R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 31 (Patreon)

R-a - Volume 4 - Chapter 31 (in editing-v1)

“Watch out!” Micheal yelled as he flung his right hand forward, five long, metal strands slicing through the air, coated in red Sword Energy.

He was currently standing atop a small grey boulder, in the middle of a vast and wide stone canyon. Micheal’s eyes glowed with energy, the Ki within him flaring as he focused his senses outward.

Around him were dozens of Farian warriors scrambling to pull out their weapons. Serena stood a couple of meters away on the ground, her eyes opened wide with shock.

A split second later, the titanium threads Micheal sent out slammed into three vague, shadowy figures that were falling through the air from above, instantly split them in twain. The Shadow Seekers literally fell apart as a result, dark essence exploding out of them and dissipating.

“Perimeter check!”

“Formation 12 A. MOVE!”

“Where are they coming from?!”

A flurry of shouts echoed out as the Farian Shadow Guards organized, swiftly splitting up into five distinct groups of 20. They spread out in a protective formation, keeping a careful watch on their surroundings. A wash of ruddy Auras broke out as many of them called upon their Bloodlines, preparing for combat.

Micheal sighed as he saw this, waving his hand to retract the metal threads back into his Silk Strider Glove.

“This is why I hated travelling through the Dark Canyon in large groups.” He muttered as he jumped down from the boulder.

It had been two days since Micheal and Serena had left the Rushing River Sect Headquarters, parting ways with Shadow Captain Sprel and the Nirvana Saint. In that time, they had surreptitiously travelled through the territory of the Divine Might Sect and headed south, in the direction of the Soul King’s Inheritance.

On their way down, because the trails they took were off the beaten path, they’d encountered a flurry of Low-Tier and Mid-Tier Magic Beasts. The Farian Shadow Guards made quick work of the creatures without any need of Micheal’s help, but the number of Mid-Tier Magic Beasts they encountered made Micheal nervous.

'It's odd.'

No matter how remote the path they travelled, they were still within the territory of the Divine Might Sect. At worst, they should have encountered several Low-Tier Magic Beasts and only rarely any Mid-Tier Magic Beasts.

‘Everyone is focused on the Sanctum…’ Just what was so important about that Inheritance to the Six Lords, to the point where they’d concentrate the entirety of their forces on securing it? History didn't say. 

In addition, the leftover forces that should’ve been set to patrolling were instead hidden away due to the Darmaton Plague, leaving the territory they traversed through unguarded. Despite travelling through 8 smaller sub-sect's territories, they barely encountered a handful of Byrens. 

“That made my heart jump.” Serena’s voice caught Micheal’s attention as she waved over at him, her eyes still open and wide. Micheal cast aside his thoughts as he gave her a smile.

“Did they just appear from thin air? How does that make sense!”

Micheal shrugged and nodded.

“That’s exactly what they did.”

The Soul King’s Inheritance was, in simple terms, an Inheritance created by one of the single most powerful beings to have walked this land. Not just anyone could resist an entire Tribe of Deities, albeit a newly born and undeveloped Tribe.

When a large group entered the Dark Canyon, the dark clones that the Inheritance dispatched to fight the group off would appear in random droves, at random locations, during random times. The Inheritance was powerful enough to support tens of thousands of shadowy clones, if need be.

It was already very difficult to keep track of which of the vague, shadowy figures was after which person in groups of only 20 or 30 people. With 100 Farian Shadow Guards, Serena, and Micheal himself in their current team, keeping track of their assailants had become a nigh impossible challenge.

Without the ability to predict when the monsters would respawn or who they would target, their group was forced to maintain a maximum level of awareness for 24 hours a day without rest.

“On the bright side, we’ll be through here soon.” Micheal waved over to the Farian Lieutenant in charge of the 100 man team that had joined him, Lieutenant Minesvelle. The two spoke for a few moments before Minesvelle nodded and left, adjusting the formation his Shadow Guards were in.

“Didn’t you say your friends had to stay here for a week before they entered the Inheritance?” Serena bounced over to Micheal’s side, her demeanor returning to normal as she joined him.

Micheal’s nose twitched as he glanced over at her.

‘...when did my lips get so loose?’ Serena had a talent for disarming him, it seemed. Micheal had a weak spot for people who constantly tried their best to improve, and Serena’s repeated requests to spar with him perfectly matched that.

“The reason they needed to train doesn’t apply to us, at least not right now.” Micheal planned on entering the First Gate, but he wouldn’t do it in the same way as Shin and Sophia.

“Right, I remember what you said.” Serena smiled as she looked at Micheal, faint sparks of Phoenix Flame gleaming deep with her eyes.

She raised her right hand up in a fist triumphantly.

“We’re here to hunt for treasure!”

‘...’

Micheal made a mental note to tighten his lips in the future.

“Yes, that’s right. Training is, at best, only part of the reason we’re coming here.” Micheal nodded slowly.

“The main reason…” He smiled at Serena and matched her right hand with his own, clenched tight in a fist.

“Treasure.”

.. .. .. .. .. ..

Within the Soul King’s Inheritance lay the Five Gates.

The First Gate: The Gate of Suffering.

The Second Gate: The Gate of Healing.

The Third Gate: The Gate of Fate.

The Fourth Gate: The Gate of Trials.

The Fifth Gate: The Gate of Death.

These Gates each had their own unique properties. The First Gate that Shin and Sophia had entered accelerated time, though only for one’s Soul. The Second Gate was a place of healing and calm, a zone one would enter to recuperate after entering the First Gate.

The Third Gate was a Gate that you could only enter if you were ‘Fated’ to enter. The vast majority of humans were forever unable to enter this Gate, including Micheal in his first life, after the existence of the Soul King’s Inheritance became public knowledge. What happened inside this Gate was a fact that had been lost to history.

The Fourth Gate, however, was what Micheal had his eyes on, and for good reason.

The Gate of Trials was how one accessed the Soul King’s Treasury.

It was a competition, of sorts, where after you entered, you would begin a host of 1v1 duels. Each foe you fought would be an enemy that had been ‘recorded’ by the Soul King’s Inheritance, something that ranged from enemies from hundreds and hundreds of years ago, during the era where the Inheritance was created, to previous entrants that had participated in the Gate of Trials.

Of course, given that they should be the first humans to have ever set foot in the Soul King’s Inheritance, there wouldn’t be any other previous entrants yet. Still, in the annals of history Micheal had read, the Gate of Trials was an extremely difficult Gate to challenge even early on.

It was also one of the only sources of Miracle Gems on the Second Layer, a type of supplemental Artifact one could absorb to modify the genetic and physical makeup of one’s body, enhancing their Physique, and something Micheal absolutely needed to obtain for his present and future teammates. 

But… even more important than that… hidden deep within the Gate of Trials, in the depths of the Soul King’s Treasury…

There existed something that could not be found anywhere else in all existence.

Across Micheal’s first life, many fantastical things were witnessed by humanity. The onslaught of the Deities, the space-twisting reality of the 4th Layer, the endless Void of the 3rd Layer.

Amongst the midst of the mystical things beheld by humanity lay objects that were neither natural phenomena nor powerful living monstrosities, yet, nevertheless, possessed just as much impact on the state of reality.

These miraculous exceptions came in the form of Artifacts of immense strength, granting providence, Abilities, or powers that had never before been seen. These rare Artifacts stood leagues ahead of other Artifacts, in a class entirely of their own.

Humanity eventually compiled these outliers into a list and gave them a name:

Legendary Artifacts, of which only 15 were ever discovered.

Within the bowels of the Soul King’s Inheritance lay a treasure of paramount importance.

An Artifact so powerful that even Gods would fight for it.

In the original timeline, Baron Fortuna was the first one to discover and obtain this Artifact, during the midst of the Tree Conflict that saw the Syndicates go to war with one another, prior to the Great War Between Races.

Fortuna’s understanding of the Artifact was hampered and limited, but even with that going against him…

After he obtained this Artifact, he became the de facto leader of humanity on the Second Layer, putting an end to the Tree Conflict and taking the lead when the Great War Against Races broke out.

Fortuna was one of the first humans to square off against the Vile King in the original timeline, putting up a fierce level of resistance after a failed assassination attempt against him. As one of the very few human Masters on the Second Layer, Fortuna was not someone that would go down quietly.

His eventual death came at the hands of the Lord Justiciar. The two had a fateful duel that ended with Fortuna’s death, but not before he seriously injured Gregor, enough to cause the Lord Justiciar to fall soon after, near the end of the Great War.

That Legendary Artifact would eventually find its way into the hands of the Nirvana Saint, where it rose to fame and prominence, and remained there until the Titled Deity Navir killed him and stole it.

It was the Legendary Artifact Ranked 6th on the List of Legends:

The Crown of the Angel King.

.