The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 277 The Demon King's Invitation

As the black mist dissipated, Eric wondered if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the old demon king Digot on the high platform seemed to have become a little younger, with a red light surging in his eyes, which gradually faded after a while.

He suddenly remembered that the Demon King had said that the sword could absorb the souls of those who were killed.

After retrieving his sword, Digot did not linger. He steadily stepped down from the platform and followed Eric and Natalia outwards.

"Eric."

"His Majesty?"

The Demon King's gaze was fixed on Eric's face. "If you hope to use my power to fight the new Demon King, why not stay and build an empire with me? I am also willing to cooperate with humans; I have no prejudice against humans."

Natalia immediately looked at him as well.

Eric thought about it seriously for a moment, his gaze falling on the longsword in the Demon King's hand, and then shook his head.

"I can't help Your Majesty much, or rather, I've already helped Your Majesty on the most important matter. Once you see the light of day again, I think you will quickly regain your former authority."

Digot looked at him for a while, but said nothing.

Soon, the three arrived at the sealed stone gate of the cemetery.

Eric and Natalia both looked at the old demon king, who stared at the stone door for a few moments, then placed a hand on it and uttered a phrase in a demonic language they couldn't understand.

"..."

There was no movement.

The stone gate was cold and motionless.

Eric and Natalia's gazes then shifted to the Demon King's face.

"Was His Majesty's tomb built only after his death? You know nothing about this place?"

Digot continued to scrutinize the stone gate. "When you are about to have eternal life, will you still think about what happens after death?"

“If this door can’t be opened, His Majesty will soon have to consider what happens after his death,” Natalia said bluntly.

The Demon King ignored him.

After standing in front of the stone gate for a while, he suddenly picked up his longsword and thrust it into the gap between the two stone gates.

The tomb was silent, but Eric and Natalia both heard a short, mournful wail.

"what?"

“Some kind of soul seal,” Digot said, then sheathed his longsword and placed his hand on the stone door again.

Just when the two thought he was about to chant some spell again, the Demon King gestured for Eric to push with him.

"……push?"

"push."

With the two of them working together, the heavy stone door, which had been completely still, slowly opened outwards.

Amidst the roar, dust kept falling from above.

Natalia took a step back until the stone door was fully open, a cold wind rushed in, and all she could see was darkness.

Eric fired a ball of light forward, revealing a low, winding passage that looked like an abandoned mine tunnel.

"That does fit the description of dungeon entrances being hidden haphazardly..." Eric muttered.

The Demon King asked what a dungeon was.

“It’s a human way of saying cemeteries,” Eric said dismissively, then pulled Natalia along and walked ahead.

After walking along the abandoned passage for a while, a glimmer of light suddenly appeared ahead. Eric quickened his pace and confirmed that it was the exit.

After climbing the slope for a few minutes, the two stopped at the exit of the passage.

The Demon King quickly followed and understood why the two had stopped there.

—The exit leads directly to a cliff.

"Your Majesty, your people really know how to choose a location."

Eric looked down. The cave entrance was at least tens of meters high. He wondered how the Demon King's tribe had managed to climb up more than six hundred years ago and carve out a huge underground palace inside.

Digot gazed at the Demon Realm Snowfield, which he had not seen for six hundred years, and a hint of nostalgia and emotion appeared on his usually calm face.

“Eric, this is where the Eguna tribe originally formed.”

Eric looked down again. Now all that remained was a snowy forest, covered in white snow. The former Demon King's tribe, like the old Demon King's great achievements, had turned to dust.

“Your Majesty’s efforts to reunify the demon race shall begin here,” Eric said, his gaze sweeping across the cliff face, searching for a foothold to descend. “But you must first descend from here.”

The Demon King was unconcerned and looked at him, saying, "Eric, this is my last invitation to you. I hope you will stay, not only because you have awakened me and our lives are now intertwined, but also because I admire you as a person."

Eric and Natalia exchanged glances, then said, "Thank you for your high regard, Your Majesty, but I still maintain my original view: we must return to human land."

Digot gave him a deep look. "Then we'll meet again someday."

“I also look forward to that day, Your Majesty.” Eric bowed slightly.

If the old Demon King were to emerge from the Demon Realm, he would have undoubtedly regrouped and amassed a considerable force. The one most concerned about him would not be humanity, but the current Demon King.

“Then let’s part ways here.” Digot gazed in a certain direction to the south. “I must first retrieve the Thorn Soul Crown and regain all my power…”

Eric twitched his shoulders, which even Natalia noticed.

"Your Majesty said... the Thorn Soul Crown?"

The Demon King turned his gaze. "What, you've already seen my true crown?"

Eric shook his head.

So the game's name, "Thorn Soul Crown," comes from the old demon king's crown?

"That is the Soul Crown I condensed using the power of collected souls. As long as you wear it, you can gain immortality and power close to that of a god," the Demon King continued.

Eric and Natalia both looked at him, silently asking with their eyes: If that's the case, how did he die?
“Because inseparable from ultimate power is ultimate madness,” Digot said. “The power of billions of souls is concentrated on my crown, and their resentment is also concentrated there. The moment one puts it on, one will completely lose their mind.”

Eric said thoughtfully, "What Sinmag is doing now is trying to remove the resentment of the dead from the crown."

The Demon King remained calm. "If an ordinary human could do this..."

“He is no ordinary man; he is a great mage, a top-tier clergyman, and a genius scholar among humans,” Eric said.

Digot looked at him. "Then I'll look forward to meeting him and seeing what he can do."

“I want to know,” Natalia, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up, “why ordinary souls can be gathered together and transformed into powerful energy?”

The Demon King did not answer directly: "The fact that you can ask this question shows that your human understanding of the soul is almost zero."

Eric and Natalia had no rebuttal.

The only person who can be considered a researcher of the soul is Rusdy, and his current fate is unknown.

The Demon King was not stingy in sharing his findings from his research: "Remember what I said? That crown can give me power close to that of a god. This is not a metaphor; that power truly comes from the gods."

Eric and Natalia were both taken aback.

The Demon King continued, "When the gods created this world, they used the flesh and blood of the dead gods and the soil to create all races, including you humans. The energy contained within was also transferred into your bodies."

"Human beings and all things on the continent continue to reproduce and die. This energy did not dissipate with your deaths, but rather dispersed into your souls as you reproduced. Because it originated from the first group of gods, I call it the 'divine factor'."

"My purpose in slaughtering the creatures of the continent and collecting their souls was to extract the divine elements within them and obtain the power of a true god. Endless lifespan was merely a byproduct of this power... Unfortunately, due to those lingering resentments, I was unable to truly utilize this power until the end of my second life."

Eric and Natalia were deeply shocked.

Digot looked at the two of them for a while, or more precisely, at Eric, before finally asking, "Now, would you like to reconsider my previous proposal?"

Eric snapped out of his daze, his face still showing shock, but he still shook his head.

The Demon King nodded, said no more, and then threw his longsword off the cliff.

The black longsword fell straight down and stuck in the snow below.

"I look forward to the day we meet again, Eric."

After saying that, the Demon King suddenly turned into black mist and disappeared on the spot. The two of them looked up and saw that he had appeared next to the long sword at the bottom of the cliff.

Pulling his longsword from the snow, the Demon King glanced one last time at the two people on the cliff before turning and leaving.

Eric and Natalia didn't look at each other until he was far away.

“I will probably remember every single thing that happened today for the rest of my life,” Natalia said.

“Me too…” Eric nodded, “but we need to solve the current problems first before we can look back on today’s future.”

They first need to figure out how to get down the cliff.

The cliff face was steep, almost vertical, but Eric had already seen several points where he could use them for leverage, and he could easily jump down, but Natalia clearly couldn't.

Eric thought for a moment and decided to try going down the route he had planned first. "I'll go down and take a look first, you stand inside."

Natalia remained on the cliff face, watching him slowly climb down the steep cliff, and couldn't help but feel apprehensive.

Wow!

The stone he was stepping on was easily overturned by the slightest pressure, detached from the mountainside and falling down. Eric clung tightly to the stone above him, searching for his next foothold.

Natalia, watching from above, almost cried out, but held back for fear of disturbing Eric below.

As he descended, he tested the waters, realizing that simply being stable wasn't enough; the landing spot he chose also needed to be able to withstand more weight.

Eric climbed all the way to the bottom of the cliff, and looking at the receding footprints on the snow, he realized that the Demon King was long gone.

The Demon King really isn't worried about him falling to his death here...

Eric suddenly realized that his life was now equivalent to the lives of three people—if he died, the old demon king, resurrected by his blood, would die immediately, and Natalia might not survive the night in such cold, let alone what would happen next.

After searching the bottom of the cliff but finding nothing usable, Eric rested for a while and then took a longer time to climb back up the cliff to the top of the cave, following the same path he had taken down.

"Should I come down with you?" Natalia had already guessed his intentions.

Eric nodded. "But I need to go find something first."

"what?"

“You wait here,” Eric said, then walked back into the Demon King’s Tomb through the low passage he had come out of.

A dozen minutes later, when he returned, he was carrying a set of black clothes.

Those are the Demon King's robes.

“Let me rest for a bit, then we’ll go down,” Eric said. “I’ll carry you down.”

Natalia's hair, which was mostly standing on end from the cold, now stood up completely.

"That's too risky..."

“Well, and I reckon you might not be able to hold on for long, so I’ll have to tie you to me.” Eric gestured to her with the demon robe in his hand.

Natalia's gaze was somewhat vacant.

"...I thought it was for keeping warm."

Eric took a deep breath. "Even with just this one item, it's hard to guarantee its safety. You absolutely have to hold on."

Natalia looked at him, "I'll try..."

“It is necessary.” Eric used his sword to cut the Demon King’s robe into strips, then twisted them into ropes. After they had rested enough, he had Natalia stick close to his back, and they wrapped themselves together with the ropes, then tied a knot.

Before descending, Eric first applied a full physical enhancement buff to himself, one that had no side effects.

"hold me."

Natalia pulled her legs together and hugged his body tightly.

Eric moved to the rock wall next to the cave, grabbed the handhold above, and began to climb down.

Natalia held him tightly, not daring to let go for a moment, and the two slowly descended below the cave entrance.

“Everything is difficult at the beginning… We’ve already passed the most difficult stage.” Eric said to the rock wall. Natalia didn’t dare to reply, but simply used her tightly clenched arms to let him know that she had heard him.

Natalia was much lighter than him, but she was still an adult, and her physical exertion was much greater than when he came down alone. However, Eric felt that he had enough energy to climb to the bottom.

What worried him more was the stability of the foothold and how long Natalia herself could hold on.

“When you’re standing still, can I put my feet on the cliff edge for a little bit of leverage?” Natalia suddenly asked.

Eric paused for a moment, then quickly replied, "Sure, just don't use too much force."

Natalia carefully stretched out her feet and placed them on the cliff face, trying to shift her weight onto the cliff as much as possible.

If Eric climbed down or made any other movement, she would pull back and wait for the next opportunity.

The two clung to each other as they slowly descended the cliff face.

The cold, hard cliff rocks continuously absorbed the heat from Eric's body, and he felt his hands getting colder and colder, while a different kind of warmth kept coming from his back.

After climbing for a few minutes, Eric found a place with plenty of footholds and let Natalia rest for a while.

"Can you still hold on?" he asked.

She leaned on his shoulder, saying, "It feels like my arm doesn't even belong to me anymore."

"Hang in there a little longer, we're almost there."

"...Are we almost at the bottom?" Natalia glanced down. "We're still a long way off!"

"Don't look!"

"..."

After resting for a short while, Eric took a deep breath and continued descending.

They climbed, rested, climbed, rested, and so on. Although Natalia was almost unable to hold on due to exhaustion and cold, the two of them managed to descend to the ground safely.

As soon as he landed, Eric felt Natalia clinging to him from behind, having lost the strength to stand on her own.

He used his sword to cut the rope that served as a safety device. Throughout the process, he only sensed that Natalia had taken a short break two or three times when there was no foothold and leaned against the rope. The rest of the time, he was the one who persevered.

That's why she's so exhausted right now.

As soon as the rope was cut, Natalia fell directly into the snow behind him.

Eric quickly scooped her up and carried her on his back.

Now that he had freed his hands, he could support her legs, saving her a lot of effort.

“We need to find a sheltered place to warm up, and then get some food to replenish our strength,” Eric said.

Natalia was too weak to speak and gave a muffled reply.

Eric carried her on his back and continued walking forward.

The only saving grace was that no snowstorm had started since they left the Demon King's Tomb; otherwise, Eric wouldn't know how he would have carried Natalia down in that kind of weather.

For this reason, the footprints left by the Demon King when he left still remain on the snow.

Before them lay a snowy forest, and with no direction in sight, Eric decided to follow in the Demon King's footsteps.

He must have his reasons for walking this way.

About half an hour later, Natalia said she wanted to get down.

"Are you able to walk?"

“I can walk,” Natalia said, but after taking a couple of steps in the snow, she immediately began to miss the feeling of being on his back.

She had planned to get down ten minutes earlier, but because she was reluctant to leave the warmth of his back, she stayed a little longer.

Eric glanced at her before continuing forward.

"Are we following in the footsteps of the Demon King?"

"Ah."

"If I meet him again..."

"Then say hello."

Natalia glanced at him, then looked ahead. "I still find it hard to believe that the legendary Demon King could actually rise from the dead..."

“And I was the one who brought him back to life,” Eric said.

Natalia took a deep breath of the cold air. "It's hard for me not to care about the connection he has with you now."

Eric paused for a moment, then said, "I only believe half of the Demon King's theory that all lives are interconnected."

Natalia looked at him, "If you die, will he die halfway?"

“Yes.” Eric nodded. “The idea that if he dies, I will die is more like something he made up to prevent us from killing him.”

Natalia pursed her lips. "Unfortunately, it can't be verified."

“Even if it’s verified, I won’t kill him now,” Eric said. “Right now, we’re counting on this old Demon King to rise again and disrupt the Demon race’s rear.”

The two followed the Demon King's footprints for a while, and a demon village, almost completely covered by snow, appeared ahead.

Eric first went over to investigate the situation. The entire village was deserted, and judging from the footprints, the Demon King had only stayed there briefly before leaving.

"The demons in this tribe were either conquered and moved to larger tribes, or they had already gone south with the army."

Eric returned to Natalia and said, "We'll spend the night here."

(End of this chapter)