Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Chapter 136
Hall of Heroes (2)
Werewolf Lord Musca.
The ruler of the southern malevolent territory called the Otherworldly Demon Realm even within the Great Forest, and practically the strongest individual among the different races of the Great Forest.
In fact, the majority opinion was that it was thanks to Musca's existence that the different races could endure without submitting to external forces.
"Whine, whimper..."
But the sight of such Musca whimpering like a sick puppy was something the leaders of the different races had never seen before in the hundreds of years they had faced each other.
"Hmm... But wasn't Musca hurt too severely?"
"Of course Musca got to that state because Musca didn't surrender and kept charging in. It's Musca's own doing."
Musca's belligerence was so famous that even Orc Great Chief Tarakan couldn't match it.
Natural physique, tenacity, and competitive spirit.
Musca would never stop fighting unless the enemy died or declared surrender.
"Conversely, we could say that Rudian fellow who turned such Musca into rags like this is remarkable."
Unlike the other three who fought on a proper stage, Rudian and Musca's duel took place on the outskirts of Elven Forest with no audience.
It was a measure taken out of concern for being caught up in the aftermath of the duel, but as a result, forced deforestation occurred that turned some areas into bare mountains to the extent that the elves screamed and fainted.
At that moment, Bukar saw a faint smile from Musca's lips as Musca groaned.
"Murmaya, this bastard is smiling?"
"Leave Musca alone, Musca must be having a good dream."
Murmaya waved his hand dismissively.
"Hmm, well, if it was a satisfying fight, Musca would have no regrets even if Musca died."
Probably the fierce battle from earlier was replaying in Musca's head.
"But it seems like it'll take several days for this guy to recover. Will that be okay? The humans seemed to want to leave quickly."
The answer that came was simple.
"We can just drag Musca along with a leash."
"Ah, I see."
The rest were convinced by Murmaya's words.
No matter how much Musca was the strongest among them, mercy didn't exist for the defeated.
***
After completing a rite of passage with the leaders of each race, Rudian's party set off for the south of the Great Forest the very next day.
The group included Rudian's party, four leaders of the different races, and a small number of attendants.
However, here Rudian excluded Eugene.
"Wh-why are you excluding me!"
"Since you're 9th Class anyway, it won't be of much use to you. It's better for you to guard the Great Forest and prepare for contingencies. I'll summon Giovanni once I enter the hall anyway."
Eugene, who was excluded from the personnel entering the Hall of Heroes, expressed great displeasure, but immediately quieted down when Rudian mentioned Giovanni's name.
Of course, this was the pretext Rudian presented outwardly, but Rudian's true intention was completely different.
'Why would I bring such a guy whose allegiance is unclear into the Hall of Heroes to power him up and face some backlash.'
Eugene was merely a surveillance role assigned by Giovanni.
Even though Eugene was getting along well with the party now, there was no telling when or where Eugene might stab them in the back.
Thus Rudian led the rest of the party excluding Eugene and headed south.
Given the current situation of the Great Forest, which was not just on the verge of chaos but complete chaos, the party was attacked almost every minute.
Well, magical beasts were a basic option, and occasionally they could see carnivorous plants that suddenly sprouted from the ground reaching hundreds of meters, or remnants of mechanical civilization that suddenly fired beam weapons.
Only Rebecca, the sole maladapted member to the Great Forest, occasionally panicked, while the party steadily headed south thanks to the guidance of the different races.
When they reached the southernmost part of the Great Forest, the malevolent territory...
"Wow!"
"To think such architecture existed in the Great Forest..."
A massive altar through which clearly extraordinary magic flowed, and an arched dome surrounding that altar.
It was an ancient artifact that could not be reproduced with the technology of this era.
"We werewolf clan have been tasked with guarding this place since ancient times."
Musca, who had awakened from an unconscious state during the journey, slowly rose from Musca's position.
Though Musca's gait wasn't quite right as Musca's joints still ached.
"Are you okay?"
At Bukar's words, Musca calmly nodded.
"It's bearable. And you guys, we'll settle this later. How dare you put a leash around my neck?"
FLINCH!
At first they had done it for fun, but now they were gradually becoming afraid of the consequences.
Well, they had only put on the leash, they hadn't actually dragged Musca around.
Musca had been properly carried on the backs of werewolves who came along...
Musca ignored them as they played innocent and slowly climbed onto the altar, lightly scratching Musca's wrist area with Musca's claws.
"Then I'll activate the gate."
Musca's magic-infused blood began to drop onto the crystal orb in the center of the altar.
"Oh, are we finally going to that Hall of Heroes place or whatever!"
At Gray's excitement, Rudian shook his head.
"Not yet. That's just a simple spatial movement gate, the Hall of Heroes exists in a completely different dimension."
"Oh, really?"
"But it's not completely wrong. Once we pass through there, we're almost there."
Soon tremendous magic flowed out from the crystal orb...and the altar, that is, the spatial movement gate, began to activate.
DING!
"Now, come this way."
Musca was the first to leap into the activated gate.
Then the leaders of the different races followed one by one into the gate.
Finally, Rudian's party entered the gate following those who had disappeared.
The party that arrived beyond the gate...
"It doesn't look like anything's changed?"
Rebecca tilted her head.
She had imagined something magnificent and grand would appear, but for some reason, the place beyond the gate had the same tropical environment as the Great Forest.
Maria grabbed Rebecca's shoulder with a slightly stiff expression.
"No, Rebecca. This place looks like the Great Forest but it's a completely different place."
"Really?"
"It's even more dangerous than the Great Forest. This place is like..."
Maria cut off her words and sent Rudian a look requesting explanation.
"That's right, this place isn't the Great Forest but a world that exists even further south than the Great Forest..."
Rudian paused his words for a moment as he felt malevolent energy from various places, then continued.
"It's the Southern Continent."
***
The Southern Continent.
From the Central Continent, which is the main stage of , this place is called the unknown world.
But all history books used one designation for the Southern Continent, and that was...
The Dragon Empire.
A world where at least several hundred dragons reign at the apex of the ecosystem.
'There are already four or five of them just nearby.'
Of course, due to the covenant made with the different races in ancient times, they wouldn't cause harm to this side, but it was indeed uncomfortable.
Maria also seemed bothered as she frowned and quietly crossed her arms.
'These guys don't understand the concept of concealing their presence in the first place...'
As long as they didn't interfere, it didn't matter.
As expected, they would have to engage in an unwanted psychological battle with the guardian protecting the hall's entrance.
"Let's gather the keys into one."
Following those words, the leaders of each race took something out from their chest.
Rather than keys, they looked like pure white blocks shaped like Tetris pieces.
CLICK! CLICK!
Those blocks fit perfectly as they were assembled one by one, and eventually a square object was completed.
FLASH!
That square object emitted a bright light, then began to advance in a curve toward somewhere.
Seeing this, Murmaya said to Rudian.
"Our role ends here."
The light was still extending toward somewhere in the Southern Continent.
"If you follow that light, you'll arrive at the place you desire."
"Thank you."
At Rudian's greeting, Murmaya waved dismissively.
"What. We only acted according to the contract."
Eventually the leaders of the different races disappeared back to the Great Forest via the spatial movement gate.
And Rudian gestured to the remaining party.
"Let's go."
The place indicated by the light signpost was about 800km away from where they had arrived in the Southern Continent.
Since it would take quite a while even with Phantom Steed due to the distance, and there was a concern of drawing unnecessary aggro from magical beasts, Rudian chose the fastest method as a last resort.
That method was none other than...
...
***
"We've arrived."
"..."
Maria spoke in a slightly awkward tone as she set down the party she had lifted with telekinesis.
As soon as her telekinesis was released, everyone in the party including Rudian writhed and collapsed on the spot.
"Ugh... Head, headache..."
"I never had this problem even during sea voyages."
The method Rudian had chosen was ultra-high-speed aerial movement using Maria's psychic powers.
Maria asked cautiously, panicking at the party's condition.
"Is, is everyone okay?"
"I, I'm weak against this kind of thing..."
Gray's complexion turned pale and Gray immediately vomited rainbows from his mouth.
"S-sorry..."
"I don't want to hear that from you... Ugh!"
The party stayed in place for a while to rest until Gray, who was in particularly serious condition, calmed down.
"That's the place."
While Elvin patted Gray's back to calm Gray down, Rudian looked at the small shrine built in the distance.
'They could have made it a bit more splendid, what is this...'
A place shabby beyond belief for a location that enshrined the souls of ancient heroes of the past.
This appearance came about because of the original author's philosophy that places of opportunity couldn't function as opportunities if they were unnecessarily splendid...
Still, his disappointment lessened a bit when he recalled the setting that the interior was splendidly decorated.
'It does feel similar to the Tower of Trials...'
As soon as Gray regained consciousness, Rudian immediately conveyed the final precautions and essential parts to memorize to the party.
"Once we enter the hall, we'll probably face the administrator immediately."
"Administrator?"
"Yes. The Blue Dragon Kirchrus I mentioned before."
A former member of Celestial and the only dragon with a cooperative stance toward humanity.
Rudian continued speaking.
"Originally, to enter this place legitimately, you need an artifact called 'White World,' but we entered through a shortcut without it. The administrator will surely express displeasure."
"Th-then what do we do?"
Rebecca asked anxiously, but Rudian calmly reassured her.
"I can somehow handle persuading those guys. The problem is the actions we need to take after entering this place."
As long as Kirchrus didn't act rashly out of displeasure and temperament, it would be fine.
Rudian spent some time telling the party everything they needed to do once they entered the Hall of Heroes, then took a slight breath.
"Understood?"
Nod.
All members except Yev nodded their heads.
Rudian took a slight deep breath and reproduced exactly the method of entering the hall that Abel had used in the original work.
"Then let's go."
***
FLASH!
The surrounding space began to be painted over by a new environment and the view started to change.
The ground that had been covered with all sorts of weeds changed to pure white marble, and the surrounding blue vegetation was also transforming like the interior of a stadium packed with countless spectators.
And as soon as they became aware of the completely changed environment.
Rudian and his party felt the gazes of countless beings watching them.
"Where is this exactly...? And those people..."
Looking around properly, it looked more like a parliament than a stadium.
In the surrounding seats sat beings with various distinctive characteristics, watching this side with great interest.
"None of them look easy to deal with."
The expressions of Rudian's companions except Rudian immediately hardened.
Moreover, even Maria was nervously and slowly drawing out her psychic powers.
"Oh my, how cute?"
But despite their appearance, those surrounding them rather chuckled and waved their hands or cheered.
"There have been guys who came in as personnel reinforcements after dying, but isn't this the first time someone came here alive?"
"Hey kids, over here! Choose me!"
"They don't seem to have lied about their age, they're all young."
"No, that black-haired kid is a god. A fairly high-ranking one at that."
"That psychic woman is... What, she seems stronger than me?"
"...!"
Rudian, who had been listening to the surrounding voices while focusing on his hearing, was quite surprised to realize that there was someone who had immediately recognized Yev's identity.
Until now, no one had immediately recognized Yev's true nature...
Was it because a top-grade opportunity like the Hall of Heroes was definitely of a different class?
Just as Rudian was breaking out in a cold sweat, someone silenced the noisy surrounding atmosphere immediately.
"Everyone be quiet."
THUD!
At one clear word from a woman, the bustling atmosphere immediately turned to silence.
"Huh...?"
At that sudden change, Rudian slightly frowned.
No matter how much Kirchrus was the administrator, Kirchrus couldn't control those heroes in this manner.
This place was filled with proud strong individuals who could easily beat down most dragons.
Yet being able to silence them meant that person could prove such power.
"This is the first time seeing this. Was it Rudian?"
Rudian slowly turned his head to look at the source of the voice.
On the top 5th floor of the Hall of Heroes, which consisted of 5 floors total.
There sat only one person.
A beauty with light blue hair reminiscent of water.
"I heard from Raphael. But you look much more naive than I heard."
What entered Rudian's eyes the moment he turned his head wasn't actually his hair color or anything like that.
The most impressive and splendid feature anyone could have - twelve pairs of wings sprouting from his back.
He slowly began to fly down toward Rudian and his party.
Rudian, watching him, slowly spoke his name.
"Gabriel..."
Seraphim Gabriel.
One of the twelve archangels of the Pantheon had suddenly appeared here.