Chapter 387. Flameless Land (1)

-Kuooooooong-

A man was digging as he mentioned the name of the King of Hell.

“Yeah, that Sangjin told me all about it. He’s not really the greatest friend of mine, but he wouldn’t have lied. So don’t worry. Everything is fine, alright?”

The girl, Erunheim, gritted her teeth as she listened to the man.

‘Damn… I don’t know how much I can trust him.’

Although they had allied due to unfortunate circumstances, and they did have quite a considerable amount of strength, she couldn’t drop her guard.

They were from a different race after all.

Aliens.

Unlike her, who had to stay and die in this world, they were just passersby.

Since they were in a different situation, she didn’t know what their true goals were either.

But she could only stay with this man and the other aliens.

Her situation wasn’t good enough to just ignore them and walk away.

Her opponent was too strong.

‘The Nell family… Those damned bastards.’

Thinking of those guys, her old scars hurt.

The scars of that day when their nation had fallen to the invaders, and they were forced to escape with the other refugees.

‘Soon. I will have… my revenge.’

The woman held onto her side as she frowned.

There was no way to beat them face-to-face.

So she had thrown away everything and escaped to this place.

And the Dragon God Armors, fleets, soldiers, and the factories.

All of these things.

They had stolen a bit here and there, but that was the limit.

To go against the Neropa Union and the Pompeion Empire that continuously pumped out fleets?

Suicide.

Of course, the gap between them was already large, and it was only growing larger.

So they needed something to change.

Even if they had to hold hands with the devil.

‘Ha…’

Erunheim looked at the man before her eyes and said,

“Are you sure everything is going according to plan?”

The man shrugged.

“Didn’t I tell you already? That’s all we need. Why did you guys run here? It’s because of that, right?”

-Rumble-

Erunheim looked at the shining object in the depths and shut up.

‘Right…’

The place the outsiders called the <trash dump> was actually a land of mystery.

They had tried multiple times to live in this place, but they always failed.

Because mysterious monsters roamed the depths of this place.

Of course, it wasn’t a land of mystery because they couldn’t deal with it using the Dragon God Armor or their fleet.

No, the exact opposite.

Although the monsters looked scary and were much stronger than normal people, they were still nothing in the face of the Flame’s power.

The monsters simply melted before the Dragon God Soldiers and their fleet.

But there was another reason why they couldn’t enter.

Because they couldn’t use the power of the Flame inside here.

‘Yeah…’

Erunheim looked to the depths again.

To the bright-red crystal.

Nobody knew what that palm-sized crystal was, where it came from, or what it was made of.

Since they had only found it by luck anyway.

But they were clear about one thing.

The crystal down there had the power to suppress the <Flame>.

No matter how powerful the force.

The area surrounding the small crystal, spanning a radius of 500 kilometers, could not use the power of the Flame.

That was how powerful it was.

Despite just being a tiny crystal.

It suppressed the <Flame>, which powered a fleet that could destroy an entire moon.

And they had been able to hide in Reyunion because of this.

Without that, either the Neropa Union’s fleet or a Dragon Soldier would have long since killed them off.

In other words…

With that…

They wouldn’t need to fear the nine fleets under the Neropa Union.

Nor their proud army of Dragon God Soldiers.

Since they were nothing more than hunks of metal without the Flame.

She would show them their strength.

‘Yes… This is all we need.’

Erunheim glared at the tiny red crystal that refused to come out.

***

-Rumble-

Kiriel shrugged as she stared at the people walking towards them.

Although they seemed like they had enhanced bodies, they were nothing more than normal people in her eyes.

And though they had weapons in their hand, they looked like normal weapons and not weapons that used the Flame.

‘Pfft.’

Kiriel scoffed inwardly as she stared at the people who looked at them for a moment before quickly running away.

She had been worried about Dragon God Soldiers or the fleet ambushing them.

Despite how easily she could handle the Dragon God Soldiers, the fleet was a different story.

The power of the giant metal fortresses in the sky was nothing compared to the Dragon God Soldiers.

She was worried that they’d fly beneath the atmosphere to attack them, but it seems that wasn’t the case.

R-Korun Nell’s mumbles proved it all.

“Ugh… This cursed land. Makes me uneasy.”

-Clank, Clank-

R-Korun Nell complained since his Dragon God Armor had turned into a piece of normal armor due to the absence of the Flame’s power.

This is what he hated most about the trash dump.

Kiriel seemed to have realized something as she looked at R-Korun Nell and said to Hansoo,

“Anyway… It looks like most of us lived in this place before the barrier against the Abyss had been destroyed right?”

Hansoo nodded.

It was just as she said.

Outside this place, where the Flame’s power still existed, normal adventurers couldn’t beat the power of the Dragon God Soldiers and the fleet no matter what.

But it was different inside here.

Without the power of the Flame.

They were just like normal humans.

Although they were slightly stronger than normal humans because of their genetic and body modifications, they were still weak.

So most of the normal adventurers had stayed in here before the Abyss fell on them.

They had hunted the monsters that roamed around here and then climbed up after gathering enough runes.

Of course, the difficulty was extremely high since this place was the 6th Zone after all.

There were also a few other problems, but they didn’t really matter much.

Since the people who had survived back then were the elites of elites working under Clementine.

‘But… not anymore.’

Their goals were different so the way they acted should be different as well.

If their sole goal was survival, then, of course, things would be simpler.

They just needed to stick around in here for a bit, and then go up after killing some monsters.

But this wasn’t good.

If they didn’t handle this place, then the Nelkipa would sooner or later end up attacked.

What good would it do if the 6th Zone was safe when the 5th Zone was blocked off?

So they had to deal with this place.

Obtain the External Flame Divine Tool and then unite all the areas.

‘… A simple change in the goal changes the enemy.’

Hansoo shrugged his shoulders as he thought of the Pompeion Empire and the Neropa Union.

He just needed to take things step by step.

Of course, it wasn’t only their goals that had changed but their situations as well.

Since they weren’t normal adventurers whose growth was limited by the wall but instead were Transcendents.

Of course, without strength, people couldn’t go out from this place even if they wanted to.

They were stuck in this place.

But Transcendents were different.

3-Stars could fight with starships.

And 4-Stars could even fight against an entire fleet.

-Kuduk-

Hansoo felt the hammer and the blue armor as he started to move.

“Let’s go.”

According to what he knew, this place was the outskirts of the <Flameless Land>, a place that suppressed the strength of the Flame due to the External Flame Divine Tool.

And the location of the divine tool was at the very center of the Flameless Land.

They needed to get there first.

Kiriel followed after Hansoo as she asked,

“Right… So are Clementine’s underlings our current enemy?”

If the people of the Flame weren’t a threat to them, then there were only two types of beings that could threaten them.

The monsters of the Abyss.

And Clementine’s underlings.

Since the two were those who disliked them the most.

Hansoo shook his head.

“I need to look at the situation for a bit… It could be a bit different.”

With a change in their objectives, the situation would change.

In other words, their objectives might change depending on the situation.

He had opened the barrier to the Abyss, and the others had gained the strength to roam outside the Flameless Land.

‘Clementine… would not have picked the choice of sitting around.’

And if Clementine had picked the choice of escaping this tiny pen and escaping into the vast land past it…

Who would have taken over this leaderless place instead?

‘This would be a good place to gain some strength.’

Hansoo thought, looking around the Flameless Land.

***

-Swooooosh!-

-Kuaaaahhh!-

A head flew off from a blade.

And the beheaded existence made a grotesque noise as it fell to the ground.

But it was clear that its existence wasn’t an ordinary one.

It should have left behind a corpse, but that existence quickly disappeared and melted away.

-Ssssss-

A man picked up a crystal where the corpse should’ve been and smiled.

‘Good. Very good.’

This was an amazing place to raise one’s strength.

He was able to monopolize the Abyssal monsters that came out from the elevator with nobody to disturb him.

The people of Reyunion lacked the power to go against him, so he just needed to slowly hunt and raise his strength.

Even better since they treated him with the utmost respect.

He was living like a king.

But the man’s expression turned dark.

There was only one reason why he was living this life.

Because those who truly deserved to live like kings had all left.

-Crack!-

The man tightly clenched the crystal in his hand and thought:

‘Those bastards… Left to take over the Empire and Neropa Union. I could have as well. Sangjin… You aren’t the only one who’s so amazing and all that.’

As long as he could gain that mysterious object, he could leave as well.

The man headed towards the headquarters as he clenched his teeth.

‘Let’s see what news the scouts have.’

The people of Reyunion were weak, but they were numerous in number and had good communication methods, so they were useful as scouts.

The man thought of the scouts which he’d sent out in case the Transcendents came back and quickly started to move.