Chapter 155: Mask! The Secret of The Elemental King
“Urm… nothing…”
Chen Rui returned to normal only after awhile, “Torre, is there anything?”
Torre replied, “The earth elemental that left brought their leader over;Chief Delong asked you to come over.”
Chen Rui asked, “How many earth elementals came?”
“Just these two.”
Chen Rui nodded. It seems that things are going well, otherwise the rebel forces leader of the earth elementals won’t come alone to the “enemy’s” nest.
When Athena saw that he was about to leave, she asked, “What happened?”
Chen Rui told her the thing about the earth elemental and Athena said, “Let’s go together. After sleeping, my strength has almost fully recovered.”
Chen Rui thought that there should be no danger this time, so he agreed and the trio walked out of the cave together.
Doug brought a cyan-colored earth elemental. He looked similar to the other two earth elementals who battled against Queen Medusa and Chief Tauren. He should be the leader that Doug mentioned, the head of the three elite earth elementals under Earth Elemental King, Tag.
Chen Rui approached and the comprehensive strength shown in <Analytical Eyes> was indeed “Unable to Judge”.
Tag’s body was smaller than Doug’s, and he was slightly shorter than the taurens. His body was closer to the human figure. His eyes flashed with the same white light as Doug instead of the yellow light after “mutation”.
As the taurens couldn’t communicate with earth elemental, even if there were only two earth elementals that came, Delong and the others showed considerable vigilance. The surrounding tauren were all on guard since this light-green earth elemental had powerful strength that rivalled the Chief Tauren.
The cyan earth elemental saw Chen Rui and took the initiative to greet, “Hi, I’m Tag. Thank you for releasing Doug.”
The consciousness exchange of <Analytical Eyes> could be divided into area and unit. Chen Rui didn’t want to cause the tauren’s misunderstanding. Therefore, he expanded the area of <Analytical Eyes> so that that the surrounding taurens could understand him.
“Hi, I’m Chen Rui, the tauren’s best friend. For the leader, Tag to come here today, are you coming with sincerity or hostility?”
“You indeed have the magical power to communicate with the elementals.” Tag said while nodded solemnly to Chen Rui. He wasn’t disdainful of Chen Rui’s weak strength. “I came here only with Doug, which is enough to prove my sincerity, but at the same time, I have another doubt.”
Others couldn’t understand Tag’s language, so Chen Rui listened while translating to the taurens and Athena.
“Earth Elemental King in Earth Realm will always be the highest ruler of us, the earth elementals. Although I led some of the elementals who didn’t want to accept the mutation to escape, we aren’t willing to be hostile toward our great king and even more unwilling to kill our comrades with our own hands. In this case, I don’t think that the tauren or medusa will be willing to accept the defective earth elementals. However, in order to show the friendliness of the earth elementals, I still come with sincerity as I don’t wish to be your enemy.”
After listening to Chen Rui’s translation, the Chief Tauren was silent. He waved his hand to let the alert taurens backed down. Whether it was accepted or not, Tag’s sincerity was worthy of recognition. There was no need to make such a tense posture that made the taurens look weak and cowardly.
Chen Rui could tell that Tag wasn’t someone that was arrogant and unreasonable, so he said, “Tag, thank you for your frankness first. I want to ask you a question. Before you are forced to leave the Earth Realm with your companions, do the elementals often massacre the other creatures in such a way?”
Tag shook his head, “We elementals have our own principles. Unless our territory is violated, we’ll never attack or interrupt the existence of other remaining creatures.”
“What about now?” Chen Rui’s words made Tag lowered his head. Chen Rui didn’t give him the opportunity to explain and continued, “Except for the tauren and medusa that are struggling to resist, all the other underground creatures were eliminated by these mutated earth elementals. Not only that, even you, an earth elemental isn’t safe. I heard Doug said that because of the unwillingness to accept the mutation, many earth elementals were brutally killed. At this time, where are the so-called principles of the elementals?”
Tag’s head was lower and Chen Rui went on to say, “Uniting with the tauren and medusa isn’t to kill your comrades, the earth elementals, but it is for your own survival! Even if you don’t kill each other, once the taurens and medusas are destroyed, the only ones left will be you, the earth elementals who defected. Do you think that you can escape the killing from your own people?”
Everyone was closely interdependent.
Tag thought for a while then suddenly raised his head and said firmly, “The great king is only fallen into confusion due to some special reason. I believe that with his powerful strength, he must be able to solve the confusion in his heart and return to the initial, normal state.”
Chen Rui’s heart was moved. He asked, “I’ve always been curious about this. Why has the Earth Elemental King changed so much? What is the confusion that you said? Please tell me what you know. It’s not only for our survival, but also for the great king of the earth elementals. Perhaps we can find a way to help him return to normal as soon as possible. Besides, you wouldn’t want to be killed in your comrades’ hands without knowing the reason right?”
After hearing the last sentence, the white light in Tag’s eyes glittered a little. . After a moment of contemplation, he finally said, “This matter starts from a long time ago, probably about 400 years ago.”
For a long time, the underground world had always been in balance. Although thousands of years ago, the space above was fully excavated. Yet, for various reasons, most of the creatures were unwilling to leave the underground, especially the few that relied on the fountain of life for reproduction and survival. For the strongest force, earth elementals, although their newly-born great king had the strength to easily break the seal, the earth elementals had their own principles of survival. They wouldn’t easily interfere with the rest of the civilization. Thus, instead of breaking the seal, they continued to live a peaceful and leisure life in the Earth Realm.
However, one day, a sudden change occurred. A strange outsider broke through the powerful seal and killed a lot of creatures along the way. Originally, it had nothing to do with Earth Realm. However, while killing the underground creatures, he also killed several earth elementals. The principle of the earth elementals was that they wouldn’t violate others if others didn’t violate them. So, the Earth Elemental King could no longer neglect. He personally went to destroy this enemy who dared to kill the earth elementals.
This enemy’s strength was far beyond imagination. With the Earth Elemental King’s strength, the enemy actually couldn’t be taken down at once. The shocking battle continued to the Earth Realm, where the earth elementals gathered and it lasted 1 day and 1 night. The Earth Elemental King finally won and eliminated the enemy with his advantage in the Earth Realm.
According to Earth Elemental King afterward, this enemy’s strength was quite horrifying, but this enemy was seriously injured before the battle. Otherwise, even in the Earth Realm, he might not be able to rival.
Chen Rui was shocked: The earth elementals has the strongest combat power in the earth and so is the Earth Elemental King. This seriously-injured person is able to fight against the Earth Elemental King to such a degree must be a strong Demon Overlord. Why did such a strong man come to the underground somehow, slaughter the underground living creatures and even went into conflicts with the earth elementals?
Tag went on to say that although the enemy was eliminated, the incident didn’t end. The man was destroyed by the king, leaving only one thing that emitted strange powers. It actually caused a strong interference. The Earth Elemental King had to suppress this thing personally in the king’s chamber of the Earth Realm.
This thing is likely to be the key! Chen Rui thought quickly. He stopped translating and interrupted, “What is that thing?”
“It’s a mask! It’s terrifying! The mask looks a bit incomplete, but it has very weird power. Those who are close feel like their souls are drawn to it!”
When Chen Rui translated the mask’s incident to the taurens and Athena, the tauren’s couldn’t understand, but Athena looked like she was pondering.
“At the beginning, the king was only holding the mask in his hands and suppressed it with strength.” Tag’s features couldn’t express too many expressions, but there was a bit of fear in his voice, “Yet, one day the mask was worn on the king’s face somehow!”
The Earth Elemental King with a mask started to get weird. He was always sitting motionless all day in the king’s chamber. At first, he still spoke a few words with the three elite earth elementals under his command, but afterward, it was complete silence. Besides, the Earth Realm that prohibited anyone else to come in had undergone some abnormal changes, and the earth elementals could feel it.
In such a way, over a hundred years later, a strange flying creature began to appear in the Earth Realm. This creature that looked like a fly had never appeared in the underground world. At first, the earth elementals didn’t care about it. However, these “flies” gradually increased. The Earth Elemental King that had always been silent suddenly issued a command: No earth elementals are allowed to harm these demonic flies.
The emergence of the demonic flies caused more and more strange things happened. The most obvious thing was that the ever-lasting fountain of life actually dried up gradually. After many years, the silent Earth Elemental King once again issued a command: Attack the underground creatures around the Earth Realm! Those creatures obviously didn’t invade the Earth Realm, so the earth elementals were very puzzled by this order that violated our principles. Yet, they still faithfully executed the will of the king.
Strangely, the number of demonic flies increased significantly after the creatures were eliminated.
Since then, the Earth Elemental King became even more weird. For years, he rarely spoke. When he spoke, it was a command to kill. The number of demonic flies increased greatly as well. Many earth elementals began to suspect. The three elites, Tag, Taug, and Sog went to the king’s chamber multiple times to meet the king, but they either got no response or were reprimanded.
After another period of time, the Earth Elemental King spoke again. He claimed that he had obtained a powerful revelation previously, and he had been studying this revelation. If he succeeded, he would have control over the mutation that could make earth elementals stronger. However, it required the earth elementals to accept mutations irresistibly. The most loyal elite earth elemental, Taug took the initiative to accept the secret method and his strength indeed increased. Yet, strangely, Taug seemed to have lost his previous memory. He didn’t recognize even Tag and Sag and led all his subordinates to accept the mutation.
The mutated earth elementals lost their memories. They were more obedient toward the king’s orders. They started to kill more underground creatures, and they even eliminated the most populous trolls.
Tag and Sog were skeptical about the “mutation”. They put their highest doubt onto that mask. Sog secretly went to the king’s chamber to look for the truth. Yet, he was accidentally discovered by the elemental king. When Sog came out of the king’s chamber, he had also became the same as Toug. The mutated earth elementals didn’t even let their companions go. Many rebellious earth elementals were killed. In this case, Tag confirmed that the Earth Elemental King was affected by the mask. Thus, he had to flee the Earth Realm together with some earth elementals who were unwilling to receive the mutation. He was looking forward to the day when the Earth Elemental King could wake up and return to himself.
After hearing Tag’s words, Chen Rui felt that many doubts in his heart were solved one by one. Some vague key points in the past could be faintly connected together. The truth was going to be revealed.
The abnormal change of the Earth Elemental King must be related to that mask. The appearance of the demonic flies was also the same. The demonic flies was only a small amount initially. The number increased with the destruction of enemies. They also seemed to be able to strengthen themselves with other lives and flesh. This could also be used to explain the attack on other creatures.
For “mutation” of the earth elemental mustn’t be simple. It should be a special way for the Earth Elemental King to manipulate these subjects who had suspicion. Normally, with Earth Elemental King’s Demon Overlord strength, it shouldn’t be difficult to destroy underground creatures or suppress the skeptics. Thus, it posed an important question: The Earth Elemental King is unable to exert power for some reason! He can’t even leave the king’s chamber!
The number of demonic flies is already quite large. Then, what’s the purpose for the Earth Elemental King to continue to control earth elementals and demonic flies to attack the underground creatures? Is it to unify the underground world?
Chen Rui was filled with multiple assumptions and doubts at once. After translating Tag’s speech, Athena cautiously said, “Chen Rui, are you sure these demonic flies’ name were bloodthirsty demonic flies, decomposing demonic flies and borer demonic flies?”
Athena had been fighting ever since she arrived to the bottom level of the main pit. She hardly had time to stop. After being teleported from the Medusa’s Lair to the stone beam, the two were immersed in tenderness and intimacy, so they never had the chance to discuss about this aspect.
When Chen Rui was translating just now, Athena began to pay attention to these details. Her eyes kept changing. She seemed to have thought of something.
“I’m sure.” Chen Rui nodded. The data displayed by his <Analytical Eyes> should have no mistakes.
After getting a positive answer, Athena blurted out, “I know what that mask is! Also, the man from 400 years ago!”
“Who is it?”
“That mask is 1 of the 7 artifacts in the Demon Realm, the God-Eating Mask! That person is the Glorfin Beelzebub from 400 years ago!”