Devouring World Dragon

Chapter 213 The Exiled King

Nano—the great primordial city, the origin of the snake-people civilization. Legend has it that the oldest snake-people were born here through the power of the snake father, and later, many other species such as mermaids and sea giants appeared.

The snake-people were the first to be born, so they are the eldest sons of the father of snakes, and they rule the entire ocean on his behalf.

The serpent people are the rulers of the sea, while the mermaids are their musicians, the sea giants are their guards, the fish-men are their warriors, and the sea spirits are their eyes and ears... In the long-standing legends, the world has always been like this, with a clear distinction between the noble and the lowly, thus establishing the order of the entire ocean.

Nano is the crown of the father of snakes. From ancient times to the present, many sea races have come to Nano on pilgrimage, and the priests of the snake people would receive their worship and foot-kissing. However, this tradition has been broken for a long time now...

……

In the city of Nano, which has a population of over a million, steam towers in the sky continuously spew out steam. Huge mechanical constructs, like eight-legged spiders, move through the crowded city streets with their thin but sturdy metal claws. Little sprites, using small steam jet flying devices, shuttle between various twisted and bizarre houses made of steel and machinery to deliver messages.

Above Nano, those mighty and invincible floating warships, resembling mountains, slowly soared through the air. Inside, thousands of monstrous slaves, under the whips of overseers, tirelessly propelled the powerful cores, casting shadows that obscured the faint light emanating from the barrier. Meanwhile, the mighty sea giants riding white whale beasts constantly patrolled the blind spots inaccessible to the floating warships.

Deep underground in Nano, numerous massive machines made of brass gears and metal chains operate continuously under the power of steam. Underground, many dark-skinned shell people and rock monsters diligently operate them. Steam trains adorned with intricate decorations and runes shuttle back and forth on underground tracks, their streamlined bodies resembling underground dragons... These enormous mechanical monsters contribute to the prosperity of the city.

This is a world that belongs only to steam.

Instead of wielding the power of lightning to compete with the gods, the snake-man chose to gather the power of fire and wind in this underwater world, unleashing an amazing charm that could never be seen on the surface.

But right at the very heart of Nano, a city revered by countless underwater kingdoms, there was only an unspeakable silence and solemnity...

Inside the arched room decorated with exquisite shells and gemstones, a beautiful mermaid rests against a huge bed of seashells.

Her features were exquisitely beautiful, with slender eyebrows, trembling eyelashes, supple wrists, and a waist so thin it could be grasped with a single hand. She wore elaborate and elegant strange clothes, and a jade-green gemstone adorned her forehead. She looked as delicate and fragile as a doll, except that her long fishtail revealed her non-human identity.

Mermaid.

In ancient legends, these "mermaids" in the West and "mermaids" in Eastern tales were all extremely beautiful, and sailors could sometimes see these beautiful creatures in the sea. But hundreds of years ago, due to a great upheaval that Eastern cultivators called "the severing of the connection between heaven and earth," many miracles ceased to occur, and mermaids gradually disappeared. However, in this underwater snake-people civilization, mermaids are not uncommon.

After a while, the mermaid, who had been sleeping, gradually opened her eyes, revealing her vertical snake pupils.

She stretched casually, her long hair fluttering, and the beautiful creature, seemingly half-awake, raised her arm. As she awoke, her soft and languid voice rang out.

"Enya, what are those old guys in the White Palace saying now?"

The White Palace is the seat of power in the entire city of Nano. The elders within the White Palace are revered figures gathered from various city-states. Many small city-states must submit to the will of the elders in the White Palace, but this mermaid dressed in elegant attire doesn't care at all and directly calls him an old fellow.

"Princess, I think they're terrified..."

The little sprites nearby fluttered about, chattering away beside the languid, beautiful creature.

In a very ancient era, the world faced a great crisis. As for what it was, no one knows. Even the snake-people civilization failed to survive. The only thing known is that some mythical creatures survived by chance under the protection of the snake-people. All other mythical creatures were wiped out in that catastrophe, not a single one left.

These little elves are among the few surviving species. Originally born on land, these little elves are smaller than a hand in size, but they are extremely good at hiding. These clever little elves, who do not know what betrayal is, are loved by the snake people. After arriving at the seabed, in order to adapt to the underwater environment, the little elves have no choice but to become the pets of many underwater nobles, including the snake people.

As the princess of Nano City, this extremely beautiful creature naturally has little elves accompanying her.

As she slowly and methodically combed her long hair, she listened leisurely to the cheerful voice of the little elf beside her, a smile playing on her lips.

This situation did not surprise her. Those venerable ones possessed immense power and controlled the fate of hundreds of millions of creatures in almost the entire ocean. However, the older they got, the more timid they became. When the prophesied catastrophe was about to descend, they were naturally terrified.

But then again, who can ignore the impending disaster...?

The mermaid's delicate and complex mind was like crystal, able to perceive the subtle nuances in the hearts of others. As she slowly combed her hair, the fear and apprehension in the hearts of those venerable ones flowed into her heart like a gentle stream...

Three months ago, all the skilled prophets in the entire ocean received a revelation: a prophecy about the imminent return of the "Exiled King".

Legend has it that in the most ancient mythological era, there was a noble king in the kingdom of snake people. That noble king possessed indescribable power. He was the most beloved offspring of the father of snakes, and his heart was as vast as the sea and as cold as ice and snow.

It ruled over the entire ocean and all its creatures. Among its many serpent offspring, it was the most beloved. The serpent people revered it, and its praise was celebrated in as many as seven thousand long poems, and its name was coined in as many as seven hundred times, even surpassing that of the Magic King and the White Serpent Woman Mona. But one day…

Wang has gone mad.

This king, whose power was second only to the father of the snakes, fell into inexplicable madness. The powerful king destroyed snake-people cities one after another, pushing the snake-people civilization, which he once cherished and which was once prosperous and powerful, to the brink of destruction. No one could stop his supreme power.

In the end, the snake people banished the former king of the sea, driving him to the earth.

After that, the king's deeds were subjected to the "penalty of oblivion," forbidden to be mentioned. From then on, no one knew the king's name, his gender, or his deeds; only a very few records that were fortunate enough to survive contain a name for him.
"King Unogaya".

In the Serpent People's language, Unogaya means void or emptiness, while in the language of the Serpent People's nemesis, the Atlanteans, the void is pronounced as... "hidden".

……

"...The king will return, the king will be destroyed, under the watchful eye of the serpent father, the end has come." All the skilled prophets received this revelation, and almost all the endings related to this revelation pointed to the same conclusion: the destruction of the serpent civilization.

The Venerables could ignore the words of one prophet, but they could not ignore the words of all prophets. Tens of thousands of prophets mentioned the prophecy in unison and insisted that it was true, which has already caused a stir in the entire underwater world.

In recent days, the sudden appearance of two Atlanteans and a serpent-like being has greatly shocked the White Palace Venerables...

The beautiful creature glanced out the window. Not far away, the majestic white palace stood tall, and behind it, the magnificent statue of the White Snake Woman stared indifferently at the city of Nano before her. But looking at all this, she let out a strange self-mocking laugh.

"A snake-transformed being... Heh, in the six hundred years since the snake people went extinct, the first snake-transformed being to appear is actually a terrestrial being—an Atlantean?"

Setting down the comb, the last descendant of the snake-people, the snake-person princess, had a complex look in her eyes. While most mermaids have normal, round pupils, hers were vertical, needle-shaped, like a snake's eye—proof of the last trace of snake-person blood within her.

Yes, she is the last snake-woman. She is not a mermaid princess, but a snake-woman princess.

Six hundred years ago, for reasons unknown, all the snake people suddenly died. The natural monarch, who symbolized the revered status of the father of snakes, died, and a fierce internal strife broke out in the entire underwater world. Finally, the city of Nano, led by mermaids and sea giants, found the last snake-people descendant.

Although only a very small amount of his bloodline remains, he is still the king of the sea. The sea is barely unified. This snake-man bloodline is carefully protected by the city of Nano, but it is still fading away. Until now, Ya'anjemu should be the last snake-man bloodline.

After her, the snake-people bloodline will be completely severed, and the future of the entire underwater world will be unpredictable.

However, the sudden prophecy and the serpents transformed from Atlanteans seem to suggest that an unseen hand is manipulating everything. The serpent-men are the embodiment of the serpent father's will; what will the reborn serpents signify...?

“Enya, come with me. Let’s go to the White Palace and see what those old guys are planning to do this time.”

She rose, and with the help of several respectful merman maids who came forward, changed into a long dress, then put on a small crown. Her original elegant demeanor faded, replaced by a sense of supreme majesty.

The snake-woman princess looked in the direction of the White Palace, her brows furrowed with a hint of arrogance and stubbornness.

……

"Hear my call! Lord of the Endless Void! Starshifter! Solid Foundation! Master of Earthquakes! Conqueror of Terror! Creator of Pain! Destroyer! Victorious One of Glory! Child of Void and Chaos! Guardian of the Abyss! God of Primordial Darkness! Lord of Dimensions! Enigmatic Sage! Guardian of Secrets! Lord of Labyrinths! Master of Angles! God of Night Hawks! Final Tip! Lord of Gates! Pathfinder! Primordial Almighty Immortal Lord! Ummel At Tavel! Iak-Sathath! Yog Sothoth NAFL'FTHAGN!!! Your servant calls upon you!"

Inside the ancient castle, a mad nobleman, a former French marshal, holds a mysterious book in his hands and shouts wildly at the sculpture in front of him.

Behind him, "himself" watched all of this indifferently.

The "self" had never heard of the god that the Frenchman was invoking, and the "self" used to know what the Frenchman was thinking, but no longer did.

At first, he was just a depressed mortal. When we saw him, he had achieved great success but was deeply confused. Later, he somehow got his hands on a book made of human skin covered with strange symbols. He then devoted himself to studying the mysteries inside, gradually becoming delusional and eventually falling into an inescapable madness.

The book in his hand, made of human skin, seemed to possess some strange power and knowledge, but "he" was not interested. "He" already had enough power and had no desire for more.

The only thing "self" knows is that he can help him create a container to seal the "heart".

“A vessel? Of course, the saintess needs to be resurrected, but this damned, evil world does not allow the dead to be resurrected. But that doesn’t matter! As long as the eternally sleeping father of serpents is awakened, this world will be destroyed, and then a new saintess will be resurrected!”

Faced with his own words, this mad Frenchman uttered a lot of things he couldn't understand. He still couldn't grasp the logic behind why the saint he longed for would be resurrected after the world was destroyed.

"...O sublime saint, my beloved lord, you will awaken! The gods of heaven cannot stop you! You will surely rise again! You will definitely... definitely! Joan of Arc!!!"

At that moment, the Frenchman's chaotic and insane words seemed to be addressed to several people, but it didn't matter. His heart was "sealed," and he had destroyed the only flag used to open the sculpture—that was enough...

Is that enough...?

In the dim dream world, it seemed as if a pair of cold, vertical snake eyes were watching him, looking down at the frenzied Frenchman and "himself" below, as if mocking the insignificance of a tiny insect...

Open your eyes slowly.

Wake up from dream.

My heart is as calm as an ancient well, undisturbed.

In the pitch-black depths of the ocean, under immense pressure exceeding human limits and even the limits of steel's endurance, even a submersible made of special alloys would be squeezed and twisted into a pretzel. But this naked man seemed oblivious, as if he were simply strolling on a beach.

He inexplicably lowered his head, not looking at the ground beneath his feet, but at the "existence" deeper underground.

After a long while, he murmured something, but no sound answered him. He remained silent, then raised his head and continued walking forward in the dark seabed, his voice echoing only in the water…

"Is this your will? If so, then so be it..."

(End of this chapter)