With TCF!Bud out of commission, TBOAH!Bud could only turn to look at TCF!Glenn and TBOAH!Glenn as if to check if what he'd just seen was the truth or if his mind was playing tricks on him – however TBOAH!Glenn and TCF!Glenn were so shocked that neither of them could express their surprise other than by impassively staring at the Palantír while frozen stiff. This led to TBOAH!Bud thinking that all his drinking had finally caused him to start hallucinating.
"Maybe I need to cut back on my drinking..." He mumbled and put his flask away so he could resist the temptation to drink in order to forget what he'd just seen.
<Chapter 498: You stupid idiots! (4)>
Cale looked toward Jopis and started to speak.
"She ripped its f*cking head off right away as you mentioned last time."
Cale knew that Fluffy was no ordinary dog, but he didn't expect her to be strong enough to send most strong individuals to the curb.
'I guess she must be a divine animal or a spiritual being or something?'
He had no way of knowing the truth about Fluffy and her siblings. However, one person should know. Cale looked toward Jopis.
"...Uhh...mm."
However, Jopis seemed slightly shocked, unlike what he expected. Her eyes quickly calmed down before sparkling as if she had found some type of treasure.
"Ruff!"
"Seriously... is Fluffy a divine animal or something?" TBOAH!Jopis asked her counterpart. TCF!Jopis shrugged.
"Fluffy is Fluffy... no more needs to be said." TCF!Jopis smiled shrewdly even while looking as graceful and as elegant as always.
Fluffy walked over and rubbed her face on Jopis's leg. That action put monster blood on Jopis's pants, but Jopis smiled warmly and patted Fluffy's back.
"You snapped the f*cking head right off."
"Ruff-!"
Cale watched them with a satisfied expression before looking forward. The monster had died instantly and the rat had fainted. The current situation was very good. They had no reason to hesitate at all.
"Fantastic, one down who knows how many more to go..." TBOAH!Alberu whispered rubbing his face and then running both his hands through his hair. He really was trying to concentrate on the seriousness of this situation being revealed upon the Palantír – but the level of out-of-this-world ridiculousness was so crazy that he was beginning to doubt the authenticity of what the Goddess was showing on the Palantír.
He looked toward Mary.
"How is it?"
"It's clean."
Mary's two hands that were covered by the robe poked out. Her hands were covered in spiderweb-like black threads. Black threads started to flow out of her hands.
"Mm!" One of the Elves gulped.
This was the first time he saw a necromancer use their power. He had heard that the power that was said to have disappeared a long time ago had reappeared. However, he had not believed it. Seeing that power again made him flinch.
In the front row, Cale casually looked up, even though his posture and gestures were casual and relaxed as he continued to pet the kids around him, his eyes narrowed and his gaze seemed to sharpen with dangerous alertness. The target of his attention was of course the elf upon the Palantír who was sharing his unasked for opinion of Mary upon the Palantír. Cale relented choosing to observe first and then decide whether a trip to visit this elf would be necessary or not. He decided to pay attention to the record and search his memories of this battle in order to check for any time that the elf had made Mary feel uncomfortable.
Everything that had been covering the monster became wrapped up in the black threads and disappeared. Finally, only the monster's bones were left behind.
"It really was not a regular monster."
"That's right. Young master-nim, that monster was poisoned by dead mana."
The bones that should have been white were dyed black. The bones had been poisoned by dead mana. Cale and the robed Mary made eye contact. Both of them started to speak at the same time.
"It looks like a chimera."
"It seems to be an experiment."
Their choices of words were different, but they were talking about the same thing. The Elves who had been watching saw one of their own stepping forward.
"They should be monsters who were changed through black magic experiments."
It was Elf Pendrick who could not control Elementals but specialized in healing.
"Oh?!" TBOAH!Lock jolted in surprise as he heard the familiar voice of a person who had passed on long ago in his timeline. However he was not the only one taken by surprise.
"?!" The moment Pendrick appeared upon the Palantír TBOAH!Eruhaben went as still as stone and sat with his lips slightly parted – he didn't even seem to be breathing at that moment – he was focusing all his attention on examining the elf who now appeared in view upon the Palantír. TCF!Eruhaben took notice of his counterparts reaction and glanced for a few seconds between the Palantír and TBOAH!Eruhaben before lowering his gaze to look at the back of Cale's head. He stared for a short while before letting out a soft sigh – a grateful and affectionate feeling toward Cale resonating strongly within his chest.
Pendrick who had learned a lot of things from ancient Dragon Eruhaben looked toward the bones of the monster before looking toward Cale.
"They're just like the golems. It looks like the chimeras were created with black magic as well."
The Elves who did not know about the Dragon half-blood's existence frowned after hearing the term, 'chimera.' That was something that went against the laws of nature.
"I'm finished."
Fluffy barked loudly after Mary commented in her calm voice.
"My goodness."
The Elves watched as the large skeleton slowly stood up. The skeleton that stood up without a head picked the skull and placed it back in the proper location as black threads tied the two parts together. It was 2.5 times Cale's height. It wasn't as tall as the maze walls, but it gave off a sense of pressure as everybody needed to look up at it. The way the black threads were surrounding the black bones made them think about something.
The audience were amazed by TCF!Mary's ability – they purposely choose to ignore their instinctive fear of her ability and focused rather on how masterfully she used and controlled her power – it was also impressive to see the monster that had once been an enemy now serving as part of Cale's group.
"It resembles a Dark Knight."
It made them think of a monster not from this world but one that was said to exist in the Demon World. That was how much pressure this monster was giving them. It would look even scarier if this tall monster got on top of a black steed. The Elves turned their gazes toward Mary who created such a creature. Mary looked toward Cale at the same time.
"I've gathered one monster."
"Yes."
'Gathered what?'
TBOAH!Rei couldn't help laughing quietly in disbelief. He couldn't help himself as he thought about how he didn't have enough alcohol in him to deal with this kind of development – until this point he could still follow the crazy endeavours of the red-haired Young Master, but this was where Cale's logic surpassed his expectations. TBOAH!Rei was both terrified and in awe of the Young Master Henituse' audacity.
Cale looked toward Jeet and Mary and continued to speak as the Elves flinched.
"We need to increase the number of our allied soldiers as much as possible."
They all looked toward the black skeleton monster after hearing, 'allied soldiers.' Allied soldiers plural. That meant that she was not finished with just this one skeleton.
"Mary, have Choi Han and the Elves help you increase the number of allies as quickly as possible."
"I understand. Young master-nim."
"We understand, Commander-nim!" Tasha who received Cale's gaze then headed forward. Cale pointed to the third maze wall behind the monster. There was a corner, but he had no intention of walking around it. He was only going to move forward.
"Destroy it!"
The Dark Elves responded to Tasha's order and headed past the monster to the third wall.
– A mana arrow this time!
Raon's black arrow that was in front of the Dark Elves destroyed the wall. A wall was just a wall no matter how thick it was, and the Elementals and Raon had no problem breaking it. Cale activated his Sound of the Wind and followed behind them.
The Palantír showed how wall after wall came tumbling down. The almost endless number of walls seemed to go on and on, but they continued to move forward relentlessly.
"Why not go over the top of the walls?" TBOAH!Harol asked with a pensive frown, he was genuinely thinking that doing so would have been easier and less time consuming..."
"Oh, right... Since the walls don't go all the way up to the ceiling, so it would be easier and it would save a lot of time and effort." TBOAH!Glenn mumbled with a frown.
Cale turned to look toward the TBOAH!World people who were genuinely asking and said only one thing just like he'd done in this record in the past.
"Illusion."
"Huh?" TBOAH!Glenn frowned in confusion. TCF!Jopis shook her head elegantly and then lightly cleared her throat and spoke up to elaborate just as she recalled doing in the past.
"There were illusions cast throughout the top of the walls. There might have been people among us who wouldn't fall into the illusion, but we'd have no way of knowing who that might have been." She explained serenely and TBOAH!Glenn, TBOAH!Rei, and TBOAH!Harol nodded with wide-eyed realization.
"Also, as Cale-nim said back then... if even one person falls into an illusion while running on top of the walls, then that's a loss of two people and not just one. That is why it is safer to go through the maze." TCF!Choi Han spoke up to add his bit as well.
"Huh? What do you mean?" TBOAH!Rex asked with a frown.
"If one person fell into an illusion... They would need someone to protect that person as well, so it was a dangerous gamble for a group like ours where every person who was capable of fighting was important." Cale decided to speak up in order to put an end to this discussion that should have been obvious to them. He swallowed down his frustrations that he'd had to explain something that they should already have figured out when they realized the Elisneh was an illusionist.
The Palantír continued, however the next scene involved children. All the parents and guardians in the room stiffened the moment the group of children appeared as they rounded the corner. Grigori let the Palantír play the scenes pertaining to TCF!Jopis' reunion with her family members and everyone sat in grim silence as the bad feeling that Cale's thought warned him about manifested upon the Palantír right before their eyes.
The moment Elisneh appeared and started her act made TBOAH!Litana burn with anger and hatred. She sat with her fists clenched and her teeth grit so tightly her jaw began to ache and hurt. Of course, Cale calling her out on her bullshit surprised the anger right out of her and TBOAH!Jopis who almost choked on her sip of tea that she was cradling in a trembling hand. Both of them looked toward Cale in both awe and disbelief.
"That line... 'My bad. It just popped out because I was so shocked.' It's perfect!!" The two women mutually agreed feeling much better now that they've got to see someone who actually knew about Elisneh's true face and wasn't at all falling for her tricks. It was refreshing and invigorating and they were both full of delighted expectation about how Cale planned to handle her.
<Chapter 499: You stupid idiots! (5)>
Cale shook his head from side to side.
"Haaaaaa. Looks like we'll need to fight while carrying baggage."
"W, what?"
The boy could not hide his shock at Cale who called him baggage. Cale didn't care as he casually commented back.
"You guys are hostages. Hostages."
The boy and the other children's expressions changed after hearing his comment. The gazes of the older children turned grim and they all started to shout.
"We cannot be hostages! Just kill us! We will not become a hindrance to her majesty!"
"That's right, kill us!"
"We would gladly die for her majesty!"
'Wow. Do these punks even know what it means to die?'
Cale looked toward Jopis in disbelief.
"They've been seriously bewitched."
Grigori sighed softly and reached up to brush back her fringe – it was the only gestures she made to express her frustrations about this record. However either due to magic or divine power, her ruffled fringe immediately returned to its perfect place and her expression once again turned demure and calm.
Elisneh's eyes were glowing red and she seemed to be listening to something.
"Cale-nim." Cale heard Choi Han's voice at that moment as he saw a dagger flying past him. It was Choi Han's dagger that he had received from Ron.
TBOAH!Ron's eyes widened ever so slightly to hear that his counterpart had given that particular dagger to Choi Han. Of course, their circumstances and situation were different, but he in the TBOAH!World only stuck around the emo-punk of their timeline for the sake of his revenge, but to see that his counterpart actually valued the TCF!World version was surprising. The concept of all of them in the TCF!World being a 'found family' was only now fully beginning to hit TBOAH!Ron and TBOAH!Beacrox and a sickly cold feeling of regret prickled at their gut.
"Squeeeak-!" He then heard a rat scream.
Cale laughed as he looked toward Elisneh.
"How can you get any information when your informant is injured?"
"...Is it your doing?"
"Who else could it be?"
The middle-aged man wearing glasses approached Elisneh.
"What is it, your majesty?"
Elisneh kept her mouth shut as she glared at Cale. The old man with the mirror stepped forward and looked inside the mirror.
"Hold on. Oh my. Looks like some rats made their way into the palace."
"Rats?"
"The Elves have invaded. Tsk."
The other two subordinates stiffened up as Elisneh looked down at Cale and started to speak.
"Apparently, numerous Elves have passed the city walls and are marching toward the palace."
Jopis looked toward Cale. She recalled how Cale had said that they had a lot of allies. Elisneh looked at Cale as if he was ridiculous as she asked.
"Did you think we would not be able to do anything if you attacked us on multiple fronts?"
"Who knows?"
"Hmph." Elisneh snorted and raised her hand. Her three subordinates stepped forward. The old man with the mirror gently commented.
"We expected the Elves would come with you. Pity that more lives would be lost for no reason."
"Are you saying the Elves will die?" Jeet stepped forward. He was glaring at the enemies.
"Indeed. The Elves will be defeated by dead mana the moment they pass through the palace's main entrance." The old man could see Jeet started to smile after hearing his friendly warning. "...Why are you smiling?"
"We are not going to cross the palace fence."
"What?" The middle-aged man with glasses flinched at Jeet's comment but Cale immediately started to speak.
"Choi Han, Tasha!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Oi, Cale... At this point you might as well be an Influencer!" Kim Rok Soo taunted Cale playfully. "Look you even managed to corrupt this guy!" Cale sighed and shook his head.
"Weren't you supposed to be the older of the two of us?"
"So?"
"Tsk." Cale clicked his tongue and said nothing more.
Choi Han started to move toward the royal children. Jopis quickly followed behind him.
"I won't let you!" The old man with a quill pen lowered his hand and ripped out a spatial pocket bag he pulled out. "Go!"
The bag ripped and numerous white feathers that were inside the bag popped out. These feathers turned stiff and started to shoot out like arrows. The royal children looked toward the old man and Elisneh who were trying to save them with admiration.
"Your majesty! You don't need to worry about us!"
"That's right!"
The children glared at Choi Han and Jopis even more as they shared their feelings to Elisneh.
Grigori snorted under her breath and crossed her arms, leaning back and staring at the utter ridiculousness going on upon the Palantír. No matter how many times she saw this scene and things frustratingly similar to it, it still annoys and frustrates her, leaving her feeling agitated and irritable.
She glanced toward the front row and found Cale's gaze on her, it made her realize her unprofessional behaviour had not escaped his notice, so she shrugged helplessly and offered him a look that should have been enough to reassure him that she would not do anything nor would she act on her emotions and take out her frustrations upon the triggers that put her in this sour mood. However, instead of being reassured, Cale felt suddenly wary of the annoyed goddess and was unconvinced by her non-verbal reassurances. So, Grigori decided to send everyone off to bed after the records for Jopis ended and she could heal the Molden duo from the two timelines.
Aura started to appear on Choi Han's sword at that moment.
"... Sword master!" The royal children who realized his identity stiffened up in shock. "Your majesty......!" They then subconsciously looked toward Elisneh. Elisneh had a benevolent smile on her face. That made the oldest boy start to relax. He believed that the shaman's feathers would block this aura.
"Yes, it'll be ok, ugh!"
The boy subconsciously dropped his jaw. He groaned as he clenched his arm.
Everyone stiffened in their seats, TCF!Jopis closed her eyes to maintain her calm demeanour, while TBOAH!Jopis beside her grit her teeth and swallowed down the parched feeling that suddenly choked her and squeezed the inside of her throat.
"...Why?"
The boy was looking down at his arm in disbelief. The feather had brushed past his arm and harmed him.
"...Why?"
The feathers were pouring down toward the children. It was as if they were pouring down like hail. He saw someone stepping in front of him at that moment.
"Hide behind me!"
It was Jopis.
The guests of the Palantír Hall admired TCF!Jopis, for her genuine bravery and good heart. Compared to Elisneh who clearly didn't care about who she used or hurt to get what she wanted, Jopis valued her family even when they rejected, abandoned, and denied her.
The swordsman with the black aura swung his sword at the same time. It was not just that swordsman. The Dark Elves and Elves who had taken longer to react had charged over as well to parry the feathers. However, the Elves who were a step later than Choi Han and Jopis who had already arrived by the children's side were parrying the feathers from the outside to prevent them from getting closer. The feathers bounced away from the attacks and were forced to change direction from the children. The walls and ground that the feathers slammed into cracked, but the feathers were fine.
The boy looked back and forth at the blood flowing down his arm and Jopis's back.
"Ugh!"
His body then curled forward. Jopis urgently turned around and grabbed his body.
"Y, you crazy b***h!" She frowned and started to swear at Elisneh.
The small scratch on the boy's arm was starting to turn black.
Choi Han shouted at the same time.
"Everybody, please be careful as there is dead mana at the tips of the feathers!"
The Elves instantly withdrew to the back while the Dark Elves charged toward the feathers. Jopis raised her head.
"How can you do this to your cousin-, to a child!"
Her angry gaze seemed to be burning up as she held the boy in her arms. Elisneh looked down at them with a benevolent expression.
"...Your majesty...noonim-" The boy in Jopis's arms looked toward Elisneh.
'Why, just why?' His gaze was asking Elisneh many questions as she smiled and responded.
"You guys are my hostages."
'What?'
The boy and the other children's pupils started to shake.
TBOAH!Litana felt sick. She felt like she wanted to vomit. As much as she hated herself for getting tricked and losing everything because of Elisneh, she hated Elisneh even more after seeing her true face – a child... her own flesh and blood... she was hurting her own flesh and blood!? TBOAH!Litana's insides were writhing with anger and nausea one moment and then the next the feeling was gone and she felt someone's hand upon her back – TBOAH!Jopis.
"It's all over... remember... these guys... they fixed it. They avenged us." TBOAH!Jopis spoke in a calm and steady tone of voice that gave away none of her true emotions – but that made TBOAH!Litana even more wary of TBOAH!Jopis and doubts and distrust began to swarm within her mind.
"You are also potential future enemies who may threaten my position. If you're going to die, shouldn't I be the one to kill you?"
The children looked dejected but Elisneh did not care as she turned her gaze toward Cale.
"Can you hear the knights approaching us? There should be at least 300 of them."
"...Are you saying that they are hostages as well?"
"Correct. I can kill them whenever I please."
She smiled at Cale as she said that. That smile looked similar to Jopis's smile.
"What?!" TCF!Jopis slammed down her teacup – offended by Cale's thought. Unfortunately her rough and inelegant actions caused the cup to crack and it chipped and began to spill tea into the saucer she'd slammed it down on. Cale shrugged and pointed to the Palantír.
"Look, it must be because you two are siblings. Your expressions are similar, it's right there!"
"That's—"
"Don't fight Children... Cale-hyung is correct! Look here!" Grigori suddenly paused the record on the Palantír and instead pulled up two side-by-side pictures of this similar expression Cale was comparing between the two Molden sisters. TBOAH!Jopis turned her face away with an annoyed expression, but she dared not to deny it, especially not when the Goddess herself was showing the pair of images for an accurate comparison between the two. The sudden distraction also helped TBOAH!Litana calm herself and relax again, the feelings she'd been overwhelmed with moments ago returned to a barely noticeable simmer once more.
Grigori waved her hand and caused the two images to disappear from the Palantír and Naur continued the record the moment she nodded – granting him permission to do so.
"You know about the second entrance to this place, right?"
"Yes, I heard there's a dead mana river."
The other entrance was the one the Elves had tried to infiltrate but failed.
Cale calmly asked. "I heard that place is your palace?"
"That's right. It is my palace. There's a black liquid flowing there. It does look a lot like a river." Her gaze moved over to Jopis. "The third group of hostages is over there. Jopis, can you hear me? There are other members of the royal family who will jump into that river as soon as I give the order. Ah, should I make the servants and maids jump in as well?"
She then turned back toward Cale and the smile had disappeared from her face.
"The moment the Elves enter the palace... I will kill them all, starting with the youngest servants."
The old man with the mirror tapped on the mirror and jumped off the wall. The middle-aged man with glasses jumped behind him. The old man controlling the feather started to speak at the same time.
"Bind them!"
The feathers that had been aiming for the children started to gather together.
"Shit!" Tasha started to frown.
"It's a snake!" One of the children started to cry.
Each of the feathers turned into scales to create a large white snake.
"Go!" It then started to quickly charge toward the children. The snake looked as if it was trying to get to the royal children as quickly as possible to bind them.
"...Ah." Young Belle subconsciously clenched on something in fear. The child started to cry once she realized it was Jopis's hand and felt Jopis's warmth.
"You've woken up." Jopis commented as she tightly grabbed Belle's hand. Belle's eyes started to become clearer and clearer.
The sounds of loud booming crashes were coming from the Palantír as the video of the moving serpent surged toward the group of children.
The snake flailed around as it quickly approached the children. The Dark Elves' attacks did not even leave a scratch on the scales. Cale who was watching this looked up toward Elisneh. Her cold gaze was giving Cale a warning. It was telling him to be careful because she has all these hostages.
Cale started to speak. "It's a pity about the snake."
"What?"
He didn't care about Elisneh's response.
"Jeet! Tie them!" Elf Jeet raised his hand after hearing Cale's order.
The Elves who had retreated to the rear quickly took something out of their pockets and threw them toward the children. As the white snake destroyed the stone ground and approached the children... And as the items that the Elves threw flew forward like arrows...
"Hmph. Something like that is easy to deal with." The middle-aged man with glasses waved his hand.
Numerous fireballs appeared in the air and headed toward the things the Elves threw.
"What do you plan to do with some twigs?!"
The Elves had thrown twigs.
– What do you think you can do with those puny fireballs?!
Cale heard Raon's shout in his mind. Water balls appeared in the air and flew toward the fireballs.
TBOAH!Tasha and TBOAH!Obante blinked in surprise, their eyes quickly scanning the ranks of elves and dark elves as understanding dawned on them. They shared a look as if to confirm whether the idea in their heads was something Cale Henituse could actually pull off.
It was at that moment.
"Ruff!"
Cale saw a white line darting past him again. It was Fluffy. Fluffy jumped up and bit down on one of the twigs. Cale held the top's whip in his hand as he started to shout.
"Move them!"
– Chaos, destruction, despair! I will move them! Kahahaha!
Fluffy rode the wind for a bit before falling to the ground like a streak of lightning and accurately stabbing the twig in her mouth on the ground by the royal children.
"Jeet, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
Some of the Elves put their hands on the ground. The twigs started to split.
"Shit!" The old man started to frown.
New twigs started to appear in between the split twigs. This was the power of the Wood Elementals and their contracted Elves. The twigs instantly grew in size and number and surrounded the children.
"Incredible!" TBOAH!Obante mumbled. Being able to see how the Elves and their Wood Elementals working together like this was just as incredible for him to see as it was when he saw the Water Elementals working together with the Dark Elves in the City of Life.
"Raon!"
– I understand, human!
Black light started to appear around the interlocked wooden dome. The black light then created a shield that protected the children completely from the outside.
"Ha!" He heard someone laugh. "Your actions are useless." It was Elisneh. The corners of her mouth twisted up. "But it's cute. You're trying so hard to protect them."
"Not really?"
She looked away from the children surrounded by the shield and looked at Cale after hearing his response. The corners of Cale's mouth slowly started to rise once she looked at him.
Elisneh had an ominous feeling.
'That bastard is smart.' As she recalled the White Star's comment about Cale...
"Ahhh, Cale don't look, your stalker is making a cameo appearance!!" Kim Rok Soo suddenly exclaimed and Cale shot him a look of disgust while TCF!Choi Han and TCF!Alberu gasped and started laughing in disbelief. TBOAH!Choi Han had become wide-eyed as well – the unexpected modern world humour was however not as lost to him as it was to everyone else who did not know.
"What do you mean, 'not really'?" Elisneh subconsciously asked and Cale responded.
"I'm planning on destroying things instead of protecting things this time."
"What?"
"Destroying things. Do you need me to tell you again?"
Elisneh's eyes opened wide while Choi Han stopped swinging his sword toward the white snake and looked at Cale.
'Is this person again......?' That was what Choi Han's expression seemed to be saying, but Cale thought he read it wrong and ignored it.
"No, Cale-nim... you did not read it wrong!"
"Ahh..."
"Young Master, remember what we talked about earlier... next time, you will definitely leave it to us if you say you're leaving it to use, right?" TCF!Ron benignly inquired and Cale felt the skin along the back of his neck prickle and stand on ends.
Cale wanted to protest and exclaim that this was all in the past and it was not his fault, but he did not have the courage to contradict Ron, especially not when he was giving him that vicious smile, so he nodded quickly and then hurried to look forward again as the Palantír continued.
– There's no need to drag it out.
'Yes. That's right.' He responded to the voice in his mind and called out the person who spoke to him.
From under the ground... Cale could feel the power that was responding to his calling from deep underground. There were three groups of hostages. The knights who had entered the underground maze. The members of the royal family, maids, and servants who were at the entrance. Cale then looked toward the royal children, the final group of hostages.
"What-?" The shocked Jopis did not have any elegance about her anymore. She just seemed desperate as she held the boy who was in pain as he was being poisoned by dead mana. They didn't have the time to heal him right now.
Cale and Choi Han made eye contact. Choi Han had been looking at the children as well before they made eye contact. Everything had happened in an instant. It had not even been a few seconds. However, it was long enough to confirm they had the same thought.
"I need to do it quickly."
"...That's true, Cale-nim."
Cale needed to hurry. Rather than chatting with the enemies and looking for an opening... Rather than defending everything one by one... Right now...
"I can finish things faster if I beat them down."
That was the way to protect them and heal the boy. Cale sighed.
"How do these idiots not know how I am after fighting against me so many times?"
"It's okay Young Master Cale, they're all idiots so it's not even worth wasting your time wondering about such things!" TCF!Rosalyn spoke with a rumbling purr in her tone and a strangely ominous gleam in her eyes. Cale felt confused about why she was angry too, but couldn't ask and simply chose to nod mutely in return once again.
The ground started to shake. The shaking seemed to be getting closer.
"You bastard! What the hell did you do?!"
Cale looked toward the old man controlling the feather who shouted and responded.
"What am I doing? I called over a bastard to eat your snake."
"What?"
The old man started to frown and Elisneh reached her hands out to cast signs for an incantation.
"Stop Cale Henituse!"
The old man with the mirror and the middle-aged man with glasses started to use their mediums after hearing her order. However, the power that was responding to Cale's calling was faster.
The floor of the maze started to crumble with a loud explosion. The firm rocks making up the ground started to crack and the debris started to fly. Something then shot up through it.
"Ugh!"
"Soooob. The ground is shaking! Hold on to each other!"
The children inside the shield grabbed each other in shock. However, they could not remain quiet after seeing what appeared in front of them. They subconsciously started to speak.
"...Snake...a snake-"
"Dodori..." Cale suddenly called out and TCF!Dodori and TBOAH!Dodori automatically sat to attention.
"Yes Teacher?" TCF!Dodori answered a moment later.
"This part might be good for you to see..." Cale said.
"Hmm?" TCF!Dodori corked his head to one side, his pink curls catching the faint light around the room and making him look adorably innocent. TBOAH!Dodori made a sound to express his curiosity too.
"Both of you watch and learn... since I won't be able to do this again and also this was before we met, so it's a good opportunity for you to see and learn about..." Cale reiterated for emphasis.
"What's this about Teacher?" TCF!Dodori asked.
Cale smiled mischievously and said two words that caught both TCF!Dodori and his counterpart's undivided attention.
"Boulder Guardian."
Both Pink Dragons turned their focus back to the Palantír and began to scrutinize the record and study what was happening on it.
Meanwhile TCF!Mila was smiling proudly and nodding wordlessly to TBOAH!Mila who was staring at her son and his counterpart in amazement – she was trying to correlate the TBOAH!Dodori who hated studying magic with the TBOAH!Dodori who was now focusing entirely upon the Palantír. She turned to look at TCF!Mila.
"What the heck kind of magic does this Human use?!"
"No magic... he's simply that good... isn't it great?" TCF!Mila giggled in TBOAH!Mila's mind as the pair communicated telepathically with one another.
However the dragons were not the only ones suddenly giving the Palantír all their attention – Taylor Stan was also smiling to himself with an eager anticipation stirring inside his chest and making his heart flutter with excitement. He recalled the conversation he and Cale had once shared about the Roan Kingdom's Boulder Guardian, of course looking back now Cale's opinion of the Boulder Guardian not being capable of existing in the present times had been completely squashed after his duties as the commander on the battlefields. Still, any snippet of information that Taylor could glean about Ancient Powers was always welcome and he was grateful to Cale for the heads-up he gave his student because it meant that Taylor also would know that what was happening was due to Cale's Ancient Power. TCF!Cage and TBOAH!Cage beside Taylor chuckled lightly – they could obviously tell why he was suddenly smiling to himself with a sparkle in his eyes.
There was something that shot up while breaking multiple maze walls in the process. They were sharp pieces of rock. There were multiple sharp pieces of rocks. The stone spears slowly gathered together to create a large body. This weapon seemed to be alive.
TBOAH!Dodori's eyes went wide, while TCF!Dodori pouted and leaned forward in his seat. His eyes narrowed as he studied the form and shape of the stone spears as they interlocked and created this creature that Cale had brought out. Cale glanced toward the pair and then smiled softly to himself while stroking Raon's head when he pushed his face against Cale's cheek. Cale could tell that TCF!Dodori and his counterpart were currently learning and he was happy with that.
Furthermore, this creature that was towering over the maze walls and was at least four or five times Cale's height looked like a snake but was a bit different than a snake. Choi Han chuckled and looked toward Cale. Only the two of them knew the name of this creature.
'It's an imugi.'
"Hyung, what's an imugi?" TCF!Basen asked. Cale looked toward Rok Soo nodding for him to answer TCF!Basen's question this time – especially since he noticed that TCF!Basen's gaze was on Rok Soo when he asked his question. Cale smiled to himself once again, as he watched Rok Soo lightly clear his throat and turn slightly in his seat in order to look at his younger brother as he replied.
"The imugi is a creature from Korean legends. It is said that it can become a Dragon after living for 1,000 years and grabbing a cintamani which is a wish-fulfilling jewel in both Buddhist traditions." Kim Rok Soo replies and TCF!Basen tilts his head and thinks about it for a long silent moment, he opens his mouth to reply, but someone else beats him to it.
"Are you saying that that... That thing can become a dragon!?" TBOAH!Dodori was offended and his expression expressed his disbelief.
"It's just a legend... Such a creature doesn't actually exist, even with all the monsters on Earth that came after the apocalypse. There still aren't any actual ones that resemble those from the legends and myths of the past." Cale reassured the restless Dragons from the TBOAH!World and TCF!World. They settled down again after Kim Rok Soo and Cale gave them all a little more details.
Cale had called something that would eat the snake and destroy everything. He made eye contact with Elisneh. She had been looking at the imugi that stood much higher than her who was standing on the wall before looking down at Cale. Cale started to speak at that moment.
"Heh." He seemed to be laughing like a crazy bastard who was having fun.
'Perhaps?' As Elisneh's pupils started to shake...
Cale stepped forward and the imugi made of stone spears lowered its head. It offered its head to Cale who stepped on top of it.
"Burn."
Fire soon started to rise around him. The small rose gold fire with the power of purification started to burn fiercely without burning Cale or the imugi.
"It's like this in the end." Choi Han got on top of the imugi as well. Cale looked toward Choi Han with a, 'who cares?' type of expression and then shouted.
"Forward!"
The owners of the power he called forth responded to him.
– Sounds good. This is the fastest way. Reckless actions can protect everyone at times as well.
– Kahahahaha! You stupid bastard! It must be true that stupid crazy bastards are the scariest people, kahahaha!
Cale ignored the Super Rock's calm voice and the cheapskate's shout.
"The voices in Oraboni's head are talking again..." TCF!Lily whispers suspiciously to her brother, TCF!Basen could only sigh and nod with a pitying and sympathetic look on his face as he gaze landed upon Cale who was watching the record with an impassive expression.
The Imugi started to charge forward. The maze was too small and feeble compared to its large body. Cale gave an order to the others.
"Support me! I'm going to pierce through it all!"
Cale felt as if the frustration inside him was disappearing.
'It truly is most relaxing to destroy everything myself.'
"T, that stupid bastard!" He heard Elisneh's subordinate shouting at him, but he ignored him as he did with the cheapskate.
Cale who only shouted forward and the imugi who had Cale on top of it started to destroy the maze. For reference, the imugi made of stone spears had no eyes and could not see anything. And unfortunately, Cale could not see anything for a different reason, so the maze was destroyed blindlessly as they charged forward and created a path. He was surrounded by fire as he turned around and looked toward Elisneh and the enemies and started to speak.
'They should know what to use to threaten me and what not to use to threaten me by now. But they still want to threaten me with human lives? Do they think they have nothing of value?'
"I'm just going to charge forward like this and burn up your World Tree."
The enemies instantly frowned after hearing Cale's threat as Cale sighed.
– It's a sea of fire! Kahahaha! Looks like I'll get to burn a fake World Tree!
Cale heard the cheapskate's excited voice.
"What a troublesome punk!" TBOAH!Eruhaben grumbled and brushed his hand over his face, TCF!Eruhaben pretended to be deaf and ignored the piercing stare his counterpart was sending his way. Even while thinking about the fact that Cale's Fire Ancient Power really was the one that had almost burned down the World Tree.
"Should I ask for his help... no, no! That's a foolish idea, that would really be dangerous for my unlucky bastard..." TCF!Eruhaben continued to mumble under his breath.