Chapter 127: The Old King Who Lost His Dignity

It is not uncommon for a pride of Lions to have two male Lions—the Lion King and a loyal deputy guarding the throne.

"Can I go inside and take a look?"

Blaze asked the Goblin Warrior behind him. Entering the corpse of the Deities worshipped by a tribe still required asking the followers for their permission first.

The Goblin Warrior looked at the curious goblin residents around him. Seeing no signs of disturbance, he respectfully nodded to Blaze.

Blaze took a deep breath and slowly walked into the cave, which was actually the eye socket of the Lion’s skeleton.

There was no telling how long this skeleton had been here. Judging by the dust that had accumulated into mountain ranges on top of it, it must have been at least several millennia.

The skeletal cave was incredibly dim, with fireflies emitting a golden light to guide the way.

He arrived in front of a stone. It was a Star Fragment—an immensely massive one at that.

"If I use this Star Fragment, how much can I raise the Skill Level of [Leo]?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, it will be stuck at A, and you won’t be able to advance any further," an elderly voice emerged from the stone.

A translucent, aged Lion walked out of the stone. Blaze immediately took a step back and drew his weapon.

"No need to be so vigilant. Look..." The Lion bared his gums. "I am old. My teeth are gone, and my claws can no longer grow back. I pose no threat."

Blaze narrowed his eyes. He could see clearly that the Lion’s mouth and paws were covered in bite marks. His teeth and claws hadn’t fallen out due to aging; they had been snatched away by something else.

But what Blaze found strangest was that this Lion was far too old. The chicken had existed for who knew how many years, yet it still maintained a youthful appearance, whereas this Lion was already decrepit with age.

The only explanation was that, just like how the chicken continued to grow after obtaining a vessel, this Lion’s soul also possessed a certain vessel and continuously aged over the years.

Blaze looked at the massive Star Fragment again; the answer was crystal clear.

[The Fallen Old King — Nameless Lion]

"Are you also a Nemean?"

"Also? It seems you’ve already met the other one." The aged Lion slowly lay down; he seemed too old to stand for long. "That guard of the throne, that Traitor who stole my teeth and claws, and took away my name."

The story was simple. The loyal guard realized that the place occupied by his king was too magnificent—so magnificent that nothing but Greed was left in his heart. However, the king’s Power was simply too strong, so that Greed turned into fear, and fear was far more terrifying than Greed.

Fear drove the guard to pursue Power at all costs. Fear made the guard defect to the Giant from the Abyss. Fear led the guard to believe that when the king fought for souls and Life, it was the omen of him ascending the throne.

Why snatch away the king’s teeth and claws? Because only the king’s teeth and claws could slice open the king’s noble fur.

"He put on your fur, replaced your existence, and submitted to the Titan Giant."

"Submitted? That was merely finding the next object of his fear, the next existence he wants to replace," the aged Lion said with drooping eyes. "I heard the fall of the Titan Giant, and I heard the blood filled with the Power of Evil God falling from the sky. Right now, he must be eagerly sucking up that blood, turning himself into a new Giant, right?"

"He has already become the Nemean Giant. However, because I woke him up, his gestation has accelerated, so his scale probably won’t catch up to the Titan Giant." Blaze paused. Considering that the old king and the new king usually harbored deep-seated hatred for each other, he revealed the plan he had been preparing.

The aged Lion chuckled softly. "If it were me, I probably would have burst out the moment you laid hands on my lionesses.

"But he won’t. Even if you slaughter all of his lionesses and offspring without leaving a single one alive, he won’t come out. Once he realizes you pose no threat to his status, he will unhesitatingly burrow deeper underground, only breaking out of the earth when he becomes a new Titan Giant."

"Status?" Blaze looked at the aged Lion’s vessel, the massive Star Fragment. "You said the Skill Level of [Leo] couldn’t exceed A. Is it because a Skill Level above A is a challenge to his kingly status?"

The aged Lion’s eyes widened slightly. "You are very smart. The act of using a Star Fragment to increase the Skill Level of [Leo] is stealing the Lion’s Power. This is exactly what he did back then. Every time you increase the Skill Level, he will be jolted awake, until he is so enraged by his inability to sleep due to Panic that he bursts out of the ground."

"Then can you give me that stone? I don’t suppose you attached yourself to this stone just to eke out a meager existence, right?" Blaze pointed at the massive Star Fragment.

Blaze felt his tone was a bit harsh. This was probably because he couldn’t understand this defeated old king. That decadent sense of resignation and apathy was infuriating. How had the great soul that once fought for souls and Life turned into this state?

The aged Lion slowly got up, tottering like an old man tormented by life. "I have indeed been clinging to this final remain in order to draw out the Traitor. With my cooperation, you would reach a level second only to Z.

"But I won’t cooperate with you. The conditions for victory have not yet been gathered."

"Because I haven’t conquered Aries yet, right?"

The aged Lion turned his head back in sheer astonishment, but this tiny ripple was soon calmed within his immense and profound despair.

"Young man, you should take this advice and give up on that absurd plan. Without Aries, you cannot win.

"Only Aries’ Horn Strike can pierce a Lion of the same caliber. With Aries, you can barely be considered to be competing on the same stage.

"But the sea where Aries resides will only appear during Heaven and Earth Overturning."

The aged Lion lowered his head, ignoring Blaze, and slowly walked toward his final remain.

"Is there any other way?"

The young man’s stubborn voice came from behind. The aged Lion felt even more exhausted. It was as if this young male Lion couldn’t understand his underlying message.

"Leave him alone, and let him break out of the earth to become an even more colossal Giant. The world will churn and spin beneath his feet, and at that time, the sea where Aries resides will appear, fulfilling the conditions for victory.

"Until then..."

The aged Lion didn’t continue. Even fallen as he was, he couldn’t bring himself to say such words. But Blaze voiced that terrible future on his behalf.

"We endure the new Giant as an irresistible disaster, shivering beneath his feet and clinging to Life between his legs. Then, after who knows how long, once we gather the guaranteed conditions for victory, we challenge him."

"Is this destined victory not good enough?!" A hint of anger seeped into the aged Lion’s voice. Blaze’s youthful arrogance was constantly tearing at his remaining dignity.

The young male Lion roared at the aged old king, who had lost all fighting spirit and wasn’t even willing to reclaim his dignity with his own hands.

"No, destiny is that we can win even without Aries.

"The Giant has already fallen. We will not let a second Giant rise and block our sky again.

"That is why I’m standing here asking you if there’s any other way."

"I don’t know! Other than the horn of Aries and the claws and teeth of a Lion, there is no way to break through the Lion’s Fur from the outside." The aged Lion growled angrily at Blaze, but stripped of all his Majesty, he failed to evoke any fear in Blaze.

Blaze calmed down and stroked his chin, pondering the aged Lion’s words.

"If the outside doesn’t work, that means from the inside..."

The aged Lion mocked sarcastically, as if giving himself up to despair.

"Do you think he doesn’t know about this weakness? He will definitely keep his mouth shut tight from beginning to end.

"If you lower his Life Value to a dangerous level, he might eat you, a young Lion, for Recovering Health. That way, you’d have a chance to strike him from the inside.

"Of course, that assumes you have a way to kill him from the inside before he absorbs you as nourishment."