World Keeper

Chapter 438: Ill Fortunes

When I arrived back at the Admin Room, I let out a deep breath of relief. In truth, this had been the fight that had worried me the most ever since I had become a Keeper. No, I wasn’t worried that the Sea Terror King would have been able to kill me. No matter what happened in the fight, it wouldn’t have been able to do me in before I was able to ascend again.

What I was worried was that I might not be able to kill it. If my spell failed, and its speed of absorption was faster than we had calculated, it could have consumed the entire spell that I used to defeat it. That spell contained trace amounts of Irena’s divinity due to her pen, so that would mean that the creature could potentially obtain a divinity of its own.

On the other hand… while Bihena’s attacks had been carving out large chunks of the monster, they did no real damage aside from inflicting pain. With its ability to completely reabsorb the severed energy, only energy-based attacks that could deplete those energies would be effective. But, it was similarly able to absorb outside energies…

If the spell I had crafted with Ryone’s insight and Irena’s pen had failed, I would have only had two options. I could either buy every remaining monster tier, so that even divine beings were included, or I could reset Earth.

Monster tiers doubled in price at every level, so it would cost an exorbitant amount to buy them all. On the other hand, resetting Earth meant losing all of my progress since becoming a Keeper. Years of work and growth down the drain, and starting from scratch. Naturally, neither of these were ideas I was particularly inclined to choose.

And so, I had worried. I took the most powerful goddess at my side, and used the strongest combination that I could imagine, and I was still unsure if I would be able to kill it. Thankfully, my gamble had paid off.

Alme Dien stood atop her city’s walls, staring out across the lakes and plains of Sher Dien. Despite her physical body refusing to age, she seemed more mature than the day she left for this world. Her lithe upper frame was covered in steel armor, and even her equine lower body was draped in chainmail.

In Alme’s right hand was a greatsword, the tip stabbed into the worked stone at her hooves. Behind her was a vast, sprawling city filled with centaurs of every type. This was Cal Har, the capital city of Dien Sur.

In Dien Sur, variant centaurs were revered as nobility, but were similarly tasked with the most difficult jobs. Not to mention that their Timeless Queen was a variant herself, but variants possessed powerful abilities that normal centaurs were incapable of replicating. They wielded magic, flew through the sky, or could even control fire as if it were their own body.

Due to this, variants became the ‘upper class’ of society in Sher Dien’s lone kingdom. Yes… there was only one kingdom in this wide world. Dien Sur was not some vast nation that spread out through the numerous islands. No, it was actually a relatively small territory, controlling only a dozen islands surrounding Cal Har.

The reason for Dien Sur’s solitary status was the powerful monsters that existed outside its borders. Creatures that could tear apart even the most well trained soldiers. Only the Timeless Queen possessed the power to fight back the strongest of these creatures. With mystical armor formed of strange materials, she had galloped alone to face the beasts that plagued her lands.

Standing at Alme’s side was her ‘son’, a horned qilin variant. One of the rarest breeds of centaurs, and the only one of his kind in his generation. Alme had adopted him as a young foal, and raised him as she had raised so many princes and princesses before him.

In truth, the role of a prince or princess was not necessary, and something that Alme had created in order to help distribute the responsibilities of managing the kingdom. They were closer to advisors than heirs. Even now, Alme considered her sole family member to be her father.

Unfortunately, her father was unable to stay by her side as often as he had before arriving at this place. Due to his status, he could not wander the realm in his divine form, lest he stir the masses. He could only take his time, living with her one incarnation after the next, each time coming to meet her when he had reached adulthood.

At the moment, it had been ten years since the death of his last incarnation, which meant that his newest one would still be an adolescent. Thinking about this, she shook her head with a soft sigh, muttering under her breath. “This can’t continue.”

“What can’t?” Her son, Jeralt asked from next to her. To his credit, he was an excellent advisor, and had helped manage the kingdom for years.

“Our people’s fear of the monsters beyond our walls.” Alme said, quickly changing the subject to avoid talking about how she missed being able to spend her days running alongside her father. “We need to grow stronger, so that we can fight back and reclaim this world.”

Jeralt simply let out a sigh. “This is just the way it has always been, mother. We do not have the training methods needed to allow our soldiers to reach a level in the five hundreds. Although we are making progress, we are reaching bottlenecks in every field.”

Alme nodded her head at that. In truth, she knew that it would take at least another fifty years before her people hit the ‘level five hundred’ standard that she had set with the kingdom’s founding. And that was if they continued advancing without any problems. This standard had been created in order to allow the normal soldiers to team up and fight against the most powerful monsters that spawned due to Alme’s presence.

With the smaller territory of her kingdom, progress developing had been almost torturously slow. Over a thousand years spent growing the people of Dien Sur, protecting them from the harsh rigors of the world. But there was something else, as well, an emptiness inside of her, a hunger. Well, actual hunger…

The only time that Alme was able to truly have a meal was when she went out and hunted one of the powerful monsters that inhabited the outer edge of her kingdom. Those rare meats were prepared by the best chefs, but aside from those occasions, she had to subsist off of the ki technique that her father had given her.

Things had gotten easier lately, more monsters appearing around her own level. But it had never been enough. She wanted her kingdom to finish growing, so that she could return to her father’s side. Although time had taken its toll on her heart, she had never forgotten her dreams.

Tsubaki sat atop her balcony once again, her eyes scanning the horizon. She had learned of the birth of a new disaster-level monster that had spawned within this region, and had directed the citadel to fly here. Currently, her gaze overlooked a vast expanse of mountains, many of which looked as if they would pierce the sky.

Under her watchful eyes, it did not take long for her to find what she was looking for. Her sight zoomed in, silver lights flashing in her eyes as she saw a figure walking along the base of a distant mountain. Barely two meters tall, with a humanoid body that seemed made of diamonds.

The kitsune maid leaned against the balcony, watching this monster’s behavior. There was no sense of restlessness in its actions, casually walking about until it found a deep cave. As it disappeared into the cave, Tsubaki’s brows furrowed.

“You won’t need to worry about them anymore.” A voice spoke up from behind Tsubaki, causing her to rapidly turn around. Her hand had turned into a spike of silver energy, before she saw the green-haired figure before her. Gradually, her posture began to relax, her hand returning to its normal shape.

“I see that they managed to restore you.” Tsubaki said, leaning back against the balcony as her eyes focused on the world spirit of Earth. Her face did not have the same exuberant glow that it always had in the past, showing that she was still in her recovery period.

“That’s right.” The spirit answered in a gentle tone. “I wanted to come and thank you in person. It was your warning that allowed my rescue. If my plight had been delayed much longer, then this world may have fallen to ruin.”

A flicker of surprise came over Tsubaki’s face. “It really was that bad?”

The spirit gave a small nod of her head. “Before my fall, I detected a powerful presence disrupting the energy of the world within the depths of the ocean. Feeling the threat that it posed, I resolved myself to deal with it personally. Alas, this was my undoing.”

“My attacks cleaved away the beast’s body, returning it to its base elements, yet its essence was undamaged. It absorbed my attacks as fast as I could launch them, soon becoming immune to my power. When I sought to flee the battle and call for aid, the energies around me had already left my control.”

“There was naught I could do but be devoured.” The spirit recalled with a mournful sigh. “My essence may lie with the world itself, but after I condensed it to form this body, I could only be reborn in the same area. My spirit was consumed again and again, torn apart at the seams to fuel its growth.”

“I cannot say for certain what heights it had reached before its downfall. What I am sure of, however, is that its capacity for growth knew no limits. And I had delivered myself as an everlasting font of power for it to feast upon.”

Tsubaki shook her head when she heard that. She knew well of the spirit’s strength. If the monster had truly been that terrifying, then Tsubaki herself would have likely fallen as well. “Then, it’s best that it was dealt with quickly.” As she said that, her eyes scanned along the world spirit once more. “You should return to the dimension of your kind. It shouldn’t be hard to recover there.”

The spirit nodded, her body gradually becoming more faint. “Twas the plan. I merely wished to thank you before my departure. And also to warn you.”

Tsubaki’s brow rose as she heard that, allowing the spirit to continue. “Twas the beast’s presence that held back those monsters of great power. That caused them to flee the world and seek the stars. Some of them will have grown stronger in their absence, consuming those rare substances that exist beyond this world. Others will have bred more of their kind.”

“Now that the beast has been slain, there will surely be those that wish to return. In the coming days, a true disaster will descend from the heavens. Monsters will rain upon this world like a storm, and it will fall to those such as yourself to deal with them. Only the strongest warriors will have the chance to help fend off this crisis.”

There was a grave expression on Tsubaki’s face when she heard this, her eyes glancing towards the sky. “You’re sure?”

“The first has already returned.” The world spirit assured in the same gentle tone. “It had been lingering just above the sky, and had returned shortly after I regained my consciousness. While I was not strong enough to deal with it, I sent my children to eliminate it in my stead. Thankfully, it had not obtained any form of enhanced strength.”

After leaving those words of warning, Tsubaki saw the spirit’s body fading away into soft green lights. It seemed that the problems were not yet over.