Chapter 231 - 231: Inhuman
"And we don't have that much time. The portal will completely open in half an hour, I think," Varant chimed in, frowning. "Get ready for the battle of your lives."
"Ah, G-guys. It was already impossible to break the stones. So the opening of the Portal was inevitable. I think we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves. We need to be united," the chubby man also expressed his thoughts.
"No, wait, look at the portal! Zale was right to throw that stone, I think," Clarisse suddenly said as she pointed towards the portal.
Everyone looked at the portal and observed it, to notice that something was different.
"You're right. The Portal is opening even slower now. Why?" Zeiss commented.
"I get it. So that's the secret," Varant suddenly said as his eyes lit up. "Zale actually did the right thing."
"I still don't understand. What are you saying?" The chubby man asked, frowning.
"It is simple. The Dungeon Dwellers killed millions of people all around the world. And we also know why. It was to create these seven stones that work like a summoning accessory to whoever that thing is," Varant said, pointing towards the portal.
"That's right." Zale finally opened his mouth. "These seven stones came into form in different parts of the world, but the Dungeon Dwellers traveled with them until they all met in a single place."
"That place coincidentally happened to be Elisium. The stones are important but their distance too," he further said. "The close proximity of the stones is the key."
"Take the stones far away from each other, and they become useless, it seems. That's the only way since we can't destroy them," he continued.
"That's right. Zale, throw all the stones in different directions, far away from each other so that they can never be brought together. We don't have much time to carry them away ourselves. Only you can do it at the moment," Zeiss told Zale, who already seemed to be on the job.
Zale moved the second stone from his left hand to his right before he tossed it as well, in a different direction.
He once again jumped and brought two more stones down before he threw them as well.
As each stone was tossed away, the opening of the portal slowed down even more. In fact, it slowly seemed to be closing as Zale threw the fourth stone.
After the fifth stone was thrown, the speed of the portal closing fastened even more as if it wasn't getting sufficient energy to remain open.
"Sixth should be the last we need to throw. As for the seventh, we can keep it here to know what that thing actually is. All seven stones will be separated and will stay separated for eternity," Varant muttered as he observed the seventh stone in the sky.
On the other hand, Zale once again called forth his entire strength as he tossed the sixth stone as well.
As the six stones were thrown away, the seventh stone fell down to the ground, losing its strength.
Varant walked up to the red stone and picked it up as he glanced at the portal.
Zale and the others also breathed a sigh of relief as the portal was now on the threshold of completely closing.
It was so small that only one eye of the being on the other side could be seen. His deep violet eye was somehow still intimidating, but there seemed to be no expressions in those eyes.
It didn't seem like that being was frustrated or angry as the portal was closing.
As the portal finally closed, the five Warlocks and Clarisse couldn't help but sit on the ground, tired.
"Is this finally over? We won?" the chubby man asked.
"It seems that way. This victory came at a high cost, though. I'm not sure about the number, but it's highly possible that more than half the population of this world is gone," Zeiss answered.
"Don't forget the Variants that fought at the front lines. Most of them lost their lives. This war was really very expensive for us," Raia responded.
"All because the monsters from the dungeons came out. We need to make sure that never happens again, at least not at such a massive scale," Varant said as he observed the red stone in his hand.
"Yeah. We need to investigate why they weren't able to come out before and why they suddenly came out. We need to understand more about these dungeons and stop this from happening again." Zeiss agreed.
"By the way, are you going to keep that stone?" he asked Varant.
"Yeah. I'll keep it buried somewhere unknown so that no one can find it again," Varant answered. "Do you want to do it instead?"
"Nah, you can do it," Zeiss answered.
Raia also didn't seem interested in the stone. It wasn't as if it was a treasure. It was just an object that could call a calamity.
Moreover, it was useless without the other six stones anyway. And no one could find the other six stones since one of the directions Zale threw it at was the ocean. The stone would be buried under the vast ocean by now, he believed.
"What actually was that creature on the other side of the portal, though? Does anyone have any idea?" The chubby man asked, changing the topic.
"I only saw his face, but he seemed like a human but not quite. There was something about him that was making me feel like he wasn't a human but something scary," he further added.
"I had the same feeling. He certainly wasn't human," Raia agreed.
"So what should we call him then? Alien? Monster? He can't be a dungeon dweller since he doesn't live in a dungeon," the chubby man asked again.
Varant remembered the intimidating eyes. He couldn't forget that face. He softly said, "He was an Inhuman. He was similar to a human, but he wasn't human. We will call him Inhuman."
"Not a bad name," the chubby man agreed. The others didn't complain either since it didn't matter what his name was. And with this, the name Inhuman was finalized.
"I pray to god that I never see an Inhuman again," the chubby man muttered as he closed his eyes and started praying.
"I don't think we will. But if we meet an Inhuman again, it would be no less than the fight for the survival of our home," Varant agreed.
"I have a suggestion. I don't want even one of us to tell others about what we saw today. Let's promise to keep it a secret. People don't need to know about this or about the stones. The less others know about such a thing, the better," he suggested.