The Guardian

Chapter 243: God’s Design

In a small cave, a woman in her forties was kneeling devoutly.

Her great sword was stuck in the ground, creating a spatial distortion that kept her hidden.

The woman trembled as space twisted around her and if anyone looked closely, they could tell that there were traces of rejuvenation as ‘time’ receded.

Amanda Minal was directly receiving the design of her god, the powers of that deity secondarily affected her.

“...”

Time passed until the woman opened her eyes with a bright gaze.

Her god had just pointed out her path... He had just informed her in a direct way of her destiny and her next moves.

It was not with incomprehensible or questionable words that could be difficult to comprehend; it was with an absurd and direct clarity.

Nevertheless, Amanda stood up with a great fervor.

It was hard not to feel special when her god communicated directly with her, who was one of the many paladins of the church and one of many who were in her same rank, but foremost she was ecstatic.

She knew that some people in the church heard the direct voice in their minds as the first time that deity informed mankind that the world they had thought was a game was real.

Hearing their lord’s design would make anyone feel grateful.

Perhaps many questioned him for his actions and his decisions... Whether it was during ‘Terra nova’ that everyone thought was a game, for his indifference to not revealing the truth or simply for his lack of ‘authority’ that made him use social media at one point in the past.

While he was not like some known Terra nova gods who were sociable and sometimes descended to involve themselves with mortals, Aión had shown a kind side many times before.

Although in some ways, in appearance, the Goddess of Order was more divine than the God of Time and Space, no one denied that god was powerful.

Still, for a paladin to hear the voice of their god was an indescribable feeling of happiness, devotion, and excitement.

Receiving the design of the God of Time and Space would thrill paladins who were not so fanatical, and the reason was simple.

“I will fulfill your design, my lord,” Amanda said, getting up.

Taking her sword, she could feel ‘space’ twisting in her favor and, to a lesser extent, ‘time’ favoring her.

A paladin, unlike the other skill users, increased their strength through their god.

While they had to improve their sword art and combat prowess, it was the ‘faith’ and ‘belief’ in their god, along with the response of such a deity that gave them power.

That was why paladins tempered their ‘faith’ and strengthened their belief, in case this ‘belief’ trembled, so would their powers and in that sense a ‘fall’ was possible whereby they would lose all their powers.

The God of Time and Space was a peculiar deity whom they could question and even insult, but as long as they followed his design and intentions, his power would still favor them.

That made debates in the church recurrent and normal, but it also lessened the possibility of paladins losing their faith when others tried to question their god.

Now Amanda, having received the design of her god, could use the powers of that powerful deity to a greater extent.

Perhaps she could not compare to Cardinal Najjar, who dominated ‘space’ and even ‘time’ at will.

And maybe not even like the High Priestess Xaali in Africa, known to be the person with the highest response rate of her god, who could even see the past or turn back time in a small area for a few minutes to save a person, but for Amanda this was enough.

It was impossible to follow her god’s will to the letter because she did not know the wishes of such a powerful being, however, it was different if that god spoke openly.

And like any excellent paladin, Amanda always followed the will of her god.

Leaving the cave, Amanda jumped into the air and her surroundings distorted in a specified direction.

While it was not a long distance spatial movement, she shortened her path to her target.

The words of her god marked the path for her to follow and Amanda advanced without hesitation, wanting to fulfill her objective in the best way possible.

That ‘design’ had pointed her way to meet the others and, in a way, specifying her destination.

Cutting through space again to move forward as if she were teleporting hundreds of meters, she repeated the process until she stopped in front of a huge tree.

The pillar of darkness was in the opposite direction and now it was not so far away, but Amanda flew to the tree.

It was a tree of several tens of meters, and it was all dry. Around it on the ground was all burnt and on top of it stood an elf.

“At last we have found another one,” the elf said with a long sigh.

Alros a member of the Imperial forces of Captain rank, an S rank... Amanda identified him immediately, and as she knew she would find him here, she was not surprised to see him.

“I have received guidance from my lord. Call the others. We need to leave,” Amanda warned solemnly.

Alros’ expression turned serious and, using a small flute, he began to play without leaving a sound.

He was using air magic to spread the sound over a great distance and even though Amanda couldn’t hear anything; she knew something was going on.

As a former player, she understood that different groups of experts had different modes of communication and sometimes some methods of communication were personal.

In this case, Alros was using his magic flute with his air magic to play and spread a sound over a great distance... That would reach those who had the communication receivers.

“It evades space magic barriers and is an excellent form of communication when there is no mind magic for telepathy or not enough communication crystals,” Alros explained with a smile, pulling out a communication crystal.

On that crystal was projected Urfin, who wore a serious expression.

“Have you received anything from your god?” Urfin asked, seeing Amanda’s solemn expression and when she nodded, he ordered. “Wait. We’ll be back with the others in a moment.”

While technology did not work in these lands because of no signal network, the magic crystals worked with magical energy and were artifacts.

To some earthlings, such a method of communication was primitive, however, anyone looking at this situation would realize that it was still useful.

After all, the Imperial group was assembled using these communication crystals.

The first one Amanda saw arrive was a red-skinned human with small horns on his head... Siba, the human from the fire lands.

Then from another direction came a dwarf carrying a big hammer bigger than her, all bloody... Meden.

At the end came another dwarf with a beard with long braids.

“What did your god say?” Urfin asked and with a serious tone, revealed. “I could not communicate with the Goddess of Knowledge, even if I only prayed several times. As for the ritual, we don’t have the materials to perform it.”

Praying could connect with that god and sometimes there could be response, while sometimes not.

Only ritual could grant a greater connection to interact with those deities and, while the answer was not certain either, Urfin seemed confident to get it.

The confidence could come from the fact that the Goddess of Knowledge was the Official Goddess of the Falion Empire and one that most of the Imperial forces worshipped.

“He has led me to you and pointed me to my next target to rejoin the others,” Amanda explained clearly.

Unlike the Goddess of Knowledge, who was an otherworldly god and who had recent connection to Earth because of her believers who worshipped her, Aion, the Primordial God, was more powerful and present everywhere.

Being ‘Time’ and ‘Space’ meant they could worship him anywhere and anytime... Though getting an answer was another matter.

The group moved and with Alros producing a blizzard around the whole group, they moved.

The blizzard pushed them in a swift good and subtly hid them in the clouds.

The monsters ignored them because the blizzard was natural and could not be perceived by the monsters.

“We have also prayed to other orthodox gods of Terra nova, from whom some of us have gotten a response in the past, but we could not establish any connection,” Urfin reported seriously.

He was speaking for his group and it was normal for them to worship different gods because of the heterogeneity of the members and the multiplicity of gods on Terra nova.

“Of course, none of them is a Primordial God. That’s why we were traveling around looking for any other members,” Urfin added quietly, with a slightly worried tone.

It was useless to pray to a Primordial God when they could be ignored quite easily and more so with those gods who were usually unresponsive.

Instead, praying to their own gods was a good method with a high response rate, as they were likely to donate and be devoted to their gods before.

Flying through the clouds, time passed slowly and Amanda stopped the group when they saw numerous monsters walking on the ground.

“Is this the place?” Alros asked curiously.

Urfin smiled immediately as he looked among the monsters and Amanda also searched among the monsters and found the creature she was looking for

It was a creature five meters tall, with thick arms and legs and a large body.

The skin of that creature was solid, blackish, and the hands had no fingers, but long sharp claws.

That creature was walking on the ground among the monsters and it was when everyone watched that the creature raised its head and looked back at them.

The creature opened its mouth, revealing black, glistening fangs, while eyes like black pearls subtly glowed.

Taking a step forward, the creature rose as a black platform pushed it upward in the direction of the group.

Alros was frowning, his hand on the handle of his sword, but Urfin signaled for it to stop.

The creature approached and as it entered the concealment spell, the skin turned liquid, as did its entire body, and it recoiled, revealing a young woman inside.

Alice Campbell, also known as the ‘Glutton’ for her participation in the international tournament, revealed herself as the darkness returned to her back.

“Status?” Alice asked, opening a bag of chips.

A moment ago, she was amid countless monsters walking among them and at this moment she was completely relaxed.

Amanda noticed Alice’s gaze on her, as if she knew that the reason they found her was here and not someone else.

Being a paladin of the God of Time and Space, they surely expected a lot from her. Amanda would be in her same situation and this time she didn’t fail.

“Still one stop to go,” Amanda said earnestly, giving them a signal to move.

The group, with a new member, started the journey again.

Not so high in the sky, but high in the lower clouds, hiding without getting close enough to the ground to be ambushed.

They were using cloaking artifacts and Alros was controlling air magic to increase concealment and avoid any flying monsters.

The group kept flying for a while until they all stopped when they saw a huge eastern dragon in the distance.

It was a long dragon and even though they were far away, they could see that it was made up of water... Very much in the style of the parties where mages performed this type of displays of power to flaunt control and magic.

Although they were far away, it was visible, and it was clear that it was made to attract the attention of all observers.

Numerous monsters headed for that area at full speed, and the group also headed in the same direction.

The spell was an exaggerated and problematic method of attracting attention, still, useful enough in these lands and more so when the dragon moving through the clouds let in some sunlight.

They had spent quite a bit of time in this place and there was no doubt that some members of the group were worried.

“Grra!”

*BOOM*

As they got closer, they heard howls and roars along with explosions in the distance and, when they got even closer, they all saw a large battlefield.

Leading the eastern water dragon was Adala, who was paying attention to her spell and next to her was a one-armed man protecting her.

Who was taking care of all the monsters was a young lady who was moving through the middle at a high speed, cutting down everything in her path.

Her green aura flew swiftly in multiple directions, always hitting her targets, and then her red slashes split the monsters with ease.

To finish, sometimes she would just stop and slash with greater force, causing the monsters to fall in splits before a powerful and highly destructive cut.

Alice was the one who reacted immediately by creating black platforms at her feet, her arms came out from her back and she lunged towards the monsters.

Her black arms descended to the ground to brace her as they also pierced any monster in their path without anyone being able to stop her.

In an instant, Alice landed near her sister and she swung out more arms to attack any monster that dared to approach.

Aurora, seeing her sister, gave a smile.

The others also reacted and moved to protect Adala.

Although the dragon was a primitive, flashy and dangerous way to attract attention, it had worked and more so in these lands where there were not so many methods to find each other.

Most of the members of the imperial group were veterans with years in dangerous situations.

They had been around for a while in this place and had been through quite a few situations, so they understood how to move.

Siba was a prime example, despite being a fire mage, he didn’t use his magic in a dazzling way or generate explosions so as not to draw attention or attract creatures with firelight.

Meden also tried to lessen the noise when she struck with the hammer or used earth magic.

Alros controlled the sound of the entire battle zone while he himself was using his two curved swords to eliminate any straggling monsters.

Urfin also attacked by slashing monsters and taking down the approaching abominations with Amanda, who accompanied him.

Her sword aura distorted space with greater force than before.

They only needed the dragon to be seen overhead and not for the sound to spread.

Now that they were gathered together, getting trapped was going to be very difficult, but they were unaware of what other danger this land could hold and for that reason, they tacitly decided to be cautious.

Then, before they shot down the last of the monsters, several arrows came from afar, striking the creatures.

In the distance, they could see Dan Stolojan, along with Theodore Laurent and Marius Posse.

All of them were the closest members of the abyssal portal and now they were all reunited.

Amanda had fulfilled her god’s design to reunite them.