Chapter 241
Translator: Pai_
There were a total of thirteen branches extending from the World Cradle.
One of them extended toward Earth, while the remaining twelve extended in the opposite direction. According to an investigation Turan had previously conducted, those twelve worlds were all “closed” worlds.
In other words, the vanguard forces of the Phantom Beast Realm who came to invade the Cradle had come from worlds even farther beyond.
Considering that the time difference between worlds not connected by dimensional corridors could be enormous, Turan had estimated that their invasion would occur at least several years, or possibly several decades, into the future.
According to that calculation, seven years was unfortunately a rather short grace period.
Fortunately, over the past seven years, the Empire had ruled over the Cradle and revived humanity.
Although a great deal of essence had been consumed due to the afterlife and the revision of many laws, the humans who worshipped and respected him granted him even more presence to dominate essence, and their mere prosperity enriched the world.
With all that power contained in his body, Turan confirmed the identities of the approaching enemies.
“Twenty Urukas, and... there are other monsters too.”
Standing atop one of the Urukas was a humanoid of a different race, with the head of a lion with dark blue mane and a body similar to a human but just as densely furred.
At first glance, it looked much smaller and weaker than an Uruka, but from its stance alone, it seemed to be the leader.
Next were several snakes made of muscle masses, their skin peeled off and oozing pus.
The knowledge of Monarch stored in his mind informed him that those belonged to the Demon Blood Realm.
The technique once favored by Monarch, creating magic circles from human flesh to draw in power and refine it into keys, had also originated from the world those creatures came from.
And another was an entity wrapped in twelve wings formed of pure white light around a crystalline body.
That being was a scout from the Light Stream Realm.
Though it looked divine, its essence was more akin to a robot that did not tolerate material lifeforms made of flesh and blood, making it, in some sense, even worse than a monster.
Besides them, there was a variety of other enemies.
Elemental spirit forms composed of pure elements, massive robots from advanced scientific civilizations, and armored cavalry riding giant dragons or flying beasts wielding spears.
All of them cheered at the sight of the world barrier of the Cradle.
“It’s real! The wall has finally fallen!”
“★To ◆breach▲! ▽Will lead♠the way■!”
“□□□□□□□-!”
Among them, a few spoke in intelligible words, but the more distant their form was from that of a human, the harder it was to understand their speech.
But then, what did it matter whether they were understood or not?
All of them were invaders who had crossed vast dimensional corridors to target their world.
To wolves preying upon his sheep, the shepherd would offer nothing but a fierce bombardment.
Transforming into the shape of a golden eagle, Turan released a massive amount of essence, converting it into thousands of metal spheres.
They spun in place several times like a slingshot, then each exploded, launching forward with explosive recoil and magnetic acceleration.
“Kyaaaaaaaaak-!”
Railgun bombardment, each shot exceeding the speed of light, something utterly impossible under the laws of physics on Earth.
Those projectiles, scattered like buckshot, tore through the flesh of the Urukas and brought them down in an instant.
Over the past few years, Turan had not only focused on surface affairs but had also devoted himself to training in essence manipulation.
Not only did he master techniques that were previously unavailable to him due to lacking a bloodline ability, but he also honed and sharpened the skills he already had.
Thanks to that, if the present Turan were to fight his past self from when he first learned to manipulate essence, he could win a hundred out of a hundred times.
No, even if two or three of his past selves joined forces, he might still fight evenly or win.
“Are Urukas nothing more than small fry now...?”
Just as that thought passed, Turan realized the lion-headed humanoid that had been riding the Uruka had vanished.
Evading the thousands of railgun shots, the creature stepped through empty air as if flying and closed in on Turan, thrusting its fist toward him.
For a massive golden eagle with a body over a hundred meters long, it was a trifling attack.
However.
“Ugh!”
Despite Turan taking the form of a golden eagle hundreds of times larger than the enemy, he was unable to withstand the impact and was pushed back.
He felt his bones crack with a crunch and his organs twist within him.
‘What the hell is that-’
While magical creatures can enhance their physical abilities simply by containing magic power, melee combat involves several more complex factors.
For example, one might use telekinesis to anchor their body to the ground so they don't get blown away by a strong force, or interfere with physical forces at the moment of impact to reduce the recoil they receive while increasing the shock delivered to the opponent.
However, the lion-headed humanoid’s attack just now was none of those things.
Despite only being slightly larger than an average human, it was incredibly heavy and powerful, and it channeled that immense strength entirely into a single, tiny fist aimed at its opponent.
It was as if every one of its movements distorted the laws of physics.
‘As expected of someone from another world, the very method of using power is completely different.’
Conversely, the essence-manipulating magic Turan used would likely be a foreign force to them as well.
Turan generated a massive gust of wind and knocked the lion-headed humanoid flying away.
“Kh...!”
However he was managing to fly, it seemed that like with flight magic, free movement became difficult in the face of headwinds.
While that one was momentarily neutralized, the other enemies launched a barrage of attacks.
The muscle-mass snakes bit into his thick legs and torso, and a beam fired by the light-being sliced through one of his wings.
A rocket fired from a giant robot exploded with force close to that of a nuclear blast, robbing him of his vision with intense light and heat.
–Aagh!
–Stay calm, Bije.
Turan left his body to Bije, who screamed within his mind, and quickly moved to counterattack.
White flames scorched the scaleless snakes, and a dark shadow engulfed the beam of light.
Just as he was about to deliver multiple crushing blows to the giant robot in retaliation, a bolt of lightning flew in from afar and burned the circuits inside the machine.
The robot’s glowing eyes flickered and died.
“We’re here!”
[Thank goodness. I almost died.]
“Not funny.”
Meisa, transformed into the form of a storm giant, and Solif, clad in silver flame armor, each took on the remaining enemies, freeing up Turan’s hands.
Thanks to that, Turan was able to fully concentrate on the lion-headed humanoid flying toward him, having apparently already figured out a solution.
Judging that his massive body was actually a hindrance, he swiftly returned to human form and emitted a massive burst of cold air.
“Oh...”
Even in the nearly absolute-zero cold, a chill that should have frozen any living creature solid, the lion-headed humanoid ignored it and pushed through.
Turan had assumed it would be vulnerable to cold, just like the Urukas.
Instead of being flustered that his assumption was wrong, he immediately began formulating his next move and responded accordingly.
First, he moved his body to the side to evade the opponent’s fist and launch a counterattack.
‘Ugh.’
The black-furred fist instantly curved as if it had predicted Turan’s evasion path and smashed his face.
As he felt his nose and teeth shatter, he took a step back, only to be struck by a follow-up kick like a spear, breaking his sternum and piercing his heart.
Either blow would not just incapacitate, but kill an ordinary human.
But Turan quickly used a portion of the massive essence stored in his body to regenerate his shattered form.
“Hmph!”
As he launched a retaliatory blow, the lion-headed humanoid flinched and then raised its hand to deflect the punch.
Rather than simply blocking it with force, it felt like the creature was using some bizarre ability to manipulate the direction of motion of anything touching its hand.
Next, Turan was struck in the abdomen by its palm and felt as if all his internal organs were being pulverized as he was sent flying backward.
Considering that he too was drawing upon a variety of strength-enhancing ability types, such as the Fighter and Guardian, and that his total power far exceeded the opponent's, the overwhelming gap in effectiveness was staggering.
‘At this rate, I have no chance of winning in a fistfight.’
The creature’s martial arts technique had clearly reached a realm that Turan couldn’t even begin to imagine.
It was likely the crystallization of thousands of years, or more, of knowledge honed by countless prodigies.
Even though Turan wasn’t particularly well-versed in hand-to-hand combat, he could at least imagine that much.
If nothing else, once he knew that he could not possibly stand against the enemy in their area of expertise, neutralizing that advantage was the best course of action.
Turan used the brief distance that had opened up to twist space and widen the gap even further.
The lion-headed humanoid, who had looked ready to pounce on Turan at any moment, was instantly flung far into the distance, and its expression turned to one of confusion.
“What kind of absurdity is this...!”
“If you ask me, what you just did was even more absurd.”
Responding quietly to the opponent’s complaint, the next technique Turan used was the fusion of toxic substances.
Starting with neurotoxins and hemorrhagic poisons, various substances that wreaked havoc on a creature’s insides were generated in liquid form, then frozen into needle-like spikes and fired.
The lion-headed humanoid managed to dodge most of them with remarkable agility, but couldn’t avoid the vaporized poison that followed.
That alone was enough to settle the fight.
“Ugh...”
Its body began to melt away as though drenched in the Water of Death.
Unless the enemy was a giant robot or a non-material spirit form, this technique was clearly highly effective against living organisms.
After all, his existence was on an overwhelmingly higher level.
Despite having easily dominated Turan in hand-to-hand combat, the lion-headed human met an anticlimactic end.
After taking down one formidable foe, Turan turned his gaze to find that Meisa and Solif had also gained the upper hand.
The knight who had been riding a flying beast had burned to death in Solif’s flames, and the giant robot had self-destructed.
A few others, including the dragon, seemed to have realized they had no chance of victory and were escaping through the dimensional corridors. Turan considered chasing them briefly, but then decided to focus on thoroughly neutralizing those still present.
After all, with so many dimensional corridors, it was impossible to catch them all, and missing even one was nearly as bad as missing all of them.
Among the remaining forces, there were no high-intelligence lifeforms worth taking as prisoners, so Turan reverted all subdued enemies into essence.
It wasn’t a large amount, but it would still serve as raw material to enrich the world.
“Whew, that was rough...”
“It was still more manageable than I expected, though.”
Both Meisa and Solif bore clear signs of exhaustion, proving that Turan wasn’t the only one who had fought a fierce battle.
Clothes and injuries could be instantly restored by consuming a small amount of essence, so they left no trace.
After staring out into the void for a while, Turan determined that the invasion had ended, for now.
“Good work. Let’s head back for now.”
"Shouldn't someone stay on guard?"
"The person who suggests it has to do it."
“Damn it.”
At Meisa’s remark, Solif clicked his tongue in frustration, but Turan shook his head with a smile.
“It’s fine. With the barrier in place, we’re not going to be annihilated instantly even if there’s another attack.”
Either way, the victorious warriors needed rest.
***
“So at least five worlds launched an invasion.”
“That’s right. One of them even had someone who could go toe-to-toe with me.”
"If someone like that got to the surface, it would mean annihilation?"
“I’d say so.”
“Oof.”
The lounge of the imperial palace.
Turan, with Luska’s head resting on his lap as he slept from exhaustion, explained things to Ashiz, who sat opposite him with a serious expression.
In recent years, Ashiz had acquired the Pyromaniac ability type and been promoted to a 2nd-class wizard.
However, by his own judgment, 1st-class was extremely difficult, and special class was hopeless, and Turan agreed.
After all, natural-born talent was something even he couldn’t change.
Of course, it might be theoretically possible if he consumed a massive amount of essence to alter Ashiz’s spirit and mental form, but taking that risk, of weakening the world’s barrier, for such special treatment wasn’t an option.
Besides, the office of Imperial Chancellor was one of the positions guaranteed immortality, so there wasn’t any problem even if Ashiz couldn’t ascend.
It was just a little unsightly for someone of chancellor rank to only be a 2nd-class wizard.
“This attack probably isn’t the last one, is it.”
“Absolutely not.”
The invading force this time had likely come to investigate why the scouts they had sent out long ago and forgotten about had suddenly died.
As for the involvement of other factions, they had probably noticed the sudden movements of the Phantom Beast Realm's forces and decided to follow along for now.
In any case, thanks to this incident, a considerable number of them would have confirmed the existence of the Cradle and Earth.
They would also have realized that the world barrier, which had once vanished and been rebuilt by Turan, was now weak enough to be breached.
“In the end, what we must do hasn’t changed. Cultivate the world’s abundance and increase the number of ascendants.”
Currently, there were only three ascendants, those who had acquired four ability types and thus gained the right to access essence.
In Turan’s view, once the number of such individuals exceeded ten, a permanently stable defense system could be established.
“Ten people, huh... That could take a thousand years.”
“You really think it’ll take that long?”
“It might. It’s not exactly an easy task, is it?”
Indeed, the tasks required to gain a fourth ability type were overwhelmingly difficult in most cases.
Even Osel, who had recently obtained the Earthmover ability, received his fourth task but ended up practically giving up.
Wasn’t it something like building a paradise in the sky using his powers?
It wasn’t something he could resolve through loopholes like Solif did by going to Earth, so even Turan found it difficult to offer help.
“Well then, shall we talk about ways to further enrich the world? That currency unification proposal we mentioned last time...”
“Ugh, stop! I really don’t want to hear about work!”
When Solif covered his ears as if refusing to hear, everyone present burst into laughter.
Turan used Telekinesis Magic to lift the glass of liquor in front of him.
“Let’s leave that to the chancellor of the Varaha dominion, and for now, let’s celebrate our victory.”
“To victory.”
“Cheers!”
And so, having sounded a triumph no one else knew of, the Empire returned to normal once again.
Strictly speaking, most of the world, except for the top echelons, didn’t even realize that the world had nearly come to ruin.
The only noticeable change, perhaps, was that parts of the giant robot captured during the battle were handed over to the research division.
Though the robots had self-destructed every time they were about to be captured, the remaining parts were substantial, and it was believed that analysis would yield something of value.
In fact, those machines held an incredible volume of information relative to the power they had.
However, regrettably, the engineers from the Dwarf Republic examined them and all shook their heads.
“This technology is of no use to us at all.”
“Why? It seems like pretty advanced tech to me.”
A robot capable of launching bombs powerful enough to wound even essence users who could travel across dimensional corridors, surely this counted as a military technology far superior even to that of Earth?
To this question from the emperor, the engineers replied:
“Yes. It’s precisely because the technology is too advanced. With our current knowledge, we can’t even begin to analyze how it works. We don’t even know what materials were used.”
“That advanced, huh.”
“To put it a bit extremely, it’s like handing a steam locomotive blueprint to someone who’s only just started combining stone and wood to make tools. They may recognize that it’s something amazing, but there’s no way they could understand what iron is, or why steam generates power.”
Turan had brought several technical documents from Earth and established a research institute where dwarves and humans worked together to study technology.
Thanks to the collaboration of the brightest minds in the Cradle over the past few years, the technology in this world had developed to the point where, though still on shaky foundations, it could now be compared to late 19th to early 20th century Earth.
Even so, the fact that there was such a massive gap implied that this was truly a level of technology that wouldn’t appear until at least the 25th century by Earth’s standards.
After pondering for a moment, he shook his head and gave an order.
“Then there’s nothing we can do. Still, store it safely somewhere. If our technology ever advances enough to analyze it, it could lead to a major leap forward.”
“Understood.”
Still, confirming the existence of such advanced technology had at least one positive implication.
It meant that one day, Earthlings might also be able to contribute to the defense of the world.
Originally, it had seemed that humans from Earth, incapable of wielding any magical power, would always be limited, no matter how far their scientific technology developed. But now, there was a clue that ultra-advanced science might be effective even in conflicts between transcendent beings.
Of course, it was to be hoped that Earth wouldn’t destroy itself in a nuclear war before then.
That part he kept an eye on occasionally, sneaking onto Earth when time permitted. If it ever seemed like nuclear war was truly about to break out, he could simply eliminate the entire leadership of the countries involved and settle the matter.
***
From then on, Turan's daily life continued at a hectic pace.
As he had told Osel in the past, the Empire's current political structure was one where the Emperor monopolized nearly all rights and responsibilities at the very top.
Things like dismissing Margrave Carmine for corruption after taking his eyes off things for a moment and installing a new margrave, or having Armania establish a mermaid kingdom unifying the North and South Seas to bring it under Imperial rule.
Even amidst all of that, Turan occasionally found time to experiment with the lion-headed humanoid’s technique.
It looked like a simple punch, but it was the fearsome technique that had completely overwhelmed his close-combat ability.
Meisa, having finished her duties in Aravion and stopping by, quietly watched this before asking:
“What are you doing?”
“That technique the lion-head used back then. I thought I was mimicking the physical motion pretty well, but there’s no effect at all.”
Back then, the lion-headed humanoid’s power was only about one-tenth that of Turan’s.
And yet, by using some bizarre technique, it had gained the upper hand in close combat.
If Turan could learn that technique, he would gain an enormous advantage in hand-to-hand combat.
But it seemed the technique couldn’t be replicated just by mimicking the movement of the limbs, it likely required the application of the mysterious power source the creature had used.
It felt a bit like the “martial arts” often seen in Earth’s fiction.
To truly understand it, he would either have to wait, mouth open, like Monarch once did, hoping that information related to it might eventually drop into his lap, or he’d have to invade the Phantom Beast Realm and extract that information himself.
Of course, Turan knew that the latter option bordered on suicide.
“All worlds are never merciful to invaders.”
Even relatively nearby Earth had tried to reject those from other worlds.
And even that was only because Earth and the Cradle were so closely linked, practically sibling or twin worlds, so the penalties for crossing over were minimal.
According to research so far, the greater the distance between worlds, the harder it became for powerful beings to cross the dimensional corridors. And even if they succeeded, they would be forced to fight under significant disadvantages.
For worlds that were half or entirely “closed”, entry was impossible without paying an enormous price.
If that hadn’t been the case, powerful transcendent beings from other worlds would have long since invaded, dismantled the world barriers, and plundered the Cradle and Earth.
In that sense, they had been lucky.
Even the enemies who had recently invaded had accepted such disadvantages, which was why they had been defeated relatively easily.
Seeing no clues were likely to emerge just by obsessing over the technique, Turan stopped demonstrating the moves and put his upper clothes back on.
At that moment, something stirred his senses.
“This is...”
“What is it?”
“Something’s come. From beyond.”
“An invasion? Again?”
Meisa’s eyes narrowed sharply as she heard this.
She looked ready to leap across the barrier and unleash overwhelming destruction at any moment.
But Turan shook his head, holding her back.
“Let’s hear what they have to say first.”
What came through the alarm system set beyond the world barrier was the voice of a young woman.
[We seek dialogue, master of the white barrier.]
For the first time, a contact, at least one that seemed friendly, had arrived from another outer world, not from Earth.
*****
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