In Ark Simulator, why do I always get a tough start?

Chapter 119 The Death of Jeragand?

"This power, this authority..."

"If I'm not mistaken, you are Yeragand, right?"

Having severed the link with the dead clone, the shapeshifter, though meeting Yera for the first time, had already deduced her true identity from the limited information available.

“We originally thought that Yeragand was just a fictional god worshipped by the locals.”

"I never imagined that you not only actually exist, but are also a behemoth."

"What?! The Head Maid of Yera is Yeragand?!"

As the shapeshifter finished speaking calmly, everyone except Chen Qi, who already knew Yera's identity, and Enya, who had guessed it beforehand, was shocked by the news.

Jeragand, how come it's always been so close to me?
As for the "giant beast" mentioned by the shapeshifters, which requires a certain level of experience and status to understand, even if Ensiodis and the others didn't quite grasp it, they understood one thing.

Jeragand is not a "god," but a mysterious being who possesses immense power.

This was both good and bad news for Ensiodis and the others.

The good news is that they can now confirm that Yeragand not only exists, but its power is certainly beyond their imagination.

The bad news is that if Jeragand is not a god, then she can be killed.

Is Yeragand able to defeat this shapeshifter who has left them helpless?

"Now that you know my abilities, may I ask you to leave Kjerag?"

"Otherwise, I would have to resort to some means to force you to leave Shelag."

Jeragand's smile remained gentle, but the impatience in his tone was impossible to erase.

"—Sorry, the mission is not yet complete, we cannot go back yet."

However, despite knowing Yera's identity, the shapeshifter quickly displayed a calm demeanor that made everyone uneasy after a brief moment of surprise.

It was as if those clones that Yera had just killed had not caused Him much harm at all.

The next second, as Yera's smiling face gradually turned cold, the shapeshifter's words made her even more determined to destroy him here.

"Moreover, the claim that Sherag is a 'god' is not unfounded, and this news is also very important to Letania."

“We are immortal. As long as one of our clones can leave this place, we can pass this message on to Letania.”

"Before that, let's test the strength of Sherag's behemoth."

Yeragand responded coldly, replying indifferently, "...It sounds like there's no way to resolve this peacefully."

Having said all that, even someone as kind as Yela knew very well that she could not let this shapeshifter leave the palace alive.

In an instant, the temperature inside the palace plummeted, and a thin layer of ice began to adhere to the palace walls and objects, turning the place into an ice sculpture castle within seconds.

But the shapeshifters did not want to sit idly by and wait for their doom.

The brief exchange just now made the shapeshifter realize that while Yera's strength as a behemoth might not be top-tier, it had a restraining effect on Him.

The shapeshifter quickly split off a clone from its body, which then transformed into a massive beast at an incredible speed, attempting to force its way through the wall and leave the palace!

But will Jeragund grant Him His wish?

"boom!"

The moment the shapeshifter's clone crashed head-on into the ice wall, it was as if it had been thrown into a portal.

The next second, when the shapeshifter's clone came to its senses, it was back in the same spot, as if its collision with the wall was just an illusion.

"Want to escape? There's no way!"

Yera stared coldly at the astonished shapeshifter, a slightly mocking smile playing on her lips:

"Shelag is my country, and everything in this snow mountain belongs to my authority."

“In Shelag, it’s not wrong to say I’m a god.”

"...Then, the only option is to eliminate all of you here."

Clearly understanding that he had no chance of leaving the palace without killing Yera, the shapeshifter quickly changed his strategy.

One after another, clones split off from the shapeshifter's body, once again surrounding Chen Qi and his group.

"We are infinite, we are immortal."

"Yeragand, you who need to protect all of Sherag, how much power and strength do you have left to destroy us?"

"...Well, let's give it a try and see."

Faced with the ever-growing shapeshifters, Yera, who knew exactly how much power she had left, also felt a little overwhelmed.

In the previous battles, he had already expended a great deal of divine power to cover Chen Qi and Xielag's army.

She still seems to possess incredible power, but she's really all bark and no bite.

We must strike him once and for all, destroying him and all his clones.

But if all divine power were used in this one strike, it might be possible, but how long would I need to sleep afterward to regain my protection of Sherag?

Once Seraphim loses his protection, when he wakes up again... will he still be able to see Seraphim and Qi?
After weighing the pros and cons for a while, his gaze unconsciously drifted to Yela on the snow-capped mountain below, and suddenly an idea came to him.

However, instead of immediately eliminating the shapeshifters, Yera, who had come up with a solution, cast a gentle smile at Chen Qi behind her.

"Your Majesty, and gentlemen, I need you to excuse yourselves from the scene for the next moment."

"—Yela, be careful, the Lord of the Royal Court is no simple man."

Chen Qi saw through Yelana's feigned ease, but his face showed no sign of panic.

He remained calm and composed, as if victory was assured, and stepped forward to gently grasp Yela's hand.

Yera's heart skipped a beat as Chen Qi suddenly took her hand. At the same time, she quickly heard Chen Qi's heartfelt words conveyed through Originium Arts.

"Yela, don't push yourself too hard."

"Didn't you notice? This is a provocation tactic by the shapeshifters!"

"The Shapeshifter has clones all over Terra, so even if you destroy it here, you can't kill it completely."

"The shapeshifters are only here to drain your divine power, so that you will no longer have the strength to protect Seraphim!"

“...Of course I understand, Qi.”

However, facing that icy face that was different from his outward appearance, Chen Qi felt anxious inside.

After a moment of surprise, Yela's maternal smile widened even further.

"But please don't forget, Inori."

"Eragand can be a little willful sometimes... She will do anything to protect you."

For Yera, at this point, she had no choice.

If the shapeshifter leaves Sherag, the Letanians will surely learn of her existence and see through her facade of strength.

At that time, the Letanians' offensive will likely become even more unrestrained.

Therefore, she must eliminate all the shapeshifters here.

Even so, their presence might still be exposed, but at least until they receive clear intelligence, the Letanians will be hesitant to act rashly.

After all, attacking a natural fortress that is easy to defend but difficult to attack is already extremely difficult.

If this natural fortress were protected by a behemoth powerful enough to annihilate the king of the royal court in one blow, perhaps Letania would change their strategy?
"I believe in you, you will definitely protect Sherag."

"And please believe me, I will never let you fight alone."

"Yela, you—"

The next second, before Chen Qi could convey his thoughts again, a white light flashed before his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he found that everything in front of him had changed.

He and Ensiodis and the others were no longer in the palace.

Around them was the main road of Silverheart Lake in Shelag, usually the busiest street in Shelag.

However, because many people in Shelag became part of the army during the war, the place is unusually deserted today.

Their sudden appearance went completely unnoticed by anyone. "This is..."

Beside Chen Qi, Enya, who had just come to her senses, looked at the dim sky where snowflakes were still falling and murmured in disbelief:

"Is this the divine power of Yeragand? It can teleport us hundreds of miles away in an instant?"

However, Chen Qi was not concerned about the shock that Enya and the others were experiencing.

His slightly trembling eyes were fixed on the sacred mountain a hundred miles away, and he prayed in his heart that the guardian deity of Shelag would return safely this time.

……

"Well then, we can begin now."

After teleporting Chen Qi and his group away, Yera, who was completely focused on her work, finally revealed a fierce expression. With her eyebrows raised, she began to gather her "divine power".

The next second, the palace began to tremble under Yera's force.

No, the entire sacred mountain is experiencing a powerful earthquake!
Earthquakes of magnitude 9 or higher are occurring, and they are even intensifying! However, the epicenter of the earthquakes seems to be concentrated only on the holy mountain, without affecting other areas of Shelag.

This earthquake, which can only be described as a natural disaster, was enough for the shapeshifters to understand what Yera's tactics were.

"Do you want to tear the sacred mountain apart? To wipe us all out with an avalanche?"

The shapeshifter was somewhat surprised by Yera's strong determination. Knowing that he had nowhere to escape, he could only ask Yera the question he was curious about before he "died".

"Is it worth it? This sacred mountain should also be a part of you, shouldn't it?"

"Even if you destroy us, your physical body will be damaged, which should be unpleasant even for a giant beast."

"—But some things are even harder to accept than tearing your own body apart."

Despite the tearing sensation coursing through her body and cold sweat trickling down her cheeks, Yela forced a smile and replied:
"Compared to indelible scars on the soul, minor physical injuries will eventually heal."

"I think you, who have been exploring the value of survival but don't know why you survive, probably can't understand this feeling, right?"

"We are prepared to sacrifice ourselves for the people we want to protect."

"...Perhaps I should imitate your way of thinking, so that I can understand it."

As the tremors grew stronger, the shapeshifter, knowing his death was imminent, slowly closed his eyes.

"Unfortunately, the opportunity is gone."

"Boom——!!"

With a deafening roar that shook the entire city of Sherag, the people of Sherag, who had just emerged from the battlefield, assumed that the enemy had returned and rushed out of their homes with their weapons.

The next second, the people of Sherag, who were bewilderedly searching for the source of the tremor, witnessed a scene they would never forget...

"The sacred mountain... is broken?"

Under the stunned gaze of everyone, the towering peak of the sacred mountain seemed to have been snapped in two as if by a giant's bare hand.

The fractured mountaintop gradually lost its support and, accompanied by the pristine white snow, slid violently down towards the foot of the mountain...

"Yela—!!!"

Gazing at the distant mountain peak that had slid down, and the avalanche it triggered that could bury all living things, Enya, whose eyes had already lost their focus, could only let out a heart-wrenching cry.

However, Enya's cries of pain could not change what had happened.

Like countless other Sherag people, she could only helplessly watch as the summit of the sacred mountain, along with everything they cherished on it, vanished completely from this world.

everything is over.

Neither Yera nor the shapeshifters believed that anyone could survive an avalanche of this scale.

“Enya…”

Beside him, Chen Qi gently helped Eun-ah, who was kneeling on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, to her feet. Suppressing his own grief, which was no less than Eun-ah's, he patiently comforted her:

"Don't be sad, Enya, Yera will be alright."

"Feel it, Enya, can your sacred bell still sense Jeragund's call? Is Sherag still protected by Jeragund's divine power?"

"Since everything is still here, Yera will be fine... She's just temporarily away from us."

"I know...but..."

However, even though she knew that everything her brother said was true, Enya still couldn't bear the grief in her heart.

In Enya's heart, the one on the holy mountain was not Jeragand, but the head lady-in-waiting who had been with her day and night for many years.

She didn't care whether the other person was Yeragand; all she knew was that she and Yeragand were not just a saintess and a head lady-in-waiting, but also close friends and sisters who spent every day together.

Now, all he can do is watch her sacrifice herself, powerless to stop it...

This feeling is absolutely unpleasant for anyone.

"—Qi is right, Enya."

Just as Enya was sobbing silently in her brother's arms, a gentle female voice suddenly broke the silence.

"Yela!"

Upon hearing that familiar female voice, Enya immediately broke free from her brother's embrace. Her bloodshot eyes quickly noticed a small eye floating in mid-air.

It was an eye with a rock socket and a blue gemstone pupil, like a surveillance device.

"It's me, Holy Maiden, and Your Majesty."

From those eyes came Yela's familiar gentleness, but her voice also revealed a hint of weakness.

"Sorry, we've made a bit of a commotion, but if we don't do this, we won't be able to eliminate the most troublesome enemy with the least amount of effort."

"Yela, are you alright? You sound very weak."

Chen Qi asked with concern.

"Oh my, I'm quite happy to hear that His Majesty, who is usually so cold to others, actually cares about me so much."

Yela's silvery laughter rang out clearly, and for some reason, Chen Qi could see a look of delight on a stone.

"As you can see, Your Majesty, although my power is still there, the physical body that I painstakingly created is gone."

"Perhaps only after the war ends will I have the time and resources to recreate a more beautiful body."

"Fortunately, I managed to take that ugly statue with me before I died."

"Remember, next time you carve a new statue in my likeness, and make sure to fix the fat face on the Jeragand statue properly!"

"Otherwise, hmph, I'm going to ignore you."

Seemingly to lighten the mood, Yela deliberately expressed her dissatisfaction with the statue in a huff.

It must be said that Yera's strategy was rarely effective. Enya, who was originally crying her eyes out because of Yera's "sacrifice", was indeed all smiles again after Yera's words.

However, Chen Qi, who was relieved, knew very well that the current situation was quite unfavorable to him.

Yera has already exhausted a great deal of divine power, and in the upcoming battle, she probably has little power left to help him turn the tide of the war.

Since such a big commotion has already been caused, and both Letania and Victoria seem to be very curious about the existence of Jeragand.

So, can I use everything that happened today to completely turn the tide in Sherag?

"—Enciodes, how are the high-speed warships that Nosis is overseeing doing lately?"

Hearing his brother's serious call, Enciodes snapped back to reality and responded respectfully:
“Brother, I have been urging Nosis to work on this. He has been in charge of the final finishing touches on the warships and the production of other weapons of war.”

"If nothing unexpected happens, the high-speed warship will be fully assembled tomorrow and can be officially put into testing."

"...It seems that our first high-speed warship will need to gain testing experience in actual combat."

Hearing the good news he had been hoping for, Chen Qi knew in his heart that the moment of the decisive battle was about to arrive!

Perhaps, he could make use of the "idle piece" he had captured and have him pass on some "intelligence" to Victoria.

"Let's see if the earth-shattering commotion Yeragand has created to protect us can attract some big fish."

"The decisive battle to change Kjerag's predicament begins tomorrow!"

(End of this chapter)