“I see,” said Lark.
So, this was why this room was the most secure place in the royal palace. Probably a safe haven for the royals, in case an intruder managed to breach all of the palace’s defenses.
“The mithril shield once used by the warrior king is stored inside that pillar, along with his sword and bow. I hope the shield will be enough for the barrier, Lord Evander.”
The king went to the pillar located at the center of the room and opened the hatch in the middle, revealing a silver-black round shield, a silver-black sword, and a bow made of elven oak. He took the shield and walked toward Lark.
“Your Majesty,” said Commander Khuumal. “That’s… the national treasure of the elven kingdom.”
Unlike the king, the commander was clearly reluctant to hand the treasure to an outsider.
King Melandrach said, “This shield has been gathering dust inside that pillar for hundreds of years. Now that our race is facing the potential risk of annihilation, what use is this shield to us? God Gaia said it herself. The only way for our race to survive is by seeking Lord Evander’s help.”
“Lord Evander.” King Melandrach respectfully handed the shield to Lark. “This is the only mithril we currently have. I hope it will suffice for the barrier spell you’re about to cast.”
“A national treasure.” Lark nodded. “I’ll use it well, King Melandrach.”
The king said to the guards, “You may go.”
The guards were reluctant at first, but after seeing that Commander Khuumal was staying with the king and the priestess, they heeded the order.
The door was shut.
“Then, I’ll start,” said Lark.
The bracer on Lark’s right hand slowly morphed into a beautiful, white sword. Using the sword, he started carving the magic formation on the shield. King Melandrach, the commander, and the priestess knew how difficult this was to do. Mithril was, after all, harder than steel.
Fortunately, carving a magic formation on the round shield was a lot easier than engraving it on a phylactery. Furthermore, the Sword of Morpheus was capable of cutting through adamantine, stronger than mithril. This made things a lot easier for Lark.
Without stopping, Lark drew the complex magic formation for almost an hour. When he was finally done, he channeled massive amounts of mana into the artifact.
A torrent of mana flowed from the Sword of Morpheus into the mithril shield. The eyes of the elves present in the room widened upon seeing this. They’d never seen such massive amounts of mana before. The amount of mana was so astronomical that they could clearly see it flowing with their naked eyes.
What was that sword? And how was it possible for an artifact to store that much mana?
Soon, the runes carved on the mithril shield violently glowed and expanded. Magic formations started forming at the feet of the king, the priestess, and the commander. These magic formations overlapped with each other, with Lark at the center.
“With this spell, the three of you will be given the authority to operate this barrier,” said Lark. “Is this alright with you, King Melandrach, Priestess?”
The king and the priestess nodded their heads.
After receiving the elves’ consent, Lark activated the spell. The magic formation shattered into numerous particles of light, and a translucent bubble, which resembled glass, wrapped around the mithril shield, before expanding outward. It enclosed the pillar first, before growing in size and enclosing the entire royal palace itself. Eventually, the barrier expanded enough to enclose the whole City of Aerith, the nearby garrisons, and a small portion of the forest.
Lark placed the mithril shield inside the pillar at the center of the room and closed the hatch.
“With this, the elven race should be fine, even if by chance the demons decide to invade this kingdom,” said Lark.
Lark’s sword turned into a bracer once again. With the help of his sword, it should be possible for Lark to cast several more pinnacle-grade spells.
“I’ll be incredibly busy after this, King Melandrach,” said Lark. “Please coordinate with Big Mona regarding our trade while I’m gone.”
Lark’s next goal was the fortification of Blackstone Town.
***
The Black Expanse—An uncharted territory hundreds of kilometers west of the Mullgray Islands.
The territory of the ragiacrus, sea wyverns capable of annihilating fleets. Even the youngest ragiacrus was said to be at least five meters tall, with the adults reaching up to twenty meters in size. Arrows and harpoons were useless against these monsters’ thick scales. Furthermore, these monsters moved in shivers – a single group consisted of at least seven of these monsters.
Even the most adventurous of pirates did not dare go through this part of the ocean in fear of becoming prey to these monsters.
Right now, everyone living on the Mullgray Islands stared in the direction of the Black Expanse, particularly at the skies right above the territory of the ragiacrus.
The heavens rumbled, as though they were going to be split in half any moment now.
“What the hell is that?” mumbled one of the pirates.
Even from this distance, they could clearly see the massive vortex of lightning in the sky. The clouds were being ripped apart by an invisible force. From inside the vortex of lightning, a sphere slowly emerged. The sphere was tiny at first, far smaller than the one that appeared above the Lake of the Full Moon. But as minutes went by, the sphere slowly grew in size, as though someone was inflating it from the inside.
Seeing this, the personal guards of the current King of Pirates ran to his room and violently knocked on the door.
“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
The door was yanked open, revealing a tall, naked, dark-skinned man with a missing ear. A large scar, that he’d obtained from fighting against an adult ragiacrus back in his younger years, ran across his chest and back. Proof of his survival against those monsters.
The current King of Pirates.
The absolute ruler of the ocean.
Pirate King “Ragiacrus Hunter” Zayn Pierson.
“So noisy,” Zayn yawned as he picked his ears. “What is it?”
Although he currently looked nonchalant, the guards knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to cut them down if he found their reports irrelevant. This was the same man who killed an adult ragiacrus with his bare fists while swimming in the Black Expanse, naked.
“It’s… You need to see it, Your Majesty!” one of the guards finally mustered the courage to speak. “The sky! A massive sphere appeared in the sky!”
The Pirate King furrowed his brow. He grabbed his cutlass, ready to cut the heads off the guards for uttering gibberish and disturbing his sleep.
“W-Wait!”
“We’re speaking the truth, Your Majesty!”
The Pirate King stared at the guards, his eyes predatory. “A sphere in the sky? You understand that I will feed you to the lagmyx if you’re lying, right?”
“We, we swear!”
“A massive sphere really did appear in the skies above the Black Expanse!”
“That’s right!”
“The Black Expanse, huh?” said the Pirate King. It was opposite the direction of his balcony. He needed to go outside to see it.
The Pirate King donned his robe, strapped his cutlass to his waist, and went outside. Dozens of guards and palace officials were already outside, staring at the sky.
Looking up, the King of Pirates saw the thing the guards had been pestering him about.
Zayn Pierson was capable of body strengthening magic. He could easily amplify his mana senses, unlike most pirates.
And right now, he could feel it.
The massive amounts of mana oozing out of the sphere.
“Your Majesty! Monsters!” A messenger ran toward Zayn, his face pallid.
“Monsters!” huffed the messenger. His voice loud enough for everyone to hear. “Tens of thousands of them are coming this way as we speak!”
>
Screeches were heard. Zayn looked up and saw innumerable black dots in the sky. His instinct screamed at him that a catastrophe would soon befall his kingdom. He amplified his eyesight using magic and was terrified by what he saw.
Flying monsters. No, demons. Several thousand of them.
“Monsters from the Black Expanse are coming to the island, Your Majesty!” cried the messenger. He fell on his knees and grabbed the Pirate King’s leg, as though clinging for dear life.
“Black Expanse?” snarled the King of Pirates. “Are you telling me that there are more monsters coming here through the ocean?”
Sky demons.
Sea monsters.
What was happening?
Why had these abominations suddenly appeared?
A single look at those grotesque-looking flying demons was enough for him to realize that they were out to massacre them. There was no way those creatures didn’t feed on humans. He was sure of it.
Zayn clenched his fists.
The former King of Pirates would probably have fled by now, but not him. He’d killed an adult ragiacrus with his bare hands before. He was hailed as the strongest human in his nation. He would never run.
He said, “Gather our men! Prepare for battle!”
Zayn’s eyes glinted with dangerous light.
Monsters. Demons. It did not matter. The pirates of Mullgray Islands—the ruler of the oceans—wouldn’t give up without a fight.
He roared, “We shall massacre all these damned monsters!”
VOLUME 7: CHAPTER 13
The situation turned out to be direr than the Pirate King had initially thought.
By the time King Zayn and thousands of his warriors arrived at the port nearest to the palace, the monsters from the ocean had already come ashore. Tens of thousands of humanoid creatures with worm-like tentacles as feet had already started massacring the pirates stationed at the port. Even those onboard the ships weren’t spared by the parasitic demons. Using their tentacles and claws, the parasitic demons started climbing the ships and attacked all the humans they saw.
The pirates desperately fought for their lives, but the sheer number of the parasitic demons made their efforts futile.
“R-Run away!”
“There’s too many of these monsters!”
“Eeek! H-Help me!”
It was a massacre.
The pirates of Mullgray Islands, the so-called rulers of the ocean, were being slaughtered by the dozen.
King Zayn trembled with rage upon seeing this.
Those fools!
If they knew they were going to be surrounded, they should have used their ships’ artifacts. King Zayn was certain that even demons wouldn’t be spared once hit by their lightning rods.
“Mad Eye,” said King Zayn.
“Your Majesty!” said the leader of the warriors.
“You’re in charge.” King Zayn gripped the hilt of his cutlass tight. “Lead the warriors.” He snarled, “Slaughter all of these bastards!”
“Yes, My King!”
Without another word, King Zayn fearlessly shot toward the parasitic demon horde. He strengthened his body with magic and swung his blade, beheading several demons in a single strike. Like a rampaging beast, he pounced at all of the demons he encountered along the way toward the largest ship in the port. His inherently strong body, coupled with his body strengthening magic, made it possible for him to cleave his enemies in half. Even his bare hands were strong enough to rip the parasitic demons into shreds.
At the same time, Mad Eye and the warriors under his command also started charging toward the demon horde.
“What are you all doing?” shouted King Zayn the moment he reached the flagship.
“King Zayn!” shouted the pirates onboard the Snap Lightning—one of the flagships of the Grand Pierson Pirate Fleet.
“Activate the artifact!” King Zayn jumped onto Snap Lightning’s deck. “Use the damn lightning rod! Now!”
With his words, the crew finally came to their senses. They’d been too preoccupied trying to survive by themselves that they forgot about the flagship’s infamous artifact. The same weapon they’d used to destroy several naval ships of the Empire.
The ship’s captain was already dead.
The quartermaster and the boatswain used the opening brought by King Zayn’s arrival to run toward the ship’s bow. With the other pirates and the king blocking the parasitic demons, they opened a hatch and pulled out a tubular weapon. An artifact resembling a cannon.
“It’s too heavy!” shouted the quartermaster. “We need more people!”
Several more crew members ran toward the bow and helped pull out Snap Lightning’s weapon. The metal artifact was as large as five men combined, and it took four people to finally pull it out.
“King Zayn! Where should we fire?” shouted the quartermaster.
King Zayn dodged the tentacles of a parasitic demon and retaliated by cutting off its head. Blood spurted out of its headless body, it fell on the ground, squirmed for a moment, then turned limp.
King Zayn quickly scanned the battlefield.
One of the two massive flagships docked at this port had already been destroyed by the parasitic demons. Three of its masts had fallen, and half of its body had sunk. Only this flagship—Snap Lightning—remained. Even the crew on the smaller schooner ships were struggling against the parasitic demons. Currently, more than half the ships docked in the port had fallen to the enemy.
The army led by Mad Eye was no different. Although the thousands of warriors under his command were far more skilled than regular pirates, even they struggled against the enemy’s massive numbers.
A large shadow loomed in from the sky.
King Zayn looked up. His eyes widened, seeing tens of thousands of demons flying in the sky.
That’s right—he’d almost forgotten about those monsters. He remembered that the demons from the ocean weren’t their only enemies. They also needed to be wary of attacks coming from the sky.
The flying demons screeched, swooped down, and using their talons, grabbed the humans on the ground. Even the quartermaster who’d been trying to operate Snap Lightning’s artifact wasn’t spared by the flying demons. After the sky demon grabbed his head using its talon, it flapped its wings and flew into the sky. The quartermaster struggled, his feet kicking the air with all his might. His scream was muffled by the sound of wails, screeches, and clanking metal.
King Zayn realized that at this rate, even if the ship was left intact, they wouldn’t have enough people to operate its artifact.
It seemed that they needed to take care of the more troublesome opponents first.
King Zayn had decided.
“At the sky!” said King Zayn. “Fire it at the sky!”
The three men next to the weapon inserted a low-grade magic stone into the artifact’s muzzle and pointed it toward the sky. The artifact was activated, lightning flashed and streaks of pure white shot toward the sky. The lightning spell struck several dozen sky demons with that single attack, killing them in an instant. The sky demons, their bodies charred, fell toward the sea.
“Again!” roared King Zayn. “Keep firing!”
The crew members nodded and loaded another magic stone into the muzzle. Seeing how effective the artifact was against the demons, the other crew members also ran toward the ship’s bow and opened several more hatches and pulled out three more cannon-like weapons.
The pirates kept firing lightning spells at the flying demons, one after another. Fortunately, they’d been preparing to attack another port of the Empire once harvest season arrived. They had a crate filled with low-grade magic stones at their disposal.
“Over there! Look!”
One of the ship’s crew shouted and pointed.
From the direction of the Depths of Anapos—the sea near the border of the Empire and Everfrost, an armada of ships came into view. It was the main fleet of the Grand Pierson Pirate Fleet that had left for Everfrost over a we
ek ago.
“W-We’re saved!”
“It’s the main fleet!”
“They came back just in time!”
The pirates cheered upon seeing the armada. With renewed vigor, they started fighting back. The sound of a horn resounded through the battlefield, signaling the start of the pirate’s counterattack.
Nine massive sloops and several dozen schooners aimed their lightning rods toward the demons in the ocean and the sky. Lightning spells were fired one after another, creating deafening booms and hundreds of streaks of white light. The pirates on board the ships also started firing volleys of arrows, effectively stopping the advance of the parasitic and sky demons.
King Zayn grinned.
Monsters. Demons. Humans. It did not matter. They would not simply stand by and let their enemies take over these islands!
Now that the Grand Fleet had appeared, he was confident of turning the tides of war.
“That’s it!” King Zayn laughed. Fighting a life-or-death battle was exhilarating. His blood boiled with excitement. “Slaughter them! Keep firing our spells!”
After killing all of the parasitic demons that had boarded Snap Lightning, King Zayn jumped to the seacoast and started massacring the rest of the parasitic demons. Several sky demons swooped down toward him every now and then, but his agile movements, coupled with his inhuman strength, made it easy for him to dodge and retaliate against their attacks.
Thinking of it, these demons were nothing compared to the ragiacrus in the Black Expanse. Compared to the twenty-meter sea wyverns, facing dozens of parasitic demons wasn’t as difficult. He just needed to dodge well and retaliate when the opportunity arose.
“You’re quite the strong human. Interesting.”
A high-pitched, grating voice was heard behind him.
King Zayn reflexively turned around and swung his cutlass. But to his surprise, a silver-black tentacle blocked his attack. Other parasitic demons would have been cleaved in half with that strike, but this demon before him was left unscathed.
What was this monster?
It looked more human than the other parasitic demons. Its upper body was humanoid, with a single horn protruding out of its forehead. It also had two feet, with four silver-black tentacles squirming from its back.
Revelation Page 12