Chapter 602 – The Stolen World (17)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 228
Current Location: Searching…
Sage’s Advice: 0
—
– Han Kain
“Rejoice, for the enemies are not singular. If they were, victory would be impossible. Rather, it is because there are many that a chance exists.”
As I froze for a moment at this unexpected answer, the battlefield, filled with transcendent violence, rapidly shifted.
The former Wisdom could not evade the Moon’s tongue in the end.
“Grrr…!”
It wasn’t a direct hit, though.
It merely grazed the massive mass of flesh that was larger than a building. With just that, nearly a third of the former Wisdom’s body disintegrated into dust.
Had the Moon’s demon had just a tiny bit more leeway, the cunning schemes accumulated over many years would have vanished without a trace.
However, the Moon’s demon was given no such “slack.”
Even the great demon had an opponent worthy of its stature.
— Crack!
“That’s—!”
“Raiders!”
From the darkened sky, bright lightning bolts began to strike, and the air started splitting apart.
Beyond the fissures, it was difficult to even meet the gaze of the holy beings that emerged.
They were all noble and great entities.
And they were all, without exception, fallen losers.
“Oh! That’s—”
A surprised voice came from behind, belonging to Lee Eunsol.
She recognized one of the Raiders.
Yes, as Owl told us yesterday, Raiders were indeed beings we already knew!
— Boom!
It sounded like an endlessly massive ship firing its cannons.
In reality, that’s probably what it was!
The white beams of light unleashed from various points struck the Moon’s tongue, resulting in chunks of lunar flesh plummeting down across the devastated Seoul.
“Ahhh!”
“Let’s save the applauding for later! We need to bail! Hurry! While the Moon’s—er, Prince is protecting us!”
As I frantically fled the chaotic battlefield of the gods, laughter bubbled up unbidden.
“Haha!”
“Are you seriously laughing right now?”
Adia looked astonished, but I couldn’t help it.
Isn’t this situation the perfect example of the hint Owl just gave us earlier?
The fight was initially started by us and the former Wisdom.
But now, the Moon didn’t want to lose us, so it was dragged into the battlefield.
Immediately after, the Raiders didn’t want to lose the former Wisdom either, joining in.
It’s a classic case of kids dragging adults into their fights!
“It doesn’t take great power to cause a ruckus.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s roll!”
*
Under the now-darkened night sky.
The grand battle happening far above us had ended long ago.
“Where exactly are we now?”
I answered Adia, who was staring blankly at the sky.
“Bucheon.”
“That doesn’t really help. The names in this loop tend to change a lot, you know?”
“… Do you know Incheon? It’s nearby.”
“Ah, we’ve come somewhat close to the Sanctuary. Not sure when we’ll arrive though.”
“…”
Our destination is said to be the waters off Incheon.
Under normal circumstances, one would have already reached there from Seoul, not even needing to be in the U.S.
“I’m tired. How many realms have we been swept through in just a few hours…?”
The grotesque realms born from the Raiders’ corruption.
Every step we took switched our location to ‘Searching…’ and bizarre places would appear.
As a result, experiencing 30 meters of movement over an hour was far from rare.
“I feel malice. It feels like our entire path is being consumed.”
“Well, of course. Thanks to the former Wisdom, the Raiders are starting to recognize us now.”
“…”
“I think we should take a break here. Do you see that house over there? Let’s get some rest there and head out in the morning.”
“Rest? Is that even possible?”
What if the insides of the house turn into a different realm while we’re asleep?
“It’s fine here. The moon’s energy has a strong touch around this area.”
“…”
A place with strong moon energy…
I don’t know what that means, but I’ll just roll with it.
As soon as we stepped into the rundown house near Bucheon, my comrades began to plop down one after another.
The aftereffects of the former Wisdom’s outrageous attack.
Then, we had the collision in the realm of those great beings that followed.
As if that wasn’t enough, the grotesqueness of the realm set up by the Raiders!
The pressure humans find hard to bear left everyone exhausted.
“Hyung, what about Noona?”
“She’s been out cold since earlier.”
Fortunately, even Cha Jinchul seemed fine.
Strong of body, and thanks to Lee Eunsol being right next to him playing her flute, his mental state was likely stable.
“Is Ari okay?”
“Let’s hope so.”
No sooner had we decided to rest than Ari appeared to collapse into sleep.
Thoughts of Ari laughing madly while staring at the Moon from before weighed heavily on my mind.
“… What’s she looking at?”
“Who? Adia?”
Adia, with a dazed expression, was leaning against the window, looking at the sky.
Following her gaze, I noticed a faintly glowing crimson orb.
The Moon’s distant figure was finally starting to cast a shadow upon reality.
“… Adia.”
“Yes?”
“What exactly is waiting for us at the Sanctuary off Incheon?”
“Arrangements to drive away the Raiders!”
That’s why Adia is leading us to the Sanctuary.
“I think the Saint should also get some sleep.”
“And you?”
“I’m fine. I’ll be on watch. Besides, this is a manifestation of my legacy.”
Adia, grinning, displayed areas of her body that had transformed into purple rocks.
Was her injury turning into stone and then back to flesh to heal itself?
It seems the source of the Virgin’s powerful physical capabilities comes from that legacy.
“What’s the name?”
“Clipport Crystal. It’s a legacy that humans can’t use.”
“…”
“Isn’t it fascinating? That such a legacy that humans can’t endure ended up in my hands?”
Adia showed no intention of concealing the fact that she wasn’t human.
“I’m always curious about what we both encountered in our respective hotels. Did it really all progress according to our intentions?”
“…”
“Perhaps the blessings we earn and the legacies we receive were predetermined from the very beginning—”
“My comrades also gained legacies that are hard for humans to endure, just like you.”
Cha Jinchul was granted the star of a collapsing realm.
Elena received ominous visions that broke her mind.
“When they got it, I wondered how they could use it, but as soon as we went to the Sanctuary of Blessings, somehow they could use it.”
Cha Jinchul got regeneration.
Elena mastered clarity of mind.
“Your legacy, Clipport Crystal, is likely similar.”
“If a human got it, they could have used it through Blessing enhancement right after.”
“Exactly.”
“That makes sense.”
This was my interpretation.
Adia seemed to have no particular intention to refute it.
“Let’s put aside the hotel-related discussions for now. You mentioned focusing on what’s ahead.”
“Do you know? The reason I said that was because I couldn’t even protect myself. It’s a reminder and a pledge.”
“The identity of the Raiders. I was uncertain before, but now I’m sure. The being that Noona met once has shown up again.”
“I see.”
“The Raiders are also Arks, right? Another Ark?”
We had already encountered the Raiders twice by now.
The being that Eunsol met when she was drawn into the other realm at the Esper Ho pier.
The shadowy mass that appeared along with a gigantic whirlpool.
The place where Ari took refuge to evade the wrath of the stele.
The indescribably immense creature that had lost its intelligence and became a forsaken god.
“Ari called them the old Ark. They were either decomposed or encountered an accident during the creation process—”
“While that is true, important aspects are missing.”
“Then fill in those gaps.”
Adia again gazed at the dark night sky, mumbling to herself.
“Originally, I intended to share important information once we reached the Sanctuary. I didn’t want to attract the attention of the former Wisdom.”
“…”
“Now it hardly matters, since we’ve already clashed once.”
Taking a deep breath, I focused on Adia’s words.
“Holy One, did you know? The first Ark was created after studying the Returners.”
“… I’ve heard.”
That was what Miro told me.
“Returners have a bizarre characteristic. They cannot control their awakening point.”
“Returners cannot control their awakening point. Some awaken in the medieval era, while others in the 21st century.”
There probably was someone who awoke in prehistoric times as well.
“The same goes for the Ark. It cannot accurately control its arrival time.”
“…”
“No one knows the exact reason. There isn’t anyone who truly understands the mechanism of the Ark.”
The two crucial cores of an Ark are the Soul Bond Circuit and the Mirror.
The mirror is an enigmatic object that fell from the universe, containing the powers of the practitioner, as we learned from Room 207.
The Soul Bond Circuit is also something we fail to comprehend.
“Aris, who is peacefully sleeping on the sofa, would know—”
“Just call her Ari.”
Since Adia was touching on serious matters, Ari seemed to have awakened.
“If you think about it, the Ark is essentially akin to an invasion from the next loop of the past.”
“…”
“If it arrives in the 5th or 8th century, there’s no problem. Humanity of that era wouldn’t be much different from what we’d consider primitive.”
“…”
“When the Ark arrives, they won’t have a clue what it is, just that a divine being came from the sky, so they bow their heads in submission. The Ark factions wouldn’t bother fighting with the natives.”
Ari took the next line.
“If the Ark faction arrives in a primitive world, they’re filled with the mission to enlighten the savages and lead them to the light! They even bring those who can meet such qualifications onto the Ark.”
If the Ark comes to a pre-modern world, there won’t be any major issues.
The natives wouldn’t even have an understanding of what the Ark is and wouldn’t have the ability to resist anyhow.
It naturally gets mixed up, and during that process…
The corruption that the Ark harbors spreads throughout the entire world.
“What happens if they arrive in the 21st century?”
“…”
“Holy One, imagine if the Ark from last year’s world arrived. Do you think the Management Bureau would willingly accept their dominance?”
“A fight would… break out.”
“If the Ark faction wins, the indigenous forces would literally get wiped clean. Organizations like the Catholic Church and the Order of Reason would vanish into history, and even the memories of the Returners would get fabricated and erased. Those few who remember—”
“Are they the former Wisdom’s faction? What if the indigenous forces win?”
“The Ark would flee. Ah, it’s not possible to settle in this loop. Let’s move on to the next loop.”
At this point, I sensed the problem.
“… When the indigenous forces are set to perish, aren’t they likely to create their own Ark as well?”
“Oh my! Looks like we’ll have two Arks now? But there’s only one world to go to!”
“…”
“Could something similar have happened before? The possibilities are numerous.”
“…”
“My previous example would be the case where a functional Ark arrived too late. In some cases, the Ark might have been defective from the outset.”
Ari murmured softly.
“The place where I took refuge from the stele. That creature is a defective Ark that malfunctioned in the decomposition process and went crazy!”
“They’d also move on to the next loop due to their instinct as an Ark when the world is set to end.”
Some Arks arrived too late to the natives and got driven away.
Some Arks malfunctioned during decomposition and transformed into forsaken gods.
Some Arks…
Because this process endlessly repeats, there are now well over ten Arks wandering through time and space!
— Clack!
Adia approached the table with a grim expression, clearing away all but one chair.
“So in a sense, this battle is like a game of musical chairs.”
“…”
“Chairs—meaning, the Arks that seek a proper world number more than ten or so—”
“Yet the chairs are but one.”
“—That’s the problem.”
Silence enveloped the room.
By their breaths changing, it seemed like even Eunsol or Cha Jinchul from earlier were straining to overhear.
Noona finally spoke up.
“I’ve got the gist of the Ark and Raider talk. Then what about the Moon?”
“Oh, that’s quite a long story. It’s related to everything we’ve discussed up to now.”
“Again! The Raiders only seem to begin their activities after the Management Bureau crumbles, right?”
“Please be patient. There’s still plenty of time.”
The night remains long.
The conversation is far from over.
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