Chapter 219 Proemetheus

It was about time that they reached Juna after a few more days had passed.

The situation in the wilderness had been oddly calm during the 10 days they walked through it, and only a few Originals had died.

While the number of beast groups they had faced was extremely high, the true powerhouses had been able to take care of everything neatly.

There weren't even Prometheus ranked opponents for them to fight, which made things much easier for all of them. Thus, they reached the proximity of the abandoned third shelter without encountering too many difficulties.

"I had never expected it to be that easy to travel through the wilderness with such a big group and not face an attack." Mathias acknowledged, and Nial could only nod his head at that.

"Yeah, I expected it to be bloodier as well. But it's certainly good and nothing we should be complaining about."

In the end, there hadn't been a single group of Dryx, who had attacked them.

Considering that the Dryx had been bothersome for quite a while, some Originals were quite confused that they hadn't seen a single one of them!

'It really is weird, but whatever.' Nial could only think, for now, understanding that it was not possible for him to find out the truth either way.

At least, for now, he wouldn't get his hands on the truth, even if he wanted to.

On the 10th day, since they had been teleported, their large group finally reached the 'abandoned' shelter.

The number of beasts around the shelter was much higher than anywhere else, and so was the number of dungeon portals.

If there had only been a few dozen dungeon portals emerging near their group on average every day, the shelter and its immediate surrounding could be said to be overflowing with dungeons.

The true powerhouses had detected close to 500 dungeon portals in the shelter and its surrounding area.

Many of them would have to be cleared only once to make them disappear, while others would have to be conquered several times for their breakout state to wear off.

"So it's true that humans attract dungeons?" Mathias wondered in confusion.

In the past, there had been news and speculations that the wilderness might be extremely dangerous because nobody took care of it.

Beasts were allowed to roam wherever they wanted, to repopulate, and to grow stronger in the wilderness. Nothing was regulated and the dungeon portals out there would never stop allowing more beasts from emerging in the wilderness.

But rather than the wilderness being extremely dangerous, the threats around the human shelters were much bigger risks.

While all the different beasts in the wilderness killed each other in order to survive, to become stronger and to build their own little space, the Originals of the human shelters had to do that all by themselves.

Adding the fact that there were far more dungeons all around shelters than anywhere else, the rumors revolving around the dangers of the wilderness had been kept elevated.

'It totally makes sense now.' Nial thought when he understood that it might not have been that problematic to travel in between the shelters as he had presumed during the last few days.

As long as one was careful, there shouldn't be much of an issue surviving.

The situation of the shelters was what caused the exaggerated fear of the unknown wilderness, and things were reasoned by one particular fact.

The more Originals live in shelters, the higher the mana density around the shelters. Through this special condition, more dungeon portals are created, which in turn further increase the mana density in that area.

Finally, the large amount of mana increases the number of Originals because more awaken their origin, creating an endless cycle.

This 'simple' fact was also why Nial had been so worried about the appearance of runic armaments. The naturally released mana of runic armaments would accelerate the endless circle, increase the number of dungeon portals, the number of Originals, and the speed at which Jundra would develop.

"I wonder if it would have been better if mankind were to live in numerous tiny cities." Nial blurted out while releasing his Mana Sense to the highest extent.

The others had seen the walls of the abandoned third shelter for quite a while as they had been approaching Juna.

And by now, even Nial could perceive the closest wall of the shelter they would enter soon.

"Tiny cities? We wouldn't be able to protect them, the moment one powerful beast was to attack such a city. There are not enough true powerhouses in our rows, and only a few would be willing to stay behind to protect the city, to begin with.

Every true powerhouse wants to become stronger, and that's much harder than you might think." Sam Anderson had appeared near them all of a sudden, baffling Mathias for a few seconds.

He looked at Windbreaker Sam Anderson for several seconds with his mouth half-open, while Nial could only sigh deeply.

"The number of dungeons would be less but it would be much harder to protect a city under the attack of a Prometheus beast. Yeah, I get that. It was just a stupid thought, either way." Nial just shrugged his shoulders while continuing to advance ahead.

'Prometheus? Is that what he calls the rank that one would attain after finishing creating the 9th Origin ring?' Sam Anderson wondered while looking at the young blind man for quite a while.

However, before he could ask anything, a thunderous roar reverberated through the surroundings.

It originated from the intact walls of the abandoned shelter, reached everyone's ears, and forced everyone to halt in their steps.

Some weaker Originals collapsed on the ground as they heard the terrifying roar, while the legs of others gave in.

Even Nial and Mathias were unable to remain standing on the ground. Their entire body felt heavy all of a sudden, Mathias' sight blurred and Nial's mana sense turned into a mass of chaos.

They fell to the ground just a moment later. Sam Anderson was the only one who could still stand on his feet, but even he felt as if his body had been paralyzed for a moment.

With widened eyes, he looked over to the area the roar had originated from, just to see a black-skinned and red-eyed Minotaur, wielding a huge broadsword.

It had a large red horn protruding out of the side of its head and swung its humongous sword on the ground.

That simple move was enough to cut through the several-meter-thick shelter wall, nearly breaking it apart at once.

The Minotaur was four meters tall and was fuming in rage while looking at the large crowd of Originals.

To the beast, the Originals were invaders who had trespassed its territory, the palace it had chosen to become its habitat and new home!

Feeling the rage surging up from the depths of its body once again, the mighty aura of the Minotaur was unleashed before a second roar followed suit.

However, this time, even the true powerhouses felt a heavy weight pressing on them. It was as if the gravitational force around them had increased by a few times.

Sam Anderson's feet were pushed into the dry ground as he felt the unbending power of the beast in front of them.

'Is that one of them? One of the 'Prometheus'?' He wondered as his heart continued to beat wildly.

There hadn't been any news about the existence of a beast exceeding the strength of a Peak Tritan-ranked beast for the past few years.

And whenever there had been news, a shelter was either destroyed, or a handful of true powerhouses had been killed.

In the end, there might be a few Originals successfully creating 9 Advanced Origin rings, but Sam Anderson was pretty sure that there had yet to be someone, who was genuinely able to break through the threshold to reach the next rank.

Even after accumulating more knowledge for several decades, most Originals still did not know how to properly advance to the next rank.

At least, that was what Sam Anderson knew. He was pretty sure to be considered one of the most knowledgeable Originals.

However, even then, there were things he didn't know about, including the fact that some Originals had already learned about ways to advance to the Prometheus-rank, by accepting the memories some Innate abilities shared with their hosts.

Thus, while Sam Anderson was frozen in place due to the terrifying aura the Minotaur released with ease, he could only realize in shock that the six Originals seemed to be completely unaffected by the Minotaur's aura. Releasing their suppressed power, the Sacred Knights' leader, two of his subordinates, and three members of the Heaven's Gates blasted forward.

It was as if they had been waiting for this moment as they released their terrifying aura. After they activated one of their abilities each, their strength, and speed reached a new threshold.

'So fucking fast…' Sam Anderson could only think in wonder. His heart was palpitating wildly because he understood that the speed of the six Originals in front of him was even faster than the highest speed he could reach.

And Sam Anderson was someone who focused on Agility, on being the fastest…

Thus, after seeing that the six Originals were even faster than the highest speed he could reach, his world began to crumble.

'They achieved it…they really advanced to the next rank!!'

Sam Anderson understood what he saw in front of him clearly, and he could also clearly understand that the fight that was about to unfold itself in front of them would be devastating.

His legs were weak and his mind was befuddled because of the Minotaur's bloodthirsty aura, but Sam forced himself to remain standing.

Activating his wind affinity, he created strong gusts of wind to shroud the collapsed Originals with it.

He lifted them from the ground and moved them further away from the shelter and into a safe place.

A huge battlefield was about to be created, and Sam could clearly perceive that it would be devastating and that the surrounding would be destroyed.

But what Sam still had not expected to see was how the Minotaur jumped down the wall, his landing creating a crater with a radius of five meters before the beast dashed forward, crossing a distance of 100 meters in an instant.

The Minotaur was already fast but so were the six Originals as they emerged around the Minotaur, crossing more than a kilometer in seconds.

When the seven Prometheus-ranked existences circled the Minotaur, many things happened at once. They formed a loose circle and were in a radius of less than 50 meters around each other when the surrounding mana got distorted, the area around them broke apart, and the pressure around them was high enough to cripple them severely the moment they would lower their guard!