Chapter 264. Spirit Land (1)

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Boooooom!

As the Ain placed her hands on the God’s Flail and Rangkom’s Stake.

Hansoo felt the entire world stop.

He couldn’t move a single finger and could only look around.

The same for Tiamet who had an enraged expression.

As well as the flaming body of the Ain.

Everything had stopped.

‘… No. It’s just the sensation. It didn’t actually stop.’

The world hadn’t actually stopped.

His conscious had accelerated to such a degree that it felt like the surroundings had stopped.

And he knew who had done this.

In the center of the stopped world.

Somebody walked towards Hansoo who was frozen.

A very beautiful female with golden hair.

“This is a first, huh? Seeing me like this?”

— … Is this your original appearance?

Because Hansoo couldn’t move his lips, he thought of the words he wanted to say instead.

It was the first time seeing her but he knew who she was.

The Ain who had her hand on the stake and the flail in the distance.

Hansoo mumbled as he stared at the female walking towards him with a completely different form unlike her original evanescent body.

— You have a lot of tricks, huh.

“Well, having more divine powers increases the things I can do. Creating a form for the sake of conversation is a piece of cake… Do you want one as well?”

Then.

Whoooosh.

Another Hansoo appeared next to the frozen Hansoo.

Hansoo moved with his new body as he spoke with the Ain.

“You are the Seer right?”

The Ain nodded as it spoke.

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Mudusella.”

“How brave. For you to come out personally.”

Acting alone increased the chance of her death vastly.

And Mudusella had experienced two different near death cases.

One during the fight against Arthus Krancheska.

And just now.

Mudusella shrugged at Hansoo’s words.

“It’s too much for the other Ains to handle.”

If a normal Ain had come instead of her, everything would’ve been finished here and now.

So she had come personally.

To twist the future and turn in into the direction she wanted.

“You should’ve just come out from the beginning.”

If Mudusella had helped from the beginning, he could’ve thought up of many more plans.

Mudusella chuckled.

“Do you think being a Seer is an easy job? If I’m always in my original persona then I would’ve long become insane.”

This was why she had to use a fake persona.

To protect herself from the countless sights of the future.

If not then she wouldn’t be able to handle such a long period of a thousand years.

“Don’t complain so much. This is the best I can do. And the other persona is better for fighting anyway. I don’t like fighting that much.”

Her body remained the same even when her personas switched.

Since the level remained.

Which meant the other persona, which was filled with a decent amount of rage and fear, was much more suited for it.

Hansoo nodded at Mudusella’s reply.

‘Anyhow… The seer, huh…’

He had never seen the Seer, he had only heard about the rumors.

And for her to use divine powers to do things like this.

‘Anyways, I can catch a breather I guess.’

“Can you close the dimensional gate?”

Mudusella nodded at Hansoo and Hansoo sighed in relief.

‘Ok, then.’

Though everybody had stopped, the time was still flowing.

It was very slow but Tiamet’s finger was pointing towards him and was preparing to send out a beam of destruction.

But if they could forcibly close the dimensional gate then the initial problems would be solved.

‘Anyway… This is a tremendous strength.’

Then.

Mudusella spoke to Hansoo.

“I have a lot to ask you. And things I’m curious about as well.”

Kiiiiiiiiiiing.

The formation started to shine with a strange noise.

Amidst the stopped world.

The stunningly beautiful Mudusella looked at Hansoo expressionlessly above the glowing formation and spoke to Hansoo.

“But you don’t have the qualifications to intrude in this world yet.”

Hansoo nodded at those words.

He had realized from the previous encounter.

Tiamet.

And Mudusella in front of him.

As well as the other powerhouses of the Kingdoms and the Empire.

He and the others didn’t have the qualifications yet.

As Mudusella saw Hansoo’s stern expression, she smiled and spoke.

“So have a good trip.”

“Huh?”

As Hansoo frowned at Mudusella’s words.

Booooom!

The energy of the mana node.

The powers of the stake and the flail swirled around together.

Then.

Hansoo’s body started to glow with a golden light.

And he knew what this phenomenon was.

“… Teleportation?”

As Hansoo frowned.

Mudusella laughed and spoke.

“You see, I was the one who set up all the Warp Gates.”

As her words ended.

Hansoo’s body started to disappear.

“Since you’d just die if you go like this… I’ll give you a gift.”

Mudusella touched the chest of the frozen Hansoo next to the avatar created for conversation.

Ooooooong.

A shining symbol appeared atin the center of his chest.

“… Ain’s blessing.”

As Hansoo mumbled.

Mudusella smiled.

“Have a safe trip. Don’t forget to hurry. I’ll try to handle this place but… There isn’t much time.”

Shaaaaaaaak!

Hansoo’s avatar disappeared and his spirit moved back into his real body.

And Mudusella caressed Hansoo’s cheeks while mumbling.

“And… I thank you for helping our race. We’ll take care of your race until you come back.”

As Mudusella’s hands moved away.

Chchchchchchchhhhh.

Hansoo’s body disappeared completely and not even a trace remained.

Then.

Boooooooom!

The frozen consciouses were released and time continued to flow again.

***

Boooooom!

Tiamet frowned as he watched the gate closing.

He could still see through it since it had yet to close completely but it was too difficult to interfere anymore.

‘Tsk. Is this as far as I can do.’

Tiamet smirked at Mudusella who was now staring at him.

“Mudusella. You’re still a coward, huh. Are you still hiding behind the fake persona?”

“…”

The Ain slowly closed her eyes as she spoke.

“That man will lead us. You and I… A thousand years is a long time to live.”

Maybe it was because she had used too much strength. Her persona was slowly sinking down.

‘… I have to deal with this as quick as possible.’

Tiamet chuckled at Mudusella’s words while she was closing the gate with her remaining strength.

He got his mouth right up to the closing gate and asked.

“Where did you send him?”

But Mudusella didn’t reply.

Since it was becoming hard to maintain her persona.

She merely mumbled inside her head.

‘To our origin.’

The spirit lands.

Beyond the northern lands.

The land that hadn’t been touched for the past thousand years.

‘… Please.’

Mudusella looked towards the direction Hansoo was teleported to and closed her eyes.

***

A land where a blizzard was raging.

Above the vast frozen land.

Kiiiiiing.

A strange golden light started to appear.

Then.

Zooooooooongg!

A man appeared from thin air.

And the moment he appeared.

Crash.

“Cough… Ugh.”

Hansoo coughed up blood as he laid flat on the floor.

‘… Damn.’

As he dropped his guard, the fatigue of the battle swept through his body.

Though the mastery level of the Nine Dragons Spear had risen, it still turned his body into a wreck.

And he had to handle Tiamet with such a body.

Though it was just a finger, that sole finger was more than enough to erase an entire clan.

‘Where did she send… No, I can guess to a degree.’

He didn’t know where exactly he was.

But there was only one place which had a natural environment like this.

Spirit Land.

A place where hundreds of different extreme natural environments existed.

It wasn’t just as simple as being cold or hot.

This environment was powerful enough to even erase a master tier player if they didn’t have the Protection Elixir with them.

No matter how strong Hansoo was, it would be impossible for him to even last a minute in his current situation.

Ooooong.

‘Blessing.’

Hansoo smiled as he looked at the strange symbol embedded in the center of his chest.

This symbol was blocking off the storm swirling around him.

No, it wasn’t really blocking it off but…

‘It’s like persuading it.’

It felt like the symbol was calming down the raging blizzard.

Saying that this man was not its enemy.

And thanks to this, Hansoo’s body was able to not receive further damages.

But that was it.

He was still in a dangerous situation.

‘… It’ll take a bit to recover.’

Udududuk!

The Mana Jade that had overheated to the point of almost melting down was slowly coming back and the broken bones and ripped muscles were slowly regenerating.

As Hansoo raised his body up.

Roaaaaaarrrrr!

A tremendous roar was heard from the distant tundra.

And the moment Hansoo heard this.

‘… Azure Ice Tiger.’

Azure Ice Tiger.

A demonic beast which ate up the spirit stones located all over the Spirit Land and succeeded in absorbing the vast amount of ice energy which allowed it to fully adapt to these harsh conditions.

All demonic beasts that lived here were like this.

Things that decided to eat the Spirit Stones in order to survive in this place.

Of course every one of them were powerful.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The level of the Azure Ice Tiger that was charging towards this location was about 270.

It wouldn’t be an issue if he was in perfect condition but not now.

No, even then he would only be able to handle one and not the countless others that would smell the blood and charge over.

‘Fuck… I don’t know why the hell she sent me here!’

Though he was worried about the situation of the Kingdom, and the fight between the Ains and the Empire, surviving in this place was the highest priority.

As Hansoo looked around urgently.

‘… Light!’

From the distance.

He could see a blinking light in the center of the tundra.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Hansoo quickly started to dash through the raging blizzard and towards the flickering light.