The Great Mage Returns after 4000 Years – Chapter 155 – Silkid (1)
Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Yahiko
They decided to put the Dragon Lord on hold for now. After all, even if they were sure he was sealed in the Demon World, they couldn’t reach him with their human bodies anyway.
‘Should I ask Asura for help?’
Frey had this thought for a moment before he shook his head. He didn’t believe Asura would accept such a troublesome and dire request.
Even if they had a good relationship, he couldn’t forget that Asura was whimsical.
Their contract was also half-baked at best.
‘First things first: Silkid.’
But before that, he would have to meet Nix again.
Frey was about to leave when he turned to look at Anastasia.
“I’m going to the Ispania Mountains. Would you like to go with me?”
“I’d love to.”
When she nodded her head, Frey immediately used Warp to carry them to the Ispania Mountains.
Shuk.
After feeling the Warp, Anastasia nodded appreciatively.
“You’re definitely 9 stars again.”
“I told you that already.”
“I still wanted to see it for myself. In any case, that’s a relief. Mm. In fact, I think you’re even stronger than you were in the past.”
“Am I?”
“You consumed a bunch of powerful elixirs like the Frozen River from me, the Drake’s heart and the Demigod’s crystal, so it’s natural.”
Indeed.
To collect this much mana the usual way, one would have to devote oneself to meditation for decades in a place with high mana density and minimal distractions.
In addition, after training his mind for 4,000 years in the Abyss, it was safe to say he had long surpassed the Lukas Trowman of the past.
Anastasia looked at the mountains surrounding them with a deep gaze.
“It feels like this place didn’t change much.”
“It’s been 4,000 years, so it definitely feels different.”
“Hmm. Well, for me, I just feel like I woke up from a very deep sleep. It still doesn’t feel like 4,000 years have passed.”
From Anastasia’s perspective, it was like she was just continuing from where her memories were cut off, so she couldn’t really feel the time difference.
The amount of time that passed was the same, but her situation was very different from Frey’s.
Frey went to the same rock, where he sat last time and waited for Nix. Anastasia looked around for a bit before saying she would go to the dungeon.
Frey nodded because he didn’t think he’d have to wait too long.
An hour passed.
“…”
As time went by, Frey couldn’t help but get up from his seat. The last time he came here, Nix had arrived in less than thirty minutes.
‘Did something happen?’
In the first place, Nix was placed in a very precarious position from the moment she was made into Agni’s Apostle.
Therefore, he would understand if she encountered a dangerous situation, but he didn’t believe she would disappear without a trace.
As he was agonising over this.
Kiiik….
Someone hesitantly approached Frey.
It wasn’t a human. It was a monster. However, instead of a Drake, it was a Goblin with a large, protruding belly.
It was much larger than ordinary Goblins.
With a curious gaze, Anastasia looked at it while saying.
“The size of Goblins has really changed a lot in 4,000 years.”
“The monsters here are larger than normal.”
“I know that, but the Ispanian Goblin I saw 4,000 years ago wasn’t this big.”
“Then, isn’t it just mutated?”
The Goblin opened its mouth while they were having their silly conversation.
“Grey hair, human, Master’s Master, came.”
The Goblin looked at Frey with shaking eyes. It was clear that it was terrified.
“Master’s Master.”
By master… it should be referring to Nix. It seemed she’d become the ruler of the entire mountain range.
And the Nix’s master… was that referring to himself?
“What did Nix want you to say to me?”
“Ma-, Master said. A dangerous situation. Came. Can’t. Hold on.”
“…”
“So will create. A flaw. For Master’s Master to. Take advantage of.”
He couldn’t understand what it meant, and from Anastasia’s confused expression, it was clear that she didn’t understand either.
When Frey pressed the Goblin more, it only repeated those words with a terrified look on its face before finally saying just one word with a shaking body and a tearful expression.
“Si-, Silkid. Silkid. Silkid…”
He reluctantly sent the Goblin back, and it hurriedly disappeared without any hesitation.
Frey grew anxious.
“Dangerous situation.”
Agni should not have been able to move properly at that moment.
Frey bit his lip.
He had probably woken up. Frey’s original plan had been to deal with him while he was in a weakened state, but if he had somehow made a recovery…
“I don’t know anything else, but I do know where we need to go now.”
Frey nodded.
They had to go to Silkid.
* * *
He woke up but didn’t open his eyes right away as he felt like dozens of loaches were wriggling around in his head.
When was the last time he’d gotten a good night’s rest?
Ever since he’d come to the desert, he wasn’t able to get more than four hours of rest a day. (TL: relatable… my life is the desert)
But he had no choice but to reduce his hours of sleep since he had to keep up his training regimen.
Ivan sighed heavily before leaving the tent.
The sky was bluish, and it seemed dawn was approaching.
Ivan went to the warriors who were keeping watch and asked.
“Is everything okay?”
“There were no problems.”
The night before seemed to have passed quietly.
Ivan scratched his head while asking another question.
“The suicidal girl…”
“It seems she left during the night.”
“…she didn’t appear to be possessed. This was the first time a woman came to me and asked me to kill her. Even in such a tumultuous situation.”
Ivan thought of the night before.
A red-haired woman came and asked him to kill her. Ivan judged her as a madwoman, and he promptly kicked her out.
So she bit her lip and left.
‘It looked like she had a lot to say.’
But she didn’t open her mouth in the end. She looked like it was urgent, and she was desperate.
It was a rather strange story.
A woman who was desperate to die. If she wanted to die so badly, she could’ve just hanged herself rather than come to him.
“Hoo.”
Ivan suppressed his thoughts about her. He didn’t have the time to think about something like that.
The warriors began to come out of their tents one after another, and light slowly spilled over the horizon.
The light soon covered the desert.
They had made their camp on high ground, so they could see the surrounding area with ease.
Naturally, this allowed them to see the swarm of monsters charging in from the east.
“It would have been pretty bad if I woke up ten minutes later.”
“It seems their numbers are gradually increasing.”
“So disgusting. It looks like there are hundreds of them.”
“…’Kuraksar’ is in that direction.”
It was an Orc Warrior who spoke with a heavy voice.
His name was Guarus, and he was the most outstanding warrior out of the hundred or so gathered there.
Not counting Ivan, of course.
His analytical and physical abilities were both excellent, which was why Ivan remembered his name quickly.
He was also the one who first praised Ivan as the Great Warrior.
“Just what kind of magic are they using? Even when we wander around, they still find us as though they have dog noses.”
“It can only be one of two things. One, they have an excellent tracker.”
Guaras turned back, his cold eyes settling on the warriors.
“Or there is a traitor telling them exactly where we are.”
* * *
The reason why Talhadun was able to become the capital of Silkid was because, before anything else, it was the location of the largest oasis in the desert.
Now, there were no longer any traces of warriors in Talhadun. Most of the buildings were either partially or completely destroyed.
It was a terrible sight as if a powerful sandstorm had swept through it. But the oasis had been able to maintain its original form, which was close to a miracle.
No.
In truth, it had nothing to do with miracles.
There was only one reason. Because Agni didn’t destroy it.
With his power, it was a very simple task to evaporate the entire oasis.
But Agni didn’t do that.
[What is it that you wanted to talk about?]
He turned around and found Nozdog standing there.
Agni noticed that there was a bit of annoyance in his voice.
[Speak quickly. I’m also in charge of an area.]
“I wonder what you think about Leyrin’s disappearance.”
The answer didn’t come immediately.
Nozdog didn’t have any expression on his face, but Agni noticed that there were no ripples in his breathing.
[Leyrin sacrificed herself to awaken the three of us. That’s all. It’s a simple story.]
“That wasn’t a sacrifice. It wasn’t Leyrin’s will. It was all Lord’s idea to convert her into divine power and inject it into us.”
[What’s the difference?]
“What…”
Nozdog seemed to sigh.
[The will of Lord is the will of all Demigods. This might have happened while Leyrin was hibernating, but if she was awake, she would definitely have met her end with a smile. So would I, and so would Ananta.]
Nozdog’s fierce gaze turned to Agni.
[Aren’t you the same?]
“Yes.”
It was true.
If Lord asked him to sacrifice himself, he would do so without any hesitation.
But…
“Lord didn’t tell us about the sacrifice.”
That was what confused Agni.
“Even after leading the Demigods for such a long time, he never asked us to sacrifice ourselves.”
For the Demigods, Lord was many things.
A guide, a pioneer, a leader.
For the Demigods, the most benevolent being was their Lord.
That was why it was strange for Agni, a Demigod, to question why Lord sacrificed one Demigod to save three.
[Something must have changed, but I don’t think Lord did anything wrong.]
“I…”
[Why don’t you trust Lord?]
There was hostility in Nozdog’s voice.
Agni fell silent for a moment before responding honestly.
“I’m not sure yet.”
How to deal with Lord and why he was so agitated.
Nozdog was dumbfounded for a moment before he spoke in a disbelieving voice.
[No way. Have you suddenly started respecting the mortals’ stance and whatnot?]
“No.”
Agni shook his head firmly without hesitation.
No matter how many races other than Demigods died, it had nothing to do with him.
It wasn’t out of sympathy that he spared Talhadun. It was because Lord’s actions made him uncomfortable, and he wondered if destroying Talhadun would have had a positive effect on the Demigods.
He hated the fact that the thought ‘run away’ kept popping up whenever he looked at Lord.
All Demigods were free, dignified and equal. It was none other than Lord who taught them that.
But wasn’t the same Lord the one who wanted to sacrifice an innocent Demigod to save Riki?
Agni wanted to bring this up, but he chose to keep his mouth closed.
The source of this information was Iris, and since Nozdog hated her, he wouldn’t have believed it even if he told him.
[I don’t care as long as you don’t step on the same path as Riki. Experiencing fighting my own kind once was enough.]
That was the only consolation that Nozdog could give him.
‘There’s no need to ask Ananta’s opinion.’
He would probably have the same thoughts as Nozdog.
Agni wondered why he was the only one out of the three who was confused.
The answer came easily.
Leyrin’s existence was particularly special to Agni. Her death saddened him more than anyone else.
Nozdog, who was about to leave, suddenly asked a question.
[This might be a pointless question. But Agni, how are you managing your Apostle?]
“Managing?”
[Frey Blake.]
He was the greatest enemy of the Demigods at that moment. After saying his name, Nozdog continued.
[He knows all of our Apostles. That means he knows all of our weaknesses. He’s also very cunning, so you should pay extra attention to your Apostle.]
“What did you do?”
[My Apostle is somewhere the humans would never be able to find.]
Only
Nozdog laughed darkly.
[Ananta’s Apostle appears to be very proficient at hiding. And Lord doesn’t have to worry about his at all.]
“I have a relatively moderate method.”
[Moderate? What do you intend to do?]
“I was thinking of a way to get rid of this ‘weakness’ entirely.”
Agni paused for a moment before continuing.
“And it matches well since my Apostle is a Phoenix. If I achieve the conditions, I will no longer need an Apostle.”