BXBX NOVEL Chapter 154 - Anastasia (4)
Chapter 154 - Anastasia (4)
Frey told Anastasia everything that happened.
It was literally everything.
Frey didn’t hide anything from her. It was probably the first time he’d been so honest to someone since he’d entered Frey Blake’s body.
Anastasia’s expression became more and more serious with each story that she heard.
Then she looked surprised at Riki’s betrayal.
“A Demigod betrayed them?”
“That’s right.”
“That’s really hard to believe.”
“It seems he was influenced by Lucid.”
Then Frey continued with a bitter tone.
“He continued helping us even after death.”
Frey thought of Lucid for a moment. Since Lucid was the biggest contributor to Riki’s change of heart, it would be safe to say that his influence could be felt even 4,000 years after his death.
“So he put all the other Apocalypses in a near death state on his own?”
“Can you not believe it?”
“…would you believe it? Apocalypses are all like that old man who used poison. The Demigods who were as powerful as him could probably only be counted on one hand.”
Frey nodded.
Then Anastasia spoke with a ridiculous expression on her face.
“It’s really hard to believe, but… if it’s true, that’s pretty amazing.”
“Riki was the number two among the Demigods, both in name and ability.”
That was what made it even more unfortunate.
As the fight against the Demigods became fiercer, the greater the role Riki could have played. If he was still alive, the war situation would have been many times better than it was now.
However, this wasn’t the time to be disappointed.
Riki was already dead, and while it was not completely guaranteed at the moment, they had gained another partner.
“There is a Demigod named Elliah, who helped me reach 9 stars.”
“I guess the world really has changed a lot. We would never have imagined something like a Demigod traitor back in our day.”
Anastasia’s grumbling wasn’t unreasonable. Even Frey had not fully believed it at first when he learned about Riki’s betrayal.
“After that, the countries known as Geotanbul and Silkid were destroyed, right?”
“For Silkid, only the capital city Talhadun, disappeared. The Great Chief seems to have kept his life.”
“Hmm…”
After thinking to herself for a moment, Anastasia then said.
“There is too little information.”
“I agree.”
“We need to know why they destroyed two countries. Above all, it would be great if we could predict Lord’s movements…”
Frey nodded.
Lord was literally a walking natural disaster. And since he was not as predictable as a common natural disaster, and he was far, far worse.
‘His space-time movement is troublesome.’
He was an absolute existence who had a risk free means of transport to almost any location he desired. The fact that Lord could appear and disappear at will anywhere on the continent meant that preparation and defense were meaningless.
Anastasia spoke after a moment of silence.
“There’s a way to monitor his movements.”
“What is it?”
“We can get help from Iris.”
“…what?”
Frey frowned deeply, but Anastasia continued talking as though she didn’t notice her expression.
“As you said. Iris is Lord’s Apostle. Since she can use Lord’s power, she should be able to predict his movements to an extent.”
“How are we supposed to trust her?”
“You said she saved your life.”
Anastasia’s words made Frey speechless.
“When Riki died, if Iris didn’t appear to stop Lord then you would be dead. You know that.”
“…”
There was nothing he could say.
Frey hadn’t thought deeply about this before. No, to be precise, he had intentionally avoided thinking about it.
He wanted Iris to remain a traitor.
‘I didn’t want this to get any more complicated.’
Realising this, Frey sighed.
“One thing is clear, Lukas. Iris is not someone who would ever betray you.”
“She betrayed us.”
“Stupid, she didn’t betray you, she betrayed us.”
Frey frowned.
“It’s the same, betraying you means betraying me.” (Note: at this point, I don’t know if he’s intentionally dense or pretending)
“Hoo. I can’t believe I have to explain this to the guy called the Great Mage.”
Anastasia awkwardly reached her hand to her chest, then as if realising something, her hand fell to her side once again.
“What are you doing.”
“I don’t have a beard. Stroking it helped me calm down. Now, everything’s changed.”
“Would you like us to give you a beard?”
“No thanks.”
Anastasia sighed.
“Do you think I have good feelings toward her? We weren’t really close even before she betrayed us. Ha. Really. Even though I’ve lived for such a long time, I never would have thought that I would take her side.”
Anastasia laughed for a moment before her expression became serious once again.
“…there is one thing that I can be certain about. Even if Iris betrayed the entire world, she would never betray you. Unless her mind is controlled.”
“…”
“Relax, Lukas. I know how deeply you care for all of us. But now it’s time to let go of your personal feelings.”
Anastasia was right.
Frey suppressed his pent up feelings. Maybe it was because he’d reached 9 stars. His emotions seemed to have become more intense than when he was in 8 stars.
That’s why this sensitive topic affected him so much.
“Understood.”
“Good. So do we have any way to meet Iris?”
“I don’t, And it would be difficult to meet her openly. The Demigods and their Apostles are connected mentally.”
If they didn’t use shortcuts like Nix and Torkunta, there was no way for them to escape the Demigods’ surveillance.
Maybe Iris had a way.
“…ah. As I listened to your story, I had a question.”
“What is it?”
“The Dragons. Are they really dead?”
“Mm.”
Frey shook his head after a moment.
“I don’t know. There’s no way to check.”
“But the fact that there was a Half Dragon means they were still active not so long ago.”
“Right.”
In addition, there was also Hector who was trapped in a human body after losing his body to the Demigods.
“The Half Dragon probably wouldn’t know much, so it would be better to ask Hector. Please call him here for a moment. I have something to ask him.”
It seemed Anastasia was thinking the same thing as she then spoke up. Frey nodded, went out, and brought Hector, who then sat politely in front of her with a pensive expression.
“No way.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The core and Sia have become one. Have you reached a state of unity, where the core became Sia and Sia became the core?” (Note: pronounced ‘sha’)
“What is ‘Sia’?”
“It’s a nickname.”
Frey clicked his tongue, remembering the name ‘Anastasia’.
It seemed Hector hadn’t fully gotten over it yet. He probably expected Anastasia to ask him to change bodies.
But as an authority in alchemy, he knew how ridiculous that thought was. Apart from the fusion of the core and the body, there was almost no way to reproduce a Golem with the same quality as Anastasia.
“Nevermind. I just wanted to talk to you about Dragons.”
Anastasia was polite because she knew Hector was once a Dragon.
When he saw this, Hector spoke with a strange expression on his face.
“That feels weird. You don’t have to be polite when you talk to me. Like Frey.”
“…”
That was right.
Frey and Anastasia were great figures from 4,000 years ago. People who knew them would remember their amazing feat of fighting off the Demigods in a time when no one else would.
And if they knew that, then they had no choice but to pay their respects.
“Well. Enough of that. Please ask your question.”
“Are all the Dragons really dead?”
“For the most part. Some of them are stuck doing chores like I was.”
It was the same question Frey had asked him in the past. But now, they could ask even more questions than at that time.
“Mostly. Then there are still living Dragons.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if you know this, but it’s not like we used to have any close relationships with each other or anything like that.”
Frey and Anastasia nodded at the same time.
They were certainly a race with strong, individualistic tendencies.
“Then I’ll change my question. Where is the Dragon Lord?”
Hector’s face changed. His light attitude evaporated in an instant and instead, it was replaced with a serious expression.
For a moment, Frey felt like he was looking at his teacher.
He tilted his head.
“Dragon Lord?”
Did the Dragons have a Lord?
He had never heard the term before, but from the look on Hector’s face, Frey knew that it was something serious.
“How do you know about that? Among the Dragons, only the ancients know…”
“I got the help of a Blue Dragon when making this core. It was a Dragon named Aitlans.”
“Mm… Aitlans. He…”
Hector clicked his tongue before sighing.
“The Dragon Lord is dead.”
“Don’t lie to me. The Dragon Lord is a natural being connected to the continent. If he dies, the continent would be destroyed.”
“To be precise, he’s in a state that is no better than death.”
“Huh?”
Anastasia’s expression became one of confusion.
On the other hand, Hector, whose expression was incredibly calm, continued.
“I only know about it from the records. It should have been 1,000 years before the Great Sage was born, so 5,000 years ago. The Demigods’ Lord and the Dragons’ Lord. Two absolute beings, fought, and the Dragon Lord lost. Like you said, the Dragon Lord is connected to the continent. So Lord didn’t kill him, instead, he trapped him in another world.”
The process was a bit different, but it was still similar to his own case, so Frey couldn’t stop himself from asking.
“The Abyss?”
“Where’s that? I’ve never heard of that name before.”
Guess not.
“Then where is he?”
“The Demon World.”
At that moment, he thought he’d heard wrong. Therefore, Frey subconsciously asked him again.
“…where?”
“The Demon World. The world where the Demons live.”
Frey clicked his tongue.
The Demon World.
The Land of the Demons was a place that no human had ever set foot.
* * *
“This is probably the first time in history.”
Iris looked back while feeling the hot, unpleasant breeze that she’d never felt before.
Standing there was a pale young man. Though his appearance could not be seen clearly, she knew that this was Lucifer, one of the six Archdukes of the Demon World.
He had been reigning over his domain, the Corrupted Hell, for the longest time among the Archdukes, and many Demons would readily open their mouths and proclaim that he was the true ruler of the Demon World.
In fact, even the proud Asura admitted that Lucifer was one level above him.
Lucifer narrowed his eyes before saying.
“A human actually came to the Demon World. Calling you a genius really isn’t enough. It’s unfortunate. It’s really unfortunate. If you were born a Demon, you definitely would have been equal to me, if not greater.”
Iris’ expression remained cold.
Lucifer couldn’t even remember the last time she’d actually shown any emotion since her heart died 4,000 years ago.
Maybe this was just a way to protect herself. After all, no matter how firm and strong-willed she was, she was still human.
There was no way she could have survived 4,000 without any changes in her mindset.
Therefore, she suppressed her emotions, forgot her personal thoughts, and only focused on her mission.
Lucifer felt that she was no different from a corpse. Perhaps she didn’t even have a sense of self left.
The end for people like this was usually quite miserable.
Either they ran away or they collapsed.
It was such a shame. The only person he’d signed a contract to, and the only other existence he’d actually acknowledged, would end up in such a miserable state.
“Where are you going?”
“To where the Dragon Lord is. Lucifer, you know where Lord placed him.”
“I do. But what are you going to do?”
“About 5,000 years have passed since he was sealed. If it goes as I expect, he should be opening his eyes soon.”
Iris spoke with a cold glint in her eyes.
“I will stop him.”