Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 377 Your End shall be our Beginning!

"Rumble..." At the moment that Queen Mother was plagued by her thoughts, the Mountain of Enlightenment, which was relatively low-key since earlier, suddenly shuddered as the cracks on its metallic surface began to widen.

The cracks quickly spread outwards on the mountain’s surface, making it appear as if numerous mouths suddenly opened up on it.

In no time at all, 6 massive holes opened up on the mountain, with each hole emitting a malicious aura that made everyone nearby shiver from it.

Even the monsters visibly trembled at the presence of these holes, which was something that perked Queen Mother’s attention.

"Hmm?" This was Queen Mother’s first reaction upon witnessing what happened, and it forced her to abandon her thoughts about Alex and his plans.

"Everyone, stay vigilant. The enemy is about to make their move." Queen Mother said to the monsters behind her in an authoritative tone. "Remember everything that I and Professor Frances told you to do. Those teachings will determine your life and death here!"

"WE OBEY YOUR COMMANDS, QUEEN MOTHER!!!"

"Tsk, I told you to not talk that way. Its just making me more pissed off now." Queen Mother muttered as she glared at her ’minions’. "Just close your mouths, and let your bodies do the work, ok?"

With Queen Mother looking royally pissed off right now, the monsters facing her could only nod their heads in silence.

"Yo, QM. What’s got you this angry? Are you having a period?" Asteria suddenly said as she flitted on top of Queen Mother’s head. "You look like you were about to murder these youngsters..."

"Asteria, stop calling me by that name. I am not QM. I am Queen Mother." Queen Mother replied as she observed the gaping holes on the mountain. "How many times should I tell you that?"

"Hmph, your real name is a mouthful, so I will still call you QM. It’s better that way."

"Ugh whatever. Can you... go and hide somewhere else? You will just be a bother here." Queen Mother replied as she chased away Asteria with a shooing gesture.

"Excuse me?"

"You’re just all eat and no work." Queen Mother mumbled as she flicked the dumb fairy, who was attempting to pull Queen Mother’s hair. "How would I want someone like you to be here if you won’t even help out at all?"

"Hey! Don’t call me useless! I... I can do useful stuff too, you know!"

"Then why are you not doing any of that ’useful stuff’ now? Come on, show me one."

"You..."

"If you can’t help us here, then heed my advice and go hide somewhere else" Queen Mother said with finality as she picked up the now struggling Asteria. "Seriously, why did we obtain a Guide like you? You’re just a glorified merchant..."

"..."

Asteria’s face, which was sticky with honey earlier, slowly turned red from rage as Queen Mother’s words seemed to have affected her.

The dumb fairy then glared at Queen Mother angrily as she let out a disgruntled pout.

Her wings started to move erratically as her whole body trembled in agitation.

"...You’re calling me useless? Hmph, in that case, I shall show you who’s really useless here!" Asteria shouted out in her irritating tone as she squirmed out of Queen Mother’s grip. She let out a satisfied shout as she got free, before flapping her wings quickly as she shot straight to the sky.

"Here I go!!!" Asteria then flew straight towards the Mountain of Enlightenment, ignoring the choking sounds that came out of Queen Mother’s throat.

There was a cocky smile on Asteria’s face as she got nearer and nearer to the Mountain of Enlightenment, as if she was about to obtain a treasure chest that was not found for years.

"Watch closely QM, and you will see why I am still your Guide!" Asteria said as she entered one of the gaping holes on the mountain. "Just you wait! I will show you that I am a useful member of this team!"

After entering the hole, Asteria’s body disappeared, as she seemed to be inside the mountain now. There was no indication of what happened to her inside, as the malicious aura from the mountain made it hard to observe it.

"What a dunce." Queen Mother told to herself as she shook her head. She kneaded her forehead as a small laugh came out of her mouth. "Alex told me before that provoking Asteria to make her work will be easy. But I did not expect it to be this easy! Sigh... so Asteria really is a dumb fairy."

After muttering these words to herself, Asteria looked behind her, observing a massive army of TimeMasters that just happened to appear now. This army, which was composed of extremely powerful TimeMasters, is now rushing towards the Mountain of Enlightenment in an urgent manner.

Each one of these TimeMasters were letting out murderous glare at the Mountain of Enlightenment, as if they wanted to tear this mountain to pieces right now and then.

The killing intent around them further solidified this assumption, making Queen Mother click her teeth in anticipation.

"From what I can remember, Alex was supposedly staying with the higher ups among the TimeMasters right now." Queen Mother thought to herself as the army of TimeMasters flew above her. "Does that mean that they are part of Alex’s plan too?"

These TimeMasters paused as they saw Queen Mother and her monster army, although they only paused for a second before continuing their rush towards the mountain.

Even if these TimeMasters seemed to be rattled by the appearance of the monsters, it appears as if their mission on the Mountain of Enlightenment was more important compared to the presence of Queen Mother and her army.

Queen Mother naturally took this fact inside her head, as she thought that she could use it to her advantage later.

"Now then... what would the Immortals do now?" Queen Mother thought to herself as she saw that the TimeMasters were almost near the surface of the Mountain of Enlightenment. "Would they allow these TimeMasters to come in, or will they fight back?"

The timing of Queen Mother’s questions could not have been any more right, as just a second after she asked these questions, another change happened on the Mountain Enlightenment.

"Hong..."

A translucent, dome like barrier appeared around the whole Mountain of Enlightenment, which blocked the further progress of the TimeMasters.

The barrier covered every single space around the Mountain of Enlightenment, which made it impossible for anyone to enter.

Even when the TimeMasters started to use their spells on this barrier, it still held firm, which completely stopped their previously unstoppable rush.

Upon seeing this barrier, Queen Mother narrowed her eyes as she felt inwardly relieved.

"It’s a good thing that I managed to goad Asteria to enter the mountain before this barrier appeared. Now, she’s inside the mountain by herself, without any possible interruptions from the TimeMasters. Hmm... With Asteria inside the Mountain, I am sure that she can do something helpful inside there. Wait... what can she even do to help us out?"

Queen Mother’s frown deepened at this point as she realized that she had no idea on what Asteria can even contribute in this situation.

"Sigh... From the looks of it, the only thing that I can do is to trust Asteria’s drive to prove herself." Queen Mother muttered to herself as a wry smile appeared on her face. "But does she have the drive to prove herself right now? Sigh, I hope that she will be so much angry, to the point that she will forget being lazy.. Only if she becomes like this that she can do something useful here."

She then let out another sigh, as she just left Asteria’s destiny to fate itself.

"..."

Queen Mother stayed silent for a few seconds before she looked back at her monster army.

"..."

She then licked her lips as she tried to think of a possible action that they can do now.

But before she can even think of a good thing to do, a haughty voice came out of the Mountain of Enlightenment, which forced Queen Mother to stop her mental plans.

[YOU PARASITES, DON’T YOU EVERY THINK THAT YOU CAN EASILY DESTROY THIS BARRIER. THIS HAS BEEN FUELED BY MILLIONS OF YEARS OF GATHERED POWER! EVEN IF WE IMMORTALS ARE WEAKENED IN THIS WORLD, THIS BARRIER IS STILL POWERFUL ENOUGH TO LAST FOR A LONG TIME!]

"!!!"

[HEHEHEHE, EVEN IF ALL OF YOU PARASITES DECIDE TO ATTACK THIS BARRIER CONTINUOUSLY, YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO EASILY DESTROY THIS BARRIER! HEHEHE, IT WILL TAKE YOU ALL HOURS TO BREAK THIS BARRIER, WHICH IS ENOUGH FOR US TO FINISH OUR RITUAL!"

"So the barrier was only meant to stall for time." Queen Mother though to herself as she did her best to analyze the words spoken by the haughty speaker. "And this speaker made sure to inform the properties of the barrier to the TimeMasters. Maybe the speaker did this in order to demoralize them, which can make the TimeMasters hesitate..."

The last sentence uttered by Queen Mother turned out to be wrong, as instead of stopping their movements, the TimeMastesr continued their attacks on the barrier, with some of them actually intensifying their attacks.

The aftershocks of these attacks resulted in a cacophony of sounds and visuals which flooded the whole area.

But even with all of these attacks, the barrier still held firm, and the only change in it was an ’extremely’ slight dimming of the barrier’s golden tinge.

[HAHAHAHA! WHY ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME? I JUST TOLD YOU THAT IT IS USELESS, SO IT WILL BE USELESS! HEHEHE... YOU PARASITES MUST BE DESPERATE TO SAVE YOUR YOUNG MISTRESS NOW! WELL, WE IMMORTALS WILL NOT HAND HER OVER, BUT WE WILL SHOW YOU HER FACE FOR ONE LAST TIME!]

Two figures then appeared at the peak of the mountain, which drew everyone’s attention.

One of the figures was a masked male who was wearing a golden robe. On his right hand was a silver scepter that he was pointing above him. As for his left hand, it held a tattered book which only had the symbol Ω on its cover. Not much could be observed more from this man, as he only stood still on his place.

With the way that he was clothed, it was hard to know what this man was thinking, although Queen Mother felt as if this man was gloating right now.

The second figure was a young girl whose face can be said to be extremely pleasant to look at. There was nothing comparable to the face of this girl, as if she was a uniquely beautiful existence that was meant to be only revered.

This young girl was also standing still right now, although the slight fidgeting of her limbs and the tight smile on her face showed that she was extremely nervous.

After she saw this girl, Queen Mother’s eyes continued to narrow as her body’s tension increased.

Her previously relaxed fist started to clench again as the smoldering fire on her eyes returned.

"There’s no doubt about it. That girl is the World Soul of this world." Queen Mother said to herself as she did her best to suppress her temper. "Now that I have seen her, I think it is ok for me to make a move... right?"

Without Alex giving her instructions, Queen Mother founder herself stuck in a situation that she does not like to be in.

"The TimeMasters are already here, while the Immortals had already shown the World Soul. Now that things had progressed at this point, a climactic scene will inevitably happen any second now." Queen Mother thought to herself as she gritted her teeth. "I could make any actions right now, but because Alex’s only instruction for us was to come here, I have no clue on what to do next..."

If Queen Mother could get any more angrier now, she would be, as she had no clear idea on what to do next.

What would she do right now, when Alex had not given her any instructions?

Of course Queen Mother knew that she can fully well attack with her Monster Army now, but is that the right thing to do?

Will Queen Mother’s hasty attempt to make an attack the best thing to do in this situation?

But if Queen Mother does not do anything, there is a high chance that the ritual of the Immortals will succeed. If that happens, then Queen Mother’s Main Mission will be in a whole lot of chaos.

"Should I move, or just wait?" Queen Mother thought to herself as she gritted her teeth. "What is the best thing to do here?"

With the way things are going, Queen Mother will surely be stuck in indecision for longer.

However, a new statement uttered by the haughty Immortal speaker broke Queen Mother’s current state.

[YOU PARASITES, WE HAVE ENTERTAINED YOU ENOUGH ALREADY.... NOW THAT EVERY SINGLE PIECES ARE HERE, ITS TIME FOR US IMMORTALS TO REVIVE OUR PREVIOUS GLORY! MY COMRADES, START THE RITUAL!]

"Ah s**t."