VOLUME 11: CHAPTER 19

VOLUME 11: CHAPTER 19

The entire Assembly Hall went into an uproar upon seeing the events that transpired in the Iron Mountains:

The captured beastmen.

The Pathfinder.

And the Skinwalker that had just returned.

Van Bucky, in particular, lost himself in rage the moment he saw Fior captured by the Pathfinder.

Noticing his intent, Hatch moved faster than everyone else. He pushed Van’s head toward the ground with his right hand, and pinned his body down with the other. The massive size and weight difference, coupled with the Bloody Whale’s strength, made Van unable to escape.

“What are you doing! Don’t stop me, Hatch!” roared Van.

“Calm down, Van!” said Hatch. “You’ve seen the number of demons, didn’t you? If you go there now, you’ll die!”

Hatch could understand why Van was so desperate. And had he been in the same situation, he would have probably done the same. But alas, Hatch couldn’t let Van walk into his death. No matter how he saw it, there was no way for Van to survive on his own if he went to the Iron Mountains.

Even the Beast King came back gravely injured after falling into the trap of the demons. And had it not been for the human king, the Beast King would have come back to them a corpse.

“My brother is going to die! And you’re asking me to calm down?!” roared Van. “Let go of me!”

Van grabbed the hilt of his twin swords and started strengthening his body with mana. He wouldn’t let anyone – be it Hatch or the Beast King – stop him from going to where the demons were.

This was his purpose in coming here in the first place.

Now that he’d confirmed that his little brother was alive, he didn’t see any reason for him to dally and hesitate any longer.

“I’m going to ask you one last time,” said Van in a threatening voice. “Let me go, Hatch. If you don’t—”

“—There’s no need to go that far. Your brother won’t die, I assure you that.”

A calm voice broke Van out of his murderous rage. The black rabbit turned his attention to the human king, who’d been silently watching the images shown in the crystal until now.

Without removing his gaze on the crystal, the human king spoke.

“Strategist Fior,” he said in a calm voice. “I remember. The rabbit who crafted the plan that fooled the Valley of Witches and Sword Saint Alexander. Thanks to him, the Third Legion successfully circumvented the Valley of Witches and reached Blackstone Town.”

Everyone in the Assembly Hall could relate to Lark’s story. The tale of the Third Legion’s valor, along with their defeat, had been a popular topic among the warriors of the Alliance, after all.

Bards sang songs and recited verses of the Third Legion’s defeat. And troupes performed plays depicting the fall of the Immortal General.

The defeat of the United Grakas Alliance against the Lukasians four years ago had been included in the annals of the Aden Region.

The Assembly Hall went silent.

It was strange. There was an indescribable sense of authority in the young man’s voice. Whenever the human king spoke, everyone, regardless of race, listened.

“Even if it wishes to, the Pathfinder wouldn’t be able to kill your brother,” said Lark, “Or any of those captured beastmen, for that matter.”

Had another human said those words, the beastmen in the Assembly Hall wouldn’t believe a single one of them. But considering Lark’s status as the king of a nation, the insight he’d shown in warning them of the demon’s invasion, and the prowess he’d displayed when repelling the demon horde, everyone couldn’t simply dismiss his words.

The human king’s words carried far greater weight that they’d dared to admit, the beastmen thought.

“It wouldn’t be able to kill my brother?” said Van. “What do you mean?”

Sensing that Van had calmed down somewhat, Hatch let go of him.

Lark finally gazed at the black rabbit.

“Didn’t you notice? The moment the Skinwalker merged bodies with the Pathfinder, the perspective shown in the crystal changed,” said Lark.

Seeing that everyone was still perplexed, Lark patiently explained.

“The mark I’ve imprinted in its body didn’t disappear,” said Lark. “That’s why we’re still able to see what’s happening in the Iron Mountains.”

Hearing this, the eyes of Van widened. Looking around, even the other military officers of Talverton understood what King Lark was trying to say.

“Then—”

“—That’s right,” said Lark, nodding his head. “The mark is now in the body of the Pathfinder.”

Looking at the crystal, they saw that the Pathfinder had opened the door to the iron cell once again, and he started ordering the tormentors to drag out the three prisoners.

Van anxiously gazed at this sight. The black rabbit would have immediately run out of the tower, had it not been for the unperturbed expression of King Lark.

For some peculiar reason, the human king seemed certain that nothing too dangerous would befall the three beastmen.

“After seeing the captive jaguar beastman, I initially planned on using the Skinwalker to protect him,” said Lark. He grinned. “But… how fortunate. To think that the Pathfinder would be this reckless and immediately merge with his offspring. With this—”

Mana gushed out of Lark’s body, and a magic formation quickly formed underneath his feet. Within seconds, the magic formation glowed, before breaking into glass-like particles.

“—We should be able to buy enough time until we arrive at the Iron Mountains.”

Through the crystal, everyone in the Assembly Hall saw how the Pathfinder’s body distorted. Its limbs bent and moved in unimaginable ways and directions. Massive, ivory-colored vines grew out of its chest, and a large flower with serrated teeth sprouted out of its back.

Although they couldn’t hear it through the crystal, a loud, piercing scream escaped the Pathfinder’s mouth.

“From now on, the White Flower born from the Pathfinder shall protect the captive beastmen.”

***

Fior had already resolved himself to the horrible fate he would suffer the moment they’d been captured by the Pathfinder.

He’d steeled himself for the torture, and the slow, excruciating death he would experience in the hands of these monsters.

But what’s this?

“GRUAAH! S-STOP! L-LET GO OF MY BODY! I SAID STOOOPPP!”

Fior was speechless upon seeing the bizarre state of the Pathfinder.

Without warning, the Pathfinder suddenly started squirming in pain, as pure white vines began growing out of his chest. At the same time, a gigantic white flower, which resembled a rafflesia, also sprouted out of its back.

“N-NO! IT HURTS! S-STOP!” screamed the Pathfinder. “ALL OF YOU! W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING! HELP ME!”

The tormentors and flesh eaters around them tried to help the Pathfinder, but to no avail. They tugged at the white vines in an attempt to pull it out of the Pathfinder’s body, but it did nothing but hasten its growth.

In the end, they moved back and kept their distance. The demons simply stood still and watched as the white flower sucked in all of the energy of the Pathfinder, turning its entire body into a shriveled, lifeless shell.

With the Pathfinder and the three Skinwalkers as its source of nutrients, the white flower monster continued to grow, until it reached twice the size of the Fire Giants. Its massive shadow loomed over everyone.

“W-What’s this?” Arlo’s teeth clattered.

“Did, did the flower eat it?” said Kukri, his face ghastly pale. “I-It’s not going to eat us too, right?”

Fior heard the nervous gulps beside him. He looked at the place where the body of what used to be the Pathfinder was located, then at the massive flower above.

In this dry, barren mountain, the white flower monster looked mesmerizingly beautiful. Its massive stalk spanned a hundred meters, and the white flower itself was around forty meters in diameter. Like an ancient tree, its numerous white vines covered the ground.

Throughout its stalk, several dozen eyes grew and opened, bearing a striking semblance to its progenitor, the Pathfinder.

It was breathtakingly captivating, yet, at the same time, disgusting.

The eyes on its stalk all looked down and gazed in the three beastmen’s direction. In particular, they all looked at Fior.

The diaphragm of the white flower opened slightly, and a voice was heard.

“Strategist Fior.”

The hair on Fior’s body bristled upon hearing it. Similar to the Pathfinder’s voice, it felt as though several grown men were speaking at the same time, their voices overlapping with each other.

Hearing no response from the rabbit, the white flower moved closer and spoke again, “Strategist Fior.”

The vines of the white flower slowly moved.

Although Fior didn’t know how to read the body language of monsters – especially a flower monster, it seemed as though the massive creature in front of him was pondering.

“Can you hear me? Hmm… Strange. After taking complete control of the Pathfinder’s body, I can finally hear you on my side. Is the spell not working properly? No, maybe perhaps you are too terrified to speak?”

It took Fior several more seconds to finally process what’s currently happening. He realized that the one speaking to him was not the Pathfinder, nor the white flower, but a different person entirely.

“Who….,” said Fior, “who are you?”

The white flower moved even closer, and from this distance, Fior could see the innumerable serrated teeth inside its diaphragm. Fior had the urge to step back and run away, but seeing the numerous long vines covering the ground, he knew that would be a futile endeavor when faced with this monster. Moreover, unlike him, Kukri wasn’t in a state wherein he could escape. Fior couldn’t bring himself to just abandon his comrades here.

“So, the spell works perfectly. Splendid.”

The white flower paused, then introduced itself.

“Lark Marcus. King Regent of the Kingdom of Lukas.”

Fior’s eyes widened. Through the corner of his eyes, Fior saw that his fellow slaves were in the same state.

It wasn’t the name of a monster, but of a human.

Although Fior had been a slave for almost four years, he wasn’t out of the loop in the recent happenings in the Alliance and its neighboring countries. He heard from the newer slaves that the man who killed the Immortal Beastman had ascended the throne and became the King of the Lukasians.

But…

Does this make sense?

Not only was the white flower speaking, it also said that it was actually the King of Lukas.

What happened to the Big Head?

Why did the White Flower suddenly sprout and devour the Big Head’s body?

And why was the King of Lukas speaking to them through the white flower?

There were so many questions in Fior’s mind that needed answers.

Fior wanted to ask the white flower these questions, but before he could utter a word, the white flower spoke again.

“Are you the one who disrupted the mana flow of the portal?”

Fior quizzically asked, “Portal?”

It was the first time he’d heard of such a word.

Seeing Fior’s reaction, one of the vines moved and pointed its tip at the direction of the massive gate.

“That thing over there. What did you do to destabilize it?”

Fior finally understood what King Lark was asking him. As expected, what they did was quite significant.

“It’s not just me,” said Fior. He looked at his fellow slaves, then at the white flower. “All three of us worked together to destroy the crystal feeders.”

“Crystal feeders?”

Fior nodded. “Maybe you’ll understand it better if we use the exact words the Big Head used? He called them Portal Stabilizers.”

For several seconds, the white flower fell silent.

“I see. I understand now. Then tell me, how did you do it?”

It felt strange speaking with a white flower monster. But seeing that the demons around them didn’t dare approach it, Fior realized that they should be safe as long as they stuck close to it. For now, Fior decided to tell the human king everything.

He told them how they’d managed to survive all this time, how they saw the portal nearly close on its own, and how the demons used the mana crystals to restore it to its previous state. From how they snuck around and stole the black powder, to how they blew up the stabilizers – they told Lark everything.

After the explanation was over, the white flower shook, as though nodding its head.

“I see. How… interesting. Learning is truly a lifelong process. We learn new things each day.”

The white flower seemed to be chuckling in amusement, but its deep voice made it sound ominous instead. Even now, Fior felt terrified just hearing it speak.

“I should have realized it sooner. Now that I think of it, it makes sense. No matter how intelligent the demon behind the duplication of the portal is, it’s impossible to stabilize the portal completely in a short period of time. And to fix that problem, they used an external source to supply it with power. The demons went against the laws of nature, but in the end, they are unable to completely tame this world’s mana. ”

Portals were one of the greatest mysteries in this world.

Even Evander Alaester did not know how portals came into existence, but he theorized that they were created after massive amounts of mana aggregated in a single point, and pierced through the Middle Space separating the realms themselves, creating a permanent pathway.

There were several loopholes in this theory, since the laws governing this world dictate that the gateway should be repaired eventually, even if it took hundreds of years. But the portals – an anomaly of this world – did not follow such rules.

Lark surmised two plausible reasons for this phenomenon:

First, the massive aggregates of mana combined with the unique mana of the Middle Space, forming a far more stable version capable of indefinitely repairing itself, therefore resulting in a solid and stable pathway.

And second, there existed weak points in the Middle Space, which could no longer be fixed after being pierced by massive aggregates of mana.

Those were merely theories, and Evander hadn’t truly tested them out himself.

In a sense, considering the fact that Evander Alaester believed that Gods were also aggregations of mana, portals should be the closest thing to those so-called heavenly beings.

Had the Churches of the Seven Gods heard this, they would have condemned Lark for his blasphemous words and branded him a heretic.

He was probably the only person in this world who considered the portals as the closest thing to the Gods.

“You did well,” said Lark to Fior.

It was amazing that the rabbit beastman managed to deduce this much in such a short period of time, even going as far as destroying the stabilizers to hasten the closing of the portal.

“The spell I’m currently using is originally meant to control the weakened Skinwalker. But fortunately, the Pathfinder – the Big Head you spoke of – decided to immediately merge with its offspring.”

The White Flower Spell Lark used using the Bow of Morpheus wasn’t powerful enough to control the bodies of High Demons. Even controlling a Skinwalker should be an impossible feat, had the Beast King not greatly weakened it.

But due entirely to luck, the spell managed to enter the body of the Pathfinder unrestricted after it merged with the Skinwalker. And now, Lark had managed to take over the body of one of the most powerful demons in the Iron Mountains.

Just by the size of the white flower alone, Lark was certain that it was at least as strong as a High Demon.

“You said before that there are three portal stabilizers, but you managed to destroy only two of them,” said Lark.

Fior nodded his head. He pointed in a certain direction. “If you’re looking for the remaining one, it’s over there. Deep underground.”

“You are quick on the uptake.”

Several vines shot out and pierced the ground of the place Fior pointed at. The vines kept shooting and slamming at it, until they finally found their target.

Eventually, they heard the sound of metal crumpling and glass breaking. Using overwhelming force, the white flower destroyed the remaining portal stabilizer hidden underground.

And the effect was instantaneous.

Although the portal didn’t close immediately, they saw it forming ripples throughout its entire body.

“Isn’t this easy?” Lark said amusedly. “Now, I no longer have to conserve my remaining mana. I can go all out. Strategist Fior, with this, you’ve just saved the lives of thousands of beastmen.”

Seeing the quizzical gaze of Fior, Lark added, “Originally, we plan on marching to the Iron Mountains with the remaining warriors of Talverton. The warriors are supposed to hold off the demons for me, until I manage to close the portal. But after hearing your story, and after seeing the current state of the portal, that should be no longer necessary.”

Several vines moved and formed a circular wall that enclosed the three beastmen slaves.

“Stay next to the white flower. It will protect you.”

The sky demons above screeched, and the other demons around them finally broke out of their stupor and roared. Seeing the vines move to form an encloser that protected the beastmen, the demons seemed to have finally realized that the white flower was no longer the Pathfinder but a different entity entirely.

The ground rumbled as two Fire Giants started walking in the white flower’s direction.

“Stay alive. Do your best to survive. I am heading out now—

—to the Iron Mountains.”