Chapter 157: Plundering the Foundation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

No matter how unsettled and agitated the world below was, there was always a calming peace beyond the sea of clouds.

In my eyes, clouds moved, formed, and changed shape in sync with their own slow rhythm. Just looking at them was sufficient to slow down the heartbeat and mind, the heart would be at peace, but the aggregation of the wind before the eyes was certainly out of control.

Above the throne high in the clouds, a raging cyclone aggregated into a dark vortex, from which the Lightning Fury was overflowing without a halt, and his roar was as resonant as the thunderstorm.

Yes, it was him, not it, the powerful Wind Elemental God, Camdian, the last member of the four great Elemental Gods, and also the youngest among them.

“Puny little thing, do you mean to say, that dull-witted block of stone actually planned to open the main gate towards the Earth elemental plane, on the main plane? That is absolutely impossible! Even if it is him, he would never be able to sustain such an enormous rate of consumption. Besides, this is different from the agreement we had in the beginning!”

It sounded like an interrogation, it sounded like a question, and after hearing this, I just smiled.

“Agreement? Ow, Lord Camdian, did you just come upon the stage? You actually believe in verbal agreements? Let me guess, the agreement you had must be that each of you would fight their own wars, and the lands you win would be yours to keep.”

The storm continued whirling, an indistinct face remained solemn. However, this solemness was explanation enough, in a sense, this sketchy agreement is also the only agreement that could be accepted.

“Haha, speaking about honour with demons and dark gods, I applaud you for even thinking of that! Do you think, that if you were in such a position, someone would be willing to help you open the main gate towards the Wind elemental plane, the gate towards the territory of howling gales? But what about your relationship with Emordilorcan? Haha.”

“Besides a few special planes, a main elemental plane must maintain its balance. Regarding the reality of the situation of Eich Continent, the great philosopher Aristotle once brought up the subject of the four elements. In his eyes, everything was made up of Earth, Water, Air and Fire, and can be separated into solid, liquid, air, and plasma states. At the same time, the four elements were also the combination of dryness, wetness, coldness, hotness, and other properties. For example, dryness and coldness produce Earth, and Water contains wetness and coldness. The ensemble of all must remain balanced, and thus between the elements, competition for the land would always persist, this is the fundamental law of the world.

“From any perspective, the properties of the elements are all different. Yet they are always in pairs. The flames that represent high temperature and the ice that represents low temperature; the land that represents solid and the storm that represents a free state, they fight each other yet achieved balance, this was decided by the basic properties of the element. When this world and the rocky caves of the Earth elemental plane are chained together, do you think there is still a place in this world for you to interfere, Wind Elemental God? Perhaps you and your race, will forever be sealed within this world.”

The solemn silence continued, but from how Lightning Fury flowed over this entire gigantic body, my message was successfully delivered. As the two were old rivals, Camdian certainly knew that once the Earth Elemental plane and the main plane interlocked, it would not end well for him too.

“This time, I come to represent the Gods of Law, with the purpose of extending the hand of friendship, to a great existence such as yourself. Why should you bend your knee before the junior? There are many things we could discuss further.”

“Order faction? Hehe, do you think there are any differences between them and those bastards from the Chaos faction?”

“No, I only represent the Gods of Law. Of course, there are some big-shots that I can not reveal.”

He extended his arm, and within the white crystal ball was a message that could only be heard by the designated receiver, and just as the shining crystal ball finished transmitting the message, he crushed it with his large hand.

“Do you think, with a clever tongue, you can convince the mighty peak of Winds to serve you? Get out of my sight! I do not wish to look at you now.”

The order of expelling guests rang out like a thunderstorm. I turned and left without a word, but with a smile on my lips.

From what I understood about this old antique being, not only did he not order his guards to attack me, but instead gave out the order that I was to leave. This meant that he was convinced, and appreciated the gesture.

There were no complete secrets in this world, the news of my rendezvous with Camdian would not be utterly airtight, a bad parting such as this was, in fact, the best ending. From my view, as long as no swords were drawn, it meant that the deal was done. If that fellow actually wanted to repudiate, he would have crushed the ball without looking at it.

“Earth Elemental God? Fort of Elements? Haha, Emordilorcan, I have found you a worthy opponent. Hmph, if you could lure the Elves from the Order faction, why I couldn’t lure the Wind elements from the Chaos faction?”

Before a country, a war is the birth of politics. A war is for benefits, and behind every sudden war, there are the invisible arms and batons.

At this point, I could almost visualise the plan from the Chaos faction.

In this whole sacred war, the invasion of the elements was just the appetizer. Their core benefit was still to increase the degree of the elemental tide, to prepare for the upcoming Entree.

Perhaps it was unfair to the Beastmen and the Elves, but in a sense, their actions of war were just a form of voting, and more importantly, it was but a camouflage of the real strategy of the Chaos faction.

“The interlocking of Elemental planes? What a joke.”

If the elemental tide being blown up by the four great Elemental Gods was one on the scale of 1 to 10, then the complete interlocking of an elemental plane was, fearfully, at least ten. Then, all the strategies of the Chaos faction could then be brought forward.

“If the invasion of demons and the arrival of dark Gods happens now, who can stop them! Most importantly, this is not some game where you only need to accomplish your mission, and the enemies will not come one at a time to increase your level, they will come all at once! The elemental gate must not be opened!”

To increase the elemental tide is a gradual process, countless elemental creatures on the main plane would be killed, or banished to their own elemental plane. Remaining elements would be dissipated across the whole world. The Elemental Tide would then rise because of this.

Not to mention the influence of elemental Fort of Elements and tremendous Earth elemental reinforcements towards the situation on the battlefield, just based on the strategic significance, I did not wish in any way to see the Elemental gates being opened.

But if I were to stop it, there was one problem.

I would not be able to defeat it.

Yes, I could not do it, there was no chance at all. The opening of the Earth Elemental plane will of course be done personally by the Earth Elemental God. Should one stop him from that, he would definitely fight you to the death.

Although Emordilorcan was not highly ranked among the Elemental Gods, and did not have any notable achievements, just the fact that he could survive to this day albeit his horrible relationship with the other Elemental Gods, was more than enough to prove his astounding might.

It had been said, as the oldest existence of the four Elemental Gods (if a God of Element dies, a new King of Element would be ascended to the God of Elements), he was thus reputed by all as the strongest Elemental God. I was afraid his abilities weren’t below any of the Gods.

Demigods could be killed by being swarmed by a sea of soldiers. But with such an existence, unless there was an intervention from the gods, with such an opponent, sending any number of people was to no avail.

Therefore, I thought of looking for help.

The group of true Gods from the Order faction need not be considered, but the one going on a hunting trip with the Black Winged people, wasn’t he Camdian, the nemesis of Emordilorcan?

Was he an enemy? Indeed, but what could be done? The Elves and the Elven Gods were still the allies of humans, every sacred war brought about a reformation of the forces across the whole continent, such events like the switching of sides and betrayals, were too common.

Therefore, after finding out that Camdian and the Black Winged people were not far from the Northland, I rushed here personally without a word, even though this “not far from here” was at least half a month’s journey.

“Realising that the Earth Elemental gate is not something that could be done at once, the Chaos faction would definitely not like to see the final battle take place yet. Antoin, on the other hand, will be safe.”

Regarding Camdian, it was still handled by me. These old antiques were very particular about reputation and ostentation, and if these were lacking, you were considered lucky if they just showed you the door, as normally they would just destroy you. Especially in such an important persuasion, sincerity was even more stressed upon. Obtaining the anticipated answer, I was now a little more relieved.

Stepping into the long-awaited vulture-shaped assault ship, I started my own journey home. Even with the short-noticed preparation, the signals from the front lines remained unbroken.

The drivers started preparing themselves.

“A strange peace remained on the battlefield, the Elves seemed to be reorganizing their troops, the main legions of four countries are moving, the total numbers have already exceeded one hundred and fifty thousand. Taking into consideration the adult Elves are at least Silver rank in terms of their battle strength, they could be a formidable strength.”

“Of the three walls of Antoin, only the innermost one is left, but the attacks have stopped. The troops of San Antonio have set foot in the Northland, and have officially taken over the defence of Maple City. If we went back now, I’m afraid we might encounter some problems.”

“The human allied forces have already started fighting with the Beastmen, both sides have wins and losses, it is just as you expected. The Beastmen from three different routes have started merging, this has been a cage from the beginning. Damn it, they dare to deceit the Demon King.”

“Moreover, just as you predicted, the second snow storm came, and sealed off the mountain. Now, the troops are trapped within their own city, and the supplies consumed on a daily basis are sky high. Only the stronger soldiers will manage to survive in such a freakish weather, you need not worry about missing the year’s great show.”

Elisa’s report carried some resentment, it seems that when she was making fun of the Beastmen Warchiefs, the Beastmen Warchiefs did not tell her their real strategy, and this made her very upset.

“And that little nonsensical stuff, like the group of bastards from the Gentlemen Alliance, they came looking for me when you were not here…”

My departure and the recent appointment had caused a lot of errands to fall onto her shoulders, but in a sense it meant that if she was not here I would not have left, feeling assured.

“Eck, didn’t I have important matters to discuss? Oh yes, how is our situation here?”

“Our firearms are selling like hot cakes. The chargeless magic sword has, after experimentation, received unanimous good reviews, the order list for the demonic explosive grenade is full until the year after next, we are not able to make them all the next year. The profit of the first sale is at least four times the capital, we are earning so much!”

“How’s the training situation?”

“The training of the smaller groups are going smoothly, but there had not been many chances for training our troops. The fighting matches between Elite Air Cavalries have become very frequent as of late, but obviously the youngsters will not be able to interfere in this. Your Skull Dragon Knight Timier recently assaulted that Azure Dragon Knight and Storm Dragon Knight, it was sensational, and there have been rumours that he has been named “The number one Air Cavalry of the Northland”.”

“What about those little toys?”

“The first batch of war machines have arrived at their destination, the deal was just concluded two days ago with that Blackface. The first batch has three types of the seven-staged ones, specially built to fight against the Beastmen’s Behemoth, and the profit for this sale is at least four hundred thousand gold coins. Nothing is more profitable than selling war machines in times of war.”

Elisa stopped, but there was some hesitation in her words.

“Waiting idly for the war to escalate? Doesn’t that contradict our original intention?”

Hearing this, I could only laugh bitterly. Of course, I did not wish for the war to escalate, but this was laid out by the Chaotic faction. What could I do before breaking this?

Reaching out to crush Emordilorcan? I supposed I would be the one killed.

“I too, want the war to stop, but this peace game cannot be talked out, only when enough blood has been lost, only will there be a true desire for peace, and understanding of the preciousness of peace. I only hope that after this war, the Northland will be quiet for a few years, to give us enough time. Oh yes, since there is nothing going on at home, I’m afraid I will be taking the longer route.”

To stop the war? Have both sides obediently sitting on the negotiation table? Besides having a neutral position, the most important factor was that one must have the ability to make both sides set aside their differences. However, I did not fulfil both these conditions, and I absolutely knew not where I should start in order to stop the war.

“Longer route? Are there more important matters?”

“Yes. It’s three more days till the winter veil festival, and that will also be the day of the appointment of the Knights in Mist City.”

“Back to East Mist to celebrate a festival? You seem to be so free.”

“Of course to celebrate, only not with the humans, the Appointment of the Knights, particularly the kind of knights only the Mist Kingdom have. You must have understood that by now.”

“You mean…the Aurora Knights?”

“Winter Veil festival is also the day of our appointment with the Frigid Nightmares, and if we miss it, we would have to wait again until next year. Don’t we have insufficient power right now? If I can bring them back here with me, maybe it would be enough.”

Every year, during the Winter veil festival, the royal family and the Frigid Nightmare met to unseal the altar. And only on that day, the members of the royal family could retrieve the newborn Frigid Nightmares. If we went a year later, the formation of the Aurora Knight troops would have to be put off for a year. Since the war at the front lines was hindered by the snow as predicted, then, taking a detour to take care of a serious matter would be a rather wise choice.

“Alright, if there’s nothing else, let’s talk when I get back.”

“Latest report, the commander of the Elven Kingdom is King Atrion of Tassel Kingdom, the target you wanted me to keep an eye on.”

“…I got it.”

I sighed, as expected, I knew that this ambitious man would never let pass such a good opportunity.

“Can you tell me what is your relationship with him?”

Elisa’s question took me down a trip to memory lane, I thought of that brilliant, uninhibited elf.

“…just about, more or less like the relationship between me and you.”

“Aaaaaa! You really do like men! Who led you astray, Adam or Krose? I will kill him right now!”

I was immediately at loss for words, she even said “really do”, how long has it been, would Elisa have reckoned I was gay all this while?

“Get your mind out of the gutter, I have no interest in men! I was talking about the relationship between a teacher and his student, but the relationship was soon broken. Sigh, the teacher-student relationships in our batch seem to all be like this. Harloys, were you really cursed, why is it always such an outcome?”

“How do I know, all I know is that you cut me off, twice!”

Fine, teacher and student were joined by a life of misery, we looked at each other, our eyes filled with tears, we trembled with emotion. It seemed that we are all miserable people.

“Go to hell! Unfilial student! I do not have a follower such as you!”

“Fine, from this unappreciative gesture, I guess I was misunderstood. This damned cat only thought of the past and went crazy with rage.

I picked up the damned cat by its neck, shook it twice, wheeled it three times, and threw her into the waste paper basket prepared specially for her.

“Sigh, seems like this is indeed a tradition. Elisa, next time before you take a student, you better do some background checking.”

“Don’t worry, master. I don’t even have the intention of getting students. Just by observing the two of you, I have to spend time nurturing them, and when they grow up, they would most likely be some naughty children who return to kill their own teachers. What is the point?”

I do not know why, but after hearing this, I felt an unexpected sadness, could it be that I brought this upon myself?

“Okay, this topic ends here. Elisa, beware of Atrion. He is, in a way, still your senior, and he is definitely not an easy opponent.”

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