Chapter 28: Deathly Silence

Few magic circles appeared in thin air before few more layers of invisibility was applied on Shiro.

"Tsk, tsk. He brought all of them, what a cautious person."

Right now, they are right below the temple as Ferdinand's group walked to the entrance. Without any choice, the Great Chief was left with no choice but to concede to their requests. After all, as important as that temple may be, the prosperity of the tribesmen are more important than it.

Moreover, that temple is only something that the first generation Great Chief chose to host the "coronation" of the title, thus it doesn't really hold much practical importance.

Slowly, he followed their steps. It only took him a few moments before he arrived at the entrance.

Just as he expected, a couple of mercenaries with sharp senses looked at his direction. The most notable one is the woman with a fox's characteristics. The vulpo named Franka looked at his direction a couple times, but to no avail.

"Hm... Is it just me, or do you feel it too, Liskarm?"

"Is this another one of your tricks? You don't need to worry much-"

"-Because our formation is the most optimized against ambushes. Right?" She said with a playful smile.

Franka and Liskarm are what you can call a "graduate". During after a few months of examination (i.e., physical tests/training), they are deemed capable of accepting intermediate ranking missions upon graduation.

This is a testament of their skills and what they are capable with.

Their third mission that unluckily coincided with Shiro and Kal'tsit is none other than Ferdinand's escorting mission. It's not that hard considering the fact that they only have to escort someone.

'Heh. This is getting ridiculous.' Shiro thought before adding, 'Two enemies on the level of a Grand Knight? There's also the sense of danger that they emit.'

Unfortunately, Franka's facade of being harmless is useless to Shiro. He instantly saw through the nature of her black rapier in which its blade is made out of pure originum.

This already gave him some ideas as to what her abilities are.

'The physique of others are at Winged Knight level, too. This world is surely dangerous.'

Shiro decided to set up his AR 3070 to automatic mode as he knew that his first shot would definitely reveal him.

Seeing that they began to enter, he entered his combat state.

*****

"Director, the gate is made out of unknown metals with high endurance level."

The gate is inscribed with different tribal sigils that serves as a support to something. Even now, they still shone dimly in the darkness.

"Prepare the bombs."

"I understand!"

One of the white coats approached a mercenary before signaling the use of bombs. Moreover, the bombs used are especially manufactured by the Energy Section to have a higher explosive power.

"Hey-"

"Stop."

The small girl, Tomimi, looked enraged as she heard that. Originally, her arrival is coincidental as she was supposed to ask something to the Great Chief. When she heard that strangers wanted to barge into their property, she was annoyed.

Yes, she sneaked over there with her sister Gavial back in the days, but this is different. Now that she heard them planning to blowing this place up, she got angry.

"This is no longer in our hands, chieftain."

"I know, but why-"

"The entire Acahualla is reliant of their aid. We can't do anything against them." The mature Tiacuh, Yota, said.

He knew that the things that they offered to them is very helpful to the current Acahualla. In all actuality, this began more than a year ago. Starting that time, this rainforest became more revitalized.

The benefits that it brought is quite huge even though it's close to negligible for the moving cities outside.

That speak volumes on how backward society is on Acahualla.

Boom-!

A huge explosion rang out in the distance. If not for them setting up "barriers", they would surely be swept up by it. As the dust cloud rose, they never noticed that someone became even more closer to them.

After a while, the sight beyond the gate revealed itself.

Surprisingly, it is a neat room composed of golden bricks. That's right, golden bricks. The light source that hang above is similar to a golden chandelier with white crystals serving as the main light source.

Even after a thousand years, it still shone brightly.

There are various objects made out of gold in its surroundings. There are also mountains of gold coins scattered all around it.

In its center is a golden coffin wrapped by golden chains in the air. The chains glowed, emitting a strange power fundamentally different from normal arts.

"T-t-this is p-pure gold?"

"The energy readings in this place..!:"

Each person had different reactions, but it is mostly split into two. Either they got surprised by the sheer amount of pure gold inside or they got surprised by the readings that they got inside this room.

"This is it. This is it..!"

Ferdinand mumbled inaudibly as he felt 'it' resonating with something inside this room.

Tap-! Tap-!

The silent sound of footsteps rang in this room made out of gold. But then, it wasn't noticed by the people here except some select few people who remained vigilant.

"Franka!"

Liskarm laid down her shield in front of Franka. At the same time, a hail of bullets ran on their direction.

While some couldn't react and got shot, some others are quick to react and tried to avoid/block the incoming bullets. As for Ferdinand, a black ink-like shield manifested and blocked all bullets.

"Light of Judgement."

Before giving them enough time to react, magic circles appeared in the air, summoning lasers that shot to their direction once again.

The intruder didn't give them enough time to react before projecting more than a dozen rifles. These guns floated in the air before they launched another hail of bullets to Ferdinand and co.

"Shields!"

This time, they were quick to react as the defenders placed themselves in the front and laid down their shields. Still, some got hit by it. However, they are all unharmed this time.

Tap-!

As the intruder landed on the ground quietly, silence dominated the battlefield.

The intruder wore an oversized robe that has ruined edges, a sign of the damage sustained by it somewhere. He carried a black rifle that looked more advanced.

This time, he formed an aura blade in his fingers and drew a long line to the ground made up of gold.

"Everyone, here's the deal." The intruder has a soft and neutral voice that made his gender ambiguous. "Whoever crosses the line, dies."

However, his voice is laced with murderous intent. It is in sharp contrast with the "soft" voice that the intruder has.

"Who are you to order us?!"

One of the hot-blooded mercenary shouted and shot a condensed heat ray to the intruder. However, it failed to reach the intruder as magic circles manifested and formed a rainbow barrier.

"Heaven's Protection."

That's right. These are the spells used by him before, but they lack in power compared to before.

Swapping the AR 3070 in his hand, a black sniper rifle with a huge scope appeared in his hands. Green lines started appearing from it, enhancing its performance further.

He quickly aimed and used his shoulders as a support before firing.

Bang-!

"Argh!!"

The gunpowder bullet pierced through the shield as his head exploded, spreading blood in the surroundings. This time, deathly silence enveloped the entire battlefield, raising the tension once more.