VIP Chapter 505: “My Time is Limited” (4k)
The 333rd floor.
The true “deepest part” of the entire Zero Demon City.
However, it was not the BOSS room of Treya, who was already the “Empress” of Zero Demon City. In fact, even she herself didn’t know whose room this should be considered.
—You don’t know what you should get.
—Forever, you only know what you have lost.
—Only by constantly discarding what you hold, and repeatedly sifting through it, can you finally know what you truly want.
—But, from now on, become a greedy person.
—Seize everything you want, and hold onto everything you wish to obtain.
—Even the entire world?
“What I want to get… Thank you. Standing here, I truly know now.”
Treya said, taking a step towards the exhibition hall.
“For this, I must truly master this dungeon.”
Before Treya was a familiar exhibition hall, yet it exuded a strange aura.
Its strangeness lay in…
Everything here was indeed “black and white,” but each portrait of an Entak King hanging here was in color.
Still…
【You’ve finally arrived.】
The first King of Entak, the founder, moved his lips within the portrait, speaking first, just as Treya had heard of his verbose reputation.
【I couldn’t let you reach here before. This is the origin of all Entak.】
It could “squirm.”
A “withered old man” with a face colored like a demon’s, with white hair, made the “dignified” gesture common to all “King” portraits. However, his moving lips made him appear greasy and disgusting.
Treya had only heard stories that when one had a fever and nightmares, they would dream of “disgusting” and terrifying things.
For example, paintings made of human flesh, where every piece of muscle “writhed” in the most disgusting direction, speaking the most repulsive words in the most shrill voice.
Treya knew his story.
He was once an adventurer who gained immense power after clearing a demon city named “Zero Demon City.”
And then…
Using that power, he won people’s hearts, forged a bloody path, and it’s unknown how many countries he destroyed and how many wars he ignited before finally establishing the Entak Empire.
Now, it seemed, this was just a “contract” he had with Zero Demon City.
A “deception” against the world.
And the beginning of his demonic nature.
【Oh my~ Oh my~ We’ve been waiting for you for a long time~ Someone like you who refuses to join us~ is truly troublesome~】
“…”
Treya raised her sword and looked at the second portrait.
The second portrait was of the second… and also the first Empress.
It was said she rose to power through her beauty.
—Using her beauty to incite civil war among her brothers and jealousy among her sisters.
The portrait depicted her in her prime beauty, her vibrant red lips almost covering the “distinctive features” of her in the entire painting.
Her deep crimson, demonic face made one want to “gag.”
【Originally, a beautiful little elf like you~ would surely gain more and more beautiful things by joining us~】
“…”
Treya still remained silent.
She raised her head and looked across the entire exhibition hall, seeing the “contract” placed at the very end.
It was a perfectly ordinary, thin piece of parchment, which, under the protection of Zero Demon City, hadn’t even become tattered, remaining in its original state.
A contract that linked the rise and fall of the entire dynasty with this dungeon filled with sin, bloodshed, and deception.
It was precisely because of it that Zero Demon City and the Entak Family became connected.
Everyone had blood on their hands, whether from internal or external conflicts.
【Sign a contract with us… no… sign a contract with demons… become the true ruler of Zero Demon City… you will gain the power you desire…】
The third painting featured a man with very thick dark circles, giving off a “middle-aged man” vibe.
The third King.
He sounded particularly “lazy,” and even the demonic color on his face was a more languid “purple.”
But Treya knew very well that he was the most vicious among them. He relied entirely on scheming and making the nobles, who had developed over two generations, “fight amongst themselves,” ultimately leaving them with nothing.
He didn’t spill a drop of blood himself but caused rivers of blood to flow among those below him.
【You will understand… the method for the dungeon’s continuation… there is only one such way… whether it’s Reviers or us… the way to dig deeper and deeper… is only by controlling more and more humans…】
…
Treya remained silent.
She looked down at her chest.
The hole in her chest, cut open by her own sword, showed no signs of healing, but blood was no longer flowing.
Perhaps it meant she hadn’t gotten any closer to death.
From the moment she stabbed herself and didn’t die but arrived here, she knew.
These “thirteen battles” were merely a form of “contract,” not truly affecting her.
Zero Demon City rarely communicated through “physical objects”; it was more an attempt to communicate through “imagery.”
It was just…
She looked at the Entak ancestors on the wall, who began to “fidget” due to her arrival, but the more they fidgeted, the more disgusting they became.
She somehow felt it was strange.
Why did they appear here as “demons”?
As the “masters” of that “contract,” didn’t they sign the contract in their “human” forms? Shouldn’t they appear here as the humans of Entak?
Why did even they become “demons”?
Would she also become like this?
What exactly was the contract Entak signed two hundred years ago…
With this thought, Treya moved towards the contract displayed there.
【Alright, alright! She already stabbed herself and came here!】
【Then surely she truly wants to accept us?】
【After all, Carver’s sword was right at her neck, what other choice does she have?】
【Rather, the timing we chose was just right.】
The noisy and disgusting voices in her ears grew louder.
With each step she took, Treya left white footprints on the long, dark gray carpet.
Then…
She stopped before the contract.
The contract was rolled up at the edges and was also black and white, with no text visible inside.
It was hidden.
As the true “secret” of Zero Demon City, this was not something she could easily see.
She still gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, staring at the so-called “contract.”
If that were the case, she would have to resort to some more “extreme” measures—
“So, for the twelfth battle, you intend to do it here?”
She turned around and looked at the entire exhibition hall.
In the empty exhibition hall, on each hanging painting, the “portraits” collectively furrowed their colorful brows.
【… ?】
【You don’t intend to integrate with us, so why the twelfth battle?】
【She’s been deceived by that man.】
【Damn it, why don’t you listen. As my daughter, you should obey me. That person named Will led you astray…】
*Screech.*
The portrait of Treya’s father, Edward, who had only recently passed away, was split open by Treya’s sword.
“I don’t want to hear any word that disrespects him.”
A colorful scratch was left on the wall.
It stood out against the black world, which was entirely black except for the portraits.
With this strike, the living portrait finally became a “still picture,” no longer able to make any sound or move.
“I’ll ask again, for the twelfth time, do you intend to do it here?”
As a junior, Treya’s aura was exceptionally powerful. The purple light of the black Shadow Nightmare Sword in her hand illuminated a small black and white area next to her.
It turned that area purple as well.
This battle was more like Treya holding a pure black “paint brush,” with each stroke fiercely coloring the world before her.
【He is truly… already… dead…】
A commotion arose from within the portraits, and Treya raised her sword, pointing forward.
“Of course he’s dead.”
Then, Treya let out a light laugh, her boots stepping forward one by one.
“However, don’t think that my sword didn’t sever your consciousness. Perhaps, it severed your contract with ‘demons.’ With the contract severed, you no longer have the ‘proof’ of being in Zero Demon City, therefore you don’t deserve to remain in this exhibition hall.”
【What’s going on with this girl…】
【Her aura is completely different from before, when we could control her freely…】
【Shall we go?】
【We…】
…
*Screech.*
Treya’s second strike tore through another chattering painting. Half the wall instantly turned into a magnificent array of colors, as if splashed with colorful ink.
“My time is very limited.”
【No, no, no, don’t kill me, I haven’t even…】
*Screech.*
The third painting was torn apart by Treya again.
She didn’t seem like someone being “forced to sign a contract” here, but rather an unfeeling warrior wreaking havoc.
“Alright, still not coming out? Then the next one.”
*Screech.*
The fourth.
*Screech.*
The fifth.
The black and white corridor was gradually cut into a vibrant, colorful space.
But the more colorful it became, the harder it was to distinguish whether this was a dreamscape or a real dungeon-clearing scene.
If the floor with countless mirrors made one feel the deception of the mirror surface.
And a dungeon where the exit door was placed behind a wooden toy castle felt like some absurd comedy.
Then…
This black and white exhibition hall, gradually being dyed with color, this black and white exhibition hall that replaced blood with color, was more like an abstract painting filled with only madness.
It revealed the true face of Zero Demon City, which was already on the verge of insanity, having dug into the “deepest part” of this world, and being the closest to the “truth” of the world.
Finally…
Treya, whose every step was colored, was left with only one portrait.
“It’s your turn. Do you want to run or fight me? Choose.”
【Entak Style, I was the one who created it in the first place. You asking them to fight you is too much of a hardship.】
Before Treya, the black shadow spread out, forming a lean swordsman in front of her.
Treya recognized him. The sword in his hand was the sword of the founder, carefully protected in the deepest part of the Royal Palace.
“So, after those boring ‘battles’ just now ended, you finally appeared, wanting to fight me?”
【Precisely.】
Treya couldn’t see his face clearly. She could only see him drawing his sword from his sleeve, which slid out bit by bit, forming a greatsword.
“Entak Style is nothing but a deception of yours. To make every child learn the style, and then be corrupted by demons?”
【You are too kind. The original Entak Style was indeed not like this. Let me show you the first style.】
“!”
Treya saw that his sword style was very similar to that of the Undead Swordsman before!
A sword technique with completely imperceptible trajectories.
A sword technique with completely unpredictable landing points.
A sword technique that struck at every vital point.
【Since everyone before has died, I have nothing left to hold back.】
“Does this mean that if I kill you, I win? And this contract ends here?”
【…】
Treya didn’t hear a reply.
This might mean…
That even the original creator of Entak didn’t know the answer?
*Clang, clang, clang.*
The black sword and the shadow sword collided continuously in the air, sparks flying and then extinguishing.
Until the end…
Until the very end…
Treya had completely forgotten what “Entak Style” even was.
But she remembered one thing.
She remembered the most basic, original sword technique that Will taught her, the one for dealing with all the puppets before her.
And then, sword after sword after sword after sword…
She pierced them!
The black shadow was finally pierced through the chest by a beam of colored light.
“Is this the end? I won… so I should have become the true Empress here?”
This was the last “senior” displayed here.
Then…
She would…
*Click.*
She raised her head and saw a silver sword.
It was pointed at her head, cleaving down in half.
“…?!”
Pain shot through her.
She knew she was probably about to wake up.
But she refused to yield. She opened her eyes.
In the split vision of her head divided in two, unable to be pieced back together, she saw the “mastermind” who finally killed her—
She was not any of the Entak Kings—because Treya had already extinguished those consciousnesses one by one with her colored sword.
Instead, it was…
“Oh my, I said thirteen times, so thirteen times it will be.”
“But you seem to have misunderstood something. The thirteen times are not a trial for you, where you will become the Empress if you win one of them.”
The Undead Swordsman, with whom Treya had fought ten times, and whom Treya had always thought had no “consciousness”… or rather, had thought her consciousness was controlled…
On her usually expressionless face, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
“It is I, the first demon of Zero Demon City, who kills you thirteen times to complete the contract.”
