chapter 167

Frey could not even remember how the food tasted. He had been lost in his thoughts the entire time.

Frey closed the door to the room behind him before rolling up his sleeve and looking at his left arm. He wasn’t just looking at the outward appearance, but also the inside.

It didn’t take long for him to reach a conclusion. And the conclusion was that there wasn’t a single scratch on his arm.

His entire arm, inside and out was completely healed.

‘That’s why I took so long to notice.’

That was most likely the reason why he didn’t notice it until he was downstairs. If there had been even a slight bit of pain, he would have immediately noticed.

Frey stretched his arm out, turning it this way and that. There was nothing wrong with it.

He tried to ponder a reason why the severe injury had disappeared. First, he thought about what happened before he collapsed.

After taking Milled down, he picked up his crystal, which was then absorbed into his body.

“…”

Recalling this, he immediately checked his divine power.

Shock then quickly spread across Frey’s face.

‘It’s increased by at least ten times.’

Frey couldn’t even imagine how powerful the lightning he could shoot out now would be. Now that he’d directly absorbed the crystal, didn’t that mean that he was now capable of exerting power comparable to a Demigod?

Frey pondered this for a moment before deciding to think about it later. In any case, it was clear that it was no longer impossible for him to use his divine power as a main attack power rather than a supporting ability.

‘Is the disappearance of my injuries related to the explosive increase in divine power?’

Those who trained their bodies to the extreme like Knights and Magic Warriors, were able to restructure their bodies to an extent. The waste that accumulated in their bodies were completely expelled, and their skeletons were shaped into the most ideal form.

It was said that if certain phenomena were to occur, it was possible for those with disabilities, incurable diseases and even those who’d gotten their limbs severed, would be able to recover completely.

‘That’s the reason why most Knights and Magic Warriors looked much younger than their actual ages.’

Of course, when Wizards reached a certain stage, their rate of age gradually slowed down, but their skeletons didn’t realign nor did they regain their young appearances like them.

In a way, divine power was also a type of energy. So it was possible that an explosive increase in divine power could affect his self-healing ability.

But Frey shook his head.

He’d found no signs to show that his body had been reconstructed.

This meant that there was only one possibility left.

The man with black hair who had brought Frey to the inn. He had done something.

But Frey knew just how serious his injuries were.

‘Those wounds were caused by divine power.’

Unless he used the finest elixir, an elixir known as God’s Tears, it was impossible to do something like this. That or he had the healing ability of the Holy Land’s Saintess.

Frey shook his head.

Both of those things seemed highly unlikely.

‘I’ll wait one more day.’

He could invest that much time to do a complete check on his physical condition as well as understand the current situation.

But he couldn’t delay any longer than that.

Even if he was very curious about the man’s identity, saving Nix was the priority.

Frey’s expression became serious.

This was because he’d just remembered there was not one, but three Demigods chasing after here.

‘I can’t fight them.’

The fight against Milled had given him an idea of what to do when fighting the Demigods, but that was only in a one-on-one situation.

Judging from their extremely individualistic tendencies, he doubted that they would be able to work together, but at the very least they wouldn’t let their kind die.

‘If Nix lends me a hand…’

He was unsure of what Nix’s exact strength was now that her body had been reconstructed, but he was sure that she was at least among the top level on the continent.

If she used Agni’s powers then he was sure that they could fight against two Demigods.

Frey clicked his tongue with regret.

Agni had simply called too many Demigods to Silkid.

He had identified four individuals, and Agni himself made five. This number was literally enough to overrun an entire country.

The battle with Milled had really taught Frey a lot.

He realised that it was impossible to defeat the Demigods with just magic. This was something he didn’t learn until after the fight.

Frey was stronger than the Lukas Trowman of the past. But it was still too much for him.

Maybe it was natural.

In the past, he had a team made up of people on similar power levels to him. The Great Sage Schweiser Strow. The Black Witch Iris Phisfounder. The Sword King Lucid. And the Magic Warrior King Kasajin.

And even when fighting with these great teammates, the battles were never easy.

The idea he’d had before that he was able to defeat a Demigod alone just because he was stronger was pure arrogance.

‘10 stars.’

10 stars, the very existence of which he was still unclear about.

Cairo seemed to be fully convinced in its existence, but even if it did exist, actually achieving it would be no simple matter.

More importantly, he didn’t have the leisure time to sit and have a discussion about 10 stars.

Frey looked down at his hand.

Crackle.

Indra’s lightning began to buzz around it.

It was an unpleasant sensation, but he was determined to get used to it.

* * *

The man didn’t return the next day, and Frey had no choice but to leave Al-Tarha.

“If he returns, please tell him I went to Nempatal.”

“Mm. Got it.”

Frey knew the man wouldn’t listen to him, so he continued.

“Could you please pass it on for me?”

When Frey handed over a few gold coins, the innkeeper started in surprise and looked around.

“You’re so reckless. Taking gold coins out at this time is no better than committing suicide.”

“No one is around to see it.”

“That’s true but…”

“In any case, please, innkeeper.”

The innkeeper narrowed his eyes before saying.

“Don’t you think I’ll also covet these gold coins?”

“I also have confidence in my eyes.”

The innkeeper let out a laugh at those words.

“You certainly have great eyes.”

Even though these words were said sarcastically, Frey knew that the innkeeper was not a bad person.

After talking to the innkeeper, Frey left Al-Tarha immediately after stocking up on food and water.

Then he opened the map that he’d gotten from Sarman.

Frey’s brows creased when he saw Nempatal’s location.

‘It’s far.’

Nempatal was adjacent to Silkid’s border. This meant that it was located at the edge of the country.

The shortest route to it was through Talhadun, the former capital of Silkid and Agni’s current residence.

No matter how strong Frey felt at the moment, he knew that he wasn’t able to forcefully break through that place yet.

‘Assuming I go around…’

It would take a week, even if he was to hurry.

Frey clicked his tongue.

It would take too long.

The Demigods had already located Nix. It wouldn’t be strange if she were to be captured tomorrow.

‘Should I just use magic?’

Frey was pondering deeply for a moment, then, he stopped thinking.

Instead, he raised his head and looked in front of him.

A man was standing in the desert in front of him. Despite the overbearing heat, he still had a lot of skin exposed, yet he didn’t seem uncomfortable at all.

It was definitely the strange outfit he’d heard about from the innkeeper.

“You’ve awakened.”

“…”

This must be the man who took him to the inn.

It was a man with astonishingly good looks and easily noticeable black hair.

Frey frowned.

This was definitely his first time seeing this person, but he couldn’t help but feel that he was very familiar.

“You’re the one who took me to the inn?”

“Right. I found you collapsed in the desert. I felt that it would be dangerous to leave you so I brought you to the nearest city.”

“…thank you for the help. It truly was a dangerous situation.”

Frey bowed his head but he didn’t lower his guard.

That’s because he could not easily tell who this person was.

He then spoke with a blank expression.

“There’s no need to be grateful. I saved you only because I need your help.”

“My help?”

Kuuuung.

At that moment, the airflow seemed to change greatly.

There were no changes on the outside, but a storm seemed to be raging within the man.

“I have no memories.”

This was an unexpected statement.

Frey narrowed his eyes.

He could see that this man was not lying. His expression remained the same.

“Only fragmented bits of knowledge floating around like broken pieces of debris. When I woke up, I found myself alone, in the middle of this desert.”

It was truly a strange situation.

Frey shook his head, feeling increasingly wary of this man.

“…I”m sorry, but I don’t know who you are.”

“That’s a shame. But that’s not what I wanted to know.”

He spoke in a very stable tone although he had no memories.

Usually, those in such a situation would have strong confusion about their identities and speak with a stutter.

Now that he thought about it, the man’s expression hadn’t changed once since he met him.

“Then what is it?”

“It’s about the disgusting presence in your body.”

“Disgusting presence?”

“Right. The disgusting energy that’s covering this desert like a mist.”

Frey’s expression hardened.

“You mean divine power?”

“Is that what it’s called? Divine power? Hmm.”

The man muttered to himself a few times.

“Right. I think I remember. Divine power. And those who use it are called Demigods?”

He even knew about the Demigods?

No. This shouldn’t be so surprising.

After all, they were no longer hiding themselves in the dark. At that point, even ordinary people who had no knowledge about the Circle knew about the Demigods.

“After leaving you at the inn, I went back to the spot where I found you. Because I felt the traces that I was looking for there.”

“Traces?”

“Of Demigods.”

Frey took a quiet breath.

Did they realise Milled was dead?

Cold sweat ran down Frey’s back.

If he’d stayed there, he probably would’ve died by now.

“What happened after that?”

“I wanted to have a conversation with him. I felt that he might have some clue to identity. But he didn’t seem to have any intention of talking to me.” (TL: I added ‘he/him’ to improve the flow because the author didn’t use any pronouns here)

The man continued in a careless tone.

“I didn’t plan to kill him at first.”

The man spoke before the shock of what he’d just said could even settle on Frey’s mind.

“However, as our fight intensified, for some reason my anger soared. No, it wasn’t just anger. Resentment, hatred, loathing. All kinds of negative emotions began to swirl inside me. So I killed him. I couldn’t control myself.”

The man then focused his gaze on Frey.

“You aren’t a Demigod, but I can feel the divine power that they use inside you. But I also feel the opposing power. Mana… right. I can feel mana in you that’s even stronger than the divine power. Am I wrong?”

“…no. You’re right.”

For the first time, curiosity spread across the man’s face.

“I know it from the knowledge in my head. Those two forces are not meant to coexist. It’s truly marvelous. What exactly are you?”

Few people would be able to readily answer this question when asked.

Frey was not one of them, but he was inwardly surprised.

This was because he felt a faint desire within him to introduce himself to this man who he didn’t even know.

“…someone who is fighting against the Demigods.”

“I know that already. Because it seemed you fought a Demigod in the desert. What I want to know is why you can use both divine power and mana at the same time.”

“That…”

After a moment, Frey sighed.

“It would be a very long story. And right now I-”

He didn’t have time.

Frey paused before saying those words.

Instead, he inspected this man closely.

This was a person who had managed to kill a Demigod without receiving a single scratch, and he even seemed able to heal wounds caused by divine power.

He was still pretty suspicious, but if Frey managed to pull him over to his side, he would certainly be a great help.

Not only with the three Demigods in Nempatal, but even the upcoming battle with Agni.

Besides, this guy seemed to already have an unprovoked hostility towards the Demigods, so getting his help shouldn’t be too hard.

‘Above all.’

Frey was also deeply curious and suspicious of the identity of this mysterious man who didn’t know who he was. It would be better for them to go around together while he figured out his identity than let him leave the desert.

Frey opened his mouth again.

“Before that, I’d like to ask. What is your goal? To regain your memories? Or to get rid of the Demigods?”

“I’d like to regain my memories first.”

“What if I can help you with that?”

The man tilted his head at those words.

“This doesn’t seem to stem from good will. Is there something that you want from me?”

“I intend to get rid of every Demigod in this desert, but it is a difficult task to do on my own. It would be much easier if I had your help.”

“…I see.”

The man nodded without thinking about it for too long.

“Then let’s do that. But first I’d like you to answer all of the questions I have.”

“Sure.”

Frey nodded.

It was completely unbelievable, but a temporary alliance had been created in this way.

“But what should I call you?”

At those words, the man frowned.

After seemingly squeezing his brain for the answer to this question, the man finally said a word.

A word that surprised Frey greatly.

“…Lord.”

“What?”

The man looked relieved after saying those words.

When he spoke again, his voice was much clearer and more confident.

“Call me Lord. I believe that was what I was called in the past.”

(TL: My brain is jumping to conclusions so fast…)