Against the World II: Transgression
Special Story: Threat from the East, part 5

...—City Heavenly Crystal—...

Hernandez and Retsu arrive in the backyard of Hernadez's residence just as the night has passed by a third. They returned to the city using the teleportation Hernandez used. They should have been able to arrive early, but having received Diatra's dinner invitation made the two arrive rather late.

“Do you have a place to stay?” asked Hernandez as he walked towards the back door of his house. “If you don't have one, I have several empty rooms that you can use for overnight.”

“Eh, didn't you let me in earlier?” asked Retsu while following Hernandez who had walked first. “Why all of a sudden be so good-ass? Oh, do you-don't you plan something, uh, Mr Hernandez?”

“Do not make it up,” response Hernandez fast. “I offered you that because I myself wanted to spend the night in the church library. I want to find information that is there about the creator of the Ship Vegasus.”

“Ah, then I will be kind and accept your offer.”

...* * *...

The pair of eyelids opened slowly, displaying a pair of obsidian-like black irises to each pair of eyes that looked on. Unfortunately, not many eyes were watching. Only a pair of vertically-piled blood-red irises saw it from the other side of the table.

“...Miss Vermyna?”

Hernandez blinked his eyes several times, circulating them around the room, before returning his gaze to the individual sitting quietly reading a dull black book.

“What do you do early in the morning like this here?”

Although Hernandez could not see outside, he believed that the sun had not yet risen. It is most likely still dawn. Because of that, seeing the existence of the vampire in the library of this church makes Hernandez wonder.

“Yourself, why sleep here?” vermyna asked without looking at Hernandez.

“There's information I want to get.”

“So?”

“So, what makes you here?”

“I want to give you a job,” Vermyna responds while closing her dull black-coated book. “I myself want you to perfect my special clothes.”

“Special clothes?”

A space portal was created to the left of Vermyna, from which came out an exact suit that the vampire was wearing.

“Kendai this shirt is exactly the same as the clothes I wear,” said Vermyna while pulling the shirt, “but the main material is different. The clothes I wear have no advantage and are not reinforced at all. However, this dress is different. Look.”

Hernandez moved his hand catching the clothes that Vermyna was throwing, watching him intently.

As Vermyna said, this shirt in her hand was no ordinary dress. Although the texture is very soft and pleasing to the skin, but the level of resistance is almost close to lonsdaleite. Hernandez doubts that there are weapons that can destroy this shirt other than lonsdaleite weapons.

“This shirt is made of black silk thread and red spider queen web, both soaked in Ethereal Water for a week before then soaked in the blood of the Kraken Lord for three days. Then the two materials were put together and spun.”

Hernandez had already heard of the violence of black silk and the red spider queen web. Both of them have such awesome violence that even the purest adamantite would have trouble cutting them. However, using the Kraken Lord's blood as a immersion medium….

“You killed him?” asked Hernandez, sighing softly, putting the rudimentary dress on the table.

“No, I only took a part of her arm. The endurance of the body and the self-regenerating speed of the Kraken Lord was quite impressive, it took extra effort to finish him off.”

Hearing him made Hernandez wonder, did Vermyna not know of the existence of lonsdaleite down there?

The reason is, if he has bothered to the Nordens Trench, it is very stupid if you do not take the time to take lonsdaleite. However, the word “boh” is really not associated with Vermyna. Therefore, the vampire most likely did not know the existence of lonsdaleite.

“When do you want me to finish it?” asked Hernandez, a little yawned.

“As fast as you can.”

“Ayear?”

“…”

“I will bring it to you in three days,” said Hernandez as he stood up. “That's it?”

“Ya, you can go.”

Hernandez nodded slowly and quickly tidied the table. The books he had taken were no longer on his shelf, but he took them with him out of the church. Hernandez still has not finished everything, so he will take it home.

As he had assumed, he had awoken before sunrise, and it was evident from what he saw in the eastern horizon sana—mentari new will show his charm.

Not wanting to linger, Hernandez immediately teleported himself into his backyard. He immediately approached the door quickly, intending to open it and quickly enter.

However, when his hand was already on the doorknob, he suddenly stopped.

Hernandez took his hand off the doorknob and knocked strongly. “Retsu!” call her with a rather loud volume, hoping that the woman is already conscious from her sleep.

Fortunately, Hernandez's hope was that Retsu would respond quickly. The door opened not a minute after Hernandez called. Retsu in all his might was already standing before Hernandez with his hands leaning against the edge of the door.

“Mr Hernandez, you turned out to be up early too, yes.”

“I want to question how you can think I won't wake up in the morning, but that's it. You can go now, right?”

“Eh, it's still too early. At least as a host, serve your guests perfectly, not half. I'd like to say that, but I'm not sure you can cook. Why don't you go in and take a shower? I'll prepare breakfast for you as a thank you for letting me stay.”

Hernandez raised his eyebrows, but made no further comment. He went in and rushed to his room. After arranging the books, Hernandez performed his morning ritual as usual.

When Hernandez came out of his room fifteen minutes later, Retsu had everything arranged on the ever-silent, medium-sized dining table. However, for reasons that Hernandez did not know, the food was only on the other side of the place where Retsu was sitting.

“With the ingredients available, I can only make potluck. Even so, about the taste I guarantee is second to none!”

Hernandez wanted to say that what his eyes saw was not something that could be said to be simple, but he held back and just nodded slowly before sitting down. “For a daughter of a person like Nueva Vermillion, it is surprising to see you good at this kind of business,” she said in praise.

“That's what it would be if you judged someone unilaterally,” Retsu said with a slightly arrogant smile. “Come, quickly eat. I want to hear your comment.”

“How about you?”

“No need to think of me. I don't usually eat my own food. I prefer to eat food made by others.”

“You sure?”

“Of course!”

“Alright then.”

It wasn't comforting to eat while being looked at by others, but Hernandez couldn't resist after Retsu bothered to prepare breakfast for her.

Without needing to hear the letter a second time, Hernandez immediately put a spoonful of Retsu-made soup into his mouth, dan—

“Bweeehhhh!”

—Hernandez just spewed it out.

“Wa-Waaa! What the hell are you doing? Why did you spit it out?!”

Hernandez ignored Retsu's angry screams and gulped down his glass of water, before then glancing sharply at the woman. “If you can't cook, there's no need to act like you're an expert! This soup is even worse than stale food taste!”

“Ta-But, I've done it right! I'm pretty sure the looks and feel complement each other. It can't feel bad.”

“You have tasted it while cooking?”

“Ah...”.

“Eh?! No, no, no need! I can't trouble Mr. Hernandez more than this.”

“You are my guest, aren't you?”

“Of course, this is your home.”

“Then, let me serve you perfectly.” Hernandez turned and walked away.

“If you insist, what can you do. Alright, Mr. Hernandez, serve me to the maximum!”

The call instantly made Hernandez speechless. Reflexes he looks back on, only to be greeted with a triumphant smile on Retsu's lips. At that moment Hernandez realized, ..he had been played.

“What's up, Mr Hernandez?” tanya Retsu with an innocent expression on her face—her full smile disappeared without a trace.

“...It's okay.”

“Well if you say so, I'm so excited to feel your cooking.”

Hernandez only nodded slowly and continued in his footsteps. He could do nothing but accept it. Because, if he says that he is aware of what Retsu is doing, it is tantamount to making him look stupid. Because, he had already said those words with an expression like someone who was about to clean up the mess his partner made.

Until I made him breakfast unsolicited like this…. Retsu Vermillion, he's a bitch.

Hernandez finished preparing breakfast in less than ten minutes. Then the two ate together. It was only after that that Retsu resigned to return to his city in the Emiliel Holy Kingdom. He said he had little business with his father before being able to resume his duties.

Hernandez was about to tell her not to come back here again, but in the end she just nodded and said see you.

When Retsu's figure was no longer visible to his eyes, Hernandez immediately went to his room to pick up Vermyna's clothes.

He studied the shirt even further, making sure what he had to do to make the vampire satisfied.

...* * *...

Two hours later, Hernandez teleported to a vast desert in the western hemisphere of the Amerlesia Mountains. From there he sped at high speed southward, towards the sand valley that was between the hills at the boundary of the sandy area of Islan.

The purpose of Hernandez came to this sandy valley primarily to meet Vermyna's demand. Dark Scorpion King; Hernandez must get the heart of the creature to make that special suit perfect. More than that, its shell can absorb [where] and reflect the spell. That would be very useful in creating a shield or armor that can absorb and reflect [where] based attacks.

For this reason, Hernandez landed at one of the cave mouths in the valley.

Hernandez decided to land on the threshold of the cave's mouth not because of guesswork or because it was the mouth of the first cave he saw, but because of all the cave's mouth was the largest.

Magical Beasts of the scorpion nation were quite numerous and consisted of various sizes. There is a small one at the end of a fingernail, there is also a large one the size of an elephant. However, surpassing everything was the Dark Scorpion King. Its size almost matches that of Hernandez's own house.

Dark Scorpion is a scorpion whose shell is the loudest and most deadly. Although the Red Scorpion is faster and agile than the Dark Scorpion, the Dark Scorpion is much more powerful and dangerous. Especially the king who led their colony, the Dark Scorpion King.

Not wanting to linger, Hernandez just took out his Kurtalaegon, stepping slowly into the door of the large cave.

Finding the Dark Scorpion King, despite his large body, was a difficult matter.

The reason is, large scorpions like to live in deep and complicated places in caves. Not only that, where they hide is usually filled with hundreds to thousands of Dark Scorpions. Hence, in order to obtain the Dark Scorpion King, one had to pass through the Dark Scorpion herd first.

However, for [Ice Magic] users, that hurdle would not be a difficult one.

Unlike the Red Scorpion which is weak against the heat, all Dark Scorpions are weak against the cold. The [Ice Magic] user did not have to bother to go any further inside. They only needed to lower the temperature of the cave significantly, and the Dark Scorpions would come out by themselves.

That is exactly what Hernandez did. He used [Ice Magic] to freeze the floor and walls of the cave thoroughly all the way in and out to even the furthest places, making the total temperature of the room decrease significantly.

As he expected, hordes of Dark Scorpion shot out from each of the cave passageways. However, being not his target, Hernandez enveloped himself with a barrier and let the scorpions out just like that. Although their shells were hard and adaptive to all the magic attributes other than ice magic, their quality was far less than that of the Dark Scorpion King.

Hernandez's wait did not end disappointing. A dozen minutes after he froze each side of the cave, the strong fibrillation instantly shocked the entire cave. The passageway that was in the northeast direction shook even more violently than the others. Unmistakably, Hernandez cast him as the Dark Scorpion King who ran furiously.

Hernandez's accusation proved to be true a minute later. The jet-black huge claw barged out destroying the passageway barrier. The hallway on the northeast side that had been separated, now fused to form a large hallway.

“Girigirigirii!” shouted the giant scorpion with rage, both of its claws opened and immediately shot into the barrier protecting Hernandez.

However, the barrier of Hernandez remained standing upright, not shaky or cracked in the slightest.

Seeing that, the Dark Scorpion King let out his sinister angry voice. Then he darted and smashed his huge body into the barrier that protected Hernandez. However, it failed completely. The barrier of Hernandez remained standing perfectly upright.

The Dark Scorpion King who became enraged instantly moved away, this time his body was covered in a black aura.

“Heh, you want to use your tail, huh? It would be troublesome if I let.”

With that, Hernandez removed his barrier and darted forward with a swinging katana.

The Dark Scorpion King certainly did not remain silent. Seeing Hernandez who was no longer protected by the barrier, he immediately directed his two claws to try to hit the blacksmith.

Hernandez will ignore the arrival of the two claws. Instantly he activated the teleportation seal to appear before the scorpion's large head.

“World Sword Art: Slice of the End,” whispered Hernandez, as his blade swung vertically from the bottom up, splitting the Dark Scorpion King's head into two halves, it killed him in that second, too.

Hernandez then reinserted his sword into the black magic circle, before creating a larger magic circle to swallow the body of the Dark Scorpion King.

“Ah, I spent a little longer than I expected,” muttered slowly while preparing the teleportation magic circle, and at the same time he removed the effects of his ice magic enveloping the cave.

Within seconds, Hernandez disappeared from the cave without a trace.

...* * *...

Upon arriving in his backyard, Hernandez finds Pope Gramiel waiting for him there. The old man smiled kindly as he looked at her, before then asking about where she was from. Hernandez only responded briefly that he was from the sand valley.

“Ah, is Nak Hernandez looking for the Dark Scorpion King?” asked the church leader with a guessing expression.

“Where do you know, Pope? Did Miss Vermyna tell you?”

“No, I'm just guessing. The reason is, if Nak Hernandez gets there alone, it is certain that Nak Hernandez's target is not something ordinary. So, did Nak Hernandez already get it?”

Hernandez nodded in understanding. “Ya,” replied, “I've got it. Then, what made you wait here for me, Pope?”

“Ah, what a coincidence then. I want Nak Hernandez to create twelve shields that can absorb and reflect each spell. Emiliel Holy Kingdom has formed a group of knights, they want the twelve shields as their symbol.”

“They will come into action to protect Islan?”

“Yes, but they will only protect Islan from their coastal side only. More than that, they will not participate.”

“Honey once, whereas it would be better for everyone if they helped.”

Gramiel smiled faintly at Hernandez's response. “As you have already,” he said while looking far to the east, “times is the same. Islan will not lose even if not much helps. Lake Deus will not be stained. You and the other Guardians will make sure of that until your last drop of blood. And, as the one who chose you, I trust everything to protect this sacred land.”

“Ha-ha-ha, that's a damning trust. But, well, I won't let this place get stained.”

“Of course Nak Hernandez, of course. I picked you all up on Seraph Raphael's lead. If Deus Guardian falls, Lake Deus will lose its meaning.” Gramiel turned and walked past Hernandez. “I don't want to bother you any longer. Nak Hernandez can directly meet me if you have completed it.”

Hernandez only nodded slowly in response, looking at the figure of the priest who was drifting away in silence.

Then, when the figure was no longer visible, Hernandez's gaze returned to the back door of his house.

“12 shield, huh? It would be troublesome if I had to wear the Dark Scorpion King's shell, but what could I do. If that's what Pope asked for, that's what I should do. However, as a blacksmith, I must complete Miss Vermyna's request first.”

Sighing deeply, Hernandez opened the door and stepped in.

“This week I will be busy,” murmured when the door closes again.