EU: Chapter 40 | Sun Stone Vs Floating Boulder

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At the bottom of the pit, on the walls of the pool, sat a Dwarf, occupying space horizontally. A Warhammer appeared in his hands, with its shaft resembling an umbrella. When unfurled, it would open up and shield him from a burst of fire.

The Dwarf didn’t make any moves and only seemed to be seated on his spot. However, there was a mild tremor through the metal piles in the pit, causing a crickety sound to echo around.

The target of his hatred-filled glare was the robustly tall individual who was completely covered by armour from head to toe. In the place of eyes was a soft glow, which also leaked out of the joints and folds along the armour.

“Head?” The Warden burst into laughter, “I remember telling you at the start.”

He casually extended his hand, “If you are capable, try to claim my head and offer yours once you lose.”

“You work for me,” The Warden casually eyed the scroll held within the Dwarf’s pocket, “As long as you use a token, I won’t kill you even if you lose to me.”

“So,” The Warden said as the glow through the armour’s visor brightened, “Do you wish to use one?”

“I have a Level 3 Ogre waiting for me at the Ogre Gate.”

‘Blimey fuck!’ The Dwarf cursed mentally, aware of why the Warden came to see him now.

Even though the Warden was strong, even he would need some time to kill a Level 3 Ogre. And while he was busy with the fight, the Dwarf would be left alone in the Elven Prison, with no one to keep him in check.

If he wanted to, he would only need a few minutes to destroy every Human, didn’t matter if they were Level 1 or Level 2. Therefore, the Warden wanted to take the Dwarf with him to the fight. He didn’t have any issue fighting both the Dwarf and the Ogre at the same time.

He was that strong!

‘If I were to refuse, he would kill me now.’ The Dwarf had a clear view of the Warden’s thought process. He huffed in anger, “Whether or not I use the token is up to me.”

“It’s just…” He eyed the Warden in mockery, “When you’re being beaten up by the Ogres and I use the token, I hope your pride remains intact enough to honour our agreement.”

The agreement was that the Dwarf would remain in the Elven Prison and make items according to the Warden’s desires for a token. Each token allowed the Dwarf to challenge the Warden to a life-and-death battle without consequences.

Until now, the Warden had honoured the agreement, since his life wasn’t at risk, even once. That’s why the Dwarf expressed his mockery, “Will you truly be the man you claim to be when you’re on the verge of death?”

“That’s a great question,” The Warden nodded, “I have been curious about it myself. Too bad,”

He sighed, “No one has ever managed to endanger my life.”

“Bastard!” The Dwarf cursed under his breath as he watched the Warden’s armour light up brighter.

A gentle thrust of flame appeared underneath the armour and lifted him to the skies as the Warden stared at the Dwarf, “Think you can keep up with my speed?”

“Arrogant fucker!” The Dwarf cursed as all that was present in the pit were embers from a trail of fire. The Warden was already a sparkling dot high up in the sky, speeding towards the Ogre Gate.

“One day, I will kill you, without fail!” The Dwarf grunted as a Living Armour in the shape of a horse appeared. He boarded it and launched it out of the pit after placing it on a trebuchet. Once it was high up in the air, the Living Armour unfurled wide wings, which helped it glide.

Its weight implied it couldn’t fly, which didn’t matter.

Boom!

Right as it glided towards the ground, the Dwarf created and threw a compressed spring on the ash road, causing a thunderous reverb. Atop the spring was a metal slab, on which the Living Armour Horse landed.

Promptly upon contact, the Dwarf released the lock on the spring, which launched the horse into the air once again. High up in the sky, it unfurled its wings and continued to glide towards the Ogre Gate as the Dwarf growled, “Dammit!”

He noticed the Warden was a small dot of fire far away. The distance between the two continued to increase.

…

The Ogre Gate!

Nancho gasped as he stood in the middle of the Lava Miat alongside nine other officers, his expression one of exhaustion as he watched stone spears rain down everywhere.

Splotch!

A stone boulder splashed into the Lava Moat and grew red hot. Immediately following suit, a dozen more boulders splashed nearby, their red glow dulling as more of them joined the fray.

The bridge had been covered with a thick layer of stone, from both above and below. The sheer heat radiating through it was unbearable, but it could no longer be sunk.

“Dammit!” That was all Nancho could utter. The Ogres had killed all of his subordinates. Those that didn’t die to stone spears were forced into the lava.

Its heat was beyond what a Level 1 Human could handle, especially during a fight where all their Control Factors were engaged. That led to their unfortunate deaths by burning.

In such a case, the bridge ought to have been destroyed. That would prevent the enemies from crossing the Lava Most. It was why two soldiers had been placed on the other side. However, when the situation necessitated, the duo hesitated.

In that timeframe, Taruk-Tuk layered the bridge with stone. He had a Range Factor exceeding a thousand units, which allowed him to cover the kilometre-long bridge with stone. This stone too absorbed some of the heat radiating from the bridge, which meant the metal forming the bridge could no longer be heated to its melting point by releasing all the heat from the Sun Stone.

From that point onward, the Ogres pushed in, gradually occupying the bridge to form a fort within the Elven Prison.

“There’s nothing we could do at this point.” Rachad hovered in the air beside Nancho as he stared at Taruk-Tuk creating a stone bridge. It was propped up by stone pillars that anchored themselves to the metal bridge.

A layer of stoned had been placed underneath the metal bridge to increase its weight bearing capacity. The lava at that spot began to cool down, providing a stable enough basement.

Protected by a series of stones atop the lava, then the metal bridge, and the layer of stone atop it; the heat reaching the stone bridge didn’t heat it much. It was still impossible to traverse it by foot, but the Ogres could cross it by wearing stone shoes.

“Heh!” Taruk-Tuk stood atop the stone fort built within the landmass enclosed by the Lava Moat and smirked as he stared at the ten officers hovering right outside his reach. “What are you going to do by glaring daggers at me? If you have the guts, come fight me.”

While he talked, his siblings launched boulders into the Lava Moat in an effort to cover it up eventually.

There was a twenty-metre-long platform, with a groove running in its centre. Placed perfectly within the groove was a stone sphere spanning a metre in radius. A Level 2 Ogre stood behind the boulder and placed his hand on it.

“Heup!” He grunted as a stone rod with an ‘U-Shaped’ front formed. The ‘U’ shape perfectly held the boulder as the rod elongated, at a speed of eighty metres per second. This rod’s expansion propelled the boulder across the length of the groove, at the end of which was a slope, launching the boulder into the air.

Forming an arc in the air, the boulder landed on the Lava Moat. There was already a line of boulders trailing it to the edges of the moat. Depending on where it needed to be placed next, the Level 2 Ogre varied the speed at which his stone rod expanded.

One after another, the Level 2 Ogres launched spheres to cover the Lava Moat, focusing on the region surrounding the bridge. This way, a solid path would form on the Lava Moat that the Ogres could use to traverse into the Elven Prison.

Taruk-Tuk and his siblings numbered 10 in total. They joined hands with the five Level 2 Ogres who had targeted the Ogre Gate. Altogether, the fifteen Level 2 Ogres quickly created a stone path that was a kilometre long and a hundred metres wide, piled with enough rock that the heat permeating through it all only managed to warm up the top layer.

The entire process took over four hours. Normally, the Warden would have arrived by the thirty-minute mark, preventing even the bridge from being compromised. However, Pinaka’s actions prevented news from reaching the Warden, causing a delay in the latter’s response.

That resulted in the present situation.

Now that a sizeable breadth of the Lava Moat had been covered, it allowed the Harpies to pull the island without their feathers burning up. And that was enough.

“It’s your loss this time, Humans,” Taruk-Tuk announced. In response, the floating island began to move into the Lava Moat under the helpless gazes of Nancho and the nine officers.

“My Son…” Just as Taruk-Tuk felt confident in being able to reclaim their Relic, his mother’s voice boomed across the region, “Run out!”

“Go!” The moment he heard the voice, Taruk-Tuk didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Spontaneously, a pillar of rock expanded out of his feet and propelled him into the sky. Right as he was airborne, Taruk-Tuk watched in shock as the night environment—originally a dull orange due to the Lava Moat—brightened to almost resemble daytime.

The cause was a laser beam that slammed into his prior position, instantly melting the rock fort into a pool of lava ebbing out of a crater.

Taruk-Tuk dropped down a steep slide and condensed a unicycle that he gripped tight. The unicycle accelerated as it moved down the slide and sped across the stone path. He cast it to the side and sprinted with his legs, joining his siblings as they bolted out of the Lava Moat and onto the other side.

“It’s…hot!” His throat felt parched, feeling vapour rise from his eyes. After running to safety alongside the rest of the Level 2 Ogres, Taruk-Tuk turned around to notice a burning sphere hovering before the floating island.

“That’s…” Even while standing more than two kilometres away, Taruk-Tuk still felt like he was burning up. He couldn’t believe his eyes at the sheer sight before him, ‘No matter how much Mother and Father talked about him, I still feel like he was being exaggerated. But this…this is insane!’

“Kyak!”

“Screee!”

“Chirp!”

The Harpies on the floating island vaporised spontaneously amidst painful cries that resounded for half a second. And then, there was silence as the floating island faced the entity that brightened up the region, appearing no different from a miniature sun.

“He exceeds the rumours.” Taruk-Tuk shuddered.

“Finally!” Rachad raised his hands and roared in laughter, his mood shifting from utter tension to casual relaxation, as if he was on a picnic now. “His Majesty is here!”

The Warden!

Flares swerved out of the burning sun, creating lumen fluctuations across the place. A thick vapour escaped the forest, thanks to the heat being released by the Warden.

“Nancho…” A voice resounded from the burning sun, “There’s still Ogres alive on the other side. Why are you waiting?”

“Yes! Your Majesty!” Nancho bowed and created a red streak as he accompanied the rest of the officers to rush towards Taruk-Tuk.

“You’ve gotten more arrogant now, Xoltra.” A booming, raspy voice resounded from the floating island as a figure gradually walked towards its mouth-like entrance.

The burning sun vanished, revealing the Warden’s armour-covered figure who stared at the mouth of the floating island and chortled, “I wondered which idiot still believes they can face me. I suspected it might be you, Tron-Tak.”

“You never learn, do you?” The Warden then tilted his head to the side and stared deeper into the mouth of the floating island, “Where’s your beloved? I doubt even you are foolish enough to face me without her.”

“It has been eight years.” Slowly arriving next to Tron-Tak was his wife, the Level 3 Ogre, Nual-Mak. She was a head shorter than Tron-Tak, but one side of her face was completely burnt, revealing most of her inner jaw. “I have been waiting for the day when I can exact vengeance for what you did to my face…”

“Here, take this Healing Potion.” The Warden, Xoltra said casually and threw a vial towards Nual-Mak, “Don’t be an embarrassment. I can give you more if you want.”

“What?” The two Level 3 Ogres stared in shock to see the Warden chuck a couple more Healing Potions their way.

Tron-Tak caught them and inspected their contents, ‘They are the real deal.’

“Now, go on, heal yourself.” The Warden waved his hands casually, exercising utmost patience as he watched Nual-Mak hesitate before consuming two Healing Potions. Her burn marks vanished as she gasped, being able to see from her left eye once again.

Tron-Tak consumed the last Healing Potion to recover from the various wounds he had accumulated over the years. They had already healed but constantly caused him various aches over the years, adding to his age. Now, all of them vanished, returning his body to a pristine state.

“Ready?” The Warden asked with the gentlest of voices, “Now, you can no longer make excuses.”

“As I burn you up.”

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 40: In the height of the war between Humans and Elves, the Warden had a 1v5 against Level 3 Elves, resulting in his victory. He has the highest kill count of Level 3 existences.

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