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Chapter 127: Crown of Thorns (1)

Kururururururu

A giant statue was standing in the middle of the sea of lava as if it were a continent.

A now slumbering Lazar.

Though its entire body had turned black unfitting of the title of White Lion, its prideful and majestic look had still remained.

Though it was slumbering flat on the sea of lava, it's size was so large that not even half its body was submerged under the lava.

Kuooooooo!

The Gragos slowly approached the black lion with Oteon's guidance.

Though the bull was on the bigger side out of the Gragoses, the lion was so huge that the laying eye level of the lion and the standing eye level of the bull were similar.

As if it had felt the bull approaching it, the black lion opened its eyes with a lot of effort and stared at the bull with its huge eyes.

"…"

Everyone gulped down their saliva with nervous expressions.

The bull had withstood most of the assaults from other Gragoses with its pure size.

But this one was different.

If that lion, which was staring at them with its full moon like eyes, smashed them with just its single paw, the Gragos they're standing on will have its head blown off and they will fall down onto the lava.

And the lion was also a carnivore.

But that was all.

The lion closed its eyes again as if keeping it open was tiring.

"Hoooh…"

While everyone was sighing in relief, the giant head of the bull approached the neck of the lion, which was sleeping with its head on its front legs, and touched it.

Kuuuurururung

The two giant Gragoses had connected.

Oteon shed tears of joy.

She had never even dreamt of being able to return to the kingdom of which they had been driven off.

"Ohh…Ohhhh!"

Oteon and the Akarons, who were crying out in joy, calmed down and started to focus again.

Since they knew that this wasn't the end but rather the beginning.

Enbi Arin slightly frowned as she looked at the Akarons and Hansoo, who were moving around non-stop, and spoke.

"Aren't you going to heal the ones approaching us over there? If you need help then we will help you."

Enbi Arin then looked at the tens of mountains approaching them from the distance.

No, the mountain-sized Gragoses.

Ones who were approaching them in order to chew down the bull-shaped Gragos.

If they don't heal those guys then the Gragos they were standing on will get destroyed by the zombie-like Gragoses who were approaching them.

"There's no time."

"What?"

Hansoo looked around.

Cross clan, Enbi Arin.

Rerorerore clan, Kim Gwanje.

And Ariel and the other who were leaders of various other big clans.

Most of the large clan's leaders were here.

Hansoo looked at them and spoke.

"There's something you need to do."

"What?"

"A big migration. We need to get everyone on this Gragos onto the black lion, before those things get here."

'There's not enough time.'

A single Tiradus per Telautograph he needed to put the cure into.

Even Hansoo would take quite a bit of time to deal with them and heal afterwards.

While he kills each and every one of those and heals the Gragos, the bull will get attacked.

'…So we give up this place.'

Hansoo finished his thoughts and looked at Oteon.

Oteon thought of giving up their Divine Beast, Gragos, and felt her insides being ripped apart but she nodded as she gave up.

'We need to clutch onto this chance.'

If Hansoo hadn't brought the Gragos here then they would've been able to live a bit longer.

But in the end the bull will have fallen to the ground due to the always increasing Margoths or the infected Gragoses.

And the living things above it will die off of course.

They couldn't wait on the Bull for an eternity.

They needed to move when they had the time.

They needed to live upon a powerful existence that couldn't even be compared to the bull.

"You need to hurry. It wouldn't even take 3 days for those guys to get here."

Ariel and Enbi Arin nodded as they started to send carrier pigeons in numerous directions.

.........…..

Kooooooong.

"You damned bastard! Don't push!"

"Fucking bitch! Wanna have a go at it?"

The thousands of carrier pigeons which had originated from the head were sent to almost all of the nervous clansmen at the same time.

The carrier pigeons which had spread to the large clans such as Cross and Rerorerore were then sent to the middle and small sized clans and then the middle and small sized clans sent them to lone adventurers whom they were friends of or had some form of a connection with.

Soon a giant march from the tail of the Gragos to the Forest of Horns and finally to the black lion had been created.

Though the atmosphere wasn't that great.

'It's chaos.'

Enbi Arin, who had been leading the Cross clan, clicked her tongue.

Everyone had been on edge due to the clash of the Gragoses.

When they had gathered the people who were usually enemies and tried to sent them across, numerous clashes occurred from all around.

And there was another person who was actually creating a problem.

"Yo, Ariel. Aren't you going to control them properly?"

"…What do you want me to do?"

Though they bickered, most of the Margoth levels knew each other.

As the usually kind Enbi Arin called her out, Ariel complained back.

At the end of Ariel's sight, the person who had taken the leadership position of the Okonelly clan while Ariel had been caught, Akon, was there.

Akon shouted out from the middle of the Okonelly clan.

"Why are you making us cross? What would happen when we go over there! Previous leader?"

Akon then mumbled inwardly.

'How can we trust a weakling who had been caught by the enemy.'

The black lion on the other side did not look like it was in its normal condition.

The skin was dingy compared to the usual healthy skin and there were no living plants unlike the bull which had numerous forests and jungles all around.

But the most terrifying thing were the corpses.

'…Damn, people told me that the corpses that had starved to death are the most unsightly.'

Akon frowned as he looked at the corpses which he could see from multiple kilometers away.

Tens of Margoths which had starved to death.

That giant body had been impoverished to the point where the leather had stuck to the bones.

If those things, which went crazy for the body fluids, had starved to death then the humans wouldn't have much chance.

Akon sweated profusely as he shouted towards his surroundings.

"Listen! Those guys are definitely thinking of throwing us on the black lion and leaving us! Then we would have to starve over there!"

Everyone frowned.

Since that black lion definitely looked like a land without hope to them.

"…Is that it."

"That seems like it."

Everyone started to mumble.

Ariel, who had been listening to this, finally realized what it felt like to die from high blood pressure.

For him to act like this when they had saved their lives and were working this hard.

'This bastard… I can kill him with a single strike.'

But she didn't dare.

Margoth levels weren't invincible.

The clansmen who were swarming over on that side were people who she had trained well.

They were not easy opponents.

And most of them were thinking that his words made sense.

If she were to attack that guy then it would be like adding fuel t the fire.

'Damn… This is really embarrassing.'

Every other clan was heading towards to the other side without a single problem but why was her own clan doing this.

Ariel frowned and then used a skill and shouted out extremely loudly.

"You bastards! Look at the Gragos approaching us! If you stay here you'll die anyway! Do you know how much those zombie guys tried to chew up the Bull? If you stay here then the Gragos will sink as a whole!"

Everyone nodded at those words.

Though most people were skeptical of migrating, there was a reason for the crossing.

They 'might' die from hunger if they go over there but if they stay here then they will definitely die.

By sinking onto the lava.

But it wasn't that Akon didn't think this far.

Akon mumbled inwardly.

'Those guys have a method of getting rid of the Gragos who are approaching.'

Why would the leopard suddenly back off from the bull's buttocks.

The Akarons would have done something.

'Those guys even know how to control the Gragos… Of course they know how to get rid of them.'

But one of the people nearby talked to Akon with a worrisome expression.

"I heard… That the person who fell the Gragos was a single person. And that he is making us move because he can't deal with them all."

Akon clicked his tongues.

'This useless kid… He believes such words.'

Akon pointed towards the mountains approaching them from afar.

"So you're saying that a single person went inside of that, did something and the Gragos backed off? You think that makes sense?"

"…Well, true."

The man nodded.

That thing was not something humans could deal with.

The logic of the adventurers and the knowledge of the Akarons spread like wildfire.

Suddenly there were people who started to abandon the march.

"Aren't these guys actually just setting us up for a trap?"

"Hey! You guys go ahead first then!"

The people who had broken off gathered with the Okonelly clan as the center.

Enbi Arni looked at the scene and frowned as it even felt like a clash would happen from the Cross clan and the other adventurers.

'…Well. This should be happening anyway.'

It was an obvious result.

They had to make a decision that would impact their lives within a short amount of time with limited information.

Who would want to abandon the Gragos they had been living upon and go on top of the suspicious black lion?

The problem was that this may cause thousands of lives to die off.

They had pulled out everyone from the corners of the Gragos.

They just needed to cross to the black lion but for a problem to occur here.

'This won't do. Let's first kill off those guys…'

This wasn't the best solution.

Since there would be a lot of deaths.

But Enbi Arin's method was that finishing things off fast was better rather than delaying time.

While Enbi Arin poured strength upon her fists, another hand stopped her.

"There's no need."

"What?"

Enbi Arin looked at Hansoo, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, with a confused expression.

"…Didn't you go somewhere?"

Enbi Arin muttered while looking at Hansoo.

This guy said that he had to do something important.

Hansoo nodded.

"I did prepare something."

"…?'

"I don't have much talent in persuasion, I'm going to make them cross forcibly."

"What have you done?"

Sofia asked with a nervous expression next to him.

Though she had seen him do his work since the Red Zone, this guy never did things 'normally.'

It was destruction or mega destruction.

She didn't know what kind of life he had lived but even a terrorist would be nicer than this guy.

'Well if the results weren't good then he would just be a terrorist.'

Hansoo shrugged his shoulders while looking at Sofia's nervous expression.

"Well it'll be a bit wasteful if we don't use the things that remained."

"…?"

At that moment the bull shaped Gragos started to cry out.

Guoooooooooooo!

And soon the bull shaped Gragos started to tilt its body very slowly.

Into a position of rolling on the lava.

"Aaaa!"

"What is this! What's going on!"

Everyone freaked out.

Since they didn't know what caused this.

But Gwanje realized what caused this and made an expression of disbelief.

Since he knew what Hansoo had done.

"You crazy bastard! The remaining Graphite!"

Hansoo nodded as he shouted out loudly.

Loud enough that everyone within the Forest of Horns could hear.

"Emergency! The Gragos is going to roll! Escape! We have to escape to the black lion!"

Boooooom!

The giant voice resonated over the people who had gathered.

And the people who had been in a chaotic situation realized what happened.

As well as what they would need to do in order to survive.

"Uwaaa! Damnit!"

The members of the Okonelly clan, Akon and everyone else who had been gathered, started to madly dash towards the black lion.

And like people who had survived the Otherworld for 5 to 6 years, they were successfully escaping to the black lion despite the vibrations.

'Damn, they're running the best.'

Hansoo laughed as he looked at the Okonelly clansmen who were running towards the black lion at extreme speeds.

"Let's go over as well."

"…You're really insane."

"As long as the results are good."

Hansoo looked at Gwanje who was sighing as the thought of his next goal.

'Go onto the Lazar and retrieve the Crown of Thorns.'

Elkadion's relic, Crown of Thorns.

But this wasn't for him.

There was something else for him.

The legacy of the great patriarch, Mekido, that Elkadion had prepared.

The treasure that allowed Mekido, an Akaron, to fight the Tiradus and win on a one versus one.

Hansoo finished his thoughts as he moved towards Lazar.

Chapter 128: Crown of Thorns (2)

Kururururu

A giant bull was rolling back and forth in the sea of lava.

Streams of lava flew around and powerful earthquakes roared.

The remaining Margoths above the Gragos were crushed between the Gragos and the Heringsen and got massacred.

If Margoths got killed off like this, it wouldn't be much different for humans.

Everyone felt cold sweat running down their backs as they watched this scene from the head of the black lion after barely having escaped.

Since they could imagine what would've happened to them

'Phew.'

But the sigh of relief was just a moment.

Everyone looked around with worrisome expressions.

A land of death.

No other words fit these lands better.

'It's much worse than what I'd seen from afar.'

The leader of the Okonelly clan, Akon, frowned.

Dried and cracked skin.

Dried up corpses of Margoths who starved to death from lack of body fluids and had dried from the heat of the lava.

It was a bit obvious but there was nothing they could drink.

They had been forcibly dragged into these dead lands.

"Fuck. What… What do you want us to do! By dragging us here!"

"What are you going to do?"

There were numerous complaints arousing from all around.

Though they had to escape due to the bull having rolled, they could only curse out loud from the current situation.

At that moment Akon shouted out.

"Rerorerore clan! What are you bastards thinking of! Did you guys make the bull roll?"

"What?"

As everyone turned around to look at Akon, he shouted out even louder.

"I read it before that the Gragos will roll once it starts lacking body fluids. Apparently you guys did some crazy things recently huh?"

"…Motherfucker. You really want to trap us like this huh."

Gwanje made a bitter expression.

Since those words weren't exactly wrong.

If everything played out the way the great priest wanted it to and Hansoo hadn't blocked his plans, the Gragos would've long rolled on the lava from what Gwanje had done.

With all the humans on top of it.

Everyone's expressions started to turn grim.

The fact that they had to cross over to this side did not matter that much.

The important thing was that they were currently in a grim situation and they needed someone to take responsibility for this.

And somebody for them to vent their rage on.

"You crazy bastards! What are you thinking of!"

"What happens to the ones who would come after us then? And how are we supposed to go get to the next zone!"

Numerous enraged shouted were heard from here and there.

Everyone clutched onto their weapons and started to make enraged expressions.

The impatient ones had already pulled out their trump skills and were aiming at where Hansoo and Gwanje was standing there.

An extremely dangerous situation.

At that moment.

The air ripped apart as something popped out from it.

"!!"

A very small hole that had appeared in the air.

But the people who had been watching this all froze simultaneously.

Since it was a scene they could never forget even if they hadn't seen it for a long time.

"Fairy…"

"Fuck. When did that thing that we haven't seen in years…"

While having had been grinding their teeth, the fairy which had popped out from the air smiled.

"Hello everyone! Anyways, I don't know why you tiredly crawled all the way here when we created a pretty and comfortable place for you to live on hahahaha!"

If the fairy was describing the top of the Gragos as a pretty and comfortable place to live then it was definite that it lived in hell.

Since if somebody envied a location where the Margoths rampaged and where there was always an uncertainty of them falling to lava then the place they lived on must be hell.

Everyone grinded their teeth.

But countless amounts of people had gathered.

Of course there would be people who wouldn't just stop at grinding their teeth.

And even more so if they had been enraged this far.

"Good! You fucking bitch! It's been a while!"

One of the Okonelly clansmen who had been preparing their trump skill.

'Huh…Ballsy.'

Akon clicked his tongue.

This guy was definitely somebody who was confident in his skills and was quite impatient.

Since he was ready to charge in first in a situation where a war-like battle was about to occur.

And befitting of a person like that, his method of shooting an arrow of rage at the fairy was ruthless as well.

'Fucking bitch! You think we're still bugs like back then!?'

The man, McCarlen, grinded his teeth.

He couldn't forget when that thing had killed his friend like he was a bug back in the tutorial.

But the current him was not him of the past.

He could now easily destroy tens of thousands of people from the tutorial.

Mccarlen's trump skill that he had been mastering for over 7 years and had been collecting in his hand, , shot out into the air.

Booooom!

A single red beam of light smashed into the fairy which had been floating in the air.

A fearsome power that would smash apart any adventurer it hit.

Everyone's expressions brightened up.

'It hit?'

The fact that the god-like fairy could not dodge the skill encouraged them.

And McCarlen who had seen this also turned around to the people as he laughed proudly.

"You saw it! Let's do the same for that…"

But McCarlen knew something had gone wrong instantly.

Since the people were slowly backing away.

Precisely speaking, they were backing away from him.

At that moment McCarlen felt a chill run down his back and tried to turn his head in order to see the fairy.

But he soon realized that he didn't need to.

Since the voice was heard in his ears.

"It's a bit of a push yet. Heehee."

"…What?"

'…Yet?'

McCarlen made a confused expression as he turned around.

And he froze.

Since something was much different than before.

The always laughing eyes had been raised up and the leisurely ends of the mouth had a vicious smile upon them.

"But it does piss me off a little. You see, I'm still an existence that has emotions implemented. I've been allowed to vent off my emotions as long as it doesn't step over the line."

"Uh…Uhh?"

"You should take responsibility for your actions right?'

The fairy finished speaking as it started to rip apart McCarlen who had attacked it.

From head to toe.

One bit at a time.

"Uwaaaaaaahh!"

The fairy was barely the size of McCarlen's palm and so the amount it could grab ahold at a time was barely the size of a thumb.

And it was even more horrifying because of this.

Since the fairy had steadily shredded Mccarlen apart one part at a time while keeping him alive as much as possible.

"…Fuck."

"Holy shit…"

Every adventurer gulped down their saliva at seeing a person getting shredded apart.

McCarlen tried to retaliate madly but it was meaningless.

Since the fairy kept on working on his body no matter what kind of attack it received.

"Fu…ck."

McCarlen left a single cursing word as he disappeared from the world.

The fairy, who had erased McCarlen from the world, opened its mouth while being covered in blood from head to toe.

While showing off that brisk smile that it always had from before.

"Anyways the reason why I came here was… To tell you to not worry about the Dimensional Portal. Since the Dimensional Portal and the beasts for your growth had been set for you guys. Since the place you guys are living on change, we can just change that too."

Then as the fairy snapped its fingers, a grinding noise resonated throughout the body of the black lion.

Squirm squirm.

The ground was dug out as caves that looked like dungeon entrances occurred, lakes were created and beasts filled the lands.

Kyaaaaak!

Newly-born beasts rose from the ground and things started to crawl out from between the mane of the black lion.

A god-like power.

Everyone who had seen this grinded their teeth.

'…Not an opponent we can go against.'

But the changes didn't stop there.

As the fairy snapped its fingers again a giant lake appeared from the ground.

A similar passageway to the Mirror they had used to get up here from the Red Zone.

"Since there are no Margoths here we will use this temporarily. I've made many numerous lakes like this. They would come through this for now, they're quite lucky aren't they? Since they won't have to worry about getting chewed up inside the Margoth's mouth."

Somebody shouted out.

Since the people who would come over here weren't the important part.

"Wait! Coming here is settled but what about leaving this place?"

The fairy laughed at those words.

"Didn't you know that you're supposed to find it? You just took advantage of it after your seniors found it, look for it diligently since it's somewhere on the black lion. Oh yeah, you know that you can't eat this monster right?"

Then the fairy disappeared.

And everyone who had been listening to the fairy were enraged.

"Fucking hell…"

It wouldn't matter much if everything was how it had been.

Since they weren't weaklings who had just gotten to the Orange Zone.

Since they just needed to hunt and look for the portal.

But the situation was much different.

They were about to die from starvation.

They couldn't even survive 5 days at this rate.

The temporarily suppressed rage rose back up to the point of exploding.

"Rerorerore clan, you bastards! What are you going to do! Nothing changed!"

"Clan leader, what happened! Are those words true?"

At that moment Akon, the leader of the Okonelly clan, shouted out.

"Wait! What do you mean there's nothing to eat. Of course there are things to eat!"

Akon then pointed towards Gwanje, Cross and the Rerorerore clan.

"Those guys are the culprits! We just need to eat them! We can hold on until we find the portal!"

Everyone made reluctant expressions at those words.

Since the idea of eating people was a bit too much even for them.

And they weren't that hungry yet.

Akon made an annoyed expression at these scenes.

"You dumbasses! It would take at least a month to find the portal! And do you think those guys can live for a whole month without eating anything!? What would those guys try to eat!?"

Everyone's expressions changed at those words.

If that happened then they would constantly get hunted down.

Since the individual abilities of the Cross and Rerorerore clan were much higher than theirs.

'And…Others might be different but the Rerorerore clan might really do it.'

Since those guys were crazies even out of crazy people.

Everyone started to slowly gather around the Okonelly clan.

At that moment the leader figure of the Akarons, Oteon, shouted out.

"Calm down humans! Do you think we came here without any plans!? 3 Days! We can heal the Divine Beast, Lazar, in just 3 days! Then body fluids that we can drink will come out!"

Everyone's expressions brightened up.

Since then there wouldn't be a need to fight.

And since it was the Akarons, who were natives, speaking it felt quite persuasive.

While everyone was mumbling to each other, Akon got nervous.

'Damn. This won't do.'

He felt the eyes of Enbi Arin and others who were glaring at him.

If all the adventurers moved away then he would get destroyed.

No, getting destroyed would be the better end of the deal.

Since the previous clan leader, Ariel, was not a benevolent person in any shape or form.

Ariel befit the leader position of the third largest clan in the Orange Zone, the Okonelly clan, and had the toxicity and coldness.

'I need to kill them first no matter what!'

Akon shouted out loudly.

"Don't trust them! Why would they do such things for humans! Wake up!"

'That bitch…'

Enbi Arin felt her strength and agility skyrocketing.

Tainted Emotion, her trait, was turning the rage into runes.

Because of that crazy bastard, a war was about to happen.

"What are you going to do? You should deal with this before you go do your thing."

Hansoo looked around the surroundings and then shook his head.

"No, I can go now."

"Mmm?"

Enbi Arin frowned at the words she couldn't quite comprehend.

..............

Akon laughed as he looked at Enbi Arin who was glaring at him.

'You can't attack right?'

No, them attacking him was the outcome he wanted.

After creating this atmosphere, Akon called out the person who he had newly recruited.

As if he had been on standby nearby, the guy instantly came to Akon after receiving the carrier pigeon.

And laughed as he spoke.

"It seems quite urgent."

Akon quietly mumbled at those words.

"Yeah, you're right. You asked me before right? That you wanted to come into our clan."

Akon then thought of when he had met this guy.

A person who had come to find him at the head of the Gragos when he himself was replacing Ariel's position.

He had ignored this guy back then.

Though this guy looked quite useful, he wasn't dumb enough to invite in a mysterious and random person.

But this was the chance to use this guy.

"Oh, has the time for letting me in come already?"

Akon nodded as he mumbled very quietly so that others wouldn't be able to hear.

"You have a guy called Wongyung that you control right? Order him to… Pretend that they're from the Rerorerore clan and attack us. If you do this job well then I'll let you in as quite a high position in our clan. There're a lot of spots that need to be filled anyway."

It would be troublesome if there are any more people who side with the Akarons.

He needed to ignite the fire when he had quite a large force and collide now.

'If the Rerorerore clan fight first then it'll be perfect.'

He can just cut off this guy afterwards.

Sangjin laughed as he spoke.

"Very well. I just need to attack Okonelly clansmen right?"

"Yes."

"One happens to be right in front of my eyes. You should've held on a bit longer."

"What…"

Boooom!

"…Uh?"

Akon, who had been confused from the words he had heard, suddenly felt a weird sensation that he had never felt before.

The whole world was spinning with him as the center.

Well, more like his vision as the center.

And his vision quickly blurred out.

'What the hell happened…'

Akon focused.

And then he realized despite the blurred vision.

The sword that had cut his throat.

'Fuck…er.'

Akon's head spun through the air, landed on the ground and rolled away.

Chapter 129: Crown of Thorns (3)

The head of the person who had been rallying the whole situation flew off and the people started to calm down for now as Enbi Arin and the other previous Clan Leaders controlled the situation.

But only for now.

Everyone was uncertain of what would happen since the situation itself was rather grim and they only had limited information.

They were all like a barrel of gunpowder that was about to explode.

'I need to deal with the situation before that happens.'

Hansoo took a glance at the temporarily calm adventurers as he continued his preparations.

Clunk Thunk

Crunch Crunch

A sound of something constantly being devoured.

As Hansoo fed the Thousand Soldiers Armor with weapons and armor, the armor itself acted like a hungry baby bird and constantly chewed down the gear.

The clans would have a surplus of weapons in their base just in case the weapons they had been using broke.

Hansoo had taken all of these, which the people had left behind in a hurry, on the way back from dumping the Graphite.

Since it'll be better for him to use it than letting it sink.

As it ate the gear the missing parts grew back and holes were mended back even thicker than before.

Soon, Hansoo's entire body, which towered at around 2m tall, was surrounded in armor.

Hansoo, after completely fixing the Thousand Soldiers Armor, checked the status of the Nurmaha's ring as he grasped onto the Forked Lightning.

'Good. Though I haven't healed all the way…'

It hasn't even been a day since he had almost been chopped apart in halves from the Tiradus.

Expecting a complete recovery after the Racial Metamorphosis being released was not a good bet.

'But I'll move out since I can just about fight.'

Trying to fight at his peak condition was pushing it a bit too much.

Since one would need to fight as long as they were alive within the Abyss.

His current goal of utmost importance was acquiring the Crown of Thorns.

Hansoo finished feeding the Thousand Soldiers Armor as he stood up.

Enbi Arin asked as she saw Hansoo preparing to move out.

"Where are you going to go?"

Hansoo pointed towards the center of the mane in the distance.

Oten saw this as his eyes shone.

Since he knew what Hansoo had pointed towards.

"Holy land…"

Holy land. Land of the gods.

The location where the most amount of essence flew through upon the Lazar.

The location where the great patriarch's residence, Tao-Bao, and the great temple existed.

At that moment numerous shouts were heard from all around.

"What the hell? Something is crawling out from the ground?"

"Get into formation! Something is here!"

Kiiruuurururuk

Kuuududuk

Something was crawling through the hide from beneath.

The people made nervous expressions but then started to loosen up.

Since they could guess the identities of those things.

"The fairy's tricks are quite harsh aren't they. To spread them beneath the ground?"

Everyone laughed as they looked at the squirming hide beneath their feet.

In their thoughts, the only thing that could come out from beneath the hide of the Gragos was a beast that the fairy would've made.

And those beasts weren't much of a problem to them.

It might be a different story if they were all separated but countless amounts of people were gathered here due to the mass relocation.

"Let's see what the beasts around here look like."

"Hahaha!"

There were actually people who were happy about the beast showing itself.

Since the common enemy that had suddenly appeared loosened up the situation when they have been all on guard against each other.

Soon the thing that had been making the noise beneath showed itself.

Kiruuruk

About 3m tall.

And it's appearance was something they were all too familiar with.

Everyone freaked out as they saw this.

"What the fuck! Is it a baby Tiradus?"

"Aaaak!"

The silver beast that had crawled out from the ground was very similar to the Tiradus that had caused a massacre against the humans in the past.

Though it was small and silver-colored, it was basically a weaker version of the Tiradus.

The people would only freak out since they had seen a disaster caused by the Tiradus.

But soon the people calmed themselves down and shouted while grinding their teeth.

"Damnit! We have the numbers! Just attack it!"

"Yeah! It's small too!"

A much smaller size than the 10m tall Tiradus from before.

And the fact that everyone was together gave them confidence.

Soon a massive assault of skills were sent out.

Towards the existence that had made them scared in a situation where they had been all nervous.

Boobobobooom!

The thing that had crawled out from the ground was worthy of looking like the Tiradus as it withstood the assault of the skills quite well.

But their numbers made a difference.

The overwhelming amount of skills had turned around 20 of the silver Tiraduses into rasg.

"Uwahahaha! This is amazing for stress relief!"

"Damn! It doesn't look like this thing is a beast! It doesn't drop anything!"

Everyone laughed as they looked at their target which had been killed off way too easily.

But Hansoo just shook his head.

"This is just the start."

"What?"

At that moment Sofia frowned.

The ground started to rumble and shake as if an earthquake happened.

"Uuh? Uuuhhh? What the hell? Is this thing going to roll as well?"

Everyone freaked out.

But soon they found out the cause of the earthquake.

Kyaaarararak

Unlike the people's worries, the earthquake wasn't caused by the movements of the Gragos.

But it was about the same level of danger.

"Fuck…"

The expressions of those who had smashed apart the silver Tiraduses and were laughing turned grim.

Kyrararak!

Tremendous amounts of silver Tiraduses popped out from the ground as they charged towards the humans.

A number that caused an earthquake just by simply coming out of the ground.

"Holy…What is that. I've never seen this before."

Oteon frowned as she looked at the silver wave that was approaching them.

This place, the White Lion Lazar, was their hometown.

They had lived upon these lands for countless years and someone at the level of a priestess can say that they knew everything about this place.

But this was the first time that Oteon was seeing this.

As Oteon looked at Hansoo with a serious expression, Hansoo replied very quickly.

"They're the leftovers of Elkadion. We need to deal with them."

Elkadion's masterpieces.

One was the that they knew very well about.

And the other thing was that.

Unmanned Weapons, .

Hansoo thought of Elkadion's memories from before.

............….

<…One…Hour>

I completed the Body Enhancement Surgery with the various amounts of information I gained from the Telautograph about the Gragos.

At that moment I got greedy on another topic.

There's nothing that would do more harm than fighting in the frontlines.

And another problem.

The enhanced body had played a huge role at driving off the Margoths.

But after a powerful common enemy had been driven off, the Akarons couldn't control the overflowing amounts of power within their energy and started to fight against each other instead.

Like the 1st great war from the past.

When tribes fought each other and when patriarchs and priests opposed each other.

In the end I made a conclusion.

That I needed an absolute power in order to control and end all oppositions.

Something that could reduce the casualties of Akarons from the Margoths and at the same time controlling the Akarons so that they wouldn't fight with each other.

There was a need for a powerful force to suppress them until the enmity inside the Akarons dispersed.

Thankfully, I had a tremendous amount of information and materials.

Material and information that I gained from dissecting and researching the Tiradus.

If I could use the information of the Tiradus and create a powerful soldier that could fight instead of the Akarons and have the power to control these soldiers then my plan would succeed amazingly.

But I must think and choose very carefully and wisely to whom I will give this power over to.

If this power were to fall in the hands of someone evil then… A disaster will happen.

............…..

'Sadly everything failed even before he could use it.'

Hansoo frowned.

An extremely powerful unmanned soldier, Akadus.

And an unmanned factory that could constantly pump out these Akadus..

And the symbol of the power that could control the Akadus, Crown of Thorns.

Though they were much weaker than the Tiradus, there were much more of them.

As if Elkadion was proving to be the best researcher in the history of the Akarons, she had created a force that could control the entire Akaron race with huge success.

But it was too late.

Even before the factory went into work to create countless amounts of Akadus, the Calamity of Death had hit the Gragoses and Elkadion had to leave to another world before the Crown of Thorns could even be used.

The problem was that the automatic factory that created the Akadus, , had constantly created the Akadus even after Elkadion had left.

And these Akadus hid around and then attacked the humans when they got near.

Since they were set to attack every form of life the moment they detect them.

"Don't we just need to deal with it in the front then?"

First pillar, Taruhol spoke out cautiously.

If those unmanned weapons were created to protect the Akarons then it made sense that they wouldn't attack the Akarons themselves.

But Hansoo shook his head.

"It will attack you too."

When Elkadion had created this, the Great Patriarch and the Great Priest were opposed of each other and Elkadion had set the Akadus to attack every lifeform since she was afraid of the Crown of Thorns being stolen.

It would shred apart anything including the Akarons.

Oteon made a depressed expression as she heard this story.

"Why…Hasn't the great Elkadion left behind the Crown of Thorns…"

Hansoo read out the fact within the Memory Crystal.

"It seems that back then he couldn't hand it over due to the opposition between tribe-side and priest-side being too harsh. In the case where one side acquired this strength, they would annihilate the other. And it didn't really help that much in solving the Gragos problem anyway."

"…"

Oteon sighed at those words.

Since it was all true.

She had lived through those times.

If that crown had been given to one side then that side would've used it to destroy the other side.

Since that time period was of full of rage and hatred.

And they had failed at acquiring the trust of Elkadion.

"…There are no words I can say. What are you going to do then?"

It was impossible to cut through the giant wave of the Akadus.

One would turn into swiss cheese from the countless amounts of them attacking.

Though they would be able to hold on for quite a while since all the humans were gathered together, they couldn't win over an army.

Hansoo very simply answered.

"Go through the secret tunnel. Get to the unmanned factory beneath the Holy Land, Arklateori. We just need to take back the Crown of Thorns that is located there."

Everyone clicked their tongues as they looked at Hansoo.

'…There's nothing he doesn't know about huh. He really prepared well.'

Oteon, after being grateful of Hansoo being on their side, spoke with a much more comfortable expression.

"…It would be very tight but it'll be better than fighting that thing head on."

Hansoo shook his head.

"The secret tunnel won't be easy as well."

'Is that so.'

Oteon frowned.

Since there actually wasn't a reason for the hidden tunnel to be easy and comfortable.

No, it would have much tighter defenses since it would need to hide something.

"We would have to divide our forces then…Who goes and who stays?"

Enbi Arin mumbled as she looked at the Margoth level people around her.

Most of the Margoth levels were gathered here.

But not all of them could go together.

Since the Margoth level people were also very capable commanders along with their strength.

Someone had to remain behind and command the fight against the silver army.

Others had to follow Hansoo, help him and retrieve the Crown of thorns

At that moment Ariel, who had been listening quietly, spoke out.

"I'm going to go with you, Hansoo."

"…What are you planning."

Enbi Arin frowned as she looked at Ariel.

Chapter 130: Crown of Thorns (4)

Ariel blushed a little as she spoke.

"Is following a problem? The Okonelly clan is out of my control anyway. Somebody else already ate it up apparently."

"Crazy bitch."

Enbi Arin clicked her tongue while looking at Riel.

But it wasn't any of her business to butt in that far.

And there really wasn't a reason for her to stop Ariel from doing so.

Gwanje grinded his teeth as he shouted.

"Damnit there's no time to argue around! This is just the start, decide quickly!"

Ariel refocused and then looked around her surroundings.

And then let out a voice of despair.

"…Oh god. That wasn't all of them."

The wave that was heading towards them was just the start.

Countless amounts of Akadus had surrounded the humans atop of the black lion and were charging towards them.

Some people had already given up in despair and were thinking of ways to escape.

Hansoo spoke towards Ariel and Enbi Arin.

"You guys stay here and command the people. I'll go with the Akarons."

There was a huge difference between having and not having a commander during when defending.

And the Akarons wouldn't be able to mingle well with the humans well anyway even if they stayed.

It would be of great help if the Margoth levels stayed here and held down the Akadus.

Ariel and the others nodded as they started to send out carrier pigeons in all directions.

'Let's go.'

Hansoo, after seeing the situation starting to fall under control, breathed in and out and then plunged with his spear.

Boooom!

Three of the Akadus, who didn't even receive a scratch from Baladi levels constantly hitting them, had their hearts pierced and fell down.

But that amount didn't even count for a drop among the huge waves that were heading towards them.

The emptied spots had been quickly filled with other Akadus.

They were approaching them from all directions.

But Hansoo wasn't alone.

"Huaaaap!"

Booooom!

Taruhol charged out from next to Hansoo and then kicked away the Akadus that was charging towards them.

The Akadus flew back after having its chest caved in and then smashed into the others.

Oteon shouted out loudly from behind Taruhol.

"Run! We have to get through them no matter what!"

Oteon took something out from her pockets as she shouted.

A scent which had a forbidden technique activation applied onto it.

The moment the Akarons, who received the Body Enhancement Surgery, smell this their silver liquids inside their body will go on a rampage and they would be able to showcase a strength numerous times greater than usual.

It was very effective but there was a reason why Oteon hadn't used this until now.

Once the duration of the scent ends then they would have to go through that extreme amount of pain that Hansoo went through.

Oteon clenched her teeth as she spread out the scent.

Since she could imagine the scene of these warriors after the duration having ended.

'Damnit!'

But this wasn't a time to be conservative.

'We need to get through this….And recover the Holy Land. Only then would we be able to treat our descendents with a glorious land.'

The current generation of Akarons were all sinners.

They had fought against each other despite their whole race falling in danger from the Calamity of Death and worsened the already horrible situation.

The degree was so harsh that even Elkadion couldn't save them.

Despite the Crown of Thorns having been created for their protection.

Due to this they fell to the position where they ran from humans and were afraid of the Margoths.

They could not let their descendents live a life like this.

'We will do our best to help you. In return…You must keep your promise that you made with us.'

This was Hansoo and his, humans and Akaron's contract.

Oteon looked at the young Akarons who weren't affected by the scent due to not having received the Body Enhancement Surgery as she inhaled the scent as well.

'Ailen…If something goes wrong with me then succeed after me.'

She found out recently.

That Ailen's potential was beyond her expectations.

She had finished all the work for her successor already.

Oteon looked at her young successor momentarily and then jumped out as well.

The forbidden technique worked the best if the priestess was in the very front.

"Kuwaaaaaaaa!"

Priestess.

An existence that should've been at the very back had stepped onto the frontlines.

The other Akarons saw this and then clenched their teeth as they jumped out.

And Enbi Arin, Ariel, Gwanje and the others also jumped in front of the clans.

If those guys succeeded then they would live.

If those guys failed then they would all die.

And that is partly dependent on how well they block the Akadus here.

"Block it no matter what! We cannot let the Akadus follow those guys!"

Booooom!

The people who were still standing pushed out every bit of strength they had in their body as they started to push back the silver waves.

The moment the silver waves stopped, the thousands of surviving started to cut through the sea of Akadus.

Behind Hansoo and Oteon.

And soon sounds of smashing and explosions filled up the quiet neck of the Lazar.

............

"Hooo…We're here."

"Huff…It's here?"

Oteon dragged her mess of a body and stumbled towards the location Hansoo was pointing towards.

30 minutes since they had ran crazily after getting through the waves.

They smashed apart the Akadus, ran through the mane and towards the giant hole on its skin.

'Almost a fourth of us died huh.'

Oteon made a depressed expression.

But if Hansoo hadn't bought them time and they hadn't activated the forbidden technique then the casualties would have been many times higher.

'I shall guide your souls towards the Lazar after the temple gets rebuilt in the future.'

Oteon offered a simple ritual towards those who had died and then looked around.

An underground lake which was so far below that the Akadus had stopped their chase.

The giant lake had been dried up and a giant hole of around 40m in diameter was on the bottom of the lake.

Oteon mumbled as she looked at the tunnel what was still in good shape despite nobody having taken care of it.

"…It seems like this is a tunnel where the factory gathered materials. I can sense remnants of the essence."

"Correct."

The lake that had been full of essence when the White Lion was still roaming in the past had dried up as the Lazar lost its strength.

Oteon mumbled as she looked at the energy barrier that separated the bottom of the lake and the tunnel in two.

"…It's a structure that denies lifeforms huh. Breaking it would be easy. Let's hurry."

The energy barrier was still intact despite the long period of time as if it was proving Elkadion's skills.

But it seemed quite weakened due to the Lazar, the source of its energy, losing its strength.

'…There would be defenses on the insides as well.'

The moment the forbidden technique gets released then the Akaron warriors wouldn't be able to fight anymore.

Since a huge amount of pain will rush over them.

They needed to smash apart the Akadus that would be protecting the Crown of Thorns before that happened.

Hansoo shook his head and stopped Oteon who was trying to start acting.

"Wait. We can't break it."

Breaking it wasn't the problem.

But Elkadion, who had been scared of someone forcibly entering and taking control of the factory, had set it so that the Crown of Thorns would get destroyed if somebody tried to forcibly get through the barrier.

Then nothing would be able to control the released Akadus.

"Then how…"

Oteon made a complex expression after hearing Hansoo.

How would they go in if smashing it wasn't allowed.

As Oteon tried to think of another way in, Hansoo approached the energy barrier and placed his hands on a small marble next to it.

A mechanism that was created so that the administrator can use it in case of an emergency.

This mechanism was set that only Akarons would be able to enter by only reacting to the silver liquid used in the Body Enhancement Surgery.

Hansoo breathed in and out and started to carefully pour the silver liquid in his body onto the marble by following the code within Elkadion's memory crystal.

Chaururururk

The silver liquid drew a circuit-board-like image as it flowed in.

The moment the lines created by the silver liquid aligned with the password code.

Chijijijik

The energy barrier made a strange sound as it disappeared.

"Let's go in. We'll be right at the factory the moment we get through this tunnel, it will not be easy."

"Okay, we will take the front. And… Thank you."

Oteon looked at Hansoo and then breathed in and out.

They had been able to get all the way here thanks to Hansoo.

But this was, in the end, a work for the Akarons.

They, the Akarons, had to lead and solve the problem.

Hansoo, who had been looking at the Akarons slowly moving out, looked towards the battlefield that they escaped from.

'…Please hold on well. You need to block them there no matter what.'

The tunnels here was as dangerous as the battlefield back there.

So if one side were to get broken through then both of them would be in danger.

Hansoo mumbled quietly towards the battlefield in the distance and then rushed towards the factory, Arklateori.

.........…

"Daamnittttt!!!"

Boooom!

Rong Wian, captain of the scout teams of the Rerorerore clan, cursed out loud as he cut through the head of the Akadus that was charging towards him.

An axe that no other person, other than the Margoth levels, had blocked.

And his precious weapon, Golden Hatchet, hadn't failed him this time either as it completed its task.

Since it had split the head of the one charging at him in two.

The problem was that this crazy thing was still charging at him even after its head being cut in half.

Wian looked at the monster that was using its spliced head as a shield and was clawing at him with a disgusted look and blocked the attack with his axe.

Kagagagagak

"Aaak!"

He had survived but it didn't seem like the person next to him had.

The moment Wian clenched his teeth at seeing another person get killed by the Akadus.

A carrier pigeon flew into him.

A red carrier pigeon that the clan leader had sent to him.

And other than that there were specific orders on how to and where to block.

'Kim Gwanje, he really lives up to his name huh.'

Their leader had the whole battlefield in his brain, analyzed it and was commanding this giant clan properly in the midst of this chaos.

But another carrier pigeon flew into him at that moment.

Wian received the carrier pigeon from Okonelly clan's captain of the shock troopers, Mekong, and pondered for a moment.

And then nodded.

'I don't want to die yet.'

Of course there wouldn't be anything bad about blocking at this location and sustaining until the Akarons solved the problem like Gwanje and the other clan leaders told him.

But Rong Wian was a captain of the scout team.

He always accounted for the worst case scenario and was proficient at finding a way to live in the midst of that.

The worst case scenario in Rong Wian's head was this.

Everyone knew.

That the Akarons could control humans any way they wanted.

And because of this, he could not trust any of the Margoth level people who were with the Akarons.

Since they had been held hostage by the Akarons before.

And the fact that only the Akarons left was the deciding factor.

The dimensional portal didn't appear at random places.

It was beneath the World Tree in the Red Zone and near the heart of the bull in the Orange Zone.

If these guys were the natives of this place then they would also know where the portal would exist at.

'If…That scenario is correct that all the Akarons would have escaped and we would die just like this.'

He was a human.

He didn't want to die for nothing just because of the Akarons.

And Rong Wian always found a way for himself to survive within the worst scenarios.

If the Akarons escape through the portal then they would follow.

If they really had gone there to solve the problem then he could just help them.

'Though the casualties here would rise…Nothing I can do.'

Quite a lot of people who had similar thoughts as him had gathered already.

The amount of casualties would rise depending on the people who leave here but it would be easier for them to get through the waves.

'And since this many people had gathered, even if he were to push that we had betrayed them they wouldn't be able to act out easily.'

Rong Wian finished his thoughts and looked around.

They had to escape before the hole the Akarons made in the wave closed back up.

Rong Wian, who had sent the carrier pigeon, looked for a situation and then moved away from the defensive formation.

"Uh? Uhhh? Captain! Captain, where are you going?"

"Hey you crazy bastard! Where are you going!"

"Emergency! They're escaping en mass!"

Rong Wian left behind the desperate cries of the defensive formation as he and the others started to crazily run for the hole the Akarons had made.

Boooooom!

Hansoo, who had been fighting a golden Akadus, felt the vibrations in the ground and then frowned.

'Somebody… Came in.'

Chapter 131: Crown of Thorns (5)

Hansoo frowned as he felt the minute presence of people transmitted through the ground.

Though there was quite a distance, they would arrive very quickly.

'But I can't leave this place yet.'

Hansoo finished his thoughts and smashed his Forked Lightning against the Akadus that was charging towards him.

Boooooom!

The tens of thousands of silver Akadus, who were protecting the factory, charged in madly and were cutting apart the Akarons.

"Uwaaaak!"

"Kuhuuhh!"

The giant factory, that had long stopped producing the Akadus due to lack of resources, had turned into a mess from the shockwaves and soundwaves of the battle.

And a capsule shaped something was located in the center of this factory.

.

And a black crown, which seemed to be made of a thorny tree, was placed inside it.

'I wondered where it was…It was here huh.'

Oteon clenched her teeth as she looked at the telautograph.

They needed to get over there and take over the black crown.

"Great Patriach Mekido shall protect us! Fight!"

Oteon shouted out loudly and squeezed out the remaining power of the forbidden technique as they charged towards the Akadus.

Crack!

It hadn't even been an hour since they started to fight with the Akadus who were protecting the Factory.

Though they had been able to get near the factory, almost half of the Akarons had died off.

And the living ones weren't in that good of a shape either.

"Kuuuu…"

"Uaaak!"

Akarons who had been turned into a mess were making painful expressions and were rolling around the ground.

The moment the forbidden technique got released, a tremendous amount of pain rushed over them.

But even during this suffering, the eyes of the Akarons were fixated on the Crown of Thorns in the distance.

Taruhol suppressed the pain that was jumping around within his body.

'The side effects will die down eventually.'

The important thing was activating that crown and stopping the Akadus.

Taruhol smashed his fist onto the chest of the Akadus.

Booooom!

The Akadus, which still moved despite receiving damage to its head, stopped working as the core got smashed apart.

Kiiiiing

Taruhol clenched his teeth in order to suppress the pain and then shouted towards Hansoo who had been fighting next to him.

"I need to wear that crown?"

"Yes. The Akaron with the strongest physique must take it on!"

The Crown of Thorns wasn't something created for humans.

When he sees Taruhol acquiring the Crown of Thorns and see him using it properly, he will implant a soul fragment onto him.

And then create an alliance between humans and the Akarons.

Since the humans wouldn't be able to easily do much to the Akarons if they have the Akadus along with the Crown of Thorns to control them with.

'And I…Will obtain Mekido's holy weapon, Dragon Essence Blade.'

It was written in the memory crystal that the Dragon Essence Blade would come out when they acquired the Crown of Thorns.

As Taruhol heard Hansoo's words, he made stomping noises as he crazily headed towards the Soul Telautograph.

"Guard him!"

"Help the first pillar so he can arrive there intact!"

The numerous Akarons who had been crying out in agony pulled out the remaining bits of their strengths and slowed down the Akadus.

And Taruhol ran even more urgently after seeing this.

The amount of casualties will rise tremendously at this rate.

He would need to acquire the Crown of Thorns as quick as possible before casualties rose too much.

Booooom!

While they were constantly moving up.

Hansoo suddenly stopped fighting and backed off.

Oteon, who had been fighting near the tunnel along with hundreds of other Akarons, shouted towards Hansoo.

"Where are you going!"

The formation would break down and the casualties would rise even more if Hansoo left.

Hansoo shouted towards Oteon.

"Wait for me. There's something I need to deal with."

Hansoo then felt the humans, who had gotten quite close, as he rushed towards them.

.........…..

"Let's go in quickly! We don't know what they would do!"

Rong Wian found the remnants of those guys, befitting of his position and role, as he shouted.

A tunnel which did not look simple even from a single glance.

And the traces of Akarons existed all throughout the tunnel.

Rong Wian felt urgent after realizing that it had been quite a while since they went in.

'It would be a disaster if they escape through the portal!'

The people who had escaped along with Rong Wian started to run madly.

And they looked at the surrounding tunnel as they ran.

A strange tunnel that was artificial even from a simple glance.

And a small amount of excitement started to fill up the minds of the adventurers.

It seemed like a relic site of the Akarons, another reward might be prepared in a place like this.

But their expressions turned grim after a bit of running.

Powerful shockwaves and sounds of clashes came through the tunnel and rushed over their head.

Despite them being quite a distance away from the battlefield.

They didn't know what was inside but this told them that it was dangerous.

"…Do we have to continue?"

"What are you going to do Rong Wian. It doesn't seem easy over there either, are we going back?"

Rong Wian pondered for a moment at the words of Matel, another captain of the scout team who had the same idea as him.

It would be dangerous if they continued.

But then both the battlefield they came from and the one they were heading to were dangerous.

'Shall I have a look.'

Rong Wian, after checking the battle with his skill , laid down a decision.

"Let's just wait here, we don't need to fall in danger by going in. And it seems like they would win anyway."

If one side lost then they would all die.

They would return if that was the case but there wasn't really a need for them to if they weren't going to lose.

'It'll be better if there's more casualties.'

Rong Wian laughed.

An escapee's sins were hard to forgive no matter when.

It would be hard for them to dodge the aggression they would receive after the battle ending.

Which meant that the more casualties both sides had, the better it would be for them.

At that moment a strange existence came into his view.

A bright golden light.

'What is it?'

Rong Wian freaked out as he looked at the person who had arrived before him.

An entirely golden existence that was closer to a dragon than a human.

'This guy…'

It was the guy who had risen to fame recently in just a few days.

Rong Wian breathed in and out deeply and then turned around.

The one who always had the upper hand was not the desperate side but the leisurely side.

And they, the ones resting and charging up their power, had much more leisure than the ones who were fighting.

'That side is urgent too, he shouldn't be trying to make us into enemies at this point.'

His mind was set ease as he looked at the hundreds of adventurers who had been gathered here.

Rong Wian shrugged his shoulders as he spoke.

"It seems you're busy, why did you come here?"

That idea was solidified even more as he saw Hansoo who was covered in blood from head to toe.

His voice sounded tired and that location seemed way too vicious to follow this guy's word and fight.

Hansoo just spat out a short sentence.

"Choose quickly, as to what you will do."

"…What?"

"Sadly for you… You only have two choices. Come with me, or remain here."

One person smirked as he spoke.

"Aren't you a bit too cold? We can just fight the silver Tiradus if we go back right? We aren't that unfriendly you know."

"You guys lost that chance already."

Hansoo spoke out coldy.

He hadn't brought the Akarons here.

The Akarons had risked their lives and came here of their own accord.

To this place which was much more vicious that the silver battlefield back there.

It was too late for these guys to go back.

"I don't know what you're saying… I guess we'll just stay here then."

Rong Wian felt uneasy from the threatening words but he made a smile as he denied the offer.

Hansoo heard these words as he looked around.

It seemed like everyone agreed.

No, they had escaped the silver battlefield since they agreed with this guy anyway.

Why wouldn't the others escape, they had the ability to as well.

'This is the end for you then.'

Hansoo quietly mumbled as he poured his power into his spear.

Rong Wian raised his weapons with a nervous expression from that.

"You want to have a go at it?"

That moment.

Hansoo used a tremendous amount of strength and swung the spear.

Booooooooooom!

Rong Wian freaked out but he laughed as he looked behind him.

"You're a bit of a coward huh?"

Hansoo hadn't thrown the spear at them.

Actually he had thrown it towards where he had come out from.

"Just say you're scared if you are…"

Boooom!

At that moment.

A tremendously large sound was heard from the battlefield in the distance where Hansoo had thrown the spear to.

.........…

"Goddamit…"

Boooooom!

Taruhol grinded his teeth and smashed the wall in front of him after getting to the Soul Telautograph.

An extremely powerful energy barrier was surrounding the Soul Telautograph.

But Taruhol didn't give up as he continued to smash it.

Since it wasn't impregnable despite its strength.

At that moment.

Taruhol was surprised as he looked up.

Kiiiiiiing

The moment he smashed the wall with his energy, the ceiling located right beneath the holy land made strange noises as it opened up.

Along with a sound of something activating.

Kiiiingg

Taruhol unconsciously cursed out loud after seeing this.

"God fucking dammit…"

He didn't know what was coming down within the energy barrier and the white steam.

But he knew just from its aura.

The thing that was coming down was extremely dangerous.

It wouldn't be much of a problem if they fought it but they would get massacred since they were being pushed back by the Akadus already.

At that moment.

A single line of lightning smashed into the thing that was descending from the sky.

Booooooom!

"Uhhk?"

Taruhol looked towards where the lightning had come from.

It hadn't come from within the Akarons but from the tunnels that they came in from.

The spear which flew in through the tunnel cut through the skies and smashed into the thing within the steam.

Kiruk?

At the same time 12 golden beams exploded out from the steam.

Towards where the spear came from.

............

Kiiiiiiiing!

A sound of something approaching them at a tremendous speed could be heard.

"What the hell have you just…"

As Rong Wian made a nervous expression at the thing approaching them, Hansoo laughed quietly.

"If you don't want to do your part then I will make you do it forcibly."

"What…?"

The moment Rong Wian was about to reply to those words.

Kwaaajijijik!

Something flew in from the tunnels as it turned six people into minced meat.

The people who had been charging towards it freaked out as they stopped in place.

"What! Fucking hell! What the hell is this!"

The bright golden existence which had flown from across the tunnel started to turn everyone into minced meat.

Kwajijik

Kwajik

"Uaaaak!"

"Aahhhhh!"

It was so fast that they couldn't even see it.

But as their eyes got used to it, they could see what it was.

A similar look as the one of the silver Tiradus from the outside.

But its color and size was different.

12 golden Akadus that towered 5m tall.

Ooooonggg

"God fucking damnit!"

The adventurers started to madly attack the Akadus flying towards them but it was useless.

They were getting hunted down one by one.

Rong Wian shouted out in fury from this scene.

"You crazy bastard! Why did you bring this thing here? Are you still human! Everyone here is going to die because of you!"

If he had left it then it would've attacked the Akarons.

But he had purposely brought it here.

In order to make them fight it instead.

Hansoo coldy mumbled.

"This is a better choice than a failure."

"What?"

Hansoo thought of the past.

They had thought of a lot of things and voiced their opinions to each other.

Eres, Kangtae, Keldian and his opinions were all different.

Eres always wanted to save people as long as they weren't completely insane.

Since humans could change.

Keldian wanted to kill everyone who even had a possibility of coming in his way.

Quite similar to how Eres thought, since Keldian also thought that humans could change at any moment.

Kangtae would cut off their necks if they got in his way but would usually leave them be and not care about them.

Hansoo was in between Keldian and Kangtae but respected Eres' opinion since his goal was saving the human race.

And he was also seeing the positive sides of the humans.

Hansoo thought of the report of the young Tekilon, who was ruling over the Red Zone.

But this was really the limit.

'Eres, it seems like you were a bit wrong. This place… doesn't have that much leisure.'

What if they were to fail because of this? All of them might die just because he tried to save a thousand lives.

No, for success he was willing to sacrifice tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people.

His thoughts, which were usually in line with with Eres' ideals, jumped across Kangtae and reached Keldian's level.

'Change the benchmark. The ones who would go up and fight along with us in the Abyss… Will only be those who deserve to live.'

If these guys had fought with him then they would've been able to decrease the amount of casualties and acquire the Crown of Thorns together.

But since these guys refused, this was the only option to acquire the Crown of thorns.

By distracting the final guardian of the Crown of Thorns, the 12 golden guards.

"Uaaaaak!"

"Aaaaak!"

Hansoo heard the screams that were ringing from all around him as he threw them away as bait and discreetly flew back towards the Crown of Thorns.

..............

"Damnit! It became even harder because of those bastards!"

Gwanje clenched onto his teeth as he looked at the Akadus that were charging from all directions.

They emptiness of those who had ran away could not feel any heavier than this.

'Damnit… I want to run away too.'

He wanted to get away from this damned place along with his wife.

Most humans would die from the silver Akadus but people at his level would survive.

No, most of the Margoth levels were probably thinking this.

If they are able to escape her and hide then they would be able to find the portal by eating the corpses of the dead humans.

They could definitely survive with their power levels.

But what about after that?

Gwanje thought of his wife.

'Fuck…I cannot let my wife live such a life.'

Living like a scumbag was enough for himself.

'Hansoo you fucking bastard. Hurry the hell up.'

That guy would only survive if he and the others held on here.

Gwanje thought of the bigger picture that Hansoo was drawing as he clenched his teeth and smashed the Akadus that was charging towards him.

At that moment.

Kidududududu

A sudden sound rang throughout the battlefield as all of the Akadus suddenly stopped moving.

'They succeeded…!!'

Gwanje made a joyful expression as he crumpled onto the ground in a sitting position.

"Hoooh…God damn. That was hard as hell."

Gwanje muttered as he looked at the silver Akadus that had fallen in front of him.

Chapter 132 – Infection (1)

When Hansoo returned, Taruhol was making booming noises as he was smashing the energy barrier around the Soul Telautograph.

Boooom!

The final attack of Taruhol smashed the barrier as Taruhol quickly opened up the capsule.

He had heard the method already from Hansoo.

Sit on the seat of the Soul Telautograph.

Place the Crown of Thorns on his head.

Then all the authority will fall under Taruhol.

'Urgent!'

The Akarons who were suffering in agony and had their battle prowess deeply lessened were receiving tremendous amounts of casualties because they were holding back the Akadus.

The Humans as well.

Hansoo sighed in relief as he saw Taruhol enter the capsule from afar.

'Good. Is the Orange Zone completed for now then?'

The Orange Zone is basically over once the process of achieving the Crown to control the Akadus has been completed.

Since healing Lazar and the other Gragos would be a piece of cake with the Crown of Thorns in his hands.

He would just need to get the Akadus to kill the black Tiradus inside the Gragos and just insert the cure like that.

Taruhol sat upon the Soul Telautograph.

And then he placed the Crown onto his head with a joyous expression.

'With this…We will be another step closer towards the recovery of the Akarons.'

The moment Taruhol placed the Crown onto his head a change occurred

Chwaarurururuk

The thorns on the Crown of Thorns extended out explosively.

The hundreds of thorns pierced into the head of the Taruhol which it was sitting on.

"Kuhuk…"

Taruhol's skin, which had the strength of a Margoth-level person, couldn't handle the thorns as the thorns pierced straight through.

A tremendous amount of pain.

But Taruhol clenched onto his teeth and held on.

'This is nothing…'

At the same time the Soul Telautograph Taruhol was sitting on started to react.

Kwaaaaaa!

Something came out from the bodies of the dead Akarons and got sucked into the Soul Telautograph.

One by one.

Kiiiing

The Soul Telautograph acted up and vibrated with a strange noise and the black Crown of Thorns upon Taruhol's head started to slowly turn red.

Hansoo saw this as he frowned.

'…I haven't heard of a stage like that. Do we need to take more caution about this?'

Such things weren't written down in Elkadion's memory crystal.

When Hansoo was pondering whether to stop the process or not.

A huge noise was heard from the tunnel Hansoo was standing in.

Kwaaaaaaa!

'Crap, already?'

The golden Akadus who had already handled the humans were charging as 10 golden rays.

It seems like 2 had been smashed apart while fighting the humans but 10 was still a formidable number.

Hansoo held tightly onto his spear and blocked their path.

And then smashed them as they flew into him.

Boooooooom!

All ten golden rays suddenly turned their ways and charged at Hansoo from the huge shockwave.

Hansoo pulled up all the mana within his body and started to fight them.

'Tsk, there was nothing to ponder about.'

Hansoo mumbled from the force that had smashed onto his side and was penetrating through the scales.

If they couldn't use the Crown then they would die by the Akadus anyway.

Hansoo's right arm was deflected up from the attacks of 3 Akadus.

A completely defenseless state.

2 of the Akadus took advantage of the situation and charged towards Hansoo in order to smash apart his heart and intestines.

At that moment.

Kirurururk

All the silver Akadus that were causing a massacre from all around suddenly stopped.

At the time the 10 golden Akadus which had been assaulting Hansoo all stopped and fell down from the skies like powerless moths.

Hansoo nodded as he saw this.

'It's done.'

Hansoo mumbled as he looked at Taruhol who was standing up from his seat with a posture of a king with the completely red Crown of Thorns upon his head.

......…

"Oh my…"

Taruhol's body shook from the countless amounts of information that flew into his head.

'…This is why Hansoo told me that the Akaron with the most powerful body was needed.'

Information from hundreds of thousands of Akadus.

And the energy that needed to give various commands and orders to these.

There was a tremendous amount of stress upon his body and his brain.

At this command all the Akadus returned to the place they had come out from.

Hansoo looked at Taruhol and asked him as Taruhol approached him.

"How do you feel?"

Taruhol laughed as he replied.

"It's amazing. It really feels like I've become a king. By the way there's something I want to talk about the contract…"

Hansoo started to prepare for an emergency situation just in case from Taruhol's words.

There was one thing about the contract between him and the Akarons.

Hansoo would give them the Crown of Thorns.

And the Akarons would provide humans the Body Enhancement Surgery.

And he would place a soul fragment onto the person with the Crown of Thorns as a safety measure.

The Akaron with the soul fragment wouldn't side with the Akarons or the Humans and instead act as a mediator between the two.

Like Elkadion who wanted to stop all aggression with absolute strength.

But thoughts could always change.

No, that God made living creatures this way from the start.

The Taruhol before and after attaining the Crown of Thorns could have different thoughts.

And the final scene that wasn't in the memory crystal kept on bugging him.

'If he were to break the contract…'

But unlike Hansoo's thoughts, Taruhol simply laughed as he spoke.

"Hurry and plant that soul fragment onto my head. It's finally time for me to pay you back. Anyways, you aren't gonna make me do anything weird right?"

Hansoo loosened up from Taruhol's joke and spoke.

"Don't worry, there wouldn't really be a need for me to meddle in much."

Hansoo pulled out a small Soul Fragment from his head and then shoved it into Taruhol's body.

Chwarararak

Taruhol made an uncomfortable expression from the sensation of the Soul Fragment going into his body.

'It's not really the greatest feeling in the world huh.'

But if the Akarons and Humans could coexist with this then Taruhol was content with that.

Since there wouldn't be a need to fight anymore.

The Margoths would now get blown away by the Akarons as if they were leaves and once they heal the other Gragos then there would be plenty of food and land to live upon.

If one didn't like another then they could just go live on another Gragos.

'Soon, there will be peace. Finally.'

Taruhol, who had been uplifted from the thought of peace, hurriedly asked Hansoo.

"You need to finish your job, what are you going to do?"

Hansoo handed him the cure as he spoke.

"Use this cure to heal the Lazar and the Other Gragos. We will organize this place while you do this."

Oteon nodded at those words.

There was a lot to do.

They needed to get to the Holy Land, rebuild the Great Temple and prepare living spaces for the Akarons.

Similar things for Hansoo as well.

Since the aftermath of a war was more important than the war itself.

Taruhol took the Akadus and headed off as soon as he heard this.

And the remaining Oteon laughed as she spoke.

"There's something we need to do before that. The final part of the contract."

"Mmm."

Hansoo nodded at Oteon's words and slowly walked towards the Soul Telautograph capsule.

Kiiiiiing

Hansoo placed his hands upon the location on the capsule where the Crown used to be

And as he controlled the liquid metal with the mana codes from the memory crystal, a secret compartment inside the capsule opened up.

'This is it huh.'

Hansoo pulled out the short sword from the compartment.

"Ohh…"

The holy artifact of the Akarons.

And the symbol of strength that only the person who had become the Great Patriarch could use.

.

As a tradition, the Garde-Barongs would prove their strength by taking out the hardest part of the Margoths they killed and fuse them together with the technique of the temple.

This alone would create a formidable artifact but this went a step further.

One would insert the Dragon Essence Blade in the center of the Great Temple where the essence of the White Lion, Lazar, stormed and make it absorb the energy.

The moment one puts the completed Dragon Essence Blade into their body they would receive the energy of the Margoth's body and the Gragos's essence.

It was the first time Oteon was seeing this as well since it was always within the body of the Great Patriach.

'Though it's the Akaron's holy artifact….'

Oteon, who had been making a slightly regrettable expression, shook off her emotions and spoke.

"Take it. We should at least do this much to the savior of our race."

The Dragon Essence Blade was a necessary artifact for the Great Patriarch to have absolute strength and authority.

Since the Great Patriarch needed to use his strength to control his subjects from time to time.

But in that regards the Crown of Thorns and the Akadus was even beyond that.

Having both these artifacts after attaining the Crown of Thorns was a bit too much.

Hansoo who was going off to the next world would use it much better anyway.

But Hansoo made a slightly dejected expression.

'…It's not as good as I expected.'

It wasn't bad.

Since it seemed like a high ranker even out of the double numberings.

But it was a step down from his Forked Lightning, Nurmaha's Ring or the Thousand Soldiers Armor.

'Tsk. Maybe it's because all the essence from the Gragos has been emptied.'

Of course it wouldn't have all the essence remaining inside since it had been in this place for hundreds of years.

Hansoo quickly recovered in order to not show his emotions as he spoke to Oteon.

"Thank you, I'll use it well."

'Nothing I can do about it.'

Hansoo chuckled.

He wasn't too stressed on getting strong all by himself and an artifact of this level could be gained from other places as well.

He completed his task very well.

Since he had cured the Gragos and created an environment where all the humans who would come after would be able to live and receive the Body Enhancement Surgery.

'I should go out and organize as well.'

Soon Hansoo and the Akarons moved away from the Soul Telautograph headed towards the battlefield that would've calmed down by now.

.........

Kiiiiing

Taruhol moved the numerous golden Akadus he was flying on towards the holy land of the Lazar.

'The most urgent task if healing the Lazar.'

The cure of the Lazar was a necessity in order to supply the countless amounts of survivors upon the Lazar.

'We would be able to let the kids eat to their fill. The humans would be happy as well.'

Taruhol smiled as he flew down with the ten golden Akadus.

And then looked at the Tao-Bao, the place where the Great Patriarch used to live upon, with tremendous amounts of emotion.

Along with the Soul Telautograph on the center of this location.

'Oh great Mekido… Your descendents have returned.'

The three Soul Telautographs that had infected the Lazar with the Calamity of Death.

The first Soul Telautograph has been moved to the Holy Land by the Elkadion for research but the other two had still remained on the body of the Lazar while being protected by the Tiradus.

And the two had injected the poison onto Lazar at the same time.

And the Great Patriarch, Mekido, who had thought that destroying these things would do immediately destroyed the one Elkadion was researching and headed towards the other two but was instead assaulted by two black Tiradus.

He had been able to kill the two Tiradus with the strength of the holy artifact, , but also died in the process.

But Elkadion realized that destroying the Telautographs wouldn't do anything, moved the two Soul Telautographs to the Holy Land and researched them in order to move onto the next world.

The Soul Telautograph in front of his eyes was that exact Soul Telautograph.

One was in Arklateori and the other in the Holy Land.

'Let's see. He said I just needed to put the cure…In here right.'

As he dropped the cure onto the Soul Telautograph, a sound of activation rang out as a white light exploded out.

Soon something white started to spread out from the Telautograph and into the Lazar's entire body.

Taruhol made a content expression as he looked at this.

'It's easy.'

This current work upon the Lazar was too easy.

Since the two Tiradus had already been killed from the heroic efforts of Mekido.

Taruhol started to move towards the other black Gragoses which were approaching them from the distance but then suddenly stopped.

Since his head started to ache the moment he thought of Mekido and the Dragon Essence Blade.

The Crown of Thorns upon his head reddened even deeper as it bore into his head a bit more.

At the same time another bit of information flew into his brain.

'…The Dragon Essence Blade is somewhere else?'

A slightly disturbing sensation was felt inside his head but Taruhol shook off the sensation.

Since the information about the Dragon Essence Blade was much more important than some discomfort.

The Crown of Thorns had informed him.

That the Dragon Essence Blade upon the Soul Telautograph was something to distract the invaders just in case.

The real one was hidden somewhere else.

Taruhol pondered for a moment at the location of the Dragon Essence Blade and then nodded.

"Hmm…Good. It felt like our gift was a bit lacking anyway. I should find it and give it to him."

Hansoo would be shocked as well.

Once he received the real one after being dejected by a crappy present.

Taruhol finished his thoughts and then flew up upon the golden Akadus with a joyous expression.

Chapter 133 – Infection (2)

Tadak

Gwanje and Enbi Arin made welcoming expressions at Hansoo who had just arrived.

"You succeeded!"

Hansoo nodded at Gwanje's words as he looked at his surroundings.

'The damage isn't as great as I thought it would be.'

The clansmen were laid out in between the destroyed remains of the Akadus and were resting.

In one way there had been less casualties thanks to the ones who had betrayed this group and came to him.

If those guys hadn't bought time for him from the golden Akadus then he would've had to go against all twelve of them.

Then it would've taken much longer to acquire the Crown of Thorns.

Somebody shouted out loudly at Hansoo as he arrived.

"What's going to happen now?"

Everyone focused on their hearing after the loud shout of the man rang throughout the battlefield.

Though they had survived through the danger, not everything had been solved.

Hansoo shouted out loudly in reply:

"Don't worry! The problem of the body fluids has been solved!"

At the moment Hansoo shouted.

The entire body of Lazar trembled, a perfect timing.

At the same time something spread out from the holy land and started to extend throughout the surface.

A huge wave that was turning the black land white at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Hansoo nodded as he saw this.

'Taruhol is doing his job well.'

Everyone's expressions turned positive at this sight.

Since they wouldn't need to worry about the body fluids once this Gragos heals up fully.

Though the body fluids won't come out instantly, waiting a few days was a piece of cake.

But the man who had shouted out earlier shouted out again as if he wasn't satisfied.

"I wasn't asking about that!"

"Hmm."

As Hansoo gazed at the man, the man shouted out.

Even using a skill this time.

"It seems like the relationship between us and the Akarons isn't that bad…. Can't we receive the Body Enhancement Surgery then?"

They couldn't do anything to the Akarons with strength.

Since they had seen it with their own eyes.

A single Akaron who flew into the distance with several shining golden Akadus.

It seemed like the silver army has fallen under the control of the Akarons.

But the Body Enhancement Surgery was too enticing for them to give up.

Since everyone had seen the Akarons who had smashed through the silver waves before.

A vicious amount of strength which came out from their huge bodies.

The Akadus, against which they had to use high level artifacts and skills to destroy, had been smashed apart by those guys with their fists, feet and crappy weapons.

Since it didn't seem like they were on bad terms with the Akarons it'd be very good for them to receive the Body Enhancement Surgery before going up.

Hansoo shouted out again in reply.

"Of course, as much as you want. I never had the thought of taking it all to myself anyway."

Everyone's expressions brightened up.

But the expressions of Gwanje and the others darkened.

'I expected this already but…'

Only chaos would be created if strength was given to those who couldn't be controlled.

Why would a guy, who knew this better than anyone else, make such a choice?

But Hansoo added another word to the end.

"Except, it won't be given to anyone."

If they gave a large amount of strength to somebody who would act on their own, they would just use that strength for themselves.

So he would create a new clan in the Orange Zone.

A clan to distribute the responsibility and power properly.

Not a clan which moved at the wishes of the clan leader or somebody strong but a clan which would act according to their laws and rules.

They would provide the service of protecting and making the people inside the clan strong but in return they would need to follow the rules and bear responsibility for the clan.

The previous clan leaders Enbi Arin, Gwanje and Ariel all made doubtful expressions at those words.

'…Not sure if that'll work.'

Setting up rules was good.

Controlling it wouldn't be hard since the Akadus existed.

But a deciding factor was missing.

They looked at the mumbling adventurers surrounding them.

............…

Kwajajajak!

Epitros, one of the adventurers who was hunting around the Lazar, spat out onto the ground.

'Damn. For it to be this hard to kill a wimp like this.'

Moreover, the sight of the Akarons fighting was still fresh in his mind.

And because of this he had even more complaints.

'Damnit. The Akarons are the ones working this hard but why is he making the decisions?'

As Hansoo tried to bind them instead of giving it to them for free it made him feel even angrier.

Even the giant clans had failed at controlling all the members in their ranks.

They just simply lent the name of the clan to those people.

Like a game.

Since we have a clan like this as a backer, don't touch us without thinking.

And if there was profit they would go along and if there wasn't then they would just leave.

Since there wasn't much attachment to their clan, the clan leader couldn't lay down or implement rules that easily.

Since they worried about the countless amount of adventurers, who had been living in freedom until now, just leaving them.

But this guy was different.

Since he had obtained both the Akadus and the Body Enhancement Surgery into his hands.

'Damnit.'

He had disregarded speaking to Hansoo and had visited the Akarons personally but the fact that he had been denied made him enraged.

'These things that I could kill off easily in the past…'

He couldn't even do anything to the Akarons anymore.

Since the silver Akadus were glaring at him from the side.

'And the clan leaders all went in as well… fucking hell.'

Hansoo had something that people could profit off of unlike the clans so far and he even had the strength to suppress and control them properly.

Since there was nothing in its way, the clan was expanding at a frightening rate.

At that moment Karen, one of his comrades standing next to him, asked Epitros.

"Hey! How about just going in as well? It didn't seem like most people had a lot of complaints, why do you have so many?"

"You damned bastard. We will become kind little kids if we follow the rules. Do you want to live like that?"

Karen chuckled at those words.

"If it was a problem like that then just say it. Do we really need to follow it then?"

"Mmm?"

"Don't you think that they're expanding too fast?"

"Hmm…Yeah, that seems to be the case."

Epitros mumbled.

The clan was very enticing.

But the people who had been living in freedom were all joining without a single complaint.

"What could they do even if they had rules and robots to deter people from breaking the rules? There aren't enough people to monitor everybody. We can just do whatever we want where they can't see us."

"Nice."

Epitros made a very content expression at those words.

This seemed to be the case.

The final judge of somebody following the rules or not was a person after all.

How could a brand new clan be able to raise people who would look over the others that resolutely?

"Hmm… Then this becomes much more attractive. Let's have a look then."

Epitros, Karen and the others headed towards the headquarters of the clan which had been built in front of the land which the Akarons called the Holy Land.

............…..

"There's enough body fluids for people to feed themselves… Our power is increasing fast. The search project for the portal is going well too. But controlling them is a bit hard."

Gwanje frowned at the countless amount of carrier pigeons that were flying in from all around.

The sweet fruit to lure and the whip to control them had been obtained.

But the most important thing.

The people who would judge whether to give or whip them were extremely lacking.

"What are your thoughts? This is a critical problem at this rate."

The rules not being followed despite them existing was the same as them not being there at all.

Since the people will prefer the choice of not following them if they could.

Gwanje firmly believed that the environment was the final factor in whether it was one person out of ten that would turn into a thief or five out of ten.

'Tsk. I can't really say anything since he seems busy as well.'

Gwanje made a discontent expression at Hansoo who was moving back and forth between places and preparing a lot of things.

Hansoo spoke as he looked at Gwanje:

"You're working very hard huh."

Gwanje replied with a cool expression.

"If everything goes according to your plan, there wouldn't be a need to do anything anymore."

His goal wasn't getting strong.

No, that was his goal in the past but he realized after living without his wife while she was away from him.

What the most important thing to him was.

A situation where he didn't know what would come to him if he went up.

If this place was to calm down then he would decide to stay here with his wife rather than going up.

And would strive his best to keep the peace in this place.

'But… This is not even close to being enough.'

They had too little manpower.

Gwanje asked with a confused expression at first.

"Why are you trying to give the Body Enhancement Surgery to so many people? Do we really need to go this far? We can just give it to the ones we trust."

He was confused as to why this guy was giving out Body Enhancement Surgery even whilst recruiting them.

It might be different for people whom he can trust, like the Cross clan, but why was he expanding his strength in such a dumb manner?

The difficulty of controlling them had been multiplied by several times thanks to this.

And the biggest problem was the flies.

Most people were accepting the clan without a problem but the minority of flies who were just trying to suck out the sweet water and were mixed within the majority was the problem.

A negative precedent will remain if they couldn't control such guys properly but they didn't have nearly enough manpower to filter out such people.

Hansoo mumbled inwardly at Gwanje's words.

'…Because then we wouldn't be able to fight with the Abyss.'

If there were only humans then Gwanje's words were right.

But he had to prepare for a great war.

They would get smashed apart if he only gave strength to those whom he could trust and which he liked.

'But oh well. There's still a method.'

Hansoo finished thinking and looked towards the worrying Gwanje and spoke.

"I'll filter them all so don't worry. I'll start to call out people to help us."

Gwanje chuckled.

He had long recruited everyone he could trust.

"Where are they then?"

"Below."

"What?"

The moment Hansoo finished speaking he activated his trait, Seven Soul Fragments.

And then connected his soul to the younger Tekilon who would be in the Red Zone.

Hansoo laughed quietly at the younger Tekilon's reply and then mumbled.

'Slowly. One step at a time…'

He would go up once he found the portal.

He needed to calm this place down before he went up.

Kiiiiiiiingg

The lake that had been created as a tunnel by the fairy started to shine brightly.

"Hmm."

Gwanje flinched as he saw this scene.

'If people from below come up and help…'

But Gwanje shook his head right away.

"It's not something that can be solved with one or two people. We can't do much with your networking…"

Gwanje frowned and squinted his eyes at the scene in the midst of his speech.

It wasn't that one or two were shining.

The thousands of lakes all over the Lazar were shining.

'How many are coming up… What the hell have you done below?'

Gwanje squinted his eyes and made a dumbfounded expression as he saw this scene.

.............

"Uwaaaaaa….."

Epitros and Karen were scared stiff after reaching the headquarters of the clan in order to gobble up some benefits on the side.

Chuk chuk chuk chuk chuk

Countless amounts of adventurers were coming through the lakes that were connected to the Red Zone.

Unlike the chaotic situation where they all came up of their own volition, the tens of thousands of people were lined up and were marching like an army.

'I wondered why the newcomers weren't coming up for the past few days… What happened below?'

Karen frowned.

A large scale controlled movement like this meant that somebody had gobbled up the entire region below.

'No, just eating it up wouldn't be enough.'

Karen's brain couldn't comprehend how such a thing was possible.

Such a number was abnormal in the first place.

And the fact that such a number was being controlled was even more impossible.

There was a lot she wanted to ask but one thing was clear.

"…What are you going to do? Those guys are definitely people the new clan leader guy called up.

If those guys all join up then we won't be able to do anything."

"Shut up for a moment, I can see as well."

Epitros pondered deeply for a moment and then made a decision.

"Let's not go in."

"Huh?"

"Think about it, people live in the world above as well. The fairies aren't obsessed in killing humans or anything. If it was an environment in which one needed the Body Enhancement Surgery to live then they would've publicized it themselves already."

"Well… it's not that we would die by not going in."

There was no worry of the Gragos rolling and there weren't any Margoths either.

And the only possible danger, the Akarons, were their allies.

Since there was no danger factor, they didn't have a reason to join up.

Karen pondered at the rules that had flown into her again and then nodded.

'No murder allowed. Fair distribution… What fun would there be?'

Others might be afraid of the lawless Otherworld but she liked it a lot.

She didn't want to become a cog by following such rules.

'As long as nothing major happens, it wouldn't be a problem.'

The two finished their thoughts as they turned their back to the headquarters and walked away.