The Golden Experience Point [Part 1]

Chapter 68: "Kingdom of Hiers - Emergency Legislative Assembly"

Countless magnificent chairs were arranged in a giant circle inside an equally magnificent, spacious room

This was the conference hall on the first floor of the Hiers royal castle.

Normally, members of the church would rent out this room to hold religious meetings, but today it held an assembly of the people in charge of the kingdom. This included leaders from the church, starting with the patriarch of the Holy Church of Hiers and extending to other prominent bishops.

"—received an oracle. A new threat to humanity has been born."

Furious whispers filled the hall in the wake of the patriarch's words. One of the guards standing by against the wall, Thomas, felt the frenzied commotion vibrate through his body as though there had been an actual shockwave. For those gathered here, the news was in fact that shocking. And that was true even for a common soldier like Thomas.

Threats to humanity. The six catastrophes. The harbingers of despair. The incarnations of carnage.

There were many ways to curse them, but they actually all referred to the same things.

—On the western continent, rumors claimed that the lord of the infamous Genesis Castle was a true vampire.

—In the north pole, there was a giant wall of ice known as the Crystal Wall. Since ancient times, a golden dragon had been sealed within, one that had descended from above the heavens.

—In the vast sea of trees on the southern continent, beyond the gate that connects to the realm of demons, it was purported that everything had been conquered by an archdemon.

—Far to the east, in an island nation populated by demihumans, there were whispers that its sovereign was the king of insects.

—That same island nation was separated from the central continent by the world's largest body of water, the Great Aegir Sea. At the bottom of that sea, the lord of mermen reigned over the entire ocean.

—Finally, while no one knew where it was, everyone knew of the sky castle. On its throne sat an archangel, leader of the abominable angels, who looked down on the lower world with contempt.

"How can this be... Where? Where is this newest disaster...?"

"—Here, on this continent. In the eastern part of Hiers, near the city of Erfahren, God has declared that it was birthed in the Great Liebe Forest."

"Ohh... how terrible..."

"How can this be...? How can it...?"

Some of the attendees hung their heads, others looked up to the heavens and prayed, others still tumbled out of their chairs. The only thing they all shared was an overwhelming feeling of despair. And Thomas was no different. He nearly dropped the standard-bearing spear in his hand. Was it really true? A threat to humanity was this close?

These calamities had never threatened the central continent before. That could perhaps in fact be the reason behind this development. The residents here knew about the existence of human life on the other continents and islands from trade, but civilization in those places wasn't very advanced. That was because their circumstances made it hard enough just to survive, so they lacked an opportunity to even consider improving their lifestyles.

And that was due to the six catastrophes. Their existence riled up monsters and wild beasts, leading to the appearance of powerful creatures the likes of which were incomparable to what was found on this continent. Wanting to raise the standard of living in such an environment was a dream within a dream. None of the six catastrophes settled on the central continent, so the people there only ever had to worry about the angels from the sky castle, who would appear at random to conduct raids. While they certainly suffered great losses from these attacks, it was always a temporary thing, completely different from living in constant fear of something that lived nearby. Thus, life was much more luxurious on the central continent compared to all the other major landmasses.