The Villain Saint is my secondary account

Chapter 193 Nightfall

Zhu Jun clapped his hands, and everyone quieted down.

"Alright everyone, now that everyone's here, let's begin our work."

"Work? How come I didn't know I'd have to work?" Ye Xiao asked in surprise. "Hey, if you're going to use me as labor, at least discuss the salary beforehand."

"Don't worry, you'll definitely be well compensated," Zhu Jun rubbed his hands together, "All you need to do is..."

"boom"

Before Zhu Jun could finish speaking, a violent tremor, seemingly originating from the earth's core, suddenly swept over them.

The earth seemed to have been turned upside down by a giant dragon, and wherever it went, all kinds of bottles, jars and utensils trembled and collided, making a jarring clanging sound.

"What's going on? Do you have a missile research department here, testing missiles?" Ye Xiao picked at his ear with his little finger.

"Sir, it seems there is..." The woman in the white coat whispered in Zhu Jun's ear.

Ye Xiao didn't have Ella's keen senses and couldn't hear what the other person was whispering about. He could only see Zhu Jun give him a very meaningful look.

"Hey, this has nothing to do with me." Ye Xiao raised a finger. "You can't blame me for your own shoddy construction."

"I'll go take a look." Zhu Jun ignored Ye Xiao, and after speaking with his female assistant in a white coat, he first nodded to Dong Muge, then flicked his cloak and hurriedly left.

"There has been an unexpected situation. The supervisor needs to handle it. Please follow me to the rest room and wait for a moment."

The female assistant bowed politely to the players, then said to Dong Muge, "Your Excellency, you may return to your room to rest for a while."

"I'll just wait with them," Dong Muge said softly.

"According to your wishes."

"Which is more powerful, your supervisor or your divine messenger?" Ye Xiao asked curiously. "This is the first time I've ever seen a system that combines capital and religion."

"Without your permission, I cannot disclose any relevant information to you," the female assistant replied.

"It seems the supervisor is more powerful; you don't even need to ask this divine messenger for his opinion first." Ye Xiao nodded.

The other person stopped speaking and simply led the way in silence.

After leaving the circular platform, the group passed through a tunnel and once again entered the thick bark of the giant tree, which resembled its skin.

Ye Xiao then realized that there were actually some artificially excavated spaces inside the seemingly enclosed and boundless tree, used as rooms, with carefully constructed staircases and corridors forming part of a three-dimensional maze surrounding the tree trunk.

Judging from the female assistant's hand gestures on the wall, it seemed that some kind of authentication was required before the originally hidden passage would appear. This was why Ye Xiao only saw a long tunnel with walls on both sides when he first followed Zhu Jun into the tree trunk.

The female assistant led the group of players to a fairly spacious wooden hall before leaving. The door they had entered through was sealed shut as she left, transforming into a complete wooden wall.

"Is this considered keeping us here in solitary confinement?" Ye Xiao tapped the wall with his knuckles. It seemed very thick, and it would probably take some effort to break through.

Even so, it still has to be breached. There's not much time left in the capital, and Zhu Jun happens to be away. He won't just sit here and wait patiently.

As for the "agreement to join" mentioned earlier, that was just something I said casually.

Putting everything else aside, if the World Tree system was truly created entirely by Caesar Corporation, wouldn't inviting Ye Xiao, Dong Hu, Lu Fan, and Ella be far more important?

If they had full access to the system, wouldn't they know that Ella was the real player? Even if he insisted, he could only be considered an avatar of Ella.

However, they didn't mention Ella at all during their entire conversation. As Ye Xiao understood it, his own deity shouldn't be so low-class that they wouldn't even mention her.

Once this lie was exposed, the title of "World Tree System Developer" could no longer intimidate Ye Xiao.

Those grandiose promises about a global mission are utter nonsense. Ella witnessed a player squad die in Graygold Town firsthand through the Raven Familiar. No matter which side Caesar Corporation is on, they are not truly on the side of Earth's players, because they don't care about the lives of ordinary players at all.

But regarding the Great Transmigration and the players, the other party might actually know something, but what comes directly from their mouth isn't very credible; ultimately, we'll have to pry it out ourselves.

Ye Xiao stretched his shoulders, ignoring what the other players were doing, and reached for the hilt of his sword at his waist, ready to chop down the wall in front of him.

But just then, Dong Muge, who was standing nearby, seemed to have seen through Ye Xiao's plan and suddenly patted his arm.

"Hmm?" Ye Xiao turned her head.

"Don't make a move yet..." Dong Muge said in a very soft voice, "It must have been Chen Yao who made the commotion just now. I'll take you out once he gets here..."

Chen Yao?

Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow. He had just thought of the player team that was wiped out in Gray Gold Town, and the next second he happened to hear the name of that team leader.

But can that guy handle Zhu Jun?

Dong Muge seemed to see through Ye Xiao's worries. He didn't say much, but just nodded slightly and gestured with his eyes to the players next to him who seemed casual but were actually paying close attention to the situation.

Alright, whether it's Dong Muge or Chen Yao, it's probably all being manipulated by the God of Life. Since our own big father has a plan, it won't hurt to wait a little longer.

Ye Xiao said no more and turned to walk towards the group of players.

……

Back in the capital, Skadi, Ella, and the others were already ready.

As the sun slowly sank below the horizon, night quietly descended upon the palace.

This once brightly lit and magnificent palace no longer shines; without its lights, it appears to be swallowed up by the night, along with the towering peak of Mount Vallond.

The enormous, decaying tree at the top resembled a demonic claw bursting forth from the underworld, its gnarled branches and twisted trunk obscuring half the sky.

Skadi led the Septians on their horses, forming a line and slowly gathering along the main road leading to the palace from the inner wall.

Everywhere you look, the streets and alleys are crowded with distressed citizens, and the noise and unease flow through the night.

A mother held her young infant, and workers carried their meager belongings... Everyone's eyes revealed their despair for the future.

Rebels, hordes of corpses, a collapsed palace, and eerie giant trees.

No one knows how long this night will be.

"There has been no reply from the palace yet. As the Holy Maiden said, the corpses at night are extremely aggressive, and the Holy Light Barrier may not hold for as long as expected. In the worst-case scenario, the army of corpses will begin its assault on the first inner wall at midnight."

Holman gave his final report before departure, "This is all the information we have for now. Please forgive us for being unable to escort Your Highness to the foot of Mount Valond due to the heavy workload of our internal dispatch mission. We must take our leave now. The situation at the palace is probably not optimistic either. Your Highness and the Holy Maiden, please be extremely careful."

Skadi nodded. "You too... I hope the next time we meet will be at a celebration party with everyone."

"Thank you, Your Highness... For Loren's sake, I wish Your Highness a triumphant return."

"For Loren."

Chapter 194 The Final Celebration

The defensive line behind the western district is deployed on the edge of Mirror Lake near the foot of Mount Vallonde. There were originally no defensive fortifications facing the Royal Palace, so the current situation is that the garrison can only temporarily set up a sentry patrol line.

Beyond the sentry post, the area around Mirror Lake was completely dark, without a single light.

Skadi and her cavalry, with oil lamps hanging from their waists, ventured into the darkness. The flickering lights formed a line, like stars drifting in the night, as they gradually moved away from the brightly lit city.

The group galloped along the shore of Mirror Lake, the sparse sound of hooves standing out clearly in the deathly silence of the night.

[Saint's Dog 2: Saintess, I almost forgot to mention, when we were counting the members of those player guilds just now, there were quite a few guild members present, but their leaders or officers weren't seen.]

[Late Night Snack: I know where they are. By the way, you don't need to use honorifics when you're messaging them privately in the system, do you?]

[Saint's Dog 2: But I'm talking to the Saintess!]

【night snack:……】

"stop."

Skadi raised her arm, signaling the team to stop moving forward.

The crowd followed his command, pulling on their reins. The horses let out deep neighs that echoed in the quiet night.

They had now reached the steps at the foot of Mount Vallond, and the scene that had been obscured from a distance was now clearly visible. Scattered across the steps were contorted figures, their bodies lying horizontally or vertically, appearing exceptionally pitiful.

“Judging from their appearance… they seem to be members of the Royal Knights.” Li Cheng said, raising the oil lamp in his hand and casting its dim light onto the figures lying in the snow.

By the light, the eerie aspects of these corpses could be seen more clearly: their standard grey-gold armor, belonging to the Royal Knights, was tattered, and the exposed surfaces of their bodies were covered with cracks, from which tiny, branch-like things sprouted.

A thin layer of frost clung to their ashen faces, contorted with extreme fear. Their struggling limbs did not resemble the heroic posture of dying in battle, but rather the desperate attempt to escape some terrifying presence.

Li Cheng swallowed hard, but having seen many strange things since following Ye Xiao, it wasn't too bad.

Skadi, however, felt a deep unease rising within her, a vague churning in her stomach. Although she had just led her team through a battlefield strewn with corpses, the sight of these twisted and mutated bodies up close in this silent environment, illuminated only by the dim light of an oil lamp, still made her unable to completely suppress her instinctive nausea.

The group climbed the steps, and as they ascended, the twisted and deformed corpses became increasingly dense, like swarms of bees frantically emerging from the crumbling ruins of a palace in a panic, only to instantly freeze together with the snow and ice on the mountain steps.

When they reached the top of Valond Hill, the vast and desolate courtyard in front of the palace came into view.

Corpses of various shapes and extremely twisted forms are scattered throughout the field of vision. In stark contrast to the carnage and swordplay on the battlefield, here, corpses are simply intertwined with darkness, silently unfolding a scroll of death.

“What on earth happened here…” Li Cheng murmured, “This is too outrageous…”

Ella simply stared at the giant tree that pierced through the palace roof, somewhat surprised by what had happened in the palace.

Since that giant tree rose into the sky, her crows would be pierced by the lifelike dead branches that extended from the withered tree whenever they got close. Therefore, they could only fly around the palace from a distance and only observe the knights and palace guards who were desperately fleeing out of the palace.

Before the siege, Holman sent the nobles back to the western district. Only a few members of the royal family and the court remained in the palace. Soren and Bazel were stationed there, and at the very least, there was the deity Alyosha. Why did things turn out like this inexplicably?

Dong Muge's behavior when he saw the giant tree rise was also strange, which did not seem to be part of the Life Cult's plan.

The group walked through a courtyard covered in snow and littered with corpses, and in front of them stood a massive gate leading to the majestic palace.

The heavy, ancient palace gate is adorned with a striking interplay of crimson and snow-white, and like the surrounding outer walls, the dark, withered roots of giant trees are densely covered with a spiderweb-like network, their intertwined roots forming a complex tapestry.

"Should we collect some kind of sealed artifact nearby to open the door?"

Li Cheng suddenly spoke.

Skadi glanced at Li Cheng, then drew the rapier from her waist.

The moment the sword was drawn, deep red flames instantly enveloped it. With a single slash, the raging fire swept over the withered roots in front of the door, turning them to ashes in an instant, like ancient curses being burned away.

"Never mind what I said." Li Cheng shrugged and drew his knight's sword from his waist.

The others followed the leader's lead and all drew their weapons.

Skadi sighed softly.

As a member of the royal family, she had gazed at this door countless times, but this was the first time she had placed her hands on it with such a heavy heart.

"rumble……"

The heavy doors slowly opened, revealing a dilapidated hall.

Contrary to the imagined darkness, the bright moonlight streamed through the gaps in the massive, withered branches of the broken dome. Dim beams of light swayed and dappled, weaving together a veil that carried the thin layer of snowflakes. As the door opened, the light swept onto everyone's faces with the cold wind.

The crimson carpet stretched through patches of snow and the corpses studded with weapons, leading straight into the depths of the hall. There, the towering back of the cracked throne was bathed in a cold, chilling light, and beneath it, a gaunt figure sat silently on its shadowy base.

Seemingly sensing that the door had been opened, the figure slightly raised his head, his pale face revealed in the moonlight shining on half of the throne, and his deep blue eyes reflected the surprised expressions that appeared on Skadi and Ella's beautiful faces at the same time.

"Welcome to my palace. It's been a long time, my dear sister... and Miss Ella."

The second prince, Ken Betis.

Ella had imagined countless possibilities with whom she would meet at this moment, but she had to admit that Ken Bettis was the most unexpected one.

But since the other party's name was never removed from the task system, this situation seemed to have been expected.

In his previous life, the other party was also the last king of Loren. Could this be... a destiny of history?

"Ken...brother?"

Skadi's pink lips parted slightly, her expression one of even greater shock.

"Thank you for this amazing world. I said we would meet again, didn't I, Miss Ella... Ah, did I say that?"

"Never mind, it doesn't matter anymore."

"Since everyone is here, the celebration should begin."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ken raised his hands, and the two corpses that had been kneeling in the shadows beside the throne slowly rose to their feet.

A burly, tall knight and an old man with a hunched back.

It was none other than the First Swordsman, Sauron Albert, and the Chief Mage, Boy Balzer.

Chapter 195 The Spider Hunt

"If this were a game, the boss battle setup would be absolutely awful."

Li Cheng always had a habit of spouting a few empty words before starting a fight.

Skadi, of course, couldn't understand. Facing the empire's strongest swordsman and mage at the same time, she focused intently on her rapier with only one hand.