Chapter 277. Land From The Past (4)

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Boooooom!

A single strike.

The greenish barrier surrounding the War Fortress cracked from a single strike.

And Karhal grounded his teeth as he looked at the protection of the Golden Dragon Formation that was breaking apart like a glass bead that had been dropped.

‘Fuck… So that’s Tiamet, huh. Isn’t he just a fucking monster?’

This barrier was nothing like what the vice captain of the Magic Brigade, Eloa, had made before.

It wasn’t created with just a fraction of the mana but rather everything the formation had.

The barrier that had even withstood the Great General Cykrus cracked from a single strike.

Boooooooom!

The formation shone crazily as it tried to fix the cracks in the barrier but Tiamet was already raising his hand for the next strike.

And as he smashed down with the stake once more.

Boooooom!

The barrier that had been barely holding on finally broke apart.

“Uh…”

“What the…”

With a mere two strikes, the formation’s barrier had been broken.

The other adventurers who had prepared their weapons after hearing Karhal’s call were now just staring at this scene in the distance in a daze.

A fight was only possible if they were at a similar level.

Though thousands of people had gathered and there were hundreds of thousands more coming, nobody had the confidence of beating the man who had broken the barrier with just two strikes even if they all charged in at the same time.

And one man sighed in relief.

“Damn… Thank god I ran away. Anyway… It’s safe here right?”

The inner parts of the Spirit Lands.

A person stared at the War Fortress in the distance as he mumbled.

***

Rummmmblee.

In the inner parts of the War Fortress.

As the translucent bronze blue barrier disappeared, Tiamet was finally able to see what was going on clearly.

Tiamet chuckled.

‘These rats…’

The War Fortress had long been surrounded.

Nobody could escape.

Well, a few might escape in secret but the rest should be trapped.

But Tiamet realized how the people inside had escaped after seeing the inner parts of this place.

‘A hole connected to the maze.’

Though there was a bit of distance from the Spirit Land and from the maze, if hundreds of thousands of people started digging at the same time, it wouldn’t take that long.

And it seemed nobody realized what they were doing because they were so focused on the Ains and the Spirit Lands.

Tiamet started to smile as he looked at the empty War Fortress.

‘You think you’ll be fine if you hide there?’

Of course the Spirit Land itself would give put him under pressure.

Since he couldn’t use the Ain’s blessings or the protection elixirs.

‘I was originally only going to take a few but, I’ve changed my mind.’

Half.

He was going to reduce their numbers by half.

Well he could just ignore them.

But if he left like this then they would believe that their tactics had worked.

And he couldn’t let anyone see this.

It would be a warning to them.

Booooooom!

As a giant energy storm started appearing around Tiamet.

“Tiamet. Shouldn’t your personality have calmed down a bit more after a thousand years? I really hope that girl remembers this part of you.”

“… Mudusella.”

Seer.

The one who saw the future.

She, who could see the future, saw the world in a different manner than those who only saw the present so she also thought in a different manner.

Her objectives were different and so were her actions.

Nothing connected properly or made sense.

Just like now.

For her to have appeared in front of him like this.

‘This damned bitch… What’s her plan?’

Tiamet frowned at Mudusella who had appeared in front of his eyes.

***

Crackle.

Hansoo checked his frozen body after having come out of his subconscious and then he clicked his teeth.

‘That was close.’

The Dragon Essence Blade and the silver liquid from the Body Enhancement Surgery tried to resist the storm of mana that was freezing his body but it was nowhere enough.

While he had been laying on the ground, over half of his body had been destroyed.

And his entire body was frozen inside a block of ice.

Every part of his nerves made him feel like he was inside a pool of water.

‘I can’t really see the outside world very well.’

Hansoo gazed at the block of ice and then started to wake up something that had been sleeping inside his consciousness.

Then.

A voice filled with rage rang throughout his head.

— Fuck. That old fogey of an owner goes missing! How did I get mixed around with a kid like this!

— Shut up and hurry.

The spirit was enraged even more at Hansoo’s commands but the water had already been spilt.

The defeated soul could not deny the orders of a soul at a higher station.

Since they, the artifical souls, had been designed like this.

— Damn…

Kiiiiiiing!

The symbol in the center of Hansoo’s chest started to shine.

Then.

Whoooosh.

Hansoo’s entire body started to let out a seven-colored light while melting the ice surrounding his body at a rapid pace.

Soon.

Booom!

Hansoo smashed apart the entire block of ice and stepped out as the seven colored lights pushed back the storm of mana.

And as the mana storm that was damaging his body got pushed back, the silver liquids and the Dragon Essence Blade started to quickly heal his body.

Though he was still standing in the center of an ice storm, he could not feel any of its coldness.

It felt like he was alone in another world.

‘Nice.’

Hansoo smiled as he walked through the storm and headed back into the ship’s inner parts.

The first thing he wanted to check was the status of the system.

If it was still fine then he would be able to use the ship to move faster and even gain some more information.

This was a mysterious world to him.

Of course the more information he had, the better he would be able to make plans.

‘Let’s see.’

Hansoo walked back into the engine room and then gazed at the frozen engine and the system panels.

The engine had long been overloaded from the earlier events.

Ooooong.

There was a faint light inside the engine as if it was recovering slowly but the system panel had no thoughts of turning on.

‘Ugh… Gathering intel is impossible.’

Hansoo asked the existence in his head in case.

Since the spirit should know much more than him.

— Anything you know?

And an aggressive reply came back.

— Fuck off. Why should I tell you?

It needed to lend Hansoo strength because he had lost but there was no need for him to reply.

‘Tsk. As I expected, since there’s nothing to gain here… Let’s leave.’

He had thoughts of waiting till it recovered but soon shook his head.

He didn’t know how long it would take.

And there was something else that was bothering him.

‘Tiamet.’

Tiamet, who had tried so hard to prevent him from coming here, wouldn’t sit still.

He would do everything he could to suppress him.

He needed to prepare himself.

And more than anything else.

The scene he had seen through the system’s panel momentarily bothered him.

‘I need to check this all out.’

Hansoo dashed out from the engine room.

Whoosh.

And after coming out from the structure, he could see that the situation was even worse then he had thought.

There was a giant hole on the side of the ship that had plummeted into the ground.

The ice storm rushed in through the giant hole and thanks to this the entire colony inside had been frozen.

The lake, trees as well as the giant structure where the spirits were at.

Ooooong!

‘Well, at least the outer wall seems to be recovering a bit.’

Hansoo gazed at the outer wall for a bit and then quickly rushed out.

Whooosh!

The moment he came outside, the storm became even harsher.

As if it was telling him to stay hidden inside the ship.

But the spirit’s light coming out from Hansoo’s body did a perfect job of protecting him.

Though he had been freed from the threat of the storm, Hansoo’s expression turned even darker.

‘… As I thought. This is coming from a single location.’

He had been able to check the storm out much more clearly.

Though it seemed like it was raging from all around, he could clearly feel it.

That this giant ice storm was originating from a single location.

Which meant one thing.

That something was creating this storm.

If it was natural, it wouldn’t come out from a single point.

And soon Hansoo’s eyes moved towards a location.

Towards the location the storm was coming from.

Then something came into his view.

A tower.

It wasn’t large.

But tall.

Too tall.

It was so tall that even he, who was extremely far away, could still see it.

Hansoo knew.

That if that mountain range, which was over 20km tall, didn’t exist then everybody would know about this tower.

It was that tall while also shining as well as being something that shocked the people who looked at it.

A mysterious tower over a dozen kilometers tall.

As he focused his eyesight, he could see the outer wall that was made of steel and various alloys.

Though it was covered in ice and frost, they couldn’t cover up the traces of civilizations.

Hansoo then looked to the lower parts of the tower.

Since what he was looking at wasn’t the tower.

But much below it.

And Hansoo realized what he had seen through the panel was not a dream.

“A city…”

A forest of buildings spread out below the giant tower all the way up to the base of the mountain range.

There was no way to hide a giant forest of trees that were over a kilometer high despite the raging ice storm.

Hansoo watched the metal forest and thought to himself.

He had assumed three things before.

They left.

Were watching.

Or had perished.

Of course the only thing he was clear of was the frozen city and those three possibilities still existed.

But as soon as he saw the city, he had a strong feeling about something.

About what happened to them.

“They perished, huh.”

Hansoo mumbled as he watched the frozen city.

Hansoo gazed at the city that had completely been frozen.

He also realized what the strange sensation he had been feeling up until now was.

‘… Similar.’

It was strange.

But not quite alien.

The scene in front of him was still within his understanding.

It would be like this in about a century back on earth.

Hansoo decided his destination as he stared at the forest of buildings.

‘To the tower.’

The spirit, who seemed to know something, had no thoughts of cooperating and he needed to figure out a way to deal with Tiamet but he didn’t know where Mudusella was so he would need to figure everything out on his own.

Hansoo quickly moved towards the giant tower in the center of the giant city.