Chapter 171
"What on earth is this...?"
I was shocked, almost to the point of being bewildered.
No, I was in awe.
Eilin, who had just been struck by lightning in front of us, turned around, not knowing what had happened. Her face showed both happiness that the monster was down and a hint of regret, wishing she could have trained a bit more.
"Why? What's wrong?"
"Well, um..."
Eilin glanced around at me and the other members, puzzled. Everyone was staring only at the shape of light rising up behind her shoulders.
On Eilin's body, the light was shining.
Dozens of brilliant strands of light stretched upward, fluttering. They looked just like wings.
Wings of white light shimmered like the wings of an angel. That white light refracted and dispersed in the sunlight, creating a rainbow-like effect.
It was the appearance of an angel descending.
Was this what real divinity looked like?
Eilin finally looked over her own shoulder. She saw the strands of light fluttering, but didn't seem to fully understand what they were.
"What is this?"
"You've grown wings of divinity."
"Wings?"
"Big sister, I want wings too."
Yuri went up to Eilin and curiously examined the wings of light from all angles. Allen finally noticed as well and came running, his jaw dropped in disbelief.
"How do you feel right now?"
"Just... refreshed."
"Right now, you have wings of light streaming from you, shaped like strands of strength. It seems you formed them unknowingly. Try to sense it—maybe you can control it."
"Give me a moment."
Eilin stood still and focused.
After a short while, the strands of light that had been rhythmically rising and falling gradually stopped moving.
"They stopped."
"Really?"
When Eilin focused, the wings of light fluttered again. Maybe because she was controlling them, the outstretched wings began to shrink.
Then, they gradually faded away.
If anyone else had seen this scene, they'd probably think an apostle of God had descended into these temple ruins.
Could this really be possible just because of divinity?
Since I'd crossed into this world, I guessed I'd been chosen by a god—and so had Eilin.
"How did you feel when the wings spread out?"
"I could sense all the divinity, but my desire to protect our party was no different than yesterday."
"So there wasn't any special trigger."
Eilin nodded.
Just as I raised my barrier, she had summoned the wings of divinity with the single-minded intent to protect us.
Along with the disappearance of the wings, the force of lightning surging from her body also gradually faded away. Even the rainbow light slowly seemed to be absorbed and vanished.
"All the strength went into the 'tree', right?"
"Yes. I think it's easier than yesterday."
Myself and the other members had already done this a few days ago, and Eilin finally managed to hide her divinity as well. Only Allen didn't know how to suppress his strength—since he didn't have Osu's seed.
It had started five days ago.
It really felt like Osu's seed in my body had started to sprout. An intangible tree had begun to grow steadily.
This wasn't just a figure of speech—it genuinely felt like a great tree was inside my body. So, I tried sending my strength into that tree, and it was absorbed.
I'd started this because I couldn't live my daily life constantly emitting electricity; the tree completely drew in my strength. Afterward, the others succeeded one after another.
The giant tree within our bodies might just be... a conduit linking us to the divine realm, or perhaps our spirits were connected to Osu, the divine tree.
"Have the members search the underground area first."
"Understood."
The members headed to the underground where the monster had emerged.
We walked over to the monster.
Even though it was dead, the monster was still releasing lightning. But the power of darkness had disappeared. That meant the darkness didn't come from underground—it was the monster itself exuding it.
"Eilin, can you still feel darkness?"
"No, I can't feel any at all now."
It seemed we'd absorbed not just the dark power the monster held, but the darkness that had shrouded the entire island. That's probably why the monster's power had weakened.
A member who had gone down the pit came back up immediately—the underground didn't seem that large.
"Nothing down there?"
"There are lightning mana stones. The monster absorbed nearly all of them, so their power is weak."
"Really?"
I moved over to the pit and peered down.
There was a large treasure chamber below, likely the temple's underground. I could see blue rocks as well.
I jumped straight down to look around.
Except for the blue rocks, there was nothing else. They were rare mana stones, but the remaining lightning power was faint.
If mined, these could be used for magic array components, but the reward is low compared to the effort. I couldn't send workers down here, either.
"Let's go."
"Yes!"
We climbed up the rope ladder the team had let down. We were about to leave the island when Allen ran over, hammering at the monster's horn.
Bam— *Tadang*—
Every time the hammer struck, sparks of lightning flew.
"Why are you trying to get that horn?"
"Gonna use it for my hammer."
We didn't really need it since we already had Asgard's bones. But the giant monster's two horns seemed to act as amplifiers. They were still emitting lightning.
Should we use them as lightning amplification material?
Maybe just set a piece into a sword.
*Dadang—Bujijijik—*
Allen hammered away and cracks began to form in the horn. In the past, he wouldn't have been able to break it.
Bam— Bam— *Tuh-kang—*
The horn split vertically as cracks ran through it. Because it broke into several sections, we got long fragments.
"Break this one too."
"You gonna make me a hammer?"
"Like our greatsword?"
"Yeah! Set something like an amplification gem in my hammer handle, just like you did with your greatsword. Put a Flame gem in too, if you can."
I took out the magic pouch.
Allen looked at it and said,
"While you're putting in the horn pieces, just add my gold stash too. I should've asked you earlier, damn."
Grinning, I put the fragments of the monster's horn into the magic pouch. The horn wasn't as hard as metal, so it couldn't become equipment directly. I was planning to process it into reinforcement stones.
"Everyone, let's get off this island. Good work!"
"Thank you for all your hard work!"
The faces of the members making for the stairs were very bright. At the moment, we couldn't use primordial divinity as mana, but if we waited, it would transform into lightning mana.
The only problem—when would that happen?
At this rate, it would take over a year.
Eilin could now defend herself completely. Allen's mana had grown enormously, and the Tuji brothers had almost caught up to our team's level.
Heading toward the sea, our hearts swelled with the anticipation and excitement of a new beginning—a fresh transformation.
Now, that time seemed to be approaching.
/ / /
Our voyage recommenced.
This time, things were fairly comfortable.
We'd secured plenty of drinking water. The fish and larvae we'd caught along the way were dried and set aside as rations for a few days. We didn't even need fire—we could cook with our hands.
"Allen, pull in that mana, will you?"
"But I don't know how!"
"So you're going to spend your whole life sparking 'chichichik—' with that electricity? It doesn't bother us, but if someone else comes near, they might die from being shocked."
Even while eating fish, Allen's body gave off sparks of lightning. All of us could hide our power deep inside, but he still couldn't do it.
"Allen, practice concentrating your mana deep in your belly—gather it all in one place. You can't travel with us if you keep emitting electricity like that."
"Do I really have to?"
"You don't want to get married someday?"
"How long do I need to train for? Teach me."
Guess he did want to settle down someday.
"Sit over here."
"You're really going to teach me?"
"You were a big help this time, after all."
Allen turned his back and sat down.
I put my hand on his back and showed him what it felt like to condense mana to a very high degree.
The more skilled you are at mana control, the deeper down in your abdomen you hide it—not that you can hide it perfectly, but at least it's hard to sense.
"By the way, Roger, how do you meet women?"
Everyone fought to suppress laughter at Allen's question.
"What do you mean how, it's up to you."
"Actually, there's a woman I like."
All eyes turned to Allen.
"Who is it? Dran?"
"No—it's a woman who works at the eastern trading post. She's a bit taller than me. Hahaha."
No wonder he went to the trading post so often...
"Let us meet her sometime. Now, concentrate again."
"All right."
In silence, I once again showed Allen the flow of mana through his back. As I did, thoughts about this new beginning grew even deeper.
It's not certain, but—
Primordial divinity holds the power of creation. It's a unique trait manifested by the effort and will of its bearer.
Meaning, I could create abilities however I wished. As long as it was within the bounds of what Nature permitted, with enough persistent effort and will, anything was possible.
Moreover, there were still five of Berserker's ultimate sword techniques I hadn't revealed. They were mostly of the Flame and Rage attributes, and I'd had no reason to show them.
Now, I felt I could finally reach the conclusion of my House's sword technique: [Sword of the Star]. I didn't need to generate lightning from mana—my mana itself now contained powerful lightning.
The five Berserker sword techniques and Sword of the Star.
To this, I planned to add a few freezing and lightning sword techniques, plus two supreme techniques.
One would be Berserker's ultimate move.
The other, the ultimate move of Scorched Earth.
Berserker's ultimate relies on the power of Rage. Rage is the chaotic power born from the collision of Flame and freezing. I would maximize the explosive force of that rage.
The ultimate of Scorched Earth is based on primordial strength. I'd pour everything I had into this skill, enough to erase everything in my surroundings.
So,
I wanted to keep reaching for greater heights.
That was my new beginning.
/ / /
We walked eastward.
Strangely, when we landed in the west part of the empire, some of the bronze knights had glowing lights in their chests.
The same happened back in Aindel, but I couldn't figure out what it meant. The brightness varied, and now only three were glowing.
In any case, I'd expected the turtle wouldn't accompany us, but hadn't thought the lion divine beasts would return to their habitats. Maybe because people had noticed them.
We arrived at the very southern tip of the far west of the empire. Since there was no village in sight, some of the members went to borrow a carriage, but even after half a day, there was no word.
We kept walking, and only when the sun was setting did two members come walking back toward us. From a distance, we could see a fishing village and boats along the shore.
This western region belonged to the territory of the Marquis of Nathan, whose House was that of the Grand Duke's sister-in-law. Our House had been driven out to the far east, and Nathan's house was made the western marquisate.
To the far east, we could see the western mountains faintly. That House's castle was at the base of the mountains—the same territory and castle where my House had once been. It was also Donnie's hometown.
"They didn't say a word?"
"No. The village atmosphere was tense. They seemed to avoid us, so we waited here."
From atop a hill, we looked down at the coast.
A long string of ramshackle houses stretched out.
It was a pirate village.
"Krapos Pirates?"
"The Krapos Pirates' headquarters are somewhere out at sea. Here, it's mostly former pirates or refugees. Some of the refugees were nobles whose lineage was wiped out."
These were the people annihilated by Syren's House.
With nowhere else to go, they probably ended up in makeshift refugee camps like this. Or maybe became pirates themselves.
"Let's go check it out."
We descended the hill with our party.
There were quite a few people, and the living conditions were better than I'd expected. The pirates didn't seem to harass them.
As we entered, the villagers stared directly at us. All wore Amir's armor and twin swords. If we wore greatswords, we'd have been identified at once.
There was one inn in the village—the only restaurant and tavern. Inside were a fair number of men, who all tensed up when they saw us.
"How can I help you?"
"Got anything to eat?"
The innkeeper looked us over.
Everyone was still wearing their helmets. Eilin and Yuri had wrapped their faces fully in long cloths.
"So, how many are you going to kill this time? Please, I beg you—just leave us be. The more revenge you take, the more you'll lose as well."
"What do you mean?"
"You'd better leave this village. Word's already gotten out that you're here. If he comes, none of you will make it out alive."
I looked at the customers.
They were frightened. There was also a strong animosity.
Some of them quietly reached for their swords.
"I warn you on his behalf—if you kill us again, he'll come to your House."
"Who do you think we are?"
"You're knights of Nathan's House, aren't you? We weren't the ones responsible for that! You killed innocent people for revenge—that's why he stepped in."
Just then—
*Clunk!*
The door opened.
"Hurry and leave! Now!"
I turned to see a man by the door.
He spoke quietly.
"No one leaves."
He must have been the man the innkeeper warned us about.
He wore a mask and a sword at his waist. His unique mana and that crimson blade were anything but ordinary.
A man dressed head-to-toe in black.
He possessed an unusual sword.
His stance was strange, too.
What on earth had happened here—
To bring such a hidden powerhouse out of hiding?