Life didn't get easier, even in another world

285 The controller of earth

Aaron placed a barrier around the three people before turning towards The First, who was raising his aura-coated sword to the air while stepping toward him. Seeing his opponent ready to strike, Aaron too, clenched his spear and started to move.

The First was aiming at him, who was standing right in front of the barrier he had just created. If he dodged, the barrier would be destroyed. That was why he had to either deflect or block the attack.

In fact, it wouldn’t be only the first attack he wouldn’t be able to dodge. He was sure that these two pests would try to attack the barrier if he moved a little bit away from it. They knew that by doing so, they would either manage to capture those three members of unit 5 or drag Aaron around and exhaust him.

SHHHH SHHHHH

As usual, the first thing he did was to create a soil barrier between him and The First. It would probably not be able to block the attack though. Still, Aaron didn’t need to worry about winning or losing. If there was one thing he believed and was confident about, it was his own strength. He knew that those two punks could protect themselves and also Kairen, but it would always be the best not to risk anything.

BOOOOOMMMMM

The sword aura hit the soil barrier and made a loud voice. The soil barrier shattered to pieces and scattered around, covering the whole place in dust. Even though the soil barrier was destroyed, the golden sword aura was still moving forward, its strength not reduced even a single bit.

Aaron closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, he raised his spear up to his face. He knew that the spear in itself was not strong enough to withstand such an attack. It would break to pieces the moment the sword aura hit it, the spear would turn into dust just like the soil barrier did a few seconds ago.

But that was only if the spear was in the hands of someone else. Anyone but himself.

.....

“Hah!”

Aaron snapped his eyes open. The sword aura was now only a few inches away from his face. He moved his arms up and held the spear with both hands as if he was holding a sword, not a long spear.

BBBBBBBAAANGGG

The sword aura and the spear crashed. The spear instantly cracked and started to crumble, but then the cracks disappeared and the spear went back to normal. One second later, the spear was once about to fall apart when it was repaired in an instant.

BANNNNGGG

And after a few seconds of repeatedly repairing his spear, the aura blade that had consumed all the energy and aura stored inside it blasted and turned into small particles before completely vanishing.

The First raised an eyebrow.

“How?”

He could see what the man was doing. He was constantly repairing his spear so that it could withstand the aura blade. It was a smart move, but not enough for him to block his attack.

Or that was supposed to be the case.

“Aren’t you just an attribute user?”

Even if this man was constantly repairing his spear, he still shouldn’t be able to block that attack. He was an attribute user. An attribute user shouldn’t be able to block the attacks of an aura wielder with sheer force! The aura wielders have to train their physical abilities day and night to bring out the power called the aura. No one in the field of unique powers should be able to overpower them in the terms of physical strength.

“That’s right!”

Aaron gave an answer with a refreshed tone.

“I would be called an attribute user based on your terms of categorizing these powers.”

Tap

Aaron took one step toward the two men standing in front of him. The First could swear that he saw a smirk on his enemy’s lips when his hood shook due to him moving forward. He suddenly had chills on his back.

“But we called it something else back in our homeland. We were called ‘controllers’.”

Tap

Aaron strolled towards the two men who were for some reason, that even they themselves didn’t know what it was, were frozen on their spots.

“And I was The Controller of Earth.”

Which one was stronger? A human being who had practiced martial arts for mere years, or the substance that had been a footing, a shelter, a base, and a weapon for millions of years?

The answer was obvious to Aaron. He was not the earth, but a controller. He knew he was still not as strong as The First in the terms of sheer physical force, and he didn’t even need to be.

TAP

With a kick to the ground, Aaron’s body darted forward. If he couldn’t dodge the attacks of those two in the fear of those three punks getting hurt, so he would make it so that these two bastards wouldn’t even manage to sneak an attack in that direction.

A strange excitement was running through his vines. A feeling he had not experienced in years. The feeling of finally battling someone as strong as himself.

This world was truly interesting.

BANNNNNNGGGG

. . . . . .

BANNNNNNGGGG

BOMMM

BOMMM

CRASH

BANGGGG

“....”

“....”

“....”

BOMMMMM

BANGGGGGG

“....”

“....”

“....”

The three people either sat or stood side by side, listening to the loud voices that were coming from the outside.

“It has not even been three minutes. What the hell?”

Kairen took his eyes off of Serria’s watch, actually a poor soldier’s watch that Serria ‘happened to find out on her way’, and mumbled again.

“I still want to watch the battle...”

He wanted to watch how his brother beat the shit out of that traitor team leader. No wait, those two men were both traitor team leaders.

“Hmm... Did he survive using the artifact?”

His two friends, who had said no words for a while, turned to him at the mention of the word ‘artifact’.

“Artifact?”

“What do you mean?”

Kairen shrugged his shoulder.

“I don’t really know. Do you remember the things that the president said after he woke up? That the team leader was holding something else in his hand beside the bomb, and that red electric currents had surrounded him and the team leader just before the explosion?”

Reyan and Serria nodded their heads. Kairen moved back a little bit, now leaning on the soil barrier in a comfortable position, and looked up at his two friends.

“There were also red currents around The Fifth when he used that ring to block Alan’s power. And we also saw some currents, though a little bit different, when Ron attacked us and told us about the bomb he was carrying.”

“Ron?”

Serria tilted her head.

“Him!”

Kairen pointed at the soil wall. Serria and Reyan nodded though still confused.

‘Is his name Ron?’

‘Where does he even know that man’s name?’

The two of them decided to ask those questions later.

“So?”

“What I’m saying is thaaaat... Ron didn’t die after the bomb exploded, right? He even walked to Kain and gave him information about the other bombs in the capital. The president also didn’t die. And that bastard is also alive.”

Reyan and Serria were both nodding their heads.

“So, we can assume that those currents have something to do about them surviving the attacks. If that’s the case, then The Fifth is still probably alive as well.”

He was trapped inside Kain’s water dome and got caught up in the explosion, but there was the possibility of him surviving it.

“And the things that created those currents were those artifacts... and that stone on Ron’s cloak I guess? Anyway, that means that those artifacts have a power that can block Philomn’s bombs.”

Nod Nod Nod

“And that also means that those artifacts can block, and also react to the power stored on those bombs.”

Nod Nod Nod

“The bombs, that power, the first idea of them came from the C.A.D project, right? All those data about the thing called Atypical matter. That was the thing that those scientists in that research lab used to create weapons 50 years ago.”

.....

Tilt?

Reyan and Serria tilted their head at the mention of the words they couldn’t understand.

“Philomns has merely recreated the weapons that those researchers once produced. The Atypical matter that was said to be the core power of the weapons is most probably still the power inside those bombs. Then, that means those artifacts react to Atypical matter in facts or the reaction that that matter creates once it explodes.”

“...”

“...”

Reyan and Serria didn’t understand what he was talking about, but they didn’t ask anything, letting their friend, who suddenly looked like a veteran detective, say whatever he wanted.

“But how can some old artifacts react to a weapon that was created thousands of years after those artifacts were made, no, to the power that was discovered only a few decades ago?”

“....”

“....”

“Doesn’t that mean that... The person who created these artifacts knew about the Atypical matter thousands of years ago?”

Blink Blink Blink

His two friends, who seemed to be starting to understand some things, blinked several times before Reyan cautiously opened his mouth.

“Someone created something to block the weapons that would be made thousands of years later?”

“Hmm...”

Kairen shook his head.

“Wouldn’t it be the reverse?”

“The reverse?”

The light-brown-haired boy gave a nod.

“Yeah. Like... Someone, or maybe a group of people, who lived a few decades ago, created a weapon by... using those artifacts?”