chapter 113

Ahhhh-

Sheryl let out a silent scream and her eyes turned white.

Frey showed her the memories of the early days of his time locked in the Abyss.

The memories of when he was the most desperate, lonely and distressed.

‘I think it should be a few hundred years.’

Of course, that was just Frey’s assumption as it was impossible for him to accurately measure time in the Abyss.

During that time, he had been unable to escape, and he was also unable to tell when his torment would end.

He was certain that if he lost consciousness, his soul would disperse in this empty space.

In a way, this was a punishment much worse than death.

This was the end of ‘Lukas Trowman’ that Lord truly wanted.

But Frey didn’t give up.

He didn’t stop thinking.

How much time had passed since he entered this place?

He began to see the flaws in the Abyss.

Frey found that he was able to send his consciousness out of the Abyss, and he was able to make contact with people who had the suitable aptitude to peek outside.

It was only for a short time, but he was delighted since it had given him hope of discovering a way to escape this world.

Of course, he had still been a ways away from escaping the Abyss at that time.

‘I don’t need to show her everything.’

In the first place, if he made her experience all 4,000 years of his imprisonment, Sheryl’s brain would explode.

It was enough to give her small fragments that contained the negative emotions that he had experienced.

A few minutes later.

Huk.

Sheryl’s imaginary world was lifted liked a veil.

Frey looked around, realising they had returned to reality.

“…yo-… yo-, you… no way…”

Sheryl looked at Frey with a shocked expression.

Frey could tell from the look on her face.

It seemed that a few of Lukas’ memories had been mixed into the memories he had shown her.

She stuttered with her eyes wide open.

“Great, Great Mage Luk-”

“Stop.”

Frey forced Sheryl to close her mouth.

The first being to learn of his existence other than transcendent beings like Hruhiral and Asura turned out to be a vampire he’d met that very day.

It felt a bit strange, but that was all.

Sheryl couldn’t go around spreading this fact unless he allowed it.

‘Instead, she might have given in so easily because she became aware of my identity.’

“I have something I’d like to ask.”

“…anything.”

Sheryl went down on one knee, bowing politely.

Some might have felt that her attitude had changed too quickly, but for Sheryl, such a reaction was natural.

In fact, she believed that even this level of politeness was insufficient in front of such a man.

“Tell me why you followed us and what you know. Without omitting a single detail.”

“Understood.”

Sheryl began to explain.

She told him that the Circle had been monitoring Riki for a while and that she learned of the information about the Demigod meeting from Heinz.

After hearing this, Frey’s expression became a bit strange.

This was because while he thought that their tracking and individual abilities weren’t bad, the information they actually had wasn’t much.

Frey nodded and said.

“After sunset, bring Heinz Blake here. Make sure no one else follows him.”

Heinz Blake?

Why?

Questions filled Sheryl’s head, but she did not ask them.

She didn’t believe that she deserved to know even though she already had a bit of an idea.

“Understood.”

“Keep your knowledge of me to yourself.”

“Yes, sir.”

Sheryl couldn’t help but speak up urgently when she realised that Frey intended to leave after saying those words.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Are you really back?”

Frey met Sheryl’s desperate gaze.

Then he nodded slowly.

“…ah!”

Sheryl smiled.

Then, she lowered her head and quickly headed towards Heinz and the others.

If before, she fit the image of a several hundred year royal vampire, now, she had a smile like that of a young girl.

The members of the Circle all admired the heroes engraved in the pages of history, and among them, the heroes of the Age of Light were revered as almost divine beings.

Sheryl Roland, Circle Round of the Phisfounder Armlets, was no exception.

“…”

Frey watched Sheryl’s back as she left.

She might find it strange that he was able to come back to life since she didn’t see the end of his memories, but Frey would be able to come up with a good excuse using his years of experience.

There was nothing to worry about.

Finally turning his head away, he used Warp.

This time, he traveled a long distance instead of a short jump.

Shuk.

“Ssp…”

He took a deep breath.

It hadn’t been very long since he’d last visited this place, but Frey still enjoyed the refreshing air.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.

Was it because this was where Schweiser’s dungeon was located?

Frey looked down from the top of Drake Mountain located in the Ispania Mountains.

It was still unchanged.

Well.

That was natural for a mountain range inhabited by nothing but monsters.

Frey sat on a large rock nearby, as though he was waiting for something.

About thirty minutes passed before a beautiful red-haired woman appeared.

The person he was waiting for had arrived, but Frey was dumbfounded.

He realised he didn’t know how to address her.

“Hmph!”

There was a snort.

It wasn’t from Frey.

It was the woman.

“I didn’t expect you to come crawling back here again!”

She spoke in a voice filled with hatred.

‘What’s going on?’

He didn’t know a lot about the Phoenix, but he could feel that something was strange about the woman in front of him.

Was it supposed to be like this?

When they met at the Demigod’s meeting, she had been much calmer.

Something was different.

The woman shook her head and spoke with disgust.

“Right. Did you enjoy digesting my heart?”

Frey’s expression became strange.

Heart…

“…Torkunta.”

“You noticed it quickly, human.”

The woman, who he presumed to be Torkunta, laughed viciously when he realised it.

“How? You should’ve died….”

“You’re right. I did die. But you guys were sloppy.”

Frey’s expression hardened.

Unlike Frey, who only absorbed half his heart, the Phoenix was likely to have absorbed Torkunta’s entire body.

‘Were there fragments of his consciousness left that the Phoenix absorbed, which let him take over the Phoenix’s body instead?’

That would mean the woman in front of him was not the Phoenix.

‘If so, then there’s no reason not to kill him.’

Just as Frey was about to unleash his mana, Torkunta began speaking while frowning.

“What are you talking about? This is the guy who killed me. How else am I supposed to act in front of him?”

“…?”

“W-, wait. Don’t yell… u-, ugh! I understand. I was wrong. I’m sorry. So please…”

Torkunta, who had grabbed his head in agony while shooting a resentful glare at Frey, let out a sigh.

“Goddammit. I can’t believe the mighty Drake King has fallen to such a state.”

“…what’s going on?”

Torkunta gave him a deep look.

“What’s going on? I’ve become so miserable that I can’t even cry even if I had the tears.”

“What?”

“When that bitch absorbed my body, she absorbed some of my consciousness as well. I fought for control of this body, but I lost.”

Originally, even the Phoenix would have been unable to defeat the thousand year old Drake, but Torkunta’s consciousness was weak at that time.

Eventually, the Phoenix won, and Torkunta was defeated.

The woman sighed.

“Thanks to you, I’ve been put in such a miserable state. There’s nothing I can do when that bitch is in control of the main consciousness, I can only be in the subconscious all the time.” (TL: I really dislike ‘that bitch’ but they addressed it later so I can’t change it ㅠㅠ)

“Indeed.”

It was truly in a miserable state.

But Frey didn’t feel sorry for it.

“Then why are you in control of the body now?”

“Because of you.”

“Me?”

“Right. That bitch is now connected to that man called Agni. So if she meets you, she might get caught.”

This was something that Frey had heard from Riki before.

The Demigods could view the thoughts and memories of their Apostles without any restriction.

“So she let you be the front.”

“It’s just a simple trick, but we heard that he’s not in very good shape right now, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Frey didn’t know how to feel about Torkunta.

The appearance was that of a beautiful woman, but inside was a thousand year old male Drake.

Was it even possible for there to be a bigger difference between the entity on the inside and its appearance?

“How did you become Agni’s Apostle?”

“…”

Torkunta sighed.

“I’m dead, that bit-”

“Wait.”

“What is it?”

“It’s uncomfortable to hear ‘that bitch’ and ‘that bitch’. Can’t you call her something else?”

“She’s a bitch without a name, so there’s nothing else I can use. Just roug-”

Then Torukunta paused for a moment before turning to Frey with an unwilling look on their face. (TL: pronouns are so hard…)

“Please pick one.”

“What?”

“A name. She wants you to give her a name.”

“…”

Frey thought for a while.

“Nix.”

“Hmm. Where did you get that from?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmph.”

Torkunta, who had been agonizing for a while, snorted grumpily.

“Aha. I know. You picked Nix because she’s a Phoenix, right? Haha. That’s so tacky.”

Every single word was said with a sharp attitude.

He didn’t think Nix felt the same… but it was clear that Torkunta didn’t like Frey very much. Which was natural considering the fact that Frey was the one who killed him.

“Then I’ll continue the story.”

Her story went like this.

After Torkunta died, an unidentifiable amount of time passed before Nix was resurrected.

And although her appearance had changed greatly, she had also become more powerful, which was a bonus.

As Frey had told her, after she came back, Nix proceeded to subdue the surrounding monsters one by one and expand her territory in order to become the ruler of the mountain range.

And during that time, Agni appeared.

“It didn’t make any sense.”

Torkunta gritted his teeth.

At that time, he’d been overcome by fear that was completely incomparable to when he fought Frey.

Just at first glance, he was able to realise they were on completely different levels.

“Nix had the determination to fight even at the cost of her life. I’d felt it in the past, but she’s really a fearless bitch. However, I was able to coax her into accepting Agni’s offer.”

“That’s unexpected. I didn’t think you could persuade someone.”

“It’s not something I’m used to. But if Nix dies, so will I.”

“…”

Frey felt that Torkunta had changed slightly.

He felt that his manner of speaking had become much softer and smoother compared to before.

“But we couldn’t even refuse to be turned into his Apostle.”

“You were only able to survive because you accepted.”

It was completely unavoidable.

Right, it couldn’t be helped.

But it still made them uncomfortable.

Torkunta looked at Frey before saying.

“But what the hell is up with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“We saw that silver-haired Demigod, who you were with, fighting. With just his sword, he completely overwhelmed those other Demigods. We didn’t get to see the end, but…”

“He’s dead.”

“What?”

“That man, Riki, he’s dead.”

“…”

Torkunta fell silent.

“I can’t tell you who I am, but I can tell you my purpose. I’m going to kill all of the Demigods.”

“You want to kill those monsters?”

“Right.”

“…it would be really difficult.”

“I know.”

“Hmm.”

Surprisingly, Torkunta didn’t laugh at him.

Because he expected Torkunta to shout at him that it was impossible, this attitude took Frey by surprise.

After thinking for a moment, Torkunta spoke.

“Alright. We’ll help.”

“How?”

Nix was connected to Agni.

Even if Torkunta was able to help them hide what was happening to some extent, it would still be hard for Nix to openly lend a hand.

“Don’t we just have to kill Agni?”

“That’s easy to say.”

Riki had proven that killing a Demigod didn’t affect the Apostle. So if they killed Agni as Torkunta said, they would be able to take advantage of that.

However, their opponent was one of the Apocalypses.

Even if he was weakened, he would not be an easy opponent.

Most importantly.

“I don’t even know where he is.”

“I know.”

Torkunta let out a laugh.

“I said I know where Agni is.”