Hyun-Jae didn't reply for a while as she contemplated his words carefully. She was certain that Talon was serious about what he said. However, it was still hard to imagine how that could go.
'To control the entirety of Seoul? That's…' Hyun-Jae frowned slightly as she looked at the endless expansion of land in front of her.
Seoul is one of the biggest cities in the world. A city that once had over 26 million people living in it. Naturally, such a huge number of people living in one city would require a vast area where they can live, work, and do other activities. Now, that city was destroyed, but, the number of monsters inside of it was perhaps far larger than the population that was in it before.
"It's a colossal task." She murmured.
"It is. But, I think with your help, we can definitely pull it off. Would you help ?" He asked with a smile.
With the rays of the noon's sun casting its shadows upon him and with the wind rustling his black ssy hair, Talon appeared almost like a mystic being for Hyun-Jae. Staring at the beautiful scene in admiration, she took a few seconds to read his expression. In the end, she sighed with a wry smile.
"Were you expecting to leave when I heard this goal of yours?" She closed her eyes and asked.
"No. But, I wouldn't bla you if you did. I know how much of a headache this is going to be. But, we can only aim higher if we want to break through the limits and I'm going to keep aiming higher till there is nothing above." He replied as he clenched his fists.
"Well, I already knew that you were going to say that at so point."
"Huh? You expected to do this?" Talon raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Well, I didn't know when, but I was certain of it. I know you far more than you might expect." Hyun-Jae crossed her arms in front of her.
"Damn… Your senses are too keen." Talon chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Of course. In any case, I don't mind helping you with this goal. I also think that's the best way to get everyone to live a sowhat safe life."
"... Just like that?"
"Yeah."
"Wow, and here I was ready to give you a long list of reasons why we should do it and the benefits of building an entire society from the ground up."
"I don't need all of that. You're more than enough of a reason to do it." She replied with a smile.
Hearing that, Talon froze for a second. The reply was sudden and unexpected.
'How does she reply this way every single ti?' He asked himself as he looked away awkwardly.
"Ehem, thank you. Well, since it's my idea, I won't burden you with planning. Let handle this matter since it's going to be a very slow process across months or perhaps even years."
'Though, I don't want it to last years. Getting stuck in level 25 for years will be ridiculous.' He thought to himself.
However, the real reason why Talon didn't want this process to last years was different. He was actually eager to go through the gate to another dinsion as soon as possible. It was going to be dangerous, but the thrill of such an adventure was too captivating for him.
Going to another world and living there was a fantasy every kid had dreamt of before at so point in their lives. Now that it was a real possibility, Talon could only be excited when he realized that he could finally go there.
"Anyway, I think we should go back. It's still chaotic inside." Hyun-Jae said as she turned around and started walking. "Are you still going to stay here admiring the view?"
"No. I'm coming. Give a second."
With that, Talon followed after Hyun-Jae back inside the warehouse.
***
For the rest of the day, Hyun-Jae and Talon got busy organizing the entire group, setting up everything in their place, and making sure everything was ok.
Having a group of hundreds of people settle down wasn't an easy task, especially when they arrived at a completely new place and it beca even harder when they had to sohow work with a group of criminals.
But, in the end, things went sowhat smoothly and everyone went to bed for the night. Talon used a stack of boxes as his bed. Acrypha sat next to him watching him silently while occasionally taking a look outside as if she was expecting sothing.
This has been her routine every single day ever since she t Talon. To simply watch the young man's sleeping face and to check the outside world. Each ti she would move her eyes away from Talon, her expression would change completely and she would beco more stoic and cold.
No one knew what was going through her head at the ti, not even Talon who was completely oblivious to this habit of hers.
"My power is slowly coming back…" The woman murmured to herself in a mysterious tone. "I thought it was going to take way longer. But, the dense Aetheris in the atmosphere here is accelerating the process. In a few months, I will regain 50% of my strength."
Apart from doing this, Acrypha was also slowly recovering her lost power with each passing second. She had learned how to make her body absorb the Aetheris in the air, filter it, and turn it into strength. An ability that would make Talon's mouth hang open in shock.
Ti moved slowly for Acrypha as she waited for the sun to rise. However, unbeknownst to her, that night was going to be a lot different than what she expected.
As she was like that, Acrypha suddenly felt sothing weird enter the range of her senses. Since she constantly covered the entire globe with her senses, when sothing odd entered that veil she cast, she would imdiately notice it.
Her eyes that watched Talon softly quickly turned around as they shifted. Before, her eyes were a faint red color that would suck anyone who looks at them. However, at that mont, those red irises went from being round to vertically slit… Like those of snakes and lizards.
Staring outside the window, her eyes peered through everything in its way. Then, she slowly stood up. Squinting her eyes coldly, she started floating in the air. Before leaving the window, she gave Talon one last glance.
"I will be back in a minute." She said as if he could hear her.
Then, she floated through the window slowly before suddenly vanishing out of existence as if she was never there.
*Swish*
When Acrypha appeared again, she was in a completely different place in the world. Around her were vast expanses of ocean that seed to stretch endlessly. The waves were violent and the rain was pouring down endlessly.
But, Acrypha ignored all of that and looked up instead. Her eyes fixated on the sky above her. After waiting a few seconds, sothing finally appeared from behind that veil of grey clouds as it flew down directly toward her like a teor.
The object had a bright blue color and a strong aura, but, the mont it reached Acrypha's hand, its light dimd down.
Staring at the thing carefully, Acrypha's eyes flashed with a weird glint.
"... A voice capsule…" She murmured to herself.
The object she had in her hand was a scroll-shaped object, closed from both sides. It had weird golden engravings on its silver-colored body and it gave off a mystical aura to anyone who touched it. However, from a single look, one could see that the capsule was heavily damaged and cracked in multiple areas.
'The fact that it passed through the Core Gate without getting disintegrated is already amazing…'
Acrypha didn't know who sent it, but, she was certain that it wasn't a coincidence that the capsule ended up on Earth… Right in the palm of her hand. So, with nothing to wait for, she flicked the lid off before pulling the content of the scroll compressor out.
In her hand was a piece of paper, blue in color and with a texture far more resilient than that of normal paper.
Slowly, she pulled the scroll open. The mont she did, the paper started shining brightly as a voice erged from within the scroll.
"From the Northern Ruins to the Last Empress…" A weak yet soft voice spoke to Acrypha.
Imdiately, Acrypha's expression changed from curiosity to shock the mont she heard it… A soul-shaking shock. A myriad of emotions flashed across her eyes at that mont and her hands started shaking. It was the most shocked Acrypha had ever been and Talon would've known that instantly had he seen that look on her face.
Her heartrate increased to a terrifying degree and she couldn't stop it from doing so.
But, even with that, the voice continued speaking, unaware of the woman's current turbulence.
"This ssage has been sent to every single Dinsion in existence. We do not know when it will reach its rightful destination in the palm of your hands. Years, decades, centuries, or millennials. Perhaps by the ti it does, we all have died or on the verge of death.
However, for the current mont I'm recording this ssage, I will say one thing… We are still alive, Your Majesty." In the last sentence, the voice wavered a little as if emotions were taking over it.
"We haven't perished, Your Majesty. The very few remaining people of our kind are alive. After that night… We fought our way out of death… Many of us died. Your father… Your Grandfather… Your… Sister…" The more it spoke, the more the voice wavered and fluctuated. One could even hear the sniffling sounds in it, clearly indicating that it was crying.
"We apologize, Your Majesty. We deeply apologize. We couldn't stop them. We were never destined to erge victorious and we let you down. Now, we are desperately sending ssages to every corner of this vast world, wishing that you will find this. If you ever do, that ans that you are still alive and that puts in great relief.
But, if you never find it, then, this ssage shall be considered leaving a trace of our kind in this world. A trace that says 'We were here. We have lived and thrived and we died with pride.' A sign for future generations to seek our legacy and our history."
Amidst the loud sounds of the waves, the voice continued talking.
A//N: We're almost reaching the end of the first volu 😀 Yay!! Thanks for reading!
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