Chapter 130. Crown of Thorns (4)
Ariel blushed a little as she spoke.
“Is following a problem? The Okonelly clan is out of my control anyway. Somebody else already ate it up apparently.”
“Crazy bitch.”
Enbi Arin clicked her tongue while looking at Riel.
But it wasn’t any of her business to butt in that far.
And there really wasn’t a reason for her to stop Ariel from doing so.
Gwanje grinded his teeth as he shouted.
“Damnit there’s no time to argue around! This is just the start, decide quickly!”
Ariel refocused and then looked around her surroundings.
And then let out a voice of despair.
“…Oh god. That wasn’t all of them.”
The wave that was heading towards them was just the start.
Countless amounts of Akadus had surrounded the humans atop of the black lion and were charging towards them.
Some people had already given up in despair and were thinking of ways to escape.
Hansoo spoke towards Ariel and Enbi Arin.
“You guys stay here and command the people. I’ll go with the Akarons.”
There was a huge difference between having and not having a commander during when defending.
And the Akarons wouldn’t be able to mingle well with the humans well anyway even if they stayed.
It would be of great help if the Margoth levels stayed here and held down the Akadus.
Ariel and the others nodded as they started to send out carrier pigeons in all directions.
‘Let’s go.’
Hansoo, after seeing the situation starting to fall under control, breathed in and out and then plunged with his spear.
Boooom!
Three of the Akadus, who didn’t even receive a scratch from Baladi levels constantly hitting them, had their hearts pierced and fell down.
But that amount didn’t even count for a drop among the huge waves that were heading towards them.
The emptied spots had been quickly filled with other Akadus.
They were approaching them from all directions.
But Hansoo wasn’t alone.
“Huaaaap!”
Booooom!
Taruhol charged out from next to Hansoo and then kicked away the Akadus that was charging towards them.
The Akadus flew back after having its chest caved in and then smashed into the others.
Oteon shouted out loudly from behind Taruhol.
“Run! We have to get through them no matter what!”
Oteon took something out from her pockets as she shouted.
A scent which had a forbidden technique activation applied onto it.
The moment the Akarons, who received the Body Enhancement Surgery, smell this their silver liquids inside their body will go on a rampage and they would be able to showcase a strength numerous times greater than usual.
It was very effective but there was a reason why Oteon hadn’t used this until now.
Once the duration of the scent ends then they would have to go through that extreme amount of pain that Hansoo went through.
Oteon clenched her teeth as she spread out the scent.
Since she could imagine the scene of these warriors after the duration having ended.
‘Damnit!’
But this wasn’t a time to be conservative.
‘We need to get through this….And recover the Holy Land. Only then would we be able to treat our descendents with a glorious land.’
The current generation of Akarons were all sinners.
They had fought against each other despite their whole race falling in danger from the Calamity of Death and worsened the already horrible situation.
The degree was so harsh that even Elkadion couldn’t save them.
Despite the Crown of Thorns having been created for their protection.
Due to this they fell to the position where they ran from humans and were afraid of the Margoths.
They could not let their descendents live a life like this.
‘We will do our best to help you. In return…You must keep your promise that you made with us.’
This was Hansoo and his, humans and Akaron’s contract.
Oteon looked at the young Akarons who weren’t affected by the scent due to not having received the Body Enhancement Surgery as she inhaled the scent as well.
‘Ailen…If something goes wrong with me then succeed after me.’
She found out recently.
That Ailen’s potential was beyond her expectations.
She had finished all the work for her successor already.
Oteon looked at her young successor momentarily and then jumped out as well.
The forbidden technique worked the best if the priestess was in the very front.
“Kuwaaaaaaaa!”
Priestess.
An existence that should’ve been at the very back had stepped onto the frontlines.
The other Akarons saw this and then clenched their teeth as they jumped out.
And Enbi Arin, Ariel, Gwanje and the others also jumped in front of the clans.
If those guys succeeded then they would live.
If those guys failed then they would all die.
And that is partly dependent on how well they block the Akadus here.
“Block it no matter what! We cannot let the Akadus follow those guys!”
Booooom!
The people who were still standing pushed out every bit of strength they had in their body as they started to push back the silver waves.
The moment the silver waves stopped, the thousands of surviving started to cut through the sea of Akadus.
Behind Hansoo and Oteon.
And soon sounds of smashing and explosions filled up the quiet neck of the Lazar.
***
“Hooo…We’re here.”
“Huff…It’s here?”
Oteon dragged her mess of a body and stumbled towards the location Hansoo was pointing towards.
30 minutes since they had ran crazily after getting through the waves.
They smashed apart the Akadus, ran through the mane and towards the giant hole on its skin.
‘Almost a fourth of us died huh.’
Oteon made a depressed expression.
But if Hansoo hadn’t bought them time and they hadn’t activated the forbidden technique then the casualties would have been many times higher.
‘I shall guide your souls towards the Lazar after the temple gets rebuilt in the future.’
Oteon offered a simple ritual towards those who had died and then looked around.
An underground lake which was so far below that the Akadus had stopped their chase.
The giant lake had been dried up and a giant hole of around 40m in diameter was on the bottom of the lake.
Oteon mumbled as she looked at the tunnel what was still in good shape despite nobody having taken care of it.
“…It seems like this is a tunnel where the factory gathered materials. I can sense remnants of the essence.”
“Correct.”
The lake that had been full of essence when the White Lion was still roaming in the past had dried up as the Lazar lost its strength.
Oteon mumbled as she looked at the energy barrier that separated the bottom of the lake and the tunnel in two.
“…It’s a structure that denies lifeforms huh. Breaking it would be easy. Let’s hurry.”
The energy barrier was still intact despite the long period of time as if it was proving Elkadion’s skills.
But it seemed quite weakened due to the Lazar, the source of its energy, losing its strength.
‘…There would be defenses on the insides as well.’
The moment the forbidden technique gets released then the Akaron warriors wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.
Since a huge amount of pain will rush over them.
They needed to smash apart the Akadus that would be protecting the Crown of Thorns before that happened.
Hansoo shook his head and stopped Oteon who was trying to start acting.
“Wait. We can’t break it.”
Breaking it wasn’t the problem.
But Elkadion, who had been scared of someone forcibly entering and taking control of the factory, had set it so that the Crown of Thorns would get destroyed if somebody tried to forcibly get through the barrier.
Then nothing would be able to control the released Akadus.
“Then how…”
Oteon made a complex expression after hearing Hansoo.
How would they go in if smashing it wasn’t allowed.
As Oteon tried to think of another way in, Hansoo approached the energy barrier and placed his hands on a small marble next to it.
A mechanism that was created so that the administrator can use it in case of an emergency.
This mechanism was set that only Akarons would be able to enter by only reacting to the silver liquid used in the Body Enhancement Surgery.
Hansoo breathed in and out and started to carefully pour the silver liquid in his body onto the marble by following the code within Elkadion’s memory crystal.
Chaururururk
The silver liquid drew a circuit-board-like image as it flowed in.
The moment the lines created by the silver liquid aligned with the password code.
Chijijijik
The energy barrier made a strange sound as it disappeared.
“Let’s go in. We’ll be right at the factory the moment we get through this tunnel, it will not be easy.”
“Okay, we will take the front. And… Thank you.”
Oteon looked at Hansoo and then breathed in and out.
They had been able to get all the way here thanks to Hansoo.
But this was, in the end, a work for the Akarons.
They, the Akarons, had to lead and solve the problem.
Hansoo, who had been looking at the Akarons slowly moving out, looked towards the battlefield that they escaped from.
‘…Please hold on well. You need to block them there no matter what.’
The tunnels here was as dangerous as the battlefield back there.
So if one side were to get broken through then both of them would be in danger.
Hansoo mumbled quietly towards the battlefield in the distance and then rushed towards the factory, Arklateori.
***
“Daamnittttt!!!”
Boooom!
Rong Wian, captain of the scout teams of the Rerorerore clan, cursed out loud as he cut through the head of the Akadus that was charging towards him.
An axe that no other person, other than the Margoth levels, had blocked.
And his precious weapon, Golden Hatchet, hadn’t failed him this time either as it completed its task.
Since it had split the head of the one charging at him in two.
The problem was that this crazy thing was still charging at him even after its head being cut in half.
Wian looked at the monster that was using its spliced head as a shield and was clawing at him with a disgusted look and blocked the attack with his axe.
Kagagagagak
“Aaak!”
He had survived but it didn’t seem like the person next to him had.
The moment Wian clenched his teeth at seeing another person get killed by the Akadus.
A carrier pigeon flew into him.
A red carrier pigeon that the clan leader had sent to him.
— Just hold on for half a day! If you hold on for just half a day then the escaped Akarons will stop these guys!
And other than that there were specific orders on how to and where to block.
‘Kim Gwanje, he really lives up to his name huh.’
Their leader had the whole battlefield in his brain, analyzed it and was commanding this giant clan properly in the midst of this chaos.
But another carrier pigeon flew into him at that moment.
— We are completely prepared. What are you going to do?
Wian received the carrier pigeon from Okonelly clan’s captain of the shock troopers, Mekong, and pondered for a moment.
And then nodded.
‘I don’t want to die yet.’
Of course there wouldn’t be anything bad about blocking at this location and sustaining until the Akarons solved the problem like Gwanje and the other clan leaders told him.
But Rong Wian was a captain of the scout team.
He always accounted for the worst case scenario and was proficient at finding a way to live in the midst of that.
The worst case scenario in Rong Wian’s head was this.
— The upper level guys are all under control of the Akarons and they’re buying time because of that.
Everyone knew.
That the Akarons could control humans any way they wanted.
And because of this, he could not trust any of the Margoth level people who were with the Akarons.
Since they had been held hostage by the Akarons before.
And the fact that only the Akarons left was the deciding factor.
The dimensional portal didn’t appear at random places.
It was beneath the World Tree in the Red Zone and near the heart of the bull in the Orange Zone.
If these guys were the natives of this place then they would also know where the portal would exist at.
‘If…That scenario is correct that all the Akarons would have escaped and we would die just like this.’
He was a human.
He didn’t want to die for nothing just because of the Akarons.
And Rong Wian always found a way for himself to survive within the worst scenarios.
— Gather people who have similar thoughts as him, leave this place behind and chase the Akarons.
If the Akarons escape through the portal then they would follow.
If they really had gone there to solve the problem then he could just help them.
‘Though the casualties here would rise…Nothing I can do.’
Quite a lot of people who had similar thoughts as him had gathered already.
The amount of casualties would rise depending on the people who leave here but it would be easier for them to get through the waves.
‘And since this many people had gathered, even if he were to push that we had betrayed them they wouldn’t be able to act out easily.’
Rong Wian finished his thoughts and looked around.
They had to escape before the hole the Akarons made in the wave closed back up.
Rong Wian, who had sent the carrier pigeon, looked for a situation and then moved away from the defensive formation.
“Uh? Uhhh? Captain! Captain, where are you going?”
“Hey you crazy bastard! Where are you going!”
“Emergency! They’re escaping en mass!”
Rong Wian left behind the desperate cries of the defensive formation as he and the others started to crazily run for the hole the Akarons had made.
***
Boooooom!
Hansoo, who had been fighting a golden Akadus, felt the vibrations in the ground and then frowned.
‘Somebody… Came in.’