Tale of Discovery

Chapter 175: Barrier ; Dream ; Shutdown

"There is a barrier around the town," I state in a solemn tone.

"A barrier?" Krul inquires.

"Yeah. I'm not sure what kind of barrier it is, but for it to be able to block my sight, it can't be a simple one," I explain.

And the fact that such a barrier exists around a town near the outer region of the kingdom is worrying.

Has the enemy been preparing for this assault for a long time, or did they set it up recently by predicting where we will strike next?

If it's the latter, then there are three possibilities.

The first possibility would be that there are numerous magicians inside with decent experience in setting up barriers.

Second, there is an artifact that is capable of such a thing.

And finally, the most troublesome one - Someone is capable of setting it up all by themselves.

For the third possibility, the individual must hold a high amount of power and status.

"Stay cautious," I say after considering our options, "There is a high chance of a powerful foe awaiting our arrival."

Jeanette and Sheffield who have been disguised by my Reform both look toward the front with intrigue apparent on their faces.

As I continue to examine the barrier by Clairvoyance, I notice that a part of the army has already marched inside, and from the looks of it, nothing has happened to them. If there was something wrong, the soldiers behind them would've reacted in one way or another.

Setting that aside, it seems like the barrier is not a physical one.

{WARNING: Code waves detected.}

{Identification failed.}

As I suspected, the barrier has been set up by an irregular individual. Even so, I didn't expect it to be done by a Code.

{Only a Code's Effects can properly counter the Effects of another Code.}

Oh? That's some good news that I would've preferred to hear some time other than now.

Anyway, now that the enemy has marched inside, there is no point in stopping them and acting like a coward, or, so I'd like to say, but,

"Yvonne go and order Godeffroy to stop the march."

"Yes, Your Highness," she respectfully responds before getting off the carriage and swiftly, yet gracefully head to where Godeffroy is.

"Let's get off," I suggest before jumping off while carrying Irene.

The other girls, including Jeanette and Sheffield, follow suit and follow me as I walk toward the town under the curious eyes of the soldiers.

Soon, I notice that the soldiers have stopped marching. It seems like Yvonne has relayed the order already.

A short while later, I find myself right in front of the barrier while the girls are standing behind me with a curious expression on their faces.

"I'm sensing something," Krul says, "It's like there is a giant wall in front of us."

"That's the barrier," I explain, "And it's most likely one that was created by a Code."

"A Code?!" Saturnus exclaims in an excited tone.

Right, she knows about them.

"That's correct, Saturnus," I reply, "Do you think you're capable of fighting against Codes?"

"That depends on the Code," she replies without any hesitation, "After all, this is what the Creator created me for."

Throughout our short conversation, everyone apart from Irene and Krul gets more and more lost.

"What are the Codes that you're confident in fighting against?"

"Anything that specifically targets natural creatures," she replies.

Natural creatures, huh.

"Well then," I say before coating myself in Destruction, "Here goes nothing."

I slowly walk forward and reach my arm out to 'touch' the barrier.

Unexpectedly, the Destructive energy reacts to the barrier in the worst possible way I could imagine.

My energy constantly gets sucked out as the barrier becomes visible to the naked eye of the soldiers and the girls.

Soon, multiple cracks form on the barrier before it completely shatters.

Damn it. How much energy did that drain?

{Energy left: 58%}

Ugh. At least, the barrier is gone now.

My relief doesn't last for long, as multiple roars resound all over the place, as numerous flying figures seem to appear out of nowhere.

That's not the end of it, as the ground beneath begins to shake, destabilizing so much that some of them begin to fall onto the ground.

A few seconds later, my confusion is washed away as five gigantic metallic golems emerge from the ground.

What makes matters worse is that there are different patterns of colorful gems embroidered onto the golems, which I highly doubt are for decoration.

Just as I'm about to give orders to the soldiers, dozens of houses in the town explode as a dozen or so magicians that seem to be in a 'dead' state float into the air while holding eerie-looking wands.

"Brace for impact!" I exclaim while using Elemental Magic to form a wall of earth in front of us.

The next moment, several energy rays escape from the wands and directly strike the earth wall with enough to force to easily destroy it and pass through.

One energy ray is approaching me at an extremely ridiculous speed that I'm unable to dodge my body in time.

I decide to use Time-Stop, however, before I can do so, the world in front of me suddenly 'shatters' as every sense of dread I had gets washed away.

My vision which seemed to have gone hazy for some reason clears up.

Confused, I rub my eyes a little before looking around.

All of a sudden, I am overwhelmed with extreme pain from my stomach, forcing me to look down, only to find the tip of a familiar weapon protruding from my chest.

I slowly turn around to look at the culprit - Saturnus.

"What are you doing?" I desolately inquire while ignoring the pain.

"Creator, look around," Saturnus says in a hurried tone that's unlike her usual behavior.

Doing as she instructed me to, I look around, only to find everyone unconsciously lying on the ground, while Irene is missing.

Saturnus pulls the weapon out of my stomach and explains,

"This is most likely the result of a hypnotic Code."

Just as I'm about to ask her about what does she mean, Irene's voice resounds in my head.

{WARNING: Code Waves detected.}

{Enemy Codes identified: Theodon | Morpheus.}

{Threat level: 5}

Morpheus? Didn't I kill him?

"Ugh," I hear a groan as Krul suddenly opens her eyes and bolts up from the ground with an annoyed look on her face.

She quickly looks around until she sets her sight on me before her expression gets better as she mutters,

"It was a lie after all."

{Code Morpheus analyzed: Illusion | Dream.}

As soon as I hear those words, everything begins to make sense.

No wonder this guy is alive. He basically used an illusion to make it seem like he died.

Anyway, this guy has Illusion as Essence rather than Effect, huh?

"Um" Siesta's voice reaches my ears before she slowly opens her eyes and gets up from the ground.

"What happened?" she asks while rubbing her eyes.

---3rd POV---

"Why was that girl not affected?" Morpheus says in an irritated tone as he watches everything from where he is.

"I don't know," the man beside him responds.

"Theodon, can't you tap into their minds?" Morpheus asks.

"I could if I had the time to, but they woke up way too early for me to do anything."

"Great. What a way to disappoint my brother."

"Why don't you just use your power once more?" Theodon questions while raising his brows.

"Do you think I'm like you two-digits to have ridiculous amounts of energy?"

As a response to Morpheus's words, Theodon just shrugs before his expression suddenly turns for the worst as he exclaims,

"Enemies!"

"Huh?" Morpheus voices before his eyes suddenly lose all color as his body limply falls to the ground.

As for Theodon, he swiftly waves his hand before he appears in another location and looks back at where he previously was.

There, standing under the cloudy skies is the figure of a small blonde-haired girl that has a small smile on her lips as she crouches down beside Morpheus' body.

"Father is going to like this," she says in a joyful tone before pointing her index finger at Morpheus' back and gradually moving it closer.

Once the tip of her finger touches Morpheus' back, his body begins to suddenly crack as energy escapes from within.

A few seconds later, his whole body shatters before he simply fades away.

The blonde-haired girl, Irene, opens her palm, which results in all the particles and energy to get sucked into her hand before she looks over at the horrified Theodon.

"Daughter of Origi," Theodon mutters before swallowing his spit.

"Calm down," he mutters to himself, "She shouldn't have very high physical capabilities."

Theodon takes a deep breath before running at high speed in the direction opposite to where Irene is.

---1st POV---

{Code: Morpheus eliminated.}

What? How?

{Morpheus was shutdown}

Hold on you used that ability of yours on him?

{Affirmative.}

I see Thank you, Irene battling against two Codes in this situation would've been detrimental in various ways.

{Anything for Father.}

{However, now that the enemy knows about me, I won't be able to make use of my power any longer.}

Because they would be wary of your presence, right?

{Affirmative.}

Nevertheless, this ended well thanks to Saturnus and Irene.

I take moment to look at the still unconscious soldiers then shift my sight to the town.

Not only is it undamaged, but I'm unable to detect anyone inside.

Were they evacuated or something? It doesn't matter for now.

Hopefully, it will be able to accommodate the soldiers for the time being...