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Chapter 251: The Second Crown [Bonus Chapter]

Solomon stared at the skeleton and processed the profound isolation of the sealed, pitch-black chamber.

"Was he dumped down here alive, or did they place his body here after he died?" Solomon wondered aloud. He looked at the casual, leaning posture the bones had retained. "A dead man does not pose like that. And that red-eyed figure I saw earlier cannot be a coincidence. He was definitely locked inside this chamber while he was still alive."

Solomon knelt down on the stone floor. He reached his hand out to pull the crown from beneath the skeleton’s heavy boots. As he crouched, he looked up at the empty neck cavity and suddenly realized the deliberate intention behind the placement.

Whoever eventually managed to bypass the divine seal, unlock the indestructible doors, and come down here to claim the royal crown would be forcefully required to kneel down and touch this man’s boots to retrieve it.

It was an ultimate, posthumous act of supreme arrogance. But he no longer had the head to look down at Solomon.

Solomon grabbed the gilded metal and forcefully yanked the crown out from under the boots. He let out a dry, mocking chuckle. "What an arrogant bastard. No one came down here looking for your crown or to save you for four hundred years, and absolutely no one was ever coming down here after me."

He brought the crown closer to the torchlight and carefully pried the crystallized gemstone from the center setting.

He held the divine essence in his palm and stared at it. He wondered if he should just eat it right now to gain the second bloodline talent, or if he should wait and wash it first.

He looked at the gemstone closely. It had been sitting in a dusty, sealed tomb for four centuries. It was coated in a thick, grimy layer of unrecognizable, dried liquid, and it had been physically wedged underneath a dead man’s boots the entire time.

Solomon grimaced. He simply could not bring himself to swallow something that dirty.

"I will just wash it in the river once I get back outside, and then I will eat it," Solomon decided, slipping the divine gemstone safely into the deep pocket of his sect uniform.

He looked at the empty crown resting on the floor. He wondered what he should do with the metal frame.

He considered returning it to Prince Ryu or King Shen as a token of goodwill. However, handing them the royal crown with the primary divine gemstone conspicuously missing would instantly raise suspicion.

"If they survived and ruled perfectly fine without this crown for four hundred years, it probably does not matter to them anymore," Solomon reasoned.

He picked the empty crown up and unceremoniously dropped it directly onto the stump of the skeleton’s severed neck.

He turned around, intending to leave the chamber and regroup with the prince waiting in the corridor above. Just as he took his first step, a distinct, heavy thud echoed directly behind him.

Solomon instantly spun around, grabbing the hilt of Eden’s Penance and dropping into a combat stance. He scanned the throne, expecting the skeleton to finally rise.

The bones remained perfectly still. However, something heavy had slipped from the inner folds of the skeleton’s dark robes and fallen onto the stone dais.

Solomon lowered his sword and stepped closer. He looked down at the floorboards. It was a leather-bound book.

That immediately piqued his curiosity. During his years as the ’Strongest Loser’, Solomon had spent countless hours reading in the grand libraries, becoming an avid fan of ancient history and historical texts in a desperate bid to understand his dormant talent.

He immediately picked the book up from the floor and blew the thick layer of dust off the leather cover. He cracked the heavy tome open, wondering if he had just discovered the lost King’s final diary.

He held the crimson torch closer to the brittle parchment and read the faded ink written on the very first page.

"Property of the Heavenly Demon."

Solomon read the faded ink and raised his brow. He slowly lowered the book and stared at the headless skeletal remains resting on the throne.

"What is something like this doing down here?" Solomon muttered, his mind racing through the historical implications. "Is the person sitting on this throne not the King of Azure, but the Heavenly Demon?"

He paced in front of the dais, the crimson torchlight casting long, erratic shadows across the crypt.

According to the lore Gideon and Yue had shared, an angel descended from the heavens specifically to eradicate the Heavenly Demon four hundred years ago.

If the Heavenly Demon was defeated and sealed away inside this underground bunker, why were the royal throne and the ancestral crown of the Azure Kingdom sealed in here with him?

"If the King of the Azure Kingdom was actually the Heavenly Demon, that historical fact would have been recorded in the royal archives," Solomon reasoned, tapping the leather cover. "But nobody ever mentioned a connection between the royal bloodline and the demonic cults."

Solomon paused, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the political aftermath of the ancient war. ’Wait. History is written by the victors,’ Solomon realized. ’Why is the Heavenly Demon’s rampage primarily associated with the destruction of the Azure Kingdom?’

’Why was this kingdom left in complete ruins for four centuries, entirely abandoned by the Righteous Alliance and the neighboring royals? Nobody ever tried to rebuild it or claim the ancestral land until the Holy Empire marched in just a few weeks ago.’

The pieces slowly clicked together. ’The Righteous Alliance and the surviving royals likely altered the historical records to save face. The King of the Azure Kingdom must have fallen to corruption and become the Heavenly Demon. That is exactly why they sealed him in his own throne room and abandoned the territory out of sheer shame and terror.’

"If what I am thinking is the truth, then it’s going to cause havoc in the eastern realms."

Curious to learn the truth, Solomon opened the thick leather book and flipped past the title page.

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N/N: Let me know if you guys enjoy dungeon exploration/raiding Chapters like this. If you do, I will try to add more in ‌future Chapters. Of course, each one will be better and more entertaining than the last.

If you don’t, I will likely skim over it.

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