chapter 74

Without caring about the reactions of Frey and Ivan, Riki drew a line in the air with his finger.

Indra’s head was then split in half as though it had been cut by a sword.

Riki’s hand moved even faster.

Halves, quarters, eights…and he cut the head continuously. Before long, Indra’s head had been completely destroyed.

Ivan couldn’t help but click his tongue. It was a monstrous display of skill.

The skill that Riki had just shown was something that even master knights might be unable to do even if they wielded the sharpest sword.

Frey, who had been silent for a while, finally opened his mouth.

“Was that the Demigod with the power of lightning?”

“That’s right. Of course, there’s no way for me to prove that…”

“No. There’s no need.”

It had only been a head, but he could tell.

This was because Frey had probably encountered the most Demigods out of all the beings on the continent.

The head that Riki had brought back exuded a tremendous level of Divine Power.

It was not something that could be mimicked even when using an Apostle.

Riki took a glance at Frey’s confident expression.

“You act as though you’ve met Demigods before. You are a much more interesting human than Ivan.”

“…”

“Well. It doesn’t matter right now. Anyway…it’s better to kill Oydin as soon as possible.”

“There seems to be some special reason.”

“That’s right. Apostles appointed by Apocalypses are different from the others. As I said before, not only can they conceal their Divine Power, but the power they have is also many times higher. And most importantly, they get stronger at an explosive rate.”

Ricky pointed at Ivan.

“Two months ago, Ivan alone was enough to deal with Oydin. But he had only been an Apostle for a short time then. Now, you might not be able to defeat him even if you were to join forces.”

“…could he really become so strong in just two months?”

Frey found this hard to believe.

He didn’t know how much RIki estimated their strength to be, but Frey was sure that he could defeat a few Apostles on the same level as Lukes at the same time if he worked together with Ivan.

“The undead that have appeared in the Great Reynols Forest are the remnants left after Oydin uses his power.”

Remnants.

If one considered the one sided slaughter by Frey and Ivan, the undead might not seem like much, but the groups of undead in the forest would be able to annihilate any B-class Mercenary unlucky enough to encounter them.

In the first place, high ranking undead like Dullahans or Death Knights were similar in strength or could even be stronger than A-class Mercenaries.

If those undead were just the leftovers, how strong would the ones he intended to create be?

‘He’s dangerous.’

Oydin was really strong now, but as Riki said, the part that was truly terrifying was his growth potential.

What if another Apocalypse, or even Lord, already appointed Apostles?

What if years or even decades had passed since then?

How much power would those Apostles, who had grown unhindered for years, have?

“I have one question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you an Apocalypse?”

“…”

Riki’s blank eyes stared at Frey for a moment before he nodded.

“I am the Demigod with the power of the sword.”

It was as he expected.

The three Demigods that the Circle had information on were sword, death and poison.

Riki was the Sword Apocalypse.

This made Frey even more confused.

He wasn’t just an ordinary Demigod but a prominent figure even among the transcendental beings.

Why would he, who was considered as one of the strongest below Lord, betray them?

‘It wouldn’t make sense to ask.’

With his current strength, it was impossible for Frey to force Riki to answer.

But Frey felt that he would not be able to fully trust the man before him without knowing that reason.

Apart from that, Riki’s existence was a great help for Frey.

He killed an Apostle, and then this man went to kill the Demigod before his very eyes.

This meant that a means to shorten his goal by a few decades had appeared.

“In a month, Lord, the five Apocalypses and numerous other Demigods will be gathering together. You guys need to kill Oydin before that.”

“Why are you gathering?”

“To weed out the traitor. I have killed numerous hibernating Demigods in the past few decades, and the only one who could do such a thing is a Demigod. Of course, it’s impossible for them to notice it was me. Perhaps Lord intends to inspect us with his own eyes.”

“Why do we need to kill Oydin before then?”

“There’s a high probability that the Demigods will participate in the event together with their Apostles. Oydin is currently staying in the Great Reynols Forest, and when the time comes, he will go with Nosdog. And after that, it will be hard to tell his whereabouts.”

Riki closed his eyes while saying.

“Oydin has yet to fully grasp his Divine Power. You guys might not be able to sense it, but I can sense the resonance. But if he disappears with Nozdog, I’ll have no way to find him.”

“Well…I think I see what you’re saying.”

It wasn’t that hard to understand, but Ivan still shook his head. It wasn’t his fault; it was just that whenever a conversation got complicated, he just found it hard to continue paying attention.

As though he already knew this, Riki spoke again.

“Then I’ll make it simple. Getting rid of even one Apocalypse would benefit you greatly. That’s all you guys need to keep in mind for now.”

“Hmph. You should’ve said that from the start.”

Ivan snorted at the side while Frey continued calmly analyzing the situation. The Demigods’ meeting would be in one month, but before that, he had to kill Oydin.

“To do that, our first priority should be entering the Great Forest.”

“I have a great idea.”

“What is it?”

“You flew when we were coming here, didn’t you?”

Frey’s eyes became cold as he immediately realised what Ivan was about to say.

“You want us to fly into the sky and enter the forest that way?”

“You catch on quickly. So what do you think? If we’re in the sky, then that damn forest can’t block us.”

Faced with Ivan’s triumphant expression, Riki and Frey sighed at the same time.

“I see, so you’ve been hunting Apostles with this idiot the entire time.”

“That is why I sincerely welcome you joining us.”

“Bastards.”

Looking at Ivan, who was venting his anger, Frey spoke in an unsympathetic tone.

“And what will you do after we enter that way? If you enter the Great Forest without permission, you will be treated as an intruder.”

“So we just need to not get noticed…”

“The World Tree in the High Elves’ village is the core of the Great Reynols Forest and is connected to every tree in the forest. The Queen, who shares her consciousness with the World Tree, would notice our intrusion in less than an hour.”

Ivan frowned.

“Shit. Even if I squeeze my brains out, all I can get is nonsense. So what will we do? You smart people, come up with a plan.”

“…well, there’s someone I can talk to.”

“What? Who?”

Frey made a strange expression as he remembered the Elven woman he met in the group of Mercenaries.

* * *

“Hoo! I can finally take a breather!”

“We arrived earlier than I expected.”

“That’s because we didn’t encounter any undead.”

“That muscular man must’ve destroyed all of them.”

The Mercenaries sighed as they almost collapsed onto the ground.

They knew just how they had managed to get to the entrance to the Great Reynols Forest so quickly.

However, although they had managed to arrive there without encountering any danger, the Mercenaries were still exhausted because they could not relax at all during the trip.

Alkon clapped his hands before saying.

“You’ve done a damn good job, you bastards. The Elves will only appear around this time tomorrow, so get some rest today. Of course, if there’s any son of a bitch who dares take off his armor and put down his weapon, I’ll kill him myself.”

“Damn, Captain, aren’t you tired?”

“Since I became S-class, the worst thing I’ve felt on a trip is a stiff neck.”

The Mercenaries exchanged playful banter with relaxed expressions.

Syax observed them from a distance before approaching Alkon and saying.

“I will look around for a while before returning.”

“Hmm. Around here? We are on the border of Elf territory…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t be careless.”

Alkon looked at Syax for a moment.

She was an old Wizard who appeared to be in her seventies, so she probably had a lot of experience.

And with the calm attitude that Syax had shown so far, Alkon didn’t think that he needed to be worried.

“Don’t go too far.”

“Thank you.”

Syax nodded before leaving the campsite.

The noise of the campsite gradually faded before it disappeared completely, and only Syax’s soft footsteps could be heard.

‘…the forest is too quiet.’

She couldn’t hear the sounds of any beasts, birds, or even insects.

Normally, people wouldn’t notice these sounds, but she, an Elf, was different.

Syax bit her lip nervously.

‘This is not good. If more undead continue to appear…there’s a chance the earth will die.’

The forest and the earth it stood on would die.

For an Elf, watching such a thing was the same as watching their own mother die. So she intended to risk her life to stop it.

Syax was one of the Elves who roamed the world instead of staying within the forest.

It was rare among High Elves, but ever since she was young, she felt uncomfortable being surrounded by the dense forest every moment.

So as soon as she came of age, she left. She then learned magic in her spare time, which she now used as a way to disguise herself.

Thanks to this, she was able to live a relatively stable life as a Mercenary without causing a stir because of her race.

Syax traveled around the continent in order to broaden her knowledge. However, she had been staying near Pillat recently under the guise of an old woman.

That was until she received a message from the Queen.

It seemed that a necromancer had taken up residence near the border of the Great Forest and was releasing their undead into the region.

The Great Forest was the home to all Elves. The wandering Elves never forgot their birthplace.

Syax was given a mission by the Queen because of her excellent skills and bountiful experience after exploring the continent for many years.

Her mission was to investigate exactly what was happening in the Great Forest.

However, she had yet to find any traces of the necromancer.

‘Did he leave the area? He couldn’t have been able to get into the Great Forest…’

Or they may have hidden themselves near here.

Syax’s expression hardened.

Such a powerful necromancer was a threat to the forest just by their very presence, and it must be eliminated. But could she really take on someone like that on her own?

“…”

Syax immediately remembered the muscular man who slaughtered all the undead.

She didn’t know who he was, but the power he displayed was amazing. It would be great if she could get the help of this powerful man who treated high level undead like goblins.

‘No. This is my task.’

She couldn’t be weak.

This was a task given to her by the Queen, who was deeply respected by all Elves, regardless of race.

Even if she could lose her life, she had to complete it.

Bask.

A nearby bush was shaken.

Syax immediately lifted her staff and became vigilant.

She couldn’t feel anything before, but she could now pick out the presence of someone nearby.

Someone who was good enough to escape from an Elf’s enhanced hearing and sight had chosen to reveal themself.

Is it the necromancer?

Syax held her staff nervously.

A man walked out from the bushes right in front of her.

“You…”

It was a blonde man with a gentle expression.

He was the Wizard, Kain Rixton, who had suddenly disappeared.

(TL: So I misunderstood something in the last chapter. It’s not that the Apocalypse was the one who can conceal the Apostles’ Divine Power but that their Apostles can conceal their own. Sorry about that, I’ll do my best not to translate while sleepy in the future. *bow*)