811 Artifact Manifestation
"You are kidding, right?" asked King Leon with a frown.
"Huh?!! I told you I would retire for good!! If it were not for the sudden appearance of that monster, I would not leave my cabin." retorted the old man.
"Wait… Then, who is the one that commands your Guardian all this time?" asked King Leon.
"Ahh.. That's probably that stupid axe. It said something about keeping my duty until I came back or something." said the old man.
"Your axe? *Sigh* What a mess… Angus, how is the Guardian?" asked King Leon.
"The Gram horde stopped attacking the Glass Fortress and returned to the basin. As for the guardian captain, two are missing, the other two are still trapped by Anna, and their leader… well, he is fighting Anna's monster." said Angus.
"Anna's monster? Since when have I had a monster? Wait… am I having a child? But am I too young to have a child? Does this make me a young mom?! Or single mom?" blabbering Anna.
"*BANG* Stop thinking about weird stuff!! It's the thing you created last night. Though, I am not sure what kind of monster it is." rebuked Angus while giving a head chop to Anna.
"Ouch… It hurts!! It hurts!!" said Anna while rolling around and grabbing her head
At the same time, Anna also reverted to her child version.
Ignoring the little troublemaker, "Hmm… Then, go towards the Glass Fortress first. You should clear this mess, old man." said King Leon.
"Tch… Fine. Since it was my axe doing, I will beat all of them. Who knows, he will create such a big force in just a few dozen years." said the old man.
"That will not happen if you stop them in the first place." retorted King Leon.
"Brat, how many times have I told you? I am retired!! I no longer go to the frontline or deal with this stuff. You should be glad that I go along with you this time." replied the old man.
The two men glare at each other as they release their massive mana. The whole frozen lake trembled under their pressure.
"Alright, that's enough!!" shouted Angus from the side while releasing his mana.
The two men looked at Angus with surprise and stopped their pressure.
"I don't care if you want to kill each other or fight. But, go somewhere else. I am not protecting this place just to be destroyed by your petty fight." said Angus coldly.
"Tch… Fine. Let's get this done first." said the old man.
After that, Angus and the others start to arrange things in their camp.
"So, who is this old man? As far as I remember, the Heart only has two seventh grade." said Nabe.
"Hohoho… You are thinking too much of me, Lad. I am just an old lumberjack." said the old man.
"He is the Patimura Dipo, the former Archduke of the Heart Kingdom and the last Bastion of Everwhite." said King Leon directly.
"Wait.. Then, how about the previous geezer? Isn't he called Patimura Dipo? Did it mean the Heart has four seventh grade?" asked Angus in confusion.
"Ahh.. That person. I believe he is the manifestation of my artifact. I also didn't think he would make the Guardian grow this much." said Patimura Dipo.
"Manifestation of artifacts? Is that even possible?" asked Angus.
"It's rare. But, yes. An artifact can become a person. Though, it is also the first time for me to see artifact manifestation at this level." said Nabe from the side.
"Alright, we will speak about that old man's artifact later. Now, you should retreat to a safe place first. I already contacted Duchess Amberblaze to bring some reinforcement." said King Leon.
"No, we can't do it. We can't leave this place. There are many things to prepare for the forging process." argued Angus.
Hearing this, King Leon didn't reply and only glanced at the standing Gram Monster Overlord in the distance.
'It seems it has no intention to attack us.' thought King Leon inwardly.
"Red Queen Nabe, can I trust you with these kids' safety?" asked King Leon.
"Don't worry, I already signed a contract with Angus. Even if I don't want to, I will need to help them." said Nabe casually.
"Good. Then, stay here and do what you need to do. Leave the Guardian matter to us." said King Leon.
After arranging a few things for Angus and the others, King Leon and Patimura leave the base to find the Guardian. They no longer intend to fight the Gram monster overlord and provoke the Ancient Behemoth.
King Leon and the old man had already heard about the Ancient Behemoth's prowess from Nabe and Angus. One wrong move, everyone here may end up dead along with this frozen dimension.
At that time, even Draven's space ability may be unable to escape it. Severing the time and space not only creates massive physical destruction but also may erase anything that happens in that space.
In other words, everything in this space will get destroyed and leave a trace. Unless it is a transcended being that could surpass time and space, no one could resist such a phenomenon.
In fact, they are glad that the Ancient Behemoth gave them one month to stay here. After one month, they will think about it later.
Evacuating and emigrating the residents in the Everwhite is not an easy decision. Both King Leon and the old man know about this problem and many problems following it.
After parting with King Leon and Patimura, Angus immediately fell on Jayna's arm. His breath got rougher, along with his pale face.
"Angus!!" called Jayna in worry.
Unfortunately, Angus couldn't say anything. He feels pain all over his body. His chest feels like it's getting burned from the inside. His perfect body control slowly collapses. In his vision, he keeps getting various system notifications.
"*Ding* Strength is increased by 1."
"*Ding* Strength is increased by 1."
"*Ding* Dexterity is increased by 1"
"*Ding* Dexterity is increased by 1"
"*Ding* Intelligence is increased by 1"
"*Ding* Vitality is increased by 1."
"*Ding* Vitality is increased by 1."
"*Ding* Vitality is increased…."
"*Ding* An unusual situation detected on the Mana Core."
With the last notification message in his view, Angus's vision gets blurry and plunges into the darkness. A moment later, his consciousness slowly wakes up inside the pitch-black darkness.
Angus feels lethargicness all over his body and mind. He feels like he has been in this darkness for a long time but just woke up. He also fell into a heavy water liquid and couldn't move his body properly. Still, he could breathe normally.
'Where am I? What is happening?' thought Angus.
Angus tries to contact Jayna only to find his bond with Jayna is blocked. Accurately, he feels he didn't have [Allegiance] or any other Ancient Powers.
Angus feels like his mind is thinking very slowly, like a degraded person. Yet, his consciousness could perceive all this slowness compared to his usual thought. It was a strange phenomenon, but he didn't have any sort of panic or fear. Instead, Angus feels calm and cozy.
The pitch-darkness is not something he fears or hates. He feels like he is inside his mother's womb and protected. As this sensation pleasures his mind, his mind slowly notices something inside this darkness.
'What is that? A person? Monster?' thought Angus inwardly.
Angus couldn't see what was in front of him. Every time he thought of something, the thing changed into a different shape according to his mind before blending with the darkness. He feels like his mind is getting tricked and hallucinated.
It is not a common phenomenon when someone finds a mysterious silhouette inside the pitch-black darkness according to one mind. Still, Angus couldn't just ignore this silhouette as he felt it was important to him.
Time passed by and Angus was still in the same condition as before. He feels like an eternity has passed by in this place. Yet, he couldn't do anything about it or even have any sort of fear though. *CRACK* Suddenly, he hears a small crack.
*CRACK* *CRACK* A moment later, Angus finds the darkness before him crack like a mirror. In a split second, he finally sees the silhouette inside the darkness. He could see a pitch-black dark iris glare at him before disappearing with the rest of the darkness.
Angus feels like getting hallucinated again as this scene happens so fast. Then, he feels suffocated and unable to breathe. It is as if the surrounding darkness is trying to drown him. Angus subconsciously struggles as the cracking gets bigger and bathes him with light.
The next moment, Angus wakes up with a deep breath before coughing a few times. *COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH*
"Angus!!" called Jayna while hugging him.
Beside her, Anna is also hugging him tightly. Looking at his surroundings, he finds the frozen ground is filled with massive cracks. He could also see a few people gathering in the distance, looking in their direction.
"What just happened?" asked Angus.
“Hell is just a frame of mind.” - Christopher Marlowe, Dr. Faustus.
Enjoy the chapter.
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
Foll𝑜w current novels on fre(e)w𝒆bnovel