World Keeper

Chapter 458: The Brightest Light

After the initial barrage, a large portion of the creatures below were cleared out. This was the result of thousands of individuals all working in tandem to launch their most powerful attacks. Using my world sight, I was able to watch through the chaos to determine which abilities appeared to do the most damage to their targets.

Let’s see… their carapace has a degree of protection against physical attacks, as well as elemental effects. They must be designed to survive in hostile environments. Poison spells appear completely ineffective. As expected, offensive light spells can be considered their primary weakness, with intangible magic following closely.

Taking a deep breath to focus myself, I created a golden mirror, which quickly shattered. “Mirror the Archmage.”

Moments later, I could feel my hair flowing down my back, my more slender limbs stretching slightly. My eyes gleamed with arcane power as I spoke in the language of runes. This would be my first time using a fourth-tier spell, so I wanted to borrow the power of Ryone.

“Define variable Scan, analyze genetic material to determine species, designate as target. Define variable Trace, search within a one thousand meter radius for assigned target. Gather light across five hundred meters, empower by three weeks, condense into a one millimeter point. Attach variables Trace and Scan. Fire forward until contact with genetic sample, or until two hundred meters. Run Scan, run Trace, fire forward towards designated target. Repeat spell, store spell Chain Extinction.”

As I spoke, both of my hands were rapidly carving out lines of light within the air, gathering natural energy to further empower the spell. As I finished it, I drew one last symbol, that of a pair of crossed chains. This symbol sank into my palm, forming a brand that would allow me to quickly cast the spell again if I needed to.

The next moment, all light seemed to briefly flicker out from the surroundings, colors blurring as a small orb appeared in front of my hand. A moment later, this orb blasted forward, leaving a trail of scorched air behind itself. Its target was one of the many already deceased monsters.

The instant the light struck the corpse, the world appeared to ignite. I pulled my hands back, crossing them in front of my chest as I stared down, only offering a small smile at the sight. As soon as the orb hit a body, it would burn, splitting off to attack the next one at the same time. This created a rapidly spreading chain of fire.

With the power of my borrowed divinity, I was able to maintain the somewhat excessive mana cost of the spell. So long as there was another of these monsters within one kilometer of the victim, it would continue to branch out more and more.

Of course, I wasn’t expecting this spell to be able to kill all of the enemies. The odds of the entire invasion force being at this one location was… unfortunately very low. No doubt, they were already spreading across the planet to build additional nests by the time we arrived.

After my spell launched, Jonas halted his assault, watching me with a complex expression. It was clear that the habitat would be lost within the flames, but… there was only the one officer now. As far as I was concerned, the habitat was lost before we arrived. The mission to bring them here had been a success, so it would not be a problem to send another group. If the portals remained intact, they may even be able to salvage something of this sooner.

My spell burned for roughly five minutes before it had found the last target, causing me to faintly nod. I noticed that there were other monsters within the spell’s range, not targeted by its effects. Judging by the health bars that appeared over their heads when they passed too close to the fire, they should have been naturally spawned monsters of my own world.

The fact that this world had naturally spawned monsters was a bit troubling… it meant that there was a food source for the enemy. Either way, I simply shook my head. “Well, let’s get going back, shall we?” Now I knew what I needed to, both about Jonas’s abilities and those of the enemy monsters.

As he had said, he would be of most use in a defense. Since there was no need to fight a defensive battle this time, it would be for the best to have me personally deal with the enemy. Annoying, but efficient at the very least.

As the fires of Eagle Five continued to burn, there was a faint shifting within the ground. Near a mangled body of a young elven woman, burnt by flames, roots slowly rose up from the ground. Soundlessly, this body slowly drifted beneath the soil, beyond the notice of the two gods above.

Three weeks… it took me three weeks to track down the last of these monsters, even with the help of Desbar’s world spirit. Every day, I would find another ten nests, each with tens of thousands of these monsters. Their very bodies were torn apart by their kin, used as building material to construct these nests.

Each time, I would use my Chain Extinction spell that I stored, together with Ryone’s divinity, to reduce the nests to ash. Although these creatures burrowed underground to expand their nests, the flames still followed them.

While this sounded easy, it was… quite honestly, exhausting. Every day, I was using my own divinity to fight, and my speed of recovery was simply not keeping up. By the end of the third week, I could feel that I was down to roughly a tenth of the power I started with. If there were many more monsters, I would have to take a bit of time to rest, but doing so would also give these creatures more time to spread.

At this point, I could easily see why having mortal gods was a trademark of the second rank. With just one, I could slowly decimate an entire rank one invasion on my own. The next time, however, it was likely that we would be facing enemy gods… that was not something that I was looking forward to.

Still, at least the rewards were nice…

Congratulations! You have successfully repelled the invasion of Keeper Vanity!

Assessing the value of forces deployed in the invasion…

3,248,927 enemies assessed!

Keeper rank evaluated one tier higher than invading world, deducting 50% of rewards for reduced difficulty!

75,000 points have been awarded as a result of your successful defense!

Admittedly, my eyes had gone full cartoon and bulged wide when I saw that number. My first invasion against Savage only awarded one thousand points, after all! Then again, he only sent five slimes, whereas Vanity sent millions of creatures. I suppose it wasn’t too unusual for the points awarded to be so different.

However, I was not the most excited person for the invasion to end. Every day, Tsubaki would greet me when I returned from battle. And every day, she would seem more and more desperate to join me when I left.

Finally, when it was all over, there was practically a fire burning in her eyes despite her calm appearance. I could hear her thoughts begging for me to remember what I had promised her. That’s why we were currently within her room, with Tsubaki laying down on her bed.

“You’re sure you want this?” I asked, sitting next to the bed. Although I knew the answer, I felt the need to ask, if only as a courtesy.

“I’m certain.” Tsubaki answered without a moment of hesitation, closing her eyes.

“Very well… just keep in mind, this is likely to be the most painful thing you have ever experienced. I’ll be starting with reconstructing your body, and then immediately move onto your soul. For the time being, I’ve had Dana sever her link with you, that way she isn’t swept up in any of these changes.”

Following the fall of Eagle Five, a new goddess arose within the world. Given the events surrounding Jonas Bayrun, there was far less uproar this time. In fact, few people truly seemed surprised when they learned the identity of the new goddess.

Tsubaki stood out within the garden, staring out over the horizon. On her body, there were a few noticeable changes. Her previously golden hair was now a pure, faintly glowing white. Her eyes had turned into pure yellow orbs that gave off a slight radiance. And finally, her tails had… divided? There were now nine tails, seemingly composed of bright essence.

Tsubaki, the Goddess of Light, had now taken her proper role.

Meanwhile, within the world of Sorii, a new life was taking shape. Within the embers of Eagle Five’s habitat, a small bud broke through the soil. At the tip of the bud was a faint, golden seed.

As soon as I returned back to the Admin Room, I once again set the world to fast forward while I sent a message to Terra. I’m sure you know by now what I want to ask…

A faint giggle answered me through the mental connection. You want to know how they appeared on a world you haven’t purchased, right?

Nodding my head, I waited for her to get to the explanation. Normally, it should be common sense that the creatures only spawn on my ‘owned’ territory. So, the fact that they instead appeared on Sorii confused me.

It’s simple. Terra explained. You do own Sorii. There is a second method to acquiring a world, rather than simply purchasing it. If your people colonize it, and inhabit the world as the dominant species for at least one year, the planet is acquired as your own property.

I hesitated for a moment when I heard her words. That would explain why monsters had appeared, as the system expanded to cover that world, but… this was bigger than simply Sorii. The auxiliary demon worlds. It’s been way more than one year.

It has, hasn’t it? Terra asked in a mysterious tone. Those worlds were long ago made your property. However, because they were already connected with the Fairy Gates, there was no option to merge their laws. Similarly, some of those worlds would be very expensive to integrate their systems with Earth.

I gave a small nod when I heard that, thinking about the ‘hospital planet’ that the demons had set up. If an invasion occurred there, it would be even more troublesome. After all, it was a world where any inhabitant, whether it was a monster or a person, was gradually healed. At the same time, that world did not share the game system that the primary worlds did.

Thinking about that made me furrow my brow. Terra… I want to upgrade the Fairy Gates. Please notify Aurivy, Ryone, Tubrock, and… Udona should probably be involved as well.

Suddenly, Terra’s tone became much more interested. Oh? What kind of upgrade did you have in mind.

From now on, I want the Fairy Gate’s ‘random connection’ feature to only connect to worlds that have the basic game template I’m using for my worlds. That should limit my headaches in the future. And between the four of them, I’m hoping that they can come up with an answer.

Hmm… Terra muttered mentally, before sending another reply. I’ll get them on it. But don’t expect that to be an easy modification.

Oh, I wasn’t… I was fully expecting that we might need another god or two to help. Hopefully, someone suitable would soon appear within my worlds.

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