novelraw Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171 : Chapter 171
Chapter 171
As Silvana slowly stood up, Cronis lowered his raised hand and took a step back.
The surrounding air grew heavy.
[Now, speak. Tell me what you saw.]
Silvana narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
Cronis’s gaze, which seemed to be looking at the time unfolding before his eyes, turned to the empty air.
[Time always flows. Not even I can stop it.]
[Should I have added that you should explain it comprehensibly?]
[Of course not.]
He laughed once and continued.
[Have you ever imagined that the fate of the Gods would be ended by a Mortal?]
[By a Mortal?]
[Immortality is nothing but an illusion.]
[I wondered what you were saying. It was nonsense.]
Silvana scoffed.
[It seems you've gravely misunderstood just because I spend time with them.]
Mortals were nothing more than insignificant creatures.
The only reason she took an interest in them was to relieve her boredom.
[The Gods being destroyed at the hands of such beings? How absurd.]
[My Authority reads the future.]
Cronis came a little closer.
[It has already begun, Silvana. Surely you must have felt it?]
[…….]
[The Mortal they called a mutant. He possessed power like ours.]
[……Adamas.]
At the mention of an unexpected being, Silvana paused for a moment.
‘Why had I forgotten?’
The first Mortal who threatened the Gods.
He had awakened to Mana and rose to a level equal to that of a Transcendent.
The incident where he had annihilated several Gods was still deeply embedded in her memory.
And yet, she had forgotten that he could be a threat.
‘How could that be?’
Cronis seemed intent on not giving her time to organize her thoughts.
[Just because they are Gods doesn't mean they want to remember all of their shameful pasts.]
Someone had used their Authority to cloud the memories of the Gods.
There was a difference in status even among the Gods.
And if it was a god who could wield such an Authority, only one came to her mind.
[Lord.]
[You remembered well. I suppose the Authority wasn't perfectly applied to the higher Gods.]
‘The Lord manipulated the memories of the Gods?’
No one knew the Lord’s true name.
She only knew that someone had called him Lord from the beginning, and that he held immense trust among the Gods.
‘Come to think of it, I never once wondered why he was called Lord, or what his Authority was.’
It had always been that way until Cronis mentioned it.
[It would be best not to mention the Lord. That one's Authority is superior to ours.]
[…….]
[And it's not like there's anything we can do even if we know.]
As if familiar with this situation, Cronis continued.
[Let's get back to the main point. One Mortal left a warning for the Gods. The fact he proved is that the absolute rule of the Gods is no longer safe.]
[Are you saying that more Mortals like Adamas will appear?]
[Hundreds of years have passed since he was sealed.]
It was not a long time in the lives of Transcendents, but it was for Mortals.
[The number of Mortals awakening to Mana is increasing. Someday, they will begin to imitate Authorities like ours.]
Cronis emphasized the potential of Mortals, who achieved numerous advancements in a short time.
[In the future, the Gods will fall at the hands of such beings?]
Silvana stared at him as he calmly nodded.
Normally, it was a claim she would have dismissed as utter nonsense.
If the one who said it wasn't the one who dealt with ‘time’.
[I saw a future where you are hunted.]
He said the elves who followed her would join forces with the humans and plunge a dagger into her.
Cronis warned that the dagger would even damage her divinity.
[If things continue like this, the age of Gods will end.]
[Even if they try to bring us down, their limits are clear. If someone like Adamas appears, we just have to seal them again.]
As she countered, Cronis gave a soft smile, characteristic of the fairy race.
[Mortals move differently than we do. They constantly give birth to new beings amidst extinction. The new beings learn from past experiences.]
[What are you trying to say?]
[We must face the coming future.]
Cronis said, holding out his hand.
Compressed time materialized, distorting the space.
[Are you suggesting we go to war with the Mortals?]
Silvana asked with a hollow laugh.
[There's no need to step forward directly. We just need to familiarize ourselves with a way to control them.]
A way.
It was not a familiar word to her.
[Unlike the others, aren't you already doing it?]
[……?]
[Silvana, the God of the Forest. The elves call you that and revere you.]
Only then did she begin to understand what he was trying to say.
[You're telling me to reign.]
[That alone will place their fate in your hands.]
[Do the others know about this?]
[I'll have to move busily from now on.]
He said he was personally visiting the others scattered across the world to inform them.
Perhaps this act was a way for Cronis to relieve his boredom.
In any case, Cronis's words were just a warning; what choice she made was up to her.
[I'll keep it in mind.]
[That's enough.]
Cronis replied with a satisfied smile.
[Are you going to tell the Lord too?]
[No. There's not much time left.]
[…….]
[I'll look forward to an excellent response.]
With those last words, Cronis disappeared.
‘A response, he says.’
Silvana looked up at the sky once more.
The blue sky above was still peaceful.
‘Is the age of the Gods coming to an end?’
Now, a sign of change began to take root in her heart.
It was after a vast amount of time had passed that a temple honoring her was built.
***
Claaang. Clang.
As the blades clashed, Silvana’s eyes trembled.
‘Why now… is the memory of that time coming back?’
An ancient memory.
That vivid memory was clearly hers, but she had forgotten it until a moment ago.
She looked at the Human who was crossing swords with her.
Adamas.
She remembered the moment the Mortal before her was sealed.
“I will tear every last one of you to shreds.”
She remembered the end of the insignificant creature who dared to shout that it would stand against the Gods, not knowing its place.
But why.
Why did she not know that this being had been released from its seal?
The sealed blade was in the possession of the ‘Lord’.
‘Where is the Lord?’
Things that should have naturally come to mind did not.
The frustration of that moment affected her body’s reaction.
Shwiiik.
Killian’s sword slashed Silvana’s shoulder.
“What are you doing? You're suddenly full of openings.”
“…….”
“Don’t tell me you were thinking about something else while facing me?”
“…….”
At the affirmative-like response, Killian burst into a hollow laugh.
“The arrogance of the Gods.”
“…….”
Cronis and the Lord.
Their voices, their gazes.
All of it flashed through her mind.
[Have you ever imagined that the fate of the Gods would be ended by a Mortal?]
And now.
Kwwwhhhaaa!
As if to fulfill that vow, a single lizard was tearing through her divine power.
‘My memories are not intact.’
She could not understand where her main body had disappeared to, and why only her will remained, staying in Yggdrasil.
‘What on earth is this existence called Grotesquery?’
Everything was blurry.
As if the flow of time was distorted, her past memories were fragmented.
Then.
A voice from somewhere struck her ears.
[I saw a future where you are hunted.]
Cronis's prophecy echoed in her mind once more.
Words that were hard to understand even then.
That she would be hunted here.
‘Annihilated?’
One thing seemed clear.
The two Mortals who were cornering her.
‘The future Cronis spoke of is now…….’
She tried to shake off the uneasy premonition, but the prophecy lingering in her head would not stop.
Could it be that Cronis had seen everything from beyond the flow of time and already knew what end it would bring?
She tried to gradually return to reality, but the situation unfolding before her was not so simple.
‘This is not a simple fight of power.’
It felt like a fragment of the future had come to collide with the present.
‘I cannot end here.’
Her divine power ran rampant according to her will.
“I am a Transcendent.”
As mana mixed according to her instinct, the earth, swallowed by a colossal power, trembled.
Killian's eyes grew cold at the familiar sight.
‘This again.’
It was a sight he had seen before, one that appeared whenever Silvana went berserk.
Because mana and divine power had fused, there was a risk of a reflux occurring if he touched it carelessly.
‘It would have been that way before.’
There were two reasons he risked synchronizing with Yggdrasil.
To annihilate Silvana, and to ascend to the 8-star.
The rampaging will of the god before him was the perfect sacrifice to ascend to the 8-star.
“Stand back, Hazard.”
[Dragon?]
“This one, I must cut it down.”
[Dragon!]
Having spent time with Killian, Hazard had become quite perceptive.
It flapped its wings and landed beside Killian.
Hwoong.
Killian raised Aether and cut through the empty air.
“Carpe Illusion.”
The condensed mana of the projected sword energy scattered.
Total Solar Eclipse.
Four lumps of mana floated above their heads.
R-rumble.
Silvana's uncontrolled power was pushing back the four spheres.
[Draagon!!]
Then, Hazard stepped forward and took the brunt of Silvana's turbulent energy, a mix of mana and divine power, with its whole body.
Thanks to Hazard's help, Killian was able to take a step forward.
“Carpe Illusion.”
Behind him, a tower made of violet mana was erected.
For a moment, violet mana seethed from Hazard's body, which had synchronized with the Magic Tower.
[Kaaaaah.]
Hazard's mouth opened and mana gathered.
And so, the dark green, compressed mana.
Kwwwhaaaa.
Struck Silvana directly.
The space shimmered as divine power and mana mixed.
It seemed to have no impact, but it bought him a moment to close the distance.
“Carpe Illusion.”
The green mana that had scattered across the area was absorbed into Aether and its sheath.
Thud.
A green domain spread out, following the tip of the inserted sword.
“That… is mine……”
With trembling pupils, Silvana claimed the green mana was hers.
Her consciousness was not intact.
Compared to the day she was sealed in the past, it was a truly pathetic sight.
“Fine, take it.”
Killian did not stop her from trying to absorb the green mana that had formed the domain.
Tsssssss.
[Draagon!! Dra-dra-dra-gon!!]
Hazard protested fiercely because the domain it had just deployed was being taken away.
This was because even the Total Solar Eclipse and the Violet Magic Tower were shaking due to her amplified mana.
[Dra-gon!]
At this rate, it would be broken.
[Dra-dra-gon!]
It was probably a sign to escape now.
“It wasn't taken.”
In the first place, the Green Zone was something he had temporarily borrowed from Serena; it was not a Mind Image he had created himself.
For growth, he would need to accept a new Mind Image.
“I am the one taking it.”
Kwajik.
He stepped forward, into the storm of mana and divine power.
And.
He swung Aether.
Blue and violet.
The two Carpe Illusions resisted what was trying to cause a reflux.
“Silvana.”
The sword Killian swung.
Claaang.
Silvana blocked it instinctively.
Tssss.
Killian accepted the mana that was trying to invade and cause a reflux.
“Carpe Illusion.”
Mana makes imagination a reality.
He materialized a new domain to claim the will of a god.
“Yggdrasil.”