“Rain, look at that! It’s a gigantic giant!”
Cassena shouted excitedly.
I don’t know what the hell is so exciting, but throughout the cold and long journey, I always heard such excitement. It’s better than grimacing, so I won’t say anything… … .
Wearing the sealskin coat given to her by the beastmen, Cassena sometimes looked as cute as a seal.
“Don’t come close.”
Of course, it was Arakish’s job to stop the stranger every time.
This time, I threw a stone that had been lying on the roadside toward a giant tree, and suddenly the branches of the giant tree moved like a snake and entwined the stone.
Then Cassena’s sparkling eyes turned pale.
“That is called the Ghost Tree. It grabs and devours any creature that comes close.”
“eww… … I see.”
“Now you should know.”
Did the creatures evolve like that because it was such a barren land, or did all life encroached in the abyss become like that?
‘The more you look at it, the more interesting it gets. Even if the situation wasn’t like this, I would have wanted to do research.’
The gateway to the taboo world, Shen Plateau was a land of darkness like this.
The mountain peaks that stretched out as if wrapping the plateau blocked the light of the sun and moon, and the plateau was only desolate darkness unless the sun and moon were in mid-heaven.
Primitive creatures living in seclusion here were all brutally hostile to mankind. There were even monsters of the Paleozoic era that I had only seen in dictionaries.
It wasn’t without its downsides, though.
Because the ice layer was thick and the ground was hard, the ranks could advance unhindered.
Thanks to Arakish’s guidance and protection, we quickly descended the Shen Plateau in fifteen days. He said he came about two-thirds this morning.
“Then burn it down now.”
“why?”
“Hmm, it’s a suitable opponent to check how far it has raised its power.”
Then Cassena winked one eye at me as if asking me to watch her, took a deep breath, and started drawing runes in the air.
Most of the itinerary was like this.
Arakish takes the lead and trains Cassena for combat. After learning about flames, I was learning about healing runes.
“This isn’t bad enough.”
“really?!”
“But don’t be too happy, because it’s not at a satisfactory level.”
Cassena was greatly favored by Arakish, but I don’t know if it was because she liked her pure personality or because she saw the shadow of her soon-to-be-born daughter in Cassena.
‘If I were to be born again, I would have liked to have been born into the Page family.’
Even if you want to learn, you can’t learn.
I will die of envy
Just when I let out a helpless sigh, Pipi, who was hovering in the sky looking out at the distant horizon, hurriedly came down.
“There are Lin, Lin, Lin, people, people. There are a lot of dead bodies.”
As if he had already smelled it, before he even delivered it, the warriors, including Barlzen, were snarling and baring their teeth.
“It is the smell of my own people… … But what is this again?”
“Why are you like that?”
“This is the first time I have ever smelled such a thick abyss. What’s this?”
Suddenly, a gust of cold wind blew, and an inexplicable stench stung my nose.
This smell, a familiar smell… … .
It is the smell of the ‘old things’, servants of the kings.
“Mr. Varzen, please protect the tribesmen here!”
“what?”
“Me and Arakish will go over there. You have to put the safety of the tribe first.”
Barlzen was ready to run at any moment, but he clenched his mouth as if he had been stabbed in the middle. And soon he nodded.
“Watch out, hairless kid.”
“yes.”
I can’t believe the day will come when I hear this from Barlzen… … He smiled, but his lips trembled with tension.
Perhaps sensing an unusual energy, Arakish and Cassena joined us before we knew it. Indeed, Arakish clearly knew the location of the abyss.
“You stay here, Cassena Page.”
“why? I want to go too! I can fight too!”
“You can’t fight yet. Lane Ludwig, you follow Arakish.”
It seems that even Cassena couldn’t resist when Arakish stepped forward so resolutely.
I was a little worried, but in order to appease it, I left Pippi by Cassena’s side and followed Arakish.
As I was following carefully, Arakish took off the basket he always carried on his back and handed it to me. The weight was heavier than I thought, so I took it and my balance faltered.
“If you decide that this Arakish is an opponent you can’t handle, run away immediately.”
“… … ?”
“And please take care of this Arakish’s daughter.”
Saying that, Arakish kindly placed his hand on my head as if he would not listen to my retort, looking sad for some reason.
sad, sad
I’ve never had children, but I know what it feels like to leave someone behind and go on a road trip.
‘But that won’t happen. Even if it means dying, I will fight with you.’
He calmed down his breathing and sent the mana that had accumulated in his main body to his whole body.
No matter how many times the mana ran through the veins of his body like cold blood, Arakish finally stopped.
At that moment, what unfolded in front of my eyes with goosebumps was madness… … The ground collapsed from the impact, the corpses of beastmen turned into gore, and mobile equipment such as destroyed sleds.
“… … !”
And the old spider with a hundred eyeballs that crawled out after sleeping for a thousand years… … He was also horribly torn and punctured by something, lying on the ground.
The moment I thought so, I saw a black shadow jump up from above, so I immediately built a magic square on my palm.
However, before the magic square’s light could form two layers, the shadow landed in front of us.
‘What crazy… … !’
I was going to convert the magic I was going to use with 3 stars at ridiculous speed to 2 stars and cast it immediately, but Arakish raised his hand. as if to calm down.
“It’s been a while, Lord Arakish.”
As if answering a fleeting question, he spoke to Arakish in a businesslike tone.
Because of the helmet that emits a strange light, the voice resonated like a mechanical sound.
She was roughly the same age as Sherry, but she was wearing engineering armor in which dozens and hundreds of gears interlocked and rotated in an orderly manner at each seam of the greaves.
‘So short and wearing engineering armor, then… … ?’
The answer was made clear.
Instead of being unable to handle magic, they were Dwarfs, a race that was at least one century ahead of other races in terms of technological prowess.
Kirik, Kirik, Kirik… … With the sound of the gears turning nervously, he looked this way.
“A human kid, are you a white wolf? Pretty young. Hey, where did you put the uniform? Did you run away without even having time to pack your uniform?”
“yes?”
“I heard that the expedition failed, but in a word, you are a loser. hehehe, you must have burned your dead comrades without forgetting them, right?”
Expedition Failed?
I do not get what it means.
“I’m not a white man… … But is this yours?”
As if he couldn’t believe the answer that he wasn’t a white wolf, he creaked his head, but soon sent a bizarre reply.
“Ah, of course. It’s what I did.”
Perhaps he intended to enjoy the reaction of my eyes widening and then narrowing, he deliberately cut off his words and then added an additional explanation.
“If the hostility shown in your eyes right now is to ask if you killed the target you are supposed to be facing.”
“Then those prisoners… … !”
From noble mtl dot com
“When I came, they were already dead. Of course, if you had interrupted me, you would have suffered the same thing, hehehehe.”
Defeating the old one wasn’t enough, the way he said he knew this Harvadonia quite well… … What is this guy?
“Arakish, who the hell is this?”
By that time, those who had been collecting samples with the corpses scattered all over the place where the eggs were born began to gather one by one.
Most of them wore engineering armor similar to that guy, but the sense of intimidation each and every one of them exuded was no joke.
Each one had a back, a wrist, and an engineering weapon of unknown use. Is it a self-made weapon?
“You don’t know me, heh, it hurts a little. Now that you’re old enough to care about that.”
When he touched his helmet, countless steam spewed out and the front of the helmet separated.
And the exposed face… … She was a scarred girl with eyes like a deep hollow, as if she would be sucked into it.
I knew that children’s physical growth stopped in their mid-to-late teens, but it was dry, perhaps because of the bloody dignity that contrasted with their younger bodies.
“My name is Frisvia. They are called the number one platinum-ranked adventurer in the Alliance.”
I wondered what this meant. I opened my mouth and looked back at Arakish, wondering if that was real.
Platinum level adventurer was a level that only the top 11 rankers received among many adventurers.
The Yellow River Secretariat, like the royal palace, is to the extent that many people are selected in the platinum grade, so do I need to explain its skills further… … But is it number one there?
“Let’s stop talking about pointless chatter. Frisvia, what did you just say? The expedition failed?」
In response to Arakish’s question, Frisvia tilted her head slightly with an inorganic expression, as if she were more puzzled.
“You really don’t know? It’s been more than 20 days.”
“I really don’t know.”
“Hmm, it looks like you went in and out quite deep. The leader of the wolves has assembled a large expedition and has come out of the Wall. It was evangelized for about 50 days.”
white wolves? Why? Trying to hunt beastmen? in this situation right now?
“However, the contingents sent out one after another went missing, and in the end, perhaps the main corps suffered a severe blow, only a few survivors are being pushed out through the barrier. hehehehe, that’s ugly.”
The tension made my limbs cold as ice.
Is it too late?
Have you already faced Griffion’s forces? The seeds of conflict have already been ignited… … Arakish asked, slightly surprised.
“Is it the work of a beast man?”
“Oh, that must be hard to see. Even though they are gathered together, they are a raggedy group without any discipline. An army is stronger when it is united, but if they fought in a battle, the wolves would have eaten the man-man. hehehehe.”
Frisvia smiled incomprehensibly and chinned the two old corpses that had fallen behind her.
“I think I must have been beaten by them. They are many times more cunning and stronger than ignorant humans.”
“That is impossible. The old ones have never left Shen Plateau.”
“It’s all in the past. The ancients are waking up in droves… … Now I’m starting to move systematically. hehehehe.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Frisvia glared at me as if she was annoyed that I had intervened in the conversation of adults (though it didn’t look like that), but she soon answered kindly(?) of her own kind.
“Until now, the old ones were just unbridled beasts. hehehehe, fighting and dying, it was a very good time for research.”
“… … ?”
“But not now. They hunt by moving in an organized manner. Heh, so wouldn’t it make sense to say that something capable of commanding them has awakened?”
In an instant, a shock like pain ran through my heart. A high-ranking being capable of controlling the past, I had never encountered such a thing even during my Rin days.
But if Frisvia’s guess is true and that guy wakes up… … I can assure you that all beings north of the Great Wall will die.
I looked up at Arakish hastily.
“We have to hurry. I will be late.”
“This Arakish is of the same opinion.”
As Alakish and I turned around and tried to quickly return to the tribe, Frisvia suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“What are you late for?”
Truly formidable power… … Perhaps it was the power from the equipment, the pain of the heavy metal digging into the wrist bone ran.
“What if I am late?”
“Leave this!”
“I also answered every single one of your cheeky questions, and I think I should get something in return.”
Arakish glared menacingly at Prisvia, but Frisvia, instead of paying attention to the threat, smiled provocatively.
“Or you can try it here now to see what will happen if you are late.”
If I didn’t answer, it seemed like they would follow me to the end, so I roughly explained our current goal.
“You’re going to reconcile the man-man and the wolf to open the barrier?”
Then, the corner of Frisvia’s mouth, which let out a wicked laugh, was torn to the point of fear, and then pushed her face closer to me.
“Heh heh heh… … How the hell are you going to reconcile beasts thirsting for each other’s blood? huh? By appealing with the tears of a child? huh? Or by force? This must be realistic.”
“I have a way of thinking about it. I don’t have time to explain.”
The ghostly smile suddenly disappeared from Frisvia’s face, and she let go of my wrist as if she had no regrets.
“Is it because I’m still young, or is it the limit of the human race? You do not know how to make a rational judgment to the point of pity.”
Then, when I attached the front part of the helmet that had been detached earlier, the sound of the helmet spewing out was very eerie.
“I propose a prophecy and a deal. you can’t reconcile the two no matter what you do.”
“Why?”
“As you can tell just by looking at it, humans are emotional animals. Even in this situation, we can’t make rational decisions and only burn hatred for each other.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
“Oh, and if you still want to bring the prisoners under the wall even though the harmony is broken, visit me at the Battleship Base.”
If it’s a military base… … ?
Then he concluded with a meaningful chin gesture at Arakish.
“But don’t forget that you have to come with Alakish-nim, hehehehe.”