Chapter 124: Evolution: Runic Jotun (1)
Silas’s mouth slowly fell open.
"One hundred thousand percent?"
The system sounded unusually confident.
[Correction. The probability actually exceeds calculable limits, but I am very sure of my deductions.]
Silas stood in silence for a while before turning to the others to break the news to them. Alpha looked between the impossibly enormous, ginormous, gigantic stone tablet and the system screen only Silas could see, not like he could see it, but yeah... that was just the action. Anyway... he asked...
"Should I be worried?"
"Very."
"That’s not comforting."
Silas carefully shifted Gromda in his arms before stepping down from the Crimson Reaper Queen’s back. The moment both of Gromda’s feet touched the ground, the world literally shuddered.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The earth trembled violently beneath them, causing cracks to spread through the clearing at astonishing speed, racing outward like enormous snakes. Trees hundreds of feet tall swayed despite there being no wind.
"What the—?!"
Alpha almost lost his footing, while Chloe stumbled slightly before ice formed beneath her boots, anchoring her in place.
Silas instinctively tightened his hold on Gromda.
"She’s getting hotter."
Her skin wasn’t merely warm anymore. It was glowing. A faint emerald light seeped through every pore on her body, bathing the surrounding ground in an eerie radiance.
Her breathing deepened while her muscles tensed. Every strand of her white hair slowly floated upward and even seemed to glow.
The giant stone hands behind the tablet moved, rendering everyone speechless. No one spoke as stone cracked away from the enormous fingers, causing dust to cascade downward like waterfalls.
One of the fingers twitched, followed by another, and the sound alone resembled mountains grinding against one another, which wasn’t far-fetched because those hands were mountain-sized. Seeing over 90-foot-tall hands with fingers moving wasn’t exactly... funny, you know?
RUMBLE... RUMBLE...
Alpha stared blankly. "Those weren’t statues..."
"They’re still alive..." Chloe whispered.
The system spoke again, and it wasn’t encouraging in the slightest.
[Notice!]
[Jotun Inheritance reacting to compatible bloodline.]
[Heir detected.]
Silas frowned.
"Heir?"
[Affirmative.]
[The Orc race possesses dormant Jotun ancestry.]
[Genetic resonance detected.]
[Gromda has fulfilled all evolutionary prerequisites.]
As if responding to those words, the colossal stone tablet began to shine. Ancient runes, each dozens of feet tall, ignited one after another, changing colors from blue to gold, to crimson, then to emerald.
Thousands of symbols awakened simultaneously, illuminating the valley. The surrounding mana went insane. It poured toward Gromda from every direction, and Silas actually saw it instinctively. This was not through ordinary sight, but through Fate Thread Vision.
Countless mana threads stretching across Gorgath suddenly converged upon this single location; rivers of mana, mountains of mana, and entire forests seemed to exhale glowing streams toward the inheritance grounds.
"What..." Silas muttered. "It’s sucking in the world’s mana."
The system immediately corrected him, and although it sounded okay, it wasn’t exactly... okay.
[Negative. It is not taking, but rather, the world is offering its mana for the inheritance.]
Silas immediately explained what was happening to the others as all of them were feeling apprehensive, and the distinction made everyone’s expressions change. Mana wasn’t being stolen. Gorgath itself was willingly feeding its future inheritor.
Gromda suddenly floated, causing Silas’s grip to slip away naturally, as though an invisible force had gently lifted her from his arms, which... might be true.
"Gromda?"
She didn’t answer. Her eyes remained closed as her body drifted upward until she hovered nearly twenty feet above the ground. Her white shorts and black tank top, which she’d become accustomed to as her normal wear, fluttered gently despite the violent mana storm surrounding her.
Then...
CRACK!!
The stone tablet split a bit, enough for an enormous line of brilliant violet light to appear down its center. The pair of gigantic hands behind it slowly tightened their grip, and a voice echoed throughout the valley.
The voice wasn’t loud, but it seemed to come from everywhere at once. It was ancient, deep, and powerful. And it made them shiver in fear and respect.
"Heir..."
Alpha froze.
"Did...Did the tablet just talk?"
"...Worthy..."
The voice ignored him.
"...Return..."
"...To the beginning..."
"...Become..."
"...Whole..."
The moment those final words faded, the system’s screen exploded with notifications.
[Jotun Inheritance Commencing...]
[Evolution Chamber Initializing...]
[Ancestral Bloodline Resonance: Confirmed.]
[Evolution Sequence Locked.]
Silas instinctively took a step forward.
"Gromda!"
Before he could move another inch, a blinding wall of violet energy erupted around her.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The explosion of mana blasted outward in every direction. Silas immediately crossed his arms in front of his face to protect himself. Chloe erected an enormous wall of ice, while Alpha dug both of his daggers into the earth to avoid being blown away, though it proved very, very difficult.
Even the Crimson Reaper Queen screeched as it was forced several meters backward. When the light subsided, a gigantic cocoon had formed where Gromda had been. It resembled a mountain-sized crystal.
Countless runes flowed across its surface like rivers of light, and inside it, the faint silhouette of Gromda floated peacefully.
The cocoon pulsed, and each of its pulses shook the entire valley. The system’s tone suddenly became far more serious than before.
[Warning!]
[Evolution has entered an irreversible phase.]
[Estimated Completion Time: Unknown.]
[Environmental Hazard Level: Catastrophic.]
Silas narrowed his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
The answer came immediately.
[Recommendation: Leave the Area.]
"...That’s it?"
[Recommendation Updated: Leave Immediately!]
The ground answered before anyone could. A fissure hundreds of meters long split the valley apart, causing entire cliffs to collapse. The colossal stone hands began pulling themselves free from the earth.
It was not just the hands, but shoulders, arms, and finally a chest. Something unimaginably massive was beginning to awaken underneath the inheritance grounds. Alpha slowly looked up, and his jaw dropped.
"Silas..."
"I know."
"..."
"..."
"...Run?"
Silas nodded. "...Run."
None of them argued.
They spun around and sprinted toward the Crimson Reaper Queen just as another pulse burst from the cocoon, shaking half the valley and announcing to all of Gorgath that the era of the Jotun Heir had begun.