Episode 798
Chapter 197: The Red-Eyed Clan (2)
“They said their strongholds are underground, right?”
[To be precise, they’re located somewhere between the underground world and the surface world.]
“You mentioned there are five strongholds in total… This is serious. Even if they’re somewhere between the surface and underground, they’re still all deeper than Ameris’s territory, aren’t they?”
[Exactly, Jin. We can’t just go around tearing up the whole world trying to find their base. We need to carefully track those who operate on the surface.]
Originally, the Red-Eyed Clan’s strongholds were all above ground. But due to the sealing performed by Ameris at the height of her power, they sank underground.
[It suddenly reminds me how fiercely the Red-Eyed resisted when I sealed them. Even after being sealed underground, they gathered their remaining forces and built spatial teleportation devices connecting to the outside. Once the seals on the Great Kings are broken, their strongholds will rise back to the surface.]
“How advanced is the Red-Eyed Clan’s technology, exactly?”
[Having lived with you all here in Tikan and learned about the current world, I can say that civilization on the surface today is far less advanced than it was back then.]
According to Ameris, in the ancient era when the Sun God still existed, ultra-long-distance communication and instantaneous teleportation were commonplace.
Flying ships weren’t the exclusive domain of great powers, and the greatest symbol of strength was the airborne fortress. There were mortals who possessed such fortresses, able to freely traverse and conquer not only the entire surface continent but even the underground.
As Ameris explained, Jin recalled the moment in Lafrarosa when the main hall of the Duel Shrine floated separately from the other buildings.
‘Was the Duel Shrine’s main hall a remnant of that ancient airborne fortress technology?’
When rebuilding the shrine after the Great King War, Jin and his brothers mostly did manual labor. Only Boras, the Red King’s top technician, handled the more complex tasks. Even Boras admitted he didn’t fully understand all the technology applied to the Duel Shrine’s main hall.
[The Red-Eyed Clan had the most outstanding technology. The Azure Clan came next, but there was a clear gap. However, the Azure Clan compensated with overwhelming individual combat power. On average, their fighters were much stronger. It was a battle of technology versus strength. Of course, at the very top or near it, the differences were minimal.]
Ameris considered it natural that the science and civilization of that era didn’t carry over to the present.
[The old era—before the Sun God died—when immortals and mortals built everything, lost all meaning the moment the world fractured and lost its wholeness. There were endless wars between factions trying to guard death and resurrection, and I was at the center of it all. After the key players of those wars, including myself, were sealed, the world must have gone through multiple cycles of destruction and rebirth.]
She had come to the conclusion that civilization had risen and fallen many times. At least one cataclysm had occurred after her death.
Therefore, the current Red King Clan are descendants left behind after the Red-Eyed were sealed and the Azure Clan destroyed. The occasional discovery of transcendent technological devices are relics of the first-generation super-advanced civilization that survived the cycles.
“Do you think the underground world is the same?”
[Of course. When the world split, those sent underground were doomed to be buried forever.]
“That’s harsh. Why were some sent to the surface and others underground? Was it the Sun God’s choice? Usually, people would think the surface is better. I’d feel rebellious if I were sent underground.”
Enya asked, and Ameris shrugged.
[“Buried” is just a term. The underground world has an environment just as good as the surface. There’s day and night there too. It’s not the dark, gloomy world you imagine. In fact, for those who worship the Sun God, the altar is closer underground, so it can even be better.]
“Ah! There’s day and night underground?”
[I believe the underground is fundamentally responsible for the war between the surface and underground. If they had accepted the new order and not coveted the surface, you wouldn’t be suffering like this now. But those who disturbed the world for the Sun God’s resurrection are just mortals trying to escape their fate.]
Ameris’s gaze landed on Jin.
[The monsters who have fought so long to escape fate are my enemies, yours, and everyone here’s.]
“But the value of their struggle isn’t measured by how long it lasts. No matter how long they fight, at their core is a fragile heart trying to regain what was lost to the Sun God, trying to reclaim an ideal world. If you fight them without knowing or overcoming that, you will inevitably be broken.”
Jin’s confident reply made Ameris’s eyes widen.
Every word he spoke was genuine, unfeigned. To Jin, the Red-Eyed and the yet-unrevealed underground enemies were no different from the foes he already knew.
[Solderet chose mortals well. But don’t underestimate them. Once the Red-Eyed seals start to break, the world’s balance will shift.]
“The emergence of a fifth power after the Runkandel-Bamel alliance, Ziphl, Kinzel, and the remnants of the Biment royal family.”
The Fifth Power.
Only five have revived so far, two of whom Jin has already killed, but the Red-Eyed possess enough potential to be called that.
Who will be the first prey once the Red-Eyed begin surface operations?
The group exchanged a few words on the matter.
[When I said the Red-Eyed’s surface activity is a hunt, it’s not just a figure of speech. They feed primarily on the blood of living beings. There’s even a saying that’s why their “Crimson Hearts” are red.]
“Blood…?”
[They’ll need a large amount of blood to break the seals. The stronger the individual’s blood, the more effective it is.]
“Then they’re likely to commit indiscriminate slaughter.”
[They can’t. They have no means to transport that much blood or life force, and untrained mortal blood or livestock blood has little effect. Even at their peak, the Red-Eyed didn’t kill lives they deemed worthless. Like predators, they only hunted what they needed.]
Jin silently breathed a sigh of relief.
He was confident he could crush the revived Red-Eyed in battle, but if they suddenly appeared somewhere in Inse and quickly slaughtered civilians before retreating, there was no easy way to stop them. Many had already died that way during the Hyunshin War.
[Besides, if they kill too many, how would they transport all those corpses and blood to their strongholds? Return magic isn’t perfect. It demands a high price, sometimes requiring kin as catalysts to escape you. They wouldn’t waste it on worthless blood.]
“Is that the same for the ‘Aether Space Storage’ function installed in the bracelet Dr. Kwal took?”
[Aether Space Storage has spatial limits. Simat, a first-class Great King, can store a flying ship, but he won’t move himself due to the seal breaking. The ones moving will be the two remaining second-class Great Kings, whose storage can hold about thirty adult humans at most.]
Unlike the Azure and current Red King Clans, the Red-Eyed’s society was strictly hierarchical. Even the size of their Aether Space Storage depended on rank.
Perhaps because the Red-Eyed were the last enemies she fought, Ameris had many memories about them.
“You said there are roughly a thousand Red-Eyed per stronghold, right? To awaken their Crimson Hearts and break the seals… the blood of sixty ordinary humans wouldn’t mean anything.”
[Jin, for a human like you, one person’s blood would be more than enough to awaken them all. Hmm… yes, Jet. Let’s use you as a reference.]
“Me?”
[In my estimation, one ordinary warrior requires the blood of two or three Jets.]
Jet was currently at the high end of six-star rank (thanks to occasional training from Gilly). In a world of superhumans and monsters, he was modest, but by normal standards, he was a formidable fighter.
“So if there are three warriors like me, they could defeat one ordinary Red-Eyed soldier?”
[No, don’t even dream it, Jet. You’re an intelligence operative, not a fighter. Even if three of you matched the strength of one ordinary soldier, the Red-Eyed are Red Kings. You wouldn’t stand a chance.]
“Then, from the Red-Eyed’s perspective, the best place to source life forms with combat power like mine would be…”
Most likely the territories of the great powers. Small kingdoms rarely have anyone above seven stars except royal guards, and ordinary knights or mages rarely exceed five stars.
Suddenly, a name flashed through Jin’s mind.
“The land of the beastmen…?”
The territory of Kinzel, the land of the beastmen.
As the name suggests, beastmen live there. The most numerous are the warrior tribes: the Red Tiger Clan and the White Wolf Clan.
When Jin first revealed his Crimson Heart, the Red Tiger and White Wolf instinctively cowered and wet themselves in fear. Even now, the ordinary warriors of those two tribes can’t meet Jin’s fierce gaze.
If they reacted the same way to the Red-Eyed…
There would be no easier prey. Moreover, as warrior tribes, the adult members of the Red Tiger and White Wolf clans all possess combat power above six stars.
“They will definitely target the land of the beastmen. If I were the Red-Eyed, there would be no better hunting ground.”
[Ah, the land of the beastmen. The Red Tiger tribe and the White Wolf tribe, was it? I heard there are some whose origins even I can’t trace. They’re probably hybrids from the lower sub-species that existed back then. No wonder the Red Tigers find it perfect hunting ground.]
Just as Jin had predicted.
At the outskirts of the beastmen’s territory, the Red Tiger and White Wolf tribes on patrol had already come face to face with Andolin and Ozen.
The beastmen trembled, their eyes glazed over as they stared at the glowing crimson heart.
“W-who are you…? Wh-why are you like this?”
“Huh? So these kinds of hybrids really exist. I was just watching them torment the non-combat beastmen earlier. Let’s see if they can show us that same killing intent. So our kin can feast on more lively prey!”
And with that, the legend of the Red Heart began to spread among Kinzel’s beastmen.