◈ Episode 401. A Valid Reason, the Holy War Alliance.
The players, including the Great Alliance, headed for Antonium, the capital of the Empire. The reason was simple. At present, Antonium was the only city that could be called intact.
Nam Taemin smacked his lips.
“There might be the territories of the Four Houses, or cities belonging to forces that haven’t revealed themselves yet… but we don’t know whether they’d be friendly to us, do we? More than anything, we don’t even know where they are.”
It wasn’t merely a matter of being unable to communicate.
They might put a blade to your throat without warning.
The weight of it was different from when Arcana had been nothing more than a game.
Hisagi added,
“I find myself missing that power of resurrection we heard about until we were sick of it.”
Back in the days of the Arcana Continent Chronicles.
Whenever NPCs dealt with players, with adventurers, they would mention the power of resurrection.
Back then, they hadn’t understood its value and had nearly grown calluses on their ears from hearing about it. Only now that they were in the same position did they understand. Resurrection truly was an absurdly fraudulent power.
“Ooh, the walls look sturdy.”
Stretching out.
Leonie craned her neck as far as it would go and looked up at Antonium’s walls.
According to Hoyeol, Antonium had also been through its fair share of storms…
Hisagi gave his assessment.
“Even so, I suppose this is what it means to be the Empire. It has reserves of strength.”
“More than anything, Master Harkon will be pleased, won’t he?”
“When did he say he’d arrive?”
“Considering the time difference, it should take a few more days.”
The captain of the Lionheart Knights, Harkon.
Before entering the Arcana Continent,
Harkon had been finishing his final preparations in reality.
Though they belonged to the Holy War Alliance, the Lionheart Knights were, after all, the sword of the Empire and the Emperor.
Nam Taemin spoke in a disappointed tone.
“I guess it’ll be hard to see our master’s face often from now on, huh?”
Seeing the scenery of the Arcana Continent had made it clear.
Even if reality had suffered countless damages from the Rifts, its situation was incomparably better than the damage the Arcana Continent had sustained.
Naturally, the place that truly needed the Lionheart Knights was the Arcana Continent.
Once Harkon set foot on the Arcana Continent, there would likely be no reason for him to return to reality again.
Leonie answered bluntly.
“What’s with the fuss, like you’ll never see him again for the rest of your life?”
“Well, the portal’s open now.”
“You should have treated him better on a regular basis, Taemin.”
“What do you know about a man’s heart?”
“I am a man as well, you know.”
“……
Let’s just drop it.”
As always.
They were bickering while approaching Antonium’s northern gate.
A player from the Great Alliance.
One who had been carrying out reconnaissance.
He brought back news that was hard to believe.
“What? The northern gate is closed?”
“Yes, sir…! And it’s not just the northern gate. According to a merchant staying in a village near Antonium, the southern, western, and eastern gates—in other words, Antonium has been completely sealed off!”
“What the hell kind of crazy nonsense is that?!”
Even in the bewildering situation, the Great Alliance responded swiftly.
Telepathy, items, every means and method available.
They informed their allies in the Claudi territory of Antonium’s closure.
“I’ll return to reality at once and deliver the news to the Magic Tower!”
And so, the news of Antonium was conveyed to reality.
But time on the Arcana Continent flowed four times faster than in reality. Considering the time difference, and even more so the weight of the burdens Hoyeol was shouldering in reality…
Nam Taemin cautiously opened his mouth.
“I think we should at least find some sort of clue first.”
What could they do?
Cooperate with the dwarves, their fellow members of the Holy War Alliance, to figure out Antonium’s situation? They wanted to, desperately, but circumstances would not allow it.
Hisagi shook his head.
“There are more than one or two things to pay attention to on the continent.”
Had they not already experienced it?
The beings of the Demon Realm, and their alien, overwhelming destructive power.
Discus might have been nothing more than the beginning.
They could not overlook it.
The battle for the Demon King’s throne, and even the battle for the Ten Thrones, had already begun.
They could not take their eyes off [Behemoth’s Maw].
What if they summoned the Iron Castle, which was guarding [Behemoth’s Maw], to Antonium, only for demons to surge back out of Behemoth’s Maw in that gap?
“I don’t even want to imagine it.”
Nam Taemin bit his lip.
“So is the best we can do to hope it’s nothing serious?”
But they couldn’t just stand by.
“For now, everyone spread out and gather information.”
“It may simply be a quest.”
“You heard him, right? Contact us if you find anything.”
Centered around Antonium, the villages Hoyeol had reversed had been rebuilt. In those villages, there would surely be people who had left Antonium for various reasons and had been unable to return.
“We’ll just have to hope something turns up.”
It was burdensome to disperse their forces, but.
There was no helping it.
Besides, did they not have reliable reinforcements in sight?
The Quernberg Mechanical Towers.
“To think those mechanical towers were Akshan’s secret weapons.”
“I still can’t believe it, even after going in and coming out of one myself.”
“……
Hey, what is that?”
Leonie’s brow furrowed.
“That was when I really started cooperating with Mr. Hoyeol.”
“That is a story I have not heard.”
“Why would I tell you that?”
Nam Taemin and Hisagi didn’t even pretend to listen. Her instincts were the very definition of useless. Rumors about Leonie’s intuition had spread through the Berserker guild members to the Great Alliance.
“No, look at that, you bastards.”
But this time, it wasn’t a hunch.
“What are we supposed to look at? You’re making a fuss over nothing aga—”
“It just moved! That thing way over there!!”
“……
What?”
Creak, creak, creak—
“!!!”
Because they could see it with their eyes, and hear it with their ears.
It came from the far north.
The sound of enormous gears meshing and turning.
“The Quernberg Mechanical Towers are moving!”
Clank—
The earth trembled and shook.
If one had to describe it, it was as though the mechanical towers had begun stamping their feet.
What that situation meant was simple.
“Is this also because of the time difference? Things are happening several times more often, aren’t they?”
Akshan’s secret weapons.
To the extent that the Quernberg Mechanical Towers had all begun operating at once.
An enemy worthy of that.
In other words, it meant demons were approaching from the north.
Shing.
The three guild masters of the Great Alliance shouted.
“Prepare for battle!”
“Evacuate the villagers first.”
“We must make active use of the Quernberg Mechanical Towers.”
The Great Alliance’s forces had scattered in all directions to gather information on Antonium. As the Sage of Tokyo, Hisagi, said, they had to utilize the Quernberg Mechanical Towers as allies and enter battle.
It was then.
[Negative energy is surging.]
A message appeared before their eyes.
The three guild masters.
And roughly twenty guild members flinched.
It was a message unfamiliar even to those who had been through every kind of hardship.
“For now, it isn’t a status abnormality!”
In Arcana’s system, messages did not appear for no reason. Even more so after the Cataclysm. Therefore, the fact that an unfamiliar message had appeared meant it carried that much weight.
[The energy of the Demon Realm amplifies malice.]
“……!”
At that point, some of them realized.
Whoooo.
Dark clouds were spreading from the northern sky.
Yes, the message just now was like a prologue.
To put it simply.
It was an extravagant production displayed before the appearance of a big shot.
Leonie crooked the corner of her mouth.
“Just how amazing is this bastard supposed to be?”
Even before its appearance message had been displayed.
“Why is it pointlessly setting the mood like this?”
Of course, that crooked question did not last long.
Yes, at least the three guild masters present here had experience.
Hisagi’s snake-like eyes narrowed even further.
“……
This is.”
It was familiar.
The movement of the clouds.
The pressure felt from the sky.
And at last, even the roar that struck their eardrums.
“Kraaaaaa—!”
[The Fallen Ice Dragon, Frostnax, appears.]
The fallen ancient dragon, Eunaxus.
Only after facing Frostnax did they understand.
That there had not been a single lie in Hoyeol’s words.
“Damn it……!”
Had he said that even if Eunaxus had fallen into becoming an evil dragon, he had not lost his pride? Those words were true. They could feel it from the Dragon Fear it unleashed.
[Status abnormality, ‘Obedience,’ has occurred.]
[Your senses obey the King of All Things.]
[Warning: You cannot control your body.]
[The King of All Things desires your ‘death.’]
[Health regeneration has stopped.]
[Mana regeneration has stopped.]
……
“……
Insane.”
It was blatant killing intent.
At this moment, the evil dragon casting its shadow from the sky was unleashing Dragon Fear with the resolve to kill everything in sight. The players, at least, were in a better state.
Nam Taemin gritted his teeth and turned his gaze.
“Damn it……!”
Arcanians were not merely convulsing all over; they were foaming at the mouth and fainting.
Realistically, it was impossible to save them and flee.
The sealed, tightly shut walls of Antonium.
Unless Antonium opened its gates,
no matter where they ran,
there would be no place safe from the rampaging evil dragon.
So there was only one decision they could make.
“It’s our second time, so shouldn’t we do better than the first?”
Frostnax.
They had to hunt that fallen Ice Dragon.
Hisagi nodded while putting his cold mind to work.
‘We cannot hope for the Commander-in-Chief’s help here.’
The time difference between the Arcana Continent and reality.
Even if they had delivered the news of Antonium,
Hoyeol would have his own schedule.
Even if he had entered the Arcana Continent immediately.
‘The Arcana Continent is vast.’
Northern Antonium.
Unless he happened to be in a location similar to theirs, he would not be able to immediately grasp Frostnax’s appearance. Hisagi’s gaze turned toward the Quernberg Mechanical Towers.
‘Perhaps.’
Had he taken even this into account.
And placed the Quernberg Mechanical Towers near Antonium?
He could not fathom that intention, but his thoughts ended there.
Clank.
Around the upper levels of the Quernberg Mechanical Towers.
Chachachak.
Countless silver needles sprouted from the gaps separating floor from floor.
Was there no need to preserve blood, tears, or order before demons?
Furthermore, because they were machines.
Was that why they did not shrink back from status abnormalities, nor from Dragon Fear?
Shushushushuk.
Because they immediately fired countless silver needles at Frostnax as it descended. The number of Quernberg Mechanical Towers deployed to the north of Antonium was roughly a dozen.
The number of silver needles fired by each mechanical tower had to be, at minimum, thousands of times that.
Even so, stopping Frostnax was impossible.
Swaaaaaak—
Intact dragon wings flapped.
Cold swept in.
The silver needles that had been rushing forward froze as they were and fell to the ground.
Nam Taemin let out a hollow laugh.
“You were holding back an incredible amount, Eunaxus.”
The King of All Things.
No.
Now, the Tyrant of All Things fallen into evil.
That was a dragon’s full power.
Nam Taemin clenched his teeth.
[Berserk].
If he relied on his wild nature, he should be able to shake off the fear.
[Skill, ‘Berserk,’ has failed to activate.]
However, the tyrant did not even permit them to go wild before it.
It merely wished for them to obey before it.
And in the end, to meekly submit.
“Huuup.”
Extreme cold slowly bore down on them.
In an instant, their lungs began to freeze.
Leonie struggled to open her mouth.
“Fuck… It’s… colder than Russia, isn’t it?”
If they had not dispersed their forces, could they have struggled even a little?
No, this was on a different level. Among the healer players of the Great Alliance, there was no one capable of healing [Obedience], as well as a freezing-type status abnormality of this degree.
But it was too early to despair.
“……?”
Gooooo.
All at once, vast mana enveloped the Great Alliance.
Messages refreshed without pause.
[Pure healing mana dwells within you.]
[Status abnormality, ‘Obedience,’ has been removed.]
[Status abnormality, ‘Freezing,’ has been removed.]
……
Every choice must have a valid reason.
There were no exceptions even to the strict rules of the Magic Tower.
If Matisse had set foot on the Arcana Continent through sheer ability, and Bensch through his blood ties to the Imperial Court mage Nash, then Bellier, who had accompanied them out of the tower, also needed a valid reason.
“It seems our connection runs rather deep, doesn’t it?”
“Senior Bellier……?”
“Thank you, but how are you here?!”
Swish, swish.
Green hair swayed in the cold wind.
Bellier answered with a gentle smile.
“Because I found out. How to purify the evil fruit.”