Ark

ACT 2 Heroes’ Descendants

“Oh my god!”

“T-that is ridiculous!”

“Who on earth made such a ridiculous thing?”

The staff of the Planning Department watched the 120 inch screen with baffled faces. The same cry came from the screen showing Ark and the expedition members.

Kaaaaaaah!

The Rwigenberg flapped its huge wings as it was hit by the heat wave. And the shield wrapped around the Rwigenberg flickered. That’s right! Despite concentrating the firepower of the military expedition, the shield was still there. A groan emerged from Ark’s mouth as he stared at the protective film.

“The shield didn’t break despite all the firepower being concentrated on one point......”

Was it saying there was no way to break the shield? This meant they couldn’t prevent the resurrection ceremony even if they destroyed all the demons.

....Despair!

That’s right. It meant despair. Despair was the conclusion he came to despite sacrificing all those soldiers.

“Ark-nim, the demons are attacking by using the gap left by the destroyed shields!”

“The members have fallen into disorder. Please give a command!”

Messengers shouted from every direction.

“The soldiers......”

Ark said in a hoarse voice and shut his mouth. Many soldiers had died in order to penetrate the Rwigenberg’s shield. They were also attacked by the demons or the flash bombs. There was even a cheat like shield. He thought that the expedition’s concentrated firepower would destroy the shield but it didn’t. This meant there was no way to attack the Rwigenberg and land. There was no way to prevent the Dark Lord’s resurrection. So what was the expedition fighting for?

“.....Endure. We have no choice but to endure it.”

Ark murmured with a sigh after much contemplation. There was no way. Yet he still hadn’t given up.

“Ark!”

Then Wormer’s voice came from Curio.

“Come to Shangri-La quickly. I have something to show you!”

‘Show me?’

Ark’s forehead wrinkled and he turned towards Shangri-La. Ark had honestly thought there was no chance. Everyone else was the same as well. JusticeMan and the rehabilitation members who had been full of will, Shambala who wanted to crush everybody, Timosi who wanted to avenge Alan, Sid who wasn’t thinking about anything and the other soldiers....... Their motivation was lost after seeing Rwigenberg’s cheat like shield. But now Wormer’s words were vivid in his mind. Wormer had converted Shangri-La along with the raccoons and the Magic Institute engineers. He sensed something in this desperate moment.

‘Did he perhaps figure out a way?’

Ark had such expectations after hearing Wormer’s voice.

“Burning Soul, head to Shangri-La!”

Ark immediately turned Burning Soul and flew towards Shangri-La. He landed in front of the White Tower and entered the control room (central office of the White Tower.

“Ark-nim!”

Lariette and the prophet clan greeted him as he entered the control room. Lariette and the prophets had been riding on Shangri-La. This was the power source to move the huge land mass that was Shangri-La. As an aside, there were two reasons why the 7 heroes decided to hide the Ark of Creation in Shangri-La. One reason was to protect the Ark of Creation from the demons. Another reason was that the Ark of Creation was the power source for Shangri-La’s defense ward. That’s right. The reason it was about to float hundreds of metres in the air and raise the defense ward was thanks to the Ark of Creation. After Lariette had removed the Ark of Creation, Shangri-La’s defense ward was released which allowed Alan to slaughter the prophets.

..... Well, that wasn’t important now. Ark exchanged nods and approached Wormer.

“Wormer, what did you want to show me?”

“It is this.”

Wormer pointed towards a huge crystal. To be exact, it was the modified Truth Crystal that linked to the Creator’s will. When Ark looked doubtfully at the truth crystal, Wormer operated something small at the bottom of the crystal. A video instantly appeared on the Truth Crystal. It was the image of when Shangri-La and the airships attacked Rwigenberg. Despite the huge shock and heat wave, Rwigenberg had just shaken off the attack. Watching it just made him feel despair again.

“Why are you showing me this?”

Ark asked with a frown. Wormer scratched his messy hair and muttered.

“Do you see the output of the Ruin Gun mounted on Shangri-La?”

The Ruin Gun was the huge gun turret that Wormer and the Magic Institute joined forces to engineer. But Ark didn’t understand anything about the output of the Ruin Gun. Despite the name, it was just an extremely large magic gun. Ark shook his head and Wormer replied.

“It is 200,000 MG. There were a total of 34 shots. The total output reached 6.8 million MG.”

It was amazing. Everybody would understand how frightening that was. Yet even the terrifying power of the Ruin Guns didn’t break Rwigenberg’s shield? But why did Wormer call him here just to boast about the output from the Ruin Gun?

“The Spear of Thor designed by the Magic Institute has an output of 70,000~100,000 MG. The normal magic guns on the airships have an output of 4,000 MG while the ones on the hot air balloons are roughly 2,500 MG. In other words, the total firepower is approximately 10 million MG.”

“......So?”

Ark asked with a dumb expression. Wormer shouted angrily.

“You idiot, you still don’t understand? 10 million MG, 10 million MG! Do you know how many zeroes are attached to that number? Seven. Seven! That is an astronomical amount of magic energy. That amount of MG is enough to evaporate a whole territory! In theory, that amount of magic energy should be enough to defeat any shield in New World.”

Wormer explained frantically while spitting. Once again, New World was an online game. In other words, the laws could be different from reality. But no matter what happened here, one swing of a sword wouldn’t be able to kill hundreds of enemies. This was the most fundamental law of New World. These laws existed to maintain New World’s balance. If these laws collapsed then New World couldn’t be called a game anymore. Wormer and the engineers from the Magic Institute were convinced that 10 million MG should be enough to penetrate Rwigenberg’s shield. No material or magic existed in New World that could thwart a concentrated attack of 10 million MG.

“But Rwigenberg’s shield didn’t break?”

“That’s right. It is strange.”

Wormer nodded and replied to Ark’s question.

“It goes against the fundamental laws of New World. Then the Rwigenberg is an existence where the laws of New World aren’t applied to it. But after thinking about it carefully, I realized that it was different.”

Ark also agreed with the idea. Ark was one of the few people who knew most of the information related to this event. The Red Man was the alter ego of New World’s creator, Park Woo-seong! The reason the Rwigenberg could withstand that attack was probably because of something Park Woo-seong did. Park Woo-seong was New World’s creator so he would be able to make a cheat like shield.

‘But the Red Man’s ability isn’t limitless. If he had the ability to do whatever he wanted to the system then he wouldn’t need to use this method to achieve his goals.’

That’s right. If the Red Man was able to exert a tremendous power over New World then he wouldn’t need to resurrect the Dark Lord. Couldn’t he just ruin New World by connecting to the main server? Despite that, the Red Man had used the complicated method of resurrecting the demons and using Alan to distract the users as well as stealing the devil’s heart. He had carefully pushed forward his plan step by step. Then it was obvious.

“I don’t know why but the Red Man doesn’t have the ability of the Creator in New World!”

In other words, if his information regarding New World was removed then the Red Man was just an ordinary user. Of course, there was no denying that he had a large advantage over general users. He also couldn’t override the laws of New World. So how was it possible to have a shield that ignores New World’s laws of creation?

‘.......It is impossible.’

This meant that the laws of New World also applied to the shield. Wormer smiled after Ark reached that conclusion and nodded.

“Now you’re starting to understand the situation.”

“But actually......”

“It doesn’t exist. That’s what I thought. Therefore I replayed the scene in the Truth Crystal over and over until I found the identity of that shield.”

“Have you ever figured out the reason?”

“I didn’t understand the first few times I watched. But I slowed the video to 1/100th of a second and was able to discover the absurd secret.”

“Absurd secret?”

“Look.”

Wormer manipulated the video before playing it again. This time it was played at 1/100th of a second so the video looked like a slide show. After a while, Ark started to see the hidden secret behind the shield.

“T-this is.....?”

“Yes, the shield doesn’t have enormous defense like we thought. No amount of defense would be able to withstand 10 million MG. I barely noticed it after playing it at 1/100th of a second. Damn, I never imagined such a method until I saw this image. Now I’ll replay the shield in real time.”

Wormer murmured with amazing as he modified the Truth Crystal again. That’s right. The Rwigenberg’s cheat like shield had a hidden secret. It wasn’t possible to see until seen through the modified Truth Crystal but more than half of the shield had melted the moment the firepower hit it. If there were continuous attacks then the defense shield would’ve probably broken. But he was able to examine the shield when it was played at 1/100th of the speed. The shield was growing back at an equal rate to the speed of the attack! When the offensive ended, the shield became thin like paper but it returned to its original form after some time passed.

“Such a thing.....?”

“My guess is that there are two possible reasons. An infinite amount of magic is currently being focused on the Rwigenberg. And the other reason is this.”

Wormer once again manipulated the Truth Crystal. Then Rwigenberg expanded and was zoomed into a large area. There was a weird scene in the middle of the area. An old man wearing a hood was standing in front of an altar. When the shield shook from the attack, the old man instantly took out a strange looking dagger and chanted a spell. Then thousands of demons gathered in the square exploded and were sucked into the altar? Wormer stopped the video there and said.

“At this point, the shield recovered extremely quickly. So I asked the Magic Institute and they said it was a black magic sacrifice ritual.”

“Black magic sacrifice ritual?”

“It changes the life energy into magic energy. That black magician is converting the demons’ lives into magic energy to heal the shield.”

An engineer from the Magic Institute replied. Ark started to understand the secret behind Rwigenberg’s shield. That’s right. The shield was invincible like Ark thought it was. The black magician sacrificed the lives of thousands to demons to instantly heal Rwigenberg’s shield.

‘I see. Therefore the Dark Lord’s resurrection time will be slightly different from the clock on my warning message.’

Ark managed to figure out one of his questions. The Dark Lord needed time to resurrect. Therefore Ark always checked the time remaining while fighting. But he noticed that time was progressing slightly more slowly that Ark’s clock. He couldn’t understand why and thought it was just an error.

‘That’s because some of the concentrated magic was used to restore the shield. Therefore the magic used for the resurrection ceremony was dispersed and the time remaining slowed. In other words, attacking the shield will also slow down the resurrection ceremony. But it will still be the same in the end if I can’t penetrate the shield.’

Ark’s eyes flashed at the thought.

“Based on the video just now, the speed that the attack destroys the shield is slightly faster than the recovery speed. If we rally the flying boat squadron to attack right afterwards then wouldn’t we be able to penetrate the shield?”

“That’s impossible.”

Wormer shook his head and answered.

“Once again, the recovery speed is so fast that we were barely able to spot it when the playback speed was 1/100th of a second. Even if the flying boat squadron attacks right afterwards then several seconds would be consumed. More than half of the shield would’ve already recovered. The attacks of the flying boat squadron won’t be able to catch up with the recovery speed.”

“Then there is no way?”

Wormer sighed and scratched his head.

“I calculated two possible methods. One is to deal continuous damage worth 1 million MG for 5 minutes. The other way is to increase the output to 11.5 million MG so that the shield doesn’t have time to recover before it breaks.”

“A continuous output of 1 million MG for 5 minutes?”

“Yes.”

“Or an output of 11.5 million MG?”

“That’s what I thought of.....”

“Is that possible?”

“If the 500 hot air balloons and 30 airships from the beginning of the battle were intact then it would barely reach 11.5 million MG when combined with Shangri-La.”

Ark looked amazed at Wormer’s answer. Didn’t that mean it was only possible to crack the shield if they had attacked it from the beginning of the battle? But now 200 hot air balloons and 10 airships had been shot down during the fight. Ark hurriedly looked at the engineers from the Magic Institute.

“Does the Magic Institute have any extra airships or hot air balloons?”

“Yes. All airships were summoned by the Grandmaster but 300 hot air balloons had bene dispatched somewhere else on scouting missions. And we already sent a request to the Grandmaster for reinforcements after listening to Wormer but......”

The Magic Institute member trailed off with a dark expression.

“The summoned air balloons will take at least 3 days to get here.”

3 days for NPCs was 24 hours. Now there was only 15 hours left until the Dark Lord was resurrected. It meant the situation would already be over by the time the hot air balloons arrived.

‘In the end, is there no way to penetrate the shield before the Dark Lord was resurrected?’

Ark sighed with a depressed expression. Despite all of Wormer’s calculations, in the end it was still hopeless.

‘......Wait?’

Then something popped into Ark’s head.

Now, he was going to put it in order. According to Wormer’s calculations, maintaining an output of 1 million MG for 5 minutes or attacking with 11.5 million MG would melt the shield. But the air balloons from the Magic Institute required at least 24 hours to get here. If the armoured battleships attacked then a sufficient output could be reached but the Rwigenberg was floating hundreds of metres away from them.

‘If only the merchant ships had the scorch cannons. The range of the scorch cannon would allow it to attack the Rwigenberg. But the reality is that the ships would have to get pass thousands of sea monsters in order to reach Kwarian. Even if we the airships as support, the armoured ships wouldn’t be able to reach the Kwarian in 15 hours. In the end it is impossible to break the shield. But.......’

Ark recalled a memory from 2 months ago. It was the scene Ark saw when he first approached Shangri-La on board Wormer’s Taekwon V. The defense tower on Shangri-La had attacked the demons the moment they passed the wards. There was a strong magnetic field between the defense tower and the defense ward that roasted any demons that tried to approach. He didn’t understand Wormer’s figure of 10 million MG but how much energy was required to turn thousands of gargoyles to dust? Ark had a crazy idea and asked Wormer. Wormer nodded and replied.

“Yes. If we use the defense ward then 1 million MG will easy come out. Like I said a while ago, the 24 Ruin Guns reached 6.8 million MG. If the burden on the source of power decreases then we can make the 1 million MG last for 5 minutes. However......”

“However? What’s the problem?”

“You know, Shangri-La’s previous defense ward was destroyed by Alan’s surprise attack. The Magic Institute engineers had restored it. But we don’t know how to activate it.”

“Activate it? Didn’t the prophet clan use it previously?”

“They did. But the equipment is slightly strange. Because it was broken and then restored. The circuit route which converts the magic coming from the Ark of Creation to power the ward has changed. And there is a strange lock in the middle of that circuit.”

“Lock?”

“This. Have a look.”

Wormer operated a small number of buttons. Then there was a mechanical sound and something rose from the bottom of the Truth Crystal. It was a circular, crystal slab. However, there were various shapes carved into the slab such as a circle, triangle, knife, water drop etc. Wormer pointed to it and said.

“Probably some devices fit in here in order to make it work. But even the prophet clan don’t know what they are. So I’ve been looking for ways to circumvent the power circuit but even my engineering skills can’t decipher it.”

“Have you tried to look for information in the History Crystal?”

“Of course I tried. But the information on this crystal disc is contained inside the level 1 security area.”

Ark frowned at Wormer’s answer. A level 1 security area meant a password was needed to access the information in the History Crystal. However, if they knew the password then there would be no reason to search for information in the History Crystal. If he knew what went into the holes then he could get a sense of that the password was.

‘Eh?’

Ark suddenly blinked while he was looking at the circular slab. One hole cut in the slab had a surprisingly familiar size and shape.

‘Do I have something circular that will match with that hole? The size and shape is just like......’

Ark gazed at it for a while before eagerly pulling something out of his bag. It was a small disc. Ark was even surer after taking out the disc. When he compared it to the hole, the disc was roughly the same size and shape. Ark placed the disc into the hole.

Cheolkeok, ku ku ku ku.

The disc started spinning once it entered the hole. At the same time, an information window appeared in front of Ark.

Shangri-La’s powerful defense ward was made using the strong power of the 7 heroes. At that time, the 7 heroes thought of Shangri-La as the last bastion for humanity and combined their abilities to create a ward. But there was a chance that Shangri-La’s defense ward could be broken by demons and then repaired. In order to stop the demons from using it, they created a safety device. That is the defense ward’s control device.

If the 7 heroes’ original device ward is destroyed then their descendants need to gather again in order to reactivate the device. Therefore the control device must be equipped with the symbols of the 7 heroes in order for the magic circuit of the defense ward to work. Once all the symbols are loaded then the magic left by the 7 heroes will be completely opened.

<Currently equipped symbol: Three Marvels (Hero Maban/Christin)>

The control device has started preparations to operate the defense ward. The navigation system of the defense ward has been triggered.

“7 heroes!”

Ark felt a flash after reading the information window. The 7 heroes were the ones who originally created Shangri-La’s defense ward. Then wouldn’t the descendants of the 7 heroes be the key to making it work again? That’s right. Ark’s Three Marvels was the symbol of Hero Maban and it was assimilated into the defense ward’s control device. In the information window, it explained why the control device was restricted to the descendants of the 7 heroes. If the defense ward was destroyed then there was a chance that the demons would take over Shangri-La. Therefore the 7 heroes established a seal to prevent it from being used after it was restored. It was the result of some deep planning.

‘Anyway, that doesn’t matter now!’

He had figured out how to work the circular slab. However, there was still a problem to be addressed with the circular slab.

‘It needs the symbol of all 7 heroes to work. But there is no guarantee that the heroes’ descendants have entered this war. Even if they entered the war, they might already be dead. And how am I supposed to find them in a combat situation like this?’

However, Ark’s worries were immediately settled.

“Eh? What, what the?”

“Wah, what is this? Why is my bag rumbling?”

While Ark was busy thinking. Suddenly there was an intense flash from the other 6 holes in the control device. At the same time, Lariette’s chest started glowing white while Wormer’s bag shook and had a brown glow. The freaked out Lariette and Wormer hurriedly checked the identity of the light. It was a teardrop shaped pendant hanging on Lariette’s neck and Wormer had an old brown diary that vibrated.

‘A tear shaped pendant and a square diary!”

Ark’s eyes immediately moved towards the control device. The two items fit perfectly into the holes glowing with the same coloured light.

‘There’s no doubt. The symbols that the 7 heroes left behind have started to react after the control device was activated! This must be the navigation system. But......’

He already knew that Lariette had become a hero’s descendant after Alan. Yet he was surprised about Wormer. He never even imagined that Wormer was a hero’s descendant. Wormer noticed Ark’s surprised eyes and laughed.

“Huhuhu, I guess I can’t hide it anymore. I am the descendant of the genius dwarf inventor and hero, Hamilan......”

“There’s no time. Hurry and insert the symbols!”

Ark shouted angrily and Wormer petulantly placed the diary into the control device. Lariette also inserted her necklace into the teardrop shaped hole. Then Ark saw that the information window had updated again.

<Currently equipped symbol: Pocket Diary of a Genius Inventor (Genius engineer Hamilan)>

<Currently equipped symbol: Ronian’s Teardrop Pendant (Holy Knight Ronian)>

‘That’s it! 3 out of found!’

And he had already secured another hero’s symbol. Ark knew another hero’s descendant, Shambala. Ark immediately used the Feather of Whispering to contact Shambala.

-Shambala, you’re not dead yet?

-You bastard, are you going to keep on talking or come help?

-I am doing something. I’m busy so I’ll give you the detailed information later but quickly come here!

-Eh? Come where?

-The white tower in Shangri-La. Hurry!

-Why do I have to hurry? Am I your servant now?

-It doesn’t matter, just come quickly. It is important.

-......Understood.

Shambala was about to say something but stopped after hearing Ark’s serious voice. He might have a temper but Shambala was quick to notice things.

“Now, the remaining 3 symbols are the problem...... I have to figure out where they are......”

Ark murmured when he saw the empty holes in the control device. Suddenly the red light coming from the dagger shaped hole seemed to become stronger. In fact, Ark had guessed who that belonged to the moment he knew that it was for the symbols of the 7 heroes. Shambala was the descendant of the master assassin Salrin so naturally the dagger shape would belong to him.

‘The light from his hole is gradually becoming stronger? Then perhaps......?’

He was receiving the message that Shambala was coming closer to Shambala. Then the light became stronger when it reacted to the symbols?

‘That’s right! After thinking about it, the strongest light had emitted from Lariette and Wormer’s hole just now. Obviously the light will become stronger the closer the symbol gets. Then?’

Ark looked at the still unknown three holes. The light there was similar to the standard before Shambala started moving. In other words, the rest of the heroes were close to the place Shambala used to be before he started moving.

‘That means the rest of the heroes’ descendants have entered the war and are still alive!’

Ark immediately left the white tower. He jumped on Burning Soul who was waiting in front of the tower and shouted.

“Curio, disperse all bats on the battlefield right now. Tell them to look in the water and the air and locate the position of anyone who is emitting light!”

“I understand Master. Hey you children, you have a new job!”

Curio ordered all his subordinates to search. At the same time, the voices of the leaders stopped emerging from Curio’s mouth. The 10 subordinates left the NPCs and started to search the battlefield. Therefore Ark couldn’t grasp the situation of the air fleet anymore but that wasn’t important now. Curio murmured in his ear after a while.

“Master, my subordinate has found someone.”

“Where?”

“In the sea. Two people are on the Bristania flagship that is surrounded by demons. 800 metres away at your 7 o’clock.”

“Okay. Burning Soul, let’s go!”

Kurarara, kurarara!

Ark grabbed Burning Soul’s horns and flew away. While he was riding away, Shambala who had just arrived at the white tower shouted.

“Hey! I thought you were busy so where are you going?”

“There’s no time to explain. Go inside and Lariette will tell you!”

Ark didn’t even bother looking back and just yelled as he flew off. An information window appeared shortly afterwards.

<Currently equipped symbol: Blood of the Dead (Assassin Master Salrin)>

Shambala had also inserted his symbol on the circular slab.

“It worked. Now I just have to find the remaining 3......”

Ark muttered as he observed the battlefield where several battleships were fighting with demons. A battleship surrounded by against jellyfish caught his eye. It was the flagship of the Bristania expedition. And two lights were shining from the deck of the battleship.

“Over there! Blade Tempest!”

Ark pushed back the swarming demons with Blade Tempest and landed on the deck. And a voice rang out across the boat.

“The person who has a light shining from his body please come here!”

“Beast Spirit possession, rise power of the dog! What? Light? Are you talking about me?”

“High speed intonation, fire, ice! Damn, what the? Why is light coming from my body? Won’t this just catch the demons’ eyes even more? Eh, that guy is.....?”

Two people who were fiercely fighting the demons turned around at Ark’s shout. Ark’s eyes widened as he caught sight of them.

“Aren’t you Ark?”

“Eh? Why are you here?”

“Bread, Redian? You guys were heroes’ descendants?”

Ark muttered with a foolish expression. That’s right. The pair fighting on Bristania’s flagship was the Beast Master Bread and the Elemental Master Redian. Ark checked the light coming from both of their bags.

.....Bread and Redian were heroes’ descendants.

“Heroes’ Descendants? Well, we are but how did you know that?”

“There’s no time to explain. Quickly get on!”

“What? Get on what? Can’t you see the situation?”

“If we go then the flagship won’t be able to hold on and will sink.”

“This is more urgent that saving the flagship! Burning Soul!”

It was quite unexpected that Bread and Redian were heroes’ descendants. However, now wasn’t the time to explain the details of the situation. Ark directed Burning Soul towards Bread and Redian and used Riposte. Then he immediately grabbed the two and flew into the sky.

“Hey! What is going on?”

“I said there’s no time to explain.”

Ark placed the struggling Bread on the back. Then Curio opened his eyes and shouted.

“Master, I found the last person. 100 metres from Shangri-La in the 11 o’clock direction!”

“Well done. Burning Soul, let’s finish this!”

Ark flew Burning Soul towards the area specified by Curio. After a while, the hero’s descendant he saw in that place was even more unexpected than Bread and Redian. Riding a flying boat and shooting arrows blindly....no, Ark was surprised as he knew her. No, she was someone that had been in Ark’s vicinity a lot.

“Timosi.....you?”

Ark checked the light coming from her bag and murmured in a dumbfounded voice. That’s right. The last hero’s descendant was the Dark Elf Timosi.

“You idiot, where did you go? The demons revived while you were gone! Furthermore, the shield around Rwigenberg doesn’t even have a scratch on it...... Damn, everything is a mess! How am I supposed to get revenge for Alan? Matanyi Shooter no. 1, Devil Penetrating Arrow!”

Timosi cursed as she shot her arrows. Ark who was watching blankly smiled and answered.

“If you want to make sure Maseutyu and the Red Man pays then I’ll help you.”

“What? How?”

“Just come with me!”

Ark turned Burning Soul and headed towards Shangri-La. After a while Ark, Bread, Redian and Timosi touched down in front of the white tower. He used a simple explanation to ensure the three descendants understood the situation. Then Bread, Redian and Timosi placed their symbols in the control device.

The message window renewed in front of everybody.

<Currently equipped symbol: Tank Bracelet (King of Beasts Kalgaradon)>

<Currently equipped symbol: Spirit Talisman (Elemental Valkyrie Shura)>

<Currently equipped symbol: Rune of an Ancient Elf (Elf Archer Electric)>

<Shangri-La’s magic circuit has connected and the defense ward reactivated>

<The magic of the heroes sealed in Shangri-La has been released>

At that moment, seven colours flashed from the control device. Then intense sparks occurred and spread from the circuit through the tower. Wormer who was watching the Truth Crystal cheered.

“That’s it. The defense system of Shangri-La is working!”

The heroes’ descendants gathered in the tower simultaneously looked at the Truth Crystal. The Truth Crystal showed the situation that was happening in Shangri-La.

Snap, snap, snap!

The sparks extended from the white tower towards dozens of defense towers. At the same time, the defense towers that were wrapped in sparks started having the circles at the top spinning and giving off a huge amount of discharge. The sparks shot like a lightning bolt towards the next defense towers. Then onto the next one......dozens of defense towers were connected by the sparks. The defense towers had started to show their power.

-Kurwarwarwarwa!

While the expedition army had been mired in despair, hundreds of demons had been pushing towards Shangri-La. The gun turrets had been intercepted the scorch cannon blasts so it was helpless against the demons. But once the defense towers linked, thousands of sparks flew towards the demons.

-Kwaaaaa!

Hundreds of demons had their health drained from the lightning attack and turned to ash. This was the defense ward that Wormer and the Magic Institute upgraded! Wormer excitedly clamoured inside the white tower.

“Hohoho! This, this! Isn’t this great? Isn’t it better than ever? This is the result of my genius skill. The defense towers are restored and the output is steadily increasing. The fact that I couldn’t use the defense ward had been upsetting me...... Anyway, if it is this degree than 1 million MG will be easy. Well, shall we head towards the Rwigenberg?”

Wormer smirked and operated the controls. The magic engines of Shangri-La started working and it rushed towards the Rwigenberg. Despite the sudden rush towards the Rwigenberg, there was still time for the demons to approach them. However, the demons’ attacks didn’t matter now that the defense ward was operated. Any demons that approached Shangri-La’s fearful defense were turned to ash. Whether it was hundreds of thousands, any demon that entered the defense ward was 100% roasted. While the demons were hopeless, the Rwigenberg had fired the scorch cannons. However, even the flash bombs were destroyed by Shangri-La’s defense ward. After rushing for around 10 minutes.

1 kilometre, 500 metres, 300 metres......

Shangri-La gradually narrowed the distance and collided with Rwigenberg’s shield.

Kwa kwa kwa kwa, kwa kwa kwa kwa!

At the same time there was a tremendous roar and Shangri-La shook. Ark, Shambala, Lariette, Wormer, Bread, Redian and Timosi inside the white tower were able to see what happened through the Truth Crystal.

“Melting! Rwigenberg’s shield is melting!”

The lightning bolts from the defense towers were attacking Rwigenberg’s shields. As soon as it touched it, the shield started to melt like water. Of course the shield was being repaired at the same time but it couldn’t keep up with the damage.

“Raise the output!”

Wormer and the Magic Institute engineers made small modifications. Shangri-La shook and pressed forward even harder. After a while...... The shield was unable to keep up and Shangri-La gradually surged inside. And the shaking became even worse.

“Pretty soon......pretty soon.....now.....eh, what the?”

Suddenly Shangri-La was hit by something.

“T-that bastard.....!”

Wormer gnashed his teeth together. Wormer was looking at the Rwigenberg through the Truth Crystal. No, to be exact he was looking at the black magician wearing a hood. When the old man swung his dagger, thousands of demons were sucked into the altar. At the same time, the area of the shield that Shangri-La was pushing against became stronger.

“He is using the health of the demons to amplify the recovery speed of the shield in this area!”

“So even Shangri-La’s defense ward can’t break it?”

“I don’t know. At its maximum output, the defense wards can overpower the recovery speed of the shield but then it will overload in the next few minutes. If we fail to destroy the shield before that happens then Shangri-La will be smashed!”

Ark stared at the Truth Crystal. He had to do something. The black magician was strengthening Rwigenberg’s shield. If he couldn’t penetrate the shield then he couldn’t stop the black magician.

“Keep rushing!”

“If we continue rushing without taking any measures then it is highly likely that we will be smashed.”

“It will be the same even if we leave. If that has to happen then it is better to die while breaking the shield.”

“Heh, I knew you would say that. You are a true man. Let’s go and die!”

Wormer laughed at Ark’s answer. At the same time, Shangri-La’s engines roared even more fiercely and it rushed forward. The fate of the Kwarian battle depended on whether this shield broke.