Rather than saying the monsters fear the Demon King, it's more likely that the strongest in the Underground City inherently possesses some kind of "authority to absolutely command monsters."

——It's like how, in theory, Louis can also absolutely command the Curse Binding Legion.

In the later updates of the Greed Diary, the ones battling the monster army to the end were always the Curse Binding Legion.

Because it's a legion whose fear of death can be shattered by the Demon King's command, a true nemesis of living beings.

To deal with them, only members of the Curse Binding Legion who have already become Undead can manage it.

And if it's Demon King Helmer involved, then the sudden loss of contact with the Secluded Forest Sea is understandable.

This sort of instantaneous explosive power that destroys a nation-class entity, only the already formed Cosmic Serpent and Helmer can achieve.

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.

At this moment, he suddenly received a message from Lokeshi.

Bart Jean, who contacted him, dropped a bombshell the moment he opened his mouth:

"It's confirmed that the Secluded Forest Sea has fallen."

"???" Louis instinctively said, "Did you guys do it?"

The face of Patriarch Bart instantly darkened: "Don't slander us, it was our people who investigated it."

Louis remained silent.

In principle, Lokeshi, being closest to the Secluded Forest Sea, was indeed the best party to inquire.

But when he suspected there was an "extremely slight possibility that Envy was up to some mischief," he was reluctant to ask them.

Because it was easy to be misled by their information.

As the Sword Master's final words indicated, the Lokeshi Empire might remain ambiguous on the matter of Envy, and might not even take action.

So Louis was consciously avoiding relying on Lokeshi's intelligence.

Yet Bart still took the initiative to reach out.

He also asked, "Have you received any news from the Secluded Forest Sea over there?"

"We learned of it unintentionally while we were dispatching top-tier experts to investigate over there."

"Don't tell me it's the Golden Land, that's nonsense!" Louis snorted coldly, "I saw the situation in the Golden Land before I left the Secluded Forest Sea with Cialdini, and we made preparations, they would need some time to erupt."

Bart Jean's expression remained unchanged, still with a calm smile, he said, "It's indeed not the Golden Land, we are sending people to track down Envy."

Louis stared at him intently and said, "I don't think you necessarily intend to kill him."

Bart knew he couldn't hide it, so he sighed and said, "To be precise, we haven't reached a conclusion internally."

"I knew it..."

"Regarding this matter, please believe me, we won't be negligent, he's ultimately not the good kid we used to know."

"You shouldn't be saying this to me."

"It's not entirely inappropriate to say it to you."

"Heh, let's lay it out clearly. Cialdini suggested that when I kill Envy, I shouldn't call on you, afraid that you'll be soft-hearted and hold me back."

Bart shook his head and said, "That won't happen."

"Who knows."

Bart saw Louis' attitude had shifted, knowing that the lack of a definitive position from the Lokeshi Empire on how to deal with Envy had created a rift between them, he earnestly attempted to remedy the situation, saying:

"Actually, we've reached a consensus on killing Envy, the main matter under discussion is how to kill him."

——The implication is to see if, after killing Envy, it's possible to extract part of Emperor Tal's child's soul and give it a resting place.

With the resources of the Lokeshi Empire, if the soul still exists, spending a huge price might convert it into a Witch Demon.

Even if the Lokeshi Empire is somewhat unwilling to act, Louis could understand.

If Envy was truly once the child of the honorable Emperor Tal Griffin, it would be natural to hesitate.

While there is no shortage of cold and ruthless individuals among politicians, Tal's child might be someone whom the current heads of the thirteen families grew up watching.

For their circle, the successive generations of the thirteen family heads were among the few who could converse privately.

Being in high places is lonely, and although the thirteen might have conflicts due to their political stances, their private relations might not necessarily be bad.

Because there are only a few they could connect with.

Even in terms of mentoring juniors, their relationship with the younger generation might be better than that with the elder. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

At least Louis knew that his own Emperor Lao Deng often sat painfully on the golden throne, not just because he was protecting the entire continent.

He could not allow those he knew and cared about to be swept into an endless, chaotic war, only to die tragically.

To put it bluntly, in a world where extraordinary power is above all, as long as the strong are a bit ruthless, there's always a chance to completely exterminated their opponent's entire family.

Even scattering the ashes of friends and family wouldn't be impossible.

And this is precisely the weakness shared by the Emperor, Louis, and others.

Tragically, the Emperor sat on the golden throne, yet still couldn't prevent his siblings from accompanying him to death, even the children of his siblings and their children stepped one by one into the Abyss Battlefield.

When the entire empire's burden was placed on the Emperor, even if he regretted it, he couldn't rise.

The empire's burden, far too heavy.

"Let's continue discussing the intelligence we've obtained." Bart, seeing Louis' calm expression, tried to shift Louis' attention, "One good news, one bad news, which do you want to hear first?"

"Let's hear the good news first."

"Envy is dead, our deployed experts fell in the Secluded Forest Sea, they pursued Envy's traces but ultimately witnessed the scene of Envy's death there."

Louis raised an eyebrow.

An entity as strong as Envy, now not even worthy of having a name, just perished like that?

"What's the bad news?"

"The Underground City has surfaced; Helmer has opened an entrance somewhere, certainly within the Secluded Forest Sea, otherwise they wouldn't have taken down those elves so quickly."

Louis took a deep breath.

Although he had anticipated this, upon hearing it, he still felt troubled.

"Don't tell me, Envy was slain by the other side."

Bart Jean hesitated before saying, "Actually, it's more troublesome than being slain."

"How so?"

"Before having Envy transferred to him, the chosen of the four gods first turned him into a Corpse Demon when he was about to kill him."

"..."

Louis felt a twitch at his brow, inhaling deeply.

This really was terrifyingly intense.

"This is more troublesome than having Envy alive, isn't it!"

Louis originally thought that after his advancement, the surroundings might be a bit safer, but now he was losing that sense of security again.

What was scarier than having Envy alive was Envy being controlled by the other seven disasters.

This was basically stacking buffs for them!

And...

"The Golden Land is also problematic, right?"

"There's a slight problem, but not that bad."

"Worse than now? If Helmer, Envy, and the crazy fairies from the Golden Land all merge and focus their eyes on us, do you think there's any country on Star Continent currently capable of enduring it?"

"There is."

"No, there isn't."

"There is, Ense."

"Don't rely on the Emperor and me; we don't want the Ense Empire being shattered after one battle. To deal with them, we need to gather more manpower."

"So now, we might need your help."

Louis, realizing this, said helplessly: "So that was your aim."

"Without your aid, we can't hold off; they also have the ability to utilize corpses, we're struggling here."

Louis' expression grew more conflicted.

So they were waiting for this.

The Lokeshi Empire was calling for help.

"This... I need to discuss with Beatrice, how long can you hold out?"

"That depends not on us, but on when Helmer and his Demon King Army decide to strike, however... at most we can hold out for a dozen days."

"Damn, brother, are you kidding me, you are Lokeshi! The First Human Empire Lokeshi! Are you telling me you can only last a dozen days? Are you a bunch of magic chickens?"