Chapter 241: What the Gods Want
Crampus got up and, as if picking a quarrel, said to Sung-Woon, “Why are you just telling us that now?”
"I only had my suspicions before, and just recently became certain."
"Why didn't you tell us when you were suspicious?"
"What else could we have done?"
It was as Sung-Woon had said.
If they didn't go to war, they would simply be handing over the Rasdasil Ruins to Hegemonia. If war broke out, Hegemonia would be able to challenge a Large Area and then destroy the Rasdasil Ruins.
Realizing this, Crampus sat back down.
Wisdom then said, "We need to think of a strategy."
"That's true. But unlike before, there doesn't seem to be any special method available."
"Really?"
Sung-Woon said, "The best option right now is to force Hegemonia to use her Faith points while fighting, and that's something we've been doing all along."
"Couldn't we pressure Hegemonia more aggressively?"
"For example?"
Wisdom suggested, "What if we use more of our Faith points?"
"It's the same for us, but the Union Kingdom already has a modernized fleet. Without something on the level of Large Area: Sea, we can’t expect significant depletion with minor miracles like Small Area: Waves."
Of course, there was power in a certain domain that was worth pinning hopes on.
'The Unique Domain: Magic, for example.'
Due to his training of the Wizards, Sung-Woon's Unique Domain: Magic had reached a level sufficient for use, but he was reluctant to actively use it.
After opening the system window of the Unique Domain: Magic and checking the list of skills, the following characters appeared.
[癤용쭏怨꾩쓽 臾? 留덇퀎濡?媛 ??臾몄쓣 ?쎈땲?? ?뚯씠?????놁뒿?덈떎.]
[留덇퀎?? ?대떦 吏 ??쓣 留덇퀎濡?留뚮벊?덈떎.]
'...What am I supposed to do with this?'
Clearly, there was something in this Unique Domain that even Sung-Woon couldn't understand, and he could only know it by using it.
Sung-Woon thought that obtaining such a tricky domain would likely result in a good outcome, considering how well such domains were regarded in The Lost World. However, Sung-Woon was not one to rely on gambling. If the odds were low, there had to be a significant expectation of value, and without even being able to calculate that, it was something Sung-Woon was against.
'We can fight well enough without having to rely on such power for now.'
Wisdom said, "But we have Large Area: Sky, don't we?"
"Yes. Indeed, if they come as far as the coast, which is considered our territory, it would allow us efficiency that wouldn’t be disappointing. We’ll have to use it soon, anyway."
"Are you saying that’s not enough?"
After considering how to minimize the shock to the other players, Sung-Woon said, "Using Large Area: Sky will indeed produce better results than not using it at all. But unfortunately, even that won’t get us the outcome we want."
Wisdom's head lightly spun from side to side.
"Come to think of it, didn't you say that we couldn't stop Hegemonia's landing?"
Sung-Woon nodded. "Right. Hegemonia has raised the stakes, so we must respond in kind."
***
Laitla of radiance tore off Aruna's head with its massive jaws.
Aruna’s blue flames blazed around its mouth and scorched its scales, but Laitla didn’t care.
-Dying...
Next, Laitla grabbed Aruna's wings, tore them off, and threw them into the air. While holding onto Aruna, Laitla glanced down at its own front feet, blackened by the fire, and then back at Aruna's crumbled remains.
The divine beast's body, losing its will, fell and was swept up in blue flames, gathering into a single point. From that point of blue flame, two wings sprouted and fluttered, and a long neck stretched out. It was Aruna, resurrected.
-Resurrecting... Aren't you tired of it?
Aruna spun rapidly around Laitla, while Laitla’s gaze followed.
Aruna laughed.
-Aren’t you tired of breathing?
-Hmm...?
Aruna fell and then soared, flapping its wings dazzlingly.
When a Phoenix died and resurrected, they were able to regulate the temperature of the fire emanating from its body. No winged creature could perform aerobatic flights like a Phoenix.
-Death and rebirth are integral to the physiology of my species. How could that be tiresome?
Laitla looked down at the battlefield. To Laitla, the fight between the airships seemed tedious.
Each airship equipped with cannons and machine guns approached the enemy vessel, simultaneously striving for a higher altitude to avoid being caught from behind due to their fewer cannon batteries. Because of this, the airships appeared to rise in a spiral, as if dancing. The falling airships descended slowly due to the helium-filled gasbags, resembling disturbed water in a fishbowl causing the sand to settle.
'Pathetic mortals.'
Laitla was among the most formidable of the Angry One’s apostles.
Apart from a few apostles who were unfavorable matchups for Laitla and the first apostle, who had attained the highest rank, there was no apostle stronger than Laitla, and Laitla itself was confident about that.
'And yet, do you think this is right, O Angry One?'
Laitla, who asked this question alone, realized that the Angry One was right.
Even Laitla, a Dragon, found it difficult to know the heart of the Angry One, occasionally finding them a bit shallow and unreliable. Yet the Angry One had clearly always pursued a value and had never been wrong in achieving it.
Laitla knew the name of that value.
'Was it victory?'
Laitla understood its meaning, but the victory that the gods dealt with seemed to differ slightly from the victories against an enemy as Laitla knew it. To the gods, victory was simple and clear, and they regarded the countless byproducts such as wealth, honor, pride, and power as useless. For that victory, the fate of the world that Laitla had pondered for thousands of years, the distant history of the gods, and even the beings of the devildom were trivial and worthless.
Laitla, unlike other Dragons, was enchanted by that victory. That was why Laitla was here at this place.
As Laitla momentarily looked down at the Sky Castle, Aruna, who noticed something, shouted.
-Look! The Sky Castle is coming to a stop. It's too late to accelerate now.
-...Indeed.
Aruna was right. Laitla saw the Helix Wings turning from the direction the Sky Castle was heading to.
Laitla looked at Aruna.
-But it doesn't matter.
-...What?
Laitla captured the roaming Aruna with magical hands through a secret chant.
-…!
Laitla focused and shaped the hands. Instantly, the hands tore Aruna into dozens of pieces.
'Is this still not enough to kill it?'
The torn flames, though slower than before, swirled and recombined.
'However, it should be possible to lose the annoyance for a while.'
With that thought, Laitla flew toward the Sky Castle.
***
"Laitla is coming!"
At the Goblin's words, Ramin merely glanced.
Fortunately, Laitla seemed to have no interest in the fight on the Sky Castle, merely passing by overhead.
Aruega Rob laughed cynically.
"That damn worm. It saw everything yet just passed by?"
"You usually don't get along?"
"It's inevitable. I killed that brat's grandkid."
Ramin couldn't take those words as a mere bluff. Having fought Aruega for over twenty minutes, she fully understood what it meant to battle one who had slain a Dragon.
Splashes of blood surrounded them.
Most of the Goblins had gone back. According to the Goblin boss, if one suffered too much pain or got injured, they could no longer maintain their physical form and had to return to the pantheon.
Ramin felt a familiar fatigue.
'But I need to get it together. The Empire could fall, and without it, there would be no peaceful afterlife to rest my head.’
It seemed strange to Ramin that, despite the presence of so many heroes in the Prairie of Beginnings and the pantheon, the living had the power to decide their fate. However, if it was an unchangeable fact, it had to be accepted.
Aruega said, "Haha, your arm is dangling, Vampire."
It was a valid observation, even coming from an enemy.
Ramin used her right arm to lift her left and bit her sleeve. Her left shoulder, severely torn by Aruega's claws, was in bad shape.
"'Aren't you limping as well, Werewolf?'...said the boss."
It was the boss’s interpreter who said this.
The Goblin interpreter lay sprawling on the ground, having lost both legs. The only Goblin standing on two feet was the boss.
Aruega was also in bad shape, apparently because they had gone beyond the limit of their regenerative abilities, and their recovery was slow.
At the moment when they were facing each other, ready to move, a sharp lightning bolt shot toward Aruega. Aruega had seemingly noticed before the lightning struck and leaped aside, growling at the newly emerged figure.
Ramin recognized who it was.
“Teacher!”
Owen was also drenched in blood, but moved lightly on his feet, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"You've been working hard, Ramin."
Aruega said, "Ha, resorting to outnumbering me, is it? Well, that's the way of the weak. But winning is... Hm."
Aruega’s ears perked up and then flapped.
"Hmm… Unfortunate."
Aruega looked toward the Sky Castle.
Ramin, supporting her left arm with her right, said, "Are you running away?"
"Yes."
Aruega replied, "For victory."
Leaving those words behind, Aruega left.
"...They’re really just leaving like this?"
It was puzzling, but a relief for Ramin. Ramin had lost too much blood that she didn’t have enough strength to stay standing anymore.
The boss approached Ramin and Owen and signed something. Ramin reflexively looked for the interpreter, but they were no longer there. They had returned to the pantheon.
"...Oh."
Owen said, "This friend says they should go back now. They’re happy they could repay the favor."
"Oh, no, it's me who owes my life, boss."
The boss made a sign that even Ramin could understand as a final gesture. They showed their palm and waved. Ramin mirrored the gesture.
After the boss left, Owen attended to Ramin's wounds, and Ramin, who had slumped down, asked, "What about the thrusters?"
"I've done my part."
"Just your part then...?"
Owen shook his head. "I didn't know what your side was like, so I did two more. And that Frogman seemed to have done their job."
"Ah. So seven in total?"
It was more than expected. There wouldn’t be a shortage.
Ramin felt relieved, but for some reason, Owen’s expression remained grave.
"What’s wrong?”
"It might be that our efforts were in vain."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you feel it?"
Owen placed his hand on the ground and swept across it.
"The power of the Sky Castle has been shut off. By our enemies themselves. The Sky Castle is tilting."
Ramin didn’t seem to fully understand and asked, "What does that mean?"
The one who answered her question was Gorgota Falu, who appeared belatedly.
"Elder! It's as you said!" Gorgota ran up to Ramin and Owen, exclaiming, "The Sky Castle is crashing toward the Rasdasil coast!"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺