Building a Kingdom and Conquering the World - Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Falling into the abyss
An hour before the massive snow wave hit Luak’s army, Henry had climbed to the peak of the mountain, where he could see the entire horizon. The lands beneath his throne laid bared before his eyes. The vast grey forest stretching for miles resembled the hues of his eyes, and the pure white snow that blanketed the ground was like a sacred mantle enveloping the earth, protecting its pureness.

“It’s beautiful…”- Henry couldn’t help but say, while ensuring that Mana flowed through his Mana Circuits to maintain his body’s warmth and supply enough strength to fill his lungs with oxygen.

He was about eight miles up the mountain and could see the walls of Mirante from there, which seemed to be small buildings created by ants. The size of those walls was so small and insignificant when compared to the greatness of mother nature that a strange feeling began to swell up inside Henry’s head, a small thought and desire. He wanted to build something as great as this, with his own hands, a kingdom that could survive for thousands of years.

“Although I am not there yet…” – Henry murmured, taking out a small brown leather pouch from the inner pocket of his ragged shirt- “I can still have a hand in slightly changing nature.”

Henry slowly took out four round pearls from the leather pouch, four Torch Tree Seeds, the last way out of this situation. He couldn’t fight against those Fourth Stage Warriors and a thousand soldiers, even more so with Aritreia’s army knocking on his door, already near Langten Village. The only available option was to blow everything up and pray to be alive after everything ended.

*Huff*

Henry took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he circulated the fiery Mana throughout his body, flooding his circuits and accelerating his heartbeat like never before, forcing his heart to supply enough energy to his whole body.

“I have to be fast,” Henry thought as his grey eyes sharply snapped open.

At that moment, his body rotated swiftly, and his right arm moved with alarming speed as he launched the seeds into the tumultuous skies. After that and without a second thought, Henry kicked the ground and began descending the mountain, crazily burning the Mana stored in his heart.

*Boom*

A few seconds later, a deafening sound echoed throughout the mountain as a shockwave rippled through the air. The mountain fiercely trembled as if a giant had woken up, causing Henry to briefly lose his balance.

The king turned his head slightly and gazed up the mountain, where he could see a massive white wave descending toward him, resembling a colossal behemoth in white trying to swallow the world – “Damn!” – Henry cursed.

Back on Earth, he had watched videos of avalanches during his younger years, but being beneath one was thousands of times more terrifying than simply watching from a TV. Despite being a great warrior and having great talent for strategy, Henry understood that if he were swallowed by the white behemoth, he would surely be buried alive.

“Faster! Faster!” – Henry desperately uttered as his heart pounded furiously.

The surroundings had transformed into a chaotic symphony of nature’s fury, something unstoppable. Henry hurriedly circulated the Sun God Technique at full power, expending his energy at an incredible rate, trying to increase his speed. A red aura began to envelop Henry’s body as his mana circuits worked at full force to supply enough energy for him to escape this avalanche. Luckily, he managed to increase the distance from the approaching white wave by a few margin, but he could still feel it crazily pursuing him.

“There!” – Henry thought as he spotted a small fissure in the mountain, similar to the one where he had battled against the wolves, but a few miles down from that spot.

Outside of the cave, Henry could see the terrified faces of his comrades, who were desperately rushing into the cave, trying to protect themselves from it, even the courageous barbarian, whom Henry saved. However, there was only one figure who remained outside, Leier. There was no fright or fear in her eyes, only worry…worry for his wellbeing.

“Fool! Hide!” – Henry wanted to shout to her, order her to get inside the cave and protect herself, but he was too occupied running away from the great wave behind him. Henry could only continue his descent.

“Almost there!” – Henry told himself as he neared the cave where Leier was anxiously waiting for him.

However, when he was only a few hundred feet away from that spot, Henry suddenly felt his entire body lifted off the ground, as if a vacuum had just opened beneath him, hurling him toward an immense abyss. Panic seized him, forcing his grey eyes open wide -“I followed the same path, and there was no such fissure here before. What’s happening? Why now?”- These thoughts raced through his mind as he plummeted at breakneck speed into the abyss below.

After a few seconds, Henry felt as though he were descending into an unfathomable abyss, the darkness closing in around him with each passing moment, as if it hungered to consume everything in its path.

“My liege!” – A cry pierced the abyss, causing Henry to turn his eyes toward the figure of a woman who had dived headfirst into the abyss, her arms outstretched toward him as her icy blue eyes seemed to pierce through the darkness.

When Leier saw Henry disappear and fall into that dark place, she acted out of desperation and hurriedly followed, diving headfirst into the darkness without thinking twice She wouldn’t allow the king to perish, for she believed he was the last thread keeping her alive. If anything happened to him, she’d rather face the same fate. He was the light in her darkness, the hand reaching down from the heavens to lift her up.

“Fool!” – Henry yelled angrily, seeing the desperate woman reaching out to save him, her small hands and desperate eyes calling for him.

However, soon, the world behind Leier was engulfed in a pure but chaotic whiteness as the massive snow wave finally reached them, opening its huge mouth like a voracious beast attempting to swallow the world – “Careful!” – Henry shouted and swiftly acted, since Leier was in no position to do anything.

Henry swiftly unsheathed his sword and plunged it into the abyss wall. However, upon contact, the already damaged blade snapped in half – “Shit!” – Henry cursed as he instinctively drove the remaining part of the blade into the wall, using his free hand to stabilize and slow down his fall.

“Grrr” – Henry gritted his teeth, feeling his fingers burning from the cold as he painted a long trail of blood on the white walls and the sparse rocks, burning the last reserves of Mana in his heart.

Henry’s eyes shifted towards the falling Leier, calculating the right timing. And, when the woman was only a few feet away from him, he kicked the wall with full force, stretching his arm towards Leier.

The moment Henry embraced the woman – “My liege! You are safe!” – Leier’s voice desperately sounded, like a child who was lost from her parents. Her state of mind was chaotic.

Unfortunately, Henry had no time to do anything about this situation. The moment he touched her, the full force of the wave hit them. Henry only had the time to activate the remnant of his Mana to protect them from the impact, his Mana melting the snow that came in contact with it.

-x-

“My liege, wake up!” – Henry dizzily heard Leier’s voice – “Where are we? What is this tunnel?”