novelraw Chapter 417: Daring Measures (6.5k)
Chapter 417: Daring Measures (6.5k)
That sensation of being pursued by Death surged into his heart anew, causing Fisher's state of mind to become restless.
He clearly harbored the assistance of Renee's Sigil, he ought to have been free of hindrances for half a year... Or was it that the Sigil Renee left upon his body discovered his care towards Asuka Karasawa, hence the her far away in the future grew angry, indignantly deciding to permit Death to completely devour his greedy self, loathing to even bring a whole corpse back to the future?
While harboring somewhat of a guilty conscience, Fisher simultaneously felt it wasn't quite reliable. The reason being, his Tier hadn't molted off like last time; he still remained healthy.
"Sigh, Death is..."
"Buzz buzz buzz..."
Neither Asuka Karasawa nor Mikhail managed to decipher the meaning behind Michael's words. Yet very swiftly they would realize what transpired. Because in the next second, the entire Sanctuary began to tremble. Including Michael's forging workshop—everything began shaking slightly. Simultaneously, everyone felt a clenching in their hearts, as if some sort of exceedingly terrifying entity had manifested right here.
Even the Nineteenth-Tier Michael had his complexion shift slightly. Instantly standing up, he reached out his hand and beckoned. A faintly glowing cross-sword instantly flew over from the corner of the forging workshop, landing within his hand. He lifted his leg and kicked Mikhail right on the butt, kicking him tumbling onto the floor. And in the very next moment, a Relic upon the shelf above plummeted right onto the exact spot he had been standing on.
Mikhail failed to comprehend. Clearly, with Michael's life echelon of the Nineteenth-Tier, he could easily swipe aside the plummeting Relic from above; why did he have to choose this most brutally coarse method?
He twisted his head to look at Michael, only to see him flash a faint smile before his expression rapidly morphed incredibly solemn. Looking toward the Sun Ring above, he saw a terrifying illusory figure faintly flashing exactly within the desolate cosmos illuminated by the sunlight beyond the incessantly rotating Sun Ring. That imposing, terrifying illusory figure constantly shuttled within the Crevice existing independently beyond the world. Yet owing to its exorbitant Tier, his figure could also be perceived from here.
"W-What happened? Why did the entire Sanctuary abruptly start trembling... Eh eh."Breathless, Asuka Karasawa asked as such. Though Fisher's body remained unharmed, that sensation of heart palpitations grew increasingly intense. Michael provided zero response to Asuka Karasawa's words, merely gripping his cross-sword flying straight towards the sky. Along with the escalation in altitude, the imposing aura he intentionally restricted before Fisher's group rapidly skyrocketed. The angelic halo atop his head also erupted with exceedingly glaring light, stimulating his crimson lengthy hair to flutter upwards.
He wasn't the sole Archangel. The Archangels of the other Heavens also successfully flew out from the Heavens they respectively governed. With grave complexions, they looked toward the shadow continuously spiraling within the cosmos beyond the Sanctuary.
Pandora herself was already within the Fifth Heaven. Without flying up from the ground, nor lifting her head to gaze at the sky, she solely sensed the pressure of that terrifying life echelon. Tilting her head, she opened her mouth to say softly,
"Dragon God..."
Indeed, at this very moment, the shadow spiraling within the Crevice beyond the Sanctuary was precisely one of the legendary Demigods, Dragon God Fafnir.
Below, Helaire strangely tapped her lips. Looking at the several Archangels standing by in full battle array above as well as that shadow, she pondered aloud,
"Why would Dragon God Fafnir come to the Sanctuary? Ordinarily, whenever he emerges from the Crevice, doesn't he always return from above the Dragon Continent? How truly strange."
"Is that Dragon God Fafnir?"
A drop of cold sweat dripped down Gou Wen's cheek. Not entirely due to worrying about their current predicament... He merely found it somewhat difficult to fathom that the children of the Chief God were this terrifying, as if the multitude of living beings before him were merely infinitesimal insects that could be annihilated with a wave of a hand. Yet beneath the new residence his tribe relocated to actually lived the creator of these three Demigods—a genuine True God. This was truly...
Asuka Karasawa had absolutely zero idea what the Dragon God Fafnir was, merely foolishly gazing at that spiraling shadow emerging above. Fisher, conversely, had his heart palpitations grow increasingly pronounced. He seemingly gradually realized the Dragon God's unexpected appearance right here pertained to himself, pertained to the Death pursuing him.
"Roar!"
Before long, a gargantuan rift fractured bit by bit within that pitch-black cosmos. Looking closely, several ferocious dragon claws within that rift were tightly gripping the outer space, coarsely tearing that space open bit by bit.
"Crack crack crack crack!"
Accompanying the twisting of the external rules bit by bit, an immense tearing force produced via a bizarre spatial suction instantly dragged onto the Sanctuary suspended within the cosmos, inescapably pulling this spectacular angelic residence toward the grotesque space.
"Aaaah, Mr. Fisher!"
The entire space of the Sanctuary emitted fracturing sounds exactly like collapsing. In a moment of inattention, Asuka Karasawa flew out sideways... Resultingly, she halted midway right in mid-air. Because, having thoroughly lost the pull of some sort of gravity-mimicking Relic of the Sanctuary, every single one of them thus became suspended motionless right in mid-air.
The tilting Sanctuary flew toward that spatial black hole bit by bit. But at the critical moment, Michael—suspended above the Sun Ring—turned his face cold. With a wave of his hand, he slashed out with a sword strike, severing the space dragging the slanted Sanctuary, returning it to its original position once again.
For some unknown reason, Pandora over in the distance solely sat quietly before the furnace, harboring zero signs of intervening. Merely listening attentively to the auras of the other five Archangels in mid-air.
"..."
Near Michael's forging workshop, the surrounding Relics sequentially floated up sans gravity constraints. With a somewhat unnatural complexion, Fisher brushed aside that floating Michael-clothes-dissolving-toy. Abruptly, within his peripheral vision, he spotted a pitch-black sword hilt identically scattered amidst a multitude of Relics, appearing rather conspicuous.
His own Fluid Sword!
Fisher's eyes lit up. Decisively reaching out his hand, he grasped that long-parted black sword hilt. Accompanied by his consciousness linking with it once more, that quicksilver-esque fluid sword blade extended outwards anew, morphing into the appearance Fisher was most familiar with.
"Rumble rumble!"
Outside the Fifth Heaven, buildings collapsed one after another sequentially beneath the oppressive might of the Dragon God slowly climbing out from the inner side of the Crevice. Yet the Relics generating gravity within the Sanctuary seemingly malfunctioned, resulting in the debris of buildings haphazardly floating up one by one. Many angels sequentially flew up, looking toward the gargantuan rift within space... The spatial rift over yonder was still continuously expanding...
Fisher had previously shuttled through the Crevice of the Spirit World more than once, but not a single time was the commotion this gargantuan like the Dragon God Fafnir's. Seemingly, for him, this shuttling process was abnormally arduous. This could be glimpsed just from the spatial turbulence produced outside the space he arduously squeezed out of.
The instant the unforeseen event occurred, Fisher's group began moving towards the exterior of the forging workshop, in order to avoid being caught up by the gargantuan fluctuations over yonder. Yet right after emerging, Fisher noted something was amiss. When he walked over to spots lacking rocks, the gravity device of the Sanctuary miraculously restored itself as if seizing. A gargantuan piece of debris weighing upwards of a dozen tons smashed toward him on a whim. The moment he arduously dodged it, that gravity device identically reverted back to its malfunctioning state as if scripted.
"Fisher! Watch out!"
Without the constraint of the gravity device, the Aether across the entire Sanctuary began slowly dissipating. This invisible substance seemingly differed slightly from the state of normal gases, its dissipation speed couldn't be deemed very fast. However, being in outer space after all, caused the reminder Fisher heard to be incredibly diminutive. It wasn't until he heard Gou Wen's reminder that he suddenly realized the space beside him had unnoticeably twisted beyond recognition, pulling and attempting to devour him within.
He wielded his Fluid Sword preparing to flee away. Shattered furnaces and half-completed Relics from afar scattered in droves, flying towards him, instantly causing him to dodge with considerable wretchedness.
"..."
His complexion was frigid. Innumerable sharp or scorching items beside him brushed past his body sequentially. Right when other items were about to consecutively fly toward him anew, a gentle starlight exactly like a sunrise abruptly flickered right upon his back. His pupils constricted slightly. He was gently hoisted up by that white light and pulled back to Asuka Karasawa and the others' side.
"Mr. Fisher, are you alright?"
"...I'm fine."
Fisher turned his head to look at the beaming Helaire withdrawing her hand beside him. This seemingly was still her first time genuinely taking action before him, right? That gentle white light just now was her ability?
Helaire flashed a faint smile. Looking at Fisher, she said,
"You seem very unlucky today oh, there's absolutely nothing happening over on our side... Seemingly it's related to the Death pursuing you."
"Is this Death's method of pursuing prey? I thought He'd merely monotonously catch up to the prey and expropriate the prey's life point-blank to smoothly conclude the matter."
"That's true, this method is the most point-blank and effective... But just now, I distinctly saw the Death beside you twist other rules. This isn't the execution procedure Death natively ought to have. He doesn't possess self-consciousness; even if unable to do anything to you, He still shouldn't utilize other methods. How truly bizarre. But the good news is, you look merely relatively unluckier compared to normal right now, there's nothing else particularly special."
"Ah, hopefully it's just that."
He chewed upon Helaire's words, swiftly also discovering a blind spot... The Sigil from Renee on his body possessed zero issues and remained in effect. What underwent a mutation was the Death upon himself. Unable to point-blank bypass Renee's Sigil to put him to death, He actually started attempting to utilize other methods to kill him?
Yet this completely failed to make sense. The Deity of Death was an unconscious Deity, there was zero logic dictating He could miraculously alter the method of liquidating death...
"Then what do we do now? I suspect Dragon God Fafnir accidentally descending here from the Crevice was also misfortune induced by the Death pursuing me..."
Distinct from the exceedingly solemn Fisher, Helaire conversely appeared extremely optimistic. Tapping her own cheek, she said,
"Dragon God Fafnir is our senior. Although his overbearing personality suddenly appearing here and bringing us such massive trouble makes him somewhat in the wrong, he'll definitively not apologize to us, with high probability merely flying away directly afterwards. So let's point-blank attend to the matters we are going to attend to. Want to consider hitching a ride on Lord Dragon God Fafnir to head to the Tree Continent?"
"...Do you want to listen to what you're even saying?"
Both Mikhail and Gou Wen were rendered speechless. Fisher especially felt a headache courtesy of Helaire's jumpiness... Already irritated courtesy of the mutating Death, he groped his own head, saying to Helaire,
"Didn't you say the timing of the longevity celebration was in a month or two? Why the massive rush, and furthermore utilize such a risky method to travel to the Tree Continent?"
Helaire conversely sported an aggrieved appearance of being wronged. Pointing at Fisher, Asuka Karasawa, and Mikhail, she complained,
"Failing to recognize a good person's heart... I was thoroughly considering things for you guys ah..."
"Why do I feel like you completely merely want to leave the Sanctuary ahead of time to find amusements?"
Faced with Fisher's ruthless puncturing, Helaire totally sported zero airs of a Mythical Creature, merely tilting her head embarrassedly, feigning cuteness,
"Ehehe... But that isn't the primary reason. You guys know, be it our Sanctuary or the Elves, there will be many slaves... We have quite a number of chores requiring them to handle... Yet ordinarily traveling to the Tree Continent requires bringing several hundreds of slaves arrayed as gifts... And the majority of these slaves happen to be humans completely... Mm, if we depart exactly right now, then we wouldn't need to bring slaves."
Asuka Karasawa opened her mouth. Not even Fisher expected this point. Pausing for a moment, he ultimately continued asking,
"Will it be fine for you to do this?"
"It'll be fine ah, originally the longevity celebration was merely for putting on a show. Furthermore, the most dangerous place is frequently exactly the safest place. Think about it like this Fisher, your misfortune brought over Fafnir, yet instead of evading we face it head-on, who knows we might even reap unexpected joys."
Fafnir in the sky above had already extended his incredibly baffled half-a-dragon-head from within the Crevice, seemingly unaware as to why substituting exiting the Crevice led him to this exact place. Listening to this, the smile on Gou Wen's face grew increasingly forced, genuinely unable to stomach the nonsense of this amusement-seeking Helaire. He hurriedly interjected,
"No, no, no, don't be so unconstrainedly erratic alright? Fafnir is a Tier-Twenty existence, one glance and Little Karasawa's head will detonate. Not to mention his explosive temper, even living creatures residing within the gigantic shadow patterned by his body fail to be permitted... How could he possibly let us sit on his back, and furthermore have him ferry us to the Tree Continent... I'm afraid before even ascending we'd be flattened into dregs."
Helaire conversely smilingly pointed her lips toward Gou Wen's rear, saying,
"It's fine. I already possess a plan... We merely have to borrow Lord Michael's precious Relic for a bit."
"No, Angel Helaire. Even assuming you successfully borrow Angel Michael's Relic, seizing his treasure doesn't that guarantee our demise all the same? I categorically do not desire a Nineteenth-Tier Archangel to harbor a grudge against me."
Facing Gou Wen's refusal, Helaire wasn't annoyed either, merely saying,
"If you, I, Fisher, and this little human girl took it, we'd probably encounter trouble. But don't we still have Mikhail?"
"Him?"
Gou Wen, Fisher, and Asuka Karasawa all looked toward the Mikhail who stood behind them maintaining his silence the entire time. Sporting a tiny bit of stubble on his face, Mikhail also took a glance at himself, likewise harboring a baffled expression.
"Me?"
"Just take that board over there, yes, yes, exactly that one!"
Exactly traversing these few minutes... Outside, aside from Pandora and Gabriel, the several other Archangels and all the angels were glaring like tigers as they watched Fafnir arduously drill out from the Crevice emplaced by Dagon, guarding the Sanctuary. Only this fellow Helaire—residing outside Michael's forging workshop—was instigating Mikhail to steal Michael's Relic 【Moon-Treading Ark】.
According to Helaire's plan, they weren't going to genuinely ride on Fafnir's back... That was unequivocally courting death. However, the locations Fafnir's colossal frame flew through would leave exceedingly obvious spatial traces. They were going to ride the sturdy Moon-Treading Ark crafted by Michael, following those traces pointing towards the Tree Continent. The Moon-Treading Ark could point-blank traverse within the Crevice unharmed, and could effectively maintain its original form within spatial turbulence... Very handy.
Ordinarily, Mikhail definitely didn't harbor a single ounce of desire to steal it. But he couldn't withstand Helaire's eloquent speech, beneath her persuasive explanations touching upon emotion and reason.
First being, if they didn't depart right now, afterwards they would most likely embark with a massive quantity of human slaves. Let alone flesh detaching from bones upon arriving below the Sanctuary, even extending to the Tree Continent they wouldn't encounter anything good under the Elves' purview... Besides, even if the angels desired to doll out blame afterwards, they would solely blame Helaire, not the others.
Second being, this item completely didn't hold paramount significance to Michael. Although he adored all his creations, selecting a low-tier Relic to take away didn't harbor consequences of catastrophic severity. Furthermore being, an item identically purloined by Mikhail would most likely not be pursued further by Michael. Even presuming he desired to pursue the matter, Mikhail wouldn't return to the Sanctuary anymore... Michael definitively wouldn't fly down from the Sanctuary singularly to instigate trouble with him acting upon a grudge born out of such a trivial matter.
Ultimately... underneath Helaire's impassioned oration, Mikhail ultimately accepted this plan in the end. The reason largely correlated to those hundreds of human slaves. At any rate, Asuka Karasawa and Fisher also possessed zero objections.
Benefiting from Eimhart's continuous orations by his side... Fisher's impression of the Elf-kin wasn't considered particularly good to begin with. Or rather, he ought to harbor less-than-stellar impressions towards these several Mythical Species from the get-go.
During the process wherein Mikhail eagerly swam toward Michael's forging workshop clutching his mechanical arm aiming to nab the Moon-Treading Ark... Fisher tilted his head gazing at the Sixth Heaven for a moment. He even desiring taking advantage of the massive chaos embroiling the Sanctuary presently to sprint to the Sixth Heaven and rescue Eimhart back... Having him absent from his side left him unable to set his heart at ease under any circumstance.
However, that lord of the Sixth Heaven bereft of intellect, Gabriel, additionally hadn't emerged right now. Inferring the probability of success being relatively low, he could solely hinge his hopes upon Sariel fulfilling his promise, allowing him to successfully meet the Holy Grail... At that nominated time, he could directly lead Eimhart departing from this era altogether.
In the distant sky, the gargantuan dragon's incredibly robust colossal frame gradually climbed completely out of the Crevice. He turned his head and shot a glance at the surroundings... Naturally traversing merely the Sanctuary he embroiled into utter chaos and several Chair of Heaven blood-descendants vigilantly looking at him... Suspended within the cosmos, Michael extended a greeting towards him,
"Dragon God Fafnir, welcoming your arrival."
Categorically harboring practically zero intentions of welcome... But being traversing a period of peace after all, the three Demigods maintained a friendly peace under the surveillance of the Eldest Sister... Pleasantries were the most abundant commodity crossing this era. The Dragon God was their senior... Even if he had merely messed up the Sanctuary his tribe resided in into utter chaos a moment prior, he identically had to say such.
"Hmph."
Fafnir completely ignored them. Although parsing via human categorization, Michael's cohort similarly fell under the Nineteenth-Tier living beings category. But combining all seven of them still failed to suffice as a worthy challenge for himself. Reaching the limit of living beings—the Twentieth-Tier—signified tracing the fringes of Authority, harboring a difference akin to clouds and mud separated from all ensuing entities.
Without even turning his head back, he turned intending to fly off point-blank. Michael and the cohort of angels stood fast at their original locations harboring zero intentions of sending him off. Consequently, directly within Michael's peripheral vision, he abruptly noticed residing within the Fifth Heaven... that angel Helaire—relishing the unfolding spectacle and dismissing the trouble's magnitude—was soft-spokenly shouting "Rooting for you!"... While the four fellows situated ahead were shoving his Moon-Treading Ark towards the periphery of the Fifth Heaven.
"..."
Michael narrowed his eyes. The distinct oppressive pressure singularly glared right at Helaire... Detecting danger, Helaire's smile appeared forced for a solitary instant. But she immediately pointed towards the Mikhail ahead... subsequently spreading her hands... and proceeding to point towards the spot accommodating slaves situated at the First Heaven below.
This encrypted communication coerced Michael into staring blankly for an instant. Remaining silent for a second or two, he feigned nothing transpired whatsoever, turning his head point-blank as if ostensibly never having clapped eyes on their existence from the get-go... The smile on Helaire's face grew increasingly thick... Kicking the Moon-Treading Ark before her, she softly whispered,
"Shush... little ones... hurry up and board the ship... we have to depart post-haste... Supposing the Raguel overseeing laws figures out we're departing destitute of slaves, he'll decidedly fly off the handle..."
"My wife... thy husband shall perish at... Ouch!"
Gazing at the expanse of desolate and profound starry sky stretching before him... Gou Wen still desired to emit a solitary sigh of lamentation... Ultimately, ere concluding his words, he was shoved aboard the ship by Helaire's void-borne pointing finger... Asuka Karasawa gulped down a mouthful of saliva... Inability to articulate exactly whether derived from excitement or dread... trembling, similarly followed suit boarding the ship.
Mikhail seated himself spanning the bow... Whereas Fisher peered ahead at the incredibly conspicuous spatial turbulence traced by Fafnir. Turning his head to look at Helaire, he queried,
"Can this ship run on its own?"
"No ah... It's exactly practically a sturdier wooden boat nothing more... Residing under any scenario birthed by other angels it would've been deemed negligent to retain it. Who prompted Lord Michael to harbor nostalgic hoarding habits."
"...Then, what about the oars... the kind capable of rowing within the cosmos."
"Shush, in actuality I surreptitiously pilfered another Relic to serve as an oar."
"..."
Undoubtedly, accounted upon Mikhail's tab.
Helaire brandished a peculiar-shaped purple scythe from behind her back... Upon Fisher viewing that scythe, his complexion shifted ever so slightly... Turning his head anew, scrutinizing the Moon-Treading Ark situating before his eyes... the deeper the scrutiny the more familiar it became... murmuring, he opened his mouth,
"Wait... this..."
"Off you go!"
Precisely exploiting the instant he momentarily turned his head... A similarly purposed void-borne pointing finger from Helaire positioned behind directly shoved him spanning onto the wooden boat... Subsequently... utilizing the moment everybody inclusive of the angels populating the sky were distracted... She bounded upwards leaping spanning the stern of the boat... Furnishing a ferocious shove wielding the gargantuan purple scythe... thereby leading them departing from the Sanctuary's Fifth Heaven.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Resultingly... precisely stepping spanning the spatial turbulence traced by Fafnir... The entire ship violently jolted... scaring Asuka Karasawa into instantly shrieking sequentially.
This sound attracted the attention of Raguel and Raphael... they turned their heads to peer back... Resultingly in the ensuing second Helaire brandished the scythe cleaving navigating the path traversing the Crevice... leading them vanishing from their original spot natively... becoming enveloped alongside being carried soaring spanning toward the planet's surface enveloped traversing the spatial turbulence.
Raphael and Raguel turned their heads peering encompassing Michael, unbelievingly uttering,
"Those relatively few Transferred Persons just absconded like this?"
"No... The Elf King's longevity celebration. This time Helaire embraced this arduous chore... those Transferred Persons traveled spanning together with her."
"Gone to enact what? Traverse to lose face? They didn't tote a solitary thing along with them... Slaves, treasures, alongside the Sanctuary's congratulatory message right? Traversing departing empty-handed identically just like that?"
"I've prepared congratulatory gifts... As regards the congratulatory message, merely leave it traversing Helaire... no, those Transferred Persons to pen it."
"How can this possibly be permissible? We..."
Raguel was driven into a raging fit bordering on non-triviality... harbor additional intents to articulate additional words pertaining encompassing Michael... aspiring to journey delving downwards to snatch them spanning backwards... Yet Michael completely dismissed their existence... turning his head point-blank soaring spanning towards outspanning his own forging workshop... opening his mouth declaring,
"The entirety traversing the Sanctuary remains traversing an expanse of havoc right now... journey traversing return to tidy it up properly spanning."
"You..."
Michael overbearingly departed solitary... merely abandoning Raguel, Uriel, along traversing the cohort spanning disarrayed right traversing their original spot.
Whereas encompassing traversing the forging workshop unequivocally identically pertained to an expanse of havoc... Michael rebooted the gravity Relic spanning the Sanctuary... tugging navigating roughly utterly dissipated Aether backwards traversing slight quantities... subsequently identically stretched out his hand utilizing his own power sequentially picking spanning scattered falling Relics sequentially placing traversing backwards onto their original spots.
Yet exactly at this moment... he abruptly discovered although his forging workshop lacked two Relics... spanning the forging table conversely lay an extra hand-written scroll... He slowly flew hovering across... unfolding the scroll... inside precisely penned the methodology regarding operating the machine tool abandoned by Mikhail... alongside a sprinkling of supplemental words... The contents pertained solely spanning to be spotted traversing Michael... unpermitted spanning external persons traversing cognizance.
Upon parsing the scroll's entirety... Michael retained zero superfluous expressions... Tossing his hand he subsequently prepared to launch the scroll navigating aside traversing the continuously combusting forging furnace's interior... Yet his suspended hand stalled prolonging traversing massive timespans... His fingers alternatively spanning unswervingly refrained traversing releasing.
"..."
Traversing silent spanning momentary... his fingers ferociously released... Yet that scroll didn't plummet... alternatively being propelled traversing his power soaring hovering spanning amidst a pile of Relics remaining spanning recumbent motionless traversing identically.