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Volume 5

Chapter 56: One Name To Scare Them All

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“She’s her vessel.” Janus explained.

“Great Creator…” a look a pain could be heard on his voice as looked at that direction. “I can sense The Eyes from her. If she opens the eyes in the worst of opportune moments, then I fear that she would discover your origins and… a catastrophe might be incurred if others would see it as well.”

“You worry too much.” Janus tapped the God Knight’s shoulder for him to stand up. “There are things that you are unable to affect even if you tried your best to so. Hence, it’s better to leave it and go do the things you can do. Besides, I am here until the Envoy arrives so don’t worry about me.”

“And them?” Alexander noted outside the door.

“Hah. Those kids are my students. And the oldest one with them is my disciple so he knows what to do.”

“Then please forgive me for delaying you, Great Creator. I shall now carry the task you have given me with all my being.”

“I trust that you will delay him long enough.”

“Delay him…” he nodded, “Yes. That I shall.”

Janus sighed guiltily, “If… at the time that you discover the reason why I sent you to do it will be revealed, I do hope that you can forgive me for giving you such an overwhelming task… and… if I am not able to tell him personally, then I implore you to please tell him that I hope he will also forgive me for this trouble.”

As the God Knight stood, he looked at Janus with a helpless glint on his eyes underneath the dark of the helmet.

Indeed, Siva’s vessel is still Siva’s vessel.

Despite being a mortal, he was still the Chosen One of a taboo existence on the level of a Trinity God. If a God had chosen a mortal as a vessel then that mortal do indeed have the qualifications to stand higher than his rest.

Janus looked at the God Knight as he disappeared in front of him and the statue of a dull looking sculpture returned behind the altar.

“Forgive me for using you like this, God Knight.”

These words pained him greatly. The God Knight is only a necessary sacrifice in order to protect the greater good.

If he still had his power as The Brahma, then this wouldn’t have been needed. But… alas… the war that year had sacrificed too much of their power and only one of the Trinity had managed to live on until this day.

“Sigh… in the end, everything that has a beginning has an end. One that has been split must be combined into a whole once again.”

Janus walked out of the God Knight’s sanctuary and stepped back into the cold hallway of twenty-two unmoving guardian statues ––the two that stood before the door included.

As he exits the sanctuary, the iron doors that isolated the coldness outside and the warm space inside emitted the same clacking sounds of its black iron hinges.

CLACK… CLACK. CLACK…! CLACK! CLACK!

As the door closes behind him, Janus spent one last glance behind and then heard God Knight’s voice echoing faintly.

“At least, let me give these soldiers to you as protection for your disciple.”

Janus smiled and then nodded, “Thank you.”

BANG!

The door shut tightly, the runes and symbols that sealed the door shined and gleamed coldly. The two knights that stood in front of the doors used their halberds to cross each other and visually block the passage towards the door.

Janus glanced at the twenty knights, ten on each side of the wall, and then sighed. He then raised a hand and the eyes of the twenty knights bid a faint white glow before their bodies were soaked in a gaseous white aura, altogether dematerializing the statues into twenty semi-transparent beings that became streaks of lights and converge on top of Janus’s palm.

When Janus came out of the temple, Gabriel run over to him then followed by the five youths that had a look of anticipation contrary to the worried look on Gabriel’s face.

“Teacher…” Gabriel spoke out, “Are you alright?”

Janus chuckled, “Why would I not be alright?”

Gabriel sighed in relief before being startled as Janus threw a finger-sized medallion at him. He caught the item and looked at his ‘Great Teacher’ with confusion.

“This is?”

“During your tribulation, use this to help you.”

After hearing this, Gabriel’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets in shock. In fact, more than 60% of this expression was because he was so touched and thankful that he couldn’t express the right reaction to the Great Teacher’s words.

“Teacher… this… this…” Gabriel was about to kneel down in front of his teacher when Janus caught him and laughed.

“Don’t sweat it. I have done what we came here to do. So now…” Janus turned to look at the obelisk that stood at least 30m high outside the temple and sighed heavily. “…all that’s left for me is to wait.”

“Wait?” Gabriel asked, “Wait for what, Teacher?”

Janus turned at him and then eyed the youths before lastly looking at Garin. His gaze was fixed with him that it made the other six turn their gaze in confusion as well.

“Remember what I told you before?” Janus said.

Garin who was surprised jolted before clarity beamed on his expression and he nodded.

“I remember.”

“Good,” Janus smiled and gave a nod. “This is the good time to do that.”

The man’s brows creased and he looked back at the city far beyond the cliff. Although there was a sea of clouds blocking most of it, the Walled City of Alexandria that was still visible for its size was just too grand.

What more, far beyond the city, to the south, the silhouette of a gigantic landmass could still be seen towering through the curtain of the clouds.

Garin turned to Janus, “I’ll do it.”

“I will leave the task to you then.” Janus replied and went to the five youths. “Now then, you five have been very good with your training so now is the right time to use them all.”

The five youths cheered and the twins, Ricky and Rocky high-fived. Their leader, the sniper user, walked in front of the team and asked in a serious expression.

“Who’s the target, Teacher?”

Janus glanced over the south-eastern most direction from their location his expression painted with helplessness telling them all that what will transpire is a serious matter.

“The Alcides Guild.” He said and the youth in front of him unconsciously clenched his fist.

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*****

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The Tajik Peak, one of the most beautiful places in The North…

Famous for its colorful peaks on certain mornings that faced the eastern horizon, this towering mountain side was a relic for tourists who want to see an ever changing of colors of daylight that hit its icy rocky eastern walls.

Its shape is like a cat’s paw with claws sticking out of it. Three pointed sharp peaks with the middle one being the widest and the largest peak of them, towering at a height of 5km above the sea level.

Considering that the entire continent of Tiara is a gigantic inclining piece of land, the more one wanders in the middle areas, the higher the altitude become.

Of course, the higher you go the colder it gets.

But the tourists have been here for almost a full day now, eagerly waiting for sunrise with their camera balls and camera drones.

For today was one of those days where the night that had passed was colder than usual, the clouds that should have been above drizzling cool snow down below were not present. So, with the cool air having been accumulated and even concentrated the whole night on the east wall, the tourists were expecting to have a long and more colorful display of lights in the morning.

As such, these tourists rushed to get here, riding their respective cyclones, tagging along their own armies of protectors and guards.

Behind them were their protections. With some bringing more than 30 and the most conservative having 50 or even more.

The areas around this place were the reason why every tourist who had to visit this place will always be accompanied by such numbers.

Around this frozen mountain range were S-Rank Monster Fields… aside from the fact that Pirates linger on almost every corner, waiting for a chance to attack an unsuspecting complacent rich victim.

Since The North is filled with both mutated and fully grown monsters and criminals, it was natural for these threats to thrive and prosper.

As such, in order to enjoy the sight of this beautiful tourist spot, only the rich and famous with money to spare tourists can visit this place and return to a city alive and safe.

Today was such a good day to wait for sunrise as a number of tourists were already waiting with their own protectors somewhere in the lower icy grounds below

Just a few minutes now and they would see the most beautiful morning in this season.

One by one, the tourists who brought along their friends or families were waking up, readying to witness this spectacular work of virtual reality.

By chance or not, one of the tourists is a man with the username Newt.

Newt is a wealthy child, the son of an executive that is part of The Union. Just from that alone, one can imagine how powerful his pocket is.

Inside Newt’s tent were the most advanced and expensive gadgets that one could buy inside the game.

These gadgets’ only purpose is to detect danger and he bought them because he wasn’t in any level proficient in defending his life.

In short, he was a rare breed of a rich coward.

Newt was with his girlfriend, a daughter of another member of The Union, and the two were snuggling together when one of the gadgets that were stationed by hired bodyguards blinked with flashing lights and warning noises.

“Something’s coming in from the eastern side!”

As the assigned personnel yelled his report, the leader of the bodyguards gives out orders to confirm the identity of this [something].

“Size, more than a kilometer. Speed at 330kph… but sir… the visual imaging scanners are not working on it… and, and sir, the object seems to be not alone.”

“A kilometer in size and not alone?!” the leader was shocked.

“Confirmed sir!” another man reported and his findings and this also surprised the other personnel in the tent.

“What’s their distance?”

“10km and closing in! They’ll be here in less than two minutes sir!”

“What?! Tsk. Sound the alarm! Now!”

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO……!!

The alarm sound rung and panic rose. The other tents had also found the existence of this object.

Grabbing an expensive visual enhancing device, the leaders of each tent run out of their tents and used these devices to look at the eastern horizon.

The entire camp was alerted, warning sounds were issued.

Newt and his girlfriend were startled and they jumped off their beds, equipped their armors as instructed by their bodyguards with a flash of light, and then rushed out of their tent.

“What’s happening?!” he shouted.

The leader went beside him and reported, “An unidentified large object is heading our direction and the far-distance imaging scanners cannot display the images.” As the man spoke, he swiped the air and gave a panel to Newt who frowned deeply as he saw the image.

It was an image of a mist-covered dark shadow, followed by what could only be seen as floating land masses.

One look and an impression was built, this imposing image was like a rushing giant that brought along islands that couldn’t escape the winds of his wake.

“Direction confirmed, sir!” From inside Newt’s security tent, the displacement defense officer rushed forth and reported. “Calculations with 80% accuracy had finished the initial computation of the object’s destination.”

The leader frowned when he saw the man smiling at him.

“What? Why are you happy?”

Along with his question, other personnel from other parties also rushed outside their own respective tents and all of them were pointing at the eastern cliff side of Tajik Peak, the highest point of this location a kilometer away.

“You mean…”

“It’s a direct collision, sir.” Said the man happily. “Its destination is a straight collision with Tajik Peak.”

“So?” Newt from behind asked in a very worried manner as he was scared with the sound of the alarms.

The leader of his security team checked the panel one last time before he sighed and smiled at his principal.

“Sir, we have received the report that a 1km large giant object is actually heading on our direction but from the displacement and directional speed of its approach, we have determined that its target is not our location.”

“Not our location?” Newt was still scared and he was skeptical. “Where’s it coming from and what is its target?”

The security leader pointed at the peak and he said, “It should be coming from the eastern side of the horizon and from the computations, it’s going to be visible for the next minute or so with a head-on collision with Tajik Peak.”

Newt gulped down and his beautiful girlfriend grabbed his sleeve and got closer.

Facing the eastern side, Newt said, “I want you to contact Billion in Alexandria. Tell him about this and prepare him for the worst. Tell him to send a battalion of elites to this direction just in case.”

Upon hearing this, the security officer almost choked as he somewhat hesitated.

“Ah, sir…”

“What?”

“Didn’t you know, Alexandria right now is under siege by The Legion.”

“The Legion?! As in Blue Card Legion?!”

“Yes sir.”

Newt was aghast as he held his head with his left hand. His girlfriend was startled.

“Fuck! Just fuck! How dare they!”

“It seems it has something to do with some quest sir and Billion and the higher ups seem to have some sort of connection as to why The Legion attacked.”

“Those mother fuckers! They dare to attack our base… have they requested for back up? How long has this siege battle has been going on?”

“It’s already been six days, sir. Reinforcements have been called but they are still eight or so day’s away coming from Warjillis.”

“Why that far?”

“It’s because The Legion had placed a Space-Lock around the city and this had prevented all sort of teleportation.”

Newt was now totally enraged.

He was still in fear of that giant object coming to their direction and although it was already confirmed that it’s not going to attack them, to have that big of a trouble heading his way was still reason to cause him great fear.

He then faced his officer, “Are you sure that this thing is not going to attack us?”

The officer checked his panel again and told his young master. “No sir. We are not sure. So my suggestion is to escape this place first just to be sure that you are safe.”

Newt was silent before he turned his gaze to his girlfriend and held her hand. As a coward that doesn’t have any ability to fight, his confidence in money was enough to quell some of his timidity.

Tajik Peak is about 600m away from them and although this incoming monster covered in mist is still a few distance away, its speed is still enough to cause anyone fear if they so ever be chased by this object.

He then turned towards the Tajik Peak and then told his officer, “We’re getting out of this place.”

“Yes sir.” After this reply, the officer yelled many orders to the personnel to prepare to leave.

Many other rich individuals had decided to exit the scene as well after hearing of the news of this incoming giant object.

In the middle of their preparation, a minute had passed and one of the personnel shouted.

“Look over there!”

Newt and the others stopped and they took out their own respective gadgets to gaze at the direction of the eastern horizon.

It was still dark but the gadgets were the state of the art technology by The Naturals and gave out a night-vision effect.

“That’s…!!” Newt was shocked by what he saw.

Everyone may not know about the siege in the city of Alexandria but they all knew about the grand event that transpired in Battle City.

“My god… he’s coming this way?” Newt began to shake on his boots as he saw it.

The mist that covered the shadow of the giant object had diminished by a lot and a large golden image of a humanoid figure could be seen going straight towards their direction.

It was still a good distance away from them but the visual scanning devices are now capable of showing the image with visual clarity.

Newt ordered in a yell, “Contact Billion. Warn them about this! Tell them that Elder God Donar is coming his way…!! This may be a chance to win them that battle!”

Everyone who had seen the videos of the Elder God event in Warjillis had at least heard of the reason for the visit of this rare Boss NPC.

Elder God “Thunder God” Donar, a War God that has a mission on retrieving an item believed to be in Siva’s possession.

But everyone who had a brain could at least see the relevance of this sight.

Donar is a War God…

A war is happening in Alexandria right now…

Should there be a reason why this siege warrants a visit from an Elder God?

Yes.

Because if they are not stupid, a War God’s only reason for existence is either to join a war or be the reason to start a war. And… no matter how this ends up, an Elder God going towards their direction only meant that it’s the kind of news that could bring forth devastating aftereffects.

The only question is… on whose side will the devastation be?

Is it on the enemy’s side or on them?

That’s why, time is of the essence. Whoever was the first to use this chance to their favor will bring the ‘devastation’ upon their foe.

“Contact Billion now! We have to use this chance to help him.”

In Newt’s mind, glory was smiling. He stopped the order to retreat and instead chose to take a video of this event to earn some favor and cash.

Profits move the world.

And after all, a son of a businessman will forever be a son of a businessman.

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*****

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Back in the Alexandria, Billion was still giving way for the retreat of Jack “Blood Sword” Stone and his three crewmates.

All around them were a hundred or so members of the Blue Card Legion. It was hard to know just how many were there that had managed to enter the city before the attack.

“You got it?” Billion asked. “We are still 8km away from the Hangar Bay. My men are already there to protect the hangars but the enemies had been able to make sound of our plans and are now fully assaulting the air base.”

Jack had a look of apology as he blocked an attack, “I’m sorry, Billion, you’ve been dragged in this mess.”

Billion was indifferent. “My mission was to protect your identity when you came here. HQ had also given consent to our situation. If you manage to survive here and bring them the completed set of items for the Providence Quest, they will give you Fort Odin in Qatar as headquarters for your Guild.”

Jack was surprised to hear this.

He was angry at the lies of The Union but to be given this reward for his struggle to survival was also not something that he expected.

A burning desire to survive sparked in his chest, he had learned yesterday that Karim had a Game Over and although this situation was not very friendly for them, at least right now, he had a spark of inspiration to struggle on and survive.

“For my teammates…” Jack swore to his heart.

I just had to reach the hangar bay.

“–what?!”

Just as he was about to move, he heard Billion yelled in shock behind him.

Billion’s expression was pale and his men who were desperately defending the enemies around them were also startled and surprised.

“Hey, what is it?” Jack couldn’t help but feel worried as well.

Billion looked at him and then he stuttered, “It’s the Elder God…”

“Elder God?” Jack was confused. He still couldn’t connect and process the words just yet.

But after two moments, he then recalled that one event back in the infamous Battle City.

It was an event where an entity that he somewhat dreaded and felt a little familiar with, Donar, had appeared. “Don’t tell me it’s…”

The other man was still pale and he grabbed Jack with a trembling hand to support himself. “I’m going to lose my job now. I received report that that Elder God Donar is coming here in this city.”

“…!!”

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A God is coming…

So, what now?

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