Chapter 9: Suspicion (2)
The Alligator Monster had been in charge of Black Stone City for over a hundred years.
Compared to the Great King of the Split Land in White Feather City, the Alligator Monster’s abilities were certainly impressive—not to mention larger than life!
However, since Black Stone City was directly governed by Half Moon City, especially with the towering Sky Tower standing a good hundred meters tall at the city center, it was regularly fortified by at least a hundred top-notch Inner Door Disciples from the seven major human clans.
So, the Alligator Monster couldn’t strut around like the Great King of the Split Land; he was stuck with the rather pathetic title of “city lord.”
That alone had eaten at him for nearly a century.
But thanks to the prominent human race, the once-mighty monster race was now waning, and even if he had a bunch of gripes, he didn’t dare voice them.
The Alligator Monster had held onto the long-cherished dream of making Black Stone City independent and solely under his control, biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment.
Then, just a month ago, fate finally served him a golden platter of opportunity!
A sudden influx of humans appeared around Half Moon City. Though they were individually weak fighters, they brought sheer numbers! In their quest to seize enough food for the winter, they even managed to surround the entire Half Moon City for a time.
This unexpected situation forced Half Moon City to make the hasty decision to temporarily recall the guards from the Sky Tower.
They thought that by gathering all the elite Inner Door Disciples, they could easily teach those rabble-rousers a lesson. However, to their surprise, some of those refugees turned out to be skilled fighters themselves!
With brutal fights against the Half Moon City guards, their battle experience skyrocketed, and they even managed to match the guards in combat for a time.
Understanding that Half Moon City was now embroiled in a war of attrition, the Alligator Monster wasted no time in declaring a complete break with the humans, launching a massive hunt for any remaining humans in the city.
In this chaotic world, the Alligator Monster was well aware that his dreams of pure independence, free from the meddling of other races, were nothing but a fantasy.
Currently, the various human clans were being tormented by the encroaching refugees, leaving them little time to notice Black Stone City.
But once they took a breather, Black Stone City would undoubtedly become the target of their wrath.
So, to avoid such a fate, he had to temporarily cozy up to the Demon Race—better to have their name as leverage than be squished under a boot!
But what the Alligator Monster didn’t expect was that, before the humans could come to reclaim lost territory, the recently rising Cold Wind City, also of the monster race, would mobilize their army to attack Black Stone City first!
What the heck! Cold Wind City, why not go pick a fight with the demon-controlled Cangyan City instead? Simple—easy pickings!
As they were busy setting up defensive structures, the soldiers hoisted several large stones from the Sky Tower to use as falling projectiles.
Lo and behold, the next day those stones magically transformed into giants!
This left the folks of Black Stone City in shock, convinced it was an enemy scheme.
But once they saw these unstoppable giants clambering up the city walls to confront Cold Wind City, the collective sigh of relief was palpable.
Though nobody knew who had set up these stone giants, this wasn’t the time to go down that rabbit hole.
Just as the stone giants significantly boosted the city’s defenses, the messenger he had sent to the Demon Race for help returned the same day with news: the Demon Race would send a small embassy to assist in defending the city.
The Alligator Monster was bubbling with delight, imagining the Demon Race unleashing a massive army to help Black Stone City strike back.
However, when the delegation arrived, he was pretty disappointed. There were barely fifty of them, and as soon as they entered Black Stone City, they acted like royalty, making all sorts of ridiculous demands.
Especially that pompous Count, who insisted they needed a lively tavern for late-night fun—because hey, that’s just how demons roll, apparently!
So, with a resigned sigh, the Alligator Monster had to convert an existing brewery to fit their “noble” tastes just to keep the peace.
He thought these delegation members were tough warriors, so while negotiating, he was eager to launch a counterattack—defeat the enemy leader, and Cold Wind City would surely fall apart!
But that blasted Morris kept insisting the time wasn’t right to act.
So, the Alligator Monster was left twiddling his thumbs, stuck in a defensive mode.
The pressure from Cold Wind City was overwhelming, and they even destroyed four of the stone giants in battle, leaving them with less than ten!
Due to the long-standing oppression from Half Moon City, Black Stone City’s army had barely three thousand men. They had been hastily expanded to six thousand, but it was still far shy of the twenty thousand soldiers from Cold Wind City.
From the vantage of the city walls, their enemy’s tents stretched endlessly—hell, it was a marathon of canvas!
And those stone giants? They wouldn’t even step outside the city walls!
If they kept dragging this out, the enemy would eventually find a way to dismantle the stone giants, and Black Stone City would just have to sit there and wait for defeat.
But there it was—the Demon Race’s delegation was stone-cold silent. Morris seemed more interested in chasing after women than giving the Alligator Monster a single hint about what to do, only saying that the Demon Race would never abandon Black Stone City.
Black Stone City was a key outpost for them to crush the human race, and the Demon Race guaranteed they would maintain its independence, ensuring no other powers would encroach on the Alligator Monster’s rule.
After several smack-on-the-chest assurances from Morris, the Alligator Monster reluctantly suppressed his doubts.
However, it wasn’t long before he discovered some Demon Race members lurking about the city.
These guys definitely looked different from the monster race, with prominent horns sticking out of their foreheads. Even in the dead of night, they couldn’t help but draw the hawkish gaze of the guards, who eventually caught wind of the demons’ real intentions—heading straight for the Sky Tower!
According to some nearly five-hundred-year-old monsters, the Sky Tower actually predated Black Stone City itself.
But you know how legends go—they don’t always hold water.
The Alligator Monster knew that the above-ground portion of the Sky Tower reached a staggering height of a hundred meters, and below it lay an endless spiral staircase leading down into a pitch-black abyss.
Rumor had it there were one hundred levels down there, but he hadn’t heard anyone get to the bottom.
Even the imprisoned avatar of the Monster King was only around the fifty-level mark!
Four hundred years ago, the Alligator Monster wasn’t even a glimmer in the eye of his mother—he knew nothing about the likes of Monster Kings and Queens. The reason Half Moon City took such an interest in Black Stone City was primarily due to the presence of the Monster King’s avatar trapped below the Sky Tower.
But in recent years, he’d heard whispers that this avatar had mysteriously vanished.
Yet Half Moon City steadfastly denied it, insisting that the Monster King’s avatar was still pressed down there in the depths of the Sky Tower.
The Alligator Monster had sneaked over to verify this rumor and found out that, sure enough, the avatar had indeed disappeared without a trace.
Half Moon City must’ve been terrified of taking the fall for it, hence they’d never breathed a word.
With even the Monster King’s avatar completely gone, the Alligator Monster finally resolved to break all ties with Half Moon City.
But why on earth would the Demon Race be interested in the Sky Tower?
This was sensitive, top-secret information about Black Stone City—there was no way he was letting them waltz in and snoop around!
