Chapter 1579: Rescue mission (19)

Since this was a matter for the gnomes, we chose to give them a bit of time to discuss this amongst themselves.

During this, I went to check on how they were doing on clearing out the corruption energy.

To my surprise, I found that there were many different groups coming back with more gnomes.

The different groups that had headed out to take care of the corruption energy had been followed by the gnomes under Grandpa Stumps. They went with them to see if they could find traces of the other gnomes.

Before the corruption energy had spread too far, Kovic had sent gnomes to the different large settlements of the Gnome Union to evacuate the people. They weren’t certain if they made it, but if they did, there was no doubt that they would use the Call of Home to bring rescue teams to them.

So it had been a shot in the dark to see if they could save more gnomes.

And it turned out that it had been the correct decision with how many gnomes had been brought back.

Most of them seemed like they were still afraid because of what had happened, but at least they seemed willing to follow the humans back.

Then when they saw Kovic and the others, they immediately regained their energy.

The Council Speaker and the other members of the council were quite well respected in the Gnome Union.

It was to the point where just seeing them was enough to calm the other gnomes.

This wasn’t something that I could interfere in, so I just left it all up to the gnomes to take care of it themselves.

But that meant that I had some free time.

I couldn’t do anything with the gnomes and there was no corruption energy for me to deal with, so the only thing that I could do was...

"Now, how am I going to bring this away with me?"

What I was looking at when I said this was the ball of earth that the Apostle of Destruction had been sealed in.

Since it was earth that was made with my divine energy, I could tell what was happening inside.

The shadow that was the Apostle of Destruction was still trapped inside, but it didn’t seem like it was active. With the way that it laid there, it seemed like it had entered some kind of hibernation mode.

But even then, it didn’t seem like it would be that easy to transport.

So the only thing that I could do was slowly pick up the shadow while it was surrounded in the divine energy earth. With a ball of it around it, it seemed like it was able to keep it contained.

However, at the same time, I could feel the seal on it becoming weaker when I picked it up off the ground.

Before this, it was drawing power from the earth itself to keep the Apostle of Destruction contained. But now that it had been separated from the ground, it seemed to be drawing power from another source.

That source was me.

It seemed that if I were to let go of this ball that sealed the Apostle of Destruction, then the seal would break.

It was just like the Relic of Destruction from before.

After I picked up the ball that held the Apostle of Destruction, Kovic finally came back. However, it seemed like he was alone as the other gnomes all seemed to be gathered in the distance doing something.

Seeing the way that I looked at the other gnomes, Kovic said, "They’re just looking for their relatives and such. Everyone was scattered during the incident, so they weren’t able to keep track of everyone and they were all split up. It’ll take some time for us to rebuild, but..."

He seemed to hesitate for a second before saying, "We hope that you will allow us to join the alliance of races. Our Gnome Union has been too isolated for too long like my son said, so this gives us the perfect opportunity to break out of the shell that we’ve put ourselves in."

I couldn’t help raising a brow to look at Kovic.

Seeing this, he said, "I know what you’re thinking, but this incident has shown that our way of thinking is wrong. Even if I want to deny it, it just can’t be done after seeing how much damage this incident has caused. The world is changing, so we have to change with it."

From his expression and the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was resigning himself to the fact that the world had changed.

In that case...

"We welcome you to join, but this isn’t a decision that I can make on my own."

"Everyone thinks of you as a leader from what I can see." Kovic said with a faint smile.

I shook my head with a trace of bitterness before saying, "Just because they see me as that, that doesn’t mean that it’s the case. After all, everyone has their own bottom lines and I can’t make a decision that goes against it."

Kovic’s smile became wider when he heard this before he said, "Perhaps this is the reason why they all respect you this much...Well, other than the human empires."

With a nod, he continued by saying, "I understand your thoughts, so I will make a formal request through the Gnome Union to join the alliance of races. I hope that you will look at this request favourably when the time comes."

This time, I didn’t hesitate to nod in agreement.

The gods had told me to gather the races of the continent, so another race joining the alliance was always something that we welcomed.

Especially with the things that the Apostle of Destruction demonstrated this time.

It was clear that things would become much worse as time passed.

It was clear that this wasn’t all the power that the God of Destruction possessed.