part0016

Despite the Scylla’s reluctance to let the elves ride on its back, it flew toward the elven kingdom at top speed. Every now and then, the Scylla would grumble and tell the elves not to carelessly touch its scales, that it should just cling onto the small horns protruding on its back.

For some reason, the Scylla seemed peeved whenever the elves chatted with Lord Evander. Every time the elves laughed along with its God, growls would come from the Scylla’s mouth. Afraid of incurring the seven-headed creature’s wrath, the elves eventually decided to shut their mouths.

After more than a dozen hours, they finally arrived at the elven kingdom.

The Scylla landed at the foot of the largest eleven oak in the kingdom. It menacingly glared at the elven warriors below, who immediately surrounded it upon its arrival.

“Stop,” said a familiar voice.

The elven warriors looked at the top of the Scylla’s body. Standing there was the King of Elves, the priestess, the commander, and several guards. Beside the king was the infamous human—the alleged God of the Scylla.

King Melandrach started introducing the unannounced guest, “The Earth Scylla and its mast—”

“God,” corrected the Scylla.

King Melandrach coughed. “And its God came here today as our esteemed guests. Lower your bows. Sheath your swords. Show your respect, warriors.”

The elven warriors looked at each other, before eventually lowering their weapons. They’d heard about the Earth God’s revelation to the priestess. They somehow understood why the seven-headed monster and it’s God had come to their city.

The warriors opened up a path leading toward the royal palace.

“Lord Evander, if you please,” said the king.

“Of course. Please lead the way,” said Lark.

With the king and the priestess at the lead, Lark entered the royal palace of the elven kingdom. Unlike the king’s castle in the capital, this looked incredibly modest. Everything, from the walls to the tables and chairs, was made of wood. Thumb-sized orbs of light, which looked like fairies at first glance, hovered at the ceiling, illuminating everything with bright light. Light spirits. Hundreds of them at that.

“According to the history passed down by our ancestors, this used to be the burial ground of the elven royal family. This elven oak itself,” said King Melandrach as they made their way toward the highest floor of the palace. “We believe it grew from the body of the first King of Elves.”

Lark nodded as he appreciated the palace’s simple, yet elegant interior. “It looks amazing, Your Majesty.”

King Melandrach smiled. He’d noticed before: unlike the Scylla, this human treated them as his equals. “This palace is the pride, the treasure of our kingdom. I believe it’s impossible to see an elven oak larger and sturdier than this one.”

Lark remembered the elven oaks he’d seen in the Forbidden Region’s labyrinth. Although the elven oaks he’d seen there were larger than most of the elven oaks in this kingdom, they were still a lot smaller compared to this one.

From the corner of his eye, Lark noticed that the priestess had been stealing glances at him every now and then. Rather than the fear shown by the officials they passed by along the way, her eyes were filled with bewilderment and curiosity.

“You said that we should install the barrier in the most secure place in the palace,” said King Melandrach. “I believe this is the most suitable place for that, Lord Evander.”

King Melandrach stopped in front of a large, wooden door guarded by four elven warriors.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The guards pushed the door open, revealing a large room without any windows. It was surprisingly empty, apart from the six human-sized guardian golems standing next to the walls and the thick wooden pillar at the center of the room.

“These guardian golems will attack anyone that enters this room, unless they’re accompanied by someone from the royal family,” said King Melandrach. “Each of them is strong enough to defeat a hundred elves.”

“I see,” said Lark.

So, this was why this room was the most secure place in the royal palace. Probably a safe haven for the royals, in case an intruder managed to breach all of the palace’s defenses.

“The mithril shield once used by the warrior king is stored inside that pillar, along with his sword and bow. I hope the shield will be enough for the barrier, Lord Evander.”

The king went to the pillar located at the center of the room and opened the hatch in the middle, revealing a silver-black round shield, a silver-black sword, and a bow made of elven oak. He took the shield and walked toward Lark.

“Your Majesty,” said Commander Khuumal. “That’s… the national treasure of the elven kingdom.”

Unlike the king, the commander was clearly reluctant to hand the treasure to an outsider.

King Melandrach said, “This shield has been gathering dust inside that pillar for hundreds of years. Now that our race is facing the potential risk of annihilation, what use is this shield to us? God Gaia said it herself. The only way for our race to survive is by seeking Lord Evander’s help.”

“Lord Evander.” King Melandrach respectfully handed the shield to Lark. “This is the only mithril we currently have. I hope it will suffice for the barrier spell you’re about to cast.”

“A national treasure.” Lark nodded. “I’ll use it well, King Melandrach.”

The king said to the guards, “You may go.”

The guards were reluctant at first, but after seeing that Commander Khuumal was staying with the king and the priestess, they heeded the order.

“Then, I’ll start,” said Lark.

The bracer on Lark’s right hand slowly morphed into a beautiful, white sword. Using the sword, he started carving the magic formation on the shield. King Melandrach, the commander, and the priestess knew how difficult this was to do. Mithril was, after all, harder than steel.

Fortunately, carving a magic formation on the round shield was a lot easier than engraving it on a phylactery. Furthermore, the Sword of Morpheus was capable of cutting through adamantine, stronger than mithril. This made things a lot easier for Lark.

Without stopping, Lark drew the complex magic formation for almost an hour. When he was finally done, he channeled massive amounts of mana into the artifact.

A torrent of mana flowed from the Sword of Morpheus into the mithril shield. The eyes of the elves present in the room widened upon seeing this. They’d never seen such massive amounts of mana before. The amount of mana was so astronomical that they could clearly see it flowing with their naked eyes.

What was that sword? And how was it possible for an artifact to store that much mana?

Soon, the runes carved on the mithril shield violently glowed and expanded. Magic formations started forming at the feet of the king, the priestess, and the commander. These magic formations overlapped with each other, with Lark at the center.

“With this spell, the three of you will be given the authority to operate this barrier,” said Lark. “Is this alright with you, King Melandrach, Priestess?”

The king and the priestess nodded their heads.

After receiving the elves’ consent, Lark activated the spell. The magic formation shattered into numerous particles of light, and a translucent bubble, which resembled glass, wrapped around the mithril shield, before expanding outward. It enclosed the pillar first, before growing in size and enclosing the entire royal palace itself. Eventually, the barrier expanded enough to enclose the whole City of Aerith, the nearby garrisons, and a small portion of the forest.

Lark placed the mithril shield inside the pillar at the center of the room and closed the hatch.

“With this, the elven race should be fine, even if by chance the demons decide to invade this kingdom,” said Lark.

Lark’s sword turned into a bracer once again. With the help of his sword, it should be possible for Lark to cast several more pinnacle-grade spells.

“I’ll be incredibly busy after this, King Melandrach,” said Lark. “Please coordinate with Big Mona regarding our trade while I’m gone.”

Lark’s next goal was the fortification of Blackstone Town.

The Black Expanse—An uncharted territory hundreds of kilometers west of the Mullgray Islands.

The territory of the ragiacrus, sea wyverns capable of annihilating fleets. Even the youngest ragiacrus was said to be at least five meters tall, with the adults reaching up to twenty meters in size. Arrows and harpoons were useless against these monsters’ thick scales. Furthermore, these monsters moved in shivers – a single group consisted of at least seven of these monsters.

Even the most adventurous of pirates did not dare go through this part of the ocean in fear of becoming prey to these monsters.

Right now, everyone living on the Mullgray Islands stared in the direction of the Black Expanse, particularly at the skies right above the territory of the ragiacrus.

The heavens rumbled, as though they were going to be split in half any moment now.

“What the hell is that?” mumbled one of the pirates.

Even from this distance, they could clearly see the massive vortex of lightning in the sky. The clouds were being ripped apart by an invisible force. From inside the vortex of lightning, a sphere slowly emerged. The sphere was tiny at first, far smaller than the one that appeared above the Lake of the Full Moon. But as minutes went by, the sphere slowly grew in size, as though someone was inflating it from the inside.

Seeing this, the personal guards of the current King of Pirates ran to his room and violently knocked on the door.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

The door was yanked open, revealing a tall, naked, dark-skinned man with a missing ear. A large scar, that he’d obtained from fighting against an adult ragiacrus back in his younger years, ran across his chest and back. Proof of his survival against those monsters.

The current King of Pirates.

The absolute ruler of the ocean.

Pirate King “Ragiacrus Hunter” Zayn Pierson.

“So noisy,” Zayn yawned as he picked his ears. “What is it?”

Although he currently looked nonchalant, the guards knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to cut them down if he found their reports irrelevant. This was the same man who killed an adult ragiacrus with his bare fists while swimming in the Black Expanse, naked.

“It’s… You need to see it, Your Majesty!” one of the guards finally mustered the courage to speak. “The sky! A massive sphere appeared in the sky!”

The Pirate King furrowed his brow. He grabbed his cutlass, ready to cut the heads off the guards for uttering gibberish and disturbing his sleep.

“We’re speaking the truth, Your Majesty!”

The Pirate King stared at the guards, his eyes predatory. “A sphere in the sky? You understand that I will feed you to the lagmyx if you’re lying, right?”

“A massive sphere really did appear in the skies above the Black Expanse!”

“That’s right!”

“The Black Expanse, huh?” said the Pirate King. It was opposite the direction of his balcony. He needed to go outside to see it.

The Pirate King donned his robe, strapped his cutlass to his waist, and went outside. Dozens of guards and palace officials were already outside, staring at the sky.

Looking up, the King of Pirates saw the thing the guards had been pestering him about.

Zayn Pierson was capable of body strengthening magic. He could easily amplify his mana senses, unlike most pirates.

And right now, he could feel it.

The massive amounts of mana oozing out of the sphere.

“Your Majesty! Monsters!” A messenger ran toward Zayn, his face pallid.

“Monsters!” huffed the messenger. His voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Tens of thousands of them are coming this way as we speak!”

Screeches were heard. Zayn looked up and saw innumerable black dots in the sky. His instinct screamed at him that a catastrophe would soon befall his kingdom. He amplified his eyesight using magic and was terrified by what he saw.

Flying monsters. No, demons. Several thousand of them.

“Monsters from the Black Expanse are coming to the island, Your Majesty!” cried the messenger. He fell on his knees and grabbed the Pirate King’s leg, as though clinging for dear life.

“Black Expanse?” snarled the King of Pirates. “Are you telling me that there are more monsters coming here through the ocean?”

Why had these abominations suddenly appeared?

A single look at those grotesque-looking flying demons was enough for him to realize that they were out to massacre them. There was no way those creatures didn’t feed on humans. He was sure of it.

Zayn clenched his fists.

The former King of Pirates would probably have fled by now, but not him. He’d killed an adult ragiacrus with his bare hands before. He was hailed as the strongest human in his nation. He would never run.

He said, “Gather our men! Prepare for battle!”

Zayn’s eyes glinted with dangerous light.

Monsters. Demons. It did not matter. The pirates of Mullgray Islands—the ruler of the oceans—wouldn’t give up without a fight.