章節 73: The previous king

AAAHHH

A high-pitched scream much more gruesome and desperate from the scream a few moments ago resounded throughout the village of the wisemonkies.

The one that had screamed like that was none other than the king of the wisemonkies that could currently be seen laying on the ground with blood spilling from his new wound : his second shoulder.

Tom's attack just now severed the king's only intact arm, so, now, the king was armless.

The pain was so bad he couldn't focus on his astralum, thus he recovered to his original form, however, going back to his normal form made things worse since compressing his muscles had stopped the bleeding from his first cut arm. Now, with muscles relaxed, blood spilled from both shoulders.

A few meters from him, Tom could be spotted gasping while on his knees.

"What...was that ?" Wondered Tom as he thought back of the state he was in.

That state of absolute calm he was in, no, what was troubling him was not the state of calmness he was in, he felt that they were linked, but it was not what was troubling him.

The thing that was troubling him was the state he was in after he decided to kill the king, at that moment, the only thing he wanted to do was kill, if the king hadn't moved his head at the last second, Tom would have cut him in two.

'It was like I couldn't control my body, but at the same time, like it was the first time I could really control my body, strange. Well, whatever it was, it allowed me to-'

Before he could finish his train of thought, Tom felt a growling sound behind him and quickly jumped on his feet while turning.

'Don't Tell me he wants to continue in this state' thought Tom with a shocked face when he saw the king standing on his feet while glaring at him with the same, if not more, madness in his eyes.

Both of the king's shoulders were dripping with blood, but despite that he was still standing and looking like he wanted to continue the battle.

'Shit, I barely have enough etherium to cast temporal stasis for no more than two or three seconds, if he still wants to go on then I'm dead!'

As Tom looked with dreadful eyes, the king took a step, then another before collapsing on the ground, out cold.

"Phew, it seems like even him can't go on" said Tom, allowing himself to fall on his butt.

'This fight was more difficult than I thought it would be' sighed Tom as he recalled the battle that he had fought right now.

'I guess I'm lucky that this guy never trained in his life, if not, then I'm sure that he would have wiped the floor with my ass' chuckled Tom.

What he said was indeed right, if not for the fact that the king never trained in his life, then Tom would have not even been able to touch him throughout the whole fight and the perfect example of that was what happened when his first arm was severed.

'That form that he took, it was surely due to his instincts taking over, imagine if he could take that form at the beginning of the fight, just that thought frightens me'

'Fortunately, it is all over' thought Tom as he closed his eyes to rest.

"Did he die ?" A voice from above him asked the moment he closed his eyes.

"Damn old man, don't kill me so soon" exclaimed Tom as his eyes snapped open.

"Oh, you are alive, what a pity"

"...."

"On what side are you ?" asked Tom after a moment.

"On the side of the dead" replied Midas.

"Don't ever do jokes again old man, you suck at it"

"...."

"Anyway, have you finished dealing with the commandant ?"

"Do you think that I would be here if I didn't deal with him ?"

"Cool, now what do we do with him?" Asked Tom as he pointed at the king's body.

"Obviously what we decided upon before coming here" answered Midas as he walked toward the king's body.

When he was upon him, he created a sword of shadow and just as he was swinging to cut the king's head, someone grabbed his wrist.

"What are you doing, kid ?" Asked Midas with a somber expression.

"Wait, do we really need to kill him, perhaps we can-"

"Don't be greedy kid, you might gain a huge boost to your strength if he becomes your subordinate, but as I have told you previously, he won't accept to become your subordinate"

"It's not because of that that I want to spare him, as I was saying, perhaps we can find another solution than killing him, we can maybe cut his tongue, if he can't speak he won't be able to order you around".

"It's risky. We don't know how much control he has over us. Maybe he can command without speaking, or he might find a way to regenerate his tongue. What would we do then?"

"I'm confident that before he acquires whatever can regenerate his tongue, I'll be more powerful than him. So, if he attempts anything, I'll be able to stop him."

"Still, it's risky"

As they argued over to kill the king or not, Tom's subordinates and normal tribesmen of approached them and were looking at the king's bleeding body.

"Look at all of them. Is it fair to let the one responsible for their problems, the killer of their family and friends, live with them?" questioned Midas as he pointed to the wisemonkies witnessing the scene.

"I-"

Both Tom and Midas suddenly leapt backward and stared at the king's body in wariness.

Just now, as Tom was going to speak, he felt a surge of etherium coming from the king's body.

Then, under Tom's and everyone present gaze, the king's body started convulsing, his body shook gently at first, then violently as time passed, and then it slowly started to wither away.

"What the hell am I witnessing ?" Wondered Tom aloud, but there was no one to reply to him, as everyone was enraptured at the morbid scene unfolding under their gazes.

As they watched, the king's body withered completely, leaving only bones. Then, a dark purple sphere jumped out from the remains.

The sphere shook, then began to enlarge, gradually taking on a humanoid shape. A few seconds later, the dark purple color faded, revealing a wisemonkey as old as Midas with dark eyes and a taut body.

When Midas recognized who it was, he stumbled backward while raising his finger to point at the newcomers.

"T-The p-previous king"