Death... and me

Aelua, who always marched ahead, immediately stepped back and went closer to Rean. She could still remember very well how her body turned out because of that energy.

Rean then used his Divine Soul Power to form an energy barrier to keep that energy outside. Surprisingly, it proved to be a lot more complicated than he thought. "This thing is quite strong. I need to use a lot more of my energy to keep it away from us."

Aelua noticed that she couldn't feel that energy anymore and sighed in relief. "If benefactor thinks it's too hard to force forward, we can head back up."

Aien agreed with Aelua. "Indeed. We don't want anything to happen to you after what you've done for us."

Rean shook his head in response, though. "Oh, don't worry. I need more energy to keep it in check, but it's nothing I can't deal with. If things become worse, I can still use Divine Stones to replenish my power." Rean then looked at Aelua and reminded her, "Stay close to me while you guide us further." Aelua nodded and began to walk again. Naturally, Aien and Rean followed her.

Sure enough, the concentration of that energy began to increase the further they went down to the cave labyrinth. Rean also increased the amount of Divine Soul Power he poured into the barrier.

Two divisions, three divisions, four divisions, fifteen divisions, fifty divisions...following the markers left behind by Aelua previously, their path was quite smooth if one didn't think about the increase in foreign energy in the area. It was just as Aelua mentioned. Their group didn't find a single creature mentioned in the village stories.

"Well, it's not that it was a lie, but that they might have left or died already," Rean suggested.

Aien sighed in response. "That might really be the case. In any case, it doesn't matter. The fewer the number of problems, the better." Aien then asked, "How good is this place? Is it enough to place the formation to gather the Divine Energy? It's not like we need to go all the way to the crystal."

Rean smiled after hearing that. "Indeed. However, I do want to see just what that crystal is. Since there's nothing other than this energy, we might as well go and see it."

Aien sighed but nodded in the end. Well, it was not like he wasn't curious either. He was just trying to prioritize safety.

The trip down took around nine hours to be concluded. Eventually, Aelua recognized the place. "We're here! Look, there's the entrance!"

Rean increased the light once again, and sure enough, he could see an entrance further ahead. However, it wasn't like it was the entrance of a cave room. Instead, it was more like a rectangular gate. It's just that the gate was incomplete as if it had been cut in half. That was definitely not something natural. "You didn't tell us that the place the crystal was located wasn't part of the cave itself."

"Is there any difference? It's still inside the gate, isn't it?" Aelua asked as if she didn't do anything wrong.

Aien and Rean sighed in response, and they soon pressed forward. They took great caution to see if there were any dangers, but everything continued as silent as it had been from the start. Rean tried to illuminate inside the gate entrance, but his light couldn't travel far enough to see everything. It looked like it was a very long path, but that was all he could tell.

"The crystal I talked about is right ahead, at the end of this corridor," Aelua explained.

Aien and Rean nodded after hearing that, and they kept their guards up while following Aelua. After some time, they were able to see another source of light other than the light Rean was using with his Divine Soul Power. "Even the light there is multicolored," Aien could not help but mention. It was the end of the corridor, just like Aelua said. At the same time, Rean noticed how the foreign energy, which had been increasing steadily so far, began to ramp up very quickly at every step they took. Thankfully, Rean was still capable of keeping it away from their bodies.

Once they arrived in the end, they were able to see the enormous crystal that Aelua talked about. It was obviously the source of the multicolored light as well. "This thing...is truly big."

The crustal wasn't completely out of the ground. At least half of it was covered by the ground below. The place also wasn't like a cave either. It was an enormous square chamber with more entrances from other sides.

Unfortunately, Rean couldn't recognize that crystal. Was it some material that could be used? First of all, could it be used? All Rean could feel was the chaotic energy emanating from it. All the elements he knew of, including his Light Element and Roan's Dark Element, were in the mix.

[Oh! I thought this could be the case. But even so, I didn't expect that it was truly this thing.] Sister Orb seemed quite impressed when they saw the crystal. She seemed to know what that crystal was.

'Since you already recognize it, how about telling me?' Naturally, Rean wanted an answer.

[It's called a Convergence Crystal. There are a few places in the Realm of Gods that just so happen to be in the perfect spot where all elements converge. They aren't particularly rare when you think of the Realm of Gods as a whole. You can find one in every hundred continents or so. Of course, if you consider one continent alone, then it's very rare.]

Rean nodded after that. 'Alright. So, is there any use for this thing?'

Sister Orb then replied, [To be honest, you shouldn't touch it.]

'Why?'

[Because that crystal is nothing more than an incubator. The real dangerous thing is what's growing inside.]

Rean was taken aback. 'You're telling me this crystal is alive? It's an egg?'

[Pretty much. I have to say, Huring Continent will suffer quite a lot when the thing inside breaks out.]

'Is it some kind of Divine Demon Beast like Kentucky and Celis?'

[No. The thing growing inside is called a Flash Beast.]