It only took one word to make all the energy in his body to dissipate. Larc couldn't feel any strength left in his arm which made him put down his sword. Feeling his knee weak, he fell down to the sofa behind him. He let out a huge sigh.
"So it's true. You two are really from Borneo."
Kim knew why Larc was reacting the way he was now. But Larc looked less surprised than what he was expecting. 'It seems he did his research. It was stupid of me to actually wrote Samarahan for the ic.'
After talking with the locals from the fishermen village and having some conversation with others, he understands really well what Borneo meant to the people. Not only Malaysians, but the whole world is aware of the existence of infamous Borneo. Even worse than the Bermuda Triangle.
"Are you ready to die now?"
Larc didn't retaliate as if he already accepting his fate. He asked them another question.
"Are you really going to go against the Varhem Kingdom?"
Kim snorted when he heard the question. "I see."
"?"
"So you knew didn't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Most people would either ask me the reasons or even call me crazy for talking about going against the kingdom but you...didn't even hesitate to think that I was telling the truth. So you really did know."
"..."
"I really thought you were a kind person to actually thought about us for surviving the calamity. That's not really it, isn't it Mr. Guild Master? You knew all these times what the kingdom had done to Earth, why the calamity had happened in the first place and why every single person I love had died in front of me!"
"I'm sorry..."
"Sorry? Tell that to my dead family and friends!"
"I-I..."
Larc was trying to think of something to say but there was nothing. Even if he wanted to say anything, nothing could come out of his throats. He then looked towards Momo and she too was looking at him with anger.
"Momo...had to see her family member getting slowly digested inside a monster stomach one by one, screeching in pain when she was 10!"
"It was...for the kingdom"
"Kingdom your ass!" In instant, Larc was sent flying to the wall with a single slap, breaking the mana barrier apart. The impact caused a tremor which shook the whole building. Even those who were in the lounge could feel it. Leila who was waiting outside couldn't stop herself anymore. She barged into the room to see the guild master laying on a broken wall with blood pouring out from his orifice. "W-what happened?! Guild master!"
"Leila stay out of this!"
Leila was about to run toward Larc when Momo suddenly appeared in front of her holding a sword to her neck. "Little Momo, you are joking now, right? I thought we were friends..."
Leila pleaded but Momo didn't budge which caused tears to roll down her cheek. Momo face was telling that the moment she took a single step toward the guild master, will be the moment her head come off from her neck.
"Please, let her go. Leila doesn't know anything. She was never involved in the first place. It was only the royal army and the guild founder that are currently in Malaysia. I'm the one you want. Let her live!"
A suffocating atmosphere filled up the room, pushing Larc and Leila in their place. Unable to withstand the mana pressure, Leila fell to her knees. Larc who had already accepted his fate didn't even retaliate. The pressure becoming stronger as Kim was walking toward him. When Kim's face was directly above him, Larc looked toward Leila and gave her smile!
"N-No..."
With all her might Leila circulated her mana in full power to stand out and shouted! "STOP!" Just trying to go against Kim's mana pressure had caused blood to drip from her mouth. She was about to fall down when Momo grabbed her side, supporting her to stand. The overweight mana pressure suddenly lifted off the moment she was in contact with Momo which enabled her to speak again.
"I don't know what happened between you two but please hear me. The guild master, he wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and crying. It has been ongoing for five years every single day."
Unknowingly, more tears start rolling down her cheek. "It has taken a huge toll on his body that he...has only several years left to live. Maybe it's not my place to say anything, but I at least sure that the guild master had been suffering as well. Please I'm begging you, please let him go."
As she finished she could feel a warm feeling embracing her entire body. The pain she felt a moment ago has already been healed. She felt like nothing had happened to her at all.
"Momo..."
Kim let out a sigh and released his mana pressure. "Momo, let's go." After fully recovered, Leila can move freely without Kim's mana pressure in her way. She bowed toward Kim with tears in her eyes, "Thank you" and rushed towards Larc side. Before Kim left with Momo, Larc called out to them "Two of you, wait."
They both turned around to see Larc struggling to stand up. "What do you want now?"
"Please wait for a moment."
With Leila support, they both walked toward Kim and Momo. Larc reached into his pocket and took out a letter which he then handed out to Kim.
"You might not hear this, but there was a mission to enter Borneo before which ends up in failure. Several of the prince's trusted knights now dead. The prince contacted every guild master in the country to offer any A-rank mana users for the selection. It will be held in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur."
Kim took the letter to read it for confirmation. "Why are you giving me this?"
"With my recommendation, you could freely go in and out of the capital with no trouble. By joining the competition Prince Ray and his aide, Master Sylva will be there overseeing the whole selection process. That will give you chances to do anything you want."
Kim still didn't understand what's the point of giving him the letter. It would only mean helping him to go against the royal army.
"I was one of the knights in the royal army myself. One day, a horde of monsters was on their way to my hometown. I did all I could requesting for reinforcement but none, not even a single soldier was sent to help. I took my horse and rushed there as fast as I could but it was too late. My parents, my wife, my children...the people who celebrated during the day I was appointed as one of the knights, were all dead. The only survivors were Leila and Lavis."
Before Larc could finish his story, Kim wrapped Larc entire body with his mana. Larc body was gradually healed at a fast rate, Even the damage to his body from the ongoing soul suffering nightmares was recovering.
"Don't get me wrong. I'm not pitying you or anything. I'm just going to let you suffer more."
Momo gave them a slight bow and they finally left the room.
"Guild master are you feeling okay do you need some rest?"
"I'm fine. Please ask Lavis to come. I will tell you two everything I know."
--
The tremor caused quite a commotion in the lounge. Everyone had their own guesses of what had happened and all of them were pointing towards one culprit, Kim. He was walking towards the entrance of the guild with Momo by his side. The three uncles intuitively stood up to join them but before they could get close the armour clad man was already standing in front of Kim as if he had been waiting for him.
"Fight me," he said but he was replied with not a single word. He then took out his greatsword and brandished it in front of Kim and Momo. "My name is Futa. Kiria was my rival for many years and I made an oath to take him down with this sword."
'What the heck is this guy talking about?' Kim thought in his mind. "But my chance was taken away after he was killed. To be taken down easily by a mere Earthen! I will never accept it!"
Futa swung his greatsword with his two giant arms downward but the sword stopped in the midair just before it could touch a single strand of Kim's hair. Everyone was shocked by his action but the one who was really surprised was Futa himself. He was giving his all with that strike but Kim remains unfazed. Not only that, but he could also feel like he was hitting a wall. The backlash from the impact had caused his arms to tremble in pain.
Not wanting to lose, Futa gritted his teeth and was preparing for another strike. Determined to kill Kim this time, his whole body was exploded with mana, sending chills to the lower rank mana users. However, before he even got the chance to strike Kim again, his eyes were caught into Kim gaze, making him froze in his place.
The young man before him looked so different than what he saw a few seconds ago. He knew in his mind that the young man before him was a human by why did he felt the presence of an ancient beast gazing toward him. His heart was palpitating frantically the longer he was looking into Kim's eyes. He felt like if he moved even a millimetre, his whole existence would be erased in a flick of a second.
Not able to handle the pressure, Futa lost the strength in his four limbs. He lost the grips of his greatsword and let it slip through his hand. Even his knee gave up which made him fell down into a grovelling position. Everyone was lost at words after seeing what happened. A fight between A-rankers ended without a single touch.
"Wong, Teng, Ling, let's go. I'm leaving."
The three uncles were still in awe which made them flustered with the sudden call from Kim. They have seen Kim's feat for so many times that they thought nothing could surprise them again. But again Kim had proved them wrong. What Kim could do seems to be limitless that it felt like he could do anything! Just the thought of that somehow made their soul boiling with excitement. At that moment without a single word exchanged with each other the three of them had the same thought
"I want to see more!"
--
Back in the guild master room, both Lavis and Leila was sitting in front of Larc in silence. Larc had told everything he knew when he was given the mission to 'Save the Earth' when the real reason for the mission was the subjugation of Earth. The Kingdom of Varhem had collaborated with several other kingdoms from different worlds to conquer Earth. The reason was resources.
For a not yet awakened world, Earth contained a rich amount of mana that was comparable to several numbers of worlds which was an extremely rare case. If they could convert this mana into mana stones that could become a powerful asset for each kingdom.
However, it wasn't possible to convert the mana of the unawakened Earth yet since its mana was still in its core and if they waited for Earth to naturally awaken the mana would slowly flowing out and the amount is little. It would take who knows how many thousands of years before all the mana in Earth will completely flow out and how much of it will still be available to be converted into mana stones.
The solution was forced awakening. They had developed a method to fully release the mana of an unawakened world. This was the best method to get resource since most of the unawakened worlds still producing mana so they won't dry out completely even if all of it was released at once. The downside of this method was the local human will not have the time to get adapted with mana quickly enough before nature itself becomes a living monster and completely took over the world.
"However, we didn't expect the monsters here could become too strong that a place like Borneo could exist."
"Is that why...Kim and Momo they hated us? But we help the Earthen to sustain their populations, right? Weren't you leading a rescue team to save the people in Malaysia? Aren't the prince and his army the heroes of Malaysia?"
"Help? Rescue? Heroes? The prince army had already been in Malaysia even before the Earth was forcibly awakened. That include other kingdoms from the other world as well. They could have warned the people if they wanted to help the people and how can you be the hero when you were the villain in the first place? Everything was only an act to gain trust. the royal family never cared about Earthen. They were only a sacrifice for the greater good and I...was a part of this disgusting mission."
Leila tried to calm guild master Larc who was choking in tears. It was obvious that Larc was drowned in his guilt over the past 6 years. Even though his mission was to rescue the people of Earth, but it was only so they could gain trust for them. Furthermore, they couldn't save a lot number of people because of how strong the monsters which appeared on Earth. In the end, what they did had caused billions of innocent lives.
"But guild master, why do we need a large amount of resource in the first place?"
Lavis's questioned had caused the room to become silent again. Larc took a deep breath to regain his composure. After a while, Larc finally gave his answer.
"It's...for the war."