Death… And Me

Chapter 4312: No Test Drive

”Did you all get the same message?” Rean asked the others, and every single one of them nodded almost immediately. The expressions around him were grim, making it obvious that none of them considered the situation normal.

At the same time, Rean reached out to the other members of his group through their soul connection. ’What about you guys?’

’Same here,’ Roan confirmed right away. ’We all got called over, and we are in the middle of our mission to get rid of some infestation of Godly Creature Insects. Not only us, but it seems like everyone involved in this mission received the same message at the same time.’

Rean narrowed his eyes before turning his attention back to Araujo’s group. ”You guys definitely have a lot more friends and contacts than I do. I’m still pretty new to the Celestial Plane, so my network is small. Check with your people and see if they all got called as well.”

Although confused by the request, they still followed up immediately. One after another, they contacted acquaintances, fellow sect members, guild companions, and even a few old comrades they hadn’t spoken to in a while through their RCs. The replies returned quickly.

After a few minutes, they all confirmed the same thing. Although there was one or another expert in their contact lists who hadn’t been summoned, the overwhelming majority had received the emergency call.

By then, they finally understood what Rean found strange about the situation.

”It’s too many...” Farriko muttered under his breath.

Rean nodded. ”Indeed. Way too many.”

Even when a Godly Creature Horde was detected, and the various organizations prepared themselves to receive the assault, the Besgol Region and the nearby countries didn’t simply mobilize everyone they had available. Usually, they only called around thirty to forty percent of their total forces.

After all, the Besgol Region couldn’t simply grind to a halt every single time a horde appeared. The war against the Godly Creatures was the most important, but countless other services still had to continue functioning. Trade routes had to remain protected, transportation arrays required maintenance, mines and resource fields needed guards, and entire cities depended on high-level cultivators to keep order.

Many of those responsibilities could only be performed by experts who had at least reached the Anchor God Realm. Celestial Realm cultivators simply couldn’t replace them in most cases.

Yet, from the looks of it, no less than ninety percent of all available forces were being called over this time.

That could only mean one thing.

The horde coming this time was enormous.

Sister Orb soon found even more proof of it while scanning through the Besgol network. [There are twenty countries being mobilized. The attack is coming from the northern side this time, with the first borders expected to be hit in the countries of Turanzo, Lesgez, and Terno Dore. The scale of this mobilization is several times larger than the one you guys participated in previously.]

[That isn’t all. From the looks of it, these twenty countries are simply the closest ones, capable of responding fast enough to intercept the first waves of Godly Creatures. There are several additional countries farther back that also received requests for reinforcements, but they will take at least two days to arrive at the battlefield.]

The twins’ group knew it was quite a serious situation.

*WoMmmm...*

Suddenly, Rean felt as if something in the environment itself had shifted. It wasn’t subtle but difficult to describe, yet unmistakably real. An invisible pressure spread through the surroundings.

He had never experienced that sensation before.

Still, he instinctively understood that something major had changed.

”Shit! This is serious...” Dongaro was the first one to react.

Rean immediately turned toward him. ”Did you feel that just now?”

”Yes,” Dongaro answered without hesitation.

Araujo, Dristan, and Farriko all wore similar expressions. It was obvious they also recognized what had just happened, so they explained it to Rean.

Turns out that what Rean felt was directly related to the Sacred Relic itself.

The Sacred Relic’s influence could actually be boosted far beyond its normal state. However, doing so caused its energy consumption to rise dramatically, making it unsustainable over long periods of time.

Because of that, such a measure was only used during truly dangerous situations, when the enemy forces were so overwhelming that the cultivators required additional support simply to resist the Godly Pressure emitted by the Godly Creatures.

Naturally, boosting the relic’s influence also weakened the Godly Creatures themselves.

Let’s not forget. The larger the concentration of Godly Creatures became, the more effectively they could resist the Sacred Relic’s influence. Their combined Godly Pressure would spread farther and become denser, allowing them to partially counteract the relic’s suppression.

In other words, if the Sacred Relic had already been pushed into an enhanced state before the horde even arrived...

...then the incoming enemy force was likely far worse than anyone wanted to admit.

”So that’s how it is...” Rean quietly absorbed the explanation while considering his options.

His airplane was still far from complete. Technically speaking, it could already fly if he forced it to, but barely. Most of the systems hadn’t gone through proper testing yet, and several important components were still unstable. The Godly Pressure Rune formations, in particular, remained largely experimental.

’This does look like the type of assault that a Three-Eyed Raven would take part in, doesn’t it?’ Kentucky pointed out the obvious.

[It is,] Sister Orb confirmed immediately. [In fact, the Godly Subjugation Guild has already issued a warning regarding the probable appearance of the Raven.]

The atmosphere grew even more oppressive after that confirmation.

*Clap!*

Rean suddenly clapped his hands together, drawing everyone’s attention back toward him in the estate.

”In any case, it seems like we can’t avoid this one,” he said. ”At least it is good that the relic’s influence has been ramped up already. We probably won’t see each other during the war, so make sure to prioritize your own lives first. I really don’t want to train some new people all over again. That’s way too annoying.”

Araujo’s mouth twitched helplessly. ”Couldn’t you have said something better than that?”

Rean looked at him as if he had just asked the dumbest question possible. ”Would you have believed me if I did?”

Araujo opened his mouth, only to close it a moment later before sighing. ”Forget I said anything.”

”Hmph!” Dongaro snorted while putting his tools back into his Spatial Ring. ”You should be the one worrying about your own life instead. We are all Aura Gods here, while you’re only at the Middle Stage of the Anchor God. Statistically speaking, your chances of dying are a lot higher than ours.”

To everyone’s surprise, Rean simply nodded in agreement. ”Well, that’s true.”

That answer alone completely killed any continuation of the conversation.

After that, nobody spoke much anymore. One after another, they began leaving the estate to report back to their organizations, clans, or directly to the Godly Subjugation Guild.

The relaxed atmosphere from before had disappeared entirely.

Soon, only Rean remained behind.

He stood there silently, staring at the unfinished airplane resting inside the workshop area.

”Should I take it for a test drive...?” he muttered to himself. ”But I’m still not sure whether the Godly Pressure Runes will function properly under real conditions. I barely tested them at all... Honestly, I wouldn’t even be surprised if this thing suddenly fell out of the sky without warning.”

’Leave it,’ Roan’s voice echoed directly in Rean’s mind through their soul connection. ’There is no point relying on something like that right now. We still have our theory that the Raven also appears during smaller attacks and simply chooses not to reveal itself in those cases.’

Roan paused briefly before continuing.

’We are new to the Celestial Plane. We don’t have any ridiculous quests to complete, nor do we have a universe or a Great Void to save anymore. There is no reason to rush things recklessly.’

Rean was taken aback for a moment after hearing that.

For so long, danger and urgency had followed the twins everywhere they went that slowing down almost felt unnatural.

’R-Right...’ Rean finally replied through the soul connection. ’There is that too. Well then, forget it.’

’Hey!’ Celis saw an opportunity, though. ’Not only can we make quite a lot of Godly Crystals, but we can also gain a good amount of Orb Points if we kill enough Godly Beasts. The Raven can wait.’

’Hahaha! That’s true too!’ Rean quickly packed up his belongings and prepared to leave the estate.

However, just as he reached the exit, he suddenly stopped.

A moment later, he turned back around, walked toward the airplane again, and stored it inside a new spatial ring that had a space large enough for it. He had to buy this ring just for this, which he still remembers Celis complaining about because of his beloved cultivation resources.

Don’t get it wrong. Rean wasn’t planning to use the airplane during this war.

The problem was that plenty of Array Masters had already shown interest in whatever project Rean and the others had been secretly working on inside the estate. If he simply left the airplane there unattended, who was to say there would still be an airplane waiting for him once he returned?

He had no guards protecting the place and no defensive arrays installed either. The only active arrays were concealment and detection ones, nothing more.

Against curious Array Masters, that was nowhere near enough.

Rean headed straight toward the Wangamiglia Sect. After a quick verification on his RC, he found the airplane he was supposed to board.

In his case, Rean had been assigned to Turanzo Country.

Not only him, but also Roan and the others.

It wasn’t a coincidence.

The twins’ group had already demonstrated multiple times that they performed best when operating together. The system kept detailed records regarding battle efficiency, teamwork compatibility, and successful group coordination for practically every cultivator within the Besgol Region.

Because of that, many squads and deployments were organized based on these compatibility evaluations. It was simple, efficient, and extremely effective during large-scale wars like this one.

---

Jufafner Country wasn’t very far from Turanzo. Even so, the skies were packed with countless transport airplanes and flying artifacts rushing toward the frontlines.

Rean’s airplane finally arrived in Turanzo roughly ten hours later.

As for Roan and the others, they were expected to arrive before the end of the day.