Chapter 587 True Surprise
"Anyway, where is this place and why does he look like he has not eaten for years?" asked Akiye again.
"This is on the top of the Redmore capital city. As for him, I am not sure either. He said it is the backlash from overusing his artifact or something." replied Ragaz.
Currently, Ramuz looks very thin and falls unconscious. His body works overdrive to pay back the mana he borrowed from his artifact.
"Please don't tell me you still want to kill him." added Ragaz.
'Hmm… I guess this is somewhere on the thousand hurdle monument.' thought Akiye inwardly before sitting beside the goblin.
"Well, As much as I want to kill this dumb giant, I doubt that old man will let me kill him. He already stopped me once so he could stop me again. " said Akiye.
"Hmm… Just curious. Why did Vault Guardian let all this chaos happen but sometimes interfere? It looks very irresponsible. Yet, none of you dare to go against him." said Ragaz.
"Irresponsible?! Pfft… the old man's behavior is actually normal and not surprising." replied Akiye.
"Err… I know I am crazy and sometimes insane. But, I am sure his behavior is far from normal." retorted Ragaz.
"Hahaha… No, his behavior is normal for any seventh-grade person. If you go outside and find any old seventh grade, they are quite irresponsible, crazy, or beyond comprehension. Sometimes, they could even destroy a city or two just on a whim." said Akiye.
"I hear there are even seventh-grade people who tried to destroy the world because they feel like it without any real reason."
"Seventh-grade people live a long life. For the first few hundred, they may still be sane. As time passes, they will soon get bored of their mundane life and slowly go crazy. Their power and long life will become a curse for them." explained Akiye.
"Right. Sometimes it is better to be dead than living this painful life." replied Ragaz in a melancholy tone.
After brushing his gloomy thought, "But, why has no one tried to usurp or even fight the old guardian? I don't believe it is because he is too strong." said Ragaz.
"Unfortunately, no Altras could kill him. As long as you have Altras' blood in your body, you kill him. It is an absolute law." replied Akiye.
"Wait… But, you could fight him back. I heard from Ramuz you tried to fight him when he stopped you from killing Ramuz." said Ragaz.
"*Sigh* It's quite complicated. Let's just say the old man has the power to take our free will. As long as he doesn't use it, we are free to do as we please. Still, using this power is not without repercussions. Unless it is an emergency, he will not use it." said Akiye.
"In other words, as long as we are not crossing a certain line, he will not use this kind of power." added Akiye.
"What a mess. Well, that's your problem. So, what are you going to do now? Just for your information, your people start to get restless without their leader." said Ragaz.
"Hmmm… Well, let them be. Besides, I am still low on mana. Meeting an angry mob in my current condition only makes a bigger problem. It seems the plan also didn't work well either." said Akiye.
"The plan?" asked Ragaz in confusion.
"Initially, we planned to eliminate the top leader and the elders while trapping them in this special instant dungeon. The dungeon is supposed to revert back after a day. Since it didn't change back, it means something is going on inside." said Akiye casually.
"Aren't you worried?" asked Ragaz.
"Nah… Those girls know the consequences. Besides, I doubt she will let those younglings die. She likes to surprise anyone anyway." said Akiye.
"Hmm??" asked Ragaz in confusion.
"Nothing. Anyway, did you have something to boost my mana recovery?" asked Akiye.
"Haa?? Why should I give any of those? Just take some mana potion if you want to recover faster." retorted Ragaz while hiding his storage tools.
"Pfft.. Come one. Just let me use it." coerced Akiye playfully.
Meanwhile, Angus and Nabe start working on their camp's complex teleportation rune formation. The rune is quite special. Unlike the usual rune formation, made only from an inscribed rune, their rune formation is created physically by turning the surrounding ground.
After a few hours of working, they finally manage to makeshift the whole camp into a massive magic circle. Each line of the magic circle is inscribed with a complex rune and a few hidden minerals contain mana.
"Huft… This is really hard work." said Angus while applying the last rune.
"As expected, your ancient power is really a cheat. Did you know I need at least ten years before I am capable of reaching your current scribing level? Yet, you do it normally after just half an hour of practice." said Nabe.
"Well, Master Darren gave me some pointers about runes before. Besides, I only copy your skill." replied Angus.
"Tch… Whatever. It is not like I could get such a strong Ancient Power without consequence. Anyway, your work is done. I will handle the next part since it requires my expertise." said Nabe.
Just as she wants to continue her work, Angus and Nabe feel the ex-seven faces leaders approaching them.
"Speak. What did you want? I am busy." said Nabe to the women Altras.
"We…" said Tylie, the ex-seven faces happy.
"We want to know why you do all of this?" asked Carlyn, the ex-seven faces sad.
"Haa??" asked Nabe in confusion.
"We are not stupid, Nabe. We may be young compared to you. But we know that you control all of our actions from the start. What we couldn't figure out is why keep us alive? I don't believe there aren't other talented Altras beside us." said Carlyn.
"Yeah. Did you keep us because of pity?!" chimed Nissa, the ex-seven face contempt.
"Hmm… Who knows? Maybe you are right. I pity you. But does it matter? What matters is that you are alive and kicking. If you don't like it, get stronger and fight back. Isn't that the purpose of Seven Faces in the first place?" replied Nabe.
"Now, go away and don't disturb me." added Nabe before returning back to her work.
"Tch… What a prick!!" commented Nissa before going away.
After that, the other seven faces also walk away, following Nissa, except for Carlyn.
"You are 'Surprise'. Tucker is never 'Surprise' in the first place. It is weird to have male Altras as the Seven Faces when our real intention is for the benefit of female Altras in the first place." said Carlyn.
"Go away and play with your little girl band." replied Nabe without looking at Carlyn.
"Thank you." said Carlyn while bowing before following the others.
At the same time, Angus frowned slightly without commenting on their interaction.
'Hmm… Seven Faces? Surprise? Disgust? It seems the seven faces are based on the seven basic emotions. If Nabe is one of the Seven Faces. It still lacks another person. This person may be outside.'
'I doubt a move at this scale will not attract the whole Nirvas. They need someone to stay outside. Well, it is not related to me. Still, this is one hell of a kingdom.' thought Angus inwardly.
"Yup. Handling a kingdom is definitely not my forte. Too much trouble." muttered Angus.
Angus didn't say anything while observing Nabe's work silently. Although he didn't understand most of what Nabe did, he could still memorize it and increase his repertoire of knowledge. He also wanted to know more about time elements.
Their rune formation is based on the space element and the Time element. Based on Angus' observation, he knows the Red Queen is proficient at the Time element. Hence, it is an opportunity for him to learn more about this particular rare element.
While Nabe works on the magic diagram, the time measurement in the middle of the camp keeps moving constantly. Sometimes the time dilation is reached 3 times faster before returning to normal. Sometimes it could even become 2 slower than outside.
Because of this messy time in the surroundings, some sharp people notice time moves slower and faster outside the camp. They even find some hot lava area from Angus' previous action is slowly turning into sedimentary rocks.
Seeing this rough time turbulence, none of the people dare to come out from the camp. This strange phenomenon was also noticed by Angus and Nabe. They are glad they managed to finish some barriers and runes all over the camp.
Otherwise, everyone will be subjected to rough time turbulence like the outside. Time turbulence may not affect long-life races like Altras or seventh-grade people. However, it is very deadly for humans.
In the worst case, they may suddenly starve to death as time suddenly moves too fast in certain areas before they can move away.
Ignoring the time turbulence outside the barrier, Nabe works faster to finish the rune formation. In the meantime, Angus could only observe her silently.
'I am glad Anna is sleeping after overeating. Otherwise, she will run around outside the camp. I don't know what will happen to her when she gets inside the time turbulence area.' thought Angus inwardly.
Suddenly, Angus notices something inside his mind before hearing a familiar voice.
"Master."