Legacy of the Betelgeuse

I\'m chilling in the throne room with Avriel and Krestan until Kingstar and the others are barging into the room with their pissed expression.

Kingstar is looking at Boschwell while pointing his finger at him.

"I told you, it would happen if we let our guard down even once!"

Boschwell is nodding in agreement.

"I know! I was handling other matters at that time and I couldn\'t even pay enough attention to them. I\'m sorry, okay?"

Queenstar is grabbing Kingstar\'s shoulder.

"Don\'t be mad at him, Schneider, it was nobody\'s fault."

I have no idea what they\'re talking about and then Ivonna approaches me while the rest of them are still arguing about something.

I look at her while furrowing my forehead.

"What happened?"

Ivonna leans on the armrest of the throne, she\'s crossing her arms while staring at them.

"One of the researchers accidentally touched the Star Core and it made the Star Core vibrates like crazy, we had to evacuate everyone from the site. Saintess Aria and all the rulers are now observing the site from a distance because it\'s dangerous for anyone to get near that. Based on our knowledge if that\'s really a Star Core and if that thing explodes, it would be enough to disintegrate the whole desert and everything beyond that."

I\'m humming with understanding and look at Krestan since he\'s more knowledgeable in this matter. He nods in agreement with Ivonna\'s statement that it would be enough to destroy the whole desert and even the three sovereignties.

"So, it happened on Boschwell\'s watch?"

Ivonna nods.

"Yeah, but I don\'t think it was his fault since we were all busy checking all the weapons and walls. The researcher that touched the Star Core is now being captured so they can interrogate him if he really did touch it on purpose or accident. No matter what the truth is, it doesn\'t matter now since everyone is now panicking because the Star Core won\'t calm down."

I look at her while raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms.

"Are there any changes on the crater after the incident happened?"

Ivonna sighs while shaking her head and standing up.

"Thankfully, there\'s no sign of Letrax gaining consciousness."

I\'m rubbing my eyebrow while nodding with understanding.

"If it\'s a Star Core and it\'s now reacting, don\'t they have to do something about it? I mean, if we treat the Star Core like a nuclear reactor, shouldn\'t we cool it down?"

Ivonna nods in agreement.

"We tried, but the spellcasters players didn\'t have enough magic power to cool down the Star Core. The only one who I can think of is Azrael, but you can\'t summon him since your character is sealed. So, I don\'t think there\'s a player with a high enough magic power to cool it down."

I raise my eyebrows while pointing at Krestan.

"Did you guys forget that Krestan is the strongest spellcaster?"

Ivonna looks at Krestan and he just smiles at her.

I look at Krestan and raise my eyebrows.

"Do you think you can handle it, Krestan? I\'m not insisting or forcing you to do it if you\'re scared that the Star Core might explode. I don\'t want to lose a very valuable person just because of something stupid."

Krestan chuckles and shakes his head.

"I can handle it, just leave it to me."

I nod with understanding and then stand up.

"Let\'s go, I will be watching you."

Krestan nods with understanding and then he opens the portal for us. Ivonna, Avriel, and I go inside the portal and then followed by Krestan.

As soon as we get out from the portal, the site looks empty and there\'s nothing but just a huge camp with the Star Core making a cracking sound. I look around and I can\'t see anyone in 100 meters radius, then we decide to get inside the camp to look at the Star Core from up close.

I\'m surprised that the rock or the boulder that\'s holding the [Star Core] can endure the vibration, but now that I think about it, there\'s no logical reason for [Star Core] to be able to stay inside the boulder if the boulder isn\'t strong enough to contain it.

Krestan grabs his staff and immediately circles are appearing from the ground around the [Star Core] and all of those circles lift high up to the skies through the tent\'s ceiling. I believe everyone notices these circles no matter how far they are from the campsite.

Ivonna, Avriel, and I get out from the tent and see the dark clouds are covering the bright sky as if they\'re attracted by the circles, then thunders are rumbling behind the cloud. A crystal-like pillar is descending from the sky and then followed by dozens of them. The crystal-like pillars strike down the tent making it tear and blow away at the same time. The pillars have stabbed the ground around the boulder with cold mist coming out from each one of them.

The [Star Core] is still vibrating like crazy but it\'s not as bright as before, it seems that these pillars manage to cool it down like a lot. I look at the sand and it\'s frozen immediately while slowly freezing the sand around it as if it\'s crawling out from the pillars.

Saintess Aria and the others are running toward us because they\'re wondering what\'s going on at the campsite. When they see Krestan is sealing the boulder and the [Star Core] is slowly calming down, they understand what\'s going on. I look at Saintess Aria and just smile at her, and then all the rulers are slowly walking toward the crystal-like pillars, but then Krestan glares at them while blocking them with his right arm.

"I don\'t want to get close to that cold crystal if I were you..."

All the rulers are staring at him while slowly backing away.

Kingstar and the others come to check on it, and they see the [Star Core] has back to its normal state. They\'re all sighing with relief and then look at me while thanking me for solving the problem.

Krestan approaches me while smiling and putting his hands on the back.

"Job is done, as I said, I can handle it and it was not that hard."

I smirk and nod.

"It\'s better to be cautious rather than regretting it."

Avriel leans toward my ear and whispers.

"It seems that there are some uninvited guests who have been staring at the Star Core, Trev. I think the researcher who accidentally touched the core was intended to create a distraction so those guests could steal the core while these people weren\'t looking. We were lucky to be here at the perfect time and now I can see their noses from here."

I look at her and raise my eyebrows.

"I guess, we should visit those uninvited guests and give them a warm welcome."

Avriel smiles.

"Understood..."

Avriel walks away and then disappears.

I walk toward Saintess Aria and the others who are staring at the seal.

"There are some people who are trying to steal the Star Core."

All of them are looking at me with a surprised expressions but before they can open their mouth I raise my finger while staring at them.

"Don\'t worry, it has been handled so let\'s just wait here until we can extract the information from them."

Ivonna looks at me while crossing her arms.

"Who do you think those people are? Are they players or NPCs?"

I shrug and shake my head.

"I don\'t know, but whatever they\'re doing, I think it\'s for their own benefits."

Kingstar scoffs while looking at his surroundings.

"If it\'s players, is it Aspen again? I heard rumors that he\'s still playing the game and hiding from players. Or is it, Aksevel? The rich boy who only brings trouble because of his small brain?"

Queenstar is sighing while shaking her head.

"If it\'s really Aspen again, I swear to god I think we should hunt him down and make him stop playing the game forever."

Everyone is nodding in agreement.

While we are talking about who\'s the mastermind behind this incident, I see Avriel is walking toward us from the distance while dragging two people with their heads covered with sacks.

We are staring at her walking so slowly toward us and then she stops in front of me while smiling.

"I manage to take these two while the rest of them I have killed them but it seems they\'re players."

I raise my eyebrow with curiosity and then Avriel tosses those two people toward us. I can hear one of them is a woman, and then Avriel grabs their heads so they can sit still.

When these two players stop resisting, Avriel removes the sacks from their heads and see their mouths covered with a rope. As I thought, one of them is a woman but her face is covered by her long hair, and when Avriel removes the rope from their mouths, the woman fixes her hair while glaring at us.

Ken scoffs and chuckles.

"Well, well, well, isn\'t that your friend, Cho?"

Cho Ahn\'s eyes are wide open while staring at the woman with disbelief.

"Yoona?!"