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Lilith opened her eyes and found herself tied to a wooden stake in a very embarrassing posture, with her hands bound behind her. She was in a village of primitive round huts made of mud bricks. The dwarves from earlier were kneeling on the empty space in front of her.

There were about a thousand of them. Everyone prostrated before her like devout believers. They almost reminded Lilith of the goddess’ fanatical believers back in the Whispering Square at Luminous Theocracy.

Instead of worshipping some deity, these dwarves seemed to be worshiping… her?

“You’re finally awake, our king.”

Seeing that Lilith had woken up, a female dwarf approached her. She was an elderly-looking woman with white hair and a face full of wrinkles.

The elderly female dwarf seemed to hold an extremely high position among the others as she was the only one who wore tattered but brightly colored silk clothes, while the others wore clothes made of tree bark.

The elderly female dwarf kneeled before Lilith respectfully.

“Please forgive us for welcoming your return in such a disrespectful manner. We are unable to explain what’s happening as time is running out. The ceremony must commence as soon as possible. The black devils… are coming.”

“Who are you…?”

Lilith was still a little dazed by the lingering effect of the drug. She couldn’t even summon an ounce of strength in her body.

“My name is Titan 12138. We were once your followers, my king…” Titan 12138 had an agonized look on her face and her voice trembled. “You really don’t remember us anymore.”

“Ti…tan??”

Lilith’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at the dwarves who barely reached her waist. “You guys… are titans?”

“That’s right, we are titans!”

Titan 12138 actually sobbed when she heard Lilith uttered those words. “It’s been a thousand years, you finally uttered the name of our tribe again.”

Meanwhile, the other dwarv…titans who were kneeling on the ground could barely suppress their sobbing.

“……”

Titan 12138 clapped her hands and two other titans brought over a… pot that was about ten times the size of their body, then placed it in front of Lilith.

Seeing steam coming out of the huge pot, Lilith instantly sobered up.

“W-What… are you guys planning to do?”

“Don’t be afraid, this is merely a purification ceremony to welcome the return of our king.”

“I’m not your king! I don’t even know all of you!”

“Rest assured, our king. Your loss of memories is within our expectations, you’ll recover after soaking in our tribe’s holy water!”

“I haven’t lost memories! And why is your tribe’s holy water boiling?!”

“Boiling holy water can purify more effectively. Surely our mighty king can endure this.”

“Well, the boiling water isn’t an issue, but what the hell are those colorful things in the water?”

“That’s sea… sacred panacea that is carefully formulated to promote absorption.”

“You were going to say seasoning right?! That’s definitely seasoning right?!”

“You’ve misheard me.”

“Can you say that again without looking away?!”

Lilith shook violently against the wooden stake, trying to release herself from the rope that bound her. She had no idea what kind of drug the titans used in the smoke bomb from earlier, but the effects were terrifyingly strong. She was rendered powerless despite her high resistance as a dragon.

“Release me at once! Let me warn you all, my mom is super powerful! If she found out that you guys tried to cook me, she’d annihilate your kind!”

“Using your background to your advantage this soon? As expected, you are our king!”

With a look of excitement on her face, Titan 12138 went up and picked up the wooden stake which Lilith was bound to. Lilith was then gently tossed into the huge pot along with the wooden stake.

Before Lilith could scream, she was engulfed in the pot of cream soup… holy water.

Clamor…

Noises…

Chaos…

Despite being thrown into the boiling cream soup, she felt no physical pain.

Instead, she heard countless people screaming in her brain.

Countless voices melted together. She couldn’t tell whose voices they were or what they were saying, but her brain felt like it was going to explode.

Her head hurt.

But she wanted to know…

What were they talking about?

What were they saying?

It seemed to be… something extremely important.

“King…”
“Our king…”
“Wake up, your majesty…”

Lilith was startled awake and realized that she was lying on the ground soaking wet. The other titans were nowhere in sight, save for Titan 12138’s wrinkled face.

“You’re finally awake, your majesty! How is it? Do you remember anything?”
“Nothing!”

Lilith gritted her teeth and yelled, “What the hell did you soak me in?! My head nearly exploded, you know?!”

“Nothing…?”

Titan 12138 slumped to the ground, looking as though she suddenly aged a decade.

“How could that be? That was our last resort…”
“Last? What did you do to me while I was unconscious?”

It was only now Lilith realized that the sky had darkened at some point. The black sun was still hanging above her head in the sky, but it was no longer emitting dazzling sunlight.

“Too late, it’s too late! The black devils are coming!”
“What the hell are black devils?”
“They are the evilest creatures in the world. Once driven to hell by the gods, they now return from hell every thousand years to devour all living beings on the day of darkness.”

Titan 12138 pointed to the black sun over their head. “Today is the day of darkness. The black devils are coming.”

“Since the enemy is coming, why are you guys still doing useless things here instead of going all out in the battle?”

Lilith took out a fresh set of clothes. “By the way, where’re my clothes? Did you strip me?”

“Dissolved by the holy water…”

“Dissolved… I knew that was nothing good!”

Lilith was about to fly off her handle. But when she saw the look of despair on Titan 12138’s face as though all hope was lost, she didn’t know where else to direct her anger.

“How did you all make it through the last day of darkness when the black devils invaded?”

“Last?”

Titan 12138’s dull eyes regained a hint of light. “It was you who led us to victory, your majesty! Thanks to your wise leadership and powerful strength, we were able to defeat the black devils!”

“I told you, I’m not your king!”

“No, you are our king!”

Titan 12138 remained stubborn. “Back then, our tribe vowed that we would never forget our king. Even though a thousand years have passed, we could still recognize you at first glance!”

“Tell me then, what is your king’s name and what does she look like?”

“The name of our king is of course…” Titan 12138 parted her lips slightly but gasped like a goldfish for a long time. “Huh… strange. Why can’t I say her name? I know what her name is!”

“You must have forgotten about it. After all, it has been a thousand years…”

“Impossible! Us, the titans, will never forget our vows!” Titan 12138 screamed like a crazy woman and then picked up a wooden stick. “Oh right, we still have the words that the king gave us! I can write her name out…”

The wooden stick glided shakily above the ground for a long time, but no complete writing was formed.

“How can that be… How can that be?! I have the words in my mind, but why can’t I write them out?!”

Titan 12138’s eyes were bloodshot. She suddenly lifted up the silk cloth that could barely be considered an article of clothing. “This… This is something that the king left behind with her signature on it. It can’t be a lie.”

Titan 12138 flipped the silk cloth several times, but failed to find even a word on it.

“IMPOSSIBLE! IMPOSSIBLE!!!”

She clutched her head and wailed. “WHY? WHY IS ALL THE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR KING GONE?”

“Um…”

Looking at Titan 12138 who seemed to have lost her mind, Lilith was at a loss for words.

From the looks of it, she seemed to have gone crazy.