Chapter 257: Horneko (2)
Chapter 257 – Horneko (2)
The earth began to shake.
‘What is this?’
In the midst of unbearable tremors of the earth, Sungchul’s Transcendent Senses reacted. And what it detected were tiny microscopic particles.
In the tiny grain too small to see with the naked eye was some sort of bright energy that seemed to calm and soothe the mind.
Those particles quickly filled the air around Sungchul and Horneko.
Boom! Crack!
The walls between Sungchul and Horneko split apart.
A piercing cry rang out from all over the building.
‘This might be serious.’
The one he was facing was a Lesser God, one that was likely very powerful even among them.
It was likely wiser to observe for now rather than engage in a hasty attack.
This was not a decision he made purely out of his experience. This was reinforced by his Transcendent Senses as well. It informed him that Horneko was in the middle of powering up and that surrounding him were terrifying traps of unfathomable power.
The building began to collapse in earnest.
Sungchul broke through the ceiling for now and escaped to the outside.
The office building of the Viceroy, the well balanced and decorated landmark of Aege harbor that faithfully served the city for many generations, was disintegrating.
The people of Aege were panicking due to the unexpected earthquake and did not know what to do.
It was because there had never been an earthquake in this region in history.
Once outside, Sungchul was able to observe where the tiny particles he had seen in Horneko’s room were coming from.
They were spewing out from the earth itself.
‘What the hell is going on?’
All the Lesser Gods he had seen up until now required some form of human sacrifices in order to manifest themselves into the world. To come breaking into the world themselves, they required immense quantities of sacrifices. To transform a medium into a form of their liking, they sometimes sacrificed members of their own crazed cultists. Some even murdered the innocents directly to steal away their life energies.
‘1st Fly.’
Sungchul rose into the sky and began an incantation for Meteor as he continued to observe the situation.
Although it used nearly half as much mana as Starlight, it had a comparable level of destructive potential. And more than anything, nothing was as efficient as a baptism of Meteor shower in taking care of annoying obstacles and debris.
The incantation was completed and soon a magic formation appeared high in the sky, pulling meteors down towards the office of the Viceroy.
[Echo x 7]
As a result of Echo’s effects, seven additional meteors joined the first meteor in striking against the remains of the building of the Viceroy.
Boom! Boo boom!
Under the hail of meteors, the historical landmark called the office of the Viceroy was being grinded into dust.
Sungchul discovered black flames from amidst the rubble. And as he had predicted, the being enveloped in the flames steadily grew larger and larger into something gigantic.
“What the hell is that…? Centipede?!”
Bertelgia had poked a bit of herself out from the pocket and let out sounds of disgust and horror as she muttered to herself.
And as she had thought, the being within the flames were transforming into something akin to a centipede. This strange gigantic centipede broke through the debris of the building to reveal its form surrounded by black flames.
“Ahhh!”
“Save me!”
As he heard cries of terror from below, Sungchul was reminded of the Gigantic snake he had met in the Transcendent World and the advant of the god-like Sidmia in Ixion.
‘Could it be that Horneko is trying to attempt ascension? Even without any sacrifices?’
The black centipede seemed to have lost all sense of reason and moved only by instinct. Soon, the thousands of legs moved to carry it away towards something.
The centipede that seem to grow endlessly larger climbed over the worn out canvasses of the market square and arcades and the rooves of old homes to make its way north.
Sungchul raised his altitude to watch this monster.
Everywhere the monster went, holy energies in the form of particles were extracted from the ground and sucked into the monster’s black flames.
After seeing this, Sungchul knew for certain that it was not humans the monster that was once called Horneko needed to consume, but the blessed energies that was contained within the very earth of the Aege Harbor itself.
This was something he couldn’t stop. No method existed for Sungchul to destroy the entirity of the region of Aege Harbor and the lands upon which it stood.
Support us at 𝒃𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝙤𝙢.
Being able to accomplish such a feat was firmly in the realm of gods.
“Uh, wouldn’t it be a good idea for us to run away?”
She had seen great many enemies until now, but even in her eyes this new foe must have seemed outrageously dangerous.
As if the scar left behind by Kaz’s attack was aching, she trembled and hid deeper into his pocket.
“…”
Bertelgia was right.
Marakia had once said that the protocal employed by his people when facing human tribes utilizing the power of the Lesser Gods were to simply leave the area until it was over.
The Lesser Gods were beings unpermitted in this world, so there was no method available to them to remain in the world for too long.
If that was correct, then it would be the right decision to leave behind the crumbling Aege Harbor and head towards the boarder to the Nimpas Kingdom to return to Sylphid that was waiting for him.
The nations of the world were already informed of the new session of the World Parliament thanks to Horneko, so it would be enough to await the delegates to arrive at Ixion.
But several subtle emotions were preventing Sungchul from leaving.
One was his question about the reason for such a hideous appearance.
’For what reason and to what end?’
Sungchul had neither the strategic mind of Schnellmerker nor the foresight to see the big picture like the Emperor. He was a field commander through and through who dealt with emerging situations with quick response and moments of inspiration.
But even that responsiveness or decisiveness was only possible after one understood generally what was going on. 𝒷ℯ𝒹𝓃𝓸𝓿ℯ𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶
The strategic goals Sungchul acted upon didn’t necessarily require comprehensive understanding of the situation, but it still needed a basic understanding of the circumstance to know what would be the best course of action.
His experiences on the battlefield were telling him so: That there was something seriously wrong with what was going on below him.
Horneko who was still undergoing transformation into the shape of the Lesser God… No, the being that used to be Horneko wrapped around the Bottomless Vault with its disgusting body and legs like some sort of snake.
There was no hint of overt hostility towards Sungchul nor any desire to fight.
Like an insect with nothing but instinct, he was completely engrossed in the Bottomless Vault as if it was his prey.
And, also sucking out the energies from the earth everywhere it went and causing earthquakes.
“What are you thinking about so deeply?”
Bertelgia woke Sungchul from his contemplative stupor.
He felt a strong vibration from Bertelgia that helped cast away all the doubts and thoughts taking over his mind and focused on simpler conclusions.
‘It’s possible that all of this was unintended by those who had given Horneko the scroll.’
Anyone who had ever created plans would agree with the statement that nothing ever went smoothly according to plan.
However, there was yet another reason why Sungchul could not simply leave just yet.
The Aege Harbor was being torn apart by the earthquake caused by what used to be Horneko. Right before his eyes, the lives of thousands, or tens of thousands of people were in mortal danger.
“Everyone, this way!”
“Please escape through here!”
The densely packed buildings that were built without adhering to the most basic of city planning were crumbling and falling apart like houses made of mud.
“Save me!”
“Someone, help me please!”
He could hear desperate cries of help from all directions.
Soon, a gigantic building below Sungchul collapsed.
It was the notorious Allied Merchant Coalition’s Stock Exchange Building.
Those who had gathered to gamble on others’ lives in this place were now trapped under its rubble and unable to escape.
“Anyone… anyone save me!”
Those possessing a good amount of strength or high acumen in magic were able to escape on their own, but most of the inhabitants were stuck in the open area at the center.
Watching the dust and debris fall from the ceiling that looked like it was ready to collapse at any moment, like prisoners watching their executioner.
“…”
He could not simply ignore what was going on.
It was quite the strange thing.
He was no hero. But here he was, wanting to save human garbage whose death would not affect him in the slightest now or ever.
Sungchul clearly recalled the ridiculous conversation between two people sitting in front of the Stock Exchange Building who were hoping for a war to start.
But for some reason, something was tying Sungchul down. It was the same as that time in Panchuria.
He risked his life to cross the city and pull on the chains that tied the city. Back in La Grange, he searched for the two that were responsible for resurrecting tens of thousands of people with zeal that could cause fires to combust.
Sungchul was feeling a similar feeling not too different from those moments.
‘Distasteful’
A dark shadow was cast beneath Sungchul’s eyes.
He had thought that this was just an extension of his feelings of rebellion against the ruling elites of the world that sought nothing but their own gains. At least, this feeling was strong back in Panchuria.
But now he knew for certain, that there was something more fundamental than a momentary inspiration that was spurring him on.
“What… are you thinking about?”
Bertelgia noticed a change in Sungchul’s heartbeat and asked carefully.
“Just a moment, Bertelgia.”
Sungchul descended almost immediately after he spoke and landed on the roof of the Stock Exchange Building that had split in half.
Fal Garaz appeared in his hands
“Everyone back off!”
A thunderous bellow.
“Move away from the roof!”
Sungchul yelled indifferently.
He lifted Fal Garaz high above his head and soon god-like strength ran through his body.
Boom!
A powerful strike landed on the roof.
The rubble that had been trapping people underneath was blown away by his god-like strength as if washed away by rain and those who were trapped and awaiting their death could see the light of day and the sky once more.
And with the light flooding in from behind him, the figure of the man seemed almost venerable.
“Th… Is that the Enemy of the World?”
“Did the Enemy of the World rescue us?”
Light returned to the eyes of merchants and their lackeys that had long been blinded by avarice.