#222
Transcendence (2)
The Elven Kingdom was able to safely overcome the crisis of continental collapse thanks to Harris' performance, but the aftereffects of this incident were by no means small.
In addition to the massive human casualties caused by the invasion of lycanthropes and giants, additional countermeasures had to be prepared due to the numerous cracks that had appeared throughout the outskirts.
Still, it was not a situation that could be said to be the worst, as a new High Elf Transcendent, a reliable supporter to protect the World Tree, was born, and the cracks near the border could receive support from neighboring countries.
The really worst thing right now is not the Enamel Continent, but the Ion Continent.
It was a human territory that was getting worse by the minute due to the Immortal King's continuous offensive.
Kwaaaang—! Pow!
Flames erupted and loud explosions erupted throughout the village.
"Aaaah!"
"Run! "We have to get out of the city quickly… Wow!"
"mom mom…!"
With people running away in despair.
Quickly! Slam!
[Keeeeek!]
Crackling—!
Even the undead troops who annihilated the defenders who stood in front of them and rushed into the village and ran rampant.
It was a truly tragic incident, but incidents of this magnitude were now not that rare on the Aeon Continent.
Even if the saint informed them of the location of the attack in advance, there was a limit to their ability to simply block it, so it was inevitable that a breach would eventually be created due to the continuous waves of attacks.
In particular, such incidents occurred more frequently in places where national power was weaker, and eventually the three kingdoms in the western part of the continent surrendered their pride and signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Thalia, asking for vampire aid first.
Of course, it goes without saying that we conceded a lot to them in the process.
However, in the midst of everyone's hardships, there were people who were busier than ever and showed results that were incomparable to others.
The saviors who continue their undefeated streak of consecutive wins and the hope of the continent led by the saint of the Main Church…
Kwaaang—!
[Keueuuk!]
"Kahahaha! "Get lost!"
…It was a warrior's party.
In a crevice basket already crowded with undead.
Harley, standing in the center of the large crater, smiled viciously as she looked at the Death Knight's head that was on the ground, held in her large hand.
[Giggles… That doesn't make sense. The sword on this body can only cause scratches!]
For a moment, an intimidating force burst out from the enraged Death Knight, and the wildly blooming black magic penetrated the body of the person holding his head.
It was an all-out method that would kill an ordinary person just by touching it, and even a warrior who reached the ultimate level would be cursed if he did not wear an auror.
[How can you do it with your bare body…!]
At that level, it was impossible to delve into Harley's body, the "ultimate evolved life form," which was already beyond completion and was reaching new heights every day.
Without even needing to generate energy, any attack that is below the level will be repelled by the vital force and madness flowing within his body.
"ok? No no! You did a good job. I never thought it was possible to hurt this body! Haha!"
Although it is a rare stone, the Death Knight is also an executive-level commander dispatched from the Immortal Castle.
Even after completely wiping out the initial target point, he remained until the end and continued to receive reinforcements from the undead using his body as the coordinates, and was a master-class giant who stirred the southern area of the Lesk Kingdom.
Even so, it only left a few scars on Harley's body that had already regenerated and left no trace.
It was a shabby achievement that did not match the majesty of defeating many strong players of the Kingdom of Lesque.
Crackle!
The Death Knight's helmet began to get dented badly by Harley's grip.
Of course, it was a metal that could not even cause a proper wound unless it was an Auror of the same level, but that was just a meaningless generalization in the face of overwhelming power.
[Turn it off! You are an apostle of madness! The Immortal King will not tolerate you…!]
"Yes, no."
Kwazijic!
The moment a fist is clenched, metal remnants stick out between the fingers.
It was shaped like a helmet, but it was distorted into an ugly shape, like a piece of clay held by a child, and rolled around on the floor.
"hmm! "I guess this is enough."
After easily tearing off the breastplate and crushing the heart through which dark magic flowed, he lightly shook off his hands and stood up.
The undead that were clinging around annoyingly just lightly opened their bodies and were thrown away as if they had been hit by a truck.
After crushing the undead with his flailing hands and feet, he watched his companions wipe out the remaining undead and whetted his appetite.
'This guy was a little fun, but it wasn't enough.'
Immediately after ascending to transcendence, the impulse that was a major part of his personality grew uncontrollably.
From then on, there was only one thing he wanted.
A fierce struggle against an enemy strong enough to risk one's life. Delicious, nutritious, and plentiful meat. The destructive instinct to destroy everything in the way, and the desire to show off to reveal oneself to the world… '
Huh? Isn't there one? Well anyway!'
Even though my needs were being met to some extent, it wasn't very satisfying.
I really just barely manage to… I'm just holding on to my remaining reason and suppressing my impulses.
'Ah, I want to invade the immortal castle! There are a lot of strong guys there, how much fun can it be? King's decision also worked very well. I would have felt even better if I had hunted and eaten it myself. Come to think of it, I ate almost all of the dragon meat, but I wonder if there's one hiding somewhere? Would you like to become a dragon slayer?'
Fragmentary thoughts based on interest swept through his simpler mind and disappeared.
While he was thinking about other things, his eyes suddenly turned to the desert on one side.
'More than that, when are you going to go to the south… I guess the warchief there is strong, right? That old lady must be waiting for me. uh? You don't think I ran away because I was scared, right? 'Huh?'
This is the southernmost region of the Lesk Kingdom, located in the southwestern part of the continent.
In other words, it was adjacent to the desert heading to the Southern Tribal Confederation.
'…just for now.'
As soon as I realized that the target was right in front of me, the impulses that I had barely suppressed rose up all at once.
And the thin patience I had been struggling to hold on to due to the influence of other avatars suddenly broke.
The corners of Harley's mouth slowly rose, revealing sharp teeth.
***
The Immortal Castle is now busy preparing for the invasion that takes place every day.
However, the leader simply left everything to his subordinates and sat quietly on his throne in Daejeon, lost in thought.
-Heinrich: Harley! Where are you going again? Didn't I tell you to wait a little longer?
-Harley: Hahaha! I've endured enough now! I'll hurry up and grab the guy's head!
-Heinz II: I wish I could handle things that easily. Oh Byepo these guys maintain a very complicated collusion relationship, so much so that it's hard to know where to start and how far to cut them off. If we cut them all out, it will lead to war.
-Hubert: I think it was quite impressive that Brokoslag swallowed up the kingdom of Thalia. In fact, it even looks more sophisticated. It looks like you did a lot of research while you were in hiding.
-Hugo: Hey, shouldn't we stop Harley first…
-Howard: Heng! That guy won't die any more, so it doesn't matter. Rather, they say that an ore called Detrium can only be found in the southern desert, so pick it up on your way out! It's already hard to get it because it's an export-banned item, but now the trafficking route is clogged, so even Hubert can't get it.
The exchange of thoughts in one's head is as busy as usual.
Since there is no main body to serve as the center, this complicated method is being used, but Earth's time has already passed by a full day.
After roughly diagnosing it through Hugo, Baron estimated that it would take about three days for him to wake up, so he might open his eyes in about 15 days at the earliest.
[Hmm, it's 15 days.]
The Immortal King Hannibal Strauss, who was once again aware of that fact, had time for serious reflection once again.
While watching this Enamel Continent incident, I was greatly impressed and at the same time realized one thing.
'…Isn't there so little we've achieved so far? As expected, I backed off too much. I thought he was acting purely for gain, but it seems like the memories remaining in his body were subconsciously influencing him.'
The only thing he could do was to send his subordinates to engulf the entire continent in the flames of war.
Didn't the Oath of Yeokcheon, who had been looked down on and seen only as a distraction, come up with a plan to submerge an entire continent and put it into action?
In addition, it was almost on the verge of success, so if it had not been for the intervention of Harris, who had the World Tree on his back, it might have really gone their way.
If that happens, how much karma could you have earned?…
Crackle!
The handle of the throne made of bone was crushed by Hans' "super strength."
For him, who performed all his activities with dark magic, not having muscles was not a big problem.
'It hurts my pride. 'I can't believe this body of an immortal king is worse than those guys!'
Admiring them was admiration, but whether you could accept it was a separate question.
Because the true dark side of this world had to be yourself!
Every time he clashed with the Oath of Reverse Heaven, he won a series of victories, and while collecting a significant number of people under his command, he was slightly ignoring them…
'Yeah, I shouldn't have thought so much about those guys who would open the abyss and bring out madness. It was definitely a mistake. 'I have to admit what I have to admit.'
Now that the reflection was over, the next step was to change course.
In my heart, I wanted to ignore the promise and head south with my army right away, but if I did that, there was a high possibility that I would only suffer losses as soon as the main body woke up.
Once it started, it would have to be relentless in order to gain more than the diminished prestige of Heinrich, but it seemed unlikely that the main body would continue to tolerate large-scale war.
'But now there is no time to come up with another plan. They clearly said it was a plan that had been in preparation for at least ten years.'
His head began to spin as he was deep in thought.
Starting with the most impressive leak of the madness of the abyss, the recent attack on the princess, the Lycanthrope invasion of the Enamel Continent, and the Republic showing suspicious behavior by being encroached upon by the Obaipo Clan, a tribal alliance that declared the severance of diplomatic relations and prepared for war.
Looking at the scale of the events that have occurred so far, there is no doubt that the number of masterpieces that have not yet occurred will have a huge impact.
In that case….
'Okay, I'll take this whole body away from you.'
Of course, since karma follows a strict causal relationship, it would not be possible to earn a satisfactory amount just by adding a spoonful to an already completed plan.
It's still better than not doing it at all… but if you're going to do it, it's better to do it right.
Having come to that conclusion, he took action immediately without waiting.
-Heinrich: Wait a minute, Hans! What on earth are you going to do? It's still too much! No more big problems…!
However, Heinrich, his troublesome self who always pursues the right path and speaks only of the right things, began to make a fuss.
That wasn't enough to stop his decision.
-Hannibal Strauss: Hmm, this may be new, but let me correct one thing. This body is not Hans, but Hannibal Strauss.
-Heinrich: He hasn't decided to give up now…
Ignoring the thoughts still buzzing in his head, he slowly looked around after using his immortality to travel a long distance.
A bright moon rising in the night sky, numerous stars, and sand dunes that sparkle and crumble in the light.
And even in the middle of the night, you can see in the distance a desert city that reveals its bright presence with countless torches.
This was the Kalkos Tribal Alliance that Harley was targeting.
Among them, it was 'Beorsen', the base of the tribal leader and the center of the coup, which was discovered through long-term information collection.
Clink ding ding ding—!
"emergency! emergency! Everyone, get ready for battle!"
"Shaman, wake up the berserkers immediately!"
Wow—
as expected, since it is an important base, did they prepare thoroughly?
As soon as he appeared, the city became noisy and the entire Beorsen began to be covered by a strange barrier.
[Hehehe—I like it too. If they are incompetent, there is no need to have it in the first place.]
The immortal king who suddenly attacked the south.
He thrust a huge spatula…or rather, a shovel, into a plan that was going smoothly.
If you don't obediently serve it, I'm ready to turn the table over.