#224
Kalkos Tribal Alliance (2)
Inside the tent with all kinds of bizarre decorations placed here and there.
In a place filled with smoke from an unidentified herb slowly burning.
Cluck—cluck!
Lightly thrown bone fragments fluttered across the circular metal tray.
The old woman, who was staring at the result, soon shook her head with a deep sigh.
"Whew—no matter what I do, I can't see it anymore. "I guess I'm old too."
Morna, the great sorcerer, lamented and closed her eyes tightly, distorting the tattoos on her face.
In the first place, divination itself was originally a magic spell that was not very accurate, but that was just a commonly accepted saying.
For a great sorcerer like her, it wasn't that difficult to just tell simple fortunes and fortunes.
'It should have been so. At some point the future became cloudy and now I can't even see an inch ahead.'
She slowly opened her closed eyes and looked out through the gap in the tent.
What you see there are countless people moving in unison for only one purpose.
He just looked like he was possessed by something and was busy preparing for war.
'Baltheon… what on earth are you doing?'
However, as she began her confinement here immediately after the summit ended, there was nothing she could do right away.
She probably wouldn't be alive now if the value of her name hadn't been needed to move several tribes.
'I don't know how long that medicine will last. First of all, he tried his best, but I wonder if he will be able to make it on time. … Only heaven knows what happens next.'
A large warrior who followed his 'intuition' and made contact while avoiding the watchers' eyes.
Since he was an unusual person, he would have started to respond in some way from the moment he realized that the situation in the South was urgent.
'But…'
There was a moment when I was so lost in thought.
Morna's expression hardened.
"…What is this energy?"
Both eyes were wide open, as if they had seen something they couldn't see.
"Huh, is it already too late…?"
Looking at the outside scenery through a narrow gap with a resigned expression – Beorsen, she thought of her family who were probably imprisoned in another city somewhere and let out a heavy sigh.
I hope that they will be able to avoid this anger.
Goooooh—
in the center of the city beyond, where Baltheon's abode is.
An endless, ominous and terrible energy that she had already felt was slowly spreading throughout the city.
***
-Howard: Huh, it really turned? I should have known from the beginning.
-Hesperon: …Wow, what are you going to do later?
-Heinrich: Stop! How far are you willing to cross the line! Anyway, that's…!
-Hannibal Strauss: Ah—I'm tired of hearing that now. I'll reconnect when necessary.
-Heinrich: Wait…!
Hans concentrated his mind and built a wall inside himself.
Although it was only a small fence compared to the barrier with the "Mind Hub" that the main body erected before losing its mind.
Just doing that was enough to silence the many thoughts that were ringing loudly in my head.
And after a while.
《The object grows by meeting the conditions. The special skill "Evil Wisdom" absorbs "Bright View Index" and "Visiting Eyes" and evolves into "Unholy Sage." The
system text appeared before his eyes as he sat in the dark.
[Oh indeed. This bead is quite useful.]
He nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the bead placed in one corner of his mental world.
A gift left behind by the ruler who made a sudden visit.
This item, which has a positive effect on all mental abilities when used, was a great help in preventing constant connection with annoying avatars.
'It may have also played a role in the fact that the independence between each entity became stronger as time went by.'
When the main body was alive and well and was the center of all entities.
Each avatar was nothing more than a body part, such as hands and feet, with slightly unique habits.
Even for a while after their bodies fell asleep due to the shock of blocking the mental erosion of the abyss, they shared each other's thoughts and acted as naturally as breathing.
Aside from the fact that Hans was not in good condition.
But a little more time has passed since then.
In order to communicate more smoothly, the avatars went through a process called 'intrabrain conference'.
It was still possible to accept each other's situations and thoughts, but the process became a little more cumbersome.
'It's natural. 'It would be more dangerous for each individual's distinct personalities to mix together without the buffer zone of a 'Mind Hub'.'
In particular, Hans Hannibal Strauss, who was even contaminated, had a particularly strong tendency to remain separate among them.
At this point, he had borrowed the power of beads to build a wall that could be opened and closed at will.
Of course, even if the connection was controlled arbitrarily, the effect would not last long since they were essentially the same being, but since there was not much time left anyway, that was not a problem.
[Kkekekeke— Ah, this really refreshes my mind.]
Was there also a time when the avatars were influenced by each other, knowingly or unknowingly?
Somehow, I felt like the emotions inside me were becoming more pure.
Purer and cleaner – the condensation of evil and poison itself.
[Anyway.]
His gaze went to the place where the black energy that filled the space was especially dense.
"Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"
[Kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk At this, this is unusual. I never thought humans could embrace the abyss this much. Ever since I was harboring madness, I've been doing it just in case. After all, I'm not an ordinary human.]
Twit-tap-tap-tap!
The large body that fell to the floor continued to twist, and at the same time, black energy began to emanate from him.
The phenomenon continued for a while and ended only when the energy flowing out was sucked back into the body.
Wriggle—Wriggle—
"Off… That's terrible. Even when using madness, it wasn't to this extent. Is he the immortal king after all?…"
Finally, he stood up shakily and let out a low complaint while drooling.
The blood vessels of the entire body swelled to a blue-black color, the white eyes turned black, and the pupils shimmered with a blood-red glow.
A thick dark energy was dripping from his body like paint, polluting the surroundings just by standing there.
"Kfffft—that's ridiculous. "I never thought that the wall that I couldn't overcome no matter how hard I tried would be broken in this way."
He was a warchief who, after a very minor dispute with the Immortal King, finally recognized his true feelings through persuasion accompanied by a little force.
Baltheon, the protagonist of this coup, accepted the abyss and became a demon.
[Do you like power?]
"Okay, so what you want is…"
[Baltheon.]
But before he could finish his excited words.
A low voice that seemed to echo from hell vibrated the space, so he closed his mouth and unconsciously looked at the other person's thoughts.
[Your words are short.]
A short but authoritative and overwhelming statement.
Was it the influence of the abyss that he had accepted?
He had undoubtedly reached the level he had longed for his whole life, but for some reason he could not even stretch himself freely in front of the Immortal King.
"…Is what you want… as you said before?"
[Of course.]
What Hannibal Strauss wanted was an influence on the continent, especially an enormous influence that would guarantee him abundant karma.
[It's war.]
Since everything was already prepared, you could earn a lot of karma just by putting your name on the map.
He had no intention of just being satisfied with this great opportunity and moving on.
So what should we do?
How can he maximize his involvement in an army that has already started from the planning stage to final preparations and is about to march towards a rich land?
'The answer is right in front of you.'
In the process of accepting power, Commander-in-Chief Baltheon was consumed and became his servant.
As in his case, wouldn't it be enough to cover the prepared army from top to bottom with his colors?
[Hehehehe—!]
Into the abyss.
By death.
Anything that happened in the process was just a very minor thing to him.
***
Hans, using the bead of the spirit world, blocked the passage connecting with the avatars.
Now it has become impossible not only to communicate but also to check each other's status in real time until Hans opens the door.
"I'll hurry up a bit."
Under the leadership of Heinrich, who became impatient, the warrior party quickly covered the desert with desert robes and survival supplies airlifted to Avatar Cloud.
Saint Riesta focused only on increasing the speed while Heinrich and Isea were carried by Harley.
"Harley, the backrest is wide, so it's easy to concentrate. "It's also soft."
"Hahaha! "I'll do it again!"
Isea, who was maintaining the perception-impairing and temperature-maintaining magic that covered the entire racing group, was impressed as she tapped Harley's vast back with one hand.
Not only was it a large area, but underneath the robe was covered with furry beast skin, so it literally looked like a mobile bed.
Even while running, a few words were exchanged among the group.
In the conference room within the brains of the avatars, serious topics were being discussed again today.
-Heinrich: Of course, we shouldn't leave Hans like this. That move must be prevented somehow.
-Hugo: It definitely felt like something was getting worse. In the beginning, they seemed to share opinions and understand the other side's position. What a sudden break in conversation like this.
-Hubert: Is there a way? Well, there might be a chance if I can somehow land a single stab with a holy sword full of divine power.
-Hesperon: Now that I think about it, Harley, looking at the situation before the connection was cut off, it seemed like Hans was going to turn all the humans there into undead or monsters. How do I make a new engraving? Of course the old lady would be there too.
-Harley: Huh? Oh really!? hey! Skeleton head! Did you really kill the witch doctor? Mr. Hwak! You're not answering? Don't kill the old lady! I warned you!
Although they were moving internally and externally while considering future measures, they were powerful people representing the world in name and reality.
Naturally, that feeling had no choice but to transcend the criminal's knowledge.
'It's an ambush with this many people in the desert. Are they a group of magic bandits? Or the troops on deployment?'
Of course, they already knew that a significant number of people were hiding in the area along the route they were taking.
However, going back would have been an unnecessary waste of time, and the other side would not have been able to see through Isea's magic, so I decided to just pass by quietly…
It seems the other side had different thoughts.
"boundary! boundary!"
"stop! "Reveal yourself!"
"If you do not comply immediately, you will be considered hostile troops! "I will kill you immediately!"
Before we knew it, more than twenty people were blocking the path and pointing spears and arrows at us.
Even though I couldn't do my best because I was moving and maintaining it in parallel with other magic, it was the magic used by Isea, who is famously an archmage.
If they sensed it in advance and reacted so quickly, they couldn't have been ordinary people.
'Should I just ignore it? Or collect information after suppression? No, there are hundreds of them around here. I don't know how long it will take to subdue and interrogate him. I think it would be better to just pass by….'
While still running, I was analyzing step by step how to respond in less than a second….
'Huh?'
Harley, seeing the faces of some of the soldiers, immediately stopped in his tracks.
And then Heinrich and the others stopped.
"Mr. Harley? "Why all of a sudden…"
Lee Se-ah, who was hanging on his back, looked puzzled, but she didn't look particularly worried either.
After all, they are the strongest people who can easily kill giants as tall as 30 meters, so who would be intimidated by just a few desert soldiers?
With Isea's help, Harley disarmed the perception-impairing spell and stepped forward.
He was still wearing a robe to block the desert sandstorm, so his appearance was not fully revealed—.
"Huh!"
"Mmm!"
The violent pressure emanating from its large size and overwhelming body was enough to make the soldiers, who were clearly elite, tense up and step back without even realizing it.
Of course, there were some who were watching him closely while flinching and narrowing their eyes…
"…that big guy looks very familiar."
"So does this creepy feeling. It's much stronger though. No way…"
"Harley? "Isn't that Harley?!"
By very coincidence, I was reunited with a past friend in the middle of the desert.
The trio of southern warriors got into a fight with Harley, who was just settling down in the North, and later became friends and subordinates.
It was the big King Lu and the furry Turaba Sword Mark Dao.
Harley took off her robe and headed towards them.
"Hahaha! You see this everywhere, friends! "What on earth are you doing here?"
"Harley, what are you doing here…"
"That's right. I heard you were busy wandering around with the hero… Ugh? Just wait then, it couldn't be that person over there!"
"Hi! Misty! Misty! Come out for a moment! Harley! "Hero!"
An unidentified army encountered by chance while heading to Beorsen.
This woman in her twenties named Misty, who leads them as an anti-Baltheon force gathered to punish Baltheon, who is oppressing the tribes with evil methods, is…. "
Hello. I knew someone was approaching, but I didn't know it was the warrior's group. "This too must be fate. My name is Misty."
The daughter of the warchief who ruled the south before Baltheon's coup.
She was the granddaughter of the great sorcerer Morna, and at the same time her disciple—she was a great sorcerer.