CHAPTER 254: TAKING RISKS
Liam looked at the holographic images with a serious expression.
“Was this what they had in mind?” he asked quietly.
No one answered his question.
He was now in his private room with dozens of holographic drones protecting his surroundings, with strong barriers of all kinds.
Was he being paranoid?
No... The place he had infiltrated was dangerous enough that his security measures were considered ridiculous.
It had taken him a long time to infiltrate those security networks and gain what he was looking for, alerting no one, but he couldn’t trust them not to find him when there were so many unknown means in this world.
Liam read the information again in detail and then let out a long sigh again.
What he had stolen after infiltrating was a big deal and could be considered a crime.
Liam was no saint, he had committed several crimes during his life, most of them cyber crimes of all kinds.
Stealing money from a rich person, eavesdropping on the conversation of a powerful person, stealing information from a company, and even infiltrating government information networks.
He was good at what he did. That he had long ago infiltrated the network of the Church of Time and Space was proof that his skill was high.
While he had used a few tricks to get past security and was eventually caught, he had improved since that time.
And he had breached the security system of a Sage and the Cosmos Company, whose technology was very advanced.
The security systems of that company were at a higher level than any other organization, and he had infiltrated that security system.
Now, after a long time, he was once again involved with a giant the size of the Church of Time and Space.
Liam had just stolen information from the Church of Order by breaching that church’s security system.
Despite the deep security of the Church of Order and the high-ranking individuals hired to protect the security system of such an important church, Liam had infiltrated to steal information.
Talent with technology was important, but so were the old classic methods and, in this case, Liam had both.
Adding that he had a technological advantage thanks to his relationship with the Cosmos Company, in the end, he managed to extract the information he was looking for.
Information to put Cardinal Auguste in check... Liam didn’t care about the other secrets of the church and focused on this man.
The reason was simple.
Cardinal Auguste, in his eyes, was the most terrifying individual he had ever encountered and it was too difficult to analyze what his decisions and moves would be.
Liam, unlike Aurora, did not have too many reasons to help the goblins, but when that day they faced Arminius Petra, that man left a very high impression on him.
He felt that Cardinal Auguste had been hiding in the shadows unnoticed the whole time and, while he could end it all quickly; he decided to act at the end.
It was so frightening the way he was hiding and if Liam was honest, to think that right now he was standing next to him watching... It made his hairs stand on end.
That kind of individual could not be underestimated.
The assault on the abyssal portal was already dated and if he were suddenly told that on that day Cardinal Auguste would do something that wasn’t planned, Liam would believe it.
Honestly, he didn’t trust Cardinal Auguste.
That was why, although he had begun to approach the Church of the Order since the yacht, he now emphasized the task.
Some might call him paranoid, but Liam wanted to eliminate all possible factors that were against the hope of Aurora and Alice’s safe return.
Cithrel had recently reported that both sisters were fine, and that was the reason Liam was now moving around, looking reckless.
He didn’t know how Cithrel got the information, but the princess was reliable.
Now, if he needed to be reckless to reduce any mishaps, Liam would be it.... After all, hadn’t he been reckless before?
Since he had recommended the possibility of involvement with the Church of Order, he had been reckless.
While the information he had gotten wasn’t that shocking, it would leave the Church of Order in a complicated position and would get Cardinal Auguste enough criticism that the other members of the allied forces would prevent him from moving.
Liam was sure of that because the information he had stolen was about the plans the Church of Order had had regarding the goblins.
In case of war, Cardinal Auguste would try to eradicate all goblins and in case peace was called for by avoiding eradication, the Church of Order planned to use the high ranks of the goblins to fight the demons in the lawless land.
It was a plan given by Cardinal Auguste to the church and the more extremist side that wanted the eradication of the demons accepted it.
As the goblins were to be bound by contracts, it was possible that they could not withdraw once the battle began... It was a cold and manipulative plan, which only sought to concentrate on their task of eliminating the demons.
Which strangely enough was accepted by the Church of Order.
If it wasn’t for the Church of Time and Space intervening by moving without hesitation in carrying out their task and incidentally having public support because of the videos released about the goblin experiments, the situation could have been very different from it is now.
Even though it was an old plan, it would still cause some effect on the Church of the Order and its believers, but more importantly, it would warn Cardinal Auguste not to move.
While it wasn’t something that would completely shock the world, it was going to be enough for the goal Liam was after.
However, that didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be some countermeasure against whoever released this information.
No matter how much Liam had made sure to cover his tracks in every possible way and no matter how much he had approached the Sage of Technology and Science by learning new methods and getting technology that was far ahead, it was impossible to be sure that he would remain unnoticed.
The Church of Order had a certain majority of psionics and among those abilities, he didn’t know if there was anyone who managed to detect him in any way.
And while that psionic drone generating a barrier to prevent detection relieved his stress, it was a large church he was talking about.
Still...
“I’ll let my bosses deal with the repercussions,” Liam muttered in a simple tone.
He wasn’t strong, and he wasn’t overly powerful, either.
His talents and skills were focused on computer networks.
As for the rest... As long as his bosses survived and were safe, Liam could leave all the work to them.
After all, he was just a worker who was part of an odd group.
That was going to be his excuse.
******
Urfin flew up, looking at the back of the creature Alice had transformed into.
It was a five meter tall creature with a large body, thick arms and legs that knocked down the trees it passed between.
If no one knew who the creator was and who was inside, they were likely to think it was an abominable and terrifying monster.
And no matter how much Urfin would think so... It was.
“Grahh!”
Several monsters jumped from the sides of the trees trying to catch that creature, but halfway through they were caught in mid-air as a thick spike shot out from that monster to pierce through them.
The creature took them out without looking or stopping.
That creature was traveling at a great speed, destroying everything without wasting time.
Urfin noticed how the monsters fell to the ground.
They had been advancing for a while because the night could become frightening.
Monsters were everywhere, and it was hard to see clearly in the night, even if they drank concoctions or cast spells.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
They were quick to move, but it was noticeable that there was a time gap between when Aurora and her group was attacked to when Marius arrived at the rendezvous point.
Still, they made it as quickly as possible to the cliff.
Previous scouting had been done before they had started the mission, and that was why they knew which way to move.
Then, upon reaching where the site was supposed to be, they didn’t find as many monsters or monster corpses as one would expect.
“Was it here?”
“What happened?”
Adala asked the first question, and the second was from Theodore frowning.
If one looked at their respective battlefields, one was likely to find corpses of all kinds and battle debris, but here it was different.
The only traces of battle were near the cliff, most of which were collapsed.
“The battle was chaotic and troubled... They ended up falling off the cliff. They died,” Marius said with an exhausted and pale expression.
Urfin’s expression turned serious as he heard those words.
Earlier Marius had mentioned that they had died, but not that they fell off the cliff and....
“There’s a huge difference between falling off a cliff and dying.” Alice said and approaching his group, she looked at Marius and asked. “How do you know Aurora died falling off the cliff? How do you state so clearly that she died?”
The creature’s face was distorting, and it was the same with its body that was starting to shake as if hands wanted to come out of its black stomach.
Marius had said they had all died with too much certainty, but now he mentioned that they fell off the cliff.
Marius’ expression turned paler at the presence of the creature that wanted to slit his throat.... Yes, right now Alice was letting her murderous intent show.
Was it because he didn’t want time wasted searching for the bodies and trying to rescue the group that had fallen, or was it something more sinister?
“Tell what happened,” Urfin ordered, giving Marius a serious look.
“The situation was very confusing, but the group fell to the cliff... Cédric was protecting me and then I don’t know what happened when the monsters attacked us,” Marius muttered, as if it was hard to remember.
Maybe it was a trauma... But they were talking about a man who came to this place and survived until the others found him.
Whose record detailed dangerous missions and to that despite being a healer, he was a veteran even for combat.
Adala could say those words and it would be believable, but here... Now it made little sense.
Hearing those words, Alice in her creature form revealed her claws as if she was willing to cut him to pieces to make him tell the truth, but she was aware of her priorities and approached the cliff.
Urfin followed her sideways.
“We’re going down. Amanda, check if possible pray to the God of Time and Space to verify the past,” Urfin ordered, and looking at the others, he stated. “Our group will descend to verify the situation.”
The place felt too deep and the end could not be seen with the naked eye, but it was necessary to move fast.
He didn’t know in what situation Aurora, Dan and Cédric could find themselves... Marius seemed to keep his secret, but in the end the truth would be revealed.
“An earthquake spell was used to destroy the area and part of the cliffs.” Meden pointed out seriously.
The looks towards Marius became more serious and even Adala took distance.
Not ‘knowing what had happened’ was an excuse and more so when Marius was the only one who had a wand of earth magic with the ‘earthquake’ spell.
Did he wish to cover up his mistake that could have led to a more difficult situation out of embarrassment, or was it another reason?
The situation didn’t matter, even if Amanda couldn’t see past it because her god was unresponsive, it was clear that Marius was unreliable.
Urfin looked at his imperial team and signaled Theodore and Amanda to take care of any problems.
They had a communication crystal as well, so they could get back in communication again in case of an emergency.
Theodore nodded with a cool expression, understanding that what he had to watch out for was Marius.
They were in a complicated situation at the moment and not telling the truth was suspicious.
Urfin and the team braced themselves and then looked at Alice, who was watching the bottom of the abyss.
“If anything happens to my sister... I will cut your throat and watch you die slowly,” Alice threatened before letting herself fall off the cliff.
Urfin followed immediately, looking at the huge creature and falling into the deep, feeling like they were being thrown into an abyss of darkness.
Alros had cast an air magic spell to communicate while preparing another spell to prevent a horrible fall, but the descent alone was terrifying.
Not only because of the distance, but because of the speed of the fall.
“I feel something through the wall. Be careful!” Meden roared with her hammer in her hands.
Her warning came quickly, but a large worm jumped out of a hole, hitting the creature that was going first... Trying to engulf Alice.
That creature transformed her hand into a sharp sword and cut the worm in half because it couldn’t get through the flesh. Then they all saw a terrifying scene.
Urfin had thought that thick worm several meters wide and long was going to be troublesome, but the inner flesh began to be devoured by the black mass until the worms remaining body disappeared.
No, it didn’t disappear... It was literally devoured.
The giant creature that Alice had transformed into had devoured the worm and Urfin had the feeling that there was more black mass.
“Grahh!”
Other worms started jumping out to catch them from the large holes that were in the cliff wall.
Those worms were of A or B rank, but their advantage was their size and strength that managed to cause too much trouble when combined with the high numbers.
Urfin could see how some worms stuck on the falling five meter creature, trying to bite into the creature’s mass of darkness.
However, Alice was not a simple one.
“Aghh...”
Alice let out spikes from the creature’s body and pierced through all the worms that were trying to bite her and instead of throwing the corpses, the black mass began to swallow the bodies, practically devouring it.
All the while, the black mass increased.
The innate ability of that great gourmet was not a simple ‘Domain of Darkness’. It was something more sinister that people would not hesitate to look negatively upon meeting it.
Now that strange creature was falling into the abyss and devouring the bodies of the worms, turning it into the darkness it controlled.
However, Urfin and his companions were no ordinary people, they were Terranovian and had a very open mind to all oddities.
Looking at the true skill of that gourmet, Urfin simply gave an order to his group to drop deeper without thinking too much about Alice’s ability.
Alros moved with greater speed and slashed at the worms that jumped out of their holes to try to eat his flesh.
They were big and thick, but Alros was an air mage and even though he was falling at great speed, he controlled his body perfectly.
Meden, instead of attacking, hugged her huge hammer while concentrating on using earth magic.
The worms jumped out of the holes and when they failed to catch prey, they hit the other side of the wall, re-creating another hole to escape.
These worms did not appear to be monsters corrupted by Chaos, but seemed to be magical creatures of this world.
As Urfin moved around, cutting down those who wished to strike him and throwing his axes to retrieve it the next moment, Meden began to close the holes at a high speed.
Each of them were archmages of their respective magics and while they were focused more on battles than the study of magic, they were powerful.
Now that ability began to show as Meden closed the worms’ entrances to keep them from jumping, at the same time as Alros used his air magic to cut down his enemies.
Then it was the turn of Siba who cast a fire spell in a hole... Creating a huge flame that spread through all the holes they were connecting illuminating the totally dark area.
Thanks to that spell, they could descend with some calm until, after a few minutes, they reached the ground where Alros used his magic to prevent their bodies from crashing against the ground.
When they looked at how deep the cliff was, they didn’t think it was going to be that deep, but now that they were down, they realized how wrong they were.
The spot they had landed at was the same spot they had launched from and while Alice had fought and eaten worms in the air, she always kept falling to the same spot.
The proof of this was the debris and dead monsters all around.
Alice surveyed the surroundings, returning to her human form and looking at where there was a sword cut on the wall. Her gaze descended to the ground where there was dried blood as if someone had vomited all the impurities.
Urfin was about to check the place with his group when a smile appeared on Alice’s face and from some rubble, she pulled out a spherical drone.
After looking at a screen, her smile grew bigger.
“I knew it...” Alice muttered, managing to make her terrifying presence disappear and giving a glance to the group she stated. “Aurora is alive.”
Alice’s smile held a unique charm and happiness.
******
Aurora walked with her sword in hand while her guard was up.
She was following the figure that had given her a signal and while it was reckless on a very high level, staying in the previous spot was worse.
Her keen senses told her that the figure was not that dangerous and what proved to be of greater danger was the creature that had been at her back.
“They call it the ‘Great Terror’, ‘The Road Maker’ and even the ‘Great Worm’,” explained the old goblin.
She had not spoken and Aurora could tell that the old goblin was not speaking the language of the goblins, but was using magic.
In the same way that some magical beasts spoke... Using magical energy to make sense of their words according to what they wished.
The old goblin hadn’t revealed his aura, but his control revealed that he was an S rank.
“That was who was chasing you... It’s sad, before it was just a worm that devoured the earth to survive along with its kind, but now it was affected by Chaos and has lost some of its rationality just like its young,” The old goblin narrated.
She called him an old goblin, and that was because of the wrinkles on his green face.
He was an elderly goblin whose wrinkles showed that the passage of time had taken an extreme toll on him.
Right now the old goblin was talking calmly, trying to reduce her guard or at least avoid a battle.
Aurora took a deep breath, sheathing her sword.
The truth was that with her reflexes she could draw her sword in an instant, and she held the sword a moment ago because she was nervous.
“It is one of the strongest creatures I have ever met. Able to swallow the earth and take down powerful individuals... It’s a Great Beast,” announced the old goblin earnestly.
Perhaps he didn’t define it as ‘ranks’, but with his words, he was trying to show how fearsome the creature that had been following her was.
It was a magical beast of SS rank... Aurora had fully sensed it.
It was why she followed the goblin when it signaled her and while it was a reckless act, between an enemy she could overpower and that kind of creature, the answer was clear.
“Why did you help me?” Aurora asked after careful thought.
She spoke clearly, recognizing that the other party would understand what she was saying.
She was on guard; she wasn’t going to deny it, and more so since she had seen what those goblins did to the women.
Aurora still remembered that moment and felt anger, but she knew better than anyone.
Lumping an entire race together as ‘evil’ or ‘dangerous’ was the most foolish thing she could do.
As long as the old goblin didn’t act overtly or indirectly against her or didn’t go against her ideals, then she could talk... Sure, as long as she felt safe.
Randomly trusting someone in this place was as reckless as helping a human she randomly encountered.
The old goblin was a bit surprised to hear her speak, but continued walking down the tunnel.
“Because our days are numbered,” The old goblin replied and looking at Aurora, he motioned for her to follow him down the tunnel and added. “And why are you coming from the other side.”
Aurora wasn’t surprised... If any information they had gleaned from the goblin they had captured among the S-ranks on the other side, it was that while there were other races on this world, none had survived.
Maybe their information wasn’t that reliable, since the captured goblin seemed like someone dedicated to battle, still, it was all she had.
“Our world is coming to an end, corrupted by Chaos, and I do not wish them to suffer this fate,” The old goblin said as they walked.
Aurora frowned uncomprehendingly, but after a walk through a narrow tunnel, the old man opened some thick vines and she sighed at the sight.
What was on the other side of the vines was a small clearing all green and full of life, with mushrooms that generated light, giving the sensation of day and night.
Around it, in different huts, there were several goblins.
They were not many, unlike those who left this place, just about a hundred.
Most of them were women and children, together some men who seemed to have no strength at all.
Their expressions were worried, while the little green creatures played in their surroundings.
“We did not know what the other side of the portal held and we did not wish for our race to die... That is why we decided that some would stay,” The old goblin said and looking at Aurora, he revealed. “But now I have realized that the end is near... And I have no choice left but to risk going to the other side, even if we end up as slaves.”
Aurora didn’t understand part of his words, but she could sense the desperation in his voice.
Why did he approach her when she was revealing a strong S-rank aura?
That question now had an answer... He was desperate to stay alive.
Even if he understood that the possibility of ending up enslaved was high, he understood that the best option was to take a chance and be reckless.
“Do you have time to tell your story?” Aurora asked with a sigh.
Aurora needed to understand the goblin situation clearly.