Chapter 138: The State Of The World After The Apocalypse, An Ever-Changing, Chaotic Political Sphere

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Although Claymore Enterprises was rapidly taking over the world and would ultimately become the greatest reason for humanity’s downfall and inability to ascend, it was not as if every other country remained innocent. Most of the largest nations were also filled with deep and widespread corruption of their own.

Riven was already experiencing a clear taste of that corruption from Japan. The Yokai Guild had completely taken over the entire country and had even extended its influence all the way here to America. He knew that the Imperial Family had also gained tremendous power from the global Awakening and had successfully taken back full dominion over their homeland, forcefully kicking out the American Military presence. That sudden expulsion had sparked a series of serious conflicts which eventually ended in an uneasy truce. America, heavily swayed by the biggest families such as Claymore and Frostbane, had ultimately decided to abandon Japan entirely while those same families continued to profit from the situation through various other channels.

In simpler terms, ever since the Apocalypse first began several decades ago, the world had steadily gone to shit. It made Riven wonder how the planet still managed to maintain even a relative sense of peace. Humanity had already endured a brutal third world war, which only ended when every country finally agreed to stop fighting one another and concentrate their remaining forces on dealing with the ever-increasing number of monsters.

Not all countries remained under human rule, however. Several smaller and poorly protected nations that possessed few high-ranked hunters had been slowly overtaken by invaders pouring out of the Gates. When a Gate remained uncleared for too long, it would eventually explode and permanently fuse with the planet, transforming the surrounding area into permanent Danger Zones.

From those fused territories, intelligent Invaders had begun to emerge as a growing problem that was slowly creeping into the attention of the United Nations — or whatever fractured remnant of that organization still existed after many countries had abandoned it for their own selfish motives, or simply because they no longer believed in its authority.

Unlike ordinary monsters, Invaders were intelligent. They were similar to the Giants that Riven had faced before, as well as Goblins, Hobgoblins, and other organized species. Although they were never quite as smart as humans, they were more than intelligent enough to become a serious long-term threat if left completely unchecked.

Riven sighed quietly as he thought about all these grim realities and the dark future that awaited this planet. Seeing how people had never truly tried to work together in unity, it almost felt deserved that the Cosmic Monarch known as the Abyssal Gaze would eventually come to prune this world.

But Riven could not simply allow that to happen. This was still his home, after all. Sooner or later he would even have to go against the very countries he wished to protect from that cosmic threat. For that reason he needed not only to grow stronger himself, but to continue gathering powerful allies and help those allies grow just as quickly.

"Alright," he said firmly. "Kagehisa, lead the way."

"Sure," the young ninja nodded with renewed confidence. "With how strong you’ve gotten, I have no doubt we can take on anything that stands in our path, hah!"

As Kagehisa laughed lightly, the party quickly began moving across the Spiritual Forest. They ran through the mountains while Riven continued practicing and refining his many abilities.

The lush greenery, clear blue skies, gentle breeze, and peaceful atmosphere truly made it an incredible journey, and a somewhat relaxing one as well.

The quietness of the forest, the soft singing of distant birds, and the calm presence of this piece of ancient spiritual nature made Riven think that the entire environment was deliberate.

It was clearly trying to calm them down and lower their guard. After all, Ryujin had done absolutely nothing since his avatar was destroyed!

As they climbed higher up a mountain, Kagehisa pointed into the distance. "See that?"

There stood a large fortress with several sturdy buildings protected inside its high walls, along with a tall tower that was imbued with some sort of powerful magic device. That device was actively forging a strong barrier around the entire complex.

"I’ve never been able to get through that barrier. It is an A-Rank Barrier Device," Kagehisa explained. "I think that’s where Ryujin keeps a really big secret that I’ve never been able to uncover..."

"It’s completely surrounded!" Label said with alarm.

The entire fortress was encircled by a massive quantity of monsters, true Yokai, and also "soldiers" — hunters wearing heavy armor. Yet Riven immediately felt that something was wrong with their spiritual signatures. They were not dead, but they were somehow bizarre and unnatural.

"Roughly a hundred of them," Ren calculated calmly. "Most are between D and C Rank..."

"We can handle this with ease," Kagehisa said with a confident grin. "Leave them to us, boss. You just go straight for that barrier and smash it with all that new power you’ve gained."

Riven nodded in agreement. "Good idea. Let’s move quickly."

He immediately led the party forward. They sneaked carefully through the dense woods, and once they drew close enough he decided to test his newest powers. He combined the essence of his spiritual and ghostly energies and summoned ten Spiritual Selves that overflowed with the elements of Darkness, Fire, Ice, and Poison.

"Go."

The clones charged the enemy army. The defenders quickly became alert and began fighting the Spiritual Clones. Explosions of flames, shadows, poison, and other elemental forces spread rapidly across the battlefield.

Label had previously infused the clones with a special chemical mixture of her own design. The moment the clones exploded, those chemicals mixed together and created an even larger secondary explosion. Thick white and purple smoke spread everywhere — a weakening and sense-dulling poison that could expand quickly as it absorbed ambient mana from the air.

"Now!"

Riven led the party as everyone ran straight into the spreading smoke. After having drunk his specially prepared antidote, the entire group was completely immune to the poisonous fog and could easily meld into it and hide within its cover.

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