Chapter 126: Welcome to Akkad
Boom—!!!
A cloud of crimson flames suddenly consumed the entire clearing and rose up in a mushroom cloud, but it didn’t obliterate everything in its path.
Kaelen had deliberately used the Divine-tier Spark of Extinction alone, without any more catalyst like the Primordial Tier Staff or Supreme Elder Dragon Flames he’d extracted on slaying SKD, because he wasn’t certain it wouldn’t affect his mother.
If she was inside the small cathedral Kaelen could see, then it definitely had to be underground to contain an entire civilization.
The Supreme Dragon Flames could very much destroy both everything above and below even without the toxic mist serving as fuel.
"Attack." He ordered, and his shadow army roared fiercely as they stormed into the flames to take out anyone who had survived the explosion.
This would give Kaelen enough time to get to his mother before anyone could obstruct him—
Bang!
Kaelen tilted his head just as the blue pointed bullet phased through him, the force surrounding it drawing a thin line across Kaelen’s left cheek that drew blood.
The bullet had barely passed through him when Kaelen immediately reacted and activated the Reaping Angels Wings.
The eight rings seemed to have been carved out from the void itself, materialized around Kaelen and rotated around him as he speedily rose into the air and his open palms shot out to the side.
Formless Dragon Sword Art.
From the roaring fire materialized countless swords that rose into the air behind him, forming a battalion that aimed at the high-rise building where the white-haired sniper stood, her hand already moving to the trigger after cocking the rifle for another round, while another woman was running towards her from behind.
It was the same woman from last time who could teleport.
Kaelen knew if she got to the white-haired sharpshooter, the tables might turn when they began raining bullets every second from different locations.
He flicked his wrist with a mental command, and the flame swords, which had grown bright and tiny in the sky like numerous stars, aligned behind Kaelen and instantly shot forward, raining down on the building and blowing it into smithereens.
It was hard to see if he got the women, or if they simply escaped like last time, when the kill notifications sprang in his vision.
[You have killed the Akkadian Warrior (Aria Cross)]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 8,000,000,000,000 Evolution Points]
"Huh?"
[You have killed the Akkadian Warrior (Cici Estefan)]
[10,000× Reward Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 5,000,000,000,000 Evolution Points]
"I actually killed them?" Kaelen mumbled in surprise.
He was certain from the speed of the teleporting woman, she should have arrived before Aria just before the hit strike. And from their last battle, Kaelen could tell that was enough time to teleport them out of there.
"Aria Cross and Cici Estefan. Akkadian Warriors..." Kaelen suddenly trailed off as he read the first name again.
"Aria Cross... C-Cross?"
For all he knew, it could be a mere coincidence that the Akkadians had similar last names to humans. It could even be from them that humanity’s last names were derived if it was indeed true they were here at the beginning of mankind.
Except... his mother had been with them for the past ten to eleven years.
’Wait... ten years? That’s not nearly enough for the white-haired woman who looked around his age. She couldn’t possibly be ten or eleven... right?’
Kaelen was weirdly disturbed by the mere thought of it, when he suddenly froze as another thought crossed his mind.
It was the Akkadian Warrior who could teleport.
If she had the ability to teleport, why didn’t she do that from where she was to arrive sooner to save herself and Aria? Why run all the way and risk it all when you could have it easier?
Kaelen hadn’t forgotten their last encounter, which seemed to have taken a toll on the woman after she forced teleported themselves inside. It could be she was still too weak to use her abilities to the peak like before...
Or it could be she never planned on saving herself and Aria.
Kaelen could confidently confirm one thing. The last time he clashed with the woman, he should’ve killed them twice. Once in their clash where they both miraculously survived, and the second when the nightmare shadow had consumed them.
It was either both women were well above Tier 9... or they were players.
Just like the alpha wolf woman.
And if that were to be the case, getting killed was the easiest way to return to your last saved spawn point.
Where could possibly be an Akkadian Warrior’s spawn point if it wasn’t their very base?
Kaelen’s head instantly turned towards the cathedral.
The women didn’t die out of miscalculation. They had deliberately used Kaelen to stage their deaths, so they could arrive back at the base before Yelena and Lindsey made it down there.
"...Fuck."
Kaelen instantly became a blur and appeared before the cathedral. He didn’t bother knocking and walking through the door like a normal person, but conveniently broke in through the window and landed inside the church.
It was empty.
Kaelen spread his perception across the hall at once, and it immediately picked up an incredibly dense mana signature he hadn’t picked up earlier, coming from behind the pulpit.
He arrived behind it in a blink, and there he saw an open trapdoor where Yelena and Lindsey had passed through.
To be certain, he used his Sharp Senses to scan the entire building, only to pick up the same unique mana signature coming from the trapdoor.
This was all Kaelen needed to know before jumping inside.
It was dark, but he could tell it was a roughly dug-out tunnel that his Sharp Senses told him extended into a maze.
Shadow Step.
Kaelen disappeared from the spot and appeared at the exit where the door was already partially open.
It was obviously Yelena and Lindsey who had a head start.
Kaelen burst through the metal door and found himself in a serene white corridor of a facility.
Kaelen didn’t have time to start searching through the identical doors by the sides as he made it deeper into the underground facility, when a figure suddenly stepped out of a corner from the other end.
It was a woman who stood there motionlessly as she stared at Kaelen for a moment.
Kaelen tried to read her evolution realm, but what he picked up made his eyes widen in surprise as he instantly conjured wind blades aimed at the woman.
The strange woman in a white ceremonial garment didn’t flinch and simply smiled warmly.
"Young master Kaelen, it’s been a while. You’re all grown up now. We’ve been expecting you," the woman said kindly.
Kaelen only frowned as he used his Sharp Senses to scout the area for any more of this woman, before using it across the underground facility, then across the entire clearing. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
’Impossible...’ Kaelen mused and subconsciously took a step back.
Is this how it feels?
At that moment, Kaelen felt the same way all the people who he’d pulled into his World Authority Fragment felt when they realized they had stepped into Kaelen’s world. Because Kaelen had just realized he was alone with this woman for as far as his Sharp Senses could reach.
That could only mean one thing...
Kaelen had been pulled into an alternate realm without his knowledge... just like he pulled his enemies into his.
"Where am I?" Kaelen asked cautiously.
"I apologize for bringing you in this way, but fear not, you’re in your rightful place."
"And what’s that supposed mean?"
The woman smiled warmly as she spread her arms.
"Welcome to Akkad."
Snap—