I apologize for the late upload so here's 5k words

The sound of the wind whistling into my ears, the flying leaves that dances through the air. It all welcomes me back. Back to this continent I grew up with.

I gaze up at the sunny sky, enjoying the view while getting disturbed time to time by the sudden bumps that the carriage makes every time its wooden wheel bumps into small rocks.

Though I know that this peace will soon disappear. It's just better to stay silent and enjoy it currently without any worries, that's for me that is.

I looked at my party silently without them noticing. Theodore is in the front in control of the horses, while everyone else is in the carriage.

Even if the sun's rays are hitting us directly at noon, we stayed cool because of Kathlyn spreading her mana everywhere.

The temperature is perfect, not too cold and not too hot. Her control over her magic has gotten better since the last time I saw her use it.

The last time I saw her use it... Is it when I saved her from that professor who didn't even look like one?

Nevermind that, right now we're all heading to an unnamed dungeon. Caspian is the one who secretly assigned this to us as it's a newly discovered dungeon and me being here will ease some of his worries.

This is my first major raid in this. continent. I wonder how this will turn out.

___________________

“This is it? ”

The disappointed voice of Feyrith echoed throughout the cave.

“I expected my first ever real dungeon dive to be good but... ”

“I already told you about it right? Anything can happen inside a dungeon. ”

“But that's too easy!”

“Yeah?”

“I came here to face life or death situations not fodder like this!”

“Theo's right, I can't believe my father won't let me do this. I can do this everyday with breeze. ”

I looked at my side and saw Claire sighing, disappointed with her party.

“Guys, we should calm down. This is an undiscovered dungeon, everything is possible here. We're lucky that this dungeon seems to be in a low C-rank. If it's higher than that we'll be struggling a lot. ”

Claire went to her serious mode and easily took care of her teammates complaints. If I have to guess Claire should have at least experienced a couple of B-rank dungeons multiple times. And with Caspian assisting her every time, I won't be surprised if she already went to an A-rank dungeon before.

It is indeed upsetting not reaching the expectations you want but for a dungeon, it's better for it to be much weaker than expected than for it to be much stronger. Just like my encounter with the elderwood guardian. Though it's a small thing for myself now, it's a very big thing for Arthur. Hmm... well maybe it's important to me too, after all that's where I met Nico again.

I haven't seen those guys for a long time but I need to do this. In my time here in Dicathen I need to face and figure everything by myself. That's the only reason why Agrona sent me here. Agrona Vritra wants me to know what path I should take. Though I know that my path is already set in stone, the pathway I chose is simply close to impossible.

Making everything peaceful again without any sacrifices is an unattainable goal. Sacrifices are inevitable as this is now a warzone and there are only a few possible ways to end such a thing and I need to prepare myself to do it, again.

In the meantime, I just need to think of the present. I don't need any distractions not any unnecessary thoughts no matter how important they may be. I just need to bring back my old senses as I need them, I need him, I need King Grey back.

All the bullshits that I've been through, with me saying that I'm a King are just bullshits. I need the real one, and that's the only key to winning this war.

I stood up from one of the broken stones that I used as a seat. “I need to go now.” I said and all of them looked at me.

“Already Ath? I know that this dungeon is quite a disappointment but leaving too early?”

Claire as usual is the first one to speak, she is indeed the leader and as the one who manages the party she needs to always check on her party members. She's embracing her role well.

”Yes, as my contract says, I only need to go with the party inside a dungeon per day which means I have met the quota.”

“Ahaha... That makes some sense. Well then I'll wish you a safe trip, we're pretty away from the portal after all.”

Unfortunately I didn't need her good luck as I won't even travel at all.

“Come back to our camping spot tomorrow morning, we'll go for another dive since this one isn't that good”

I nodded at her and about to take a step but I noticed a large shadow approaching.

“Are you sure about that? At least take this map before you go. This is a secluded part of the Beast glades I'm sure it will help.”

Theodore said. I accepted the map as it could help me in future situations. It looked very explicit and is brand new. Although helpful I didn't need it for this situation after all... I finally found it.

The pathway

Even though I still haven't done taking multiple pathways continuously like this, it's better to learn it quickly and early for the war. The power to control space, spacium and time, aevum. These can be controlled by realmheart itself and vivum can be controlled by myself or at least a function of vivum which is destruction. All of this is only possible because of the aether absorbing dog dormant inside me right now.

I used godstep, following all the pathways I chose, leaving a decent amount of purple lightning behind. Leaving Theodore and the others in awe.

This technique is indeed godly, however its downside is that there are too many pathways and some of them are unclear. Some pathways are very clear but some barely can be seen. Sometimes the pathway looks like tons of aether gathering on a spot but sometimes it's just a few motes of it there. Though confusing, it's very helpful but the aether it consumes is too much. Plus I need to activate realmheart to use it which is a hassle.

Godstep made its way into my mind when I thought about upgrading eclipse step with destruction but what if I use spacium with it. And after a bit of tinkering, the blueprint showed its own to me. Using spacium in my realmheart form, following pathways and using them to instantly arrive in a certain location. That is godstep, a very self explanatory name.

I arrived in my room with my aether reserves down to a quarter. I can't possibly use god step instantaneously meaning I still need to go for the possibility of using eclipse step with destruction.

I laid on my bed thinking of how exactly am I gonna do that as I made Regis sleep for a while. Well whatever, I'll just try other techniques.

___________________

“Hello”

The first one to notice me or should I say the only one who noticed me is Kathlyn. It's early in the morning, just moments before sunrise that I arrived here. Kathlyn is probably the one in charge on guarding the camp while everyone is fast asleep.

“Goodmorning Kathlyn”

I greeted which she replied with a nod. I've been used to this kind of behavior of her now. I'm now here for two months and went on dozens of dungeons with this party already.

All of my aetheric techniques also have improved and I'm used on being alone the more days passed. I haven't used destruction nor use spacium all this time and only focused on using Vritra mana arts and the two other aether branches.

I still haven't figure out on how to make Regis into a makeshift aether core if that's even possible. The aether in this place is very low unlike in the relictombs but as much as I like to go there I can't just abandon what I've been doing here.

I gained quite a lot of popularity as I became an S-rank adventurer but I ordered Caspian not to say anything about me other than my name. Amazingly, it didn't gave me some attention besides the human king's little spies roaming around me sometimes.

“I'll take a seat if you don't mind.”

“okay”

I sat down a log facing Kathlyn, her hair is tied in a ponytail which is a rare sight. The pleasant smell of incense that's been burning near the fire entered my nose. The incense is probably their timer on who's the one guarding next. Seeing that there is no more incense available means Kathlyn is the last one to guard.

“Can I ask a question?”

“That's rare of you but okay”

“How are you so strong?”

“Am I really that strong in your eyes?"

“Using a foreign unknown magic, an unkown beast will, and a mysterious non existent background. Also the fact that you're better at teachi- ...What are you doing?”

“Humbling myself”

I'm currently pinching my own face with my right arm. Even though I can barely feel the pain, it's enough to make me think more straight.

“Anyway I'm surprised you're paying too much attention to me. ”

“That is true but anyone in my situation will do the same. ”

“You flatter me.”

“Then I apologize for digging on your history.”

“There's no need, after all you haven't found anything right? ”

“That is true, the existence of Adventurer Ath is unknown to anyone besides the name. He doesn't have any background information and is unknown to anyone. No one has also recognized someone with facial features like him in Sapin but I'm certain that he is human with all the information I gathered.” Kathlyn Glayder thought.

“Are you human?”

“Last time I checked I'm barely human.”

“Pfft-

A laugh escaped from Kathlyn but she immediately covered it. This situation already happened before and it is quite similar so why not recreate it without her noticing.

“Did I mishear?”

I bent my upper body lower and smirked at her.

“Did the literal ice princess just laugh?”

Her eyes widened and she immediately looked away covering her face.

“Anyway... I apologize for not being able to do anything at all.”

She said with a very low and depressing tone. Seeing that the atmosphere changed, I immediately tried to break it.

“What are you even saying? Don't change the topic like that. You didn't even do anything wrong.”

“I apologize again for myself and on behalf of my family...

Arthur”

__________________

Bang!

“Commander!”

A soldier dressed in a silver armor came running inside the Council room with all the representative present in there.

“Impudence! How dare you enter the council while we are having a meeting!”

The king of humans shouted and glared to the poor soldier. The soldier seemed to be intimidated but the fire in his eyes made a certain old elf acknowledge him.

“Young man, what is it that you need.”

“Father! Do not entertain him anymore this meeting is more importa-”

“Silence!”

“Now what is it that you want, young soldier?”

“A-ah...huff e-elder Virion! One of my comrades said that he met a deity and it gave this to him! Please read it.”

The whole room went cold and silent. The Asura abandoned the whole continent and disappeared, only leaving a little help for them. Now after years they returned?

“Soldier, give it to me.”

The young soldier gave the letter to the old elf and the old elf then read it to himself. Virion Eralith froze for a second before his aura and pressure weighed down to everyone in the room. Every Lance that is inside protected their leaders while the poor soldier suffered alone and he then passed out.

The pressure disappeared after some moments and everyone started to calm down, except the former elf king. He sat down on the floor, clearly stressed and exhausted after reading the letter.

“Father!”

“Elder Virion!”

Both the king and the queen of elves hurried to aid the old elf followed by their lances. While helping the old elf one of the lances Vassil Elderwood grabbed the letter that's on the ground.

“Lance Enoreth, read it to them.”

The voice of the old elf, the former King who he respected is now sounds weak. Even though his guts tells him that reading it right now won't be good, he still read it outloud because of the old elf's order.

Lessers of Dicathen

This is a message from Lord Indrath himself.

You are hereby ordered by him to attack Alacrya with all your power within a week

Or die.

You have a day to decide before someone from Epheotus arrives.

The whole room went into chaos after hearing everything within the letter.
Especially the Human King who sent a Lance to find both his children before the sun sets.

“Vassil!”

The hopless looking old elf earlier now looked the same as he is supposed to be. A commander full of determination and drive to live and win.

“Wake that soldier up! Know the time when they've met the Asura!”

The realization hit them, no one knows when the letter really arrived so there is a huge possiblity that an Asura can come and kill them right here right now. They know how powerful they really are and even with all the 12 Lances they won't be able to stand a chance.

“Blaine!”

“Tsk! Jasmine! Bairon! Find the soldier that have met the Asura! Right now!”

The two fastest Lance immediately disappeared, leaving a trace of lighting and wind on their former positions where they stood.

Alea Triscan also already brought the now passed out soldier to the infirmary for him to recover faster.

Unbeknownst to them, they only have 7 hours left before the Asura arrive.

____________________

“I apologize again for myself and on behalf of my family...  Arthur”

“How... did you know? ”

“The conversation we had just now, it happened before. Do you still remember it Arthur? it's just days after you saved me from getting hit by that professor's spell.”

“.... Ah yeah”

“You are one of the first people I considered a friend that's why it's impossible for me to forget that. You underestimated me Arthur."

“I... I-

“There's no need to worry. I don't really care who you are, you are still my friend Arthur. ”

I saw the ice princess smile genuinely for the first time after I met her again.

“How can you still call me by that name? ”

“That is your name... You are Arthur.”

“I see... I underestimated you Kathlyn.”

“Yes, but now is not the right time for that.”

She looked at the incense that is close on burning out.

“I need to wake them up now. Are you ready for our last dungeon dive Arthur?”

“It's Ath now”

“Maybe”

___________________

“As I already said countless times, everything can happen inside a dungeon. So brace yourselves!"

This dungeon gives me some kind of familiarity although I don't have any memories of going in here. The way the mana beasts are moving abnormally, and other species who's not supposed to be here is present. This is just like the time I encountered the corrupted elderwood guardian.

“Conjurers get ready! Theo will open the gate!”

Theodore with his fist coated with gravity punched the giant door that leads to the boss room.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

“This thing won't budge!”

After punching it three times, Theo didn't even leave a scar on the door.
So with that, everyone started to break the door.

“Why are you guys even struggling?”

“What? You think you can open it? You're a conjurer.”

“There's a knob”

I said pointing at the almost hidden curved metal blending into the design of the door.

“PFFFT-

“HAHAAHAHAHAHA”

“Fuck! Didn't see that!”

“Stop laughing and get the fuck in!”

“All brawns no brains”

“What you say?”

“Nothing”

We entered the boss room and immediately felt the temperature change. The room looked like it's from a video game. Dozens of giant pillars with lava flowing from it to the floor.

Almost everyone got rid of their extra clothing because of the extreme high temperature here inside the boss. We continued searching the whole room and Saw something in the middle of the room, it is a throne and within the throne is a mana beasts.

A monster with black charcoal colored skin, standing atleast three meters tall. Its hair is long just like how multiple books describes it to be.
A bloodred eyes and an unexplainable face, a dress covered in tons of red gemstone. It is indeed an S-rank mana beast the Inferno queen.

“Don't tell me we need to fight that!?”

“Yes”

We all immediately felt the pressure emitting from the beasts and went into formation. The Inferno queen stood up and and pointed at us.

“Scatter!”

I shouted and conjured a thick earth wall to cover us from the blast. I waited for a few seconds and then the whole wall eventually turned red and a blast of fire went through it.

I looked at the party members and all of them is still intimidated by the presence of the beast. I looked at Claire and she immediately nodded. I will now be the one in charge of this party.

“Augmenters! Focus on parrying and countering the attack! Conjurers with water will be on offense while I will be in defense!”

“Okay!”

“Roger that!”

“What am I supposed to do?!”

I heard Clive shout, of course Clive is an Augmenter but he doesn't specialize on close combat that's why you can just treat him like a conjurer.

“Go far like the conjurers! Cover the augmenters!”

“Got it!”

I conjured chunks of earth and blasted it towards the inferno queen who easily blocked it.

__________________

Grey and his party went to work, trying to beat the S-rank mana beast, Inferno queen. Grey couldn't move properly as he's limited on only using fire and earth as a conjurer. Fire won't have any kinds of effect to the queen so the only thing available to him is earth.

crash!

The chunks of earth that Grey threw to the queen made a lot of mess, creating some cover for his party members just as Grey hopes for.

The inferno queen moved in a blitz, coming towards Grey as it saw him as the most dangerous out of the bunch.
Grey immediately conjured earthen spikes towards the queen and used godstep to move out the way.

The beast was petrified on the use of godstep and this became a distraction for the two conjurers to lay out their spells.

"...gather and grow, take form and life into a menacing beast."

“Water Serpent!”

“Ice tornado.”

Splash!
Crash!

Although the spells are a good counter for fire, the heat from the inferno queen evaporated almost all the water, taking only some damage. However... The inferno queen now is on combat mode and withdraw all the fire in the surroundings back to her.

The place immediately cooled down, and the color of the inferno queen changed from black to bright blood red.

“Now!”

Because the beast withdraw all the fire that surroundings her, the augmenters with the precise amount of mana can now attack her freely without the hea interfering their spells.

Claire is the one who went first with Theodore following her. Claire used wind to boost her speed and pierced her rapier towards the inferno queen's neck. The queen dodged this and grabbed Claire's rapier and threw her away.

Using godstep, Grey caught Claire midair and dropped her to the ground. He looked at the inferno queen who's currently getting tagged teamed by Theodore, Doradrea and