chapter 129

In fact, Apep had no intention of waiting till dawn.

The man before him was 8 stars at best. While that may have seemed quite powerful to humans, from a Demigod’s perspective, he was just a bit more troublesome than a normal human.

Apep was confident he could deal with this man even if they were to fight in the middle of the day.

‘He’s a bit stronger than normal 8 stars.’

But that didn’t matter. A large bug was still a bug in the end.

Apep looked at Frey’s face.

The reason he’d explained the situation in such detail was because he wanted to savour the look of despair that would bloom on his face.

But while Frey’s expression was stiff, he didn’t look the least bit afraid.

‘Definitely 8 stars.’

Apep smiled.

He was all but certain now.

The higher a Wizard’s level rose, the stronger his mental power became. At 8 stars, he would have already reached the stage of calmness and tranquility, and most things wouldn’t affect the wizard.

This was good.

It wouldn’t be fun to play with a toy that broke so easily.

“…”

Frey realised that Apep wasn’t going all-out.

So far, the only powers he had revealed were the black droplets and the curtain, and while these were tricky to deal with, they certainly weren’t all Apep was capable of.

‘Hooo.’

Frey took a deep breath.

Although he had been shocked by Apep’s words, he didn’t think his situation was hopeless.

Demigods weren’t invincible. While they were classified as transcendent beings, that was not an absolute fact. They were absurdly strong beings, but they were still beatable.

Before fighting a Demigod, there was one thing that had to be kept in mind.

Of course, the power that Apep had displayed so far wasn’t his true power. Someone who was unaware might despair at that fact, but for Frey, it was an opportunity.

The fastest and easiest way to deal with a Demigod was to fiercely attack during the time when it was looking down on you.

Frey looked up at the sky.

Did he say that it was darkest before sunrise?

Now that the moon had disappeared behind the clouds, the night sky had become dark as if one was looking into an abyss.

Dawn was only a few hours away. Frey had no time to relax.

Pff.

His figure disappeared.

Soon after, countless black droplets filled the spot he had been standing. He had avoided them in an instant using Blink.

First of all, he chose to run again.

He then observed Apep from a distance,

At first glance, Apep’s power appeared to be perfect, but Frey had found a flaw.

At that moment, Apep was lifting his left hand, and with his direction, the black droplets were rushing towards Frey.

Not so long ago, he had lifted his right hand to block the Holy Breath.

‘Does he need to use his left hand to attack and his right hand to defend?’

It was subtle, but it meant that he needed to move before using his power.

Then what would happen if Frey prevented him from lifting his right hand to use the dark curtain?

Would that also prevent him from using his power?

‘But…’

He’d already seen how amazing Apep’s regeneration was.

Even when the Holy Breath had broken past the curtain and created a large hole in his body, which would have been fatal or near fatal for any other being, Apep had repaired the wound with his ridiculous regenerative ability.

Breaking through the curtain was already a monumentally difficult task, but even if he did, the damage could still be fixed in an instant.

Apep was clearly a Demigod who focused on defense more than attack.

And in a race against time like this, he was more annoying to deal with than someone who was aggressive.

‘Originally, the best strategy would’ve been to fight this Demigod during the day.’

It would have been much simpler to deal with Apep while not being surrounded by darkness.

He was almost certain that the power of the droplets, curtain and regeneration would be greatly reduced during the day.

But two more Demigods would be arriving at dawn.

It was quite literally a dilemma.

‘…hopefully, my reinforcements come.’

Frey clicked his tongue softly while recalling the reinforcements he’d requested two days ago.

He had persuaded them as much as he could, but whether or not they truly came was entirely up to them.

He would have tried harder to persuade them if he’d known three Demigods were coming.

Ssk.

At that moment, a droplet brushed past Frey’s cheek, corroding the skin and causing blood to drip.

‘They’re getting faster.’

Were they accelerating over time? Or was Apep slowly revealing more of his power?

Either way, it wasn’t good news for Frey.

He roughly wiped the blood on his cheek.

* * *

Heinz looked at Isaka.

His eyes were closed, and he was unconscious. Heinz had also frozen part of his body so that he couldn’t move even if he was awake.

It hadn’t been hard to overpower Isaka. He had already exhausted his mental power during the fight with Frey, and it seemed he was unable to use either magic or divine power.

Heinz, on the other hand, was in near peak condition, not counting the fatigue that came from staying awake all night.

He looked down.

He couldn’t see very well because the moonlight was obscured by the clouds, but he was able to see Frey and Apep fighting fiercely.

‘Amazing.’

Heinz was truly impressed.

While he knew that Apep wasn’t doing his best, it was still amazing that Frey was able to have a 1-on-1 confrontation with a Demigod.

Who the hell was he?

Heinz couldn’t help but feel his suspicions grow.

‘…no. It’s not the time to think about that.’

His attention was once again drawn to the fight.

As time passed, he couldn’t help but feel that Frey was getting pushed back. If that was the case, it wouldn’t be long before they would all be in grave danger.

Just as Heinz was about to join the fight.

“…hooo.”

Sheryl sighed.

She then wiped blood from her lips before saying to Heinz.

“I’m done, Heinz.”

“Are you okay?”

“Even if I’m not okay, I can’t continue lying down on the sidelines.”

Heinz, who agreed with Sheryl, turned to look at her.

When she had been thrown up to them, her entire body had been covered in blood, but now, it seemed her most severe wounds were mostly healed.

This would’ve been impossible if she wasn’t a vampire.

Sheryl looked down as well before biting her lips as she assessed Frey’s situation.

“…he won’t last much longer.”

“Yeah.”

“Heinz, I’m sorry, but can I drink his blood?”

Sheryl pointed to Isaka as she said this.

“You want to drink his blood?”

“Right. It’ll help me recover faster. Then, I can go help my Master.”

Master.

Heinz almost tilted his head when he heard the unexpected term.

Why was Sheryl, the Circle Rounder of the Phisfounder Armlets, calling Frey her master?

Her master should be Altan. (TL: Circle Master of the Phisfounder Armlets)

Perhaps this had something to do with Frey’s real identity.

Even a centuries old vampire had accepted this man as her master.

Heinz felt an even greater sense of unfamiliarity towards his brother.

…Of course, now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Is there a point?”

“There is. If everything goes according to plan, it wouldn’t be a dream to defeat this Demigod.”

Heinz tilted his head at those words.

“If there is a way, why are you only using it now?”

“Because it would be impossible without Master’s help.”

“…”

It was strange, but Sheryl was not the type of woman to speak loosely.

Heinz nodded.

“Alright.”

As soon as Heinz gave his permission, Sheryl approached the unconscious Isaka. Then, she opened her mouth and bit into his neck.

After looking at her for a moment, Heinz turned away.

This wasn’t because he had any psychological rejection or guilt over feeding his father to a vampire.

Instead, it was because an enemy had appeared.

Heinz observed the woman looking at him in the air.

“Heinz, don’t listen to Frey’s nonsense.”

Leita gave a gentle smile.

However, despite her soothing words, Heinz’s expression remained as cold as ice.

“Nonsense? So you’re saying Frey lied?”

“I am.”

“…no.”

Heinz grit his teeth,

“I wasn’t shaken by Frey’s words. I’d just refused to believe the truth that was laid out before me.”

“So you’re going to rebel against me?”

“Don’t be mistaken. I was never obedient to you, Mother.”

“…even you have disappointed me.”

“You were the one who disappointed me first.”

Leita sighed.

“You are important to my plan, so I won’t kill you.”

* * *

Sheryl wiped the corner of her mouth.

Then, she looked towards Isaka who had dried up like a mummy.

She’d taken more blood than she expected, but it didn’t matter. At least his life wasn’t in danger.

In any case, her physical condition had recovered to a certain extent. Sheryl was extremely glad she was a vampire. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to recover so quickly.

Flap.

Sheryl spread her wings before flying towards Frey.

Frey was struggling to deal with the black droplets, and he was surprised by Sheryl’s appearance.

“Sheryl? Did you already recover?”

“Yes. I’m not in perfect condition, but I can fight.”

“That’s good to hear, but…”

Frey looked at Apep in frustration.

To put it bluntly, nothing would change, even with the addition of Sheryl.

“Master, there’s a way. It’s not impossible to deal with Apep if we do it properly.”

“What way?”

“We have to Warp Apep.”

“…Warp?”

“Yes.”

Sheryl nodded confidently, but it was hard for even Frey to understand her words.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.

“Even if it’s a long distance warp, all it would do is buy us time. Plus I’m not sure he would give me the time to do it.”

“Hm. I might have said it incorrectly. To be precise, it’s not Warp but a dimensional shift.”

“…what?”

Sheryl’s words were sounding more and more obscure.

Frey set up an earth barrier to block the droplets before saying to Sheryl.

“Explain.”

“Send Apep to the Demon World.”

“To the Demon World?”

“Yes. Then we can ask the Archdukes to deal with him.”

“…”

It sounded like a bunch of nonsense. Had it been anyone other than Sheryl who was telling him this, Frey would have immediately disregarded it as mad ramblings.

But this blonde girl in front of him was the Circle Rounder for the Phisfounder Armlets as well as the Contractor of Lilith.

She definitely had more knowledge than him when it came to black magic and demon contracts.

“Is it possible?”

“It is in theory. Only beings with transcendental mental power and physiques can travel across dimensions. Demigods meet all the requirements.”

That… was true.

Nevertheless, Frey couldn’t trust Sheryl’s words so easily.

As if she’d noticed Frey’s suspicious look, Sheryl hastily continued.

“There are two reasons why it was never implemented before.”

“Tell me.”

“Yes, sir. The first is the combat power of my contracted demon. Lilith is not considered strong among the Archdukes. Regardless of if she is able to use her full power in the Demon World or not, there is no guarantee that she can defeat a Demigod. So I intend to borrow the power of Asura, who Master is contracted to.”

“So you want to send him to the Slaughter Hell.”

“That’s right. If it’s Asura, who’s called the Fighting Demon King, it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Naturally, although Lilith and Asura were both Archdukes, Asura would always come out on top in a direct battle.

In the first place, one was a Fighting Demon, and the other was a Dream Demon. (TL: This one gave me hell, if anyone who knows chinese has a better translation for 鬪魔 and 夢魔, please tell me. I only just started learning so I’m particularly inept and mtl couldn’t help…)

Even if they were on the same level, it was natural for them to have different combat abilities as their specialties were different.

“The other reason is that dimensional movement requires huge amounts of mana.”

He understood. It was quite clear now.

The Warp spell required far more mana than any other spell of the same grade, so he couldn’t imagine just how much mana was required to travel between dimensions.

Generally, Contractors didn’t use mana. This was the reason Frey had been so shocked when Oydin summoned Asura the first time.

The offensive ability of the droplets became fiercer, and Frey seriously pondered the situation while dodging them.

The mana that he would use to cast the dimensional movement was equivalent to two to three 8 star spells.

He had to decide.

Would he cast the dimensional movement? Or would he save the mana to cast 8 star spells?

‘Both are gambles.”

…However, if he could really send Apep to the Demon World, Asura would definitely kill him.

On the other hand, even if he managed to hit him with one or two 8 star spells, Frey wasn’t sure he could kill him.

Frey felt his choice shifting towards the dimensional movement.

‘Fine.’

He made his decision.

He then turned to Sheryl and opened his mouth.

“Let’s do it.”