novelraw Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
Chapter 132 : Chapter 132
132. Aman (7)
With a blue light, the familiar scenery of the Lumen Fortis office unfolded before my eyes.
Just a few minutes ago, I was in the stiff and suffocating audience chamber of the Durani Empire's imperial palace, but Noemi's transition magic had brought us home in an instant.
Rude and Number 1, who had come with me, looked bewildered for a moment, but Noemi, as if she had already grasped my intentions, was waiting for the next command without any questions.
That's right. We had suspended our mission in the Durani Empire and had hastily returned here.
Just over 20 minutes ago.
I had finished the uncomfortable audience with the Emperor and was catching my breath in the room he had provided.
I was racking my brain on how to solve the future plan, that is, the absurd condition the Emperor had proposed.
But then, the communication crystal ball in my pocket began to glow urgently.
It was Iris.
Iris' voice coming through the crystal ball was urgent and excited.
Elves? An Eastern young man?
I frowned for a moment.
Nox, you say?
In that moment, all the pieces fell into place in my head.
An Eastern young man with black hair and black eyes.
Accompanying elves, who were known to be extinct.
And information about Nox.
This couldn't be a coincidence.
‘Reubungwo!’
I immediately had a gut feeling.
That young man was undoubtedly from the island nation across the sea in the East.
In other words, he was surely from Reubungwo, the very place where Primus and Nox were currently active.
‘No way. How did he cross that sea?’
The strait to Reubungwo was said to be a sea of death that no one could cross, teeming with vicious marine demonic beasts.
Isn't that why I'm here now, in the Durani Empire, bowing my head to the Emperor and asking him to lend me the magic device?
But that young man crossed that sea?
Alone? Or with the help of the elves?
‘Could it be that he already has the magic device that allows him to cross the strait? Or perhaps there's another way.’
If that were true, there was no need for me to be currying favor with the Durani Emperor and searching for something like a potion of eternal life.
This was a situation where every moment was critical.
I had to get there before Primus and Nox destroyed all the towers in Reubungwo.
At a moment of crisis where the world might be destroyed, I had no time to satisfy the private and selfish desires of a three-hundred-year-old emperor.
‘It's obvious what kind of reaction the Emperor will show. But it doesn't matter. He's a man who considers his own lifespan more important than the world.’
Besides, the Continental Alliance and the Durani Empire weren't exactly on friendly terms.
Even if a slight diplomatic friction arose here, it couldn't be more important than the fate of the world.
I made a decision on the spot.
As soon as I cut off the crystal ball communication, I shouted to Noemi.
“We're returning to Lumen Fortis right now!”
And so, without giving the Emperor any notice, we had hastily left the Durani Empire.
Was I not worried that our relationship with the empire would be strained?
Of course, I was worried.
But right now, this matter was far more important.
‘The world's destruction is imminent, I can't be tied down by such trivial matters.’
I pushed aside the reports on my office desk and checked the most recent visitor log.
As Iris had reported, it was written that a group of elves and one Eastern young man were staying in a temporary lodging on the outskirts of Lumen Fortis.
“Good.”
I stood up from my seat.
“I should go and meet them myself right now.”
The man from Reubungwo.
What news did he bring?
Hoping that my prediction was correct, I hurriedly left the office.
***
The place where the red-haired woman, who seemed to be a high-ranking official here, had guided him was a spacious conference room inside the Lumen Fortis command building.
There, several extraordinary-looking individuals were already gathered and waiting for Aman.
And at the center, a man sat, exuding an extraordinary presence at a single glance.
‘I'm sure of it! This person must be the continent's Hero who defeated the Demon King!’
Aman felt his heart pound violently.
The Hero.
A title he had heard so much since he was a child that his ears were about to fall off.
Even in the records left by his great ancestor, whom the people here called the Sage from the East, stories about the existence and role of the Hero often appeared.
The reason was not clearly known, but it was a story that whenever a crisis befell the continent, a chosen Hero would appear, defeat the Demon King, and save the world.
Aman felt a sense of ecstasy at the fact that he was now face to face with that legendary being.
Since he himself had admired the Hero since he was a child.
He wanted to kneel down and show his respects right away, but at the same time, a sense of frustration washed over him.
The language barrier.
No matter how legendary the hero, how could he explain this desperate situation if he couldn't understand his language?
He looked at the Hero with an anxious heart and only moved his lips.
But what was this?
The small girl who had been standing quietly next to the Hero suddenly stepped forward.
She was a girl who possessed an unbelievable amount of magical power at a glance.
‘What is this? It feels like a demon has transformed into a human.’
She approached Aman, took his hand, and at the same time, took the Hero's hand with her other hand.
Then she stared intently into Aman's eyes.
‘Huh? Is she telling me to say something?’
Aman was flustered, but with the feeling of clutching at straws, he opened his mouth again in his own language.
“Ah, hello! My name is Aman, from the eastern island of Reubungwo! I have something to tell you……”
At that very moment, a miracle occurred.
The unfamiliar continental language immediately came out of the girl's mouth.
He couldn't understand what she was saying, but he felt that this was clearly a translation of what he had just said into the continental language.
Hearing that, the eyes of everyone in the conference room, including the Hero, widened.
The Hero looked at the girl with surprised eyes for a moment, then nodded at Aman and gestured for him to continue.
‘He can understand me!’
Aman felt a surge of overwhelming emotion, and all the hardships and despair he had experienced melted away like snow.
He no longer hesitated and began to pour out the things he had experienced and the crisis situation in Reubungwo, breathless.
The girl didn't miss a single one of his words and translated them into the continental language in real time.
How the Lich King Nox appeared and invaded Reubungwo.
The fact that the being behind him was the primordial evil, Primus.
And that they were now destroying the ancient towers built by his ancestor, the Sage from the East.
He also added a warning that if all the towers were destroyed, he didn't know what kind of terrible disaster would befall the world.
As Aman's story continued, the atmosphere in the conference room grew heavier and more serious.
Surprise and deep concern spread across everyone's faces.
Finally, when Aman's story ended, the Hero opened his mouth with a heavy expression.
He asked Aman a question through the girl.
And his question was once again delivered through the girl in the clear language of his homeland that Aman could understand.
“I'll ask you one thing. You said you crossed that cursed strait, do you happen to have a special magic device that allows you to cross the strait safely?”
Aman couldn't believe his ears.
It was the language of his hometown, Reubungwo, which was so familiar.
How on earth did that little girl?
He was so surprised that he couldn't say anything for a moment.
At the same time, he recalled the old wooden necklace he had given to the girl from the fishing village who had saved him when he had collapsed.
Neptune's Tear, the magic device that had allowed him to pass through the fearsome strait.
That was the very necklace.
***
Meanwhile, at that time, in the eastern island nation of Reubungwo.
Nox finally sensed that his mission was nearing its end.
His empty eye sockets slowly scanned the giant towers remaining before him.
The hundreds of towers that had once covered the entire island had now been mostly destroyed by his hand, and only about ten remained.
A faint, satisfied smile appeared on his gaunt face.
‘Hehe. It's almost over now.’
It had been a truly terrible and arduous time.
The ancient barrier that enveloped each tower was more solid than he had imagined, and to destroy it, even he, the Lich King, had to consume an enormous amount of magical power.
It was to the point where after destroying one tower, he had to be completely still for several days to recover his magical power.
But this arduous process had not been without its gains.
On the contrary, there had been an unexpectedly large harvest.
‘Through this process, my magical power has also become dramatically stronger.’
In the process of constantly hitting his limits and surpassing them, his total magical power and control ability had been amplified to an incomparable level.
Like a sword tempered through extreme real battles, he had been reborn as a sharper and more powerful being.
‘The ones who made this probably didn't know. That these towers they built to stop Lord Primus have instead made me stronger.’
He sneered coldly to himself.
However, one thing that was strange was the whereabouts of Primus.
He only appeared here very occasionally.
He would watch Knox destroy the towers for a while, and then, without any particular words, he would disappear as abruptly as he had come.
‘Where on earth is he and what is he doing.’
Even for the last ten towers, Primus did not intervene at all.
Knox strangely felt that he was focused on something more important.
That thought was also brief.
Knox hastily erased his thoughts of wondering about his master's whereabouts or intentions.
‘How can someone like me fathom his deep intentions. Trying to understand his actions is in itself an act of disrespect.’
He decided to focus on the mission before him again.
To destroy the remaining towers as soon as possible.
That was the only mission given to him.
Around him were beings who were helping with that mission.
Those who were once residents of this Reubungwo.
But now, they were the dead who had been turned into soulless undead by his hand.
‘He called them the descendants of the Sage from the East, and they certainly weren't ordinary.’
Although they were few in number, they all possessed powerful magical power.
Knox saw through their potential, and after defeating them, he resurrected them all as powerful liches and made them his subordinates.
Thanks to that, the work of destroying the tower's barrier became much easier than before.
Because in addition to his own magical power, he could also mobilize the power of these powerful liches.
Knox gave an order to the liches who followed him.
An eerie blue light flashed in his empty eye sockets.
“Continue. Destroy every last tower until none are left.”
Following his command, Knox and the liches he commanded once again began to pour powerful dark magic towards the remaining tower.
With a roar, the barrier screamed, and the ancient tower was slowly collapsing.
It was the moment when the last bastion that supported the balance of the world was disappearing.