Chapter 340 - Back Where It All Began

Tivan's frown got deeper the longer he read the document, from time to time he looked up at the broken superweapon on the table, eventually, he sighed and put down the document, and spoke

"You did well in destroying the weapon, I would not have been able to do so"

Mercury nodded, he understood that Tivan stood differently than him, he was the king of a city-state and had to consider the usage of the superweapon from the stance of a king, not an individual person

"Well, it felt natural to snap it in half… You know after know what it could do, though I'll leave the two parts here, I am sure you guys could learn a lot from it"

"Thank you, Mercury, Ingrid is in your debt"

Mercury nodded before he spoke

"Now for the heavy stuff, you've read the part about where they found the superweapons right?"

"Yeah the ancient tomb, what about it?"

"Well… Apparently, I am the so-called weapon they are talking about in the report, or my vessel is anyways"

Tivan nodded before he spoke

"I now understand why you are heading to that tomb… I take it you have something to learn there?"

"Yeah… A lot"

"I see… Unfortunately, I can't help you in your quest, I've already signed a non-aggression pact with the United Cana tribes"

Mercury nodded then Tivan spoke again while looking at the broken superweapon

"But… Whatever you need in preparation for your journey I will provide; we're friends after all"

"Thanks, Tivan I was thinking... Naila need a new set of active mana armor"

Tivan nodded, then he asked

"What do you need?"

The next few days in Ingrid was relaxed, Mercury would work on helping Nailia with her new set of active mana armor when he was too bored and he even found time to vesit Party and spend some time with her, three months later the group left Ingrid after a large farewell party, they soon arrived in the desert, they passed every Cana patrol without a problem due to Naila's presence, but soon ran into a problem, the fact that the cities surrounding the desert had been taken over by The united Cana tribes was enough to deter merchants that normally would be passing through the less-traveled routes, of course, the united Cana tribes had put in supply trains to combat the losses of goods but they normally stuck to the central desert routes, this meant that the magic beast that normally would be cleared out by hunters and mercenaries escorting those caravans had multiplied and where running rampant, such as the swarm of giant desert wasps that were currently harassing Mercury's group, Julia's crossbow was firing almost non stop as the swarm of dog sized warspes closed in on the group slowly

"Well… This seems to be a problem…"

Mercury commented as he watched the swarm of almost 200 warps that had formed a circling swarm around them that quickly was getting smaller

"Mercury!"

"I know… Dammit, I hate losing golems but I guess it's better than losing one of us… Have at 'em!"

Once Mercury gave the order the golems started firing their spike guns at the giant wasps, once they depleted their ammunition the swarm had shrunken by about 50 wasps, then they changed into the swarm and began ripping the wasps to pieces, the model 'Grizly' released their backpacks and luggage before it began to do wonders for the local wasp puplation but even it was quickly overwhelmed, but then Nailia covered in her new active mana armor charged into the swarm and began cutting apart the wasps with a nimbleness that made it look like the 300-kilogram active mana armor was dancing, a very deadly sword dance though, the number of giant wasps decreased by the seconds, Mercury cracked his neck before he disappeared from view, he would periodically appear for a moment, when he did the head of a wasp would explode before he disappeared again, Marie twirled her viper spear around before a flash of electricity flashed in her eyes as she disappeared from view, ever since she had begun to master her new bestowed skill [Lightning unity] which already was level 2 her general speed had increased a lot, this included reaction speed and speed of movement, as for Julia her crossbow fired near full auto, still every bolt found a target and every target was one that neared Ben, Jey or Nailia in their blind spots, her movements were fluid and natural even as she reloaded the magazines with speed and precision, a few minutes later the swarm of wasps was completely eraticated, Mercury pulled out a piece of cloth and began to wipe his aluminum guantlets down as he breathed lightly, everyone else was more or less out of breath with the exception of Marie that showed a smile as she swung her viper spear once which made a circular stain on the warm sand made of insect blood before she walked over to the pile of backpacks and pulled out a nutrient bar and began munching on it before she asked

"Anybody hurt?"

Nailia removed the helmet of the active mana armor before she raised its hand and spoke

"My baby is covered in insect blood, so I could use some help in cleaning the joints"

"I'll help you with that"

Marie began helping Nailia as Mercury walked over and clapped Ben on the shoulder and spoke with a slightly cocky attitude

"You're getting slow old man"

Ben rolled his eyes before he caught a water skin which Jey had thrown to him and took a swig of water before he spoke

"We're all old comparable to you Mercury, how many months are you again?"

"...8?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Well I don't know, you seem to care so much about my age so maybe you were keeping track?"

"Fuck you bud---"

"Enough cursing Ben"

"--- Ouch! Why don't you hit Mercury for a change, Jey?"

Jey sighed before she looked defeated and confessed

"I've tried, he keeps dodging"

"Oh… Well he would do that"

Mercury left the two crusaders to their thing and walked over and began inspecting the golems, they had all taken minor damage but nothing major as he had feared

"Good, now for reloading the spike guns, Julia would you give me a hand?"

"Sure, if you help me with my bolts afterward"

"No problem"

The group traveled quickly in the desert and within half a month they reached the former town of Hericon, now the desert fortress city of Hericon

"They've sure done some work here…"

Mercury looked at the imposing walls that had been built around the city, then he looked over at the returning Naila that just had finished talking with the guards at the gate, and asked

"How was it, are we allowed in?"

Naila shook her head and spoke

"No, they'll allow me in because I'm a member of the Waszim clan but no outsiders are allowed in otherwise"

Mercury nodded as he stroked his chin for a bit before he nodded

"Then let's make camp out here"

The group made camp and seemingly rested for the night outside the fortress city of Hericon…

"I'm in"

Mercury closed the tunnel behind him, he was currently inside one of the rooms of the underground pyramid, he had made a tunnel from the camp outside of the city and gotten into the pyramid on his own, Julia and Marie wanted very much to follow him, but he had reassured them that he would be fine on his own, one he was inside he began walking around in the dark, his path led him down to where it all began, his eyes soon gazed over the open sarcophagus where his soul had been pulled through time and space before Party reincarnated him as the 5th living god of Alfan… Mercury sighed, although it had only been around 8 months so much had happened, he turned towards the north wall of the tomb and began noting down the symbols on the walls on a piece of paper he had brought with him, the plan was to get Party to translate when they arrived at another city, after using about 12 pieces of paper he had copied all the text that was written on the walls inside the tomb, then he turned towards the south wall were the exit to the tomb was and was slightly surprised to see a person standing there, it was a woman wearing a ceremonial robe, her exposed skin was covered in black tattoos that looked like ants crawling on her skin, two grey fox-like ears peeked up from the top of her head and a big brushy grey fox tail that waved from side to side behind her, she looked at Mercury with curiosity for a bit before her gaze sharpened and she asked

"Finished?"

Mercury double-checked the papers before he nodded

"Yeah I am finished here, I'll be staying in the pyramid a bit longer though"

"Not likely"

Mercury sighed before he spoke

"Do we really have to do this? I prefer not to hit women"

"Won't have to… Surrender?"

Mercury thought about it for a bit before he shook his head

"No, My pride won't allow it"

"Then fight"

Mercury sighed again before he slipped into a stance as he did the woman showed a slight smile as she spoke a word

"[Seal]"