Swordmeister of Rome

Chapter 161

Chapter 161: Barrier

“It was hard to fight against an infested species. Humans were powerful, but it included a large number of infested people.”

Conrad explained.

The humans thought they were the most powerful, but most of the power had been transferred to the Gerna already. And the infestation didn’t only remain on humans. There were a lot of other strong species too.

Thus, there were two big problems at hand.

One was that they could escape before the host died and try to invade others.

Another was that Alphas were born among the Rotans with Gerna’s help. These were too strong for even Lorvall to fight against.

Lorvall then created a new species to counter the Gerna.

These species were powerful enough to fight against Alphas and resist the control of the Gerna.

“And... these species were Murakan and Swarm. Well, they didn’t make it to be exact. They just altered them.”

They studied the Narijas, created Alphas, and pulled them up to Rotan level. Duke Lorvall then used his magic to stamp the <Seal> on these races. It was the seal of control that enabled him to rule over them and Gerna could not control them. One would only need to control a single Swarm or Murakan to control the whole race.

The new species left the peninsula where they were being tested on, and roamed the lands. It devoured the infested species and killed them. They killed all the infested humans, which was one-third of the whole human population.

“So that’s how Murakans and Swarms were born...”

Karltonheim was dumbfounded as he continued listening. The disaster was actually intended.

“Yes, it made them retreat to the north.”

Lorvall successfully drove the Gerna out back to the northern lands, but one thing was left remaining.

How were they going to block them out from entering? They were hard to kill when they were in their spiritual, smog-like state. Lorvall did not want to create another disaster to kill people if the infestation occurred again.

That was when Lorvall began making a large barrier to block their invasion. A barrier big enough to protect not only the humans, but all species that roamed the land.

Lorvall found the hint from Apental. Apental was a place where spiritual beings were sucked in and never allowed to come out. That was where Lorvall got the idea from and he planted the twenty-one Ciculus Trees around human territory to create a big dimensional barrier. It wasn’t much as he just combined Apental and Ciculus and increased their absorption over to the entire human lands. This allowed the Gerna to be absorbed into Apental when they approached.

‘And that’s why our teleportations were always connected to Apental...’

Conrad smiled bitterly as he remembered performing the experiment with Takion. They did not know why they were being pulled into Apental then, but it was this barrier that made it happen.

“So no Gerna came over after that?” Karltonheim asked.

“Yes. As long as the barrier was intact, they would not come over.”

“...So what happened this time?” Karltonheim asked again. If this barrier was being held up tightly, there was no way this could have happened. Duke couldn’t control himself but he remembered what had happened while he was being controlled.

Conrad smiled.

“Because... Apental had become weak in the past five years.”

Conrad remembered the days when he arrived. Lorvall contacted him when he was walking these lands and told him to join them for their goal. Conrad shared their interest on making mankind the most powerful species and joined them. But he didn’t want to serve them so he did not get the seal and just created an alliance with them.

After telling him various information, Lorvall asked Conrad, <The barrier that blocked the Gerna has been weakening in recent days. It’s probably because Apental is betting weaker. Can you fix the barrier for us?>

Conrad after examining on Akra and Ciculus and how barriers were formed, concluded that it was possible. Therefore, he began traveling around the lands to fix the barrier.

The barrier was created by the runes installed at the Ciculus Trees. People here were not really good at magic unless its focus was to destroy, so Conrad used all of his knowledge to fix it. He just needed to overwrite the existing magic runes and it would make the Gerna stay out even without Apental.

He was going over all twenty-one Ciculus Trees, but the speed of Apental being destroyed had quickened and came to the problem. If it wasn’t for Sian, this place would’ve been the start of barrier’s destruction.

Stiel was looking at Sian with a weird smile. Sian asked, “Stiel, what’s with that smirk?”

“Hehe... what did I tell you? I knew there had to be some connection.”

“...”

“Well, it’s not your fault but I was right! Hahaha, you always exceed expectations.”

Conrad became curious as he heard Stiel laughing and he approached.

“I am late on introducing myself. I have heard a lot about you, Sian. I must thank you for saving me.”

“No problem. But are you really Con-Rad? You look like someone I know...”

Sian asked the question he had from the beginning.

“So, you must know about the owner of this body. I have been reborn into this body as the soul of the previous owner was destroyed. I’m sure you know about the orb?”

Conrad didn’t go through the normal process of reincarnation so he didn’t have Kirat’s memory. But it seemed like Sian knew about the owner of the body. Sian decided to let it go as it wasn’t a friendly acquaintance. He then realized why Conrad was speaking like a hundred-years-old man when he looked like a teenage girl.

“Oh... uh, nevermind then. It’s good to meet you too. So how do you know about me?” Conrad laughed.

“I have heard from Lagaope, but I have a special skill too. It is really convenient.”

Conrad was talking casually but he was shocked at what he was seeing.

‘By the Gods... the Third stage mutant?’

[Status: Sian von Roman]

-Second Roman son, Beta of Human race, Unintended Destroyer (Special Title from the achievement)

-Level: 3

-Skill: ???

He was shocked when he saw Duke Lorvall, but Sian was much more than he expected. He couldn’t believe that such man was born from the Ra-Sian Continent.

‘And what is that weird title?’

Conrad couldn’t pass on the weird title and asked, “I thought you decided to stay behind. How did you come over?”

It seemed Sian was planning to live peacefully on the other continent. But he was here now.

“Oh.. that...”

Sian began to explain what had happened after. Conrad was left speechless.

‘So, he killed all those monsters within Apental and came up?’

That was why the barrier wasn’t working. Apental was destroyed from within so it was why barrier didn’t work. The way that they thought about, but didn’t dare to try, was done by Sian alone.

“It’s... an amazing feat.”

Conrad spoke from bottom of his heart. The reason why Apental had no guard was because if there was a man who was strong enough to survive in there, no guard would work against him.

“Well, I didn’t want to do that and it almost got me killed. By the way, what were those below?”

Sian decided to ask about Ra-Shar-Roa later and asked the questions at hand now. The Black Serpent could only be killed because Sian had become stronger after Apental. If it wasn’t for him, the snake would have consumed everything. He thought he was the strongest here after looking at the Dukes, but this changed things. Those things combined could be dangerous.

“Huh? Oh, you mean Vladek. It must your first time seeing a Beta.”

Ra-Sian didn’t have any Betas so it was why Sian didn’t know.

Conrad began to explain.