novelAcquaintance
| ← Ch.593 | Ch.595 → |
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
"So, he's the one who came for me. I've never expected him..."
I had many enemies in the Chaos Abyss. Out of all my enemies here, it was likely that the devils hated me the most. I had just killed Lasnina, so it would be normal if the remaining Devil Lords teamed up to attack me.
Apart from the devils, Sophocles the Deceiver was one of the most likely to come looking for revenge on me. I would also expect it if that bastard younger twin brother of mine came looking for trouble. However, I'd never expected that this existence would come looking for me...
Under his gray armor was a physical body as solid as steel. The large black sword he carried on his back was ancient and plain. However, he possessed an aura that was impossible to ignore as he was a Chaos Main God—War God Donatis.
Even though he was doing his best to hide his godly power, and even though this didn't appear to be his true body, I had "interacted" with him for so long back at Hell that I knew plenty about his soul wavelengths, magical wavelengths, and divine power traits. It would be impossible for him to conceal himself from "Greed" Harloys.
"Why is it him... ?"
I was rather astonished as it was quite rare to see Main Gods. They had very few things they wanted, and very few opportunities to improve in power. Most of the time, they would leisurely spend their time in their personal dimensions, having fun there.
But, now was the time of the Holy War. Yet, the Chaos War God who had been on the frontlines in countless previous Holy Wars was hiding his identity as he entered this city. He also came to this city right after I did. There was only a tiny chance that this would be a coincidence.
Since this was no coincidence, then Donatis was probably here for me...
"Is that a clone or an incarnation?"
"Regardless, it's not his true body. Still, no Low God will be able to handle even his incarnation."
I was even more astonished. If Donatis was really here for me, why did he only send an incarnation? Was he looking down on me?
He was clearly the type who should have been fighting a direct battle on some bloody battlefield. Why would he be here? I found this impossible to understand. Back at the battle of Hell, he had basically lost nothing. He had simply ended in a stalemate while facing Bastian for several years before he left. It was quite obvious that he hadn't fought seriously.
It could be said that Cynthia met her end in Hell due to these Chaos Main Gods' lack of loyalty to her. Although he had been stalled by Bastian, he hadn't shown any signs of using any trump cards or explosive power. It could be seen that the so-called #1 War God of the Chaos Faction definitely wasn't as loyal as in the rumors.
"He's not the only one who's here."
As Harloys spoke, she showed me another scene. Near the city entrance, a strangely deformed devil was currently tearing an Inferno Demon apart and cruelly enjoying the boiling golden blood within.
All the spectators watching this didn't dare to approach any closer due to the devil's powerful aura.
"Salor?"
I nodded as now I felt like everything was right with the world... By the way, was I really so unfortunate that I had gotten accustomed to people trying to hunt me down? I would always feel that something was wrong if I felt safe. Could my paranoia still be cured?
Harloys showed me yet another image. This time, I saw another "acquaintance".
"... Who's that? 'Red Parrot' Aiver?"
"That's 'Red Vulture' Aivla! She already became fallen because of you, so shouldn't you at least remember her name!?"
I saw a young fallen angel who had a rather serious expression on her pretty face. Her black wings filled with negative energy appeared to be burning. Her dark gray crystal armor seemed highly valuable. The burning greatsword on her back appeared to be Legend rank at minimum, something you couldn't simply purchase.
Seven years had passed since I previously met this former Holy Knight who had been naïve in her beliefs. She had now become a veteran in her own right. She was also followed by several clearly veteran adventurers.
If you only looked at the outer appearance, this fallen angel would seem far more powerful than the Chaos War God or Salor the Berserk Slaughterer.
"Why would she be here... ?"
I was rather surprised to see her. Several years ago, she should have finished all of the Holy Light and Law classes in the Northlands, and then set out on a journey to search for her sense of self, just like a normal chuunibyou girl would upon realizing how immature her past had been... By this, I meant that she should have been on a journey to find what she could truly believe in. Why would she come down here to the Chaos Abyss?
Her companions were also widely varied, from many job classes and species. There was a tiefling warrior, an elf mage, an inferno centaur archer, and a dwarf priest... Judging from that golden emblem, this priest was a high-level priest who worshipped Shield Dwarf Goddess Mary who was allied with us.
This was a standard five-person team, a typical team formation for adventurers. They had melee and ranged members. This game... er, this team had five different job classes, and a priest who could heal them. It was well balanced.
"Don't you feel that the centaur looks familiar as well?"
"Don't all centaurs look the same... ? Hmm? Pah, Casio!"
When I looked closer, I finally knew why his face seemed so familiar. If I eliminated his inferno traits, and forgot about the beard covering half his face, that was definitely Casio, the handsome golden centaur prince!
Compared to before, he was no longer wearing his exquisite golden armor. He also no longer carried his magical bone bow that would attract so much attention. He was now wearing plain and simple black chainmail, and wielded a wooden bow with no decorations or runes, making it easy to underestimate him. Even though his gaze seemed to be dull, if you looked at him long enough, there was actually a strange sharpness to him as if the person watching him was actually being stared at by a predatory eagle.
"I recall that he left a message saying that he was going out on a journey..."
"Yeah, his message left everyone with such a deep impression that it became one of the ten biggest news flashes of the year... 'I treated him as a brother, my most trustworthy brother, but, he, he, he actually wanted to have sex with me!'"
I was speechless as I recalled that ridiculous scandal which caused so much utter chaos. From a certain standpoint, since Beifeng had scared away one of his best friends who was also his staunch supporter, this was also why Beifeng had lost his position as Absolute Gentlemen Alliance mercenary group leader—due to his overwhelmingly terrible reputation... I must have banged my head too many times against a wall to have chosen that bastard to be the mercenary group leader in my stead.
I thought that Casio had returned to the Underground, so I had tried to come up with my best excuses to explain things to the old beastman tribe leader at the time. I was the one who had brought Casio out, after all. Yet, this was what happened in the end. However, I then later heard that Casio hadn't returned to the Underground's beastmen plains. He had continued his journey in the outside world.
In the past seven years, half of Casio's body had become demonized with inferno traits. It would seem that he either met with some type of "miracle", or that he had stayed in the Chaos Abyss for quite a while, and voluntarily allowed himself to become demonized.
Two acquaintances in a five-person adventuring team? I was rather interested now.
"Should we greet them?" Harloys asked me.
"... My instinct tells me that they're nothing but trouble, enormous trouble. If we casually get in contact with them, we won't be able to stay out of their trouble."
"You're not going to do anything about them? They almost seem like refugees. Isn't that rather heartless?"
Indeed, their faces were filled with fatigue, their armor was covered in dust and mud, and their weapons still had traces of blood on them. It was obvious that they still hadn't recovered from their last battle.
This would have been normal for the others. However, elves were a species whose adults would be perfectly fine even if they didn't sleep for an entire week. Yet, even their elf mage showed obvious signs of fatigue. That was unusual.
"Let's send one of your clones over to eavesdrop on them."
Now that Harloys had entered Myth rank, her cloning abilities had become even stronger. Now, her clones could easily take any form or color that she wanted, along with being invisible. This would be the best information gathering method of all.
As we walked around this city, we had already left behind several hundred slime clones. Not only that, the slimes would be capable of splitting and cloning themselves on their own. After one more night here, it would be impossible for anything that happened in this district to escape our attention.
However, we only sent a few slime clones to follow Donatis and Salor from far away. With their power level, their senses and instincts would be far too acute. Having too many eyes on them would only make the clones easier to discover.
Of course, Aivla and Casio weren't nearly so skilled. An invisible bat slime landed in front of them, transforming into mud that they then stepped in, so the slime adhered to their shoes. This would be the best eavesdropping device of all. We also sent another slime to follow them from a distance, so nothing they did would be able to escape us.
I was in no rush at all. I walked towards an information stand that was marked with a familiar fairy emblem. These tiny fellows had extended their information business even to the Chaos Abyss several hundred years ago.
I could pretty much guess what the biggest recent headlines would be. I had killed Lasnina, and the death of a Devil Lord would naturally be the most important recent news.
The fairies' information sources were even quicker than thieves' guilds. It would be the simplest to obtain the latest "headline news" that was impossible to conceal from the fairies.
I tossed out a gold coin and flipped through the newly printed newspaper that a black fairy handed me. I was indeed in the headlines, but apparently someone else had stolen my thunder.
~Unbelievable news! The devils are seriously weakened even more! They lost two Devil Lords on the same day! Just why did the Abyss Prince kill a Devil Lord!?~
"Karwenz? He came here as well?"
| ← Ch. 593 | Ch. 595 → |