[Silver Ash] - Become The Strongest In Another World
CHAPTER 301: Scintillation (1)

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Only able to sigh resignedly at Tania's carelessness, Noelle finally thought to herself. Right now, there was a lot he wanted to ask. It was too much until he had the hassles of sorting through the question in his own head.

(If this is really caused by a virus .. why don't we get infected? No, put that aside first, there's something very strange here.)

Noelle frowned, and began to gnash her own teeth while having various theories begin to overgrow in her head.

Therefore, he wanted to make sure of it.

"Hey, tell me. How long have all of you, the Artof tribe, lived? "

Tania might not think too much about it, but it was actually a serious matter for Noelle.

Although the question was directed directly at Dolum, Noelle doubted that the answer would be helpful. After all, the Artof tribe lived isolated from the outside world. It was possible that they had different dating systems, and their time records would not be of much use to Noelle who wanted to know the answer.

But, there was one way Noelle could actually use to confirm it. Even so, for now, he would use the answer from Dolum first.

Dolum looked somewhat doubtful, and he did not know what to answer. In the end, he only rubbed his bald head a few times before finally answering faintly.

"I'm not sure myself, but .. from the notes left by the predecessors, many of them say that the beginning of our existence is very long. Just a minute."

Dolum opened his book and was busy flipping through the pages. Till—

"Here we go. This is the record left by the chieftain two generations before me. He said that the existence of the Artof tribe has survived for centuries."

The problem is, Dolum did not understand the meaning of the word 'century' at all'. It could be that the word 'century' has a different meaning in the dictionary of the tribe Artof.

But, putting it all aside, Dolum does look like an old man, despite his below average height.

Even though the Artof tribe had a different understanding of time, the difference should not be too great, given that they relied on the knowledge that the ancestors had left behind.

In addition, they still know the day-night, and the concept of the day and the moon. So Noelle concluded that differences would not be too much of a problem.

It's just ….

"How old are you? " ask Noelle to Dolum.

Dolum only set his breath for a moment, before finally answering, "49 years, but I'm not sure if it's the correct age if calculated using the time standards of the outside world."

"In addition," Dolum added, "We the Artof have no chance to live for a long time. Most of us would turn into crystals upon turning sixties."

(So their immunity decreases with age, yes ..).

Indeed, it makes sense. The older a person is, the weaker they are. No wonder the virus begins to infect when immunity decreases.

(No, that's not the problem. Focus, Noelle.)

Noelle immediately shook her head quickly to get rid of all the not-so-important thoughts.

"Occupy, have you all really been in the Cold Forest for a long time? "

Dolum did not reply with words, but directly nodded without the slightest consideration. This made Noelle even more convinced.

Noelle took a few steps back and pulled Tania along with her. A moment after they reached the end of the room, Noelle immediately whispered. "Tania, how long has the Cold Forest been around? "

Tania was silent for a moment, trying to remember. If he did not remember wrongly, there were records stating when the Cold Forest was discovered.

A moment later, Tania raised her face. "There's in the notebook we read. The Cold Forest was first discovered around the year six hundred of the Republican calendar. That was about a century and a half ago."

The Republic and Kingdom had the same dating system, so there would be no misunderstanding between the information Noelle had and Tania. But, after all, Tania's reply took her by surprise.

It is now 741 according to the Royal calendar. If the Cold Forest was actually discovered around the year six hundred, and in the same state of 'eternal winter', then it proves the figure of the Queen of Bengal has been around for about a century and a half.

This is somewhat in line with the information Dolum provided.

But then, if it had been that long, why could there be a Crystal Plague?

The Crystal Plague was originally a virus spread intentionally by Voyager. And that was about two or three decades ago. The time won't be a century and a half.

But, the Artof tribe most likely had existed since the beginning of the Cold Forest was discovered. Or, they had even outlived, given there was no way to be sure.

What is clear, the existence of the tribe of Artof should appear at the same time or adjacent to the emergence of the Queen of Bengal.

How could a virus spreading in the Kingdom have appeared in the past— a half century ago?

This only meant one thing; the Crystal Plague had existed even before 'they' had spread in a certain area close to the Kingdom. But, how?

Was it also spread by the Voyager side? But, if they had already done that, why would they bother to repeat the experiment? Even though they themselves do not like the results too much. Wasn't there no need to repeat the experiment when Voyager had already received data from their experiments on the part of the Queen of Bengal and the tribe of Artof?

While walking back to her previous position, Noelle began to move her brain gears at an incredible processing speed

(The Crystal Plague that appeared here was not caused by Voyager, but was caused by something else. Outsiders? Or natural causes? However, it is too soon to conclude ..).

His first thought was the idea of someone other than Voyager experimenting with a virus. However, it seems impossible.

Noelle does not know for sure the power of intelligence belonging to Voyager, but they should not miss information about the existence of experiments that have been done in the past.

(In that case, natural causes, is it …? )

That's not impossible. Because of the information that Auger Lucia shared, Voyager itself does not really know where the origin of the virus they brought. They just want to experiment for unknown reasons.

Moreover, it seemed that not only was it a virus, the figure of the Invading Crystal lying on the ice chest was a mystery in itself.

From the dream scene that Noelle saw, the figure was fighting, and at the end, she made a 'park' filled with crystals from the same virus. This made Noelle think: 'Is there an existence that can control the virus freely? '

Voyager can't even do it. They had to incite some parties to start a genocide only to eliminate the virus until it was not left.

Regardless of Noelle's somewhat chaotic state of mind, Dolum had proceeded to the next room. Tania followed behind while pulling Noelle's hand because she knew that Noelle would not care about her surroundings if she was busy thinking.

Right now, they were probably at the center of the cave, deep in the depths of the mountain. All three arrive in a room that freezes, is quite spacious, and may be the last room to visit.

However, the thought collapsed when Noelle and Tania saw a giant gate that became the boundary between this room and the next room.

"This gate is what I want to show you."

Dolum, who had already approached the gate, could only speak with resignation. He did not pour out much emotion, as if he was already tired of doing so.

That gate, it's been around for a very long time. The other members of the Artof tribe did not know about it, but each chieftain would pass on the information to the next chieftain. And that information is closely related to this gate.

"It was this gate that had been protecting us from the Crystal Invaders like I showed them in the icebox."

Hearing that, Tania widened her eyes. "There are still ... Other Crystal invaders? "

Noelle also wanted to ask the same thing, but she herself already had an answer to that. Without knowing it was true, Noelle used it as the basis for every assumption she made.

(There can't be only one Crystal Colonizer. But ...)

What is behind this gate, there is more presence of that figure? Just thinking about it made Noelle feel cold.

After a while, Dolum finally wanted to answer Tania's question earlier.

"Of course, Miss. I'm sure there are more of them, and they're behind these gates, rebelling to be freed."

Dolum then turned around, looking at Noelle and Tania seriously. "But, this gate is slowly losing its power."

Taking a few steps forward, Dolum turned back and looked at the gate with narrowed eyes.

"I and all the ancestors believe that this gate was created by the Queen of Bengal to protect us. But his power is not eternal. Little by little, a smaller Crystal Colonizer figure would come out of the gate, making us have to roam to protect the village."

"Crystal Invaders …."

"Which is smaller? "

Noelle and Tania complete each other's sentences, and immediately get a positive response in the form of a nod of the head from Dolum.

"They are entirely made of crystal, but they live, come out of the Black Mud puddle, and crawl like little animals. I have never seen anything quite like the one in the ice box, but I believe there is a similar existence behind this gate."

From behind, Noelle noticed the thin smile that Dolum made.

"Ahh, I forgot. It's time, huh? "

Dolum looked over and smiled at them. And at the same time, a black liquid slowly flowed out from the crack of the door, creating a disgusting mud pit.

It looked like tar, yet it had no smell, and it was twitching like a living thing.

For a moment, this reminded Noelle of the transformation the Swallow Life Order members had, but then she realized that the two were different things.

Perhaps this is what Dolum meant by 'Black Mud'. And one by one, a small figure emerged from the surface, like someone who had finally returned after diving to the bottom of the sea.

The shape is indeed small, looks like a flock of ladybugs with a size equivalent to a bird like a goose.

However, most striking, was his body that was completely created from blackish purple crystals, with a yellow complexion in several parts. Almost identical to the figure of the Crystal Colonizer lying on an ice chest.

"So this .. you mean the smaller Crystal Invaders …."

Tania growled at Dolum, but she could do nothing but prepare her scythe.

However, the longer he looked at that group of Crystal Invaders, the heavier the strange feeling that enveloped his heart.

"What's wrong? Missy? Mister? Is there a problem? I have bothered to comfort all the guards for one day, for you to have a chance to witness it for yourself; the appearance of those Crystal Invaders. Are you not interested? "

No one responded. Be it Noelle or Tania just fell silent, focusing their attention on the group of Crystal Invaders who came closer in a creeping manner.

Until finally, a strong gust of wind appeared. Not naturally, but created because the movement is done very quickly.

Noelle had disappeared from beside Tania, and had reappeared right above that bunch of Crystal Invaders.

With one giant leap, Noelle almost arrived at the mudhole where the colonizer's masonry was coming out. And it wasn't in vain.

His presence made the Crystal Invaders distract them, and completely concentrate on him.

But Noelle, still in an expressionless display, calmly finished off one by one the Crystal Invaders that came.

A sword came out in the empty air, and instantly stuck it in the Crystal Invaders body. It continued until the floor around the mud puddle was filled with swords that stuck straight into the ice floor.

Eventually, all the little creatures vanished, and Noelle got a chance to land. He stood still by using one of his swords as a foothold, focusing blankly on the mud puddle.

And as if responding to that hate-filled blank look, the mud puddle started spewing out another figure.

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