proudest moment, the wandering child who was terrified of marriage to the extreme... and everything they desired was materialized in this nightmare.

It was a nightmare woven together from the memories of all the entrants.

That’s why there were so many obviously unreasonable hybrid monster technologies, why the terrain became so strange. And Elle, as the controller of half of the nightmare, almost completely influenced the entire composition of the nightmare... The Skeleton Lord, as the other half of the controller, turned this place into the "Eternal City of Immortality".

So...

"How could he possibly lose his memory as the Skeleton Lord?"

Annan chuckled softly, "This bag of bones... really has no dignity. Even when beaten by mortals, he pretended to have no memory, no awareness—does he have no concern for his own face in order to deceive others?"

The scene shifted.

"Elle" had not finished speaking, yet she had already arrived at the wheat field.

The time now must be close to midnight.

"——That’s right."

From the other end of the wheat field, the white-haired boy answered across time.

This showed that the time he experienced... must be synchronized with Annan’s side.

He had his hands in his pockets, stepping on the wheat, moving across the wheat field.

In his narrowed eyes, there wasn’t a trace of emotion.

"To forsake dignity for the sake of achieving one’s goal—I suppose, that’s the most cost-effective ’sacrifice’."

The Eternal Duke answered with utmost sincerity.