The large body of the Queen Bee fell. It plummeted into the ground as clouds of dust rose up into the sky.
After losing the connection they had with their boss through pheromone, the King Bees became confused. Their movements and attacks no longer had any purpose.
Without the central power directing them, the army turned into groups of individual entities. The King Bees scattered away while some of the dense bees drove their heads into the protective barriers of the World Tree and crumbled into pieces.
Meanwhile, the army of beastmen and spirit beasts led by the mythical creatures moved promptly, swinging swords and throwing javelins at their order-less enemy.
However, the war wasn’t over yet. The final fight of the war finally began as the remaining bee commander came back to itself.
The surviving Centurion collected data from nearby. Although the pheromones of fighter bees weren’t as potent as the queen’s, they could still emit pheromones to relay information to those nearby.
Every remaining bee was destined to die in any case. Left with that predestined fate, the Centurion pondered how they could follow the last commands of the queen as efficiently as possible even in death.
In other words, it seeked for the most effective target for their self-explosions.
While its allied King Bees were dying, out of several hundreds of pheromones that were relayed through mana,
The one remaining Centurion found the answer.
*
There was a large mechanical device.
This artifact with a cylindrical shape resembling both an airship and a whale was a gift to Anum and the World Tree that had been given by an existence called a ‘Prophet’ who had come from a different dimension.
A flying ship.
While the King Bees and spirit beasts were having an intense battle of life and death, one King Bee who managed to squeeze in through the gap reached the device and checked what was inside. It discovered that there was a strikingly large number of spirit beast eggs inside it.
Before the gold dragon headed to battle, hundreds of spirit beasts including the baby chicken Chirpy had gathered all sorts of eggs to that place in preparation for the worst case scenario; the destruction of the World Tree. It was under the command of the mythical creatures.
Even if the World Tree were to be scorched; even if all the spirit beasts and beastmen here were to die, their race would live on in a different world, wherever it may be.
However, that decision was now proving to be a mistake.
Chirararak–!
The Centurion screeched out loud with the voice unique to an insect-type monster. There was no longer a need for a chemical transmission of information.
What it wanted was simple, and was also intimidating.
[Destroy that large ‘whale’.]
The shout of the Centurion struck the minds of the King Bees who had fallen into confusion after losing their commanders. Their flights gained direction and the King Bees flew straight towards the flying ship like missiles.
The beastmen were appalled. The eggs inside the flying ship were the children of their brothers and sisters, and were no different from their own.
“No…! Nooo!!”
“Stop them! Do not let them break through!”
“Their goal is self-explosion! Do not let them approach!”
The King Bees were out of their minds. They added more and more poison into their bodies and their stomachs soon bubbled up into hideous balloons. Hundreds of King Bees fell from the sky.
“We must send the ship outside the barrier right now!”
“Is it still not ready to move!?”
Some of them asked, why wasn’t it moving yet? But it was because things were changing too rapidly.
“Move it right now! We can’t fight them head-on anymore!”
“It’s almost ready! Just… just a little bit more!”
The bees did not run away from the layers of soldiers that were standing in front of them. Even if they were to die, the ones behind them would have an easier time reaching the airship if they were to destroy the obstructions.
On the other hand, the spirit beasts had no choice but to throw their bodies in to stop them. Because behind them was their future.
Their convictions resulted in casualties on both ends.
Meanwhile, the Regressor watched Kaeul from the sky.
She had overused combat magic, interdimensional spells and healing magic, on top of the continuous use of Dragon’s Voice. All those spells had been displayed at an output that far exceeded the norms.
Because of that, Kaeul was currently on her knees on one of the tree’s branches, gasping for breath and bleeding from her mouth.
“…”
The original plan for Yu Jitae was to intervene at this moment.
Kaeul had overcome her self-hatred and had accomplished more than enough as a guardian deity so it was fine to help now.
However, he did not intervene.
Kaeul raised her head despite it wavering from exhaustion.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] looks at the enemies.>
If he treasured the World Tree and Anum even slightly more than Kaeul, he would have intervened and helped immediately. But that one dragon was incomparably more precious to him than thousands of beastmen and spirit beasts.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] tries to stand up.>
Her legs failed her and she fell back down but despite vomiting mouthfuls of blood, she tried to stand up again.
And seeing that, he realised that this wasn’t a place for him to chime in and provide help.
Kaeul staggered and raised her knee against the branch of the tree.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] tries to stand up.>
Alright.
Let’s see you stand up on your own feet.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] tries to stand up.>
It was you that started it and you that pulled it off.
So tie the knot with those tiny hands of yours as well.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] tries to stand up.>
However, Kaeul could not stand up properly. She staggered and fell to the side as her golden hair messily scattered across.
He inwardly lamented.
Should he step in and take care of it after all…?
But as if trying to go against his thoughts head-on, a new message floated back up.
<The existence, [Yu Kaeul] is furious at being unable to stand up.>
Kaeul did not give up. With her small fists, she struck the tree. Unable to hold her emotions in, she endlessly struck the tree branch.
Despite stumbling and limping, Kaeul tried again and again and at last stood up. Staring up at the battlefield with eyes filled with killing intent, she squeezed out mana that laid at the very bottom of her [dragon heart].
Seeing Kaeul finally stand firmly on the ground with her two feet, Yu Jitae felt his heart ringing from the depths. It felt like a small drop of water causing a big ripple.
That was when an unexpected message appeared in his mind.
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] has confirmed the met requirements of an emotion.>
<Filled Emotion: Anxiety>
<The Authority, [Key (EX)] states that the [Obelisk of Anxiety] located in the [Basement of Vintage Clock> has been cast with light.>
His eyes twitched.
He thought he was cheering for her but it seemed that he had wrongly analysed his own emotions. Had he been anxious for Kaeul?
Is that so…
After labelling his emotion as anxiety, he suddenly remembered memories from the past. It was on things that had happened near the end of the 4th iteration.
– You should have brought something sweet…
If, what if,
What if the last thing she so desperately wanted failed? Wouldn’t she become powerless again? It was the anxiety and concern of the one who had instigated this whole situation.
However, his concern didn’t last for long.
When the huge body of the airship finally rose to the sky, everyone considered things to be over. The core was operating without a problem and there was also a new protective layer that had formed around the outside of the airship.
But the last Centurion proved otherwise. The brutally huge bee reaching 10 metres in height crunched at the protective barrier with a powerful chin that could munch through steel plates.
Cracckk–
Pushed away by the barrier, its shells cracked.
Its eyes bursted as its feelers snapped and dropped. Its fluids began to drip as the grotesque interior of the insect monster was in full display.
Despite that, the Centurion did not stop. Even after losing half of its head, it pushed its chin forward and at last destroyed the core that was protruding out of the ship.
Kwaannng–!
With an explosive thud, the Centurion’s head exploded and it fell.
The airship lost its power supply but the problem was that it was already 300 metres away from the World Tree. After losing the power, the ship slowly tilted before gradually shifting its direction… gradually towards the ground.
“Damn it–!”
“Nooo!!”
People screamed. The precious sons and daughters of their neighbours – the future of Anum had begun to fall in front of their eyes.
The airship was unreasonably large and wasn’t something people could dare support or carry.
“Nooooooooooo—!!”
Some of them could not help but look away and close their eyes.
It felt as if time had stopped.
Or rather, did it really stop?
No matter how much time passed, the sound of the ship crashing into the ground could not be heard. When they carefully sneaked a peak with teary eyes,
They found the once descending airship drawing a parabola back up towards the sky.
“Ah…!”
“That’s…”
Golden forks of lightning sparked from the broken core.
It was the gold dragon.
The gold dragon was supplying the ship with power in the stead of the power core!
The flashing sparks of gold protected the airship and sustained it in the air without making it fall and caused the huge aircraft to fly back up.
That ridiculous and absurd scene caused all the spirit beasts and beastmen of the World Tree to shiver with astonishment.
“Ah…!”
The whale was flying through the sky.
***
The remaining King Bees were ripped to death by the beastmen. Dozens flew towards the airship but died after crashing into the protective barrier.
Before long, the flying ship slowly descended and landed safely. The moment she confirmed the safety of the airship, Kaeul fainted.
The eggs were safe and the war had at last ended.
She only woke back up after a very long time.
***
Sitting on a chair, Yu Jitae looked at Kaeul.
Even though she was young, she was still a dragon. A human would have been severely injured and could have died from a shock considering all the mana she had squeezed out but Kaeul had almost fully recovered.
Listening to the sound of her heart, it was about time for her to wake up but… it had already been three days since he first thought that.
Without moving a single inch, Yu Jitae sat next to her during all that time and waited for her to wake up. He injected mana into her body to help with her recovery as well.
However, even Yu Jitae who was usually dense with time became slightly worried after sitting on the same spot for 72 hours.
Why isn’t she waking up.
<[Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)]: ٩(๑`^’๑)۶ >
That was when a message floated up following the awkward systematics of himself as an authority.
Oh, so this is how it works.
It seemed that emotions turned into letters and were expressed as an image. Since he had never watched over an existence before as an ‘authority’, it was the first time he saw it.
It was quite an intriguing addition to his otherwise boring wait.
Did this mean the Vintage Clock would have gone through such emotions like him at a distant place somewhere? While waiting for Kaeul to wake up, Yu Jitae decided to try expressing other emotions.
However, it was not easy. Even though he wanted to express sorrow, he could not feel sad and there was thus no emoticon of sorrow.
The same was for joy.
Looking back at his happy memories… so thinking back at the pleasant times he had spent with the kids, he did find them comfortable and nice but that was the end and those memories failed to connect to a specific emotion.
Anyway, why aren’t you waking up.
<[Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)]: ٩(๑`^’๑)۶ >
Perhaps human emotions were just a device made to better memorise unique moments. A photo was just a photo but with matching filters applied to them, they could hold more than just a visual record.
Similarly, even though events were just events, maybe it was ‘emotions’ that people applied to those events to assign more meaning to it. That was the sudden trail of thought he had.
Because things become faint with time, it might be natural that momentary emotions that abruptly pop up are more dramatic in nature compared to past memories. Thinking along the lines of that, he remembered how Yeorum had grumbled in the past.
‘Ah this retarded manga is so annoying. How many volumes of past recollection are there?’
‘I have absolutely zero interest in whatever yous did in the past so just develop the plot!’
‘Ahh, so when are they having sex huh!?’
Was that a similar case? He wondered.
However, there was something that wouldn’t make sense in that case. Although very rare, [Vintage Clock] tended to send messages as if it were reminiscent of the past. Even during those moments of recollection, it sent plentiful emoticons of emotion.
It was impossible for normal humans to do so. He even wondered that Vintage Clock might be an ‘existence’ that vividly remembered the past memories and the past emotions. In fact, even the fact that it expressed emotions was strange.
But it was most likely a wrong idea.
Since there was no way that ‘authorities’ would be ‘existences’.
He himself was an example of how ‘existences’ could not become ‘authorities’.
“…?”
It was then.
Kaeul slowly opened her eyes and turned towards him with a dull gaze. She blinked her unfocused eyes.
“Hello.”
Yu Jitae greeted her first as Kaeul slowly replied.
“Uun. Hi…?”
Kaeul had received a large amount of shock to both her head and her heart and had already slept for several days. Due to that, she was in a half-blank state right now like a human who had just woken up from anaesthesia.
Perhaps that was why.
“Wow, it’s Bom-unni’s boyfriend…”
“What?”
“Hehe…”
Words outside his expectations left her mouth.