Chapter 469: Magic Array Activated

Little Will, now the Demon King, Belial cast an amused look at the team members from Meteor Rock Guild.

He did not even attempt to hide the look of ridicule on his face.

In the end, Qiao Qiao was the one to lose control first.

Within those ‘dream worlds’, others had to go through a nightmarish time. For Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo however, that dream world brought forth a consequence beyond that of a nightmare.

Thus, Qiao Qiao was now enraged. With a face filled with anger, she glared at Belial and shouted, “You! You bastard!”

Before that last word left her mouth, she had already charged forward. Her hand shot out, going toward Belial’s stomach.

Unexpectedly, her hand went right through Belial’s stomach and Qiao Qiao staggered as the momentum pushed her body forward, going right ‘through’ Belial’s body.

“You, you don’t have a tangible body?” The staggering Qiao Qiao stabled herself before turning her head to look at Belial.

Belial narrowed his eyes. “In addition to your leader, you are the other one in this team to surprise me, beautiful girl. Such a pure power of darkness is a rare sight. The scent of darkness coming from your body is truly intoxicating.”

Qiao Qiao’s temper rose and she turned her body around to face Belial. It would appear that she was about to attack Belial when Chen Xiaolian moved forward to grab her wrist.

Qiao Qiao attempted to extricate her wrist from Chen Xiaolian’s grip, but he had gripped it tightly.

“Enough!” Chen Xiaolian said with a heavy tone. He looked at Qiao Qiao and sighed deeply. “The system will not allow us to harm him. Additionally… … since he is now using little Will’s body, killing him means killing little Will. Are you planning on killing your own teammates?”

Qiao Qiao bit her lips heavily. In the end, she lowered her hand and stopped struggling.

Chen Xiaolian’s expression grew more complex as he too appeared to be struggling with his own emotions. He looked at Belial and said, “So, are you resurrected now?”

After saying that, he checked the time. “How much longer?”

“I am not resurrected yet. My resurrection will require more powers of darkness, but the powers of darkness can only come from the Dark Abyss.” Belial played with his ring finger and continued, “As of now, I am only in an awakened state. Still, I must thank you all. By going through the dream worlds, the weaknesses within each of your hearts grew. The ugliness, wretchedness, conflicts, confusion within you all… those emotions are the best powers of darkness. It was those powers that gave me life, thereby awakening me. Now… my protectors, you may follow my instructions and activate the magic array.”

Chen Xiaolian was silent. Behind him, his teammates all converged around him subconsciously.

“So, what should we do?”

“It is very simple. Actually, from the moment I awakened, the magic array had activated.” Belial laughed, his pair of black eyes stared at Chen Xiaolian. “What you all need to do… … is to protect me until… … I am fully resurrected!”

After Belial finished those words, everyone from Meteor Rock Guild’s team received a system prompt.

[System prompt: Meteor Rock Guild’s team has completed the first stage of Demon Island’s final quest, activation of the magic array.

[Follow-up quest 1: Please maintain the magic array for at least 15 minutes. After that, the quest of protecting the quest target will be completed and you will receive the ‘Demon King’s Friendship’.

[Note on Demon King’s Friendship: Friendship with demons is not a reliable thing. It may bring you good luck or it may bring disaster upon you.

[Follow-up quest 2: Maintain the magic array for 30 minutes. After that, you will obtain the ‘Demon King’s Blessing of Darkness’. At the same time, you will have completed this instance dungeon’s final quest.

[Note about the Demon King’s Blessing of Darkness: While demonic powers are wondrous, it is also dangerous. Getting addicted to this type of power could bring about bad luck.]

Seeing those notes, the team members from Meteor Rock Guild – especially Chen Xiaolian – were unable to stop themselves from thinking: As expected, demons don’t give good deals.

“So, where is the magic array?” Chen Xiaolian looked at Belial.

“You are looking at it.”

“… … …” Chen Xiaolian glared at Belial, his eyebrow raised in shock as he uttered, “It is… you?! You are the magic array? Are you saying the magic array is on your body?”

Belial gave a devilish grin. “What did you think a magic array would look like? Did you think there would be several pillars placed inside this cavern? Did you expect a large black coloured hexagram? Ha ha ha… … you mortals are interesting!”

Everyone was left speechless.

“I am the core of this magic array. More accurately, my darkness type skill after waking up is the core,” Belial said loudly. “And this island is the magic array! What you need to do is to protect my safety while I am on this island! Protect me from the forces of Light. Then… … once the magic array finished fulfilling its purpose, I…”

“You will be resurrected? And then you will become the real Demon King?”

Roddy was the one who interrupted him with a cold tone.

“No!” Belial shook his head. “Actually, there are many incarnations of me in this world. Every one of those me is a bearer of the Demon King’s blood… … we are hiding inside them. Anyone of them who awakens will be considered a Belial!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Roddy shot out with a ridiculing tone.

“Foolish mortals. Did you think there can only be one mighty Demon King?” Belial shouted. “The greatness of the Demon King lies in the fact that every incarnation of the Demon King is free of the ugly selfishness present within you humans! Every Belial shares one common, ultimate goal. Every Belial is a Demon King!”

Little Will’s frail body shook in excitement. At that moment, his pale face twisted with madness as it turned red. His excitement could be heard from his youthful voice.

“So ... now the magic array is activated.”

Chen Xiaolian sighed.

He had already received the system prompt.

The countdown for the magic array had begun.

Moreover, Chen Xiaolian could see that his team had been forced into it again by the system.

…

Protecting the magic array meant protecting Belial. Protecting Belial meant protecting little Will.

Originally, they had another option. Wait while the magic array ran for 15 minutes; then, bring the saved little Will with them as they left this place.

But now… … that was not possible!

They must protect little Will. Should little Will die, two of their team members will be forcibly exterminated at random.

That was something that they cannot allow.

Lun Tai looked at Chen Xiaolian. Chen Xiaolian looked at the others and saw that the atmosphere among the team had turned subdued.

Lun Tai’s mental state was still disturbed, Roddy, troubled, Xia Xiaolei and Qimu Xi, estranged, Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo, cracked…

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. “Everyone listen up!”

When everyone looked at him, he gritted his teeth and said, “I do not know what you all experienced back in the dream world. However, I need to tell you this. No matter what problems there are, we will deal with it once we return home! Right now, the most important thing before us is the completion of this quest! I don’t care what kind of messy thoughts are swirling inside your minds right now, I want you to let it go for now! We need to prepare for battle! Everyone, get started on your respective tasks!

“This is the decisive moment of this instance dungeon!”

After saying all that, Chen Xiaolian looked at the others once more and snorted. “I don’t care what you are thinking right now. This is… an order! As the Guild Leader, I am giving you all an order! I want you all to obey it!”

He turned to Lun Tai and said, “Lun Tai, get them to prepare for battle!”

“… … all right.” Lun Tai kneaded his face forcefully.

Chen Xiaolian then turned around to look at the cavern… … there were several tunnels connecting to this cavern.

“Belial,” Chen Xiaolian suddenly spoke out in a loud voice.

Belial, who was standing in the middle of the cavern, gave a snort and replied, “What is it, my protector?”

“Since we are responsible for protecting you, we should be on the same side, right?” Chen Xiaolian looked at Belial. “You want to be resurrected while we want you to stay alive. If so, shouldn’t you give us some help?”

Belial shook his head. “I have yet to be resurrected. I am just awakened. There is no way for me to give you any help.”

“Then, how about a little bit of guidance?” Chen Xiaolian suddenly revealed a sneer, a hint of savagery appearing on his face. “For example… … helping me catch a rat.”

…

Thirteen made it out of the tunnel, seemingly on the verge of collapsing.

It seemed as though he would actually fall limply on the ground.

At that moment however, a light shone before him and he saw… … little Will!

When Thirteen saw little Will standing there by himself, a look of shock washed over his face. He carefully checked his surroundings. Then, the expression of shock on his face turned to one of delight.

He immediately moved forward.

Little Will stood there in the middle of the cavern. Thirteen approached him slowly. Then, a dagger slipped out into his hand.

“It looks like… … I am the first to come out?” Thirteen gulped. “Even Luck is on my side, ha ha!”

He approached little Will from behind, raised his dagger and slowly moved it toward little Will’s back.

Suddenly, little Will… … turned his head.

Thirteen recoiled in shock.

He subconsciously shrank his head back. Next however, a look of savagery flashed across his eyes and his dagger shot out viciously.

In the next instant, Thirteen was left flabbergasted.

His wrist was seemingly caught in an iron clamp.

The little Will standing before him slowly shook his head before opening his mouth. “It seems you really are a rat.”

Surprisingly, that was Chen Xiaolian’s voice.

Soon, the ‘little Will’ standing before Thirteen transformed into Chen Xiaolian. The scene around him disappeared. To his surprise, everyone from Meteor Rock Guild’s team was there inside the cavern – everyone was standing there.

“You, you are all here?” Thirteen stumbled backward. Then, he forced out a delighted expression. “I have been looking for you all… argh!”

He screamed out in misery as Chen Xiaolian twisted his wrist, breaking it.

Beads of sweat oozed out from Thirteen’s forehead and he fell to his knees. “Aaaarghhhh!!!”

“You are looking for us? Humph… … seeing that we are not around, you wanted to kill off the quest target that we are protecting.” There was mockery within Chen Xiaolian’s eyes.

Realizing that there was no point in pretending anymore, Thirteen raised his head. His face was warped as he said, “You… … when did you see through my act?”

“From the moment we landed on this island,” Chen Xiaolian said coldly. “You are a member of the Light Faction. You had not made it to Tel Aviv while your other teammates died to us. Thus, you did not complete the second phase quest. The moment we reached Demon Island, we forcibly ended the second phase! You are someone who did not complete the second phase quest. Thus, the system should have kicked you out of this instance dungeon. However, that did not happen. You are still here… … the only explanation for that would be…”

Chen Xiaolian reached out with his hand to grab Thirteen’s chin and pulled him up.

“The only explanation is that you four are not the only members in your team! You must have other teammates. They split up and went to Tel Aviv to complete the second phase quest! If not for that, you should have disappeared!”

Thirteen’s body trembled. “Then… … why didn’t you just kill me?”

“Only after getting on this island did I realize it. By then, killing you would be pointless… … you must have revealed our secrets to your teammates. Killing you is pointless… … besides, I think that you might still prove useful to us alive.”

Chen Xiaolian looked at Thirteen and sighed.

…