He was quite clear about his own role as a tool—no, a tool-dog. Their relationship was merely cooperative, not even close enough for casual meals, let alone any emotional bond.
At this moment, Huai Shi wouldn't doubt for a second that they might be planning some bizarre sacrificial ritual, a desperate last resort.
But after hesitating for a long time, he finally stepped forward.
His good brothers were still here!
At worst, he would just gobble up that son of a bitch, snatch the Divine Body, and run. Who could catch up to him then?
As the Wolf Beast approached, a pair of indifferent, Amber eyes scrutinized the King, who was mere inches away, guarding against any sudden move.
Then, he saw it—the King began to tremble violently.
As if high on drugs, his eyes rolled back, and his limbs twitched.
Then, as if connected by that thread of bloodline, an ever-growing, savage, bestial nature surged from his small frame, as though the will embedded within the Divine Body had possessed his aging vessel.
This caused his deteriorating frame to proliferate and transform. Countless scales peeled off and regrew. One eyeball burst with a POP, and disgusting fleshy tendrils wriggled within the empty socket.
The Abyssal aberration descended upon him.
But it was forcibly suppressed.
And a blood-red Crystal Stone, the size of a sand grain, appeared in his hand.
A sweet scent spread out.
It made all the beasts present let out thirsty growls, their eyes turning bloodshot.
In that moment, Huai Shi had a sudden realization.
He abruptly raised his head, looking towards the eye on the altar.
This is probably…the true way to utilize the Divine Body, right?
Those fools who wanted to snatch the Divine Body and run hadn't even considered why the Lizard Men dared to display it so openly before them.
The entire city, the King, and this Divine Body were already inextricably linked.
Indispensable to one another.
The city was used to gather the Source Substance from the Abyssal sediment and channel it into the Divine Body. The King, in turn, bathed in this overwhelming Blessing, using his own body to strip away the Abyssal mutation aspects. What remained was the Divine Grace Crystal, pure and free of any negative repercussions…
Now, without the King needing to act, the Divine Grace Crystal had already flown up on its own and into Huai Shi's body.
Huai Shi raised a paw, swatted it, and stuffed it directly into his Bell.
His massive frame blocked most lines of sight. Only the King witnessed this, but he said nothing, merely giving Huai Shi a cryptic smile.
Beneath the wrinkled and shattered skin, new scales were growing.
He was resurrecting from the brink of death.
No, more accurately, from a dying Lizard Man, he was slowly transforming into something else… When he truly revived, all the hidden dangers would likely erupt completely, right?
He would become this nation's most powerful beast.
And, simultaneously, its strongest Erosion species.
The Abyss's agent on the mortal plane.
He could almost be called an Owner of the Great Mob.
An Owner of the Great Mob undergoing Metamorphosis…
This made Huai Shi want to strike several times, yet he found it difficult to make the decision.
"You… have a problem?" the King asked.
"Everything you've done, what was it all for?" Huai Shi was silent for a long moment, then suddenly asked, "Or rather, does any of it truly have meaning?"
Since Doomsday is approaching, all of this will be utterly destroyed.
No matter how futile their struggles, their actions are meaningless.
Whether it's their homeland, their Capital City, or this Palace City, all of it will be swept from the face of the earth.
Perhaps all of this is merely a fleeting dream of the Creator.
"Meaning?" The Lizard Man King's lips curled with difficulty into what might have been a self-mocking smile. "I thought… for ants like us… our very existence or non-existence… is hardly worth discussing in terms of 'meaning.'
"What counts as meaning? To live? Or to live better? Power? Wealth? Fame? Or to become a great, unparalleled existence? To leave behind a unique monument? Those are all forms of meaning, Great Spirit. But for us, none of that is our meaning."
He answered hoarsely, "To exist. For… us… existence *is* the only meaning.
"We *want* to exist.
"We *will* exist."
As the old King—wavering between aging and death, between aberration and evolution—made this declaration, his cloudy eyes flashed with a chilling conviction and resolve.
He declared, "—We *will* endure!"