Passing the abandoned titan, Gron led the way up the Spiral Staircase.
The moisture in the air crackled under the searing heat of Soulfire.
It was easy to imagine how long this passage had remained sealed since its construction.
The fighting outside the palace had long since ended. In truth, once any bug could get this close to the king, all countermeasures had already become meaningless.
After all, when a commander had to fire a gun himself to stay alive, the war was already lost, wasn't it?
At the end of the spiral stairs stood one last door. A soldier tried pushing it, and, unexpectedly, it was not locked.
Its inner workings had merely seized up after years of disuse.
Heh. Hardly a problem.
Gron thought contemptuously, I won't let something this trivial stop the Expedition in its tracks.
Gron pressed both hands against the massive door and shoved. After a series of creaks, the door could no longer hold and toppled straight into the room.
The entire room came into view. Here, in the tallest building in the Royal City, there were no decorations or throne whatsoever.
There were no racks displaying weapons, no barrels filled with fine wine, no attendants, guards, or queen.
Within this space, there was only the king, and that cold, damp air.
Countless cables hung from the ceiling, and the sound of turning gears never ceased.
Outside the window, the enormous waterfall powering all of this cascaded downward. Even through the window, Gron could imagine the magnificent scenery of ancient times.
He had finally met the so-called king.
Separated by nothing but a layer of glass, the two stared at each other, taking each other in.
A powerful body, brimming with life-even covered in countless scars, Gron was still in his prime. The vitality