Chapter 146

Chapter 146

*** Awakening ***

Whoosh! Bam!

A small rocky island could be seen in the sea, surrounded by gentle waves. The island looked to be in a precarious situation, as if it might sink at any moment, but a man in his early twenties was lying on it.

Snore….

He was sleeping and snoring softly. It looked like he was taking a break, but in reality, he had been in this same position for half a year. His only job was to sleep, and he spent every hour of the day doing so.

“… Ugh.”

Yet, at that moment, he opened his eyes. It had been almost a month since he last did this.

“Those guys finally unlocked the seal on science. Well, they’ve already unlocked the seal on martial arts and magic, so I guess it could be seen as just another unlocking.”

However, the meaning of this unlocking was completely different. Humans had lived their lives with little exposure to martial arts or magic, so no matter how high their achievements were, they would inevitably think of these fields’ principles as dream-like existences. It wasn’t that these topics didn’t affect reality, but they were minor changes and alterations at best.

“Science is different, though. Even if the human civilization isn’t as advanced, humans are not anchored to a defined level, so it’s quite possible that they’d steal that place’s technology.”

Of course, some measures had been taken to prevent the spread of ‘Over Technology,’ but if someone truly wanted to stop anything from being leaked, a gap wouldn’t have been created. Since a gap existed, it would only be a matter of time before the tech reached the human’s real world.

“This clearly goes against the Union’s Law. Damn those Noblesse.”

Noblesse was one of the pillars of the Union, which was formed by all the forces of the physical world, and they were often called [Noble Blood]. As soon as they came into existence, these beings were promised the status of transcendence, so they essentially developed into gods just by aging. Moreover, some were even born as low-level or above-godly beings. It was only natural that these Noblesse held the greatest influence in the Union, which didn’t have many transcendents. The Union Law was created to unite and maintain numerous forces in the universe. It was acclaimed for being strictly adhered to, but the Noblesse could create some gaps.

“… In the end, they’re making me take action.”

Manbo’s ID description stated [Dreamer], and he’d been given the master title of [Sleep Master] after sleeping for an absurd length of time. He slowly lifted his body. Though it was likely that no one would notice, getting up was something he hadn’t done for nearly six months.

“If possible, I didn’t want to do anything.”

Alas, it couldn’t be helped. To start, he was sent to this place to ‘keep watch’ of the Noblesses’ actions, so he couldn’t cast his responsibilities aside. Even though he was highly annoyed, he had to move.

“There are probably others here and there as well… ugh, why does it have to be me?”

Whoosh.

The space around him began to distort. And slowly, his figure disappeared.

“I have to file a report.”

***

Due to the dark clouds, the Tower of Truth illuminated the previously-dim area around the Holy Shrine with its bright light. This luminance wasn’t from anywhere specific, as the gigantic tower made of crystal gleamed with an intense white luster. As mana circulated the huge tower, which was easily several kilometers tall, a tremendous resonance of mana occurred within it. It seemed like something was being sent down the tower from the sky.

“Is this what Quiet Heaven meant when he mentioned that the atmosphere was a bit weird? It looks kind of cool.”

Click! Click!

Merlin called out his camera and took a screenshot of the scene. This view was something that anyone would want to save, even those who didn’t like to take screenshots. However, as Merlin was doing this, he suddenly stopped.

Woong.

From the top of the Tower of Truth, something heavy fell.

“Shoot, did the Great Will arrive?”

Merlin recalled his camera and entered the Tower of Truth. Fortunately, the doors weren’t closed, so he could go in quickly.

“You’re too late, idiot master.”

“What’s the matter? Did something happen?”

Merlin cast a quizzical look at Quiet Heaven once he saw its stern expression. Merlin looked around and saw that all the other representatives were seated, including Miho. Outside of the light continuously leaking from the ceiling, the hall hadn’t changed much since Merlin left for Dynamic Island.

‘No, wait. Something feels different….’

At that moment, Merlin felt a sharp killing intent, as if he was walking atop a knife’s blade. When he turned his head to look at the gathered representatives, he could tell that they were looking at each other with vigilant expressions.

“… What’s going on?”

Even Merlin knew that raising his voice in this setting wasn’t appropriate, so he spoke to Quiet Heaven in their spiritual channel. Quiet Heaven answered.

“I don’t know exactly. The atmosphere has been tense ever since that light came down from the ceiling. It seemed as if everyone wanted to fight- no, wanted to kill each other, but nothing actually happened.”

Quiet Heaven was stressed because he had been exposed to the overwhelming killing intent for a prolonged period. Furthermore, the light pouring from the ceiling confused Quiet Heaven, regardless of its extensive training in the mental Dao arts. Users were equipped with a default mind protection system, so they wouldn’t be affected by the light, but other beings would be in a different situation.

‘It’s fortunate that the representatives here are relatively strong and have built a firm sense of self-discipline….’

Yet, at that moment, a loud noise erupted from one corner of the hall.

Bang!

The Great Darkness collided with the light. It was a clash of demonic and heavenly power, coming from a mid-rank demon and a winged Dominion angel. The two had been maintaining a state of elevated tension ever since they stepped foot on Moby Dick. These two members had the most formidable fighting power amongst the representatives, and when they collided, everyone else flinched. However, soon, all the representatives started taking battle stances.

“Ack! What the hell is going on?”

“Watch out, master!”

Suddenly, Red Blood, the lion with bright red fur, rushed toward Merlin with a crimson aura enveloping him. Although he was from the Senior Remote Islands, where its inhabitants were renowned for their well-honed mental Dao prowess, his eyes were full of madness and absent of any consciousness.

Bam!

Merlin couldn’t just sit around and watch, so he amplified ten years of internal energy into 80 years and met Red Blood’s attack straight on. Merlin’s powerful attack instantly broke Red Blood’s arm and made it sink lifelessly down to his ribs. In terms of the strength and power behind a single blow, no one present could match Merlin.

“Miho!”

Merlin hurriedly backed away and looked over at Miho. She, too, had lost her mind and was clashing with the Avian species’ representatives. Miho’s fox fire and the latter’s signature wind attacks clashed violently against each other.

“A little monster bitch!”

“Shut up, bird head!”

Miho shouted fiercely and confronted the opposing representative head-on, but she was pushed back due to her lower overall power level. The average level of the representatives was Level 8, so Miho was at a disadvantage, having started this expedition at Level 7. Of course, she entered the Tower of Truth and attained Level 8, but the other representatives had also improved.

Ting!

Soon, her eyes flashed red.

Whoosh!

“Ugh?!”

In an instant, a scathing flame erupted from the Avian’s neck and set its head on fire. It was a surprise attack that wasn’t based on fire magic or monster qi, so the Avian representative was essentially defenseless.

‘Ignite ability?’

Merlin was startled by Miho’s ability, which he had never seen before, but he soon realized that it was the effect of Miho’s newly attained Extreme Vision. It seemed that this ability allowed her to create super-hot flames on a visible target; however, at this moment, this wasn’t an important detail to mull over, so Merlin quickly moved and grabbed Miho’s arm.

“It’s dangerous here, so let’s go out. This place is a mess….”

“Kyak!”

Miho ferociously screamed and scratched Merlin’s arm. Shining, which possessed an auto-defense order from Merlin, took on the brunt of Miho’s attack, but since it contained a considerable amount of monster qi, Merlin couldn’t entirely escape injury, and blood spattered everywhere.

“Miho!”

Since his attacker wasn’t an enemy, Merlin suffered quite a deep wound, as he failed to put up a proper defense. If it weren’t for Shining, his arm would have been cut clean off. If he had sustained such an injury in real life, Merlin would have lost consciousness from the considerable pain that followed. However, since this was DIO, Merlin transformed Younghwi into a thin gauze to wrap around his injured arm before grabbing Miho’s two hands tightly and pulling her back. Miho writhed and resisted, but it was impossible for her to overcome Merlin’s superior physical ability.

“Get yourself together, you idiot! Are you going to die like this?”

“Ah!”

Fortunately, at that moment, Miho’s eyes regained focus. In a stroke of luck, Miho hadn’t fallen into total madness and lost her consciousness entirely, so Merlin didn’t have to subdue her forcefully.

“Are you alright?”

“M-Merlin! You’re bleeding!”

“It’s fine, so just stay still. Something weird has happened to all these representatives.”

“Master, leave this place as soon as possible! It’s dangerous here!”

Quiet Heaven reinforced his mental Dao faculties to try and understand the representatives’ situation, as they were on the verge of completely losing their minds. However, Quiet Heaven couldn’t make any sense of it.

‘What’s the purpose? What conclusion or result is this leading towards?’

When Quiet Heaven had thought this, the light shining down from the ceiling became stronger.

Woong!

With a loud and deep resounding sound, a vast pillar of light came down onto the center of the hall. It was a dimensional door that connected this dimension with another! Immediately, every representative stopped moving and looked toward the entrance.

“Oh, our Great Will!”

“Great Will!”

Soon, the representatives started getting on their knees. As he had done before, Merlin didn’t get on his knees. Previously, Miho had pinched his side and forced him to kneel, but this time was different. As if mesmerized, Miho stared at the light while kneeling.

“Ugh….”

Merlin was the only individual standing, and he started teetering. A tremendous spiritual force started pressing down on his body. Merlin could overcome most forms of spiritual qi by reading their flow and adjusting his body accordingly, but he couldn’t resist this brute force spiritual qi.

Whoosh!

Then, it appeared. It was a colossal, shining, golden dragon.

“A Gold Dragon….”

The dragon looked like a traditional Asian dragon. It didn’t possess wings, yet it was able to slither across the air easily. It soon looked down at the kneeling representatives and Merlin as it continued to project its absurdly powerful oppressive aura.

‘Something… seems off.’

However, at that moment, Merlin was thinking about something else entirely. He sensed something peculiar about the dragon’s aura. If it were his first time coming across a dragon, Merlin would have thought that this was a dragon’s typical aura, but Merlin had already experienced Seadragon Zygmunt’s aura in a dungeon located 1,000 meters below the ocean’s surface. Merlin had also experienced Red Dragon Igniz’s aura during the end of the beta test when she attacked, as well as the White Divine Celestial Dragon Thousand Scent’s aura, a dragon that was approachable for all users.

Among those three, the Red Dragon’s aura was the weakest, but all three were transcendent beings that possessed incredible strength and transcended the world’s rules and laws. Though Merlin’s vision was discerning and developed, he didn’t compare to the aforementioned dragons, which were not only powerful but also had true comprehension and intelligence to match. When Merlin stood before those beings, he felt an utter sense of loss and weakness.

‘This feels different, though. The dragon before me just seems like an overinflated balloon.’

While the Gold Dragon exuded an incredible and overwhelming sense of power, Merlin couldn’t sense a type of ‘class’ or ‘exceptionalism’ from it. It felt as though the aura was just a combination of various strong auras hurriedly slapped together; the overall power of the aura was significant, but it was only that, large.

“Raise your heads.”

The Gold Dragon’s words rang in everyone’s minds. The tone of the dragon’s voice was firm and oppressive.

“Oh, Great Will….”

“Great Will….”

‘They were fighting like headless chickens just moments ago, but now they’re bowing their heads in unison… Even if that dragon is the god they serve, this type of behavior is odd.’

Merlin was the only one standing among the representatives, who were now all bowing their heads. As a user, Merlin didn’t care about his opponent’s position or standing. Whether it be a noble, a king, an emperor, or a god, there was no reason for Merlin to bow his head to anyone. Even as he stood before this Gold Dragon, Sungmuk, or Zygmunt, Merlin didn’t feel that any of these beings were ‘real.’ For whatever reason, the Gold Dragon continued talking without showing any reaction to the still-standing Merlin. It seemed as though it had no intention of interfering with him.

“The day of judgment is coming. This has been planned since the creation of this world and has been progressing until now.”

A tremendous amount of spiritual power emanated outward. Furthermore, this spiritual power was only from the Gold Dragon’s ‘words,’ and as he saw this, Merlin understood something.

‘If someone puts this much spiritual power into their words, it will definitely have an effect. Either the power of the word will do something directly… or all living things within a thousand kilometers will hear it.'

And, as Merlin guessed, the Gold Dragon was aiming for the latter effect. It was likely that its voice would reach even the most distant of the six massive islands. It probably wouldn’t get as far as the much-further Dynamic Island; however, exerting so much power into one’s words and disseminating it to such an extent without any magic proved the greatness of the spiritual power contained within words.

Anyway, the Gold Dragon continued speaking. It radiated a noble gold color and a mysterious aura, but its eyes glistened with a blood-red light. It was obviously a strange look, but none of the representatives pointed this discrepancy out. Although, they didn’t seem to be of sound mind in the first place.

“The Sea of Chaos has been opened. Across the Sea of Chaos, there are those who call themselves ‘passengers,’ and these passengers do not align with our providence. These passengers are gathering to invade our land.”

“Oh, Great Will, what shall we do?”

“Do not fret. They are evil, but you will open a path for them to the Peach Blossom Spring.”

As he heard the Gold Dragon’s gentle voice, Merlin felt anxious and nervous. Despite the Gold Dragon’s divine aura, the smell of blood wafted from it. And, as if to justify Merlin’s troubled feelings, the Gold Dragon started saying some unusual, nonsensical words.

“Fight.”

The dragon’s eyes twinkled. As the representatives looked at it with entranced gazes, the Gold Dragon spoke to them and everyone else on the continent,

“When the blood of the last passenger spills onto the ground, only the species that killed the most passengers will feel the joy of eternity by my side.”

Flash!

Then, with a flash of dazzling light, the Gold Dragon’s figure disappeared.

“…”

“…”

With this, the surroundings became quiet. The silence was so suffocating that even the sound of a single hair falling would probably resonate, but soon, the representatives all looked toward one place.

“Passenger….”

“Ah, I see. That’s a passenger. Is this a sense given to us by the Great Will?”

“Ha… haha…?”

Merlin broke out into a cold sweat. The representatives’ killing intent, which had been scattered all over the place, was now focusing on him.

“W-wait!”

However, at that moment, Miho stood and spoke to the other representatives.

“What is it, fox monster?”

“Wait a minute. I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Merlin is my accompanying traveler. He doesn’t have any intent in hurting any of us….”

Miho tried to calm the crowd down, but it wasn’t working in the slightest.

“She’s already gone to the other side! Traitor!”

The Avian species’ representative shouted, being the one who sustained critical damage from Miho’s fox fire. Afterward, killing intent started focusing on Merlin and Miho.

“Stand back!”

Bam!

As Merlin retreated and pulled Miho away, black darkness struck the floor like a whip where they were previously standing. If they were even a little late, Miho’s body would have been destroyed. The attacker was the mid-rank demon who had been fighting the Celestial moments ago.

“Master, the atmosphere is not good.”

“… I see that.”

Merlin let go of Miho and looked around. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by the representatives. It would have been better if he had run away from the beginning, but Merlin had dashed forward to rescue Miho, so they were now surrounded.

“Hehehe! Peach Blossom Spring… I don’t prefer it, but I don’t hate fighting, either. You’ll have to die here, passenger.”

Merlin shuddered after feeling the overwhelming killing intent focused on him. Of course, if push came to shove, Merlin could deal with a mid-rank demon, as he’d already defeated one in the event’s assessment test. Yet, as Quiet Heaven mentioned, the atmosphere was not good. The enemy wasn’t a single mid-rank demon. Moreover, even a mid-rank demon wasn’t an enemy that Merlin could treat with ease.

Zip.

However, at that moment, a four-winged Celestial angel blocked the mid-rank demon. Of course, this wasn’t done to protect Merlin.