The Demon King's First General
Chapter 155: A Thousand Year Old Letter

Chapter 155: A Thousand Year Old Letter

A dark underground tunnel without any source of light greeted Uoiea after she went down the staircase. The path was just enough for a single person to fit into.

She was scared and curious at the same time; even with the help of her purple flames, the enclosed space was still covered in darkness. Several minutes had passed, and at last, Uoiea saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

She ran towards it, but the blinding light made her close her eyes.

"It hurts," she murmured.

Then she tried to open them after a second, and the first thing she saw was a huge tree standing at the center of the place. It had vines hanging all over its branches. Its emanating radiance was what made it look so magical.

"What is this place? It’s beautiful." Uoiea blurted out her thoughts.

She let her eyes roam around while sauntering in the area, but aside from the moss covering the walls, the grass on the ground, and the large tree in the center, she found nothing. And after a while, she reached the middle part, where the thick trunk of the tree was placed.

The span of its diameter was so large that it took Uoiea a minute to walk around it.

"I wonder if there’s someone living inside." The princess chuckled at her own thoughts.

Then, after admiring the place, she decided to leave, but something caught her attention. It was a roll of paper inserted between cracks in the trunk of the tree.

Curiousity got into her, so she tiptoed and extended her hand to reach for it. Then, as soon as she got the paper, the first thing that she noticed was the strands of hair used as its tie.

"Silver hair?" Uoiea uttered, and the man she met at the Frostbloom Kingdom popped up in her mind.

"There’s no way that’s possible," she said, shaking her head and rejecting the idea.

Having said that, she unrolled the paper, and her eyes widened in surprise. It was a letter written in green, and the first word that she saw on it was her name.

"H-how?" She exclaimed, puzzled.

Then she proceeded to read the contents of the letter, and as she continued to do so, her chest started to get tight while tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

. . . . .

Back in the land that belonged to the Duskstalker Kingdom, Zeno and Strannard were still fighting to settle their thousand year grudge.

They bombarded each other with life-threatening attacks. Zeno’s unusual fighting style gave him a high advantage. With a powerful punch, packed with the Giant King’s Legacy, Strannard was sent hundreds of meters away.

However, the man didn’t hold back any further; he unleashed a new form as soon as he stood up. Dark energy started to gather around his position, and the trees were uprooted by the sudden gust of wind. The feathers on his cape turned into a set of wings, and the onyx crown on his head became two elongated, spiraled horns. His upper clothes were torn apart as his body started to grow in size. The scales on his right arm crawled up to his chest while black veins began to cover the rest of his body and face, while a black orb could be seen embedded in the middle of his chest.

"I’m still not comfortable with this," Strannard said as he examined himself.

Meanwhile, Zeno appeared a few distances away from the newly born demon. He clapped his hands, and his lips curled into a smile.

"Is that your true form after casting away your humanity?" He asked, grinning.

"Too bad, the scars on your face are still there," he chuckled, and the red dice hanging from his left ear started spinning.

As the names on his wrist vanished, the surface of the dice with five white skulls lit up. Then, a white circular line appeared around him as the center, while black lightning struck and spikes clad with electricity protruded on the ground. The soul devourer’s hair and eyes turned black, while two small dots appeared underneath his right eye. Flickering black lightning coiled around his whole body as he looked at Strannard.

"Now then, shall we put an end to this?" Zeno stated.

Without wasting a single second, both of them dashed towards each other.

"The King of Ogres and Giants must be proud; their Legacies are still causing ruckus in this world despite being dead for a thousand years," Strannard said after he thrust his sword in front. He was aiming for the soul devourer’s chest, but it was parried with a flick of his hand.

"That’s too honest of you," Zeno blurted out.

"I’m not so sure about that," Strannard replied, and the blade of his sword swerved towards the demon’s neck.

Despite the situation, Zeno still managed to smile. He raised his arm to block the incoming attack, but Strannard used his free hand to punch him in the abdomen. Dark energy covered his fist, but Zeno disappeared in a flash, evading once again. Even his presence was gone for a moment, making Strannard look around. Then, as soon as he looked up, he saw a dagger coming straight at his eye.

"Hey! I’m here!" Zeno exclaimed while plunging downward.

Strannard used the strength of his wings to move backward. The jet-black dagger covered with lightning sparks destroyed the ground where Strannard was previously standing.

It created a powerful blast due to the sudden explosion of lightning. Then, Zeno pulled out the dagger and dashed towards his opponent once again.

Upon seeing him, Strannard leaped into the air, and as his wings flapped, hundreds of steel feathers were sent in the soul devourer’s direction. The dagger in both of Zeno’s hands vanished as a jet-black shield with a white dot on its four corners appeared above him. It protected him from the rain of steel feathers. Then a rumbling reverberated in the area, and the next second, black lightning descended once more. Strannard was struck, but he just shook it off like nothing had happened.

"My body is especially designed to counter your abilities," he declared as he watched the shield revert back into its cube-like form.

Then he looked at the black-haired demon staring at him. Afterward, he raised his hand, and black smoke emerged from the open ground. It rose up until it formed two figures.

"Do you still remember them?" Strannard asked with his lips curled into a vicious grin.

. . . . .

’Since that encounter with you on that day, you taught me many things; you didn’t prevent me from killing anyone; instead, you showed me new principles and made me understand that every being has their own right to live,’ a man wrote using the base part of a leaf as ink on a piece of paper that he tore from a book beside him.

He was leaning into a huge tree trunk while a woman was sleeping soundly on his lap. He looked at her and put the unkept strands of hair behind her ear. Then he stared at her face, and a smile flashed on his lips before he started writing once again.

’At first, I just wanted to observe your well-being, but as the day continued to pass, the mere curiousity of mine turned into something deeper, an affection I’d never expect I would feel. It’s warm; there’s no passing day that I don’t think of you,’ he continued to share his thoughts in the letter.

Then he paused for a second and flicked the leaf he held into the air before grabbing another piece using telekinesis.

’Uoiea, do you still remember the day when you learned who I really was? It was nighttime back then, and a lot of demon corpses were scattered across the place. I was afraid that you would despise me.’ He stopped writing all of a sudden as the woman on his lap made a sudden movement.

And for the next few seconds, she opened her eyes and stared at the man.

"Zeno, you’re still awake," she murmured with a voice so drowsy.

Then she reached for the man’s hand and held it on her chest before returning to sleep. This made the man smile; he stared at her for another few seconds and retracted his arm afterwards.

’Yet what you did made me stupefied. You threw yourself into my chest and locked your arms around my body. It was the first time I felt that I wanted to protect someone, and if there will be a time when there’s a need for me to die,’ he paused and looked at the woman; his face was void of emotion.

"Please remember, I’ll choose death at your hands. If it’s for you, I’m willing to give up everything, even my existence," he whispered as he continued writing.

And as soon as he finished, he rolled the paper and secured its tightness by tying a few strands of his silver hair.

. . . . .