The Final Five Hours (1)
Green Ocean.
The race war had grown even fiercer with the angels joining the fray.
"Damn it!"
Among the scattered Twelve Apostles, the one facing Uriel was the fire dragon Infercus.
The Nirvana Wheel spun with a thunderous roar, and Uriel unfurled like the wind and struck.
"The war is over."
Hit by the archangel's body blow, Infercus pressed her broad chest around him.
"Talk nonsense."
The combat settings shifted. Half of Infercus's face contorted into something monstrous.
Her neck transformed into a dragon's, and she pressed her snout to Uriel's face and exhaled a small breath.
"Kuuooo!" Steam rose from Uriel's face as a booted kick sent him flying dozens of meters before he slammed into the ground.
"Annoying."
From the sky, the wyvern Argan and the black dragon Abiris saw it and landed beside her.
Argan looked uneasy.
"What are you doing using a breath? That'll burn the elves' forest. Didn't you hear the Messiah? Don't break taboos unless it's to protect someone—"
"Are you kidding me? Can't you see the angels have poured in? This isn't the time to haggle. We have to win if we want to protect the elves."
Abiris rose slowly.
"What the—"
The black-skinned warrior's fierce features flared; amber fire lit her eyes.
"So that was it."
She dispelled her polymorph, became a twenty-meter black dragon, and launched into the sky.
"Krrr—"
As she glowered down, apostles and angels alike craned their necks.
"T-that…!"
More shocked than the angels were the apostles.
"You lunatic!"
As the apostles scrambled, Abiris opened her jaws and unleashed a breath.
"Shadow of the Abyss." A dot the size of a fingernail appeared on the ground and spread at terrifying speed, devouring the forest.
The darkness had no substance.
Because of that, there was nothing—every living thing on the ground slid into a perfect realm of nothingness.
They couldn't even sense where their limbs were attached; their ability to act dropped to zero.
"I'm completely bound."
Abiris's breath, Shadow of the Abyss, manifested the abyss of the otherworld wherever she desired.
Its cooldown was twelve hours, the fifth-longest among the Twelve Apostles.
Abiris laughed.
"Kahaha! Taste the dreadful nothingness! I am Abiris—the Black King, Rampage Dragon!"
Peyton shouted, "Give me a break! You're just a mad dragon! What if we'd all been dragged into that?"
As other apostles arrived in the air one by one, Abiris curled her long lips into a grin.
"Heh, this is fun. Now this feels like a real fight. What are you waiting for? Join in."
"But the Messiah will scold us. He's against uncontrolled power," Argan said, pointing a finger.
"Oh, that's fine. Infercus said she'd take responsibility. It's not our fault."
"Hey! Don't say—"
Before Infercus could protest, the thunder dragon Blitz said, "One is missing."
All eyes turned to the abyss's darkness that now covered Green Ocean completely.
"Who is it, that idiot apostle?" They checked the eleven at a glance and found none to blame among them.
"Soul-Dragon."
At the heart of the abyss capable of swallowing even her, the white dragon Asraiker knelt.
She had the highest Ego, and every living thing loved her dearly.
"An abyss, huh."
Even in that realm of nothing it shone so beautifully it rendered meaning moot.
"Pointless."
For an apostle who feared Mesaa's displeasure, stepping up to this decision required courage.
Her gaze into the dark clouded, and her body spread in white light.
When Asraiker dispelled her polymorph, her true form was a pure white dragon of spirit-body.
"Wheee—!"
Her fox-like sharp features were chilling within that emptiness; aside from her great eyes, everything else was blank.
Breath—Wrath of the White Bones.
Spirits of skeletal bones that gleamed even in the abyss screamed and fanned out in every direction.
Its cooldown was only six hours.
A soul pierced by Wrath of the White Bones perceives itself as completely dead.
"Immortals, those with transcendent will, and inanimate things aren't affected by the breath, but… used together with Shadow of the Abyss, it causes mass slaughter."
The forest, already blackening as if dead, continued to wither while angels collapsed to the ground.
"Huuu!"
Their lifespans were endless, so they wouldn't truly perish—but the terror of death rattled their minds.
"This will be your grave."
Asraiker cast polymorph again and sat demurely, savoring the abyss.
Poine smirked. "What a sight. Magnificent."
The forest looked like a vast pit.
From that darkness, countless skeletal spirits swirled and wandered in dizzying numbers.
"So she did it. Asraiker's an accomplice too."
Ignoring Infercus's insistence to hold out, Poine glanced at Blitz.
"How much time left?" The thunder dragon Blitz was silent.
"Don't play dumb. With Karatorsa gone we lost the core. If anything was to be entrusted, it would've been to you. Omega 999. How long until the end?"
Dragons were apostles of time.
A dragon who'd lived from Omega 1 through Omega 999 could roughly calculate.
"From now…," Blitz said, "five hours."
Silence.
"According to Karatorsa, today is the final day of history set by God. But that's only an estimate."
The golden dragon Peyton said, "The Messiah must have guessed too—he received Omega. Anyway, we just need to protect the elves for five hours, right? Shadow of the Abyss will hold for a while. Easy enough."
If all twelve apostles broke taboos together, five hours should be enough to hold them.
"There'll be variables," Poine warned. "Did we expect angel support? This isn't only a clash of power. If the elves are wiped out, we lose the war."
"Then how do they die? We're holding them."
"Well…"
Poine's eyes narrowed. What scheme could those little things be plotting?
Melkidu's middle tier.
While Fena—who wasn't an accomplice—stayed hidden, Shirone's group moved among the port warehouses.
The guards were strict; to open even one warehouse they'd have to bribe someone.
"Stop. Who's there?"
When first caught by a patrol, Shirone had sussed out the conditions for lifting the guard.
"Ah—um, we're lost."
"Lost? Do you know what time it is? And who are your users…?"
"Give us a chance to persuade you."
The patrol immediately changed tone. "Oh, sure. My personality is timid. Persuasion requires one million points."
'Surprisingly cheap.'
But once the dice duel for persuasion started, the difficulty was nothing like a shop clerk's.
Of course, difficulty didn't matter to Shirone.
"Quantum Collapse!"
They succeeded on the first try; the patrol snorted, "Well, you're something. But be careful. If we meet again, we won't be so forgiving."
'And it's a one-time persuasion.'
After roughly three hours of Melkidu time exploring, the group realized something.
"Most warehouse stock is palace food or users' items. If we rummage through everything, we'll never finish." Eden added, "Even if bribing is cheap, we can't keep buying favors. Little drops soak the clothes."
They'd checked about twenty warehouses.
"You could sell items to earn points, but you'd have to leave the middle tier to do that. Useless here," Iruki said.
"We only have enough points for about three more tries. I want to keep around seven thousand. We might need five thousand to persuade the guard captain; there could be a middleman cost."
"Then let's only try three more." Naid turned and pointed to a small warehouse in plain sight.
"How about that one?"
"Two guards? Inefficient."
"This is a gamble. We'll try something we haven't. Follow me. I'll handle it."
As they walked, two guards thrust out their spears and shouted fiercely, "Halt! Owl! Give the password!"
"Hey, let's just bribe them."
Startled by their boldness, the guards glanced at each other and lowered their spears.
"All right. My personality is—"
The bribe worked; the guards agreed to give them ten minutes and left the warehouse door ajar.
"Found it."
When Naid opened the door, he had a hunch.
"Palace supply stock."
Because these were used by those who run the system, the grade was naturally top-tier.
"If users get stronger items, the system can't control them. But beyond that…."
Iruki pointed at a medium-sized box whose seal hadn't been broken—probably delivered tonight.
"This looks more fun, doesn't it?"
"Agreed."
They gathered round and saw a tag on the lid: CENSORED ITEM.
'Not a registered item.'
They pried out the nails and peered in; various goods were neatly wrapped in plastic.
What they found was—
"Look. Quick Recovery Pass Necklace. The description's written in some weird code so I can't make it out."
"Here, look."
Shirone checked it. "Hidden code. This item can penetrate Melkidu's physical barriers. Seems made for when buildings collapse or underground facilities fail. The description says it fixes errors that prevent existing underground water from being pierced and improves stats to pass iron walls over three meters."
Eden said, "It's marked censored because it goes through testing before being applied to the system. In short… it's an item even administrators don't have yet." Naid was already stuffing them into his bag. "How many should we grab? Five?"
"Six."
"Oh right. Curtis is with us." Iruki nudged Naid, who was cradling a pile of gem-studded necklaces.
"Move over. I'll check."
What Iruki pulled out was a guard registration badge.
"So guard status is an option. With this we can become guards too, system-wise."
Everyone's eyes lit up.
"Aha."
Ten minutes later.
"What are you lot doing? I said ten minutes…! Huh?"
The two guards who'd shouted at Shirone's group blinked.
"Loyalty! All clear on the watch!"
Naid, wearing the officer's badge, coughed and walked up to them. "Ahem! Good work. Everything all right?"
"Yes! Nothing to report!"
"You're doing hard work late at night."
"No! It's our calling to sacrifice for the kingdom!"
"Ha! Hearing you makes me proud. Then do us a favor. Now, off you go." As Shirone's group followed in orderly fashion, the guards lowered their weapons and called, "Be careful! Loyalty!"
Once outside the warehouse they giggled, while Naid waved the badge and glanced back.
"Sorry."
The box was empty.