CHAPTER 408: IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS

Alex had to admit that he had done something reckless.

He didn’t know what came over him. All he knew was that he couldn’t just accept this turn of events after seeing how pitiful and racked with guilt Luthor looked.

"Liar!" Luthor accused. "His Highness is dead! I watched him die! How dare you tarnish his memory?! How dare you?!"

Luthor slammed the young man’s body against the cave wall. The impact forced a cry of pain from Alex. All the air rushed from his lungs, leaving him gasping.

"Who are you?!" Luthor demanded as he raised Alex’s body from the ground. "Did the Empire send you to torment me?! Speak!"

Alex was in no condition to reply. The only thing that the old man could hear was a gurgling sound from his lips.

Alex’s blood welled up in his throat and seeped out of his mouth.

He was a Rank 3 Oathkeeper, considered strong among his generation, but the strength of a Rank 8 was beyond imagination. This was a painful reminder that such individuals were not to be provoked, not that Alex needed such a reminder.

Perhaps angered that his questions kept going unanswered, Luthor once again slammed Alex against the wall.

"Arghhh!" Alex groaned, feeling some of his bones break.

"Answer me!" Luthor roared. "Who sent you?!"

Close to asphyxiation, Alex couldn’t answer even if he wanted to. His vision intermittently blackened. He could feel his consciousness fading.

Just before he could sink into oblivion, something blue and blurry appeared in his vision.

"Shut up, F*cker!"

The cavern shook as Luthor was thrown against a wall. Alex collapsed in a heap, barely breathing.

"Dim!"

A familiar voice reached Alex’s ears before he descended into complete darkness.

While Alex lay unconscious on the ground, Dim Dim lightly tapped his cheek to wake him up.

Dozens of baby slimes had surrounded the young man’s body. They were using their healing skills to quickly cure him.

Eiko gave Alex a sidelong glance before shifting her attention to Luthor, who lay unmoving at the corner of the cavern.

The baby slime was completely immune to the Prism Knight’s reflection ability, so she didn’t suffer any backlash after slapping the old man away.

Luckily for Luthor, Eiko had controlled her strength, leaving him unconscious but still very much in the world of the living.

A minute later, Lumi appeared inside the cavern, having followed Dim Dim and a few dozen baby slimes after seeing them jump into the lake.

Finding it unusual, she had followed them to investigate. It had never crossed her mind that her curiosity would be "rewarded" with the sight of a seriously injured Alex inside an underwater cavern.

The baby slimes’ healing magic helped a bit, but the damage he had received from Luthor could not be healed in a short time.

Without an ounce of hesitation, Lumi took out a high-grade healing potion from her storage ring.

"Can you guys make sure he won’t choke when I force feed him this?" Lumi asked the baby slimes, who all nodded.

"""Eyah!"""

The young lady raised the vial to her mouth and tilted it. She then pressed her lips against Alex’s, transferring the purple liquid directly into his mouth without losing a single drop.

After what happened last night, Latifa had given Lumi and Lotte some potions for emergencies.

Lumi just hadn’t thought that she would be using the potion right after arriving at Slime Paradise given how safe it was known to be.

’One potion may not be enough,’ Lumi thought as she pulled back and saw how devoid of color Alex’s face was.

Ignoring the taste of Alex’s blood, she filled her mouth with another high-grade potion and repeated the process.

After she had successfully made Alex down both potions, Luthor finally stirred. Groggily, the old man got to his feet.

"... Who... no. What are you?" Luthor’s uncanny senses detected a very powerful being in front of him, stronger than the Ice Paragon he had faced in the past.

Eiko’s only answer was a withering glare. If Luthor made a move to approach Alex in any way, she would smack the light out of his eyes again.

She could see how worried Dim Dim was as it fussed over Alex with tears in its eyes. Since her best friend wanted Alex to live, she couldn’t possibly let the "guest" inside their Slime Paradise to continue hurting the young man.

A tense standoff ensued inside the cavern as Luthor and Eiko faced each other.

The old man knew he wasn’t a match against the baby slime, so he simply sat and leaned against the cave wall while extending his senses to find out what was happening to the young man.

Amidst the darkness, he could sense the auras of dozens of slimes, all working together to heal the young man.

He could also detect a peculiar entity right beside Alex, who almost didn’t seem human.

A few minutes later, Alex’s breathing stabilized, but he was still seriously hurt.

It would take a while for the high-grade potions to fully take effect. The slimes’ healing abilities were also first aid at most.

The sound of splashing reached everyone’s ears as Latifa emerged inside the cavern.

Lumi had reported what had happened and asked her to come. If Latifa could temporarily merge with Alex, the Verdant Throne would send his regeneration abilities into overdrive.

Their shared ability gave them rapid regeneration. For now, this was the best and fastest solution Lumi could come up with.

Latifa knelt beside Alex’s and pressed her lips against his.

Suddenly, she turned into particles of light and merged with him, leaving his body covered in purple flame.

The gnarly sounds of bones rearranging themselves back into position echoed inside the cavern. Dim Dim and the baby slimes watched as Alex shuddered before his broken arm corrected itself with a popping sound.

A few minutes later, Alex opened his eyes, but Lumi instantly knew that the one in control was not him but Latifa.

"Why?" Latifa asked as she looked at Luthor. "Why did you hurt him? Alex isn’t the type to cause trouble to other people. Why would you hurt him like this?"

Lumi and Lotte wanted to correct Latifa and remind her of Alex’s troublemaking history. But since they were on the same side, they held their tongues and focused on the old man.

"It’s none of your business," Luthor replied calmly.

The old man didn’t want to discuss anything with the newcomers, for the answer held a secret that mustn’t be revealed to the world.

After calming down a bit, he understood that he had overreacted and had hurt the young man in a fit of rage.

However, the memories of that battle had ignited the flame he thought had long gone out.

He could clearly remember how the Paragon of Ice had frozen the Prince, turning him into a block of ice.

Laughing, the Paragon had then tossed the block of ice off the cliff. Luthor had desperately tried to save the prince everyone had wanted to die, but his futile attempt had been met with even more laughter.

After killing the Paragon in a great battle, Luthor had gone down the cliff himself.

But all he had seen at the bottom was shattered ice and frozen blood.

He could not find his Prince’s remains, but even then he had known clinging to hope was useless. No one could possibly survive a fall thousands of meters in elevation.

When Latifa temporarily took over Alex’s body, Luthor sensed something that made his hand tremble.

After losing his vision, he had gained the ability to sense things clearly using sound and his aura.

Since Latifa forcefully released mana to speed up Alex’s recovery, Luthor felt a familiar presence on the young man’s head.

Although it had been many years since then, he could clearly sense that seal belonged to Nero.

The old man’s mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, unable to voice out the things that he wanted to say.

In the end, he pursed his lips and clenched his fists.

Although he still felt doubtful, he needed to know the truth.

And the only way he could do that was to wait for Alex to regain his consciousness. He intended to talk to the young man again, this time without violence.