Chapter 81: Racial War (4)
The Calamities people knew about were four in total.
One at the Sea.
One at the Roots.
One at the Trunk.
One at the Branch.
‘And a very special one.’
Hansoo mumbled inwardly.
The 1st year Adventurers who had searched far and wide in order to explore the new world 20 years ago had seen the four kinds of Calamities but didn’t worry much.
Since these guys seemed busy eating up the World Tree and didn’t really seem interested in people.
While they were searching all over the World Tree while avoiding the Four Calamities, Keldian and his comrades found something extremely dangerous deep within the World Tree.
A creature that seemed like it was being sealed by somebody.
And tens of thousands of marks of those who got massacred while trying to seal that creature.
The six powers that were controlling the wide World Tree Mountain Range heard the news and then quickly gathered to the location of the Seal.
And they realized.
That this thing was more dangerous than the calamities if it were to get released.
But this guy looked like a incomplete creature unlike the completed lifeforms such as the Calamities.
Like something somebody had failed while making it.
And it was weaker than the Calamities because of that but unlike the Calamities who weren’t really interested in people, this thing was showing extreme reactions against living creatures.
They hadn’t included it in the Calamities because it was an incomplete product but then if this thing were to go on a rampage after getting out then the people who came after them will just get killed without being able to do anything.
No, they would get swept over too.
— This thing being released must be blocked no matter what.
Their family might come after them.
They couldn’t leave this behind and go up.
But then they had no methods of killing it.
Since being slightly weaker than the Calamities meant that it was much much stronger than humans.
So they only had one option.
— Guard the seal.
They first put their powers around Six Trunks near the location of the Seal in order to block random people from getting to the Seal.
Since if they, the strongest, were guarding it then nobody would be able to get to the Seal as well.
At the same time they decided to keep it a secret from them as well.
Since it would be dangerous for them to know about such a dangerous existence and people who get blinded by the greed of reward will come out.
And one of the six people who had gathered had remained behind in order to keep the Seal.
The man who had raised the giant power of Hecarim, one of the six Pillars, without the ability of a Lord and with only strength alone.
Naming the creature had befallen to the one who had chosen to sacrifice himself for everyone else and the man who had chosen to remain behind, Miyamoto, named the creature Akuma.
He then realized that it was too much for him to maintain the constantly weakening seal and then gathered people who had the potential to get strong and had the same thoughts as him as comrades.
These were the Seven Departed Souls.
The protectors who hadn’t gone up and were protecting the seal for tens of years.
‘I don’t know why that guy had failed in creating this thing but… Kill the Akuma first then take these guys to kill the Ouroboros.’
But Sofía’s expression didn’t change while looking at that Hansoo.
‘What does this kid know?’
Four Calamities.
They were indeed dangerous.
And his confidence would probably be brimming since he had killed two of them.
But if those things were natural disasters then the thing they were sealing was like a nuclear weapon created with evil intentions.
Not as strong as a natural disaster but the fact that humans can’t go up against it was the same and it actually went against humans unlike natural disasters.
‘But even then… I still can’t ignore him.’
She could not ignore a person who had killed two of the Four Great Calamities and also knew the name of Akuma.
She had to talk to the leader, Miyamoto.
Sofía set the intention of communicating into her mind and then took out the next question.
“Ok so we’re set then but what are you going to do about the other clansmen?’
Sofía threw something into the air as soon as she finished talking.
The small ball that left Sofía’s hands got bigger and bigger as it grew to the size of a man and then rose into the air.
The round object which had risen to the air suddenly opened its eyes.
Then it started to show the scenery of the Six Trunks above clearly in front of Sofía.
Michael was shocked as he saw this.
‘…God’s white of the eye. Such a high level skill.’
A skill which allowed one to see whenever they wanted in the World Tree continent as long as they fulfilled the requirements.
The reason why the Seven Departed Souls were scary was because of that.
They had collected and raised the mastery of skills and artifacts for almost 10 years.
In conclusion they had numerous artifacts that were hard for anyone to acquire one of and used high-level skills freely.
And battle experience that exceeded others by a few times.
There’s no way they couldn’t be strong.
But Camille groaned from a different reason than Michael’s.
“It’s not even a mess…”
Sofía’s skill was showing them the situation above clearly.
A few of the Six Pillars were reacting in a hurry to the sudden wave of parasites.
But on the other hand, the Pillars that were located far away from the Ouroboros’ tail didn’t really care for as to whether the clans in the front were fighting or not as they took everything they needed and were taking their clan upwards.
Though the Six Pillars who were fighting looked like heroes of justice, it wasn’t really that.
The Pillars that were fighting were only doing so because they had gotten close, they still made sure to maintain their power as they fell backwards.
Michael clicked his tongue as he saw this.
‘That’s the right decision.’
Two days.
It was long but at the same time very short.
Everyone probably realized this.
That it’ll take about 2 weeks in order for the Ouroboros to come down.
Though it won’t be as good as the Library Sofía had, there were plenty of traits that were similar.
If they get those traits, experience and combine it with the data handed down through the Six Pillars then it wasn’t that hard to realize that that thing will come down in 2 weeks.
If the Ouroboros didn’t come down then there might be some clans who decide to fight.
But since that thing’s descent was decided, everyone chose to ran.
With as much of their power maintained as possible.
“What are you going to do. Solve that first. If you show me that then I’ll believe you.”
If they couldn’t even block the parasites charging over there then they couldn’t even progress after that.
Hansoo pondered for a moment at those words and then got up.
***
“Goddamnit! The other clans aren’t coming? What about Hecarim!”
“Damnit! Damage will increase if they get through! We have to block them here! No matter what!”
Two of the Six Pillars, Helper Clan and the Triple Lights Union, were blocking the tide-like parasites as they screamed out.
Hooong
A green-colored skill of one of the Celestial Generals from the Triple Lights Union exploded towards the parasites crawling down from above.
Somebody who didn’t know every well about these things would have been scared to their wits.
To send attacks towards the Ouroboros above!
What would they do if the Ouroboros got enraged.
But the Celestial General didn’t even put that into his calculations.
‘Fuck. If an attack like this worked on it then I wouldn’t even be scared.’
Booom!
A circle which was of tens of meters in radius had turned into ashes and tens of parasites had turned into dust but as he expected the Ouroboros didn’t react at all.
Since the Ouroboros was too lazy to move just because its scales were a bit scratched.
Though it had worked out as he planned, his expression wasn’t that great.
‘These damned things. They’re too big.’
Since the bodies of the parasites were huge, there weren’t many of them who fell in the range of a large area skill.
And killing few tens of them didn’t even dent their numbers.
The space that had been emptied by the ones dead had been quickly refilled by those who were constantly pushing down the road to hell upon the body of the Ouroboros.
‘Bitch…Hecarim, Pillars you despicable bastards! For not a single one of you to show up!”
But the Celestial General knew as well.
That there was no reason for them to shed blood and come help.
The reason why the Triple Lights Union and the Helper Clan were fighting was not because they had a hidden mission or anything.
Though something like that might’ve existed in the beginning of the Six Pillars but in the near 20 years that the clans existed for, the clan members had been replaced over and over again.
What has been left now were not ideals but rather reality.
The reason why they were fighting here was because the damned tail of the Ouroboros that acted as the path for the charging Parasites was located in between the Helper Clan and Triple Lights Union.
Since their main base would get wrecked if they didn’t block them.
But their situation wasn’t something they would curse over.
‘We shall also guard for a bit and then maintain our formations as we get out.’
Though they didn’t feel comfortable about the adventurers below but they couldn’t do anything.
It was impossible for the adventurers below to raise their strength to the point where they can get through the Mirror in 2 days anyways.
It might be possible if all the Clans focused on doing so but no one had the leisure to do so.
While they were grinding their teeth, a huge soundwave was heard in the distance.
‘Hmm?’
Though this wasn’t the time for him to get distracted, the Celestial General had been in the Otherworld too long to ignore an extremely strong existence that pervaded all their detection skills.
‘Monumental Air path… Who has a skill like this?’
And something like this meant that they had increased the mastery to the extremes.
The Celestial General heard the sound wave coming from the Base Root and then looked over towards that direction.
‘Sofía Vargera….’
The Seven Departed Souls were in a awkward situation with the Six Pillars.
Their relationship wasn’t good but wasn’t that bad.
‘Damnit. There’s no way someone like her would help either.’
Even from the start it would be a piece of cake for someone like her to just go through the Mirror when something like this happened.
At that time something bulky started to form in Sofía’s hands.
Green, white and blue lights intertwined and then turned into a jade colored dot.
Then the jade-colored marble made a huge noise as it flew over the sky.
Clink!
The marble which had flown over the sky while drawing out a jade line on its path landed between the swarming parasites.
Clang!
Soon the surface started to freeze up along with the explosion.
Cracklecrackle
In an instant an area many times larger than the Celestial General’s attack froze up and all the parasites within that area turned into frozen statues.
‘Oh my god.’
The Celestial General saw that scene as his eyes fluttered.
People spoke of the Seven Departed Souls but there was never an occasion where they would actually see them.
Since they had heard that people like them played around up above.
But what he had heard was the truth after seeing it himself.
The Ouroboros that didn’t even react to the previous attack trembled.
Which meant that they had gotten on its nerve quite a bit.
‘It didn’t even seem like she went all out.’
And she wasn’t alone either.
‘Who’s that next to her.’
A face he had never seen before.
Everyone’s gazes including the Celestial General’s turned to Sofía and Hansoo next to her.
Hansoo then got lost in thought as he pondered while looking at the countless amounts of parasites crawling down from the giant tail of the Ouroboros in front of him.
‘Is this decision the right one?’
If he went into action then he can hold onto all the people from the Six Pillars in this spot.
No, he can actually make them fight more desperately.
And he will help with the relics of the Arsenal.
The damage from the parasites would not increase.
But the parasites weren’t the important part.
‘Isn’t there a method of killing the Ouroboros without doing all of this?’
It wasn’t a sin to struggle to survive and these guys trying to escape through the Mirror had quite a normal reaction.
But if he were to fail at killing the Ouroboros after all this then he will be throwing all of the people from the Six Pillars, who could’ve escaped, into death.
But Hansoo made up his mind.
‘There’s no other way.’
Somebody had to fight against these parasites.
It was arduous enough for him to focus on the Akuma and Ouroboros themselves.
Light started to shine around Hansoo who was standing above the frozen scales of the Ouroboros.
Kiiiiiiing
The huge amount of energy from the fragment that was being controlled by the three relics started to gather on the tip of the Galadriang’s Relic in Hansoo’s hands.
Soon the light from the Galadriang’s Relic turned into a huge golden hammer instead of a sword.
Hansoo then jumped down as he smashed the hammer down onto the center of the tail of the Ouroboros.
***
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!
A roar that shook the heavens and the earth resonated throughout the Pillars and the lake and in all directions.
At the thunder-like sound Jukma, who was commanding his Clansmen, quickly looked towards the location where the sound and the light came from.
And then frowned.
‘What is happening now!’
Kurururururu
The tail of the Ouroboros which didn’t even react until now started to react quite agitatedly.
It then started to aggressively push in its tail in between the Six Pillars as if it was trying to find the rat that had disturbed its tail.
Boom! Booooom!
A few more thundering sounds rang out.
The tail kept on poking in between the Pillars as if it was trying to find the one annoying it numerous times.
The tail that was throwing off the tens of thousands of parasites on it laid down as if it got lazy since the thing that had agitated it stopped.
The problem was that the spot the tail landed was the center of the lake, the Mirror.
“Goddamnit.”
Jukma looked at this scene with disbelief.
Chase until the end if you’re going to chase.
Why did it stop in such a place.
Soon the parasites that had come down on the tail filled up the lake as they crawled out in all directions.
Chirurururuk
Though the depth of the lake was rather deep, it was just a normal lake other than the single day in which it acted as the Mirror.
It wasn’t an obstacle to the 4m-large parasites.
The lake was extremely wide but there were enough parasites to fill it up many times over.
Jukma’s expression turned extremely ugly at this scene.
Now it would be impossible for them to get into the mirror without getting through that with all their strength.
In what was this different from a war?
And now all the people on the surface of the Red Zone would get massacred.
‘Which crazy bastard…’
At that time a Carrier Pigeon flew in.
— Let’s talk.
Jukma, who had heard the message within the Carrier Pigeon, grinded his teeth as he got up.
‘…I believe some talk is needed.’
“Let’s go.”
Jukma ordered Amil Stadan and started to gather up a few people.