chapter 71

“You’re a strange guy. What circle are you in?”

“Trowman Rings.”

“Trowman Rings?”

Ivan’s face became a bit strange when he heard that.

“I heard rumors of your imminent collapse, but it seems to be direr than I thought. I didn’t expect you to come again so soon after I beat that Egjay guy or whatever.”

He didn’t even remember Eizek’s name properly. He wasn’t important enough to remember, so he hadn’t paid much attention to his name.

“I heard you guys suffered greatly in a fight against an Apocalypse. There were rumors that the Three Great Circles might’ve played some tricks at that time…”

“What?”

It was the first time he’d heard something like that.

All Frey knew was that they simply persecuted or ignored the fallen Trowman Rings.

But was it possible that they had a hand in the Trowman Rings’ downfall from the start?

Ivan shrugged at Frey’s reaction.

“I’m not sure. But I heard it from my teacher too.”

“Teacher?”

“Stop asking questions. That’s enough from me. Now it’s my turn to ask. You said you agreed with me. Did you really mean that?”

Frey nodded.

“Of course. The Demigods seem to be working pulling the strings of the current Circle, and all each circle is focused on is empowering themselves and suppressing other circles.”

“If you know that…”

“That’s why I’m thinking about changing the circle.”

“Change?”

“Although it is currently in a pathetic state, the amount of power the Circle has is not negligible. If we could unite this scattered group into one true form, we could become a group that could threaten the Demigods.”

Ivan was dumbfounded.

What this man before him was saying was the truth.

He was sure that the power the Circle had easily surpassed that of a country.

This was to be expected as the Circle was a group of different nations, races, ideologies and religions, all gathered together with the goal of defeating the Demigods.

But it was different now.

It is said that stagnant water is bound to rot, and after so many years, the circles had all become focused on amassing their own power while under the halo of the Circle.

And at the center of this cesspool was none other than the Three Great Circles.

Bringing those people together?

That would be difficult even if the great heroes from 4,000 years ago were to return.

“This is not something I expected the collapsing Trowman Rings would say. Or did you get a resurgence without my knowledge?”

“No. At this stage, we are simply preparing to rebound.”

“…”

Such a strange fellow.

As he looked at his face, Ivan couldn’t help but have this thought.

It was a confident remark that seemed easy to dismiss as utter bullshit, but strangely enough, he did not feel like mocking him.

This was because Frey’s eyes were filled with calm confidence.

This guy did not doubt himself at all.

Regardless of whether he could actually achieve his goal or not, at least his faith in himself was unshakeable.

Like…like himself.

‘I’m sure that he’s not just spouting nonsense, but at least he is an interesting guy.’

The little interest he had increased.

Ivan’s mouth curled upward.

“It seems that an interesting guy has finally appeared in the Circle. And you seem to be pretty high up. The highest ranking member that ever came to me was that yellow haired chick…”

“Chick?” (TL: this is actually a pretty bad insult similar to bint or broad)

“Sheryl Roland. The Circle Rounder of the Phisfounder Armlets.”

“…That brat is the Circle Rounder for one of the Three Great Circles?”

“Brat? Haha. It seems you don’t know as much about the Circle as I do.”

Ivan laughed and said.

“Sheryl Roland is a monster who has been alive for hundreds of years. She should be what the world calls a Vampire.”

“Vamp…”

“Vamp? Ah. Vampire. Right. That chick’s a Vampire.”

“…”

Frey was confused for a second, but he soon shook his head.

He had already heard that there was a Half-Demon in the Circle, so there was nothing surprising about the presence of a Vampire.

The problem was that such a dark race had the position of Circle Rounder.

‘There probably isn’t a single human among the Circle Masters.’

He couldn’t help but worry a little.

Even Beniang, the Circle Master of Trowman Rings, was a Half-Dragon.

“The fight with her took a really long time. She summoned some pretty strong Demons, but they weren’t that interesting to fight.”

If it was the second in command of the Phisfounder Armlets, then it was highly likely that she had contracts with high ranking Demons.

Ivan was saying that a fight with several high ranking Demons was not that interesting.

“I don’t care about the Circle, but I’m pretty interested in you. Do you have the power to unify the scattered circles? I’d like to see if you’re capable of what you’re talking about.”

Thud!

Ivan slammed his fists together as he stared at Frey.

It wasn’t a particularly unexpected outcome.

Rather, it was intended to some extent. Frey was also curious about Ivan’s skills.

“This introduction is too long. Let’s get started right away.”

“Kuhh. You don’t talk like a Wizard.”

Taht.

Ivan’s figure disappeared following that sound.

Even Frey couldn’t catch his movement.

This was natural.

It was normal for a Wizard to be unable to follow the movements of a First class Magic Warrior who honed their martial arts to an extremely high level.

However, being unable to see his movements and being unable to react to them were completely different.

Frey used Blink to move back into the dense forest.

Crack.

He could hear Ivan approaching.

He wondered if it was because he trained in the Warrior King’s Fist, but he was a very violent person.

He smashed through everything in his path as if to show that he had no intentions of hiding himself even when he could easily avoid the trees in his way.

Naturally, this was so noisy that it seemed like the entire forest was shaking, which allowed Frey to identify Ivan’s location.

“Ice Spear, Wind Storm.”

Frey cast two spells at the same time.

It was a combination of ice and wind magic that he had used before.

Dozens of Ice Spears appeared in front of him and shot toward Ivan together with the heavy storm winds.

“Hmph!”

Ivan snorted.

His body, which he had trained to the extreme, gained an unimaginable defense when covered in mana.

Most spells couldn’t even scratch his skin.

And this fact alone was enough for Ivan’s entire body to be considered a deadly weapon.

Ivan clenched his fist and pulled his hand back with a fierce smile.

Crack.

Then he smashed the Ice Spear in front of him.

This Ice Spear, which had even been able to pierce the skin of the Drake King, had been broken like an icicle by a human’s fist.

The moment that Ice Spear was destroyed, Ivan fixed his gaze on his next target.

Crack crack crack.

As the destruction continued, his speed began to increase.

Second, third.

The rough looking fist technique had a natural and unstoppable aura.

Dozens of Ice Spears were shattered by Ivan’s fists.

The Wind Storm couldn’t even scratch his sturdy body.

A smile stretched across Frey’s face as he saw this.

It reminded him of the old days.

If he was to fight with Kasajin, ten times out of ten he would be defeated.

In the first place, it was crazy for a Wizard to try to face a Magic Warrior in a head-on confrontation.

But that didn’t matter.

Because the man before him was not Kasajin.

“…”

From the time that he’d used those two spells, Frey had already begun chanting his next spell.

The spell he had cast this time was one that Ivan would not be able to handle easily.

He finished his chant.

Frey began to emanate a cold white air. His eyes seemed to exude a bright blue light.

“Frost Breath.”

Saaah.

A Magic Circle appeared in the air, and Ivan’s expression finally changed.

He instinctively knew that this spell would not be so easy to handle.

He didn’t know it, but Frost Breath was actually a 7 star spell.

The Magic Circle began releasing a freezing cold air, and the moment Ivan tried to avoid it, he felt something restricting his ankle.

“What?”

A hand of ice was holding his leg.

Even the usually confident Ivan couldn’t help but feel slightly shocked at that moment.

Magic Warriors were usually much more sensitive to mana than Wizards.

This was because although Wizards had larger amounts and greater control of their mana due to their mana rooms, Magic Warriors directly used their mana through their skin and veins throughout their bodies.

This was one of the reasons why Magic Warriors had an edge in confrontations with Wizards.

At first glance, they could tell whether their opponent’s spell was strong enough to pose a threat to them or if they could handle it.

In addition, it was incredibly difficult for a Wizard to successfully launch a sneak attack against them because they would quickly detect the movement of the mana.

‘How did he cast this spell so stealthily?’

He didn’t even notice the spell on his leg until he tried to move.

Ivan shook his leg and shattered the hand of ice, but it was already too late to avoid the Frost Breath.

Clicking his tongue, Ivan crossed his arms in front of his face and began concentrating his mana.

Kugugu.

Red energy began flowing from his body.

Frey narrowed his eyes.

‘Rock Shield.’

It was a technique that focused the user’s mana in front of them like a shield, enhancing their defense for a short period.

The name was Rock Shield, but his body was now at least ten times as hard as a rock or a shield.

“Hm…!”

The Frost Breath struck Ivan head on.

Even the Rock Shield was not able to completely block out the cold. His spine ached and his teeth chattered.

White frost also began to spread over his body. However, the fighting spirit in his eyes did not diminish at all.

Rather, it seemed to become more ferocious as time passed.

In fact, the look in his eyes was so fierce that if a weak willed person were to see the look in his eyes, they would probably faint immediately.

And when the magic circle disappeared.

Creak. (TL: This is the best I could do…ㅠㅠ)

Ivan opened his eyes.

At the same time, steam began rising from his entire body.

Chiik.

The frost on Ivan’s body melted in an instant, causing water to flow down like a waterfall.

Boom!

After gathering strength to his toe, he tapped it against the ground and just like that, the earth exploded.

In the blink of an eye, Ivan’s figure approached Frey.

“You’re pretty good, but I win.”

Crunch.

Ivan clenched his fist. As long as he could get close enough, it would be his win.

Just as his fist was about to touch Frey, Ivan’s vision suddenly flipped around.

Thud!

“…?!”

Ivan stared blankly at the sky for a moment.

Before he realised what was happening, he was already laying on the ground.

Although he had not received any injuries, Ivan could not get over his shock and muttered with a dazed expression.

“That technique…Bull Rush…you also learned the Warrior King’s Fist?”

Frey reached out a hand to him.

“I see you have some questions. Let’s start talking.”

* * *

Ivan got up on his own without accepting Frey’s hand.

Frey dropped his hand, a bit embarrassed.

“…”

Ivan was not injured, but the current situation was quite confusing for him.

He shook his head after agonizing for a moment.

“No matter how I think about it, I can’t come up with an answer. How does a Wizard know to use Bull Rush?”

“Let me ask something first. Do the groups of undead that have appeared here have anything to do with the Demigods?”

“Well…”

He opened his eyes wide and scratched his head.

“That’s right.”

“How are they related?”

Ivan gave a simple answer with his arms folded.

“I don’t know either.”

“…”

Frey shot him a strange look.

“If you’re lying…”

“I’m not lying. I really don’t know anything. In the first place, I’m only getting rid of these undead because of that guy’s request.”

“That guy?”

“Right. Hmm…”

Ivan rubbed his chin and inspected Frey for a moment before nodding his head.

“You’re not like those other circle guys, so I suppose you can meet him. Besides, I’m curious about what your reaction will be.”

“Who?”

“A Demigod.”

“…”

Frey’s expression cracked.

At those words, he could not help the shocked expression that came across his face.

“To be precise, he’s someone who betrayed the Demigods.”

(TL: This chapter really messed with my brain because the chapter name ‘이반’ could also mean defector or deserter instead of the name ‘Ivan’…also…A DEMIGOD DEFECTOR?!)