Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

317 The fear of death

“Do you think you will be safe?”

Kairen could see his unit members down there. They were all gathering around the portal created by Claire while staring at the weapons that were glowing and trembling. The gate was also shaking violently as if it was about to shatter and vanish at any moment.

‘They can run inside the gate...’

But the team was still standing beside the gate and not going inside. Team leader Dains raised his head at that moment and made eye contact with Kairen. His gaze wasn’t the gaze of someone who wanted to run away. His unit members were still up there. A huge number of soldiers were fighting out there not too far away from here, who would be caught in the explosion and lose their lives if all these bombs were to go off. He wasn’t someone who would run away in such a situation.

“That remains to be seen!”

The master smiled again. He raised one hand up and flicked the other. A thunderbolt shot out of the flicked hand towards Aaron, while as the other hand moved up...

‘They are... floating?’

The weapons started to move up and float in the air.

‘What is going on?’

.....

The trembling and glowing bombs were now surrounded by faint red cracks. Electric currents were jumping around on their surface as they moved around by the master’s hand’s movements.

‘He has... full control over them...’

Not only did he activate the bombs... He can also make them move... He can control them however he wants.

Kairen took his eyes off of the weapons and looked back at the master. The man had an amused smile on his face as if seeing Kairen’s bewildered face was making him feel happy.

“Are you curious?”

“....”

Kairen could feel his heart beating fast in his chest. It was beating so fast that it was causing him pain. Fear had engulfed his whole body from the moment he had noticed that the weapons had activated. He was scared. He knew that such a thing could happen. He had known that they might get killed if they come to this place. The whole team knew, no, the whole SMF knew.

That was why they were sent here. The best unit of the organization was sent to this mission because they couldn’t afford any mistakes. Because everyone knew that if there was a team that had a slight chance of succeeding, it was unit 5. Because the whole operation could never even start if these weapons were not dealt with firsthand. Even if they knew the location of Philomns main base, they couldn’t attack it as long as there was a warehouse full of weapons just beside it.

But now they were all about to die.

Kairen had known about the dangers and had come here despite being fully aware of everything, yet, he was scared. What was he scared of? Was he scared of death?

‘Everyone will die...’

Kairen locked eyes with team leader Dains once again. That man had the same thoughts as Kairen. Kairen could tell that just by looking into his eyes.

‘Everyone will die...’

He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want the others to die either. He didn’t like the situation at all.

“Well, maybe you can also survive this.”

The master’s voice snapped Kairen out of his thoughts.

‘I can also survive this?’

Also? Does that mean that the master can survive the explosion?

Click

Clack

Kairen saw something at that moment. The master. He was holding something in his hand. His hand was free just seconds ago but now there was something on his palm.

‘A crown?’

It was indeed a crown. A beautiful and stunning, yet old and rusty crown. A crown with a familiar design. A very familiar design.

‘An ancient articfat?’

It looked exactly like them, but also a little bit different.

A crown.

A crown.

He was sure he had heard something about a crown somewhere. Where was it... Was it Alan? Yes. It was indeed one of the many things Alan had said... Something he had told Kain, and then Kairen had heard from him.

-The artifact would give power to the chosen one. It would connect to the user’s soul and could never be separated from the person until their death. That’s exactly the same way in which the emperor would be chosen... by the 7th piece of the artifact set, the Divine Crown.

Kairen’s eyes widened as soon as he realized what was the thing that the man holding.

“The Divine Crown?”

He mumbled under his lips with doubt, but the master’s widened smile meant that he guessed right. The master smiled at him once more before moving his hand up and gently placing the crown on his head, as if he was a king.

‘An ancient artifact...’

No. It wasn’t one ancient artifact. Kairen hadn’t realized it at first but there was also a necklace around the man’s neck with the same design.

‘He said he can survive...’

Kairen glanced at his brother, more specifically, at the cloak he was wearing. At the white stone engraved on the cloak.

‘Then, does that mean he can survive it as well?’

Realizing Kairen’s gaze, Aaron also turned his head to look at Kairen. His brows were frowning and his face was pale. His hand holding his spear was trembling slightly and his breaths were short.

Kairen knew it without asking. Aaron was scared as well.

‘No, he won’t.’

Aaron couldn’t survive this. He had hopes on the white stone for a moment, but that white stone couldn’t even protect Aaron properly when one bomb went off when he was attaching the prince... So its chances of saving his life were low.

“Do you want to know how?”

Kairen could hear the master’s words, and could also see that he was taking steps toward Kairen and Aaron slowly, but he didn’t take his eyes off of his brother’s.

‘Then, does he mean that we can survive this using our power?’

The only thing that the master and Kairen had in common was their power.

‘If he can control those weapons by his power, then can I do that as well?’

Kairen didn’t wait to think about that idea. He immediately activated his power. Golden-silver cracks popped up in the air and small, white electric currents sizzled in the air.

Kairen was able to sense the power within those weapons before, but now that he had activated his power, he could clearly understand even the smallest movement of the power stored inside those things.

Thinking about the bombs that were floating in the air with faint red cracks around them, Kairen sent a part of his power towards those things without waiting for a second.

ZZZZ

ZAAAAP

ZZZZZ

Kairen’s white electric currents and the master’s red once collided on the surface of the bombs.

“Huh?”

And the faint red ones vanished as soon as they touched the white ones. The master frowned upon seeing this as if surprised.

The bombs, which didn’t have any red cracks around them any longer, floated in the air and slowly started to descend. Just then, Kairen’s silver-golden cracks moved on their own and stuck to the surface of the bombs like metal drawn to a magnate. The bombs immediately stopped falling down and floated on their spot.

“Wha-”

The master let out a low gasp and took a big step toward Kairen. Aaron was beside him, so Kairen had no reason to be scared of the master right now.

‘I can make them float...’

But so what? What was the use of floating some bombs?

‘Can I stop them?’

Kairen could feel the violent energy inside each and every one of those weapons. He knew that the energy would explode soon. He was sure that these tiny metal shells wouldn’t be able to hold that energy inside them for more than a few seconds.

He had to stop the energy from whirling so violently...

‘I guess I... found a way...’

He didn’t find a way it actually happened after his cracks and the bombs were attached to each other. Just then, he realized that his cracks were pulling the energy inside the bombs to themselves.

They were absorbing the energy.

‘But... Can I absorb them all before they explode?’

There were just... too many weapons there. Kairen doubted he could do that.

“How the hell are you doing that?”

He heard the master’s confused voice once again, but he didn’t pay him any mind.

‘I can still do one thing.’

He could still create a shield. Just like how he had protected himself against a bomb before, he could create a shield using his cracks, which were now stronger than before.

.....

But the problem was that his unit members were scattered all around the building, and... a huge number of them were down there just beside the bombs. His shield wouldn’t have the power to protect them all if he had to create several shields.

“Run!”

Kairen turned his head towards his team leader while starting to for his shield immediately. Golden-silver cracks moved up and gathered together before forming a thin, dome-like barrier in the air. More and more cracks were getting added to the end of the dome and the barrier was getting bigger and slowly reaching the ground.

“You guys should run away!”

He shouted towards his team leader. The people down there looked up at him and the dome that was taking shape with widened eyes. Team leader Dains frowned after hearing Kairen tell him to run, but he didn’t say anything. He glanced at the barrier above their heads. He knew what the boy wanted to do.

“...Step into the portal.”

“Sir!”

“There is nothing we can do right now!”

They were only on the way. While they were standing there, the portal was getting fainter and fainter as if it was about to collapse. If they hesitated longer, they might not even be able to get away.

Tap

The team leader took one step back while he was still staring at Kairen.

“This damned-”

ZAAAAAAAAPPPP

But Kairen couldn’t continue looking down as he sensed something dangerous coming towards him from behind.

ONGGGGGGGGG

And something dangerous from below.

‘They are about to go off-‘

BANGGGGGGG

Aaron’s spear collided with an intensely strong thunderbolt, one that wasn’t even comparable with the ones that the master created before. The spear turned to dust in an instant and the thunderbolt hit Aaron’s body.

“Gah!”

The man shielded his body with his arms, resulting in them burning and getting cut in several places. Blood splashed around as the thunderbolt wounded his arms and hit his abdomen.

“Gah-”

“Argh!”

Pushed back by the impact of the attack, Aaron’s back hit Kairen, who was just behind him, resulting in him staggering back and barely holding himself up and preventing himself from falling down to the lower floor by grabbing the railing.

ZZZZZZ

SIZZLEEEE

“OOF!”

Aaron’s body bent and he fell down on his knees.

“Ron!”

Kairen wanted to rush towards Aaron, who was bleeding all over and breathing heavily, but he wasn’t in a situation where he could move around freely. The thunderbolt that had attacked them was gone, but that didn’t mean that they were safe.

It was because just a few steps away from him stood a white-haired man who was about to shoot another thunderbolt at his face.

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