Chapter 423. Transition (3)

-Whooooosh!-

Adelaia was at a loss when she saw the scene after arriving at the capital by photon transmission.

‘The hell is this?!’

-Kuooooo!-

The entire surface of the capital had been ripped apart. The bright mana circuits underneath it were visible, and the Relic in the center was releasing a storm of energy.

Those three things were enough to shock anyone who saw the current capital, but there was something that took the spotlight from them: the beast.

The beast that had destroyed the majority of the Neropa Union and had fallen asleep with the Relic was now going berserk in the center of the capital, as it destroyed what was remaining of it.

-Kuooooooong!-

Though seven had combined with each other to form it, it hadn’t become seven times larger. Quite the opposite actually. It was smaller than one of them in the past.

But, Adelaia didn’t judge that beast by how it looked because the aura it was releasing was dimensions stronger than before.

-Booooooom!-

-Kuooooo!-

For some reason, the beast was extremely enraged as it continued to dig its mouth into the ground while roaring.

-Crunch!-

-Smash!-

It broke things easily, like it wanted. Despite continuously smashing its head into the ground, it suddenly raised it up high into the sky. And then…

-Kiiiiiiiiiiiiing!-

… A tremendous amount of energy, which resembled a planet’s core, the red orb, started to condense in its mouth.

‘Fuck!’

As Adelaia quickly covered hers and Mihee’s bodies under a barrier…

-Boooooooom!-

… A beam of light extended out from the Haetara’s mouth and toward the center of the capital.

-Chiiiiiik!-

The beam melted through everything and created a giant ravine.

‘… This will become a great tourist attraction if the capital manages to survive.’

Mihee looked at the red orb within that hole. The beam that had extended from the Haetara’s mouth had pierced through the entire continent, but the thing that had shocked her the most was that something had managed to withstand that attack.

-Rumble!-

Through the metallic mist and the melted walls that the red beam had created, a brightly condensed ball of energy held its ground.

‘The Relic…’

Adelaia clenched her teeth.

Not one, but two.

The object was tiny in comparison to the giant Haetara, but its aura easily suppressed the Haetara’s. Adelaia’s amplified vision saw the Relic located inside the energy ball, and the man holding yet another Relic.

‘What… How did he get two?’

The clan heads had thought that more than a single Relic being in once place would be too dangerous, so they had done everything they could to prevent such a situation.

One was dangerous enough. Two? They couldn’t even imagine what would happen, even more so if they were in someone else’s hands.

Why would they have left the Reunion Union members alone otherwise? If they had asked Mihee and Samuel then, they could’ve easily retrieved the Relic. But, they had left it in the Flameless Lands because they didn’t know what would happen if they did gather two.

However, the situation that they had worried about the most had actually happened.

‘Who…?’

As Adelaia clenched her teeth…

“Woah! He really is much more powerful with two.”

“What the?!”

… She freaked out at the sudden voice behind her.

How could she not have sensed him approach?

Adelaia turned around and frowned.

“Kang Hansoo. You…”

Hansoo shrugged.

“Woah?! You know my name too! Were you my friend too?”

“… I don’t think this is the time for bad jokes.”

Adelaia was annoyed at Hansoo’s attitude toward the current situation, but she couldn’t say anything. She realized it the moment she saw him.

‘No way… How did he get this strong in such a short amount of time?’

The energy that was radiating from Hansoo’s body resembled a huge waterfall. Torrential. The power she had was strong, but Hansoo’s was in a whole new dimension. Adelaia glanced between Mihee and Hansoo as she clenched her teeth.

‘Damn. They’re both four stars, but why is there such a huge difference?’

Adelaia’s mind was at a loss since new variables continued to appear one after another, but there was someone who had a bright expression next to her.

“… Hansoo.”

Mihee was about to cry. They had finally met.

Hansoo frowned as he looked at Mihee approaching him with that expression. He didn’t remember who she was, but something was indeed poking at the inside of his brain.

‘… It seems we were quite close.’

But, Hansoo shook his head. That wasn’t important right now. They could talk about their past later, over some tea or something.

With a cold expression, Hansoo looked around.

“I bought some time with the Relic, so we need to plan the next step.”

“Damn! You gave that to him?!”

Adelaia gritted her teeth. She had wondered why the man had been holding two Relics, but it seemed like Hansoo had given him one.

Hansoo chuckled.

“Things are only this damaged because I gave him the second Relic.”

Though the man had two Relics, his strength hadn’t doubled. No, his actual speed had decreased thanks to the Haetara wreaking havoc beneath them.

-Kuoooooo!-

The Haetara, enraged by having its food taken away, continued to wreck the city apart. The second protective layer that took months, and all of the ships combines strength, to destroy was being ripped apart like paper underneath its feet and breath.

And thanks to that, the energy that surrounded the Relic was decreasing as well.

Though he had two relics, thanks to all the mana circuits having been destroyed, there wasn’t much change in his overall strength. Even more so because the energy he had collected was now being used against the Haetara.

But, Hansoo was disappointed.

‘Tsk! I thought he would become weaker.’

Though the man’s plans had been postponed, his defenses had increased.

Though the Haetara was using all its strength to attack the man, sooner or later, it would tire out since it had no way to recover the energy it was using. The large amount of energy that was being released wouldn’t last long, but the man would use the two Relics efficiently to continue with his plans.

So, Hansoo had only bought them a bit of time. He had to make a plan before the time he had was over, a plan to deal with that turtle hiding behind the two-Relic barrier.

‘Not easy. But, why am I even bothering with this?’

Hansoo thought to himself.

The man’s words had been right. Hansoo just needed to go up.

Though the three Relics would be tremendously powerful here, they wouldn’t be much help up top since the link behind their power, the power of the Flame, would be broken.

‘They would be at the level of his hammer or this armor, but…’

… That wasn’t enough for him to risk his life.

Hansoo suddenly nodded.

‘Yeah. If things go south, then I’ll just run away.’

Though he didn’t know what he was like before he had lost his memories, he had no plans to try that hard this time around. He could just go up if things went bad.

But until then, he would try his best. He disliked that man’s attitude too much to just leave.

‘I wanna see his expression when he fails.’

Kiriel whispered something into Hansoo’s ear while he was lost in thought: who Mihee was and that Adelaia wasn’t a friend, but a clan head.

‘I thought she was a friend because I had no memory of her, but it seems I’ve never met her.’

Well, that wasn’t bad. The ones that needed to do the most work were the ones that were in the most rush after all, and it was better to have more people.

After finishing his thoughts, Hansoo said to Adelaia Ron,

“What are you doing? Call your friends.”

“Friends?”

“Yeah, the other two.”

Adelaia made an annoyed expression upon realizing about whom Hansoo was talking. Friends? Who was friends with them? But, that annoyance didn’t last long.

-Booooooom!-

-Kuoooo!-

Adelaia clenched her teeth at the sound of the beast and the man defending himself, and she moved her hands to her communication device. She didn’t know what was going on exactly, but one thing was clear: She wouldn’t be able to do anything alone.

That man was planning to blow the entire planet apart, and they had to stop him.

-Chiiijijik-

“Good job. I’ll have to do a few things then as well.”

“… Where are you going?”

Hansoo chuckled,

“Since you’re calling backup, I need to call some as well, right?”

As he mentioned before, it was better to have more useful people.

***

“… Did we fail?”

Pompeion was at a loss as he looked at the vast energy storm that expanded in the distance. He had tried that hard, but ultimately, he had failed at stopping that man’s plans.

Once that mass of energy blew up, Angkara would be over.

‘Damn…’

Pompeion thought of the day when he had first met him.

— Help me. If you do… you will have the world in your hands.

It had been such a sweet offer that he, someone who had been suffering after being born the leader of a small power, could not resist. But, if he had known things would turn out this badly, he would’ve never accepted that offer.

As Pompeion fell into despair…

-Chiiijiiik-

‘…?’

… Pompeion’s communications panel opened, and a voice was heard.

— This is the first time we’re talking, I think? Well, greetings.

“… I never expected to see you in such a situation. What do you want?”

Hansoo laughed,

— I need your help. You’ll come over, right?

“… What?”

What was Hansoo talking about?

But, as Pompeion frowned…

-Boooooom!-

… A huge noise came through the communications panel.

-Chiiiijiiiik!-

The giant barrier that split the entire continent in two started to fall apart.

‘… I didn’t know he was this reckless.’

Pompeion was at a loss as he stared at Hansoo, who had just destroyed one of the steel towers that maintained the barrier.