Chapter 319 Welcome to the...
"Harvey!?"
Gerald immediately went and rushed towards his brother as soon as the growing white light dissipated. He thought for sure that they were all going to die, but to think that Charles was able to teleport them to another place before they got swallowed-- it truly was the right decision to force him to do so.
"I… I'm fine, brother."
"Where… are we?"
The others all woke up from their momentary stupor, all clumsily standing up at the same time as their eyes moved all over the place. They were in a very warm place just a few moments ago, but now, they could feel the moisture of the cold dew wafting through their faces.
"Where did you take us, father?" Victoria then approached Charles as soon as she fully recovered herself.
However, Charles, even with all of the stares that had landed on him, did not answer; the only visible answer they got was the confusion in his face.
"Did the light stop growing? Let's find high ground so we could see where it will be coming from next," Xinyan then waved her hands, summoning blocks of ice that slowly built themselves up into a tower, but as her eyes reached the top of the tower, she immediately lowered her hands, causing it to crumble.
"What's wrong?" Gerald quickly asked, but the only answer he received was Xinyan pointing towards the sky. With this, not only Gerald, but the rest of the group all turned their heads upwards, and as soon as they did so, they also let out their gasps all at the same time.
"Where did you take us, father?" Victoria blinked her eyes a couple of times as she looked back and forth between her father and the 8 earth-like moons littered in the sky, seemingly surrounding the sky in a sort of circle.
"I didn't."
"Hm?"
"I didn't teleport us anywhere," Charles took in a small gulp as he slowly turned his head towards his daughter, "I have already used up all of my SP."
"What are you saying?"
"Wherever this place is, I didn't take us here."
The others could not help but look at each other as soon as they heard Charles's words. If he didn't teleport them here, then how exactly did they get to this place?
"I think the white light brought us here," Beatrice, who had been quietly observing the situation for a while now, finally spoke her thoughts, "Maybe it was some kind of wide-spread Portal?"
"...If that was the case, then shouldn't we have an Objective by now?" Xinyan wondered.
"Forget the objective," Gerald then said as he waved his hands in the air, "I… can't even call my System Window."
"What!?"
The group then all tried to call their Systems, but as Gerald said and like what Van had also experienced in his first day in this new universe, none of them could call it. The group initially panicked, but as soon as they remembered that Xinyan summoned a tower of ice earlier, they all quickly calmed down and confirmed that each of them still had their own respective skills.
"Can you skip this part?"
"But the story wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell everything, you stupid fuck."
"Then just advance a little bit, I was also summoned here-- I know what you went through."
Gerald could not help but click his tongue as Van suddenly disrupted his accounts of what happened to them. "Didn't you hear the part where your creepy ass mother's face emerged from the light before it sucked us in?"
"Are you sure you saw her?"
"Are you saying I am lying?" Gerald furrowed his eyebrows, "You're the pathological liar between us. Just let me continue my story, I'll skip to the good parts."
"...Fine."
"Anyway, after we're all done being shocked; we immediately made our way to find any signs of civilization, but the first humans we saw attacked us. I almost killed half of them before they started calming down, kneeling and begging for me to stop and spare their-- Right, so we weren't too welcomed at first, it was a good thing that Victoria's father was able to speak their language…"
Even though Gerald had beaten most of them black and blue, the villagers did not seem to mind. As a matter of fact, some of them even expressed their excitement from almost being killed by a great warrior.
They then explained that the reason they attacked Gerald and the others was that they initially thought that they were gods; gods that had been toying with their lives for thousands of years.
Gerald and the others didn't know what it meant at first, but as they made themselves villagers of the settlement after a few months of being welcomed there; when they were starting to learn where they truly were-- that's when they had their first encounter with a so-called god…
...and it just so happened to be Van's son, Ymir.
Being part of the village for months, Gerald and the others had already acclimatized and perfectly injected themselves into the society that they were suddenly thrown into; but they truly still had no idea what it meant to be living in this world.
It was a normal day as any, with all of them doing their part. But the almost perfect day was quickly basked in darkness as people from the neighboring hamlet visited their village. They weren't aggressive, and they did not come to pillage, no.
What they did come for, however, was a refuge. Most of them were covered in blood, and some even missing parts of their bodies as they limped and forced their way into the village. Of course, although the villagers wanted to refuse as they didn't have enough space to accommodate them, the only thing they could do was nod their heads as they helped their neighbor.
But before the last refugee could place his foot onto the village, his head exploded. Or more specifically, an arrow the size of a spear completely hallowed his face, cracking it open like an egg.
Gerald quickly pulled Xinyan and Harvey away, dragging them far away from the village as much as possible. Seeing them run away, although Beatrice and the others were still confused as to what just happened, Gerald's instincts had always been spot-on.
If what just happened was enough to make him run, then the only thing they could do was follow him. Edward quickly transformed, lifting Beatrice and her sister and placing them on his back as his four limbs galloped away.
As for Charles, no one really bothered with him as he could escape on his own-- and he did. As soon as his children were far away and hidden, he quickly appeared beside them.
"What's happening, brother!?"
"Keep quiet."
Gerald covered Harvey's mouth, gesturing to the others to also keep their mouths shut. However, even with none of them talking, the screams and cries of the people in the village were enough to fill the air.
Except for Gerald and Charles, the rest of the group wanted to go back to the village to help. But Gerald was adamant that if they try to go back to the village, they will all die.
Hearing Gerald, the epitome of arrogance and unfounded confidence, speaking in that manner, the group could not help but once again look at each other in shock… their shock, however, did not last long as soon as they saw the reason why Gerald was acting the way he is.
"Is that… a monster?"
Even from afar, the individual that suddenly appeared in the village could clearly be seen by even Victoria and the others; after all, he towered over everyone else; with his bow even surpassing the roof of some of the houses.
And just like that, perhaps not even a half a minute-- the green-haired giant massacred everyone in the village, along with the refugees that seemed to also be his earlier victims. And just like that, he went away.
Gerald, however, knew something the others didn't-- Ymir knew where they were. It was momentary and faint, but Gerald saw him glancing towards them; he didn't yet know why Ymir didn't attack them there and then, but he would know soon.
After they confirmed that the green-haired giant truly was gone, they all went to check on the village; only to find out that no one survived the sudden attack. Except for Gerald, they all asked themselves why someone would do something like this; children, elderly, and even cattle-- the green-haired giant killed every living thing within the vicinity.
And this was the first of many of their encounters with Ymir. With everyone else dead, the group decided to finally explore the world they were in-- but all they found were death and destruction.
Village upon village-- corpses. It was as if they were following the trail of death, and they knew that they were just a step too late, as all the dead that were sprawled in front of them were always fresh.
Until finally, they have forgotten how many villages there had been. But they were finally unfortunate enough to be welcomed by the green-haired giant, who was once again surrounded by corpses.
Gerald and the others, however, were already too tired of running away. One way or another, all of these massacres had to end.
"My name is Ymir."
Surprisingly, the green-haired giant, however, did not seem to have any interest in attacking them. Instead, he stretched his arms wide, completely making himself vulnerable as his eyes slowly scanned Gerald and the others.
"Welcome to the future, ancestors."