Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 554: A Bold Solution
Steven didn't have much to say about Kal'tsit's plan to gather allies. Whether she could solve the problem was her own affair, his role was merely to pass along the warning.
Kal'tsit, who had already begun preparing to contact the various gods and Feranmuts she had met over the years, suddenly stopped mid-step as she rose to leave, as if realizing something.
"Wait. You didn't come back just to inform me, did you? And since you're the only one who recognizes this threat, you should have some way of dealing with it, shouldn't you?"
Her tightly knit brows relaxed slightly. The problem Steven brought was so daunting that even she couldn't think of a proper solution. According to his description, it was essentially a massive, self-aware walking bomb. To dismantle it, they might first need the strength to defeat it.
But if there truly were no solution, Steven wouldn't be this calm.
Kal'tsit wasn't someone who liked placing hope in others, yet she had to admit—Steven's presence brought her a strange sense of reassurance. It was as though even if the sky fell, he could hold it up for quite a while.
It was no wonder many female operators on Rhodes Island felt an inexplicable fondness for him. In such a cruel world, a man who remained reliable at critical moments and gave others a sense of safety was exceptionally rare—Kal'tsit knew that well.
Given the situation, instead of rushing around trying to devise a solution, it made more sense to ask the one who brought up the problem.
After all, she could see it clearly—Steven didn't look anxious at all. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying watching her predicament. That meant the situation was still within his control.
Besides, Steven was technically a shareholder of Rhodes Island. Even if he didn't feel much attachment to it, several people close to him were still ordinary humans. By his own logic, if that "bomb" wasn't dealt with, they wouldn't survive either.
In other words, he should be the one in a hurry.
"I do have some. But you didn't ask. I thought you'd save the world on your own, so I didn't want to steal your spotlight."
Steven grinned innocently. To Kal'tsit, however, that smile looked infuriatingly smug.
At a time like this, how could he still be joking?
"…This concerns the entire world of Terra. If you truly have a solution, I hope you'll share it—for the operators of Rhodes Island, and for the people struggling to survive in this cruel world. Can you do that?"
With no patience left to banter, Kal'tsit asked him seriously. If the creature truly held the enormous energy Steven described, even a group of Feranmuts and gods might not be enough to defeat it.
After all, it could roam freely through oceans dominated by the Seaborn. Without extraordinary power, it would have long since become nourishment for those abyssal deities.
"So… you're actually asking me?"
Steven didn't expect Kal'tsit to lower herself so readily. He had assumed she would attempt a series of complicated maneuvers first, only coming to him after exhausting all options.
"You may see it that way. Asking for help from someone capable of what I cannot do is nothing to be ashamed of."
Kal'tsit nodded calmly. A hint of plea flickered within her pale green eyes.
Steven had to admit—he was weak to this sort of thing. He was the type who softened when treated gently, not when pressured. Since Kal'tsit had lowered herself to ask for help, he could naturally step in without hesitation.
Truth be told, he would have intervened even if she hadn't asked. Now he simply had another reason to do so. And if he could earn an extra dose of gratitude along the way, why refuse?
"Heh. Alright then."
Steven grinned. Saving the world wasn't something he'd done before. Doing it once would at least unlock the achievement, right?
"What will you do?" Kal'tsit asked.
"Simple. We make sure that thing goes somewhere remote to die. Let me put it this way, it's actually easier to deal with alive than dead. Right now, it's basically searching for a suitable place to die. Once it does, the uncontrollable energy inside it will spill out, and that's when the massive upheaval and explosion will happen."
"So the solution is to move it somewhere safer while preventing it from dying—like the depths of the ocean, or the ownerless starry sky above us. As long as it doesn't die near land, the damage should be manageable."
Steven laid out the classic approach from the hunting game. The Zorah Magdaros interception mission was one of the most iconic battles—everyone in the game working together just to drive it away from its chosen death site. And that Zorah Magdaros hadn't even intended to fight; it only sought a place to die.
For now, using the same strategy here should theoretically work.
However, when Kal'tsit heard his proposal, her brows furrowed again.
"The ocean… is not a domain we can freely intervene in. If something goes wrong and disrupts the current balance between land and sea, it could trigger a war affecting the entire continent. Even if you lead it into the depths, you might simply be providing nourishment to certain… things already waiting there."
Whenever discussions reached such sensitive territory, Kal'tsit slipped back into her cryptic way of speaking. But the meaning was clear—guiding it into the ocean wasn't viable.
Fortunately, Steven knew enough about Terra's seas to understand. The waters were filled with mutated horrors; throwing a Zorah Magdaros in there might only create something worse.
"Then… what about the sky?"
"…"
At the mention of the sky, Kal'tsit's expression grew even more complicated. Her gaze shifted, as if unsure whether she should explain.
"To put it simply… the starry sky above us may not actually be a 'starry sky.' In fact, it might be even more troublesome than the ocean. At least we know something about the sea. But the heavens above? We've never truly touched them."
She explained as clearly as she could, then looked at Steven helplessly, effectively ruling out that option as well.
"Geez… that makes it tricky. Can't put it in the sea, can't put it in the sky, and it's huge. Don't tell me I have to handle it all by myself?"
Steven scratched his head in frustration. In theory, he could use a black hole and erase Zorah Magdaros entirely. But that felt like a terrible trade. Devouring something that massive wasn't easy without command assistance. After all, it wasn't just the size of a moving city—it was a living catastrophe.
It would fight back, after all.
And using commands would inevitably consume a large amount of points—something Steven happened to be short on at the moment.
Seeing even Steven show a rare hint of difficulty, Kal'tsit quietly stepped to his side. Anything she said now would probably only add pressure. It was better to give him time to sort out his thoughts.
"If only we had Dragonators… If the Commander-in-Chief were here, one Dragonator not solving the problem would just mean firing a few more."
He muttered under his breath. After a brief moment of thought, he still couldn't reach a reliable conclusion. Killing it wasn't allowed, driving it away wasn't allowed, and that damned Zorah Magdaros couldn't be captured—so how exactly was he supposed to deal with it?
However, the moment he thought about the fact that Elder Dragons couldn't be captured, Steven's eyes suddenly widened. As if he had realized something, a familiar relaxed smile quickly returned to his face.
"You've found a solution?"
Noticing the change in his expression, Kal'tsit immediately asked. If Steven said he had a way, then he probably did—she could trust him on that without hesitation.
"More like a hypothesis. We'll have to try it out. Either way, we should head to the site first and see the situation for ourselves, right?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 617: A Bold Guess[1]
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[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628