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Chapter 517: Absolute Suppression

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Why the hurry?

Looking around, there are still 5 or so that are yet to arrive from their shopping.

Randall found the situation a little weird but he still followed the instructions nonetheless and stood up from his seat.

When their group went outside the warehouse, Randall’s eyes went wide at the sight of a Warship floating right above their location.

It was one of the main Warships of the [Battleship Jeremiah] that once fought with the warship of the Haven Dust Company during the Demon Attack a week ago.

The world was yet to totally recover from that one event and yet, the Bloody Church took action and killed millions of people, even sacrificing them.

Randall could still remember the carnage of their last expedition.

Although they pushed back the Bloody Church, the fight that ensued made a deep impact on him.

The Bloody Church’s [Blood Prison Magic] was a frightening spell and that if they don’t defeat them within a short time, the consequences will be dire.

It was only because they were made up of elites and had the help of the “Knight Battalion” given to Zelga by Draco that they managed to repel those bastards. But although it wasn’t spoken aloud in the media news in Jeremiah, thousands of knights still died while only a few thousand Bloody Church bastards died while the rest retreated.

In full actual fact, they didn’t win the battle at all but did succeed in driving them back because he had his pet, Labrador, to protect them from their enemies. The Bloody Church bastards were many but they have a True Dragon so it was a match.

As such, after their conquest, Zelga immediately decided to sacrifice Labrador in order to improve his troops.

Now, Draco even awarded Zelga a warship.

This kind of luxury… he could only swallow his saliva and close his eyes as he began to dream of being the one to actually own something like this.

—don’t worry.

——once I married Amanda, I will build my own!

As he thought of this, Randall wore his flight gear and flew up, landing at the deck of the pearl white 250meter-size Warship where they were greeted by its 9,000 or so crew members —knights that could draw their swords and fight in the frontlines alongside them.

When everyone was on board, Zelga, who did not go straight to the command bridge and instead stood at the prow, raised his hand to command.

“Hyperjump! Our destination is Mundus!”

The people in the command bridge toiled without a delay and just a few seconds later, the entire body of the Warship was covered by a faint bright light as the space around them distorted… until finally, resounding with a snap.

In the space above the warehouse, there was a loud crack, close to the sound of a whip snapping at the speed of sound at its tail end, but louder and more booming it’s as if there was a colossus 4km large who’s speaking alien tongue at those who were below.

The Warship disappeared from Jeremiah.

When they appeared, they were already at the sky of Walled City of Mundus.

“Everyone, prepare for battle!”

Zelga, as the former Prince Volga of The Legion, had experience in raids and so knew that surprise was an element they should capitalize in as much as possible.

When he shouted, his face had a vile and sinister look in it, it frightened those Royal Guards closest to him.

—this Kingdom is mine. ALL MINE!!!

Zelga thought.

*****

In a few words, it’s just like the cities on other parts of Terroa —uniquely shaped houses, roofs of varying colors, and a dull grey cemented wall of ironwood-reinforced cement protecting the city from monsters that threatens it from outside.

The difference between the Walled Cities of the Southern Continent to the rest of Terroa is that the entire continent is riddled with floating rocks.

—with some rocks being so huge they could hold entire cities on them and still float indefinitely.

Human Scientists ‘compelled’ to investigate these islands, with the historical archives as references provided during the investigation regarding these islands’ origins, all pointed to the fact that 1/8 of the entire continent of Terroa used to be a large volcano that exploded right in the middle of what now is Heartilia, thus the origin of the name. One could only applause at the minds of the owners of these records for being able to 80% point out the origins of the continent’s bizarre attractions.

These floating rocks were all the byproducts of the last major explosion of the volcanic vein that has not only covered Terroa in volcanic ashes and covered the skies in perhaps eternal centuries of darkness that should have cooled the surface of the planet, making it suitable for life using the ash remains and cooked the planet with the volcanic remnants, but also shattered the entire volcano itself and scattered its ‘parts’ —thus the origin of the floating islands.

Investigation results showed that this volcano was at least twelve times larger than Taal Volcano back in the real world (the world’s largest volcano) with the difference being the fact that this volcano was at least twice as large as Mount Everest.

A volcano of that size, when exploding, would’ve killed all life on Terroa but luckily, this explosion had happened millions of years ago.

Only these islands remained of this event and the records it left, the current features of Heartilia, is as magnificent as any of the sight found in Terroa as of today… including the plentiful resources.

After all, 40 years ago in Terroa, it was long since been put into public knowledge after this research that the Grey Rocks, Black Rock, and Light Rocks were all of volcanic origins that’s why they could only be mined on or close to volcanic sources and not found lying in the floor on some random plain or mountain range.

Thus, the entire Southern Continent of Heartilia was nicknamed “The Southern Isles” because of all these floating islands. Walled Cities were often built on the huge floating rocks, and it added this heart-warming scene to this place, especially to the [Players] of earth who didn’t have these.

Walled City of Mundus was such a city, built in the surface of a 90+ kilometer floating continent.

It was 70km wide with an allowance of 20km until the border of the floating island.

Just 15km below this floating island was an abyss of clouds. Some said that below this cloud sea are monsters that could devour warships whole. But the truth is, this ‘cloud’ is just a mist because right below this island is a valley in perpetual darkness.

What’s in this valley is the source of the cloud sea of today —hot springs!

The mist is the steam generated when the natural rainwater from the continent above accumulated in large amounts and touched the hot rocks below the waterbed that’s why it looked as if they were actually high in the clouds.

No, there are no Fire Stones in Mundus. It was plainly just natural geothermal rock formation.

(AN: honestly, I didn’t know what I was writing in here yet these scientific details came out of me naturally. I thought it was just my nerd side. But during my editing process, I decided to search for the truth about geothermal rock formations and the details I ‘randomly’ written were actually something I’ve read and seen once in my life. it’s an amazing feeling!)

But not all parts of Heartilia were like Mundus.

Mundus is just special.

Just 30km west of Mundus was an active volcano rich in Fire Stones and Black Rock resource; and 50km north, there was a plateau that, during some days, would make you feel you’re actually floating in heaven because the plateau will be surrounded by clouds generated from the same mist out of a natural hot spring resource.

(AN: added details; this is a description of a real-world place in South America between Brazil, Guiana, and Venezuela, one of the places I want to travel to before I die called Mount Roraima (or Mount Horaima, depending on what tongue you use to speak of it); Google it and you’re going to be mind blown by the beauty of the place. It was absolutely stunning!)

From the east was the so called [Dancing Rocks Tornado], one of the 10 Danger Zones of Terroa.

From the south, there was a large sink hole that spans 12km deep and 50km wide called The Den, simply because it was a den of S-rank Monsters, where the weak was filtered from the strong, the Southern Continent equivalent of Anazon Forest in the East Continent of Espada.

The name Mundus was derived from an Ancient Tongue meaning “hell” because, according to its local legends, the founder of the Walled City had experienced hellish environment during its years of infancy as a Terran Settlement.

Regardless of the dangers, back then, this place attracted a lot of wandering Hunters and Warriors who wanted to test their mettle against the laws of nature and so here became the “bloody capital” of the Eastern Region of Heartilia until the unending calamities befalling the Walled City ended, but the name still remained.

Adding to that the natural springs below, Mundus’ name became well known as both one of the best place for honing one’s skills and relaxing after it.

Nowadays, contrary to its ominous name, Mundus is a famous destination for tourists who wanted to relax and enjoy the hot springs below.

It was also the reason why commerce in this place is as hot as a newly cooked potato.

And from the early days of the game until today, only two titans of the businesses here remained at the top —no— in fact, before; it was only the Blue Card Merchant Group. Yet it’s only recently, when the Haven Dust company came under The Union’s wing, that their businesses actually began to walk ahead of its other competitors, even going head to head against Blue Card Merchant Group’s monthly gross income.

Business is booming for all entrepreneurs in this place and even on the streets, different kinds of commodities are sold and with them, the different races —both old and newly introduced— were all busy either bartering or looking for any decent job to either earn some dough or refine their skills and abilities by means of the fires of battle.

It was the usual “starting city” vibe that all players wanted to see in the game.

Looking at the lively city below, the forces from Jeremiah couldn’t help but smile as they became affected by this energy, but to the people below, seeing the flag of Jeremiah meant that there was something big that’s going to happen in Mundus.

*****

On the city square in the middle of Mundus, one flash of light after another emerged as throngs of people wearing the Wizard Robe distinctive of the Enchantment Temple came out in large numbers.

In the three Enchantment Temples in the city, a lot of people wearing the same set of Wizard Robes, with some carrying staffs, with some orbs, with some wands, even scepters and a few magic trinkets seen being carried by a few, came out of their gates and headed straight toward the central square of the city.

Amongst the groups that arrived in Mundus, was Pistareen and because he was one with the right set of experiences, his Mana Sense immediately scanned the area… where, just as he was about to declare that it was safe, at almost at the same instance that they appeared, the white-coloured Warship of the Castle City of Jeremiah arrived.

He knew something went wrong with their plan at the instant he saw them.

—who is commanding this expedition?

Pistareen looked at the Unit Flag carried by the Warship and his face frowned into an ugly sight.

—that’s Draco’s unit!

Without any word, he brought up a communicator device from his Inventory and put it on his ear. He then called a number and reported it.

He saw that the Warship wasn’t moving yet and at its prow stood a man whose smile couldn’t be more explained as someone with a devious plot.

Pistareen reported it then heard a reply, nodded, and took out the Liberty Drone from his Inventory, throwing it in the air to allow it to hover 100m from the ground.

A few seconds later, space rippled close to the Liberty Drone and a crowd of people came out… led by a fire-themed robe-wearing person whose face is covered by a familiar red-themed faceless mask. Around him was a contingent of seemingly high-ranking people, all of different Terran Races that —to the Players— were just suddenly been discovered by an “Adventurer”.

There were the Dwarves, Elves, and even some Werewolves —wolf-eared grey-haired humanoid bipedal individuals with high ankles wearing a set of eye-catching clothing— included in the group.

In the ‘leader’ position is the fiery-robed individual who looked up at the Warship. Though they were separated by at least one half a kilometer’s height, it was as if his vision was dismissing the distance, with the feeling becoming heavier as if the man was just right in front of the group above the deck of the warship with a knife on their throats.

*****

Before, there was just the simultaneous flashes of lights that attracted the attention of the [Players], but then there came this red-robed guy.

After that, something descended on them and that there are a few who’s sensitivity were higher than the rest that felt the coldness of the person’s gaze directly pointed at them.

When this gaze lasted for three seconds, almost everybody in the Warship could finally feel that a gaze of such caliber meant one thing: the man in the fiery red-orange clothes was a “force” that can decimate them thus the origin of feeling his threat even through their bones.

They could see it… mentally… the people in the Warship don’t know why but they could feel the man’s eyes scanning every single one of them as if they were dead people standing on their toes.

Normally, such a ‘thing’ wouldn’t be felt by weaker individuals but because they have been tempered by the True Dragon blood, they’ve become more than halfway thru the genuine Path of the Strong, regardless of whether they are innately strong or just a paper tiger, because their stats have the flat 600 number, and so gave them the qualifications to feel what true strong people feel when facing a threat to their lives —a nemesis.

A “nemeses” was strong not because they can pull counters to anything that “you” could throw at it —no— they were strong because they were the “anti to everything that is you” that makes them a terrifying opponent. There was no escaping your “anti” and so them feeling suffocated like this was because the man in question was overwhelmingly stronger than all of them combined.

Worst of all, this man wasn’t even hiding his will to kill every single one of them.

They didn’t have to be smart to figure this out. It was already obviously palpable through their skin.

Siva’s murderous intent was genuine as them just being here and “coincidentally” arriving just at the same time that they are commencing their plan is detrimental to his overall strategy.

If this fish escapes, then that person called “Kira” who was a member of The Legion might vent her anger on hurting Baron; thus the root source of the boiling rage in his heart.

And yet, for some reason, the formless pressure disappeared, making the people in the deck of the Warship suddenly let a held breath.

What the just happened just now?!!

Although many saw the arrival of those flashes of lights and “felt” the presence of the source of that tangible murderous desire, there are still a few of them who were just plainly innocent, those who grew up sheltered by their loving families and had friends at school and loved by all, thus was unable to cope up with the “pressure” and thought that it might be because they aren’t used to the fleeting effects of the Hyperjump.

But those majority with experience though, they’re more clear than anyone just what it was and they knew that perhaps… coming here was a mistake.

They wanted to escape. Some already tried but all failed because space “seemed” to be locked here.

Yet…

Before they could even question it, Zelga, at the forefront of their crowd, grunted at the same time that the formless pressure disappeared. Randall, just twenty meters away from Zelga, saw this and wondered, what’s going on with him?

As he asked this question, Randall pulled back his gaze from Zelga and turned towards the direction of the fiery-robed man. It was at this time that he “saw” him take a step forward before vanishing.

—what the f—?!!

He wanted to blurt out his surprise when he then heard voices around him.

“Look! Who’s that?!”

“Dayum! Is he a ghost, appearing so suddenly…!”

“He’s floating without wearing any flight gears!”

“Is he an NPC?”

“But that red mask… its design looks familiar…”

“No [Player] could float like that without using any magic or equipment. He’s definitely an NPC!”

“Is it a boss?”

“Perhaps he’s the City Lord?!!”

There were many reactions but the “ghost” they were talking about was floating at the fore of the Warship, staring straight at Zelga 10 meters away.

A moment passed. Two. Three. Four…

An eerie silence engulfed the duo for a total of ten seconds before the man’s clear and icy voice resounded from behind his mask.

He even pointed a finger directly at Zelga’s face.

“Why are you here?”

“W-What?” Zelga was confused.

Randall wondered at the weird bodily reaction of Zelga, why is he trembling?

“It’s not a coincidence that you appeared here at the same time.” The voice under the mask said. “I am the leader of this expedition. If you stand in my way, I will obliterate you.”

Taking this as an insult, one of Zelga’s Personal Guards yelled at Siva. It was the same Captain as before.

“Who do you think you are?!! Don’t you know who you are talking to? He’s the Prince of Jeremiah!”

“I perfectly know who this ant was.” the cold and acidic voice of the man behind the mask spoke in a rebuking tone. “Zelga, King Candidate, top of the rankings list of Altair’s Second King Test. Did I miss out anything?”

The man’s indifferent tone made the ‘Captain’ stumped for words. For some reason, he could feel that this man was purposely speaking coldly and rude in front of them, especially of his Prince.

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It hasn’t been that long since they last met…

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