"But that strange ability summoned something that shouldn't exist... It caused the Imperium to move forward and strengthened the whole world."
Esquin stared at his hand. The body of a god wasn't affected by time so when he broke the space he should've achieved the same result. But he only found nothing. He couldn't even create something similar to that strange fluctuation before.
After a few trials and errors, he gave up. From his guess, that strange fluctuation was caused by an ability learned through luck. Without much understanding of time and space, an individual wouldn't even be able to create something similar. Plus, there was a strange feeling every time he tried his hand to pass through the unknown. It feels like there was an invisible boundary like space and time.
Just like the boundary of dimensions. To go to the lower dimensions or upper dimensions, an individual needed to break through the space and time boundary. Flying endlessly in outer space wouldn't get them anywhere.
It feels like it was the same as the boundary of dimensions but higher than it. It was hard to perceive it or maybe he was wrong at all.
"Interesting..."
He turned around and walked away from the windows.
"I guess it's time for me to move... God's Continent. The Imperium would be able to handle a god's strength without suffering much. So a god would be able to go all out without damaging the land as much as before."
Esquin wasn't the only one who felt it. The other gods also felt the strange fluctuations but they couldn't pinpoint it just like him. They could just stare at the raindrops filled with energy.
The blessed land of Imperium.
The mana density rose sharply. It was as if the Imperium was preparing for something. Once the Great Barrier disappeared, the living beings of the other continents were able to freely move between different lands. Nothing could hinder them anymore.
With this, mana fruits, herbs, and other ingredients such as metals would be able to reach higher grades.
First the disappearance of rules and now the higher mana density. Strange phenomena occurred one after another. And it was just the beginning.
Those who couldn't keep up with the changes would perish.
"I don't have a good feeling at this..."
Souta said in a low voice. The raindrops rejuvenated his body and closed most of his wounds. Even the parasite in his body recovered some of its energy from this event. This let him completely heal all of his wounds.
He looked at Airi's corpse. "If this strange phenomenon occurred earlier then you would have probably survived."
Since the raindrops could rejuvenate one's body, it would have given Airi a bit of time to prepare first aid and saved her. Unfortunately, none of it matters now as she was already dead. He could only accept the truth.
"As for your siblings... I'll take care of them. I will not let them die."
Energy fluctuations flared up one by one. Souta looked over and found that some of the warriors had broken through the next realm. They utilized the energy coming from the raindrops to strengthen their bodies. Those people who were stuck at Solidifying Realm for a long time had broken one of their Shackles.
As for ordinary people, they weren't experts so they couldn't perfectly utilize the energy from the raindrops. But it still baptized their bodies making them a little bit stronger. Sooner or later, they would get used to the density of mana in the atmosphere.
"As for me..."
Souta glanced at the system. He received various notifications and it felt that his body had grown stronger once again.
"It's not that bad. It saves me a lot of time."
It took a while before the warriors came back to their senses. The increase in mana density caused a commotion as everyone talked and chatted about it. After all, this event hasn't occurred in the history records so they didn't have any idea at all. Some guess that it was a bad omen and some said that it was the world would thrive today.
Vandal finished talking to the representative of Sky Avenue. He was listening to the chatter of the warriors around him. About this event, he also has no idea so he would only try to find information once they returned to Champion's Den.
"It's easy to guess but I think it's related to gods. The increase in mana density means that this world had grown stronger and it could take more gods."
After all, high level sub-worlds could barely hold a god's presence. If gods fought in a sub-world, the expected outcome was the destruction of that planet. As for those low-level sub-worlds, those planets would crumble immediately once a god descended on their surface.
Only Imperium could handle the existence of gods. No, even if the gods fought here it would only destroy the land, not the entire planet.
At this moment, Shirley arrived beside him. She was holding a stack of paper with both of her hands.
"Chief Captain," Shirley called out.
"Speak," Vandal nodded at her. He knew that she would report the casualties of the Third Set.
Shirley slowly reported to him the details of the war. The casualties on their side, how many enemies they've captured, and the survivors of the three nations.
Among all the Grain Leaders that participated in this mission, eight have perished. Five hundred eighty-one warriors had died and one hundred fifty-seven of them were from the First, Second, and Third Grain. This means that they were all high-rank warriors as only experts at Shackled Realm were eligible to join those grains.
It was a huge loss for the entire Third Set.
"Hu~" Vandal took a long sigh after hearing Shirley's report. He glanced at her and said, "We'll take the people from Red Matter Association with us. We'll imprison them and interrogate them, especially those executives."
The executives had collars on their necks. It means that they were Avron's slaves and they would follow his orders. But now that Avron had died, the effect of the collars was gone.
The slave collars were equipment used to bind someone. The only way to remove this was by using a key, killing the contractor, or asking for help from an expert stronger than the contractor.
Aside from those three, there were different special ways to remove it. A sealing technique was one of the special ways. Just need to seal the mechanism inside the collar and everything would work out.
After all, the slave collars weren't a godly artifact. It was only a downgraded version of a famous universal-grade artifact. It was far from perfect.
"Have you taken any measures in case those executives try to escape?"
"Yes, Chief Captain. They cooperated with us and let their defenses down so that we could place a Locking Crippling Sphere on their chest."
Locking Crippling Sphere was like a slave collar but its function was only to capture people. It couldn't force an order just like the slave collar. The only thing it could do was lock an individual's mana pool.
If one surrendered and let lowered their guard the Locking Crippling Sphere would inject a special metal inside a person's chest.
It was similar to how Souta transferred parasites into a person's body. Without lowering their defenses, a parasite wouldn't be able to enter an expert's body. And it was the same for the Locking Crippling Sphere.
If they really wanted to capture a person, then they should use a sealing technique. For stronger individuals, a sealing technique was used.
"Inform the warriors that we'll return two hours from now." Vandal said to her.
"Yes, Chief Captain." Shirley nodded at him. She quickly left to inform the warriors about the Chief Captain's words.
As for the people of the Subterranean World... There were millions of them so they couldn't bring all of them to Champion's Den. The Sky Avenue was the one whose going to help them settle in this land. Their goal was to destroy the Red Matter Association and they've already completed it. It's time for them to rest after a long battle.
The warriors deserve it.
Two hours had passed in the blink of an eye...
The warriors had rested and two hours were enough for them to recover some of their strength thanks to the raindrops. The Third Set departed as they went back to Sky Avenue's territory. Their journey this time was smooth and they haven't met any accidents.
Some of the warriors were happy that they won the battle, and some were sad that they lose their comrades in war. Some of them couldn't even bring their comrade's corpses.
They could only honor their fallen comrades. Their sacrifices were the reason why they were still alive. They would live for their brothers.
Soon...
The warriors arrived in the Champion's Den. It feels like they've been away for hundreds of days.
"I'm back," Souta said while looking at the Athen's Champion.
