[Player Teest, the system has detected that you have used "King of Sleep" 100 times.]
A female voice belonging to the system came through, sounding much steadier than before. [The skill "King of Sleep" has been detected as an illegal skill, causing numerous errors within the Player's system. We request your cooperation for correction and to complete a test-type task.]
At such a time?
Teest's brows furrowed. Nol's self-created skills were written haphazardly, and he even obtained the [Breath of a False God] right in front of Teest, but the system remained silent from beginning to end. Why was it that when it came to Teest, the system decided to cause trouble at a critical moment?
Teest had no way to forcibly shut down the system, so he had to continue patiently. The system's blue pop-up window blurred in front of him, and the mission content was simple and crude.
[You have triggered a system patch quest: ????]
[Completion conditions: Within 30 minutes, use "King of Sleep" to slow down the Demon King's actions and learn at least one of the Demon King's spells.]
[Reward: System assistance in optimizing "King of Sleep"]
[Failure Penalty: Forced deletion of "King of Sleep" by the system]
[Quest automatically accepted]
Teest: "..."
He never thought there would come a day when the Mad Monk would be robbed by the system—the precious skill he had obtained now demanded to be relinquished.
Learning the Demon King's magic was a task that seemed more suitable for a mage like Nol, so why did it become his quest? After all, why should he learn the Demon King's magic?
Moreover, his succubus skill was obtained when he transformed into a Supplement Demon, indeed with dubious origins. Plus, exploiting loopholes to upgrade and break through the system, doubly dubious in origin. But it was just a supportive skill to weaken the enemy. Was it necessary to confiscate it?
Teest had many questions with nowhere to ask. He gritted his teeth and chose the method he was most accustomed to—doing his utmost to protect his precious possessions. Whether it was skills, treasures, or beliefs.
The "Festival of New Green" wedged into dragon scales and golden threads wrapped around the dragon's horns. Teest leaped down from a high place while bombarding the Demon King with [King of Sleep].
The silver-white figure swept past him, startling Nol. In this dire battle situation, he wished he could literally hold Teest in his mouth to prevent him from being slapped to death by the Demon King. Yet, not only did Teest not avoid it, but he also leaped towards the Demon King.
Nol recognized the magic fluctuations of [King of Sleep]. The Demon King's movements did indeed slow down—but it was just the difference between 1x speed and 0.9x speed.
The Demon King wasn't known for agility, so such weakening was like a drop in the bucket. But Teest still crazily bombarded the Demon King with magic, leaping towards the Demon King like a light feather.
Nol hesitated for less than half a second before giving up the thought of asking. Teest wasn't corrupted, so he must have his own ideas. Contacting him abruptly now might distract him and worsen the situation.
He focused his energy on contending with the Demon King. The "Festival of New Green" was delivered, and three people in the distance solved his urgent need. But as a price, on the land rampant with corruption, those three wouldn't last long.
Near the head of the Demon King, figures of different shapes continuously emerged. They appeared lightly, were blocked by the "firewall", and then suppressed by purification magic, only to freeze in place.
The Demon King seemed to realize the problem. It ignored the humanoid figures that flowed out of its head like blood and instead stretched out a hand, clasped it to its chest, and bent its body as if bowing.
It completely ignored Teest, who was fluttering like snowflakes. Unknown spells spread wave after wave, easily crossing the "firewall" and striking directly at Nol's body.
In that instant, Nol's brain boiled. It was as if his entire body was pressed into boiling water, instinctively wanting to curl up, almost losing consciousness.
In the first second of his mental shake, the surrounding "firewall" also weakened. In Nol's blurry vision, the Demon King stretched out six arms towards him, grabbing at him. On its trajectory, there was a small white dot.
Teest.
Teest's golden thread was probably tied to his dragon horns. Nol suddenly moved, affecting the Mad Monk's trajectory. If this continued, Teest would be directly hit by the Demon King… He had to stop the Demon King…
In his chaotic thoughts, Nol made the most instinctive response—he decisively withdrew the "firewall" and actively pounced on the Demon King, biting the arm closest to Teest.
The corruption surged up, and Nol's pitiful 100 HP nearly bottomed out. He barely saved his life by forcefully casting a healing spell and adding 60% lifesteal from [Crimson Plunder].
The taste of the Demon King was strange enough. Nol bit down hard on that arm, dazedly thinking. He remembered the old-fashioned cotton candy he had eaten as a child—seemingly large, but biting into it was utterly void, like air.
Ding.
[Fallen Death has been activated, successfully acquiring the following skills:]
[Lullaby: Full of loving thoughts, the beginning of all dreams, your dream will become reality.
※This skill is limited to the 'Supreme Creator' use only.]
[Do you want to save the above skill? [Saved Skills: 3/3]]
Nol didn't have time to look closely, almost reflexively choosing 'Yes'. His stats surged wildly, almost reaching the limit set for 'dragons'. Watching the numbers jump, Nol realized a terrifying fact—
The skill [Fallen Death] only worked on corpses.
The Demon King was strong enough to interfere with the system to a certain extent, making the system's judgment even stricter, leaving no room for loopholes.
The Demon King in front of him… was already dead?
Although Nol had a vague psychological preparation when he saw skills like [Lost Last Wish] and [Corrupted False God], when it came to confirming this moment, his chest still felt heavy.
Even so, he didn't let go. The Demon King's magical attacks were continuous, and the pain from the corruption damage fluctuated his health bar up and down.
[…Discovered a skill of similar origin. Would you like to merge 'To My Compatriots' and 'Lullaby'?]
[Note: Merging can generate a new skill. The new skill will retain the skill's origin; other changes are unpredictable. Please choose carefully.]
This time Nol didn't hastily agree but instead used 'Lullaby' to overwrite the low-level skill [Sniff].
Before merging, he must first try this new skill. Now at a dead end, he couldn't miss any possibility—although he wasn't sure if he qualified as the 'Supreme Creator'.
Nol activated [Lullaby].
The dim and gloomy blood night instantly lit up, and rugged blue-white grids and cursors appeared on the surface of everything. With Nol as the center, everything around him turned into a strange "editable mode" in his eyes. It was like sitting in front of a computer, directly adjusting the environmental details of "Tahe".
At the same time, his MP value gushed out like a major artery had been cut. Nol painfully severed his tail, converting it all into mana to avoid being drained completely.
As the thick dragon tail rapidly disappeared, Nol's scalp numbed, and he clumsily "moved" the Demon King, just trying to distance himself.
The moment the edit was completed, the Demon King really teleported dozens of meters away out of thin air.
Nol quickly adjusted his posture. Making sure Teest's figure was still actively bouncing around, he restarted the "firewall" and cast several healing spells on himself, barely stabilizing the situation. The Demon King, puzzled by the sudden displacement, froze in place, and its headache-inducing spells also stopped.
Nol opened his mouth, stained with corruption, and took a long breath.
At this point, he could confirm three things.
First, the system recognized him as the "Supreme Creator".
Second, [Lullaby] was undoubtedly a terrifying skill. Nol suspected that the continuously emerging shadows above the Demon King's head and the abnormal terrain around him were the effects of this skill.
Third…
The power of the world that had passed away, skill descriptions filled with despair from corruption, the power of creation from nothing, the status of the "Supreme Creator" like himself…
The answer was clear.
"You, no, you…" Nol continued in his native language, trying to awaken the Demon King opposite him. "Are you the creators of those three worlds? I am like you. We shouldn't be enemies!"
Hearing his words, the Demon King began to go mad again. Its body spasmed like a puppet, and from its pitch-black face came a blurred roar—or moan, Nol wasn't sure.
[Regrettably, the cries for help have vanished, and you can only chase the echoes.]
[Lost Last Wish] once described it like this.
The Demon King was already dead, and what was active now, in a sense, was similar to an undead creature—almost as lost, almost as silent, almost as mad.
The sky was dim, and the Demon King almost merged into the night. Above its head hazily hung four moons, leaving only a halo of light.
The moon…
It was just a flash of inspiration. Nol held his breath and cast [Remembrance of the Dead] on the Demon King—
The spell he had made for the Death Knight, the magic that could restore the dead to brief lucidity.
Nol's nose and mouth were bleeding profusely, but he kept staring at the six light spots on the Demon King's head. "Don't distort. It must work, please… Please, let him hear."
A blue-green halo flickered from under the Demon King's feet, spiraling upwards. The Demon King froze, its six head lights spinning chaotically, sometimes large, sometimes small.
"Ah… I…"
It emitted a cold, terrifying, noise-like sound, different from [Lost Last Wish] processed voice. That language, undoubtedly, was also the language of Country C.
It really was his compatriot. It had once been his compatriot.
"I don't… I don't want… to die like this… My family… is still waiting for me…"
"Can you hear my voice?" Nol asked, his limbs icy, squeezing out the words from his throat.
"Don't hurt me… Don't hurt me… Save me…"
"I won't hurt you!" Nol quickly responded. "You… Can you go back across the sea first? I will find a way, I promise—"
"Kill me…" The Demon King, not knowing if it understood, stopped at a distance, extending its spider-like arms towards Nol. "Kill me… Kill me…"
These were the "last wishes" Nol had heard and made his heart sink. "Do you still remember your own name?"
"Kill me… Kill me… Kill me…"
The Demon King just kept repeating these words, its tone high and unvarying, like a looped voicemail.
"I will help you." Nol set up a "firewall" with bitterness in his mouth. "Please… talk to me. Tens of thousands of our compatriots are trapped in my world. We all want to go home…"
Hearing the last word, the Demon King's murmuring abruptly stopped.
"Home…" It confusedly lowered its arms.
Near its head, the swirling figures disappeared. The Demon King sat quietly on the dark ground, blankly staring at the four moons overhead.
"I can't go back…" It let out a pitch-shifted sigh. "Over two thousand years… I can't return…"
"Two thousand years… Mother…"
"Please… Kill me…"
The last sentence had less mechanical repetition but was filled with ash-like despair, like a dying old man in pain, wishing for a quick death.
"Please… kill me…"
"Take my… bones… home…"
After death, a person's traces gradually disappear. If an undead knight could retain a bit of reason after two hundred years, then what was left of a person after two thousand years of loneliness?
"I want… to go home…"
"I want to go home…"
"Home…"
The Demon King kept repeating, in a language not of this land, echoing on a land where it shouldn't exist.
Nol gazed blankly at his compatriot's "corpse", forgetting to flee in those brief seconds.
...
At first, Teest wanted to learn that shadow-emitting magic from the Demon King's head—after all, it was the only magic the Demon King had shown, no matter how impractical.
But it was extremely complex, the power fluctuations more intricate than the gears in a clock. Teest tried to imitate it but couldn't even grasp the basics.
With the mission countdown looming over his head, Teest dared not delay and continued to maintain [King of Sleep].
Soon, his opportunity arrived.
The Demon King used some kind of psychic shock on Nol, causing Nol's "firewall" to destabilize. Teest desperately suppressed his desire to run back, focusing on the new spell's fluctuations.
He wouldn't be of any use if he went back, the Mad Monk coldly reminded himself. He needed to be more useful.
Fortunately, this attack spell was simple and brutal. Teest memorized its fluctuation characteristics and repeatedly tried to recreate it from scratch using his own power—
Failure. Failure. Failure.
Failure. Failure.
...
Still failure.
It was like trying to make a necklace from sand or forge a blade from solid ice. He could only mimic the form; the power dissipated in an instant, and he couldn't get it to work. He knew the problem.
[Human beings can never reach the strength of monsters. It's predestined.]
The teachings of the Eternal Church from his youth echoed in his mind. [Some rare magics can only be used by beings with specific physiques. No matter how strong a human is, he can't breathe dragon fire or sing a siren's song—God allows you to fuse with monsters, to become closer to them, to obtain this unique power…]
And Teest also knew the solution to this problem.
He needed to risk his life for this task.
You're crazy, Teest's rationality screamed in his head. Nol is busy fighting the Demon King and has no time to notice what you're doing—you're here risking your life against thin air, who knows? It's just a weakened magic, if lost, then lost. Even if Nol knew about this, he would definitely tell you to abandon the task, knowing his soft heart.
Now he can't see you, no one can see you, no one knows you have a solution. You just need to retreat, go back to his side…
"Ah," Teest muttered to the murky night. "But if I lose the best support method, I, as a knight, would be too ashamed."
He didn't dodge the stiff shadows anymore. This time, Teest extended his hand and actively embraced the corruption.
There was a purification magic suppressing around, so the corruption spread slowly. The Mad Monk imitated the simple fluctuation again and again, the corruption devouring his fingertips, emitting a rotting stench.
This time there was a slight effect, he thought, but still not enough…
Teest swung forward, his arm passing through the gushing shadows.
The corruption devoured his arm, causing the flesh to rot alive, which made it a bit troublesome.
The unknown spell, like a newly oiled machine, gradually strengthened its fluctuation, running more smoothly while he was still conscious…
Teest plunged into the darkness again.
His limbs were completely engulfed by the corruption, only his head and chest remaining normal colored. Excruciating pain and weakness assaulted him from both sides, nearly causing him to faint. Realizing this, Teest desperately leapt in the air, pretending to be fine.
Practice, endure, practice again, endure again. The corruption brought pain unbearable for a normal person, but luckily, he had spent nearly ten years getting used to such experiences.
Finally, a magical fluctuation identical to the Demon King's appeared, black light spreading between his rotting fingers.
At that moment, the corruption just reached his throat.
He succeeded.
The strength of the spell couldn't compare to the Demon King's, but they were identical.
Suddenly, a burst of static noise filled his mind. Teest tensed his body but didn't hear the system's "skill acquired" notification.
At the same time, the Demon King stopped moving. Nol was saying something to it, but Teest didn't have the strength to listen anymore. His senses were almost gone, climbing towards the dragon's head on instinct—the surrounding purification magic couldn't suppress his corruption anymore. He needed to quickly touch the "Festival of New Green"…
[You have completed the system patch quest: ?????]
[You have met the task "?????" completion condition: Within 30 minutes, use "King of Sleep" to slow down the Demon King's actions and learn at least one of the Demon King's spells.]
[Quest Reward: System assists in optimizing "King of Sleep".]
Teest, bearing the system's somewhat belated notification, clumsily climbed up the dragon's horn.
[Beginning optimization…]
[Circuit fusion in progress… Individual feature adaptation in progress… Skill modification in progress…]
[Quest reward processed.]
Teest's trembling hand reached towards the "Festival of New Green," stopping less than two fingers away.
His pain disappeared.
The corruption didn't disappear with it; it became a part of him, deeply infiltrating his skin and bones—this feeling was bizarre, like becoming a monster again, but the process was much gentler.
[King of Eternal Sleep: You will lure all things towards destruction, granting enemies death.]
[Note, this skill has exceeded the system's management authority. Actual effects may vary.]
Teest lay on the dragon's head. "…Fuck."
He couldn't judge his condition, nor could he see how to use this skill. But Teest knew, no matter how powerful the skill seemed, it couldn't just be "glare and they die".
He placed his hand on the "Festival of New Green", regaining some strength. Teest didn't interrupt Nol and the Demon King's conversation, swinging again along the golden thread, throwing a [King of Eternal Sleep] at the nearest shadow.
At the same moment.
"I will take you home." Nol regained his senses, trying to soothe the Demon King. "Think… Can you remember your name? I need to know your name to take you back."
A name represented part of a life. If the Demon King could remember more, maybe he could bring back more information…
The Demon King began to move again. Its six light orbs atop its head spun wildly, the cold hostility returning, even more intense than before.
Who would have thought, in just two or three minutes, the supposed half-hour effective [Remembrance of the Dead] had failed.
Nol gritted his teeth, erecting the barrier again.
This time, things didn't go so smoothly. The Demon King went berserk with countless things erupting from its head—apart from endless crowds, there were also deformed high-rises, vehicles, and trees. It was like a city stuffed into an uncovered blender, debris crazily spewing out.
Those twisted silhouettes surged like a tsunami. Nol quickly scanned the surroundings, checking Teest's condition.
In less than a second, Nol successfully located Teest. His little knight was hanging under his left front paw, face-to-face with a shadow.
Amidst the chaotic city debris, the child's shadow stood still, looking up.
It waved at them obediently, as if greeting.
The author has something to say:
Not bad, not bad.
Laughing to death, while writing Teest's skill. I thought of instant noodle packaging… actual product may vary! Not that much beef (.
Both got new skills!
But still being heavily attacked…