Overlord And The Blue Citadel 21 『Adamantite Snow』

Over sixteen hours of travel, followed by a four-hour stay at Re-Lobell, the Blue Rose Adventurers had continued on their journey to the Roble Holy Kingdom after switching out the horses. That short rest could have been longer, but there was no time to waste. The fact a tower had appeared means that they automatically had a stronghold and finding out their intentions was paramount to the Re-Estize Kingdom and their well-being.

It had only been a day ago that they had seen a flock of blackbirds high up in the sky, strangely enough holding humanoid forms. At first, she had only a.s.sumed they were some sort of birdmen, but that wasn't the case when she used magic to get a closer look. They were a group of women with the arms and legs of birds and while they seemed to have noticed her, they ignored the wagon.

Evileye's mind has been stuck on that, considering their actual power levels that she honestly couldn't hope to comprehend. This was the reason why they needed to get there faster, there was no time to stop.

"Our shorty seems to be all bothered about the creatures high above us, perhaps we'll play a game to pa.s.s the time? Hm." Gagaran the muscle head spoke up as she laughed from her bench, looking over the red-cloaked Vampire who was sitting at the back end of the wagon.

"Game? What do you have in mind Gagaran?" Lakyus, from the front of the coach, peered over to the large woman in bulky armor.

"I spy, with my little Evileye," Gagaran grinned.

"Hey!" The small Vampire groaned out as she shifted her head to the side, looking in the direction of the behemoth of a woman, "Who said you could name a game after me, Ma.s.s of Muscle?!"

Grinning widely, Gagaran feinted fear in a sarcastically playful manner, "Uwah! So scary! Evileye has been offended, may the G.o.ds save us all!"

Completely fl.u.s.tered under that make of hers, Evileye threw her fists down at her sides. "That isn't funny! I can make this journey on my own if I so wished it, all I must do is fly my way there." The young vampiress snapped sharply towards her friends, though she knew they were playing around.

Tia and Tina sighed to one another, before looking to their 'Evil Boss' with a curious glint.

"Gagaran is bullying Evileye," Tia droned aloud as she informed Lakyus.

"Oooh?" The amused n.o.blewoman turned Adventurer continued to look over her friends before giggling to herself. "I am sure that Gagaran meant no harm, Evileye, but if you want to go on ahead... We won't stop you."

Evileye's lips parted as she looked over their leader before letting out a sigh and putting her hands on either side of her head. "You people are confusing sometimes, you know?"

"We know," all four of the others answered in unison.

Shaking her head lightly as she peered out the back of the wagon again, Evileye didn't know how she felt about this a.s.signment. While they had seen another messenger from the Holy Kingdom pa.s.s by them, they would not reveal any news to anyone but the King.

Turning back around would have been a waste of time and effort. At the same time, it may have served crucial. Ultimately, however, Lakyus had chosen to keep going as the intelligence they needed could be obtained by talking with the locals. Then again, they could also go all gungho directly into the mess of things, not that it was a good or bad idea in itself.

"What do you think those feathered women were doing yesterday? You know, the ones we saw in the air," Lakyus's fingers stroked along the blackened blade of her Sword of Darkness.

"Who knows..." Evileye seemed to calm down by now as she was asked this question, one that allowed her to think. "Possibly scouting out the world the being of the tower has found himself in. Perhaps he has limited divination powers. It's too early to speculate what he is planning, we'll just have to find out ourselves, possibly through just asking him."

"Asking a giant beast such questions doesn't sound like it will end well," Gagaran gave a soft chuckle, not quite sure of a beast's response to being subjected to an inquiry.

"Fighting one without knowing its strengths would probably be bad..." Evileye let out a sigh as she knew what players were capable of. How the Six G.o.ds of the Slane Theocracy had made sure that Humanity's future was secure and the Eight Greed King's conquest of the Continent. Even if it was just one man, on the person, it could mean the difference between the annihilation of mankind and its salvation. The fact that their children are known as G.o.d-Kin told just about anyone else who knew the term of their power compared to anyone else in this world. "And if we started a fight with such a person or being, without knowing its true intentions, we could meaninglessly destroy ourselves."

"This is a deep conversation," uttered the driver of the wagon.

"We have several hours left of this trip, so we should use that time to prepare ourselves. I've already gathered what we needed in Re-Lobell if we were to go into combat," Lakyus proclaimed as she was smiling down at her weapon which was being presented proudly in front of herself.

Evileye's mind had gone on to think about this possible player that had appeared. Just like her mind had been stuck on the harpies she had seen, her mind was on this person who chose not to bring about any casualties upon his arrival despite trespa.s.sers within his home.

He sounded trustworthy, or at least of good blood, she just wished there was more to go on.

The idea of someone having such power, made her want to bet on how many human women would throw themselves before the beast simply to be protected. Or would this beastly form described be too repulsive for a woman to throw herself before him? Either way, Evileye let out a small huff of silent laughter through her nose as she shook her head.

As her eyes went off towards the sky above, before drifting down to the disheveled road that they traveled upon, she just let her legs dangle off the edge of the cart. Even as the wagon shook slightly, it didn't bother her at all, such a fall onto the road would do little damage.

In the past when it was her and the thirteen heroes, she could hardly fathom the Platinum Dragon Lord's true capacity as they were exceeding her judgment and she had yet to see his full power.

Yet as her thoughts moved onto her friend, she could only a.s.sume that it would be bad news if the player turned up to be on the same level as the Greed Kings. With so few True Dragon Lords left to fight against a player of such caliber, there was no doubt that they'd go unrivaled.

Still, a frown did not permeate her lips as she continued to reflect and meditate on the future that was coming closer and closer. Reaching their destination would only be one part of their long journey.

She counted each stone that pa.s.sed under her feet, each ditch that caused the wagon to dip. There wasn't much to do other than to converse, and it seemed Gagaran was all too happy to poke fun where there was no need.

Letting out a sigh, Evileye's gaze drifted over to the ocean to the West, then towards the lands to the East.

From thirteen to two, from two to six and then down to five. Even though both she and Rigrit shared a similar trait of immortality, she wasn't quite sure how she felt about it. She saw her potential to grow as forever increasing as she had almost all the time in the world. That is until she came across a man or creature in which could slay her.

She could make entire Cities sink into the ground, hence her name of Landfall. However, she had lost a little too much on her travels. She felt like a box that was chained shut.

Her dainty hand reached up and grasped the lock-like mechanism on her chest and lightly fingered the item. The girl's attire wasn't the most humble, and she usually always kept her red cloak wrapped around herself. A short black dress with tattered ends, detached sleeves with holes lining along her forearm, and thin tight-fitted pants that traveled dressed her legs.

Part of her secretly longed for someone like the Leader to appear, someone with a good heart and talented. At the same time she feared that if this came true, they would die just as early.

For the past two hundred and fifty years, she had watched people be killed or just die from the natural pa.s.sing of time. It was a depressing existence, ones that allowed her to be emotionally wound.

Some hours later, the wagon began to close in on what appeared to be a fortress on the border, a checkpoint which lead to the strip of land belonging to the Beastmen Enclave. This area was ruled by beastmen who viewed humans as a food source, cut off from the Beastmen Nations further East pa.s.sed the Dragon Kingdom.

"Once we enter through that gate, there is no stopping. If we slow down..." Lakyus was in the middle of talking when she paused. Even though they were about several more hours away from their target, the Tower could be seen off in the distance.

"That is one big tower..." Tia commented quietly as she stared at it from her seat.

"If something powerful enough to build such a large structure exists, it would be a bad idea to make it angry..." Pursing her lips, Gagaran could only stare at the magnificent structure despite not being close enough to make out most of its many identifying features.

Tina muttered to herself while seeing it through the gate that leads into the enclave territory, "To think you'd be able to see the Tower from two Borders away... Quite the impressive sight."

"I wonder how many floors that colossal thing has... It looks well Fortified." Lakyus didn't entirely comprehend what she was seeing off in the distance, but for some reason it made her feel cold for just laying her eyes upon it.

Evileye moved along though the canopy-covered wagon and to the driver's perch, peering over the shoulder of the driver towards the general direction of the tower. The sight itself made her eyes go wide as she got the same strange feeling of coldness, at the same time, she felt something watching them more intently than before.

Tilting her head back slightly, she rested her gaze on the empty sky above. Nothing was hovering above her, watching them physically, but it felt as if they had always been there... Watching since their departure from Re-Lobell.

"Halt!" one of the Guards shouted, as the wagon came to a stop in front of the closed gateway, it seemed there were several guards already awaiting their arrival.

Dressed in leather armored with metallic chest-plating. They were significantly weaker than the Adventurers by far as most of them were around silver ranked adventurers or even lower than iron. They were exceptionally low leveled individuals if they were conscripted into duty.

"Ah... h.e.l.lo!" Lakyus popped her head out from the Canopy, looking over the men, her weapon on her back. "We're Adamant.i.te adventurers just pa.s.sing through to the Roble Holy Kingdom to scout out the Tower off in the distance there," the n.o.blewoman cheerfully pointed out.

"Oh," the guards looked at one another before the Captain of the group simply nodded.

"We'll make sure to do our routine inspection quickly if you don't mind. We can't have you breaking down midway through the region." The Guard informed with a few simple hand gestures to reinforce his sincerity, "We wouldn't be able to help you should your party get surrounded by beastmen."

"O-of course," Lakyus nodded with a sweat drop over her brow, before retracting her head back under the canopy. She sat down on her seat and looked to the other members of the Blue Roses. "It'll only take a few minutes."

"Is this even Necessary?" Gagaran chuckled, feeling as if she was ready to match up against a demi-human of any kind that may attempt to challenge them.

"If the Evil Boss declares as such, there shouldn't be a problem," Tia and Tina shrugged to themselves, though they too didn't care much for this regulation.

Evileye, on the other hand, couldn't care less, it just gave her more time to prepare.

As the Guards approached the way, they started doing their routine inspection. There were very few goods on board with them. Just the average food supply for travel and other menial equipment.

After everything pa.s.sed inspection and their wagon was ready to pa.s.s through the territory, the gate was lifted and with a crack of the whip, the horses were drawn forward.

Personally, it was a good mark for a second day of traveling to end. Now all they had to do was reach the wall so they could meet safety with the Paladins and the Army guarding it.

Evileye who remained at the open end of the wagon looked off towards Abelion Hills, the main territory separating the Roble Holy Kingdom from the Slane Theocracy from one another.

There were more eyes on them the moment they entered this stretch of road. So her gaze was centered on where the most likely direction an enemy should appear from. There were woods, mountains and hill covered terrain which gave her multiple blind spots to contend with.

A beastman spell caster could very well be waiting in the shadows for a convoy to pa.s.s through here. Luckily the Re-Estize Kingdom usually used ships to trade with Roble Holy Kingdom, so there weren't all that many routine ambushes on trade shipments.

With the wagon going as fast as they could, they probably had a little more over an hour to get to the other side. Hopefully, it was going to be a cakewalk. They weren't carrying that many people, so that meant there wasn't much food onboard. If it wasn't in a convoy, it would also tip the Beastmen off that there was little value in attacking it. The question was, would they simply ignore such a thing going through their territory?

Just as they were about to hit the halfway mark, suddenly the entire wagon stopped moving, lurching to an almost unnatural stop and sending Evileye tumbling into the center of the carriage.

Hitting her head with a thud, Evileye stared upward at the ceiling as she could see the glow of magic raise beneath them from under the wooden planks that made up the floor. "Oh..." Half expecting an explosion, a flash of light engulfed the vehicle, only to be replaced by a thick frosty mist that would fill the cabin.

Movement resumed as normal as the driver brought the entire wagon to a quick halt. "What just happened!? How did we get here already!?" The Driver didn't seem at all calm as it was evident they had pa.s.sed over a Teleportation Mine Spell that connected to places together.

"Thank you for bringing us all the way here!" Lakyus gave the driver their fair before the members of her party disembarked into the mist to regroup.

Evileye was the first to sight the glow from the open mouth of the archway leading into the citadel. Her gaze was filled with curiosity as she could make out glyph-like shapes.

As the small Vampire girl made her way towards the archway, her teammates followed behind, matching her pace as best they could as she hovered over the terrain by a few inches.

"What are these?" Evileye came to a stop as she pa.s.sed through the archway, her very sights set on the glowing glyphs that lined the inner walls of the long winding corridor. They reminded her of the ruins belonging to the Eight Greed Kings, which verified that the individual or individuals who inhabited the structure were indeed players.

Walking closer to the Glyphs, her eyes washed over the tales of the Afterlife and the story-like origins of the Citadel of Hel. This place was the home to the G.o.ddess of Death, an exceptionally powerful Dungeon Boss from YGGDRASIL that once manned the Citadel.

Reaching forward to touch one of the Glyphs, Evileye paused for a split instant before lowering her hand. "『Detect Magic』," she'd cast allow her to see the hidden teleportation circle right in front of her face. "How did they know where I would touch... This doesn't make any sense," glancing down the pa.s.sageway laid out for them, "Were they expecting us...? Guys, we should--"

That was when Gagaran playfully smacked her hand against Evileye's back, "What did you find there?!"

This simple smack on the back caused her to fall forward in surprise. Evileye couldn't avoid her mask from colliding with the wall along with her hands as she tried to save herself. Just then the Vampire let out an inaudible grumble as she sensed the activation of the magic being used. Being unable to do much of anything, the light engulfed all five of them once again.

After a few seconds of disorientation, the group once more finds themselves in a different setting.

Tina and Tia find themselves nearly immediately shivering from the cold due to the lack of insulation. There was snow everywhere and powerful winds that gust on by. This place, it was a winter wonderland and it was inside of the Citadel!

Evileye's mouth nearly dropped at the sight of the place. She could hardly tell where the borders were if there were even any in the first place. "...What have you done Gagaran!?"

"This doesn't look like anywhere near the Roble Holy Kingdom, could it be some sort of pocket dimension of some sort of frozen deity?" Lakyus breathed out, sharing at there breath in the cold air.

Gagaran on the other hand just stood there in her scarlet armor, looking around as snow pelted her breastplates. "I don't think we're in the Holy Kingdom anymore..."

Hugging onto one another for warmth, the Twins were using Gagaran's large form a as shield against the environment. "Evil Boss, we must find shelter!" The two of the stoically whimpered out.

Before another word could be said, Pelleon's malformed halo peaked out from beneath the snow, before the head slowly rising out of the snow until the neck was visible. Its hollow eyes gazed at the newcomers silently.

Evileye, as well as the others, had gone quiet and just started staring at the creature.

"...h.e.l.lo..." Its voice felt as if it was echoing in their minds as it spoke.

"Uuuh..." Lakyus stared at the creature as if confused by the powerful Angelic Aura that it was emitting. "Hi," she tried to show a smile towards Pelleon, despite his rather skeletal looking features covered in dark leathery skin. "What are you doing down there...?"

"...Making... Snow... Angels..." Pelleon responded cooly as if it was supposed to be a joke, as it then rose the rest of its body from the snow it had been submerged within. With its entire body exposed, the angelic presence stared down at them.