"You book doesn’t like being separated from you, so you too should stay together," Ikem said as a wave of roots emerged from the ground, covering him entirely.
"Your Highness, wait. We can strike a deal; I know how much your kingdom has benefited from my knowledge. If you let me leave, I can share some of that knowledge with you," Meray said in panic, glancing at the book, which burned brighter.
Meanwhile, Ikem, at the cover of his shield, said nothing. Instead, a circular green shield constructed around the wooden red shield he already had. Just as Meray sent him flying, he received a telepathic message from Bara, not to worry about the book’s actions, as there were still pieces of his body left inside the Balor body before it was killed.
Ikem took the next best action, which was to destroy the book from the inside, but he was expecting the following result as he felt how chaotic the energy and mana surrounding the book once its core was damaged from the inside. Ikem knew a huge explosion was about to happen, so he took cover while ensuring that Meray was at the center of the explosion.
Before, he might have kept Meray alive, but that was when Meray didn’t know about him and wasn’t prepared for him. But now, he has been exposed. Letting Meray live with all his knowledge, especially the summoning stunt he just pulled, would be stupid. So, it was time for one demon invader to be dead.
Meray, meanwhile, was panicking as he threw a wave of elemental attacks at the roots, but this time they were not easily destroyed. Even if he managed to shave some off, more climbed out from the ground, holding him steady.
Just as the book was about to explode, Ikem called back the huge red tree, which turned into a dot of red light that flew back into Ikem’s heart. Meray freed himself once the tree was called back, but it was too late, as a huge wave of light surrounded him before the huge sound of the explosion spread throughout the surroundings.
Ikem felt the aftereffect of the explosion from inside his shield, but they were supplied with mana, so they held steady before everything went calm. He retracted the green construct and the red roots back into the ground.
Ikem was met with the sight of a huge charred hole, but that wasn’t where his focus was. Instead, he used the leftover corrupted root system from the explosion to make sure that nothing strange was happening. Each piece of flesh found was torched with red flames.
This went on for a while before Ikem stopped and went to the edge of the huge hole, sitting and looking down into it. "Brix and Aqua will be pissed if they see this," Ikem thought as a chuckle escaped his mouth.
Back at the Apeling kingdom, after Zephyr gathered his men, using his power as a royal prince, he ended school early and asked everyone to return home. A few were able to guess that something was going on, but there was nothing Zephyr could do about it.
Zephyr found Meray’s room and, following the same steps, found the green book, which was the key to opening the underground space. As Ikem opened the underground space, the mutated Apelings guarding the space all took a sniff at the air.
Their eyes all turned violent; the one opening the door wasn’t their master or anyone they remembered. One of Zephyr’s men stood at the center of the group, holding a ball of light that enabled everyone to see.
Once the men saw the sight, their breath hitched as they saw the mangled dead bodies of their people. Zephyr also felt anger, but it wasn’t because of the dead corpses around but because this was the choice that all these dead Apelings made themselves.
"Focus up; our mission was to gather everything that can be of value right here and at the same time give our dead people a proper burial," Zephyr said to his men as training kicked in, and they focused back on their mission.
Zephyr took his five Apeling men, each at the peak or middle of the third realm. He could have brought more, but any more would make the people think this was something bigger than it is, so Zephyr frowned as he and his men quickly formed a circle, knowing that they were surrounded by what seemed to be dozens of mutated Apelings.
The Apeling soldier holding the ball of light threw it up in the air, where it hung, providing a much clearer view of the underground and their enemies. Sounds of weapons being drawn could be heard as the soldiers all pulled out their weapons.
One of the bigger mutated Apelings walked forward, catching Ikem’s attention, especially the snake it had for a tail, which established eye contact with Zephyr immediately as their eyes shone.
Zephyr found himself stuck when the bigger Apeling roared out loud as it took to the air with arms clenched together to bring it down like a hammer on top of Zephyr’s head. Still stuck, the wind on the ground moved around Zephyr, generating an invisible windshield which blocked the assault of the Apeling.
At the same time, the shield pushed the Apeling back. Once the Apeling was pushed back, Zephyr freed himself and quickly shouted, "Don’t look at the eyes of the snake!" He received no response as he saw that his men were already engaged with the other mutated Apelings, and none of them had a snake for a tail, only this one.
Calling out his Wind staff artifact, Zephyr looked at the beast and said, "It’s just you and me."
A flash of intelligence flickered in the beast’s eyes as it saw the artifact, taking a step back before disappearing. Zephyr frowned, and all of a sudden, he felt the wind move behind him, so he ducked. But as he ducked, the face of a snake appeared in front of him, causing him to get stuck once again.
This time, unprepared, Zephyr was kicked into one of the pillars holding up the underground. Once he hit the pillar, he was unstuck, immediately standing up while vigilantly looking around. Inside his mouth, wind formed and concentrated.
Once again, Zephyr felt the movement of the air. He took a step back this time, seeing a dagger pass by him. Suddenly, he was taken off his feet as the snake wrapped around one of his legs, throwing him once more.
Again, Zephyr was sent into a pillar. As he was about to stand up, the face of a snake once again appeared in front of him, getting him stuck once again. The only difference this time was his mouth was opened as a half-moon condensed wind left his mouth, easily going through the head of the snake that appeared in front of him.
The snake head fell to the ground with a thud as Zephyr was released, the mutated Apeling appearing out of thin air, screaming and moaning in pain while clenching its tail. Zephyr took his time to stand up.
Pointing his wind artifact at the mutated Apeling, the mouth of the creature opened wide as its eyes widened in panic, flailing around as it was taken into the air. From the open mouth of the Apeling, the air it had in its mouth was quickly drawn out as it clenched its throat in panic.
Soon, the Apeling stopped moving. The air that left the Apeling was made physical by Zephyr as it quickly turned into a sharp blade that tore the creature’s body into pieces. No longer looking at the dead body, Zephyr turned around to help his men who were outnumbered.
Meanwhile, at the realm of the gods, Crepuscular held a ball of light in his hand. The other gods looked at the ball of light, which was about to tear a hole in their world and escape, but Crepuscular was quick to catch it.
"So, this is how the coordinate is sent out," Ikenga said as Crepuscular threw the ball of light over to him.
Catching it, Ikenga brought it closer to his eyes. His eyes brightened once he did that as he could see a shrunken version of their world inside the ball of light. Shaking his head, Ikenga clenched the ball as it dispersed like dust.
"We can now confirm that with our awakening, their trump card is null," Keles said as she looked at Ikenga’s hands where the ball dispersed.
"Now we just have to make sure our kids know that," Mahu said as the other gods nodded.
Ikenga waved his hand, and a screen of Ikem summoning a mirror with a wave of his hand appeared. "I believe my son already figured it out and is trying to send forward the message to your daughter."
The gods already know who’s is daughter being talked about as they looked at Crepuscular who rolled his eyes as he waved at the screen showing a view of the harpies kingdom "I don’t think she is in any mood to pick up a call"