Chapter 255. Above the Frozen Land (6)
A day had pa.s.sed since Oceania was taken over by the demon race and became isolated from all outside contact. For some reason, the internet also didn’t work. It was really as if Oceania was cut off from the rest of Earth and placed in the medieval age.
No matter how powerful Revival’s members were, we couldn’t just say we would take care of everything by ourselves when the real invasion began. As such, we contacted several governments and divided the areas we would manage. We told them that we would go in once all of Revival’s members were gathered, and we advised them to form elite troops formed of ability users of at least S rank. The rest would be up to them.
As it wasn’t efficient for everyone to come to the Antarctic Ocean, we decided to meet in the middle, the Pacific Ocean. No matter how grave the situation with Oceania was, we couldn’t give up on clearing the other Event Dungeons.
The ones ready today were Daisy, Father, Ye-Eun, Hwaya, Ina, Michel, and Ilayda. The others still had several dungeons they needed to clear and couldn’t come.
[Good luck, Oppa. I’ll come as soon as I finish up with my area!]
[With your ability, you’ll be done before me anyways. Don’t force us to try harder and take care of it on your own… Good luck.]
[You can do it, Shin-nim!]
[I know I don’t need to worry about Crown Prince, but still, please be on guard. Being careless is the easiest way to die.]
[… It’s good that there’s a subst.i.tute priestess. You were right, Shin.]
[I don’t know if I’m good enough to subst.i.tute for Palludia-nim, but I’ll try my best!]
What surprised me the most was Ludia acquiescing. The past Ludia would have told Ilayda to take her place so that she could come with me. She really has gotten better. No, perhaps, she just evolved into her final form… Even so, I welcomed her transformation.
[I’ll clear the Event Dungeons as quickly as I can too. Just wait a few days, Shin.]
[Your safety should always come first, Ludia. Be careful.]
[Yeah, thanks.]
I ended my conversation with Ludia somewhat awkwardly. Then, I cheered up the other members and closed the communication channel before rowing my boat to join the other attacking members.
This “boat” was a giant sheet of ice that Ruyue and Sharana made with their abilities. With a diameter of one kilometer and thickness of several meters, it was more of a tiny piece of land than a sheet of ice. It was also extremely firm. Since it was made with 200,000 mana, it would be weird otherwise.
“Dear Husband, are you still strengthening it?”
“Of course. I wonder why I only thought of this now.”
I gulped down a mana potion as I replied to Licorice. Anyone next to me would be able to hear the sound of Peruta Circuit spinning as I gathered mana fiercely and poured it to Ruyue and Sharana. Sharana, who was piloting this giant sheet of ice like a boat, strengthened the ice as she received more mana, and Ruyue made the sheet bigger and harder by freezing the water.
“Dear Husband… Why are you making it so big? It’s going to be hard melting it down later.”
“We don’t need to. We’re going to slam it into monsters later. We have to get revenge for what they did to Antarctica.”
“Mm… Is that possible?”
“It should be if Sharana and Ruyue both materialize and I use my skill.”
I made a V sign with my fingers, making Licorice laugh.
“That will definitely be impactful. It might not be as impactful as seeing a part of Antarctica torn off, but it should make up for it to a degree.”
“Right?”
“So you can do something like this with contracting three elementals… Should I help too, Dear Husband?”
“I was just about to ask.”
We exchanged mischievous smiles. One more person was now drinking mana potions every ten minutes.
As my inventory was full of highest grade mana potions that easily cost over 100 million won, all I needed was ten minutes to fill up my mana again.
Each potion gave 50,000 mana, about a fourth of my maximum. If I were in battle, with only a fourth of my mana able to be filled up every ten minutes, I wouldn’t be able to freely use it as I am now. However, the current situation was entirely different from a battle. As it was the first time I was preparing for something by pouring out my mana, I became engrossed in it.
Now that I thought about it, since I could replenish my mana with Peruta Circuit whenever I wanted, was I wasting my time when I wasn’t in battle by not doing anything with my full mana? This was what I thought as I made this ‘strategic weapon.’ But when I thought more about it, the only time I wasn’t in battle was when I was eating or taking showers. My own lifestyle made me tear up a bit.
Regardless, when I met up with the others, I had become a captain of an icy land three kilometers in diameter.
“What is this!?”
Hwaya shouted the moment she saw what I made. Feeling the freezing energy oozing out, she shuddered with shock.
“Shin, did you cut off a part of Antarctica? Did you copy that demon?”
“Why would I cut a perfectly fine land when there’s water around? This is just ice.”
“You made this by freezing water? You… You’re going beyond my expectation by the day.”
Hwaya just laughed as if she just heard the most absurd thing. After that, she praised my construction skill.
The following comments were mostly positive. Father who liked things in big scale obviously liked what I had made, and Michel also smiled when he heard what I was planning on using it for. Ilayda clapped no matter what I did, and Ina enjoyed that everything was ice. Of course, she was made to strengthen the land with Licorice and me immediately afterwards.
“Cold! Shin, is this to help us adjust to the cold?”
“Adjust?”
“Yeah. You know, Oceania’s countries are all frozen right now.”
“Oh, I forgot to mention that.”
When I turned around, Licorice made an ‘oops’ expression. I sighed and asked her.
“Is there anything else?”
“That’s it, Dear Husband. The satellite images only show the frozen white land, and Guardian and Freedom Wing can’t enter either. It’s too cold, and there are too many enemies in the landing zones.”
“I expected it when I heard that the land was frozen… Is it a demon that can control freezing energy?”
“Then won’t this land be counter-effective?”
“Not necessarily. I can make it into a different attribute with my skill.”
“This 3 km land of ice?”
“That’s what the skill does.”
I didn’t make the land bigger after that. In fact, Ina, Licorice, and I slowly compressed it with our mana. Of course, it was still huge, and a satellite took a picture of us sailing through the ocean. It seemed the satellite really didn’t have better things to do.
While Guardian and Freedom Wing continued to sit around helplessly, we advanced towards New Zealand. More than a few had their hope in us. On one hand, people hailed Revival, while on the other hand, people complained that we were taking too long. Some even said we were dawdling during a time of humanity’s existential crisis.
“It’s great that so many people love and care about the future of humanity. Earth has a bright future.”
“Keyboard warriors never go away.”
“I thought people like them were only in Korea!”
“That’s misunderstanding, Ye-Eun. All humans are good at imposing their beliefs and a sense of duty on others.”
The reason we were heading to New Zealand was simply that it was the closest. We planned on going through all the islands starting from New Zealand, then entering Australia.
As we were getting close to New Zealand, Hwaya suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
“I can’t access the internet!”
“So we’re starting…”
I took out my crossbow and looked up towards the sky. When I put more strength into my eyes, I could see winged beings in the skies of New Zealand. As if to copy me, Ina also widened her eyes in the same pose. I pat her head and asked Ina.
“Ina, do you want to play a shooting game with Daddy?”
“Un!”
“What are you teaching to a kid… Let Mommy join in too!”
As Ina, Hwaya, and I stood side by side on the glacier and took out our weapons, Daisy also stepped up. She opened her inventory and spoke proudly.
“Today is, quality over quant.i.ty. Laki, time to shine.”
Right, the enemy demon was suspected of using ice. Laki, who wielded lava, would be their natural enemy. However, I asked Daisy with worry.
“His lava was strong when he was alive, but can he wield lava when he’s an undead?”
“Not like when, he was alive.”
Daisy acknowledged her undead’s flaw!? Of course, she wasn’t done.
“But attribute shifted. Became more toxic. His body became harder. Now, there’s nothing to fear.”
“It’s good that you’re confident, but I’m going to be worried sick for you.”
“I already said, it’s too early. Kang Shin’s love, I’ll have to refuse it.”
“Sometimes I really want to hit you.”
Along with me, all the other long ranged attackers began to attack. I shot out bolts of lightning, while Hwaya and Ina also fiercely shot out fire and ice. With Licorice and the several tens of succubi, countless attacks flew through the air.
“Usually, the ones in the air are the stronger ones.”
“I almost feel bad for them.”
I felt like I could hear the demons’ screams. However, Daisy didn’t seem to enjoy hearing them.
“Laki, go.”
[Grrrrrraaaah!]
Laki made an unpleasant roar and shot out of Daisy’s inventory. Its immense heat was trying to melt the land we spent so much time freezing.
“Hey, send him away quickly.”
“… Laki.”
Daisy puffed out her cheeks at my scolding. Laki flapped his wings a few times and soared into the sky in an instant. We then ignored the demons fighting Laki and continued to shoot out attacks.
[He’s strong! He might equal Lespina-nim!]
[Nonsense! Just keep gathering power, he’s just an undead!]
We continued to lower the number of demons in the air. Although their initial target must have been us, but Laki charged towards them with his huge body, whipped them with his tail, poured lava all over them, sent them flying with shockwaves, and displayed an overall overwhelming strength.
Laki was more than enough to deal with the demons’ attacks. In fact, with him, things would be even quicker. If he continued as he was doing now, it would only be a matter of time before we landed.
“Hwaya, can you detect him?”
“I’m not sure, but I know their leader isn’t in New Zealand. I know for sure that he’s in the inner area of Australia. There are some strong ones here too, but… they’re manageable.”
“Good. When the land comes into view, everyone get off the ice and be on standby! The ones that can do long ranged attacks should split in half and fight the demons on land and air!”
It only took a moment for this time to come. A frozen land soon appeared in the distance along with smirking bluish black skinned demons that shot magical attacks at us.
It seemed the broken piece of Antarctica first collided here. Though it seemed to be in Australia now, a part of New Zealand’s coast was a mess.
“Huhu… I’ll make you regret it.”
“Mmm… Won’t this bother New Zealand’s citizens more?”
“But won’t it look good? I’m sure they’re more worried about monsters and demons than their land.”
“That’s true… Okay, you take care of the rest. Good luck!”
Hwaya clenched her fists and flew up without knowing exactly what I planned to do. As I saw her go, I grinned. The coast was now near!
“Is everyone ready to jump off?”
[Hero is the only one left!]
Lotte shouted with the ones unable to fly on her back. The longed ranged attackers were still shooting out attacks, blocking off the demons’ magic bullets and flames. Everything was perfect!
“Ruyue, Sharana!”
[I’m ready!]
[How exciting!]
The two elementals materialized, held each other’s hands and stood in the center of the frozen land. I could feel their energy being focused on the frozen land entirely. The land was breathing!
“Launch!”
In that instant, the frozen land that had been compressed to 1.5 km in diameter suddenly accelerated. The humongous glacier was suddenly racing through the ocean at a speed of several hundred kilometers per hour. It was certainly a sight to behold!
“Wow, even Dear Husband’s scale of water skiing is different!”
“That looks fun… I want to be on it too!”
“Whooooooo!”
I howled above the frozen land jetting through the ocean. The demons watching us gasped in shock and shot magic bullets towards us, but not only did most of them miss, I could smack away the few that got close with my spear.
However, demons were indeed different from monsters. Once they realized their magic was ineffective, most of them scattered, while some remained in a safe area and gathered mana in ma.s.s. It seemed like the method humans employed when dealing with ma.s.sive monsters.
Of course, they were all useless!
[Surf!]
The moment Ruyue and Sharana shouted together, the rolling waves got fiercer and more violent. Eventually, the wave became large enough to carry the frozen land. Ruyue and Sharana was taking a huge amount of mana from me to control this natural phenomenon, but I could withstand this much!
I wasn’t done yet. I gulped down a mana potion I had prepared beforehand and shouted at the girls.
“Let’s go! Jump!”
[Jump!]
The wave rose higher. The 1.5 km frozen land was perfectly balanced above the wave dozens of meters in height. Of course, it would have been impossible without Ruyue and Sharana’s power. What happened next was even more shocking. As I said before, the wave became even more violent and eventually fiercely smacked the frozen land we were riding!
“Whoo! Let’s fly straight to New Zealand!”
[Shin, if you were planning something so fun, you should have let me join in!]
“It’s too late!”
As the frozen land was already amply strengthened by my mana, it didn’t break in the slightest as it quickly soared to the sky. At the same time, a refreshing smile appeared on my face. The frozen land I made was already well beyond the coastline, above the eyes of countless demons staring at us gobsmacked.
There was only one thing left to do.
“Art is an explosion! Gaia Buster!”
Author’s note:
The final frozen land has a diameter of 1.5 kilometers and a thickness (height) of 4~5 meters! It shows how strong Sharana, Ruyue, and Shin have gotten!
Editor’s note: My inner narutard is very pleased