Chapter 285: Auzria Preparing for Destruction and the Eastern Continent in Chaos

Translator: Pai_

Blue Baepsae had fallen asleep.

That fact came as quite a shock to Iron.

Although there had been a time in the past when all the Divine Beasts had fallen asleep to awaken, this time was different.

"The final moment of Destruction…"

Iron murmured to himself, lost in thought.

In a situation where it was hard to even gauge the extent of Destruction, it was uncertain whether he could truly endure until the very end.

He might not survive until the end and could die before that.

"Hoo…"

-There’s no need to despair. You just have to hold out until the end, don’t you?

"That’s true, but…"

The fact that he had to endure Destruction without Blue Baepsae kept making Iron feel discouraged.

It wasn’t like this at first.

But as the war continued, Blue Baepsae had become an indispensable existence before he even realized it.

Especially after becoming a Grand Master, his dependence had grown even more.

It was true that he had received much help from Blue Baepsae with White Swordsmanship and Divine Power.

"Now I have to do it alone."

Iron gave a bitter smile at the thought of having to control Divine Power on his own.

And that wasn’t all.

Purifying the Corrupted Energy would also become far less efficient.

Blue Baepsae knew this fact as well.

Even so, the bird had strongly insisted, which meant that even if he gave all that up, a greater reward was waiting. It had pressured Iron to make that choice.

-Blue Baepsae’s choice was right.

"Do you know what Blue Baepsae really is?"

-Only have a rough idea.

Even Hræsvelgr didn’t know Blue Baepsae’s exact identity.

He only guessed that it might be an existence equal to, or perhaps even stronger than himself.

And when Blue Baepsae disappeared, he briefly felt a solar energy that made him certain of the nature of the existence Blue Baepsae held within.

-!%@%^!

"Huh?"

-Tsk! See for yourself later.

Hræsvelgr frowned as he was cut off by the system and then shut his mouth.

Seeing that, Iron gave a bitter smile.

‘One thing is certain.’

That Blue Baepsae’s true identity was so powerful that the system had to impose restrictions.

On the flip side, it meant that ‘Destruction’ was so powerful that it required the true power of such a being.

"Hoo… Alright, let’s give it a shot."

If Blue Baepsae had made a decision to stop Destruction, then he had to make sure that decision wouldn’t be regretted.

"First thing to do is fill the gap left by Blue Baepsae."

Muttering that to himself, Iron began to think about what he needed to do now.

1. Refine himself enough to control the Divine Power that Blue Baepsae used to handle.

2. Enhance his fusion ability further.

3. Develop the abilities of the Divine Beasts even more.

These were the three ways Iron could become stronger.

For that, Iron focused all his attention on controlling Divine Power.

The first thing he did was emit as much Divine Power as he could and spread it outward.

To cover for Blue Baepsae’s purification ability, a greater amount of Divine Power was needed, and spreading it widely was important.

Now that the Auzria Continent had completely returned to the embrace of the Lord God, Iron no longer needed to remain in the desert.

So on his way back, he purified the contaminated desert regions while moving toward the Empire.

This time, he rode on the back of the Thunderbird and used its storm ability to spread Divine Power in all directions.

The light particles carried far by the wind.

All were materialized Divine Power particles that Iron had compressed and created.

In addition to that, he borrowed the area effect ability of Two Moons to create a field of dense Divine Power in the surrounding regions, and used the power of the Phoenix to burn the unpurified energy with white flames, annihilating the Corrupted Energy.

"What should we do with you?"

Iron asked as he looked at Hræsvelgr.

The Divine Beasts were showing rapid growth by operating their power together with him.

The problem was Hræsvelgr.

Since he had already ascended to godhood, growing together with Iron was impossible.

"Is there a way for you to recover your power?"

To his question, Hræsvelgr tilted his head.

-Not sure…

Even now, Hræsvelgr’s power was gradually being restored.

He was still far from the once-supreme level of power he had in the past, but if time passed like this, he would be able to recover a meaningful amount of power.

Originally, recovering power this quickly would have been impossible.

However, Iron’s talent as a Divine Beast contractor and the compressed natural energy accumulated within his body made it possible.

-Hm? Now that I think about it...

As if something had come to mind, Hræsvelgr spoke to Iron.

-The World Tree in the South… I wonder how big it’s grown?

To his question, Iron shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either.

“Why? Can the World Tree help you recover your power?”

To Iron’s question, Hræsvelgr gave a small nod.

It was the reason Hræsvelgr had once been a friend of the World Tree and why he always stayed near it.

It was because the source of his power originated from the World Tree.

The immense power of the World Tree not only helped him ascend to the level of a god but also allowed him to wield power strong enough to send winds from one end of the world to the other.

Of course, even for him, the World Tree’s vast power only allowed him to hold one of the many natural forces it harbored: wind.

If Hræsvelgr could contain even a fraction of that power again, it wouldn’t be impossible to reclaim his former level during the time of Destruction.

-I’ll have to visit the Great Forest in the South.

“Wouldn’t the North be better if it’s about the World Tree?”

To Iron’s question, Hræsvelgr firmly shook his head.

“Aren’t they both World Trees?”

-He is… not my old friend, Yggdrasil.

Iron frowned at Hræsvelgr’s words.

“What do you mean…?”

-Of course, he’s still a World Tree. But he’s not Yggdrasil.

Hræsvelgr spoke firmly as he looked at Iron.

-He was born from the ashes of my dear friend’s burned body. And through repeated cycles of birth and death, even the traces of my friend left in the ashes disappeared. He… no longer carries any remnant of Yggdrasil.

At Hræsvelgr’s words, Iron nodded heavily.

Back when they were fighting the Ancient Species, Hræsvelgr had visited the World Tree briefly and returned disappointed.

Just as he said, even though the World Tree in the North was under the protection of the Elves, it had faced multiple crises, and each time, it had dropped seeds and relocated, repeating the cycle of life and death.

In that process, it seemed the traces of Yggdrasil had completely vanished.

“…Are you certain you’ll grow stronger if you stay near the Southern World Tree?”

To his question, Hræsvelgr shook his head, as if he wasn’t sure.

-Even so, it will help. After all, my origin lies with my old friend.

“Alright.”

At Iron’s permission, Hræsvelgr bowed his head as if in gratitude.

-I’ll return before Destruction begins.

The moment Hræsvelgr said that, a wind wrapped around the small bird’s body.

And within just a few seconds, he disappeared with the wind.

Then, Two Moons and Phoenix also stared intently at Iron.

“…You two want to go as well?”

To Iron’s question, the two Divine Beasts gave small nods.

Each had a different destination in mind.

Two Moons’ destination was its old nest located in the northeast, while Phoenix’s destination was the volcanic zone of the Auzria Continent.

-Bububu!

-Peeee!

Now that Destruction was imminent, the two Divine Beasts also had a strong desire to take one more step forward in growth.

“What about you, Thunder?”

-Kkiruk!

“You want to go to the sea?”

Thunderbird also had a place it wanted to go.

The ghost island where Iron had first discovered him.

Near that area was a region where lightning storms frequently raged.

Thunderbird wanted to go there.

“First… let’s finish what we have to do here.”

At his words, the three Divine Beasts nodded.

They, too, were growing little by little through the work they were doing together with Iron.

In that way, they spent several days purifying the contaminated regions of the desert, and finally returned to the Mobile Field Army’s headquarters.

“Salute! Congratulations on your achievement, sir!”

“Huh?”

Iron tilted his head when an officer looked at him with an almost burdensome gaze.

“Achievement?”

When Iron wore a puzzled expression, the commanders who had rushed over all spoke at once.

“Congratulations on becoming the Hero of the Continent.”

“How did you…?”

At Iron’s question, Ariel smiled brightly and showed him a video orb.

Inside the orb, which showed a view of the Imperial capital, a large system window appeared in the sky above the capital, displaying a message congratulating Iron for achieving the title of Hero of the Continent.

“This crazy…”

Iron muttered unconsciously and let out a sigh.

While Iron felt embarrassed, the commanders of the Mobile Field Army looked at him with eyes filled with respect, almost to the point of discomfort.

“Stop staring. It’s too much.”

“It’ll be worse once you go to the capital.”

At Iron’s words, Ariel said with a laugh.

An officially recognized Hero of the Continent by the system.

That meant he was a being acknowledged even by the system.

“Hoo… Anyway, just open the Warp Gate.”

“You’re leaving right away without staying…?”

As Ariel and the commanders made disappointed expressions, Iron let out a small sigh and explained what had happened in the desert.

“The Eastern Continent seems suspicious.”

“Hmm… from what you’ve said, it sounds like the Auzria Continent is now completely safe.”

At Ariel’s words, Iron nodded.

As the system stated, the Auzria Continent had become fully part of the Lord God’s domain and had even received His blessing.

In other words, at least this continent would be safe until Destruction arrived.

The problem was the Eastern Continent.

“The Hell Ghosts and demons will target the Eastern Continent.”

“The navy is going to get busy.”

“Yeah.”

At Ariel’s words, Iron nodded.

To prepare for the upcoming battles or those that would come after Destruction, they needed to reinforce the Eastern Army.

“What about moving the Mobile Field Army to the East…?”

“No. The desert region still needs to be managed.”

Iron shook his head firmly.

After dealing with the two groups in the desert region, a huge number of Gates had appeared centered around that area on the map at the Imperial Capital.

One peculiar point was that not only the areas where Gates were expected to appear but also the locations where survivors brainwashed by demons or Hell Ghosts were hiding had been marked.

“Come to think of it… there was a quest to rescue survivors.”

At Ariel’s words, everyone nodded.

“Was it to rescue demonized humans?”

“There was one to rescue souls that had fallen into hell, too.”

At the words of Cardro and Saeriden, Iron spoke again.

“Let the Special Defense Force handle the inner region around where the Dimensional Shop was, and the rest of you will take care of the outer areas. Stabilize the desert completely.”

At Iron’s words, Ariel had her adjutant take down the orders.

“I’ll issue formal orders once I return to Central. You don’t need to report back. Handle it autonomously.”

“Autonomously… sir?”

“Yeah. I need some personal training as well.”

Iron said this with a bitter expression.

“Come to think of it…”

Ariel tilted her head as she noticed the Divine Beasts who always accompanied Iron were nowhere to be seen.

Seeing her puzzled look, Iron spoke with a bitter smile.

“They left to grow stronger. They won’t be back until right before Destruction.”

“Ah…”

Though it felt a bit cold-hearted that the Divine Beasts had left without a glance as soon as they arrived at the Mobile Field Army Headquarters, there was no stopping them if they were leaving to become stronger.

“Thanks to that, I’ll need to do some training myself.”

When Blue Baepsae disappeared, he only had to control Divine Power. But now that all the Divine Beasts had gone to other regions, Iron had to handle even the control of natural forces alone.

“Still… once training is done, I’ll be stronger than I am now.”

“Stronger than now…?”

Ariel muttered blankly.

The same was true for the others.

Even the two Family Heads who were Grand Masters didn’t dare to compare themselves to Iron, yet here he was saying he’d become even stronger.

“That’s why you shouldn’t stop training either. To survive Destruction, you all need to get stronger than you are now.”

“Yes, sir!”

Everyone responded loudly to Iron’s words.

After encouraging them, Iron immediately stepped onto the Warp Gate heading to Central.

***

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