The Smiling Death-Chapter 393: Final Words

A while ago, before Roland entered the tower.

Back at the Eastern Tower, the battle was still ongoing.

The huge abomination had been lured away from the main group by Malphas. The old warrior moved like a streak of lightning, dashing from one tree to another while attacking and provoking the monster so it would chase him instead of the others.

The monster roared in fury and followed him, each of its steps shaking the ground and breaking trees like twigs.

Malphas suddenly stopped on top of one of the tallest broken trees that Amon had shattered earlier during the battle. Standing high above the battlefield, lightning flickering faintly around his body, he took a deep breath and then shouted loudly,

"Everyone get away from here! Run far away from here! It is an order!"

His voice traveled across the half-broken forest, loud and commanding.

Everyone heard him.

Everyone stopped fighting for a moment.

They trusted Malphas completely.

So without a second thought, they began to retreat immediately. They did not run toward the tower, but in the opposite direction, trying to get as far away as possible from the battlefield.

Ethan, who had just killed a monster with his spear, stopped and looked around. Then he spotted Amon in the distance, still fighting monsters.

"Amon!" Ethan shouted loudly. "Run away! That is an order!"

Amon killed another monster with a dark slash, then turned his head toward Ethan and shouted back,

"You go first! I will come behind! Do not worry!"

Ethan hesitated for a moment, then nodded and started running away with the others.

Soon, most of the battlefield became empty.

Only monsters remained.

And Amon.

He killed a few more monsters quickly, his sword and hatchet moving again and again. Then finally he turned around to run toward the tower side.

But just as he started running, something shot toward him at incredible speed.

A streak of blue lightning dashed across the battlefield and landed right in front of him.

BOOM!

Dust and wind blew around.

Amon stopped immediately.

Standing in front of him was Malphas.

He looked battered.

His white hair was dirty and messy. His white beard was stained with blood and dust. His armor was nearly broken, and the clothes under it were torn into tatters. His blue vertical slit eyes were still sharp and focused. One of his demon horns was slightly broken.

He looked around quickly and saw that everyone had already run far away. In the distance, the huge abomination continued destroying the forest, trying to find Malphas. It was breaking trees and occasionally firing massive beams in random directions.

Malphas quickly formed a lightning barrier around himself and Amon so that low-ranking monsters would not attack them.

Then he stepped closer to Amon.

Amon looked worried. "Are you okay?"

Malphas nodded. "Yes. I am fine."

Then his expression became serious.

"Amon," he said, "I have an order for you."

Amon’s expression immediately hardened. He straightened his back and nodded.

"Tell me what you want me to do."

Malphas sighed heavily before speaking again. His eyes looked tired now. Not physically tired, but something deeper.

"I am going to throw you toward the tower. The other monster that Scarlett and Mark were fighting is nearly dead. But both of them are badly injured and cannot move. Go there. Go inside the tower and try to deactivate it."

He looked directly into Amon’s eyes.

"I can only believe in you. You have survived many things. If anyone can survive and achieve this, it is you. I have a feeling about this."

Amon nodded slowly, but then asked in a worried voice,

"What about you? Can you kill that monster?"

Malphas nodded calmly. "Yes. I have a way."

Then he smiled gently. It was not a confident smile. It was a calm smile. The kind of smile a person makes when they have already accepted their fate.

He reached toward his neck and took off something hanging from it. It was an old gold locket. Then he took out a small bag from his waist and pulled out a yellowish old paper. It looked like a letter.

He held both things in his hand and spoke in a heavy voice,

"Amon, you have a storage ring. Put these inside it. I have a request for you."

Amon looked confused and worried, but he still took them.

Malphas continued speaking slowly,

"After this battle, I will not survive. To kill that monster, I will also die."

Amon’s eyes widened.

"Malphas! What do you mean? What are you trying to do? There must be another way! We can fight together! You do not have to die!"

Malphas shook his head slowly.

"No, Amon. Listen to me carefully."

His voice became softer.

"I am old. I have already lived more than enough. But you all... you all are still young. You still have a world to see. Dreams to achieve. People to meet. Lives to live."

Amon clenched his fists. His eyes were already turning red.

"But what about your family?" Amon said, his voice shaking. "They are outside, are not they? You have been waiting for eighty-two years to meet them."

Malphas looked at the sky for a moment and smiled.

"I have spent eighty-two years here," he said slowly. "At first, I wanted to leave this place no matter what. I wanted to see my wife again. I wanted to see my daughter. I wanted to see whether they had grown up well. Whether they hated me for not returning."

He paused for a moment.

"But as the years passed... this village... these people... they became my family too."

He looked toward the direction where the others had run.

"I taught them how to fight. I watched them grow. I watched children become warriors. I watched them laugh, fight, fall in love, have children. This place became my home too."

He paused for a moment.

"But as the years passed... this village... these people... they became my family too."