BXBX NOVEL Chapter 172 - Nornir (4)
Chapter 172 - Nornir (4)
It felt like it had been a long time since they’d met.
When he had this thought, Agni couldn’t help but feel a bit strange.
It hadn’t even been a month since he’d last spoken to Lord. And for Demigods, who had eternal lives, a month was not a long time at all.
Still, Agni couldn’t help but feel that this month had been quite a long one.
Nevertheless, he hid his thoughts and asked.
“What are you doing here, Lord?”
[I’m sorry, Agni. But you know I wouldn’t just move around in your territory for no reason.]
“Of course I do. Something must have happened. I’m just curious. What exactly was it that brought you to Silkid?”
Lord did not have the time for idle chat.
At the moment, he was dealing with the elimination of the Circle and the subjugation of the mortal countries, including Kastkau.
His territory was also several times larger than Agni, Nozdog, and Ananta’s. Especially after he took control of Leyrin’s territory.
[I came here to look for something.]
“To look for something…”
Agni couldn’t imagine what it could be.
He tilted his head.
“Did you find it?”
After falling silent for a moment, Lord finally said.
[No.]
That was unexpected.
Lord didn’t manage to find what he wanted?
But Lord continued in a disinterested voice.
[But I don’t care too much. There’s only a limited number of people who could do it.]
“Well, it seems you already have it under control.”
[That’s right. I just need to wait till their tail is long enough to step on.]
“…”
[By the way, the situation in Silkid doesn’t seem to be going as smoothly as I expected.]
Two Demigods had already died. Lord probably knew that already, too.
Lord turned to look at Agni and said.
[If you don’t mind, I can lend you a hand.]
“No. I refuse.”
Agni spoke firmly.
He knew Lord’s power. If he revealed himself, then the chaos in Silkid would not even last till nightfall.
But he would not ask for help. Doing so would only damage Agni’s pride as a Demigod.
Therefore, it was completely unacceptable for him to allow Lord to do as he pleased in his territory.
Lord nodded as though he expected such a response.
[I see. Understood. Then, in that case, I hope you wrap things up nicely.]
“Right. I will come to see you as soon as I’m finished here.”
Lord left with a nod.
Afterwards, Agni got up from his seat on the throne.
As he was talking face to face with Lord, Agni had noticed how his feelings had changed.
After hearing about what happened to Leyrin, he had been deeply troubled.
The reason why he hadn’t made a move in Talhadun was because he wasn’t sure about it. He didn’t know what he wanted to do.
But at that moment, Agni had reached a conclusion.
Leyrin’s death was unfortunate, but there was no reason to betray Lord.
Following Lord’s will. That was the only meaning to their existence.
‘I’m not like Riki.’
As he thought this, Agni shook off the last of his hesitation.
There was no reason to be sloppy in the desert any longer. It was time to completely drive out the rats.
“Let’s go, my comrades.”
Those around Agni stood up with him.
Even when he’d been lost in his thoughts, Agni didn’t stop listening to reports about the situation in Silkid. He knew the reason why the nearly destroyed country had yet to fully give in to them.
The Great Warrior Ivan.
The rebel focus had united around this man.
This meant it wouldn’t be too hard.
As long as he crushed him, this country would submit to him.
* * *
‘You will no longer be a Wizard.’
Frey couldn’t stop thinking about the weight of those words.
Himself—not a Wizard. He couldn’t even imagine it.
Even though he’d embraced many different things since he’d become ‘Frey Blake’, Elliah’s words were right.
Mana was still Frey’s foundation.
As for his thoughts about divine power.
‘It’s a bit strange.’
He thought of the Demigods’ Apostles. The crystal he’d absorbed after killing one of them had allowed him to increase his mana.
Even at that time, he’d felt that such a thing was vaguely contradictory.
Frey frowned.
‘Mana and divine power can replace each other.’
Now, he had no choice but to accept this fact.
The theory that these two powers existed on completely different poles was indeed true. However, the idea that they could never be mixed and could never coexist might just have been a misconception.
Depending on how they were used, it was possible to increase or decrease their power.
Frey and Isaka’s bodies were proof of that.
Of course, the principle behind this had yet to be understood. It currently couldn’t be explained.
This exploration dived so deeply that its outcome would be very hard to see with a mortal vessel.
‘That’s a matter to be considered another day, but not now.’
Instead, what he had to think about now was how to make use of this fact.
Frey recalled Riki’s crystal, which was still in his bag.
The divine power contained in that crystal was probably beyond description. After all, he was the uncrowned no. 2 among the Demigods.
The divine power of that being, who was at least a half step stronger than the other Apocalypses, was contained in that small bead.
If Frey were to absorb that bead, he’d certainly become stronger. It was possible that his lightning power would even surpass Indra’s.
However, as Elliah said, he might lose his identity as a Wizard as a result.
It was possible that he would even lose his identity as a human.
“…”
Frey suddenly felt heavy.
He wanted to confront the Demigods with mana, spells, and magical science.
He wanted to beat them using the power of humans.
‘Is it really impossible?’
In order to defeat the Demigods, he needed to steal their power. That was the only answer he’d gained after agonising about it for a long time.
Frey felt frustrated at the futility of his situation.
“Are you hesitating about using your divine power?”
It was Isaka’s voice.
Frey turned to look at him.
The father and son didn’t have an emotional reunion. After all, the last time they met, the two had tried to kill each other.
However, Frey felt nothing towards Isaka. And what was truly interesting was that Isaka looked at him in the same way.
Frey could feel the divine power in Isaka’s body.
Perhaps he was only second to the Demigods.
“It’s getting harder to use magic. On the other hand, my usage of divine power has become better than ever. It’s not just that. Even my physical abilities have gained an overall improvement. With the way I am now, crushing rocks with my hands wouldn’t be a challenge.”
This meant that divine power didn’t just exist as a form of energy, but it also had a deep influence on the rest of his body.
“I will use this power to fight the Demigods. And I will kill them.”
“Aren’t you the Demigods’ subordinate?”
“Subordinate? If that was true, I wouldn’t have betrayed them.”
Isaka snorted coldly.
Then he muttered assertively.
“I was just a puppet, no, even less than that.”
“…”
“That’s why I chose treason. I didn’t think about the future. I couldn’t afford to since I wasn’t even sure what would happen to me. But no matter what I face in the future, I won’t regret it. Because my opponents are now the Demigods.”
After losing everything, the first thing Isaka felt was helplessness. Then anger at the ones who manipulated his life.
He could only move according to their wishes like a puppet attached to strings. There were times when he did things that he thought were according to his own will but turned out to have been organised by them behind the scenes.
If he had the chance to even deal the slightest blow to them, he was willing to throw away everything he had.
“You are not Frey.”
Isaka muttered.
“I’m not sure about the details, but I’m certain of that. But it doesn’t matter to me right now. All I care about now is that your fangs are sharp enough to tear through the Demigods’ throats.”
He had already thrown away everything.
Isaka no longer considered himself as the Head of the Blake family or as a Wizard. It also didn’t matter to him what Frey’s identity truly was.
He didn’t even care about the death of his wife, Leita(1).
“If you intend to subdue the Demigods, I will help you.”
After saying that, Isaka left.
Frey sighed.
(Note: The author really does a good job at humanising the side characters… even the despicable ones we dislike.)
* * *
A day had passed.
After another hour, the ice surrounding Norn would melt.
It was at that moment when Iris arrived.
She looked the same as when he’d last seen her, and when she saw Frey, she didn’t show any reaction.
Frey couldn’t help but feel that she was intentionally keeping her distance because of him.
In fact, Iris didn’t turn her eyes away from Elliah.
“Lord is gone.”
“Did he find what he was looking for?”
“No.”
Iris shook her head.
“What the hell was Lord even searching for in the first place?”
“…”
Elliah was the one who asked the question, but Iris turned to look at Frey instead.
“You would know.”
Those words made Frey think of Dro.
The thought that he was the one Lord was looking for became more pronounced.
“Is he with you?”
Iris lowered her eyes for a moment. Then she turned to Elliah and said.
“I’d like to talk to him for a moment.”
Elliah looked a bit displeased, but she soon sighed.
“Go ahead.”
Only Iris and Frey were left in the room.
It was Iris who opened her mouth first.
“Do you trust me?”
Frey would never have imagined that those would be her first words.
Iris didn’t rush him.
She wasn’t even looking at Frey. Instead, she kept her eyes on the floor.
Frey had a lot on his mind.
The things Iris had done and her current attitude began to blend and form an indescribable feeling in his chest.
“I don’t know.”
Frey decided to avoid the question.
Iris fell silent for a moment.
She seemed to have forgotten everything she wanted to say. At least, until she lost her composure, Frey would be unable to know what she was thinking.
It was then.
[Summon me.]
Frey heard a heavy voice in his head.
It had been a long time since he’d heard this voice. It was Asura.
He never contacted Frey first unless it was for a good reason.
Iris looked at Frey and said.
“I kind of miss him. Asura. I can’t believe you signed a contract with him. Huhu. In the old days, I never imagined…”
At that moment, Iris’ eyes became filled with emotion. But when that happened, Iris suddenly stopped talking before falling back to her originally cold attitude.
“It seems he has something to say to me.”
“I think so. He’s asking me to summon him.”
“I don’t mind.”
Unlike when she spoke to Elliah, Iris was using a softer tone.
Frey summoned Asura, who appeared in a moderate size.
“It’s been a while, Asura.”
“That’s right. But I didn’t come here to reminisce about the old days with you, Iris.”
Asura looked down at Iris with a curious gaze.
“You, what exactly did you do in the Demon World?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t pretend to be innocent. Do you think I wouldn’t notice you running around with Lucifer?”
Frey was surprised at those words.
“It was really amazing that a human had managed to go to the Demon World, but… if it were you, I could understand. Rather than that, I’m more curious as to why you broke into the Despair Hell. It looked like you were trying to dig up something… Kuku. Thanks to you, I got to enjoy seeing Barbatos mad.”
Demon World, Dragon Lord, Dro.
Those three words began aligning themselves in Frey’s head and he looked at Iris with a firm expression.
Was she the one who took Dro to Silkid?
“But I want to know what your goal was. You just dug up the ground before leaving. Weren’t you after the thing buried there?”
Frey turned to look at Asura who continued with his seemingly curious tone.
“I’m talking about the giant Dragon. I can’t believe I got the chance to see a Dragon in the Demon World. I can’t even begin to imagine how long it’s been buried there. Lucifer is probably the only one who knows.”
“The Dragon’s corpse is still there?”
Asura looked at Frey and shook his head.
“It’s wrong to call it a corpse. It’s still alive.”
“What?”
The words Asura said next were even more shocking.
“We even had a short conversation. Then it fainted back into hibernation again.”
Confusion blossomed on Frey’s face.
He even spoke to him in the Demon World?
Didn’t that mean the Dragon Lord hadn’t been fully released from the seal and awakened but was still there?
‘…if so.’
Then who was the black-haired man he met in the desert?
(Note:
1. Seeing this name again gives me such fond memories. I’ll come clean to you guys. Frey’s mother’s name is actually Letia. When I first put her name in a chapter, I mistyped it and ended up putting Leita. Later, I believe our editors might have seen me put ‘Letia’, but because the first occurrence was ‘Leita’ and because silly Seven hadn’t realised my mistake at that time, we used the name Leita for quite a few chapters. It was only after rereading a chapter one time that I realised the mistake, but at that point, I felt there was no point changing it. Hope this story gave you a couple chuckles.)