Chapter 187 Turtel

Everyone in the area, including Queen Mother and Alina went quiet as they waited for Asteria to speak up.

From the looks of it, even they were also curious about Asteria's attitude.

After all, even they were also affected by what Asteria was doing, albeit at a lesser degree compared to Alex.

"Hooman, first of all-" But before Asteria could start her seemingly 'serious talk', their surroundings suddenly started to tremble.

No, it was not just the area around them that was affected by the trembles.

In fact, it was the whole mountain that was trembling.

The old man and his granddaughter, who were both asleep earlier, were woken up by the sudden rumblings.

"Wha-ha-huh?" the old man drowsily mumbled as the rumblings started to get stronger.

He and his granddaughter rubbed their eyes sleepily as clarity began to slowly return to them.

A few seconds later, and the old man started to shout in panic.

"F**k! We should run away now! This mountain will disappear later!"

"Disappear you say?" Alex, who was focused on Asteria earlier, could not help but look at the old man after he heard what he just said. "Is this place a volcano?"

"This place is not a volcano. The old man said as he shook his head. "This place is much worse than that!"

"…"

"Don't you get it? This mountain is part of a sleeping Titan!" The old man shouted as he saw the incomprehension on Alex's face. "Now that it is awake, we're all toast!"

Alina, who was standing beside Alex, let out a light gasp, as if she already knew what the old man was talking about.

"Alina, do you know what this old man is talking about?" Alex asked Alina hurriedly as he saw the light of comprehension on her face. "About this Titan thingy?"

"Yes, I saw information about it on the memories of the Symbolist earlier." Alina replied as she massaged her temples again.

"…" Naturally, Alex looked at Alina intently, as he waited for her to elaborate.

As they ignored Asteria, who was pouting in the background, probably pissed that she was interrupted, Alina started to talk.

"Titans… they were sentient superweapons created with the cooperation of the Three Factions… Their bodies, mechanisms, and abilities were all created by the Symbolists, Celestials, and Devourers working together."

"…."

"These Titans, they were created by the Three Factions to help them combat against the Third Calamity." Alina said as she narrowed her eyes. "Their high-level capabilities allowed the Titans to somehow withstand the gigantic monsters of the Third Calamity, but as time passed by, the cost of maintaining and repairing destroyed Titans became too much even for the Three Factions."

"…"

"They were left with no choice but to leave the remaining Titans out of commission after the Third Calamity. They were placed on random places on this world. Some on the land, some under the sea, and some amongst the skies."

"…"

"After doing that, the Three Factions made an agreement to not use any of these remaining Titans unless they are really needed. With that agreement, the remaining Titans started to degrade from the passing time, with more of them getting destroyed."

"…"

"In the end, only very few of these Titans remained at this world that were in working condition, and one of these Titans was this mountain."

"…."

After Alex heard what Alina just said, he could not help but frown, realizing that something new just happened.

He even forgot about his issue about Asteria as he felt the rumblings underneath him starting to increase.

"Titans? Interesting…" Alex muttered to himself as he used his Esper Ability to sense the ground underneath him.

"!!!!"

As Alex sensed the ground under him, he expected to see something massive residing underground.

That expectation of his was not broken as he indeed sensed something massive moving just under the mountain!

And just like what the old man said earliertt, the mountain was actually not the Titan!

The mountain was just sitting above the actual Titan itself!

With his Esper sense, Alex could faintly make up the shape of the gargantuan Titan that was slowly pushing itself out of the ground.

The Titan, in Alex's opinion, looked like a city-sized turtle!

Yes, that was exactly what Alex saw.

Right now, a massive turtle was pushing itself out of the ground, with its body supporting the mountain that Alex and the others were currently standing on.

Even for Alex, who had already seen many weird things, just the mere sight of a gigantic Turtle with a mountain on its back was enough to confound him.

But aside from the sight of the Turtle itself, there was another thing that was bothering Alex right now.

"Hold up, hold up!" Alex shouted out amidst the rumblings. "Old man, I won't ask you on why you lived on a mountain that was actually a freaking superweapon! Heck, I won't even ask you on how you were allowed to live here! The only thing that bothering me is the fact that this Titan is moving right now!'

"Oh, you mean…"

"All of these looks suspicious! It reeks of a conspiracy!" Alex declared as he narrowed his eyes." If the Three Factions made an agreement to not use these Titans unless they were needed, then why are these Titans moving now? The only thing that can force these Titans to be used was the arrival of the Fourth Calamity. But right now, the Fourth Calamity is not yet arriving! So, why is this Turtle moving?

"Did you just say turtle?"

"Yeah, it's a massive turtle." Alex replied in exasperation as he let out a sigh. "Wait, we're not talking about the Titan's appearance! We're talking about why it is moving now!"

"Young lad, I don't think we can find the answer for that right now." It was the old man who said these words as he gave a solemn look to Alex. "Whatever is happening now, it is out of our power to even meddle with it."

"…" Deep inside him, Alex knew what was happening right now was definitely related to the Main Mission.

But after seeing the pleading look on the old man's eyes, Alex immediately realized what the old man actually wanted to say.

"Guys… I think we should leave right now." Alex slowly said as he tapped his foot on the ground. "Even if we're curious on where this Turtle would go, it will plain stupid if we stay here just above the turtle. If we stay here for longer, we might see something that will bring us trouble later."

"…"

Alex meant every word that he just said.

Since their Main Mission will still start a month from now, Alex will not join in any fights or conflicts unless he and his Companions were forced to.

Staying above a moving mountain turtle? Now that's just asking for an impending trouble!

There's no way that Alex will just allow him and his Companions to be in another conflict, not when they have a whole month to prepare for their Main Mission!

"That's a good idea. I think we should leave as early as we can." Alina replied as she nodded her head.

Queen Mother, who listened to their conversation with an eerie expression on her face, slowly nodded as she expressed her agreement.

"Then we're all set!" Alex said as he clapped his hands. He then looked at the old man, his granddaughter, and all the captured Symbolists around him.

"Give me a few minutes first." Alex said as he started to crack his knuckles. "I need to fix up everything around here. Once I'm done, we will leave immediately."

"Hey, how about my talk?" Asteria, who looked pissed with her being interrupted, hissed at Alex as she stood above his head. "When will you listen to it?"

"We can just hear your talk later." Alex replied dismissively as he started removing the captured Symbolists from Queen Mother's special sacs. "For now, we have to focus on leaving this place. You and whatever you will say will just have to wait."

"…"

Needless to say, that just served to rile Asteria up more.

Obviously, Alex did not care about that, as he focused on the task right in front of him.

**************

3 weeks later.

"Alex, are you serious on doing this?" Alex heard this question for the nth time of the day already.

"I am serious about this." Alex replied calmly as he stared at the object in front of him. "Why, are you worried that this will fail?"

"It's not that I'm worried, but…" Alina, who was the one who asked the question to Alex, let out a sigh as she shook her head. "I thought you will just do some discrete preparations here. Why do this right now?"

"Because this is a part of the preparation." Alex replied calmly as he shrugged his shoulders. "Do you think I should not do this?"

"Well, when I remembered the way that you made us leave the giant turtle 3 weeks ago, I do not know if I should still listen to your crazy plans." Alina replied as she let out a sigh.

"What? Skiing down the mountain is a great way to leave the giant turtle!" Alex replied hotly as he stared at Alina. "Didn't you agree on doing that?"

"I only agreed at that time because I was interested." Alina replied as she glared at Alex. "But then I remembered that we can just fly off the mountain, instead of skiing down from it. Why did I even agree on skiing down that mountain?"

"Because just like what you said earlier, you were interested." Alex replied smugly as he gave Alina a smile. "Oh, forget about that skiing part. How's the old man and Kiera doing right now?"

"The old man's been the same since we left the turtle." Alina replied as she gave Alex a shrug. "He still looked melancholic, and until now, he's still spending most of his time staring at the horizon."

"Don't ask that old man why he's doing that. I think its personal." Alex said to Alina as he adjusted the table in front of him. "And how about Kiera?"

"She looked extremely happy right now, especially when she plays with us." Alina replied with a small smile on her face. "She might be a little mischievous, but she seems attached to us."

"Hehe, with all the food that you gave to her, there's no doubt that she grew to like you." Alex replied as he started to chuckle. "Maybe if you continue giving her food, she will become just a gluttonous as yo-Ow!"

"Were you saying something?" Alina muttered to Alex as she gave him a leveled stare.

"Oh, I'm just saying that Kiera will grow as pretty as you, Alina." Alex replied as he massaged his stomach, which was elbowed by Alina.

"…Alex, that's creepy."

"What do you mean by tha-Sigh…" Alex could not help but bow down as he realized his mistake. "You know what? Let's just talk about them later. For now, let's just finish this."

After Alex said these words, he looked at the object on the table once more, with Alina looking at it intently too.

"This is Professor Frances' head, right?" Alina muttered behind Alex as she prodded disembodied head.

"Of course this is her head. Just look at the face." Alex replied as he adjusted the placement of Professor Frances' head. "Look at that smug smile… there's no way that this is not her."

"Alex, I know that it is her head. I'm just trying to set the mood here."

"Oh."

"So, what do you plan to do with her head?" Alina asked Alex as Alex finally finished setting the head on its proper position.

"I will do what she told us to do before we offed her." Alex replied as he started rummaging on Alina's Storage.

"Alex, you want to do it now? Don't you think it will be hard?"

"It will be harder to do this once the Main Mission starts." Alex replied as he gave Alina a look. "If we want to do this, we should do this now so that we can all move on already."

"…If you say so."