Grind

Ailen looked at Hansoo who had gotten her unconscious before and gnashed her teeth.

“You think you’ll be able to find the location like this?”

Hansoo sighed as he looked at Tekilon and Tares.

In a situation where most of the intel couldn’t be shared due to the invasion of the Abyss, he needed to get into persuasion mode.

Why would she gladly tell him and cooperate if he were to act aggressively in a situation where persuading nicely would not be enough?

That was perfect for being framed as a thief looking for the Temple.

“Please.”

Persuasion was originally used by emotion and not really by logic.

Tekilon started to ponder at Hansoo’s words of asking him to persuade Ailen.

‘…Can I really trust this guy?’

He knew after seeing him.

For some reason that guy was as desperate as himself.

To save the Akaron.

And he had heard after coming here.

The humans were treating their race like a huge treasure chest.

Something that will grant them strength if they found it.

And he didn’t know but he could guess that his race didn’t really have a good impression of the humans.

Since the humans were parasites sucking onto the blood of the Divine Beast in their eyes.

And the tube had already reached the black color in such an edgy situation.

It meant that the body fluids were critically lacking.

If there was a dispute created between the humans and the Akarons in such a situation for the Gragos then he questioned Hansoo sticking with the Akarons.

Tekilon clenched his teeth.

There’s no point in getting dragged around if he got pushed away at the very end by force.

‘Bit by bit… I need to prepare.’

Though they had gotten on the same boat now, the directions they were looking at were different.

In a desperate situation the weaker one will fall into the water and the stronger one will take the boat to his/her destination.

And from the current situation it seemed like their race was clearly stronger than the humans.

‘But since we’re on the same boat… I must help.’

Since they would all die if they didn’t go to the temple to report this.

The solution when it reached the black zone was simple.

It wouldn’t be surprising for the Gragos to roll over at any moment.

And this was the time when the priests’ faction had the strongest power.

Tekilon looked towards Ailen.

The seven green stripes in between her hair.

And the two accesories between her fingers.

“So you are a daughter of the Ontarim Tribe. Is Ontarim Tan Akam still alive?”

Ailen’s eyes quickly squinted down at those words.

Since those aren’t names which should come out of a different race’s mouth.

Ontarim Tan Akam.

The patriarch of the Ontarim Tribe who had succeeded in moving 50 years ago along with their whole tribe.

Tekilon whispered into Ailen’s ear while looking at the confused expression.

“I’m one of the 13 seeds. 11th successor to the Kalu Tribe, Tekilon Ah Kalu.”

Ailen flinched.

It was before she was even born.

A plan that was attempted before white lion , which supported their kingdom, sunk beneath the lava.

The 13 seeds.

From the 1st seed Elkadione to the 13th seed Tener.

As Ailen made an expression of disbelief at the fact that this human-shaped person was a person who had floated away with only his soul in order to save their race, Tekilon released his transformation.

And then the shape and look of the Elvenheim came into Ailen’s view.

‘…He’s not human.’

He knew information that the Humans and even most Akarons did not know about.

Ailen could only recognize this to be the truth.

That he was one of the 13 saviors sent to other worlds.

Ailen made a chaotic expression for a bit and then grabbed onto Tekilon’s hands as she went into final confirmation work.

A method of conversation used when they needed to not make a single sound, a communication method using muscles.

If he was really part of the Akaron then he needed to understand all of the conversation transmitted by the slight tremblings in the hand muscles.

Tekilon thought of their hunting communication at this moment.

‘I should’ve used this sooner.’

Tekilon searched around his memories as he used the tens of minute muscles of his hands to return a message.

Their language that he almost forgot about since he hadn’t used it for hundreds of years.

It was an extremely choppy communication but Ailen’s expression completely loosened up.

She didn’t know much about the people Tekilon had brought but from what Tekilon had said, he must’ve had a plan.

While Ailen was cautiously getting up after nodding, a message was relayed at the end of Ailen’s hands.

Ailen flinched for a moment but then stood up as if nothing happened as she started to guide them towards a direction in the Ant Tunnels.

…………………………………….

Kuooooo

Ailen looked at the 3 males and females including Tares.

“…You’re going to follow? Safety. Cannot guarantee. Danger. It is.”

She was just part of the lower caste in her tribe.

She didn’t know what would happen to the people here.

And they would need to defend themselves.

Tares and the others nodded.

“Don’t worry. We can protect ourselves.”

How could they miss this chance?

Ailen nodded after worrying over them for a bit.

It didn’t matter much whether she took one or she took many.

The rule of repaying back kindness kept on nagging at her so she couldn’t get herself to kill them.

‘Return the favor.’

Since they wanted to go this bad, taking them was a method of paying them back.

But Tares couldn’t hide his thumping heart from Ailen’s answer.

‘Finally… We’ll be able to go to the Temple.’

He was currently a 5th year.

If he received the body enhancing surgery then he could probably catch up to Sofía who showed off a might that was around a 6th year’s.

‘Yeah. She would give the opportunity to us 6 before the 2 she just met.’

While he was making numerous thoughts such as this, Ailen suddenly stopped while running.

‘…?’

While Tares was watching Ailen who had stopped at a location that was similar to the ones they had run across until now, Ailen shoved her fist in her mouth and started to puke something out.

“Uweaek..Huhuk.”

‘Mmm…’

Ailen spoke towards the surrounding people while Tares frowned and looked at Ailen who had pulled out a small thumb-sized green stone from inside her.

“Next to me. Get close.”

“Mmm?”

The people slowly gathered around Ailen from her words and soon after a strange slime-like thing popped out from the wall.

Kudududuk

“Uhuht!”

Even before they could get surprised, the 10 meter tall rocky slime swallowed up Ailen, who held the small green crystal in her hands, as well as the others.

Kurururururu

Hansoo made a surprised expression at the rock slime that flowed through the artery towards an unknown location after having swallowed them up.

Since it was the first time seeing it for himself despite having heard about it

‘So these are the Defensive Stones of the Gragos huh.’

A rocky lifeform that the Gragos let around inside its body in order to get rid of the possible harmful substances it brought into its body while devouring rocks.

There were only 4 things that could influence this giant creature.

The Defensive Stones remembered those four things and when it felt that substance getting near an area which could impact it, it would automatically surround the substance and drag it out with the .

The Green Stone in Ailen’s hands was one of the four substances.

‘If it’s green then it should be Graphite. The Graphite has an ability of absorbing the bodily fluids of the Gragos.’

The small green stone, , would absorb the bodily fluids of the Gragos as soon as it fell in it and then expand tens of thousands of times in size.

This was why the Defensive Stone would come out when it got near the arteries in order to take it out with the purification method and destroy it.

Kururururu

After a long while of getting swept down the current, they could see tens of chains hanging in the distance.

‘Uh?’

Ailen spoke towards the surrounding people while looking at the metal chains.

“Ready. Must. Grab it.”

As soon as Ailen finished speaking, she swallowed up the green stone she had taken out before.

<…..>

The Defensive Stone surrounding them shuddered.

Since the reason for its actions had disappeared.

Since there was nothing to get rid of, there was no need to sustain its form anymore.

The Defensive Stone automatically let loose its body.

“Huuk!”

Kwarurururu

It was only called a liquid but the bodily fluid of the Gragos was extremely thick and viscous since it was made from grinding up rocks and lava.

Tares freaked out as an extremely heavy and thick amount of liquids that couldn’t even be compared to water pushed them.

Tares quickly tried to follow Ailen but Ailen was also barely holding onto the chains as she started to head towards the outside.

“Help..Me!”

Sofía sighed as she looked towards Tares.

‘It seems like they value benefactors, taking them will make it easier for us at the temple right?’

Sofía rated the fact of helping others in a time of need highly as she used a few skills in order to drag the 3 males and 3 females out.

“Huukk… Hukk.”

Tares gasped for air after coming out from the arteries but then was lost in awe after seeing the scene in front of him.

“Uwaa…”

It was a completely different world.

A huge cave that was hundreds of meters high and was wider than most fields was in front of them.

Tens of strange stones in the ceiling were shining moonrays out and lighting up the insides of the cave as tens of thousands of caves designed for living existed upon the corners of the cave.

And a strange structure in the center.

Two towers that seemed to have imitated the horns of a creature faced each other as they rose from the ground to the ceiling.

‘How could anyone find it if they had to come in like this…’

But Tares could only shut up.

Since he saw Akarons charging at them with extremely fierce auras.

Ailen’s height was 2m long but she was a child in comparison to the ones charging at them.

Especially the five at the front, their heights almost reached 5m tall.

‘…Are those Garde-Barongs?’

Hansoo swirled his tongue around at the fierce aura he felt.

An aura telling that they could beat down a Margoth without any skills or artifacts.

And a single Akaron came out from in between the Garde-Barongs.

Though she was only 3m tall, he had 7 accessories that symbolized the highest level of power.

‘The Priestess.’

While Hansoo was looking at the priestess, Ailen walked up and whispered something quietly to the priestess.

The priest made a cold expression at Hansoo after hearing the story.

“You are here to solve our problems? And the person who had brought that guy is the seed?”

Tekilon tried to greet him using the old ways of the Akaron but he felt that something had gone wrong.

An extremely aggressive aura.

For them to have such a reaction even after Ailen verified their identities.

At that moment the priestess shook her head and shouted.

“Those who don’t have our body… Aren’t a part of our race. You are quite cocky for someone who has failed their task. Kill them all. Use the blood as a sacrifice to the Divine Beast and finish off the preparations to move!”

The moment those words ended, Sofía felt her senses getting dizzy.

<!!!!!!!>

Since a tremendous amount of sirens were roaring inside her head.

The Library, which would usually tell her a way of survival, couldn’t let out a single piece of intel.

Which meant that she could not run away no matter what.

No, the single massive body walking towards them was more than enough to crush them all.

“…Did you expect this situation too? They only seem to know our language, it doesn’t seem like our words got through them.”

While Sofía clenched her teeth towards Hansoo, Hansoo threw a red carrier pigeon towards the priest.

The information and the legacy left behind by Elkadion, the first seed.

‘There’s nothing good about many people knowing such a thing.’

Boom!

At that moment the Garde-Barong approaching them smashed the carrier pigeon and blew it apart.

The red carrier pigeon became dust from the fist of the Garde-Barong and disappeared.

‘…These blockheads.’

Hansoo swirled his tongue at their attitudes which told them that they didn’t even want to talk.

Proofreader’s note

Regular chapter 2/3.

At long last, a typical xianxia antagonist.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep