Chapter 148: The King Who Represents the Storm (15)

"Your Majesty."

Herbert did not immediately sit over. He looked at the king on the bed, and for a moment fell silent as well.

Reinhardt Olivia

The current king of the Frost Crystal Kingdom, Lionheart VII.

The Frost Crystal royal family were descendants of the Dragonslayer — this was not merely a legend spun to consolidate rule.

A thousand years ago, the warrior who would become Lionheart I, with the aid of the first Duke of Silver Wings and others, succeeded in slaying a frost wyrm of legendary peak rank.

After the battle ended, he bathed in dragon blood, ate the dragon's heart, eyes, and brain raw, and ultimately succeeded in tempering his bloodline, becoming a powerful Dragonblood Warrior.

He gained the frost wyrm's terrifying strength and powerful physique, as well as a portion of spell-like special abilities.

In the legends of many kingdoms, it was recorded that the founding king displayed his ice magic at banquets — for instance, chilling wine with his palm, or adding ice cubes to the drink.

To commemorate his feat of slaying the dragon and this special ability obtained from the wyrm, he named the country after the wyrm's title, "Frost Crystal."

And as descendants of Lionheart I, his heirs, though they lost the spell-like abilities, also smoothly inherited this bloodline power, producing powerful warriors in abundance.

So, in a sense, the Frost Crystal royal family could also be considered a kind of Dragonblood Warrior clan… ahem!

The current generation's king was the same — from childhood he was regarded as the perfect heir of the founding king.

Not only did his appearance resemble a copy of him, he also displayed a talent similar to the founding king's!

At a young age he broke through to Legendary, becoming the youngest Legendary warrior in the history of the Frost Crystal Kingdom — even two years earlier than the founding king himself.

But just when everyone thought he would devote himself to cultivation and become the kingdom's strongest, inheriting the name of Dragonslayer to protect the nation, he made a startling decision.

Reinhardt chose to go out and seek adventure.

He left the Frost Crystal Kingdom alone, traveling all over the world, and was gone for four years.

And when he returned, he held a baby girl in his arms — the future Princess Feilia.

Later on, he smoothly inherited the throne, settled into cultivation in the kingdom, and began a life of seclusion.

The earlier stories were all things Herbert had heard from others; what came after was what he himself had witnessed with his own eyes.

In his impression, Reinhardt was not an aloof, lofty king, but always a hearty, talkative elder — strong, yet not at all fearsome.

Though he understood nothing of art, he was willing to listen to Herbert prattle on about those vague, misty feelings.

When they were young, he would often take him and Feilia out to play.

And now…

Herbert even felt as though he were looking at a corpse lying on the bed.

The once dazzling, resplendent golden long hair had become withered and yellowed; the eye sockets had sunk deep, making the eyeballs within protrude.

His muscles had atrophied all over, his whole body covered in wrinkled skin, his weight perhaps not even half of what it once was — the man had become a complete skeleton wrapped in skin.

"Why haven't you come over yet? Heh-heh, I remember when you were little you loved sitting on my lap listening to my stories, cough, cough…"

But even having become such a wreck, even though death seemed to have already seized his throat, Herbert still did not sense any negativity such as despondency from him.

Still the same self-confidence as when Herbert had seen him as a child.

The core of a strong man was sustaining him, waging a final life-and-death struggle against the god of death — even scorning death's threat.

"…Your Majesty, I am no longer a child."

After a moment of silence, Herbert gave a wry smile, but obediently sat down beside King Reinhardt.

He turned his head to look at this once burly, powerful man, now so far gone with illness that he had come to this, and could not help feeling a surge of emotion.

Heroes in their twilight, beauties growing gray — nothing is more sorrowful.

Herbert was sighing inwardly, but on the other side Reinhardt, looking at him, was very pleased.

"Ha-ha! You've indeed grown into a man, but before us, you kids are, cough, cough, still children!"

Compared to that elegant, delicate boy of the past, he looked more like a man now.

"You performed very well this time."

He laboriously raised his hand, patted Herbert's shoulder, and said with feeling:

"If not for you, I'm afraid I would never have woken, and this kingdom would have fallen completely into Terence's hands…"

But after waking and fully understanding what had happened before, his heart was also seized by a belated dread.

Even though Reinhardt was a powerful warrior, there was no way he could guard against the heartless betrayal of his dearest kin.

The blade thrust into one's back is always the sharpest.

The closer the person, the more frenzied they become in betrayal.

Because of guilt, because of unease, because of fear… under such torments, they will spare no cost to utterly erase the root that keeps them from peace of mind.

Only when that person is dead will they be truly at ease.

Had the wyrm not appeared and startled him awake from his slumber, Reinhardt would have died in his sleep in the most humiliating manner at the hands of his own offspring.

"For this matter, I am grateful."

After saying these words, Reinhardt's brow furrowed, and he fixed Herbert with a piercing gaze.

"But, your incitement of the nobles… do you truly know what you are doing?"

"You are plunging the kingdom into peril, you are placing the lives of countless people in danger!"

Even though he was weak, even though he had reached the point of his oil running dry and his lamp guttering, Reinhardt's voice still brimmed with terrifying power, making the temperature of the entire bedchamber turn chillingly cold.

"You! What exactly are you doing!?"

Boom, boom, boom—

From outside the window came the sound of thunder; faintly, one could sense the sound of a storm gathering above Wang Cheng.

The storm was coming.

But Herbert knew clearly that this freak weather did not come from nature, but was a miracle achievable by human power.

Bang—

The windows of the bedchamber were blown open by the raging wind, and the surging, bone-piercing cold rushed in, scattering the furnishings of the entire room into disarray.

The swaying candle flames were snuffed out, and the mana lampstand was also shattered by the gale, plunging the room into utter darkness.

Crack!

Thunder roared, illuminating the faces of the two figures in the darkness.

Storm.

Reinhardt's legendary ability was to summon storms!

During his travels abroad, this king had advanced into the special legendary class 【Storm Apostle】.

He is the harbinger of the storm.

He — is the storm itself.

Even though he was already weakened to the extreme, at such close range between the two of them, he still possessed the ability to deliver a single strike that would annihilate Herbert outright!

And now, Valentina was not by Herbert's side, and the Archbishop's power had also been completely spent.

The situation seemed to have arrived at its most critical moment.

(End of this chapter)