Chapter 171

Adgon (2)

We had disguised our original appearance with Polymorph even before we came to the planet for contingencies.

In other words, they weren’t rushing in because they recognized our identities.

The desolate planet was a place where no normal organism could be found, and only plenty of monsters frozen in a statue-like state were scattered.

Even if someone invaded it, why would that be enough reason for them to quickly dispatch that such a tremendous amount of force and react immediately?

Furthermore, their aura while charging in was suspicious.

‘An all-out war out of nowhere?’

They didn’t seem to have the option of conversing or capturing us alive in mind in the first place.

The vigor of the Adgons’ army of Awakened was immense.

Their blue Mana, which was boiling violently in their hearts, was so blatant that we could already deduce what they were planning at a glance.

Mana gathered in their gun-type weapons.

‘The dimensional isolation barrier is active, so outside communication is impossible at this moment!’

They most likely took such a precaution to prevent us from escaping, but there was an aspect that made it advantageous for us.

They came without even knowing who they were dealing with, after all.

In other words, even if divine power, magic, or skills that could give away our identity were utilized in the incoming battle, nothing would leak out.

As long as no survivors remained, that was.

I decided to aim for the transport ship last since it was evident that it was the source of the dimensional isolation shield.

That artifact had to remain intact until the very end of the battle.

I spoke to the archbishop and the priests.

“The transport ship should be the last one to be destroyed! Don’t leave any survivors behind!”

“Understood!”

“Thy will be done, my lord!”

Since the resurrection of the magic of light, the way they treated me had become even more courteous.

They followed my instructions as if they were obeying a god’s word.

“Here they come!”

The Adgons were approaching from various directions.

Their movements were clearly visible beyond the horizon.

If we could see them, it would be safer to assume that they could see us as well.

At their gunpoint, blue energy condensed, lasers were fired and fragmented in the air.

Pa-pa-paht!

It took less than a second for the bedrock we were standing on to turn into gravel.

The reason why infantry was deployed instead of bombarding the ground using the airship was evident.

The storm-like beams precisely avoided the black hole where the fragment of Igras-Sho was sealed.

It was clear that they had been given specific instructions.

They feared damaging the dark entrance.

Meanwhile, there were no casualties among us amid the barrage of attacks.

Whoong!

A bright light emanated from Igras-Sho’s seal implanted on the back of my hand.

It didn’t emit its signature black-hued ray that painted the surroundings whenever I would draw out the god of magic’s element.

Instead, it produced a beautiful flash made out of every natural color dwelling within it.

My magic created a thick curtain of brilliance, deflecting and disrupting their long-ranged attacks.

“Attack!”

Our counterattack followed soon after.

Through the power granted by the magic god, they attacked the Adgons with spells they had never learned before.

It was less than an hour after the light-type magic revival, but the priests freely recited and invoked the element’s spell.

Powerful and fast oblique beams, incomparable to the firepower of the enemy’s artifacts, wreaked havoc.

The land we were standing on turned into a gravel field due to their attack. However, the earth under our opponents’ formation was cleanly severed and was vaporized to the point that it was noticeably caving in.

The Adgon troops could barely hold out against it, even though they were already evoking their defensive artifacts. Regardless, everything around them, except the round sphere, was destroyed quickly, making them gradually sink lower.

“@#$#$!”

They exchanged words that showed their bafflement, but the Adgons seemed to have no way to break through their predicament.

Rumblee!

At that moment, the whole surrounding land began to fluctuate.

‘What is that?’

I activated Penetration and gazed through the depths below my feet, allowing me to understand what was happening below us.

Our battle against the contaminated eighth leg in the underground cave was destructive enough to create holes and cracks on the bedrock.

Of course, apart from pure physical integrity, some kind of force keeping the eighth leg sealed would’ve played a role in keeping the place intact, but that had already been dispelled.

As a result, the ground below us had become very unstable. To make matters worse, shocks from the ongoing battle against the Adgons were disrupting it.

How much energy was both of our sides exerting at that point?

I couldn’t quantify it, but observing the scene in front of me, one thing seemed certain.

It was enough to cause a massive earthquake!

“Everyone, fly up!”

Even while maintaining the attack, the priests soared into the sky, reciting flight spells in unison.

Rumble!

Rumbleee!

Shortly after we moved away from the ground, the earth began to fluctuate with a stronger magnitude.

A colossal fissure widened and covered the lands as the bullets of light fired by our troops poured down endlessly.

Whenever the rays struck the ground, shock waves spread, and sparks flew.

The Adgons also tried to escape by flight, but the constant attacks raining down on them from above prevented them.

Not long after, their screams finally broke out.

The wide field we were looking down on had become a mess.

The earth’s movement, which was initially described as mere shaking, became more intense.

It rose, sank, and turned over.

The ground submerged completely and sprang back up.

Surrounded by protective barriers, the Adgons were tossed around like ants swept away by overflowing river currents.

Amid such tremors, the barrier shook, and the priests and I didn’t miss such a golden chance.

[Ray of Destruction!]

Pa-pa-paht!

Particles of electromagnetic waves, smaller than atoms, penetrated through the cracks.

The Adgons’ bodies were like a sheet of paper before the might of the light-element magic.

After a while, among the Awakened beings sent down from the transport ship, not a single one remained alive.

The transport ship was being swept away by the earthquake, with its cockpit and tail position turned upside down, but it was still maintaining the dimension isolation barrier activated.

I extended my palms toward it.

Blazing beams were fired from my hands, and the carrier evaporated immediately.

Simultaneously, the dimensional isolation barrier was extinguished, showcasing a scene that would make any Adgon faint to those outside the dome.

The black hole that led to the sealed leg disappeared without a trace, and the Adgon race couldn’t even retrieve their kin’s corpses properly.

The land was turned upside down, causing it to collapse, and the transport ship also disappeared, leaving only a few pieces of debris.

“Retreat!”

We teleported leisurely and escaped from the planet of ruins ruled by the Adgon race.

*

After returning to the Igras-Sho congregation headquarters, the archbishop and the priests begged me to stay longer. However, I refused to comply since I thought a year or two would not be enough to finish all the various consecration ceremonies they wanted me to attend.

Furthermore, at that time, when the fragment of a god was released from its sealed state, it wouldn’t look good if I were to be found in the congregation headquarters.

After I left, the archbishop declared to all dimensions that the eighth magic that had been lost since the creation of the material world had been retrieved.

The reaction was hot. The number of believers serving the god of magic also increased rapidly, and the candidates for becoming vessels of incarnation and had the talent to become priests, later on, were discovered one after another.

Meanwhile, the Adgons remained silent during the turmoil.

Although the planet they ruled was robbed by ‘unidentified individuals,’ considering the item hidden in there and the recent significant changes that unfolded related to deities, the suspect was obvious.

Adam, who I was conversing with after returning to Earth, told me:

“The Adgons will naturally suspect the Igras-Sho congregation, of course.”

However, they couldn’t openly attack to oppress them or accuse them of the crime.

Because then, it would be the same as revealing what they were hiding in there.

The magic god’s congregation also kept secret that it had sent selected personnel to Adgon territory and, of course, did not disclose the part that they had moved with me.

Most believers and ordinary people who didn’t know the circumstances accepted the simple explanation released to the press.

They were told that the congregation’s status grew because of the Union’s support, which in turn helped the god, resulting in the lost magic’s revival.

“Those Adgon punks won’t be able to protest even if they learn of the truth since if they were to complain about the invasion of their private property, they would reveal their dirty secret.”

“Yes. I’m curious, though. What the hell is it that they do that requires them to hide a god’s fragment in such a desolate place? It couldn’t be that they were the ones who sealed it.”

“Didn’t you say that the loss of the god’s eighth leg coincided with the creation of the material world? Of course, they weren’t the ones that sealed it. However, they must’ve been assigned as the gatekeeper at some point.”

The planet wasn’t located near the home dimension of the Adgon race.

Even after joining the Union, they expanded their territories to

The place that the ‘leg’ was sealed at had been one of their territories.

“I’ve looked into it more, and they colonized the planet about a thousand years after the Union was formed.”

He added an explanation.

The Adgons were not originally very active species in expanding their colonies but suddenly began to expand their territories from that point on.

“It was around that time that each of the five tribes that formed the Union began to perish. The only exception was the Adgon species.”

What he said made various theories possible.

“So there definitely was something going on from then on.”

“Here’s a list of planets that they recently marked as their territory since then.”

“That many?”

“Yeah, think about it. What if they know more about locations like the black hole that you discovered?”

What if they preoccupied each of those planets and declared it as their territory, and prevented others from accessing it?

“There seems to be a need to get a closer look at this.”

“But recklessly charging in like that won’t work anymore.”

“Yeah, they’re only remaining silent since they can’t blatantly point fingers, but they’re certainly suspicious of me too.”

Contrary to the will of the Union, if the Adgons wanted the gods to fall faster, they would have their eyes bloodshot, eager to get rid of me somehow.

“If we wait a little longer, they would reveal their fangs.”

Adam’s prediction soon turned into reality.

A few weeks later, Bachurka called me through interdimensional communication with a look of bafflement.

*

I asked the alien beyond the screen.

“They’ve found a candidate for the incarnation of the god of swords?”

The congregation that served the god had fallen beyond comparison to magic, life, and luck. To exaggerate a little, it had become nothing but a small convenience store.

Therefore, the Union’s support was more urgent for them than other congregations and was actually receiving more help.

During the search in conjunction with the Union’s members that time, they reportedly found an individual who had the talent to fulfill the sword god’s will in some dimension and had finished the tutorial but didn’t join the Union.

It was quite good news to hear so far, but there was a reason why Bachurka looked grim.

– The Union representative that was dispatched there to handle the work was the Adgon species.

“… Hmm.”

– It is said that they used a priest who isn’t very high-ranking to find candidates for the incarnation, but….

They said that in the process, the incarnation candidate ran away.

“Why the hell would he?”

Running away from the surveillance of the Union?

Though he acknowledged the candidate’s intention, the ability needed to do that was high.

“Aren’t the Adgon species the one that lost him?”

– … At this time, it’s still too early to jump to conclusions. Anyway, the individual that ran away seems to be an outstanding talent. He hid deep inside the planet using his completely shrouded divine power that had sprouted with much effort.

The following was the request of the Adgon species.

– Under the current situation, I, who’s the most skilled in using the god of swords’ power, was asked to find the hidden incarnation candidate.

Around that place, the dispatched Adgons crowded.

‘They’re acting so blatantly.’

There was also a way to avoid responding with reasonable excuses right at that moment.

But I…

“Alright.”

Bachurka’s expression changed.

– Are you sure?

“Yes, I’ll go look for the incarnation candidate of the god of swords.”

I kept a deep smile on my lips as I continued my sentence.

“With the Adgons, that is.”