Who told you I am an NPC

Chapter : 181

As people who had lived for over a thousand years, Isabel and Merlin had experienced countless wars, but the Undead War remained one of the most vile and bloody conflicts in their long lives.

In the wars of the Gods, the survival of living beings on the ground was not a priority in Their eyes. Once some Gods started a war, Their territories would suffer catastrophic disasters.

However, there were also some 'good' Gods who would favor Their own subjects and believers, offering them protection during the war.

Therefore, although the wars of the Gods were tragic, they were not entirely unavoidable.

But the Undead War was different. The Undead were a very special existence. They were originally special entities formed from the obsessions of living beings after death.

This special nature meant they rarely possessed normal intelligence or consciousness, and normally shouldn't have had much impact on living beings.

Necromancers, originally likely called Necromancy Mages, would search for Undead that still retained reason or possessed sufficient power.

In exchange for helping them fulfill their wishes from when they were alive, the mages would have the Undead serve them, granting them the ability to protect themselves during the wars of the Gods.

This should have been a mutually beneficial arrangement. However, the appearance of the Necromancer Kien broke this balance.

He possessed unrivaled magical talent and was also highly accomplished in Alchemy. He even appeared a little earlier than Merlin.

If he hadn't been frantically researching how to transform normal humans and other races into powerful Undead, Kien might have become the greatest mage in the history of Ailman earlier than Merlin—in a sense, his talent was even slightly more formidable than Merlin's.

The emergence of the Undead caused heavy casualties among the Human race and other races who were already struggling to survive in the wars of the Gods.

To make matters worse, those who died could not find release; instead, they were imprisoned by Kien and refined into an even more powerful Undead army.

This was undoubtedly a terrifying matter.

War brought too much death. People who had already become numb to death developed a deeper fear of it because of Kien's actions.

There were even subjects under the rule of 'good' Gods who chose collective suicide, terrified that if they were a step too late, they wouldn't even have the right to choose death.

Having lived through that era, Isabel and Merlin also loathed Kien and the methods he used. Even when mentioning Gods, they could face it with a calm heart.

After all, to put it plainly, Gods were existences on a higher level, and Their rule was eventually successfully resisted by the living beings on the ground. The anger initially felt when mentioning Gods had faded.

But Kien was different. As a fellow living being on the ground, he swung the butcher's knife at his own compatriots.

Isabel looked solemn. "Were the records from that time not destroyed completely? How did Bartovita find this kind of secret technique?"

"I am very sure that after killing Kien, we destroyed everything that could be destroyed," Merlin said. "Even in the early days of the founding of the nation, Theodore—he led people to destroy all literature related to Kien across the entire continent once over. I also participated. With that level of investigation, it is absolutely impossible for anything to remain. That was a great purge that lasted for a full three years."

Merlin was very certain. "To ensure nothing was left behind, we conducted the cleanup more than once. Each time we cleaned, we would switch to a different batch of people—unless Kien came back to life, otherwise those things of his absolutely could not have been passed down."

I did not agree: "Don't forget, that formation of the Eternal Divine Sect was also improved from the Soul Locking Formation. If all of Kien's things were destroyed, then that Alchemist back then shouldn't have known of the existence of the Soul Locking Formation."

Merlin also remembered this point, his brows knitting together tightly. "...Indeed. Could the investigation back then have missed something?"

I sighed. "Regardless of whether the investigation back then missed anything, we can only treat it as if it really happened now. After all, that is the entire population of Slanlipa City."

"I have already asked Divic to rush over. Penelope will mobilize people from 'Flame' to go over and assist. do you two have any plans for what comes next?" I asked, suddenly remembering our previous objective. "By the way, have you found that missing Giant Dragon kin?"

Hearing this question, the space between Isabel's brows relaxed a little. "Just after finding out that Palos had tied up that Little Robert and brought him here, I came over to have a fight with Palos and demand the person. Although we haven't interrogated that guy yet, Palos has already told us a few relatively reliable locations. They are Eternal Divine Sect strongholds they have been focusing on. Perhaps we can find our clansman there."

My gaze fell upon Merlin.

Merlin: "I will also go to Slanlipa City to take a look. I was responsible for Kien's matters previously, so I should be able to find their traces faster."

Hearing Merlin say this, my worry for Slanlipa City decreased quite a bit. "Then I will also..."

Merlin interrupted me. "You don't come along. Anyway, you weren't there when we resolved Kien's messy formations, so you can't be of much help."

He glanced at Yuchir, who was still unconscious on the ground. "Palos, you can't just leave this guy alone, right?"

"You just stay here and guard this guy. Wait until he wakes up and is fine before you come over," Merlin said. "Could it be that you don't trust us old folks?"

Isabel glanced at Merlin and also nodded reluctantly. "You can trust Merlin."

Me: ...

Is this a matter of trust or not?

I actually didn't really want to stay. It wasn't because I was timid about being near home or anything...

Aiya, it was mainly because Yuchir before... oh no, now I should call him Palos. This guy Palos started fighting me as soon as we met. If he didn't know me, that would be one thing, but based on that 'King' he uttered right before I plunged the dagger into Palos's heart, I knew he had recognized me long ago.

No... maybe not that long ago, but at least he knew my identity before we met today. Yet, he still ran over to fight me upon meeting, with every move intended to be fatal...

It was hard for me not to suspect that Palos was also one of the kin mentioned in the notification the game once sent me who wanted to 'Kill the King'!

Although Palos's level was unknown, after two encounters, I had clearly realized: I absolutely could not defeat Palos right now.

To put it harshly, if I, as the owner, couldn't even beat the dog I raised, what qualification did I have to call myself the master? Wouldn't I face a backlash in minutes?

Moreover, Palos, this formerly obedient dog turned current battle maniac, had a really high probability of backlash!

I was a bit worried that Palos would wake up and start fighting me again without a word. Then I would really have to teleport back to Sylval in a sorry state overnight.

Humiliating.

Humiliating even in front of my kin.

Therefore, I was slightly resistant to this suggestion.

However, I didn't have any good reason to refuse this proposal. After all, Palos's current condition seemed to indeed be caused by me, or more accurately, caused by my dagger.

I wanted to sigh a little, but while I was hesitating, Merlin and Isabel were already preparing to depart. I could only watch my two good friends leave.

Leaving behind a Palos still lying stiff on the ground.

Looking at Palos, whose upper clothes were torn to shreds, lying wretchedly on the ground—though the wound on his chest was recovering extremely fast due to his special constitution; the hole that had been stabbed was already regrowing flesh and blood—I realized with hindsight: isn't this scene a bit terrible?

I touched my nose, took a set of clothes out of my backpack at random, and covered Palos's head with it. I tried to pick him up in a princess carry.

Due to Palos's height being too magnificent, his posture was very strange when I picked him up.

Uh... this seemed to look even weirder.

...

I didn't know if Palos had given any orders when he came over, but I carried this guy all the way and didn't see a single person from 'Blood Mist'.

I could only walk blindly watching the [Minimap]. Finally, I found a house that looked barely habitable—why do I say barely habitable? Because the decoration style of this house had quite a 'war-damaged style', meaning the walls were built directly with mud bricks, only plastered with a thin layer of mud to fill the gaps, not even smoothed out.

However, the furniture inside was complete, and there was even a bed made of bamboo.

I unceremoniously dumped Palos onto the bed, then braced my hands on my knees to pant for a few breaths.

Honestly, this big guy Palos was really a bit heavy.

I stared at the wound on Palos's chest. In just this short amount of time, the injury on his chest was almost healed. The bloodline formed from the fusion of Succubus and Beastman was indeed domineering. Of course, the Demon King contract also took credit for this.

It was also because of this that when I saw the magic crest on Palos's body, I faintly sensed a power from the same source as myself—that was the contract power from the Eternal Lord.

To be honest, this body didn't look similar to the player character Demon King. I had always thought I just inherited the player character's game system and hadn't really transmigrated into the Demon King, but now I could feel the power of that contract on Palos.

With other kin, my feeling wasn't deep, because the contracts I signed with other kin in the beginning were relatively equal.

The other races became the spear and shield in my hands, and I led them to victory, securing a stable future for their races.

So when the Eternal Empire was established, their contracts were more or less completed. As long as the kin didn't betray the Demon King, having the contract was about the same as not having it.

Only Palos was different. This contract was more like a master-servant contract. The two bloodlines in Palos's body repelled each other; he needed a more powerful force to suppress these two bloodlines. The Demon King's contract was this power strong enough to suppress the bloodlines.

From the moment Palos signed the contract with the Demon King, Palos's life was controlled by the Demon King.

If the Master wanted him to live, he lived. If the Master wanted him to die, he died.

Life and death lay within a single thought of the Demon King.

The master-servant contract was too domineering. If the servant died, the master was fine; but if the master died, the servant would lose their life because of it.

Only now, although I could feel the contract on Palos, I couldn't regain control of it, as if separated by a layer of invisible, intangible gauze.

This left me a bit confused.

So, is the shell I transmigrated into the Demon King or not? If so?

I couldn't help but reach out to touch the magic crest on Palos's chest. Those were complex and mysterious lines.

Imprinted on Palos's beautiful muscles, they didn't look scary or strange; instead, they made the muscles look taut and firm, containing powerful strength, displaying a kind of artistic beauty.

Like the exquisite glaze on porcelain.

The moment I reached out and touched it, I was scalded by the temperature on it.

...Hm? Scalded?

I snapped out of it, eyes widening, and unconsciously took a step back.

Damn, I was accidentally affected by this guy Palos's Succubus bloodline.

I felt a lingering fear. The Succubus bloodline was truly terrifying. Palos was currently in a coma, unconscious and unable to use the Succubus's [Charm] skill, yet I could still be influenced. Sure enough, I should avoid Succubi in the future.

This kind of invisible loss of perception of the outside world was a bit too scary.

I pressed my glabella, dug out a sobering potion previously prepared by Robin from my backpack, and downed it.

After confirming that my mind was alert and wouldn't be affected by the Succubus bloodline, I looked at Palos again.

I reached out and wiped the chest area I had just touched. Well, this body temperature was indeed a bit hot.

Like... he had a fever?

Do powerhouses of Palos's level still get sick? I wasn't quite sure, but Isabel and Merlin both said my dagger had the effect of draining vitality. Getting sick might also be because of being stabbed by that dagger.

I reached out again to check Palos's forehead... this time the temperature was even scarier. I even felt that if I cracked a Gugu Chicken egg and spread it on Palos's forehead, the raw egg would turn into a fried egg in no time.

Opening Palos's panel to take a look, there were indeed several debuffs in the status bar: [Confusion], [Coma], [High Fever]...

This... didn't seem good?

I wasn't sure if a high fever would cause issues for other races, but if a human had a fever this high, they would either become demented or foolish, or maybe even kick the bucket.

I felt that if I let this continue, Palos really would burn into an idiot. I hurriedly dug out a container and a towel from my backpack—fortunately, my backpack stored the toiletries I used frequently.

I waved my magic wand, condensing a ball of water and dropping it into the container. Then I wet the towel and began the clumsiest physical cooling method—placing the magically chilled wet towel on Palos's forehead.

I didn't know if this method was useful for Palos, but at this moment, I didn't have any better ideas. I even tried to feed a Small Red Potion to Palos.

However, perhaps because Palos was too vigilant, even though he was in a coma from high fever, his jaw was clenched tight, not giving me any chance to force-feed him. I was even afraid that if I forced it and he was too guarded, he might choke to death.

That wouldn't be a joke.

I changed the towel several times. Each time, the ice towel would turn into a hot towel under the influence of Palos's body temperature in just a moment. Even the ice blocks I condensed with magic were quickly melted by Palos's body temperature.

This was truly a terrible phenomenon.

I sent a message to Merlin. Perhaps he was busy with Slanlipa City matters, as I didn't get a reply for a long time. I could only continue to think of a way myself.

I rummaged through my backpack for a long time but couldn't find anything useful. Finally, I saw [Fountain of Life] on my skill panel.

[Fountain of Life]

Description: A spring containing the power of life, only elves can summon it. (Upon use, restores 3%~5% of max HP per second to a single target and cleanses negative statuses, duration 30s.)

This was a single-target healing skill, one of the skills Silf left for me. It also had a usage limit, but compared to the bug-level [Whisper of the Forest] which could only be used three times, [Fountain of Life] had 10 uses.

But that wasn't considered many. After all, a skill that could clear negative statuses was still very precious.

I didn't feel heartache over using it on Palos. It was just that, for some reason, the moment I used the skill, I suddenly remembered a long, long time ago, when I first bumped into Yuchir, Lilian mentioned the resistance Palos showed...

Hm... why did I think of Lilian?

Isn't this Silf's skill? If I'm remembering someone, shouldn't I be remembering Silf?

For some reason, I felt a few traces of guilt.