Volume 3 Chapter 20 Singreum

Chapter 20 Singreum

I

Seven days later.

At a dusk, the four arrived at Singreum, the capital city of Reauneian Kingdom.

Singreum was the biggest city in Reauneia. It was the ultimate base of operation of the elementalists.

It was a prosperous city with tall buildings. They cut into the sky like thousands of pillars. The four had been to metropolises such as Scuropolis and Le Meraviglie before. However, Singreum was the most developed city the four had ever seen.

Pedestrians on the street looked wealthy and happy. Most of the pedestrians were mutant. However, their mutations were not abnormal or ugly. They were cool. Their skin was shining and translucent as if there were some sort of electricity running inside them.

Those pedestrians must belong to higher classes and their mutations were a lesser version of Fungruus’. Those mutations were caused by the air elementium ray that they bought, which were symbols of their social status.

The biggest building in this city was a palace in the distance which towered over all other buildings in this metropolis. Without doubt, that building must be the Palace of Fungruus. That enormous palace was like a titanic beast made of miscellaneous architectural elements such as domes, arches, and spires.

“Are you three nervous? We’re going to fight with the most powerful man on this earth,” asked Aisling.

“For sure I’m nervous, but we’ve beaten Master Mortis and Achnosiris,” answered Yanni.

“Yeah, that’s true. We’re going to sneak into the building tonight. If we retake Cuore Celeste successfully, I will … I will sacrifice myself to the Altar of Life … But I am ready to do it now. My life is complete with the company of you three,” drawled Aisling.

“We will never forget you … If there are afterlives, I wish that we could meet each other once again,” sighed Yanni sadly.

“If there are afterlives, I think we’ve already befriended with each other in our past lives,” guessed Aisling.

“Anyway, Fungruus is afraid of rain which can short-circuit him. Shall we wait for a rainy day to attack?” queried Stasha.

“It’s meaningless. Fungruus’ palace must be rain-proof. He will not leave his palace until he met us. Besides, Trigon was awakening gradually. Captain Mar said that the day when Trigon would break his seal would come soon, so that we must act as soon as possible,” speculated Floria.

“That’s true. His palace is the biggest building I’ve ever seen. There’s almost a small world inside that building,” agreed Yanni.

“Therefore, let’s attack the building tonight. We may die together in the end, and I’ll be happy to die with you three,” whispered Stasha.

“So will I,” consented the others.

This city was hellishly big. Although they could see the Palace of Fungruus right now at the outskirt of Singreum, it would still take them at least one hour to arrive at this city, after all, those crisscrossing streets were like a labyrinth to them barbarians.

While they were heading towards the Palace of Fungruus, they went through a small alley and arrived at a favela, which was composed of ugly dilapidated houses.

It was a completely different world with the rich area of this city. One small shed there could hold an entire family, which was even smaller than a restroom in a rich one’s villa.

Swarms of mosquitos were flying in the sky, and their humming was like the screaming sounds of tortured souls in the fabled abyss. The air was filled with the smell of shit and urine. Seemingly the difference between rich ones and the poor ones in this city was as big as the difference between elves and humans.

On the ground, nauseating centipedes and cockroaches were crawling. Those insects filled the buildings of this favela. The walls of the houses were grey and the barbed wires fixed on the windows to prevent theft had completely rusted, and those scarlet rusts were giving off gusts of disgusting smell.

People in this overcrowded favela were extremely thin. They looked like some sort of skeletons with skin or zombies instead of a healthy humans. Obviously, they had no power to fight back … The prosperity of the city was based on the agony and sacrifice of the poor majority who had no power to fight against their unfair fate.

The barbarians in Normania were poor too and they had to live in small tents. However, they lived in the wilderness and they could run in the vast Dream Forest. Since the Grey Factory had been destroyed now, they could also smell the fresh air of nature.

However, the poor people in the favela were different. They were in a city and they had no freedom at all. Their whole lives had been caged in their small prison-like houses. What was worse, they had no power to change their fate at all.

Walking forwards, the four entered a crude cemetery, or to be precise, a mass grave, where the air was choking and filled with the smell of rotten corpses. The mass grave was crowded by tombs, many of which had been broken by carrion birds and other scavengers.

Few names were carved on the tombs, since most people in the favela were illiterate. Therefore, when one died, his name would be finally forgotten and he would leave no trace in this world.

After the four left the favela, they entered the rich area once again.

There were tall buildings as well as villas in the rich area. The street was neat and the people there seemed personable. The four saw a cemetery in the reach area too. The tombs looked majestic and beautiful. Not only names but also epitaphs were exquisitely carved on the tombstone.

II

After approximately one hour, the four arrived in front of the main gate of the Palace of Fungruus.

This was the biggest building the four had ever seen. It was even far bigger than the Grey Factory and the Pyramid of Era Macchina.

With white walls, countless black exquisite domes and spires that cut into the sky, this building was a manmade wonder. There were two guards standing beside the gate.

Aisling summoned a cloud of hypnotic gas which made the guardsmen fall asleep. After knocking out the guards, they entered the palace through the gate and arrived in an enormous hall, which was decorated with magnificent jewelleries on the walls.

Although this building was built with monotonous white walls and black domes to be seen from outside, the inside decoration was colourful.

On the floor of the hall lay a grandiose patch of carpet, the motif on which was as complicated as the runes of elves.

There was also a chandelier hanging down from the ceiling of the hall, which contained glowing fire elementium which was as bright as the stars. There were also two small fountains built inside this grand hall, the sounds of flowing water inside which weaved an ethereal symphony.

Aisling, Yanni and Stasha were absorbed in appreciating the stunning decoration of this hall and they didn’t realize that a cage was falling down from the sky.

Luckily, Floria noticed the danger. She shot an arrow upwards, which stuck into the gears inside the ceiling and stopped the movement of that cage.

“That’s a trap,” muttered Floria.

The instant her voice broke off, the four were surrounded by a group of soldiers, all of which were enhanced by fire elementium. Without doubt, those soldiers were no match for Aisling. She summoned strips of vines which grew out from under the ground rapidly and the vines entangled those soldiers, making them unable to move.

As soon as Aisling subdued those soldiers, a young lady with gorgeous clothes walked down the stairs.

“Your four must be Aisling, Floria, Yanni and Stasha, right?” asked that lady in Normanish.

“Obviously,” answered Floria.

“Welcome, friends. I am Djoulia, the assistant of Fungruus. You four are his valued guests. He wants to meet you right now. Please follow me … I’ll lead you to his throne room,” greeted the lady elegantly.

Djoulia took the four upstairs. The second floor of this palace was an office area for the public servants. Some of them were writing documents, while others were reporting to their superior, bowing and scraping.

After walking through a long corridor, they were taken into an elementalical elevator by Djoulia.

“Won’t there be any trap?” asked Yanni quietly.

“No, there won’t, because I am here with you. If there’s trap, I’ll die with you too. I am a valuable assistant of Fungruus and he won’t sacrifice me to kill you four. Besides, he has the power to crush you without any traps!” smirked Djoulia confidently.

“That’s convincing …” commented Yanni doubtfully.

The elementalical elevator went up. There were two windows inside the elementalical elevator, from which, the four could see the outside world clearly. Through the window, they could overlook the whole Singreum. It was really a big city. The rich area looked golden and beautiful, while the favelas were black …

Some people lived in a voluptuous paradise, while some people lived in places which were worse than the hell. Like Le Meraviglie and Scuropolis, this city was built on the basis of the concepts of hierarchy. All people had to accept their fate because fate was difficult to change …

Since Djoulia said that there was no traps, they let their guard down. However, Floria was still observing the surroundings seriously and she found out that there seemed to be some sort of suspicious mechanical structure inside the sidewalls of the elementalical elevator because she could hear the sounds of it.

“Aisling, summoned the barrier of veins! There’s a trap!” shouted Floria suddenly.

“No, there’s not. That’s impossible!” screamed Djoulia.

Aisling conjured the barrier of veins which wrapped and protected the four. Floria was right. There were some dispensers hidden inside the sidewalls of this elementalical elevator that could shoot arrows.

All kinds of arrows were shot out from the dispensers. There were explosive arrows made of fire elementium, freezing arrows made of water elementium, as well as lightning arrows made of air elementium.

Luckily, Aisling’s magic was strong and she had the stellarite ring to enhance her power. Her barrier of vines blocked all those elementalical arrows made by Fungruus and none of the four had been injured by those lethal arrows.

Djoulia was also wrapped inside Aisling’s barrier so that she wasn’t hurt either.

After the dispensers run out of arrows, Aisling withdrew her barrier.

“Are you all OK?” asked Aisling.

“Yeah, safe and sound. Your magic is awesome,” replied Stasha.

“Impossible! It’s impossible! I am a valuable assistant! I am valuable! How can Fungruus do this to me! He needs me! I am valuable!” sobbed Djoulia.

“Well … That’s … You know … Fungruus is a tyrant …” Yanni reassured her.

“No! He is a good king, and he …” tears burst out from Djoulia’s eyes and poured down from her cheeks.

The elementalical elevator stopped on the top floor of this building, where lay the throne room of Fungruus. The door of the elementalical elevator opened. Djoulia and the four left the elementalical elevator and walked into the throne room.

This throne room was majestic. The tiles of the walls and the floor were aquamarine while the carpet was orange. The whole room was illuminated by candles put on crystal candlesticks and an emerald chandelier. In front of them were stairs that led upwards.

Djoulia was still crying.

“Why? Why does he do that? I have tried my best to serve him … But …” muttered Djoulia.

“You’re just a pawn of him! It’s not worth crying for him! Fungruus is an asshole,” Stasha encouraged her.

“Fungruus is not an asshole! He is the greatest man in this world. He is omnipotent, and …” retorted Djoulia.

“If he is omnipotent, he won’t have tried to kill us with traps. Traps were nasty tricks,” whispered Yanni.

“No! He uses traps because traps are symbols of defeating enemies with wisdom,” argued Djoulia.

“All right … Fungruus is omnipotent! We’re going to kick his ass. Wait and see!” murmured Yanni.

“Fungruus will blasted you into pieces with his sacred thunder!” threatened Djoulia.

They didn’t continue this meaningless argument with Djoulia. They just moved forwards until Fungruus who was sitting on a golden throne came into their sight.

His throne was built on a platform at the upper end of those stairs. This platform was floating in mid-air, powered by air elementium. Even magic could not make an object float.

Besides the platform which lay the throne, there were also some gigantic luminous pearls floating beside the throne. Though there were no windows in the throne room, those luminous pearls were always growing with sapphire lights that illuminated the whole throne room.

Though Fungruus seemed pretty surprised to see the four alive, he was still calm and he kept observing the four interestedly.

“ꡜꡟꡗ’ꡊꡧ ꡃꡡ ꡮꡞꡋ’ꡋꡠꡋ, ꡆꡟ’ꡙꡞ! ꡃꡡ ꡆꡞ’ꡊꡧ ꡇꡞ ꡃꡞꡧ ꡋꡝꡞꡃ’ꡙꡞ ꡜꡧꡡ ꡂꡧꡡ ꡃꡡ ꡊꡞ ꡜꡠꡋ’ꡒꡞꡃ. ꡇꡞ ꡮꡞ ꡆꡞ’ꡜꡧꡞ ꡊꡞ ꡋꡦꡟ’ꡮꡞ. ꡃꡡ ꡜꡟꡗ ꡒꡗ ꡊ’ꡎꡗ ꡆꡠ’ꡛꡠ ꡉꡧ’ꡗꡠꡋ ꡊꡞ ꡋꡡꡲ’ꡏ’ꡇꡞ’ꡗ ꡔꡞꡋ ꡜꡝꡞꡧ ꡂꡠꡃ’ꡙꡞ ꡇꡞ!” [Come back to me, Djoulia! I know that you have the power to survive my trap. You’re an intelligent young lady. I will reward you after I beat these four abominable Normanians!] called Fungruus with charming voice.

“ꡗꡟꡃ’ꡗꡧꡠꡋ ꡝꡟꡗ ꡇꡞꡋ ꡰꡟ’ꡝꡟ, ꡎꡞ’ꡜꡨ,” [Always at your service, your majesty,] Djoulia bowed and walked to Fungruus’ side.

“You’re so silly! He just tried to kill you! How could you …” questioned Yanni.

“Shut up! Don’t you ever try to divide my excellent assistant and me!” growled Fungruus, standing up to his feet.

“You hypocrite! Where is Cuore Celeste? If you don’t give it back to us, we will …” threatened Yanni.

“Be patient! I have hidden it. Even if you beat me, you won’t find it. Trigon will rise!”

“I will find it. I can detect the position of Cuore Celeste … My mind is linked to that gemstone … It is … hidden inside that throne, right?”

“That’s impressive … Anyway, I will finish your pathetic lives before you touched that dangerous gemstone!” smirked Fungruus.

He began to transform into his genie-like elementalical form. His feet turned into a tornado while his skin became translucent and full of electricity. Now, in his elementalical form, he was about two and a half metres tall.

Six pillars made with air elementium rose from under the ground, carved on which were complicated mantras. Those mantras were similar to Reauneish script but they were more complex. Electricity was running through the six pillars and the mantras began to glow.

Obviously, the mantras were just a way to scare the enemies of Fungruus. It was not related to magic at all. The power of the pillars came from the air elementium that composed it.

Fungruus began to syphon energy from the pillars and electric charges began to fill the air. The hair of the four began to stand up because of the electricity and their muscles were trembling … If they didn’t have the power of Sylvana, they had already been blasted into cremains by the electricity that flew in the air.

“Trying to challenge me is the worst choice you have ever made! Go die!” snorted Fungruus. He had absorbed enough energy from the elementium pillars.

Now, the final fight began.