122
122 — Outside the Barrier
The sky is dark.
The effects of the Erosion's spread soon manifested in the surrounding environment as well. The sky was covered in darkness and the ground was also dyed black. The vegetation that had once given off a fresh scent now only emitted a dull, burnt smell.
The only thing that remained intact was the World Tree that Jin-woo had planted. Only that one tree.
"What the hell happened here?"
Jin-woo asked the woman lying beneath his feet. It wasn't his usual tone, but one that resembled an interrogation or investigation.
The first thing he did as soon as trouble broke out was to capture and bind that maid. She had tried to flee in panic, but she couldn't escape from Jin-woo's grasp. Now she was completely bound and pressed against the tree roots, being interrogated by Jin-woo.
"I, I don't know. I don't know either!"
"You don't know? Are you saying this isn't Belkarim's doing?"
"That's..."
Even through her mask, he could imagine her eyes trembling. Regardless of what had happened, the fact that she was panicking was true. Though Jin-woo found this puzzling, he didn't show it outwardly.
"This power... It does seem to be Master's. I couldn't possibly mistake her power."
It was a fact he already knew without her having to say it. The Erosion covering the surroundings carried a scent similar to that of the wolf's soul he had seen that day.
And above all.
'Time flows strangely slowly around the barrier.'
He had tried launching sword energy to break or destroy the barrier, but it wouldn't break. It wasn't that Jin-woo's power was blocked or disappeared. It just slowed down more and more as it approached the barrier's surface, and now it had stopped as if frozen.
He didn't know if other Lords possessed this kind of authority, but as far as Jin-woo knew, Belkarim was the only one.
"But I don't know. Master told me to watch over you. And if you seemed to be struggling, she instructed me to offer some advice. She wanted you to completely accept the dark energy."
"I understand that, but why did she suddenly trap us?"
"I, I haven't heard anything. I don't know about this either. But if I had to guess..."
The maid's head, which had been pressed almost face-first into the ground, turned slightly. At the end of her gaze was a single tree.
"Master called this tree 'impious'. She said it wouldn't help you and would only be an obstacle that holds you back. Perhaps it's because of this tree? That's right, if we cut down this tree, Master will surely release the barrier too. I'll personally..."
Her words began to grow lengthy and even started to take on a strange fervor.
He already knew she hadn't liked the World Tree from the beginning. With the added speculation that it might be the reason for this incident, that thought seemed to be accelerating further.
Jin-woo thrust his sword in front of her palm as she reached out with an ominous power, blocking her.
"Stop."
Jin-woo's sword dug into the ground, threatening the maid's hand. If he had positioned it just slightly differently, it would have pierced her palm.
Hik, the sound of her swallowing her breath accompanied the maid's hand stopping. Even so, she couldn't hide the ominous look in her eyes as she gazed at the World Tree, but at least she stopped her immediate actions.
"Let's investigate a bit more first. See if we can break it from the inside."
"Yes..."
After binding the maid so tightly that she couldn't move at all, he threw her at the base of the World Tree. The tree roots moved on their own to bind the maid even more securely.
She let out a brief groan as if in pain, but didn't resist further. She seemed to sense that if she moved even a finger carelessly here, her neck would fly off.
After confirming that the World Tree had securely bound her, Jin-woo began exploring the surroundings. Even calling it exploration, the space wasn't large.
A slightly wider space including the garden where he had been. It was similar to or slightly narrower than the Seoul Erosion he had first experienced.
Since there weren't many places to search, the investigation ended quickly. He found nothing.
'I don't even see a core.'
The black flames that would appear as a core weren't visible either. The only thing harboring black flames in this place was the maid bound to the World Tree.
At first, he thought she was the core and that's why he bound her first, but she wasn't. Not all black flames become cores of Erosion.
'It seems I've gained more discerning eyes while staying here.'
He had been able to distinguish Erosion's energy somewhat before, but through training in this garden, he had become able to distinguish it much more clearly.
The power he had once handled only through instinct without knowing its identity could now be identified more clearly. It was certain that his skills had improved through Belkarim's invitation.
The problem was why she had suddenly deployed a barrier.
'If I think simply, it's one of two things.'
If I were to briefly speculate on the reasons for causing such an incident, two possibilities come to mind.
One is that she wants to confine me.
'It's something I've been considering since I received that suspicious invitation.'
Jin-woo had entered this garden because he received Belkarim's invitation. In other words, the Lord wants to keep Jin-woo in this garden.
The problem was the duration. Jin-woo was planning to leave as soon as he finished some training, but Belkarim might think differently. She might want him to stay longer.
If she had caused this incident to make Jin-woo stay longer... It wouldn't be unreasonable.
'The other reason is the opposite - she doesn't want me to see what's happening outside.'
The other reason was the complete opposite. Not to isolate and confine Jin-woo from the outside, but because she didn't want to show the outside to Jin-woo.
If that were the case, it would mean something had happened outside the barrier.
***
There weren't many places to hide in the snowy mountain.
This place wasn't a normal mountain, but a pile of earth and ice that Belkarim had accumulated over long years by driving slaves. Though there were some forests that had sprouted on their own during those years, the density was very low.
Places to hide would be rock crevices or excavated caves and such shadowy places. Kalesian was hiding in such a place, observing the situation.
'Huuu, so that's the ice castle Jin-woo mentioned. I wondered what it looked like, but it's quite magnificent.'
Kalesian could see the ice castle behind the snowy mountain.
Until recently, it hadn't been visible at all. He, who hadn't received Belkarim's invitation, wasn't qualified to see it.
But now it was visible. It meant the situation was so urgent that it couldn't even be hidden from unwelcome guests like him.
'Well, if they're attacking like that...'
The magnificent, no, the once magnificent castle was being mercilessly destroyed by bombardment falling from the sky.
Dragons covering the sky flapped their massive wings, pouring down thunder and lightning, all kinds of fire and hail.
Their number was only dozens, but each one was a giant dragon and their magic power was also raging. Thanks to that, the sky was covered in complete blackness with not a trace of blue light visible.
'They don't seem stronger than Silvern... But still, to command such numbers.'
The individual strength of each didn't compare to Silvern. But even so, they were dragons.
Originally, the dragon race constructs the world centered around themselves. Simply put, they're self-centered, so it was absolutely rare for them to act in groups.
Yet for dozens of them, close to an army, to move meant there was sufficient reason.
Either this ice castle was so heinous as to enrage dozens of dragons, or there existed someone more powerful who commanded them.
Kalesian saw it as the latter. Considering this place was the Spirit Realm, that seemed more likely.
'Belkarim's slaves seem to be working hard, but... That won't be enough.'
The slaves who had been piling and carrying the snowy mountain had taken up spears and swords to go to war. Of course, spears and swords were just metaphors - in reality, it meant each was deploying their specialized tactics.
Though they were slaves who had only repeated simple labor, they were beings that Belkarim had gathered from all over the world. They had their own skills, and when well-honed, these weren't something even dragons could ignore.
But they were weak.
No matter what skills they had, conversely, they possessed only that. The dragons covering the sky were far more cunning and intelligent to face with just that.
So they all fell. Lives dying along with the crumbling ice castle. Though they were already dead, experiencing death once more was extremely unpleasant.
"Heo, heoeop! You, you there!"
"Who are you?"
Then someone discovered Kalesian hiding. He was wrapped in dark magic power, but it wasn't the energy of Erosion. He had commanded all sorts of skeletons and high-level undead to fight the dragons in the sky, but eventually lost all his minions and was reduced to being alone. It was Johan.
"Please, please save me! I'll do anything, please!"
"I'm also in a position where I can't do anything and am hiding, so how can I save you?"
"Still, please... keuhup!"
"Tsk, if you keep acting like that, we'll be discovered, so get in here for now!"
Since Johan was making such a fuss, Kalesian quickly pulled him into his hiding place. Though calling it a hiding place, it was just a narrow rock crevice cave.
"Heoeop! Heouk, heouk!"
"Where's your master? Even when under invasion, she doesn't show herself - does she have no will to protect this place?"
Kalesian asked Johan, who was catching his breath. It was an important question, but Johan didn't know the answer.
"I don't, keuhup, don't know."
"Really? Is your master the kind of generous Lord who would leave her front yard to be destroyed?"
"How dare...! No, no, I really don't know."
Johan, who had reflexively tried to get angry, realized his situation and cowered again. Kalesian let out a hmph, snorting.
"I'm thinking of going to find Jin-woo - will you follow?"
"Kang Jin-woo... That bastard?"
"That's right. Since we're the only two companions in this world, we need to put our heads together and break through this crisis."
It wasn't a metaphor but just stating facts. In this Spirit Realm, Jin-woo was the only being Kalesian could rely on.
Thanks to that, he had been able to defeat Silvern and escape from that forest. If he had been alone, he would probably be dissolving in stomach acid inside Silvern's belly by now.
"Is that bastard really that strong?"
"Of course. If he were weak, could he have wandered around in this Spirit Realm?"
"Heup..."
Kalesian glared at him and then emerged from the cave. He didn't forget to cast magic that would blend him with the surroundings to avoid being discovered by the dragon swarm in the sky.
"If you don't have any thoughts, just stay there. Though I don't know how long you'll be able to hide without being discovered."
Kalesian left. Johan couldn't make a decision and was restless. Should he stay in this currently safe place? Or should he follow that hatchling despite the danger?
It was a long deliberation, but fortunately this was Belkarim's land. A strange land that could turn even the longest time into a midsummer night's dream.
After finishing his long yet short contemplation, he hurriedly chased after Kalesian.