Chapter 418.1: A Person, A Town (1)
Chapter 418.1: A Person, A Town (1)
Rel thought that he could finally get a good night’s rest before drifting off to sleep, but his hopes didn’t come to be.
He had a nightmare.
In his dream, he vaguely sensed the Origin Attribute hidden in the depths of his body resonating with something in the external world, prompting it to seep out mana to form a protective barrier in the area. Then, a beautiful and familiar yet shocking silhouette flashed across his mind.
The Mother Goddess.
“!”
The blurred yet terrifying silhouette finally jolted Roel awake from his sleep, but what he witnessed afterward stunned him.
He was surrounded by ice.
He was still in the same inn room, but everything he could see was coated in a layer of frost. Even the ceiling above him was sealed off by his frost aura.
Glacier’s Touch had somehow activated without him knowing.
A sudden loss of control in one’s power could rouse one’s fear, but Roel wasn’t worried about it. He could sense that the Crown’s Stone was not trying to harm him; it was protecting him from a similar power. As this intuition surfaced in his mind, his face slowly warped in horror.
A similar power.
The only powers that came from the same origin as Glacier’s Touch were the manifestations of disasters that Roel definitely didn’t want to encounter—the Six Calamities.
“How is this possible?”
While muttering to himself, Roel shot to his feet, grabbed his items, and rushed out of the inn. A commotion had already broken out on the streets despite the ungodly hour. The soldiers on duty were pointing at the distance while frantically discussing with one another. More and more people were rushing out from the nearby buildings to observe the situation.
It was around then that Roel finally noticed the bizarre phenomenon.
A white fog had covered half of everything they could see in the distance. It spanned from the ground all the way to the sky, as if it was becoming the new world. It billowed furiously as it swiftly rushed at Balk Town from afar.
“W-what’s that?!”
“The fog is coming!”
“Ring the alarms!”
The garrison troops keenly sensed the unnatural mana pulsation coming from the fog and hurriedly rang the alarms. Magic flares were shot into the sky, producing brilliant explosions of lights. The momentary illumination brought the onlookers’ attention to a massive blurred face retreating into the depths of the fog.
It was such a sinister sight that it provoked astonished shouts from the soldier, further stoking the unease.
The looming sense of danger Roel felt finally broke loose the moment he saw the face in the fog. The oceanlike fog was clearly not just a simple phenomenon produced by nature; it was indeed one of the calamities that had terrorized the world since time immemorial.
The town quickly awakened under the loud alarms, prompting the soldiers to rush out of their houses. The knights swiftly armed up and gathered under Mayor Carmen’s orders, who then led them toward the town walls.
Everyone was wary about this never seen before phenomenon. Archers quickly took their places on the town walls and nocked their arrows, ready to unleash them upon the enemy. Illumination spells were continuously shot toward the sky to provide sight. The defensive armaments installed in the wall started throttling into action.
However, the single man who knew about the nature of the calamities understood that it was all futile.
The Six Calamities were the culprits behind the downfall of many civilizations. It didn’t matter how many troops they had or how well-equipped they were. Even Origin Level 1 transcendents, rumored to wield powers comparable to the gods, wouldn’t be able to escape from their grasp.
That was why those who stood in their presence eventually crumbled in despair.
Despite the thorough preparations made by the garrison troops, the billowing fog showed no signs of retreating. In fact, Carmen and his soldiers had already sensed that something was amiss by this point.
They would always face multiple assaults from deviant packs over the course of the night, but for some reason, there were completely no movements from them tonight.
It went without saying that the deviants couldn’t have had a sudden spurt of compassion for them and decided to give them some leeway upon seeing the difficult position they were in. There was only one plausible reason why the deviants weren’t here—they couldn’t make it here.
If that wasn’t sufficient evidence, the stampede of the demonic beasts was a dead giveaway.
On the vast grassland in front of the town, countless demonic beasts and animals were rushing toward their direction, as if they were escaping from a calamity. Those who were fast enough were barely able to escape with their lives whereas those who lagged behind were swallowed by the mist before falling completely silent.
The fog swiftly raced forward, covering up more and more of their surroundings. It was unnerving how silent the insides of the fog was, considering the masses of demonic beasts and animals it had devoured in its advancement. Fear gripped the hearts of the garrison troops, and their breathing unknowingly hastened.
Carmen gave the cue for the soldiers to launch their attack, but neither arrows nor magic spells seemed to faze the fog at all.
The fog continued to encroach on Balk Town with unstoppable momentum, till a lone figure started scaling the town walls.
“He is…”
“Young master Roel, you are…?”
“… Step back.”
Faced with the disturbances from the soldiers and Carmen’s doubtful questioning, Roel ordered them to stand down. With mana pulsating around him, he made his way to the highest point of the town walls.
By then, his silhouette could be seen reflected in everyone’s eyes.
The archers slowly put down their bows and the magicians halted their spells. Despite the crowd of soldiers on the city walls, none of them dared to cause a disturbance. They could sense something in the atmosphere changing due to Roel’s arrival.
The explicable stifling sensation that stoked their fears had abruptly vanished, and the billowing mist seemed to have halted its advancement too.
Standing at the forefront of everyone else, Roel looked like a barrier protecting everyone else.
The crowd standing at the forefront watched the ongoing changes with bated breaths, not daring to make a sound out of fear of disturbing the young man.
Amidst this tense silence, Roel started conjuring two auras, one ice blue and the other pale yellow. The sound of freezing water vapor and a brewing tempest could be somewhat heard. He took a step forward and gazed into the approaching fog with glowing golden eyes.
The fog squirmed and billowed in response to his piercing gaze. Roel could sense something within the fog meeting his eyes, and it began launching its counterattack.
Time slowly ticked by, and the two auras shrouding Roel only continued to grow even brighter. The shadow of a beast could be seen flickering in his frost aura, and the vague silhouette of a human flitted along with the furious winds.
Under the effects of Glacier’s Touch, Roel’s expression remained composed and cold, as if his face was frozen up. Yet, the glaring brilliance in his eyes was warning the monster in front of him back off.
A long confrontation ensued.
The crackling flames from torches and nervous breathing could be heard from the crowd standing behind Roel as everyone waited with strung up nerves. It felt like forever, but the monster eventually decided to back off. The billowing fog suddenly started retreating, as if a receding high tide.
“I-it’s leaving?”
“That monstrous fog is really retreating!”
“O’ Sia, thank you for your grace! Long live Lord Roel!”
Staring as the silvery fog gradually retreated into the darkness of the night, the soldiers standing on the city walls slowly snapped out of their daze and flew into an uproar. Their strung up nerves finally loosened, and they began cheering Roel’s name loudly.
Carmen and the others also quickly rushed up the town wall, where Roel was standing.
Hearing the cheering crowd, Roel slowly retracted his auras. Both the silhouettes of Glacier Creator and Tempest Caller vanished and their respective colors dissipated into thin air. The brilliant glow in his golden eyes faded, replaced with endless worry.
Roel gazed in the direction of Tark Stronghold, knowing that it wasn’t the end yet. If anything, it was only the start.