The Goddess’s Law of Condemnation (Part II)
—
Massive, skeletal claws appeared in the sky near the Goddess’s temple, and from a distance, Thrett could see the purple-haired demon waving on the ground.
“Your Majesty!”
As expected, the Demon King had arrived. Ziyuan had anticipated this situation. He and Wei Yu had reached the vicinity of the temple the previous day, initially not planning to approach it. The temple happened to be on the route to the Demon King’s castle, and Ziyuan didn’t see any reason to alter his path just to avoid the neurotic white-clad elves. However, they were suddenly attacked by armed holy elves who claimed they were protecting the hero from demon harassment and then took Wei Yu away. Before leaving, they warned Ziyuan that if he dared step into the temple, he wouldn’t leave alive, even threatening to erase Wei Yu’s memories.
Ziyuan didn’t immediately storm the temple. He knew his strength was likely greater than that of the holy elves, but he wasn’t the impulsive, hot-headed type to recklessly charge in and make a mess. He figured that since those who captured Wei Yu were aligned with the hero, the kid’s treatment wouldn’t be too harsh. Moreover, he suspected that the two heroes in the world might both be captured, so all he had to do was wait near the temple, and a powerful ally would inevitably arrive.
On the ground, the Demon King’s intense pressure could be felt, and sensing that the seal on the Demon King’s power had been completely released, Ziyuan found himself momentarily breathless. Thrett appeared visibly furious.
Thrett quickly descended to the ground and said in a cold voice, “I’m going to wipe out those fuckers.”
Unlike Ziyuan, the Demon King was indeed very angry. Initially, Ziyuan couldn’t be sure if the young hero had been successfully brought here. After all, the Demon King was extremely protective of the other hero. However, it seemed they had indeed succeeded.
“Did those arrogant elves hurt him?” This was the first conclusion Ziyuan reasoned.
“They erased Ell’s memories.” Thrett’s brows furrowed in anger once again, his face devoid of any emotion haunting Thrett’s mind whenever he thought about it, causing him deep anguish.
“They actually went through with it.” This news surprised Ziyuan greatly. He knew that the Sacred Elves indeed possessed some sort of fantastical and whimsical powers, but the idea of controlling memories seemed too absurd at first. When he was initially threatened, Ziyuan dismissed it as the Sacred Elves being delusional, making up stories out of thin air.
Now, if Wei Yu had made any excessive resistance inside the temple, he might be in serious trouble. While Ziyuan didn’t have any personal experience of being forgotten, seeing the Demon King’s unprecedented anxiety and panic raised some alarm bells.
“Your Majesty, you need to think this through,” Ziyuan suddenly exclaimed, grabbing Thrett, who stared back, waiting for him to continue.
“If you kill all the elves now after they’ve erased the human’s memories, who else has the ability to restore them?”
While demons could use various types of magic, none of them specialized in memory manipulation. If memory manipulation fell under the sacred attribute of magic, then the Demon King might find himself helpless. Even if Thrett had the ability to wield similar magic, he wouldn’t risk such a high-stakes gamble on Ellyad.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Thrett finally calmed down and fell silent for a moment. Now was not the time to hastily launch an attack. While annihilating the elves would be effortless, killing them would pose the question of who could restore Ellyad’s memories. Furthermore, Ellyad currently didn’t recognize Thrett as the ‘Hero.’ Charging in now would only escalate into a battle between the two.
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“If the Demon King were to die, the demons would enter a pseudo-hibernation period, and humans would enjoy about a century of peace. On the other hand, due to the Demon King’s prolonged existence, the demons would actively expand their influence. Even if Thrett has no interest in destroying the world, the demons would gradually consume the land bit by bit.”
However, it was clear that the Sacred Elves were only acting in their own interests, which was why they were so desperate to find the Hero. It seemed that these elves, who claimed to be messengers of the Goddess, might actually be demons disguised in elven skin.
“Ziyuan,” the Demon King sneered coldly, giving the order, “Let’s return to the Demon King’s castle.”
His advisor behind him bowed respectfully and smiled knowingly. The Demon King’s thoughts aligned perfectly with his own. If the Sacred Elves’ goal was to send the Hero to defeat the Demon King, then Thrett and his group didn’t need to charge into the temple to fight. They could simply return home and wait for the elves to deliver the Hero right to their doorstep.
“As you command, Your Majesty the Demon King.”
Using the most familiar honorific, the two immediately set off back to the Demon King’s castle. They deliberately spread false rumors outside about the Demon King preparing to lead the demons on a campaign, adding fuel to the fire to make the Sacred Elves anxious and hasten them to safely deliver the Hero to the Demon King’s castle ahead of schedule.
—
The sky was lightly snowing, flakes clinging to hair and shoulders. The needle-like cold made fingertips ache slightly, and every exhale turned into wisps of white vapor. All living things slumbered beneath the pure white blanket of winter.
Fifty Sacred Elves dressed in white armor marched solemnly towards the ominous aura-shrouded Demon King’s castle.
At the forefront of the procession were young men and boys mounted on horses, each clad in snow-white attire. The fluttering capes signaled the beginning of this battle’s prelude.
Thus, the Sacred Elves and the Heroes set forth on the path to vanquish the Demon King.
—
“Reporting to His Majesty the Demon King, both Heroes and the fifty armed Sacred Elves have all been apprehended,” said Ziyuan, dressed in a formal attire of black and purple tones, exuding both elegance and the authority of a chief aide.
“What?! That was fast! Too fast! Are those elves really that weak?” Queen Lily, appearing from the wall, asked in surprise.
Sacred Elves and demons were considered creatures of similar levels; one worshipped the Goddess while the other served the Demon King. Generally, the magical powers of ordinary demons and the prayers of Sacred Elves were evenly matched. However, now it seemed unnecessary for the Demon King to intervene as they were all effortlessly captured.
Perhaps it was due to the advantage of the demon’s territory within the Demon King’s castle, or perhaps… those elves had not exerted their full strength and only intended to push the Heroes to the forefront of the battlefield and directly towards the Demon King’s death.
“Since I am qualified to be the Demon King’s aide, there is no reason to lose to a group of ants with just two extra wings,” Ziyuan sneered coldly as he stood beside the Demon King.
The Sacred Elf troops had only just reached the city gate when Ziyuan led a direct frontal assault, swiftly capturing them unharmed. He pondered: granting death so easily to these foolish elves was a mercy bestowed by the Demon King. Was this perhaps too kind to those idiots?
“Ziyuan, you’re really strong, or are they just really weak… And the Heroes, have they been captured too? Can I go see him? And then I—” Lily fired off questions like a rapid cannon, because with the Heroes entering the Demon King’s castle, it meant she could finally see Lena, whom she had missed for thousands of years.
“First, let’s separate the Elves and the Heroes and place them in different locations. I’ll go check on them now,” the Demon King said casually, tousling Lily’s head, hinting for her to wait a bit longer.
“Yes,” Ziyuan promptly replied, heading off to carry out the Demon King’s orders.
After several hundred years of lying dormant, the dark dungeon, covered in dust and rarely used, today welcomed fifty distinguished guests.
“At least this dungeon wasn’t completely wasted,” Lily said smugly, leaning on the iron bars of the cell, observing from a distance. One Hero was taken away by Ziyuan, while the other was placed in a separate room.
This time there were two Heroes, which truly surprised Lily, but she patiently waited for the Demon King to finish his business. After all, relying on the Elves, she shouldn’t interfere in the battle between the Demon King and the Heroes.
Standing inside the dungeon, with fifty armed Holy Elves who were not restrained in any way, none of them had the courage to attack him. Such was the law of the world: eternity belonged to the Demon King, while demise awaited the Heroes. Only the Heroes could ever kill the Demon King. Anyone daring to attack the Demon King would undoubtedly be seeking death.
“What is the method to restore memories?” Thrett had come solely for this question. If he ordered them to directly restore Ellyad’s memories, who knew what they might do to Ellyad again? Thrett would rather die than let them touch Ellyad again, so he preferred to first force them to reveal the method to restore memories. Once he learned it and was sure he could use it, then he would try it out on a few more Elves before treating Ellyad.
“Are you… Are you the Demon King? Aren’t you the demon who was erased from the Hero’s memories!” It was Shui Lian who first recognized Thrett. She and Mu Jin were responsible for erasing memories, so she remembered very clearly.
Suddenly, a nearby demon soldier swung a stick at her head. Shui Lian screamed in pain, falling unconscious to the ground with blood immediately flowing from her head. The soldier shouted, “You disrespectful wretch! How dare you speak to His Majesty like that!”
The rest of the Holy Elves fell silent, not daring to move, deeply afraid that the next person knocked unconscious might be themselves.
“Stop it! You brutal villains!” Mu Jin shouted as she rushed out, protecting Shui Lian’s body and glaring up at the Demon King.
“Erasing memories is like painting a picture. We simply smear the paint where you appear, making all memories related to you blank. We have no method to restore memories.” She yelled defiantly at the Demon King.
Initially, they had only received orders from Haitang to bring back the Hero and incidentally erase his memories. Moreover, they truly lacked the ability to restore memories.
With Mu Jin taking the lead, the other Elves gathered their courage to verbally oppose him. Though their insults and hostility were all directed at the Demon King, he merely waved his hand casually, commanding the demon soldiers to stay put.
Suddenly, the Demon King chuckled.
That smile carried an intense chill, freezing everyone’s gaze. The higher his smile rose, the greater the sense of dread—
“Ziyuan, find a way to make them reveal the method to restore memories. If they truly don’t know, then take off their heads—send one back to their beloved temple every day. Also, don’t let me hear their voices in the castle,” the Demon King said with a smile that lacked any hint of humor. He turned to leave the dungeon, but Mu Jin angrily shouted after him:
“Wait a minute! We’ve already said we truly don’t have the ability to restore memories. You’re despicable to do this. If you want, just kill us directly. Why humiliate our bodies and our temple like this?”
“Ziyuan,” the Demon King growled impatiently.
“My apologies, Your Majesty! Guards, cut out their tongues,” Ziyuan immediately bowed and apologized, then turned to the soldiers and gave a stern command.
“The execution chamber is straight ahead on the right. Go all the way to the end,” even Lily was somewhat startled by Thrett’s terrifying demeanor, dropping this remark before quietly retreating back into the wall.
—
After being brought to the empty audience hall in the Demon King’s castle, the hero with his flaxen short hair stood there silently.
Just upon arriving at the Demon King’s castle, he was soundly defeated. Despite being ordered to slay the demons, it wasn’t difficult for him initially. However, for some reason at that time, he couldn’t summon the Hero’s Sword no matter how hard he tried. Even when he called out Lena’s name several times, there was no response from her, which led to him being captured so easily.
The young hero, known as Ellyad, didn’t seem to make any attempt to fight back intentionally. He didn’t even touch the gun hanging on his waist. Instead, he let a purple-haired demon catch him.
It was certainly shameful to be defeated without a fight, but the young man didn’t care at all. Someone had requested him to ‘kill the Demon King,’ so he came. And because someone told him to ‘wait here,’ he had no intention to escape whatsoever. Following any orders given to him was the only thing he could do. He didn’t want to think about what he should do or what he wanted to do.
