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Volume 5
Chapter 210: Heaven Piercing Wrath
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“Leave it to the genius.” Zaza said with confidence and he stood in front of the tablet.
He swiped the air, summoning a player window then afterwards took out an item.
The item was like a laptop computer with a dongle.
With a click of a button, the protruding dongle emitted a light and this light scanned the surface of the tablet from top to bottom.
After that, the scanner light vanished and a display of the tablet showed at the laptop device.
The letters were highlighted and a two-way scanning, vertical and horizontal, line studied the letters on the screen.
BEEP!
A clear metallic sound rung and a pop up panel showed itself on Zaza vision.
He turned around with beaming smiles as he spoke with pride:
“Easy-peasy! I’m done with the translation!”
PAK!
Redeye couldn’t help but hit his head with a slipper.
“Genius your grandmother. All you did was use an item and didn’t actually do the job of translating it.”
“But I invented this item.” Zaza pouted.
“Who cares… just tell us what it means.”
“Aye.” Prompted, Zaza checked the panel on his vision as he stored back his invention on his inventory. He then spent a minute studying the contents before turning to Redeye with seriousness. “Just like the ones we saw in Dragona, this one’s also made by Emperor De Raizel.”
Redeye nodded in understanding then asked, “So?”
Zaza looked at the tablet on the wall and pointed at the bottom, towards the slot with a symbol on it.
“Just as the Supreme Commander had predicted, every tablet will require a different medallion.”
Redeye summoned his inventory and pulled out a medallion.
If an experienced Wizard would see this medallion, he would immediately recognize this item as something that is the same with the [key item] used to access the Magus Archive.
The only difference is that it was specially made only for a single purpose.
Not wasting any moment, Redeye walked in front of the tablet and then inserted the medallion with the same symbol on it on the slot on the wall.
With a click, the medallion got stuck with the slot and a rumbling sound began to fill the large wall where the tablet was located.
A dark line outlining what seemed like a door appeared around the tablet and the rumbling sounds came as that outline revealed a long dark tunnel.
When the door finally fully slid aside, the dark tunnel beyond lay bare for the members of The Legion.
Some members of the 300 gulped down courage and there are some who held their weapons, preparing for the worst.
No one entered.
Redeye faced Zaza, waiting for the explanation on the words on the tablet.
Zaza said, “Well, it’s just the same words of warning as the one in Dragona with the difference being that there was a personal message on one in this location.”
“So what does it say?”
“Let me read it. ‘I, Emperor Gabriel Etrama De Raizel, eternal and undying, met my friends in this city. The grave secrets of this place have long since forgotten in time but the sacredness of this place remains eternal with me. Those who desecrate this sanctuary shall face my wrath while those who will pay respect to their memories shall be granted passage. I just hope that while you seek the secrets buried in this god-forsaken place, your goal is not to free it but to end the curse for everyone’s sake.’ That’s what it says on the tablet.”
“Hmm... this is new.”
“Indeed, it is.” Zaza looked at the tablet and then to the deep dark tunnel up front. “Friends… this is actually the first time I’m hearing about this. I always thought that Emperor De Raizel was a solitary Immortal that walked the lands in ages.”
“According to what we know, he had left many traces of himself in the continents but ultimately started and ended his journey in The North. He used many names and started many trends, taught Magic and Sorcery to the citizens, and even established the House of Magic that which where all the Enchanters ultimately gets their qualifications before being assigned to the Mansions. In all the records he left, there isn’t a single indication telling us that he had even one single person he called a friend. And yet in this place… it said he met his ‘friends’ in this place. So it means there are more than one.”
“Mn. This is certainly a source of mystery.” Zaza, who looked like a bald perverted monk with his cheerful smile, crossed his arms and nodded.
Redeye who looked serious dialed on his communicator but was surprised instead.
“There’s no signal.” He exclaimed.
“Oh?!”
Following this, everyone checked their communicators and discovered that there was no signal in this place.
Someone who reacted fast flew up to check but as soon as he reached 100m from the base of the tower, he slammed into an invisible wall and fell down with a red swollen nose.
Zaza was aghast, “We’re trapped here!”
“Not trapped.” He said, pulling on his window panel and then saying, “Emails still work. I just successfully sent an email outside the game. As I see it, any communication inside the game is impossible but is still possible to contact the outside world.”
“I see.” Zaza pondered. “It means that this feat is only possible because of this place.”
“…or because of this one particular place.”
The two exchanged glances and nodded as if they both thought of the same idea. These two, of the thirteen members of The Legion, have been partners ever since they started their careers in Terroa.
“Well, there’s no use pondering on something. Let’s just get inside.” Redeye said.
“Everyone,” Zaza turned around and warned them. “I don’t want anyone dying here so I need you all to open your eyes and ears and be vigilant against and regarding anything you find suspicious or unusual.”
With a unified salute, every one of the 300 crew members of their team answered, “Hai!”
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Zaza and Redeye exchanged another look and then nodded at each other. They then faced the long dark tunnel and breathed deep before pulling out their weapons and taking their first step.
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The hangar bays that The Akhenaton plundered from Warjillis numbered only four. But this four hangar bays can accommodate hundreds of Cyclones and over twenty warships.
Two islands occupied these hangar bays and with two on each island, there was a lot of space left for people to live on to and build small communities to unwind.
Aside from the training grounds, there were also the grasslands and the Mountain Island with a lot of use.
A kilometer sized mountain wasn’t that large but for a person’s personal use, it was big enough.
What more if there are nine of them?
Thorn watched as the members of the Black Mustache Unit fixed themselves into from the all-viewing sphere at the heart of Akhenaton.
The additional five units of Lambda-Class Warships is a huge help to their overall strength and what more if this unit is led by a player famous for his tactic and style —aside from his iconic image.
After he had seen enough of the fluttering black flag with a bird with an upward arched black mustache on its beak, Thorn felt a flash of light behind him and looked back to see Volt, frowning.
Volt looked at the unconscious avatar of Siva and then looked at Thorn.
“What’s wrong?” Thorn asked in worry.
“I heard noises on his house earlier and heard the old woman yelling at him. I was worried but… seeing him in these two sides… I just can’t help but worry about the way he’s abusing his endurance.”
Thorn could only nod helplessly at this. “For almost three days, he exhausted his mental health to hasten our travel time. He slept only for at least four hours inside the game and only logged out to eat or do important things. Aside from that, he used all his strength to get here as fast as we can.”
“It saved us so much time though but… how far away are we now from Alexandria?”
“Around two hours.”
“That’s a short distance. With the speed we have, we are at least six days faster than your crew.”
“That’s one issue.” Thorn said frowning and then his gaze landed on the hangar island, into that flagship.
“Are there more?” Volt followed his gaze and was surprised when he asked, “Who are they?”
“That Kladis sent him here with ill intent. He wanted to delay our approach to the city by both negotiation and violence. Two divisions’ worth of forces and an entire battle Armada led by the Black Turtle.”
“Black Turtle… Marshal D’Catch?”
“Yep.”
Volt was utterly surprised by this. Black Turtle D’Catch had a reputation inside the game. He may not be part of the Top 10,000 players of Terroa but his Turquoise Armada with the flag of the [Black Mustached Turtle] nicknamed “Turquoise” was part of the Top 50 best fleets inside the game.
It should be mentioned that with the number of Guilds and Alliances inside the game, there are at least 1000 different fleets with many different names and titles on them.
Great Leaders who can lead their platoon of soldiers in a war game like Terroa earn titles. But battles of men and the battles using warships are two different worlds of specialization.
Fleet Commanders earn respect in a higher terrain!
It should be noted that if you know how to best utilize a fleet’s overall capability, then it is easy commanding troops when in land.
After all, a warship is an exaggerated and function-focused larger-sized rendering of a soldier.
If a commander knows how to display a warship at its best performance, then there is no problem utilizing a more nimble and free-thinking soldier in the battlefield.
They had a style of “Run ‘n Gun” and it was a very effective maneuver that gave the Black Turtle “Turquoise” Armada their renowned reputation inside the game.
Also, they gained their reputation in the West and the Northern battlefronts. People here cause more wars than there are in any other continent.
Volt was surprised that this famous fleet is in one of the hangar bays of Akhenaton, side by side with the three motherships of Rex’s battle slaves.
“What happened when I was gone?”
“It’s a long story. In a short relay, they were sent here as a sacrifice but the man himself wasn’t willing to be a sacrificial pawn so I converted him.”
Volt scrutinized Thorn with immensity and then took a few steps back, muttering, “You’re scary.”
Thorn shook his head, helplessly uttering a sigh. “Let’s just forget about it. At least now, we have a dependable fleet commander on our ranks.”
“Mn. That’s a good thing.” Saying this, Volt glanced at Siva, “So how long has he been out?”
“Around an hour now.”
Volt thought for a moment, “So when I heard the noise earlier, he just logged out by then…”
Thorn observed the worry in Volt’s countenance. He then remembered something and said, “That’s right. I just discovered something. It seems that not only is Jack Stone in Alexandria, it’s also that there seems to be something hidden deep underground in the city.”
“A secret?”
“Mn.” Nodding, Thorn continued with a grave expression. “Their real reason on attacking Alexandria wasn’t to capture Jack or take the Excalibur, but it was ultimately to learn the secret under the city.”
“Is there a secret dungeon?”
“Not a dungeon but a tower. Five of them.” Speaking at this point, Thorn glanced back at the hangar bays which Volt followed, “Apparently, there was something like a Blood Dragon Prison somewhere in The North and the keys to finding this prison are the five spires located on secret places around Tiara.”
Volt thought for a moment, “Blood Dragon? Why do I feel like I’ve heard that name before?”
Thorn continued, “Commander D’Catch once escorted a group of infiltrators towards a city in the northern regions, in Paneme, and according to him, the large cannon in Dragona is the first spire that held the secret which led the Blue Card Legion into chasing after this prison in the Northern Continent.”
“It means that the prison is somewhere in The North, right?”
“That’s what they know. Also, back in Dragona, the Ethereal Chains they used to bind their kidnapped prisoners to fight in their underground arena uses the lives of the killed prisoners as sacrifice into powering the will of that Blood Dragon Prisoner that seeped out of the spire. From the information given by Blood Dragon Prisoner, as soon as the Blue Card Legion is successful in freeing this prisoner, he will pledge his strength into destroying any enemy The Legion has.”
Volt clicked his tongue upon hearing this. He held his head and then messed his hair, “Aaargh… why do I find that word familiar? It’s infuriating. It’s at the tip of my tongue but I can’t pinpoint where I’ve heard it.”
“What is?” Thorn blinked in curiosity.
Volt pointed a finger, “Blood Dragon. I know I’ve heard it before but I just can’t remember where and when.”
Thorn thought for a moment, he then pulled up his player window and pulled up a drawing panel. He then began to draw something when they both heard a low groan coming Siva.
As they turned they gaze, Siva was already up and he stretched his body while cleaning his right ear. “What a loud old woman. I couldn’t even eat properly because she was nagging at me.”
Volt smiled and punched his upper arm, “You finally listen to reason, huh?”
Siva sighed and then shook his head, “We don’t have time to waste. Let’s get moving.”
Thorn and Volt was about to say something but Siva had already floated inside the clear sphere and then began to control the warship manually. This way, it will be faster by 1.7 times than when it was flying in auto-pilot mode.
Thorn had long stopped his drawing and Volt had also long forgotten about their topic.
At this point, a call came from Thorn’s panel and he spoke with a loud voice, “It’s a call from FlowerLord,”
Siva glanced down at him and then nodded, “Let’s hear her.”
Thorn gave a nod and then swiped the call open. The first thing they saw was a crying and angry FlowerLord while behind her was the anxious crew of the Archangel.
From this alone, the three men knew that something had happened… and this something wasn’t good.
“Rex! You son of a bitch! This is all your fault! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT…!!” These were the first words of anger FlowerLord said as soon as the call connected.
Siva frowned while the other two were confused.
“What’s your problem?” Siva tried to reply with his own irritated manner but when he saw the anger on the former’s face, Siva couldn’t help cowering a bit.
“Amanda! Amanda almost got raped because of chasing you! She went inside this game because she was worried for you but all you did was to ignore her and push her away! Now… now she’s crying and she’s broken, she… she was even afraid of her own father!”
The three men gasped and Siva’s chest started to rise and fall with intensity. His eyes stilled and froze, his gaze sinister and murderous.
His mind was in shock, and the thought… was one of the greatest fears he had happening.
“Who! Who did it?!” Siva raged.
“Kladis!” FlowerLord yelled and pointed a finger, “You damned son of a bitch. If you don’t kill that bastard, I’ll make sure that you will be hospitalized longer than the last time you were in bed. You hear me?! You better bring her back or I swear I will kill you myself!”
FlowerLord was raging but on the other side of the call, there was the other girls trying to comfort her and stop her from overexerting herself.
If her mind reached the threshold of agitation, the security measures embedded on the NLD will force her to log out and she would be unable to log in for the next few hours after that.
Agatha used her strength and pulled the agitated and crying FlowerLord. Loni also comforted her along with Samara who patted her sobbing back.
In the end, it was Cassiopeia who took over the call and teary-eyed stooped and pleaded at Siva.
“Master, please, I beg you… she is a good girl. Please save her…”
Cassiopeia wasn’t even finished speaking yet when FlowerLord cursed again, “This is all your fault, Rex! If you weren’t a sissy and a coward, she… Amanda wouldn’t have to be kidnapped and wouldn’t have to experience this kind of thing. This is all your fault and I will never forgive you because of this!”
FlowerLord swiped her hand and the call got terminated.
Siva’s time seemed to have stopped before he roared where Akhenaton also followed.
Only, this time, to the shock of everyone else in the islands and the surrounding 20km radius, not only did Akhenaton’s roar resounded like thunder clap across the horizons, it was also carrying a name uttered in a complete heartfelt rage:
“KLAAAAADIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSS…!!!!”
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The news had reached Siva…
Now the true battle in Alexandria begins.
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Next chapter: The ancient emperor’s curse causes fear to the city!!!