Chapter 97: The Beginning of Chaos (2)

[ The Eastern Army has recaptured Ghost Island! ]

A short article was printed out in the newspaper in the Capital. Originally, this article should have been in the headlines. However, it only came out as a short article. There was no choice. After all, shocking things were happening all over the Empire right now.

Then, another huge incident broke out in the East. 

[ The mermaid race has appeared. Where are they? ]

[ A large army of mermaids has been discovered in the Puerh Islands! ]

[ The legendary city of the seas, Atlantis, has appeared in Puerh Islands! ]

[ Will the Eastern Army be able to protect Voghren’s Ghost Island? ]

Although they had recaptured Ghost Island and prevented the dimensional crack, the war was not yet over. It was as if they were telling them that it was just the beginning as they started another war on their own. 

Meanwhile, wars that were as big as the first war in the East, began all over the Empire.

[ The Werebeasts’ Alliance has appeared in the South! The forgotten race that had been known to be extinct is now being led by the weretigers as they aimed their claws at the Empire! ]

[ A suspicious island has appeared in the skies of the West! A flock of birdmen, believed to have disappeared long ago, has now appeared! ]

[ The dark elves have once again appeared in the North! Are they threatening the North this time?! ]

Suspicious beings have appeared one after the other in all regions of the Empire. 

The North has the dark elves.

The South has the werebeasts.

The East has the mermaids. 

And the West has the birdmen.

These beings were known to have disappeared or had gone extinct. However, contrary to expectations, all of them were alive and had now returned to take their revenge against the Empire that they loathed all their lives. 

The small kingdoms of the West that served as the Empire’s informants were the first to suffer damages from their attacks. For small kingdoms who did not have as much power as the Empire, they could not find any way to effectively cope with the dimensional crack. The only thing that they could do was find refuge and continuously retreat amid the enormous damages. The kingdoms in the South were able to hold out because they worked together and had many powerhouses. However, they still had no choice but to be pushed back. 

In addition, the endless amount of void insects and contaminated mana that poured out of the cracks had turned the monsters in the area into more ferocious monsters. What was worse was the appearance of bizarre creatures as the cracks began to evolve into dimensional gates. And this problem was not only limited to the Empire. The entire continent was now about to be engulfed with dimensional cracks.

As a result, the Eastern Army had received far less attention even after they had recaptured Ghost Island. 

In fact, it was the Northeast that caught the attention of the entire continent. The Northeast, once hailed as the most dangerous place in the Empire, had now become one of the safest places in the continent. 

When the situation developed in this direction, the Magic Tools Workshops, the merchants, the Wizard Towers and the wizards that came to the Northeast smiled broadly. 

Controlled dimensional cracks.

Mana cores.

Countless rare species of monsters.

And overflowing contaminated monsters.

The fact that all of these items could be studied and pursued ‘safely’ while developing countless powerful weapons under the protection of the powerful Northeastern Army made the Northeast the hottest region in the Empire. 

Numerous small and medium-sized merchants and wizard towers immediately flocked to the Northeast upon hearing the opening of a new trading route that was connected to the East. 

However, Iron, who had made the biggest contribution in making the Northeast the most influential region of the Empire, was still dead to the world in one corner of the Ghost Island. 

“When are we going to transfer Iron?” 

Lintel asked Gustav outside of the room where Iron was currently sleeping in. 

“I don’t think the Eastern Command is completely organized yet.” 

“Can’t we transfer him back to the Northeast?” 

“The mermaids have taken over the sea.” 

Gustav had a solemn expression on his face as he answered Lintel’s question.

The mermaids’ force was extremely terrible that not even the Empire’s strongest naval fleet could deal with them. The naval fleet had to experience countless hardships whenever they sailed off since the mermaids kept on swimming around as if they owned the sea.

Despite the constant harassment, they were still veterans. So, what they did was to immediately look for ways to counter these mermaids. And thanks to the help of the other-worlders, they finally found a way. 

“It seems like there are other-worlder mildeoks, who are helping the naval fleet.” 

“Mildeok?” 

Lintel tilted his head when he heard the strange word.

“It’s an abbreviation for military fanatics, but honestly, I don’t know what it means. However, they seem to be experts in weapons. And they are now preparing to apply the weapons and tactical methods that are commonly used in their world to attack the mermaids.

“Hmmm… Are you saying that he needs to stay here until then?” 

“Yeah.” 

If they were in land, they could send him to a safe zone no matter the cost. However, this was an island and they were closed off from the safe zone. They had also tried many ways to leave the island, but all proved to be futile. Since the sea was problematic, they tried to use the airships. However, it proved to be dangerous thanks to the flying monsters that roamed the skies. And even if they wanted to move out of the island, the main fleet could not move just because of a single person, Iron. 

“As soon as the Eastern Command stabilizes, we will transfer him with the reinforcements that would be sent here.” 

“Hoo…”

Lintel and the other Ghosts felt frustrated upon hearing Gustav’s words. They all fell into a fluster when their youngest sacrificed himself once again just to produce some results and get them safe.

“But we can’t continue on like this, right? It’s not like we can stay here forever…”

Lintel now has a worried look on his face.

Although the Ghost Island had been recaptured, their main focus was in Atlantis, a city that had emerged in the Puerh Islands.

They could easily guess that a dimensional gate would also be waiting for them there. Scholars were even wondering if Atlantis itself had already been turned into a dimensional gate in and on itself. They could safely assume that the Sea Orb, the driving force that maintained Atlantis, had become corrupted which could make the city itself into a dimensional gate. 

“That’s why the Eastern Commander decided to come here himself.”

“Didn’t you say that there’s a magic master class mermaid there?”

Lintel’s eyes widened in shock. But Gustav just shook his head.

“It seems like they weren’t really at the level of a magic master. From what I have heard, the mermaid just borrowed the power of an item to exert the strength of a magic master for a short period of time…”

“Ah… But isn’t it still a problem if they can show a power like that temporarily?”

“There seems to be restrictions. The environment must be the sea, and once they use that amount of force they won’t be able to use it again for a long period of time. Right now, the mermaid has completely stepped back from the Eastern Command and retreated to Atlantis. I’m guessing it’s because he's run out of energy.”

Of course, the mermaids also needed to meet certain conditions before they could act like that. However, they still couldn’t move hastily since they already wield tremendous power without those supplements. 

In such a precarious situation, a worthwhile fight would ensue if the entire Eastern main force flocked to Ghost Island. And since the main force of the Northeastern Army was also supposed to come to Ghost Island, they believed that even if the mermaids were powerful at sea, they would still not be able to defend against two out of the five main forces of the Empire. 

In addition, the other-worlders also chose to remain in the East despite the chaos in all of the other regions. This was because they wanted to obtain the items that the mermaids had used. And even if they went to another region, they were sure that other other-worlders would already be in there. From the point of view of the other-worlders who stayed here, they had to see the outcome of this war even if they got killed or fed to the monsters. 

Ppiiiiiiiiiii!

“It’s an attack! The mermaids have attacked!”

“The sealed crack is showing signs of explosion!”

The Ghosts moved when they heard the shouts of the soldiers. In just a blink of an eye, the safest area in the Ghost Island was only left with only a few troops as they all moved to prevent the mermaids and the void insects. 

Just when everyone was busy shouting and moving to prevent the mermaids, a strange phenomenon happened in Iron’s slumbering body. 

Crackle!

Static electricity suddenly accumulated in Iron’s body. At first, it was just at a level that anyone could experience. But the static electricity increased in intensity to the point that it could electrify the body. What was strange was the fact that it only got generated occasionally.

However, as time passed by, the intensity and intervals began to increase. 

The problem was that none of the people on the island noticed this.

Even though they wanted to finish it quickly, the battle against the mermaids had still been prolonged. As a result, the medics that were supposed to manage Iron in the hospital room were all busy wandering around. They had no time to pay enough attention to Iron since there were a lot of injuries that they needed to tend to in real time thanks to the battle taking place on the island. 

Despite everyone, including the medics, the Northeastern Army and the Eastern Army, failing to notice the abnormalities in Iron’s body due to the urgent situation, it still occurred continuously.

Crackle! Crackle!

The electricity coursing through Iron’s body could now be seen by the naked eye with how intense it was. Iron’s body even began to tremble while the mermaids busily attacked the island and took the attention of everyone stationed here.

Eventually, his eyelids trembled. It seemed like he was about to wake up.

― With the slight recovery of your divine power, some of Thunderbird’s abilities have been awakened.

― Thunderbird’s ability ‘Lightning’ has influenced your innate ability.

― Your body has been stimulated by your innate ability ‘Lightning’.

― The amount of time that you had fainted had been shortened thanks to the stimulation.

― Your subconsciousness has been awakened from the constant stimuli. 

With the recovery of his divine power, he was able to awaken Thunderbird’s ability which in turn influenced Iron’s innate ability that created a synergy…

Thunderbird’s ability + innate ability → physical stimulation → shortened the time of unconsciousness → awakening of the subconscious → physical recovery and divine power recovery ↑

This cycle of stimulus continued virtuously until Iron’s spirit and consciousness was fully awakened.

“Uhm… uhhmmm…” 

The ceiling of the room greeted Iron’s eyes once he finally opened his heavy eyelids. 

Crackle, crackle!

As soon as he opened his eyes, Iron concentrated to control the electric current that was flowing in his body. Something could go wrong, like burning the bed he was laying in, with the strong current that wrapped around his body so he needed to control it as soon as possible.

Trying to limit his strength as soon as he woke up had placed a burden on his tired and injured body. He could even hear a ringing in his head. However, Iron endured and did his best to control the power in his body. The power was so strong that it resisted his control but his repeated tries eventually brought the lightning in his control. The power that leaked out of his body began to disappear and retreat back inside.

“Hoo… How long has it been?”

He couldn’t help but frown when he realized that he did not know how much time had passed ever since he lost consciousness.

Bang! Bang!

All he could hear was the sound of guns and bombs from afar. Hearing the chaotic situation outside, Iron decided to stand up from his bed, albeit shakily, as he moved to open the door.

“Ghost Island?” 

Iron raised one of his hands after confirming that he was still in Ghost Island. Then, as if following his will, a lightning bolt moved from his body.

The power of his innate ability lightning and Thunderbird’s ability lightning had combined together and constantly amplified the power of the ability. Perhaps it was because of the synergy created by the two abilities that another slumbering force in Iron’s body responded. It was as if it was waiting for the day that it would be used.

Crack!

Iron looked forward after watching the frost that formed on his hand crack and break down. 

He could see several mermaids and undead attacking the area. Perhaps it was because they realized that this was the area where the injured were gathered so they tried to pierce the island’s defenses through this place.

He knew that with his current injuries, he was only going to interfere with them. This was an undeniable fact. However, his newly gained power gave him the confidence in stopping the mermaids despite his current physical condition.

Iron thought about his next course of actions for a while before opening the door widely and walking out confidently. His body was still trembling and shaking but the power inside his body was jumping around and ready to run rampant at any moment. 

And just in time, suitable opponents appeared in front of him. They were the perfect candidates to test his new power on.

***

Notes

[Mildeok 밀덕] – An abbreviation for 밀리터리 덕후 (Military Fanatic). Literally someone who’s enthusiastic about anything related to the military or the police.