In the palace, the King was surrounded by many full-shift contenders. It seemed like a great enemy was approaching. All of them were extremely vigilant. Although Farron stood below where the King was, it was still five ultimate contenders they were dealing with. So, even the full-shift contenders dared not let down their guard.

Every ultimate contender possessed some strange and unfathomable talents. Generally, all full-shifters possessed Supreme Talents but compared to the ultimate contenders, their Supreme Talents were almost negligible. They were not as powerful as the full-shift ultimate contenders.

Other than the full-shifters, there were also a few Fourth-form shifter guards. They were the backup. Thus, the entire palace was tightly-packed with people.

"Creak."

Suddenly, a slit appeared on the palace door as it was pushed open from the outside. Everyone held their breath and stared at the door.

However, when the door opened, they saw that it was only a palace maid carrying a cup of tea. She was coming to freshen the King's tea.

"Phew…"

Everyone relaxed slightly. The palace maid respectfully brought the teacup to the King. Just as she was changing the teacups, a guard ran in hurriedly.

"What happened?"

The King furrowed his brows.

Perhaps, the guard felt nervous seeing so many powerful contenders. In a trembling voice, he replied, "Your Majesty, the guards in the outer periphery did not find any traces of Doomsday and the others."

"They did not find them?"

The King did not seem surprised. It would be stranger if they were discovered by the external guards.

"Alright, you may go."

The King waved his hand and dismissed the guard.

The guard lowered his head. No one noticed that at the moment he stood up, his eyes suddenly became vacant.

"Boom."

The guard's body shifted in an instant and turned into a huge black wolf. Before anyone could respond, he darted straight for the king.

This sudden development was unexpected. Most people did not respond in time. Before their eyes, the guard's huge wolf-form was about to rip the king's body.

Finally, a few contenders with quicker responses wielded their shapeshift forms. The full-shifters used their bodies to physically block the huge wolf's attack.

"Chi."

The wolf's sharp claws dug into the full-shifter who stood before the king. Fortunately, he was a full-shifter, so his body was immensely tough. The claws only managed to cause a minor injury that healed quickly.

"Die!"

Many other full-shifters also regained their senses and wielded their shapeshift forms. They lunged toward the huge wolf and in an instant, it was easily killed.

The thick stench of blood filled the palace. The atmosphere was very tense and even somewhat awkward because no one dared to say anything. No one knew why this guard would suddenly attempt an assassination.

"Swish."

Amid this tense atmosphere, the king was completely incensed. He did not notice that the palace maid beside him had pulled out a dagger from her sleeves. Then, she stabbed the king.

"Roar!"

The palace maid's strength was not great as she was just an ordinary person without any almighty beast bloodline. Upon being stabbed, at the most critical moment, the king had shapeshifted and roared at the palace maid. She was sent flying into the air and shaken to death.

The palace maid's attempted assassination did not cause any harm to the king but it gave him a flicker of fear. He did not understand why an ordinary palace maid would try to kill him.

"What's the reason? Why are these people trying to assassinate me?"

The king's voice was low but contained depths of murderous intent. Two consecutive assassinations without any rhyme or reason were simply preposterous.

"Rumble rumble rumble."

Suddenly, the Third- and Fourth-form shifters who were hiding in the dark wielded their shapeshift forms and rushed toward the King at the same time. By their looks, they were filled with murderous intent toward one person - the king!

All the full-shifters beside the king wielded their full-shift forms and killed these Third- and Fourth-form guards. The entire palace turned into a bloodbath. Every corner was filled with the pungent stench of death.

"What in the world is happening?"

The king looked around. He was beginning to doubt his surroundings. Even he was suspicious at these full-shift contenders beside him. No one knew who would be the next person to assassinate the king.

"Your Majesty, are these people spies for the rebel armies? Perhaps they've deliberately infiltrated the palace just for this opportunity. This time, they've received orders from the rebel army leaders to launch an attack on Sire at all cost."

Some of the full-shifters came to this conclusion after a "careful analysis".

"Spies? That's ridiculous. Some of these guards have worked for me for several decades. Back then, the rebel armies haven't even exist. How can they become spies?"

The king almost snarled. He did not believe that these people were spies. He was not a fool. When he first became king, he had great ambitions. Therefore, he was certain that this incident was not as simple as it appeared.

"Perhaps…"

"Thump."

Before the king completed his sentence, the previously unmoving Farron stood up and stomped his foot firmly onto the ground. The sound reverberated clearly throughout the now-silent palace.

Everyone turned their eyes to Farron. They knew that Farron was the king's true confidante and also a powerful ultimate contender.

"Farron, do you know something that I don't?"

The king squinted. He had absolute trust in Farron.

Farron closed his eyes momentarily. Then, he spoke slowly, "There's no need to guess anymore. Your Majesty, I know what's going on. They've arrived!"

"Who? Doomsday?"

The king's expression shifted dramatically along with the numerous full-shifters around him. After all, they came prepared to fight Doomsday. The original plan was for Doomsday and the others to spring their trap but now, they did not even realize that the opponents had arrived.

However, after a flurry of panicking, they immediately checked their surroundings. They did not detect any trace of Doomsday or the others. If not for Farron's unmistakable authority and infallible logic, some of them might have been tempted to reproach Farron.

Instead, only the king frowned and said, "Farron, are your senses mistaken? Where's Doomsday?"

Farron did not answer at once. Loudly, he growled into the surrounding. "Doomsday, since you're here, why don't you show yourself? The Phantom King is indeed powerful. You've given us a massive gift right under our noses!"

"The Phantom King?"

At this moment, the king and the others had finally realized that Doomsday's group also included the Phantom King.

It was rumored that the Phantom King had hundreds of thousands of phantom duplicates, which could catch people off guard. However, it was difficult for those who had never confronted the Phantom King to understand his true ability.

Farron's words echoed in the palace. For some time, no one responded.

Just as everyone was feeling overwhelmed and anxious, the corpse of a guard who had just been killed slowly stood up. His empty eye sockets sent chills down everybody's spines.

"Hehe, outstanding as usual, Farron. You've discovered us so soon. Even so, what can you do? As long as you can't find us and can't circumvent the Shadow King's Supreme Talent, get ready to enjoy endless terror! Haha!"

The laughter emitted by the corpse caused goosebumps among those in the palace. This was a dead body yet it could stand up and speak.

Despite knowing that this was the Phantom King's Supreme Talent, it was difficult to suppress the growing terror in their hearts.

Soon, other than this corpse, more corpses on the ground began to stand. Their eyes were hollow and they were emotionless.

Even the full-shifters sucked in a breath of cold air. They did not know what kind of terrifying Supreme Talent this Phantom King had that allowed him to "control" these corpses.