Chapter 649: Chapter 365: A Worthy King (Double-Length)
What meets the eye is darkness, cold, and deathly silence.
In my ear, there is only the dripping sound of liquid hitting the ground.
In the surrounding air, crimson blood strands float, clawing, trying to break free from this cage.
Yet Rogel’s power firmly binds them.
This is the manifestation of pain.
The black-red blood dripping on the ground is an intertwining of pain and pollution, solidifying into substance.
Rogel silently looks into the distance, towards the center of this palace.
There is a massive yet simple throne.
On the throne sits an extraordinarily tall, yet emaciated person.
A giant sword with traces of decay stabs into the floor in front of him, equally corroded by black blood strands.
His two withered hands powerlessly hang onto the throne’s armrests, with black-red blood constantly dripping down from his fingertips.
"Kadi..."
Mira stood stunned, disbelief in her eyes.
The young king before them could no longer show any of his former brilliance; his mummified flesh sticking to his skull, his sunken eye sockets filled with numbness.
Kadi seemed incapable of responding to anyone anymore.
Even to his former captain and crew standing before him.
"Rogel, what on earth is happening?"
Lina couldn’t help but look at Rogel.
"It’s the pollution." Next to them, Zidong spoke in a low mood: "...The arrival of the Great Tide, the most terrifying threat is not the monsters, but the unpredictable pollution..."
"It erodes sanity, erodes the body, causing endless pain and torment..."
"In order to maintain the hope and will to survive for everyone... the King... erected a statue."
"Whenever the polluted people prayed to the statue, their pain would lessen and might gradually heal and return to normalcy..."
While saying this, Zidong painfully closed his eyes.
"But the pain and pollution didn’t disappear into thin air."
"Instead... it was all transferred onto the King..."
Hearing this, everyone’s heart suddenly felt like a heavy hammer striking down.
It turned out the citizens prayed to Kadi’s statue to quell the pain within their bodies and spirits.
And that pain got transferred to Kadi for him to bear.
Kadi became like this because he single-handedly bore the pain of everyone on Ozuric Island!
During the Great Tide, the monsters were terrifying beyond measure, making resistance difficult for people.
If Kadi didn’t do this, pollution and pain would run rampant, and Ozulik would likely fall rapidly...
It was a desperate measure, merely a drop in the bucket.
Kadi could bear only so much, even if he became a superhuman King by Odaqiro’s Sword, he still couldn’t endure the ever-increasing pain and pollution.
But he had to do it.
"To bear the crown, one must bear its weight."
"You are a qualified king, Kadi."
Rogel spoke solemnly, moving forward slowly.
In the Black Tide, tentacles stretched out, with their tips reaching Kadi’s numbed head and carefully taking the crown down.
"From here on, it will be up to the captain."
As Rogel’s words fell.
Freed from the crown’s suppression, endless pain and pollution instantly erupted from Kadi’s tall and emaciated body.
Within the black-red airflow, liquid like blood mixed with a wildly chaotic aura attempting to escape.
Rogel merely lifted his hand slightly, closed it in the air.
In silence, all the pain and pollution were instantly compressed, and finally, condensed into a small ball.
Subsequently, the dark yellow power of destruction utterly submerged it...
...
"Oh, King... I’m in such pain..."
"My Spirit feels gnawed by beasts, my Body feels scorched by flames..."
"Save me... save me..."
Screaming, wailing, crying.
The endless laments clung to Kadi’s ears like maggots in bones, eroding his limited sanity.
Kadi felt as if he was sinking into endless, boundless pain.
Helpless moments repeatedly unfolded before him.
"Oh King... from now on, it’s up to you..."
The Shadow Leader’s dying voice echoed in his ears over and over.
"My King, my brother fell in battle, my wife died of illness, and now my son is afflicted with a strange disease, I implore you... save him..."
The loyal Warrior who only shed blood, never tears on the battlefield, knelt before him, tearfully pleading.
"When will this type of life end...""There’s no hope, Thousand Islands Kingdom... is doomed...""We have no chance..."
The square witnessed lamentation everywhere, the despair in the air seemed to solidify.
"What should I do..."
"Is the Thousand Islands Kingdom really going to fall..."
Kadi looked at his broad hands, capable of crushing a Monster’s skull with one blow, but now felt deeply powerless...
The heavy crown atop seemed about to crush his tall frame.
...
"I mustn’t let pain and despair continue to spread..."
"I will bear the pollution!"
A wide, powerful palm clenched into a fist, a steadfast voice came from the young king.
The ministers at his side all urged against it, no one supported this proposal.
"Absolutely not!"
"Oh King! You are the last line of defense! Without the King, what becomes of the Thousand Islands Kingdom!"
To this, he merely shook his head.
"The Kingdom does not exist because of the King."
"If everyone loses hope in their hearts, then that is the true fall of the kingdom and extinction..."
Saying this, he removed the splendid crown from his head, wiped off the dust, and smiled.
"Since even in such disaster, they still wish to call me King, then..."
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