"Let me ask one more time. Who are you?"
The firm voice of a woman echoed through the crowd, where no one else made a sound.
Her question was directed at Van, who stood in the middle of the silent crowd. He scratched his head, the veins on his forehead bulging.
’Damn it. These bastards could talk until their mouths foam, and I still wouldn’t understand a thing.’
Van scratched his throat while picking at his ear. His face was filled with irritation that was beginning to take root. He shouted at the black-haired woman with horns on her head, whose red reptilian eyes stared at him intently.
"What?!"
Van puckered his lips and repeated what the woman had said even though he had no idea what it meant.
"You said it again?! Who aru?!"
Van’s words, which sounded mocking, immediately provoked the anger of the thousands of different beings surrounding him.
"What did he say?!"
"Is he mocking us by using our language?"
"That bastard!! Let’s chop him into pieces!!"
The cheetah circling Van drew a sword from the back of his hand. He licked its blade. His shrill voice almost made Van laugh after hearing it for the second time.
"You have quite a sense of humor, don’t you? Fresh meat sometimes needs that to taste even better..."
Van clicked his tongue. He didn’t understand what the cheetah was saying, but he was still annoyed.
Meanwhile, black lightning exploded behind Van as the black-furred bull holding the axe prepared to charge at him at any moment.
Mocking cheers began to rise from every direction, disturbing Van’s eardrums.
’It’s pointless for you to curse me in your language. I don’t understand it...’
Van glanced toward the Artium on his right while maintaining his defense.
’Touching it now is obviously not easy. Should I just give up? But it feels like such a waste...’
He looked toward the white-haired elf woman who had previously summoned the roots that wrapped around him. At the same time, he could hear the hiss of black lightning growing louder behind him.
He also hadn’t forgotten that his head was still being targeted by the elf archer flying beneath the star-filled sky.
Van also looked at the elephant that had previously punched him and sent him flying, and finally he looked at the horned woman.
’They also have powers I don’t understand. Damn it... do I have to force this?’
Van stood in silence, thinking for ten seconds.
He would decide his course of action after those ten seconds had passed.
The crowd had no idea what Van was about to do. All they did was curse at him while preparing for every possible outcome.
Van let out the breath trapped behind his black mask after the ten seconds passed.
He smiled faintly beneath the mask.
’Damn... I don’t want to do this because it’s risky... but I’m curious too.’
Van swallowed.
’Artium isn’t only here... there are many more. But they’re after it too... if they’re the "them" the old man was talking about, then we’ll most likely run into each other again at every Artium site.’
Van released the invisible barrier formed from his invisible space.
Now he had no defense at all.
But no one knew that.
’I also don’t want to mistake an elephant for a gray rock again.’
Above the hill-sized Artium, an invisible hand slowly appeared, spreading its fingers like the claw of a crane game.
The hand continued to form until it became a giant invisible body standing outside the crater, bending down as if waiting for the right moment to take the Artium in the center.
Cold sweat ran down Van’s forehead.
’Damn... this is the first time I’ve made one this big outside of training.’
Van smiled broadly beneath his mask, then burst into loud laughter, causing the crowd that had been cursing him to gradually fall silent in confusion.
The horned woman raised an eyebrow while the white-haired elf woman pointed her hand toward Van.
Van raised his own hand and pointed his middle finger at both women.
Then he shouted at the top of his lungs even though they did not share the same language.
"YOU BASTARDS!! I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE OR WHERE YOU CAME FROM!! BUT IF YOU’RE IN MY WORLD, THEN SPEAK MY LANGUAGE, DAMN IT!!"
The horned woman was about to open her mouth to speak, but Van immediately distracted her as the giant invisible hand suddenly grabbed the Artium.
The hill-sized Artium slowly rose as if it were a melon being harvested.
No one had expected that something as large as a hill could fly so quickly.
That was how it looked to them because they could not see Van’s invisible giant gripping the Artium.
They stood frozen.
They didn’t understand.
For a few moments, they didn’t even pay attention to Van anymore.
Van immediately took flight, while a powerful gust of wind swept over the people as the Artium moved rapidly above their heads.
The flying elf was affected as well. He was tossed about by the sudden gale.
Van took advantage of that brief moment and flew past him.
However, the flying elf regained his balance and immediately aimed at Van again.
Van gritted his teeth and instantly transformed his right hand into an ice cannon.
The two of them launched their attacks almost simultaneously.
The elf fired an arrow coated in something blue, while Van fired an ice sphere.
Their attacks collided.
But only one emerged victorious.
The blue arrow pierced through the ice sphere and shot straight toward Van’s face.
Van frowned at the arrow’s speed. He only managed to tilt his head to the left as the blue arrow grazed his cheek, cut several strands of his golden hair, and knocked off his cap at the same time.
Van gritted his teeth and kept firing several more shots while the Artium had already passed them and flown beyond the crater.
Van flew higher.
Then a loud boom echoed, followed by a small earthquake that caused those on the ground to lose their balance.
The boom and the tremor came from the invisible giant, which had begun walking away with the Artium tucked under its arm like an American football player.
Amid all the chaos, Van shouted while trying to fly away as arrows continued to chase him.
"BELUGA!!!!"
The moment Van shouted, Beluga descended from the sky. The golden pendant it wore made a tinkling sound.
"Beluga is here!! Beluga—"
Van immediately cut Beluga off.
"Just flood the crater, you crazy whale!!"
Beluga frowned as he looked at Van, who was still trying to dodge while being chased by the blue arrow, with the sounds of the giant’s footsteps and small earthquakes in the background.
"The price will be one day of bad luck after the next summoning—"
Beluga was cut off once again by Van.
"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, you stingy whale!!"
Beluga tilted his head and raised both of his flippers.
He then looked up at the star-filled sky while puffing out his cheeks. He spat out a single drop of water toward the sky full of stars.
Beluga disappeared immediately afterward.
However, he left behind exactly what Van had requested.
The single drop of water Beluga released transformed into a gigantic droplet that covered the entire crater.
Everyone inside the crater froze as they saw a volume of water the size of a small lake suddenly appear above their heads.
They couldn’t think of anything.
They couldn’t do anything.
The water fell like rain carrying trauma.
Van and the flying elf managed to avoid the torrent as they both stopped attacking each other and focused on flying out of the crater.
But those inside the crater were not as fortunate.
They were swept away in an instant.
Dozens of tents were carried away as the crater filled with water and became a lake.
The water, constantly seeking its natural level, began flooding the area outside the crater.
Van did not stop there.
He aimed his ice cannon toward the crater, which had now become a lake.
’This might be a little excessive. So the problem was the language difference? Good grief... I never expected something like this to happen two million years in the past.’
’But don’t worry... maybe it’ll just be a little cold? Having the flu for a few days isn’t worse than dying, right?’
Van then gathered ice to form a giant ice sphere.
Meanwhile, a white-haired female elf emerged from the surface of the lake with fury written across her face. She saw the ice sphere now aimed directly at the lake where she was swimming.
She said nothing.
She simply summoned thousands of roots to protect herself and everyone trapped there.
Meanwhile, in the sky, the flying elf drew the sword hanging at his waist and tried to stop Van, though he was already too late.
The lake that had formed only seconds earlier froze into a vast sheet of ice in an instant.
A wide smile spread across Van’s face as he dodged the elf’s sword slash while continuing to fight him.
He then briefly glanced toward the Artium, which was now being carried by the invisible giant and had almost passed beyond the ruins of the destroyed city.
A smile formed beneath his mask.
’Just a little more...’
A flash of light drew Van’s attention back to the elf, who still refused to give up.
Van was finally able to observe him more carefully.
The night wind blew through the elf’s short brown hair as he gripped a sword that shone like a star.
Van felt a sting on his cheek from the earlier graze wound.
’This elf... is really stubborn.’
The brown-haired elf immediately charged at Van, thrusting his glowing sword toward him.
Van simply hovered in place without moving, even though he no longer had the protection of his invisible space.
He waited for the right moment.
And when the timing was perfect, he quickly lowered his head, although several strands of his hair were cut off.
Van extended his palm toward the elf’s winged shoes.
He instantly froze both shoes, causing the elf to fall without Van attacking him directly.
Van almost laughed at the sight.
But something else stopped him just as he was about to turn around and fly away.
At the city’s boundary, massive tree roots slowly began surrounding the city.
The roots grew until they were nearly as tall as Van.
Van quickly turned toward the invisible giant, which had not yet crossed the city’s boundary.
He clicked his tongue and tried to fly after it.
Meanwhile, thousands of tree roots slowly emerged from the frozen lake, merging together into a gigantic tree carrying thousands of beings upon its branches.
The tree continued growing until it seemed to touch the star-filled sky.
The white-haired elf woman spread out her arms.
Blood flowed from her nose.
She then slowly summoned more tree roots, directing them toward the ruined road along which the invisible giant was traveling.
The elf’s white eyes could not see the giant.
But she could predict its path from the destruction it caused and the Artium it was carrying.
She then created a small trap from thousands of intertwined roots, forming a giant tripwire.
The invisible giant accidentally tripped over the roots and fell face-first.
A tremendous impact shook the earth, accompanied by a powerful gust of wind.
Cheers of victory erupted from the thousands of beings of different races hanging from the giant tree’s branches.
Then the roar of the bull echoed.
"BONG!!!!"
The black bull carrying the axe sprinted toward the elephant, who wore nothing but gray shorts that matched the color of his skin.
They exchanged no words.
But they both knew exactly what they had to do.
The elephant turned his back toward the fallen invisible giant.
He knelt down and pressed together his human-like hands.
The black bull stepped onto the elephant’s joined hands and leaped as the elephant launched him upward with all his strength.
The black bull then covered his entire body in black lightning as he shot toward the invisible giant lying face-down.
The white-haired elf woman followed with countless roots aimed at the same target, while the cheetah raced across the frozen field toward the same destination.
The black bull reached the giant before Van.
He raised his axe crackling with black lightning and repeatedly hacked at the invisible giant’s back.
Sounds like thunder striking the earth echoed over and over as each swing of his axe released black lightning, trying to split open the back of the invisible giant that still protected the Artium within its embrace.
Van let out a sigh.
He wanted to fly back toward the bull that was beginning to destroy his giant.
But he found himself surrounded by tree roots that trapped him like the bars of a gigantic birdcage.
Among those roots, the cheetah dashed around in light armor with twin blades extending from the backs of his hands, his tongue licking their edges.
"You’ve made everyone angry."
Van looked around, trying to keep up with the cheetah’s speed.
But this was the first time he had ever faced an opponent who relied on speed instead of someone like the old man, who simply endured every attack.
He struggled.
The cheetah attacked from every direction.
He did not split Van in half.
Instead, he sliced Van’s body little by little while laughing, as Van winced in pain because every cut left by the cheetah’s blades immediately caused his skin to blister.
Cheers of victory erupted once more from the gigantic tree filled with beings of many races.
Their celebration came from the cheetah’s relentless attacks on Van and the black bull’s continued attempts to split apart the invisible giant that still cradled the Artium in its arms.
Meanwhile, at the top of the giant tree, the white-haired elf raised both hands toward the sky.
A gigantic corpse flower slowly formed at the top of the tree before blooming directly toward Van.
The corpse flower greedily inhaled the surrounding air.
The wind blew through the white-haired elf woman’s hair as the corpse flower above her transformed that air into a giant brown sphere of wind.
A foul stench spread from the enormous sphere.
The white-haired elf woman gritted her teeth.
Her anger had reached its peak, and her white eyes already knew exactly where that anger would be directed.
Unfortunately, a woman’s voice stopped her.
"Stop... do you want to kill everyone?"
The elf woman turned around.
The horned woman was walking toward her, followed by the dwarf.
"Don’t stop me this time... he... he!! He!! He soaked me!! I had already finished my skincare before going to sleep, and he washed it all away with that damned water!!"
The horned woman let out a sigh.
"Everyone got soaked too... be patient. Wait until the Artium is secured."
The elf woman was about to reply, but the horned woman leaped from the giant tree, causing her to fall silent.
The horned woman fell past the many beings of different races, who all followed her descent with their eyes.
Her body began to swell before it struck the frozen ground.
In an instant, her skin turned into black scales.
Her neck lengthened, while claws emerged from both her hands and feet.
Her body expanded in an instant.
The woman transformed into a gigantic black dragon.
Its dragon’s roar shook the entire ruined city.
Even Van, who was trapped inside the cage, turned to look despite the burns covering his body.
His gray eyes reflected the gigantic black dragon flying toward him.
He also saw the elf wearing winged shoes, who was now able to fly once again.
At the same time, he turned his head and was immediately greeted by the tip of the cheetah’s sword aimed directly at his face.
Van let out a sigh.
"This isn’t worth it anymore..."