Chapter 1107 (2/2)

Exactly five seconds later, the display reestablished itself. A smoking crater about the size of a small town filled most of the screen. Murky water calmly flowed into the newly created crater, carrying with it the large and charred corpses of the basilisks that had dominated the swamp previously.

The representatives watched in a sort of detached horror as the Level 80 Bog Hydra struggled to its feet and swayed. Of its intimidating nine heads, seven were completely burned away, and one head had been so badly scorched that the bones of jaw were exposed to air. Puss dripped from its agonizing burns. Its one remaining head cried to the sky in fear and fury.

Of course, the danger of the Bog Hydra was that it would quickly recover and heal. But as the view panned outward, squads of Zone 1’s forces could be seen trooping forward, preparing to take advantage of the wounded Bog Hydra.

Theodora Greyman steepled her fingers with an innocent smile. “This is just meant as a display of Zone 1’s sincerity. We strongly urge everyone in the World Summit to consider themselves as part of a broader world relationship rather than simply as characters in antagonistic Zones. And we hope you will soon join us in enthusiastically seeking to accomplish the resolutions of the World Summit.”

After a pause, she turned to the surrounding representatives. The orb displaying the destruction wrought by Mjolnir floated upward while maintaining the pictures. It was a constant reminder of the weapon that Zone 1 had boldly revealed without batting an eyelash.

Mrs. Hamilton kept her breathing even as she considered Theodora Greyman. This is Zone 1’s Sincerity, huh…?

*****

Randidly eventually withdrew his attention from the Nether Ritual. After the display from Zone 1, the other issues brought forward by the World Summit were quite minor. Even Phirun appeared shaken by what this Mjolnir had accomplished. The only other thing of note Randidly had learned was the fact that another World Summit was scheduled for a month, where the group would select a chairman for their meetings.

Yet how could he blame the representatives for their reaction? Even Randidly was shaken by what he had seen. As he slowly massaged feeling back into the claw that had been channeling Nether for the entirety of his time watching the World Summit meeting, he gritted his teeth and tried to figure out how to proceed.

That weapon… that fucked up thing... Even no one else had been able to see what was going on clearly, Randidly could. The Nether Ritual had given him vision that was exceedingly clear. Plus a clue to what was going on had been hanging above the group the entire time.

Because Randidly had carefully studied the flowing orb with strange flows of water around it before the World Summit had started. Even he had been somewhat confused by what it was. But soon it hit him. The Grim Chimera growled its fury and a fire was lit in his belly as he considered that floating orb and what it meant. Then, when he had seen the strange Mjolnir activate…

I should never have let the government of Zone 1 off so easily after seeing what the church was allowed to do. Randidly’s eyes burned emerald, activating the energy he had obtained from the Fate blade subconsciously. The fire in his chest was so hot it seemed to even warp the image around him that was sustained by the Aether Key. These tools… they are just thousands of specialized Raid Bosses that have been spliced together to one mass organism.

For Mjolnir, most of those Raid Bosses gather and transfer energy, and then a few at the top blast it outward. Even if the Raid Bosses’ Levels are capped in the mid-thirties, the energy that a thousand Level 30 monsters can gather… well.

The result spoke for itself.

Perhaps even more dangerous than the fact that it had been able to critically wound a Level 80 monster was the fact that it had left a rather large area wrecked by the blast. All of the Zones or Orders present at the ‘World Summit’ had bases that could be demolished by an attack like that. It was a barred threat toward every other force in the world, just like a nuclear bomb used to be. Having that capability for mass destruction once more return to humanity…

And Randidly had no doubt that Mjolnir was much more dangerous than a single-use bomb. After all, such a unified usage didn’t seem possible just while relying on the intelligence of monsters. Perhaps just like the church, the souls of human beings were placed inside of Raid Bosses to make them work in concert with each other. Which meant that the more Mjolnir was used, the stronger it would become.

The System would recognize its progress and allow that horror to grow.

Still, one fact that most of the watching representatives had missed had been immediately obvious to Randidly. What they were seeing from the other amalgamation of Raid Bosses hanging over the World Summit were simply recordings.

Based on the way it was shown, the attack had been launched and landed only a few seconds later. But for all that it was a quick moving attack, it wasn’t that quick. Perhaps more importantly, Randidly had been able to detect the subtle angle of launch that enabled the Mjolnir to strike almost directly downward toward the target. Based on what Randidly had been able to project, they likely needed to shoot the energy bolt in a loop up into the atmosphere before it slowly was able to turn all the way around and descend. Due to the nature of the attack, the turning radius would likely be severely limited.

Even if the energy blast moved quickly, it could not turn quickly. And that trip up into the atmosphere with enough distance to curve back toward Earth was significant. It would be possible to detect the launch of such a strike and move out of the target area. The devastation would be large, but not so large that it couldn’t be avoided with a warning.

But it did give Randidly pause. Because it didn’t seem like this Theodora Greyman was a fool. And showing Mjolnir was very clearly a show of force. A lot of the population probably thought they were protected from such abrupt destruction with the rise of their Stats. But this weapon would remind people of the commodified fear of sudden and violent death. Randidly had no doubt that some of the Zones would respond very dangerously toward this sudden power Zone 1 now possessed.

Still, that’s not so big of a deal. Some of the fire in Randidly’s chest cooled. The logic of the Grim Chimera eased some of the surging emotions. People die. Such is life. The stronger the weapons they possess, the more people of Earth can grow to rival them. But the real worry is that these weapons will be TOO strong. That they will cripple humanity’s desire to grow by cowing them with a terrible fear of death.

Randidly raised his gaze toward the wall of his hut. Fearing something isn’t a problem. It’s living without doing anything but fear allowing that fear to control you. With a threat like that hanging over them… it might cause the Earth to collapse on itself and spend too much of its effort crafting grand weapons for murder. Which would mean that the Earth was doomed against the Calamities.

Besides, that power… there was no image to that power.

Although he had intended to take a break after the long viewing of Mrs. Hamilton, Randidly was no longer in the mood to rest after seeing Zone 1’s demonstration of Mjolnir. After forcefully suppressing the ache from overusing Nether, Randidly began to conjure another Nether Ritual.

You might not want to cross me, Greyman, but you’ve certainly got my attention. Randidly grimaced as pain lanced up his arm. But he ignored it. And if you threaten the image that I want the Earth to have… well, I will just ensure the Order Ducis won’t be shaken by a power without an image.