Chapter 396. Owner Of The Crystal (4)

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-Rumble-

“Seriously… Cough…”

Kiriel, embedded on the wall, coughed up blood with a groan.

‘This damned world…’

The world was large, yes.

But strange beings continued to pop out one after another.

Even an ordinary-looking researcher was this powerful.

-Crackle-

Kiriel stood herself up and checked her body.

‘I can still go on.’

Kiriel readied her fang again.

Towards the Nerpa approaching the crystal in the distance.

“Time for round two, right?”

-Swooosh!-

“… I see.”

The Nerpa dodged another of Kiriel’s attacks and shook his head.

She should know the strength difference between them by now.

But she was still willing to fight him.

‘It looks like… I’ll need to deal with her properly to stop her from interfering.’

The Nerpa turned away from the crystal and faced Kiriel after deciding to deal with her completely.

And the Nerpa’s appearance was a bit different from the past.

Blazing light now spewed out of those ordinary eyes.

As if there was a body of light sitting inside N-Aroel.

The Nerpa smiled as he looked at Kiriel.

“Is this your first time seeing someone who has received the Flame’s blessings?”

As the Nerpa smiled…

-Kiiiiing!-

… The bright eyes suddenly exploded with light and lit up their entire surroundings.

And with that, a powerful aura was released from the Nerpa’s body and flew towards Kiriel.

‘Damn!’

Kiriel clenched her teeth as she looked at the formless waves rushing towards her and then used <Cloudy Movement>.

Although she couldn’t use it to run away, she could still use it to continue fighting.

Cloudy Movement simply allowed the user to jump through space.

And as the white clouds seeped out from Kiriel’s body and covered her image…

-Rumble!-

… The waves released by the Nerpa rushed past where Kiriel had just been standing at.

Although everything near the white cloud had disappeared, the Nerpa shrugged his shoulders as he looked at this scene.

‘Nimble.’

Kiriel’s body had long disappeared.

But the Nerpa merely refocused on the area behind himself.

The tremendous amount of energy inside the Nerpa’s body solidified according to the Nerpa’s will.

-Booom!-

And a colorless wall appeared behind the Nerpa and blocked the fang slashing behind him.

“Eeeek!”

And then, Kiriel was flung away onto a distant wall.

Like a leaf blown away in a storm.

The Nerpa chuckled as he looked at her.

“Absolute strength is enough on its own.”

It was just as he said.

There were no tricks or techniques that could go against absolute strength.

Such things were only reserved for weaklings.

Of course, the amount of energy Kiriel could control was far beyond what a normal creature could handle, but it was nowhere near enough to deal with himself.

The strength he wielded was the strength that supported this planet.

‘Well, it’s only a small part, but still.’

This feeble body could not fully withstand his powerful soul.

So he needed to limit his strength to a large degree.

The Nerpa made an annoyed expression at his current body as he continued to walk towards the crystal.

Kiriel clenched her teeth as she looked at him.

She did not have the strength to stop him anymore.

The Nerpa didn’t seem to be willing to kill Kiriel as he spoke with a smile.

“Don’t blame me so much. You’re also doing it for your own race, right? I’m in a similar situation so… please understand.”

Then…

-Tktktktktk!-

… The Nerpa grasped the crystal and pulled on it.

-Kachak!-

-Kakakak!-

The powerful energy within N-Aroel’s body ripped off the countless strands of shadow.

Of course, the Nerpa should not have been able to rip it off this easily no matter how strong he was.

But the few remaining strands that had been almost cut off could not withstand the power of the planet that the Nerpa was controlling.

‘Good.’

The Nerpa looked at the crystal in his hand and then turned to Kiriel.

“Both our plans are important so… I wish for your success. I hope you wish for mine as well. Good luck.”

“Wh… What the hell do y…”

Leaving Kiriel behind, the Nerpa used the power of the Flame and quickly started moving outside.

Roaaaaaar!

And from the darkness… A terrifying scream resounded.

‘F***!’

The enraged screams started to fill up the space.

And Kiriel felt chills running down her entire back as she heard this.

She knew they were strong but not to this extent.

Kiriel had barely managed to stand herself up…

-Rumble!-

… When the shadowy walls began to collapse as something started crawling out from the inside.

‘Damn…’

Kiriel breathed in and activated her Cloudy Movement to escape.

***

Roaaaaar!

The moment these screams echoed out…

“Ahhhh!”

“Kuahhk!”

-Booom!-

… All the fleeing adventurers fell to the ground as the members of Reyunion that were on their respective vehicles lost consciousness and crashed into the others and onto nearby obstacles.

The Transcendents weren’t fine as well.

“Huk!”

The running Transcendents started to sway.

The vicious aura hidden behind the screams blurred their sanity and consciousness.

The only ones who had been able to withstand it were higher level 2-Star or 3-Star Transcendents.

But even they could not fully suppress their instincts’ autonomous reactions.

Their entire bodies started shivering, and they couldn’t take another step forward.

They could not approach the location of the screams while still maintaining their sanity.

But as the other Transcendents stopped… There was only one person who maintained his speed.

John Stone.

‘What… the hell?!’

John Stone was at a loss as he chased after Hansoo.

It had been over a year since he had started living here.

But he had never seen or even heard about an existence that could make such a terrifying roar.

At that moment… Someone appeared before his eyes.

Kang Hansoo.

And the woman who stood by his side.

He had come here to kill Hansoo.

But the moment he heard that scream, he could only ask questions.

“Wh… What is this? What the hell is going on?”

Hansoo replied as he maintained his gaze towards the hole.

“The sleeping beast has awoken.”

“Huh? Why so suddenly?”

Hansoo looked at John Stone and said,

“Because its food has been stolen.”

***

There were a lot of strange monsters in the Abyss.

But there was one creature that was stranger than most.

<Haetara>.

It looked like the Haetae that resembled both a bear and a lion, so they had named themselves so.

There was one strange thing about this race.

That they didn’t really care about devouring other organisms.

Most Abyssal races devoured other races to survive, reproduce, or evolve.

This meant that conflicts, killings, and devouring were very important actions to continue the prosperity of their own race.

The humans weren’t any different.

They had to eat other races to continue surviving in the Abyss, and they could only become stronger by killing them.

But the Haetara were different.

They didn’t care so much about eating other organisms.

There was a reason for this, of course.

For them to survive, reproduce or grow stronger, eating other races was not very important.

There was something else that was important to them.

<Energy>.

Powerful energy.

Pure and powerful energy was the source that maintained their survival and allowed them to grow stronger.

The Haetara that could not find a proper source of energy would become toys of other races and get killed off.

This was why they had developed the ability to create a space within the shadows to hide in.

Once they found a proper source of energy…

The Haetara could grow indefinitely.

Becoming as large as an entire mountain range.

With a strength that terrified the world, they could flip the world upside down.

In search of more food.

“And there… it is.”

Kuoooooongg!

Hansoo muttered as he looked at the giant lion/elephant/bear-looking creature several kilometers tall that had risen out from the ground.

And John Stone looked at this scene in a daze.

‘What… the…’

A mountain range.

Mountains were rising out from the ground and were stretching.

While releasing the rage they felt for losing their food.

With an aura that declared their intent to destroy everything.

Kiriel looked at the seven mountains, the Haetara, that had risen out from the ground and said,

“… Were they devouring the energy of the crystal all this time to become that strong?”

Hansoo nodded.

The controller.

Named, External Flame Divine Tool.

The object that controlled the power of the flame and turned this giant area into the Flameless Land.

The reason why one couldn’t use the power of the Flame within the area of the controller wasn’t because it suppressed the power of the Flame.

Rather, it absorbed it all.

The crystal that had devoured the power of the Flame up until this point.

Of course, the Haetara, who devoured energy, were drawn to it in a frenzy.

The strands of shadows worked as tubes to suck the energy out from the crystal.

They were like caterpillars inside cocoons preparing to become butterflies.

But if their source of food disappeared… They would go berserk.

Until they found a new source of energy…

They would crush everything in their path.

Kiriel bit her fingernails as she mumbled,

“If they find a source, it’ll be a problem… If they don’t, it’ll still be a problem…”

Hansoo nodded.

These things had eaten the energy of the Flame; it was clear where they would towards next.

‘If they find the source of the Flame…’

It would all be over.

Roaaaar!

Hansoo spoke to Kiriel,

“I… I’ll be back. Move away, so you don’t get swept by this.”

“Where are you going?”

Hansoo mumbled as he gazed into the distance,

“I… need to retrieve something stolen.”

***

“Ha… What a scene.”

The Nerpa looked at the giant creatures in the distance and muttered.

Since such things had risen, this giant planet would now go through a cleansing.

In a very fair manner.

‘But… What to do?’

He really needed this crystal.

It was now time to head to the next location.

‘Back to the Kalkuroun Fleet.’

But as the Nerpa was about to go aboard his transportational device…

-Whooosh!-

… The sound of something cutting through the air reverberated behind him.

And as the Nerpa frowned and dodged to the side…

-Booom!-

… The Mjolnir, that had grazed his side, smashed apart his transportational device.

“Ha… You just won’t leave me alone, huh?”

“You’re planning to run away after causing such a scene?”

Hansoo chuckled coldly as he looked at the Nerpa.